1, 2, 3...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU....!!!!!

Auntie adalah busy...catching up with work backlogs and chasing contractors (di samping having nightmares about whether or not renovation akan siap seperti yg diingini). Minggu ni auntie "cuti penyelidikan" (yes, jangan jeles, academics ada this privelege. We may not be able to afford luxury holidays to Hong Kong or even Langkawi, but we have "cuti penyelidikan", you know!)

Walau bagaimanapun, auntie is taking time out from thinking about research just to wish these loved ones happy, happy besday:

1 August 197_
Auntie's closet-intellectual bro (of course referring to the guy in white. The pompuan in black is his other half). This bro may look blur and scruffy but there's a very literate and artsy person inside. Turned out masa kecik dulu dia suka 'curi' baca story books auntie. Sebab tu sekarang dia seorang scholar in Ingrish walaupong jarang2 boleh dengar dia kecek bahasa ongputih. Selamak Hari Jadi, Deng!

4th August 199_

Along aka Ya, is auntie's niece yg sulung. Masa kecik Along suka tengok rancangan kanak2 yg ada jingle A-L-O-N-G tu tapi dia sebut ALOM! When she was about 5, dia pi sekolah tadika Islam and bila auntie tanya dia cikgu nama apa, dia kata "Mak Limah". "OK, " auntie kata, "cikgu sorang lagi tu nama apa?". Dia kata, "semua cikgu nama Mak Limah". Biar betul. Ropanya cikgu kat sekolah tu dipanggil "Mu'alimmah" (maksudnya cikgu la tu), so semua la dipanggil 'mu'alimmah'. Begitu ropanya. Anways, Along aspire to be a linguist and since tadika lagi dia dah belajar Mandarin. And dia suka jahit-menjahit seperti auntie. Semoga Along mencapai cita2nya. Happy Besday, Along!

9 August 196_

Ms Nyonya aka Noya, one of auntie's badak soulmates. Dia mengajaq bebudak unibersiti di ceruk nun. Kat unibersiti dia tu, kalau silap sepak bola, harus masuk negara Siam. Noya adalah badak paling bersopan dalam gang kami. Dia jugak badak yg mempunyai standard kekemasan dan kebersihan rumah dan alam sekeliling yg paling tinggi. Dan pernah membuat antara sambal tumis tersedap, menurut AH (badak lain jgn jeles. Yg betulnya, AH tak pernah rasa sambai tumih orang lain). Lagi satu, kami masih menunggu laksa johor lu, noya. Baik lu jamu kami sebelum AH bagi title best laksa johor to sleepyhead (yg tak kurang hebatnya). Selamat Panjang (dan lebar) Umur, Noya! Semoga wa dapat melawat lu di Segamat many-many years in de future bila kita semua sudah tidak layak renew licence memandu dan cucu-cucu (termasuk cucu2 sedara dan cucu2 angkat/ pseudo) kita yg terpaksa bawak tok2 depa pi reunion dan makan laksa johor & ikan patin Sg Segamat.

16 August 198_

Last Saturday was Sleepyhead's besday yg ke 30. Kepada sesiapa yg blom tahu (hehe, auntie berangan ada strangers yg baca blog ni), Sleepyhead adalah adik bongsu auntie. Dia adalah 'sebutir diri' (ini favorite phrase Wan) ropa Wan aka mak auntie. Kekadang Sleepyhead rasa sedikit depress sebab auntie, mommy and our two brothers are splitting images (in one way or another) of our papa aka Aki. So, bila kengkawan Sleepyhead jumpa kakak2 and abang dia, depa mesti kata "eeeek lain nye....!(as in you don't look like sisters, except in the 'badak'ness department)".

And while the rest of us call Aki "Bak", Sleepyhead choose to call him "Abah". So only two persons call Aki Abah ie Sleepyhead and her other half (of course, dia kena paksa call Aki Abah la, tu show solidarity ngan bini dia). Anyways, Sleepyhead thought teaching adults is a noble profession for a former best student of her degree programme, so she gave up a career in one of the MMC's companies in Cyberjaya (which may or may not had given her a jump start to more lucrative professions, we would never know, would we?) and pursued a teaching career at a recently-controversial-priveleged (nuff said!) public institute of higher learning. Auntie had seen Sleepyhead in action, so auntie thinks Sleepyhead is a fairly dedicated and patient teacher. If she just worries less about other people's achievements and continues to compete with herself, auntie thinks Sleepyhead has a lot to offer the acedeme.

One more thing, Auntie has a confession to make to Sleepyhead. Masa Sleepyhead berumur 5 tahun, Auntie telah 'curi' seekor (ada banyak ekor lagi) udang goreng yang Wan simpan untuk Sleepyhead kerana Auntie baru balik dari asrama dan lamaaaaa dah tak makan udang goreng. Itulah permulaan allergy auntie kepada udang. So, auntie rasa, untuk cure auntie dari udang allergy ini, auntie kena belanja Sleepyhead berapa banyak udang goreng yg dia sanggup makan at one sitting. What say you Sleepyhead? Birthday gifts of fried, juicy prawns (OK, OK, Joe can join la). Hehehe. BTW, Sleepyhead was with auntie yesterday and this morning tapi auntie tak sempat lagi offer this 'birthday gifts'. In fact, last night Sleepyhead yg belanja auntie seafood. Ok, dik, nanti kita bincang. And Happy Prosperous 30th Birthday.

LOVE U LOADS, BESDAY GALS AND BOY!!!!