The Feline Territory

Hooray its Saturday again!!

I can finally go to bed on Friday nite without any stress about work the next day.

Saturday literally means spending the whole day at Starhill for my makeup class. Yummy…. mint scented Starhill… with its beautiful washrooms… and my makeup tutor lighted a Lemon Grass scented aromatherapy oil in our studio today. Very relaxing….

I got carried away with it and lighted my very own Orange Blossom aromatherapy in my bedroom. And i finally got the chance to checkout the Shu Uemura makeup box that i splurged on last week. It contains all peachy-colored makeup and blusher- a must have for me to tryout new shades for makeup class. And the box is cute also But i really shouldnt have splurged becoz i’ve spent soooo much at Sephora in June the bill is too obscene… But, i really needed some peachy colored makeup. So, its justified.

Saturdays are for Spa-ing while Sundays are meant for washing, reading and cleaning.

I just feel so rejuvenated when Saturday gets near. Saturday nights are especially organized for a thorough DIY spa for me, which includes hair treatments (masque and oil- i am using Body Shop’s Spa Wisdom and Loreal Professional Vitamin O), body treatment (i am using Body Shop’s Cocoa Butter scrub and Spa Wisdowm oil massage), face treatment (i am using Thalgo’s Marine scrub and Body Shop’s Purifying masque). This routine is especially important for work-stricken lads like myself. This is what we call Quality Time for body and soul. Tonight is extra special becoz i get to pray Terawih in a spa-scented bedroom

Sometimes it helps to put away a bit of your time in life for such treatments. Do try it!

Saturdays are also meant for Girlfriends…. spent the day painting Nad’s face today, and we went ga-ga over Tag Heuer watches at Starhill. We promised ourselves that we will save enough to get out boyfriends a watch from Tag. Those boys have been working so hard to try and afford us, its only fair to want to get them something nice soon.

Hari Raya is in a few weeks, and the girls and i are up to our Raya shopping tomorrow. We city girls couldnt care anymore about menempah baju raya because we wear work clothes most of the time in life right now. So KL Sentral is the place to be tomorow morning to get affordable ready made raya clothes.

I never really enjoy Raya anyway, becoz Ramadhan is a lot more meaningful for me.

Anyways, the girls and i are already scheduling a good hair-day to head to the saloon and get a head massage. Hooray!! I love head massages We will also get a manicure-pedicure session where all of us can get our nails done and chit chat about how we too can make a lot of money by washing women’s nails.

Until ten… i shall just enjoy my Orange Blossom scent tonite…..

My little splurge last week

Orange Blossom

I wanted this year’s Ramadhan to be fulfilling- endless prayers at the mosque and feel the closeness of God as close as my veins are to me.

Unfortunately, my career is getting in the way. I think of nothing else but work these days. I chant of what i hope to accomplish in office the next day when i go to bed each night.

I look forward to Monday mornings so that i could conduct all the meetings to solve all the issues. I buy roses and place them in a vase on my desk at work. My colleagues are among my bestest friends. I read up at night on articles about "Management" and "Motivation" at the workplace and many more from the Harvard Business Review.

And i dont feel like Ramadhan in Ramadhan this year. These first 6 days of the holy month has just passed by for me like its the usual week.

Except fpr the nite prayers.

But today, i had he most amazing iftar with my girlfriends and it brings me memories of my youth back in UIA and the joy we had when ramadhan comes. And i’m glad we get to still do it again this year. Iftar followed by Terawih at the nearest mosque at my house, and Frapuccino at Starbucks followed after that.

6 days went by like a blast.

I hope to make a difference next week.

Today is among the toughest days of my working life.

I got stucked between a demanding boss, a handful of workload and a handful of very uncooperative acquaintances.

My day started off as the usual leaving to work at 7.15am- during Ramadhan, i rarely sleep after sahur because the limited time would only make me feel more sleepy if i were to take a nap. So the in between time i would spend bugging Aziz Bakar with my unnecessary thoghts or reading Bill Clinton’s Presidential Years.

Once i arrive at office, I log on to my Outlook and found myself to feel dissapointed again- no market feedback from the Export Market. (What ARE they up to, anyway?) And also my usual dissapoinment at the Sales people who refuses to consolidate the complaints data.

Ms. Manager comes in at 9am- fashionably late as usual, but with her cheerful "Good Morning" and "So, what do we have today?" The answer to my question resulted in her bombarding the Export office and Sales office and making those bosses pee in their pants.

At 11am we all walked to R&D for a hot meeting with the big guns of the company. AT 12noon we ran back to our office to re-do our presentation for today after the breakout of the new updated info and decision by the Management. At 1.00pm, although it is lunchtime, we were still sitting in the meeting room, crunching the figures in and drawing up the chart.

This includes making numerous phonecalls, threatening people and reading raw data. This resulted in big migraine headache, a series of memaki orang yang tak buat kerja and mengucap banyak kali because it is after all, bulan puasa.

At the end of the day, i was given a car with a new to test drive for the day and and make an evaluation report by tomorrow. Its already 6.20pm and i started to hit the highway and got myself trapped into the pre-iftar jam.

Arrived home 2 seconds before the azan. Ate. Prayed. Relaxed. AT 9.30pm i’m already in dreamland.

Its the same routine everyday and i found myself to be very very tired but amazingly motivated.

For once in my young life, i feel like i’m maximizing my potential.

And the hours that passes us by, i breathe in the air of uncertainties as i reach high for my ambition.

The many many hours that passes us by- will never come again. I will never be 25 again. And now that i am, i realized, that if there was an age in life where i would overwork and get worn out, it would be this age, and this time.

Obviously happiness is not always about getting what you want, but mostly about making the best out of what is given to you, and doing the right thing.

And to make full use of The Hours. So that The Hours that passes us by… we give out to it with all our might.

I love feeling closer to God again. Thats why Ramadhan is my fave month.

The best thing about it is definitely the Terawih and the fact that every deed is doubled its points.

InsyaAllah, this will be a good Ramadhan for me.

Work of course is not so good when you dont get to drink coffee during meeting. I actually fell asleep in one when my boss was yakking about some engine transmission. Not my fault… it was difficult to keep awake! And those International Business Dept people who calls themselves IBD (in my bosses’ term- I Belum Datang)- because they are super slow……. always arrives for meeting late and clueless… Gggggrrrrr!!! So when my boss gave them a good spanking, i woke up from my dreamland too.

Aaaahhhh….. Ramadhan…. i love it when we get to wake up for sahr and the house is still…….. but i so dread my sleepy head during that hour!! I wish we didnt have to work for the whole of this month!!

Anyway, to all friends, family and lovers

Selamat Berpuasa and do perform your night prayers religiously.

September 24th, 2006- Aziz Bakar wrote an article for NST and it appeared in prints today. One of his most inspiring wriiten piece, i’d have to say…. alhough i have received others which were focused on another side of his emotions

However i don’t think this article did him any justice. Truth be told, he had a tough life in Harvard. In fact, he had a tough life all of his childhood and in the US. He never had a mum, and on days where we have our mothers cooking sahur for us, he would just skip it.

In Harvard and even now, he has a huge student loan on top of his head that he had to clear up. Maxis only gave 30%. And even today, after only getting quarter of a scholarship from Maxis, it sure seems like as if he was fully sponsored for it.

Truth be told- he was not, and he’s still paying for his own today.

Even how things were turning out for him, the typical Aziz Bakar wold naturally do whats right, rather than what he wants.

And for that, sometimes i just cannot stand it. Because it is always a lot easier to do the easy thing, and a lot harder to do what we are obligated to do.

But perhaps with such discipline and diligence then people become successful, eh?

I hate Radin and Mass for making me shop.

I splurged unnecessarily on a Shu Uemura makeup box and a Pink Motorola.

In my defense, i needed the makeup box (that comes along with peach colored blusher, lipstick and many more) because i really needed a peach colored blusher to make me look fresher at work. (Gosh… i sooooo sound like a dumb blonde!!)

In my defense, I also needed a pink cellphone to differentiate my gender whenever i am in a meeting with the R&D boys. You see, when we all place our handphones on the meeting table, i had to make sure mine looks like a ‘girl’s’ handphone. (Again…. this is the dumb blonde side of me speaking….)

But if i were to really blame anyone for making me splurge, it will be Mass and Radin. Mass was getting herself a handphone, so i was influenced. Radin did not need a new one, but was also influenced by me and Mass.

OK, tomorow is Ramadhan, so maybe this is a good way to start the month. (By having a shopping spree at Bintang Walk on the eve of Ramadan?) So NOT!!!

We are very ashamed of oursleves.

Moral of the story- dont shop with your girlfriends.

For the last 2 months, i have been pondering over a place that both me and Aziz Bakar has captured our eyes on. Our dream house. Aaaaaahh….

My mother and i, along with twinnie tweet visited a show unit of a new housing area today, under the request of my dearest faraway boyfren.

Aziz Bakar and i have been talking about getting a house to call our own ever since he finished Harvard. Now that he has started this contract in New York again, things are looking brighter for the house-engagement plans.

Even since then, i became his sole "Property Agent" because there is no way he could spend very little hours that he has left in his daily routine (he works for more than 12 hours a day mostly) to check out properties in KL.

We decided on our old-timer favourite, TTDI as a place to call home. Until i took a drive to Desa Park City (behind TTDI) and fell in love, all over again.

What would be perfect for us is a 3-storey terrace, so Aziz Bakar could have his own study room complete with a garden view and i could have my home studio with those cute dressing room lightbulbs. We’d have a huge kitchen where i could make pasta and Aziz Bakar could spice up his usual signature Tom Yam. And we’d have a fantastic bathroom in the master bedroom complete with a bathtub or jacuzzi ala’ spa. With lots of candles! candles! candles!

I think Desa Park City is perfect for career oriented modern individuals. You have to be open minded enough to accept its new lifestyle concept, guarded security and all, and Aziz Bakar and i just cannot wait to have our own place soon

This is truly our dream house… just 5 minutes away from my parents and an amazingly gorgeous landscape…. totally breathtaking….

I cannot wait….!!

Yes, thats true. ME who never listens to Radio ERA because Linda Onn is irritating. ME who hates lagu Melayu except for those lagu Alleycats. ME who hates Akademi Fantasia and thinks Aznil is a real anoyying fag. ME who the hell cares about the existence of Mawi. ME who became Siti’s no.1 ex-fan. ME who NEVER ever really watch Anugerah Era when they air it on TV live because i just don’t like it at all, because i think its just so damn irritating.

I WAS AT ANUGERAH ERA LAST WEEK.

And i went because as much as i still hate AF and Linda Onn, i was as curious as a cat. What is it really like?

Radin The Star Journalist had to do a coverage there, so we got backstage passes and VIP treatment. The theme was Leather and Denim but none of us were living in Texas, so Radin decide on a pink tshirt and pants while i wore a satin top, jeans and long, fake eyelashes. I had the eyelashes on for extra glamour, with some glitter on my eyelids.

I thought me and Radin was overdressed, but when we met the "Artists", we started to giggle.

They are all fakes and none of them are smart. A lot of pondans at awards like these. Erra Fazira is really pretty and Sazzy Falak is really hot. Mawi can be rather cute if he doesnt walk around so much with his Mat Rempits bodyguards. This new artiste called Farawahida can sing well but she is so kaki ampu journalist. Ning Baizura looks like a diva when she is all glammed up but she is so insecure- i can so tell. Linda Onn is not pretty she wears too much powder foundation. Nasha Aziz is drop dead gorgeous. Spider can really sing. The performances were awesome.

I will never go to another Anugerah again. But, if given the chance to see Mawi sing at a closed up show, i will go because he can so shake the house up.

These are pics of me and Radin at the show and Mawi doing a press conference.

My brother, Kabir Ally, is not only the most irritating guy you can ever be related to, but he’s also the ultimate net-savvy person in Taman Tun.

So savvy it gets weird at times.

He has the ibook and the new Mac and the Shuffle and the new Ipod. Anything that screams "new" or "ipod" is within his grasp. This also makes him the enthusiastic photographer and photo editor, becoz when you have a Mac, those things come together. Thats how he introduced me to Flickr. Go to Flickr.com and my id is airanatchiar.

I couldnt remember when the dial up broadband was banned from our home, since the middle ages, i have already been living with hi speed wifi- which naturally turns our house into a Starbucks or a run-down cyber cafe.

Worst, my brother would YM me from his bedroom. From his ibook to my Dell. Then i introduced him to Gmail and GoogleTalk and he started anoyying me through that with the instant messages. And to think his bedroom is just opposite mine! He would do the same thing to twinnie and so as you can see, our days of torture has begun ever since broadband came to Malaysia. Argh!! So much for technology!

I plug a webcam all the time on my laptop at home, and on the day Kabir Ally brought his majestic black colored Mac home, it apprently also comes with a camera like the Sony Vaio. Argh!!! Of course my brother’s face was constantly on my pc, through our webcams.

He sends me pics of Snowy and Casey the housecats everyday from his Nokia Telecommunicator- a yet another camera phone and internet gadget.

I pointed out that the world could see that he’s living in a pigsty because of the background of his messy room. After that he switched off the webcam.

We call each other through Skype if he is downstairs watching the CSI series and i’m upstairs playing with my laptop. The usual conversation would be:

My bro: Riiiingggggggggggg!

Me: Hello? Nak apa??!

My bro: Ibuk panggil. Suruh cuci pinggan.

Me: @!###$%%%&!!*!

Well, so much for technology. At least i have flickr now, so all of you can see what i have been really up to, becoz those photos are uncensored and need no parental advisory to access.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/airanatchiar/

I think i miss New York more than i miss this dude.

The best thing about New York is seeing the men in business suits and the girls in the best looking shoes. The hustle and bustle of Grand Central Terminal and the coffee vendor by the roadside.

Everyday at 8pm, i would call Aziz Bakar when he walks to work in between 5th and Park Avenue. I would have just reached home from work and stripping myself off my Proton uniform. He has joined the daily workforce of business suits and red ties.

Everyday at 11am, Aziz Bakar would call me on his way home from work just to notify me that he’s just about to leave office and that he works hard every single day so that i will have a comfortable future.

Eeeeew……. so much for the New Yorker.

What i hate about Aziz Bakar is his deep motivation for perfection and diligence. Sometimes its just too much that mere normal people like me look really lazy and so a loser-wannabe.

I mean, who reads up before and after work so that they can perform better? Aziz Bakar.

Who spends his weekends preparing for work on Monday by again reading and looking up assignments? Aziz Bakar.

Who walks home from work by walking instead when the company provides Limo allowances as a benefit? Aziz Bakar.

Who buys his own dinner after work when the company provides allowances for that too? Aziz Bakar.

Dumbfounded, i think i’m actually ending my life with the biggest goody-two-shoes on the planet!