EncikHusband and I went down to Gettysburg for a quick getaway. We initially planned to head out on Friday after work but he thought it'd be nice to 'make' me watch the movie 'Gettysburg' before we went on Saturday. I survived the 4 hr movie with a nap in between. Trust me, it was long but exciting. I got to know all generals, colonels, infantry, cavalry, artillery, etc. so it did make the auto tour of the national military park a lot easier. there were so many monuments, about 10000 pieces, around the 25 miles square battlefield. The place is huge and sacred. So many disturbing images; dead army and sailors and animals. Anyhoo..

Unexpectedly, I'll be going to Texas to visit Mom on Friday. It'll be a short trip as though Dad asked me to help him out to get Mom settled at home after being hospitalized for 2 weeks. She'd gone through a minor surgery on her lung and the doctors found a few abression in it. Her lung was sticking onto her chest wall, in which it was not supposed to so it was believed to be the cause of her back chest pain. It'll take her about 1-2 months to fully recover with no heavy lifting and active moving. She also was diagnosed with sudden inflammatory response. But being she is, it'll be hard to confine her so that's why I'm needed there. A few days is still plenty according to Dad, afterall, he paid for my roundtrip flight down there. EncikHusband will not be going with me because of work and school and again, it's not vacation. As much as I hate missing work, I think this justifies family emergency, don't you think? What would you guys do if you were in my position?

I talk to her for a minute of two, here and there but she sounds very tired, and her voice is soft. Please pray for her speedy recovery.

EncikHusband & I would also like to wish "Selamat Berpuasa Kepada Ummat Islam Seluruh Dunia"

i) Happy 51st Birthday Dad!! You're not old, you're just smarter and wiser. I love you very much.

ii) my menstrual cycle has come back..to normal. this is a great news as we're getting ready to start trying real soon. i used the ovulation calculator to estimate my ovulating, and based on my last cycle calculation, my period this month is right on time. hopefully it stays this way until we get pregnant. i'm just happy that it comes back without any problem after being on the pills for a year and a half.

iii) but the sad news is...Mom has been hospitalized since 2 nights ago. she's in the ICU ward at Baylor's. it all started with her sharp back pain; not kidney stone kinda pain and made its way quickly to her chest area. the doctors and specialists suspected a bad case of pneumonia but the cat scan didn't reveal anything obvious. they did the ultrasound, bloodtest, xray, and whatnot but they have yet to determine the cause. they also checked her heart and the diagnosis was good. she's been complaining about her back pain in the upper chest since a few months ago. they went to visit the specialist a few times andfinally was ordered to do a lung biopsy. but, this place has been delaying the scheduling and now she's in the hospital in pain, Dad is gonna ask them if they can perform the biopsy as well when he sees the pulmonologist (pulmonary specialist). but you can only ask them to do so much, i guess they 'know' what they're doing. she's stable, but is in a lot of pain. it's sorta ironic when she was up here visiting us, she was talking about how if she died, she wanted her body to be sent & be buried in Malaysia. i really hope and pray that she gets better soon and that her 'death' talking was just a nonsense talk. i wish i could be there for her with Dad. if her status's changed to worse/critical/life-threatening, I definitely will go back to Texas in a New York minute! I don't care about work when it comes to Mom and Dad, she's only got me, her closest blood kin in this foreign land we call home. Please, please, I beg all of you, to keep her in your prayer.

parents finally left for Texas yesterday. i packed almost 2 containers of blueberry scones with melted peaches for their lunch. it's Dad's new favorite; Mom doesn't bake as much as I do. now he wants to move up closer to us even more so he can have good baked goodies every day. yeah right.

on the way back from the airport, i stopped by at the mall. as always, i never came home with empty hands. i bought a pair of Karen Scott red flats that was on sale, $20.97. so stinking cheap and comfy, too. while passing the handbag dept., i spotted a Fossil saddle on sale for $47.97. I couldn't pass it up so i grabbed it and quickly made my way to the cashier because if i were to wait and think if i really should get it, i'd have felt even worse. when she scanned the tag, it actually came out as $38.60, almost 10 bucks cheaper. my guilty feeling then was all gone.

i also got a new D&B medium slouch. nice color, just nice in size. actually i exchanged the red french leather medium domed D&B with this new one. the body was bright red, very soft, very delicate. i was too worried to use it because i was afraid i'd get it stained (ignore redundancy here). so to save myself from getting some headache and heartache, i decided to exchange it with the brocade signature monograms. it's almost matchy-matchy with my new coach soho signature wallet. you can say i'm a happy camper.

encik husband is still out of town. it's been a week since i last saw him, this work trip is very long i don't even like it. his final year in grad school is gonna commence next week. it'll be only one stinking big final project, funded fully by LM, the company and the sole sponsor of the Masters program he and other 9 friends are in. i still remember when he asked me if he should apply for it because it's very competitive and selective program. there were 2-3-4 interviews he had to go thru before at least a few hundreds candidates, if not more with outstanding undergrad academic history, and only 10 will get selected for admission from Cornell Uni. every year. i didn't even think before i said he should do it. this one chance, this opportunity will probably come in once in his lifetime, to get a Cornell education with everything paid (with close to $40K in tuition per year!). then came in series of interviews and finally he delivered the great news 2 years ago. i was so happy for him to get selected. i was thinking for his future in the company, a graduate degree from one of the prestigious, Ivy League schools will definitely give him an edge to move up a little quicker. or if he were to go somewhere else, in which i highly doubt, will earn more money for him. so being a dutiful and loving wife i am, i pray for his success and support him along the way and so far he's been getting all A's (i know, i'm allowed to brag!!). my parents are planning to come up for his commencement in May next year.

uhmmpp, i meant to write a quick update. anyway, , 'til then.

Mom and Dad arrived on Friday around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I loaded up the fridge with veggies, silk soymilk, juices, fruits, and meats. We took them out to a vietnamese restaurant for dinner, came home just about time for the 080808 beijing olympic opening ceremony. We tried to stay up late to see our representing countries; US and Malaysia but they were doing it differently this time, not by the alphabetical order like the usual. I didn't even bother to TiVo it either.

So on Saturday, as part of their anniversary gift, we went to the picture studio to do a family portrait. We did the formal pose and some crazy pose as well. This town is apprently so small, we didn't get the pictures right away, the proof is sent to North Carolina for printing. Weirdo. Anyway, we went to get lunch and did some window shopping for abit before headed home. We were so tired that we all decided to nap.

I've been missing Mom's cooking for a very long time, so I paksa her to cook some authentic Malaysian dish; mee hoon goreng. Oh very yummy but very spicey ler. Eh did I tell you what I got for my 27th birthday from them? Fishes & petai. Lots and lots of them. Ikan Merah, Bawal, Kunyit-kunyit, Kembong, and Selayang. They were so faaaaaaatttt, too. She also got me a large wok, and the real authentic Thai, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore cook books. You won't believe the writings, a total Kampong. Not Asian Fusion thingamajigy. I'm a very happy camper.

Steve is out of town for 2- week business trip. I drove Dad and Mom to Cornell to visit the Plantations on Sunday. We went to see the herbs garden and boy, kunyit (tumeric)and limau purut (kafir lime) and kesom (vietnemese coriander or mint) bushes are thriving. The girl at the gift store said they sell those bushes in about a month or two. So I'll be making another trip to Ithaca in September to get those yummy herbs.

They left to visit granma and pop-pop today and won't be back until Friday. The house is very empty and quiet, too. I decided to drop my car off at the workshop at Sam's to get the imbalanced tires fixed. Meineke's screwed up the tire balance when they did the 30K miles tune-up. It vibrated like crazy as soon as I went over 60 MPH. I did bother to go back in and those idiots were just plain idiot. I'm sorry, how hard was it to get tires balanced out? Sam's Club can do it and they do it right. I told them flat out if it vibrates again, I'll come back and I'll bitch really good. Well, pardon my language, it wasn't their fault in the first place but I was so frustrated. He said I won't need to come back unless if I do. He also told me that the rear right tire was out of balance for about 3 ft.lb, God knows what that means but it was messed up pretty good that was why it vibrated so badly. But they're fixed now, and I did 2 rounds of test drive at 60 MPH, 70 MPH, and errr close to 80 MPH. Fortunately there were no highway patrols or cops around so I didn't get stopped for going way over the speed limit. The ride was so stinking smooth and quiet. So all is good now. Thanks to Sam's.

Anyway, I did some shopping on ebay for indian dvds. I bought 2 dvds from my regular indian dvd supplier and Jodha Akbar from Amazon. This way I won't feel so lonely at home when everybody's away.

OK, it's gonna sound gross and XXX.

my boobs have been sore for a few days now. my lower ab is bloating like nobody's business. i'm off of Yaz for good and i just had my period 2 weeks ago. so, i'm pretty sure i'm not pregnant. but based on these symptoms, i'm making my own assumptions that; my hormones are going crazy because there's no more pill to tell them, yes, she's pregnant no ovulation and likewise. and i'm also getting zit all over my face again. imagine what the pills can do to your skin care and menstrual cramp and PMS.

phewww move on. so i was able to talk myself out from getting a coach holiday patchwork. steve's gotten me a new coach soho wallet as a birthday treat instead, one with checkbook organizer and change pouch. it's still in the wrap and in a coach paper bag. it's like "hey, it's mine now, why the rush?"

Mom and Dad will arrive on Friday. Knowing Mom, she usually would bring 4 large size luggages, seriously, they're only gonna be here for a full week, but she'd pack almost every single outfit she has. and Dad's no different. they don't seem to care much about the new luggage regulation for plane. and i don't think my Camry can handle 4 passengers and 4 stinky large luggages at the same time. we're not sure where to take them around, it's not much of places you can go around where we live, the closest will still be about an hour drive, and that's Cornell U in Ithaca, his & soon to be Steve's alma mater. we may just lepak at home la kot... oooooohh i miss Dallas; the house, the pool, the shopping malls, lots of them.

and the funny thing is, i bought a few outfits from Gap for our twin niece and nephew (still to be born), they're so cute and adorable, they just melt your hearts. i showed them to the man of the house, and guess what he said?! "keep them all for our own baby, they're just too nice and cute to give away." yeah, he's almost getting there.

the celebration was awesome. we spent a night down in the Pocono$ at his family retreat after a shopping spree trip at wilkes-barre's mall. we went on another shopping spree on saturday, headed back home in the evening and decided to extend the celebration by staying overnight at the Mosca's. the McFiggins also joined us, we stayed up very late, about 3 something early in the morning playing Wii. we were knackered really good. we left their home after late breakfast. i continued my shopping spree again later while steve worked on my veggie garden terrace. it's super clean and no more weeds.

he treated me for a nice dinner and a coach soho wallet as a present. i'll post pictures when i'm not feeling too lazy later.

...Randy Pausch

I watched the Primetime show done on him a couple of days ago, and wept for 2 hrs after that. When I woke up in the morning after, I cried for some more. I showed up at work with puffy eyes, my colleagues thought I fought with my husband and that he made me cry this hard. I told them no, I cried for the late Randy, and his family. I wept for the guy I never knew personally, only through youtube and tv show.

I can never imagine watching someone that close, that I love so dearly, dying. The part that really broke my heart was when at the end of his "Last Lecture", he had his wife's close friend wheeled out a birthday cake for Jai, his wife. She walked up to him, hugged, and kissed him, and whispered to his ears, "Please don't die."

I "begged" Steve to go out later that day to the bookstore and got a copy of his book "The Last Lecture." The content was very similar to his speech but knowing that I have the hard copy of the book gives me a sense of peace in my heart. I still weep everytime I see the book, or think of him, his wife and 3 small children he's left behind. I've watched so many sad & touching movies, tv shows, and books but this one is the keeper.

The book will be one of family heirloom, it's cheap, but the content of it means a world to me. I hope my children will learn something very valuable from it.

yeah, call me krazy..even a materialistic human being I don't mind it at all..hehehe i've asked my dearest husband for Batignolles or Popincourt Hout for our 5th year anniversary..and that won't be until 2012 and yes, we can't afford an LV right now as we're starting a family soon..i'm also ready for a new bedroom set and a custom order & made non-standard size sliding doors don't come cheap. so right now, i'm okay with 2 D&B's, Cole Haan wallet & coin pouch set, and C***h holiday patchwork.

and if we're destined to live to celebrate, Insyaallah, our 25th wedding anniversary, i'm sure the pictures of the bling above will do the justice. (if it were up to me, i've had more than enough money to get either one of those myself but again, we're "planning for your retirement like you're gonna live forever & emergency fund & college tuition" person so i'll just wait for him to get it for me.)

seriously, i hope none of my soon-to-be cravings would be making out with this hottie. ooohhh i'm drooling already...

mom and dad will be visiting in august, partially for my birthday, reeds family gathering, and steve's company's employee appreciation event. my parents and brother-in-laws will also be visiting. it's gonna be a full house!

i can't believe i'm gonna be 27 years old, married with no kid. at least not yet. but with babies popping out every where in the world, i'm hopeful to get pregnant very soon. i only have 1 more week to go with the p*lls. my sis-in-law is expecting twins, with one of each. she's due to give birth in late november/early december via c-section. oh joy.

steve would like to think that jessica is his 'girlfriend.' he was a little devastated when she got pregnant and married to cash. but hey, he's got a little baby now, only he's not the father. it's the thought that counts, no?