What a Year..2008

Alhamdullillah...the new year is finally here..It has been two days since I am back behind the desk; playing 'busy' and continue to fool others with the tapping of the keyboard keys. I was away for over a week; I just needed the break to lay back and relax with mak and saadiah. What was supposed to be a six-day-break extended to a ten glorious, hassle-free, cuti-cuti malaysia..

I decided to head back to chemor for the christmas break and head back again to kl for new years since all the bosses were away (and I do mean ALL BOSSES) and we had the whole office to ourselves! (woo hoo...imagine the hours spent on YM/IM, Limewir-ing, playing games, shopping at IKEA, God, the list just never ends). A break from the city was all I needed; away from TTDI, away from home, away from people...just away, away..

I have not had an away away getaway for a long, long time...since I got married in 2005. Let's see:- Got married, slogged behind the dapur at the shop right after the wedding, worked in a hotel, jumped to Prestige Communications, got pregnant, still had to work to pay off my maternity check-up bills and baby stuff, gave birth, joined MAVTRAC, continued working, getting a divorce, moved back to melawati, went for counseling, Deva got married..........
ARGGGHHHH...it was just too much to swallow! I had to get away - and the perfect getaway with no extra money to pay, good food, plenty of love and care - CHEMOR!!

Hence, began our road trip back to my kampung. Got the car loaded with food for saadiah, chocolate for mak (hey, it was supposed to be a road-trip, where you are supposed to enjoy the beautiful sights and nature! And there is a baby on board...Plus a lot of roadblocks maaaa...so, must drive at 80kmph) Amazingly, we got to Ipoh after 2.5 hours on the road. No singgah2 at mak's favourite R&R as Asu had cooked up a whole load of food enough for the kampung for us to savour.

The following days were just relaxing and bumming around at home, watching TV (yup, we actually sat and watch TV diligently since our TV back home has been out of service since yonks! We were living like cavewomen!) We made a trip down to Teluk Batik, Lumut, where Saadiah had her first go at swimming (in her tiny swimsuit) for a good half hour. Then, both Saadiah and I got the stomach flu - everything in our stomach 'flu' out for a good two days! I felt as though I was auditioning for Linda Blair's part in The Return of the Exorcista. We went jagung shopping at the road stall along Jalan Jelapang...and bought jagung enough to get your body all fibred down for a whole month. I did learn a new trick on how to boil fresh jagung from kak seh - to add some salt and sugar into the boiling water and leave it to boil further for 15 mins. I dreaded the day when we had to leave Chemor; I was just not ready to face the city, to go back behind the desk at work! But the dream about my boss, En Zul failing me at my appraisal, gave me a scare that we finally left on Saturday, 3rd January 2009 - coming back to reality.

2008 was just not the year for me... a lot of turbulence; at home, at work, financially, mentally. I am just glad that that particular chapter/year is OVER! Finito...The end!! Goodbye to sleeping alone, goodbye to heartaches, goodbye to suppressed emptiness, goodbye to sad memories...HELLO to newly found life, hello to happiness, hello to 2009!