Whatever

The dentist could not give me a slot this week for the tooth extraction because the guy who’s supposed to look at the x-rays has not done so. As much as I hate things being delayed, this time, it’s a-ok, cos the tooth is not hurting any more and the whole surgery really isn’t something I’ve been looking forward to. I’ll wait for them to call. If it’s next year, even better!

Anyways, I was approached by a head hunter recently with an offer that was nice enough to make me consider leaving the company I am with right now. I’ve always thought that after eight years of working where I am today, it is about the right time to move before I become part of the building fixtures! But apart from my worry of becoming something of a museum display, I thought that, for a change, it would have been nice to move and work in downtown KL where I could take the LRT instead of drive to work, and be just across the street from where an anakikan works so I could harass her for lunch every other day.

BUT then again, I thought, perhaps not. For pure sentimental reasons. I have been here since I was just a trainee at 18 years old, they sent me abroad to study and have so kindly groomed me to be where I am today (not that its such a great position by the way, but alhamdulillah!). The timing for this offer was also not quite right, it came on the day I was given a wee lil promotion and so to even consider it felt so, so wrong! And there’s just so much pride taken in what has been achieved by the company so far. Then of course, there’s the fact that, I met the love of my life here. Which is really, perhaps, the reason why I don’t want to go.

N and I have worked in the same company, even before I met and laid my eyes on him for the first time and knew that he exists in this world. When we got married, it was like a company affair to the point that the wedding dinner became somewhat more like a company dinner than a wedding! It was a celebration of sorts for the company, as some “matchmaking” efforts had actually succeeded, or so they claim.

Having said that, we are hardly what you’d call an item. Our offices are on the same floor, less than a 3 minute walk away. We attend the same meetings, we go for the same functions. But, you’d never see us having breakfast together in the mornings, we almost never have lunch together unless it’s a lunch meeting and we even go to work in separate cars. It’s weird. Even, our colleagues have labeled us as weird and some have even gossiped that I am probably Wife Numero 2 which is why we come and go separately! Oh well, let them talk aye?

And really when I think of it, I can’t really touch-base on what exactly I like about having him in the same office with me. It’s probably the fact that I can go ask for lunch money when I didn’t bring enough. It’s probably the fact that I can always “tumpang” him home when I’m too lazy to drive. It’s probably the fact that I get so much thrill out of sneaking winks at him across meeting tables and watching him squirm with embarrassment. And hey, when else can a wife watch her husband be instructed around in the office by the bosses (cheap sadistic thrill isn’t it?) OR on the other hand watch how “macho”-like the husband can get when handling the day to day operations of the projects we’re working on (my hero! Sigh…)? Plus, it gives us a lot of common ground…we’re passionate about the same things, he understands the stress I have and leaves me alone to layan my feelings at the right times and vice versa.

It’s comfortable being here with him. A little comfort zone away from home. It’s almost perfect actually (if I were his boss, then it’d be PERRRRFECT! Haha!). And perhaps I am a closet-clinger but I am too "sexy" to admit that! haha!

Then again, the offer is good. And I could take the LRT, so no more traffic jams!! PLUS I could go window-shopping after work. Sigh! Sigh! Sigh! Tempations! Temptations!

I suppose, these are things that money can't buy and becoming an antique in this place can't be that bad. So, I won’t leave.

I won’t.

I won't, right?

I need a brain check.

The Visit to the Dentist

Thank you for all the kind wishes and support. Not to mention the few horror stories thanks to my storyteller friend Oody and co. It helped, really!

The day I was due to meet the dentist, I woke up with my heart pounding against my chest. It was pounding so hard, you could almost see my body quivering with each pound..Or… was that just me shivering?

Anyway, although I said I was to meet the dentist, I hadn’t actually made any appointments. I thought, “Surely there are an abundance of dentists around the area where I live and surely they’re all free to see me.” Yeah right. The dentistry business I guess is in a boom. N and I spent a good hour that morning calling up almost all the dental clinics in our area for an appointment. ALL of them turned us down flat, and almost all could only fit me in on Saturday! I never knew business was that good. And I suppose, since everybody has teeth and everybody else in this world, except for me and Dr Bubbles, visit dentists every 6 months, business should and must be really good!

After that one hour of rejection, I was almost (gladly) about to give up, when a kind nurse called me back to say that a patient had cancelled an appointment with the doctor at her clinic, so she told me to come at 11.30. I said “ok” but actually inside, I was going “Oh no!” Drats!

I arrived at exactly 11.30 am. It was a really nice clinic. There was no need to guess whether the doctor was female or male. The clinic was very feminine. There were artwork in neat frames on each wall, nice little plotted plants everywhere, nicely wall-papered walls and nice scents of potpourri permeating the room. So, I sunk into one of the plush sofas in the cosy little sitting room waiting for my name to be called, while staring aimlessly at the TV showing some Indonesian drama series with a book that I brought with me on my lap. (which was just for show, really. How could I read then??)

I was just beginning to relax and convince myself that the whole thing was really not a big deal at all, when I heard an intense drilling sound coming out from the consultation room. It brought back not so very happy memories from the past! The drills, the scaling thing, the huge needles. Urrrrgggghhh! I felt sick already. Even my tummy did a few summersaults in agreement!

Then my name was called. I had imagined the doctor to be a big burlesque woman with a surgical mask covering her face, and a stern voice to match and a hard disgusted look as though saying, “you naughty-naughty girl. You haven’t been brushing your teeth well!” Oh no!! But instead, to my surprise, it was a petite, pretty little lady with a smile that could grace any toothpaste advert effortlessly. She said, “My dear, how are you? What is the problem that you need me to fix?”... Sighhh...I felt better instantly. Phew!

The rest is history. The ordeal, was as usual unpleasant. I mean, how could opening your mouth for a stranger to see and poke with dangerous looking stainless steel objects that can drill and make holes in your mouth be pleasant? Regardless of whether she is pretty and has a smile that could kill. Really. She was a good doctor though, very gentle (well, she tried) and very thorough. Definitely one I would recommend.

The wisdom tooth? I still don’t get how it can be wise or make anyone any wiser! Well, it was badly infected (for a tooth that makes you wise) and needed some cleaning up plus two injections. The doctor put me on antibiotics and painkillers which should keep me sane till my scheduled surgery next week. I have however, decided not to worry about it this weekend, where I intend to have major la-la fun minus the yum-yum food! I’ll start the worry frenzy and the p*e in my pants drama beginning Monday.

In the meantime… Have a good weekend folks!

Oral Agony

If anyone were to ask me about Raya 2005, I’d have only one thing to say…PAINFUL! Sure, there were the good ol first few days where, one gleefully hentams all the food and all, go visiting and catching up with long lost sedara mara etc. Sure, I had all that. Perhaps, I went way overboard on Raya and the makan....cos come last week, I had to pay for it.

First, came the shivers on Wednesday night and by Thursday morning, my thermometer was showing a long line of red mercury. Down with fever, I was! To make things worse, and perhaps as a little message from God to "s.l.o.w d.o.w.n o.n t.h.e f.o.o.d", by evening my mouth was infested with nasty little ulcers from hell. Not one or two, but easily about 20! And by yesterday morning the count was 35 numbers in all. (ulcer count by courtesy of Deana Abd Aziz, my lovely darling sister, who also applied my ulcer ointments for me!).

For someone who really can eat and loves to eat, this was waaaaaaay too big a problem. I even tried braving it out munching rice and ikan bakar with Ummi and Oody who so graciously came to have lunch with me at my home, for Friday lunch. I felt a lot better then with such great company but come Friday night, I was down again with fever, my mouth sore like nothing else..and for the next few days to come, was put on a diet of liquid food as anything else would just invite excrutiating pain! Even to smile was a chore, which in the end I just gave up doing!

People said gargle with Listerine. I did that. It didn’t help. Gargle with salt water. Did that; no change. Bonjela? Hopeless. Apply salt on ulcers..well, that just invited a lot of creative mencarut -ing which is a no-no in ahouse of two toddlers! Doctor gave mouth wash and another oral ointment with antibiotics..No change. Until yesterday, our office GP at our building gave another ointment, which supposedly kicks the *ss out of ulcers., Lo and behold, within a night, they are now almost gone!! God bless that lady!

BUT, BUT, BUT..Now I have this horrible pain at the very back of my upper right gum. My wisdom tooth is out! Oh no! I find it painful to even open my mouth...I can’t even chew a single soft buttery pineapple tart and thus, have to still survive on liquid food! Looks like, the inevitable has come. I need to see a dentist. The problem is, I hate dentists. Errr..let me rephrase that, I HATE dentists! They scare the hell out of me; and it doesn’t help when I hear horror stories of people who had dentists standing on chairs yanking out their wisdom teeth for them, or those who almost bled to death having had their wisdom teeth yanked out! Help!

I am scheduled for my dentist appointment tomorrow and am so scared I could almost p*e in my knickers! Pray that my dental episode will go by painlessly and without drama! Please do pray that my teeth and mouth fully recover from this bout of mishaps of ulcers and teeth which should never be called wise in the first place. Most of all, please pray that I will be able to eat again like a normal person and not have to live on McDonalds chicken porridge as I have been for the past few days. And if I have all that, I promise…I will be good and I will update this blog more frequently than I do now. Aaaamin.

Honeymoon RingRings

I don’t know why, but suddenly memories of my honeymoon, almost 6 years back keep coming by playing peek-a-boo with me today.

Perhaps it’s because on the way to work today, N and I were discussing on the remote possibility of us going for a whirlwind holiday this end of year. The discussion was a letdown. Mainly because, at the very mention of going for a holiday, N said, “Cannot go. Busy!”. Of course, as I work in the same outfit as N, I understandably understand the predicament he is in. But I understandably do not want to understand him.. Understand?

"Busy", from previous experience means that, although he could probably physically afford not to be present in the office, it would mean that the holiday, if we went, would be disrupted somewhat, by phonecalls every other hour of the day and thus rendering poor N, unable to enjoy what holidays are supposed to be. Rest and relax. Fun and excitement. Stress and headache free. You know, all things nice that will not happen in the office?

Which brings me to the honeymoon.

There we were, two-day-old newlyweds. One very excited N, and one dazed Anedra touched down on the 1st February 2000 at the Cairo International Airport. N, excited that he’d be seeing the pyramids and visiting the National Museum in Cairo soon. Anedra, dazed that she was married, with no clue on how to behave as a wife and wondering whether her newly acquired husband would allow her a ride on a camel in the desert, to live out her childhood dream of becoming an Egyptian Princess!

Of course, after watching enough Hollywood movies to be convinced that a honeymoon would and must be all sugar-coated and dripping with honey-like lovey-dovey-mushiness, my expectation was nothing less. If we could, we'd have walked in the clouds, as well...or rather, I would have. Well, that didn’t really happen for us. It did, during the 10 hour flight, cos we weren’t contactable by phone. But once we touched down..it was ring-ring a few times a day at the most inconvenient hours. Nak pegang tangan je..Rrring! Nak romantic dinner je..Ringring! When about to whisper sweet nothings to him, he was responding not so sweet stuff to the phone on the other ear. Oh, and let’s not even get to the other stuff that honeymooners do on honeymoons, which were interrupted with ringrings!

honeymooning me

Thank God, for the exotic beauty of Cairo and the Nile which served as good distraction from the ringrings for me and for blessing me with patience when it comes to my Ns ringrings. And thank God to Hollywood for sort of setting my mind into a honeymoon mood no matter what. Also, Thank God for N, despite the ringsrings, he never once showed any sign of stress, although he must've been somewhat annoyed by it all!

I never did get my camel ride in the end; it was almost winter, and very cold at times. I would have been crazy to pay, just to freeze my not-so-large-bum-then on a camel! However, the honeymoon as I remember it, was, nevertheless beyoootiful beyond words and for me romantic anyway, with warm fuzzy memories and the sound of distant faint ringrings of the phones attached. And I am pretty sure, as much as we were disturbed by the calls, N had his share of fun, there in Egypt.. only that, it could have been better if headaches from KL didn't have to be shared across the oceans all the way with us in Egypt, I'm sure.

So, I do want to be selfish and persuade N to be a bit wreckless and say "sod it" and go for a holiday anyway. It would do him good. Over time, unlike N, I have been able to shut out and ignore the ringrings when they come (but then again, I'm not paid to answer ringrings, so I can!). The ringrings are anyway, inevitably, a very large part of our everyday life. I suppose, it shall be so, for as long as he does what he does for a living these days. And therefore, I suppose phone ringrings should not deter us from having a life, and from us going for that holiday. Makes sense, doesn't it?

All I am asking for is a getaway, even if it has to be extra short. I know he needs one too, even more than I do, really! Even if it isn't somewhere beautifully breathtaking and exotic with camels or handsome Italian men. Even if it's not romantic (which will not happen with our kids in tow). Even if it's not a second honeymoon like we oh-so want. Even if it's just

Bagan Lalang at Sepang!

And, even if N's phone ringrings all the time. I think we can manage that. Afterall, they invented the "on-off" button for a reason, didn't they?

Constipated

After a one-week absence from the office, getting my heavy post-Raya bum out of bed was a chore. Especially, when my other half decided to declare today a day of leave for himself and was gleefully snoring away as I hit the showers. Sheeesh..some people have the luxury.

As for coolies like me, post Raya week seems already jam-packed with assignment after assignment. Most of which I do not look forward to, as each (as I scanned through the workload), spelt M.A.J.O.R problems. Most of which are due by the 11th and that’s just this Friday!! Most of which involved scores of issues that have to be addressed and resolved (not by me but I have a wonderful job that requires me to be stuck in the middle) and which potentially could result in moi being screwed by the bosses. Not because I was at fault for all the problems that we have, but more because, I’d be the one within nearest reach to them! Sheeeesh again!

In addition to work stress, yours truly is not all in the best of physical state either. In terms of bowel movement, that is. It seems that the bowel has not moved for days!! Again, proves my belief that the mind and body (mine, that is) are not in synch. My mind says, please Numero Uno, come! But the body buat donno je! Oh the torture and the headaches! I swear I drank all my water. Tonnes of it! I downed glass after glass of prune juice. I ate fruit after fruit. And after consultation with an experienced one with a spastic colon (for she must be an expert!), I tried the qi qong moves she prescribed at 1am last night in my toilet. Imagine doing qi qong waves at such wee hours of the morning. 15 repetitions…bowel still will not move. But there was gas, lots! This morning I swallowed two Nona Roguy extra-strong-killer-phyto-cleanse tablets, which normally makes your face purple and sweaty with pain. Nope, nada, zilch, nothing, no pain so far. I am thinking of getting some petai, jering, buah kerdas or something like that after work..see whether that’ll help! I normally stay away from those..but desperation shall make me give in. After all, stinky business calls for stinky pods, no? I tell ya..once I do get to the loo for business Numero Uno..I shall celebrate and rejoice. All of you, come makan at my place!! Yes!

Ooops. Time to go..But not to the loo unfortunately. Am scheduled for a “merry” meeting with the management. Am so not in the right frame of mind for serious discussions today. I hope the Nona Roguy killer-extra-strong-phyto-cleanser tablets kick in during the meeting. I’d rather be stuck in the loo today, than be in a room with stressed men while managing a constipated bowel, and I guess..a rather constipated post-hari-Raya mind too!

In the meantime, while waiting for The Call from Numero Uno…I’ll just think happy thoughts.