Kitab Atok: tuturan alambina

finally....

malam tadi, tatkala senja berlabuh, kami dua keluarga berpicnic nasi lemak di La Jolla Shores.

SELAMAT TAHUN BARU 2008 . SEMOGA SEJAHTERA SEPANJANG TAHUN

posted by Atok @ 9:07:00 pm (1) comments

posted by Atok @ 6:49:00 pm (3) comments

so far, it has been..... mmm, 80% shopping and 20% sightseeing.



and another addition to my list of 'american terms' collected on my every trip here:

"Excuse me, where can I get a trolley?", I asked a shop assistant the other day.
She looked at me, confused... "What?", she replied.
"A trolley, where can I get one?", I said.
Her face was more confused.
"A trolley", I repeated .... and this time pointed to one being pushed by a mexican-looking mum along the aisle.
"You mean, a cart?", she replied.
"Oh yes, a cart, sorry", I said. :)


'trolley' is what they called their tram / light rail system.

posted by Atok @ 3:42:00 pm (3) comments

selamat hari raya aidil adha

m a a f . z a h i r . b a t i n



.... safely arrived at 3:15pm (LA time). 'Tuan Tanah' then drove us all the way down south thru the rush hour traffic. it took us about 2 hours before we finally arrived @ Naz/Zie in San Diego, CA.

posted by Atok @ 10:40:00 am (0) comments

sejak dari hari itu...

mmm... dah lama tak update. apa since eh:

memula, hari Rabu 5th Dec hari tu, atok and kakak gi tengok The Golden Compass. Adalah nampak kakak in 3 scenes, jadilah:

> scene bebudak at Bolvanger tulis surat to their parents. yg ni masa the first few seconds of the scene, nampak kakak at the table. tapi side and back view;

> scene bila Lyra masuk ke dining room, kakak can be seen throwing paper ball (about at the centre of the screen); and

> scene bila the escaped kids and Lyra first encountered the Tartars, the very first one. kakak appeared on Lyra right shoulder, i.e. left on the screen. yg ni the most visible lah. tapi probably hanya 2 seconds shj.

dahtu, the Saturday 8th Dec tu, ofis mummy hired a screen at the showcase cinema for 500 guests (partners, senior managers, clients and anak-anak). after the movie, kakak was called to the front utk cabut lucky draws.

hari ahad 9th Dec, keluar for christmas shopping, kakak nak beli hadiah for her friends. mak oooi, ramainya orang, nak jalan pun susah.

hari isnin 10th, kakak ada casting/audition in london for a soon-to-be-up-and-running internet service provider.

then, kakak was not well, hari Selasa tu dah mula demam. malam tu muntah2. gi jumpa GP, katanya kena tummy bug. so, dok rumah... mummy terpaksa worked at home on Wed.

petang Khamis, kakak ada audition for Clarks International at Danceworks Studio, off Oxford Street, London. nasib baik after 5pm and by that time, kakak pun dah ok sikit. ramai juga kids yg dorang panggil, kena buat in 2 sessions. kakak was on the 2nd. they were put in lines, facing the dance instructor. dia tunjuk a few dance steps, and after a couple of practices... all kids danced to the music and the 'judges' observed. lepas tu, they had to do catwalk. then, the judges deliberated. after that, they separated the crowd into 2 groups... one was asked to move forward (only 8 kids) and the other one (about 20+) was asked to stay at the back of the studio. she went to the back group and said "well done, you've done a great job... thank you for coming, you all can go now". kakak was in the front group, with 7 other kids. well done! (we were not entirely sure of what's next but kakak needs to be available between 17-24th Jan '08). kakak was supposed to be in her school carol service that evening, but with her sore throat... she had to miss it. instead, we went to Holiday Villa for dinner.

last time when Kakak went for Clarks International casting, she got to the final two, and both girls went for the final photoshoot (for window & wall poster). they told us that they would decide later which picture would become the print. so, for many weeks, we kept going into our local Clarks store... straight to the rear (kids dept), looked at the wall... and out. the shop assistants must be wondering, apa lah orang ni, asyik datang tengok poster, bukan tengok kasut. then, one day, there it was... of the other girl :( ... never mind.

Saturday 15th was kakak's Stagecoach end of term show.
Sunday 16th rehat.

ps: duit atok yg dikapuk dek albanian(s?) telahpun dibayar balik oleh bank, alhamdulillah.

posted by Atok @ 11:42:00 pm (0) comments

aku kena...

Hari Jumaat lepas, lebih kurang jam 12:30 tgh gitu, aku dapat phone call dari bank aku. Dia kata nak clarify a few transactions. Aiseyman... ni sure aku dah tersasar dari overdraft limit ni, kataku di hati. Sememangnya pun, aku bercadang nak check dengan bank aku, pasal malam sebelumnya, bila aku nak ambik duit kat atm... tak boleh, katanya aku dah sampai ke tahap maksima pengeluaran duit harian. Mmm... hairan juga aku, mana ada aku ambik duit lagi hari tu. Sah la ni, mesti pasal overdraft la ni, kataku... pasal bill credit card bulan lalu agak tinggi (pasal angkat tiket penerbangan untuk musim cuti yg akan menjelma 2 minggu lagi ni).

Namun, sangkaanku meleset.
Rupanya dah 3 hari akaun aku dok bocor .... di Tirana, Albania! Bank card aku kena cloned !!!! Dah 1,172.72 pounds kena kebas. Cilalak !


Bank kata takpa, nanti dia akan hantar borang untuk aku declare semua transactions yang bukan aku punya, nanti kalau betul apa yang aku sumpahkan itu, kesemua 1,172.72 quid tu akan dibayar balik dalam masa 15 hari kerja. Dan debit card aku akan terus dibatalkan, nanti dorang hantar yang baru.

Mmmm... aku termenung, kat manalah kad aku ni kena clone? Nak kata kat kedai, aku jarang sangat guna debit card, hanya untuk keluarkan duit di atm machine sahaja... kecuali di oriental supermarket di sini (yang hanya terima debit card). Semua bayaran, aku guna credit card.

Aku rasa, most probably kad aku kena skimmed di atm machine. Dah banyak kali di-report-kan di media akan kegiatan haram ni... yang melekatkan kamera kecil dan skimming device di atm. Last sekali aku guna atm: NatWest @ Spring Street, London W2 berdekatan dengan Paddington Station / Nahar Cafe pada Sabtu 24hb November. Mungkin kat situlah aku kena....

posted by Atok @ 8:22:00 pm (4) comments