Hostage at The Table

Senah and I went for a short talk by Prof. George Kohlrieser yesterday. I was reluctant at first, because I am not a fan of human behavioral books i.e self-help, self-development, etc. Nevertheless, I went after receiving an email from my boss asking everyone in my department to go. I went with an open mind - I have tried so hard to declutter my mind for the past weeks mainly because I was so inundated with work and yesterday was one of those days that I managed to do it (it could be on temporary basis only, shit!).

The talk was fun! I enjoyed it every minute because Prof. Kohlrieser was, to say in a very few words, very good. He is an international leadership professor, consultant, and veteran hostage negotiator (which was the reason why Senah went to the talk) and currently attached at IMD Business School in Geneva, Switzerland. His talk was based from his book "Hostage at The Table" which shows us how to -

(a) Put the "Fish on the Table" to resolve conflict

(b) Learn to bond, even with your "enemy"

(c) Never think like a hostage

(d) Tap into the power of dialogue and negotiation

(e) Access the law of reciprocity to build cooperation

(f) Be a secure base to establish trust

(g) Understand that the person is never the problem

(h) Master the mind's eye and visualize success

(taken from the book's website)

Prof. Kohlrieser somewhat asked us to believe in ourselves and never give up if you want to achieve something in your lives - say you want to be a singer, keep pursuing it until you finally become one!

Senah and I were inspired that we immediately came up with things we want to pursue (but were never serious about it before). There are 1001 things that I want to do/pursue but as a start, I wish to pursue my long-forgotten piano class (hahaha) and for Senah, well I will ask her to elaborate herself. I stopped learning piano when I went to SSP in 1994. There was Ms. Renee who at that time could teach us piano, but she was the choir teacher too. I didn't pursue my interest then, let alone approached her to be my piano teacher.

Recently, when I went to Kedah for my cousin's wedding, my partner in crime, Ika asked me to play a piece by Richard Clayderman. She too has started learning piano but decided to stop for a while as she is scared with her piano teacher. She has finished her elementary level and started with Grade 1 but since she really liked the Clayderman song, she asked me to play from my tattered Clayderman book that she took from my house last year.

My fingers were numbed at first, struggling to find the right keys of the notes and was cursing myself for not being able to read the notes properly anymore (had to pause for a few times on the keys!). We spent our time practising the song and managed to make it sound decent despite the off-keys on some parts. Ika played one octave lower and I'll take the bigger octave (she is playing it by ear and memory as she does not know how to read the complicated Clayderman's notes) and after 3 days, I managed to play the whole song! I was so inspired to continue playing the piano at that time!

I think Prof. Kohlrieser has given me hope to continue my piano lessons, no? He told us that one of his friends, an ex-CEO of Accenture, decided to take up guitar lessons at the age of 47 but was told not to proceed because his hands were too hard. He took it as a challenge and continued his guitar lessons (with another teacher, of course) for 4 years and when Prof. Kohlrieser visited him sometime back, his performance moved Prof. Kohlrieser to tears.

I'm calling Yamaha School of Music now, to see whether they would want to welcome a mature student like me anytime. Hehehehe...

The birth of Toblater

HAHHAHAHAHHAAHA.

I laughed THAT hard when I saw the class picture. 5 out of 8 Toblaters were together in the first form (sans Temah, Rokiah & Enon). Well, 6 including Mess, of course.

Try and spot us!

We have Odah & Esah to thank - for being bright/creative/mischievous 13 year old, who coined up TOBLATER. Maybe if they are up for it, they'll blog about how it came about - the history behind 'TOBLATER'. That's 15 years worth of history for you. (Ey Esah/Odahh~~?)

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. And who would've thought I'd grow up to be 30kg heavier since 1994! (I imagined I was 40kg then - but not really sure of that though. HAHA. Maybe heavier/lighter? But ohh let's just pretend I was 40kg!). Out of curiosity, to other Toblaters, how much did you guys gain since 1994??? :D :D

Since I'm about 155cm, my ideal weight would be 47kg. Oh gawddd, I can't remember when I was ever below 50kg. (*Gulp* This would be a lot harder than I thought) Ok Senah, I'm all set to work out for Bali! Get Team 2 rollinn'! Roki has already drawn up Team 1's workout regime! This cannot jadi ok. We should be all gung-ho too!

You peeps just watchouttt for my 23 kg transformation! HAHAHAHAHHAAH
(Who am I kiddingggg? I can barely lose 5 kg for my wedding ini kan pulak 23kg?eeeekkk!!)

xox,
Gayah

How to be astounded by a 13 year old boy

Introducing Sungha Jung, a 13 year old Korean acoustic fingerstyle guitarist. 
Super talented, and cute too.

 

Image taken from www.sunghajung.com 

I haven't figured out how to upload videos to blogspot, 

so here are some links to his awesome videos. 

Come together (Beatles)- Sungha Jung 

Hotel California (Eagles)- Sungha Jung

 Sungha playing @ Seoul Jazz Festival 2009

~Child prodigy is a curse because you've got all those terrible possibilities~

~Itzhak Pearlman~  

 

Gotta get my nose back on the grindstone!!! And keep it there! Gotta!!!

O-dah's very first entry. Oh yes it is! Toblaters hv been pestering me to start writing, so here I am. (Just read Rokiah's entry and suddenly I feel the urge to write a little. She always gets my ass moving that girl)

Note: She rang me just now. Definitely wanna nag me about yesterday la tu (Will call u back Rock, I'm using my colleague's PC, she'll be back for it very soon)

Aha, my open house yesterday was ok. It drizzled a bit, for about 15minutes in the afternoon but that was it. Thank you for all who came. And ate.

I snapped some pictures, later lah I put up kalau rajin.

Plus yesterday was TBL's weigh-in session. Team 2 won...Hermmmppp, guess who was the biggest 'gainer'? HAHAHAHAHAHAA

Dunno what's happening but my love towards food is growing extensively huge, gigantic, jumbo, king-size, kingkong whatever u wanna call it. Ggggrrrrrrr.....I can stuff my face with foods 24/7, and u wanna know what's worse? ---> FOOD(SSS), they come to me!!

Seriously no kidding yo! This has to stop! Foods, stop flying your way to my doorstep!

I'll try and behave allright. We'll see how I progress, thank you! :)

On a completely different note, to all readers, I am , very serious at work laaahhhh Rokiah....(better write this since I can see potential of my pictures being pasted here now the blog's gone public).

But I am, yes, very comfortable to act all goofy with people closest to me ( i.e family and close friends). So don't worry, I'm professional ok :p

Oh, my friend is here. We're going out for supper.

"MAMAK!! TEH O LIMAU PANAS TANPA GULA SATU! "

O-dah, from the land far far away.

Post Session 3 - Update 1

So we had our 3rd weigh-in session at Odah's house just now. This time around, as the keeper of Miss J(udge) the weighing scale, I happily (Team 1 reads : painfully) announce that Team 2 is the winner for Session 3 - what more with only 2 determined girls left but with the same one and only super kiasu instructor! Congratulations girls! Keep it up and we shall see which Team will be the winner next month as it is now 1 : 1 to date.

However, as the Instructor for Team 1, let me clear the air that we have never pandang rendah to Team 2 for all your efforts done. However, the recent Walk With Pride (?) thingy that you girls went WITHOUT informing (or rather giving any hints, hehe) us, made Team 1 thinks that the TBL is indeed a serious business, especially when it comes to winning. Who would have thought that we were so serious into this when all of you were at my house sometime back in August. So be it. Team 1 takes it as a challenge and despite us not winning this time around, we will, as true sportsmen, never give up and continue to hold on to the saying "perseverance, persistance and determination". So, watch out! Hahaha (*shakes my head in disbelief after writing this paragraph*)

Enough about the Session 3 report, shall we?

I have never really introduced my Team in this blog. Some of you readers would have seen my Team based on the header picture in wordpress.com but really, are not you curious at all to know a little bit more of them? (read : if you are a single guy, the better it is!)

Candidate 1 : Odah

She is nothing near serious. I hope she is not like her trueself whenever she is with her patients. We have been running together in marathons for the past 1 1/2 years but workload has taken a toll on her lately and hence, we have not been seeing each other that much. Despite her mountainous workload, I hope she takes off some time to exercise and do not binge on too much carbs whenever she is stressed at work -she should at least be a bit more serious about her health in general. Otherwise, she cracks you up like no one's business and if she wins the TBL, she can be the next Malaysia's Top Model Search! Hahahaha, love ya Odah!

Candidate 2 : Temah

Temah and I stay near to each other. We ran, scuba dived, exchanged beauty secrets, etc regularly. She is the complete opposite of Odah - at least she is serious to a certain extent! Nevertheless, don't trust her much on her navigational skills as oh boy, you could end up in Port Klang for no reason (no, thank god she has not done that to me yet). She once told me that she loves eating (is there such a hobby?) but fret not Tems, you can still have your sweet cakes, muffins and cupcakes but you will have to promise me that you will make sure you balance them out with bouts of exercise. Otherwise, we should continue doing our Super Sakit Circuit every Saturday as we both love it (yes, to a certain extent!). You will get the hang of it real soon.

Candidate 3 : Esah

Esah and I go way back. We used to talk on the phone for hours on irrelevant things. She is not a fan of running but give her Kiara Hills anytime, she could beat you 2 rounds of it with a breeze. She is our ambasadress whenever we need our coffee, frappe, latte, etc at an infamous coffee-chain organisation. I am glad that I invited her for a walk/run session at Lake Gardens last Saturday. It was her first time there and hopefully there are more to come after this. She won the first individual TBL monthly title during Session 2 (now succeeded by Enon) and with such record, I hope she will fight back and never give up!

Well, as much as I would love to give out more info on Team 1, it has got to be filtered. As for me, there is no need for any introduction, please - instructor works behind the scene, yeah! I am currently in the midst of planning a workout regime (hahaha) for my Team asap. I hope they will not play truant when I am not around for 3 weeks in November.

Saya Rok(iah)!

Welcome!

Image courtesy of www.tmrw.co.uk.

WELCOME

my dear friends

to our new website

http://toblater.blogspot.com

No More Superhuman Senses

You see, those who knew me would know how bad my sense of smell is. I would sneeze so very often, and my bestfriend would be a box of Kleenex. Since its costly to keep up, my nose has been trained well to accommodate toilet rolls and even the hard tissues that the Office provide in the pantry..Therefore, it was a strange almost alien-like feeling when I suddenly, during the past 2 months was able to smell MORE things than what I normally would. The masam-ness of Vill@ge P@rk's waiter's shirt and it's stinky kain lap meja was the most recent that I encounter.

* * *

I was pregnant. And it was the most magical & surreal feeling ever.

And last night when I found out that it was over, despite preparing myself mentally over and over about it, there's nothing that the doc or the husband could say to stop my sobbing or even make me feel better. The husband knows me well enough. He didn't have to say much and just held my hands throughout and we just hugged for longest time once we were back home.

It was heartbreaking. My chest felt it would burst right open, I just can't quite describe. But now here I am. Still feeling pretty crappy, just... much much better .

Was supposed to go for check-up tomorrow with another doc. (Shoot! Which reminds me I should cancel it now!) So you bet I had a different plans altogether on how to break the news on Toblater - coupled with a cute cute sonogram of my 10 weeks foetus. (Right~~ before Beyonce & the weigh-in!!) I even wanted to knight MessAziz as an official Toblatorian to replace me! I probably still should, I am so far off, I can't catch up the the girls any more. Sorry Team 2!

***

I saw fireworks on our way back last night. I've always loved fireworks. I take it that is God's way to let me know it's all going to be all right..and to just cheer me up a notch. That AND the fact that Benyonce's been cancelled.. hehe.  Would expect loose waterworks every now and then in the next few weeks. But don't feel so bad for me girls. I'm pretty much set to be positive. Ohhhmmmmmm!

****

Now, Esah. Take me to Starbucks when I'm all better. (That's an order)

I haven't had coffee/tea in 2 months!

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Guilt-free Dessert?

Maybe not.

But i found a healthier substitute for BR (i'll usually have BR at least once a fortnight).

Peeps, let me introduce you to "Gelatomio".

pic from www.gelatomio.com

Gelatomio offers gelato that are made from 100% natural ingredients with no preservatives, artificial flavouring, colourings, gelatin and animal fat emulsifiers. The milk based gelato is 95% fat free while fruit based gelato is 99% fat free. The key word here  is "fat free".

 

my berry + green tea gelato

2 small scoops for RM6.00.

I am happy :D. And healthy?

Ikan Kotak

It's that time of the month where I will have to work late; sampai rumah dgn busuk tak mandi nya *yes, euuuwww* & terus zZZzzzz………. (nota sangat kecik: sometimes no dinner yo!) :P

Annnnd I realised that whenever I'm under stressed at work, I tend to look at this in my phone and sengih sorang2. Not once, tapi several times a day!

image: google

I blame this all to my recent dive trip to Tenggol. At an untouched, extremely gorgeous site called Moonraker the boxfish played hide and seek with me under water. I gerak left, it went right and vice versa. Hihi, comel OK. 

Demmit , I dah jadi like one of those boring divers who talked non stop about diving. HELPPP! *sambil inflate sausage*

Ermm, Sipadan in December anyone? Haha

Session 3 for the TBLs

Yes, it's one week away from today, my dear TBLs!

You can run, breeze walk, puasa  or starve yourselves as much as you like for the next one week (or better still, hoping for it to be cancelled! Teehehhe) but Session 3 is still on, y'all!

I will bring the Judge (the dreaded weighing scale-lah!) to Odah's house next week and Session 3 will be held there. As Odah is organising an open house that day, please do not forget to come and bring extra clothes for the....

BEYONCE "I AM" WORLD TOUR!!! *whilst humming to "Survivor" and "Single Ladies" in the background*

To Team 1 - All the best girls, you guys can do it again this time. Don't worry too much, eh? (dalam hati - kalau tak menang, sah kena drill dengan Instructor Team 1 lepas ni. Kiara Hills lepas ni memang kena lari non-stop la jawapya! Odah, INCLUDING YOU walaupun jauh di perkampungan orang asli! Hahaha!) 

 To be fair to Team 2 - All the best to you girls, too! I'm sure you guys can do it! You have a very dedicated Instructor, yo - who is quite strict to her anak-anak buah!

Saya Rok(iah)!

 

Tenggol Illustrated: The FINAL part

*Again, photos are courtesy of enon, temah, ayud, art, farah & azwar*

Monday, October 12th 2009

Woke up to the soothing morning breeze and chirping sounds of the birds (And soooo relieved it wasn't the squeaky sounds of Mr Rat!). Our final dive of the trip, was to go where the James Bond movie Moon Raker was shot (or so I was told). I'm obviously not a J. Bond buff, so I couldn't tell fact from fiction. For more info on the 11th installation of the James Bond spy movie series starring Roger Moore (not Sean Connery yo!), click here.

And so we started getting ready to go to this relatively new dive site, The Moonraker. It's reef apparantly stands 10m tall and has amazing nudibranches. This was the most relaxing dive throughout the whole trip and I really enjoyed myself this dive.

[caption id="attachment_408" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="DM zro helping me sort my weights out, me don't wanna be that 'Shooting Star' no mo'!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_409" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="zul, art, zol, sa'ad, enon and farah"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_448" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Bond Girls"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_410" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="me chasing temah's 1 red, 1 white fins hehe"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_412" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="moonraker dive site"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_413" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="jebon"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_414" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="halle berry version sarawak"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_415" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="temah, ayud, farah & zul"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_417" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="happy dah surface"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_418" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="ayud pun happy juga"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_420" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="but someone is not too happy :( "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_419" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="art yang kesejukan"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_421" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="and then it was time to put our diving gear on hiatus :("][/caption]

Back on surface, we freshened up and made our farewell bids to all.

[caption id="attachment_426" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="temah & salim ;P"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_424" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="OK? OK!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_425" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="for the sweet couple in brown ;P"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_429" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="dive crew group photo"][/caption]

and it was time to head back to Dungun

[caption id="attachment_430" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="view from the boat transfer ;P"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_431" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="farah, temah, zul, enon, hazrul, ayud & art"][/caption]

On the drive home, we made a pit stop at Dungun town for some Nasi Kukus Ayam Rempah which was excellent but soooooo the pedas!!

[caption id="attachment_434" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="nasi putih kukus, sayur nenas, ikan kering, ayam rempah with a tsunami of sambal belacan. Youchh!!!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_435" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="ayud's sirap limau laici ais"][/caption]

We then stopped for some keropok lekor shopping at Geliga (Temah ;P) Pantai Mak Nik atau nama Mat Salleh nye, Monica Bay. No joke, Monica Bay.

[caption id="attachment_446" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="kedai kak yam @ kg geliga, kemaman"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_436" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="beli kopok lekor jgn tak beli"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_442" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="keropok lekor lady- 10 keping 5 ringgit ye!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_439" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="candid yang x sempat candid"][/caption]

And freshly made Satar Bakar with Keropok Lekor was our final pitstop in Terengganu.

[caption id="attachment_441" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dok Try, Dok Ahu!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_443" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Back in July..2 hours..cuti..claim..ayat sedap..hmmm..Mana Satar nih?"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_445" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="kekenyangan satar & keropok lekor"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_444" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="makang ABC, sorry teacher! ;P"][/caption]

And so that concludes our Tenggol trip! We had great fun, thanks to all the divers and organisers. Can't wait to go diving again, but the thought of having to wait till next year just kills me!!!!!!!

Tenggol Illustrated: Part 2

*Pictures are courtesy of Enon, temah, ayud & farah*

Sunday October 11th

Awoke, afresh after 9 hours of uninterrupted beauty sleep. We headed to Tokong Timur that morning hoping to bump into this:

[caption id="attachment_363" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="whale shark"][/caption]

or this:

[caption id="attachment_364" align="aligncenter" width="432" caption="Manta ray"][/caption]

We were unlucky however, apparently according to local sources these giant creatures have ventured off to other oceans by the time we came. Well, hope we have better luck next season then!

And so upon return for another surface interval, we gobbled down the nasi goreng served by the resort. (x sedap, but we were out of options so whaddeheck!)

[caption id="attachment_365" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="notice the size of our plates and our servings yo! hehehe"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_366" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="farah and her camera"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_371" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="the rest of the dive crew"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_372" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="and more dive crew"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_373" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="ayud n i"][/caption]

For our 2nd dive, temah opted out due to seasickness and her craving for mee maggi (I think she just wanted to Take A Break, Have a KitKat) hehehe seeing that her Cadbury chocolate bar become rat food, so bagi can-lah dia nk makan hehehe. Somehow Temah managed to fish out a cup of instant Maggi Curry Mee from one of the Boatmen who ended up being Temah's personal 'friend' yo!;P

So, temah hung out on the beach on photo duty as we went for our next dive to Teluk Nakhoda. The outcome:

[caption id="attachment_378" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="treasure hunt to find....."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_374" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cepat dimasak, lebih sedap dimakan (lagi2 kalau Salim yang kasi ;P)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_377" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="off we go!"][/caption]

And so, after we completed all 3 dives of the day (Last dive was to Tanjung Gemok but this time it was at Pasir Tenggara), we all freshened up and hung out at the restaurant till dusk talking bout various random things, including some horror stories about giving enemas to constipated old ladies! hahaha

[caption id="attachment_379" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="enon & farah"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_380" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="who datt?"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_381" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="filling in my dive log while waiting for others to bersiap & dinner to be served"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_382" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="and dinner was finally served"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_383" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="oooppsss...licin yo!"][/caption]

Selepas makan, it was then lepak2 and mini-karoeke session @ dive centre pulak.

[caption id="attachment_385" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="rnt + abt = TBT (tiru buku tau!)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_386" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="DM Hazrol penning down his autograph"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_392" align="aligncenter" width="112" caption="our dive sites"][/caption]

And that concludes Day 2. If you're wondering why gambar Temah sikit sangat, tanya dia as several beautiful and carefully planned photographs of her has been extinguished by 'tuan punya badan'. Temah Notti, eh! ;P