The chills.

Bila nak kahwin ni soalan yang orang selalu tanya, 'Dah ready ke nak jadi isteri orang?' My usual answer is 'Entahlah'. Sama macam bila nak ambil exam. Sebelum masuk dewan sure ada member tanya, 'Ko dah ready ke?' Serba salah tahu tak nak jawab. Kalau jawab 'Dah ready!' nanti sure kena label 'berlagak'. Kalau jawab 'Weh aku tak ready dowh, semalam half way study aku tertidur, subuh tadi baru jaga'. Lepas tu bila results keluar dapat 95, kawan yang tanya tadi dapat 78 and akan cakap, 'Gila lah kau tak sempat habis study pun 95, aku yang tak tidur semalam dapat B je'. Tak pasal-pasal jadi gila pulak. Ha dah tu kena label 'Nak cover la tu cakap tak habis study padahal genius'. See, serba salah tahu tak??

Truth is, we can never be ready for anything, unless we go through it. Lepas tu baru lah tahu sebenarnya ready ke tak. 

When Mama came to visit the other day, that was one of the things she asked me. My answer was 'No, I am not!' I could list 100 of things that I need brushing up, but even if I practice/find ways to overcome the 100 things, there will be 100 things more on my plate.

I told my mom, before the ceremony, I need to practice my 'siang ikan' skill. Not that I don't know how to siang ikan *defensive mode*, it's just that the ikan I siang is always not pretty (dasyat nya grammar kau). They will turn out clean and edible *of course* but tak sedap mata memandang. Get what I mean?

Another thing of my concern, 'apa nak masak kat rumah mertua nanti?'. My cooking skills are really basic, janji untuk selamat perut sendiri. I call it masakan bujang LOL. Specialty dish pun belum ada. Kalau at least ada satu dua yang terror gila kalau masak confirm sedap, ok lah jugak. Kalau tiba-tiba mak mertua suruh take over the kitchen boleh berpeluh just thinking what to cook, belum start masak lagi. Tambah nervous Harris has a big family, kalau tak sedap mana nak letak muka??

That's just two out of hundreds.

But I guess, mana yang boleh brush up tu, boleh la kan nak start from now.  But as we go along, we will learn how to deal with things and masa tu lah kita jadi ready. There and then. Moral of the story, we can stop asking the areyouready question because no one knows. Instead, kita doakan orang yang nak kahwin tu dapat mengharungi cabaran dan dugaan after kahwin seperti siang ikan depan mak mertua dengan jayanya :P

Bell is ringing.

15 years ago, the only bells that mattered to us were one that marked the end of school session, and one coming from the ice cream vendor waiting just outside the school gate. We were running towards the second bell after hearing the first one. We got our favorite ice-cream and our mouths felt cold. Even if we didn't like the flavor we chose, we could always get home and ask Dad for a new one.

Today as I sat on my bed on a hot summer day, and heard the bell from an ice cream vendor driving around the neighborhood, I smiled. Gone are the days where we would run towards that bell. 

One that matters to us now is the imaginary bell, at least to us Muslim. As much as we want to run towards it, something huge is holding us back. The bell comes with responsibility. We get a different kind of cold this time- cold feet. And if we chose a wrong flavor, Dad is no help. All there is to do is to pray may Allah shows us the right way.

Kira Kira Kahwin

Salam,

Pada suatu malam yang indah, tiba-tiba datanglah satu 'random thought' untuk buat belanjawan. Well actually takde lah random mana. Ada satu hari tu ternampak status seseorang di Facebook, pasal dia sit for an hour untuk buat financial projection/planning dia for the next 10 years. 'Interesting', hati ku berkata. Makanya pada suatu malam yang bosan, terjadilah Kira Kira Kahwin seperti di bawah.

Mungkin ada yang kata I went overboard by planning all these, tapi saja ada aku kesah? Aku nak kahwin grand and most importantly tak mahu buat pinjaman *InsyALLAH*. Jadi, if you are with me, teruskan membaca. Sharing is caring, yo!

Umur yang standard orang sekarang kahwin ialah sekitar 26-28 tahun. Masa tu kerja dah stabil, tak lompat-lompat lagi, income pun of course dah stabil once kerja dah stabil.

Let's give ourselves four years from now before we get hitched. 

Let say you need..

RM 15,000 for wedding

RM   6,000 for honeymoon (kalau local maybe less, ini contoh yang nak honeymoon pergi buat umrah)

RM  5,000 (contribution on your part) untuk fill up your first house with your spouse. Rumah ni tak semestinya korang beli lagi, could be korang sewa je dulu. This amount untuk korang start beli perabot etc. 

So total korang perlukan RM 26,000.

Jadi berapa banyak korang kena save sebulan untuk dapat RM 26,000 dalam account by end of four years? Simple math.

RM 26,000/ 4(12) = RM 542

Yes, korang kena save up RM 542 sebulan. Nampak macam banyak kan? Lepas buat kira-kira hari tu pun rasa macam 'Mak oi banyak nya, nak makan apa???' 

Tapi kira-kira ni sangat relevan ye kawan-kawan. Mungkin korang fikir eh muda lagi, nak fikir pasal kahwin buat pe, buat sesak otak je, nak berfoya-foya dulu lah. Ye, berfoya-foya lah korang selagi larat, tapi at the end of the day, korang nak kena kahwin jugak. 

Nabi Muhammad SAW pun pernah bersabda;

"Perkahwinan itu Sunnahku, sesiapa yang tidak suka kepada Sunnahku, dia bukan daripada kalangan umatku"

(riwayat Al-Bukhari)

Takkan lagi 6 bulan nak kahwin baru menggagau garu kepala fikir mana nak cari duit. Kan bagus kalau dari awal bekerja dah sebelahkan duit untuk belanja kahwin. Sebelahkanlah jugak duit untuk korang berfoya-foya. Tak salah pun. Fair and square. 

Ye, RM 542 sekarang nampak sangat besar. Tapi bayangkan kalau korang start lambat, tinggal setahun lagi nak kahwin, korang kena simpan double tau. RM 1000 sebulan. Pergghhh, masa tu lah terpaksa makan maggi 20 hari sebulan, tak beli baju and kasut 4 bulan, tak kasi duit kat mak 6 bulan, tak tengok movie 8 bulan. Sure taknak kan macam tu? Biarlah nak kahwin pun boleh lagi makan Fish N Chips :)))

Oleh itu, mari semua, kita start menabung. Ini juga peringatan untuk diri saya sendiri. Saya nak wedding yang boleh tahan grand, tapi bukan tahap artis lah yang pasti. Tee hee hee. Simple tapi grand, cemana tu? I mean at least dapat la apa yang nak, takde la kene kemut sebab tak cukup bajet, you know what I mean? Tapi harapnya tak go overboard lah, thanks to TheOtherKhairul kerana mengingatkan. 

Jom menabung?


p/s: Jangan lupa simpan kat Tabung Haji jugak okay?

Futurama.

Depressing entry. You have been reminded.

I wish I have a remote control for 'my life'. At this exact moment, I really want to hit that 'Fast Forward' button and go to 'my life' five years from now. I feel like 'my life' has been moving super slow these days, with so many uncertainties. I HATE uncertainties. Being a control freak that I am, I always want everything to be in order. Tetapi, kita hanya boleh merancang, Allah yang akan menentukan.

How do you see yourself in 5 years? (Soalan standard job interview)

Paragraph seterusnya bakal menunjukkan betapa kuat berangannya si penulis.

In five years, I wish to have completed my PhD, have permanent income, and have settled down someplace I can call home. Hopefully, also, I would have been married to my soulmate. Aiceh. I'd be 28 years old in 5 years, if I'm not married by then, I would freak out. Mama apetah lagi, risau anak tak laku. Huhu. Maybe a child would be the cherry on top :))) *tamat paragraph berangan*

Why am I rambling here? Because I feel like there's nothing certain about my life right now. I'm really worried if I'm ever gonna get a real job, and when I'd ever move to the next level in my career ladder. I'm in the process of applying to further my studies, but some people have not been cooperative. I'm quite frustrated with how people run things in this country. I know you might have something important on your plate right now, but please bear in mind, this is also part of your job, and other people's future depend on you. 

To you decision-makers out there, do you really need 3 freaking months to get things moving? Can't you have your meetings every month, instead of once in 3 months? What's up with the system here? First, you don't reply our e-mails, then when you finally reply, you say you are sorry because the meeting is postponed, and you have to wait for another 3 months for the next meeting. At the end of the meeting, you reply and say sorry again, you don't have any more funds because they have been fully utilized. Seriously people, if this is how you do things, sampai kiamat Malaysia tak maju. (Sorry, tetibe jadi emo gila)

Patience is definitely not my virtue.

Sorry for the emo-ish entry. Every time I hang out with my RIT buddies, we'll definitely talk about our future. So yeah, you get the drill. 

Enough ramble for the night. Toodles!