"The one with the weekend and getting a new toy..."

Last weekend was one of the last perennial weekends I'll have before I depart for Melbourne. I'm not crossing the calendars just yet but time is passing by and indeed it has been, swiftly. I do not wish to indulge myself within the persona of getting into a traveling, or rather travel-ish mood because personally that's one stream I'd like to cross only when I get to the bridge.

As is with all my other weekends, it was filled with loads of activities. PakTam and Co. had their moving out day, i.e punggah-memunggah session at Desa Pinggiran Putra and I'd thought that the least I could do was give a helping hand packing. Such things as these I last felt was years ago when we'd be hogging stuff in and out of our now-sold Ford Spectron (God have mercy on his soul) from Kg. Peringatan Petagas to Taman Orkid. The feeling's mutual now; that retro spirit coupled with sweat and grit which ultimately resulted in sheer effort to pack ten-years worth of luggage into a new wonderfully renovated home.

Frankly speaking I loved how PakTam's new crib ended up being. Yes I've seen it before, and gazed on the blueprint, but to have witnessed the built-up leading to its culmination inculcated a but of my personal afflictions. It definitely has a homy presence to it; I'm especially attracted to how the kitchen turned out. Very mediterranean. Got small garden summore. Looks like there'll be more and more family gatherings here in the future in store.

Good luck to both Andi and Mom (and now Fifah as well!) in taking care of this place once they leave for London come August. Somehow I think it'll be challenging for them!

Sunday night I had to bring Fifah along to witness how nice their house was; under enormous request from Mom and PakTam I decided to cook dinner - TomYam soup for everyone. While cooking my thoughts were diverted to the not-so-distant times when I'd used to cook this for Afzal. I've learned a lot of things during my stay with chemoboy. That time around I had no idea whatsoever on how it'd turn out but I think everyone was satisfied that night.

Now I'm starting to realise that I miss Sheffield, and chemoboy. Hopefully everything is well for him there, and his latest dose yesterday went well among all things. He's been busy lately; lonly ast weekend he went on a trip to Ireland. Wonder why he didn't bring me around last time...:/

Later that Saturday afternoon, I had such an enormous fun with friends - it's been a while since I've last experienced such joy. Thanks to my usual gang; Azfar, Fadil, Yam, Afzan and dearest Fifah we had an impromtu homemade BBQ at my house. Considering that it'd be my last time hanging out with them before my departure, we certainly looked like it's been a while since we last laughed our socks off. Watched a re-run of Titanic on Star Movies, and a session of cards; it was soon that we lost notice track of time. By the moment we came to our senses, it was already half-past ten at night.

Thanks guys, I'm going to miss these moments. But insyaAllah this won't be the last, only a momentary lapse till our next sessions.

Sunday was a day filled with stomach-stuffing goodness! Apart from preparing dinner in DPP, Ikin and I've promised to treat my adopted-family in AMNL to a feast at Johnny's Seafood in Times Square. Again, this was also a one-off thing considering I'll be leaving and won't be able to spend on them (which I thought I already had when I took them to Wendy's last time). Anyways, it's pretty unusual that we'd all had to get-together on weekends away from the lab so this outing was much looked forward to, especially for Ikin whom had since started work in ChemLab KL.

I just remembered - the last time I had Johnny's here was with Mok. And that day was filled with drama; from deciding abruptly to go only to rush back for Fifah's sister Sarah. Those were the times, eh Mok?

I'll be missing these people. Sure, they drive me up the wall on some occasions, and on some even extremely annoys me but most of the time they've been like a second-family. We take care over each others' backs and the notion of not having them around to irritate daily is something that I'll certainly miss. Things are quickly changing in lab; what with only a few of them left - hopefully this shall be something that'll make them stronger and not force them further apart.

I've printed some pictures to pin onto the lab notice board last week. As I was doing so, my thoughts were swept by how much of the last few years have been spent within those four walls. I've shared a lot of memories. And earned kinship which many can only dream for.

Hey, last week I also finally got something for my birthday! Guess what it is?

Every boy's dream toy - the new PSP-3006. Courtesy of mom, the PTD officer and of course the fiancee. I has not left my hands since.

Now if only some hacker somewhere could provide me with a custom firmware soon so that I can play downloaded games. Tekken is starting to prove not a challenge for me already. *sigh*

-JeP

p/s : Much doa's and best wishes for chemoboy on his fifth-dose days this week.