On this joyous occasion, we gather…

999 roses...

All are married except one. Prof with robe from Southampton.

**Faculty members are encouraged to wear their own graduation robes from respective varsities which truly added colours to the procession at the start of the ceremony. The celebrated new doctorates (all faculties) wear red robes with sulaman penuh songket emas. Both faculty members and doctorates wear that ugly thing called hunter’s hats (mortar boards for undergrad).

All are ‘available’ including those (Ass. Prof. - Hull and Sheffield respectively) in robes too.

Er, sory Dr -am juz kidding!

My current galfrens:

We’ve known each other since 2001 – since I joined this institution lah. All those in blue are (half-)available *wink2x* (me- the one most vertically challenged).

One of the red robes are back in Sudan and one of those in blue cried on my shoulder literally yesterday. They're the best of friends.

Women vs Men, convocation and flowers
What’s so hard to understand?
1. Yes, buying flowers (fresh roses in multi-colours, or daisies, or sunflowers or out-of-this-world orchids - Wow! UL is the best person when it comes to this kind of things - Even dried-flowers arrangement *sigh*…asal bukan bunga tahi ayam sudah) aren’t economical (causing big, deep hole in your pocket) and not environmental-friendly (pokok kena tebang).
2. Kasih-sayang bukan diukur dengan bilangan bunga pun…(but surely if you INVEST lotsa money to buy me 999 roses, then you must have love me eh? -Feeble mind and an emotionally laden point of view (support commercially)…)
3. It’s very costly during convocation week (Cekik darah really- up to RM3 for a rose bud? Go to Cameron, we can get it for 10sen each! I know2x, transportation cost, packaging n everything lalalala)
4. It won’t last forever (only memories do…)
5. It’s a hassle really to make sure it stays fresh under the open sky on a particularly hot day, not wilting. Lecehnya…
6. Guys look silly carrying it in their arms…(same thing with carrying handbags but ladies will go oooooohhhh-aaaahhhhh …look at how romantic he is! Lucky b*tch!) Acah je – semua org baik2 apa…
7. What if you get more than a bouquet? Only two hands ma? Kenot see your cute face one when take photos…

Now, if it’s your wife’s/ life-partner’s/ significant other’s convocation (or any other joyous occasions), pls don’t go and ask her, “Nak/Perlu bunga ke?” A typically proud (and difficult to understand – say one thing but meaning entirely another thing) woman will say, “Takpe…/Toksah susah2…/ Buat apa - membazir duit je…(coklat lagi bagus)!”

Women and flowers are like irama dan lagu…(Getaran Jiwa - P.Ramlee)

And we compared notes you see.. So, we had among us - one hubby who did the unexpected – secretly (this in one of those things that guys are encouraged to do behind their partners’ back) ordered a bouquet of flowers to be hand-delivered inside the Hall – Wow-wow! Not that difficult to imagine her surprise eh? (tangkap lentoq wa cakap lu…)
While another hubby went out (after much provocations) much later in the evening after the convocation ceremony to buy her the flowers – to what use la kan? But still he scored lotsa marks compare to if he just ‘buat derk jer’….

So guys – go out and buy your loved ones (wife aje tau bukan mistress or secret admirees) some flowers today! 3 stalks mean ‘I love you’ – enough!
Ladies, be plain of what you want– spell it out to your hubby and save the world from WWIII!

Note: Pic of rose bouquet NOT from the husbands.

Still on joyous occasion…Makan Kenduri
One of my colleague’s sons was going to further his study in Illinois (he’d safely arrived by now). So, mestilah ada kenduri doa selamat sikitkan and I was invited (as usual utk meramaikan majlis). Since I seldomly go anywhere alone, so I arranged for another married colleague to join me. The hostess said, “I jemput orang surau lepas Isyak but you all datanglah lepas Maghrib gitu..” Hint No.1
So, I picked up my other colleague about quarter past 8. She didn’t bring along her kids since they’ve got homework and everything. We arrived at the place around 8:30pm. She (the hostess) brought us inside through the back entrance i.e. the kitchen, “Senang nanti you all nak balik..tak susah2 cari kasut saing dengan lelaki.” Hint No.2
Wow, the kitchen is really awesome (to me!) – it is very wide, open space, high ceiling, wall cabinets, separated dry and wet kitchen areas, breakfast bar – (the house is on a bungalow lot but I couldn’t see much outside in the dark). So, we settled down and after salam2 with a few other guests and her family members, we just chit-chat je lah… I could see the buffet table was ready and few family members already helping themselves to the buffet spread. The hostess didn’t invite us to dinner yet.
So we chatted and keep on chatting. Around 9pm, my colleague who accompanied me started giving me one kind of look, “Bila mau mula ini? Nanti lambat pulang, anakku…”
But then, it looked like we’re waiting for the orang2 surau to come first.
Our hostess excused herself to go to the livingroom to check for the arrangement on the guys’ side. I wasn’t sure who exactly said what but suddenly all of us were invited to help ourselves at the buffet table. Ibarat orang mengantuk disorongkan bantal, apalagi masing2 pun ambik pinggan dan makanlah.
When she came back to the kitchen and looked kinda surprise, then only I realised, “Oh-oh.. we’re not supposed to start eating yet!” But orang dah ajak kan? Makan je lah….
She’s a very graceful hostess coz by the time we finished enjoying the food, the suraumen had arrived and she said, “Sapa2 yang nak ikut baca Yassin, silalah ke depan (second livingroom) ye…” My friend was saying, “Waduh, kalau baru mula – kapan mau abisnya? Nanti anak ku mau tidur…” She thought the Yassiin came together with tahlil. “Tapi Buk, takkan kita lepas makan nak balik aje? Tak berbudi-bahasa tu…Kita ikut sekalilah…”
Alhamdulillah, cuma baca Yassin dan sedikit doa selamat. After that, all the guests were invited to dinner and we just cabuuuutttttt!! Heheheh..

Moral of the story:
Don’t expect pergi kenduri untuk makan sahaja (berdasarkan Hints 1 & 2). Tanya betul2.