Groovy Chick

about to fall asleep...zzz...

2011-12-21T13:58:00.002+08:00

altho you may think it's weird to blog about my state of sleepiness. but this is a real issue for me right this second. & i am blogging in a noble attempt to keep awake at work.

by the way i have changed jobs (finally) since august this year. given my new-ness, i should at least pretend to be awake and alert but it is a hard and trying feat, i can tell you that.

i have seen my colleagues taking a snooze under their desks. how cool. but again, i am new, not to mention a bit prim & proper-ish, and as such, would feel mightily awkward snoozing under my desk. and possibly snoring. and possibly drooling. and hopefully not scratching myself like guys do hihihi... mana lah tau right...

so yeah, i changed jobs, i am currently sleepy and blogging to keep awake.

by the way, im not sure if i've posted about my new addition to the family. i gots myself a daughter now. a real cutie sweetie pie who is now 7.5mths old and developing just great. she can dance, hum, scream for attention, crawl, stand supported, smile a fake smile, make faces, squint her eyes, smile at the camera, grab onto you if she doesnt want to be put down etc. we've started her on solids and this time around, i've ventured the food puree way and so far, shes taken to pureed carrots, pumpkin and potatoes famously. ethan, who had a bit of trouble adjusting to the shared attention in the 1st month, now loves his baby sister and whenever someone suggests taking ava home with them, ethan will say "mummy you carry ava". often when i call home in the afternoon, the maid's report is "there, they are playing. ethan is singing and ava is dancing." imagine the scene... hahaha... ava is a tiny tot but she's quite steady. still, imagine a tiny tot who's dancing away to his brother's screaming.

ethan too is doing well, and about to start playschool in jan. his speech has gotten better & clearer but still with some baby talk peppered in good measure. his eating habits too are getting better with an affinity for "peanut butter bread", cheese & nesvita 3-in-1 oats while his milk intake is slowly decreasing. his sleep hours are getting worse with him only turning in at midnight or later. we are such terrible parents. also, since im in the mood for self-bashing, he doesnt get enough reading time or learning time with us. why are we such lazy parents. it's gotten worse now with my new job which keeps me busy almost every day and with a new baby in the house which makes for a cranky, impatient mom in me. ptooiii to myself. poor ethan. i do so need to spend some quality time with him. maybe i'll take him out for some cake to share tonight. oh yes, he's also quite fond of the ipad and seems to be more adept at it than the adults.

christmas is almost upon us, like in 4 days time :) the house, altho decorated, lacks some christmas spirit because, again, mom's just too tired and busy. sigh. tonight i shall try to put on some christmas carols and to roll about on the floor with my kids.

ok so, time to go, cos after all i am in the office. will hopefully be able to post more updates on christmas soon.

a blessed christmas to one and all :)

visiting sydney, australia (19-25july2011)

2011-07-21T23:09:00.003+08:00

i am in sydney for a week.

i miss my kids. but apparently they are doing just fine without me. i'm relieved. but i really miss ava. love the way she clings on me. i hope she wont merajuk with me when i get back. ethan's being distracted by his cousin so hes fine. but kinda miss his recent clinginess. love you both my darlings. missing my husband too, but being away from each other every now and again is probably good and healthy for us. i know hes making use of this time to bond with friends. lets hope hes not doing anything more ahaha. i havent been able to skype due to our program here. but hopefully i can one of these days.

the weather's wet, rainy and cold. too bad cos we cant take many pictures. been here 2 days now and have had lots to eat and lots of laughter too. thinking i should be taking some oats tomorrow to counter the richness of the food i've already had.

we'll be having a full day meeting tomorrow. kinda wish we didnt have to attend.

shopping here is not that great. kinda pricey lah. even compared to the uk. but souvenirs must be bought. next ive gotta get something for myself and the husband.

oh yes, internet access here is also pricey and a bit impractical since you get charged not based on usage. bit of a rip-off if you ask me.

speaking of which, my access is about to expire. so toodle loo.

some life lessons

2011-05-26T15:59:00.004+08:00

be wary of moments when you spend more time with others than you do with those who really matter.

learn from your mistakes. learn also from other people's mistakes.

don't go digging your nose in public.

close your mouth when you sneeze and cough.

don't sweat the small stuff.

be less judgmental.

when you're at risk of being the fall guy for other people's bad deeds, leave.

- to be updated more later -

on being full of myself ;)

2011-02-21T23:57:00.002+08:00

from my almost-a-decade-long exposure to copy writing, proof-reading & editing other people's work, i think i should be able to give trainings on effective business communications ;p

1) ever heard of the term K-I-S-S? Keep It Simple Stupid. yes, do just that. dont be flowery. there's no glory in adding flowers to business letters/proposals/reports/presentations. go be a gardener. or a florist.

2) dont be long winded. theres no law against having a few separate sentences to make a point. too many people think cramming everything into a single sentence that spans 4-5 lines is impressive. it's not.

3) dont assume that your audience is stupid. stop making the same point again & again. over-kill tau. you already kill me, you kill me again. hohumm... boringggg...

4) enough with the quotable quotes already. i can buy my own self-development books or reader's digest or sun tzu's art of war or whatever. quoting famous people too often will make the audience feel like you're a wannabe self-help guru.

5) dont perasan yourself to be great at creating brand-y terms. get feedback. if the feedback is negative, for goodness sake, listen. dont be bullheaded and syok sendiri. note: you'll be surprised just how syok sendiri some people can be.

lots more lessons learnt to impart here but it's time for this wannabe trainer to go to sleep. good night world!!

giving thanks

2011-02-18T12:10:00.005+08:00

in the last couple of weeks/months, there were a few occasions on which i have felt extremely grateful & lest i forget (which i have, hence why this is actually a belated entry) & take things for granted yet again, i would like to register my thanks where i can re-visit it & remind myself to be thankful for the blessings that surround my every day existence.

aiyo, sounds so hallmark channel hor...

so here goes:

- for having the talent to write very professional sounding corporate stuff or (when i let myself get away with it,) the soppy-flowery-oozing-with-sugar kind of stuff.

- for being pregnant again after having had 2 miscarriages last year.

- for a little boy who is super adorable & who is now at a most amusing & entertaining age

- for a husband who's a great guy, a great dad to our son and who has re-discovered the joys of being fit and healthy ;p.

- for a helper who is great with my son & who is there to help me with all manner of house work while i'm pregnant with my second child.

- for contributions from friends & family in the form of birth/baptism/birthday/festive etc angpows for my son which has resulted in a healthy savings account for him.

- for the opportunity to venture into newer pastures later on this year :)

- for the good relationship that i have with my in-laws.

- for parents who are retired, able and willing to help with whatever i need especially when i'm on maternity leave.

- for a sister who lives nearby. at least i dont feel so alone.

- for the ability to contribute to charitable causes. even if it’s only in small measures.

- for facebook cos as cliché as it sounds, it has certainly made the world a smaller place.

- for blogs so i get to improve my typing speed & skills ;p

- for having a small frame so it's easier to lose weight post-pregnancy. (let’s hope this is true this time around)

- for having received a nice bonus. it certainly is a welcome windfall especially this year.

- for friends who are available for online chats especially on oh-so-boring days.

There’s definitely more to be grateful for but let’s just call this entry a work-in-progress.

(i'm actually trying to blog surreptitiously cos there's this pain of a colleague who's constantly coming after me to do HIS work. ok, i should be thankful also for someone who thinks highly of my talents *right* that he keeps bugging me hor?)

men should learn to shut it

2011-02-14T15:50:00.005+08:00

i'm pregnant & hormonal. dont expect me to be super-chill at this point.

YOU try carrying the extra kilos. & dealing with the hormones. & backaches. & boob aches.

oh wait, you can't cos you're a guy. & so not in a position to comment on this, cos you'll never ever go through it. & the only extra kilos you'd every have to carry has nothing to do with bringing a another life into the world.

men are so blur.

please humor me & just let me be. can or not? yes, even if i feel like going shopping. so what? hows that gonna kill you? also, lets apply some logic to the whole picture ya: i'm pregnant & in my 3rd trimester. just how long do you think i will last walking about in a mall? and do you seriously think i'll want to do it more than once a week, if at all? in any case, so what if i like shopping? i shop for necessities anyways. to feed YOUR child (& you). apa lah...

&, it isn't like you've offered to get the baby's things ready (not that you would know what to get, right??). yet when i want to do it, you want to give me a hard time. please lah, give me a break. it's enough that i have to deal with all the physical discomforts. you want to be a big hero & add on to that summore kah?

so, hello, lets do try to be a bit more patient & understanding & supportive. it really won't kill you. i promise.

i've been found out :p

2011-01-27T10:32:00.003+08:00

uh-oh...

this blog was supposed to be a secret. but someone found me out. hahaha... i'm not angry or anything. i know that putting yourself out in the world-wide-web has such consequences :)

i'm a bit shy lah more than anything. family dont know that i have a blog. mostly my friends. and mostly not even my close friends hahaha... go figure.

so, to my new reader who stumbled upon me, i hope you wont be too judgemental of my stories... sometimes i curse, sometimes i gossip, sometimes i sound ungrateful... so, please do read with a pinch of understanding that i'm just human, and therefore fully fallible :)

belated season greetings

2011-01-22T09:35:00.002+08:00

it's been awhile hasnt it?

just havent had much of an inclination for an entry, short or otherwise.

my last quarter of 2010 was pretty hectic. what with wrapping up work and getting ready for christmas and for our trip bach home to sabah. oh yes, and an important job interview :)

wish me all the luck that i get it. it's the new year and high time for a change on the job front. i cannot stress how important it is for me at this point. my current work place has been a rather stressful place. i know that all jobs in all places will have some level of stress and politics, but i'm just due for a change. so, good luck to me.

on the holiday front, we spent the last 2 weeks of 2010 in sabah. ethan had a great time and i basically did what i do best when i'm back in kk --hibernate at home. i miss the food --yummy ngiu chap... sighhh...

we came back to kl on new year's eve --airasia is a crappy airline. if only i were rich enough to opt for some other airline. well, mas is not too bad now especially if you try for the deals. our airasia flight was delayed so much that by the time we got back home, we only had time to drop off our stuff and head out again for the new year's eve dinner at my mil's. tired. as much as we wanted to stay on for the countdown, so cannot tahan lah. so on we headed home, waited for the countdown while unpacking and wished everyone at midnight and on to bed.

its now past the middle of january. i've attended the final interview for the new job but since im pregnant, i'm not too sure if i got it. sigh...

speaking of pregnancies, did i mention that i'm having a girl? cool huh? i get a pair now... kids are such joys and i'm so glad we're having another one.

so, here i end my first entry of the year. let's hope i'll write more often this year. happy new year, one and all... may this year be filled with many blessing and prosperity :)

some good news

2010-10-26T09:39:00.003+08:00

1. we are pregnant with baby no. 2 :D

2. i have finally updated my resume... woohoo!! and i have even sent it out to a friend.

3. this next pay check will include our long-awaited increment back-dated to june 2010. so i have money for christmas shopping :)

4. we have signed up for the terry fox run this year. obviously i won't be running since i'm preggers. not that i was running even when i wasnt preggers. not sure if i'll even be walking the 5km. maybe i'll just wait for my family while they do their round. the husband will be running. the mil and maid can take ethan in his stroller. i'll bring a book and collect drinks from the yummy milo truck man.

an effort to keep my writings updated

2010-08-09T17:47:00.004+08:00

been so long since i logged into this that i nearly forgot my password ;p

it's been a hectic couple of months for me at work. in reference to the last entry, no i havent even looked at my resume. i did get a call from a headhunter requesting for an updated resume, but no, havent done it yet.

the politics & uncertainties in the office are continuing & continuing ad nauseam. on a more positive note, they did send me off to europe for 2 weeks. which was great but hectic too as we travelled to 3 cities and transitted in 2 within less than 2 weeks. if only it wasnt a working trip... :). plus i missed my son who had fever without any other illness almost the whole time i was away --guess he missed me too. the husband had a good time though & no i dont mind cos i think it's great that we both had a little break as separate entities.

the other great bit of news is that my maid finally arrived! she came the day before i left for europe & i packed both her & ethan to my sister's house. he had a ball of a time with his grandparents & cousins despite the persistent fever. the maid is so far so good & lets hope that this will continue forever. shes got 3 kids of her own. cooking i think got lots of room for improvement but thats just pending tutorials on cooking indian dishes which i myself dont do that well.

thats about all i have time for. hopefully, i'll be able to find some time for more entries soon ;)

note to self

2010-05-10T11:39:00.003+08:00

a very de-motivating start to the week.

i really should get cracking on that resume. any volunteers to help me? usually, people outsource their resume writing to me ;p but somehow i just cant do my own.

but for me to keep my sanity intact, not to mention my pressure from sky-rocketing, i'm gonna get to it some time this week.

this must sound like a broken record, but i have had it with this job.

heres to new horizons!

checking in again

2010-05-06T15:31:00.002+08:00

life's been pretty hectic for me in the last 1 year or so.

my son is almost 2 yrs old now & i'd like to believe that both the husband & i have settled into parenthood rather well. we're still without a maid which is both a blessing and a hassle at the same time. the little boy goes to the babysitter whose family adores him. lovely.

work is busy. busy is good. but work is also full of politics right now. my team is stuck in the middle and we get whacked left, right and centre. my poor colleague, who recently joined me. she must be regretting her decision haha.

mother's day is coming up & we're preparing home-made burger patties and a salad dish for a potluck. my husband's into this cooking thing right now. of course this is just an occassional thing lah. without a maid, we hate having to clean up after cooking. even if it's just cooking maggi.

speaking of the husband, hes also into healthy living right now and has lost almost 10kgs since march. he exercises and makes better food choices. so proud of him. although sometimes i think hes a bit obsessed with it haha... he said that once he reaches his target weight, he'll take me shopping for new clothes... for him... but i think i might be able slot in a couple of items for myself ;p. i'm supposed to advise him on fashion. macam lah i ni fashionable sangat. and macam lah he will listen to me. my husband's inherently old school about everything. so i can only imagine the brow-beating i have to do to get him to buy the kind of jeans i think would be flattering for him. dont get me wrong, his current style is ok. luckily for me, he just likes playing it safe, so although its not the most trendy of fashions, he can still get away with it. imagine if he was stuck in the 80's... die lah me...

speaking of clothes, i just found out that i can get nice clothes in reject shop. for kids too. so my son got some nice new clothes last weekend. woohoo! poor boy, beli dekat reject shop only. oh well, my husband said theyre not priced like rejected clothes. tonight, i'm gonna have some me time at the curve. so i'll go have a look-see. i think i ought to dress nicer. i'm stuck in wearing functional jeans and baby-tees cos i have a toddler. so tonight, i'm gonna go shopping for some girly stuff :p.

i think my credit card's gonna melt tonight.

and the camel's ass continues to spew bigotry

2010-05-06T15:19:00.003+08:00

latest comment in yet another official company meeting:

camel's ass: now i masuk tandas i dah bau kari dah!

what has going to the loo situated on another level got to do with the smells in the loo situated in another level, huh ass? you exaggerate far too much that it is waaaayyyy beyond logic.

those who are sitting with this particular race/nationality of people that you claim to stink of curry dont get any smell pun. so how is it that you, who sit on another level altogether, in a room of your own, can smell curry?

have you ever thought that maybe, YOU ARE THE ONE WHO STINKS?

i wish you were an ant to i could squish you. unfortunately you're a camel (its backside) --too big for me to squish.

i hate bigots

2010-04-22T18:08:00.004+08:00

i just came out of a meeting and i am so friggin pissed off at my ex-ceo who is a real shit. here are some things that he said at the close of the meeting (saving the best for last or just being a friggin chicken shit so he can run out of the door as soon as he makes discriminating comments???)

stupid comment no.1

"lets not hire any more indians. i masuk office i dah bau dah..." (wtf... i dont smell anything. no one else complains about any smell either. only he does. and from his past actions/comments, we all know hes got something against indians. mtf.)

stupid comment no.2

"let's do something about female smokers in the company. they shouldnt be smoking in public." (arghhhh!!!! dont you just feel like slapping the back of his head?? maybe if you do it hard enough, the cells responsible for his stupidity will jump out of his mouth. bastard.)

i hope karma comes and kicks you in the balls. i hope you get a daughter-in-law who's indian and smokes. padan muka you. and if you do really get such a daughter-in-law then heres my message to her: put your father-in-law in his place please i.e. in a locked room with the keys thrown far-far-away. he shouldnt be allowed out in public.

i hate stupid racist discriminating bigots --shame on you.

to my ex-ceo, wtf are you still doing here? orang dah tak nak you dah... thats why you're an EX. paham tak?? and from your actions today, we know why lah. so why dont you just leave. just because the new ceo is nice enough to appoint you as an advisor (which doesnt mean jackshit cos its just out of pity and respect for old people --not sure why you deserve ANY respect though), doesnt mean that you should over-stay your welcome.

please dont come in tomorrow, cos if you do, then you'll trouble me with looking for another table to sit at. i dont think i can stomach sitting in front of a bigot the whole day.

hi

2010-03-10T10:28:00.005+08:00

hello world.

a belated merry christmas, happy new year, happy valentines & happy chinese new year.

yes, it has been that long.

why did i ever think i could make money from writing?

anyways, life's a peach right now. actually, thats not entirely true. life is as life was in 2009 --not that i hit the jackpot or anything major like that. been so busy that i didnt make any new year's resolution, although even if i did, it would probably be the same: save more money, swear less, dont kill my plants, eat healthy, exercise yada yada...

not that i see any of it through anyways. BUT, i salsa-cised last night so i suppose that counts for something, even if its only been the 2nd time in this whole year. i know its just an excuse but having a toddler and finding time to exercise is a bit of a challenge. the most i can do given my constraints is take a walk around 7 apartment blocks before the sun totally goes down. excuses... :D

this year, we've got a few major plans. actually, theyre more like my plans and i have to introduce them slowly to my first-say-NO husband. some plans are a given, so no knee-jerk reaction. some plans make sense but he just has to be difficult and say no to it first. then a week later, he'll come around to agreeing.

we're looking for a new maid again. sigh. not sure if its gonna be an indonesian considering that the freeze is still on. so wish us luck.

i also have to get off my lazy ass and update my cv. i really SHOULD change jobs this year. right.

as for baby no.2, well... thats not up to us so, we'll leave it in God's hands. so keep us in your prayers --catholic or not :D.

ok. getting lazy to type now. will continue again (not so) soon...

checking in with the world

2009-12-14T22:52:00.003+08:00

i have been a busy bee of late.

painfully, this year-end is a busy time at work. no thanks to an exiting boss who doesnt seem to realize that when the big boss says you're leaving, it means you're leaving. it doesnt mean go into denial & pretend you're still staying. how blur can some people be? you'd be surprised.

i've taken on a side-project which will hopefully give me lots of money using my God-given talents. no, it has nothing to do with my body the wonderland (muahaha...). i'm finding it a bit difficult to juggle everything though and am somewhat regretting i agreed to it in the first place. but it could just be a case of cranking the old machine up & finding my rhythm i suppose. wish me luck, & bless me friends, that i'll do a good job but not kill myself in the process.

its also christmas-time & although i havent really been busy with christmassy stuff (cos actually i havent completed my shopping yet. so unlike me ok). but i need to finish up all my work (official & non-official) before i go on leave on the 23rd (woohooo!!!).

my exiting-but-in-denial boss wouldnt let me take my customary 2-weeks christmas leave cos well, cos hes just so dengki i think. no reason to dengki also. hes got 40 days leave to clear. he shouldve just told the big boss "big boss, since im no longer wanted in the company, then let me just take my 40 days leave as part of my notice". but noooo... he wants to be in the office to make life miserable for the rest of us. ishkk... this old man...

ok back to work people. its almost midnight. i got selingan to update my blog pula instead of finishing my mountain of work. blech...

apprehension

2009-10-21T11:04:00.001+08:00

err... welcome to 2 new readers.

i will personally make your lives a living hell if you let out my secrets.

thank you for reading :D.

lots of love,
tila member.

grievances

2009-10-14T10:47:00.002+08:00

i should be finishing up my never-ending minutes, but since the minutes are never-ending, i dont think think i'll ever finish them up. by the time the current batch is completed, the new batch comes in.

i cannot believe why people need to talk so much during meetings. why they need to have so many meetings to talk about the same thing especially. geez.

can you tell i'm a disgruntled employee?

i know, get a new job. ok ok... i will... i hope... here comes the excuses --> but its already almost the end of the year and that means my bonus will also be coming hopefully in the 1st quarter of 2010. so, i should wait for that shouldnt i?

sigh.

busy bee

2009-10-12T10:50:00.003+08:00

it was a busy busy weekend. it started with a day off on friday that was spent at the consumer tribunal in kl. which ended unfavorably for us. long story short, we paid rm8k for a maid that ran away, we asked the agency for a refund, they refused, so we took the agency to the consumer tribunal court. unfortunately, the tribunal only agreed to refund us 44% of what we had paid to the agency. which basically is just the maid's advanced salary LESS the number of days the silly girl "worked" (and i use the term very very very loosely) with us. i is so hangryyy... with the agency, with the judge, with the silly maid... oh well... thats rm4.6k down the drain and i have nothing to show for it. eff lah.

on to chirpier things. on saturday i visited 2 homes: my sister and another girlfriend who are both in puchong (and managed to have meals in both homes in the span of 2 hours... glutton!), i zoomed back to kepong so my son could have a rest and i could do my nails and later feed and bathe him, zoomed into kl to get the husband and then we zoomed to another party. so tired. but i also felt so productive. imagine, i could even fit in a mani and pedi session. of course, my little boy was kacau-ing me the whole time. thank God for playpens and fun song factory dvds... ok ok... and for pacifiers (kills me to say it though).

on sunday, treat of all treats, the husband didnt have to go in to work. yippee! so we all went for another birthday party in the afternoon and got back home with lots of time for some much needed lazing in front of the tv. in the evening we went to a nearby pasar malam and i had my fill of durians. sadly, the husband and my son were running away from me. in my sons case, he was running away screaming --no joke!

so now, back to work and boy do i have a lot of work. bosan work some more.

have i mentioned that i anger with the stupid maid agency?

the long raya break (well not so long for me)

2009-09-23T16:03:00.006+08:00

once again, eid mubarak / selamat hari raya to all my muslim friends.

thank God for long weekends. i was so looking forward to this year's raya break. although i didnt really take any extra days off so i had saturday through tuesday off.

we spent the weekend here in kl as we had a birthday function to attend but we wanted to take etha*n to the beach and so we drove down to seremban on sunday evening & spent the night in an uncle's home. my gmil, mil, niece, nephew and their maid came along as well. we all got up early on monday morning and drove to a nice private, quiet & clean beach in PD. we brought our tikar & snacks & plastic pails for the kids to play.

etha*n was a bit afraid of the water & waves. probably because it was a bit mendung that day & the water was chilly. luckily i had enough sense to dress him in those diver-type suits instead of just swimming trunks so he wasnt too exposed to the chilliness. luckily also my mil had brought along swimming diapers for the toddlers. i kinda forgot about that. actually, even if i had remembered, i dont know where to get them. where do you get them? they look like pull-up pants but they dont seem to soak water the way normal diapers do. mental note to self: find swimming diapers.

ok so, he was a bit takut of the water & waves, but eventually warmed up enough to enjoy it. got into the sea with his father & waited for the waves to come crashing at them. farnee. after a while, i took him to the beach to play with the sand & the plastic thingies. he seemed to enjoy both the sea & the sand.

my niece whos also my godchild is only 6 months older to etha*n, and i had a good time irritating her. she doesnt like the sand & so i kept rubbing the stuff all over her. of course in the end, i was on the losing end cos i had to take her into the sea to wash it all off again. but it was funny.

unfortunately, they were only able to play for about an hour before the black clouds came threatening to rain. lo & behold, just as i told everyone to finish up & get dressed it started to drizzle. luckily by then etha*n was already dressed & had a hat on & was sitting under a tree with his jijima (great-grandma).

so that was our beach escapade. short. but we came back to kl & took him swimming in the pool again the next day. so he got to spend some more time swimming again.

& now we're all back at work. but everyone else in the country is probably still on leave cos the roads are so clear. thank God. & though i'm in the office, i can still relax & do my own things since none of the bosses are here. yeehaww!

methinks a shopping session is up this afternoon :-p.

my christmas wish list ;p

2009-09-23T15:48:00.007+08:00

christmas is coming (ok fine, AFTER raya & deepavali, but it IS coming). & i’ve got my heart set on some things. we had planned to paint our walls. but then we ventured into planning for other things in the home too haha. ok lah, maybe we wont be able to do everything all together. But hopefully, we’ll get to each one at some point in our lives :D.

so the big-ticket items i wish for are:

newly painted walls

new doors for the bedrooms

new floors for the bedrooms

a second car

~***~

and for myself personally:

the ultimate lift from levis

killer shoes

a christmas dress

plush towels

good skin

long lashes

i wish i was a jackpot winner. since i'm not, i guess i’ll just have to depend on my personal ingenuity and look for cheaper gratifications. hmmm…

oh ya, i almost forgot. a belated selamat hari raya to all my muslim friends. i hope it was a good one!

A(H1N1) Influenza

2009-06-25T14:32:00.005+08:00

when the virus first hit malaysian shores, i quickly shot an email to my entire office requesting them to take care. takuts.

the spread has been so fast. today the papers reported 12 new cases making it a total of 80 cases todate. very efficient this virus.

i would like to ask everyone to be careful. take care of yourselves, your family, your community and finally, the general society. i feel so sad and afraid for those young kids who have contracted this flu.

i am so worried for my own 11mth old son. i also get angry with those who are taking it very lightly --these include my own family members too. some people think i'm just being a bit over-the-top. i dont think so. i too find it a challenge to be constantly conscious of what i do, where i go. but we should all try.

i'm sure everyone knows what the A(H1N1) virus is but just to reiterate what we already know, the following FAQ can also be found on: http://thestar.com.my/.

Influenza A (H1N1) FAQ

What is the A (H1N1) influenza?
It is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. It regularly causes high flu outbreaks in pigs but with low death rates. There are four main sub-types of the virus, but the most recent isolated influenza viruses from pigs have been H1N1 viruses.

How does it spread?
Influenza A (H1N1) viruses do not typically infect humans though they do occur through close proximity or contact with infected pigs or contaminated areas. Cases of human-to-human spread have been documented.

What are the symptoms?
The symptoms are similar to those of regular flu:
- Fever
- Lethargy
- Runny nose
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Lack of appetite
- Vomiting and diarrhoea in some cases.

How common is the A (H1N1) flu infection in humans?
In the past reports of about one human A(H1N1) flu virus infection had been received every one to two years in the United States. From December 2005 till February 2009, 12 cases have been reported.

Has this strain of flu been seen before?
No. Flu mutates constantly, so it is common for new strains to emerge. Pigs can also be infected with both human and avian influenza, and the current circulating A (H1N1) flu strain appears to contain genetic elements from all three.

Can the A (H1N1) flu be treated with antiviral drugs and flu vaccine?
The A (H1N1) flu is resistant to two common drugs – Amantadine and Rimantadine. The A (H1N1) flu viruses are very different from human H1N1 viruses. Therefore, vaccines for human seasonal flu would not provide protection. However, a “seed vaccine” has been specifically tailored to this swine flu and will be manufactured if officials deem it necessary.

Can people catch A (H1N1) flu by eating pork?
No. The A (H1N1) influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 70ºC and above kills the swine flu virus.

How long is someone with the A (H1N1) flu considered contagious?
People with the A (H1N1) influenza virus infection should be considered potentially contagious as long as they are symptomatic; possibly for up to seven days following the onset of the illness. Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods.

What can I do to protect myself from the A (H1N1) flu?
There is no vaccine available right now to protect against the A (H1N1) flu.
However, you can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza by:

- Covering your nose and mouth with a disposable tissue or handkerchief when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the waste basket after you use it.

- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also helpful

- Try to avoid close contact with sick people. - If you get sick with influenza, stay at home and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

- Consult your nearest healthcare facility if you think you have any of the symptoms.

What precautions are in place in Malaysia?
- The Health Ministry’s operations room in Putrajaya has started a 24-hour monitoring of the situation. The public can call 03-8881 0200/300 for enquiries.

- Those returning from Latin American countries and found to have flu-like symptoms will be quarantined.

- Health Ministry officials are conducting health screenings on passengers arriving from the United States.

- Thermal scanners will be placed at international airports to speed up the screening process for A (H1N1) flu.

- Public and private medical practitioners have been instructed to report to the district health office any patient with influenza-like illnesses or severe pneumonia symptoms and who had travelled to the affected countries after April 17.

- Travel Advisory from the foreign ministry

Where can I get more information?
For more information, go to the Health Ministry (http://www.moh.gov.my/) or call the Ministry's hotline at (03) 8881-0200/300.

Useful Links:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: http://www.kln.gov.my/
World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/
Homeland Security Department: http://www.dhs.gov/
WHO A (H1N1) flu page: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html

long hiatus

2009-06-24T09:11:00.002+08:00

hello... err... audience... (so perasan)

it's been a while now since i posted an entry. my life has been a bit hectic with childcare logistics since april so excuse me for the very long absence :-)

some updates:

1) my mil's maid who was taking care of my son decided to leave earlier than expected
2) my son stayed in puchong (sister's house) with my mom as we had no one to take care of him
3) we applied for a maid from march but we'll only get her in july (4months arghhh)
4) i was pregnant but had a miscarriage in my 6th week :-( so sad
5) my son flew to sabah with my mom for 3 weeks because we had no one to take care of him :-(
6) i was so sad that first week that the husband took pity on me & bought me a return ticket to sabah so i could spend my 1st mother's day with my son :-)
7) my son & mom came back to kl in june so im happy again
8) we're waiting for the maid to come
9) etha*ns turning one in a couple more weeks so birthday planning is in progress
10) i'm getting itchy to try something new -thinking of baking cupcakes?
11) believe it or not i've started going to the gym but dont get too excited, i just started
12) my childhood home has been torn down to make way for a new house. quite sad also lah.
13) i'm updating my cv (since time immemorial)

my son is growing up just fine. hes got 8 gigi altogether & can walk but only a few steps. he can say mama but usually only when hes cranky. im now thinking what to get for him for his 1st bday. maybe a toy car? he seems to be fascinated with my steering wheel.

the husband is now also itchy to get a new job. me too lah for that matter. but i'll let him change first before i do since i think my situation is more bearable than his.

this swine flu thing is giving me the creeps. my bil is in australia now so when he comes back to kl, we'll be staying away from him for awhile. but, the husband pulak going to spore to watch the liverpool game. ishk. i got the flu jab already. only rm45 at my old gp in puchong. actually its rm50 but since the dr likes me so much, shes only charging rm45. i didnt fall sick after that, lucky me. but my sil did. apparently it happens right after you get the jab. dr says the jab is actually the flu virus which they introduce to your immune system for it to step up a notch and become stronger. i knew that :-).

cant think of what else to update at the moment. IF i get into this baking thing, i'll take a couple of pictures :-).

more funny conversations

2009-04-14T12:32:00.001+08:00

this transpired between my 10yr old niece & i. i was stretching my arms out & she saw my tummy. my stretch-marky tummy.

niece: aunty, i can see your perut.

me: ok.

niece: aunty, why is your perut like that? (i think she was referring to the stretch marks).

me: because i had a baby.

niece: but aunty. mama also had a baby but why her perut lagi buruk? (lucky my sister didn’t hear it).

me: muahahahaha… cos she had two babies. i’ve only had one.

my mom: grandma’s perut LAGI buruk.

my dad: grandpa’s stomach very nice (lifting his t-shirt to show a very round smooth tummy).

everyone: hihihihi…

reunion dinner with old schoolmates

2009-03-20T14:16:00.002+08:00

a couple of months ago, i bumped into an old school mate who used to be THE sports girl in school for a couple of consecutive years. we played hockey together (yes, me).

anyways, this girl, she still keeps in touch with a lot of people, including our teachers. haha... our maths & PE teachers who were & still are married to each other.

i dont know whether to look forward to our dinner or not. the invitees are not exactly people i were close to in school. neither were they my highschool nemesises (is there such a plural word?). but i guess it would be fun to see what happened to who, who looks like what now & who has the goss on other people.

if i'm honest with myself, which sometimes im not, what im really concerned with is what i'll wear tomorrow hahaha... & because of that, i feel like leaving work early today. just so i can go & see what i can get. i want a pair of new jeans & some new tops. i went to cats whiskers a couple of days ago. not so nice lah their things. thinking of checking out nichii. but honestly i am so malas to go. the spirit is willing but the flesh is not.

you know what i've discovered? that i dont have many clothes (although the husband disagrees). if you look at pictures of me over the last 5 years, i wear the SAME thing. in fact, get this, i wore the same attire for my 6yr old nephew's baptism & his 1yr old sister's bday party. lers... AND my sil noticed it too. how embarrassing hor?

but then again these school mates who i've not seen since 1994 surely wont know that i'm recylcling my clothes over the years izenit? unless of course they ask for my albums lah hehehe.

i still havent decided whether to leave early or not today & if i do pun, im not sure whether i will go shopping.

has anyone seen the new levi's for women yet? thinking of getting those but first mau check budget dulu.

i married an indian

2009-03-13T11:59:00.004+08:00

yes i did.

although he claims he is italian (in jest of course). so to those of you who said my son looks mat salleh, well, the husband's response is "i dont know why people are surprised. i am italian whatttt!" ptoooiii!!

anyways, although indian, he loves western dishes especially italian (surprise, surprise). he does have some favorite indian dishes though but luckily, he doesnt expect me to cook it. well, i think it would be nice if i learned how to but earlier, in ensuring that he doesnt expect me to be the subservient little woman, i said that i would learn on condition that HE learns it first & then he can teach me. so, i am proud to announce that the husband has been taking cooking lessons from his mom. & i stand around making susu & cooking porridge for my son haha.

i dont have any major issues with this inter-racial marriage. & for that i am lucky & grateful. my in laws too are liberal & mature & modern about multi-racial relationships. i see a lot of chinese, eurasians, malays, mat sallehs & even filipinos in the mix. so its all good.

however, both of us feel a bit sad that our individual cultures probably won't pass down to our children. ya lah... as it is, neither of us speak our own native languages. although we do understand them some. & its sadder for me still because i'm away from my hometown & removed from the every day cultures of my people. at least, for the husband, his family is still around even if they speak mostly in english.

the husband even wanted to get a sri lankan maid so that our son can speak tamil. which by the way, is not his native language. gilos. luckily i managed to dissuade him from really going through with it. i dont want to have communication issues with my maid anymore than i would already be facing.

speaking of getting in touch with our roots, i made the husband agree to wear the traditional kadazan costume. & in fact, i did suggest it for our wedding as well but he was adamant about not having to change outfits every few hours. lazy bum. so last christmas, we finally did take a family picture of us clad in the black-gold-red outfits.

my next project is to get a picture of us in the traditional indian costumes. which yes, i also suggested for our wedding but mr. eksyen said "no. i'm not gonna." party pooper. so, i gots myself a sari from india. no i didnt go there --i pesan from his cousin. & im gonna see if i can get one made for my son --not a sari lah. a jeepa i think they call it (looks like a punjabi suit for men like that). & the husband? hmm... maybe he can pinjam from someone lah i guess. well, its not like he would ever ever wear it ever again anyways. actually for me also, i dont know when i'll find an occasion to wear a sari. with a baby summore. i might trip & fall flat on my face. how embarrassing that would be. but whatever, i wanted one & i got one. but first i need to get the blouse sewed for me.

i hope someone gets married soon so i can try on my sari for size. hehe.

Lent

2009-03-13T11:51:00.000+08:00

Lent is upon us.

This year the husband has resolved to give up tv and drinking. Me, bitching & complaining. My gosh... I only managed to do it (& a poor job at that!) for just a couple of days. It is very difficult not to be able to bitch to let off steam. Macam mana ni? It has occured to me that I'm so dependent on complaining & complaining & so I dont think I like myself being this person. How did I get here or was I always here? Maybe hor...

Growing up, Lenten fasting was not a big thing for my family. Of course the no-meat-on-Fridays was strictly adhered to. Our Friday menu usually consisted of sardines or fried fish or salted fish or canned ikan tausi (dunno how to explain this one) or fried eggs with kicap. The husband's family is a bit better than us haha. When I first met him, his Lenten abstinence was from alcohol & lunch. I was nicely eating away haha & even had meat on Fridays. Now, the running joke is that I corrupted him. Tsk tsk...

Now that I am married & have a family of my own, I hope I'll be a good influence on my son. I took him for Ash Wednesday mass (which marks the beginning of Lent) & luckily hes not a boisterous toddler yet or I wouldnt have been able to deal with him alone (in heels). He was rather quiet actually... I think because he was fascinated with so many people & new faces around us. & a kind young boy who I didnt know but who obviously knew me (cos he called out my name --must be one of the husband's friends) offered me his seat. There were so many people that we initially had to stand / sit outside of the church building. So at least Etha*n & I had a chair after that. Luckier still that Etha*n had had his feed just before we went to church. So I didnt have to bring his diaper bag with me. If not, I would've had to carry him, my handbag & his diaper bag in a church full of people & no seats. The husband came straight from his office & arrived a little late but just in time too as my heels were killing me (cos I too came straight from work & no way was I gonna wear slippers with my pants & look unfashionable... hehehe).

Mesti nampak vogue mah.

So, Easter is coming up in about 3 weeks & I havent abstained much from anything. Teruks. How to be a good influence hah? Sigh... Tonight there are sessions opened for Easter confessions but I'm not very motivated to go. I didnt attend confession for like 10years before I got married (at which point, I HAD to). I think I'll just give myself & the husband a kick in the behind & go tonight.

Easter is coming :-)

economic slump

2009-03-10T15:02:00.012+08:00

my bonus has arrived but i cant spend it on unnecessary things. & i do so want to spend it on unnecessary things. sobs.

we're getting a maid & it will cost us about rm8000. so far i know of 3 maids that come from this same agency & they're pretty alright. so i hope i'll get a good maid too.

so yeah... as my colleagues are planning on what they would buy with their bonuses, i gotta keep mine aside for 3 major things:

1. credit card
2. personal loan
3. maid (fees + gaji + fan, mattress, towels etc)

oh well. at least i'll be debt-less and maid-ful. thank my lucky stars? yeah. & most of all thanks to my revenue generating department who achieved the revenue targets which allowed the rest of us cost centres to be entitled to the bonus :-). bless your souls.

every year, come bonus time but even before the actual pay-out, i would already come up with my wishlist, like so:

medical checkup (i can get tax rebate for this)
child security gate (so my son won't gallivant into the kitchen cos my oven is at child's height)
change 2 wooden doors (1 was kicked open by the husband bcos it banged shut & got stuck, 1 dunno what happened while we were away but when we came back after 2 weeks we could not close it shut)
2 new car tyres (mesti)
books amounting to rm1000 (last year was the worst year for me in terms of book shopping, i think i only spent like rm500)
decorate my home (maybe get some additional furniture & some decorations?)
angpow (son, parents)
treats to self & husband (maybe a spa?)
savings (if only...)

but then again, i dont know if my bonus cukup tak for all of these hehe. me thinks it may just be enough for the first 3 items earlier. so it is true... you can never have enough money.

& with the current economic situation, i really ought to put item no.9 higher up in the list shouldnt i?

stress-pot

2009-03-03T13:32:00.002+08:00

at this point i just want to let out a long, big sigh.

SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

i am mentally & physically exhausted & what i really want is to run away from my world right now. please allow me to rant.

start each of the following with "WHY OH WHY..."

is my apartment super-duper dusty that even after a day of wiping-vaccuuming-sweeping-moping-sweeping again-washing-clearing up, it gets all dusty again the very next day? i hate the construction activities thats going on around me. i cannot wait to get my maid!
is the husband's work hours from 12noon to 9pm that hes not around much to help with the housechores on a regular basis? do i look like a maid? i seem to be picking up after everyone in the house. baby or not. i cannot wait to get my maid!
cant i just get my son after work & go home without my mil's maid giving me a hardtime about it? sukati lah i want to go home ke, jalan-jalan ke... who are YOU to ask me why i want to leave early? i cannot wait to get my maid!
is my big boss a male chauvinist haji bakhil pig who despite having been "enlightened" of the error of his judjment STILL clings on to his flawed decision? i hope some day YOU will have a female boss who makes pro-female decisions to the men's disadvantage. i cannot wait for that day to come cos i think i'll leave before it ever happens!
cant my smaller bosses be on time with their reports & give me what i want without 101 excuses that make me want to holler "i dont give a hoot! just give me the damn reports dammit!!" kalau your underlings lambat, pandai je nak marah. now, practice what you preach! i cannot wait for you to get scolded by the biggest boss!
cant my japanese shareholders stop calling for every little thing? pakai email boleh tak? kan this is an IT company? ishkkk... i cannot wait for you to get out of the company!!

disclaimer: all rantings exclude my son.

management by body language

2009-02-26T15:23:00.005+08:00

i have a boss. who is a guy. an old datuk. who is a real piece of work. here are some comments that he has either made or often makes:

from his body language, something is wrong with him / dia not happy here / dia on drugs. i tengok dia, macam abnormal sikit. you all better monitor him. theres something wrong, i dont know what, jangan tanya i apa dia... but ada yang tak kena dengan orang ni. wow, i see you got a masters in reading body language sir!
kalau you temp / contract staff, buat lah macam tak ada duit. hisap rokok kena lah dengan your status. jangan lah buang sebelum rokok tu habis. kena lah hisap sampai habis sebab you sepatutnya tak ada duit, sebab tu you temp / contract staff. wtf...
orang muda-muda ni pakai kereta mewah buat apa? nanti rosak, you dont know what to do. err call aam? call a mechanic? what... if kereta murah & rosak means he WOULD know what to do is it?
you all ni, living outside of your means. tak cukup ke duit yang company bagi? yes tak cukup. not when one person also does 3 other people's jobs cos you're too cheap to employ 3 other people.
saya tak kedekut. you memang kedekutttt.
saya bukan dictator. i dont make decisions alone. kita ada committee. you are a communist. your committee members all disagree with you but you insist on whatever hare-brained idea you have.
aaaaahhhh... itu yang dalam kepala saya!! he says this right after someone has finished stating their own ideas. basically, he claims credit for himself right in front of the person who should be getting the credit.
i dont know why people think this is a malay company. maybe because 95% of the workforce is malay?
we went for recruitment drive at universities but i dont know why the students didnt want to come. maybe because I*B*M was also there & you're too cheap on your marketing budget.
tengok tak iklan petrona*s? simple saja & straight to the point. nothing fancy... just very simple but impact is good. i dont know why our marketing team cannot do it. maybe because you're too cheap on your marketing budget & dont believe in hiring professionals to come up with good ads?
saya suspicious bila orang ambil mc. sebab mc ni you can buy. sebab tu, i will penalize those who take up more than 1/2 of their yearly mc entitlement. & yes, some people do but the burden of proof is on you. so you call lah doctor tu tanya betul ke, sakit apa ke... if i'm entitled to 14days of mc then you should only penalize me when i've taken 15days & not when i 've only taken 8days. giler kah apa kah?
nasib lah (read: so what?)... saya ceo... asshole...
this girl just resigned. dia kata dia ikut husband dia pergi overseas. macam-macam... ni mesti kena control by husband dia ni. wtf...
if you are sick, you should still be able to come into work. its all in the mind. & so when i have chicken pox & come into the office & pass it onto the others & then ALL of us still come into the office then you have an office full of pox, sitting at our desks, scratching away. bodoh.
i have a right to making my own observations & perceptions (of the world). & the world has the same right to make our perception of you.
this was said to me when i told him i was getting married: your religion ni, you have to be careful when you get married. because tak boleh kahwin more than 1. so, if your husband ada illegitimate children, they dont have a claim on his estate. & you say this to me, his legal wife who will bear his legitimate children whyyy? what a doomsayer kannn...
& this was said to me when i told him i was pregnant: we have no say in what we get. you might get anak yang cacat. hmm... he thinks that he can make such comments because he does have a special child. ya fine but come on... its not something that a mother-to-be wants to hear isit. if it happens then ok, boleh lah you give your advice about how we dont have a choice in this matter etc. right?
this is the latest and the bestest: for bonus this year, we have decided to penalize those who went on maternity leave. because being pregnant & having children is a punishable act of crime therefore i am penalized isit? because you are not in the office for 2 months orang lain yang buat kerja tu. fine, so will you give the money you take from me to my colleague yang take over my work? i doubt it. no, we didnt make this decision based on gender. it was based on non-performance for 2months. doesnt matter what your intentions were but after all is said & done, only women get penalized. doesnt matter if you still work from home in the 2months, we cannot split hair so much cos if not, this will never end. yet when you want to be anal on some things, you can & do but we cant argue this to the death?

there are many, many more things that he has said & done that has offended & annoyed. i cannot wait for him to go, if he ever does go. so i guess i'm gonna have to. better get cracking on my cv...

getting in touch with my roots

2009-02-06T17:14:00.006+08:00

in the name of getting in touch with my roots, i brought along my kadazan attire back to sabah with the intention of taking a family picture with all 3 of us clad in the kadazan costume. if you're wondering why the husband is botak, he says its so his son wont feel lonely. hihihi...

i ended up wearing it also for my brother's wedding cos i couldnt be bothered to iron the baju i had originally intended on wearing :-).

going back to sabah also coincided with the sikayu*n family reunion party which was attended by approximately 250pax. lots? yeahhhh... & i dont really know everyone. we had to be color coded as well. & my family's color was designated as green. the pink clad people in the back are from another granduncle's family (kira my 2nd cousins lah).

also, not sure if this counts as getting in touch with my roots, but i managed to get a picture of an iguana at the back of my mom's house. check it out:

christmas eve 2008 in sabah

2009-02-06T16:24:00.006+08:00

christmas this year was spent in sabah with my family. not only was this my son's first christmas but also his first trip back home to sabah. so yeah. big deal. at least for me lah. i think he couldnt care less.

a typical christmas for my family sees us going for mass on christmas eve and then proceeding to a fancy dinner out somewhere. which is a good thing cos no one wants to be the one stuck with cooking a meal for the family (2parents + 6kids + 5inlaws + 5grandkids). this year however, we decided to attend christmas morning mass thus leaving the eve free for dinner.

in the family, i'm considered the "dresser". so i was really looking forward to dressing up for the dinner. unfortunately, everyone decided to dress down. so there we were in jeans, t-shirts, sneakers & all things casual. not to be down-trodden, i wore my killer red heels with jeans so yeah... i was still a little fancier than needed (muahahahah!!).

these are some pictures taken on christmas eve night:

this is one of the whole family minus 1 brother-in-law (who didnt make it back from overseas)

this is the lovely-ly decorated tree. my sil got most of the decorations from manila which is a haven for all things christian.

heres my sister & her husband

heres another sister whose husband didnt make it back this year. but her kids nicol.e & mega.n came along.

this is my brother & his wife-to-be. their wedding was just after christmas on 27dec08.

heres another brother & his wife who is now the mistress of the manor. (but my mom is still the ladyboss).

here are my 2 10yr old nieces. i love this picture!

heres my youngest brother (whos got longer hair than all his sisters) with my baby boy.

& here are my parents.

& this is my little family of three. can you see my red heels & the husbands sneakers? harummphhhff...

this is etha*n in his 1st party hat

& then he fell asleep during the party with his face penyet-ed on his fathers shoulder.

this is my nephew & his bestfriend, my dad.

happy new year 2009

2009-01-23T16:51:00.002+08:00

hello & happy belated new year’s 2009.

i’ve been meaning to update my blog but have been so busy at work yadayadayada…

we’ve had a lot of things happening from mid-december onwards so heres a snapshot of where we were & what happened:

baby & i left for sabah on 20dec. lucky we took MAS (comfort) and luckier even that my sister & family flew back with us (assistance). baby was ok-ish on the flight to & fro. thanks baby! the husband joined us on Christmas eve. our schedule was super-packed what with celebrations for Christmas, my brother’s wedding, a family reunion (for 250 of us) and new year’s. while we were in sabah, etha*n got a little sick but not too much: conjunctivitis, cough, flu –all contracted from his cousins. but that’s ok… makes him stronger in the long run. we even found a pediatrician that we liked. other than the planned functions, etha*n & i stayed home mostly just to relax. he ALMOST got into the inflatable pool with his cousins but the water was too cold & he screamed in protest as soon as I dipped his one toe into the water. ethan “finally” got his passport done in sabah. yippee!! so a trip down to singapore is due soon. to get in touch with his kadazan roots, i ordered a kadazan costume for him & we took a family picture out in my mum’s garden dressed in this traditional costume. my mum said: better take it in the garden rather than a studio –looks more real. for gifts, etha*n got a lot of clothes… luckily… cos if not i would’ve had a hard time ferrying toys & books back to sabah.

we got back to kl on 1jan but didn’t get much rest as we had planned. etha*n has started teething so hes been a bit cranky & clingy & even had a bit of fever over the weekend before i started work. however, on my first day of work he had a bad case of runny nose which made him very uncomfortable. over the next few days it graduated to a full blown cold with cough in the mix. poor baby. anyways, he got over the cold BUT developed rashes pulak. my mil said it could be measles & so we took him to yet another pediatrician. on the up-side, we FINALLY found a pediatrician we like in kl (cos the other one we like we found in sabah hehe… takkan nak fly back every time hes not well, right). so this lady pediatrician who works partly in ttdi (sundays) and partly in sri damansara which is near to us (tuesdays & fridays), said that its not measles & nothing to worry about. phewwwww!!

*************************************************************************************

ok so that’s the story. as im wont to do come every new year, resolutions are a must. wellll… theyre not exactly resolutions resolutions that i follow. its more of a taking-stock-of-my-life-&-who-i-am & then listing down what i’d like to change for the better. the change might not come in the actual actions but i find that sometimes when i acknowledge my negative sides, i am more vigilant of being mean / bitchy / whiney / cruel / downright ungrateful while i am being that & even if at that moment, i am too into the bitchy-mode to stop being bitchy, at least i’m wracked by guilt later which serves me right lah kan. & it does propel me to apologize.

anyways, panjangnya introduction, here are my “resolutions” which aren’t even near to being exhausted (& some of them might overlap):

better catholic
- church on Sundays, days of obligation
- volunteer / charity work
- less bitching

- stop swearing

better family
- read more books to my son
- quit my job / change jobs that can let me spend more time with my son
- keep the romance going
- be more supportive / understanding

better mind
- less complaints
- count my blessings
- do more thinking
- ambition
- sudoku

- stop swearing

better health
- drink more water
- exercise (right)
- cook
- more fruits & vegetables
- enough with the curries
- choose chicken over beef
- choose fish over meat

better finances
- zero-rize credit card debts
- full settlement of personal loan
- full settlement of study loan

better home
- water my plants
- clean weekly
- sweep daily?? right…
- don’t forget to wipe
- re-decorate

better environment
- less toilet paper
- less paper
- less water
- less electricity
- recycle

i’ve noticed that when i was young (er) i had more self-discipline than i do now. i used to have pets that i took care of rather well. although they stank. but now, my plants are either dead or dying. i used to bring around a small towel for bathroom visits instead of using toilet paper (to save the trees lah right). now, i cant live without toilet / tissue paper. i used to eat a LOT of fruits, drink gallons of water but now aiyohhh… so bad at it lah.

so, in the name of being a better person, i hope that this year, i’ll be able to condition myself THINK BEFORE I DO / SAY.

MALE vs FEMALE

2009-01-15T09:24:00.002+08:00

SHALL WE GO FOR A DRINK?

so true.

did you catch this?

2008-12-15T10:31:00.009+08:00

i'll be the first to admit that my relationship with my parents is far from perfect. we don't always see eye to eye. i'm not the most obedient of children & yes sometimes i get into a shouting match with my mom.

but here's something to read & reflect on:

thanks mumsie & daddy-o,

for being there for me even when i say or do things that hurt your feelings.

love you & God bless.

i so emo today hor?

monday laffs

2008-12-15T10:28:00.001+08:00

becoming who we're not really

2008-12-05T11:36:00.010+08:00

for many many years now, my hair has been colored. some people i know have never even seen my original hair color until recently. this includes the husband :-).
of course it's not like this is something that we talk about so seriously lah.

i havent dyed my hair in about a year now i.e. ever since i got pregnant of course. & even after i delivered, i refrained because i was breastfeeding. i'm not sure if it affects breastfeeding or not but i just wanted to be on the safe side lah. now that i've stopped breastfeeding, i guess it's ok to dye it (except i'm still a bit apprehensive cos takut my son rub his face against my hair or something --paranoid huh?). so i'm gonna do it maybe tonight cos i want to have new hair for the wedding we're attending tomorrow.

i got myself a box of garnier nutrisse hair coloring in brown.
in fact its golden copper brown like this.

please note that thats not me ya although my hair cut is short now. & ya, she also got chinese eyes but i think she got better cheekbones leh. sebab tu dia model & im not. :-p

i hope i dont turn blonde hehehe... takut plak nampak macam those japanese girls with blonde hair hor?

my original hair color is black (duhhh...). it is SO black that people have been asking me if i dyed it black (plus of course they've never seen my original color mah). haha... my mil even said that i look like i'm wearing a wig. gilos ke apa... so farnee.

ok then...

see you next week with my new hair.

LBD compliments from the husband

2008-12-04T13:00:00.004+08:00

oops.

i did it again.

i bought a dress.

and...

it's a black dress.

such a shopaholic.

and...

still a goth.

but it's a toga / one-shoulder style dress which i've been looking for quite a while.

well, it'll go quite well with my red shoes + red clutch purse.

although...

i'm not sure why i'd need a clutch purse when i'll have my hands full with a baby.

oh well...

i CAN still try to be vogue cant i?

theres always the husband to carry him.

but then that leaves me with the diaper bag?

baby or bag??

i think baby will make a nicer accessory for me hihihi...

hope i wont stumble in my killer heels though.

not only will i look foolish in my lovely black dress + red shoes, etha*n will start crying.

but the dress was a steal at rm159 from egg bangsar.

it's an even bigger steal cos i got the husband to pay for it.

:-D

i'm gonna wear the dress for my brother's wedding at the end of the month.

but i'll take it for a pilot run this weekend at a another wedding.

double :-D

preparing for christmas

2008-12-02T11:36:00.008+08:00

my christmas decorations are down (from up above the closet that is). they're just lying about in the dining area. so tonight, me & my ball are gonna do some decorating. i hope he'll be content in his bouncy-net so i can do my work.

this is one tradition of my husband's family which i quite like: they put out a nativity set to recreate the scene from Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, the child in a manger scene or sometimes just the baby Jesus in a crib. i have a couple of loose pieces of the nativity set which the husband's aunt gave us but since shes not a favourite aunt of mine these days, i might just go buy a new set which has all the pieces attached to the base of the set which is easier cos i dont have to think of how to susun the different pieces right. hmm... i saw one in hartamas for about rm50 which is not bad really. but kan, i see first lah. since we're not gonna be around this christmas, maybe i'll just put up the basic decorations only i.e. tree, stockings + wreath on the front door.

i've started dumping things into my small suitcase just so i'll have everything in there by the time i have to really get down to packing seriously. by then all i have to do is "streamline" my packing. that reminds me, i have to ask my mil for a bigger suitcase to pinjam.

i got myself some footwear "necessary" for my trip back to sabah in december. hehehe... i gots myself a pair of gold sandals, a pair of flats & a pair of killer red heels. please let me justify my shopping -- the gold flat sandals are for casual jalan2 yang not so serious, the black flats are for some serious casual wear and the red heels are for christmas. now i just need a pair of black heels for formal occasions. or i suppose i could rummage through my shoe cabinet & see what i have. however, i just threw out 3 pairs of shoes cos although they're not fully used, they've been in the closet for sooo long, theyre disintegrating. tsk tsk...

this year i'm not buying any dresses although i have a couple of functions to attend (christmas, brother's wedding, family reunion dinner, new year's dinner). instead i'm recycling my old dresses. after all since this year we'll be in sabah, i dont think my sabahan friends have seen all my dresses here ma. actually for my family reunion, i only have to don on a green shirt hehehe... a baby tee also can. so for that i think i'll just pair it with jeans.

speaking of jeans, i can now fit into my pre-pregnancy levi's jeans. whoopee!! of course still got the muffin top syndrome lah, you know, the love handles jiggling out of the sides like that. but at least i can zip & button it up hehehe... so thats gonna go into my suitcase too. tengok2 makan banyak sangat during the festivities till cannot fit again. oh well. i can always save it for next year. IF i can lose the weight again that is.

this year, my christmas gifts arent so happening lah. we're just buying gifts for the kiddies. the oldies, sorry lah ya. no money lah friend :-(. kan this year we had etha*n. thats the other thing i have to do before i leave for sabah i.e. gift-wrapping. the husband & i got each other early christmas gifts so you know what i'm gonna do? hehehe... i'm gonna wrap the boxes only (hp for me & tennis shoes for him) & place them under the tree. told you we dont have money this year!! can't exactly get another gift for each other right if you got no money hehehe.

now we're still deciding what to get for etha*n. you know i saw this lovely tuxedo romper at the curve for rm118. mahal kan?? we MIGHT get it though & make him wear it for a few occassions to make it worth our investment. it even comes with a red bowtie lah... how cute is that?? then as i was browsing the net i saw a 5-piece tux for rm69.90 so thats another option although i think a 5-piece would be over-the-top no?

its that time of year again

2008-11-21T12:56:00.004+08:00

i love love love this time of year. feel like starting my decorations but need one round of spring cleaning first. the husband is like "but we're not gonna be around for christmas".

but still.

it's etha*ns first christmas. & it's not like the decorations will be up only for christmas day right. it'll be there for a while. so i'll probably start soon. i have to finish up my christmas shopping & wrapping. & i have no idea what to get for etha*n as a first christmas gift. hmm... my christmas carols should be playing when we get home so that he can join along with his chortles.

the poor boy. i used to sing him to sleep but not anymore. last night, i put on one of those music channels while rocking him to sleep & he began humming along like he used to when i sang to him.

i wish i could get new curtains but i guess i'll save it for next year since we're not entertaining this year.

oh well.

why i love americans

2008-11-19T11:33:00.004+08:00

i dont really.

my general opinion of the general american is that they have a false conception of their own greatness. check out the movies. its always the american who is the hero when the aliens come a-visiting. or when someone needs saving in some far-flung country. & its always the american who gets caught by mother nature's wrath & fury AND overcome it all... yeah, much like, you know it... a HERO.

anyhoo, what i DO like about the americans is their freedom of speech & expression. sukati lah how different individuals sing the national anthem. it doesnt get debated by their politicians (unlike here when a particular artiste sang our national anthem "wrongly"). i also like that when they say "opposition" it really does mean that. here, the opposition is a joke. i mean not that they are the joke but the concept of having an opposition is a joke. do the opposition have access to the media to the same extent as the incumbents? dont think so.

ok lah... lets not get too political.

what i really wanted to talk about is this :-)

if someone ever, ever were to do this to any of our premiers, die man die. mesti kena thrown into lock-up for treason.

muahahaha...

but this was funny.

you go obi wan keobama.

may the force be with you!

sisessai maiyemi

2008-11-13T15:49:00.003+08:00

i want eric delko and calleigh duquesne together. so larvely. so cute. so love.

i'm so weird.

i have a bone to pick with you

2008-11-13T13:08:00.005+08:00

If you’re not ready to get off your butt to do something different to what you’ve been doing all this time, don’t complain about your lot in life.
When you feel like whining, think about what you do have and start counting your blessings.
When you open your mouth to bitch about others, think about what you are.
Before you call someone a hypocrite, ask yourself if you’re a saint.
If you feel that life or God is being unfair to you, why blame others or rain on their parade? Go take it up to the heavens. AND please, let other people rejoice without feeling guilty about you.
When you want something, ask yourself, am I doing what’s right to get there?
If you don’t want to help yourself, don’t expect others to do it for you.
Get your priorities straight.
Walk the talk.
When you think you have a right, others have the same right too.
Stay away from people who don’t bring value to your life.
Don't be a parasite and get rid of yours.
Just because someone treats you badly, doesn’t mean that you have to stoop to the same level.
KARMA. Call someone a dog and risk turning into one in the next life. So watch it.
Blame is always two-ways. Own up to your contribution to the problem.
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Smile people smile!!
GROW UP!
Think of someone other than yourself for a change.
When you must get your way all the time, don't think it's being assertive. Some might call it being a spoilt brat.

thursday morning laughs

2008-11-13T09:52:00.002+08:00

warehouse sales

2008-10-24T09:51:00.003+08:00

if you're like me & love books, then go visit the mph warehouse sale in pj. i went yesterday & spent near to rm500 for 18 books. cheap cheap. my xmas gift shopping is done!

then theres the zara, massimo dutti & pull and bear clearance sale (also in pj) which i'm going to in a bit.

as one wise (philosopher wannabe) friend said:

so many sales, so little money.

sighhh...

ok so for more info on all these sales visit

http://www.shoppingnsales.com/

so go, enjoy spending money you dont have!!

i certainly will.

incompetent

2008-10-21T10:27:00.002+08:00

thats me.

i find it frustrating making sure my blog looks all nice & tidy. i dont know how to make sure the alignments are just so or the fonts are just so or the line spacing is right. so please excuse the comot-ness of my blog.

i try & i try either i lose everything or the font turns out to be so smallllll that you cant read it.

tsk tsk.

etha*n in action

2008-10-21T10:12:00.002+08:00

here are some of my favorites

***

this is one of the husband & baby looking into each other's eyes.

***

isnt he a ball?

***

these are 2 pictures of father & son again. do they look alike?

***

here's etha*n looking lost & forlorn on the day grandma & grampy left for sabah.

***

this was taken at the airport after sending grampy off.

***

my son the poser.

***

told you he's a poser. this was taken in his playpen at my mil's.

i have a 3 month old cutie pie

2008-10-13T11:21:00.003+08:00

my son is 3mths old today. time really flies by in a hurry.

i've been back at work for a month now. getting back into the work mode hasnt been too difficult for me. probably because it was busy the moment i stepped into the office --so i didnt have time to indulge in any "still in holiday" moods.

i do feel guilty coming back to work though. cos my mom is still here helping me with baby. as i've been telling my friends, i never knew being a mom would make me feel guilty all the time. i feel bad towards my mom and i feel bad towards my son.

now, i feel envious cos my son is close to my mom. hes not closer but i would say equally close to her as he is to me. but it is cute though to see him being close to his grandparents. my mom of course is an expert at parenting after 6 kids and 5 grandkids (plus also grandnieces and grandnephews). so she has this knack for talking nonsense and gibberish which etha*n responds to. he gurgles and chortles in reply. in fact hes also close to my dad. my dad makes it easy for kids to like him though. hes always telling jokes or taking them cycling or teaching them badminton or gardening or walking them over to the mamak shop for some roti canai. of course thats with the older grandkids lah hehehe. with etha*n, my dad switches the astro channel to 866 (i think) which is one of those radio channels (for old people) and dances with etha*n. so sweet hor?

my parents are leaving this weekend and then it will just be me, the husband and etha*n. i can cope with him but i wonder if i can cope with him AND with everything else in the house. i hope we get into a comfortable routine for everyone soon.

funny conversations

2008-09-23T16:27:00.005+08:00

1. this was a conversation between my 4yr old niece & her mom:

mom (muttering under breath): buduh bah daddy kau! (your dad is stupid!)

ketot: mummy, kau tidak bulih cakap macam tu!! (mummy you cant speak like that!!)

mum: kanapa pulak? (why not?)

ketot: kau tidak bulih panggil daddy sia buduh. dia kau punya husband. kamu sudah bernikah! (you cannot call my dad stupid. he is your husband. you are married).

mum: aik, mana lagi kau belajar ni bernikah?? (where did you learn about this?)

ketot: dari tv lah!!

2. this was a conversation between my parents:

mum (pointing to dads big tummy): kau tinguk kau punya perut tu!! (lookit your tummy!!)

dad: kanapa? kici sikit sija dari kau punya. (why? its only slightly smaller than yours.)

latest addition

2008-07-20T18:02:00.004+08:00

hello world,

my name is ethan & i am a week old today.

sunday 13 july 2008
1pm
pantai medical centre kl
3.19kg
47.5cm

belated updates

2008-06-26T13:04:00.006+08:00

this is a bit late but since i have pictures i guess i should write something about some outings i've recently had & upload the pictures here.

1) outing with friends

i think about 2 weeks ago, a friend of mine convinced me to skive from work & meet her for lunch. so here are the pictures. i dont like mentioning names (including my own). you know... in the name of preserving some degree of anonymity despite having a public blog. so, i wont be naming her or her kids or even moi hehe. however, friend, if you do read this entry & feel uncomfortable having your picture & not to mention your kids' faces uploaded, let me know ya & i will take it down.

so here are the pictures:

ms friend & her pair of kiddos

this is her daughter hugging my bump

her kiddos & moi waiting in the car while she tapau food

lovely little smiles dontcha think

2) the husband's bday

i know, i know... i already updated on my foiled plans but actually i think i didnt get around to writing about what we really did. his bday fell on a monday so we agreed to go for our dinner the weekend before. as i mentioned the initial venue closed down so we went to victoria station for not-so-great steaks. after the dinner, we went to our "country" club to listen to live band music & invited the MIL to join us. i dont know if its a country club per se but i dont know what to call it. its a club where you're a member & can make use of the sports facilities, recreational facilities (for movies & karaoke) etc.

this is the husband placing his order at victoria station

this was taken at the club. the husband HAD to take a shot of the pregnant boobies.

this is moi & the mil. yes luckily we get along just fine.

3) dinner at the husband's cousin's house

the husband's cousin kindly hosted a dinner for his bday as well as for father's day. so i brought the cake (which didnt resemble the cake we really wanted but tasted nice anyways) & we had one celebration there too.

being preggers & kneeling on your knees is not an easy thing. so dont be fooled. i had a pillow to cushion the weight on my knees.

finally, this is the bday cake that we got from coffeebean. its called a chocolate cheese swirl cake.

first wedding anniversary

2008-06-26T10:38:00.003+08:00

i managed to get the husband's gift yesterday. i hope he'll like it. it's very difficult for me to get him a gift because he never seems to want any particular thing. most of the time, i buy something that i know he needs but not necessarily something that he desires. ok lah he does have desires but usually these are out of my budget (like a plasma tv for example).

i've learnt my lesson though --about trying to surprise him but then being surprised myself because he found me out. so this time around, i got the gift immediately gift wrapped. & its in a small box so i could hide it in my handbag till i found the opportunity to hide it at the back of my closet under a mound of clothes. it's his day off tomorrow so JUST IN CASE, im gonna have to take the pretty box with me to work tomorrow.

i hope he doesnt suddenly feel the need to read this blog...

i've also found a place to have our dinner. http://www.opusbistro.com/ was recommended to me by a friend. luckily she only just had dinner there with her husband so hopefully, this time around, when we go there, the restaurant would actually still be in business. i showed the husband the website & hes rather excited to go. our anniversary is more than a week away but he wanted to know if we could possibily have dinner there before that even.

i think the only thing about this whole anniversary do that he does know about (due to his previous snooping activities) is probably the greeting card i got for him much earlier. & ya the dinner venue lah. but the gift... hmm... im so proud of myself lah for thinking about it. it is a bit out of my budget but its my first anniversary kan. so never mind lah, i splurge a bit. hopefully he'll make use of it a lot so that its worth the investment.

i'm glad i got everything bought & ready because personally, i'm worried i might go into labour soon & if that happens, i wont be able to do anything till after the confinement is over. by that time pun we'll be busy with the baby & my family will be around then no romance like that.

last night i was looking at the husband & thinking "hmm... this could be the only time i have with him alone. if i go into labour now, this will be the moment where my life, as i know, will cease to exist." dont get me wrong, i am looking forward to our new addition but i cant help but wonder how will life change for us & how will we deal with the change.

i hope we'll be ok. & with our new anniversary gifts, i dare say, we will cope with the change better. hehehe...

new arrivals

2008-06-24T15:45:00.003+08:00

i am happy to announce the arrival of little miss kaitlyn who belongs to one of the loveliest couples i’ve ever had the pleasure to meet in this lifetime.

congratulations to you both!

F.O.I.L.E.D

2008-06-16T13:48:00.003+08:00

thats what happened to my plans for father's day & the husband's bday.

i got him undies & boxers last week. undies for his bday & boxers for father's day. token gifts really as we agreed to get something else later. also, i got him a cake & was treating him to a bday dinner.

anyhow, what i didnt know was my husband is a snoop. ok lah it was my fault. i left the gifts on the bed in the guest room but in my defense, they were wrapped in a jusco plastic bag & stuffed into a fancy paper bag as well --double whammy there right? but he went snooping. the snoop.

so come friday when we were about to leave for dinner, he asked if he could wear one of the newer undies. huh? & so he confessed that he already knew what i got him & blamed me for leaving them out. the temptation was too great he said. hah! hes usually so very blur about these things. & he doesnt go into the guest room much. why oh why did he decide to be adventurous that day?

eventually, it came out that he also knew about the cake that i ordered for him. said he saw the receipt. argggghhhh!!! i was laughing so hard i started crying. & then i punched & slapped him (on the arm of course) for spoiling my surprise. it was foiled. ciss...

sighhhh...

with much dissatisfaction, i plotted on how to surprise him today (his actual bday). guess what i ended up doing? i got up early & ironed him one office shirt & hung it in front of our bed so he didnt have to iron it himself. i know it doesnt seem like much of a surprise but i dont iron his clothes. ever. so this was like the exception lah. anyways he was surprised. so i got what i wanted...

the other spoiled plan was my dinner plans. the shop i wanted to take him to, a rib place in dsara heights, closed shop. how disappointing. so we ended up in victoria station for steak. ughhh!! their meat looked & tasted like it has been in inventory for too long. i was even more disappointed. sighhh...

& yet another spoiled plan: the cake i ordered? well, it didnt turn out the way i wanted to. it tasted nice but not as nice as what i really intended on ordering. how come? well, the cake i really wanted is apparently no longer in production. so, they were doing me a favor by reproducing it just for me. but when i collected it, it looked just like a normal marble cheese cake. so saddd... i guess if i really want the same cake, i have to get it in sabah where we found it in the first place.

despite all the hiccups, the husband & i had a lot of laughs. lucky for us, we found everything funny. i was a little sad that none of my surprises came through. but thats ok. i hate surprises myself.

now...

my bday is coming up next month. i've hinted on what i want. since hes such an unpredictable snoop, i cant leave anything to chance. im gonna paste pictures of what i want, phone numbers & addresses of where to get them & what flavor cake i wish.

hihihihi...

the poor thing.

my piggy bank after i topped up my car this morning...

2008-06-12T10:45:00.001+08:00

hihihi...

loveliness

2008-06-11T12:53:00.002+08:00

just when we needed it, the blessings come. one last night & another this morning. whoopdeedoo!! now, hopefully theres a 3rd blessing coming soon. other than the baby of course.

also, me gots broadband at home now. although trying to install it was a bit trying. actually the "trying" bit was when we were talking to the technical support people. then we found out that it was my fault that we couldnt get connected. hehehe...

if you can imagine it, we actually do not have cable tv at the moment, seeing as the husband & i are hardly at home. i survive on the 4 basic tv channels & have coped pretty well with it. of course we also spend quite a bit of money on dvds & dvd box sets. this friday however, in anticipation of my 2 months maternity leave, we're getting astro installed. actually, its more for my parents who'll probably be bored out of their wits without tv & with only me & an infant for company. lucky i already have my grills installed --they might try to jump off the balcony out of boredom.

father's day is coming up as well as the husband's bday. i've ordered the cake, bought the cards & gifts & made dinner reservations. & im broke. so pathetic. oh well, just once in a year right.

i am so looking forward to this week ending.

my weekend + coming events

2008-06-02T13:26:00.004+08:00

last friday, the husband & i made use of our complimentary annivesary hotel stay + dinner at concorde kl.

we got a voucher for their premier executive room which meant we checked in via the premier lounge which meant that we didnt have to queue for too long which also meant that we could lepak at the lounge having lavazza (i only had one due to the bump) & cookies. hmm, they had fruits & an array of softdrinks & juices too. the concorde premier lounge isnt as good as in other hotels (parkroyal provides a buffet spread & apparently MO is even better) but its still better than if we only got one of the normal rooms which doesnt give access to the premier lounge izenit.

anyways, i was happy with the room but the husband wasnt. lers, only one night stay mah. we were just going to watch tv anyways. oh ya hehehe... the reason why he wasnt happy was not so much because of the room but the bathroom. more specifically, the lack of a bum-washer in the toilet bowl itself or even a convenient mini-spray located within reach. hehehe. such a malaysian thing.

we had dinner at one of the hotel's restaurants. it was superbbbb... i had steak and he had lamb shanks. initially, the portion looked small for the rather exorbitant price (lucky we got dinner voucher too) but actually, the portion was just nice. we didnt do much in the room except laze & watch tv. not that i was in the mood for anything else what with the bump & the backache & the heartburn blabla... but we had a nice time.

the husband's bday is coming up in 2 weeks. mine is in july before the baby comes. our 1st year anniversary is also coming up in early july. the husband & i agreed that we will give ourselves an everything-in-one present seeing as everything is happening about the same time plus we're saving for mr babys arrival. not only is it an everything-in-one gift, we're probably also getting a his&hers kinda gift. no romantic surprise there which is fine by me cos i hate surprises. & he hates it when he buys me something i dont like. hehehe... over the years we've learnt that the key to keep from being disappointed is to tell / ask for what we really want. doesnt mean that theres no room for any spontaneity. i'm planning on getting him a cake he really really loves & has been craving for since 2006 when my brother ordered it for the husband's bday that year. i hope i can get the same cake here in kl. thats my surprise for him.

i know it doesnt look like much but trust me, it was so sinfully rich. even i, the non-cake-lover, fell in love with it. yummmm...

my excuses

2008-05-28T17:22:00.001+08:00

dear friend who tagged me.

i am so very lazy to do the tag. & my pregnancy-induced everything is really not putting me in the most conducive of moods for doing anything other than to moan & groan in pain. that’s my pain relief now –moaning & groaning.

i wish i could have a massage right now.

nanti bila i rajin i will try to do the tag ya.

i got myself a fringe

2008-05-13T14:18:00.002+08:00

and now i look like this:

...

...

...

tadaaaaa!!!

life review - a short one

2008-03-19T16:12:00.004+08:00

31 soon

you know when they say age is just a number? yeah well, thats how i feel about it. i dont really feel old. actually its more like i didnt realize i was so old haha. the wrinkles havent yet made an appearance. or maybe i just havent been paying attention. i dont see much difference physically. disposition-wise, ahhh... thats another thing. i'm more comfortable with who i am now. although i would neuter the temper & impatience if i could. & no, i dont think perpetually blaming it on hormones solves anything. thats just like stating the problem but not thinking of a solution izenit. a friend's mom once said to her: careful with your temper. people have killed due to hot-temperedness. a wise woman this woman who is mother to my friend. luckily, since i've been pregnant, the temper has toned down some-what. anyhoo, i still bitch a lot. comes with age i suppose --this devil-may-care attitude --bodoh. the older you get, 2 things can happen as i see it: ONE, you tell yourself that you are who you are and family/friends should learn to accept you so you tend to indulge in your every whim and forget about self-censorship. TWO, you grow wiser with age and tell yourself to stop acting like a brat. sighhh... i'm somewhere in the middle i think. in my case its not a matter of the head vs the heart. its more of the head vs the mouth i.e. the otak pandai but the mulut tends to run away...

married & never happier with my relationship with the husband

and thats what makes my relationship with the husband better. HE grew wiser with age... hehehe. see, hes got no problem keeping quiet (#2) while i rant & rave (#1). the lovely soul. we laugh a lot more now. guffaw more like it. laugh till the cheeks hurt. sampai sakit perut. hes smarter now too. when i merajuk (unreasonably), he doesnt pujuk me (to my utter dismay) & that forces me to humble myself, admit my mistake & apologize. hes also smarter in that, when i'm mad at him with good reason, he just does as hes told. the relationship is far from perfect & many times i watch movies where the guy is so romance & i wish the husband would be just like mr movie-guy. THEN, i turn to the husband and insist he give me a kiss/buy me flowers/hold my hand/look into my eyes/say the exact same thing mr movie-guy just said. hey, you dont ask you dont get right. & it works for us. buat apa i mau nangis-nangis tunggu dia romance me hor? ok lah, sometimes he does things that touch the very essence of my soul like wash the dishes, make me breakfast, buy me a dvd box set for the charmed ones. boleh lah. i dont need much.

pregnant & anticipating baby's arrival happiness + anxiety

yes, i'm 5.5 months preggers with an heir to the husband's throne i.e. the throne being the toilet seat. the baby is well & i've started feeling his kicks/punches/stretches/farts (i cant tell what they are actually). i'm having an easy pregnany so far, thank the Lord. we're very happy & excited yadayadayada... i've started feeling anxious although i'm not sure about what exactly. probably just bcos this is a big, life-altering occurance. probably bcos my tummy is growing & my face is rounder. probably bcos i cant wear my 4-inch heels anymore. probably bcos i cant fit into vogue clothes either. whatever lah.

working in the same company for 5years --ready for a change

yes, 5years. & yes, i'm ready for a change but i think i'll defer any job change till next year (thats what i say every year). kena update resume tu yang malas.

men are the cause of all our woes

2008-02-14T12:01:00.002+08:00

harummmppffhhhh....

i have a topic for the mix-fm djs to air in the mornings: men shouldnt talk about things they know nuts about i.e. pms/menstruation/pregnancy.

the husband has this nifty skill for pissing me off when he talks about these things as if hes an expert by experience. of course my standard reply would be: dont talk to me, or any women for that matter, about how to deal with pms/menstruation/pregnancy until the day you start bleeding from your dingdong on a monthly basis or experience another person gestating in your tummy.

talk so much. pfffftttt!!!

he thinks that women, these days, use pms/menstruation/pregnancy as an excuse for being bitchy/lazy/sickly etc. sometimes i wonder, this is the man i married, but he seems to know shit all about his own wife. he seems to have the opposite view (of the kind of person i am) from other people who know me.

growing up, i have never been seen as a sickly person. never. although i wasnt an all-out athlete by any standard, i was captain of the school hockey team (although this appointment was probably due to my discipline & leadership qualities ~ahhhemmm~ rather than to any atheletic prowess). i was an average player. ok lah. takde lah olympic standards ball-dribbling skills but hey, i did everything that the next player did. warm-ups, running, sweating, practice blablabla... ok so, my point is, the husband sees me as someone who is fragile because i dont exercise much now & because come pms/menstruation/pregnancy time, i'm usually out of commission with backaches etc.

hellooo.

just because i feel poorly come pms/menstruation/pregnancy time doesnt mean that im fragile lah wei. it just means that im a female human who is physically (& this is scientifically proven) expected to feel out of sorts once a month. ok so, yeah, i dont deny that i should exercise more for over-all well-being & yeah, probably this will help with the syndromes tagged to pms/menstruation/pregnancy. but its not who i am. i am genetically a non-exerciser. i exercise once in a while but takde lah equivalent to a gym freak. maybe i swim once a week. its like this: i read books religiously. when i run out of books, i feel susah hati. no shit. but the husband isnt like this. do i hold it against him? no i dont. do i accuse him of being weak-minded? no of course not.

arghhh...

happy valentines to you too.

too lazy to update so here are pictures

2008-01-28T12:01:00.000+08:00

as you come to my front door & ring the bell (or bang the padlock against the grill which is more effective cos the doorbell doesnt work) you'll be gaily greeted by my christmas wreath which is placed strategically over my peephole. so i can see you & you may not even know it! careful, dont be digging your nose!!

as you enter my humble abode, you'll see our christmas tree.

here without presents;

and here with presents galore.

and this is one of the christmas stocking hanging over my mantelpiece (ok lah, no mantelpiece so its hanging underneath my tv supported by the cabinet doors. everytime we open the doors, it falls off.)

here are the happy faces of the niece & nephew. can't you see, they're just brimming with joy. & they told me "aunty, my cup runneth over." NOT. hihihi...

heres my gift from the husband who calls himself King Leonidas. ptoooiii!!

& heres my gift to him all wrapped with ribbons.

this is one of the little people on new year's eve. liliputians.

flatulence

2008-01-28T11:58:00.000+08:00

ahhh… the power of the fart. you might be wondering why on earth i found the need to blog about this. it is my belief that The Fart has for far too long been taken for granted in creating happiness in human relationships. have you ever noticed that a fart, especially a loud one, has the astounding ability to bring a smile and even a fit of giggles on? of course this is usually accompanied with the thumb and fore finger pinching the nose or, if you’re more lady like, with one hand making a fanning motion in front of your nose. in my case, its always a slap on the husband’s lap or shoulder, reprimanding him for his lack of manners.

farts have played a major role throughout my pre-married life and more so in my early married life (actually, i’m still in my early married life). there are times when i get angry with the husband for farting (especially if its somewhere in the vicinity of my face), under the duvet covers (which have a way of wafting out of the folds), in the car or just a bit too loudly. but most times, it’s always a giggle fest. usually when it’s yours truly releasing the airbombs. hihihi…

the husband has rather active bowel movements. so sometimes when he farts, he goes “uh-oh… i hope its not a shart.” a shart being a fart with a bit of shit. hihihi… i know that most women, myself included, are often embarrassed with releasing bodily emissions cos its un-ladylike. i know of people who still malu-malu to do certain things whilst their husbands are in the bathroom. hey, its understandable. i am too.

its funny though don’t you think? how men are often times more relaxed about these things? but heres the thing: i am less self-conscious about these things more and more and these days, i can give as good as i get. so husband, although i wont do it in the presence of others, theres nothing stopping me from flatulating (if theres such a word) under the duvet. so watch it.

what you can do, i can do twice!

blessed 2008 to one & all

2008-01-14T16:38:00.000+08:00

its now 15 days into the new year. i'm rather late in this entry but i was so lazy to write lah. so here are my updates from my christmas break to date:

***
~christmas eve~

haha... i forgot what i did on that day hihihi... oh ya!! my sister & family came over about tea-time. the husband & i left for christmas eve mass at about 6-ish. it was raining so when we got to church, it was chilly as we had to sit outside. i was so hunger by the time the mass ended & i really really wanted to have some chicken rice in pj but unfortunately, we had to head back to the mil's for the customary stew & bread. lucky got vindaloo too. come midnight, we had our fruit cake & wine & opened gifts. the husband & i then headed home for gift opening with my sister & her family but by the time we got there, they were asleep. so we opened our gifts to each other instead. i got a bathrobe with matching slippers and he got jengjengjeng... a bathrobe as well!! hehehe... then we went to bed.

***
~christmas day~

i was awakened by my nephew trying to open my room door to see if i was awake so he could open his gifts. hehehe... once every gift was opened, the husband & i left for geddis... port dickson... hihihi... how exciting. anyways, the journey there was uneventful. i left home equipped with my lollipops to battle any car- or morning-sickness. when we got to PD, i was sorely disappointed with the accomodations. lucky the company was good. we were in PD for 3 days. i didnt do much due to all the pantang larangs given to me by my mum. brought my bikini but didnt even swim. ciss... i was tired all the time & had to take a nap in the afternoons. i was glad to be heading back to KL on the 3rd day.

***
~new year's eve~

anyhoo... my countdown was spent at home. my immediate family as well as the husband's immediate family came for dinner (a dinner which i DID NOT totally cook all by myself hihihi). this was the menu for the night:

2 black pepper roasted chicken (store bought from jusco)
*
mashed patatoes
*
black pepper beef with spring onions
*
garlic stir fried bak choy
*
white rice
*
chocolate cake from secret recipe
*
longans-in-a-can

the chocolate cake was so supersweet, i couldnt take it. so i stuck to my longans-in-a-can as a dessert. my estranged fil also came lah (arghhh). i was having one of my morning sickness nausea cum headache so i was skeptical about my ability to layan his nonsense (one minute he says he's not coming, next minute he was there. ishkkk!!). but lucky i was ok towards the end. come 12midnight we were standing at the balcony enjoying the fireworks from the curve (i think). & while the kids were all screaming, the adults were watching the chua-soi-lek-hotel-scandal thingy on the news. nothing exciting about my countdown but i liked that we spent our first new year's countdown as a married couple at home with our loved ones (yes including the estranged one arghhh). for entertainment, we had my niece sing us a sabahan song. muahahaha... it was so farnee. i wish i took a video of it lah. dammit.

***
~new year's day~

we woke up to breakfast prepared by my sister's maid --i'm such a bad hostess i tell you. i had NOTHING in the freezer for breakfast. lucky i had bread & eggs & nuggets. after breakfast we went to the pool so the kids could swim. again all i did was sit by the side of the pool soaking my feet in. oh how i wish i could swim without fear. soon soon. after the swim, my family left & the husband & i went over to my mil's for new year's day lunch. so many people. so many kids. i was a kid-magnet thanks to my lollipops.

***

ok end of update. the lazy bug has kicked in. till later when i find my rajin bug again!!

updates & christmas plans

2007-12-10T12:15:00.001+08:00

2dec and 6dec07
my christmas tree is up. with presents underneath. the tree has been put up once (2dec) then was taken down (2dec cos the husband pissed me off) then put up again (6dec). the christmas carols have also been playing while i'm at home. oh how larvely. the husband has also been strumming on his guitar & we've been singing at the top of our falsettos. i tried doing a pavarotti. my new christmas wreath is now hanging on my front door. so purdy. and i got christmas stockings hung up too.

6dec07
i havent finished my christmas shopping yet although i have started. i got the husband's gift already. he has also been informed of what to get me for mine. so i hope he was listening. hihihi...
i've bought, addressed and mailed out the required christmas greeting cards. i've wrapped gifts & placed them under the tree. but i've ALSO finished all the miniature snacks which i bought for young visitors. tsk tsk...

24dec07
we're going for mass on christmas eve. havent decided which church to go to & which mass to attend. after that, we'll be heading to the MIL's for the customary meal of stew & bread. since my appetite has been funny lately, maybe i'll make a dash to the dimsum shop & tapau some siew mais & charsiew paus. bet the MIL wont be too happy about that but hey... it cant be helped. either that or go hungry. of course there'll also be the fruit cake & home-made wine that will greet us when we enter the house. hmm... should i stock some of those in my home too? for visitors to my house? ok ok, apartment. i suppose i should. the husband wants to maintain some of his family traditions. hmm... but if he thinks i'm gonna be making the stew, fruit cake & wine by myself, he's sorely mistaken.

25dec - 27dec07
on christmas day, we're heading to PD for some frolicking-in-the-sun time. i hope it will be sunny. it wont be a good time for me to swim though. sighs. but i suppose i could still laze by the pool reading a book. we'll be heading back to KL on 27dec.

28dec07
going for a medical check-up. the god-sister is due to arrive for a 3-day stay.

29dec07
maybe i'll arrange to meet with my scottish friend who's in KL to visit his malaysian girlfriend.

30dec07
no plans yet.

31deco7
new year's eve. was thinking of inviting my immediate family & the husband's too for dinner. then can see the fireworks from my balcony. supposed to be good. but what shall i serve ah? just order some kfc hor? hihihi... or i could learn how to use my oven & roast a chicken. & mash some potatoes. & make some salad. hmm... see how lah.

1jan08
i wants to get some rest cos its back to work on 2jan08. hohumm...

old wives’ remedy for acne ( according to my grandmader-in-law)

2007-11-26T09:53:00.000+08:00

spit.

yes, spit. as in saliva. the best batch is your morning saliva apparently. dunno whether it works. but in the years that i hv known the husband, i have heard this many times, i have had the husband’s spit rubbed on my spots many times, i have rubbed my spit on his many times.

it’s turned into a habitual thing now. whether it works or not is another thing. disgust right? heh. oh well, you exchange saliva when you kiss izenit. tak disgust pun. besides, i read somewhere that kissing is good for the teeth. really. something to do with the exchange of saliva.

so people, kiss away. just make sure you only kiss people you’re meant to kiss. don’t go kissing the cats or the doggies. not sure whether cat spit is good for acne. hmm... i shall ask.

ps. can you tell im bored?

great news & more wisdom

2007-11-21T09:41:00.000+08:00

muahahaha...

i could do a jig right now if i werent so miserably sick.

the event scheduled for this friday, the event which was keeping everyone busy for the last couple of weeks, has been cancelled! yippee-yai-yay!! woohoooo!!

happiness.

& bcos of this cancellation (albeit a last minute one), i have been able to indulge in my sickness. i kid you not. last week i was having all this heat-y body related sicknesses but i couldnt give in to them. i couldnt even take mc. no time. so, since the cancellation, it was like my body just gave in. haha... a full blown cold came on 2 days ago, yes with all the runny cum blocked nose & the never-ending sneezing & the coughing & the changed voice. everything lah. i took half the day off yesterday cos the office ac was exacerbating things.

im back at work again today all sick & woozy. but i got my colleague to tape up the ac vents so its all good now. something is wrong with the office microwave though. tried heating up my chicken porridge but only the bowl was heating up. ciss.

oh ya. 2 more wisdom teeth are planning to make an appearance. awww shites.

this is my truth

2007-11-16T12:20:00.001+08:00

so it's true.

3-times lucky but rm60 poorer.

elephants are running amok.

breathe breathe breathe.

need a barf bag in my bag now.

love you anyways.

;-)

i need to visit brazil soon.

checking in

2007-11-15T17:35:00.000+08:00

o.

m.

g.

i am so busy at work its so not funny.

on a lighter note, i've been having these body temperature swings (a bit like mood swings --cos in the wee mornings, i have a fever & as the day wears on, the temperature normalizes). which leads to ulcers all over my mouth, tongue, tonsils blabla... whatever is going on??

my daddy-o is coming to kl tonight. larvely larvely larvely. i made him buy me some fishballs from the land below the wind. yummy. i cant wait. been craving for them awhile now. but i cant seem to find the exact same ones here.

i got me 2 sticks see. they both came out just right. one l (vertical lah this) and one + (a vertical with a cross just like a t).

my god-sistah from nippon land will be a guest in our humble home this christmas. we'll be drinking japanese sake. or not. but im sure she'll bring me some pretty japanese cookies / chocolates which she always does.

here are my christmas gift ideas:

- boxer shorts
- tank tops
- oven mittens
- hairbands
- non-stick pans
- books
- st michael's undies for men
- belts
- wallets / purses

what shall i wear for christmas? oh ya, we decided to have a christmas open house... then we decided NOT to. isnt it lovely to be a july baby? might end up hating each other though. hmm...

my weekend

2007-10-29T17:09:00.000+08:00

a gloomy tuesday to one & all,

my friday night

my weekend was filled with activities. it started with my friday night --the husband picked me up from work & we headed to waikiki's bar in pj for a drink or two whilst waiting for the traffic woes to subside. i got a bit high after 2 drinks. what a loser. as we were making our way home in the not-yet-subsided traffic jam (bugger) at 730pm, we got a call from his cousins asking us to meet them in 1utama to shop for:

1. marriage rectification attire for the about-to-be-church-wedded couple

2. a christening attire for their 1-year old son

whilst we were in 1utama walking the walk & talking the talk, the husband lugged around my heavy laptop & i lugged around my handbag. i alternated this with lugging around the cousin's baby. hes so adorable. later that night, i received a visitor in my home & we were just chatting & chatting about relationship woes (this is always a favorite topic among women dontcha think?). the husband, bless his lovely soul, got us beef burgers & chocolates & other snacks to munch on while we bitched (but we didnt even touch 'em. sorry sweets). we were locked in the room while he was having a bit of me-time watching dvds in the living room. i finally went to bed at 2am.

saturday

on saturday morning, the husband & i attended his cousin's marriage rectification & their son's christening. i was the photographer. hihihi. after that, we proceeded to their home for the baby's 1-year old bday. at this lunch do, i watched movies after movies with some of the husband's cousins while he gambled with the others. we watched hairspray (pls watch it) & little miss sunshine (pls watch it too). lovely.

i left the party at 6pm & headed home with a bucket of kfc as my sis & her kids were coming for dinner & a sleep-over. after dinner, the nephew charlie (from charlie's angels) wanted to pop some popcorns in the microwave so we all headed to jusco kepong & got a few packets, headed home & started popping. altho the popcorn turned out to be just the way i like 'em (salty), the rest didnt quite enjoy it as they're used to the the sweet caramel-y type which you get at the cinemas. we spent the rest of night in bed chit-chatting & telling stories. i kinda miss being around my sister's family.

sunday

we had roti canai for breakfast & the 2 tykes & their fashionable aunty (moi) went a-swimming. my sister had just gone for a hair treatment the day before, so she didn’t want to enter the water. the husband went to work. for lunch, i made lasagna & we had it while watching charlie's "teenage mutant ninja turtles" cartoon dvd.

after they left, i rolled up my sleeves & did my spring cleaning & laundry. so tired. for the remainder of the day, i was just lazing in bed with a book. oh ya & i watched "lemony snicket's a series of unfortunate events" which was rather entertaining. what bliss.

the husband came back in time for a bit of pretend whining (from me of course, for coming back 30mins late hihi) & we watched "28 weeks later" which is a rather stressful movie to watch bcos everyone died. EVERYONE. including what appeared to be the hero & heroine. i was so annoyed. so i went to bed after that feeling a little agitated.

so that was my weekend.

to my friend who had some man-problems, hang in there bebeh. call if you need me to kick-ass. i'll arrange for some kepong-based reinforcements ;-p.

hi my name is groovychick + im a shopaholicsie

2007-10-25T19:05:00.000+08:00

i went a-shopping + bought loads of office clothes earlier this week. i couldnt bear wearing the SAME thing week-in, week-out. it is really depressing.

especially seeing as im in a perpetual goth phase. my clothes are mostly black. i have trouble rummaging through my cupboard bcos most everything is black + i cant really find a particular item of clothing unless i dump everything on my bed + hold them up in the light. my colleagues are commenting on my constant black attire!

anyways, in all i spent abt rm550 on a skirt (black), 2 pairs of pants (1 black, 1 grey), a pair of shoes (black), 6 tops (1 white, 1 red, 2 purple, 1 light blue, 1 white wt black polka dots) + a haircut (victoria beckham short).

for penance for my shopaholicsie ways, i shall endeavor not to shop again till christmas.

wish me luck.

travel plans 2008

2007-10-25T18:37:00.000+08:00

so many places, so little money. sighs.

next year's travel projections include:

3 weddings in sabah
1 christmas in sabah
1 trip to australia
1 trip to bali

oh how i wish i lived on landed property. that way i'd have space for planting + growing my money trees. unfortunately, we live in an apartment + i dont think a pot of soil provides enough space for the money tree to grow + root comfortably. + it certainly wont give me the space i need to plant the money trees of different currencies. my personal favorite at the moment is the pound sterling. oh well, there goes my wealth-making plan down the drain.

yes, these are just projections. for one thing, we wont have the money, for another we wont have enough annual leaves for all this travel (the husband gets a dismal number of days off per annum --i hate his company!). the other constraint (which is also only a projection at this stage), is that maybe baby will be coming sometime next year. hopefully. + if so, i definitely want to travel back (again) to sabah for baby's full moon celebration.

i know, i know... a bit too early to plan right? i'm just indulging in my anal-ness. come on, if i can plan for my christmas trip for december 2008, then i am certainly anal enough to plan for my post-natal travels (even if i am still in my pre-natal stage ;-p)

my sis + i have actually agreed to take turns on attending the said weddings in sabah (to split the cost lah). one of those 3 is actually my own brother's nuptials so both my sistah + moi (+ our families) are to travel home for that one all together.

i really have to start on buying those lottery tickets!!

thank you for the man

2007-10-23T09:44:00.000+08:00

a couple of days ago, the husband commented that we need to have a fight. that it's unhealthy to go for so long without one. ready when you are babes *wink*

the husband says that i should thank God every day for giving me a man like him *blink blink*. hmmm...

i agree. but maybe not every day lah ya. hihihi.

lucky for me, the husband hasnt yet shown any hint of expecting me to be subservient to him. to be at his constant beck-&-call. to cook, clean, wash, iron etc while he watches tv. he has actually been very good with picking up his share of the chores. he irons his own clothes (& occasionally, mine too). does our laundry (wash, hang & fold). cooks me breakfast. does the dishes. takes out the trash. makes the bed.

oops. now it seems as if he does everything & i do nothing. heh. i do work too ok. sometimes. & i cook. ok mostly its eggs & sausages but i do cook.

i dont want to jinx it so i wont ramble on it for too long.

so sweets, i am happy to have you. thanks for all the help with the housechores.

i love you forever,

for better or worse (but i prefer for better),

in sickness & in health (prefer you in health too).

you're luckier to have me ;-)

new family, new traditions?

2007-10-17T10:21:00.000+08:00

around this time of the year of every year, i start thinking & anticipating for christmas. i know i know, it’s still so very far away. we’ve barely gone past raya & deepavali yet. but i’m impatient. maybe this anticipation is triggered by seeing other people preparing for their own festivities. religion aside, festive feelings are festive feelings. the excitement, the anticipation. the warm feelings of spending an important occassion with loved ones.

this year will be my first year celebrating christmas as a married woman. i wonder what sort of traditions the husband & i will have for ourselves. obviously he’ll want a bit of his own & vice versa.

his traditions
- decorate home with christmas decorations
- set up nativity set / crib (i dont hv this)
- put up christmas tree & place wrapped presents underneath
- attend mass on christmas eve night
- serve a meal of beef stew & bread at home after mass on christmas eve (i dont hv this)
- serve fruit cake & home made wine for guests (i dont hv this)
- leave for a 2 to 3-day holiday with his entire extended family (about 30pax) on christmas day (i dont hv this)
- they don’t really have a set time / day to open presents

my traditions
- travel back to my childhood home in sabah few days before christmas eve
- decorate home & garden with fairy lights & christmas decorations
- put up christmas tree & place wrapped presents underneath
- attend mass on christmas eve night
- head on to a hotel / fancy restaurant for a nuclear family dinner
- head home in time for midnight, sit in the living room in front of the christmas tree, wish everyone merry christmas & exchange gifts
- hold a christmas open house or visit relatives for the remainder of the season

not that much different yeah? so i guess it shouldn’t be too much of an issue… & we’ve agreed to alternate between spending christmas with his family & with my family every year. but i think i’ll want to also add in the option of spending christmas in our own home too.

2007 - the husband’s family (usually means traveling some place with his aunts, uncles & cousins too)
2008 - my family (usually means going back to sabah)
2009 - in our home (here in kl)
2010 - the husband’s family
2011 - my family
2012 - in our home
and so on & so forth…

why the 3rd option (of spending christmas in our own home)? well, when we have children, i’d want my kids to be able to have the same nostalgic memories i still have about spending christmas with my nuclear family as well. so i guess it’s a good balance no? its certainly a fair one to alternate our christmas celebrations this way --so neither side of the in-laws feel slighted. of course on those christmases which we plan to spend in our own home, either side of the in-laws are more than welcome to spend christmas with us if they choose to.

i remember when i was much much younger, my sisters who are 7 & 6 years older to moi respectively (old farts) used to bake butter cookies & pineapple tarts & shortbread cookies & chocolate chip cookies & the house would smell larvely. then ah, i used to go into my mum’s room, put on a cassette (yes yes, not a cd) of christmas carols & sing at the top of my voice in the dark. sing till i was hoarse. sing till someone screamed at me to shut the hell up. hihihi…

of course there were the christmas decorations. one year, my parents got a set of these tree decorations of santa clauses with sacks on their backs. like a real sack which can be opened up. of course its small lah. but enough to put in maybe 2-3 candies inside. so anyhow, that year, we placed gula-gula susu (with the blue & white wrappers) in these mini sacks. you know the sweets that basically taste like chewy condensed milk. needless to say, the ants had a very merry christmas themselves that year. also during christmas, we’ll sometimes get pretty shiny christmas crackers & boy did i love those.

i love my trips down memory lane & i want my kids to have the same thing. not necessarily an exact replica of my own experiences but i want them to have their own memories of spending christmas in their childhood home as they grow.

anyways, i’m already thinking on how to decorate our home for christmas. at the moment, although the apartment is far from spartan, it’s still not very personally homely as yet. i want my home to look cozy & warm. gotta work on that now.

on being thirty & living healthy

2007-10-09T11:08:00.000+08:00

i try. i do. but it’s just so very difficult to make myself want to go to the gym. i gots me my shoes but still i find it such a feat to drag myself to go. i don’t mind the treadmill. but the cycling machine thingy hurts my pelvic bones. maybe i should start wearing protective gear? the elliptical skiing thingy is also a real challenge. i’ll be panting away like a dog. tapi surprisingly i don’t sweat so much. maybe i’m not doing it right? i didn’t realize i was so unfit. what a weakling.

maybe this is why i’m getting sick all the time. this plus the fact that i don’t eat fruits & vegetables much these days. on top of that, i don’t even take supplements. why oh why am i so lazy? but check out my shoes which the husband got for me under duress.

but i swim. i can swim laps & laps non-stop. tak penat pun. tapi ni pun breast-stroke lah. please don’t ask me to do free-style. ahhh… it gives me palpitations. apparently cancerians (like moi) are more into water sports. so i guess its true in my case.

i’ve also tried yoga. but instead of feeling peaceful & meditative, my mind is always racing with thoughts. any thoughts lah. sometimes i’m thinking about how pretty the girl next to me is or what the male yoga tutor feels when he gets into balls-squashing positions. i even got myself the yoga mat. maybe i should go buy a yoga cd, so i can try it at home. or should i try pilates this time around? the cds are rather cheap. i saw these yoga / pilates packages (inclusive of the cd and the mat) for about rm55. reasonable izenit. i could get the husband to give them to me as a gift for no reason.

i do try to drink more milk. i buy cartons & cartons for the month. if you come visit me in my home, i’ll serve you milk ok. as for bread, the husband insists that i only buy wholemeal bread. but its so boring to eat. so occasionally i buy white bread. they taste so much better. i’m also a big fan of maggi mee. which is really bad for you i know but i really like soup-y stuff.

the other thing that i should try to do is to have healthier thoughts & language. i curse too much. & the poor husband’s ears get to hear it more often than others. i’m sorry love. i will try. the “good” thing is that i don’t use swear words interspersed with other words in my sentences i.e. it’s not part of my daily vocabulary. i curse when i’m angry. and hoo-boy do i get angry. the husband says its amazing how i can switch from one disposition to another in mere split-seconds (it isn’t very difficult to do you know).

i guess i’ll start the health stuff next year.

wise no more

2007-10-09T11:05:00.000+08:00

i finally got my tooth extracted & got me 2days worth of medical leaves for the rm450 that i paid to the dentist. it was… an experience. i didn’t feel excruciating pain but i could feel the pressure she was applying & i most definitely heard the wrenching of the tooth from my jaw. oww. she had to cut AROUND my gums. it looked like meat. ok i’ll stop with the graphical details now. hehehe.

the husband said it was an ordeal for him to watch. i don’t know why exactly seeing as i was the one in the dental seat with blood spurting out of my mouth. his observation was that i have a small mouth. hehehe.

the dentist said: don’t eat for 2 hours. (gotcha doc!)

the husband said: & don’t talk for 4 hours (how cruel he can be!)

my mother said: sorry to hear about your pain, just think of the cross (as in the catholic cross, you know.)

my dad said: so, tidak wise lah sudah kau ni? (haha. very funny.)

i come from a family of jokers.

actually i didn’t really need the 2days mc. on the first day of the mc (friday), the husband & i caught a movie, went gift shopping & played basketball with my nephew. a dull ache was all i felt but as expected, it was a bit difficult to eat.

on the second day of the mc (monday), i had to burn my mc & come to work for a meeting. dammit.

i hope no more wisdom teeth are coming. this kind of wisdom i can do without.

i am hostess

2007-10-02T16:38:00.000+08:00

last saturday we hosted a potluck lunch for the husband’s cousins.

the menu consisted of:

dominos pizza

spaghetti bolognese

fusilli carbonara

frozen strawberry cheesecake for dessert

chachos & tzatziki dip

an array of alcoholic beverages & carbonated drinks

lunch was scheduled for 12noon but malaysians being malaysians kan. the worst was the waiting for the spaghetti bolognese. they were 2.5 hours late!! lucky we all have a sense of humor. so, i donned a pair of maternity pants (which was miraculously available for use that afternoon!!) & shoved a pillow under my t-shirt.

the husband’s first reaction was: what happened to your boobs? hihihi. they went missing of course. after all, this is a faux pregnancy ma. so although the faux tummy was there, the faux boobs were not. so anyhow, it was perfect timing bcos just as i was ready with my “costume” the doorbell rang. & so i waddled to greet our lidut guests. it was very believable i tell you. my waddle i mean. & when i opened the door, i told them “haiyaaaa… you guys took so long that i got pregnant while waiting for your bolognese lah!!” kihkihkih…

for entertainment, the husband & our guests gambled. so much for playing board games. & i was so looking forward to playing taboo. well, at least the mahjong table that my parents bought & stored in the apartment came into good use. i don’t gamble bcos i’m just so very bad at math. imagine, i have difficulty even with playing blackjack (sometimes also known as 21).

so, the day was spent gambling, drinking, laughing & accusing me of being racist. the husband announced to our guests that my marrying him is just a camouflage for my bigotry. ciss. we tried to make margaritas but it turned out not so great. oh well.

we headed to the pool at 9pm & had a lovely time frolicking & racing. ahhhh… so nice to feel like a youth again. after the swim we headed back to the apartment & some more funnies took place. for one, someone decided to hang their wet undies outside the window ledge secured by the window of course. i stumbled upon it by accident as i was trying to secure the window back into place. needless to say, that someone was feeling mighty awkward that night hehehehe. for another, someone else decided to leave his wet undies on my dressing table with the hairdryer on to dry it. i stumbled on that accidentally too bcos i heard the hairdryer going for about 10mins & realized no one was there. haiyooo… cartoon cartoon…

oh well. it was a lovely weekend. unfortunately for the husband, he was working on sunday whilst the rest of us lazed & recuperated :-D

newbies in the house

2007-10-02T15:54:00.000+08:00

i'm very happy to announce that 2 of my loveliest friends have recently added new members to their respective family units.

baby devon (27 september 2007)

baby eva (1 october 2007)

congratulations to the parents of these two newbies!!

my visit to the dentist(s)

2007-10-02T10:23:00.000+08:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Molar (tooth)

Molars are the rearmost and most complicated kind of tooth in most mammals. in many mammals they grind food; hence the Latin name mola, “millstone”.

Human molars

Adult humans have twelve molars, in four groups of three at the back of the mouth. the third (rearmost) molar in each group is called a wisdom tooth. it is the last tooth to appear, breaking through the surface of the gum at about the age of twenty, although this varies by ethnicity.

********************

i was on mc last friday. the husband & i made a visit to klinik pergigian bangsar in jalan travers for some cheap dental services. hah!

we got there early at about 8am. & i was pretty impressed with the counter service (surprisingly friendly) & restrooms (surprisingly clean) but once i sat myself into the reclining dental chair, the dentist just whizzed through her examination of my mouth. literally whizzed. the experience lasted all of one minute… or two… tops. & i was like “eh? done already ah??”. she was in such a hurry that i was afraid to ask her any questions except for “err, doc… howsabout my wisdom tooth, can we extract it?” to which her answer was “no cannot, it’s too small, wait till it grows summore.”

& of course being the medical school drop-out that i am, i knew that in cases of gigi pandai like mine, its never as straight-forward as: wait till it grows then we can extract. i mean, all the other private expensive clinics i’ve been to always advise me that it depends on the position of your wisdom tooth. some can never grow bcos its being blocked by something else. some grow but excruciatingly so.

so in a state of tak-puas-hati-ness, i told the husband that i want to go to a private clinic lah. no matter lah if it will cost an arm & a leg or not. i couldn’t take the perpetual throbbing in my head & the constant soreness in my gums & mouth.

so we had breakfast first (just in case the private clinic does remove the irritating tooth & I couldn’t eat) & then headed to a recommended dentist in jengjengjeng… jinjang-land. the dentist was very nice, very gentle & was very good with explaining things (as the recommendor promised me). she even told me i matched her orange furniture bcos i was wearing an orange top. i’m not too sure if this was a compliment or complisult (compliment + insult) but she said it with a smile & that made it ok. anyhow, i had to open my mouth, hold a piece of something in place inside my mouth (so inelegant ok) & we did an x-ray & found that the gigi, although coming down straight & not senget-senget, was indeed being blocked by the neighboring molar. & so, if i had taken the government clinic dentist’s diagnosis, die lah me. bcos it wouldn’t have come out & i would have to live with the head-throbbing & mouth sores. even if the tooth could come out without impediments, i would still choose to remove it asap.

the cost of this minor surgery to remove the tooth is (at most) rm500. sigh. therefore, the moral of the story is, we have to pay extra for good service. of course if you really think about it, we also “pay” for sub-standard service bcos in my opinion, i pay taxes so that there is a government dental clinic to provide such services to us. i could rant about the injustice of it all but maybe i’ll save it for another day hor.

before you say that i can get it done cheaper in other private clinics (& yes it may be so), let me just say this: i have done my homework. i have sourced for price quotations from dentists in puchong, pj, ttdi & jinjang & all quoted the same thing: between rm350 to rm500 depending on the complexity of the procedure. note that i chose dental clinics in different vicinities just to eliminate any concerns on cartel-like price fixing.

come this thursday when i have my date with the scalpel, i’ll be (at most) rm500 poorer. lucky i can claim from my company.

wisdom is expensive

2007-09-25T14:36:00.000+08:00

ya, it really is.

in the last 12 months, TWO of my wisdom teeth decided to make an appearance.

after 30 years. ishk. one was extracted.

painfully bcos it cost me nearly rm400 buckaroos. ouch.

for ONE extraction ok. did i get conned?

another is right now pushing its way through my gums even as we speak.

bladieshiets. its not so painful as it is annoying.

i notice i get sore throats more often,

headaches more often,

fevers more often.

I THINK it’s bcos of this teething thing lah.

i mean it makes sense dunnit?

babies get sick when they’re teething

so why not adults right.

irritating ahhhh…

the sweetest thing

2007-09-25T10:40:00.000+08:00

over the weekend, the husband & i played hosts to my brother and his wife. true to his musician-self, the husband took us to a pub in sri hartamas to be entertained by a live band. what’s the name of the band again ah? i forgot lah. whatever it is, the songs they played were of the country music genre. siap dengan cowboy hats & boots lagi wei. but they were really good!! i was pleasantly surprised. the pub was a little empty though, by my standards lah. except for this cicak which was hiding under our table. actually it wasn’t hiding lah. it was just there waiting to be stepped on. which i did as we were leaving the pub… after having successfully avoided it the whole night. ughh.

the husband did the sweetest thing which was also a bit embarrassing for a sober person, which i was, that night. he requested for a special song to be played & when they started playing it, i was like “eh?? what’s going on here?”, bcos i didn’t recognize the opening melody while he had this knowing look on his face when he pulled me to the dance floor for a twirl. the empty dance floor. in an empty-ish pub.

romance –very.
shyness –also the very.
sweet –isn’t it just??

crazy by kenny rogers (roasters)

girl, there are no words to say

what i feel in my heart

you, you're on my mind night and day

and it hurts me when we're apart

when you're not here by my side

there is nothing in this world for me

i guess i'm crazy, crazy for you can't you see

and although you may think it's crazy

here is where i want to be

i will always need your love

now, i can see every dream

when i look in your eyes

and though things never are what they seem

there is one thing that i realize

that there's no doubt in my mind

we can make this love go on forever

i guess i'm crazy, crazy for you can't you see

and although you may think i'm crazy

here is where i'll always be

and i need you with me

'cause you are the dream

that finally came true for me

and all my life there'll be no one else

if i looked all my life there could be no one else

and for the rest of my life all i need is you

this song is special to us bcos, one night long long ago, when we only just started our fling-ing, he said

“don’t be scared okay, but this is the song i was planning on singing to my wife on our wedding night”.

awwww… sho shpooky…

& yes, i was a bit freaked out when he started singing it to me then.

but no more. it’s our special song now.

(love u babes **kiss**)

in fact, he sang it for me on our wedding night.

albeit a bit drunk. says he cant remember it even, if not for the wedding pics.

tsk tsk…

a day in my life

2007-09-20T18:15:00.000+08:00

hi. my name is groovychick. i am a recently married sino-kadazan ahemm… lady (sometimes). my husband is a soft-voiced malaysian indian with a chinese surname (go figure). we live close to jinjang-land, menjalara. on the upside, we also live next to posh-land, desa park city & ikea is just a stone’s throw away.

ok lah… maybe the stone has to bounce a lot before it actually reaches ikea, but we are close. actually it doesn’t really matter just how close to ikea we are cos the husband abhors shopping. & these days i’m recuperating from my wedding-related expenses so i can’t exactly hop-around shopping. oh well. one day at a time. wait till i strike that lottery. now, i just have to start buying ‘em numbers.

ok so, we live in menjalara near-ish ikea.

during the week, in the mornings we attempt to get up at 7am & always, always fail miserably. i tend to re-set my alarm clock at 15minute intervals. usually, we only get up at 8am, meaning i have to rush through my beauty-routine.

the husband has to go through his routine too: the 5s –shit, shave, shower, shampoo, shake (hihihi). ok lah, i’m not certain whether the last one takes place or not hahaha.

the first one is like clock-work though. every morning without fail.

anyways, most of the time, he has to wait for me to get ready. says he gets tired just looking at me going through my routine. on the off-chance (very very off this) that i’m ready before him, i sometimes make breakfast. usually its eggs. or its eggs. & other times its eggs.

bcos we are a single-car family, the husband comes with me & i drop him off at the train station then scoot off to work. usually, we take a rather pricey route in order to beat traffic bcos we’re already late. ok lah, bcos i’m late. he starts work at noon & finishes at 9pm. in the evenings after work, i head home in the traffic all by my lonesome. depending on the level of boredom on that day, i might cook something or bake or freeze things. don’t get too excited, mostly i don’t do things from scratch. i’m a firm believer of using ready-mixes.

sometimes lah i rajin lah but this is usually when it’s something easy to do like bolognese sauce. but i tell you, boredom is a real motivator. for me at least. i’ve been known to clean in the middle of the night bcos i’m bored. the husband, he calls me monica geller. heh.

when it’s time, i drive out again to get him from work. sometimes we visit my MIL who lives close-by to our place. most times we head home. since we don’t have astro, we watch & re-watch dvds hehehe (so kind souls out there, please loan us some!) or, & this is my fave, we watch chinese ghost stories. hihihi… it’s real nice exposing the husband to my chinese roots.

i don’t cook much cos it’s not good to eat so late right. besides, i can’t tahan till 9pm for dinner lah. so i eat first or we just have a snack before bedtime.

we’re in bed by midnight. i insist on pillow talks, it’s my way of making sure we do set aside that time to talk. it can be all of 10mins but i’m happier. & if i hear him snoring, i’ll fidget till he wakes up again so we can resume our talks. haha…

twice in a week i get some time to myself –when he goes for futsal after work & when he works on sundays. it’s the pits but it’s not unbearable. i get to read my books & laze in bed.

i love my life.

prayers

2007-09-20T16:41:00.000+08:00

i haven’t really been following the

story on the missing girl nurin jazlin

but yesterday’s paper on the body-in-a-bag

news really caught my attention.

today they dna-confirmed that the

body is really that of nurin’s.

the poor girl. may her young soul rest in peace.

i offer a prayer for you, little one.

so kasian & so sad.

i hope the murderer dies a slow, horrible excruciating death

& after that, continue to rot in hell.

someone should stick a durian up his ding-dong.

see how he likes it.

bastardo.

i don’t mean to be judgmental, but i am

gonna be that here anyways

& i’m not sure whether i want to apologize for it,

but how in the world could nurin’s parents have allowed

her to go to the pasar malam on her own?

& no, saying that she said that she was going with

her 9-year old sister is equally baffling.

they are kids.

they’re kids in today’s world.

where kids go missing & bad things happen

to them bcos there are psychopaths around.

i don’t have kids of my own, so sure,

bash me for talking about something

i may not know anything about,

but hey, this isn’t just about parenting skills,

this is about having common sense.

it’s like giving a kid a gun &

expecting him to know NOT to use it.

don’t be stupid.

despite my judgmental tirade,

i do feel sorry for her family.

it must be heart-wrenching to have to go through this.

so, i’ll offer a prayer for them too

that they will get through this somehow.

God Bless.

starvation & sustenance

2007-09-18T14:43:00.000+08:00

my tummy's a-growling. i've been in a meeting since 930am & it ended only at 2pm. are these people mad? it's the fasting month summore. you'd think they'd try to shorten the meetings. i salute them lah. i dunno how they do it. i cannot fast. period. i was so hungry, i was getting dizzy. anyways, halfway through the meeting, i ran up to my room & had my left-over egg sandwich from breakfast. gobbled it all down in a minute. after the meeting, i wanted to have some jam & crackers. to my misfortune, the jam was mouldy already. yick. so, it was hot milo & crackers. oh well, beggars can't be choosers izenit.

by the way, my egg sandwich was courtesy of the husband. he was suffering from food poisoning in the last 3 days & our weekend was spent resting, puking & a-doodie.com-ing. he's feeling bad cos i had to tend to his needs & i'm guessing that's why i got me-self an egg sandwich today.

this is NOT the sandwich my husband made for me today

it's ok lah sweetheart. not your fault. but thanks so much for the breakfast. nowww... i've got this wishlist of things i want for christmas which i'm just dying to share with you ;-p...

oh ya, over the weekend, cos he wasnt feeling too good, i had to make the husband some half-boiled eggs. so. not. easy. geez. how many minutes do you need in order to get half-boiled eggs?? my first try with 2 eggs came out more hard-boiled than half. my second try, again with 2 eggs, came out more raw than half-boiled. in the end i poached it & passed it off as half-boiled hehehe. cos when you poach you can see it ma. when you boil it, you can't see through the shell. husband, why do you like it half-boiled? looks disgust. especially when it's cold.

this is also NOT the half-boiled eggs i made for my husband over the weekend

i'm gonna have a banana after this. still hungry lah. tonight i'll have some chicken horfun soup & read a book while i wait for the husband to finish work.

nursery rhymes

2007-09-14T17:15:00.000+08:00

very good, campulut, tahi si polo, lim puput

altogether now...

have a good weekend everybody.

my fiddy-eth merdeka

2007-09-13T15:58:00.000+08:00

see just how lidut i am with my blog entries. oh well, i write when i feel like it. actually i write when i dont have superiors looking over my shoulder. heh.

so i was thinking to myself today, say, i havent been blogging lately. plus, i received 2 comments on my previous entries to which i hadnt replied to yet. not bcos i'm a smug blog-diva but bcos, i'm so blog-illiterate hehehe. i didnt know how to post a comment. shoot me now. & so i got a friend to teach me after which i realized: aduhai bodohnyer i ni. ok never mind.

ok so, how was your merdeka celebrations? my eve was spent eating pizza at home & watching some new dvds. at midnight, i wished the husband "happy merdeka" & then we went out to the balcony to watch the far-far-away fireworks display. then we continued watching dvds. lazy bums.

the in-laws decided to have a barbeque for the merdeka hols & our contribution was lasagna. this is our 2nd attempt at it & i must say it turned out not-too-bad. & by that i mean no one had diarrhea lah the next day. i even found the right oven function to get the browning effect. the 1st time we did it, we were too afraid to let anyone else try it. we're criticism-phobic when it comes to food preps :-).

all in all it was a nice quiet dinner in. of course we nearly died of smoke inhalation. the wind was blowing the smoke into the house.

after the barbeque, we went home & had to clean out my nephew's stinky-poo hamsters. the husband was of NO help whatsoever. disgust he says. tsk tsk. good thing i'm resourceful (i got a girl friend to catch 'em for me hihihi).

hungry lah now. feel like having some of that lamb.

of little people & carefree-ness

2007-08-30T17:15:00.000+08:00

this is charlie (middle back) & his angels. drew barrymore (left), lucy liu (right) & cameron diaz (front)

i gotta say i really love this one. never fails to make me giggle when i look at it.

charlie is really a shy one. so i was quite surprised to see him dancing away with the girls in this picture. maybe he's shy bcos he's the only boy in the group. he never calls me despite having a mobile. says he forgot my number. what a heartbreaker.

drew is the im-game-for-anything type. she doesnt feel shy at all & goes around the house dressed in whatever was featured in this year's school concert. sometimes it's a garishly-pink-tutu-type-fairy-dress, sometimes its a green indian lengha. it's nice to see kids like this. confident in her own skin. she'll join in a dance performance despite the fact that shes actually part of the audience & not the performer, this one.

lucy. now lucy has an almost adult self-consciousness. its true. you know how adults won't do certain things bcos we worry about how others would look at us, right? like me, i malu to go up & sing in front of people. ahhh, lucy here is like that lah. however, shes the assertive one in the group. the lady boss. she has a tough outer shell but is a softie inside. she lives far far away & apparently according to her mama, everytime she returns home from a visit to malaysia, she'll sit in a corner crying cos she misses her family here. poor soul.

cameron is the youngest in this picture. shes got a rocker-type voice. hehehe. shes very entertaining simply bcos shes so teeny but she has the biggest voice & is the most vocal. she fought with a 30-year old guy & told him "sia magic ko jadi harimau!!". hehehe. she just moved here from sabah & is feeling lonely. i should go visit her one of these days.

i remember yesteryears (which wasnt too long ago) when i used to do "young" things with my brothers & cousins without a care in the world. pretend we're kungfu fighters. climb over my mum's white picket fences & get rips on our dresses (the girls lah, not the boys). go traipsing into the hutan belukar to look for biji getah (rubber seeds) & hearing scary animal grunts. trapping colorful dragonflies in our jam jars till mum threatened to fry them & feed them to us. catching frogs in the rain. climbing guava trees. making mudcakes with our saliva (euww i know but thats what we did!! whats euww-er is that the boys always came & destroyed our mudcakes by throwing it at each other. THEY didnt know what made the tanah soft & malleable hahaha!!).

so nice to reminisce. i hope the world doesnt change too much that kids these days & in days to come dont get a chance to do these things in their childhood. although of course the world has already changed. it used to be a safer place kan. now, everyone is rightfully paranoid. so sad.

ok im done for today. tomorrow is merdeka day --fiddy years of independence & we get only one day off . ciss.

off to brazil now.

memoirs of a bridezilla...

2007-08-29T17:47:00.001+08:00

i feel i should write a little about my wedding experience. you know, to memorialize it or something. while it's still fresh in the mind right. afterall, it's barely been 2months. this is like a diary afterall izenit? however, i feel kinda malas. but i guess one must do what one must ;-p. does this mean that the wedding day wasnt such a memorable one for me?

well...

to be honest, in the month prior to the wedding, i was (surprise surprise!) so stressed that i couldnt wait for it to be over. the wedding event itself, i mean. i had my family come in from sabah & they required entertaining --mestilah kan. they come all the way for my wedding, takkan i dont entertain them at all right? i had my issues with the bank people regarding my homeloan (people, do NOT go for hongleong bank. theyre shit.) i was moving into my marital home all by my lonesome because the then half-husband was away in another country altogether. the long distance relationship woes weren't helping much either.

note: he was a half-husband because we had our civil wedding much earlier to the church wedding but as Catholics, we're not really considered married if the church ceremony hasnt taken place yet. so that made my legal marriage only half-a-marriage.

thinking back, of course the stress was self-imposed because i'm one of those who believe "if you want to get it right, do it yourself babe". so anal hor? serves me right.

so, on the wedding day itself, i was actually still in "project manager" mode. in hindsight, it was quite funny. i didnt have time to do my nails the day / night before the wedding as i was too busy. my MIL had her nails done. my SIL got her hair colored. my mum, sisters & 8-yr old nieces got THEIR hair & nails done early.

but the bride? the bride was a stress-pot. i only went to bed at 3am on the wedding day morning. moi --ms i-have-panda-eyes problems. why? because i was packing for my overnight stay at the wedding reception venue. i got up at 9-ish the next morning & made breakfast for my family because on top of everything else, it was so very important for me to also be a good host (i am so stupid). finally, the bridesmaid & i rushed to The Curve to get my nails done & she, her hair. the salon people asked me "huh?? you're the bride? what are you STILL doing here??" needless to say, i was running late & my make-up lady had to wait for 30mins so that the bride could sneak in a shower before putting on the wedding dress... tsk tsk...

well, i couldnt very well be a stinky-poo of a bride now, could i?

i was chewing on a sausage (easy to eat mah --its like drinking with a straw when you have lipstick on) even after the war paint was on because in all the wedding planning articles i'd read, the bride must have something to eat lest she pengsan & makes a fool of herself. i was even carrying my own handbag as i walked out of my bedroom in my wedding dress & veil. NOT my bouquet but my handbag. why? because everything i needed was in there. on the way to church, i had calls from the hotel people regarding last-minute mess-ups. I HAD TO TELL THE DRIVER TO TURN BACK BECAUSE I, THE BRIDE, FORGOT THE WEDDING RINGS!!!

during the church ceremony, my mind was churning with event management thoughts that it didnt hit me that i was actually exchanging life-long vows with a man who i would sleep with & wake up to for the rest of my life. heh. ok so, the answer to my own question: was my wedding day memorable for me?

yes. of course.

but not just in the romantic-gushy-soppy way that i imagine people expect it ought to be. i'll also remember it for all the things that make it a funny story to tell my grandkids:

"little tykes, listen up. your grandmere was GORJES on her wedding day. ya ok so they were fake lashes. so what? shut up & listen to me. as gorjes as i was, it doesnt make me infallible. thats the moral of the story here. your gorjes but infallible grandmere made the mistake of thinking that she was Superwoman. eh? you dunno who is Superwoman? howsabout Wonderwoman? no? ehhh??? wtf... WHO IS GAS GIRL?? kiddos, you sure have canggih-fied superheroes these days. anyways, back in the day, me your grandmamere who was pretty vogue even then, made the mistake of thinking i could do ALL. like an octopus you know --tentacles everywhere. no wonder lah your grandpops calls me bossy. i forgot that the wedding rings were to be entrusted to the bestman & NOT to the bride. ooops. hihihi. my bad."

note: i reckon at 85, i'll still be laughing my "hihihi".
or maybe more like this: hihi*cough*hi*farttt*hihihi*gassspppp*hihihi*kyiok*

of course lah i'll remember my wedding day. how else can i claim my anniversary treats from the husband then?? kidding lah. i know lah it's a special day. this entry is for when i'm senile & can't remember the details (hmm, but when im senile, i wont remember how to get to this blog hor?)

anyhow, yes, i know its a special day. even if i didnt at the time because i was too busy being, well, busy. so, realizing this, the husband & i actually did a re-enactment of the vows. hehehe. one night, about a month after the wedding, after revising & memorizing & coaching each other on our marital vows (we are thespians at heart), we whipped out our trusty canon, perched it on the bed's headrest & recorded ourselves exchanging our vows again. i had tears in my eyes even as i was holding my laughter in. sighs.

so, a word to the wise i.e. soon-to-be brides: DELEGATE. afterall, sharing is caring!

note: kononnya malas want to write. but true to my verbal-diarrhea self, once i started, i could stop.

being inconsistent... or is it incontinent ;-p

2007-08-28T08:08:00.000+08:00

it's real early on a tuesday morning & i'm already in the office thanks to the husband who has an early morning thingy at work. so here i am doing, well, not much. my eyes are extra chinky than they usually are due to the lack of beauty sleep. funnily though, i'm quite awake. not a morning person generally so this "alertness" is a nice change.

so anyhow, today, i want to write about being inconsistent. myself being inconsistent i mean. well, i am that, thats for sure. end of story haha. very boring lah to write about deep things. by the way, i'm NOT incontinent.

as i sit here typing this, there are these teeny-weeny ants running amok on my desk. i kiew them awl. i did this once in front of the husband & he said "iyerrrr... what did it ever do to you??! so cruel!" i was so terkejut & then ashamed & thought to myself "i'm a meanie". ishk... but he swats at roaches on his desk ok!!! so that makes him a meanie too doesnt it?

you know, he borrowed some of these "black" dvds from his friend i.e. films about african americans who live in the ghetto, get into pushing drugs because they have no other options out of a life of poverty, get caught, thrown into prison, become reformed / transformed & become a rapper (like fiddy-sen d'ya know hihihi). so, the husband has been watching these shows cos we have no cable & dont plan on getting one anytime soon (no money heh) & has now started amusing me by emulating how the blacks walk / swagger. muahhhahahaha... it's a real riot to watch him do it. not that he does it well, but what really gets to me is this: my husband is a mat control macho ok. so he doesnt usually act silly. i've tried many-a-times to get him to act crazy but to no avail. me. i am the mad one in the marriage. i make faces at him, dance maniacally in the car while kids in the school bus next to us stare at me like i'm a madcow (which could be true) or plain guffaw like a hyena & he just looks at me with this indulgent smirk on his face, like "ok wife, i see it, you're acting crazy" then he coolly goes back to watching his african american movies. aiyak. so anyways, his swaggering like he's a black rapper really kills me. hihihi.

yesterday, as a surprise, i got him a pair of futsal shoes. he didnt like 'em. dammit. anyways, we're going back to the shop tonight to see if we can exchange it for something else. i dont think so but no harm in trying. & at the same time, i'm gonna pout like i'm so hurt & heartbroken that he doesnt like my surprise gift... THEN i'll ask him to buy a pair of running shoes for me wahahaha. see how my devious mind works. he knows it too. but he'll still buy them for me though he sees through my ruse. & thats why i love him.

i'm off for my meeting now (i'm-a-trotting down the lane...)

my first ever... the virgin blog... hihihi...

2007-08-10T12:14:00.000+08:00

cool...

i dont know how this works... looks easy enough. but im a lazy bum (on top of being a groovychick) & id probably be too malas to learn how to work things on this blog thingy. come to think of it, id probably be *tulesi* to write pun. i *vunderbar* if anyone would read what i write. & if they do, would they understand my writing style... wahahaha... im an eejit... this is way cool man. as im writing this, i feel like im talking to myself. my groovy self that is. coolness or not.

ok, why wont people understand my writing style? well bcos, i bastardize *lenguej(es)*. *siwataimin*? ok never mind. this is just my first entry & at this point, im just indulging myself. who knows tmw i might feel like i need to be more considerate to my "loyal audience" (wahahaha... *perasansplaksaini*!!) & write more "legibly". or write a more academic piece. right. not.

oh but i notice ah, this thing looks like MSWord right? but no spell check leh? hmmm... im sure its here somewhere. now where is that damn thing?? oh ya but im anal too. im an anal lazy bum. *izenit* *larvely*?

oh ya, heres an observation: i read blogs right? & i notice, some bloggers (revelation: hey im a blogger now tooooo!!!) hv this amazing knack of keeping things vague. they hv this ability to write about something or someone & keep the blog entry at a level where u cant be TOO sure that they're actually referring to this or that. its lovely. i think id just blab away --referring to actual names & places. my self-preservation mode is shot. hence, im sure i'll be stepping (more like STOMPING) on toes. & i'll probably be doing it gaily (isthisawordah?) too until i realize i've offended someone. then "i'll know" lah.

you know, where im from, instead of saying "padan muka" we like to say "baru kau tau" or when we're feeling like we're the queen's subjects --"then you know".

ok end of first entry. im no longer a blog-virgin.

oh!! i found the spell-check.

guide-to-my-wor(l)d

tulesi - too lazy
vunderbar - wonder
lenguej(es) - language(s)
siwataimin - see what i mean
perasansplaksaini - perasan pula i ni
izenit - isn't it
larvely - lovely
isthisawordah - is this a word ah

ok & i also found the bullet / number function. yays.

ok done for now. ciao to me.