Isn’t This Precious?

AC360° has a competition called Beat 360, whereby they ask viewers to put captions to random (usually news-related) photos. Some of the captions are just pure gold. Really funny. Now I have no interest in captioning this photo but doesn’t it just make you just wanna go ‘Awwww…..’?

Ok you cynics, I don’t want to hear it. You may say this picture is posed. And yeah, you might think he should be working on the health care bill or the review on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq rather than playing with a baby but I don’t care. This picture is cute. It warms my cold, shriveled heart. I like it. If you don’t, that’s fine but take it somewhere else. Don’t spoil my grown-man-in-a-business-suit-playing-peekaboo-with-a-chubby-baby-picture induced golden glow.

Btw if you were wondering, the lil bubba is Maeve Beliveau, the daughter of Director of Advance Emmett Beliveau (no, I didn’t know there was such a thing as ‘Director of Advance’. Advance what? Hmm…). Oh and I love how the photog looks just like a Secret Service guy in that suit. I guess the jeans, t-shirt and slouchy vest look is not applicable to White House photogs, huh?

A Whirl of Anticipation

Boy, I’m excited! I have a lot of things to look forward to.

Fingers crossed, I’ll be trying out the food at the Pink Sage this weekend. I’ve been wanting to go forever but for some reason never got around to it. I have no idea how good the food is but I’m really attracted to the American diner concept. Can’t wait to go check it out. I’m going with Miss Dirah and her other half so a good time is pretty much guaranteed.

Oh and very exciting! I’m going to Penang next weekend to take part in the Penang Bridge marathon. No, I’m not doing the full marathon…. Not doing the half marathon either. I shall be taking part in the 10km Fun Run. I still roll my eyes at the notion of a 10km Fun Run. I’m fine with a 5km Fun Run…but running 10km is no fun! For me anyway. Unfortunately I haven’t reached that level of physical fitness yet. But anyhoo, I am way amped for this visit. For one thing, this will be my first visit to Penang (authentic char keuy teow, here I come!), it’s going to be a trip with my very good friend Naz, my first time on a flight that I arranged and booked myself (haha, ni pun nak kecoh right?) and I shall also be seeing my ex-roomie from my first year at Uni . Haven’t seen her since 2005, so this should be interesting. I’ve been training a bit and plan to amp it up a bit as the Run gets closer. Hope I’ll make my target of shaving 10 minutes off my previous time. They’re closing the Penang Bridge for..ahem..me so I’ll make sure it wasn’t in vain!

I am in raptures over this other ‘event’ I have on my calendar for April. I’m not going to go into details yet because it’s not really set in stone yet but ladies and gentlemen, this is a BIG one. No, not as big as going to Australia to study an awesome subject (here’s looking at you Dirah) but big. Ambitious. The mother of all adventures. Haha. I think I’m overpitching it. When I do tell you guys what it is I’m embarking on, it’ll probably be a letdown. Haha.

On a sadder note, I still don’t have my camera. I was going to get it with my bonus the other day. Bonuses have been somewhat paltry over at my office but I’m grateful we got any at all. Mine was just about enough to get the camera I wanted. Then I found out that PTPTN had been sending lawyer letters to my old house chasing me for the RM1,500 I still owe them. So I paid them with my bonus money and hence no camera. Oh well, it was a loan so repaying is a must. A law-abiding person like myself is easily scared by threats of lawyer letters but I wonder what PTPTN is doing to get their money back from people who owe in excess of RM20,000 and the like. Oh and PTPTN, answer your damn emails! I’ve emailed you three times to ask how much more I owe you and you never reply.

Sorry, I’ve veered way off from the positive note of the earlier paragraphs. I’m still harbouring some bitterness over the DSLR that got away. Sigh….

Cranking the positivity back up! Have any of you ever heard of Broga Hill? It’s in Semenyih and it’s gorgeooouuus! I really want to go but I have no idea how to get there and the directions I’ve gotten on the Net are no help. If anyone is interested, let me know and let’s go together ya? :)

The Celebrity Savvy Parent vs The Not-So-Savvy One

Before my mom came back from the US, I asked her to bring me back People magazine with Khloe’s wedding on the cover. The conversation went a lil something like this:

Me: Ma, when you come back, can you bring me back one of the tabloids? Whichever has the Kardashian sister wedding on the cover?

Ma: Oh you pun tahu ke pasal si Khloe nak kahwin tu?

Me: Huhh? You tau Khloe Kardashian siapa…. *impressed*

So she came home and handed over the mags and then she mentioned Lamar Odom.

Sister and me: Wah Ma, you tau Lamar Odom?

Ma: Eh taula. Yang kahwin ngan Khloe tu. Basketball player, kalo tak silap.

Me: *still impressed*

On the other end of the spectrum is my dad. As we were cleaning up the living room, he caught sight of an old tabloid with Jennifer Anniston on the cover with the title ‘Obsessed with Angie’. My dad’s response?

Dad: Why is this girl obsessed with Angie?

It was hilarious.

Back to my mom. Last week I was driving with my mom in the car and I can no longer remember the conversation or the context but in the middle of it, my mom mentioned Daddy Yankee or Pitbull, in relevance to a song on the radio I think. And, the other day, we were (well, I was) watching ENews and the news about the two Taylors ‘dating’ (if you have no idea who the two Taylors are, I commend you..lol) and she commented that Taylor Lautner is 17 and Taylor Swift is 19.

At this I burst out, “Omigod Ma, why do you know all this stuff?!*freaked out*”

To which my mom said, “Entahla, tak tau la tengok kat mana ntah”. Lol.

And my dad….”Elehhhh, I pun tahu tau. See, I know this girl (as a picture of Angelina Jolie came out on the ENews)…ah, and this girl (as a picture of Britney Spears came on)…”

It’s a bit weird that my mom has any amount of pop culture knowledge whatsoever but also wildy entertaining. Besides, she just came back from two years in the United States, capital of sleazy tabloids and paparazzi, home to Perez Hilton. There was no way she was going to come back unscathed. I’m just glad she doesn’t know what ‘The Hills’ are. And as for my dad, he’s still an innocent and I’m going to keep it that way. No more E! for you, Dad.

Terry Fox Run 2009

Oh, what an exhausting day yesterday was!

The parents, the littlest sister and I were off to KL at 8am to take part in the Terry Fox Run. The Terry Fox Run is held in many countries on an annual basis to honour the memory of Terry Fox, a Canadian cancer victim. After being diagnosed with bone cancer, he went out and ran across Canada to raise funds for cancer research. So the Run is held to commemorate his efforts and aid in fund-raising towards cancer research.

This was my first time at the Terry Fox Run and it was something, all right! There were so many people there. A lot of mat salleh folk. There were people (and kids) on scooters, rollerblades, bicycles, skateboards and parents running with strollers. It was a sight to behold, I tell ya.

And an experience to remember. As I mentioned, the amount of people taking part was huge. But the roads within the Lake Gardens aren’t that big. It was a stampede. Well, a walking stampede. You pretty much couldn’t run for the first few hundred meters. It was a bit irritating to have to stop after every 5 steps at first but I told myself to get over myself and remember that I’m here running for a cause. After a bit, the crowd petered out and it was fine. By this time, I had lost my parents and lil sis somewhere in the crowd and was running alone.

I wasn’t running for long though. The run had started at around 9am (which is late compared to the other runs I’ve been to which usually start at 7.30 – 8.00am) and it was scorching hot. Seriously, what is up with the heat lately? I turn two shades darker just walking from the office to my usual lunch place. Back to the run; the sun was in our faces for most of the run. I was going to take the 5K route but no dice. When I saw the volunteer who was flagging toward the 3.5K route, I took that route without even thinking twice. Panas gileerrrr!

Finished, was offered a banana and made a beeline to the t-shirt stall to get my Terry Fox 09 tshirt. Had to get the XL as they were all out of sizes! Ok lagi, my sister only managed to get the XXL. I guess, she’ll wear it as a pajama shirt? Lol.

My whole family finished in one piece. I made it back in 33 minutes, my dad arrived about 5 mins later and my mom and sister after that. I’m very glad to have been part of my family’s first run and hope to have lots more family physical activities together after this.

….Hopefully not followed by the same amount of eating though. After the run, my dad took us to this place in Kampung Baru, which looked pretty ick but omigod, the food was so good! Thosai, vadhai, nasi lemak..yum! Nasi lemak with a huge sotong was only RM2.50. Mana nak cari weii?

Also ate again, at Paternal Grandma’s, then at Maternal Grandpa’s and then again at Paternal Grandma’s and lastly, dinner. Haih. Lari 3K je tp makan macam lari 10K. Was so hungry though. Tsk tsk tsk.

More exercise? Check! Eating better? Hmm…not doing so well. But with it being a family effort now, I might actually make some progress. Fingers crossed!

Bits and Pieces

In the car. On the way home from dinner.

Me: Haiiih, esok dah hari Jumaat dah. Cepat betul masa berlalu

Dad: Haah kan? Sedar tak sedar Papa pun dah sebulan balik Malaysia….

Me: Omigosh, sebulan dah eh?! Kejaaaap je.

Dad: Itu la, Papa rasa macam baruuu tiga minggu balik.

Me: Huh? Eeeeeee, ntah pape ntah. Tiga minggu! *snort* Sebulan….wakakaka!
Mom: Macam la banyak beza tiga minggu ngan sebulan tu!
Sis: HAHAHAHA!


I love my Dad.

As for my mom, I was going to McDonald’s and she asked me to get her a salad.


Me: Salad? McDonald’s ada salad ke?

Mom: Ada. Beli je la salad apa2.

Me: Hmmmm…owkaay.

Later at McDonald’s…..
Me: *looking at the menu* Takde puuuun…. Dik, kat sini ada jual salad tak?

The girl looked at me like I was insane.

Sorry Ma, McDonald’s Malaysia takde jual sebarang item yang menyihatkan ye. Sila recalibrate expectation anda. :)

Just Put One Foot in Front of the Other

I’m not much of a quote person. I don’t know any cool/profound quotes and if I’m asked what is my favorite quote/phrase/life motto, I invariable come up with something lame and blah like ‘Reach for the sky’ or ‘Dream big!’ or ‘What the mind thinks, the body can achieve’. Very generic stuff.

A while back though, I read a Will Smith interview where he said, and I quote, “Running introduces you to your worst enemy, to that person who tells you, "Ooh, our ankles hurt and we should stop. Why do we need to run five miles? Let us run three."

For some reason, that really stuck with me. Especially because I hate running and that person Mr Smith is talking about?.....I know her all too well. She was with me in uni when I started jogging semi-regularly. She’d always point out the weather to me (“It’s too hot to run and hitam la muka nanti!” or “Uh-oh, it’s cloudy, I’ll bet it’s gonna rain this evening”), she’d list down every single niggling twinge or ache (“Stop now or you’ll cramp up” and “Tak payah la paksa diri kalo dah sakit tu”) and usually she’d tell me I was slowing down my jogging buddy, Mun and after I told Mun to run ahead, I would slow to a walk.

As hard as I try to exorcise her, I have to admit she’s still with me today. She tells me not to bother after work because a 15 minute jog is a waste of time and she recalls all that old research that says running is bad for your knees (it actually isn’t).

Truth be told, that’s part of the reason I’ve been doing all those runs I’ve been doing. It makes me sound psycho but I’m spiting that person. With every kilometer I run, I’m telling her ‘Hah, you DON’T win! Running may not come easy to me but I am doing it!”.

And have I been doing it. So far, I’ve done two 5Ks and have an 11K under my belt. I know it’s in bad taste to gloat but I don’t care! I am proud of myself. I have another 10K coming up in November (so excited for this one as it’s outstation) and insyaallah, one in December as well.
I’m still waiting for that time when running will come easily to me, when I don’t have to focus my entire being just on breathing in and breathing out….that time when running is therapeutic instead of a chore…when I can hold conversations with my running buddy. I think it’s still some way off but I’ll hang in there.

I want to be like that old aunty; who despite looking seriously withered..and did I mention old?; ran the entire 11K last weekend at a steady (much faster than me) pace. Go old aunty! You are my new hero! Oh and Naz, you sick hill-annihilating monster, you are my hero too. Look forward to the day when I can actually keep up with you. :)

NOTE: The Terry Fox Run will be held at Taman Tasik Perdana this Sunday. It’s a charity run for cancer so you won’t just be running for yourself. You’ll be doing it for a good cause. There are 5K and 3.5K (for family runs) categories. No registration or payment needed. If you want to contribute, you can buy Terry Fox t-shirts for RM25. The run flags off at 9am so be there by 8.45am. I’ll be going with my parents and hope to see you guys there as well. Like I said, it’s for a good cause. If you’re not familiar with him, go and read about Terry Fox. He’s an inspiration, for sure.

A Deepavali to Remember

Hello peeps! How was your weekend? I had a fantabulous one, thank you very much. It was f-filled. Fun-filled, food-filled, fear-filled. Sunday was all three of those as I’ve written in the post below with regards to my Skytrex activity (I didn’t mention the ‘food-filled’ part tho...we went out for a Mexican feast after we left Skytrex. Yummy ok!). But Saturday was no less fantastic.

Saturday was Deepavali, which is also known as ‘the festival of lights’ and is celebrated to commemorate Lord Rama’s victory over the evil King Ravana, according to Hindu lore (I got this off Google so if I’m wrong, please correct me). I don’t celebrate Deepavali but I relish it every time it rolls around. From 2003 up to 2007, I would go to my friend Anu’s place without fail for lunch (which would blur into teatime as well sometimes). The food is great and her grandma would serve homemade thosai! I’d wait all year for those.

This year, I didn’t manage to make it over to Anu’s house (my sister and I are sharing a car nowadays so travel is a challenge, to say the least) but fret not. I still got my Deepa-yummy fix. My sister and I spent the day with our futsal group. The first Open House was in PJ and about 10 of us came, in addition to the two hosts. The boys’ mum had made these amazing chocolate chip cookies and throughout the day some of us were fighting over the jar and trying to hide it from the others. After lunch, we sat outside to make room for the other guests inside and made idle chatter before proceeding to play that ‘Silent Killer’ game. You know, the one where you kill people off by winking at them and the ‘cop’ has to guess who the killer is? That game is fun on its own but played with this crazy bunch of people made it hilarious!

We finally set off for the next house around 4.30pm and just in time too, as the rain chased us off. Literally. One minute we were saying our goodbyes and the next, one of the boys said, “Go now, the rain is coming” and boy, did it. We were wet in the 50 meters it took to get to our cars.

At the next house, we had dinner (mutton briyani round 2!) and basically just chilled out on the couch after. Had a really good time though; lots of laughter, lots of teasing/bullying (done in love), lots of pictures taken. What started off as ‘find the astronaut on the RM5 bill’ turned into a teka-teki session; some of the riddles were ‘clever’ and some of them were just..*rolls eyes*. Haha. Oh well, nama pun teka-teki, right? Kalau takde lawak bodoh, bukanlah teka-teki namanya. Some of us couldn’t swallow the answers given though and entertaining outbursts ensued.

It had been a wonderful day and we left with a ton of good memories. And tons of fodder for future teasing as well. Ngehehe. What are good friend for, right?

Skytrex Adventures, Round 2

For those of you who don’t know what the Skytrex Adventure is, it involves climbing a ladder that’s four-stories high and going through a series of obstacles while in the canopy layer of the forest. Some of the challenges are on the milder side of the adventure spectrum, like this one for example....

And some are just designed to make you want to cry, like my unfavoritest challenge, which I personally like to call ‘The Cylinders of Death’.

But that’s just me.

In spite of all that, last Sunday I went Skytrekking for the second time. As usual, I’m all gung-ho until 24 hours before my activity du jour. And then I’m wringing my hands and rolling about in bed, moaning “Why the hell am I doing this? Who do I do the things I do?!” and my sane, placid, non-adventurous sister looks at me with a mixture of disgust and amusement and tells me what I’ve known all along. “Because you’re crazy”.

Hmph!

This Skytrex experience was wildly different from my previous one in December 08. First of all, there was no Monsieur Julien (he owns the place) in sight and seeing as the last time, he personally picked us up at the parking lot in his pick-up truck and sent us back after; it felt like a slap in the face. You don’t come greet old customers, Mister? I know your place is booming now but seriously…ooh wait, are you busy coz you’re opening up a new Skytrex branch? Can you do one at the FRIM in KL please? Coz Shah Alam is too too far la. Oh and one more negative, how come no more bananas upon Skytrex graduation? I don’t even like bananas that much but I was looking forward to munching on one while I still felt that monkey feeling post-hanging-in-the-trees, you know.

On the other hand, kudos to Skytrex on the expansion. There’s a proper Gear Deck now and the Extreme Course is now open and they have a great deal more staff, including stationed up on the course, which they didn’t have before. Imagine coming to the ‘Cylinders of Death’ and having no one to guide you through that. Which is what happened before la but this time they had someone up there. Not that that helps, actually.

I didn’t have a pleasant experience this time on the CoDs (not that any CoD experience is a pleasant one, mind you). I somehow ended up with my right hand and foot on one cylinder while the other hand and foot was left behind on the other cylinder and I was doing splits 20 meters up in the air and totally panicking. The oh-so-helpful instructor was saying , “don’t do that, don’t do that!”. Hey dude, I’m not doing this for fun ok. I prefer to be in total control of my limbs when falling to my death is a possibility so this flailing about here, it’s not because I want to.

I managed to get myself under control and finished the challenge, grunting and cussing all the way, and proceeded to declare, “This is a HORrible challenge!”. The instructor just laughed in my face. Sigh.

The first time I went, my friends and I would wait for each other, hanging out on the platforms until the others caught up so I constantly had companionship up there. This time around, the instructors didn’t let us hang around (which I didn’t understand because Mynn, who was next after me, was three challenges behind! How was I holding up traffic if there was no one to hold up?!) which resulted in me spending a lot of time alone up there in the trees. Surrounded only by foliage and feeling very at peace (post CoD).

It wasn’t so Zen for everyone. Dirah is majorly afraid of heights so the experience was not a pleasant one for her. But you know what, she made it! So proud of her. Mynn also had a minor mishap on the Tarzan challenge. Boy, that Tarzan challenge…I think it’s the one challenge that’s responsible for all of us feeling so sore today. But she made it back on through some Cirque du Soleil-like acrobatic movements. ;p Then there was Bob. Bob was left hanging mid-air for about 15 minutes after he didn’t manage to stick the landing for one of the ‘flying foxes’ and bounced back onto the line.

One of the guys, Rohe, was actually filming Bob flying-foxing toward him so he got actual footage of when Bob bounced back, cussing like no tomorrow. That was hilarious! In the end, two of the staff climbed up and rescued him. How cool is that? I saw an actual rescue mission. And don’t worry, Bob is fine and one anecdote richer.

We’re all fine, save for a couple of bumps, bruises and scrapes. For some reason, I have a lot of scrapes and bruises this time around (I didn’t get any last time) and my body hurts worse than it did the previous time around. I also had a mystery bleeding. It didn’t hurt even when I poked the wound, I don’t know when I got and it bled quite a bit. I just hope it’s not one of those jungle creatures who will make my body their second home. Eeeeuuw.

As usual, after all the ‘wishing I hadn’t signed on for this’ melodrama, I had a great time. My ex-colleague came along with us and she had a great time as well, which I was really relieved at coz she’s more Prada than Adidas. I’ve actually never regretted any of my activities and experiences; from being lashed by a storm during a camping trip to Pangkor (and getting a biiiiig tear in my pants during the same trip), to climbing Gunung Nuang at night while it was raining, being dropped in the middle of a kampong with a map and compass and being told to find our way back to base camp during uni and getting majorly seasick during a 3 hour kayaking excursion to some random island during the mid-day heat. In fact, the worse the experience, the better memories they make.

Now let me hold on to that morsel of wisdom while I face the thought that I’m going to be running in a 10K I’m not prepared for this coming Sunday and my youngest sister (not the above-mentioned non-adventurous sister) wants me to take her Skytrekking in the near (read: NEAR) future (and yes, I tried to scare-talk her out of it after I got back yesterday…it didn’t work). Yikes.

I foresee a lot more hand-wringing and moaning in the coming weeks. Sigh. Why do I do the things I do? That should be my life-mantra.

Happy

Great (although decidedly dated and basi) news! My parents and littlest sister are home. They’ve already been home for 8 days but I still get a huge grin when I say, “Yeah, my parents are back”.

Life has been great for the past week. I wake up early (why is it easier to wake up early when the ‘rents are around, I wonder), get ready for work, have leisurely breakfast and conversation with the parents and leave for work with my sister (with whom I am currently sharing a car while the parents use mine). Then after work I head on home, we have dinner and rehash our day. I know, it’s nothing special. Just what normally goes on in every family home, every single day. But for someone who usually spends her non-working hours cooped up in her room, watching and re-watching her fave shows on the laptop or otherwise engaged in conversation and/or refereeing disputes between a bunch of 3-8 year olds, this is bliss.

I haven’t had much time outside work to really hang out with my little sister; seeing as how I was away all last weekend; but looking forward to spending some real time hanging out with all of them this weekend. Any ideas for where I should take them or what we should do? I’m planning to take them for a hike at Taman Wetlands on Sat morning. What else to do ya?

Don’t know when they’ll be setting off next so just enjoying each day as it comes. Oh and enjoying teasing my little sister who is just SO easy to tease. Once a big sister, always a big sister. And by big sister, I mean bully. Gosh, I tell you, I was the biggest bully as a little kid. I think my siblings (especially the two after me) can vouch for that. The things I did to them…tsk tsk tsk. But I sincerely believe the torture they went through at my hands has made them stronger and better people. Truly. Ngehehe.

Hmm, this entry is kind of random. Just letting my thoughts flow. Peace out, peeps!

Klang Valley Food Hunt 2009

This past Saturday, I entered my very first treasure hunt. Well, not exactly. I’ve been on treasure hunts before but very small informal affairs. You know, at birthday parties….back during university Orientation Week thingies. But this one was the Klang Valley Food Hunt (KVFH) 2009. I paid RM70 to join this sucker!

I wasn’t really keen on participating at first. I have nothing against treasure hunts. In fact, I love a good TH but I never thought to join a serious competition you’d have to pay to take part in. But I did it for my good friend Ido who’s getting married in December, so this is kind of like her bachelorette party. Instead of strippers, we had pakciks in cowboy hats and kain pelekats (there was a best-dressed team category..sadly they didn’t win); instead of cocktails, we had tulips, treasures and clues and instead of getting drunk and inappropriately frisky, we had good clean fun out in the sun (seriously, I’ve turned two shades darker from all that al fresco walking).

So what is this KVFH 2009, you may ask? Well, I thought it was going to be something where you had to follow the clues to the best nasi lemak in PJ and the best char keoy teow in KL etc etc and then get to eat there but it turned out to be a normal treasure hunt with somewhat food-related clues and answers and challenges. Boo…misnomer much!

But aside from that, it was humongous fun. The whole KVFH was made up of a few challenges. You had to decipher the crazy-ass clues and find the answers (which were on shop and restaurant signboards). The hunt took us from the Science Centre (flag-off) to Hartamas to Kota Damansara to Damansara Uptown to SS2 PJ to Solaris Mont Kiara and finally Solaris Dutamas. Phew! Besides that, you also had to collect ‘treasures’ to be submitted at check-in. We were given clues in the form of poems and had to figure out what the treasures were based on said clues, then buy them and submit them. AND we had to use a Maxis service called ‘Finder301’ to find 6 restaurants, 1 ATM and 1 police station and take pictures at those premises.

Oh and we had to develop those photos. A pair for each location; a picture at the location and a picture of the SMS we received. Bloodsucking *&^%#$! It cost us RM18 just to develop those darn pictures. To the organisers, next time, try to think up games and rules that don’t drain your participants’ wallets ok. Also, no t-shirt? Come ON guys! A crummy t-shirt is the least I should get for RM70 right? I mean, what am I going to do with that doll of Michael Ballack? Or that tall green thing? Sigh….

Those things aside though, I have nothing really to complain about. Oh wait, I do….but you know what, I spent a great day with friends and we got some amazing pictures out of it so I’ll call it even.

I’m really glad I entered the KVFH. Most of my fears never materialized. I was afraid we’d drive around lost half the day, but Ido was familiar with almost all of the locations and she got us there. I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to get the answer to any of the clues but we actually managed pretty well. And I was afraid being in a high-pressure situation would bring out the worst in all of us and the day would end with all of us hating each other’s guts but that didn’t happen either. We worked pretty well together and teamwork got us though it! Yay for Team 23!

I don’t think I’m Amazing Race-ready yet but here’s to the next local Treasure Hunt, whenever that might be. Hopefully we’ll be better at strategizing and ‘lateral thinking’ by then.

Conversation with the Munchkins

The situation: My sister, my two cousins and I are in the car and just talking about who knows what. A snippet of the conversation.

Tira: Kita guna sabun Dettol tau! Mesti la bersih. Dia buang semua kuman kat badan kita.

My sis: Waaahhh, ye ke? Semua kuman?

Adam: Kita pun guna sabun Dettol. Kak Ina guna sabun apa?

Me: *distracted coz I’m driving* Urrmmmm…..

My sis: Kak Ina guna sabun Lux.

Me: Haah, haah.

Tira: Sabun Lux buang apa?

Me: *driving seriously slows down my mental process * Urrmmm….. buang…

Adam: Kita tahu! Buang jentik-jentik!

My sis and Me: LOL

Kids Nowadays…..

They’re so plugged in. The other day my sister was accompanying her boyfriend at the Apple store and got to talking with this uncle who was buying an iPhone for his 8 year old. That’s right, a RM2000 for a kid who probably can’t even spell ‘technology’ yet.

It boggles the mind. My 5 year old cousin will tell me, “Kak Ina, awak boleh guna dulu komputer sebab game kita tengah loading”. And his 8 year old sister goes on Youtube to search for Hannah Montana videos with lyrics. It’s pretty funny to see her, unblinking in front of the monitor and singing along with ‘The Climb’. She even says ‘ain’t’. Tsk tsk.

There’re games on phones, there’re handheld game consoles (yeah, we had the Gameboy back in the day but now they have generic pasar malam PSPs so they’re ubiquitous). Are kids nowadays EVER bored? And if they’re bored and there are no gadgets around, what would they do, I wonder?

When I was little, after school I’d get sent to my dad’s office. I was the only kid there and I’d have to hang out there and entertain myself in a way that wouldn’t bother anyone else. Sometimes I’d hang out with the security guys and we’d sit and watch the video feed of people walking outside and laugh at them and their dogs (French folks were dressing up their four-legged friends way before Hollywood made it a trend). But usually they were busy and I’d have to make do with myself as a playmate.

I’d make myself dress up dolls. Two dimensional ones since they were drawn (and not very well..art is not one of my gifts) and also make them a whole wardrobe which would consist of hats, dresses (separate tops and bottoms were harder to make stay on the doll), hats and even bags. You guys know the dress up dolls I’m talking about? The clothes/shoes would have flaps on them that you would sangkut on the dolls’ shoulders/feet and as for the bags and hats, you’d make a hole in their forehead and hands and put the flaps there.

Sometimes I’d play bakery. I would draw up little pain au chocolats and croissants and éclairs, little cakes with cherries on top and tri-layer ice cream cones, draw up some money then I would force my dad to buy them from me using my fake currency. If he was busy, I’d go bug my dad’s secretary. If she was busy, I’d go ‘sell’ my wares to the security guys. If no one was available then I was the sad little girl who had to play both baker and customer. Lol.

Oooh my dad also bought me lots of Connect-the-Dots activity books. They didn’t last me long though…I mean, all you had to do was connect the dots! I also read a lot. I would usually read in the Big Green Room which was just down the hall from my dad’s office. The Big Green Room was this big empty room with green wallpaper, thick green carpeting and and heavy velvet-like green curtains which covered the windows rendering the Big Green Room very suram and muram. But I loved it there. It was peaceful and quiet. I spent many an hour pretending to be a princess lost in the woods there. Haha.

Good ole innocent childhood days filled with fake bakery goods, princesses and monsters, Connect-the-Dots and witches who flew by my bedroom window on their broomsticks but were unable to come in because I had the Al-Fatihah shield around my bed.

I’ll admit, a part of me does envy the 8 year old iPhone owner a little bit but recalling all the wonderful moments of my childhood; hunting ladybugs, playing on the monkeybars until my hands blistered, riding my bike at the mall on Sundays; those were all done gadget-free and I wouldn’t have it any other way. :)

Living My Best Life...As Oprah Would Say

About two months ago, I was feeling kind of mopey and depressed because I felt like (prepare for a barrage of clichés) I was wasting my youth, I wasn’t living and I was afraid that I would wake up one day; 33 years old and unsatisfied with life.

Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I’m going to stuff a backpack full of bare essentials and take off for Outer Mongolia to meditate with the spirit of Genghis Khan (although theoretically that does hold a certain appeal, hehe). It’s more the small things. I want to be less of a homebody, I want to try more new things, I want to go places I’ve never been before (especially around Malaysia..heck I’ve never been to Terengganu, Perlis, Kelantan or Penang apatah lagi Sabah and Sarawak) and see my friends more often (this relates back to the homebody thing).

And there’s also this. Now I feel incredibly shallow for admitting this but this year, I also want to look good. Not banging’ bikini bod hot but just good. I’ve been struggling with my weight since I was in my teens but lately I think I’ve gotten to the stage where this excess weight is unhealthy. Plus, I’m 25 years old! Aren’t you supposed to feel the best about yourself when you’re in your 20s? I mean, it all goes downhill after that right? My logic is if I don’t seriously start doing something to get myself in check now, it’s going to be so much harder later on. Besides, you’d think that all the cancer, diabetes and cardiac bypass in my family medical history would scare me into health-consciousness already. And I am. I am scared for my health and I would like to be around to see the year 2020 and the flying cars and the teleporting technology, therefore I make the pledge to make this year the last year that I look in the mirror and get depressed by the way my clothes refuse to flatter me.

So far, I have been making some progress with my so-called life changes. I am going outside my comfort zone, people! Besides my normal gang, I am playing futsal with two different groups and I only know one or two people from those groups. I’ll admit I got nervous spasms when I first started but now I’m better and hey, I’m getting high intensity workouts, laughs and new friends too. Not a bad bargain huh. To Dirah & Myto and Shikin, thanks so much for letting me join you. I truly do appreciate it.

I’ve also signed up for more runs. And not just any run… 10K runs! I sometimes think I’m crazy; I mean, I’ve only done two 5Ks before this (and one of them was pseudo at that) but this is another thing to cross off my to-do list. Plus who would’ve thought? When the running bug gets you, it gets you hard! Naz and I keep scouring the internet for upcoming running events now. Not that I’m running everyday and I still don’t love running but I’m hoping that through training for these runs, I’ll someday become one of those people for whom running is meditative. *blink…blink…blink* Yeah, I can’t see that happening either. Haha. I have one coming up in October and another one in November. And the November one is in Penang so I’m doubly excited for that one since it will be a running trip cum vacation for me. I’ve never been to Penang before and I’ve also never done travel arrangements (I’ve always had that taken care of for me prior to this) so itu pun nak excited jugak. Losernya saya.

I know it’s nothing mind-blowingly major. Just a little bit here and a little bit there but hopefully these bits will add up to some happiness and a feeling of fulfillment and achievement. And when I wake up on the morning of my 26th birthday, I’ll wake up with a big smile on my face coz even if I’m older, I will also be …..more. Here’s to life and living!

Ramadhan Updates

So how’s everyone’s Ramadhan going so far? Only 10 days to go so here’s to wishing you all a productive ’10 malam terakhir’. :)

My Ramadhan’s been going OK although I think I’ve set my personal record for worst tarawih attendance ever this year. *tut-tutting* On a brighter note, I’ve been pretty good about eating this time around. I haven’t tended to go overboard stuffing my face during buka as I usually have in previous years [Note: My definition of ‘not going overboard’ is probably a normal person’s gut-busting meal]. Plus after buka dah tak makan dah. I had planned to just eat lean proteins and steamed-veggies for buka and sahur as part of my preparations for my upcoming 10K run but yeah right…. Kalo bulan tak puasa pun takleh nak disiplin makan apatah lagi di bulan Ramadhan yang mulia ini. Hahaha.

My futsal shoes are absolutely falling apart; I mean, seriously they are a disgrace and I feel acute embarrassment when pulling them on nowadays; and I told myself that if I lost 4kgs this month I would reward myself with a nice pair of new futsal shoes. I haven’t weighed myself in two weeks but I’m not optimistic. Sigh.

Oh well, I still have 10 days to somehow pull it off. *bursts out laughing* Boleh ke? I’ll try to do it but don’t worry, I won’t starve myself just to look good in Raya photos. I would if I could (setting very bad example here) but I am simply incapable of starving myself so I have no other way to do it than the normal ‘eat lots of natural, healthy foods and exercise’ way.

OK, my random Ramadhan updates end here. I have my baju Raya already. Do you? Oh and if anybody’s thinking of going to Plaza PKNS Shah Alam, I seriously wouldn’t recommend it lah. It’s not cheaper, the clothes aren’t nicer and the crowd is ridiculous. You might as well go to Ampang Park (in fact, I think they have nicer clothes here) or Sunway Pyramid. I saw a nice baju kurung store there when I went skating.

Tis it from me. Take care everyone and don’t forget to invite me over for Raya. An offer of duit raya isn’t necessary but would be oh-so-appreciated. ;p

IceCapade

I enjoy going to the movies. I like bowling. Karaoke is fun. And I loooove playing pool (not very good at it though). But none of these are things I do regularly. Probably because they cost me and also, the weekend crowds you have to endure in order to indulge in the above take away any enjoyment I might derive from them. Big crowds turn me into a snippy irritable person who is no fun to be around.

Which is why I usually take leave from work to do any of the above. Last Friday, I took the day off and went and did something which I’d been desperately wanting to do for over a year now. Ice-skating…..

There’s only one place (that I know of) to skate in KL and that’s at the very exposed skating rink in Sunway Pyramid. I knew, in all probability, that I was going to fall and slip and slide all over the ice and make a huge fool of myself IN FRONT OF ONLOOKERS but I honestly didn’t care. I was that crazed to ice-skate.

I went with my sister (for whom I had to pay entrance fee in order to get her to go with me) and me friend, Myto, also joined us after she finished work (or skivved off work, might I say ;p ). We started skating around 12.45pm, which was pretty perfect as the body count on the ice wasn’t too big and you could move around comfortably (and more room to fall in without knocking another person down).

I was a bit anxious and panicky for the first few minutes as I felt that my skates were faulty and refusing to grip the ice (that’s right, I blame the skates right away! haha) but after a while I got the hang of it and it was bliisssssss….

That feeling of gliding on the ice with the cold wind whistling through my clothes and scarf while I weaved in and out of other skaters was amazing and somehow very peaceful. Of course that peace was disturbed every time I hit a patch of extra-slippery ice and started to wave my arms around in a desperate effort not to fall (embarassing) and outright shattered everytime I ended up on my back on the ice (mortifying) but a few falls was worth it, me thinks.

Did I say a few falls? I meant, seven. I fell seven freakin’ times. A bad one where I landed on my back, one where I fell on purpose to avoid colliding with this little girl, twice I was knocked into by people (spun around and around) and the other three were normal falls where I landed on my knees. Myto fell once (I think) and my sister, Ms Ice Queen, didn’t even fall once. Conclusion: I’m a klutz.

Albeit a happy klutz. I got a nasty blister on my right heel (there was some defect with my right skate) and have bruises on my knees and thighs but boy, I spent those three hours in a blissful haze. In fact, I’m thinking of making skating a regular activity. My very own brand of anti-depressant, you could say.

Anyone want to join me? We can have fun days off work together. Yeah, you’re gonna have to take a day off work coz I ain’t braving no mob on the ice, ya dig? :)

Thank You! You Know Who You Are.

Bday gifts from my lil cousins which were wrapped up in old newspaper and masking tape: A Barbie diary thingy, some Minnie Mouse writing paper and an envelope, a bouncy ball which is no longer bouncy, a keychain, some felt animal decoration thingies and a magic color pen. It's very sweet, I was very touched but.....haih, mana la aku nak simpan semua benda2 ni?...

From my colleagues: Books are great. They never go out of style plus I keep mine forever and re-read them again and again and again.

2 – 5

So, I turned 25 last Thursday. Gosh darn it, do I feel old! Lol. I was a bit mopey in the morning because it was kind of sad to be celebrating a ‘landmark’ age without my whole family. Oh and also because I almost died.

Yes yes, that is the drama queen in me speaking. I didn’t almost die but on my way to work that morning, I encountered a jackass military driver who almost ran me off the road. He just came out of this side street on my right, full speed, which was completely unnecessary because there were no cars behind me and if he’d waited two seconds he could have come out without incident. Instead, I had to swerve sharply to the left and crushed three innocent road cones. I was thisclose to smashing into that idiot! So anyway, to complete his douche-y act, he just drove off like nothing had happened, leaving me light-headed and traumatised in my car. Haih, sangat la kurang ajar.

So I was in a foul mood the whole drive to work and the first few minutes at work. But then, I was cheered by my group of friends at work who gave me my birthday gift. I’d asked for a gift voucher to a bookstore but they gave me money instead. Whoop-de-doo, did that perk me up!

I spent the rest of the day eagerly awaiting the end of the day so that I could rush to Midvalley and spend the money. Which is what I did as soon as the clock struck 6.

I spent a blissful hour and a half at MPH (because my colleague told me that MPH is cheaper than Borders, hence I thought I’d get a bigger bang for my buck there). What I don’t like about MPH though is that you have to refer to the enquiry counter for enquiries. At Borders, you can just use the computer which is way more convenient.

In the end I got myself 5 books. 5 books in one go! I’ve never done that before. I felt so great as I handed the cashier my stack of books. Hehe. I know, I’m such a nerd. In fact, some of the ladies at work said that my preference for books over, say, cosmetics or perfume made me ‘boring’. Uh, I think not! Right now, I’m living with Russian high society through the words of Leo Tolstoy. Perfume can’t take you places like that.

I left the bookstore with a big, heavy bag and proceeded to head to PJ for futsal with my girls pulak. We usually play on Friday nights but with the first night of tarawih falling on Friday, they decided to bring it forward. Lucky me coz I just considered it as an extension of my birthday celebrations. Hehe. Boleh tak syok sendiri camtu?

We played for two hours and it was amazing fun (and exhausting). It was a bittersweet game since that game was potentially the last one in which all of us (the ‘core gang’, that is) would be playing together. One of us is getting married in October and apparently once you’re married you can’t play futsal with your gal pals anymore? I don’t get it. Especially since her fiancée is friends with us as well and he comes all the time. I honestly don’t get it (unless she gets pregnant immediately la kan..). Am I being naive in thinking that a girl doesn’t have to change her entire life just because she’s married? Haih, to be completely honest, maybe this is just selfishness speaking. If she stops playing after getting married, I’m gonna miss her. Games just won’t be the same, if we even play anymore that is.

Ooops. I’ve gone off topic. So anyway, I’m 25 and I was surrounded by people and things I love on my big day. I may not be a young millionaire or madly in love but I live a good life and for that I’m grateful. And I promise this year to do things. I will travel, I will read at least 7 books on my list of ‘Books to Read Before I Die’, I will get my DSLR camera and oh, I’m running a 10K soon, so that’s something too. This will be an awesome year. I will make it so.

Godwilling.

It’s Ramadhan!

Is it just me or does time fly nowadays? Ramadhan is upon us again and I just want to wish everyone a wonderful fasting month ahead. Let’s give our tummies a rest from normal non-stop duty (well, non-stop for me anyway) and use this as a time of cleansing and self-reflection.

I wish everyone the best and remember….jangan rambang mata di bazar Ramadhan nanti! :p

Bulimia Of The Mind

I haven’t updated in a while so I promised myself that I was gonna sit (or lie) down this weekend and update, if it freakin’ kills me! Lol. The other day I’d written a brilliant (ahem) piece about the quarter life crisis I was going through but by the time I finally got the opportunity to upload it, it felt ‘stale’ and no longer had anything to do with my state of mind at the time of upload so that literary piece of gold just went to the Recycle Bin.

What I’m trying to say is, it’s not that I am wilfully neglecting my posting duties. It’s just that sometimes I am unable to post. It’s not in good taste to do it at the office (plus I’m pretty sure the IT guys at work are watching every cyber move I make….I have no concrete reason to think this but I think it’s a very reasonably paranoid thought to have). I usually post using my aunt’s PC at home but sometimes she locks her room and I’m unable to get in which may annoy me occasionally although I try to tamp down those feelings by rationalising that it is her room after all. And her PC. And her Internet connection.

I don’t just want to lay blame on external factors. I’ve been feelin’ pretty uninspired lately. It’s the total opposite of my problem when I first started blogging. Back then I had, like, mental diarrhea. I wanted to tell the world every single thought I was having and had no problem articulating it.

Nowadays I have bulimia of the mind. I’m constantly trying to force myself to vomit out thoughts or ideas to write about. Or I’ll come across a really cool article and want to share it with everyone but won’t know how to convey it. Or I’ll spend an hour writing something which I re-read only to find it’s total crap and delete it.

I always wanted to be a writer but thinking now, I’m probably not cut out for it. I would probably die if I worked under deadline. Plus I’d be churning out crap so it be a shameful death as well. I love writing but it’s a good thing I don’t make my living off it since i’m only just finding out I can’t just turn it on as and when I want. Which is kind of a slap in the face. I fancied myself so damn ‘terer’ all this while. Lol.

Much love and respect to all the writers out there! Keep on keepin’ on. :)