Say it, sayitsayit SAY IT

edited feb 2019

Neither planned nor premeditated.
I just know it, like how I knew that the rain would last throughout the night whenever the bullfrogs sang past a certain time in the evening, where we stayed, way back in time, on the Kampung Gajah mines. As I sit here a little past midnight on the eve of the Nuzul Quran holiday, my stomach still digesting Old Town curry mee and warm tea, I just just know it. The signs are there (ditto the bullfrogs) -- the bile rising (nope, certainly not caused by the friendly, fragrant curry mee), the chlorinated taste of sinister intentions ..

Bleddy hell, my dad would say.

The Last Straw.. to me, is what looks like very desperate attempts to withhold information from people.

Photos as promised

But first, I have to take back something I said in the previous post. With great and MUCH regret. With awful gut-wrenching disappointment. With cringing, teeth-gritting consternation... I present to you...

Awful shot of me panting and wheezing through the Lake Gardens at 7am

Okay well ACTUALLY (brain tapping into skill possibly bestowed by Chinese ancestral lineage - think think fast fast!!) ... the shot is not of me wheezing and panting; its the START of the race and I was late to the starting line, so I'm actually pinning on my front number, wrapping my mandatory-ripped-towel around my wrist (for habitual brow-mopping) and starting my stopwatch. All at the same time. I am amongst the back-end stragglers who were there for a casual jog through the Lake Gardens aiming only for the post-run goodie bag (can you spot a person in *slippers*??). Hmph.. next race, I'll be ready! Paula Radcliffe crouch, laces tied and first-mile pace all worked out in my head...!! Nyahahaaa.

OK that's enough. Of me at least. Here are the REAL good shots:

WELCOME to the Land of Foamheads... ruled by the Pink Fairy Goblin Princess... that's me!!


I am the Conqueror of the Land of Foamheads, or soon WILL be.... help me get this disguise on, you useless serfs...!!


Urrrggh geramnye, I can't make a dent in the Fairy Princess's smile..!! This land conquering business is harder than I thought...


I say once, like saying a HUNDRED times okeii...


The historic formation of OPEC - Only Pudgy & Extremely Cute


OPEC treaty sealed with a plastic pineapple, and A CUTE CHUBBY WUBBY HANDSHAKE

WHY has this spot been idle??

Well, hmmm... because I had been busy with:

1) Moving daily chores, tasks, meals, kids, bills, etc. along the weeks... although some weeks weren't so mundane, for example the one leading up to the Sunday morning spent running 10K through the KL Lake Gardens, fast enough to break my sub-60-min target, and two toenails on my right foot. Tony followed too, though he didn't try anything fancy like, say, keeping up with me. He ran his own race, at his own good pace, completing in a little over an hour. Running non-stop for that long is commendable, though I did get to down 4 cups of Milo -- still amazing-tasting and impossible to reproduce, and collect the 1901 hotdogs before he finished. Spent post-run draped across a Lake Gardens buggy, ogling at silly-brities... I mean celeb-brities who grazed... I mean graced the event. The best eye-candy was Amber Chia, shuffling... almost-waddling, Ah-Lian-style past us while yapping into her mobile phone, bouncing her layered coiffure (and a$$) along deliberately with each step. No sign of the feline grace and style of a Guess Look Of The Year winner, but maybe 8.30am was a little early for a model, some of whom apparently do not roll out of bed for less than USD10K. Says a lot about me, dragging myself out at 5am for 10K...ilometres of Running.

2) Using up spare hours in each day to prepare for the abovementioned 10K. Running a sub-60-min 10K after a two-year layoff that includes being cut open to squeeze out a tubby child with the cutest grin in the world, sure requires some work. Fuyohh. Next target - sub-50-min 10K!

3) Reading "Evening Is The Whole Day". I just finished it, and what a totally terrific tome it is! I have other half-read books lying around, but this one only survived unread through days where I was tranquilized by fatigue, or if I had to choose between reading it or squeezing some mileage into my day. If the latter won, the whirr of the treadmill would sound like this after 40 minutes - "Malhotra...Dwivedi...Malhotra...Dwivedi..."

Watch the space for more updates. I want to post more photos of the kids, because those are cuter than any shot of me panting and wheezing at the Lake Gardens at 7am (so far, no such awful shots anywhere around... thank goodness!!).

Got one of these last week... not as 'great' as ones I collected some 20 years ago (has it been that long???), but o well... good to still be able to earn them... 20 years later :-)

He is BACK!!!

A HAAA there, so my Other Half has returned from his travels! Yep, he has been back for almost a week now, and I didn't post earlier because I have been busy celebrating. But of course! There is so much to do when one's Other Half returns from a THREE WEEK trip. So much updating to do -- Yes I started your car, the batteries are okay (but what I found stashed in the driver's side pocket isn't!), DontForget next week is our 10K Run okayyy (already???), Rohan can pretend to ride a motorbike around the living room (Rohan: "Vvvvvv..." (saliva everywhere, cute chubby clenched fist revving imaginary bike accelerator) "Vvvvvvv... NOTOBIKE! NOTOBIKE!!"),

Then there is the luggage-digging, to see what goodies he brought back for us. Although I buat tak tau, I actually know why it is so worthwhile for him to buy so much stuff and line his luggage with it. So that he DOES NOT HAVE TO UNPACK. So that his gleeful wife and children will do it for him. When I unearth the kids' new shirts and cute dresses, I will also put away all the Bliss moisturiser strewn all over the bag (damn good stuff, probably from the hotel - Lemon & Sage Body Butter its called). Before proudly parading my new handbag and jeans, I will also dig out unwashed laundry from all the bag crevices. As I catwalk up and down the house in my new shoes, I put away all the cables, tickets, books, seminar t-shirts, receipts, chocolates (a few of which go into my mouth), extra currency, sweaters, toiletries, chicken entrails... awright kidding on the last one, just checking if you're paying attention. Can you tell that I'm really happy to have him back home? Home and near, for me to annoy, hug, pinch, shout at, run with, shovel kids at, kick at night. Sigh. Good to have him home.

If you happen to be re-visting this post, you may recall that there was a different image here... sorry but I was made to replace it with this (apparently less-revealing) one:


And, in case it again comes under objectionable scrutiny, here on standby is an even less revealing shot...

Reading Habit and Habitat...

I got tagged by Joyce with a meme on reading habits... which, she patiently explained, just means that I need to do as she did, which was to post/blog answers to a bunch of questions about my reading habits. But if you notice, the very FIRST question assumes that one is an avid book lover. Oh what the heck, its true I do love to read, its just that the presumptuousness of that first question is making my hand itchy to change it... doo-o-oon't...

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?
My home was stocked with a good collection of books, accessible from the age that I could reach out for them. They were a great mix of fiction and non-fiction -- The Brittanica Encyclopaedia, Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, Atlas of the World, Countries and Their People, Stories of Childhood, Everyday Science. Opening a book was like swimming in magic; pop your imagination with an amazing historical fact, draw mom's wrath by using her kitchen for scientific experiments (I once split all her celery trying to get some coloured water to seep up from them..), and get swallowed by stories from all over the world; they had drawings so life-like that I probably believed in their existence. I still do sometimes.. you never know if your neighbour is actually the March Hare... or Tweedledee (or Tweedledum)...

What are some books you read as a child?
Alice In Wonderland (will you, won't you, will you, won't you... will you come and join the dance??), Aesop's Fables, Dickens' Classics like David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, etc., Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew (till she bored me with her lack of action with Ned Nickerson), Modesty Blaise (my favorite kicka$$ action heroine!), sections of mushy romance novels (almost never a whole book; on can-bring-storybooks-to-school Fridays, my classroom partner would bring Loveswept and Mills&Boon and show me the 'relevant' portions... thanks Clare!),

What is your favourite genre?
If I have to say what I usually like, it would be suspense/thrillers with a logically convoluted storyline and preferably a troubled, reluctant hero - you know.. Jason Bourne (and I wish I could name a female character).. ! However after about 3 or 4 of those, I tend to crave some deep, long literary fiction that slowly peels apart an entity (person, family, community, etc.) throughout the book... I will read the sentences again and again, absorbing everything like a sponge... I think I'm scaring some of you...

Do you have a favourite novel?
I do but it changes, usually in favour of the latest one that has charmed and warmed its way into the cockles of my heart :-D I'm not sure if that is natural. Right now it is "Evening Is The Whole Day" by Preeta Samarasan. It used to be The God Of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, which strangely enough, reminded me of Preeta. And before that, it used to be Illusions by Richard Bach, which was gifted to me by Preeta...! Yea yea.... all oso Preeta Preeta Preeta onni lah, I hear you say...

Where do you usually read?
On my living room couch.

When do you usually read?
At night, when the house is quiet.

Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?
Yes I do!

Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
Other than cookbooks, I read all books end to end, anytime and anywhere.

Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?
I buy them.

Do you keep most of the books you buy? If not, what do you do with them?
Yes I do keep them, unless they are borrowed or flicked by friends or family.

If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?
My four-year old firebrand goblin princess and year-old wookiesque charming boy have already devoured Mother Goose, and will listen raptly to "Wallace and Gromit - Curse of the Were-rabbit". When they can read whole sentences, I will probably introduce them to Hans Christian Andersen, Dr Seuss and Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland. I grew up loving that last one. All kids should be given the chance to dive into Jabberwocky ...

What are you reading now?
Evening Is The Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan (whose return I await, both book and author; book was loaned to an aunt who wanted something to read on the bus ride to St Anne's Feast and author is due to be in KL in..nnn... October?).
7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen Covey
Increase Your Financial IQ by Richard Kiyosaki

Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?
If mental lists count, then yes.

What’s next?
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.

What books would you like to reread?
JD Salinger's Catcher In The Rye, Alice Walker's The Color Purple, and Tom Clancy's Bourne trilogy.

Who are your favourite authors?
Salman Rushdie, Charles Dickens, Preeta, Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, the list is long..

Thanks Bookwormoyce, that was kind of fun! Made me use some calories, brains and time.. ahaaa using up time is good, it gets me nearer to 12th August, the day my heart returns home...

Oh and... I guess I should pass the buck right, but I didn't know who next to tag, till I noticed at your blog Joyce, that someone called Adino would like to work on this, so he can be my first tagg-eee la yea; izzat how it goes? :-D

Countdown.. TWO weeks to go..

So here I am, at the halfway checkpoint of my 3 week void. Comparing that to a 10K race (incidentally, I will run one in August :-P), its 5K done, 5 to go... ok lahh. Boleh tahan. The 2nd half is *supposed* to be faster, but it depends on how well you have prepared yourself, both physically and mentally, for the race. I mean trip. I mean both. Hey so they ARE similar :-)

I went to the SS2 market this morning, after sending Charu to school. It felt pleasant and nice to walk along the stalls, as though loneliness was alright... or at least bearable, if spent in an anonymous crowd of morning marketers. Marketing itself turned out to be quite therapeutic. At the vegetable stall - pick up some tomatoes, smell the mint, flick the spinach, throw in some french beans, point at the broccoli... listen to the guy calculate aloud in rapid Cantonese, pay him off and collect large plastic bag of veggie... surreal. At the yau char kway stall - ask for some crullers and tau foo fah, get an extra ham ching peang... sweet. At the fruit stall - buy some red cherries and bananas, get taken for a ride down banana lane; overpriced pisang berangan is so insincere... !

Bookstores are also a great place to while away time. Here are some shots of the last trip to MPH.

Woo hoo going to BOOOKSHOPPYSHOP!!

Unhappy because request to watch car DVD is turned down (One Utama is just 5 minutes awayyy... !)

Unhappiness dissolves into enchantment...

.. and absorption...

... chubby face with MPH as backdrop...

The funniest thing happened there; I had earlier purchased July's Quill magazine where Preeta graces the cover. Charu and Rohan LOVE to look through that one, because Aunty Preeta looks really good, and they love her anyway; what's not to love? She is pleasant, bought them their beloved Wombat book, and its so easy to say her name -- AN-TEE PEE-TA :-) So at the magazine section, Charu spotted the Quill magazine, grabbed it and waved it about yelling, "Heyyy, Aunty Preeta!!" which of course attracted Rohan's attention immediately (the intended outcome) and so begun a chase all over MPH, Rohan crying, "I want Aunty Peeta! I want Aunty PEETA!! I wannnnntttt!!! AUNTEEEEE PEEEETAAAA!!!!!!" Too darn bad I couldn't videotape them bearing up and down the MPH store aisles, Rohan yelling angrily at Charu as she waves the Quill triumphantly and Preeta's face bobs up and down, as if nodding approvingly...

Some of the kids are really out of control; were I MPH management, I'd hire the Pied Piper to lure all the horrible misbehaving kids out to say, Parkson Grand's fine bone china section or the outdoor fish pond. What intense feelings, you perfectionist mommy, you may admonish. Well, at least it moves my a$$ to behave a little more exemplarily than the parents who stare blankly as their kids kick the books around, then walk away from the mess nonchalantly. Do you allow that in your own home too??!? Oh of course you do, I forget that you can always just yell at your maid to pick up after those precious replicas of you. OK enough of nagging I'm really grumpy aren't I; guess I need to find a way to cheer myself up. Okay -- Audrey BEFORE THE END OF THE DAY, find something nice to think about, and say... :-D

Three Week countdown

My three week countdown started last week, 21st July; the day my koboi went off on a three-week working trip/traipse to London, Houston and San Diego. Three weeks of blissful, peaceful days with no bickering, haggling and yelling. No annoying requests, tickling or laughing. No people-watching, sniggering-at-SPGs-with-fake-accents, midnight movies, late-night running in the dark, mosquito-lurking park, Old Town coffee or bumpinthenight-stuff-thatyouneednotknowmoreof... Hm. Doesn't sound good at all. My choice is obvious, I prefer to *have* the whole package; noise, arguments, laughter, annoyances... all of it! But I don't have the luxury of choice these three weeks. O well. SO... in preparation for the gaping chasm that would form in my heart, I lined up some HACKTIVITIES to keep me occupied. Not like I am not already, with full-time work, errands to run, two kids to feed, clothe, raise, make happy and keep healthy, and now my mother here to babysit them (and I her :-P).. but you know, one needs to be busied with things that are more... stress-relieving... goof-offish... So that the Brain Section that controls the Miss-Your-Loved-One-Pricking-Sensation does not get any blood supply to work itself...

SOW!!! Here's my list:

1) Project-Team-Ordered-N-Organized Team building. This kept me away from the office on the first working day, which turned out to be a good thing; The Office is where I get occasional SMS and IM updates, the lack of which would have turned my mood grey by the end of the day. At least finding my way to and from Desa Waterpark used up some energy. As did some good hard laughing, at the expense of team mates...

I have a coconut tree growing out of my head, and Kavitha has a.. a.. more stylish tree growing out of hers...



Cheating?? Who..wha'.. ME? No lahhh where got..??!?!



Two yellow racing worms in the cool blue water (can you see me??)



Upon closer scrutiny, them racing worms are... infested with people! And you can now see me clearly, forming part of the infestation...



This'll be the next Olympic Sport, you mark my words...



This was labeled "Photo Of The Event"; THANKFULLY the yellow ball is **above** my head :-P

2) Runningrunningrunning. Staircase, treadmill, gym, around the house, over n under the kids, allovertheplace. Running. That would rattle my brain enough to stem the bloodflow to aforementioned Brain Section. Now this isn't really a goof-offish activity, but its one of the few routine activities of mine that works well as a Calm Balm. So I will never leave this out.

3) Scraping together photos of cute chubby faces. Here I go:





I wish I could share right here, the smell of light perspiration in their hair. If you could just imagine a whiff of it, your troubles will be so far away... and nevermore will they be here to stay... oh I believe... in yesterday.... oh what th'... ?? Oh sorry. Got into sortofa trance, singing Yesterday. The fragrance of toddler neck nape does that to you, I'm telling you. YES even imagining it gets you high. Intoxicating...

4) I guess BLOGGING counts, that is why I started this blog last week, and only am posting it today.... :-P

Mommy duty - school break entertainment

Charu had a two-week school break a few weeks ago.

Don't these people in the business of schooling four-year-olds understand the concept of school for four-year-olds? WE pay THEM to provide us a break. From our four-year-olds. WE need our break from this:

Charu: (vaulting over 2 large squares of marble flooring) "Mummy, look at this!"
Charu: (vaulting over 3 squares of marble flooring) "MummMEEE!! Look at me!! QUICK!!"
Me: "Very clever!! Now let me read, okay. Jump another twenty times - Count.. one... two... three... " (back to reading the paper)
Charu: (walks over) "Mummy, what are you reading?"
Me: "Today's paper."
Charu: (points at Deep Heating Rub ad. Its has a man's silhouette with the outline of the nervous system inside) "Mummy, what is his name?"
Me: "He doesn't have a name."
Charu: "Why? Why he has no name, ah?"
Me: "Because he is not a real man."
Charu: (points at photo of our PM giving speech) "What is his name?"
Me: "Badawi."
Charu: "Ba-da-wi. Why his face like that?"
Me: "Because he cannot remember what he wants to say."
Charu: "Why? Why he cannot remember ah?"
Me: "Because he is old."
Charu: (pointing at Michael Ballack) "What is his name?"
Me: "Michael."
Charu: "You mean like Uncle Michael?"
Me: "Yes but without the big tummy."
Charu: "Why his face like that?"
Me: "He is angry because he cannot get his ball into the right place." (camon la, she's four years old, not fourteen; innocence still intact!)
Charu: "Ooo... He is showing temple??"
Me: "Yes! He is showing temPER."
Charu: (pointing at Annika Sorenstam) "What is her name?"
Me: "Annika."
Charu: "Annika!!! Like the Barbie Doll!!!"
Me: "Yes like the Barbie doll."
Charu: (pointing at someone annoying-looking, maybe it was Shalin Zulkifli, or maybe I was just really annoyed at this point) "What is h..."
Me: "WILL YOU PLEASE LET ME READTHISPAPERINPEACEFORALEETLEBEETLEWHILE???"

This is followed by a 2-minute mother-daughter-no-eye-contact-pouting session, followed by the total end of my newspaper-reading session, where I attempt to explain myself to a folded-arm, harrumphing four-year-old dimple-faced goblin, that I do not want to play "What is his/her name?" with my newspaper because I selfishly want to read it without getting whiplash from looking up and down between the b*#@*%* paper and her.

DO I NEED THIS???

No I certainly don't, sooooooooooo.... with the 2-week school break looming, and having some presence of mind, I made emergency plans to remedy the potentially grave situation of leaving an energetic child cooped up in an apartment unit for more than 3 afternoons in a row. I took a day off each week, and took Charu out for some extensive shopping mall walkabouts :-) I did examine other options (like a picnic, or letting her join me on errands), but in the interest of child safety and comfort, malls really are still the most sensible places, being air-conditioned, relatively safe for walkabouts, and filled with colourful stores, children's entertainment outlets and food options. Phew!

The Curve is a very good option given that it houses IKEA which has its own children's play area. Elsewhere in The Curve also are 2 bouncing-castle play areas, RM8 per entry, that provide endless jumping fun for an energetic child :-D. One Utama works for me too, as it has the Rainforest where RM2 gets you a packet of fish food to sprinkle at the healthy-looking fishes; and Kidsportz that has obstacles and outdoor-type activities for kids but in an indoor play area, and you can pay extra to have their personnel babysit your kids while you shop in peace :-)))

Now I only have shots of our day out at KLCC, as we could meet up with Papa for lunch then, so he managed to snap a happy four-year-old clicking heels outside the Petronas Science Centre (we couldn't get in because it was CLOGGED with people, all of whom needed to get their kids out the house, far away from four-walled spaces with newspapers and other objects with why-inducing possibilities), Kinokuniya (which wasn't so clogged but still full of children, some of whom were swatting huge flies against the glass window overlooking the KLCC park, leaving awful spatters of fly-juice... something worthwhile that they can write in their "What I Did During The School Holidays" essays...), and anywhere that allowed her to walk and walk and walk.... tiring out those cute little legs, that cheeky little face framed by wispy little hair, that covers her kissable little head, encapsulating that intelligent little brain....

Yahoooooo I'm in 'Kay Yell See See!!!

Papa taking photos of me in a good mood!!!

Charu: "Yeeee fly juice on the window!!"

Charu tiring of Papa Paparazzo..

Back to reading Clifford the Big Red Dog...

Back home after KLCC...

Canny Ong - We Will Not Forget

Five years have passed since June 2003, when Canny was taken from us. Five years. It sounds like a long time, but certainly doesn't feel that long ago.

My memory of Canny's passing starts with the searing-hot shock of seeing her photo in the papers, first listed as missing, then found, but no more Canny alive. Just dead. Such an indigestible thought then. The blur feelings that followed helped, perhaps; the heavy ache of seeing her mom put on a brave face for the media and the huge obscene crowd, mostly thick-skinned busybodies who just wanted a glimpse of the 'glamour' that surrounded her sensationally atrocious death. But Aunt Pearly couldn't hide the trembling fingers and trickle of tears underneath the sunglasses. The pain in the father, sisters and Brendan's face, as they greeted well-wishers (how well can you wish someone at such a time??), I remember things in slow-motion. Shielding a teary-eyed Sonia from photographers, putting on a brave kayu face (dug up from somewhere, didn't know I had one oso), talking to reporters, each one nosier than the previous. Meeting old schoolmates that I had not seen since Form 5, knowing that the only reason why I am is because Canny isn't around anymore. Feeling weird and sick in the stomach (I later found out the cause of that; morning sickness. How how happy... for me at least, except that I now couldn't turn on Yahoo Messenger and share the glorious news with can_ong because the smiley would never light up again).

At least planning for the memorial a month later gave us something to do instead of twist our fingers off in sadness and frustration. Admittedly, for quite some time, my frustration stemmed from anger. And indignation. Read Marina Mahathir's keynote speech for the memorial and a light bulb of understanding might flicker on, somewhere...

On countless nights since June 2003, and especially in June, I lie awake, not by choice but because my mind has a shroud of whatif thoughts floating hazily about. I think - What if I got to tell Canny about that website I found, that listed all the different melons that we were discussing earlier. Melons for soup, yellow melons, winter melons, water melons. Whatif Canny were still alive today, would she have a blog? Would she read mine? Whatif I got to meet up with her with my kids in tow? Whatif she got to have kids too? Whatif that last conversation with her and Preeta, about red wine and cheese, became an *actual* meet-up, over red wine and cheese? We possibly could eat through a few crates of each, yet neither finish nor tire of talking about our past and present.

Then again, no need to wait for June whatif nights; every day throws numerous incidences that trigger pleasant memories of Canny. Yes, why should they be sad? Especially now, five years on. Canny would be MAD if she saw us all sitting around muram-faced because we miss her. She'd kick us in our sorry little asses and yell, "Heyyy!!! What lahhh you all!!", she would like things that either make us laugh, or taste delicious, no bleary weary heavy thoughts and stuff... And SO, in memory of the amazing, beautiful, laughter-inducing girl with lively dancing eyes and heart of gold, here are just some pleasant memories I have in my mind right now. I'm sure that at 70, the age that she thought was appropriate to die (not too old lah, just nice, she once wrote me), I could still cackle as I crank out more memories of our escapades, so many are the fun times we had back when were were schoolkids.

Happy school girls

Happy Audrey, Canny, Preeta, Clare :-D

Rolling out pizza dough in my kitchen creates a floury mess and cheesebready aroma that brings me back to my mum's kitchen in 1989 (or was it 1988) where Canny and I made pizzas for the class party... kneading, rolling, pummelling, mashing, grating and eventually collapsing on the floor reeking of sardines and cheese, and splattered with tomato puree. And laughing. Always laughing. Next morning 6am, we carried all ten pizzas on the school bus to a roomful of appreciative classmates. "Waaah how you can make pizza like this?? BATTER than Pizza Hut la, aitelyou!! Can open shoppp areddi, no need to sit SPM!!!" Chomp chomp. Yummy sardine pizza sprinkled with green peppers and mozarella cheese. Made with two pairs of Ipoh-sun tanned hands. I still use that recipe, its foolproof.

Bananarama's "Love In The First Degree" was performed in white collared shirts knotted at the belly, and green and red flare skirts from the school store. She was a fantastic dancer, I would bet on her against anyone in "So You Think You Can Dance?" Yes, even Mel that Spice Girl.

Belinda Carlisle's "Circle In The Sand" was mangled by Phaik San, Sonia, Kathleen and Canny into "Piglet In The Sand" - 'piglet in the sand, round and round...' I can't remember the lyrics because I laughed too much and didn't hear it all.

Remember's Kaoma's Lambada? If you say no, you're not missing anything :-D The music video was deemed too hot to show on telly, but I saw a few seconds of it someplace and was asked to "showlaaa how they dance? why banned one ah?" I needed a partner and Canny it was. It requires a knee between each other's legs, and some hip gyrating, standard MTV fare of today, but with far more clothing and big 80s hair. The girls went "Wooo!!! Sooo sexy ah??!?!?!!" Convent girls were after all, cloistered, cultured and clad in pinafores with petticoats underneath. Hip gyrating? Terrrrrrible!!!

And of course, I must mention the very place where we spent the most part of our childhood - school. School in general, and especially Form Five. She sat in front of me and beside Preeta. The space between us might as well have been the Bermuda Triangle, because no body of knowledge could pass through and remain intact; it either got misconstrued because none of the six ears were listening, or obliterated by doodling, singing and first-class story-telling. I mean, CAMON lah which one more interesting to hear about; the cute guy at McDonald's or "proses menoreh getah di Bagan Serai"?? Its probably not Bagan Serai, but I wouldn't know I wasn't paying attention. Hey, at least ONE of us makes a living out of story-telling now, check out my previous post!!! No need to know how to tap rubber.

Yay bestnye kelas batal; boleh main kat koridor...

Like I said, I could go on... but I'll spare all of you who reached this far, and are groaning. That's it for my special June post, dedicated to Canny dearest. Photo credits go mostly to Joyce; I took them from the memorial slide show...

EVENING IS THE WHOLE DAY

Its here, its available its here itshereitshereITSHERE!!!


Preeta's novel Evening Is The Whole Day is now available at MPH, 30% discount if purchased online, from here http://www.mph.com.my/search/nsearch.cfm?do=detail&pcode=0007280424 and THANKS Joyce for telling me :-D

I thought I saw a Goblin...

I thought I saw a Goblin
Masquerading as a Djinn
I looked again and saw it was
My daughter's cheeky grin..!

After much indecision, I decided... to reveal... to the whole world (or just this blog, which theoretically is the whole world)... that... the original rhyme goes like this:

I thought it was a mountain
Upon the railway track
I looked again and saw it was
Madanjeet on her back..

SORRY MRSMADANJEET, WELOVEYOUJUSTTHATWETHOUGHTYOURCHESTYPROPORTIONSIMPRESSIVE....

If you ever stumble upon this, I hope you take it as a compliment. From us naughty school girls... :-P

From Resipi Ondeh-ondeh to "Evening Is The Whole Day"

ToDAY, I just want to wax lyrical about Preeta, my dear friend from school girl days in Ipoh, who successfully chased her dreams, kinda like how we used to chase men around the school compound... well okay NO we didn't really chase them but it was fun to pretend... that there were men worth chasing... in the school compound, hahaa! Let's see there was - Muniandy the gardener, with muscles (ok, actually tummy) bulging under his darkblu shert as he hoisted pot(belly)s about, watered pavement n plants and ripped up weeds... all to Sr. Maureen's beck and call. The roti canai man, tall dark and um reeking of roti-dough, arms sinewy from all that kneading. And dontokk about the kacang puteh man, with his five o' clock shadow........ Hey we didn't have much choice back then okayy, the male presence in school could be counted off one hand. I could waste more time describing how hot n bothered some girls would get whenever St Michael's School boys came over to sell their Annual School Play tickets! Worrrrssse still if Ipoh happened to host Junior World Cup Hockey. O well whatudu, we just focused on chasing Real Men like Muniandy........................................

BUT... I digress, as always. I currently await the arrival of Preeta's debut novel Evening Is The Whole Day, once I get my skinny fingers on it, I think I might find myself back at Main Convent Ipoh in 1988. Probably sitting by the volleyball court sharing guava and assam with Preeta while she tells one of her neverending, effervescent stories... Those stories, they really snare you senses like an invisible force; no, like a television set! I can spend hours and DAYS transfixed by her imagination, it explodes, splatters and is delightful to savour, and coincidentally, she once told me a story about cheese on pizza in her oven that could be described with those very same words :-D Just ANY topic would become a lively colourful tapestry of thoughts, words and images - her liking for rust-coloured stuff, my uncle Sai Choy, tree lizards in her mailbox, my horrific misinterpretation of her drawing of a pair of scissors, boredom-skewed insects crawling out of our brain during Ad Maths... and possibly best of all, the sillypoems that used to form as we talked, joked, laughed, connected. Here's one that's still in my head; it was formed after English class with Mrs Joseph (not me!), also called The Glider (no intended inference to grace or aviatory streamlinedness there... unfortunately). She used to get very disgruntled with any expression, verbal or written, that was beyond her rather puny grasp. So all our work for her had to be kept simple and uncreative. I can't remember if we named this poem:

I like to sew, I like to cook,
I like to read some story book.
I see vindow, I go and look;
I see a very handsome crook!
I swim vith him along the brook,
He come and eat vhat I cook.
Then Mr Joseph come and look,
And he catch us by the hook;
I vill howl like a rook,
"Aiyo-yo, my handsome crook,
I think ve made a big mistook!"

If Preeta happens by this blog anytime, I vill ask her to plees to be correcting any mistooks in der poem, vokeii... :-D

Oh, and the weird blog title? Refers to her infamous Bahasa Malaysia essay on making ondeh-ondeh, those grated-coconut-flecked green glutinous balls containing palm sugar (gula melaka). Preeta's recipe calls for the use of a *syringe* to inject the filling into the balls; yea from memory of BM teacher (aiya, forgot her name) reading out her essay, the 'condemned' part is where you have to "guna picagari untuk menyuntik gula melaka ke dalam ondeh ondeh". I suppose for a regular school teacher, its preposterous for a 13-year-old girl to get the recipe SO wrong. WHERE got people use picagari to make ondeh-ondeh?? It was a good laugh, for everyone including poor teacher eventually, despite her attempt to express extreme exasperation - for the lack of listening comprehension for Resipi Ondeh-ondeh. Can't blame us la cikgu, so many distractions; Muniandy was probably carrying flower pots past the classroom that time...

For the benefit of those who would like a REAL recipe and some photos for better effect, here is a good place to ogle at a variety of the original -- its *Orange* Ondeh-ondeh but looks as delicious as the Green, and does not require a syringe http://bakingmum.blogspot.com/2006/05/ondeh-ondeh.html, permission to use link kindly granted from blog owner -- thanks BakingMum :-D

So to complete my goingonandonandonoquy, here is a scanned article from Jun 08's TimeOut KL magazine:


I tell you all ah ... Preeta write very good one!! AKU GERENTI DIA PUNYA CERITA SEMUA BEST HABIS... !!

Friday - afternoon

A typical Friday afternoon -- Its 3pm and everyone has had lunch. Actually today's not such a typical day since Charu is on school break; I don't have to go downstairs to the lobby at 12pm to wait for the bus to deliver her home from kindy. If I did, then the routine would include waiting for Saravanan the ching-chai bus driver to screech his little yellow van-bus up to the apartment entrance, six out of ten times failing to pull his handbrake as he leaps out and flaps his selipar-Jepun-clad feet around to open the door of the bus and carry out my precious child. And sometimes Ibrahim the 5-year-old boy from the 5th floor.

Oh well, today's atypical *also* because I made sin-namon buns... and why the name like that? Cos they're covered in sinful, milky, buttery icing glaze :-) Rohan loved them, but Charu was gooed out; she's not the greedy type. Tony's in Jakarta else I'd flick his Blackberry and snap some photos. Really need to get a digital camera lah. Or maybe one of those new camera-phones, but IF I do, it must have a pedometer, or play music, or monitor my pulse-rate on a long run... you know, some other useful functions bundled in. Else no point owning a fancypancy gadget that does just two things: take photos and let bugsome people reach me. Like that I'm-not-a-telemarketer telemarketer from Waltonsumthinginstitutey with the fake Western accent. Hey, if you are a stranger calling my PHONE, and trying to take my MONEY, you are a telemarketer, okay. I couldn't tell if she was trying to be British or American... veryvery distracting and confusing. I thought her name was Bernie till I asked her to spell it out: P-U-R-N-I. Ayyy... apalucakapaaaa???

Anyway I digress from the main topic here -- Friday afternoon!!! Charu just dropped off to sleep, and I am multi-tasking between my software project plan, resource management and blogging (the last one just to keep my brain busy, else it keeps reminding me about those sinful buns in the oven.. haiya see it did it again... reminded me...tsktsktskk..!).

Tony will be back from Jakarta tonight. Can't wait!! I can take charge of everything cos Efficient is my middle name (ya all this time you thought it was Roslyn), but whenever the Head of the Home isn't home, its always rather quiet and dull. The kids don't have their Kneebutton-controlled Robot-monster, and I don't have anyone's back to scratch. Of course, I could do Rohan and Charu they love it, but I'm done in 30 seconds! And when I ask for a reciprocal scratch, I get four EAGER chubbedee hands digging into my back and poking my backbone asking "Mummy, what's this BONE ah?? Like the one Pluto stole from the lion??"

Looks like I failed to stick to the topic of Friday afternoon here...

Friday - late morning

A typical Friday morning -- Its 10.32am and I'm in the kids' room with Charu, quarantined from Rohan who's in the living room, being drowsied with his mid-morning milk in prep for nap-time. In about half an hour (hopefully my conference call will end by then.. yes am blogging while project action items toss back n forth between US and Malaysia, via the speakerphone) I must start lunch.

Lunch; probably chicken soup for the kids (thawed the bony chicken bits already), and fried rice for me and the maid. Quick and uncomplicated.

NEXT UP -- a typical Friday afternoon.

Have a Bla-aa-ack Berry Beret.. !

The bad parody of that effervescent Prince song came to mind cos Tony's new company has provided him with a BlackBerry. Not the fruit but the device that makes you accessible 24/7 by boss, henchmen, mother-in-law, mistress, debtors and all and sundry... o wait the device that holds that honour is actually the mobile phone, isn't it. But no, this one is a mini-hand-held *computer*, endowing owners with additional crouching backbone, hidden fingers for typing email responses on an arthritis-inducing keyboard, sortof slowly moulding you into a replica of the bell-toller at Notre Dame... ok, okayyy I don't mean to diss the lovely device, here have a drool at the liquid silver pockewonder and you'll realize that my disdain is just jealousy in disguise :-D http://www.blackberry.com/ap/products/handhelds/blackberry8300/blackberry8300.shtml#

And digital-camera-deprived us of course must test its most important feature - the 2 megapixel camera. The obvious choice for subjects are of course our Two Mega Pixies, they very gleefully posed free of charge... here's the montage, we went crazy with the shutterbugging.. !!

Charu, pretty fairy girl


Gime gime GIME AIWAN GEEEMEE...


Charu attempting angrybangry face... and failing as miserably as a pretty fairy can


...aiyah... aiyah... gime...GIMMEE...


Charu cheeky mischievous pretty fairy goblin girl


Iff ai tekk the glass an bonk papa's hed he might GIME de ting...


Charu fading-into-background pretty dimpled fairy girl


... ai so cute you better GEEEEMEEEE....

Reclining kids

Have you ever stood before the famous Reclining Buddha in Penang? Check it out here: http://www.malaysiasite.nl/buddhaeng.htm I find it an impressive salutation to Buddha's peaceful, karmic aura.



I also have my own little reclining buddhas, albeit far more miniature in size (for now). Now you may not agree to my comparing a world-famous religious icon with one's own children. Even more if you realise that the pose is actually one of Buddha's awaiting passage to nirvana. Hmmm... but just from comparing physical imagery more than anything else, the essence extracted from my fuzzy Saturday-morning thoughts and onto this piece of blaper (if thats what I can call a blog in lieu of paper :-D), is that these two cute and exhausting beings made up of Tony and me, are also an infinite, harmonious free-flowing source of peace, serenity and happiness.

.... Paradox?? Maybe when I'm out of fuzzybrain mode I can explain better. Till then... peace and love!! :-D