Hi back, me blog. This site has been silent for over a month. That is because 2009 handed me its first big-time bogey on 7th Jan. Or rather, to my colleagues and me. In the form of a monumental, Jupiter-sized scandal, courtesy of the company were just sold to at the tip of the year-end.
But by now, February 17th, its all out in the open, you must know what I'm talking about - the Satyam scandal, India's Enron, big-time fraudery that rocked the beginning of this year.
Oh well. More on that later I guess. But for now, I want to move on. I have much more exciting updates about my life....
Showing posts with label What happens when I THINK... Show all posts
Showing posts with label What happens when I THINK... Show all posts
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Honey, I Shrunk the Future
I feel sad today. We have entered the new year of 2009, but our human brains seem left behind somewhere in the Backwaterthal (also known as Bawahtempurungthal) era, the time where soft cells within the cranial abyss of the homo bodohcus behaved like millions of individual microcellular organisms co-existing in a water droplet, banging against each other, creating heat and lots of animosity. But no substantial useful by-product. No myelin-sheathed neurons with synapses, just a lot of moronic relapses. No great thoughts and plans, just bland hot air with no fans.
I'm talking about us humans ripping out each others lives, fighting for "justice", blowing up people en masse in the name of "self-defense", fighting for strips of land the way greedy kids do over sour worm gummies. Charles Darwin might wonder if his Theory has become its own monster. Is it really the law of natural selection in place here; are we eliminating the weak and ensuring the proliferation of stronger, better gene pools amongst the homo bodohcus of the future?
At least think about this - if you have planned, ordered, approved of, delighted in or participated in or were ever happy to be part of the killing of another human being, do you think you really have done yourself, your offspring and your descendants a favour? How sure are you that that person is not someone who may have held the key to the survival of your future? What if you Kill Bill, but your ancestral lineage carried a horrible disease whose cure could have been found by Bill had he lived beyond the death you dealt him? What if you Slice Bryce, denying him the chance to be the most effective world leader in history? Effective in my context, that is to say able to stop wars from breaking out between countries, thus preventing the obliteration of your family. What if you Murder Myrtle, thus preventing the birth of the next Mother Theresa or Gandhi. Subsequently denying the world an icon of peace, humility and love. Millions will never know peace, humility and love the way it should be known. I suspect this has already happened, and that the current world leaders are all part of these millions of human beings flying around the world, talking rubbish, smiling a lot and spending billions on smart suits, speech-writers and weapons to kill human beings other than themselves.
Blame my crazed ranting on the front page of today's newspaper. The image of little children's bodies lined up side by side, dead from tank shells battering Gaza. Three little children. The eldest child had spindly legs and a cherubic face that made me wonder if his cheeks dimpled when he smiled. I will never know. Neither will you. They had perfectly-curled eyelashes, that no eyelash curler may ever bestow upon mine. The one on the far right had lovely rosebud lips, frozen in death. When I try to kiss the corner of Rohan's cute soft mouth where his chubby cheek starts, his hot-breathed "You gowawayeeee!!" smells sweet and milky. Rosebud Lips Child possibly would have reacted in the same way, and I think her breath would smell like milk too. But we will never know. The child in the middle was the smallest. Even in oversized blue pants, I can tell that his legs must be pudgy and chubby, cute and cuddly. But what is the use, they will never grow anymore.
Cute and all that, but think, think THINK again. Because we never do enough of it. Think about whether one of those three children held the key to our future. What if we have already destroyed the people who could have improved our future? We, the greedy, backwater people of today, who make money from every rocket launched, every bullet sold. We, who need to be in power, to control the world economy, to be in the limelight, to own it, along with the sunlight, and the land. The Land. We need to own whatever it takes to be happy. To live comfortably. But what does that mean? If you rule the Whole World, and own all its riches, will you be happy? What about half; share half with another crazy human. Okay you get a litttttle more than half, and other crazy guy gets a litttttle less than half. Now will you be happy? No? Still want more??
What do we want? Do we know? Do we care what others want? Do we care at all about others? Do we care about the world we live in? Really? How about the world that others live in? Its the same world, but you want the better part, leaving the worse parts to others, right?? You want the parts that have petroleum and diamonds; the rest of the sorry humans can take the desert.
Do we care about our future? Really? But... like I said earlier, we may already have destroyed it.... we've killed human beings... are we like, Mother Nature? Do we have the right to selectively remove other living creatures from this world? (bytheway, the rumour is that Mother Nature doesn't "select") You think we do? And you also think that it ensures a better life? For whom... for everyone? What about those who love the people that you killed, are their lives better too??
Do we want justice? Really? Do we want it for everyone, or just ourselves? Is justice served if we kill others? How about if we kill those who were not directly responsible for the injustice to us? Is justice served? To whom?? Are we still thinking here??
Do we think about how we can share this world with others? Others as in everyone, not just those whom we like. What about those we dislike? Are they unimportant and not worthy of our "sharing" because they aren't cool? Are these the values we teach our children? Our offspring. Who will go into a future made uncertain no thanks to the tweaking-of-the-future we have done for today. Great job there, destroying our future. Thanks a lot, ancestors. Thanks a lot, leaders. With brains from the past.
I'm talking about us humans ripping out each others lives, fighting for "justice", blowing up people en masse in the name of "self-defense", fighting for strips of land the way greedy kids do over sour worm gummies. Charles Darwin might wonder if his Theory has become its own monster. Is it really the law of natural selection in place here; are we eliminating the weak and ensuring the proliferation of stronger, better gene pools amongst the homo bodohcus of the future?
At least think about this - if you have planned, ordered, approved of, delighted in or participated in or were ever happy to be part of the killing of another human being, do you think you really have done yourself, your offspring and your descendants a favour? How sure are you that that person is not someone who may have held the key to the survival of your future? What if you Kill Bill, but your ancestral lineage carried a horrible disease whose cure could have been found by Bill had he lived beyond the death you dealt him? What if you Slice Bryce, denying him the chance to be the most effective world leader in history? Effective in my context, that is to say able to stop wars from breaking out between countries, thus preventing the obliteration of your family. What if you Murder Myrtle, thus preventing the birth of the next Mother Theresa or Gandhi. Subsequently denying the world an icon of peace, humility and love. Millions will never know peace, humility and love the way it should be known. I suspect this has already happened, and that the current world leaders are all part of these millions of human beings flying around the world, talking rubbish, smiling a lot and spending billions on smart suits, speech-writers and weapons to kill human beings other than themselves.
Blame my crazed ranting on the front page of today's newspaper. The image of little children's bodies lined up side by side, dead from tank shells battering Gaza. Three little children. The eldest child had spindly legs and a cherubic face that made me wonder if his cheeks dimpled when he smiled. I will never know. Neither will you. They had perfectly-curled eyelashes, that no eyelash curler may ever bestow upon mine. The one on the far right had lovely rosebud lips, frozen in death. When I try to kiss the corner of Rohan's cute soft mouth where his chubby cheek starts, his hot-breathed "You gowawayeeee!!" smells sweet and milky. Rosebud Lips Child possibly would have reacted in the same way, and I think her breath would smell like milk too. But we will never know. The child in the middle was the smallest. Even in oversized blue pants, I can tell that his legs must be pudgy and chubby, cute and cuddly. But what is the use, they will never grow anymore.
Cute and all that, but think, think THINK again. Because we never do enough of it. Think about whether one of those three children held the key to our future. What if we have already destroyed the people who could have improved our future? We, the greedy, backwater people of today, who make money from every rocket launched, every bullet sold. We, who need to be in power, to control the world economy, to be in the limelight, to own it, along with the sunlight, and the land. The Land. We need to own whatever it takes to be happy. To live comfortably. But what does that mean? If you rule the Whole World, and own all its riches, will you be happy? What about half; share half with another crazy human. Okay you get a litttttle more than half, and other crazy guy gets a litttttle less than half. Now will you be happy? No? Still want more??
What do we want? Do we know? Do we care what others want? Do we care at all about others? Do we care about the world we live in? Really? How about the world that others live in? Its the same world, but you want the better part, leaving the worse parts to others, right?? You want the parts that have petroleum and diamonds; the rest of the sorry humans can take the desert.
Do we care about our future? Really? But... like I said earlier, we may already have destroyed it.... we've killed human beings... are we like, Mother Nature? Do we have the right to selectively remove other living creatures from this world? (bytheway, the rumour is that Mother Nature doesn't "select") You think we do? And you also think that it ensures a better life? For whom... for everyone? What about those who love the people that you killed, are their lives better too??
Do we want justice? Really? Do we want it for everyone, or just ourselves? Is justice served if we kill others? How about if we kill those who were not directly responsible for the injustice to us? Is justice served? To whom?? Are we still thinking here??
Do we think about how we can share this world with others? Others as in everyone, not just those whom we like. What about those we dislike? Are they unimportant and not worthy of our "sharing" because they aren't cool? Are these the values we teach our children? Our offspring. Who will go into a future made uncertain no thanks to the tweaking-of-the-future we have done for today. Great job there, destroying our future. Thanks a lot, ancestors. Thanks a lot, leaders. With brains from the past.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
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.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
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
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
Monday, June 30, 2008
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...
Thursday, June 12, 2008
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
Friday, May 30, 2008
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...
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.
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.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Dreamland...
Photos of babies sleeping are usually multi-dimensional to me, they have amazing texture - like peanut-filled mua chi :-D... they emanate a warm fuzziness that makes me grit my teeth with cuteness and I can just about smell the aromatic, sweet breath...
Even more so if they are photos of my *own* child sleeping. I wonder how many more years it will be before I outgrow the urge to kiss my sleeping child's cheeks or steal a whiff of neck-nape. Or will I ever outgrow it? Well... I suppose given that *I* would not appreciate waking up to my own mom staring at 34-year-old me with a melty-pelty gaze, so .... I guess I had better get over it at some point. Buuut, I'm not gonna count the days lahh.
Friday, March 14, 2008
De Year 2008
First, let me set up the visuals...Whoaaaaa so its been a year, and I decided to haul my a** back here to reminisce about 2007's achievements, and plot out 2008's exploits. Well, from my visuals you might guess that I do not really have much control over either (achievements and exploits, thatis...).
As a matter of fact, I surprised myself and DID achieve quite a bit:
1) Rohan is now a feisty one-year-old with two tooth buds looming at the gummy horizon of his lower jaw.
2) Charu is a hyperactive four-year-old who loves swimming pools, Bananas In Pyjamas, prawn pasta and using our queen mattress as a trampoline.
3) Kept my job.
4) I had enough dare in me to create a Resolution that goes like this: Run AT LEAST 2 10km races in 2008.
4) What else ah?
I suppose being Alive is a good thing too. Seriously.
So, next is to work on 2008. Well, the recent elections were a Big Bang thing. Now the whole Parliament looks like First Day on Campus where you just don't know who that guy/girl is, but they bleddy well better know what we want out of this class!!
I have hopes. Fears too, but I think I'll focus on my hopes, and my expectations of myself for this year. I guess having a family helps keep this clear. Work hard to stay relevant, but work on being a good mother -- dish out tasty and healthy food, age-appropriate child-raising techniques, keep fridge clean, throw out all broken toys, read Kama Sutra... aaaaaa you ARE paying attention! :-D
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Prequel
So let me
re-introduce us as a family, before I attempt to make regular posts a habit.
We were bestowed with the lovely Charu less than a year after we got married on 3rd May, 2003. When she was 2 years old, we decided to add to the family tree, so ... before I wax on about our family in future posts, here are photos of:
a) Papa with Charu in the pool of Renaissance Hotel KL
b) Charu and me at Aquaria, her great Fishy adventure (can you tell that I am quite the 8-month preggers mumm ... ? If you think I look great, its cos I picked the most flattering photo of a few hundred awful ones ... heheh!)
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