Family Day

~Family is key . Key to many doors. ~

A family will always remind you of who you were. Like a couple of days ago, I was playing  bubbles and catch with the diplodocus and the spideymonster in the front porch and heard pepe call out to us to come in as it was already 10pm and too late to play outside. Forgetting how old we were, we ran in and sat quietly in the corner playing legos. No one but my dad can make us really feel like the naughty children we are deep down inside. Apart from spideymonster of course, who is in fact, a child.

And sometimes family can mean more than just parents, children, spouses or siblings. I always consider the Pekster to be my sister, though we come from totally different backgrounds, culturally and ethically. Even those we work with can be a family to us, in a way. So when the M decided to hold a family day in Mont Kiara recently, a bunch of the girls(travelling pants members?)joined in.

The first time I went to this kind of event was last year when the diplodocus and toads wrangled me into driving them to the event. I had an hours lecture of how we are a family and simply MUST attend the event. For half a day I was getting knocked into by cross eyed crocodile looking children and meeting up with someone called Nanthiny and her husband whom I haven’t met for years and whose first words to me was something nasty(oh so fun!) and then out of spite stuffing popcorn into my ears and getting sand into my shoes and almost getting whacked in the tummy with a baseball bat by somebody’s nephew. Though diplodocus and the toads made a new friend and they were happy, I vowed to not step into that equestrian club again

But here we were, me wrangled again by diplodocus and the sisterhood of colorful pants. Though I gotta say, it wasn’t too bad this year. Probably cause mean Nanthiny and her husband wasn’t in attendance this year.

Or maybe cause sitting there, enjoying the spectacle of Chee getting thrown off the rodeo bull, I realized that there wasn’t anywhere else I would rather be than spending a day with members of my Happy Family.  I came to realize that some of these people were the same people I had met (and some knocked into) last year. Some single ones were now married and came with their spouses, some newly married ones came with a stroller and a chubby drooly baby, and it was good to see the kids growin up. It reminded me of how life and its circle keeps moving, dragging us along its currents to whatever events fate has in store for each of us and our families.

Ok, maybe that’s too deep, but its somewhere along those lines. I guess I would probably go for the event next year. But this time maybe with spideymonster.

Lets Make It Matter. 2013 Walkathon

Have you ever had that situation that you know what you are about to do will land you in some sort of pain?

Like when you saw that dress hanging out on a windowsill and knowing that its gonna dry your pockets for the whole month, but you go out and get it anyway? And wonder for months later if it was worth it.

It was with this mind that I bravely decided to take my injury out to test.

Now before you go ‘what the fishes’, let me explain. We have this team called the Wellness Board at the place where I work. The M decided that the employees need to be more healthy and this team’s scope is to arrange for ‘healthy activities with mental and physical wellbeing objectives’. They have done a pretty good job so far, we have Treasure Hunts all over KL(mostly in malls but malls are a healthy way to spend one’s time according to most Malaysians anyway) and we have also had Amazing race events over the past few years where the participants get to eat cockroaches and climb on coconut trees.

Just saying. Personally, I have never participated in any amazing race before. Fear of zombie roaches you know.

So today, the team decided on a 4.5km walk out and around Cyberjaya. Having the participants prepped in the morning by some Health Freak Instructor- I mean c’mon, jumping jacks at 7am? I wonder what he did at 5am when he woke up? We proceeded to trail off to the entrance of our blue and grey building. Thankfully the sky was overcast and it was a cool day to have the walk

I am still not sure on the reason but the men got to start the walk. The ladies categories followed suit 15 minutes later and 100meters into the walk, my dearest injury decided it had enough. Maybe an idea in the pool the day before wasn’t such a good one but I wasn’t going to let the injury decide on my fate today!

As most of the other participants went by and ML and I were left to chew on  their dust, we noticed we had another person right on front of us who was keeping our pace. About 3kms into the walk and 30 minutes into ML’s Kuantan stories(non-stop, I think ML thought this was a story telling competition), the lady decided to slow her pace.

Now I know what its like being the last one in that line and looking back and seeing nothing but your own dust biting you back, so ML and I decided to keep pace with her. The ambulance and guards decided to keep pace with us too, and I must say, we proved to be quite a sight reaching the finishing line with all the extra escorts.

It was almost at the end that the Lady turned and practically thanked us for keeping pace with her. It was her first time going the distance and she felt like she did accomplish something for herself and said to us that it was good not be alone at the end of the line.

I have never been more proud of myself as a human being. I swear even ML grew 10 inches.

So I guess at the end of the day,we each have our own battles to fight and own reasons for doing what we do. But the grime and pain is worth it(especially knee injuries! Argh)

Even more so when you realize that there is someone right next to you, pushing you on.

Diplodocus

Sisters are a gods angels on earth.

The first time we do anything, can be the most joyous experience. Remember the first time you rode a bike? Or the first time you had ice cream? The first time you saw that sunrise in some long forgotten civilisation? Ok maybe that’s a bit over the top.

But it tends to stay with us, that first time experiences. No matter how hard you can try to forget, the one thing you cannot erase from your memory will be those firsts.

I remember the first time I met my sister, at how happy I was to discover that there was another human being  who could play with me. Teddies and dolls, and masak masak(which we play till today, eh Mrs Brown?). I had been living in Ipoh with the MonkeyCuz and longed to play with a girl my age, after all the robot and car games i was playing everyday.

Little did I know what a tomboy I would be meeting. At first we would fight and punch(she can throw quite a punch!) each other silly. It took a while for us to get along, and it probably happened after Flex had come into our lives.

The first time my dog Flex had found his way to our backyard and stole into our tiny hearts was on a Sunday morning while we were having breakfast. A tiny pup with brown fur and dark eyes looking up hopefully at the Diplodocus and in turn, her big brown eyes begging The Boss to keep the pup. That dog became a part of our lives that stayed  in our hearts till this day. And today, she has brought with her little Shimbhu the Guinea Pig, who is also as cute as a button.

I remember the first days she went to kindergarden. Tadika Ho, with her 2 tiny rabbit teeth sticking out and annoying me at every step of the way we took home when I had to bring her back. At least she combs her hair now.

Her first real home, rainbow houses, may they always be there waiting for you. And not forgetting her first beloved, Chemichu

I remember the  first time she fell in love, and we would have sleepless nights, whispering about the things she had said and done that day. Her sadness, fears and her joys became my own.

To the one person who I know I can share any secret with and would love and care for me no matter what I did. I have been truly blessed to have you in my life and heres to wishing Diplodocus a HappY 28^th birthday!

And as promised, heres to secret outings! Long live!

32 years of Grandeur

I happen to think that everyday is a celebration of life.

So when it comes to having a birthday party each year, I astound even myself and how small and simple I prefer that celebration to be. I suppose as you get older, you learn to appreciate what you have, even in the smallest way, as life can teach us, that anything can be lost on any day.

Anyways, as a token of appreciation for all the good things in life, I hereby present to you some of my favorite and most celebrated things(disclaimer:next birthday, the list may change):

1.    RT Pastry House

This cake house has been in existence for a couple of years now, having branches mushrooming across the klang valley. Their cakes are light, flavorful and very reasonably priced. So I was pretty happy when I got tricked(quite subtlely by the Y) into going to the E-Club(a.k.a pantry) at the office and finding the Pekster and Deviljoe hidden behind the partition with a Black Sesame cake for me. Lovely, ladies. Lovely

 

PY and Mua

Black Sesame cake

2.       Crepe Cakes 

Ok so maybe I have been a little too forthcoming with the things that I like(just look at this article for an example!). And most of the geng knows how much I like cake. I have asking around about the crepe cake made famous by a bakery in Melaka and also the Food Foundry in PJ. I tried the cake once in Seri Kembangan but it wasn’t fresh and the layers just stuck together instead of having the ‘melting effect’. So the Y decided to get me 2 pieces of crepe cake from a bakery in Kajang and Mei Mei and Amanda got me 2 from another bakery. 4 slices of crepe cake, maybe too much of something is not a good thing, but the cakes were wonderful. Hey it was my birthday, give me a cake-break.

3.       Coffee Joint

Starbucks and Coffee Bean are overrated(This my personal opinion and means to offence to anyone- especially Starbucks no 1 fan, Deviljoe). I have always preferred Gloria Jeans  and Domes, but the best coffee bars are the smaller ones, like Whisk(Subang Parade and OneUtama). So it was with great pleasure that I had the company of Sir Kakapipit to enjoy the coffee at the latest coffee bar in Cyberjaya, The Daily Grind.

4.    House Parties

Mom,Pop,little spiderman-dinosaur, Hema, Chiffon and of course the Diplodocus. What more do I need to ask for to have the best time? Do wish the Japa was around though, as I get a one day free pass to annoy the crap out of my little brother on my birthday. Maybe I could get a raincheck? Hmm

Mom went on a cooking spree

5.    The Shell Geng

These are some of my most favourite people on earth. The Pekster decided to have a small dinner at Hucks Café in Bangsar. And being one who is only too happy to meet new people and try new places, I was very excited to meet Konrad from Bavaria and see Ms C-bg try to flirt with him. Though it rained cats and dogs when I got the Yoda and made everyone late, it was definitely worth it to try this place.

                        http://grub-odssey.blogspot.com/2013/04/hucks-cafebangsar.html

6. Movie and shopping time

As we did last year, the Y and I got free movie passes for our birthdays, which is only 3 days apart, and this year we got to watch The Croods and after the show, we did what we love best, and got ourselves new shoes.

A hAppY

 7. Red Velvet Cupcake

Need I say more?

Thank you to all you guys who made my getting-wiser birthday more meaningful.

Cheers and Godbless you freaks.

A little help, Mr Watson?

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
Western Union telegraph company memo, 1877.

I read this interesting piece of article the other day. It said that people today would prefer to have all their communications done in the form of messages, either emails, sms, whats app, viber, chatz and what-have-you applications on their smartphones, instead on picking up their phones and dialing someone for a voice conversation

Apparently, in todays world, having someone call you can be deemed as intrusive. With many people leading very busy lives these days, they do not have the time nor space to have a chat.

I remember being a teenager and wishing that I had a phone in my room like some of the girls on Nickelodeon. It seemed like the coolest thing to have your girlfriends call you at every hour of the day and for us to discuss on how cute our new PE teacher was. Or which boy was the cutest and giggle like some mad cow disease induced teenagers. But I guess that’s all changed now, with technology being so advanced that teenagers can just LOL, IDK, SYL, BSB, NKOTB, ETC each other at any time.

I admit, yes, maybe sometimes at work, I too do not answer every call I get. But I will always try my best to call back the non-intrusive friend and can only hope that my return call does not intrude her/his time.

Imagine a world in 20 years. You would not even know how your child sounds like. Or your mom. Or even your boss if we all decide that we can just work from homes and save costs on offices.

So much for centuries of civilization and technological evolution. Thank you, Mr AG Bell

The end for Social Graces?

The dictionary defines gracious as; "being pleasantly kind, benevolent and courteous."

I suppose in today’s world, it is not easy to define what being gracious actually mean.  Over time I have heard and read about so many Malaysians ungraciousness on the roads, in malls and even in public toilets and what is more amazing is that like in some third world countries, we are becoming a race that accepts the faults in society  and as is the miracle of human nature, at some point, adapt to it.

An experience I faced last Saturday was a definite prove of this. The Diplodocus and I decided to head to the famous mall, Mid Valley Megamall, and if it was not for our brother’s birthday the very next day, I would never have agreed to head there on a weekend. A trip down Zombie Ville would have been more pleasing.

After an excruciating wait, we finally spotted an Indian (national) and his family loading up their fairly new Nissan Sylphy. As cars were parked on both sides of the driveway, the sylphy had not much space to reverse to get out of his parking lot. Hence he did what any other one of his country man would do. He got his very excited wife to ‘watch the back’ and then went bottom-long into the car that was parked at the rear of his. The excited wife did the only thing she could do,  jumping a couple of feet in the air and trying to push the sylphy forward, unsuccessfully of course, and after a while,  realizing her effort was in vain, jumped into the passenger side and the company drove off, without a note of an apology to the owner of the Injured car.

But that’s not my only story here.

As the Sylphy was loading, we noticed a young, pleasant looking woman with the highest heels and tightest of jeans standing next to the Indian family.  The minute the car drove away, madam long legs decided to ‘book’ the parking lot for her boyfriend. In no mood for any more bad manners, we honked and managed to coax her out of the way for us to park. But after couple of meters of walking to the mall’s doors, the boyfriend decides to drive by and start shouting at the Diplodocus and me for having stolen his parking spot.

Now correct me if I am wrong, but since when do Malaysians actually practice ‘parking-via-human-standing-booking’? As a society, if we allow people to actually act this way, can one imagine the chaos it could create if all of us decided to act in the same manner?

Have a little social grace folks, it can go a long way.

Peace out.

Different expectations

The best date is with someone who can take you anywhere without touching anything but your heart. – Unknown

When I was in my 20s, most girls my age had a notion. A date was expected to be an affair where the guy asks a girl out and followed by some impressive dinner and coffee/drinks and movie. With elaborate show of feeling, balloons and throw in a couple of peacocks, and a girl is hooked.

The most elaborate proposal I have heard of was when the guy took the girl for some heli ride and the proposed to her as they were rounding the KL Tower, Komtar or somewhere similar.

Now what would have made that proposal more interesting is that if a bird had flown by at just that exact moment, being chased by something larger, an eagle perhaps..and the pilot sees the drama, trying to save the bird, opens a crack in his window and the eagle swoops in together and they circle the guy’s head and one lands on the fair maiden and there’s squawking and screeching and screaming and the guy is still trying to get his question across…

Over rated.

The most perfect date I can remember from my 20s was one where he bought us McD and we sat for hours gazing at the stars in an empty playground and talking about everything under the moon. It wasn’t much but then to me perfect dates aren’t the elaborate affairs people make them out to be, but the little things.

I recently had the opportunity to have a lunch with an amazing guy.  I have the most festive bunch of friends who love me to death, and wanting the 'outing' to be perfect gave me advice on where to have a decent lunch, what to wear and how not to smile like a zombie.

 

Probably the last advice came in handy.

I can only think of one way for it to have gone better, if we had a cup of tea in a coffeshop with yau char koay. Simple and sweet.

Or sitting and watching some birds circle a heli. Hmm.