When death comes in multiples.

Death doesn’t come in one or twos. It comes in fives….


Was woken up at 8am by BIL with the news that Michael Jackson died.

The news shocked me. No one ever thought of MJ dying. He was sick, maybe, but dying? In everyone’s mind, he was like this untouchable creature. And suddenly, he was dead. It was surreal. Nobody could believe the news until they flipped channels between CNN and BBC. For hours on end, that is all they seemed to cover.

The first person I thought of was Shobha. Growing up, she was the biggest MJ fan I knew. When MJ had his concert at Stadium Merdeka in 1996, her family took me along. We had expensive seats on the ground, but everyone was standing so we had to stand on the chairs to be able to see anything. I didn’t appreciate the enormity of it then. But now thinking back, wow… this guy didn’t know the meaning of over the top. He had to TOP over the top and it was always phenomenal.

I wanted to text Shobs immediately but I calculated the time difference and figured she wouldn’t appreciate being woken up at that hour in the UK with bad news. So I waited 7 hours and texted her then.

Just like his concerts, his Memorial Service was just as special. Its amazing how everyone came together in such a short span of time to pull off such a grand event.

A minute after hearing about MJ’s death, BIL told me Farrah Fawcett had also passed away. The media barely covered anything on her death. She was over shadowed by MJ. Every single channel… nothing. I was curious to know what happened and after 2 hours, neither CNN nor BBC provided me with any information so I had to Google it.

On the same day that I heard the news, I received a text from my sister informing me that our previous family doctor, Dr. Ravi, who also happens to be a good friend of my father’s, had passed away as well. I didn’t hear of him being ill, so the news was also quite a shock. Heart attack. His eldest son was only around my age.

The following day, I found out my Uncle Fook Yan had passed away. My mother’s eldest brother. He was child number one, my mum was child number ten (actually child number 12. The two before her either died at birth or miscarriage) Growing up in a poor family by the river in Teluk Intan, there wasn’t much money let alone food to feed ten children. Being the eldest of all the children, I heard that my uncle worked hard and put my mother and aunt through school. He gave them pocket money and practically fathered them. My aunt wrote a tribute to him for his 80^th birthday two years ago (he passed away at the grand old age of 82) and forwarded it to us again after his death. It was a beautiful tribute which really made us learn more about my uncle in their growing up years.

I remember him as a man who was very well spoken. He spoke perfect English unlike most of my other uncles who only spoke Chinese dialects or passable Malay. My dad and Uncle William were the only two Indians married into the family. So during Chinese New Year every year when we were growing up, we would spend plenty of time at Uncle Fook Yan’s house cause he was the only one they could converse with over a glass of brandy. It was then that I heard my uncle was a great Ballroom dancer back in the day. Maybe my passion for dancing is in my genes after all.

My Aunty Sheila told us a funny story about him. Whenever she used to write him letters (when they were younger), he would post it back to her with all her grammatical mistakes corrected in a red pen. Needless to say, my uncle was a true Headmaster. I found this story hilarious.

The whole family took a drive back to Teluk Intan on Sunday. We had a Garmin (GPS navigation system) with us but once we got to Teluk Intan, it only recognized the main roads. All the inside roads were just a blank or not recognized at all. So it was absolutely useless. My dad grew up in TA (Teluk Intan used to be called Teluk Anson. But even though the name has changed yonks ago, we somehow always abbreviate it to be TA and never TI) so we relied on him to give us directions.

My dad was a big bluff with all the directions. To be fair, he hadn’t been back for a few years and all the roads had changed. We got there… eventually.

The last proper Chinese funeral I attended was my late grandfather’s and that was over 15 years ago. I remember having to burn ‘money’ for him with several cousins of mine. When we got to the house, my uncle’s grandchildren were doing that very same thing.

We paid our respects then drove back later that evening. My mom stayed on for the funeral the next day. I felt so sorry for her. She had to attend her brother’s funeral on her birthday. She had planned a little birthday gathering with her lady friends the day before, but as soon as she got the bad news, she had to cancel everything.

Next year my mummy turns 60. So maybe my siblings and I would throw her a grand party to make up for this year. We’ll see.

On Tuesday morning, I received news that Yohanna’s father had also passed away. I think he had been ill for quite some time though.

Later that day, I heard Rick Astley had died, but apparently that was only a rumour and was later retracted from the news reports. How does anyone come up with a rumour of someone’s death??? Its not even funny!

Well, that’s a lot of death in the last week. I hope there are no more…

Speaking of rumours, on an entirely different note, I heard/read that Megan Fox is/was a man. It was all over the internet (Google it if you don’t believe me). I really don’t know if it was spun out of control by a comment she made, or whether it is true. Whatever it is, she is super hot anyway! And if she is/was a man, then she puts real women to shame cause she’s way hotter than most.


Transformers

A group of us went to watch Transformers 2 at the Gardens. It was my first time at the Gardens Cinema and I was very impressed. Everything was so schmancy. We had premier class tickets so it was all double-seats. I loved it! You don’t feel cramped like in a normal cinema and you don’t have to worry if the smelly dude next to you has cooties.

As for the movie, I thought it was great. But maybe it could have done with just a little bit less fighting. It seemed like 80% of the movie was just fighting, fighting, fighting and not much story.

Megan Fox still looked awesome, but I kept looking at her neck to see if she had an Adam’s Apple. Haha!

Actually, I was more distracted by Josh Duhamel (the guy who played Major Lennox) who I think is really sexy. I’ve liked him in a few other movies too. BAD is now accusing me of liking the ‘All-American’ boys. I then accused him of like plain and drab looking girls like Scarlett Johansson. Ouch...



Urbanscapes and Kaloo

I went for Urbanscapes at KLPAC around noon-ish cause Zouk had a booth and BAD was DJing a set. Rushed all the way there, got stuck in traffic, parked my car miles away, only to find out that he had finished his set. Thanks for telling me BAD… *scowls*

Urbanscapes is organised by KLue and is an all day creative arts festival bringing together fashion, music, art and film in the same venue.

It was a blindingly hot day. I took a quick stroll around, then left to return to the studio.

After classes, I went back to KLPAC. If I thought I had parked far away before, this time I had to park even further away! Had to go off road and park on the grass patch that had now turned into a parking lot. I had a strange feeling about it and mentioned it to BAD, but I couldn’t park anywhere else so didn’t think too much about it.

I absolutely love bazaars and flea market type things. I love finding quirky items (which is usually a good idea when I buy it, but a few weeks later I’ll be like…hmmm…). At the Market Place, they had tons of little shops selling clothes, bags, accessories, and all sorts of other things. Two stalls were run by my old friends. One was by Sze who makes gorgeous accessories. The other was Dude & Dudette which is run by my high school friends, Sarah and Winnie, selling mainly bags and accessories.

Surprisingly, I didn’t buy anything. BAD was also quite shocked that I wasn’t going crazy. I think it was just too hot. And too crowded. And I was getting cranky. But I did get a cool Zouk/LapSap/Barsonic t-shirt though! I really like it. When I told Becky about it, she said, “YOU, you of all people, got a Lap Sap t-shirt????”. She’s just jealous….

When it was time to leave, I went back to get my car. The ground was totally muddy. The dude told me to drive out a certain direction. I saw a few other cars using the same path so I thought it would be ok. But I was coming from the opposite direction. My car barely moved 3 meters and I was stuck. Stuck in the mud. Tried reversing, couldn’t. Tried going forward, couldn’t. The parking dudes, a bunch of Indian guys, just stood around watching me while laughing and talking in Tamil. They didn’t even bother getting up to help me. Only ONE dude came to help me. He tried to look for some stones to put under my tires but it didn’t work. Nothing worked. Turned my wheel this way, turned my wheel that way, I was just stuck. All that moved was mud… splattering all over Kaloo and the innocent black car next to me. I seemed to be going deeper and deeper into the mud.

Called BAD to turn back and come help me. He was going to drop off his colleague back at the club. While waiting for BAD to show up, I asked the dude if he and his friends could try pushing my car out of the mud. There were about 6 of them. If we had to get more people, that wouldn’t have been difficult cause there were hundreds at the event. But the dude just said no. They didn’t even try. Didn’t even get off their fat arses. Then why the fuck were they there for????? To sit around and talk on their effin' phones??? I was so pissed off.

BAD finally came back and tried to find pieces of wood to put under my tires. Nothing worked. BAD has a 4WD so he wanted to use it to pull Kaloo out but we didn’t have a towline. So he left his colleague with me and went to the petrol station nearby to see if he could get one.

The dudes finally did something useful by calling the tow truck. Another car quite nearby to us was also stuck. I saw them standing around but I couldn’t see which car was stuck. Didn’t want to go kepoh either.

Called BAD and told him the tow truck was coming for the other car anyway so I’ll just pay the dude to pull my car out. BAD refused to because he said his car could do the same job. He finally gave in when he couldn’t find a towline.

Since the other car got stuck first, the tow truck went to them. No point sitting in my car waiting, so we went to their car to see what was going on. When I saw their car, I was like Wooooaaaahhhhhhh. They were in way worse condition than I was. The back and front tires were buried in quite a deep hole. Mine was just mud. Theirs was a proper hole!

The tow truck dude then said he’ll do my car first cause mine was easy. Compared the other car, mine was a piece of cake!

Finally got the car out of the bloody mud. Poor Kaloo looked like it went MAJOR off-roading. Totally covered in mud. I had to drive back really slowly.

My windscreen was splattered with mud all over it. I used the windscreen wipers to wipe it off. Then I discovered… I didn’t have any windscreen liquid!!!! I was FUMING!!!! What the hell do I pay Perodua RM8 for windscreen liquid if they don’t fill it????? I had sent my car for service about a month back and I know for a fact that I HARDLY used the windscreen liquid since then! Someone mentioned to me later that maybe it dried up. I refuse to believe that.

So I had to drive with mud all over my windscreen. Every car that I passed stared at Kaloo wondering where the hell I went. Kaloo had some proper street-cred now.

Had to drop by Talent Hub to pick up some stuff that I left behind. I double parked right in front and gave the keys to my security guards just in case the other car had to leave.

I ran upstairs, took my stuff, locked up, and ran back downstairs. 3 minutes tops.

When I got back to the car, I discovered that my security guards had helped me clean my windscreen! They said, “Takut kamu tak nampak”. It was soooooooo sweet of them! I was tremendously touched.

Two days later, I sent Kaloo to the car wash. The owner and all his workers literally laughed when they saw my car pull up! The workers looked and each other and were laughing and shaking their heads at each other. I think nobody wanted to wash my car!

Half an hour later, Kaloo was nice and clean. Poor little Kaloo. Had a really bad two weeks. From the horrible scratches on the back door, to being stuck in the mud, to being towed out of it.

Perodua is going to get a shelling and a half from me. They better give me free windscreen liquid the next time I service Kaloo.



Blackboard

San, I-Lin and I went to Blackboard for dessert one night. We chose some chocolate lemon cheesecake thingy. It was nice, but I couldn’t taste the chocolate. San said maybe it was white chocolate. Helllloooooo? White chocolate ain’t chocolate. Dark chocolate is the way to go. And if anyone claims they LOVE chocolate but hate dark chocolate, then they ain’t true chocolate fans! Milk/white chocolate are for babies (with the exception of Hershey's Cookies & Cream).

BAD and I went back to Blackboard last week for Tapas. Very yum yums! We ordered a range of cold and hot tapas. All of it was great. We didn’t order any mains, but gauging from the standard of the tapas, I’m assuming their main dishes are good too.



New York, New York.

There’s this restaurant at the lower ground floor of One Utama called New York, New York. We’ve passed it a dozen times and always wanted to try it out. It reminded me very much of a restaurant in Singapore. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the same owners cause it had a .sg email address.

They had a HUGE menu. Everything sounded yummy.

I had an iced chocolate and it was delicious! We shared these cheese ball thingy appetizer but it wasn’t that great. My turkey and cranberry sandwich was nice. But BAD didn’t quite like his Fish & Chips. His chips were also soggy apparently.

I’ll definitely go back there to try it again. Their desserts look awesome. Hopefully the next round would be better than our first.



A very long Friday night.

Viji had been bitching endlessly about how he used to pick me up for years in college. But since I got my car, I’ve never picked him up once from Cheras.

So we made a date for Friday night with Jerral as well. I should have suspected something fishy but I trusted these boys.

I had to go to Modesto's at Cap Square for KL Bar 'Legally Talented' charity event. I only needed to be there around 9pm so I met BAD for dinner at KLCC. We wanted to go to California Pizza Kitchen but there was a waiting list. Went to a few other restaurant but they were all crowded too. We finally settled for Thai food at Chakri Palace. Bumped into Anusha there with all her doctor friends.

Food was good but we were disappointed that the deep-fried beancurd was actually not what we wanted. I had my favourite Tab Tim Krob for dessert and it was really good! They served it in a coconut which was very unique, and extra yummy.

Rushed to Cap Square after that for the event. Thought I’d be among old boring lawyers, but it was actually all young lawyers so it wasn’t too bad. One of our Pole students (who is also a lawyer) was putting up a performance for charity. I couldn’t find anyone in that crowd so I hung out with Daniel. After the performance, everyone said they wanted to work for whatever firm the pole dancer worked for. Hahaha!

Left the event early cause I had to pick up the boys. From CHERAS! Found my way there (with help from my Garmin as well as Viji on the phone). Picked up Viji, Jerral, and Tamara. They said we were going for dessert at some Italian restaurant in Gombak. I was skeptical that it would be open until so late but Viji insisted that it closed late. I didn’t argue with him since I wouldn’t know what happens in Gombak anyway.

We drove and we drove and we drove. There was a turn off to the left that was to Genting and a turn to the right that was to Gombak. Viji who was directing me the whole way asked me to turn left. That’s when my alarm bells started ringing. After much pestering and asking them where we were going, they finally admitted that we were going to Genting. They found it hilarious that I was involved in my own ‘kidnapping’.

I was wearing 3 ½ inch stilettos, a tiny top, and a skirt. I sure as hell wasn’t dressed for it. When Tamara heard about the plans, she was kind enough to pack a sweater for me. But I sure as hell wasn’t gonna drive up to Genting Highlands!! The last time I drove up with Becky, Steph, and Beth, my car was STRUGGLING to climb the hill. The fastest we could go was 20km/h. And that was FLOORING it. Plus our little off-route haunted drive, I sure as hell wasn’t planning to drive up there again!

I was really annoyed so I gave them the silent treatment. Turned off at Genting Sempah, made a U-turn and drove back. I wouldn't even have really minded if we drove to Port Dickson or somewhere else. At least I wouldn’t freeze my toosh off and my car would be able to make it there safely with less than half a tank of petrol. And after all the drama poor Kaloo has been through over the last two weeks, I really didn’t want to push my luck.

Many years ago, back when we were in college, we took a trip to Genting Highlands. The boys played a horrible ghost trick on us girls which left us scared out of our pants. I didn’t even go to the toilet to pee even though my bladder was bursting! That’s how bad it was. These two boys were part of that horrible trick, and again, they’ve done it the second time to me. Both involving Genting Highlands! Do I see a trend here?

Drove back to Mont Kiara and went to Coffee Bean there. Viji bought me a Blueberry Cheesecake to make it up but I said that wasn’t enough. I sat and I thought about it. Then I came up with a brilliant plan. If Viji would down 5 shots of Bombay Sapphire, I’ll call it even. Bombay Sapphire is like the devil to Viji. I reckon he would rather have 5 Flaming Lamborghinis than he would Bombay Sapphire.

As for Jerral, he’s gonna get a nipple pinch when I catch him off guard. And anyone who has been to college with me, would know what my nipple pinches are like. It’s lethal, let me tell you that. And you’ll be screaming for your mummy. Serves them right for tricking me.


One Utama

BAD and I spent our Saturday at One Utama. We’re going for two holidays this month so we needed to pick up all sorts of things for our trips. From flip flops, to board shorts, to mosquito repellent, to sun screen. His patience for shopping with me surprises me sometimes. He’s generally not the most patient person under the sun. But with my shopping, he has somehow found his inner chi and exudes plenty of patience. He did however draw the line when I asked him if we could go to the Curve after 4 hours of shopping at One Utama. I like to test his limits.



Girly Meet-up

The girls hardly have time to meet up with each other anymore. Cheryl tried to get the group together last week but it didn’t work. So I emailed everyone mid-week to give them ample notice. Saturday night plans were changed to Sunday tea to accommodate Cheryl who couldn’t make it in the end!

We met up at Dessert Bar in Hartamas Shopping Centre. Caught up with everyone’s good and bad news. Was nice. We really should do it more often.



Palate Palette

BAD, Barry, Baby Ad, Faizal and I went for a Sunday BBQ Buffet Dinner at Palate Palette. It was really good! Simple and good. Nachos with Guacamole and Salsa, Salad, Potato Salad, Grilled vege, Corn, Chicken wings, Meat – steak, lamb, chicken, Seafood – prawns, squid, fish. Then my favourite… Dessert! Crème Brulee, Cupcakes, and this Chocolate Cheesecake thing.

Nice and chilled out, cool environment, good food and company… perfect Sunday evening. Will definitely be doing it again.


Adam’s Birthday

Adam came back from Singapore for Mark’s stag-do. His birthday was on Monday so on Sunday night we all went to his house uninvited. We seem to love popping into people’s houses uninvited.

Corrinne’s baby bump is really showing now. I was sitting next to her and saw him move. So cute! Was like a ripple. Put my hand on her tummy and felt him move. Can’t wait to meet him! 3-4 months to go! Weeeee!



Rayn's 2nd Birthday!

Can you believe that Rayn is now TWO??? Such a big boy!

My sister ordered an 'Incredibles' cake for him. His favourite cartoon that he calles 'Bibels'. On that day, she found out that the order didn't go through! She was soooo upset.

I made some phone calls and managed to get Mel Au's friend who makes cupcakes. It was 3pm and I needed it by 8pm. EMERGENCY! She said no problem. She didn't have Incredibles but she did have Cars (one of his other favourite cartoons). She's based in Shah Alam and there was no way I could pick it up from her so she said she would deliver it to the restaurant. Life saver!

Was stuck in traffic for hours. Had to drop my dad at Uptown, go to Section 14 to pick up the balloons (they gave me one less balloon than I paid for! Hmpphh!), pick my dad up again, then head to the restaurant - Mum's Place. Just dinner with my family and BIL's family. And even then it was already 20 people!

Dinner was chaotic. Kids were running everywhere. Rayn was jumping up and down with his cousins after dinner. He got too excited and threw up everywhere... and all over BIL too.

On the bright side, the cupcakes turned out fantasitc! We were all so impressed that she managed to do such a fantastic job with such short notice. Check out My Basic Stories for fantastic cupcakes!

Happy 2nd Birthday Rayn!

How cute is this???

Needless to say... Rayn loved his cupcakes!

"What you laughing at Gaga????"

Scout

My doggie has yet another maggot infection. His first one was on his foot. That has healed and now he has another one. You really don't even want to know where it is...

He's a really old doggie and his skin is bad so he is prone to these infections.

My family was considering putting him to sleep to stop his suffering. I was really really upset. I don't believe in euthanasia. Dogs should just die in their sleep... not be put to sleep. But if that's what had to be done, then I wasn't going to stop it. But I definitely could not watch it happen.

After church on Sunday, I told BAD that I always pray for my family, him, my friends, my business, and everything else important to me. This week I told him I didn't pray for any of those. I only prayed for Scout. Everything else could wait. Scout needed all my prayers.

Good news is that the vet said his wound didn't look too bad. The maggots are gone so now we just need to treat him until the wound closes.

I'm so glad that we won't be putting him to sleep. I know it's going to happen eventually... or one day he would die on his own. But not just yet...

Quote of the day: I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather... not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car (by Will Shriner - Comedian)

Hahaha! I know this quote is morbid and shouldn't even be funny. But I laughed so much when I read it, I thought I'd share it :)

Where did my youth go?

I admit it.

I’m weak.

I’ve given in to the devil’s temptation.

I’m officially… a… Twit.

I’ve joined Twitter. *looks down shamefully*

I’ve even added Twitter to my blog. Eeeeekk!

Heck, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right??? Besides, even Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres are on the damn thing!

Click on the right side of my blog if you’re also a Twit and wish to follow me. Or if you haven’t given in to the devil yet, then you can read it straight from my blog.

Am not too active yet – am still resisting the urge to twit too often. Like Miss Lyck for example. Good Lord woman… I swear you have a Twitter update every ten minutes! Don’t you have better things to do in OZ????




Show stealer? Enthralling performance?

The Malay Mail covered the story of the Pole Stars competition. A pretty good write up with a photo of yours truly. Am pretty sure I didn’t steal the show, but I like the phrase “enthralling performance”. Makes me sounds so…. errrrr… so… enthralling? Click here to check it out.




Shopping with the girls

Anu, Mell and I needed to buy a present for Mark’s birthday so we went to One Utama. We had about an hour to get it because the girls had to rush off so we really had no time to make any detours. Kinda hard especially with 3 girls.

I saw a sale at BCBG, and there was no stopping me! It was even better when we got in. Dresses up to 90% sale! Found such a cute dress with feathers at the bottom. It was about RM2000+ on 90% so it was only RM200+!!! A steal! But the rational side of me kicked in. It was too funky for a wedding, and a bit much for some other event. So as much as I’m addicted to things on sale… I let it go…

Thank goodness so too. Cause I took a picture of me in it to show BAD. He absolutely hated it. He thought it was hideous. I still think it was cute. What do boys know about fashion anyway? Unless the boy is a genius like Marc Jacobs.



Mark’s Birthday

Mark is a big boy now! He turned the big scary 3-0! We had a little party at Baywatch. His last birthday as a bachelor!

Chef Fiona

My cooking has well improved. I think it has anyway. Not sure what the family thinks. But if they don’t like it, they can starve! Been taking a picture of my cooking daily.

Indulge me, won’t you?

Chicken Curry, Black Pepper Minced Beef with Long Beans, Fried Rice.

Tom Yam Fish, Honey Chicken, Okra and Brinjal Sambal.

Vegetable Soup, Egg Sambal, Black Pepper Chicken.

5-Spice Chicken with Carrots, Potato and Egg Sambal

Nasi Lemak with Chicken Rendang

Roast Chicken with roasted carrots and potatoes, Cherry Tomato Shell Pasta, Lemon and Herb gravy for chicken.

Beef and Baby Pak Choy, Minced Chicken with potatoes and beans, Fried Tofu with Thai Chilli Sauce.

Chicken Curry (different style from the first), Tomato and Garlic Prawns, Vegetables and Mushrooms.

Pak Choy stir-fried with Carrots and Ikan Bilis, Omellete, and Kicap Chicken.

But cooking comes at a painful price. I’ve burned my knuckle while taking out the chicken from the oven. Painfulllll! I’ve also cut my finger on a fish tail and hot oil splattered on my face.

My duties are soon to be over. The maid called to say that she’ll be coming back after her one month break in Indonesia. So in a couple of days, I’ll be retrenched and back to my normal life. I might actually miss my housewife lifestyle… though I still went to work every evening.




BAD’s cooking

For over a year, BAD has been telling me what a good cook he is. He makes good this and makes good that. But for one year, I’ve never seen him so much as hold a frying pan or a spatula.

BAD, being very competitive in nature, wanted to show off that he could cook better than me since I’ve been doing so much cooking recently. So on Sunday, he finally decided he’ll put his words into some action. I was thrilled! I just stood there watching him as he maneuvered around the kitchen.

I must say, the boy cuts an onion way better than I do! I suck at cutting the damn thing. Half the time I’m crying my eye balls out.

He made a Beef Stroganoff and garlic bread without any assistance from me. All I did was toss the salad.

Though I’m sure he would love for me to shower him with compliments, I’m gonna make him cook a few more dishes for me first. After all that talk, I’m not letting him off with a rainfall of compliments just because he successfully cooked ONE dish!

I’m a tough cookie to please, aren’t I?




Flying Chillies

BAD and I met up with Shaun and Kat for lunch at Flying Chillies in the Gardens. From the menu and décor, I could immediately tell that the place must be owned by the same group who started Just Thai, Absolute Thai, Basil, and a whole bundle of other Thai Restaurants including Bangkok Jam and Bangkok Jazz. The food however, wasn’t exactly that great. I’ve tasted better in their other outlets. Not that it was horrible, but wasn’t spectacular. It surely wasn't 'Simply Thailicious'. I also thought it was a lot pricier than the other places too. RM260 for 4 people. For lunch. Quite pricey for a casual restaurant in a mall don't you think?




Movies

Mell and I went to watch a movie on Saturday night. We decided on 17 Again (or was it Night At The Museum? I forget…) at midnight. We got there at 11.30pm. I lined up for the tickets while Mell went to park her car. When I got to the counter, I was told that there were only single seats left – meaning we would have to be separated.

So I left the line without any tickets and 20 seconds later, Mell showed up. BAH!! So we had to line up all over again. All the movies sounded scary so it made the choice quite easy for us though it was only screening an hour later. We watched State of Play starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Helen Mirren.

I thought the movie was pretty good but the ending confused me a bit. If you haven’t watched the movie, please skip the next paragraph cause I AM going to spoil it for you. If you have watched the movie, then read the next paragraph and answer my question:


So, towards the end of the show, Robert Bingham is on the phone with his ‘Boss’ saying that he’s going to finish what they started or whatever. Then he destroys his phone. I’m assuming ‘boss’ would be Stephen Collins. Was he leaving a voicemail on Stephen’s phone? Or was he actually speaking to Stephen? Cause if he was speaking to Stephen, does that mean that Stephen had ordered him to kill Cal McAffrey?


I bet some of you who haven’t watched the movie still read that paragraph right? Curiosity kills the meow meow. Now I’ve spoilt it for you.


While tucking into my big plate of Beef Stroganoff, BAD and I watched Obsessed starring Idris Elba, Beyonce Knowles, and Ali Larter. Freaky! I had to stop eating at many points cause I was scared of what she would do! BAD commented that for a show starring Beyonce Knowles, the soundtrack was crap. I barely noticed the soundtrack. Was too busy squeezing the blood out of BAD’s hands at the scary scenes, or shoving food into my mouth at the not so scary scenes. Can you imagine if I'm already this bad at a thriller, how bad would I be if I ever watched a HORROR????

I need to stop watching all these intense movies. Bring back my chick-flicks! Bring back my Rom-Coms dammit!



Rayn

The first few weeks of babysitting Rayn was great. He was quite well behaved and was a happy little boy.

But over the last two weeks, something happened. And we don’t know what.

I’ve heard people talk about the Terrible Two. In theory, I knew what they meant. Now I REALLY know why its called The Terrible Two.

Rayn is turning two in a couple of weeks. And his terrible side is suddenly showing. He has started biting and hitting. You would think the bite or slap of a two year old would not hurt. Well, you’ve definitely not been smacked by Rayn before!

I’ve tried everything from scolding him, to sending him to the corner, to ignoring him. None of it has worked.

I googled it (Google - my answer to everything in life) and discovered that biting and hitting are very common problems for two year old kids. I was comforted to know that we weren’t alone in this and people all over the world had the same issue. More importantly, that there is nothing wrong with Rayn... he's just going through a phase.

I don’t believe in hitting a child, so spanking him is out of the question. If he needs to be spanked, it should be by his own parents and not me anyway. So I’ve been trying to give him three warnings. Then he gets sent to the corner if he continues doing it. I don’t think he fully understands the meaning of standing in the corner, but he knows he’s being punished. I also have to hold him there for two minutes (one minute per year of age i.e. he is two years old so two minutes) cause he wouldn’t sit there on his own for now.

It upsets me more to punish him than it probably upsets him. To hear him cry every time I need to punish him truly breaks my heart. When his two minutes is up, he runs to my mother for comfort. My mother of course would NEVER punish her precious grandson. I’ve even heard her say to him, “Gaga so fierce, hor? Punish Rayn boy. Popo would never punish Rayn boy”. (Rayn calls me Gaga – short for Godma).

But oh, let me tell you. When he bites her until she has teeth marks and bruises all over her body, she will shout, “Gaga will send you to the corner!”. Talk about unfair!! I get to be the bad cop and she gets to be good cop. Hmmppphhh!

The great thing about kids is that five minutes after punishing him, he’s friends with me again and wants to play together.

But to be fair, most of the time he’s very well behaved and is still the cutest little boy ever.

BIL and I took him for a haircut the other day. I was warned that every time he needs to get a haircut, he cries bloody murder throughout the whole process. But for the first time ever, he kept quiet throughout the whole ordeal! He just leaned his head down on BIL’s shoulder while the stylist snipped away. You could tell from his face that he was holding back his tears. He just looked down and didn’t move an inch! Then BIL had to move him to the other shoulder so the stylist could cut the other half of his hair. I thought he might bawl at that point but he obediently let them move him around and kept quiet.

Poor boy was absolutely miserable!

I was so proud of him!!! Now he’s got a short pesky haircut that makes him look like he’s constantly got something mischievous up his sleeves.











I Hate Mondays


Monday was the worst day everrrr! For two reasons:

First.

Hartamas is always congested. And all the bloody cars are double parked. Finding a parking spot at peak hour is like striking the lottery.

I found a spot.

But all the bloody cars were double parked on the right so I couldn’t turn in to the left. I inched my way into the spot. There was a black Honda Civic on my right. A signpost and tree on my left. Inch, inch, inch, careful not to touch the Honda, inch, inch, scratchhhhhhh!!!

I scratched poor Kaloo’s back door on the effin' signpost. I swear I almost burst into tears. Inched out of the damn spot, went round and round, found another spot, then dreadfully went to check on Kaloo. I shrieked! Some dudes sitting nearby stared at me. It rained just before so my car was still wet. I touched the scratches and realized most of it was paint. I frantically started rubbing it off. Managed to get quite a bit out. Am not sure if the rest are scratches or deep stubborn paint. I pray its all just paint.

As if that wasn’t bad enough to spoil my day.

Then… the second thing happened.

I was sitting at my desk sulking about Kaloo while twirling my hair.

Then I found it!

I found my FIRST STRAND OF WHITE HAIR!!!

I was devastated!!!!

OMGGGGGG!!

Where has my youth gone????

It’s goneeeee!! I’ve got white hair!!!

Soon I’ll be getting wrinkles! And my boobs will sag to my belly button! And my face and neck would lose its youthful look!

I’VE GOT WHITE HAIR!

And if you are rolling your eyes and saying you got your first strand of white hair like a gagillion years ago, well… shut up. It’s about me and my devastating one strand of white hair! Have pity on me.

BAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

It’s gone.... It’s all going downhill from here….


Goodbye my Youth.... Goodbye....

Quote of the day: As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two (Sir Norman Wisdom)

Love must be in the air or something…

I’ve become domesticated. I cook, I clean, and I run after Rayn all day. I wake up early cause he wakes me up, and try to sleep earlier than usual because I need the rest and energy to entertain him all day long.

Domestication is growing on me. Only I don’t quite look as glamorous (or even cook as well) as the Domestic Goddess - Nigella Lawson. Fine, she seems to have put on a ton of weight recently, but she still manages to look glamorous while cooking up a feast and not breaking into a drop of sweat. TV can do wonders I tell ya…

My sister came home early from work one day (very rarely do we bump into each other at home) and I was busy cooking dinner for everyone.

She looked at me and said, “Oh… you look… like a… housewife”.

I was wearing a pair of crummy shorts, my t-shirt was smeared with flour, my skin had a thick layer of oil coating it, and my hair was tied up in a messy bun with my fringe pinned rather unattractively at the top of my head like a coconut.

Oh yes… domestication is definitely growing on me.

You know what I need? Really long cooking gloves. Those that go up to your elbows. And a face mask. Right now I’m using two wet towels draped on my arms to protect my skin from flying hot oil every time I need to deep fry something. Splatters of oil is damn painful!! Now I know why the Lorong Selamat Char Kuey Teow ladies in Penang wear goggles when they cook.

I could use a long sleeved t-shirt to protect my arms but the kitchen is SUPER hot and I would be drenched in sweat (which I already am anyway).

I sent my sister and BIL this SMS the other day:


Tuan and Puan. Chef Fiona would like to request the installation of a fan in the kitchen. Failure to do so may result in extra salty flavor of perspiration added to your food.


Fan has yet to be installed. But I’m still whipping up some yummy dishes (if I may say so myself)!

Tom Yam Soup, Kangkong with mushrooms and ikan bilis, Lemon Chicken.

Spicy Tomato Chicken (Ayam Masak Merah), Chicken Kurma, Kailan with Carrots and Garlic.

Rayn

The boy gets cuter and cuter every single day. I’ve been trying to teach him silly songs like Skimeridink and the Banana Song.

Kaloo

Since Rayn had discovered that I was sleeping with his Kaloo bear, it had gone missing for about a week. Nobody had seen him. I checked Rayn’s playpen, checked all the boxes of toys, checked his cot, and even checked the closet. Kaloo was no where to be found.

Just as I was talking about the missing Kaloo to BIL and my mom, it suddenly dawned upon me where Kaloo could be.

Rayn has this roller school bag that he drags around the room everyday. As he’s dragging it around, he would say, “Bag bag bag!”

It was the only place I had not checked. And everyday he was dragging it in front of me. Now that I think about it, that little rascal was teasing me with the bag! If he could talk, he would have sang, “I know something you don’t know… la la la la la la la”.

True enough, when I unzipped the bag, Kaloo was hiding in there along with some crayons.

I don’t believe I was out-smarted by a boy who is barely two years old.




Play Date

Took Rayn for a play date with Marisse and her cousins. He had such a brilliant time. Rayn being a typical boy likes to run around and throw things and climb whatever he sees. But because the kids were slightly older than him, he was so timid and careful. He had fun anyway and the interaction was great for him. Think he’s bored of all the games my mom and I play with him.

My Best Buddy is ENGAGED!

Early last month, my best bud Sanjeev asked me out for a drink to catch up. He then told me he had bought THE ring and was going to propose to his love, January. I was so thrilled for him and we were excitedly exchanging ideas on how he was going to do it.

He was going to pop the question in a couple of months. But plans changed when they found out Jan would be going to Korea for 6 months starting in June. They live in two different countries so when they are in the same country, they spend every second attached to each other’s hips. Which made the proposal plans extra difficult for him. So best buddy Fiona was called to the rescue.

He wanted to catch her off guard so we devised a plan.

He took her for a super romantic dinner at Il Tempio. The plan was to lead her on to think that he was going to propose to her during dinner. It worked cause apparently Jan sulked throughout dinner cause he didn’t propose.

The day before the proposal, we already set up the decoy. I called San to pretend that he had to come to Talent Hub to sign some papers for our accountant (Sanjeev is my business partner if you didn’t already know). So at about 7pm when they were getting ready for dinner, I called again to ‘remind’ San to come to the studio. So after dinner, Jan knew that they had to come to the Hub to sign these papers urgently.

Before they came, it was frantic chaos at the Hub. I had 45 minutes to set up everything. I had to chase all the students out of the studio, and turn the dance floor into a romantic proposal site. I managed to convince three pole dance students to help me out cause I was running out of time. Thanks Huda, Aimi, and Kenny!

Flower petals and candles with the ring on a cushion in the middle.





Fresh roses and chilled wine to celebrate if she said YES

My assistants hard at work.

After dinner, he took her to the Hub and everything looked normal. Until she heard Damien Rice playing softly in the background. As she turned the corner where the dance floor was, she saw the dark room lit up by candles. She burst into tears immediately.

Needless to say.... she said YES!

The rest of us were waiting at a nearby bar called Blackboard to celebrate with them.






After an hour from the given time, the happy engaged couple finally turned up with the bling bling securely on her fourth finger.

San and Jan, I’m so happy for the two of you. Can’t wait for the big day! Woot woot!





Rekha and Nicki’s Wedding

So many weddings recently! This time, the gorgeous Rekha finally tied the knot with her man Nicki. We went for their beautiful wedding reception at Carcosa Seri Negara. The food was excellent and the staff were quite attentive. My glass was constantly being filled with deep red yummy liquid.

My main course.

Shan and I with the beautiful couple. Look how they are a whole head taller than us!

Melvyn’s 40^th.

My cousin Melvyn turned 40. His family threw him a party with some of the extended family and his friends.

Shaun’s Birthday

After my cousin’s party, I went to Velvet for Shaun’s birthday. Was feeling really ill so I didn’t stay long. Didn’t take any photos with my camera either. Katrina took quite a few nice shots so I figured I could just get it off her from Facebook. But poor girl lost her camera that night…




Pole Dancing.... OUCH!

The Pole-Girls organized a Pole Dancing competition called ‘Pole Stars’. They must have drugged my water when I wasn’t looking, cause for some reason beyond my comprehension, I agreed to put up a performance. They also made it very hard for me to say no because proceeds from my performance would be donated to a charity of my choice –Women’s Aid Organization.

Lola (her pole name is Luscious Lola. I’m gonna change it to Loco Lola cause she is LOCO!) started training me on Monday. My performance was on Saturday. In less than one week, I had to not only learn how to Pole Dance, but to put up a performance too!

Loco Lola of course wanted me to do all sorts of spins and lifts. But after one class, I think she finally realized that I’ve got about ZERO upper body strength. Being the optimistic loco girl that she is, she still wanted me to do it. But being difficult-tantrum-throwing me, I managed to wiggle my way out of anything I wasn’t confident I could pull off in less than a week.

So from Monday to Thursday, I practiced my ass off. My whole body was in severe pain! I could barely carry Rayn! Plus point is that I’ve grown some muscles from the workout.

Several videos were taken during my rehearsals. What I didn’t know, was that they were going to put all my bloopers on YouTube!

So go ahead…. Feel free to laugh at my expense… while I go look for a hole to hide in....








Done laughing? Alright then... lets move on.

Finally, the day had arrived. As much as I had whined and complained of aching body parts, they weren’t gonna let me pull out. I was genuinely still ill but figured they weren’t gonna take that excuse either so I drugged up on Clarinase and Panadol and Berocca.

My last practice was on Thursday. I had no practice on Friday and was there on Saturday afternoon for the rehearsals at Saigon Bar. In that short day and a half, I had somehow forgotten my routine. Had a quick run through with the pole just to get a feel of it.

Note the expression - "CRAP! What's my routine???"
Photo courtesy of Sean

After a short rehearsal to make sure my dress didn’t get caught in my shoe AGAIN, I decided I would just wing it that night. After many years of performing (in my younger more limber age), I have mastered the art of winging it. I believe if you maintain your smile and facial expression while never stopping midway while dancing, no one is going to know that you made a mistake. More so, I was doing a Solo. If it involved other people then of course I couldn’t get away with winging it. But with a solo, the only person who would know my mistakes would be Loco Lola and she was too busy running around that night anyway.

And winged it I did. Not my best piece of work but hopefully I managed to pull off a convincing performance.

Photo courtesy of Tze Yee.

Photo courtesy of Natasha.

Photo courtesy of Simon from the media




Photo courtesy of Natasha.



With Kevin Zahri.
Photo courtesy of Natasha.

Attempting to look serious while judging.

Photo courtesy of Natasha.

Kyeth's awesome make-up

Three hot women performing a dance.

Contemporary performance.

I was also a judge for the competition that night. Great work by all the contestants! I was very impressed by some of them. But again as I mentioned above, maintaining your smile and composure throughout any performance is very important. I didn’t know any of their routines so even if they bluffed everything, I wouldn’t have known. But if you say “Shit!” or cringe your face while dancing, then hellloooo… it’s a bit obvious. But I guess it was the first time for some of them. They’ll get better I’m sure.

One more opportunity for them to perform in November for Talent Hub’s 4^th Anniversary Dinner and Dance. I need to start planning for that. It sounds ages away… but it really isn’t. Does anyone know any good venues? Need a big area for dance floor.



Hip Hop for Kids.

Talent Hub just started a new class - Hip Hop for kids. They are sooooo cute!

Sunday with BAD

After hardly seeing each other the whole week, BAD and I spent a nice Sunday together.

The boy-who-thinks-he-is-English was missing the UK after having his old friend down for the weekend. He was suddenly craving a Sunday Roast so I suggested we go to Jarrod & Rawlins in Damansara Heights. Perfect. With Yorkshire Pudding for the English Boy and deadly mustard that almost brought tears to my eyes.

Portions were HUGE. I’m a girl with a big appetite and I was already struggling half way through to finish it. But was really yummy and BAD was a happy camper after that.

Chilled out there after our huge meal and read half the newspaper each. Later in the evening we went to church then to One Utama.

BAD is quite sensitive about his feet and doesn’t like it to be touched. Total opposite of me cause I LOVEEE foot rubs. His feet were really hurting so he contemplated getting his first ever foot massage. We stood outside Thai Odyssey for ages then I finally just dragged him in. I was so worried his reflex might be to kick the masseuse in the face. We each had a half an hour foot massage. BAD loved it and nobody was injured in the process.

Next time I’m gonna take him for Foot Reflexology. Then I really can’t guarantee he won’t kick the masseuse!

With wobbly legs, we went to buy groceries for my week of cooking. Also bought some salad to make for dinner cause I had way too much meat that day. My body was craving some fiber.

Went back to his place, prepared our dinner, then sat in front of the TV to eat while watching ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’. It wasn’t that great. The sweetest part was when he gave her the green scarf at the end. But other than that, it was quite ordinary. ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ was sooo much better.



Jaya Supermarket

From the very day that I heard Jaya Supermarket was going to be demolished, I was so upset. It was THE place back in the day. I think I even went there on my first date. My family used to live in Section 12, so we were always around Jaya area. Cold Storage for all our groceries, the cobbler downstairs to fix our shoes, the locksmith, the florist, the restaurants. Even though we live much further away now, my mother still goes back to Section 14 for everything. For her hairdresser, for her tailor, for her post office, for her bank. There’s no other option. Its Section 14 or nothing.

BAD was the first to tell me that Jaya Supermarket had collapsed. On my way back from work, I heard it on the news to confirm it was true. Sure, the place was going to be demolished and I had come to terms with that. But for it to collapse and kill people, the news was devastating.

I went to Tomato (I was their very last customer until they relocate) to get my hair done for Rae’s wedding. I could have gone closer to see the damage but I didn’t want to. I stood one block away and saw the rubble. It was heartbreaking.



Twitter.

I'm about to give in to this little twit. As if Facebook is not enough. Now they have Twitter. It's like the in-thing apparently. BAD is constantly twitting on his Crackberry.

I wasn't really convinced at first... but when I heard even Oprah is on Twitter... then my ears perked up!

To twit or not to twit... that is the question....

Quote of the day: Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to succes when they gave up (Thomas Edison)