Saturday, December 27, 2008

Bizarre Christmas

Actually, it's been a muted Christmas for us. Had to admit Dad into a hospital on boxing day since he hasn't been well from a week ago with suspected dengue/chikugunya. He was on drip as he was vomiting. Doctor suspects he was attacked with viral fever and maybe a tail-end of dengue.

It's actually good that we were on long holiday so we could visit him and keep Mum company. He was discharged after two nights and came home to rest.

Then, a few hours later, KS parents, on their way home from Ipoh yesterday wanted to drop by to see how Dad was, encountered car problems and were forced to spend the night while sourcing for a mechanic.

This morning, while we were having breakfast with everyone, my aunt, uncle and cousin decided to drop by to visit Dad. Then in the afternoon, my Mum-in-law went to visit an old friend who helped source for the mechanic and had them guide her back to our PJ house. So her friend and family also dropped by to say hello. Phew! What a load of unexpected visitors! KS parents just went back and we're finally back in Klang to feed the cat.

But all in all, Dad's getting so much better and I think the company also did him good. We made sure he didn't strain himself and insisted he took his rest when he felt tired.

Friday, December 26, 2008

The Shrilling Chicken



Here's what I got for Grace for Christmas. It's called a "Shrilling Chicken" although I reckon it should be called a "Roasted Shrieking Chicken". The expression on the chicken's face is so hilarious!


I also got for KS a shark hand puppet, specially ordered from Amazon, shipped to somewhere in USA, then shipped to Singapore and brought in by Grace. Phew. You can imagine what a bomb it cost! But I had the hope it would be the hand puppet for him and unfortunately, I wasn't too pleased with the QC as it had a slight tear plus it wasn't exactly what I hoped it would be. Ah well, the risks of buying stuff online.


Here we made a short video of the two and hope you enjoy it:

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Pre-Christmas Peace


The furious wrapping of presents have tapered down, the bottom of the tree is bursting with presents, the two kids are out on their train ride, Matt's busy in the kitchen preparing the turkey while I'm here busy blogging and playing computer games... This is going to be a GREAT Christmas. :)

Matt, Grace and kids are here in PJ. This is the first Christmas we're having here in the new house. KS brought the Christmas tree from Klang and set it up a couple of weeks ago. It's now quietly blinking in the living room, lending a peaceful sparkle in it's muted corner. I gave up trying to fit all the presents under it so they're spilling out of the sides.

Christmas shopping this year has been a fun process, pounding the pavement of every mall for the last few weekends. Of course, KS was filled with horror battling the crowd last weekend when he had to do his shopping. Look forward to the opening of presents and seeing everyone's face when a particular present it opened. Will feature it here once it is unwrapped.

Blessed Christmas everyone.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

You Know You're Old When...

This morning I realised two marks of growing old:

1. I realise I've been drinking warm water instead of cold. As a child, I used to drink only cold water and simply couldn't believe my Mum when she said warm water is nice.

2. I wake up at 11am on a weekend and think, "Boy, a day wasted!" when 11am used to be the official wake-up time back then.

Will add more to the list when it dawns upon me.

Wrapping Up 2008

Since KS started recounting the 10 events of 2008 in his blog, I'd like to recap major events of 2008 too although some will overlap with his.

1. General Elections 2008 saw to a major shake up to the current administration. The rakyat has spoken loud and clear and yet fools choose to challenge even God by saying things like "Even God cannot destroy UMNO". The last time God was publicly challenge was "Even God cannot sink this ship (Titanic)". We'll see.

2. Discovering new places - Korean town in Ampang, Camerons, Bangkok and Hong Kong. I enjoyed Bangkok and Hong Kong but only see myself returning to Hong Kong. It was also a good (although stressful) time with my family.

3. Hospitalised. The strange fever that wouldn't go away for 12 days and deferred my Bangkok trip. Pity there wasn't a Dr House in that hospital as they haven't figured out what was ailing me. Also, I was slightly amused that despite my repeated rejection of my 4th antibiotic course, informing him I have felt nausea and headache when I once took my 3rd course years ago, the doctor insisted I take it. He had to eat his words back when a rash immediately broke out all over my body. And I've learnt that it is good to stay in a single bedded room if you're not well.

4. Caving. It was fun climbing and crawling in Gua Tempurung with the CG. My toe nail is still slowly growing as I type.

5. Getting ever-so-slightly healthier. Started with switching my char siew pao and Snickers chocolate bar to some oats for breakfast which then caused me piles (see? It's sometimes not healthy to eat oats!) and now I'm taking cereal and the occasional instant soup for breakfast.

6. Good friend Heman migrated to Sydney. Although we don't meet as often as I like, I do miss calling him once in a while and just talking. Things are just different over the internet, you know?

7. Changing new job. Stressful but it's work stress so that's fine. Mental stress is being sorted, so things are getting better. However, I've lost the time and motivation to blog as a result of being bogged down by work.

8. Minor new discoveries - Ben & Jerry's, Krispy Kreme, Capoeira.

Now to start planning a list of things for 2009.

Colonial Malaya

Last Thursday, my office had our annual dinner with the theme Colonial Malaya at the Carcosa Sri Negara. It was nice to see my colleagues dressed up to the era and some came looking like Tunku Abdul Rahman. Plus, the setting was simply perfect for the theme.

I was told to go a Tan Cheng Lock's wife so I dressed up in my cheongsam. Yes, my wedding cheongsam which made me look like a lap cheong just three months after my wedding. I've lost quite a lot of weight recently (to my puzzlement as I really want to know how I did it so that I can continue doing it!) so it fit me as well as it did on my wedding. Will find a decent photo if I can find one.

The food at the Gulai House was excellent although I didn't dare to touch the beef. Loved the pancake/crepe with ice cream at the end.

Everyone went home with a prize, the "unluckiest" ones went home with a 2G thumbdrive, which was still a good thing for me. Although my 4th thumbdrive, there's always more junk to store and keep in them.

How's Your Poo?

Today, after 11 years of being my partner, KS actually asked me about stool matters without me prompting or bringing it up in the first place. I am so proud of him. The endless dinners with my family talking about poo has finally rubbed off.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

It's Been Too Long

I can't remember the last time I went to a pub or disco and danced.

But last Friday, I attended a farewell for an ex-colleague but as I only got to know about it on the day itself, I went dressed in a sweater (!) and heels which were not really meant for bumping and grinding in a sweat filled environment.


Zeta's got a great band (although I have no comparisons but I enjoyed myself) and the crowd consisted of much older folks, most self-consciously moving on the spot while holding their drinks in one hand. We were the same until someone suggested to go down to the dance floor and boy, did we then really move it, move it!

Now my muscles are sore but it was worth the stress reliever! I had a great time letting down my hair with my ex-colleagues.

Now back to my work on a Sunday.

Doing Work on a Sunday

Hate it. Hate it! Gaaaaaah! Forgot to bring home my calculator now I can't do my work. Plus, I'm in a holiday mood. It's a weekend, for crying out loud! :(

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Being in an Islamic Bank...

One of the first things I learned here in my new job is the Malam Khamis-Jumaat. All this while, my sifu's in my ex company never explained this law so when I heard about it recently, I thought my leg was being pulled.

Malam Khamis-Jumaat, or Thursday nights, for Muslims are dedicated for husbands to be with their wives. You know, to carry out their famiy duty of procreation. So every Thursday nights, there's always the joke circling about not having to hold late meetings.

Then, I also recently learned that circumcision is not only for boys. Apparently, girls are also subjected to it when they're babies although I'm still not very sure what they actually cut off. That is SO weird!

One colleagues said, "Of course, now that you're in an Islamic Bank, you should get know these things". I'll share more when I learn more interesting things.

Monday, December 01, 2008

Recurring Bad Dreams

For some people, they dream of bad things happening in toilets. For KS and a few people I know, they dream of sittimg for exams and somehow they can't read the questions, can't understand, pencil doesn't work, pen doesn't have ink, everyone else writing furiously while you're still trying to figure out how to open the paper... Actually, I had a dream about sitting for a Maths test which asked the degree of a triangle with a cos theta. Man! That was more than 15 years ago and I couldn't answer that!

Anyway, my recurring bad dream is usually related to teeth. Last night I dreamt that 5 of my molars disintegrated into smaller pieces but left the roots in my gums and I had to spit out the pieces in hope that some dentist can glue them all back.