Bye 2009 !

2009 is almost over, and soon we'll have a brand new clean slate on which to write a new year. Gee, this year simply flew by . I must admit reluctantly and most unfortunately. I don't have any 'achievements' to shout about nor did I do anything I am particularly proud of. However, I did discover some home truths about myself - throughout this year, I have gotten rather eccentric ( at times), reclusive ( sometimes - some people who have been trying to get me out for dinner will testify to this!) , short tempered ( most times!!) and illogical ( all of the time!). Blame it on the hormones that ran amok during these pre-menopausal times!!! I look at this as a privilege of getting old!!! So, to those in constant contact with me ( especially my family), sorry and thank you for your tolerance in putting up with me.

2009, despite no high points in my personal agenda, was indeed a milestone of sorts in my family. Ian turned 21. We had a little surprise birthday party for him - some very close friends and some of his Bestari school chums - many thanks to Evonne for helping to organise this part and on such short notice too. Julian turned 12 - old enough to get his IC !! My babies are growing up !!! Sometimes I look at the old photos and reminisce about when they were small. Bitter sweet really ....

My cousin Lina from Sydney was here for a visit. Gosh, it was last year since Ian and I visited her and Uncle Eric in Sydney!! Still remember the lovely time we had. Uncle Eric has since passed on and I am so glad we took the time to visit him.

I live my life through my kids. Ian is currently home for his internship and will be here until after CNY 2010. He graduates next year and will ( hopefully) remain in Australia after that. So, I aim to savour this time he is at home. He may not have so much time to be at home next year on!!

Ryan is loving school and all its activities. Was Sportsman of the Year for lower sec in school and has excelled surprisingly in middle distance running!! He has had a great year, was the Nationals Novice champion for figure skating and was voted Most Promising Skater. He passed his Freestyle 9 test, which makes him one of the highest level skater in the country. We are now aiming for Freestyle 10 next year and hopefully he can be the first Malaysian to achieve that. Fingers...and toes crossed!!! But all these are not without its price - he suffered injuries to his knee and for a while had to do physio every other day. Now we are very careful about not over training. Ryan is also selected to attend the Korean Dream Program next month in Korea.

Julian graduated from Primary school and will enter Year 7 next year. He, too had a good year. Was Head Prefect in school and graduated with a special award for achievements in skating. He, too won his category in the Malaysian Nationals. He attended the Korean Dream Program in Korea this year. Did ok in his UPSR , no flying colours unfortunately but nothing to be ashamed of either. He is very excited about entering secondary school next year. He is really growing up and so fast too.

Blue's year was so-so. Affected by the economic turndown and still trying to get back up. He has lost a bit of weight and this troubles me . Firstly for his health and secondly, I am jealous cos I am not losing any!!! He has 'rediscovered' his old school chums, attended a big school reunion recently and is now in constant touch with his mates. Bugs the hell out of us with his repeated requests for help in his emails and facebook journeys. This does not happen everyday - it happens every other hour in a day!!!! Help!

As for myself, I started a blog !!! A total of 49 entries , including this and I have passed the 1000 hits mark. Yay.....my only lapse was during this recent school holidays which threw a spanner in my works!!! Haha...hopefully I will persevere on. I have also added on in the weight category , and am now about 7 kg more than what I should be, or rather what I want to be. People who are kind say I look better but I look in the mirror and am not too happy with what I see! Took a trip to Melbourne earlier in the year for a mini school reunion of sorts!! Mini, cos it was only 4 of us - Cheng Kim, Jow Mee , Hock Poh ( Joni) and me!!! Still, it was fun. Now planning for the big one in 2011 - St Marians reading this please contact me so I can keep you gals updated!

Celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary this year - no do. Just a very quiet dinner for 2. Infact it wasn't even on the actual date cos that day I was flying off to Hong Kong with the boys for a competition!!! This reminds me of my 1st anniversary which I celebrated all by myself in Northampton ( work) while Blue was home in KL !!!

Discovered a new 'friend' who turned out to be really a friend in the true sense. Met up with old school friends whom I have not seen in a very very long time. Made some new 'friends' whom I don't really care for ( Nor they for me, I'm sure - haha) .

Cheers people - here's to a sparkling New Year and many more happy experiences !

Merry Christmas!!!

What???? My last post was Nov 5?? Gosh, I didn't realize it has been thaaaaat long ago! Oh well, the school holidays have thrown my usual schedule off and I am kinda in limbo since. Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone....expect more posts from next week on...after school reopens ! Hehe...this is not a New Year resolution, so .......:) I stopped making New Year resolutions long ago...but then that's another story.

The rink's Christmas show was last weekend. It was enjoyable while it lasted, as usual but this year I felt it lacked some 'oomp'. Can't put a finger on it but something was missing. Last year's show ( Jack in the box) was more interesting and Christmassy although we dind't have a Santa Claus. This year, we had Ian as Santa ( Thanks dear, appreciate it ) but somehow the Christmas feel was not there. Anyone who saw the show care to share your thoughts on this?

One more week to go before we have a brand new year to start afresh. Time really flies...hope to make the most of next week to have a memorable 'old' year. Am planning to do a summary of what I have been up to in 2009, so watch this space. Again, fingers crossed...soon, I hope!!!

Was told by hubby yesterday that we had an invitation to attend someone's 70th birthday party next week. 70 !!! Was going to say no, cos I don't even know who the old geezer is, but on 2nd thoughts - hey, I'll be one of the youngest people there!!! Haha....cheap thrill :) And the do is at Jarrod and Rawlins - I like that place, so why not? Maybe I will have more tales to tell after that...hopefully...that is if I don't fall asleep in the middle of it. What to talk to old people ar? (So mean, hor - I forget I will be 70 one of these days, and you young chicos will say the same about me ...sigh..:(

Merry Christmas folks, and have a great day !!! Ho Ho Ho .....

Boring dinner

Attended a very very very very....boring dinner last night. It's that kind of dinner where you don't really want to go but have to. I'm sure you know what I mean. Anyway, the hubby called up in the afternoon and said that his friend had invited the whole family for dinner with some Korean friends. Venue - some Korean place in Taipan. I was debating whether to say yes or not, especially when Ryan was having exams. Hmm...lucky him, he got off!! My sweet Ju offered to accompany me! I was wondering whether the 'family' meant that everyone was bringing their brood or was it just us?

Anyway, it does not really matter cos it turned out exactly what I envisioned it would be - BORING!! Koreans are notorious for being male chauvinists ( and I have not come across any exception yet) , and their women pretty much have to stay behind the limelight. This was from personal experience when I was working in GEC - our Korean counterpart thought I was the secretary and my assistant ( a guy) the Engineer. Even when he discovered I was the one he was supposed to deal with, he kept asking me if I was really an engineer!! What the.....

Anyway, coming back to the present, when we got to the restaurant, there were 3 tables reserved. One was for the Korean guy's family, in the middle, a big table were for the men, and another table on the other side for us!!! We were a bit late - that's another long story why - will save it for another time!! So everyone has started eating. Guess, it was a blessing in disguise cos that means I don't have to make small talk with other people. Just a big 'hi hi' and hello to everyone present and I can settle at our own table and eat!!! Thank God for small blessings!

Luckily Julian was with me cos the hubby 'abandoned' us right after eating and sat with the guys! Aiya, if they want to talk guy talk, why bring the family leh? Furthermore it was a week night and is usually not family day. Sometimes I wonder...does this make them feel better and convince themselves that they are not 'neglecting' the family??? Or they think we are so dumb that we can't see through their badly executed attempt to justify to themselves that they are giving us time? Hmm, I'd much prefer quality time over senseless quantity time.

So overall summary - food was ok, liked the Bulgogi and the BBQ beef. Sang gei tang was a bit weird, not like the ones I am used to. ( This one had a very thick soup ) Dessert was completely yukky - I have never seen or tasted it before , some kind of noodle in a cold sour spicy soup. Tasted a bit like sour plum but then again not quite. Don't know what it was. Will not eat it again. Ju very gamely finished half a bowl although he didn't like it . He said he wanted to be polite - he is sooooo GOOD!! So happy for his presence, otherwise, I would be bored stiff!!

Not a great evening and one that I would not care to repeat.

Hanging Monastery of Mt Heng

Another place to add to my 'to visit' list is the Hanging Monastery of Hengshan, or Mount Heng in Shanxi, China. It's an engineering marvel, just imagine building on a sheer cliff face, 50 m above the ground. That translates to roughly 15 stories up above the ground.!!

As usual, I saw in on TV - what a marvelous invention that idiot box is!! And so wonderful for armchair travellers like me. What I saw really intrigued me - the whole building is made of wood, save for the roof tiles and is very cleverly cantilevered out from the cliff face. The long poles you see in the photo only 'appeared' to be supporting the structure but in fact, they are there only to give the illusion of security. In reality, the poles are merely wedged between the platform and the cliff face. They are not even buried inside the rock!!!

The whole monastery is actually very spacious as the monks apparently burrowed into the cliff face to make cave rooms. This is so ingenious, and to think that the building was built 1400 years ago!! That means practically no machines and super tools. Just imagine the amount of manpower and time it required. And it is still standing..or rather hanging today! ( Of course it has been repaired, restored etc but still...) I am really impressed and I want to go and see it for myself.

The whole idea of building it against a cliff is for protection from floods and strong gusts. As it is a Taoist monastery, the idea of calm and serenity is also very important - who is going to come and kacau such a precarious location!!

If you are thinking of going there, it's roughly 300 km west of Beijing, near a town called Datong, in the Shanxi province. My idea is to go before my legs give way and cannot make the climb up....but that's only a plan. Hope it materializes!!! See you there! :)

PS: Meanwhile, I'll still be slogging in the gym to make sure my legs are still working!

(Extremely) Noisy St Marians

9 ladies and a ton of noise!! That's what we do best!

Had a lovely afternoon today. Met up with 8 of my classmates from my secondary school days for tea at House & Co in Bangsar Shopping Center and had a great time catching up and generally behaving the age we once were!!

FYI, classmates mean my Form 1 to 5 buddies from St Mary's. Some of us meet up once in a while and we are pretty much up to date with each others' lives. But it was a real treat to catch up with Liz, whom I have not seen since Form 5 and YS, whom I met briefly many years back!! For those of you who know my age, you can pretty well do the math and guess that's it's been almost ?? decades !! It was wonderful to be able to sit down and yak yak yak away!!

The noise we made was horrendous, not unlike what we used to do many many years ago and got reprimanded by the teachers in school. Ryan and Julian dropped by and refused to sit with us. They preferred to go home than be embarassed!! It was certainly most 'unladylike' and definitely not what was expected of 'ladies' like us!! (To digress, this reminded me of a girls trip we took to Myanmar some years back and a guest in the hotel room next to ours complained that too much noise was coming out from our room!! Now that is another fantastic trip to reminisce about. ) A trio of customers walked discreetly passed our table and elected to sit outside....to get as far away from the din as possible!! The owners must have not been amused :)

We exchanged stories of kids, families but most of all juicy gossips about other classmates who were not present! Well, what do you expect if you do not come and defend yourself??? SK also related embarrassing stories of her misadventures and we had such a good laugh over it. Most prominent was the fact that she missed her own birthday party we gave her many many years ago cos she lost her way and somehow ended up driving into the motorbike lane along the Federal Highway!! She will never live this story down, and all our kids knew about it!

Then came stories of our kids and what stress they have given us! LK was relieved to hear that little boys do eventually grow up and make their moms proud instead of stressing them out with bad results and undone homework. I am certainly glad that phase for Ian has passed and I am so proud of him now. So there is much hope left for LK!

It's so nice to know that we can like practically picked up from where we left off , way back in Form 5. And looking back, we realized that we were a very Muhibbah lot those days. I think I have written about this before....that we were 1Malaysia way before we were told we have to be 1Malaysia. There are plans afoot for a reunion trip in 2011 to commemorate a milestone, and a spa trip to Thailand won hands down over a 14 day trek to Base Camp!!! Yours truly was elected, erm... more like forced to organise it!! Fingers crossed and hope it materialise...should be tons of fun. Oh yeah, someone suggested we book the entire place cos other guests would definitely not take kindly to our decible levels!! Especially if they are there for some R & R...we might even get kicked out!!! Yikes...would be most malu but what the heck as long as we had fun!! Might make a great story some day for the grandkids.

Weird tales

Watched 2 episodes of Weird Travels yesterday on Astro's 'Travel and Living' Channel. No, it is not a normal travel documentary like the ones Ian Wright ( one of my favourites!) or Asha Gill hosts, and definitely not like any mundane ones like Fun Taiwan, but it is one of the travel documentaries that I like very much.

If you have watched it before, you will know why it's called Weird Travels - it deals exclusively with the supernatural! Yup, it features haunted places all over America and sometimes Europe, too. Yesterday, one episode featured haunted hotels in America and the other focused solely on Chicago.

The gwailos are certainly a weird lot - it seems that some people do like to stay in haunted hotels just to have a chance of meeting its resident ghost! Me, I'd never ever stay in one if I knew it had a resident from the other realm! Would you?

So, all these eerie tales brought back some personal experiences. Now's a good time as any to relate them cos Halloween is just around the corner.

I have always thought, then and up till now, that one of the houses I stayed in as a kid was haunted. It was a double story house in Petaling Garden. In those days, some of those houses were actually 2-in-1 as one family would occupy the ground floor while the 1st floor was a separate unit. Anyway, we have just moved to PJ, after the May 13 fiasco, and we stayed in the ground floor unit. I remembered that the day we moved in, I got sick. Now, I do not recall any strange noises or things that go bump in the night but I do remember vividly that in one of the rooms which we used as a dining room, there was a huge drawing of a lady with long hair - just the head view. Well, it was not an actual drawing in the real sense - more like someone used water to sketch on the wall, yunno, like wet marks. Only that this does not dry up and disappear! I don't know why I never mentioned this to anyone then, and even now, I have never asked my family if they have seen it. So, I really don't know if it was only me or not. Guess I was and am now still too scared to find out the truth! I only remembered never walking near that wall and I never stayed in that room alone!

Another experience was in England, some years back...must have been at least 10 years ago. Anyway, the hubby and I were driving through England with some friends on a golfing holiday and we had to pass through a little town called Perth, on our way to St, Andrews. We stayed the night at a little inn ...yunno, the typical English countryside inn..old and a bit eerie. We had a fairly large room, with the bathroom slightly lower - you had to go down a short stairs to get to it. Anyway, the story had nothing to do with the bathroom!!! I digress...sorry! Sometime in the middle of the night, I heard, or I thought I heard a lady open the room door and when I shouted who is it, she said..oops, sorry wrong room and closed it back. I know it does not sound scary...but I have this weird feeling that it's not human.And we have definitely locked the door. Hubby says, at that time, he did not hear anything. Bet he doesn't even remember it now ( all he remembers of Perth was that wonderful duck we had at a Chinese restuarant there - now that's another story another time!!!) Anyways, it left a deep impression on me and I still maintain I was not dreaming!

I love horror movies and stories but I hope I will not encounter any as I truly believe in the existence of these beings. I have seen stuff that cannot be explained and I think it's wiser to keep a respectful distance and not disturb the peace.

Happy Halloween :) Peace to all.

Proud mom

I am so proud of Julian. Of course I am biased, very much so too and I am not shy to admit it!! Why? Well, because he is so sweet and kind and loving...just like his old mom...ahem...haha...all of that but I am extra extra proud of what he is doing in school now.

Let me explain, they have this rather weird program in school where Year 6 students are eligible to be chosen as 'model' student. Actually, 'chosen' is not exactly correct - they actually have to campaign and be voted as one. Sounds simple right? So, as a proud mom, I was rather hoping my little boy would be selected to campaign. But unfortunately, life does not always go the way we wanted. Anyway, he was not selected because his average was 2 points below the mark. Bummer , but then that is life. I was a tad disappointed and so was he but then it's not the end of the world.
So, why am I still so proud of him , one may ask?

The reason is because, despite his disappointment, he went whole heartedly all the way to help his friend in his campaign. In short, he became his friend's campaign manager! He helped print the campaign flyers and distributed them in school. He came up with the campaign strategy and angle. Next week, he will make a speech on his friend's behalf to solicit votes. That's why I am so proud - he kept aside his own disappointment and tried to help his friend to victory. This is pure Julian - he is so un selfish and is always thinking of others. This boy is truly a gem and I thank God for giving him to me!

Stupid robbers in the neighbourhood

2 articles in yesterday's and today's papers caught my attention. One was regarding petty robbers in my neighbourhood and the other about the new 'Malay Dilemma'. Both I have some strong views on. Since the latter is politically inclined and the former much closer to home ( literally!), I shall put my 2 cents worth in the former!! Be safe...is my motto..hehe

Ok, the articles aid that there has been an increase in the number of robberies in my area. Most occur early in the morning, dawn to be precise, and the victims are elderly ladies on their morning walks or to/fro the park where they do their early morning taichi or whatever elderly ladies do! This is no big deal, right? Happens in a lot of neighbourhood to helpless old ladies. But what caught my interest was that these robbers would waylay them and make them strip ......no, no, not to rape or molest them but to check that they do not keep any money hidden in their underwear!!!
This, I don't comprehend...I mean, if I were an elderly lady ( which I am not..yet..!!!), and if I were to go for an early morning exercise , I will NOT carry any money at all!!! Or if I did, I would bring just enough to cover breakfast and a cuppa with my exercise buddies later. I would not, like carry a hundred or more bucks with me!!! In fact , ten bucks would more than enought to buy my teh tarik and roti!! Even if I were to carry extra cash, how to hide it in your undies??? So what are these extremely stupid robbers thinking of???Oh, maybe can put inside the bra hor??? Hmmm..maybe they do get cheap thrills watching old ladies in their undies....how perverted can one get??? Personally, these creeps have no brains - I mean, how much would you carry with you? ( Slap forehead !) Maybe that's why they are what they are- small petty robbers cos they can't even figure out this simple logic!!

On the other hand, even if one don't lose much money, it would undoubtedly give any old lady an extremely traumatic experience, or maybe a heart attack to be asked to strip on the road. So....does this means one should carry more money for them to rob or risk having to strip??? Sigh...I really don't know, the state of things is so sad nowadays....better not to go out!!! And then how? Old ladies don't get exercise and get unhealthy......the vicious cycle doesn't end. What is the world coming to, one can't even step out of the house without having to worry to about personal safety.

Rantings....

First of all, to those who are worried about my foul mood, please rest easy. I feel tons better now and I thank you all for the concern.

Okay, now that the niceties are over and done with, let's get down to business. Hmm...actually the business comprises more complaints and bitching. Hehe...it's not been a smooth week!! Sigh...when will this wave of bad luck be over?

I am not happy with CF. If anyone from CF is reading this, please take note. Your class scheduling sucks..big time! ( Sorry eh, I know I have a 'rule' about not resorting to profanity here but this case really need strong words. My current vocab is so poor that I cannot find the politically right word to express what I feel. Besides, the words here do not quite reach the definition of profanity, right?) Anyways, to get back to the issue in hand, CF - why do you guys have to come and 'kacau' our nice schedule in Sunway Pyramid? Actually, to narrow down the problem, it all involves my beloved step classes. Why else would I get mad at other class schedules for?? Now that awesome Annie is on maternity leave,our usual step class has gone to the beginners. Yikes!!! There are a ton of step for beginners classes, including a brand new one on Thurs morning - why invade ours??? Please la , CF - change the slot to an intermediate/advance class and let us continue to enjoy our miserable 45 mins, albeit without Annie. If you concentrate on recruiting new steppers only, all your regulars will go. Take my word for it. Anyway guys, I am not just complaining here - I have already written to CF and they have yet to reply...as usual. Hate them...:(

Another thing I hate is people with 2.. or sometimes more 'faces'. They are so nice to you and behind you are something else. I met this rather nice and friendly man ( friend of a friend) and he is THE big boss of a big company. So during this social encounter, he told me that Ian can do his internship at his company end of this month, and that the timing is good becouse the next few months will be busy until the year end lull in Dec and Jan. So all was good and fine, and he repeatedly said there is no problem. A few days later, he told my hubby that he has received Ian's resume and there should be no problem. So, based on his no problems, I arranged for Ian to come home.That was 2 weeks ago, and guess what??? Got problem!!! After 2 silent weeks, I called his office and didn't even get a chance to speak to him. His secetary said she will call back and when she did, she said that the boss has forwarded Ian's resume to his manager and the manager said the timing is not right!!!! what the......
Tell la..if he is not suitable or if you don't want him to intern there but the silent treatment is really rude. Hrummp....and getting the secretary to relay the message is doubly rude. However, I shall give him the benefit of the doubt that he doesn't really know about it. Let me investigate and update later... I am really upset, not to mention Ian as well as he was really looking forwards to it.

Much as I love the ice, that is another potential area for complaints...as usual. All the old complaints remain as the management refused to acknowledge them and think that if they close their eyes, it will go away. Sigh...we just 'tahan' them because there is no other place to go and they know it. Too bad...for us. I won't go into that again ( Fellow mama blogger J - you know what I mean, hehe) but Chrisha's students are another lot. Her batch of new students...I mean. The old group was super great and I have absolutely no problems handling their classes. The new batch is an entirely different kettle of fish. I don't know which part of ' Do not request for new slots' that they don't understand, and they repeatedly request for new slots when replying to every single email I sent them!!! Arghhh....no wonder I am losing hair !!! It has gone to the point that I ignore them. Call me rude but I don't care.

Chrisha 'blacklisted' another skater this time round. A new one, as you would have guessed. That makes a total of 2 !!! She is such a tolerant person and so good with the kids, so to have her blacklist you means the kid is super irritating!!! And I totally agree with her as the respective moms are equally irrirating and demanding! Good, that's another pest less I have to handle. Sometimes, I feel that since I have the 'power' to 'grant' slots, maybe I should 'abuse' it by only giving slots to easy to handle parents???? Whadya think??? I can think of 3 I wanna get rid of!!! haha...2 are the ones who always ask for new slots and one thinks that since her kid is in the group class just recently, she is a regular and should be given preferential treatment by giving her a private slot. And she wants the slots in the preferred 'quiet' times!!! Gosh, the kid can't even skate fast enough to cover the whole rink and she wants the rink to herself. Go buy private ice time la...only RM500 an hour mar... Jeesshh. Some people are so full of themselves!!Some of the senior skaters don't even get ice time at quiet times and they managed ! Oh oh, got one more, she wants to bring in her own personal coach from God knows where ( she says she got contacts!!)....well, if she does, then she don't need Chrisha, right? I really think I should redo the system and give special times to senior skaters ( senior both in levels and time with Chrisha) instead of first come first served basis.

Highlight of the week was the Open Houses ( The only good thing last week!)!!! yay for rendang and lemang and curry etc etc... Ate so much that I still feel bloated up to today. Serious!! Must diet this week. Haha...say only, don't know whether can do or not. Fingers xxx. Oh, have another one to look forward this weekend!!! Die la....:)

Foul weather, foul mood

Have been in a foul mood the last few days....eerily coinciding with the weather. Floods , earthquakes and all. Can't dispel the dark thoughts and feelings. Hmmm...bad. Can't understand why also - could be a number of events triggering off such feelings. Things not going the way I like, meeting the ENEMY, death of someone I know. Sometimes I feel like I'm not me, if you know what I mean. People who spoke to me on the phone have commented that I sounded sick. I pick imaginary quarrels with people in my head, I recall old grudges.. and generally am being very grouchy. Aiyo...how ar? Hope I am not going mad and that this is not going to last.

It's not that time of the month, just in case some of you may be wondering. Hehe..small things can irritate me. Even watching my beloved TVB series can set off some irrational anger - anger at the characters, anger at why certain people behave in ways that will hurt others. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's only make believe, not need to get so emo, but what to do? I blame it on the out of control hormones that are unbalanced in me!! Is there such a thing?

FYI, I am currently watching ' Chamber of Bliss' and the brothel characters really bother me. Dunno why...on the good side, the actress must be good to invoke such emotions, on the negative side, am I prejudiced??? Anyway, I am not enjoying such strong responses, and hope it will be over soon, and life will be normal again. Fingers xxxxx, toes xxxxx and may I borrow some more fingers and toes? :)
One bright light is that I have not much appetite and have lost all of ONE kg...Yay....hahaha....( Yeah yeah, I know it's only water and I'll put it back in no time....stop it woman,.no more depressing thoughts!)

Anyway people, don't worry, I am perfectly sane and of sound mind...just letting off steam. Thanks for lending me your ears!! Next post will be of happier stuff, ok?

Mental Block ...or is it 'Blogged' ?

Been staring at the screen for a very long time...nothing comes to mind. Heck, I have no idea whatsoever to write about ! Thought of not posting anything but then if I were to stop, I know it will be helluva difficult to restart! I'm sure you guys know what I mean.

Anyway, the week before was nondescript, hence the drought. Boys were on holiday due to Raya, so much time was spent at the rink. No big deal. Did the usual classes at the gym..again no big deal. Hmmm..what else ar? All my brain can think of is no big deal...hehe..

Ah, weekend...went to a party on Saturday. Again no big deal, until I found out the ENEMY was there. Then BIG DEAL lah...so not very happy. In fact, not happy till now. Today lagi not happy . Firstly, discovered that the stupid people who took over the gym messed up most of my favourite classes *&&%^*@#$% Very MAD. Why must they come in and disturb a perfectly fine schedule and put all kinds of classes which no one in California really wants???? Stupid idiots. ( I wanna use stronger words but cannnot do it here....). Just wished they would leave things alone. And some moron goofed up today and lost my membership card at the towel check-in. Somemore they have the cheek to say never mind cos the cards will be replaced by Oct 1. Hello people....there is still Sept 30 to go????

Okay, don't want to rant anymore - make myself lagi miserable. Yesterday was saved by a fantastic class by Annie..though sob sob...she is going on leave till next year :( And when I got home, Ryan brought back fried mamak mee which he cooked in KH class at school. The teacher says I have to rate it. I gave him a 80%. I was not being biased cos it was really good. More so cos I couldn't have done it myself !!! Would have posted a photo but I was so excited to eat and only realised I didn't take any photos until it was finished!!! Next time...

Ahem, must make a disclaimer here - bad English is used in this post by intention!!! Hehe...must jaga my reputation ok, in case some people think my 'Engrish' is so baaaad... :)

A cook's tour

Was watching Anthony Bourdain's ' A Cook's Tour' on Astro. He is my very favorite food/travel host and his shows are always so interesting. In this particular one, he goes to Bangkok and Singapore.

But, surprisingly, in Bangkok, he does not showcase any Thai food !!!! Hello....no Thai food in Bangkok???? Instead, he visits a Laotian restaurant where he eats rotten anchovies!!! Urgh..the anchovies are mixed with salt and left to rot for anywhere between 3 months to 1 year. It looks horrid...greyish slushy mush...and it's supposed to smell, too. But Tony, unlike so many Gwailos, took to it like he's been eating it all his life. That's what I like about him..he is so game and adventurous and he is so willing to try anything. Guess that's part of his job . This brings to mind a certain Gwailo I know from my working days. He was here on business from England and I took him for steamboat. It was such a joke, when I asked him if he has had steamboat dinners before, he actually said, ' No, where is it going?' . Gosh, he thought it was a real steamboat!!!Anyway, for us Malaysians, steamboat dinners are no big deal , right? Nothing exotic about it - just put everything to boil. No weird raw stuff, no strange ingrdients. But this guy is so bloody fussy, he hardly touched his food. Seems he only like familiar western food. Now that's a boring visitor.

Anyway, I digress. Coming back to Anthony Bourdain, he further ate deep fried frog skins ( this does look yummy) and also deep fried insects ( this I woulded touch). And surprise surprise, the dessert was going to an Egyptian restuarant for coffee and a sweet pudding!! Interesting...I didn't know there is an Egyptian restuarant in Bangkok.

His next stop was Singapore...hmmm..I wonder why he didn't stop here! I know there was an episode on KL but I never caught it. Anyway, he ate Indian food there, banana leaf dinner with all the works. No big deal, except when he tackled the fish eye from the fish head curry!!! Now I really take my hat off to this Gwailo....hehe...that's why I like him. Any gwailo who eats the stuff I wouldn't eat earns my respect! I myself am a squeamish eater and when some white foreigner eats something I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, he really rates high on my list.

Hmmm...life is really boring these few days...no subject to blog about except pathetic attempts like this..hehe. Anyone eat anything interesting lately???

Bon appetite!

'Jamie' at Home

Jamie Oliver's dish

Ryan's version

Inspired by Jamie Oliver, Ryan has taken a keen interest in cooking. This week, he decided that he would cook dinner for me on Wednesday. So he went through the various recipes on Jamie's website, and chosed one that featured my favorite kind of fish - white fish.

So, for this episode of 'Ryan at Home', our dinner menu featured ' White fish wrapped in smoked bacon, with a zesty mayo sauce'.

We were supposed to do the shopping on Wednesday evening, after music class. So, armed with a printed menu and ingredients list, we went shopping. Had to go to both Giant and Jusco just to get everything we needed. This made the entire expedition long and by the time we were ready to leave, it was 5.40 pm. To make things worse, it was raining cats and dogs and the traffic was horrendous. Add the fact that everyone was rushing to get back for Buka Puasa, it was doubly bad. I was really getting irritated, and it took us almost an hour to get home.

I left the kitchen to Ryan and his sous chef Julian, and prayed hard that they would not burn down the kitchen. Was a bit nervous cos the recipe called for both pan frying and use of the oven.!!

Anyway, the end result was....SUPERB, as you can see from the photos. The original Jamie Oliver dish is on top, the second one, by newly promoted Chef Ryan and Sous Chef Julian. Sorry about the quality of the photo, though, yours truly was never great with the camera. As the boys get better, I think I may have to hire a professional photographer!!! Haha...

The taste was divine....I would have said 'awesome' but the word is a private joke in our family!!!
And considering that this is the very first attempt, I'll give it a 95%!! Seriously, it was really good. (Although I am of course biased, but this is the truth) The fish, combined with the smoked bacon, was very uniquely tasty, and the asparagus crunchy. The sauce, a mixture of mayo , lemon juice and spices is very zesty. Really yummy.

However, the best part of the meal is not the great food, but the trouble ( looking up the recipes, choosing one, planning etc) the boys went through just to cook my favorite fish. This is worth more than 100% - the fantastic warm feeling it produces is irreplaceable. Thanks guys..I love you.

So who says letting kids watch Astro is not good? I have so much to gain from them watching it !!

Fire

The boys have been watching a lot of Survivorman and Man vs Wild lately and have been fascinated by the idea of making fire from rubbing two sticks together. So the project of the week became 'Making Fire'

Somehow they managed to get hold of some pieces of stick and a small wooden board. How and where , I have no clue, but they enlisted the help of our driver in this mad idea of theirs and he may have gone around the neighbourhood finding the stuff for them. They then fashioned a bow of sorts , with which the stick was strung and rubbed against the board. I must admit that I was pretty impressed by the creativity and ingenuity of it! Hmm...some of my engineering 'genes' must have been passed down...haha...So who else thinks that watching too much TV is no good? At least, this little project of theirs got them to turn off the TV and computer and do something with their hands and brains!

At first, the experiment was conducted outdoors , and rather unsuccessfully I might add, cos they were at it for about 3 days! Then on Saturday evening, the wind got strong and they moved indoors to the kitchen. I had warned them to stop but apparently they were quote 'very close' unquote!!! And this time, they had 'tinder' to help get the fire going. Eh btw, the 'tinder' referred to are the few miserable pieces of straw like thingie you see in the video.....don't ask me where they got it??? So how can I be so cruel as to stop them?? Besides, I didn't think they would succeed!! ( Tinder or no tinder)

Was I wrong? Watch for yourself. Needless to say, Ryan 'burnt' his hand on the wood ( it did get very hot and I did smell smoke) but I think my boys should remain in civilization cos if they can't get a fire going for 3 days, their chances of surviving in the wild are pretty slim!!! But I give them full marks for perseverance and tenacity cos they were still at it today!!! ( Today is Sunday)...4th day...still no success :(
If only this doggedness was applied to their school work and skating...then the world would be perfect and I would never have to nag again...LOL

Anyway, boys,I do hope you guys would succeed soon...then perhaps we can move on to another 'project'! Kampatei!

Police traps

Did anyone notice that there is an extraordinary number of police traps on the road the last 2 weeks? I have, and I have noticed that this is a regular phenomena during the fasting month. Is it because more people have a tendency to speed or break minor traffic rules during the holy month? Somehow, I have my doubts...what do you think? Hehe...I think we all know exactly why there are so many traps out there. I just wonder how many of these so called 'blocks' and traps are actually authorized???

I have even noticed lone police motobikes stopping cars along the highway. And usually these cars are luxury cars. Is it because big cars = rich drivers inside? Or big cars = tendency to break traffic rules ? You decide. This practice obstructs traffic and causes chaos on the roads for no reason, and I believe ( mind you, this is only my opinion) that the summons is usually never issued. Anyway, if you break a rule, you deserve a ticket...so do drive with care.

Anyway, drive safely and carefully, irregardless of what month it is, for your own safely as well as others'. Have a happy Ramadan and we all look forward to a very 'Selamat' Hari Raya at the end of it all!!

Xian ...revsited

Watched a documentary 2 days ago, on History Channel Astro. Seemed to be watching an awful lot of documentaries nowadays. Anyway, History Channel is one of my favourite, worth spending time there, if only they don't repeat so many times!!!

Anyways, I digress. Coming back to the topic at hand, I was watching a documentary on the first Emperor of China, Shih Huang Ti of the Qin Dynasty, and it brought back the memories of my visit to Xian some 4 years ago.

Watching the show gave me a sense of nostalgia as Xian is truly a magical place.

At first I thought it was just another tomb or mausoleum filled with dusty statutes. This would have indeed been the case had I not come across a book in the hotel library which gave life to these terracotta statutes. ( The hotel we stayed in was Sofitel - now that is another long story - such a fantastic place, and we were upgraded to a suite, courtesy of our friend who was GM there!) Anyway, our friend the GM allowed me to 'borrow' the book out on our exursions and it gave such an insight to the tombs.

At this point, I think it is fair to say that most printed material about the terracotta warriors are in Chinese, which I cannot comprehend, so finding something in English that is so concise is priceless.

Anyway, I discovered that there are ways to tell the ranking of each soldier and even the area they are from by examining the armour they wear and the way their hair is done up. Even the studs on the armour tells a story. Of course, most of the statutes are in the enormous pits and no on is allowed to walk near them but there were a few on display on a small ' museum' and although they were in glass cases, you can get up close and examine them. I was never so intrigued by statutes before !!! Poor hubby (who had no interest) and guide had to wait for me. (PS. the guide seemed to know nothing compared to what I can find in the book!)

The actual tomb of the Emperor was believed to be underneath a earthern pyramid ( looked like a hill to me!!) in the nearby area. We actually had the chance to go up the 'hill' on horseback. It was nervewracking as there were no obvious trials ...only the guides and the horses seemed to know the way. Many a times, my horse slipped on loose stones and it was really very very scary. But at the top of the hill, the view was magnificent! The tomb is yet to be excavated as the Chinese government have not found an entrance and they did not want to excavate blindly. Also, they have a problem of preserving it once it is opened.

I remember the Jackie Chan movie, 'The Myth' which was loosely based on this tomb. Legend has it that underneath the tomb was a lake and rivers of mercury. Tests conducted have shown a high level of mercury in the ground in these regions, so maybe it is true!

Anyhow, I do hope that I can visit again , especially when they open the tomb. Don't know why but I do have a kind of fascination with the Terracotta warriors after that visit. The legend is so intriguing! And oh, one not so pleasant memory is that someone tried to 'molest' me at the pit. I was wearing a sleeveless T and some guy tried to stroke my arm!!! Urgh...luckily can hide behind hubby.

Xian is very nice, food was good , especially the Muslim barbecued meat - chicken and lamb. Never tasted anything like it! Hotel was awesome, plus the fact that we got a private limousine and guide and a suite, and access to the club lounge, courtesy of the GM...that just adds up to the overall charm! Food at the hotel, in particular, the Japanese food was out of this world. Great memories!!! :)

1 Malaysia on Ice

Just finished 2 days' worth of 1Malaysia on Ice Show yesterday. A total of 4 shows, 2 per day on Saturday and Sunday respectively. I still don't understand why they had to do it on Sat , 29 August and Sun 30 August. Why can't we do it on 30 and 31 August???? Weird management decision.

The show was a blast, especially the last one. I was kidding around with coach A, that he should pay Ryan and Julian for every good jump they did, and he said I had to pay him if they fell. Ryan did 2 Russian splits which I claim is worth RM 50 each as it was such a crowd pleaser, but he stumbled a bit on landing the 2nd split, so have to deduct RM10!!! Julian fell on his axel-double toe which was not planned for in the 1st place ( that particular jump, I mean). he only did the jump cos A dared him to!! So it was a riot, and I think the boys had fun. No pressure at all. Julian even had time to talk to us at the door during the show! Ryan did 4 different jumps for all 4 shows - he really liked it as he can jump whatever he felt like doing..something which he don't always get to do.

In fact, it was zero pressure and 100 % pleasure, cos there were so many goodies involved, thanks to the generosity of some of the skater parents. They had free T shirts, food from MacDonalds and KFC and a very thoughtful gift as well. Plus a video CD to keep!! Thank you parents, you made it a very nice experience for us as we have never done a show with so much goodies involved. BL sure have some great skater parents. Please include us next time!!! And Happy Merdeka to all!!

Flying Noodles

Have you ever told your friendly neighborhood mamak man to 'tarik panjang panjang' when he is preparing your teh tarik? Well, I have and of course we all take great delight in watching him tarik the tea and display his skills. So much so that there is now an art to 'tarik-ing teh' and many a competitions have been held, and teh tarik is touted as something not to be missed by tourists.

Today I found something else to marvel at. You can now tell this particular guy at a wantan noodle shop in PJ to throw your noodle high high!!! Don't understand? Okay, watch the video





Isn't it awesome? We had dinner at this place this evening, and I didn't realize there was anything extraordinary about it until Julian saw the guy throwing the noodles and commented that the cook played with his food! I was seated with my back to the cooking area, so I turned around to look and was pretty amazed at the antics. We prayed that our noodles will not reach the ceiling and luckily it didn't! Whew, what a relief! Would be awful if it did and got stuck there, anfd we had to wait for it to fall off!!!
You think this guy is good? (BTW, he's not Chinese- he's Myanmarese.), wait till you see his sifu!! The sifu is Chinese, and he does the whole shing ding with a lot more style than this fella. He throws his noodles in a circle instead of straight up, and it's accompanied by a little dance like jiggle. Too bad, we couldn't catch it on tape to be posted cos he caught us by surprise and he only did it once - no repeat :( All the work was done by this underling!!

But, in spite of all this, the food is nothing to shout about. The noodles are home made egg noodles, which I was hoping would taste like the Hong Kong ones, but it did not. A cousin to it, maybe but not the real thing. However, it did taste a lot better than the normal coffee shop wantan noodles. I think they actually made it the Hong Kong way though, cos I spied a thick long bamboo near the kitchen area. ( The real McCoy is made by a guy sitting astride a huge bamboo and gently pressing onto the flour, much like sitting on a see saw going up and down). I know cos I am a wantan noodle snob and I refuse to eat the noodles sold in the coffee shops as they are so inferior compared to the real Hong Kong egg noodles! It's so hard to eat them once you have tasted rhe real thing in Hong Kong.

If you want to see this guy in action, drop me a comment and I'll tell you where to find him.

The night I missed...an open letter to the St Marians

"Friday night came. I came from work. It rained and the traffic was bad. I was late. Anyway, I was confident Thiru & Rowina will keep Helen & CJ occupied. They had many years to catch up. When I finally got to La Bodega in Bangsar Sopping Complex, the restaurant was packed and dark. As I was walking around, I heard a 'ooi'. The usual greeting from Helen. Loud & clear.

Lai Kuan came next. All hell broke loose. No chance for anyone to be heard. So much so that even her friends could pick out her voice among the noise.Thiru brought our school pics. Priceless. Pics of the various events, trips (Fraser's Hill) etc. The reading glasses gave away our age. Othwerwise, no one would guess we are nearly half a century old.

There was much laughter recollecting our school days. Rowina has a memory of an elephant. She fired away all the happenings. I don't recall much of it. Where was I!I remember going to Mr Lee begging to pass. the fear of going to Ms Subra's classes because I knew nothing .. I don't remember Sakunthala crawling into Subra's class."

The above was an except from an email sent by Kim, describing her fun night out with the St Marians, some of whom I have not met since way back in Form Five!!! I was unfortunately pre-booked and thus unable to join them. Despite that, close to midnight, Lai Kuan called up and demanded that I get my ass down to where they are all happily getting drunk. As I have just gotten home, showered and changed into my comfy pjs, and with like one foot already in bed, I was not letting any wild horses drag me all the way down to Bangsar, much less one half drunk woman screaming in my ear!!! ( Although I do love Lai Kuanvery much) Then everyone seemed to want to have a go at me - Helen was next on the phone but she kept insisting she can't hear me - that woman must be getting deaf in her old age!!! ( Oops- shit, we are the same age!!!) Old Man was next and he was a lot more courteous than the two mad women before him!! Despite all that 'char-ing' and insults, it was good to hear them. Made my day !

There were a few more emails ding-donging to and fro after that evening. Boy, I really regretted not going, appears that they had so much fun. Anyway, there's an open 'appointment' to go karaoke-ing next. I get this weird feeling that everyone is expecting me to organise it :( Is it guilty pangs or is it just my imagination? Anyway, would be super to sing together like we used to in school. No karaoke last time. Just the guitar (occasionally) and Thiru banging away at the desk. I'll try to find a karaoke place that have a desk for banging!!! What a blast! You guys still remember the songs? And the wonderful song books we all have - the homemade ones where we spent so much time and effort copying and decorating?? Mine got thrown away by my Mom while I was in Canada. :( One song in particular got stuck in my mind - 'Try a little kindness' by Herman's Hermits. Coincidentally I was just telling Ryan about it a few days ago when he asked what songs we used to sing and his response was ' what song by Hermit crab'????? But he did google it and found a version by Glen Campbell and surprise surprise, he liked it!

Okay, ladies, practise your 'Country Road' , 'Scarborough Fair', 'El Condo Pasa' and Thiru, don't forget 'Knock three times'!! Till we karaoke away...take care.

Much love from me

Up

Warning: If you have not watched 'Up',(http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/up/) don't read this cos it may contain spoilers for you. This is not a review, it's my two cents worth of how I interpret the movie. Not much details here but still may spoil it for you if you have not watched it! So read on at your own risk...

Well, as the above title says, this is about 'Up'. Watched it just now and loved it. It wasn't quite what I expected. What did I expect? Well, what would you have expected from a Disney CG movie? Lots of fun and laughter, with a good moral at the end and everyone lives happily ever after etc etc.. Yup, all these and more..something a bit unexpected!

'Up' is a love story. Serious, it is a love story ; it's about enduring love between a husband and wife. Carl loved his wife so much that he tries to achieve the dream his wife had all her life. Her dream was to go to Paradise Falls and build a house right next to it but somehow their savings to go there was always used for some unromantic and unforseen domestic emergency. So after her death, Carl decided to literally 'up-ped' their house and go there!! It is also a love story of a little boy who yearned for the love of his father. The kid, Russell, somehow got stuck underneath the house when it was flying and thus had to tag along for the adventure. ( I will not go into details as you would most probably have watched it since you read on!!) As fate would have it, the pair got attached to each other and found yet another kind of love.

It is also about love of a dog, 'Dug' for his new master, Carl and how he put his own life on the line to save Carl and Russell. How about the love the bird Kevin had for her babies? How she sacrifice all to get to her babies? Not to mention the love Ellie had for Carl, as he discovered at the end that her most loved adventure was the life she had with him.

So, did you all see the movie through the same eyes as me? One big love story, right? I got a bit misty-eyed when Ellie died...they had such a charmed life together, doing all the simple stuff and so loving.
Russell is so cute and innocent but he also had a fierce sense of loyalty to his 'duty' and his adopted pets!!
And the music is so nice. :) Gave me a 'feel good' sensation all through out and tugged at my heartstrings!!!

On a different note.....but also on movies..anyone watched 'Orphan' ? Now that's a movie in another direction! I wanna watch it :)

This and that...

A literary drought for many days - dunno what to write. Not that things didn't happen but nothing extraordinary did and I was not inspired!! haha- actually no la, I was just darn LAZY!!!

I want to curse DIGI - stupid people @#$%$#@@ Did you know that you can buy new numbers, pay Digi bills, top up and do just about everything in Pyramid......everything except TERMINATE a line!!!! Real idiots - told me I have to go to Subang or SS2 to do that. And on top of that when I called up their stupid HQ to enquire, they told me I can do it in Pyramid. Don't they train their staff properly ? Give wrong info !!!! Grrrr...so mad. Purposely want to inconvenience people so that they won't terminate a line and continue paying. Maybe I will switch over to Maxis - is it any better?

I also want to curse the idiotic drivers who drive into the way leading down to the car park ( in front of Pyramid - the one that goes to the basement) and then try to reverse backwards cos they 'suddenly' decided they didn't want to go in!!! How stupid can you get - dunno how to read the sign meh? Somemore the sign so big blind also can see!!! I feel like running them down.

More curses??? You bet! What about people who don't read notices and emails and keep asking you about it?? As if they dunno how to read - must tell them personally ??? Then they will say , ' oh, I don't know anything about it...' READ la - that's what notices and emails are for!!! @#$$%*&%$

Ok, enough is enough - I could go on and on....

But I want to highlight that I 'discovered' a most delightful person on Saturday. A week ago, the father of a skater told my sons that he would wear his t shirt inside out if Manchester United lost their match on Sunday. Yes, they lost and he actually wore his T shirt inside out last Sat at our late night practice!!! My hat off to you, Sir. You are so sporting and such a great example to the kids!!! I am so happy to make your acquaintance! My weekend was all the nicer due to your little gesture :)

Awesome Annie's steps

Whew - today's step class had me running in circles, literally ! Which is good...if I was going in the right direction!! haha...sorry fellow steppers, my sense of direction is absolutely disgusting, and I truly apologize to D,E and another E, whom I kept bumping into! Thousand apologies also to F, who apparently thought I knew what I was doing and is good enough to follow. Poor judgment on her part ( unfortunately) as I kept getting lost. :( It was a riot, told her she followed the wrong person - LOL :) Case of the blind leading the blind! Thanks for the faith, though - haha.

Okay, okay, to clarify to those not in the know, today's step formation was an inside-outside T laid out in a circle. This means the person immediately next to you travels in an opposite direction and does the mirror image of whatever you do. Sounds confusing? Yeah, right - absolutely. So if you followed the person next to you, you will be totally and utterly lost, not to mention risking banging into another person. I was okay with the first 2 combos, but the 3rd combo changed direction and that was when my troubles started...sigh.... and just as when I thought I was getting the hang of it, time was up. Drats - the class is much too short at 45 mins. Wished California would do something about it. Fingers xxxx.

However, Annie lived up to her moniker, it was awesome and fun. Never mind the mistakes, I had fun !

Colour blind

In the days following Yasmin Ahmad's untimely demise, there has been a flood of blogs and articles about her great work and her totally 1Malaysian spirit. I am not going to write about her good work etc, lots have been said about that already and I totally support every single good word about her.

No, what I am going to say is that I, like many others, took a walk down memory lane and googled her works on YouTube. Although I can't claim to be a big fan, I have nevertheless admired her works for the longest time.

So, going through a number of her advertisements late at night, both local and Singaporean ads, it made me cried a little, laugh a little but most importantly, it made me think back to my childhood.

Her ads on racial harmony , what I would term as colour blindness really drove the truth home. In particular, there were 2 ads, done in Singapore , with some Primary school kids. The first featured 2 boys, a Malay and a Chinese, who claimed each other as best friends, and when the interviewer asked them what race their best friend is, they looked at each other and asked ' What is race?'. Then one of them said, 'Oh, must be car race ...you know...racing cars...' , the other boy nodded yes, and both burst out laughing. The other ad I really enjoyed was one where a very cute little Chinese boy said that his girlfriend's name is Umi Qzarina. And the reason he likes her is because she is pretty and wears earrings!!! Then the equally cute little Malay girl appears and they ran off. Children really are colour blind as far as skin colour is concerned. This brings back memories of my own Primary school days. There was no such thing as 1Malaysia campaign and calls for racial harmony etc simply because there was no such need. My friends in school were all sorts, we had Chinese, Malays, Indians and whatever inbetweens. We just integrated naturally, if we are not friends with a particular girl, it is because she is not a nice person, not because she is of a different colour. If there is rivally among groups, it's because we are in different classes or 'houses', not because of skin colour. Life was so much simpler.

However, I am comforted these days because of the action of 2 little boys. In the rink, there is a pair of brothers, little kids who happen to be Malay. All Malay kids are very polite when they greet their elders, with a 'kiss' on the hand, the traditional 'salam'. However, most seem to use this greeting only with Malay elders and use the western style " Hello Aunty/Uncle" to others, but these 2 little guys used it with every adult they greet! It really warms my heart to see this and in particular to be greeted this way. The parents have done a fantastic job in teaching their boys. Congratulations and well done, Mom and Dad of A and A ! In the eyes of these brothers, all adults are elders and to be respected in the same way, irregardless! Now that's the true 1Malaysia spirit for you.

Thank you

A big Thank you to Anonymous - you know who you are, for all the supportive words and encouragement. You made my day. (Check out the comments section for Anonymous' posting)

Kopi 'kau kau'

It's Wednesday afternoon and that translates to music classes for the boys and in turn that translates to one hour of waiting till they finish. Somehow, it's not the same as when they are skating. I can stay for hours at the rink and watch them (in momspeak, this means - keep an eye on them and make sure they don't slack!!). But if they are not skating, I don't have that much inclination to watch the others, unlike some parents who will purposely turn up and hide upstairs just to watch their kid's competitor practise. Yes, we know you are there!!! Besides it's not that fun watching public skaters struggling to stay upright! So with one hour to kill every week, I invariably end up at my favorite 'kopi kau kau' shop in the mall. The coffee is much cheaper than Starbucks , Coffee Bean or even Dunkin Donuts. Here, I pay only RM2.75 for a cup of good ( mind you, good not great) hot coffee, done the local style, hence the 'kau kau' factor!

I usually do the coffee 'take-out' at this place when the boys are skating and bring it down to the rink. So frequently so that the boy serving me just now gave me 'take away' cup instead of the ceramic ones they use for dine-in! Guess this shows that they recognise me already! Maybe next time, I don't even have to tell them what I want - kopi kau kau kurang manis. It's kinda addictive cos I do find myself craving for a cup sometimes. By the way, the 'yin yeong' here is pretty decent ,too!

Cheers!

Blogging is 0% censorship and 100% transparency

Thank you to Anonymous who commented so encouragingly after my last post on self censorship. Hey, hope you don't mind me using your quote as a heading ! :) Yeah, you are right but it's just my cowardly nature that makes me shy away from fully expressing myself!!! Haha...like the lion in Wizard of Oz who lost his courage!

Yes, blogging should be 0% or almost 0% censorship. Afterall, it is merely the blogger's view and does not represent anything else. And Anonymous is absolutely correct in saying that we can write about anything we like. ( er..most anything la - safer to stay clear of political and religious issues!!!) Well, thank you for your valuable input. I shall try to 'open' up more. Hmm..let's see how this blog will turn out.

Some people out there are really party poopers. I have bookmarked one particular site that regularly posts up latest episodes of my beloved TVB series. (It's an aunty site that focus on TVB series, family and food - all my fave topics). This blogger got bombarded by readers when she was slow in posting the latest episodes ( she was busy cos her child was sick) and the straw was that they 'cursed' her child for getting sick !! Can you imagine the mentality of these people? So in the end, she decided not to post the shows anymore. Can't blame her though, she was merely doing people like us a favour and she and family kena scolded with four letter words! This is one side of blogging that really turn people off.

Anyway, it's great to know that people do read my blog and think about the contents for all it's worth!! I have read Kenny Sia's blog and of course we are not in the same league...hey,we are not even on the same planet!! He is so awesome. I am just an 'aunty' who thinks she can write!!

Thanks for your support and time! Cheers.

Harry Potter and the half Blood Prince and others...

Caught that movie a week ago but sad to say, it didn't quite live up to expectations. In fact, I thought it was a bit draggy and I was kinda wishing for it to end. It certainly was not too memorable - the most interesting bits were the scenes between Ron Weasly and Lavender Brown. The 'won won' thing really cracked me up!! Harry does not shine here at all. :( I think Rupert Grint outdid himself here. All his scenes were really funny, thank goodness, otherwise I might just have nodded off!!

I saw a trailer which I thought was exciting. 'The Orphan' piqued my interest and as a great lover of good horror movies, I think it might be worth catching. However, due to the content, it's probably rated 18, so I'll have to persuade the hubby to take me. ( He hates horror movies) Sigh....

Just watched Jackie Chan's 'Shinjuku Incident' on DVD with the boys. They have waited a long time for this. Yeah, I know I am rather behind times but what to do? It was rated 18 and I couldn't bring the boys to watch it at the cinema. It was good, but very gory and violent - hence the rating. But I guess it's a good movie to educate the kids , or rather scare them into not messing around with the mob. The hand cutting and face slashing scenes were most disturbing and I really felt like vomitting when Daniel Wu got his hand cut off :( Urgh..

Okay, movies over. Time to get back to my favourite TVB series. Latest one I am watching now is 'Burning Flame 3' Okay la, but I am not a big fan of Wong Hei. Kevin Cheng is quite cute though, wonder if he really skates as in the series? Anyone knows? TV beckoning now - cheers, people. Drop me a line if you wanna yak about this series!! :)

Self censorship

I've discovered that it isn't easy writing a blog. Well, not as easy as I originally thought it would be. How hard can it be when you just write whatever strikes your fancy, right? WRONG!!! Hmm..I am still so naive in such things..haha. Recently, I have discovered that some people don't like being written about, good or bad. Well, of course everyone don't like to be written about in a bad way . But some people don't even liked being mentioned !! So being the nice person that I am (ahem, ahem), I have to exercise self censorship as I simply do not want to step on people's toes, intentionally or otherwise.

I have concluded 3 very very important things. First, I can never ever be a reporter !! Even if I were to report facts, I am so afraid that the truth will hurt some people and I simply don't have the guts or thick skin to interrogate for the facts. Second, I am also afraid that people might misunderstand my piece and be sensitive about it and worse still, don't like me for it. And very sadly, third, I am a BIG coward, afraid of stirring up trouble !! haha...guess now I will just concentrate on neutral stuff, ya! . Does that defeat the purpose of writing a blog?? You tell me!

Seven birthdays

My Mom always have problems remembering her grandsons' birthdays. Granted it's not an easy task, as she has 7 of them! And on top of that, she ain't no spring chicken anymore so the memory is bound to be unreliable sometimes.

Anyway, she had this brilliant idea of giving them all ONE big birthday party, irregardless of when their actual birthdays are! Saves her the trouble of trying to remember each one and leaving someone out in the process! That sounds really fun, so we all went along with it. The date chosen was originally July 5, to coincide with both Ian (Australia) and William (Shanghai) being back home at the same time. So it was perfect!! All grandsons present. Or so we thought. The venue was chosen, food( Japanese buffet) ordered, cakes, all 7 of them (see photo above) ordered from Pyramid Tower Hotel, and guests invited and confirmed. It was going to be a great party!!! But it was not to be...:(

The party was to be on a Sunday, but on the Sunday before, I got a call from Mom saying that William has been quarantined because he went out with a friend who tested positive for H1N1!!! Arghhh...again that pesky virus- don't you know you are not welcomed? Thank God, he was alright.

So the party was postponed to the following Sunday. Luckily, all the stuff that was preordered could be postponed!! Whew...so the party went on, albeit a week later. William's friends showed up , again thank God they were ok as well.

It was a lovely , (hmmm. sound so Victorian eh, lovely ,hehe..) party. Food was superb and plentiful- Chef outdid himself - he promised that if we could finished all the food he will supply extra for us to tar pau FOC ! But as it is, we ended up tat pau-ing also cos the prepared food was so much.

The cake blowing was hilarious. All the boys had to decorate their own candles - I couldn't be bothered to do so many!!! Ron was most unimaginative, as expected :) Zen complained that his cake ( actually it was a strawberry tart) was too red cos when the candles, which were red, melted, we couldn't distinguish the wax from the berries! Ryan tried to be smart- got some help from Auntie C. ( Check out his creation at bottom)

The band from the next room played 'Happy Birthday' through the windows. ( Next room was the bar. There were windows that could be opened between the 2 rooms ) It was really funny. The waitresses had to hold back the curtains so we could hear the band!! The highlight was when Grandma gave angpows!!! What a fantastic day ,huh, boys ? Thanks to Grandma! Make sure you guys come up with something special for her birthday.


Zen's very red and oh soooo delicious strawberry tart. Can you make out the candles? Colour matched perfectly!

Ron's arrangement - quick and to the point! He had the same cake design as Ryan, though not by choice.

Ryan claimed that his candles marked a '14', which is his age. He was annoyed I could not see it! I think my eyes 'senget' lar...cos other Moms saw it!!! Hehe...sorry la :)

Cool stepping

Gosh, I didn't know it takes this looooong to upload the video! Seems like I have been waiting for ages and ages and ages and...you get the idea. Hehe :) Sprouted a few white hairs in the process.....neck got longer..... had a shower...dried my hair....had dinner......still uploading ???? Yawn... :( Is this normal or it my connection too slow? Is my file too big- should I have compressed it or something?

Anyway, I had a great step class yesterday, conducted by Annie who creates such fantastic choreography in her routines nowadays. Still getting a high from it - that's why I want to share with everyone. Besides, a lot of friends ask what I do in the gym..well, this is it! Keep it up, Annie!! Way to go, girl. Shall miss her when she goes on her maternity leave....:( Her classes are so much fun and I'm a big big fan now. The downside of her class is that it's only 45 mins - no thanks to California who trimmed it from its original 60 mins - big spoil sport - boo boo, and triple boo to you.

This is the secnd time we did this routine, the first time was last week where we only managed 4 combos. Yesterday, we did all 6 combos and it was really fun. We had 3 cameras , including mine. So pro, eh? The other 2 cameras had the view of the bigger group while only me and LL can be seen here. Actually, it looks a lot nicer with a bigger group. We looked kinda lonely here, don't you think so? Check out the other camera angles on Facebook - LL and DY have uploaded theirs. I've viewed it. It looks a lot more impressive.

Excited moms - The Skate Malaysia saga continues....

My friend MN caught this moment during the Freestyles 8 and 9 Tests conducted during Skate Malaysia 2009. This, although not an official event, was one of the highlights of the competition as it was not often we get a chance to witness the Freestyle 9 tests. For those not in the know, Freestyles 8 and above tests under the ISI guidelines are not usually conducted locally because it needs to be tested by 3 Gold Test judges which we do not have here. As such, it either have to be videotaped and sent to Hong Kong for evaluation or we have to wait for an occasion such as this for the testers to come in from Hong Kong. Or in the extreme case, the skater goes to Hong Kong to be tested!

As you can see, all the moms (except Chrisha, who's definitely not a mom!!! hehe) got 'Grandstand seats' - er...actually we were all standing on top of the bench!! I am second from the left ( with cap and my trusty cup of coffee in hand). See if you guys can tell who else is who...of course Chrisha looks sexy even from the back!!

If this looks like fun to you, that's because it IS!!! A lot of excited cheering and clapping going on. Four skaters took the test, including Ryan. But the most entertaining to watch was W from Jakarta. You could really see the happiness on his face each time he landed his jumps . It was so endearing!! Well, there were of course some very anxious moments, especially when Ryan did his program. I thought my heart stopped beating for that 4 long long minutes. Not to mention the sweaty palms!! And my trusty cup of coffee helped calm those pesky butterflies.

Sum tong, Xin teng,Sakit hati, Heart pain,all of the above

See that long white scratch right across the photo? It's on my precious car, hence all the heart pain etc stated above. Happened last Monday, when I went to the gym in the evening. I parked my car in the usual general area where I always parked, went into the gym, had a great class, came out very happy and drove off home, without noticing it. Reason is because it was on the passenger side door!

It wasn't until the hubby saw it that night and gave me hell that I came to know of it. As can be seen, it is unusually long and deep and as the hubby said, it looks deliberate rather than an accidental scratch. He then proceeded to give me a long lecture as to whether I have been picking fights with somebody or if I had offended anyone. Honest to God, I have not indeed, and I have no idea why someone would deliberately and maliciously put such a scratch on my car. The passenger side was next to a pillar and no way was my car obstructing anyone!

The whole incident put a damper on the rest of my evening, even writing about it now put a sour taste in my mouth, not to mention my blood rising as well. Well, to the %*#@&^^ (I have a lot of names I would like to call you but I shall refrain cos this is family friendly blog) person who did it, I hope you are happy cos you certainly have achieved your goal of making me miserable. In fact, I am wondering now if my migraine attack was due partly to you or not. Well, irregardless, I think I shall blame you for it. I have no inkling why you would want to do such a thing, and if I have indeed offended you unknowingly, I shall not even bother to apologize because I believe you are too small a person for me to even consider apologizing to. I like to think that I am big enough to handle this and you are so small , both in mind and morals that you do not merit anything. As the saying in Chinese goes, we are big people who do big things and are not bothered by insignificant people like you who resort to petty and furtive actions. Makes sense, huh? I pity you for not having the guts to come face me.

To those of you who park there, do be careful. Hubby is convinced someone is out to get me, hence this 'warning' . ( That's his exact words). I shall be wary and I would love to find the culprit and tell him or her or them exactly what I think of them!. Hmm...actually not much to tell cos not worth talking to such people, only this ; ' *&^%#)@!!!!! to you!' Duh!

Post Skate Malaysia blues

It's been almost a week after Skate Malaysia 2009. How time flies.....after a few hectic weeks of frantic practices , nagging and worrying, I really found myself suffering from post competition blues.....hmmm...is that why I got migraine for 2 horrible days this week? Had to spend 2 very miserable days in bed at home because of the stupid throbbing in my head that would not stop! On top of that, I was vomiting as well, I hardly ever get that during my migraine attacks...I think this is the 2nd time in my migraine history, so you can guess how bad it was. Anyway, luckily it was after the competition and not during :)

So the boys got few days reprieve before hitting the ice again on Thursday.The rink was sooo quiet that night. Even the coaches needed a break..Haha ! I 'bumped' into 2 of them at a pub that night after skating!


Note the cute table setting - so colorful and fun!

Was looking at some of the photos taken before the competition - those taken during ice time. We had a lot of fun during those times. There was one of Ryan at a beautifully laid table ( kiddy style), eating salmon and spaghetti that my good friend J made specially for him. He was so embarrassed ! I meet some really nice people at the rink - L, who always make such fantastic food on Sundays and ice time days. That particular ice time session, she made sticky rice and red bead soup! Can you believe that? It was really heart warming to have such thoughtful friends who take the trouble to cook and pack everything to the rink. My other good friend, A always give me sweet potato cakes she made herself. I am embarrass to admit that I only ever bring store bought food as my contribution :( But I think it's best for everyone cos if I were to cook, no one would eat it!!! Or worse still, someone might get diarrhea. Haha.. I also want to mention another friend J (also), who painstakingly made Julian's Freestyle costume for him! We are ever so lucky to have such great people there , like a big big extended family. Cheers everyone, and thank God for miracles like you guys.

Machu Picchu

Just watched a documentary on National Geographic and decided to add Machu Picchu to my 'Places to visit' list.

Machu Picchu is simply awesome. Even the name sounds so mysterious and romantic! Doesn't it look great? I can just imagine how it feels to be there - like seeing the ruins of Angkor Wat or the Great Pyramid at Giza. Indescribable.

Located in a mountain ridge, about 2450 m above sea level in faraway Peru, it is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Site. Machu Picchu is a settlement built primariry from rocks, all fashioned by hand around 1462.

It is considered an engineering marvel, built with technology well ahead of its time. Rocks were just placed in place without cement or mortar and they were painstakingly chipped to make a perfect fit between each other.

Series of water canals were built to carry water from the surrounding mountains to the settlement, and they even have man made fountains and baths!

Definitely a place to see!! Must find out how to get there.....:) Anyone been there?

Thanks to Coach WK

I am truly thankful to Ryan's coach WK. Without him, I think Ryan would not be skating the way he does and would have have achieved so much. So WK, a big big THANK YOU from us.

WK has been Ryan's coach from Day One, way back in 2000. So effectively, he has taught Ryan everything he knows. from Pre-Alpha to now. From a bunny hop to a Double Axel, and hopefully in the near future, his triples. At that time, Ryan was half his height and of course way way behind in skating skills, barely able to walk on skates, let alone glide. Now, Ryan has matched him in height and hopefully in skills as well. But no matter what, he will still be Ryan's Sifu. It is so interesting to look back at the photos taken back then and now. Back then Ryan had a 'coconut' hairstyle but WK has not changed a bit.

So, with Ryan's latest achievement, I want to say to WK, " I'm so glad you are his Coach and there for him every step of the way. You made this possible."

Skate Malaysia 2009

I am feeling kinda pressured to post something about Skate Malaysia 2009 after seeing all the great photos that my fellow skater friends and parents posted on their Facebook entries. Really good photos, especially the ones put up by AT. So pro...!

It was a great competition, despite the fact that some skaters from overseas canceled due to the H1N1 flu. Boo to you H1N1...get lost. There was also a sad moment on the last day as our local Freestyle 9 skater BV had a nasty accident on the ice :( Get well soon BV, we are all praying for your speedy recovery. Thus, we missed some good skating since some of the overseas skaters were going to compete in Freestyle 8 :(.

The opening ceremony was fantastic. The Minister from the Kementerian Belia dan Sukan came to officiate...Well Done Pyramid! And the highlight were the performances by Chrisha Gossard and Jamal Othman. It was one of the rare occasions we get to watch world class skating on our shores. Thanks to our Head Coach HJL....kudos! Pat on the back..pat...pat..

Jamal and Chrisha - don't they look cute together?

Chrisha is well known to all the skaters in Pyramid but this is the first time we saw her perform and it was really fantastic. She was soooo sexy and all the males, ( and most females, too!) were simply mesmerised by her. For a moment there, I thought a hot blooded male might fall down from the balcony upstairs due to his excitement! She has that kind of effect on people, especially the male species.

Jamal, who is the current Swiss National Champion is just awesome. His performance was so entertaining and a bunch of us moms had so much fun just screaming at him from upstairs! I know some people thought we were mad, but who cares? It was fun!!! We even threw him a teddy bear ! Sigh...brought to back to my teenage years! Later, a skater mom told me we were like the young girls at a concert!! haha...:) But I clarified that we know him and we were just playing along with the show. Don't want people to think we were desperate....:p

The competition days were like a blur - went by so fast! Must be because we had so much fun despite all the anxious moments. Today was like just dragging by...must be withdrawal symptoms!! Chrisha will be back next month and Jamal, please come back soon!!

Classes with Jamal

Julian spent the greater part of last week attending Jamal's classes,and in the process also spent the greater part of my hard saved cash. Cost me an arm and a leg !!!Boo hoo hoo...:( For those not in the know, Jamal Othman is the current Swiss National Champion and if his name sounded Malay, that's because he is half Malaysian. Google him if you want more info!!

Anyway, Julian made very good progress in his classes and hopefully it will show this week during the competition. Jamal is very meticulous and paid a lot of attention of details which made a world of difference to Julian's presentation.

So, if you happen to see a one armed and one legged woman hopping around the rink- that's me!!! I am also lop- sided cos the cash in the handbag is lessened and so I can't balance properly!! haha...

If you want to catch Jamal in action, he's performing this Thursday 2 July at 5 pm, during the Skate Malaysia opening ceremony!

Lucky wristband

This morning started real early - was at the rink by 6 am. Ryan wanted to practise....I think he is feeling the heat now that the test date is this week. That's a good sign, usually I have to cajole them to get up that early and skate before school. Anyway, since he wanted to do it, I was more than happy to sacrifice a few hours of sleep.

However, the morning didn't start off too well. He just couldn't land his jumps :( It was quite a shame as we were the first ones at the rink and he had clean ice and a clear rink ! Besides, it broke my heart to see him fall again and again, and I worry about injuries. Touch wood!!

It was getting frustrating as the morning wore on and he still was not getting it. Told him to stop but he wanted to try. Then he had a brilliant thought and said that he could not jump cos he didn't have his wristband on!! Rubbish,eh? Or so I thought...but after he put it on, he did a pretty decent program, not clean but pretty decent. That's is the (very) biased opinion of a doting mom! Of course, Coach is not too pleased as it was not clean. Yay...talk about superstitions!! Ok, now we know he has to wear it for the Freestyle test this Saturday. Wish him luck , and to those who happen to read this, keep your fingers crossed for him!!! Hope to bring you good news next week.

Transformers

Today is THE big day for all Transformers fan, and I of course followed the crowd! I was not disappointed - the movie was fantastic, albeit a tad long, almost 2 and a half hours but it was non stop action all the way. The cast was simply great, all roles were reprised, although Shea Labeouf looked slightly older and somehow didn't quite fit in as a freshman in college. He looked more adult here. Megan Fox was just stunning, I can see why Ryan thought she was hot. He is not wrong!!

Okay, okay, I won't spoil it for those of you who have not seen it, but I may consider a second round myself. It's that good. Actually I thought the first movie was better cos it seemed more 'controlled' The second movie, however was so action-packed that my poor old mind was utterly confused in all the non stop adrenalin pumping stuff going on. There is so much for the eyes and brain to absorb. Michael Bay outdid himself here.

Before the movie, there was a little 'drama' outside at the cinema lobby. 2 guys almost got into a fight and a mineral water bottle was sent hurling our way - got water on my shoes! Don't know what the commotion was about, lots of shouting but can't make out what was said , probably over a girl cos one of the guys was pulled away by a girl when the security came. Anyway, made the outing a bit more exciting, sort of a 'prelude' to a great movie...haha. Did secretly wished they came to blows though, just to spice things up!! So evil huh? What to do...my life is so mundane...:( I'm sure if you were there, you would think like that, too!