(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....:)