respice, adspice, prospice

I can’t believe we’re leaving London in a matter of days. I’m excited to finally go home and settle down permanently, but on the other hand London has it’s bitter sweet memories and I’m surely gonna miss it like hell. London is where I had my adorable son, this is where I learnt how to become a proper housewife (trust me, it’s not as easy as u think) and this is where I went mad with shopping…not that I wasn’t a mad shopper before but now the syndrome has gotten worse. London does that to you. The fast moving fashion craze, the millions of choices to choose from and the designer sales is enough to make a woman go mental…literally.

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5 top things I will miss in London:

• The shopping (even a twat could figure that out)
• The Chiswick High Street.. it’s so lively, especially on weekends and it’s so happening too
• The polite and friendly sales people (soooo not looking forward to the rude and antagonistic service u get in KL)
• The ready - made meals… life is so simple here… all u need to do is pop it in the oven and wallah! A full course dinner for the family.
• Last but definitely not least, all the sweet friends I made here. Marisa and Lan, u guys rock. Intan and Farah, my best MSN buddies…whenever I see Mango Trifle and Jelly Cakes I will always think of u two. Suzana, I wrote u an emotional testi already, so I’m not gonna go thru this again!

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5 top things I will be looking forward to in KL:

• My family..I miss my mommy sooo much..
• Work!!! Yay! Can’t wait to get back into my power suits, sheer pantyhose and killer heels.. I’ve had enuff of wearing flowery aprons and oven gloves.
• FOOD…I am really craving for Keropok Lekor rite now. My dad thinks I’m KG for that but I love keropoks dad…
• DRIVING and TRAFFIC JAMS. Yup, u read right. Ironically, I miss traffic jams. Not because my legs and bum get so sore from pressing the gas and sitting too long in a 2 hr ride that was supposed to be 15 minutes… I just miss the comfort of my own car, the choice of music I get to play and wearing my sunnies. It beats rushing for the jam - packed tube full of smelly sweating Brits..especially during summer…OMG..the smell is enuff to kill you.
• My single lusty gal pals back home!! Pah, Yan, Nads, Montox and Nina…I can’t wait to see u people…hey, did u people get my creative Raya Card or not? So quiet lately…hmphhh…

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So there it is…good bye London (sob! sob!) and here I come KL (yippedy yay!!!).

I am so annoyed…I haven’t written in a while and when I finally get to sit down and do it, the "friendster" system starts to pull one on me..I just lost my entire text!!!! Urrrrrrrghhhhhhhhh!!!

Luckily I remember some of it

Anyways, I meant to write this down since 2 weeks ago but time just got the better of me. In between dirty nappies, never - ending housework and the latest seasons of Grey’s Anatomy (ahhh…McDreamy ♥), Prison Break and Rockstar Supernova (Dilana RoCkSSS), I managed to get some of this down.

We went fruit picking…yes…fruit picking…seems unworthy to blog about to some but I actually found the entire experience refreshing. I totally digged it. It was sooooo relaxing. I understand now why the rich and famous grow their own orchards and milk their own cows. It’s all about the satisfaction of watching and enjoying the results of your own hard work (not that we planted any of the fruits ourselves but the "picking and sneakily eating process" was just as satisfying). Anyway, so that’s how they came up with idioms like "bearing fruit", the fruits of success" etc. I get it now.

We even went to a farm that day…it was more for the kids but I must say, I’m a sucker when it comes to animals. I LOVE them..and one cute lil’ animal that caught my heart that day was this rare breed of a Golden Guernsey kid goat. She was adorable!!! We fed some of the animals and despite having to deal with tonnes of sheep and goat saliva on my hands, I had fun. My next mission: cow milking and elephant bathing…YEEEHAAA!!!

p/s: To Marisa and Azlan, thanks for inviting us. Really enjoyed it. By the way, where are the photos la??

It’s interesting to be in the backseat and watch the current squabble of two of the most prominent men in Malaysia i.e. Dr M and his successor Pak Lah. What’s more interesting are the conspiring theories evoked by Raja Petra Kamarudin in his illustrious writings of the "Khairy Chronicles". If RPK is anywhere close to the truth, Malaysia is about to witness a major scandal, perhaps even bigger than that of the Anwar case. I sense something big happening, and as much as I’m enjoying the drama, I’m not very comfortable about it . Keep your eyes open and keep your ears peeled Malaysia, coz we’re about to be taken on one helluva roller coaster ride…

p/s: Day 2 of sleep - training wasn’t so bad. Daniel managed to fall asleep after 1 hour, which is still not good enough but definitely improving. I might just stick to this sleep routine after all…

It’s 1.15 am. I just spent 3 whole hours putting my one year old son to sleep. I’m mentally and physically drained and I need to rant before I go craaaaaaaazyyyyyyyyy. Tonite was my first real attempt at baby sleep - training. I’ve been rocking him to sleep all this while and my arms just don’t have the strength any more. Everyone else has been tutting about how you shouldn’t get the baby used to rocking, blah, blah, blah…so, it’s not like I hadn’t had enough warning. I just didn’t have the will power before and now I’m facing the music…shite. My first attempt at sleep - training was when he was 4 months old. I picked him up after the first 2 wails. My second attempt at sleep - training was when he was 7 months old. My mom interfered and picked him up after 5 minutes of crying..she just couldn’t bear to hear her only grandson crying his heart out. Yeah, it was pretty heart - wrenching okay…so I just decided then and there that if he wants rocking then I’ll give him rocking.

But tonite I was determined to stop the rocking before I lose any sense of feeling in both of my arms. I actually left him in his cot and let him cry for 25 minutes straight. It was a horrible, horrible ordeal. My heart twisted with every cry he made, but I had to prevail. The experts say that you shouldn’t let them cry too long in case they get traumatised. So I spent the next 2 hours and 35 minutes sitting on a chair infront of his cot, in total darkness, whilst he poked at my eyes and picked my nose with his stubby little fingers. The experts didn’t say how long babies normally take to fall asleep this way but if every night is going to take 2 and a half hours of eye - poking and nose - picking, I might as well let my arms fall off! At least he only takes 15 to 20 minutes to fall asleep when I rock him. Decisions, decisions…I don’t know how long I can take this sleep - training thing. We’ll just have to wait and see…      

I am in a state of awe right now. I just finished reading the book Memoirs of a Geisha and I can’t believe how much the book has left an impression on me. I liked everything about it, from front to back. I know I already typed up a book review on it but I just thought that I had to blog about it as well.

Somehow the book reminded me of an ancestor I supposedly have. Many, many years ago, when I was a scruffy little kid, I remember seeing a portrait of this Japanese - looking lady on the wall in my uncle’s house. I think the painting was a copy of the original and it was hung up there with a portrait of my grandfather and grandmother. If my memory serves me well, my uncle told me that it was picture of my great - grandmother i.e. my grandfather’s mom, who was Japanese. It has always striked me as a little bit odd that I had a Japanese ancestor coz my grandfather was 100% Indian (from either Calcutta or Mumbai, I can’t remember which), or so I thought he was. I mean in those days, circa mid 1800s to 1900s, how on earth did a Japanese woman end up in India? Yeah, I know that by then there were various means of transportation but just the idea of a woman travelling from a country notoriously known for its traditional values, especially when it comes to women, just struck me as odd.

Anways, I probably got it all wrong…I’m not entirely sure that she’s Japanese. As I’ve recently discovered, memories I had as a child may have been obscured along the way. Heck, I even remember that my uncle once told me that my great, great, great (don’t know how many ‘greats’) was once a Maharaja. Whether that’s true or not, I’m not inclined to find out. But now that I’m all grown up, it couldn’t sound far more from the truth. Fin, if u ever read this blog, help me out here!! Ur dad probably knew about our granpa more than my dad can ever remember………

As a kid I always imagined myself in Rome. I have always been fascinated by the ancient city and its history; Julius Ceasar, the pagan gods and goddesses, the fahionable togas, chariots etc. As a result, I grew up with a fixed image of Rome in my head. I imagined everything about Rome to be mystical, enchanting and powerful in a certain way. Dan Brown didn’t help matters either. His book, Angels and Demons, just fuelled my desire to touch, feel and taste Rome in the same way it was thousands of years ago.

When the opportunity came and we decided to go to Rome for our holiday, I was elated. I couldn’t stop thinking about how fantastic it would be to see with my very own eyes the works of geniuses like Michelangelo and Raphael, the archaic ruins and the holy Vatican City. 

We touched down in Rome early, on the morning of Good Friday. Ciampino airport was small and old. Not ‘old’ with a charming rustic feel to it….just shabby and old and could do with some refurbishing. Not that it mattered to me at that time, I was just too eager to get out, check - in our hotel and zoom off to the ancient sites. So, we took the first taxi available. It was an MPV and the driver looked in his mid-30s, dark shoulder-length hair with a gold chain around his neck. The minute we got in, the driver shifted into gear and sped off like he was driving a Ferrari. He was dodging cars like we were in a video game and was bordering on the point of being manic. In fact, everyone seemed to be driving in a manic stupor. Suz and I thought it was just like driving in Penang, the town that holds the record for holding the worst drivers in the world…don’t be angry Suz…besides, ur a Londoner now

Anyway, we managed to get to the hotel in one piece. Before coming to Rome, I did my research. A taxi fare from the airport was supposed to cost on average between 35eur to 45eur. The manic driver charged us 67eur. Not only that, he managed to cheat us by another 40eur by shuffling and switching some of the notes around. Major con-artist. Maybe he needed the extra money  for some driving lessons…I don’t know. He did give us a receipt though. Johan and Riza thought they could claim from the firm as business expense. Too bad the receipt had the words "Cica Cica Boom Night Club, Floor Show, Lap Dancers" printed all over it…huh?

Okay, so our first day in Rome didn’t get off to a good start. We were still enthusiastic - the experience with the con-artist didn’t dampen our hopes as yet. We decided to walk around the hotel area first, just to get a feel of our surroundings. Wasn’t a very good idea that. The area around Holiday - Inn gave a bigger impression of shabbiness and dirtiness than the airport did. The walls were streaked with grafitti, the buildings were dull to a brownish colour - there was just nothing Romanesque about it. To be fair, the hotel wasn’t exactly in the ancient quarter, but it was only a couple of kms from it.

The rest of the day was better. We managed to see Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi, Spanish Steps and Piazza Popolo, all in half a day. Exhausting, especially with 2 babies in tow, but worth every minute. On the second day, we spent the whole day in Vatican City, mostly Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. I must say that only then I understood why Michelangelo was such a genius. His masterpiece of the frescoes and The Last Judgement cannot be described by words. All I can say was that it took my breath away.

We saved the best (or so I thought) for last and visited The Colosseum and The Roman Forums on our third day. Wierdly enough, I have mixed feelings about these two ancient sites. No doubt, the architecture, technology and the very history of it was something to deliberate about. But somehow, I didn’t feel that ‘magic’ I expected to feel. That ‘awe’ that should make me gasp with amazement, that ‘mystery’ that will slowly unfold itself, that ’satisfaction’ that would come with understanding…it just didn’t happen for me. Maybe I lacked imagination that day or maybe I just simply expected too much. The mistake I tend to make without fail. For what it’s worth, I’m glad I made this trip. It fed my curiosity. I no longer have to dream of the legend that was Rome…

ALL THAT JAAAAZZZZZ…. If I could belt it out and somehow attach my voiceclip on this blog I would.  It’s the famous soundtrack from the ever so famous musical CHICAGO. Had the liberty to watch it with a couple of gal pals last weekend and was totally bowled-over by the whole show. I mean, the actors were awesome, especially the lady that played Roxy Hart - she was superb!  Her acting was flawless and totally believable. Too bad we missed the previous shows that had Brooke Shields playing the part of Roxy.

Anyway, the live music was sensational too. Had to brace myself many times from jumping up and doing the 1920’s jig. Heck, even the maestro conductor was enjoying himself - caught him swaying his ‘tushee’ once or twice…

The exceptional cast and body - rocking music is just a snippet of what to expect. I think the roaring success of CHICAGO is hugely due to the plot. The narrator summed it up as a show about "murder, greed, corruption, exploitation, adultery and treachery…all those things we hold near and dear to our hearts"…hmmmm…..

And to make matters more interesting, the character of Roxy Hart is actually based on a real person - Mrs Beulah Annan who was accused of murdering a guy on 3rd April 1924. WOW….trust me..u will be wowed once u see how conniving the characters are and suddenly realise all this was based on a real - life murder case! eiks….

If you haven’t seen the movie (the one with Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta Jones and Richard Gere), then you’d probably struggle a little to understand the musical. Anyway, we gals were certainly "razzled-dazzled" by it all…

So, I finally get to meet my hubby’s Aussie mate and his wife. He’s been talking about them forever. "Lina, u got to meet Will and Marion. He was my best friend back in Perth. We worked together in Deloitte. One day I was walking alone and this chap drove by…". And the story continues.

They were supposed to come to our wedding in Shah Alam but couldn’t make it at the last minute. So finally Johan got his wish and we were introduced, of all places, here in London. They came over to our little pad for lunch. Johan made (yes Johan, not me) Chicken Rice. I think Will ate the Chicken Rice chilli till his ears went really red… thank god there was loads of Ribena to the rescue.

We chatted about everything from ridiculous PwC malaysia working hours to Tony Blair and Muslim terrorists. Deep topics, but coming from Johan and Will’s perspective made it all the more entertaining.

My other special guest last week was Kak Anne. She slept over for a couple of days and proved to be so much fun. I never really knew her that well before - she’s a friend of a friend. But we got round to talking - for hours! She’s really sweet and inspiring. Just talking to her made me feel really motivated! To do what I won’t say la, but I dare say she’s damn good okay… 

All in all I had a great weekend. Even little baby Daniel had his fair share of excitement at his new friend’s birthday party. The theme was ‘pirates in the luau’ and there were cute, tiny baby pirates and hula dancers everywhere!

Why I like being a MOMMY

• babies are the most cutest and adorable looking creatures ever
• one smile from them can melt even the toughest of hearts
• they make u feel good and make great listeners too
• a baby’s laughter lights up a room even when the lights are out
• u become their rock and they become yours
• it’s nice to be labelled a "YUMMY MOMMY"…

Why I sometimes wonder how on earth I agreed to be a MOMMY

• pregnancy, actual delivery and post pregnancy wasn’t exactly a joyride
• we never go to the cinemas anymore. Babies can reaaallly cry…
• window shopping means window shopping. Anything longer than 10 minutes in a shop will result in a very "angry" baby
• taking a shower or bath is considered luxury time u don’t have
• they hog the TV. The only acceptable channels are those that show cartoons and chubby puppets with antennas on their heads and a TV on their tummy…
• the double bed used to fit two people. Now it fits two-and-a-half very squished up people

Conclusion:

Women never learn. I’d love to have another one. Perhaps a girl this time… 

So here comes a new addition to the blogging community. After months of deliberation, I’ve finally mustered enough courage to create my own blogging site. In all honesty, I have no clue what to blog about but the temptation to write has been at the back of my brain like a spreading virus.

I’ve always aspired to be a writer (although bad choices landed me in the world of boring ol’ accountants). But then, having read other people’s blogs, I quickly realised that more than half the world probably had the same aspiration but were just as "chicken" to venture out professionally. So I guess for some not so uncanny reason, being an accountant isn’t so bad after all - it offers a stable career and gives a woman the perfect excuse to stock up on designer suits. Hallelujah!

So for all those yearning ink slingers out there, aren’t we glad that someone came up with this blogging idea!