Annual Family Day 2

21st September, 2009 - Bukit Tinggi Colmar Tropicale was our next destination. After a light meal of plain teochew porridge with fried kembung fish, salted eggs, hash browns, off we went ... It was rather chaotic actually ... the kids were all scattered, so much so we soon lost track of where they are!

In fact, as we were leaving the Japanese Garden, I received a call asking me if I have lost a child!! Oh my, yes, by then, I realised that Bob was nowhere to be seen and after asking around thinking that he is with one group of the other especially with the other kids yelling that he is with the other group! We actually left him all alone at the Rabbit Park, some 15mins drive away!!!

By the time I got to Bob, he was with this security manager having Chicken Chop, smiling away! That night, as I got Bob to bed, he related his ordeal ... he was helping the other tourists bring out the rabbits since he is the smallest sized and could squeeze into the rabbit dens, hence, when we made our last calls to gather our family members before departing to our next destination, he didn't hear us whereas we thought he is in another family car together with his cousin. When he came out, he saw none of us and started walking to the bus station where we alighted earlier. There he saw a security guard and when asked, he told the security guard that he is lost. Somehow he was lead to the security manager and was asked to use the manager's handphone to call his mommy ...

Well, well, well .... ended well with not a scratch but a lesson learnt! Count my blessings, thank you for taking care of Bob for me and boy, am I glad that Bob knows how to communicate well and is brave enough to not break down but ask for help ^_^

Annual Family Day 1

20th September, 2009 - Selamat Hari Raya! Gee ... this year's celebration was rather a special one. 33 family members gathered for BBQ dinner and slept overnight at my humble house!!! It was also a much anticipated big birthday celebration for 8 family members : 19th to 30th September 2009.



Happy Birthday to you ....

Happy birthday to you ....

Happy birthday to Jgan,

Khai Jie, Jordan, Janet, Thomas, Bob, Dash and Siew Peng's daughther ....

Happy birthday to YOU........

Chilled Out @ Cameron

22nd August, 2009 - School holiday just started. Been a while since I took the kids for a holiday, so this time round, we took a short one up to Cameron! Got a real bargain from a client, had the whole 3 room apartment to ourselves, just the 8 of us, so all had plenty of comfortable space and room.

All the kids were given RM50 as pocket money and well, only 1 catch, that is for each of them to keep tab of their spending and note them down in a piece of paper. Of course, the kids were thrilled as they plan how they want to spend their money. For a start, they wanted KFC for lunch (oh yeah, of all things!!!), so they were excited as they browse through the menu and made their choices.

On occasions, the boys even started trading their money for interest woh... and during the pasar malam spree where the hawkers offer buy 2 free 1 kind of bargain, the boys calculated and figured it is better to take the offer and then sell the extra one to the other siblings at a small profit! Oh my, it's rather exciting to see how these young punks deal with money!

The other unforgettable memory : we were at the Sg Palas Boh plantation and for the first time in the kids' life, they sat on the tea trees with their feet off the ground. In fact, they also lied down on those trees with protruding branches on their backs ... he he he ... thanks to Odelia's ingenuity lor ... ha ha ha

Letting Go

I had this housewarming gift in the form of koi fishes when I moved into this house. In fact, those koi stayed in my house for about 2 years before we shifted in. I love to spend time sitting by the pond, feed them and yes, just enjoy relaxing moments, observing and sometimes I would day-dream ... yup, thinking about life as a fish, for instance. By the cascading water fountain, I would sometimes sit for hours and feel the breeze, the calming effects of nature relaxes me. So, no doubt, I grew to be rather fond of my koi.

At first, they would panic whenever my kids are around, playing 'fish catching' or dipping their little feet into the pond, wading away. Ha ha ... that would certainly make any live beings in the water look for hiding space ya. Anyway, soon, they became used to the noisy crowd and the occasional chaotic environment especially when the children got adventurous and would literally swim in the pond!

Then one day, the friend who gave me the koi made a request. This friend had just shifted into a bungalow, done up a big pond and felt that my kois are too big now for my small pond.... I was upset but I braved myself to say 'ok' and when the day came for the koi to move out, I thought I could handle it. Alas, I broke down and cried. I just didn't realise how strong was the attachment I had for those koi. At first, my friend took only the 3 bigger ones. Then, I noticed that the rest just didn't want to eat and I thought, OMG, they are depressed! So, with a heavy heart, I got my friend to come and pick up the rest of them ... with only one request : that may they be well taken care off, feed well and live happily in their new pond .... metta ^_^

When the kois were with me, this friend of mine would come and visit sometimes. Many a time, this friend would comment on how precious and valuable the kois were, which somehow, made me feel uneasy. I felt as though I "owe" this friend of mine something even though, as per Chinese customs, I had given this friend an angpow, signifying a note of thank you in return.

Of course, this friend also bought me some smaller koi in exchange, however, those died within the next day. Perhaps, it's fated to be that way. In the end, I bought some medium sized ones from Sentul Koi where they were having a clearance sale. Thank God, these survived and seem to be happy in their new home, feeding well and my, you should see them swim ... speed is their name! Alas, I am thankful that I let go, cos now, those koi in my pond are truly mine and they are growing up to be such beauties!

Healed

14th September, 2009 - Wow!!!! That's more than 3 months since my last post here. Oh well, looks like I have a lot to catch up, so I think I'll have to engage the reverse gear! Ha ha ...

All is well, now that last Thurday morning the eye specialist performed a surgery to scrap off the epilatum layer of my injured right eye and had to rest at home with a patch, spotting a One Eye Jack thingy. So glad that it is healing well. Went to work after 4 days' of complete rest, although I had to force myself to just work for less than 4 hours. Thank God for this beautiful world ya ^_^

A close friend quoted : our eyes are our window to the world, gotta take very good care of them! How very true, certain things we really took for granted until the unexpected mishap happens.... Ever since my eye injury I tried not to strain my eyes too much, especially when it comes to facing the computer screen! (but then, what to do? I needed to face it in order to earn a living leh... sigh...) Diligent application of eye drops and eye gel helps, sometimes in the middle of the night where the excruciating pain just inflict ifself onto poor unprepared me! Just couldn't understand it. For 2 weeks, all seem to be well and suddenly the pain just appear out of nowhere ... and it went on and on until I finally got to the 3rd doc who explained to me in plain English. Aiyo ...

Anyway, it's with a sigh of relief, really, that I made the decision to cure my eyes once and for all with this surgery ^_^