Dying Inside

Okay.. I will try not to make it a habit to let whole months lapse before I post a new entry. Promise. :-D

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My mom always told me if I didn't have anything nice to say, just keep quiet. So I really should stop tempting myself on purpose. Like right now I'm semi-watching the weekly concert of this local reality show that has that "fever" catch phrase. Like really, does anyone actually take this seriously? Is it really a matter of life and death that you have to dissect every single aspect of these kids lives and trash them on national TV? I really really kesian these poor fools who willingly put themselves up for public ridicule like this. Like last week that poor girl with the obviously sweaty arm-pits? So sad.

I have to admit I was caught up in it during the first season a few years ago. I was single, had lots of time on my hands and not much of a personal life after work hours. I faithfully watched the daily updates and stayed in every Saturday night to catch the concerts. I even cried once or twice when my favourite contestants were booted off the show. It was a novelty being the first show of it's kind locally and EVERYONE was into it. Then came season two with all it's outrageous sponsorships, surprises and scandals. I started to get menyampah because it was all kind of staged and I finally came to see what a load of bollocks it all was. Once season three started, I really couldn't be bothered. Buat sakit hati je tengok. The contestants could hardly sing, the "top" ones were appalling and the judges were over the top. Like their opinion really mattered. Haha.

The later seasons have turned into instant cash cows encouraging people to vote via SMS with weird sponsorship deals thrown in. The kids are obviously acting, the clothes are atrocious, the songs are boring and the judges.. ooops, "pengkritik" are as loud as ever. They like to play the good cop, bad cop and cop on the fence routine a' la A*erican Idol. And what's up with the pancing undi taktik of bursting into tears at the drop of a hat? Are there really all these 20-something kids who've never ever been away from their parents? Are all of them really sad and tragic and this is their last chance at making a better life for their families? And what in the world does ready-made asam jawa have to do with singing?

So of course la one cannot help but kutuk whenever the show is on. But surprisingly come Saturday night the whole family gathers in front of the TV to watch and comment on the show. I keep saying, "If all we're going to do is kutuk, baik kita watch something else. Buat tambah dosa je." But we never do change the channel... so God help me, I have to be extra nice and recite extra long doas to make up for my weekly bitch-fest. Hahahaha.

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Sorry if anyone terasa, but I hate blogs where all the bloggers talk about is where they shop, what they bought and gloat about it. So you have the money and resources to stock up on designer goodies and fly off to glamorous locations with nary a care in the world. Like your kids for example. Not all of us do. Please try to avoid rubbing it in our faces.

Like there's a certain blog that I desperately try to avoid. It does nothing but piss me off. Ms M and me, we never have anything nice to say about this particular person. I have personally met this girl a few times (I attended her wedding even) and our families are connected. But to read what goes on in her life is mind-boggling. Her family is the nicest, humblest of folks but this girl is so outspoken and flashy you really can't describe it. She's made it her life's mission to single-handedly raise the country's economy. She shops like there's no tomorrow, snapping up serious designer stuff without batting an eye. If her posts are anything to go by, this goes on every week. However I'm not sure if it's her rich daddy's or her husband's money she's throwing around. As far as I know she doesn't work and is a SAHM to her young child. However, I have recently discovered that she uses everything once or twice then sells them to her friends and families. So it's a kind of roll-over deal with her, I guess.

I don't read her blog if I can help it. Once in a while though, if she buys something really fabulous or extreme Ms M will text me and together we'll rant.

Stop it stop it stop it, me. Really. Be the better person. Keep your bitchy thoughts and comments to yourself. Or so I keep saying. Sigh.

Happy Days Are Here Again!!

Okay okay.. I've been out of the loop for quite a while. Been so busy and stressed and have loads on my mind that I hardly have the energy to fire up the old laptop at the end of the day.

I really didn't want to say anything until everything was 100% confirmed. It's simply this... hubs is moving back to KL! For good! Hip hip hoorayyyyyyyyyyy!!! A few weeks ago around Maghrib I got a call on the house phone from a harrassed-sounding young lady named Wati. She said she was working for a certain 5-star hotel and had been trying to get hold of R for ages. Before he went to SG, hubs had interviewed at this hotel for the post of Chef Concierge. Apparently they were too late in giving their reply or something, so hubs headed to the MO in SG who's offer came first. Now, months later, this hotel is calling up R to offer him the job.

Kebetulan hubs was due for a return visit the next week, so he went for yet another interview at the hotel. They were like really laying it on thick, like "Your wife and kids and family is here... you tak nak kerja balik sini ke?" So hubs demanded better pay, better benefits and the freedom to pick and hire his own staff. They must have been pretty desperate 'cos they agreed!!

So hubs zipped back to SG to tender his resignation and tie up all his affairs. Then last week he called me and said he received another job offer from another 5-star hotel in KL!! Wow, double the rezeki anak this year, Alhamdulillah. So he's going for another interview when he comes back next week.

In answer to your question, that's why I'm house-hunting, Ms F!

To tell you the truth, I'm feeling a bit pressured to find a house ASAP from my mother. Really.. macam kena halau je. Haha. But the terms are my new place has to be close to KJ 'cos she insists that I send them to her place when we go to work. Every where close by is like really old or too expensive. The ones within the meagre budget my staff loan permits are quite far away.

So I am open to suggestions. Really.

So Long, Sucker!

Eez recently said his final goodbye to a dear friend - his beloved pacifier, Ting. That little sucker has had many incarnations over the years and served Eez faithfully as a comfort companion over the past 2 ½ years. The last one, a clear teal blue plastic soother, finally got so raggedy and bitten and holey that Eez started saying, "Eeeewww Ting yucky!" every time he put it in his mouth. I didn't get him a new one on purpose on the advice of my mom and MIL 'cos we all thought it was high time he gave it up. He started asking for it less and less during the day and has survived two whole nights without it. I finally chucked it in the bin yesterday with a slight feeling of guilt at Ting's unceremonious funeral.

I had a love-hate relationship with my son's pacifiers. Yeah, people say they're gross and contribute towards orthodontic problems and kids end up depending on them and bla bla bla... but those people have never had a baby constantly "hanging" until your nips feel like they're about to fall off from all the sucking! I did my research and got so-called orthodontist approved (and probably the most expensive) ones from Av*nt, which Eez really loved. He liked the shape and texture kot and refused all other brands I bought. Ting was actually a real life-saver at times... especially at night when Eez just needed a little comfort. Some well-meaning people tried to get me to stop giving Eez the pacifier but I preferred to let Eez stop in his own good time. I mean, how do you expect a toddler to go cold turkey on something he's had all his life?

There are different schools of thought on pacifiers. Some experts say that babies don't really need pacifiers in the first place and get into the habit of having one once they've been introduced. They can effect the alignment of a toddler's teeth and impediment speech development. Others say that pacifiers are alright as long as the baby still has his milk teeth. I started to get worried after Eez developed a slight curvature in his teeth but his speech hasn't been effected so I didn't mind so much. Besides, he looked really cute when he "senyum belakang puting", as his Papa called it.

I'm soooo relieved Eez has finally kicked the habit. I can stop carting the little bugger around in my hand-bag when we go out and I don't have to worry about Eez misplacing or losing it anymore!!! Oh wait... Ray's got a pacifier, too. Dammit. Another 2½ years to go then!

There's No Place Like Home

Okay okay I'm updating my blog!! Due to a series of mishaps and malas episodes I've neglected my poor blog for a month. First of all one by one my family members succumbed to the flu virus that was going around recently. Eez got sick first - fever, snuffly runny nose, cough, the works. Then Ray started to cough suspiciously. He developed this little manja-manja cough which made us unsure whether he was really getting sick or he was just "testing" 'cos he laughed after every cough. Soon he started getting snuffly at night so I endured another 2½ hour wait at the paed's to set my mind at rest. Immediately after that, I got the flu and a cough. Then the virus jumped ship to my sister pulak. So at one point all 4 of us were on flu/cough medication, rolling around the house like a pack of drunks. Hahaha! My mom certainly had her hands full that week, let me tell you.

Aaaahh and the onset of February bought a spate of lovely public holidays which fell on Fridays. FT day was the first long weekend. Hubs managed to get cuti and came back for four days. The only blot was I had to come back to work for a few hours on FT day for the month-end closing. So I balanced my accounts at super-speed and left by noon before my boss could dump more work on me! The rest of the weekend was spent jalan-jalan, makan-makan, catching up with friends at KLCC (love love love the pizza at CPK).

Then we went down to be with hubs for CNY weekend. We drove down to JB with my Mak Uda who works in Shah Alam and my Mak Tok who was visiting for a while. While all my Mak Tok's other cicits call her "Nenek", my son has bestowed upon her the ultra-hip title of "Grandma". So all the way back to JB it was "Grandma, nak makan!" or "No, Grandma. My pillow!". Mak Tok loves being called Grandma, definitely the first in her kampung to be called that!

Singapore was quite dead during the 1st two days of the lunar new year since most of the major shopping malls were closed. I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw how empty Orchard St was. A complete opposite from KL where even though half the city is away balik kampung, the malls and shopping spots are still open full swing! The malls being closed was a good thing actually since I wasn't able to shop! Hubs was relieved at that.. hahaha. We did manage to go to Sentosa Island for an afternoon to indulge Eez in his favourite past time of fish watching at Underwater World. Not too sure about the value for money there 'cos it wasn't as big as I'd expected and the crowds (mostly tourists and foreign workers on leave) was horrendous.. then again I've been spoilt by Aquaria and our own Underwater World at Langkawi. We also managed to catch the Song of the Sea light and water show for a fantastic price of $6! A great ½ hour show which really took our breaths away. Eez was totally awed by the whole thing while Ray... well, Ray slept through the whole thing since it was way past his regular bed-time. Before heading back to JB on Saturday I managed to squeeze in a trip to Orchard St and bag a pair of Itti & Otto heels (my new favourite brand of shoes) which was on sale at R*binsons.

We headed back up to KL on Sunday. What's a trip back to the nation's capital without a traffic jam or two thrown in? OMG the whole of the N9 stretch of the highway was so jammed up. Over-heated cars and two buses lay forlornly by the side of the road as we inched our way along. The whole trip took 6 freakin' hours. Ray was out of sorts for a while but soon settled down to sleep. Eez was safely strapped into his car seat and was on good behaviour the whole time. As long as he got his milk and Friend he was perfectly happy, entertaining us with his whole reportoire of nursery rhymes and his own made-up song of every single word he knows from family members to animals to food to everything in the world. Have to tape that one some day, could be a hit!

So there you have it, folks.. what I've been up to lately. Now it's back to the daily grind.. I missed 2 weeks of yoga due to being sick and the holidays, so I really really should go today. I can just feel that Hershey Sundae Pie adding inches to my waist.....