A New Ride

I got my driver's license the day I turned 19. That was about 6 years ago yesterday. OK. That's a lie. Add another 7 years to that. What? You're confused? Oh well. Never mind. Age is just a number and I hate numbers and this post isn't going to be about numbers.

So anyway. Back to the story. On the day I earned my driver's license, everything just fell into place. I passed the theoretical test, I nailed the slopes test and I excelled in the parking test. Everything was a breeze except for the road test. What happened? Well, the car stalled twice during the test cos I was sloppy with the clutch and the accelerator. But because it was my birthday, I got really lucky and was given this super nice tester. He said "Jangan panic Alice...Palan palan". And surprise surprise, my final score for the road test was 19/20! Even with mati enjin :) 

Although I had a license, I was not allowed to drive cos my dad said I wasn't ready. It was only safe for me to drive on kampung roads. Period. That was so frustrating. Three years later, I graduated and was posted to a suburban school in Papar. My dad realized that I couldn't possibly walk from KK to Papar so he bought me a pre-loved Suzuki Jeep. It was ancient alright but I so adored it, simply because it was mine. All mine.

After two months, the Suzuki broke down. The journey from KK to Papar was too much for the old engine so my dad had no choice but to sell the car. I was a bit annoyed when he did cos I was back to being chauffered-driven to school. Suddenly I was 12 again.

Shortly after this bleak period, my dad bought me a more reliable car. It was a metallic-blue, Proton Saga sedan. I was extremely ecstatic when I got it cos it was way newer than the Suzuki and much easier to drive. The Proton served me well for a few years but after sometime, it started giving me heaps of problems. I'd like to tell you the problems I had with it, but I can't come up with the right term. The only thing I could remember is the timing belt. So anyway, I sold the car and moved on.

My next car was an Atos - small and economical. This Atos was special because a month after I had it, the registration number 2650 came out in the lottery - first prize! We bought two tickets, so that was equivalent to RM5000. A sweet win, wouldn't you say? Anyway,  a month after winning the 4D, llittle Alden was born. The date? 26 May 2006 (26/5). His weight? 2.65 kg. Big coincidence eh? I thought it was cool.

In September 2008, I had to sell the Atos cos I was leaving for NZ. It wasn't easy getting rid of it but I managed to sort it out just in the nick of time. When we got to Christchurch, we bought this red Toyota Camry station wagon for $1800.00. That's right. A thousand eight hundred ONLY.

This car has been problem-free since the day we bought it but it does have a couple of minus points. It doesn't have an air-conditioner, it's absorbers are all worn out and something in the engine needs to be fixed. 

You know where this is going right? Yep. That's right. We sold the car. 

And then we went car hunting. There were so many nice, cheap ones in the market and  we went to more than 10 car dealers along Moorhouse Avenue itself.

BMW anyone?

 I like this one but it's a two-seater

 Nissan Maxima 2004 - $8000 plus only

 If I were single, I would have bought this - $5990 only!

 and this one's $6990!

 A classic - The Jaguar is only $6999

It was hard choosing one that you really like cos there were so many to choose from. But in the end, I finally decided on something more practical for the family and one that is affordable.

I chose this. Another Camry but a newer one.

And that's my biggest birthday present ever :)

Yes, I'm in denial

 Happy Weekend everyone :)

Let the Blogging Begin

I am back in Christchurch and back to blogging. After a long absence it feels a bit awkward to start writing again. I think this is one of the hardest things for bloggers to do – writing that first draft that announces their return. I thought about this long and hard and I've decided  to pick up where I left off. 

Let's start with what I did in KK.

In the first week, I attended a Wild Wild West-themed party organised by my colleagues at work. I brought hubby along cos I figured he too needed a break. So we left the kids at home and went to the party all happy and excited, giggling like two teenagers who just got out of detention. The expression "I'm FREE! I'm FREE!" was written all over our faces.

That's me and Delia

Hubby having his moment

A week after that, my futsal friends organised a homecoming dinner at Krishna's. It was another great night of dining and chatting.

Then there was my meeting with Chegu Carol and her hubby. But I've blogged about this already.

The following weeks were then filled with data collection work, family time, weekend trips, data analysis,  paper work and a bit of shopping here and there. When I was doing my research, most of my time was spent with Octavia, one of my closest buddies at work. Oct is also a wonderful shopping companion cos she's literally a Becky Bloomwood. One in denial of course.   

Aside from work, I also spent some quality time with the kids and hubby. We went to Kundasang one weekend and spent the night there. I don't know whether it's just me, but I feel that Kundasang has gotten so much warmer now. In the past, day time was always cool and breezy but now you can feel the burning heat  even in the early morning. Another effect of climate change I guess.

In mid September, I attended a wedding dinner with my sister. I didn't even know the bride (Christine) but I tagged along cos I wanted to dress up and get out of the house.

A day after that, I attended a mini bloggers-gathering held at Sailor's Cafe. I met Annieming, The Wandering Sumandak, Shiela, the Jade sisters, Chegu, Mimi and her lovely sister. One of the things I was looking forward to was hearing their voices and seeing who they were. It's interesting  cos I think every blogger has his/ her own virtual blogging voice and it's always fun to predict or imagine how they really sound like in real life.

Lady bloggers

Towards the end of September, my data collection work was almost complete. I started spending less time at work and more time at home with the kids. My dad got tired of babysitting cos the duos were driving him nuts - throwing stuff into the toilet bowl, fighting with each other, playing with soap, eating peanut butter straight from the jar, shouting at the top of their lungs and being mischievous. It was chaotic.

On October 2, disaster struck. I woke up one morning to see this in the mirror.

The condition is called subconjunctival hemorrhage. It occurs when a tiny blood vessel breaks just underneath the clear surface of your eye (conjunctiva). You can read all about it here. It didn't hurt at all but it scared a lot of people - my dad included. I don't blame him. I looked like one of those bad vampires in Eclipse you know. Anyway, if you do get this, DO NOT PANIC and don't ever go to the P Polycinic in Dongongon cos an idiot who calls himself a doctor will tell you that it takes 2 - 3 months to heal. That's not all. He will also scare you to death by telling you the stain could be permanent and that some people never get rid of it. Like forever and ever. I had a major breakdown when I heard this and went home crying.

I later found out from my sister that the idiot was wrong. She googled "blood in the eye" and discovered these facts: 1.The condition is very common, 2. It takes about 14 days to heal and 3. It is completely harmless. Phew! I could breathe again. I should never have trusted the so-called doctor! If you see him, avoid him at all cost. He's on duty every Sunday afternoon, is plump, nerdy and is about 5' 7". I hope that helps. Going back to the eye. Well, knowing that it wasn't permanent cheered me up but it didn't change the fact that I looked like Jane from the Volturi. Having a vampire-ish eye caused a lot of inconveniences and social discomfort. People stared at me like I was Shrek and my colleagues kept asking me "Kenapa mata kau???!!!!!" with disgust etched all over their faces. Even Alden said I looked scary. But anyway, life went on and I soon got used to my red eye.

After completing my research work, I felt good about myself and decided to have a weekend getaway with my family. My parents weren't that thrilled but the kids absolutely enjoyed themselves.

In the same week, I had a girls' night out with Oct and Chegu. I still had the red eye then but I  managed to survive without lenses/ glasses. Was it a torture having to squint my eyes 90% of the time? You bet. Was it worth the effort? Yes.

Photos courtesy of Chegu Carol

On October 15, I organised a dinner gathering for my friends at the Sailor's. I didn't expect they would turn it into an advance birthday bash for me instead. It was a big surprise and I really appreciate the lovely gesture.

Add caption

On October 16, a day before I flew back to Christchurch, I attended Judy's wedding reception. It was a lovely wedding but I didn't get to take a photo with the bride. Too bad.

with my lovely sister Lois

The bride and groom

Debs, me, Alva, hubby, my brother and little Mita - photos courtesy of Caroline Lee :)

I left KK on October 17. It was sad leaving my family and friends but I kept telling myself "One more year to go and then it's home sweet home".

And that wraps up my post-holiday post.

So Far So Great

I consider myself very lucky. Not only did I escape from the NZ earthquake in Christchurch, I also managed to postpone my data analysis submission to my supervisor. Due to the state of emergency in CC, my uni is closed for a week and everyone in campus is affected. Yoda included. My response for this is YIPPEE cos Yoda won't be bothering me for another week.

Anyway, many good things have happened to me lately. Let's see. My eyelashes have grown back after a bad case of eyelash extensions, my data collection work is now 80% done and my paper submission for a conference has been accepted. Yay! Is that all? Well no. What I'm about to tell you is so much bigger than all of my achievements combined. Are you ready for this? The awesome news is......

Alden is finally toilet trained!!! Can you believe that???

I've been dying to write this entry for almost a week now but I really wanted to make sure he could maintain the habit. Before I go any further, I'd like to thank my sister LOIS WONG SU JIN for initiating the effort. The credit goes to her because she was the one who stopped me from buying diapers for Alden. She was the one who convinced me that Alden could be trained. And she was the one who went all out to campaign this transition.

It didn't happen overnight of course. In the first week, we started the training by ditching the diapers and getting Alden to wear shorts during the day. We briefed him on Toilet-Training 101 and told him to alert us when he felt the urge to pee. When we got tired of changing his pants, we let him run around naked so he could make it to the potty/ toilet when he needed to. This had a lot of consequences of course. There were numerous 'accidents' in the house and Alden's pee was all over the place. He peed on the floor, bed, stairs, sofa, gas cylinder, rug, toys etc and we found ourselves mopping up his pee every hour, everyday. It was physically painful for everyone. 

In the second week, we saw some improvements. He would alert us by holding his willy 1 millisecond before he peed but by the time he got to the potty, it was  always too late. Most of the time we only managed to get 5% of his pee but we would praise him nonetheless. Sometimes, he'd accidentally pee on my hands when I helped him hold the potty but I never scolded him. This part of the training process was a wee bit gross but it worked.

You see, a week after that, Alden started to recognize the urge to pee and would hold on until he got to the toilet. So far he has managed to do this consistently and whenever he does this, he'd say "no pee on the floor mommy. Alden good boy." Everyone who had the privileged of mopping up his pee rejoiced when this happened. I think my dad was close to tears.

Now, my little Alden still wears diapers at night but during the day, he is usually diaper-less. The aiming isn't so great. And from time to time he still wets his pants. But that's not the point. The point is, the training has been successful and he is now in his way of becoming an independent, toilet-trained toddler.

 

I am ecstatic because let's face it, when all is said and done, no matter how much I adore my kid, his diapers stink. By toilet training Alden, I get to gloat over my success when I send him to school in October, lessen my carbon foot print and save about $45 a week normally spent on diapers. I never thought this day would come but it has. I am one happy mommy!

Updates

So this is what it feels like to be home.

H-E-A-V-E-N.

So heavenly that I've forgotten all about blogging and internet. When I whined about my outdated site and my lack of enthusiasm in blogging, my sister imitated my voice and said "Oh! I got my life back!" She's right. I did feel that way. It's not like I go partying everyday but I just have so much to do here - Catching up with friends, dating with hubby, visiting grandma, collecting data and just spending time with my family.

That explains my three-week absence in the blogsphere. There was no urge to write whatsoever. Having said that, I do feel a tad guilty for not writing. It's not a pleasant feeling cos the guilt gnaws at my gut and it tells me: your blog is so bangas! Out of  guilt, I've decided to end my blogging drought by talking about stuff that happened over the last couple of weeks.

The journey from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur

The long journey was surprisingly pleasant and since the flight was not full, there were heaps and heaps of vacant seats on board. Alden had a lot of fun exploring the aircraft and trying out all the seats at the back. It was probably the happiest day of his life. The flight attendants were fantastic.  They requested that I write a review for them and this is what I wrote.

Dear Air Asia,

My family and I were traveling from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur on flight D72725. The journey was nothing short of perfect as we had the good fortune to be served by the most helpful crew on board. It wasn't easy traveling with a four year old, inquisitive little boy who always have something up his sleeve but these cabin crews; Paramjit, Iskandar Shah, Rabiah and Siti Fatimah have made it possible for me to survive the eight-hour flight. They were very sensitive to my needs and absolutely efficient in their services. They even helped me with the baby-sitting! The kind hospitality shown by these crew members have definitely left a lasting impression on me. All AA's flight attendants should portray the same image wherever they go.

Meeting Mimi in KL

I had my first meet-up with the lovely Mimi Ahmad at Nando's Chicken, Sungai Wang. We spent hours talking about everything under the sun and it was just amazing how at ease I felt in her company. It was as if we had known each other for years. As I have anticipated, Alden too warmed up to her in seconds and tried all sorts of tactics to get her attention. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Back at Home

My MUST EAT list was accomplished in the first week. From bambangan to ngiu chap to cendol to durian. You name it, I had it. I must have eaten too much durians cos I lost my voice shortly after my makan feast. That was last week. Point is, food has become one of the main priorities in our holiday. End of story.

Meeting Chegu Carol in KK

Hubby and I met Chegu and her husband Alvin at Upper Star Lintas last Sunday. I was quite excited  about the meet-up cos I've been following their blogs for quite some time now. The moment I got there, Chegu stood up and gave  me a hug. From then on we just hit it off. We spent hours chatting about stuff - the weather, football, Western culture, hotel staff meals, photography, why people dine at Upper Star and  most memorable dating moments. It was awesome. Hubby and Chegu are second cousins (I think) so this made it easier for us to bond. I can't wait for the next meet up :)

I can't believe we've been home for two weeks already. I guess time really flies when you're having a blast.

Yipee Dee Doo Dah!

Hello people! Hello Internet! This will probably be my last post for July. I have been very quiet the past few days because....

1. Yoda gave me some insane last minute homework to do and I almost went cuckoo trying to complete them.

2. Hubby's laptop got infected with a nasty virus called Malware. Don't know what that means but it has totally screwed up the entire system. That's the reason why blogging activities had to be put to a minimum. I will read all of your awesome blogs the moment I get home okay? You know who you are! *wink*

I am here in my office, doing some last minute printing. In less than 15 hours, I will be flying to Melbourne and then to KL and then five days later to KK!!!

The bags are packed and we're bringing

One....

two....

three pieces of luggage...

Alden is super excited too :)

We're set to go! I can't wait to get home and see my family and friends. I have missed them sooo much. And the FOOD! OH! I can't wait to eat burung puyu at Krishna's and have Ah Tong's fish head mi-hun sup at Beverly as well as the chicken rice at Lido and the Tom Yam at Wan Wan and oh! my grandma's jaruk bambangan and ikan masin! And durians! Let's not forget the durians. Here durians cost $40 each. 

Macam keluar dari jail kan?

What else am I excited about? Well, apart from shopping, I am also super-thrilled to catch up with old colleagues at work. It's going to be so much fun!

And since I'm a blogger now, I think it would be awesome if I could meet other fellow bloggers in KK. Manatau terjumpa di kadai kupi kan? Hehehe...Hope to see you around!

15 hours to go..The next time I blog, I will be in Kota Kinabalu!!! Until then, toodles!