Doctor doctor!

I took my mum to a government hospital somewhere in KL for a check-up and we had to wait really long just to see the doctor.

Her appointment was scheduled to be at 10am. We arrived at 9:40am, registered my mum, and the waiting game began. We didn't get to see the doctor until around 11:35am. We entered the room and saw a few of the 4th year students sitting inside. Two of the students were then asked to entertain us. We were promised that it would only take 15 minutes. Well, the whole thing actually took one hour and the kind of questions they ask can really make you wonder how qualified these doctors are.

These two female 4th year students can't speak proper English, whatmore wanting us to "TRY" to understand what they're trying to say. They kept repeating the same questions and some of the questions are totally absurb. Among them are....

"How do you feel today?" (they asked this numerous times within that one hour interview)
"How do you feel the last time?" (asked this twice)
"Do you know where you are now?" (DUH!!!)
"Do you know what's the date today?" (despite writing it down on the paper)
"How old are you now?" (despite asking many times about the birth of date)
"How do you minus 7 from 100?" (what?! mathematic class ar?)
"You know, world, how you spell back?" (what? I don't understand leh...)
(she meant to ask how to you spell "world" backwards!! whatever for?!)
"How many children you have?" (after telling them I'm the eldest, and followed by one boy and one gal....)

The list goes on and on.... It was like a typical teacher-student classroom interview setting. They were treating my mum like some sort of a stupid person.

My mum can't really speak and understand BM and they took the advantage of whispering to each other in BM. My mum told them that she was taking a medicine for health and one of the student whispered to the other student, "apa ubat itu? tahu tak?"

I was sighing away, reading my papers and occasionally give them that really hard glare.....

Finally, I exploded and told them off, telling them that I do lots of reading myself and is quite knowledgeable and that what they're doing is really so unprofessional. I may not be a doctor but I don't think a doctor should treat an illiterate person like some donkey. Immediately they kept their trap up. They even relay some wrong information to the main doctor we were supposed to see cos when that doctor reviewed us, she told us that based on what she compiled from the two students, she gathered that my mum said this and that, which I found really amusing. I stared at them back and even corrected that the medicine my mum is taking is not what they claimed it to be. They immediately looked down and flip through their book.

Now I know why my friends who are now doctors in other countries just do not want to come back to Malaysia to work. And I also know why some friends do not have the confidence in Malaysia's young doctors!!

Christmas Day

Mummy woke up feeling a little groggy and upset. Groggy cos didn't get a good sleep last night. Upset cos daddy's flight from Mexico was delayed. Daddy was supposed to be back on Christmas even. Mana tau, the queue was so long, 6 hours to be exact, and that made daddy missed his flight!! And then, gotta change flight, transitting in Paris and then Singapore, which caused further delay and daddy was finally home at almost Christmas day midnight!

Mummy took Brendan out to Putra Stadium for a very nice presentation by a group of children, and then continued on at the Children's party in one of the VIP lounge. Brendan was particularly excited at seeing his very first puppet show. And then, he kept pulling me to get him one of those helium balloons.

Mummy then took Brendan for his very first lunch at MacDonald's as well. He saw the Ronald MacDonald figure from far, pointed at it and said "Mummy, old man!" hahaha.

"No, that's Ronald MacDonald", mummy said.

Then he said, "MacDonald Duck!" MacDonald Duck!"

Mummy later took Brendan out together with Po-Po and Auntie Karen for a Christmas buffet dinner at Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel with lots and lots of food. Everyone, including Brendan, ate until perut wanna pao-cha.

Then, we went for a stroll, hoping to digest the food, while admiring some nice glittering lights and beautiful christmas tree nearby.

We went back home at almost 11pm and waited for daddy to come home.

Brendan and his very satisfied and cheeky Christmasy grin....

I LIVE it my way

With so many of my colleagues leaving, the goodbyes seem to be quite unbearable. My mailbox is full with goodbyes and notes and messages, short and long. Two emails particularly caught my heart.

One said this.... " I leave you with this thought; it's a line from an old french war song...... Chacun Son Tour. Aujourd'hui le tien, demain le mien. To each his turn. Today yours, tomorrow mine."

This one touched my heart even more. It seems to potray what I want to say as well...

I guess the end is near, and so I face, the final curtain.
My friend, I'll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain.
I've lived, a life that's full, I've traveled each and every highway.
And more, much more than this,
I live it my way.

Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention.
I did, what I had to do, and saw it through, without exemption.
I planned, each charted course, each careful step, along the byway,
and more, much more than this,
I live it my way.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew,
When I bit off, more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up, and spit it out.
I faced it all, and I stood tall,
and live it my way.

I've loved, I've laughed and cried,
I've had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing.
To think, I did all that, and may I say --- not in a shy way,
"Oh no, oh no not me,
I live it my way".

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things, he truly feels,
And not the words, of one who kneels.
The record shows, I took the blows ---
And live it my way!

Mummy work there...

This morning, my son saw my name tag and access card and pointed to it and say "mummy work there".

Brendan recognises my company logo a few months back and I believe credance should go to his grandma or daddy (despite them denying teaching my son that) cos I've never tell him where I work in. Whenever he sees my company's logo in the newspaper, he'll go "mummy work there". He sees it on the paper bag, he'll go "mummy work there". Whenever he sees the logo on a car or in a banner, or on a t-shirt, or in a magazine, or paperbag, or anywhere else, he'll go "mummy work there".

Each time he says it, I'll be patient and reply "smart boy! Yes, mummy work in this company" and smile.

This morning, it was a different story. With low morale, and straight face, I told Brendan "Yes, mummy work here, but mummy might not be working in this company in the future". I then went to work with tears swelling in my eyes.

For those who know of the vss announcement, I was asked to stay on to serve the company. I wrote in an appeal but was rejected. For certain reasons, my morale has been very low, I'm demotivated and gloomy. 3 days ago, I've rejected a high pay job to give myself a chance to serve the company, but in a different environment now.

I've loved my job and my company all these while. The last day for my colleagues who got the vss is today. I'll be having 2 farewell parties today. The place has been very nostalgic for me. I thought everything should be ok until Brendan had to point out to me and made me aware of the presence and facts of what's happening.

The sentence "mummy work there" lies lingering in my head the whole morning...

Home Orchestra

The flu season is in. Everyone in the house were either sneezing, coughing, sniffing, talking in a coarse voice and the two kids are making all sort of orchestra.

This mini orchestra had been going on for quite a while. My little girl is not that badly affected and I believe it's the power of breastmilk. With Christmas around the corner, I wonder what kind of Christmas we'll be having.

It's "nggghhhhmmm" here and "heeeekkk heeeekkk" there, "sqeirubndfsbdt" here and "sigh...." there....

Tong Yuen Festival

Can't resist eating tong tuen. Here's some pics taken while some relatives made the tong yuen. Simply yummy!

Here's wishing everyone a happy "Mid Autmn Festival" or " Ko Tong Chi".

Eryn - simply pictures 2

My little gal, now 6 and a half months old....

Eryn - simply pictures 1

Times Square display

I too joined the gang in posting some shots to TIME Magazine's Person of the Year for display in Times Square, New York. Didn't expect the reply to come back on the day itself.

Here's two of the shots :

Brendan on Times Square, 14th December 2005

Eryn on Times Square, 14th December 2005

modern handsfree set

I didn't know this made a come back!! I was driving somewhere along LDP and came across this lady who practically stuffed her handphone into her tudung while talking and driving.....

Kids at play

Brendan is quite a neat person and always arrange his toys back properly. He would sometimes take whatever his little sister is holding and put it back into the toy basket. Sometimes, he'll smack Eryn on the head, pull her legs, press her cheeks (yes, he just LOVE doing that!) and roll beside Eryn whenever she's on her tummy time. He can happily take out his toys for some of his friends to play but when Eryn tries to dig out the toys, he'll quickly gather them up and store them away. Eryn will always cry whenever he does that. sigh!

However, there are times too when Eryn loves having her brother playing with her. He can just go and hug her, kiss her, press her cheeks (yes, again!), pat her and just make her laughs. Eryn laughs the loudest when her kor-kor has the mood to play with her.

Yesterday, one of my good buddy asked how should she tackle sibling jealousy once her second one arrived in 2 months' time. I told her that I'm definitely not the person she should ask. hehehe

Here is just one of those many moments.....

pre-Christmas spirits

After coming back from the park yesterday evening, hubby suddenly decided to make a sudden decision to take us all for another short outing! This time, it's Midvalley Megamall. Hubby will be busy in the next few days and will be leaving for Mexico next Monday for a week, coming back only on Christmas eve. Since it's public holiday yesterday, all of us adults made a quick rush to shower, have dinner, change, pack and zoom.... off to Midvalley!

The kids have been sleeping late but waking up pretty early though. Zzz.... I'm half dead.....

Mini-mardi gras carnival

The whole family went out to One Utama earlier on to join in the fun-filled carnival. It was a rather welcomed outing cos the christmas spirits is in the air and Brendan has been asking to take him out. Even little baby Eryn knows what going out means.

There were tons of Mardi Gras characters and performances. The children were particularly scared when come face-to-face with the extremely wierd looking characters. They enjoy the music and colourful happenings. Brendan has always been a shy boy in public and didn't hesitate to show his shyness when Santa came and give him a sweet! Santa even had to tell him "Go Go Go".... Ewwww... how cruel can Santa be....

Eryn was kicking her legs to the tunes played there, enjoying herself with all the fun-loving people there, occasionally asking for her milk!

I was really glued to the performance by our very own Limbo Rock King, who actually made it into the Malaysia book of Records. Here's a video of the stunt :




Mardi Gras characters

Let's Samba!!

The Victorian Carriage Horse Ride

mummy & the beautiful auntie zzzzz... sleeping beauty.....

vss deadline

Today's the deadline for the submission of the vss application. I've happily sent in my application last week. I've no qualms about leaving or staying at the moment, coz everything is still in a daze for me after the so-called take-over. I've been quite contented for the past 6 and a half years that I've been working here, being in the comfort zone. I've had a few offers to move on, but due to my kids, I wasn't willing to start fresh all over again. This time, I have to relook at all other potential offers cos I may be kicked out of the company quite soon should my vss application be accepted.

I've always wanted to get less stressful and more flexible job so I can spend more time with my kids (no, a full-time mum is definitely not for me) and hopefully venture into something where I can have a good juggle between work and family.

I hope my time has come for me to move one. I hope to start fresh somewhere else, and preferably AFTER CNY. My boss keeps saying "you'll have to stay... you'll have to stay..." and I'm saying "give me the money, give me the money" and he'll say "where you want to go? what you gonna do?" I'll just simply say, "probably be a housewife and have more time at home". haha, like real..... It goes on and on everytime..

The "letter" will be out next Thursday. So, we'll wait and see...

DIY popiah

DH is a popiah lover (the wet one, not the fried one) and has made us all his Kelantanese-style popiah which turns out to be quite ok, but soggy at times.

Three weeks back, I had the opportunity to eat one of my friend's cum ex-classmate's
mothers special homemade popiah. I've tasted it once before when I was still in school. So, this time, she invited me over to her house and boy, it was just as good as ever. The secret to the delicious popiah lies in the individual cooking of each single ingredients, supplemented by the very shiok homemade chilli sauce, pounded kacang, fried shallots and of course the prawn paste. There were the usual taugeh, long beans, fried egg, grated turnip with carrot, cucumber, tauhu, prawn, mushroom and a very, very nice braised pork dish.

The technique of folding the popiah itself requires some skill. Boy, thinking of it makes me hungry now.

huh? who? what? where? tagged?!!

Haiyo! I've been busy for the past whole week that I've no time to read any blogs, whatmore penning down one!

Mana tau, the first blog I read today made me realised that I kena tagged!

So, I'm supposed list down my 5 childhood memories of food. Kena korek deep into my long-forgotten memories. Hmm....

1. Ice-cream potong from the ice-cream seller on bicycle

This guy is still around, but I can see that's he's aged so much and his cycling is much slower. We seldom get ice-cream as a treat but whenever we do, my siblings and I will rushed to the gate and shout "ice-cream!! ice-cream!!" and the ice-cream guy will come peddling to our house. We'll always ask for the ice-cream potong sandwiched between two wafer biscuits. This is still very much available, but nothing beats the traditional way.

2. Mum's apple pie

My mum used to make cookies, cakes and pies for us. Making apple pie was quite a chore for her, so she doesn't make that often. I loved mum's apple pie and have asked her to make it for us, but she's getting quite tired making those kind of stuffs for us. These past few years, she's only making cookies prior to CNY and that's it. Mum, pleaseeeee make me an apple pie.... pretty please.....

3. Soft-boiled kampung eggs

Nothing beats nicely soft-boiled eggs DIY at home. The eggs are exceptionally good and healhty. We used to get our supply from my late grandma, who used to rear lots and lots of chickens and ducks. After she passed away, we get our supply mostly from the kampung near where we stay. Nowadays, the chickens are either not laying enough eggs or there's not enough chickens. Hmm.... which comes first? chicken? egg? chicken? egg?

4. Kluang Botak curry mee.

Always one of my favourite. The curry mee uncle is botak, thus the name "Botak curry me". His curry is just so perfect. There's lots of ingredients added to the curry mee as well and the cockles make it so yummy! Oh! and that extremely nicely blended dry chilli which accompany the curry mee makes it so perfect. He has now opened his stall somewhere else and the old place is now managed by his very own son. My hubby never fails to eat it whenever he goes back to my hometown. yummy! yummy! slurp!!

5. Kluang railway station toasted buns.

This always have a place in my heart. I've never ever in my life tasted any buns more perfect that this. As a young girl, I love going to the railway station in hometown (yes, the famous Kluang railway station) for the coffee, nasi lemak and the toasted buns!! Yes, toasted buns were always a must for me. The thick piece of butter together with a very generous serving of kaya in the soft buns is really to die for. The kaya is home-made and the butter creamy and hard, which will slowly melt in the buns. Every bite is simply delicious! Tried making it on my own but the original Kluang railway station soft toasted buns are still the best!

I could list down more, but it's time to move on to the MEME tagging instructions.

I'm to list down the last 5 (including myself) who have been tagged :
1. J
2. IreneQ
3. Dobbs
4. Beat
5. ME!!

So, I'm tagging :
1. Rina
2. Chief
3. Louise (you'll love this!) :)
4. Jasmine
5. Jefferene