Monday, May 5, 2008
Production No. 2
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Cleopatra
Monday, November 26, 2007
Possession
Friday, November 2, 2007
Festival of Lights
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Days of Yore
So DD had a blast at Saujana - probably why she's ended up with a fever now. What is with kids and fevers? It seems to be a neverending cycle, no sooner is one finished another one starts. Short of locking them up in the house forever how do we prevent this? So tiring - for the mummies that is.
So I checked out Pavillion and its not my cup of tea - other than the doughnut mecca that is JCo (check out the queues at that joint - never knew doughnuts were such a "must-have"). The general ambience is not conducive to shopping.... or is the prices? Anyway I like my malls bustling and with lots of cheap and cheerful stuff to buy. And I rue the day Parkson decided to become an upmarket joint - everything you touch there now is upwards of RM400. Remember days of yore when you could pick up underwear for Rm8 for 3 undies? And a nice blouse would only set you back max RM70? Ah those were the days.
We are off to yet another open day at one of the kindies on our shortlist - kindergardens are getting very competitive now arent they? with open days, bake sales, fun fairs etc. Definitely a new phenomenon. Back then it was a case of "you want to come - come lah, dont want, dont". Most kindies were no nonsense joints where the teachers would eyeball you if you even so much as squeaked that you wanted your mumma - but now its all "maybe you can stay with your child for the first week so they get comfortable with their new environment etc.".....anyone who knows/has kids knows that the minute you stay they are going to think you are a permanent "take-along" to kindy. Dont do it people, drop and RUN - hey it worked for my mum. I was practically pushed out of the car at the gate of Tiny Tots Kindergarden in PJ with mum giving me the look that said "you'd better behave or ELSE" and me deciding life would not be worth living unless I plastered a smile on my face and went along cheerfully. Needless to say I enjoyed kindy tremendously and never once expected mum or dad to come along with me. In fact PTA meetings were anticipated with much gloom because there would be endless dissection of how I was performing etc. with mum trying to ferret out any whiff of laziness/bad behaviour on my part and the teacher nervously insisting I was a good girl. Of course mum never believed her and presumed she was trying to "cover" for me. How different nowadays when parents dont want to hear anything negative on their kids part and actually challenge the teacher to a duel if she as much as suggests that little darling is anything less than a genius/angel.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Selamat Hari Raya
For DD Raya is festive enough coz Mumma and Acha get to stay at home with HER - reason enough for a major celebration - cookies and kuih muih are optional. She was asked at school what her best friend's name was and she said "Mumma" ! ........ those apron strings are never going to be cut at this rate. My dad was telling DD that when she is big she must go to Oxford University (dad hoping granddaughter will be smarter than daughter) and she nodded her head enthusiastically and said "And mumma will come with me isnt it?". I guess she intends for me to go thru life with her. Puh-leese, am sure come her first date she wont be able to get rid of me fast enough....."mumma? mumma who?".
We are checking into The Saujana (Subang) for the long weekend - just for a change of scene - too lazy to drive far away for a holiday as we plan to go to Cameron around Divali....so given mine and DD love for hotels this will be a fun break. DD actually knows the difference between a 5 star and 3 star hotel. When we stayed at Sunway Lagoon Resort she declared it to a "very nice lotel" but the 3 star on at Pangkor was declared "a smelly lotel" - so yes she has standards my girl.
A friend of mine told me her sis-in-laws belief is that you must give your daughters all the best things in life - that way they come to expect only the best and thus will only marry a man who can take care of them well to the standard they've been used to and not some down-on-his-luck sap.......dont know if I agree with that but its an interesting approach.
Happy Raya to All Of You - Good Health and Good Cheer To All.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sandcastles
The rooms were dirty, the food was revolting - creates a new definition for the word revolting, and the facilities were so far removed from the pics in the web-site - it goes to show how little you can rely on websites and advertising. We were thoroughly dissapointed and more than a little pissed off. Further the advertised 100 metres from the beach - while accurate - was not really a beach for swimming - it was where boats were docked for picking up passengers for island boat trips - very inappropriate for swimming as it was too deep. Thankfully Pangkor island in itself is so charming it made up for the the disappointment in the accomodation and we managed to get a cab and go to a "real beach" for the better part of our holiday there. On the plus side we had the best seafood I have ever had in my entire life at Restaurant Yee Lin in Pasir Bogak. The food was so tasty I'm still having spasms thinking about it - if you are ever in Pangkor this place is a must - you will not regret it.
DD has learnt that if you build your sandcastles too near to the shore they get swept away - a lesson for us all I think.
So here's an interesting fact (am reading Crunch Time by Mike Hanley & Adrian Monck and its really scaring me) - apparently if everyone in the world were to have the same standard of living as one enjoys in downtown Europe - the earth's resources as it stands at present can only sustain 2 billion people. The current population of the world stands at 6 billlion.Doesnt that statistic scare the pants off you? We have two choices- the ones who are living it up can tone it down a little to let the 4 billion get a bit of the pie OR we can get the 4 billion to voluntarily jump off a cliff - eliminating the problem. So you gonna tell them or me? At the heart of this lies the idea of sustainability - how can we make sure we have enough to go around - and what is enough for those of us who have enough? Also can we really blame the "have nots" for loathing the "haves"?
Did you know half of the world's population live on less than US$2 a day - US$2 a day. That's less than RM6.80 a day. Now lets see what can that buy you? - A loaf of white bread costs RM1.90, a nasi lemak costs you at best RM1, a bunch of spinach from the wet market would cost you RM1, a fish would cost you (at RM9 per kilo for the cheapest fish) maybe RM3 for one fish - so that's what you'd get a loaf of bread, 1 nasi lemak, 1 fish and 1 bunch of spinach for the day - never mind clothes, rent, amenities, education, medical expenses etc. And this is what half the world's population get to enjoy every day - that's half - ie 50% - ie its just luck of the draw that you and I happen to be on this side of the 50% fence - ie OMIGOD!
Ok we all know there are poor people and we all know we are privileged - but just think about these statistics at this basic level what do we spend a day compared to what The Others get to spend a day. Its hard not to be overwhelmed by the futility of it all - and its hard to know what we can do to make any difference, its hard not to feel like bashing your head against a brick wall. But just to be aware of the statistics in itself is surely a start - a way to shake us out of our stupor - and give us perspective - RM6.80 a day - thats not a life.
"There but for the grace of God go I" - never made more sense than it does now.