ShopperMom Blethers

It’s been a while… and many things has happenned since. Now… where do i start??

I just had a studio passport photo taken a couple of days back. A tip: NEVER have it done when you’re post-call or just finished work. With wonders of make-up my skin looked good, only if the photo is printed on glossy paper. On the computer monitor, I look haggard! I refused to say old - but that’s what it looked like! So, for the purpose of "I wanna look fresh", I sent in the whatever-application form I was sending with a pasted-on glossy photo instead. Looked much better, although the dark circles under my eyes was relatively unsalvageable.

For the past few weeks, my life has been rather miserable. Initially I was blaming on the "time-of-the-month", but then when that was over, the feeling still lingers. My emotional tantrums over work and time and family which I thought was over, are apparently not. Despite being in a new place, I am still miserable. I was fine for the first few weeks… then I realized something rather drastic: My priorities have changed. subsequently, I changed my mind about sitting for the exam this May - I’m not taking it. And now, I’m thinking about not working… It’s not an option, I know. And that is a difficult decision to make.

Fareez is now 1 year old. He’s officially a toddler. He’s my boy. My pride and joy. He makes me smile when I’m sad. When I cry in front of him, he’d pull my hair. So I had to stop crying as my attention was diverted to him instead (instead of thinking about myself).

We had a fabulous birthday bash on his birthday, March 2nd. Thankfully it fell on a Sunday. (photos to follow suit) Lots of people came. Lots of food served - couldn’t do it without my parents chipping in. I will say this, though, "I am NOT doing it again next year". It takes so much effort!!

Since my blog titles have often been double-barrelled, I can’t escape not including the latest General Election results. Hmm… It’s a shocker. But if this doesn’t make the Govt listen to the People, I don’t know what else will. As it is, the UMNO party refused to convene and do a post-mortem, which I think is necessary. Being the most powerful political party, one should want to know why and how the party could lose so much trust. Forget election votes, whatever, it’s the People’s "trust" that the party has lost - and they don’t care??

To add salt to the wound, I wonder if our PM care that the Leader(s) are dis-honouring the Kings and Sultans. It’s true that they are only people, but they are what we call ‘tradition’. The "Kesultanan Melayu" has been upheld since before Malaya was even born. Our Rukunegara even mention "Kesetiaan kepada Raja dan Negara". Where has all these values gone to? The newspaper headlines over the past couple of weeks simply shows to us, the minions, how much power-crazy these so-called Leaders are. What I wonder is how the PM could let these Leaders dishonour the Sultan so blatanatly on the media?

The Kings and Sultans have limited political power in Malaysia, and this was reduced since our former PM. However, when a Sultan refuse somebody to be the MB of ‘His’ state, there must be a reason why. Cronyism and power-abuse is superbly demonstrated without shame of late. Whilst I don’t deny that it happenned before, I must say that the People are even more aware of it now.

Let’s see… January was eventful, in a good way. The first 1/3 of February has also been eventful, also in a good way.

Through Facebook.com I have been reunited with my old, dearest friend, with whom we were bestfriends like since before we were born. We fell out for practically no reason. No arguments. Nada. Unfortunately we were both going through rough patches of our life at that point in time, and as she said, two depressed people can’t console each other. She thought I was mad at her… I thought she was mad at me… It’s the ‘girl’ thing. But now, it’s water under the bridge. And we are both happy.

This year has thus far brought me so much relief and these little blessings mean the world to me. FB helped, though. I mean, if it wasn’t FB, it could be another social network. But I swear, it brings people across the continents together. Sounds tacky, I know… but it works. One doesn’t have to say anything. Just a poke here and there. Better still, have a game of Scrabble or two.

By the way, I kept my promise to Fareez (although he doesn’t understand that I made that promise). We finally went to the Zoo today. It was fun! We went rather late coz it was jam-packed with people during the day, so we only got there at 6pm. It closes at 10.30pm during the public holiday, so we know we won’t be sleeping with the lions tonight.

We were only there for an hour coz Fareez’s little brain was overloaded with new inputs. Monkeys, elephants, giraffes, tigers, goats, rabbits, horses… all new to him. He fell asleep in the car within minutes on our way home (and we only live 5 minutes away!).

The joy and delight on Fareez’s face was…. priceless…

Oh…. I have been fighting the temptation too long… and I have finally succumbed. I got myself a new pair of GAP jeans.

It has been y.e.a.r.s since I last bought a new pair. It has been months since I get to wear my old GAP jeans, since I got pregnant. I can ‘try’ and fit into them, but the super-excess muffin-top baby-fat is eye-poking gross-ness. 

I have this love about GAP that is inexplicable. In the UK, they were affordable and I had loads of GAP stuff. Here, they are quite the opposite. I would never pay that price (and have never) for a pair of jeans. Not even Levi’s.

What I am curious though, is whether they will do the sale every 6 weeks like they do in the UK, to get rid of old/last season’s stocks. I very much doubt it though. I am still hopeful…

The Roman new year has began for some time now, and so has the Islamic new year. The Chinese new year is just around the corner… and my blog is still on since 2006. Many of my friends have deleted their old blogs and started afresh but I couldn’t seem to do it. When I read back what I wrote in one of my first blogs, I realized what the blog is for.

"Keep a journal, or your life will pass you by without you noticing."

I am a sentimental person. I had underwent so many things in life that a girl that age shouldn’t have gone through. However, whatever happened had made me a stronger person. That’s the whole point, right?

Over the past two years, since this blog started, many events had happened. All recorded. All open to see. It’s not for show, but an update to my friends who know that I am such a terrible e-mailer. And don’t even mention snail-mails!

Living in modern life as we do now, can make things pass by without us stop to smell the roses. I try. This blog began before my son was born, before he was even thought of his existence, and now he’s 11 months old today. It was difficult for me to erase the journal of my life. Having said that, if Friendsters wrap up, there goes my entries!! Which reminds me: I must save them.

Before I go all mushy again, I must sign off.

Happy new year!

Being in a new environment will always make people anxious. I didn’t have time to go through that. With all the ‘turbulence’ surrounding my leaving HKL, I had to quickly get used to working in the new environment. All is well, don’t get me wrong. But I miss my friends…. so much…. I miss the laughs we ALWAYS get in the pantry a.k.a Pantry Clubhouse.

In HKL, I still have some moments alone - if I don’t feel particularly chatty, I’d sit in one of the on-call rooms and sleep or do nothing. In Serdang, I haven’t got my routine yet. Cutting myself some slack, I have been in Serdang for only 3 weeks. All the same, I miss the friends I left behind. C’est la vie… It happens to everybody.

Now, whether this contributes to my carb-craving (when it’s not the time of the month), I’m not sure. But oh dear…. I grab every nice-looking bread I see in the bakery! When there are no more pretzels left in the house, I’d have a toast… or three.

As it stands now, my weight is a non-mover. But I can surely feel the muscle tone getting un-toned. I need to get back to the gym. But first, I need to find myself a gym!

Had a quick trip yesterday to see what Alamanda mall looks like. It’s o-kay. I can live. The highlight of the mall must be the Esprit Outlet they have. Range of things and places to eat is rather limited, which means Rastam and I will have to scout for other places. I still haven’t seen a single gym in Serdang/Putrajaya yet… Now, THAT ain’t good enough.

This month has been a good and kind month so far.

Work is going okay. Just that…. I’m not bucking up to prepare for the exam in May. Darn! if I’m not ready, there’s no way that I’m gonna spend the money just to waste it. I could always sit for it later in the year. Hmmm…. must think real hard about it.

The journey back and forth to Serdang has been tolerable. I find that MRR2 is unpredictable and rather inconsistent. To go via a longer route and more toll-charge through Jln Tun Razak would actually be more reliable. I still take up to 60min to get to work, and max 35min to come home. Sigh! Can’t wait for the time when it takes me 6mins to go and to come back from work… Still waiting for that quarters placement.

For one thing, I am enjoying the life that I finally have. There are still calls, going home between 5.30 and 6pm, etc. But there’s TIME for lunch, to go out with my friends. And I think this is the most that my friends have seen me within a month!

Since that Facebook.com thingy, I’ve been spending even longer time on the computer. In fact, it just shows how much TIME I have right now. It’s just that the time isn’t utilised to study when I should have I’m like "kambing lepas kandang".

I am reading the newspaper everyday. I eat fruits everyday. Oh! Speaking of eating, the on-call food in Serdang Hosp is much more pleasant. They serve the doctors ‘western diet’ as they call it. Basically, they serve fish and chips, chicken chop, spaghetti bolognaise, even steak at one point! So I really wallop the on-call food even when I am not on-call. My other colleagues don’t eat them, and I hate to see them wasted. On top of that there’s cream soup at every meal, and at least a bowl of salad. It’s great! I save money.

I know I’ve been talking about this hospital too much. But hey, I’m happy. Whether or not I’ll get tired of this place in 2 years’ time (which I’m sure I will), I’m just gonna enjoy the moment.

Last week I added another DVD of Johnny Depp into my collection. Let’s just say re-collecting. I had a good collection of his movies on VHS when I was in the UK - coz DVDs are expensive. Now with the ‘availability’ of DVDs in Malaysia, naturally I had to re-start.

I saw ‘Chocolat’ again for the umpteenth time. For a sicky like moi today, it was enlightening… It had hidden messages that I have either forgotten or just never paid attention to it before.

Apart from the screaming message that Johnny Depp is to-die-for and that THAT’S WHY HE WON THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD, it tells us about:

1. it really doesn’t matter what people say about you - only you who know yourself.

2. stand by your convictions.

3. NEVER judge a book by its cover.

4. no man is an island.

5. never get yourself a boat as your home.

All in all, this sicky enjoyed her matinee and now is looking for food in the fridge. Cheerio!

I had some get-together, makan-makan with my fellow paeds folks (it’s a public holiday in Malaysia today). It was decided at the spur of the moment. I had this lightbulb moment like 6.15am yesterday morning and I suddenly realised I missed my friends.

So I started sending SMSes to a handful of them (as I can only hold a few people in my tiny apartment before I declare my pad a nightclub). Messages were sent by 7am (he he… i knew it was early). Replies started to pour in by 8.10am - when everybody arrived at work. By lunchtime, it was all confirmed who were coming. It was great.

So, the makan-makan was today at lunch. It was so good to see them again. Since I’ve been in SCN before I moved to Serdang, I didn’t get to see many of them for quite some time. So this was a good opportunity.

I kept the food simple - spaghetti bolognaise (coz I knew kids were coming too), chicken wings, tortilla and salsa dips, and lots of junk foods… To top it up, we had ‘ice-cream potong’. What nostalgia….

Some of those who have kids brought them along. And oh my goodness…. it was C.H.A.O.S! I had fun, and I hope everybody else did too. Since I held it at lunchtime (I said 12noon, but everybody arrived after 12.40pm), there’s enough time for everybody to still have the rest of the day. It was all ‘just nice’.

Am still smiling…….

I am in so much trouble… I am addicted to Facebook.com. It’s like i start playing things on other people’s sites and then i start to download the applications. Then I end up having a site that is a mile long. And I only signed up like YESTERDAY!!!

Time? Yea, I have some now. Because… jeng jeng jeng…. I have moved to Serdang Hospital. Yeay!! I’m still staying in my same ‘o same ‘o apartment, so am commuting daily. Bosses are okay so far - but I haven’t actually started working yet. Been learning how to use the computer system etc.

The Serdang Hospital is a brand new hospital, only 2-3 years old. All IT - meaning even the patients’ notes are typed on the laptop which is pushed around. The whole thing takes a lot to get used to. The work is the same, though the load is (as far as I can see) is not that heavy.

As you can see, I have time to burn by spending HOURS on the internet lengthening my facebook site. Oh boy….

PS: but it’s good….

I went back to work last Sunday - was on call. It was good to be back. Except that came Monday, I was tired as hell. But the good thing is that my Boss for the day was nice. The NICU was busy and there were only two MOs there. With me being stuck with one patient who was really ill, my was grateful that my other partner in crime was so helpful. My patient had so many problems since Sunday itself, pity her.

During the end of year break that I never had before, my tiny family went for an R&R to Kuantan. It was great. Especially good when I didn’t see the car for 2 whole days. We stayed there for 3 nights, which is just right for a ‘recharging’ holiday.

We had initially planned to make a weekend getaway to Langkawi. But Langkawi at the end of the year is always super busy. When other people make hotel bookings 3 months before, we only started calling 3 weeks before. Disappointment was in the air. However, good things came out of it. Had we gone to Langkawi, we’d have sure to spend more money than we did in Kuantan.

As you can see from the photos I put up in the blog album, Hyatt was a really nice place. I made full use of the amenities. The room came with breakfast - and the food was good. We got there before the weekend, so the lunch buffet I had was really good. It had grills and seafood, so i really ‘lantak’ the big juicy prawns. Came weekend, the buffet was ‘normal’. He he…

We hardly went out of the hotel. Am glad I made Rastam bring his golf set. He managed to play some one-ball golf at the Royal Golf Club. Good for him. And I managed to have my sauna and spa massage and lots of TLC and do nothing else. For two whole days I didn’t see the car - just stayed within the hotel compound - just the beach and the restaurant and the pool. Life was good… Came home with big smiles on my face. Rastam had a good break too. At least we didn’t have to worry about catching our flights. We drove there, and the journey only took us 2 and a hlf hours, which is not too far to drive. The whole thing was ‘just nice’.

This new year, I hope it brings me and my tiny new family more prosperity and good luck, good health. I hope that all my friends out there have an even better new year. 2008 is promising, but all must be vigilant about the world’s economy. Happy new year, y’all!