Stay Tuned

~~~~

DH has been probing me about me not updating the blog for the past 4 days. I haven't got anything interesting to blog about these few days. And now I foresee that I'd be 10 times busier...but hope to be able to update as frequent as possible.

Just stay tuned!

~~~~

Two thumbs up!

For 'A Tale of Two Sisters'.

I find this movie intruiging and mind blowing. I love this movie. Although it is a horror movie, the fact that it is well-laid with excellent cinematography and storyline, it is indeed an A+ movie..

Aiya...I could be a promoter, but really, I love this movie. The thing I love most about it is the soundtrack. The music blends beautifully in every scene.

It is a story about two sisters who are very close. They were trapped in a family conflict and the elder sister has been holding a grudge against the step-mother who has been physically abusing the little sister. One day things went out of control and that is when it all started to happen. Terrifying scenes then come into the picture. I do not want to spoil it by telling you the whole story but I say it is worth watching. Well, at least if you enjoy horror films.

Go to your nearest DVD/video store, rent and watch it. I have watched it two times in a row now.

..er, by the way it is a Korean movie. And this is so unlike Ju-On.

Mari sikat gigi ...

The Malays share quite the same language as Indonesians. We share some of the same words although some may be of different usage in Bahasa Melayu (the Malay Language) as opposed to that used by Indonesians. Pretty much, we Malays may understand what is conversed by Indonesians and vice versa.

Let me give you a similar scenario, like the Hoch-Deutsch used by Germans and the Bern-Deutsch by Swiss people. Although not fully understood, Bern-Deutsch may be partly understood by Germans and vice versa.

OK, it is not my intention to blabber you on language congruency and the like. But I'd like to share with you what I have learned today.

I just got to know that Indonesians refer to brushing teeth to as 'combing teeth'. When I heard this I pinched Dearie Husband hard at his thigh and thought that he was joking and was making a fool of me. He defended innocence and said that it was no joke.

We Malays refer brushing teeth to as 'gosok gigi'. Where gosok means to brush and gigi means teeth. However, the Indonesians refer it to as 'sikat gigi' ; where sikat means to comb. Hence for them to say 'brushing teeth' would literally mean, to us, 'combing' teeth, which is rather funny.

I find it somewhat hilarious but then again I stopped laughing and think, oh well, there may be some words used by Malays that may crack them up as much as 'sikat gigi' has made me.

Ah..let's go sikat gigi..

Snowdrop falling on my head...

Snow...

Ok, this is the snowfall we had yesterday.

Today, it snowed but not for a long time.

~~~~

The question that all fathers dread to answer...(really ah?)

We had a trip to Tesco today for that quick shop of groceries. However our quick trip had been procrastinated by our girl wanting a toy.

So, being the sporting parents ever (cehwah..), we gave in and decided to spend some extra minutes on the children's aisle to see what she really wanted. So we pushed the cart right by where Barbie dolls were shelved.

"Right...you want doll?"
... and she shaked her head

"You want this?"

I handed over a tiara and she shaked her head, again.

"ni?"
This time I showed her a pair of stilettos (for little girls) to pair up with the tiara.

Again, she shaked her head.

I thought she was simply being undecided. But seconds later DH asked

"You want this?"

"Yeah,yeah ...atin nak this one..."
already becoming over excited.

And guess what was it that she had her eyes on? Trucks and lorries! Alamak...

We later spent quite some time to convince her that dolls are much better for her and more fun to play with. She agreed, but only wanted the ones with 3 spares of clothing that comes with 3 different shoes. Clever.

When we reached home, she was not that excited about playing with the doll (wishing she had the truck, maybe) but after a short session of demonstrating on taking off and putting on different clothes, she brightened up. I guess it worked. It has been about 3 hours now that she played with the doll and while watching Eraser, a question popped up. A question that every father dread to answer..

"Babah* , what's this? Babah..Babah what's this?"

This time the doll was fully undressed.
She pointed to the mount of sheeba...you know what.

DH turned for a split second and said (unaware what the question was)

"Yes...pretty"

"Babah! What's this?!"
...already on a demand tone.

DH looked again and realised that it was one question that he felt embarass to answer to her 3 yr old girl. He shrugged..

"uh...ask mummy, ask mummy.."

We looked at each other and laughed. Well, maybe we'd allow another year or two explaining her the anatomy of a doll.

* Babah is a word for Daddy in Malay

In the name of love ..and health

I woke up one morning and soon was educated by Dearie Husband about the danger of consuming soya (soy oil??) and how consuming it could affect your health. Apparently, he has stumbled upon an online article by John Thomas, MD based in the States, regarding the danger of consuming soya-based product.

I was totally taken aback as I have always been told that soya is brain food, high in protein. I love soya bean milk and of all, kicap (aka soya bean sauce) cap kipas udang. Take the kicap away and I'd be eating my rice meal as slow as a snail or I might not even have the appetite! To have been told that soya is bad is like having my oxygen taken away, oh well..ok, I'm a little bit exagerating but let me tell you my ration on kicap is as crucial as a 2l bottle a month. I loooove kicap..

I am yet to read the mentioned article and hasn't got the time to search for it on the internet. But if it is true, I might have to cut down on my soya intake or as demanded by DH stop consuming it totally. How lah?

DH has now pledged to become a health freak.

"Since I have now stopped smoking, I might as well be a health freak. I want to live longer you know"

I was touched by that. Yes darling I was.

So, I have to consider this soya intake seriously. If my other half has willed to consider cessation of smoking in the name of love (theory: to live longer thus to love us more..) then I do not see why I should not do the same on my lovely kicap. Waaaaa...

But hey, I told you I am yet to read the article and would like further back-ups on the said article.I was told that John Thomas has his books banned here in the UK..do not know how true is that though. Well, if I do get the articles I'd share them with you here.

:)

Err, actually I am still in denial. Could this be a schemic agenda to revert vegetarians/vegans back on consuming red meat? Imagine the conundrum this would be to them who rely very much on soya-based food for their protein intake....aiyayayaya

Wahey! It's...

~~~


.....snowing like mad here, now!

Weeee.......Feel like December all over again.



~~~

The Girl with X-Ray Vision

Last Monday we watched Channel 4 documentary about a Russian girl with remarkable X-Ray visions, Natasha Demkina.

She is an ordinary teenage girl with an extraordinary ability in lurking through people's body and organs such as an X-Ray machine itself. What was shocking, her vision is so pellucid that she is even able to see virus and alien microogranism that could be contained within infected organs.

Having unknown to medical terms, she sometimes finds it difficult to describe verbally what her patients cause of ailments and so, alternatively makes use of drawings to explain. This made her dreamt of going to medical school. In one case, a Russian guy had been admitted to a local hospital for TB and wasn't treated after so many years. Feeling dissapointed with the local hospital he went to see Natasha and Natasha quickly picked up that there was a type of virus inhabiting his lung and it wasn't TB. She wasn't able to describe it verbally and so had drawn the virus herself. And this Russian guy took her drawing to a specialist in another hospital. The specialist quickly recognised the drawing and screened the guy for the correct test. She had found that this Russian guy indeed had an inflamed lung with a nasty virus. The specialist was shocked how a teenage girl could have drawn the virus in detail let alone picked up the ailment that the guy was suffering.

The documentary later showed the media (I think it was the Discovery Channel) had Natasha and her mother flown over to the States to have her abilities tested and certified. Without hesitation she agreed to all examinations and successfully pass 4 out of 7 tests that was catered. Examinations were prepared by CSICOP which later ruled out that it is 1 in 50 that anyone could come up with right diagnosis as hers. I have find that many people were outraged by this conclusion and they accepted that Natasha has a true rare ability that need not be certified by the sceptic CSICOPs. They say she had been robbed.

At the end of the documnetary, Natasha expressed her wish to raise enough money from consulting patients in her home town, Saransk to be able to enrol herself to a medical school. Apparently, she finished high school last summer with flying colours and now is pursuing a medical course in Moscow University, sponsored by the Russian government.

Some may think she is a hoax or an expert in cold reading, but I truly find her genuine. She seemed true in her consultations and was calm all the way through.

You may read the details of her screened test by the sceptics CSICOP at http://www.csmmh.org/demkina/

and further read rebuttals at http://geocities.yahoo.com.br/criticandokardec/CSICOP-vs-Natasha-Demkina.

It may not be the same as reading this post as watching the program itself. So, if you feel intrigued by this, go watch Discovery Channel for The Girl with the X-Ray Eyes. Draw your conclusions and let me know what you think.

Au revoir..

Documentaries you should watch..

~~~


...Farenheit 9/11
Bowling for Columbine

By all means, watch these.

I am not usually drawn to politics but these two movies are eye openers.


~~~

Slow Snow

Finally, it snowed today in the South. Approximately 9 weeks after the winter solstice.

I was overjoyed when the snow poured in but an overzealous joy was short-lived not long after. It snowed for about 2 minutes and it stopped. Later it rained and about an hour later, it snowed again, only for 2 minutes.

We were excited and had an idea to go sleigh riding on the apartment grounds.

This picture was taken about half an hour after it snowed the first time. No snow could be seen though.


Woolston by the river bank.

I wish I had taken a snap or two during the snowfall.

Well, maybe it'd snow again tomorrow.

Becks, Cruise, Cruz

Yesterday, I had stumbled upon an article about a poll on what the Beckham's third baby boy name would be. 27% thought it would be Re-al after Beckham's football club.

And today, I heard the news that Posh had delivered a healthy baby boy, named Cruise (wasn't sure how it is spelt but guess it's as that of Tom Cruise's)

They must have had the inspiration from the newly bonded friendship with Tom Cruise. Perhaps it is a show of appreciation on Cruise's invitation for him (Beckham) to make a cameo appereance in Mission Impossible 3.

Emm...maybe if it was a girl, the name would be Cruz?

Bagan Lalang...

This was taken during our holiday in Bagan Lalang, Malaysia not a long time ago.

If you are not Asian you may think how funny we must be. You may want all that tan but we, fear the tan. So when I see this man holding up a giant umbrella so that his kids could swim in the shades, I fully understand albeit the awkwardness. (I have to say it is not a scene of the norm though)

The locals would usually go to beaches early in the morning or after 4pm to avoid the scorching heat. This picture was taken on a Sunday and at around 2.30pm. This family must have wanted to avoid huge crowd during the peak hours.

We ended up sitting in the shades, enjoying a plate of nasi campur and coconut drink. Which later followed with an hour of photographing the beautiful scenery.

Chip and Dale

Please, meet Chip and Dale the two mischevious squirrels that my girl and I adore.

I have developed a habit of squirrel-watching and free-lance photographing them. They don't seem to mind the attention and I think it stays that way as long as I keep feeding them the produce of my unsuccessful bakings.

The Agenda of Toilet bin Jamban

We have one cracked toilet seat.
How it happened is to anyone's imagination. I do not want to tell you the details.

Since our tenant contract is due over in a month's time, it's high time to inspect what's wrong with what. So we could claim our £800 deposit.

Yes, we need to have it replaced. We are highly anticipating full deposit returned after vacating this lovely apartment.

...and there is no better place to look for a new, unwanted cheap toilet seat than

e-bay.

And so this evening I had placed an early bid on one

"brand new in box, white toilet seat"

(best way is to bid during the last seconds). Looking at its current bidding status, I was positively sure I would win and hence the early bidding.

..but how wrong I was! Rupanya ada jugak org lain berlumba2 nak beli toilet seat..aiyoh...

jamban oh jamban...

Sepet

One chinese boy, one malay girl...one true love.




Few months ago, there were rumours that Sepet would not be shown in cinemas. Apparently the censorship board didn't seem to agree with few scenes. The ones I heard about were:

a) A number of Malay girls sitting on the stairs, searching for each others head lice.
b) A couple went to a Chinese restaurant for a drink (or meal?). The sensitive issue was the fact that the girl is a Muslim.

Well, somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I have short memories nowadays due to overloading my brain.

OK...the first time I watched the trailer online it was awesome. The trailer had me saying I have to go see this movie. However to my dissapointment it was still due to be released and so I said well, ok, I'll wait. Little that I know that it was facing a backlash, until I read Yasmin's blog. However, it survived with only 8 cuts amounting to less than a minutes worth.

It'll be released soon and I find that media are now promoting it with good reviews. Good.

It's about time that we watch quality films such as this (I love Yasmin's adverts and so, believe that Sepet is another good work of hers). I am growing tired with the film industry being inundated with Malay movies with

..same faces (erra, yusry..)
..steoreotyped story line
..not-so-funny comedy
..overacting actors/actresses

..and paling kelakar, cedok hollywood movie titles

Ok..enough said. Go watch Sepet. Good for your emotion running wild (so they say).

I am yet to watch it. According to my standards, movies with unpredicted scenes are the good ones (I hate reading movie synopsis). After I have watched it, I'll let you kow what I think of it.

Great e-bayer...would recommend! A+++

You know you are an ebay junkie when...

1) You look for things you think you MIGHT need , not what you really need.
2) Visiting the website has become an addiction.
3) You BUY things that you don't really need.
4) You have become addicted to adrenaline rush via bidding.
5) Your watch box is full.
6) Even after you have won the bidding, you simply can't resist the temptation of searching for the same item. It'd give you a piece of mind to know that your winning price was the lowest anyone could ever win.
7) A little trip to the local shop is just too much a hassle.
8) You have reverted from bidding an auction to searching for "Buy It Now". Nevermind spending that extra pound, shopping on ebay has become too interesting that you refuse to leave your chair.
9) You start counting your star and think how soon you would attain the next colour/ranking.
10) You have started to think..umm, let me see what to sell aaa?aaa, maybe this..and that... and end up selling things that you may need in the future.

:)

Malaysia has started up its own ebay site. It is a start but I doubt it will be any close to that of UK's. I have been there a few times. They need to be more organised. There are less categorial sections but I guess it is due to lack of participating seller and hence the diversivity of items on sale. It may take several years for the site to build its reputation and it all depends on the credibility of the people who participate. Both seller and buyer have got to be trustworthy. And it is all about trust and confidence.

psttt...at time of writing, we have made our first purchase off ebay.com.my. It was reasonably smooth (the transaction) although the seller had no clue about paypal!(We had to get a laptop fan because half a gig memory -laptop- went kaput due to overheating..and they happened to offer a reasonable price compared to that of UK high street!)

All in all I am eager to know how it'd (ebay.co.my) turn out. *wondering if anyone would ever , one day, consider selling belacan online!*

so dear fellow Malaysians, Happy bidding!

My little heroine

I was with the laundry when it happened.

"Mommy look...jump!"

"No...don't jump, nanti jatuh. Turun"

A sudden later, she fell on her bum and before I could reach her, she was already crying her lungs out. It must have hurt her hard.

Let me tell you something, mothers are blessed with super-instict. Mothers could tell from their childs' cry how hard a fall must have been. Seriously ..judging her cry it was one nasty fall *cursed myself for not looking when she jumped*. Panicky, I asked her,

"Mana...show me mana sakit"

"Sini ...waaaaaaa" pointed out to her back-waist.

Woo..I tell you. It was nasty. Her back was caught on the chair's wooden arm and her skin, as big as a fried egg was grated off. Seconds later, it turned red, then blue black.

After dozens of hugs and kisses, she calmed down and I wiped her streaky tears. A lesson is learnt. So I told her

"See..mommy say don't jump, you don't jump. Kan dah jatuh..sakit"

The response was not as expected.

"I wan to jump...pleeeeez,pleeez"

"You want to jump again??"

"yeaah....some more..pleeez"

"No jump..jatuh kan sakit..nak jatuh lagi?"

"Pleeezz" and so stubbornly she went back on the chair and made a jump.

I later understand that the latter jump was to compensate the one she had failed previously. Because after that one jump she said

" ...ha..like that..."

after which, she sat down, in front of the TV and watched CBeeBies.

That, is my little herione. Stubborn she may be but adoringly, my determined superheroine.

Sugar and Spice , Everything Nice

Aaah..yes, sugar and spice and everything nice

"Mommy...I laaaf uuu"
*follows by a peck on the cheek*

"Aim pincessss...seee"
*tilts her head and shows off her royal cape*

"Mommy comey...Baba comey ...atin comey"

"syaaayan mommy.."
*cups my cheeks with both hands and plants a kiss on my nose

and who says a woman enjoys less of Valentine's when she is married with kids?


..ahh yess and it's V.Day

To those who fret they no longer get the Valentine's treatment when they are married (from dear husband), think wise. Look around you and embrace the love you have.

And me? With my girl, every day is Valentine's.

What about dearie husband? Let me see, he washes the dishes everyday, does the garbage twice a week, cleans the floor, changes the nappy when I'm too tired and ooh, hugs me at least once a day. . And those are better than Valentine's for me!

OuiOui and the gang.

Kiss me kiss me...

Betui ka?


You have an entrancing kiss~ the kind that leaves
your partner bedazzled and maybe even feeling
he/she is dreaming. Quite effective; the kiss
that never lessens and always blows your
partner away like the first time.


What kind of kiss are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Friends..where art thou?

Friends when you were young...

My previous post lead me to reminiscing my child hood times and how much I realised that I remember their names more than those that I had met during high school.

These are some of my childhood friends as I remember them

Eileen Loo - Miss Taekwondo, always the leader.
Chi Wei - the feminine of the lot.
Audrey Lim - the snow white.
Chris Tan - the only boy who had considered me his best friend, hence told me a secret that nobody else knew.
Sherene - loves to sing, draw and sketch. Sing like a nightingale and
draws/sketches like a pro.
Fadzilla - always happy like a lark.
Mastura - the cat girl. Smiled like a cat (really!)
Azlina - the role model. Quiet and ambitious.
Farid - the boy who always loved to join us girls play 'ting ting' or ropes.
Kamarul - Malay girls fall head over heals over him. Hahaha
Pooi Mee - the confidante.
Linda Ho - the 'Hello Kitty' girl.
Alex Tan - the boy who loved pranks.
Jia Hui - the leader, teacher's pet.
Amelia Razali - the sweet girl with a dimple.
Chi Peng - the school runner.
Evelyn Teh - the bus partner.

Annabel Ng, Hui Mee, Hui Yee..

I love them to bits. The malay gang was cool, esp during agama class or when we had to compete in Tilawah or Musabaqah in the annual interschool event. We were inseperable.

Eileen, Chi Wei, Audrey and Farid were my 'computer' gang. Every Friday, 'stay back' session had us hanging out in Chi Wei's house spending lunch time together before attending computer class at 2pm. It was the highlight of the week because I had the chance to borrow Chi Wei's collection of Archie.

Jia Hui, Chi Wei and Eileen were my competitors. We competed academically. Alex Tan was the entertainer. He pranked a lot and once, somebody made him ate the class' pet food - the fish flakes. He actually enjoyed them. and..Audrey had always returned the favor for a lift home.

Chi Peng was a lanky girl.I looked up to her in sports. Leader of the pack during MSSD. And Evelyn Teh was the girl I loved to chat up with on the school bus, simply because we were among the last few children to reach our houses.

Later when we bade our farewells, most chinese girl friends in 5A went to SMDJ. Most Malay girls who made the grades, went to Sri Aman and those who didn't went to SEA Park. And the boys, some went to SMDJ and some to BBBS.

I wonder where they all are now.

Friends forever...

Do you ever, ever know the person you consider a best friend, in fact the bestest, ever consider you as his or her best friend? Would you not mind if he/she doesn't, knowing that you love him/her to bits?

Ever thought of that?

Does a good friendship need to be declared? If it does, has it got to be like that of love? How does it all happen anyway? Remember your first one?

My first best friend was a chinese, Pooi Mee. Sat beside her in class 3 years in a row and we shared good times. We spoke to each other on the phone although, occasionally (phone calls were forbidden for me as at that time, it was considered inappropriate for a 9 yr old girl to phone up girl friends and chat). It felt good, she taught me of bananarama and the bangles. It was the 80s.I have always considered her my best friend but now,I stop and think, hey, has she ever considered me her best friend back then?

Life was great until finally I had a major screw up in standard 3 that mom decided I needed the transfer to the other class with En. Azmi, the strict one. Well, it wasn't major but at least she thought it was at the time. Major screw up: Scored only 84% in Maths. She believed I had drifted and needed a stricter teacher.

And so, bye bye to Pooi Mee. We did get to see each other at break time though but things went differently then. She paired with Linda Ho and Pooi Mee became from best friend to just good friend.

And then, there was Mastura the cat girl. I idolised her for being so cool. She has got the greatest smile and we hanged out with each other after school. She's all that and we became best of friends, until one day somebody came up to me and said

"Mastura told me you are not her best friend. Her best friend is from Kg Tunku"

Whatt?? It took me a while to answer

"She IS my best friend. And I don't care if I am not hers"

There you go. It was hard..but I had my pride.

I couldn't actually remember what happened when we all parted. We went to different high schools and lost contact ever since. The last time I saw Mastura she was tomboyish..and was pursuing a hotel management career somewhere in KL. It was awkward but I wished her lots of luck, anyway. And Pooi Mee, still wishing that I'd bump into her in PJ although I always picture her married to a tycoon and lives a high life in Hong Kong or Japan.

A story of the unsuccessful baking

Had baked chocolate chip muffins on Monday and the whole baking process wasn't a succesful story. They turned out to be rock cookies minus the sultanas.Hahaha

Now I had them in a small container by the hobs. Been there for a good 3 days, untouched.Yes, untouched.So, there isn't any better solution than to feed the squirrels in the commons. Well at least, you know that they aren't wasted.

Our flat stands directly next to the commons. It is not as big as the Southampton Commons though but surely on an early morning, it gives you a fresh breather. From our window, you could actually see squirrels mischeviously hop on the thin branches. So now you know where all my unsuccssful bakings end up. Yes, poor squirrels. But hey, I guess my muffins are better than having them scavanging the skips and dustbins. They do you know. And they do steal. So I guess I too have saved people living on the ground floor from having squirrels ransacking their kitchens!

Well, OK..my baking is not so much of an unsuccessful story...after all.

And those squirrels, they are a bunch of lucky ones, with me and my baking around!

Age, is just a number

Particularly happy that the assessment turned out that I am 3 years younger than my actual age. BUT, a teeny weeny bit dissapointed because had hoped it would result in smaller digits! 18 would have been nice. Yes, 18. 18 at heart.

You Are 25 Years Old

25 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Hey wait a minute, it is the assessment of age you act not the age you are at heart. Wooo, that's a huge difference. Well then, I'll settle down with 25.

Ghostly Encounters

Have you ever, had a ghostly encounter?

First memories sent me flashing back to childhood. It was the 80s and rumours had it that hantu kom-kom was lurking free .. mind you, in jilbab she was. She was popular indeed and made headlines in the tabloids. Don't ask me if it's true but it was later discovered that she was human (yes! despite the name) and ugly, hence the chosen apparel. Tuntut ilmu salah and voila..the consequence had her bearing an ugly face.

Do I believe in ghosts? If you ask me, yes I do. You wouldn't believe in one until you had one sneaking its hand under your pyjama, or shouting in your ear and laughed at you when you had Qursi clumsily recited. Or better still, until you really SEE one.

One of my best/most horrifying encounter was in Coventry. It was a Tuesday night and the girls had their usual Tae-kwondo night class. I was alone. I had reclused to my bedroom and engrossed myself into the piles of assignments that had to be done. Suddenly, thumpathumpa ..gedugagudugagdug!

My heart raced, I knew my ears couldn't have been more right because I had just unwaxed them. What it seemed was a sound of something heavy falling down the stairs. So scared I had a duvet over me and waited for a while. I wasn't so sure what I was waiting for.

My heart raced again when I heard somebody was walking upstairs, directly above my floor, squeaking the floor underneath its feet. How could there be anyone else, the girls are out! Boy, this is as good as haunted house in the carnivals. I couldn't quite explain what happened next because a good 30 minutes after the noise had first started I had an enormous courage to do some Dick Tracy act.

So, sticked my head out the bedroom door...good, it's clear ..walked out of the room, and inspected the stairs. Absolutely positive there wasn't anything at the foot of the stairs. The sound was so loud I had imagined someone had thrown at least, a small heavy luggage down the stairs. But there was nothing!

Called up the girls name and all I had was silence. Went upstairs, called them a few more times, no reply. Lights..no lights, their lights are off. Called them again and pushed the bedroom doors, one after the other. Switched on the lights, checked and it all came clear to me that I WAS definitely alone in the house. Rushed down, closed my door ...and tried hard to sleep, although it was only 8pm. I must have dozed away when the girls were back. Told them.

" Ye ke ni? "

"iyela…..absolutely 100% sure.. there was something ghostly here an hour ago."

"But we've been here for months..nothing have happened.." oh well, maybe it is just the beginning..

I couldn't remember how they dismissed the whole thing. Maybe to them I was being delirious. I am glad to this day whatever it was, had not repeated the scene on Tuesday nights that I was alone in the house, ever since.

Later I learned that the girls in Peterborough were unluckier. They endured constant ghostly encounters. Apparently, the ‘ghost’ was fond with switching the water tap on, filling the bath and boiling the kettle, almost every other day. I tell you that were scarier. Though had never heard a ghost that was obsessed with H2O that much.

The reason I had posted this is because months ago we had our electronic weighing machine beeping endlessly during the night. (You see, on a working basis it only beeps when you step ON it so your weight can be read) Every time it happened, I rushed to see what was on the display.

Error.

Well, maybe the PCB has got short-circuited somewhere, I thought.

Until one day it beeped and displayed 0.03. That’s 3 grams! It spooked us up so finally we had the batteries taken out. I think it went beeping a few times (yes, without the battery) and finally gave it a rest. Things went back to normal.

So, there you go, my ghostly encounters. There are lots more but one thing for sure I’d become hantu myself if I don’t stop now and have my shower.adios.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Tuwinkel tuwinkel litel staaar
Hau wanda wat u arrr
Habba habba in da skai..
Tuwinkel tuwinkel litel staaar
Hau wanda wat u arrr
Habba habba in da skai... (repeat chorus again and again)

and the tikkabilla song which goes like,

Tikkabella tikkabella klok
wats taim on tikkabella klok (mind you, repeat endlessly too)

....never-ending songs! CBeebies crazed up your 3-yr old and now these songs are in your head 24/7.

and BatNa if you're reading this...remember your never-ending song? I guess it runs in the family. wonder what's Uncle Yon's childhood never-ending tune. Must go and ask Tok.

Saturday Morning

There's nothing like waking up late on Saturday morning and watch a cookery show, BBC Saturday Kitchen that is.

Its amazing how you can go about on cooking just pancake. I always have thought that pancakes are just pancakes. There's nothing more to pancakes than just eating them with chicken curry but really, English people could just go on making 3 or 4 recipes out of pancakes! really. Delia being the master of kitchen as she is, started off from as basic as putting a cloth underneath your batter bowl )so that it woudn't rock sideways as you stir) ; to issues on how to mix, how to perfectly heat the pan, how not to burn them and to roll them in lemon juice. Very detail!

There were sugar-sprinkled pancakes with lemon, pancake-lasagna with spinach stuffing (I wasn't keen on catching on the name, really) and pancake basque in marmalade-caramel syrup. It's really something you know but then again it makes you think, there's nothing like Malay dishes.

No matter where you go, London, Paris or even the surburban of Shangnau or Habkern rice is always what you look for. A simple dish like fried dry anchovies with lots of onion and bird chillies eaten with hot white conggee, with a sprinkle of kicap cap kipas udang enough to make you salivate. and nothing compares to hot Thai rice with bass in asam pedas, or with chicken curry served with sambal belacan ...total bliss!

Now I'm hungry. I might just hop down town to St. Marys and buy some lamb chops. Fancy lamb soup with sambal belacan anyone? Today is easy..no need to pull our hairs out. Lamb soup, omelette, sambal belacan and stir-fry okras.We go okay ? I'm just gonna wake you up ...or we'll miss having lunch AT lunch time !

Prologue: A venture into Blogland..

I have to accept the fact. There is no running away from the hidden force. Everytime I do a search on the net, it will appear right to my face. Blog. Blog. Blog. It's a trend... and it's really catching up fast. It's already spreading like a new religion. I need to make a decision, a quick one. Damn if I do, damn if I don't. Damn... I will give blog a try.

So, here's day one in Blogland. What do people normally write in Blogland? What shall I write in Blogland? It's difficult and it's tough. For a reserved person, opening up is unthinkable. I'm reserved and I do not have much to share with other people. But yet I'm falling into this 'sharing pit'. Maybe this big step will change my view, my perception, and my believe in sharing. But sharing what? Pheww... this is really hard! Story! Experience! View!

Maybe tomorrow my other half'll continue this effort...