Fountain of Youth

Last thursday my son Sheldon had about 10 friends over for dinner. The usual 10 young people, noisy and lively, so happy just to be in the same room with one another even though they have been together everyday in school for the last 5 years. Such is the friendship and bonding of the young and carefree. It was certainly a privilege for me to be part of their world even for a brief moment.

They laugh at everything and poke fun at each other without fear or favor, without worrying that someone might be offended or take heart to something said in jest. Ahhh...where have our time gone to? We used to be like this, life was simple....eat, sleep and exams !. Laughter heals a lot. Now , we are cynical and judgmental, we have to think before we say anything as once spoken, retraction is impossible. Sensitivity lurks in every corner....this is the curse of getting older , where wisdom is overtaken by pride and the "kiasu" syndrome......

How nice it is to be young ,restless and innocent,...well be may not that innocent, they know more in detail about everything then we ever did when we were that age.Its just that the young dont use their knowledge to criticize, to ridicule hurtfully or to downsize their peers, unlike adults. Adults tend to categorize people,size them up, label, box and store , to be retrieved later when the occasion arises.....in other words, to be used as information for gossip !!!

Wouldnt it be nice if we could remain young at heart for a wee bit longer. I know we cant wish to remind young physically ( now that would mean we would have to be like the McDonalds potato fries soaked in preservatives so they wont go bad even after 6 months in a jar!!!) but we could wish to remain mentally young with a touch of innocence ...hahaha...like asking for the moon to be made of cheese!!

Oh well, for what its worth, its always good to be in the company of the young. It never fails to make me happy to see and hear them all talking a mile a minute, their laughter so invigorating and contagious. Although I must say it makes me feel old sometimes as I have known many of them since their days in Chi Hwa. Now they are talking about going to university. What happened to kindergarten, primary school and high school? Where did the years go? Soon they will be telling us what to do and what not to eat and when to take our medication . It was just like yesterday we changed their diapers.....

To my sons and all their friends whom I know, it has been an experience, a pleasure and a privilege to have had the blessing of sharing your joys, your growing pains, your I hate school syndrome and, to still be able to remember that once you all stood just below the height of my dinning table and now, you tower over the tallest of us. Stand tall and proud children, and never say you dont know who you are ( like the stupid americans , always having to take a year off to find themselves).

God bless all of you. To those sitting for your UEC exams, I wish you all the best.

Not my favourite time of the year

Its definitely not my favourite time of the year....hari raya !!! We get the long holidays but we also get the keys to the house work, meals, pet management and out right boredom....aaahhhh !!!!!

I am not so worried about food cos I have asked my maid to cook a few dishes and freeze them, for emergencies. But I hate sweeping the floor and doing laundry, and oh, feeding the dogs and cleaning their bowls......well, actually I just dont like all of the above and more. But what to do, next time I will plan for us to go away at this time. This year we cant go away cos my son Sheldon came back for hari raya.

Luckily Cindy has her open house on the first day of HR. At least we will be eating well on that day....hahaha. Apart from that nothing exciting is happening.Perhaps it would be a good time to go learn play mahjong. Guess we will be having marathon TV watching sessions....beer anyone?

Eat sleep and no exercise cos even my yoga teacher is taking 5 days off, strange considering non of her students are malay. I shouldnt be complaining cos lots of people are looking forward to this long break. So, enjoy your break and hope on one will die of boredom !!!!

Raining durians

There seems to be so many durian sellers sprouting out of the woodwork these few weeks. Guess the durian season is in full swing, thorns and all. The $1,000,000 question is 'to eat or not to eat'? Eating one or two seems fruitless as you do not get that "ummmm wah so nice feeling" . Eating a lot then you attract the " wow, you have put on weight" comments from people who have nothing better to say....or they are jeolous cos they have no free durians to gorge on.

For me, I have eaten a few. What to do, courtesy of friends with good intentions. However, my problem isnt the oozing waistline. But.....pimples! Yes, at my age, to be having pimples is a privilege...what ???? huh?.....well you see , only the young have this pimple problem. Its a curse for them right?....the operative word being " young " . So, like Benjamin Button, I have also gone younger....hahaha. I had more pimples in the last 2 weeks then I have ever had when I was in my teens !

Well, actually I had 4 of these little buggers. Thats a lot for me! I didnt celebrate though, maybe I should have thrown a party to announce my coming of age...haha. Instead, I did what I have always told my sons to do, wash the spot with soap. It works like magic! As much as I like being refered to as 'young or younger' pimples are not what I had in mind as a retirement present, no matter how lovely the box is!

So, back to the question of ' to eat or not to eat' cos I still have durians in a box outside my house.....hhmmm....durian curry, durian stew, durian cake, durian pie, durian pudding, durian punch.........Zx43!2#@

After the durian storm, came the baby storm....no, no,....not to worry I am not in this picture as a participant,....three of my friends became grandmothers this month. Congratulations to Ah Moi, Mary Ho and Lai Gin. Guess what? All baby boys! If I say 'all the more to celebrate' then I am discriminating against the sexes. But chinese being chinese, especially if its the son's son, then I guess the smiles are wider. Sorry girls, no disrespect meant! I come from a family of all girls. Anyway, there will be lots of 12th day and full moon celebrations in the pipe line....maybe they may have durian cooked in pig's trotters, boiled eggs and vinegar ...you think?..........hahaha.

Life in Sandakan is never dull. We have a line up of wedding invitations to eat through, on top of the 'baby dinners' and fellowship nite! Have you ever thought that the pressure of all these eating frenzy and merrymaking is a Privilege? Why? Cos its means you are till alive, you can still eat and laugh and more importantly you have Friends! Smile and the world smiles with you !

W is for Wow !

Just got back from KK after attending a wedding dinner hosted by Mr and Mrs. Vila Tan for their eldest daughter Sarah. The wedding dinner was at Magellan Banquet hall at Sutera. I must say that the deco was fantastic and so romantic and very very beautiful. The hall is big and it wasnt packed with tables elbow to elbow. There was a lot of spaces between the tables, a stage for the performers dancing punjabi dances and a live band " The dreamers" . All in all it was worth our trip there.

Sarah is soooo pretty and tall and so gracious. Her husband Kevin is American and also very handsome and friendly. The bride wore an oh so gorgeous cheongsam.....everyone wants to know where she got it from, including me. The groom wore a chinese jacket and all the inlaws and parents and relatives wore saris. Sarah's american mum in law looked so pretty in a blue sari. The father in law wore a batik. When I have a photo of us taken with her I will try to put it in my facebook.

The speeches were short and sweet and the music was so catchy. I wanted to stay and dance but, everyone started to leave when the dinner ended...so typical malaysians !!!.Kudos to Vila and Jamit for hosting such a memorable wedding for their beloved girl.

Half the hall was packed with people from Sandakan. Cocktails was served at 6pm. There was quiet a lot of finger food and free flow of drinks. Dinner started at 7.30 but the food was only served 15 mins later as the people were slow in coming into the hall.

The card stated " smart casual" but I knew no sane malaysian lady would go to a grand wedding at Magellan in smart casual....hahaha, and so as I guessed correctly everyone was dressed in their finest, with one ot two exceptions but the rest of us were in semi-formals. Some even in their evening gowns.

Ok, that is all about the wedding. The rest of my KK trip was boring. Jalan-jalan around Wisma merdeka and 1 Borneo. The highlight of the walk around 1Borneo was buying big apple donuts....you know, deciding which to get out of the dozens of choices.Now that took time and alot of decision making.....greentea or chocochip, no, no, maybe nuts and white chocolate?...ah yah all also so fattening. So just pick the most fattening ones as they are the tastiest. Worry about XXXXXX when we get home.

Luckily I booked for us to come back the next day. Dont think we can take all that excitment of walking around malls anymore. Nothing like home !