Mini Get-Away

I don't very much like to take photos. Of myself. Of others. I know I should have taken more pictures, and although I did take some, they were not that nice for me to publish here. Mostly because the pictures are taken by the wonky camera on my handphone (to which I am still unsure of the shutter setting resulting in blurry pictures because I move the camera too soon after taking a photo) or are supposed abstract/candid shots which upon later inspection made no sense.

Okay, why so elaborate on pictures? On taking photos? On sucking at taking photos? On still not owning that DSLR? Well, for one, hubs and I went to Bukit Merah Laketown Resort early last week for a mini get-away. And guess what? I DID NOT TAKE ANY PICTURES! Not at the hotel, not at the waterpark, not ANYWHERE!

Well, for one, the hotel was so and so, so that was forgettable, but PLUS POINT is there is free WiFI in the lobby, which made the dingy joint somewhat bearable. We stayed at the Suria Service Apartments in one of their studio room, which technically, is okay, nice, clean etc, but definitely not ALL THAT. The TV only had like, the non-paid channels. (No Law & Order SVU!! Waaaaa :"[) The bathroom only had shower, no tub. The breakfast spread was blergh. The pool was nice though, not the Waterpark pools, but the Apartment pools, so that's another plus point. And they have this barbecue pit near the pool, which got me and hubs thinking of family gatherings and barbecuing and all that...

We went on our own for this get-away. The original plan was to haul the kids as well, but Little Miss has exams (boleh tak? Budak darjah satu exam! PAH!). If it was up to me alone, she will be trundled off with us as well, tapi hubs was a bit reluctant to let her miss school, something about not wanting to have her start thinking that exams are okay to miss and all that. She's SEVEN, and I'm loathe to teach her that exams is be-all-end-all sort of thing, but hubs does kinda sorta have a point or maybe he persuaded or bribed me or something, so in the end, I relented. And since Little Miss is not going, then it should only be fair if Little Hero is not going as well *sobs*. So there. The kids were left with Mak, Ayah and two nephews on babysitting duty.

Actually, the whole thing was planned last minute. My sister won the 2D1N stay + Waterpark Entrance fee package, so she sold it to me. Since the voucher expires on the 31st of July, and since hubs' day off is not the most reliable, we just booked on those particular days, long before realizing that oh shi... Little Miss ada exam! Haih!

Was it a good get-away? I dunno. It was kinda sad, I was sad when we were at the waterpark, cos I know the kid would've loved the park! And throughout our time there, I kept on going like, "ooooh, Little Hero would have loved going on THAT slide!" or "Haaaaaa! Kakak mesti suka naik yang ini!" And it DOES NOT help that some other visitors brought along their kids, I was like, KENAPA ANAK DIORANG TAK PERIKSA ANAK AKU KENA PERIKSA NI WEIIIIIIII!!! HAMJADAHHH!

Okay, okay, enough with the drama and rantings and all that. All in all, I must say, it was a nice get-away. Would've been extra nice to have the kids around as well, cos they will probably enjoy it more that we do, but hey, such is the way it was meant to be... This just gives us more reason to go there some day, with EVERYBODY in tow, insyaAllah!

Differences

Source

That's a painting by Paul Cézanne. Have you ever heard of Picasso? Well, Paul, the fler who drew all of 'em apples and oranges up there, is actually considered the good ol' daddy o' for Picasso's (and some of other painter fogies') style. Says a lot about them apples and oranges now, doesn't it? Okay, enough with the Art History lesson for today..

Today I want to talk about differences. Apples and oranges.

You and me, we're different, right? I'm okay with that, I hope you're okay with that as well.

One thing I am distinctly different from other people is that I think early-childhood education that primarily consists on rote-learning alone is bullshit. For instance, I consider Kumon and other similar classes for children under the age of 10 is child abuse.

Some parents beg to differ.

I don't mind that. Really, I don't. Go ahead, beg and differ all you want.

But what I do mind is when these parents try to impose their beliefs on me. I don't want to beat my chest ala King Kong and say, "I KNOW WHAT'S BEST FOR MY KIDS!!!" I know I am a young parent. I know I am inexperienced and in most cases, I may still be immature. I welcome constructive criticism that can help me develop my parenting skills. I know that that will help me raise my kids better. And if there's only one thing I know about parenting, it's that I want what's best for my kids.

Thing is, what's best for you might not be the best for me.

Some parents equate intelligence with their kids' glowing report card. Me, I am proud when my oldest beat my score at some stupid online game we play together.

My three year old can barely string a coherent sentence Some parents think this is some form of mental retardation because their darling 2 1/2 year old can order from a menu all by themselves (oooo hyperbole!). But you get my drift, right?

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I do willfully acknowledge that some other parents might think my seemingly cavalier, careless attitude when it comes to my kids' 'academic achievement' is a form of child abuse as well.

But remember that thing I said about differences earlier? Yep. I couldn't care less about what you think indeed.

My Kids are PERFECT just the way they are.

Little Hero #001

Teman ni cengei sebenornye. Betul, teman idok la nipu deme. Cengei bebenor. Grumpy tu memang lah sejak azali. Cemeng pada waktu-waktu tertentu, tapi most of the time, memang teman cengei. Contohnya, kalo anak teman teghoyak, jarang le teman nak mujuk. Kalau mula dia teghoyak, ubatnye teman cakap, "Umar, shut your mouth!" atau "Umar, tutup mulut!" Diam lah kawan tu, kadang tu sambil terkebil-kebil nengok teman. Kadang tu sambil sambung teghoyak walaupun mulut terkatup.

Selalunya, treatment 'tutup mulut' tu, teman gunapakai kalau anak teman tu nakei. Banyak bebenor akeinye. Manjat-memanjat usoh ceghite ler. Ngemas rumah memang hobi deme. Mekap teman dipakei. Ubat gigi spare habis dicalitnye kat dinding. Ape ke idok logik teman jadi tarzan?

Tapi ituler, dah nama pun emak. Nak tak nak, ada ler sikit, saki-baki, sisa-sisa sifat2 keibuan tu. Kalo budak nakei tu teghoyak sebab terjerombab ke, distarlight dek kakak dia ke, kena marah bapak dia ke, idok ler teman jadi nasi tambah nye. Teman pujuk ler. Sape tak sayang anak wei...

Ini ler dia, hero teman, Umar Z.

ps. : Entry ini sempena demam Hantu Kak Limah Balik Rumah. Lagipun memang ayah teman oghang Paghit, yop!

Mission Kinda Possible : Find a School Bag

Little Miss will be schooling next year. Big girl school. Primary school. Being the oldest, she's the guinea pig she wished she never was (at least I think that's what she thinks).

We kinda had a plan on how many uniforms to get for her (2 baju kurungs, 2 pinafores, 3 blouses). But of course, being youngest in my family, older sibs and mak told me to get only the barest essenstials possible. Little Miss will grow up quickly, they say. She won't fit in the small bajus anymore in a very short period of time. For me, little Miss is little. She can still fit into tees meant for 3 year old, bajus half her age. Of course, the length of the bajus are a different story altogether, but let's not get there. All I'm saying is that, she's small for her age, but she's tall.

So one fine day, the hubs had the day off. We decided we'll go shop for her school stuff that day. So off we went to this huge-ass shopping mall in the middle of the muddle that is KL.

So we got the bajus, I actually wanted to get cheaper ones, cos this is a kid we're talking about. Little Miss will probably outgrow them before we know it (okay, so I said something different in the earlier para, I am in denial, in case you haven't noticed. I want little Miss to stay a three year old forever, boleh?). But the hubs being the hubs wanted to get the top of the line ones. Lucky he didn't whisk us off to Proffessors. So we got something, I dunno, maybe second or third ranked brand for uniforms for little Miss. We got her two of each, two baju kurungs and two pinafores with blouses and two pairs of shoes.

Okay, where's the bloody checklict? Uniforms - checked. Shoes - checked. Socks - checked.

Further explorations resulted in chemise and some shorts. And oh yeah, some PE pants. Okay, checked, checked, checked.

The only thing left then was her school bag. Okay, so the general consensus from family members and friends, school bags are mostly useless. You might as well go and get the ones from Mydin cos if those bags become unwearable in like, 2 weeks of schooling, it's a cheapo bag that you can just throw away. If you get the ones with all the bells and whistles, or in the case of schoolbags of the 21st century, wheels and pull handles, it'll cost a bomb and it will most probably go useless within months of schooling.

I was already disheartened knowing this. I wanted to get her something cool for her schoolbag. I didn't want her first big girl school bag to be an outdated bag, the kind I had to use when I was a kid (usually mak would give me her UMNO meeting bags, I didn't mind actually, but others had way cooler bag, like Jem and Barbie. Didn't exactly feel left out, but it was kinda one of my childhood wish, so there). So the hubs and I spent a few shopping trips prior to this one trying to find an okay-ish compromise for the little Miss' first big girl school bag. We finally found one reasonably-priced and PINK backpack at Tearproof in Midvalley Megamall. Yippee-ky-yay-oh!

So that day, the day we took little Miss shopping for her school stuff, while looking for her uniforms, she saw a few school bags also on display in the area. She has got her sight set on one school bag. It's the over-priced wheeled contraption I swore I would never ever buy for my kids. It probably had Barbie or Powerpuff Girls or Strawberry Shortcake on it, which explained why little Miss was so enthralled by it. No way Jose, Missy, Mama ain't gettin' you that bag.

So we dragged her tiny behind to Tearproof thinking we can make her like the PINK Bodypac backpack. Haha, noob parents, THINK AGAIN SUCKAZ. The little Miss stood there shaking her head (eh, eh budak ni, menurun degil sapa ini?). Okay, so fine, we tried taking her to Tropicana Life (ZOMG, yes, she's going to Standard 1, pakai beg Tropicana Life? Sorry, for the life of me, I pun tak sure what possessed me to do that). Little Miss pointed to a bag. It was purple, okay, girl colour. But it had skulls on them. Not cutesy Avril Lavigne skulls, but the Pirates of Caribbean crossed swords as part of the design. By now, I realized little Miss was giving us a lesson in how stubborn she could be. By choosing stuff that she KNOWS mama and papa will not approve of, mama and papa will know THEY ARE WRONG. Wow, my six year old the manipulator. Today, I will conquer Standard One. Tomorrow, the world, bwahahahahaha!!!

But at that time, instead of reveling on how diabolical little Miss has become that day, I became angry. I told her, "Kakak, if you don't choose a bag now, you will have to bring your Smart Reader backpack yang dah koyak-koyak tu." She replied, without missing a beat, "OK." Goddammit, I am being outsmarted by a six year old! I marched her out of the store (Tropicana Life, remember?) and marah-marah the hubs (actually more like venting to him, "kakak ni ha tak nak pilih bag yang elok," bla bla bla). The hubs was like yea yea yea, malas nak layan. Haiz. What is wrong with this family???

Tired and angry and partially hungry, we decided to leave the bag-finding adventure for another day and made our way back to the carpark. On the way there, lo and behold, I saw this tacky , girly pink shop, Miss T or something. We went in, I am not sure what for, maybe I was just pushing my luck, to look for little Miss' bag. Near the back of the store there was this one white bag with flowers all over them. Maybe she really did like the bag or maybe she was tired of being bullied by mama (or is it the other way around?), little Miss said, "yes mama, I like the bag, please get me the bag." I looked at the hubs, but the bag is white, macam mana ni? Cepat lah kotor nanti... But then again, we discussed that the bag will get kotor any which way pun, unless we got her a black bag, which I doubt she will use and I will buy for her. So okay, we finally got her a bag, which cost us RM39.90, RM0.10 cheaper than the RM40 PINK Bodypac backpack we saw in Tearproof.

Lesson learned? Little Miss has a mind of her own.

The Idiot #001 Part 1

Note from the Scribe
I foresee this as an on-going blog entry. This is probably the first entry I am dedicating to this person -- no, no, he is not that special, he is just that blardy annoying and I hate him enough to bash him again, and again, even if it's through an anonymous cyber landscape.
--

Hubby has a brother. He was married, now divorced, has 4 kids and then got into some financial problems. Actually, he was never financially-sound, I guess. He earned a fair amount each month, though he just kerja kilang. His wife worked as well, some kerani cabuk or something. They used to live in Seremban-Kuala Pilah-Senawang, somewhere uncool like that la (no offense to Negrians, my beef is with the said brother).

But I dunno what's with those two, their money was never enough. Not even after he chose VSS and got compensated with RM27,000. Not a cent of that money was given to my mother in law, i.e, his and hubby's mother.

Even throughout the years, my brother-in-law, henceforth will be called the idiot, did not send any money to his mother. Hubby's family always had this suspicion that the idiot is under some spell from the idiot's wife and her family. Maybe some nasi kangkang or something, I dunno. My take? The idiot is just one of those spineless, insipid individuals. It's easier to let his wife to make the decisions than to make them himself, so he let her do just that.

So, long story short, the idiot got into a humongous money problem (which resulted from the two of them buying a house they can ill-afford -- who the fuck does that? Ambik loan bank to beli rumah when they can't afford the monthly payment???). Ini kes perasan kaya-raya, padahal belajar sampai SPM je, kerja makan gaji, tu pun malas. Pakai kredit kad, beli kereta lah, motor lah etc. Padahal anak tonggang-langgang.

The bank wants him to pay some RM800 a month or something, basically the amount is about the idiot's salary plus his wife's salary minus a few hundred ringgits. So, exactly how can the idiot pay for all that and still feed his kids, right? The idiot (or maybe it was his wife) got the idea of borrowing from ah long. Brilliant, eh?

Needless to say, the idiot got deeper and deeper into the shithole that he was in already and the idiot wanted to bail. Now, how would any sane person do that? Oh, I dunno, get a second (third, fourth, fifth) job, borrow from a relative or sell off some of their asset or something. That's what a sane person would do. What would an idiot do? Bug his mother about it. The mother he never sent any money to, the mother he left the minute he married that bitch of a wife. That mother who was living on his dead father's pension. The mother who's the only other source of income is her second son, my hubby.

The ensuing story is an on-going one. Tune in for more. My anger is spent for today.