Ternyata Kita Belum Bersedia untuk Syurga

Dirang dah tak ada, agaknya itulah perkara yang bermain-main di kotak fikiran Roselyn Alan ketika ini. 

Dirang mati, kena bunuh, merintih lagi hati seorang emak.

Dirang mati salah aku, sadis kan? Kau boleh hidup dengan persoalan itu dalam kepala otak kau?

Iye, aku tahu, Roselyn tak patut biarkan anak dia umur lima tahun pergi kedai sorang-sorang sambil dia layan Facebook. Aku tahu. Aku pun rasa benda tu tak patut. 

Tapi, apa yang lebih tak patut ialah masyarakat. TAK ADA LANSUNGKAH nyawa lain yang nampak Dirang hari tu? TAK ADA LANSUNGKAH orang yang perasan a child in distress? TAK ADA? Lagi senang hina Roselyn daripada buat apa-apa, kan?

Dan macam mana pulak si perpetrator? Si pesalah laku? Tak ada sedikit pun naluri kemanusiaan kah? Dah kering atau memang tak ada?

Sedih. Aku sedih bukan sahaja sebab Dirang. Aku sedih sebab we live in a world where this is happening. It is now clear, ternyata bahawa kita semua belum bersedia untuk syurga.

Dirang, mama mintak maaf (iye, aku juga ibu kepada Dirang dan anak-anak lain di sekitarku. Kau pun sama. Jangan culas tanggungjawab Allah ni). I have let you down, sayang. I will work harder to make this world a better place. For everyone of us.

Sampai satu saat nanti, kita semua akan layak untuk syurga. 

Hijrah Resolution

The list. OMG. I am making a list for 2012. Not so much the whole 'new-year-resolution' and all that, and you should now that I started this list way before December 2011. I think this simple list is just a reminder for me, of the things that I should focus on more (not 'achieve', achieve is an overrated word in this sense) this year and the years to come.

Yeah, yeah, lambat sangat buat list, ni dah masuk bulan February 2012, bla bla bla, yadda yadda yadda. So what? List aku kan? Target aku kan? Suka hati akulah nak start bila and nak end bila (eh, napa tiba-tiba sentap entah).  

So here it goes...

1. To be more involved in Little Miss' school work

I was involved, like, the night before her exam. Seriously. I am teaching my 7-year-old how to study last minute. How to burn the midnight oil. How to cram. Amazingly, she got number 1 in her class last year (proud mummy, sniffs) and she's now moved up one class for Standard 2. Understably, the competition is stiffer (like any Standard 2 class in any primary school in the whole wide world should be *___*) so being a kiasu mummy, I will make sure that Little Princess will spend at least 4 hours a day studying for her end of year exams. 

OH. MY. GOD. 

Yeah right.

I can't do that, can I? I can't, in good conscience, let my child go through all that. Hantar tuisyen? Paksa buat latih-tubi ala Kumon? It goes against all the rules I set out as being a parent (ceh, macam lah ada black and white set of rules pun, selama hari ni aku pakai formula redah je pun...). 

But one thing for sure, I want to be more involved in her learning process. I will try to enrich her learning experience. And so, to this end, 1433H/2012 will see more of:

• Trips to Petrosains
• Trips to Pusat Sains
• Trips to Planetarium Negara
• Trips to Zoo Negara
• Trips to Muzium Negara

I am also contemplating enrolling Little Miss in Math/Science classes, not the kind where you listen to lectures, but the kinds where she gets to do the experiments on her own. But so far, the ones I've come across quite the bomb, so we'll see about that. Susah-susah, aku google je, pastu carik tutorial via youtube and just have it DIY-style at home. Welcome to 21st Century parenting, yo!

2. To teach my kids how to ride a bicycle

Little Miss is 7. Little Hero will be 4 in February. Little Miss have yet to learn how to ride a bicycle without training wheels. Little Hero rides his cousin's hand-me-down Zebra Little Tykes rider-thingie. I don't want my kids to be fat, bratty kids who cannot even ride a bike. Come on lah, nama pun duduk kampung (walaupun tak berapa nak kampung). Takkan tak pandai naik basikal?

Ironically, this (hmmm.. apa ye? point ke? resolution ke? ape?) activity is actually also for me. Teach my kids to ride a bike = me being more active = me losing weight. Huhu. tak sah new year resolution kalau tak de lose weight somewhere in the mix. Cliche, I know, but dammit, I do wanna lose some!

3. To travel to 2 more SEA destinations

Before getting married, I had this grand idea of backpacking through SEA. How hubs and I would take train rides and boat rides to explore our neighbouring countries. I only get to visit a handful of them. Sedih. Been to Medan a twices ages ago. 2010 off to Vietnam. 2011 was Thailand's turn. So for 2012, I am aiming for Singapore (been there, but AAAAGES ago) and maybe, Cambodia? Or the Philippines? Singapore's a definite, the rest is still unwritten. 

4. To introduce ABC and 123 to Little Hero

As I mentioned before, Little Hero will be 4 soon. He's yet to hafal his ABCs and 123s (*gasps*). Actually, he does know the numbers at least, because he knows (as in, can say out loud) the numbers of the TV channels he's changing to. For example, I'll be watching Law and Order: SVU, he'll come scurrying into the room, grabbed the remote and say, "Umar nak tengok... anam... satu... three" while pressing the remote. The right numbers with the right sequence. Maknanya dia tahulah nombornya, just that dia malas nak kira bila-bila mama dia suruh dia kira 123. 

Okay, so this year, I want him to be able to relate that one = *, two = ** etc. Tahu nombor dan tahu bilangan adalah dua benda berbeza. And I think I'll also introduce him to colours, since he seems to really love colouring. 

some of you might go, eh, dah empat tahun baru nak introduce number, letters and colours? Well, I am not gonna lie. Sebelum ni, whatever concept of numbers or letters and names of colours that my kids learnt are all learned from thei daily interactions. I have never sat them down in a teaching and learning session, lepas tu tunjuk flash cards one after the other of "F for Frog" and "G for Gargamel."

Click for image source

Seriously, that's the first example I can think of when I think of words starting with G. Sadis. What kind of a mom am I?

Yes, please berate me all you want, because I didn't start teaching my kids the alphabets since they were 1 month old. Yes, I am a borderline negligent parent for not exposing my kids to all these early childhood education thingie-majiggie. Thing is, I believe kids should learn from playing. And even then, learning should not be the main outcome of their play sessions. Kalau belajar, it's great, kalau tak, then it's still great, cos they're just playing. 

So okay, enough with the ranting. Umar, pas ni kena belajar ABC, okay? Kenapa? Saja, sebab Mama nak dengar Umar nyanyi... ;)

--

Okay, that's it for now. Maybe I'll go through with all of them, maybe I'll follow through only one of them, maybe I won't go out and do ANY of them. But one thing's for sure, I will TRY.

Wish me luck, and please doa for me as well.

Kids, Magic and Harry Potter

The best times of my life these days seems to be those that I spent being silly with these two kids who call me Mama. We watch TV most of the time, last night it was Despicable Me. Tonight it's a marathon of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatball, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and now, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

I swear Lil Hero was slightly buzzing calling out for his big sis who left the room for a bit as Harry Potter was starting... And oh yeah, I have introduced Harry Potter to my kids, who are 7 and 3 respectively. Lil Hero, who is 3, can recognise the Harry Potter theme at the first few notes. Lil Miss, who's 7, can name 2/3 of the characters in the movies. I will introduce the book soon to her, I hope. Ah, now back to the magical world of Harry Potter with the kids.

Story of the Day #2 - Well-Behaved Kids

Below is a picture of Reagan Kennedy. She just hit a hole-in-one, something difficult to achieve even as an adult, and Reagen is only 6.

Call it luck, a floozy or whatever, but she did it. It's difficult to do, but this little girl managed to do it.

If it was me, I'd be jumping up and down, running around, bragging to hubs and shouting at the top of my lungs, in that particular order.

Not Reagen. She made the shot and walked calmly to the the golf cart. Why no reaction? Is this some zombie-robot-alien child that is taking over the world? No, she didn't react like I would have, like any sane adult would have, because her parents had asked her to behave herself on the golf course because they don't want to disturb others.

But after Reagen made that shot, and after walking calmly back to that golf cart, her parents did say that if there's ever a time for her to break the rule they set about behaving on the golf course, this is it.

She probably broke into a HUGE GRIN, the zombie-robot-alien child, and that was it... I kid. Actually, I am not sure how she celebrated, because you see, the piece of news here didn't say. And I malas to googew.

Click image for source

I'm a mom. Little Miss is Reagen's age so I am partial to stories like this. I get emotional at stories like this. I love well-behaved kids. I want my kids to be well-behaved.

So Reagen, hon, if you wanna shout and jump around now, you can. Heck, go crazy and do a little jig or something, I dunno.

And then go and beat daddy!

extra prescription. Story of the Day #1 is the 'cured' HIV patient. Tengoklah, kalau rajin adalah SotD seterusnya.

Hate = Poison

I have two kids. Impressionable kids. Little Miss is at that stage were she haven't decided whether she wants to be stubborn or impress me all the time. Little Hero is more transparent, mainly because he still wears diapers and drinks milk, and he depends on me to help with all that.

And then I went blog-hopping and blog-reviewing that I stumbled upon this thought-provoking entry.

Let me sum it up for you if you don't have the time to read, though I strongly suggest that you do. The author, a one Aries, wrote of how parents or adults basically, can influence whether or not a child love or hate someone.

Now, I have always grappled with this issue. Should I tell my kids if I hate or is angry with someone, or should I just let them be? See, I can't even stand some of my siblings, for really, heinous things they did (barring things like rape and murder). There are cases of drug and domestic abuse in my family. And yes, I know people can change, I don't doubt the human capacity for change. But the thing is, in this case, change is taking up too much time and causing too much pain (emotional mostly) for me to see it a worthy cause (to wait for that particular person to change for the better).

Here's the thing. I want my kids to decide for themselves. But not before I am done with their 'foundation', you know what I'm saying? I'd like to be able to impart and instill the values and ideas and principles first before letting them decide for themselves. That in itself is lifelong learning, not something born in mere days. But 'foundation' you know?

Speaking of which, I am also mindful of the fact that by basically saying that it's okay to hate, which is perfectly okay to someone who is almost 30. But my kids are seven and three. Still think it's okay then?

Breaks my head a little thinking about it. Breaks my heart a little bit more though.

What Did You Share with Your Child Today?

Text reads:
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway
- Mother Theresa

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.

What Kind of a Mother are You???

No, this is not the quiz-type thing, at the end of which you'll receive a reinforcement saying that you are the bladibla kind of mother etc.

This is another one of my famous rantings (eh, famous ke?).

Okay, digress kejap. I know somebody suggested that I should not write based on emotions, but being a writer myself, I have found that emotions do help writing. Rage for instance, especially my brand of rage and anger, if stoked properly and let simmer for a while, can turn into a whole blog entry without my fingers ever leaving the keyboard.

Anyways, let's get back to that parenting stuff yar?

Okay, so I frequent this kinda, sorta cool online forum for parents. I am not gonna name names or put links or whatever. And at this kinda, sorta cool online forum for parents, there are a lot of young parents, sharing their stories, their tips etc with each other. Okay fine. Nothing impressive. Run of the mill kind of thing.

But what got to me the most was how absurd things can get there. One fella started a topic asking where he can get his pregnant wife an 'anti-radiation' maternity dress. At first I was like, got meh? And then I thought, his pregnant wife probably work as something that exposes her to all sorts of radiation. Then as I read on, I found out his wife works with the computer on all the time.

Oh. My. Gucci.

Perlu ke?

Okay, so nobody took the guy seriously. Most were replying with, might as well you take away the cellphones, TV. Some were pointing out, wifis are everywhere anyhow, and cell phone waves or what not. How to account for that radiation exposure?

Me, I was busy imagining myself clad in a haz-mat suit, sitting my pregnant butt in front of the computer typing away.

Houston, we've got a problem (Image Source)

Okay, different suit. But you got my point, right?

Then, upon exploration in another topic, a young stay-at-home-mom actually laments the fact that her father- and mother-in-law fed her baby durian. She says that the in-laws are not respecting her wishes by feeding her baby durian. Mind you, I don't think her baby is newborn, as in, any younger than 2 months old or anything like that. And yet, that's her grief with her father and mother in law. Feeding her baby boy durian.

BAAAAAAADDD Durian. (Source)

What the fark lah wei? Seriously? Cannot eat durian? What in the world lah wei? I can understand if it was junk food, Twisties ke or maybe even chocolate, but durian? Babies cannot eat durian? Mind you, I seriously doubt the father- and mother-in-law of this particular young mom fed the baby the WHOLE God-damned fruit, the most maybe seulas. Itu pun mau kecoh ka?

Seriously. Welcome to 21st century parenting. Where moms are expected to wear biohazard suits and babies cannot eat durians. Nice place eh? Where do I check out?

The Little Miss Grows Up #001

Family time looms ahead. It's the school holidays finally for the little Miss, who 'graduated' from her kindy last Saturday. She was kinda bewildered. When I asked her if there's anyone else she wants to take photos with, she just shook her head no, saying let's just eat and take photos later at school. I told her she won't be going to the kindy anymore next year, she looks at me wide-eyed, asked in a semi-horrified voice,"But why?" Like maybe, she did something wrong. Like maybe, she was EXPELLED. From her kindy. ZOMG!

I explained to her, you're going to big girl's school next year. The school we bought the uniforms for. The school we bought you the flowery school bag for (Oy vey, that shopping adventure, I tell you! Nightmare!). This seems to settle her down -- Okay, so we're still going to school, just a different school, right? Ohkay...

Then I explained again, Teacher Janice won't be there anymore. Alisha won't be there, Arfah won't be there, Danish won't be there, Farid Aiman won't be there. All your friends won't be there (please don't imagine the Grinch while reading that, I was not trying to scare the little Miss, I was trying to explain the situation to her). She just looked at me quizzically and nodded.

I looked at the hubs and he was busy eating.

*sobs*

Little Miss is growing up.

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.

Separation Anxiety

It's my oldest first day at kindy. I enrolled her at Smart Reader Kids in Setapak. It costs a BOMB (seriously, somewhere in the region of almost RM2k! Mak oi! Aku study kat UiTM dulu tak semahal tu, ok?) , but then again, I shouldn't be berkira when it comes to her education, right? Oy, tell that to my dwindling bank account.

The kindy itself is nice lah. It's on the upper floor of a shophouse. When I was in school, (NOTE : When I say school, I almost always mean my uni days, should in the future I say school and mean school, I'll leave a note clarifying that, ohkay?) I had this lecturer who taught us writing for the mass media (or something). And one of her assignment was to come up with an advertisement for a kindergarten. So when we presented our work, she made a remark. Something like, "Sometimes I'm worried of all these kindies, with the playground on the outside... Kalau I orang kaya and ada orang nak kidnap anak I, macam mana?" Those days, I couldn't care less lah, cos the world revolves around me, me and me. Tapi as I grow older and have kids, yeah, even the unthinkable and the unimaginable pun become scarier and scarier. Illogical as it sounds, yes, having kids playing in the playground, even if it is within the school compound, is actually quite scary. Actually, I want to relate to a family tragedy, tapi tak mo lah, let's focus this entry on my daughter's first kindy experience.

Actually, it's more like an experience for me, more than it was for her. I mean, of course lah, not to steal her thunder or anything, it is her first day at school. But she was cool, calm and collected je masa kat kindy tu. Ahahahaha. Tak berperasaan, like the mother. AHAHAHAHAHA!!! In her class alone, ada about 3 or 4 kids yang menangis-nangis, air hidung meleleh-leleh keluar -- separation anxiety. Not only that, in the class above her (as in, the 6 year old classes, meaning budak-budak yang dah masuk kindy since last year) pun ada menangis-nangis. "Nak Ayah!" or "Nak Mummy!" or "Mana MAMA!!!". Oy. I pity the teacher. I have very limited patience, what more dengan anak orang lain, so I salute the teachers.

I was actually quite apprehensive masa tinggalkan my daughter tadi. In fact, I had to stop myself a few times from calling her teacher, to ask how she's doing. Ntah apa-apa. Padahal my girl rileks je masuk kelas and was busy colouring her owl picture. BTW, my girl coloured her owl picture (the handout from a teacher) with her pencil. STORY! I gave her my old Elle pencil case, and she played with that pencil case for ages now. She keeps all her assorted crayons and colour pencils in that old pencil case. Then for today, I gave her new 2 writing pencils and a Pooh eraser, new stuff, especially for school. I put her new stationery in the Elle pencil case, along with her other stationery lah and plunked it in her Mashimaro bag. Unsurprisingly, my borderline OCD 5-year-old, only uses her new pencil to colour the handout. Why? Because the other colour pencils and crayons are for play, these are the ones Mama said to use for school. *sigh*.

You think giving birth is hard? Try leaving your kid at her kindy for the first time. *sobs* My baby's all grown up.

Jason Mraz Coming to Malaysia March 4th, 2009

I have a problem. I have a problem with people who think that pre-I'm Yours and Lucky, Jason Mraz was a nobody. They think those two were his first foray into the music business. Harlo people, use Uncle Google ya. Jason Mraz has been around for ages!

Not Tony Bennett or Frank Sinatra ages lah, of course, but he's been cranking hits since forever. There's the adorable Geek in the Pink! There's the infectious You and I Both. Singalongable The Remedy. And, and, and, and my favouritest tune from Jason Mraz, Wordplay. Excellent stuff, I tell you, and those are just his well-known stuff, okay.

So, yes, I've been a fan for quite a while. Unsurprisingly, imagine my surprise when I saw this event somewhere in my Facebook land. ZOMG!!! *hyperventilates*. AND, more importantly, his concert is set on a very special date for yours truly.

But I have to say lah, agak mengannoyingkanlah for me, cos I have to watch him with a buncha kids yang bercakap (atau menaip) secara, "sure besh giler maen live..super kewl!!" Sure haku tensen gila dok sebelah kau, budak (kalau aku dok sebelah dia lah -- you never know, Murphy's Law and all).

GAWD, suddenly I feel so blardy old.