couch potato

did i just hear ryan say…

BONO???
)))))

be good

hey you,

i’ve been reading the news about the teenager whose life was cut short when she was literally swept away by the current in the canal. she was playing with her three friends after school, probably teasing one another, like all schoolkids do. just another normal day, homework in their bags… and their handphones.

what happened next, i imagine could happen to just about anyone. it could’ve happened even to me, knowing my wandering ways after school, taking a meandering route on the way home just to hang out with my buddies, and finding ourselves at times embroiled in ‘exciting’ adventures.

kids (coz yes, teens are still that, no matter what they insist) – their sense of judgment can be so, for lack of better words, bad, you know? you can warn them all about the dangers of the world, but there would always be SOMETHING you’d miss out on. like, “don’t climb down canals”, for example.

what could’ve gone through their minds at that point in time?

the water doesn’t look deep, so it’s safe.
there are four of us, so it’s safe.
the bag’s just there, it shouldn’t take more than a minute to retrieve it, so it’s safe.
nobody’s looking, so it’s safe.
we gotta get our handphones back or our parents will kill us! (ironically, another force of nature did.)

who knows what their collective thoughts were, whether they discussed the pros and cons or calculated the risk? or did they even stop to think about their actions and consequences at all?

it scares me to think that you, yes YOU, will one day be a teenager too, with the kind of cloudy judgment that accompanies most teenagers, further impaired by influences of your peers. what kinds of trouble will you get yourself into – or get away with? we could arm you with all the don’ts we can think of, but oh, the loopholes in life…

besides, all the don’ts we throw at you will only make them seem more challenging, and therefore irresistible, won’t it?

so, for all the bravery and impulsiveness you display now (ok ok, i KNOW, you’re barely two years old, hmph), i hope you’ll grow up understanding how precious your life is, and to always think think think before you embark on something, for lack of better words, stupid.

because, we can’t be there all the time to shout “NOOO! ANIQ! DON’T!”

(oh, and let’s not get into the whole other issue of fornicating on staircase landings with 13-year-old girls. yes, i’ve been reading The New Paper, i know what them ‘kids’ are up to.)

forever paranoid,
your (drama mama) mother.

cheesy poofs and chocolate salty balls

i love the sun, really i do. my rugged tan is testament to that.

that’s my ‘pretend’ siblings. they’re actually mummy’s cousin’s kids, which, i believe, make them my second cousins. well, second, third, fourth, fifth… there are just so many of them in one family, even their mummy had to pause to think how old they each are and their respective birthdays, wahaha!

help, i’m seeing double! i must be getting old. hand me my bifocals pls…

anyway, as i was saying, i really love the sun.

but i discovered something i love even better…

SNOW!

it makes my fingers freeze and my eyes tear and my nose trickle and i had to wear a whole lotta stuff on me, but it was faaabulous.

mummy, for some reason, couldn’t stop giggling the entire time, especially when she looked at me. why ah?? i look funny is it??

…

hey, don’t ask me where this is. my theory is, it’s probably somewhere in south park, colarado. that’s where kenny, my alter ego, lived, you see.

oh my god! they killed kenny!

where was i? oh yes, there weren’t any skiing on the snowy slopes, but we were each given a little tyre for our little tushies, and downhill we went, with mummy screaming her head off next to daddy and me. wheeeee~!

i’m bugging daddy to bring me again. just mention the word “snow” and i go “NAK!” – well, then again, what else CAN i say in response to that, right?

next time, i’ll make some snowmen. maybe two.

oh my god! they killed kenny – twice!

hyperballad

i was reading BH (again! why? why??) today and as usual, flipped to find dr z’s article on children.

at the end of it, my reaction was – “OH SHIT”.

Sifat Hiperaktif
- Kerap menggerak tangan atau kaki atau menggeliang-geliut di tempat duduk.
- Tidak boleh duduk diam.
- Selalu berlari ke sana ke mari atau suka memanjat.
- Sukar melakukan kerja sekolah secara senyap.
- Asyik bercakap dan bermain dengan riuh.
- Sering bergerak cergas dan lincah seolah-olah sentiasa bertenaga.

and the article goes on to talk about other signs of ADHD in older kids.

with the exception of point 4 (as he has yet to go to school), i gulped at the end of the five other items… coz they are exactly what my mum complains to me about everyday, and what we ourselves get exasperated about.

“anak kau, taaaak boleh duduk diam, satu minit pon!”
“tengok tu, asik nak lari ajer!”
“tak tau penat, budak ni!”
“asik bongkar aje kerje dia!”
“nakalnye anak kau!”

… are just a few of the frequent phrases we hear, or say ourselves. but we hear it being said so often of other kids too, that we just brush it off as a norm. i mean, i thought kids naturally can’t sit still and are full of energy?

i made mum read it and she too agreed that the points mentioned are pretty close for comfort. she said there were a LOT of kids in her school where she used to teach, who were just like that, and worse. disturbing other kids, banging things on the table, running around the classroom, etc.

i hate to think the worst of my child (who does?), but i can imagine him doing all that, actually. then again, it’s always how i imagined little boys to be in school! (this coming from someone who was in an all-girls’ school for her entire primary and secondary school years, so i must say i’m not really the expert at little boys’ behaviour in classrooms.)

for now, i think he is still quite manageable, and pretty good at listening to/following instructions (our ‘barney says’ and ‘animal sounds’ acts are quite the hit with the crowd, hehe). and despite his affinity for wrestling and general rough-housing, he can sit down quietly for a while, with or without me, to ponder over his picture books or perfect a new skill… till something else catches his eyes, that is!

so, err, i don’t know… now i’m worried. thanks, BH! :S

******

on another note (see, talk about short attention span), YET another reason why blake is hawt hawt hawt.

he sang THAT song last night.

(okay, so it was originally ryan adams’, or tim mcgraw’s, who cares, bono sang it too!)

“where do you go when you’re lonely? i’ll follow you when the stars go blue…”

wow, arent the irish such gorgeous people? (this based merely on the corrs sisters and bono, hehe.)

******

i love youtube!!

speaking of birthdays…

following the previous post, i wanted to say, i wouldn’t want too large an age gap between my offsprings, like it is between my brother and i. that’s a five-year gap, practically a whole different generation altogether (we have totally different tastes, interests, inclinations, etc). my mum said they only decided to have me after five years to keep HIM company. (till now i resent that!) of course, it didn’t work, coz we spent most of our growing up years fighting or ignoring each other. it’s taken a long time to build a bridge between that five-year gap, and well… it’s still, a lil rickety.

so yeah. i think a three-year gap is, for me, ideal. not too close, not too far. still, i’m grappling with the rationale for even having a number two. can i handle another child? is one not enough? do i need two kids to justify my existence? (ok ok, i know, i should just have them because it justifies my existence as a human being with the ability and responsibility to procreate and to ensure the longevity of the human race… but am i worthy of contributing to the human population with my offsprings and average genes? arrgh! ok ok, stop it, hana! – sorry, my inner dilemma with eugenics and quasi-existentialism should be categorised under random ramblings.)

i guess the right answer too all this is, we can plan all we want and talk about it till the cows come home, but in the end it’s pretty much… up to The One Above.

as the candles grow shorter…

that’s dadam singing a loud birthday song to his baba and blowing out the candles prematurely on his behalf. and the little kepo naniq next to him just had to follow suit, blowing out the already-blown candles. there’s something about cakes and candles that make children of all ages terribly excited, isn’t there?

till now, i’m still amazed at how my mum could pop my brother out exactly on their first wedding anniversary, right on the dot, perfect timing. i’m sure she didn’t consciously hold him in, or talked him into waiting it out. i believe it’s just a darn good case of coincidence at work.

maybe i should ‘engineer’ our next offspring to come out on our anniversary too. it’s also the Husband’s birthday, so it’d be kinda fair, since aniq’s a decemberian like me.

let’s see… august 30. *counts backwards* oops, shoulda done it last november. we’re five months too late!

oh wait… *counts forward* that’s another seven months down the road. aniq would turn two while i would turn thirty the following month. which means, aniq would be four months short of turning three years (and i, a wrinkly, saggy, energy-sapped thirty-one-year-old coot) if our plan works out beautifully!

*nervous giggle*

erm, i think all this math is making me dizzy.

i’d better go layan aniq. he’s hurling wood blocks all over the room and i think he’s targetting at me. (meanwhile, the Husband’s in the kitchen making fish & chips with some weird stuff in the batter. ouhh!)

the only difference between martyrdom and suicide is press coverage

as expected, liverpool breezed through to the semifinals of the champions league after disposing PSV comfortably 4-0 on aggregate. resting several first team players, liverpool still looks comfortable at home, although they scored after PSV was down with 10 players after dirk marcellis, who was making his championship debut, was shown the red card.

so, its set to be another mouthwatering encounter with chelsea in the semifinals, with milan and manUre in the other semifinal. let’s see who liverpool will meet in athens, greece come may 23.

in an unrelated story, i decided to come back from my semi-retired status, to play for my institution this coming new football season. for those who wants to know, i’d sworn off football last season after my cheapo topper boots started to disintegrate during the quarterfinals. by the way, my team was knocked out soon after. no, it had nothing to do with me, as i was just one of the fringe reserve player, hoping for my 5 minutes of fame, ha!

anyway, i was encouraged by the recent fortunes of my fav team that i decided to get myself a new pair of boots to replace the disintegrated boots. so off i went with the wifey and aniq to the kingdom of sports gear, queensway! my initial budget of $30 could only get the toppers and kelmes. so i settled on a pair of umbros for $50 after discount. for a fringe player like me, i guess, it was more than ok, although i was really eyeing on the ronaldinho tiempo nike boots, which cost a cool $200!

maybe i could dribble like ronaldinho if i got one of them, but i guess i just settle on the umbros for now!

iras a-calling

dear Husband,

please remind your Wife to file her taxes TONIGHT.

otherwise, she will be summoned to court for tax evasion, then how?

and why is your wife procrastinating filing her tax, anyway? it’s not so difficult after all. just click click click. she can do it now in fact, instead of writing this entry. but she won’t! why? why is she so resistant to the word T.A.X??

so maybe next time you should do it for her, like a Good Husband would.

thank you.

ok bye.

Wife

ps: but please remind her only after she’s watched heroes and american idol tonight. save the cheerleader, save the world! but don’t save sanjaya, for goodness’ sake.

before sunrise

 

i woke up early today to try to capture the sunrise and what better place to view the sunrise than at changi beach. so armed with my DSLR and tripod, together with my shutterbug kaki, jeremy, trooped down to changi beach to try and capture the elusive sunrise.

jeremy was more than happy to join me as he had just bought a new toy, a nikon d80

we reached changi beach around 0630hrs, parked our vehicles at the carpark near the SAFFT. it was a very lovely morning, weather was perfect, the beach wasn’t as crowded as we expected. there were the anglers, campers and joggers but the atmosphere there was peaceful, calm as if the world just slowed down for a minute. the perfect soundtrack to capture the essence of the morning would definitely be ‘the wild ones’ by suede. 

try humming the song as you flip through my slideshow here….

3 big fat candles x 2 + 1 male stripper

two of our april 77clanners turn three-OH.
oh oh.
oh no.
no no.

ok lah, i’m sure it’s not SOOO bad.

happy birthday, rin and sha!