I’ve been tagged by Sinta, the lovely bride-to-be who knits and draws, and loves roses and tea, and has a cute little cat called Pascal. I wonder if he’s named after the programming language. Speaking of which, I have vague memories of writing lines of code using that language, way back when I was 16… Something that involved writeln and readln, feeling elated when my mini program worked (I did that?!), feeling exasperated when it wouldn’t work like it should. I was a lousy programmer :P
Oops…where were we again? Ah, yes, the tag.
This tag’s pretty simple — I only have to write about 6 random things that make me happy. Now, if I’m to mention anything involving my 3 passions in life — my kids, travel, and photography — that would be too predictable and way too easy.
Sooo…lemme think…
- Chocolate. The all-around panacea for all sorts of ailments, particularly work-related stress. A wise man once said, “If all else fails, there’s always chocolate.” Or was it just Garfield? :D But seriously speaking, scientific studies show that consumption of chocolate triggers the release of endorphins, reducing the chocolate-eater’s sensitivity to pain, and contributing “to the warm inner glow induced in susceptible chocoholics.” I’m a chocoholic. I am, I am.
- Serendipity. This is defined as “good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries.” Sometimes I’m googling something out but find something else instead, which turns out to be very useful. Sometimes, I stumble upon a site through another site which I found through a friend’s blog, which gives me the solution to a problem that’s long been nagging me. Sometimes, it’s when I’m out shopping for an item that I need…then find it on sale…then get an extra 5% for buying the display item. The latter happened to me when I bought a Kenwood Chef — the British equivalent to the American Kitchen Aid — a few months ago. I found one at Harvey Norman’s in Pavilion. It was heavily discounted because Kenwood won’t be manufacturing that particular model anymore, although spare parts are still available. It was in pristine condition and still covered by Kenwood’s warranty…and I got the extra discount for buying the display item!
- Free stuff. Free gifts. Free meals. Buy one, get another one free. I could very well have been the person who came up with the saying “The best things in life are free”!
- New toys. As in gadgets. Phones, laptops, and other thingamajigs. I looooove toys. I’m such a tech-geek at heart. If I could have my way, I’d spend hours (perhaps days?) browsing the shops in Plaza Low Yat to ogle the latest laptops, hold the latest DSLR’s, try out unlocked cell phones.
- Reconnecting with old friends in the most unexpected of ways…and making new ones along the way. Facebook. Multiply. Stumbling upon blogs of people who turn out to be friends/relatives of friends. Ain’t the internet wonderful? :)
- Weekends and public holidays. No explanation needed on this one! :D
Now, I’m tagging LittleMsFirefly, Sheng and WitsAndNuts. It’s your turn, ladies…
What about you? What are the small things in life that make you happy? Happy weekend, everyone!
One thing that I’ve stopped buying in the past few months is ice cream. I’ve invested in a Kenwood ice cream maker for two reasons:-
- I wanted to have better control over what goes into my children’s ice cream; and
- I thought of making some fat-free, sugar-free ice cream for myself.
This is the second instalment of my mini-series on Malay weddings.This took a long time for me to complete, mostly because of my crazy schedule, partly because the subject involved more detail (and more pics!) than I thought. Looking at the length of final version of the post, perhaps I should have split it into two parts. But what’s done is done, so brace yourself for a long read and, if your internet connection is slow, a long download of all the pics…
To pick up from where the first part left off, once the families of the happy couple have agreed on the wedding date, now comes the sticky part: the hantaran.
The cash in this photo is for the maskahwin, while the banker’s cheque is for the wang hantaran.
Hantaran comes from the root word hantar, which means ‘to send’. It refers to both the dowry (mahr in Arabic) and the gifts that will be exchanged between the bride and groom.
Tags: Malay culture, Malay wedding
My dearest OnlyGirl,
I still remember, like it was yesterday, how I curled up in the backseat of your father’s car as he rushed to the clinic the night you decided to come out from the comfort of my womb. From the increasing intensity of the contractions, I knew you were about to make your grand entrance, so I told your father to hurry. It was almost midnight when we got to the clinic, where your father and I had a brief moment of panic upon finding the main entrance locked. Luckily, we managed to communicate with the nurses who were on call and I made it to the labour room with some time to spare, as you came out wailing lustily at just a little after 2 am.
My first memory of you? Elven ears! As I held you in my arms, counting your fingers and toes, deep in my heart, I worried about the peculiar way that your ears were folded, making them look as though they were the ears of an elf. (Or at least, how they’re portrayed in modern folklore.) You have no idea how relieved I was to see them unfolded into the most normal of human ears some 6 hours later!
But elven ears or not, I still would have loved you just the same. My only regret is that you came out 9 days too early, otherwise, you and I would have shared the same birth date!
L-R (clockwise): As a newborn – Umbrella-wielding toddler – At Brunei’s Kampung Air, Nov 2004 – Impersonating the ‘Duchess of Don’t’ in Phuket, March 2008 – Turning 6 – Chilling at Polonuling, Philippines in 2005 – Pretty in pink, with Pooh
You spoke English as your first tongue. I still remember the perplexed look of your Indonesian yaya (nanny) when you told her “Makcik (Auntie), go away!”. The poor woman had to learn English in order to understand what you wanted or needed. To this day, English rolls out so effortlessly from your lips. And in a most charming American accent at that! (I never really figured out where you got that accent!)
In so short a time, you’ve grown into a spunky, outspoken, spontaneous, and vivacious young lady, one who lavishes people with sincere praise. You don’t realise how happy you made your Lola when you made her that simple card where you wrote “The World’s Greatest Lola” — it still takes up centre stage on her fridge door, where she can see it several times a day. You have no idea how much my heart swells every time you tell me I’m “the best mother in the whole wide world”, even if all I did was make you mashed potatoes that day.
From a very early age, you’ve already shown remarkable leadership qualities. You’d go around helping out your pre-school classmates with their work (you always finished yours quickly!). You’d help your teacher maintain discipline in your class, earning you the title “Little Teacher”.
To this day, you breeze through your classes with minimum effort but maximum results. And still prove to be a leader, having made it as a prefect, despite your age.
I may not be the perfect parent, but after hearing you proclaim that you can’t wait to be a mother like me one day, somehow, I must be doing something right! Little do you know how much you inspire me to be a better mother, my darling girl…
Happy 9th birthday, my beloved daughter! May God bless you and keep you in His care always.
…Odette for the Mac lipstick in ‘Gilty Kiss’ and Mac eyeshadow in ‘Thunder’
…and Janet for the Avon lipstick in ‘Graceful Nude’ and a chunky white quartz bracelet.
Congrats you two for winning my recent Lipstick Giveaway!
Winners were picked by segregating the list by choice of lipstick (Mac and Avon only because, surprisingly, there were no takers at all for the Estee Lauder lipstick in ‘Watermelon Fizz’), numbering the comments, then letting Random.Org pick out the winning numbers for me.
Winners, please email your snail mail address to mimi<at>sleeplessinkl[dot]com.
I had so much fun with this giveaway, I hope I get the chance to do it again one of these days! And, who knows, one day, be able to give away stuff like rc helicopters? ;)
Now, the question is, what do I do with the Estee Lauder lipstick in ‘Watermelon Fizz’???
