the-missus-blogs.com

My parents have this little antique chest drawer that houses old albums. It was ‘featured’ on Sairah’s photo shoot some time ago

So the other day, out of boredom and to entertain my child who had the sniffles, I dug out the old albums and decided to go through em, just for the heck of it.

One of the album that really stood out was my grandmother’s scrap book. In it laid photos of all her memories and people who I myself could not recognize. I remember growing up as a child she’d be so secretive with this book and would stash it in her drawer. She used to talk of great lengths about the Japanese occupation and how her higher studies had come to an abrupt because of the war and how they survived on very little food. She was most definitely proud of her Jaffna roots and told me stories of the days back in Sri Lanka. They had huge lands that they had to eventually give away because they had made their life in Malaysia. I always told her I would go back and claim the land! I think I totally should one day :)  Until her old age, she would always remind us how my sister made holes to whatever school certs she had using a punch hole and it’s funny how I still remember this detail till today.

That’s a photo of my dad’s father, I never got to meet my both grandfathers because they passed away before I was even born. If you look close enough he actually does have colored eyes. One of the things that my grandmother and dad told my mom to check on me when I was born were my eyes – to see if they were colored. Alas, nope Blast this dark brown eyes!

A very young photo of my grandmother, still think of her very much till today.

And this was my grandfather at 50 if I’m not mistaken, he left this world at a young age of perhaps 52. My father’s only brother also left this world at 40 after he collapsed at a restaurant due to a heart-attack. The look on my grandmother’s face as she wailed knowing her son had gone before her would be something I will never forget. I was only 12 when that happened.

So, that’s my great-grandparents? I love how attentive she was when I showed her these photos. I remember even once Sairah was literally ‘talking’ and making conversation to the two photos of my grandparents that are mounted on the wall.

Now that’s Bobby! The greatest alsation dog there ever was. He helped save my grandmother’s life when a buglar came into their home. Bobby pounced on him and bit him until he bled and ran away. And to think Bobby was actually really afraid of thunder. Dad said I used to sit on his back and go to the playground when I was a kid. Hey, like my very own horse, except it was a heroic dog who saved my grandmother’s life. He died of depression a week after my grandmother and father gave him away to my aunt when they moved into our current house that didn’t have enough compound for him to run.

Then I managed to dig up some photos of my parents.  This was during their registration days. From what I hear from her sister, she used to be very much in ‘demand’ and you can see why. From lawyers to well to do chinese businessmen, she eventually chose my father for his chubby happy go lucky ways (back then of course now we just see him as a grumpy old but wise man, hehe), and always said she loved how the car would smell of his cologne when he picked her up for dates. He wasn’t very rich but eventually climbed his way up the corporate ladder so you can tell why I chose love over everything else. 

Hippy cool parents during their ‘clubbing’ days.

This was taken in PD when my dad bought our holiday apartment. We have so much memories of going to PD for school holiday. But as we grew older, we got sick of it and he sold it off eventually. Kids can be pretty ungrateful sometimes.

Then of course, their lives progressed and 12 months into their marriage I was born. YUP, I was made on the very first month of their marriage, LOL. I used to think it was a shot-gun wedding but the months pretty much add up, married in December, born in October You do the maths!

Look like I was a pretty tall baby unlike Sairah :p

YUP a BIG dot on my forehead so the world will know I’m an Indian baby

Attempting to play the organ, I eventually learned the piano instead. And drums, melodian and trumpet in school. But can’t play any of it now to save my life.

My FIRST birthday -figured it was the first from the cake My mom cooked all the meals by herself and I told her I would rather cut my finger than slave in the kitchen for our guest! Women thesedays

And here’s the teddy I was mentioning in my previous post! TEDDY!

And another favorite doll of mine

I think you can tell by now that Sairah gets her camera-loving ways from me. I remember seeing photos of the huband when he was younger but he’s always not even looking at the camera with either a duh or lost face on so……:lol:

Unlike me, my mom was still slim even after having me. She blames BabySis for the weight gain coz everything changed after that brat’s arrival. Yea everything changed, she said I screamed and wailed that ‘mommy’s got a new baby’ when she first arrived and would poke her on her face when she would sleep.

Happy times before the brat arrived, I kid!

MOM, come watch TV with me!

Playing one of my master-piece, heh.

I SAID, come-watch-tv-with-me-NOW!

Just being an attention seeker, LOL

My third birthday with my mom’s mother. Again, what’s up with the numbered cake??? Must have been in ‘fashion’ then.

Now this is my cousin Roshan!! He used to be sooooooo fair and cute, had eyes big as John Arbuckle. We used to call him that alot. Used to be a total worm, never sitting still so it’s weird to see him so mellow now that he’s older. Yea, naughty boys do turn out to be calmer, eventually

The cousins, hahaha, Babysis not being lady like at all!

Playing snake and ladders with my grandmother. Besides playing board games to entertain us, she used to feed me with her bare hands until I was errr 10-11 and would massage my back until I was in Uni. She was that awesome and I can see my mom doing all that for Sairah in the future.

That’s me with one of my fav Uncle. He’s actually Chinese who converted to Sikhism so he could marry my aunt. So yea you can imagine what’s it like being a Chinese guy with a SINGH to his name

Another one with my mom’s mom. Oh there are no photos of my mom’s dad coz I couldnt find any. He died when she was only 7 years old!

BabySis with my dad’s mom. She lived with us. So I got that back massage almost everyday

Now this photo is just too precious for words. Yea I look retarded in it but see what I’m holding on? It’s SMARTIES and the packaging was certainly different back then. My mom said we’d sometimes walk to the bus station or supermarket  and I’ll quietly follow her so long I have my smarties in my hand. And until today I still do have a soft spot for smarties – best chocolates EVER!

Just a random shot of Sairah’s amazing long eyelashes incase you’re already bored of all these old photos.

Like they say, a picture paints a thousand words and more. You can really can tell what sort of childhood you’ve had just by looking at old photos. Are you generally happy in it? Are you smiling in it?

Have you gone through your old photo albums? If you’ve not, I suggest you do, it will give you a whole different opinion of life and make you appreciate it more.

If it evokes a happy feeling with a gush of memories and details, then yes my friend, you are blessed with a good life and we only hope to pass that on to our kids.

When Sairah’s bigger I only hope she would have that same feeling I had as I looked at these photo albums coz that’s when I’ll know we actually did something right for her childhood. In any event, she’ll also have this blog to remind her of her younger days

My mom pulled out this little dress that I wore as a child on Sunday. I”m suprised she had kept it with her till today. This dress was in such good condition that it makes you wonder the quality of fabric back then.

Imagine going forward if all mothers kept clothes their kids used to wear and bring them out for their grandkids, imagine how much moolah one can save. But alas,  how many clothes can actually last that long?

There I was thinking, as I stepped into college, turned 21, started dating, got married, gave birth -  some of my clothes I wore as a kid sat quietly and perfectly in the cupboard and stood the test of time!!

And look how pristine and clean it still looks. Only goes to show I wasn’t one of those kids running around messing their frock

Sairah in a vintage dress!  Can you tell this was in the 80s? Or does this dress look ‘current’?

OMG I am wearing a VINTAGE. I can smell mommy on this!

Oh mom, I’m wearing a ‘new’ dress aren’t I? I can tell!

Nah, my sweetest smile

You over there, get me a glass of water. Modelling aint easy

Tsk tsk, back at ya. Mod is cool.

Oh just showing how a diamond looks like….

And this is how gangsta I can get….WORD (for the record no one taught her how to pose like that)

Little does baby girl know that nobody takes a gangsta in a dress too seriously

The back details…

Oooo I feel so pretttyyy

Now what’s the point of her wearing that dress without a photo of her mom wearing it once upon a time right? Right.

So here it is! Excuse the bugs bunny teeth – I was called bunny as a kid for a reason Thank GOD for braces!

I was close to 3 years when I had that dress on. My little fattie is only 17 months and that dress is already tight on her.

So that’s how mommy looked like as a kid!

Twas a fun day rummaging through old photos that day! I have more to share so stay tuned

A few weeks ago, we stepped out on the lift from Gardens near Pasti’s Restaurant, only to hear a loud thud sound coming from the escalator below.  We ran  to look see because a small crowd had gathered by now.

To my shock and horror, I saw a fragile old man in his 70s, falling down backwards repeatly on the escalator that was heading up from the car park. He kept falling down backwards while his daughter, a woman in her late 30s, attempted to pick him up. Naturally she also fell with him but managed to pull herself together. But the man’s fall was worse for he continued falling and falling every time the escalator moved upwards.

By then, you can imagine the amount of cuts and bruises he had all over him. Blood was pouring all over. His body was in this awkward U shape by now. The position was so awkward that I was almost convinced he broke his back!!

The whole ordeal probably took about 2-3 minutes, but to me, it felt like it was forever! With every fall he made, his wife who had already reached the top of the escalator kept crying and calling out to him. A staff managed to stop the escalator for a bit, but all of a sudden, the escalator starting moving up again and thud thud the man continued falling down, still in that U position. And just his luck, no one else seemed to be coming up from the car park, otherwise I”m sure some one would have helped break his fall. Then again, I”m not sure if these people heard the commotion and diverted to take the lift. Diners who were dining in Pastis by now had already gone back to their seats to resume their dinner (I hope you fuckers had a bad case of diarrhea that night!)

I will never forget that thud sound. Infact, I had problems sleeping that two days just thinking and saying to myself that could have happened to ANYONE of us because it reminded me of the time we were in KLCC heading down on the escalator when it just stopped half way. I was carrying Sairah at that point of time while the hubby was with the stroller, we were just lucky we were quick enough to grip on to the rail HARD enough. I shudder at the thought of falling downwards with my child.

A lot of people stood there, looking at the helpless old man and as I tried to look out for my husband who by now was missing, I instinctively knew he had already run down to help. True enough, as I peered over, a staff managed to stop the escalator and I saw my husband together with 2 staff and another man help move this old injured uncle. My husband told me that someone had mentioned to not move the man and wait for the ambulance instead but they were not gonna take that chance incase the escalator starts moving upwards again.

Naturally by now, more kepohs were hovering on that floor that over looked the fiasco that was taking place a level below. The old man was now moved and laid down at the side as the staff assisted in checking his wounds and to bandage him up. I could still see my husband sitting next to him. I could see blood coming from the man’s head, his chest, his legs. I could feel his pain. It definitely was unfair to see such a thing happen to such a fragile old man.

All of a sudden out of the blue more and more people started using the escalator (though I’m convinced people just used the lift when they heard the commotion), some slowly glanced at the old man, some didn’t even bother, one bitch face gave him this disgusted look like as though he asked for it. Bitch was probably to set on shopping that nothing else mattered and would stop her. It was such a devastating thing to watch. Some were being busybodies asking what happened before proceeding with a ooh like that ah, aiyaaa before giving a half baked smile and walking off. I even heard one bastard tell his mom that there’s nothing to worry about because there’s a ‘doctor’ downstairs before storming off (my BIL only came much later when he arrived Gardens to help check the uncle’s condition so no, there was no doctor to assist at the point you ugly fat bastard). We quickly called for an ambulance but we were informed that a staff had already done so (oh and I should add ambulance took a while to arrive sighting ‘traffic’ but that’s a different issue altogether).

It’s times like this that pisses me off about Malaysia. That we’re fast becoming a country that don’t seem to care. We are truly a bunch of busybodies and cowards who just like to watch and not help. Where is the compassion? I would have personally run down with my husband if I wasn’t carrying Sairah and handling the stroller. Why do people prefer to stand and just watch and then walk away like as though nothing happened? And on top of that smirk and give a half baked laugh like as though he deserved it?! You think it’s all good so long it doesn’t happen to you? You think it all happened just because he’s ‘old and fragile’? Well bitch, I have news for you, shit happens and it happens everyday. Unexpectedly.  Anyone can fall off an escalator, anyone can get injured, anyone can almost die (true story I should story you all about this one day!)

It’s always the, oh as long that’s not me or my family members it’s fine, dafuq do I care about others?

That’s how things work here these days. Moral education at school is a total waste of time because people don’t bother to practice good deeds in real life.

But among these cowards, lies heros. Most of the time they do not fit into the cookie cut of a hero but these are the people, random strangers who are wiling to help and do it in an instant in time of need. Credits to them!

We eventually found out that he was down from Perak for a check up, has diabetic and is partially blind. And now to top it off, I do wonder how long that wound will take to heal. In any case, I hope he’s doing much better now. My husband said he regrets not passing on his company card so she could call and tell him how he’s doing. Coz we do think of him every time we go to Gardens.

Anyway, after a while, when the ambulance arrived, my hubby and BIL came up towards me and I could see blood stains on my husband’s shirt. It didn’t bother him that he had blood stains on his shirt, because he knew he did good in helping him out.

It was then that I realized that through the crowd of cowards who did nothing, there lied a person who was willing to help in a blink, regardless of race and what other bullshit, and I am proud that person was my husband.

He may be a nerd in nature (and yes on some days he annoys the CRAP out of me), but that day (and just that day :p) he was an unexpected hero in my eyes. I think the world deserves more people like that.

Do you remember your first doll? I don’t. But I do remember growing up with a few barbies and soft toys – my first barbie was gifted by an aunt. She had very tanned skin with black long hair. A far cry from the blondes we had at that point. Years on, we had collected a few more thanks to our parents and sis and I used to play hair-salon where we’d literally cut off the barbie’s hair and give them a nice bob hair style. We’d even include a hair wash, lol.

Till today I wonder how come I don’t own my very own hair salon :D Coz I already had an inkling that bob hair style would be in fashion

Besides that, we also had a lot of soft toys. There was this one particular bear that my dad’s best friend gave me as a toddler. I kept it until I was about 18 years I think, hanging on to it so I could pass it to my child. One day I came home only to be told by my parents that some relatives from Sri Lanka had come to visit with their small child. They thought it would be nice for the child to have that bear (it’s as big as a 3 year old). It was their first time meeting them and they gave that kid my BEAR!!I was definitely most pissed by that action. So here I am wondering today how’s that bear doing in Sri Lanka, whether it truly did make it back to my grandparents land safely or whether that kid dumped it somewhere in KL before moving back coz I reckon that bear could not possible fit any suit case.

Story of my bear’s life Let me see if I can find a photo of me with that bear and put it here later.

Sairah has a few soft toys with no particular favorite. So when I took her to MV to choose either a bag or doll, she rejected most dolls that I had shoved in front of her face.

Then the other visit it finally dawn upon me that she was rejecting dolls that were hard-ish in nature. By that I mean more sturdy, life like dolls. She was a lil afraid of the doll that looks like a baby. Actually I  found the almost life-like baby creepy too. She didn’t want any Barbie dolls either. At least my baby is quite realistic – nobody looks plasticky and perfect like Barbie pre-surgery aight?

It was then I saw this soft rag doll, picked it up and gave it to her. It was literally love at first sight!!

Her dad picked it up, paid at the counter and before the sales lady could even put it in a plastic bag, my baby leaned forward and grabbed it.

I love you SO much and will never let you out of my life!

She has since picked up the word Doll and now because this doll is slightly bigger than the rest, she calls it BIG DOLL. My clever girl can already put words together! Why soon she’ll be forming sentences including leave me alone mommy you’re so annoying!

But it’s her sheer happiness everytime she sees her doll that gets to me. She proceeds to say doolllllll, big doll and give her a BIG hug. She knows how to love something that probably doesnt love her back (coz it’s a doll, duh!)

Imma proud owner of a DOLL.

So now the doll goes everywhere we go. It’s like having another child around, except this one doesn’t require any nappy changing (thank god), food and most importantly doesnt kick up a fuss. Hurrah.

Even when I’m eating my favorite yoghurt, I still am showing love to my doll.

Yea Moo Cow yoghurt – still her fav! Wonder if  Big Doll would approve

And moms too Her look on her face is priceless. MORE please.

Sometimes I wonder, are women just more loving because they grew up already knowing how to love our dolls?

Either way, having a dolly around, certainly makes her happy. It would make any baby girl happy!

SO I am officially not into the whole let’s dine out thing on V-day anymore. Hubby joins my exact sentiments (for obvious wallet-friendly reasons!). I think being a mom/dad and turning 30 makes one have alot of sense :D  But to all you girls, I think V-day should be celebrated nicely at least just that one time so that gives you some bragging rights and a once-upon-a-time story, ahem (hypocritical much? Heh).

This year I found myself questioning the purpose of it and why the heck do people celebrate love and go that extra mile on one stinky day and throw lots of money out for no reason. That came this year for me.

I’m slow, I know.

Hubby didn’t get you anything nice? He didn’t take you out someplace expensive? Throwing a bitch fit now are we?

Nah.

For starters, the traffic was absolutely horrible that Tuesday. It was as though every freaking being left the office at the same time just so they can go home, get ready to smell look nice and take their partners out. I’m sure every one  of em was hoping to get some at the end of it, LOL.

If you know what I mean

But yea the traffic was enough to loathe V-day

And I would think you have gotten some after spending a few hundreds on your pretentious meal. No? Coz let me tell you, I kept an eye for some of the V-day promo and was shocked to see how some restaurants were absolutely milking this event by charging up to RM100+++ PER person!! I honestly don’t remember V-day being this expensive a few years ago. Inflation, dicks willing to pay, call it whatever you want. Even normal restaurants where you could get a meal for under 50 for two had doubled their prices up. Oh why would I pay more just for V-day when I can go the next day and eat the SAME type of food for HALF the price?

So yea,  the number one reason why I would rather not go to nice dinner and blow that amount of money is because we  know that money can be used for something better now.  I wouldn’t want my husband to blow unnecessary money on  overly expensive standardized food (dude would still get laid anyway and he knows it, heh) when I know it could all go to better use.

The diaper and milk tin ain’t gonna walk from the store to our apartment by it’s own ya know.

Parenthood – makes you think with your brains instead of succumbing to peer pressure and the ‘norm’ :) 

So we opted for something simple. For a change he said he will cook. Almost regretted it coz he took forever to make me a sandwich. Not just any sandwich of course. Bitch had to make a chicken garlic mayo with grilled cheese on top of panini bread and go all Masterchef on me. And top it off with oven-baked wedges.

Like so. So luxurious eh?

 I would have been happy with grilled cheese sandwich coz I’m fat like that.

But it was good, so damn good, despite my tummy rumbling and me banging on the kitchen door urging and pleading with him to cook faster. I appreciate his effort of taking time off from work so he could go buy the ingredients that day because I”m a horrible wife who doesn’t stock up food in frigde.

I also made him pick up these chocolate chewy bluberry cuppies from Tearoom in Bangsar. And my god is this bloody good or what!!!

Naturally shared it with my baby girl and told myself, this is wayyy better than sitting in some fancy restaurant looking at all the overly love sick fools whispering sweet nothings into their ears acting all shy and stuff.  Most of them probably break off by the time next V-day comes about.

And funnily enough, my friend Dhash said she tried ordering Dominos and as told delivery would take a while due to unexpected surge in orders.

Oh yea, immediately I knew these orders were probably from people who were once-upon-a-time-a-new-couple-who-are-now-old-comfortable-couples who, like us, opted for something simple and light on the pocket this year, because we know better now

Parenthood, changing the way you think……

As a friend nicely put it, new couples go out to impress on V-day, old ones stay at home to save money.

True Story!

And now I end this post with a photo of my baby having a luxurious bubble bath on V-day after her cupcake

Can’t do this in a overly priced restaurant now can we?

Yea I thought so.

Now bye.

Oh and please don’t take my post too seriously. Just making a mickey out of things :D  Who knows, next year I might go all bitch fitty with the hubby for attempting to make me another sandwich. Just saying ya know coz  I’m a woman There my disclaimer right there.

Either way, hope y’all had a good V-day coz it’s really a good day for the other half to just pamper you, whether he cooks or take you out