Thursday, February 26, 2009

Fishing Déjà vu

We were looking for this Sports/Hobby shop in Bandar Sunway on Monday to get Dear Hubby his thermo guard wetsuit for his 3x/wk swimming exercises. We found it after 20 minutes spent searching thru the fierce rain.

Once I stepped into the shop, I was overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity. I was thinking – these things are so familiar, but what are they called? I couldn’t recall the names of the long poles, the round-thing behind the glass, the red&white globes and those things hanging from the wall. I stood there in awe, watching these things that used to be my companions. It took me quite a while... when suddenly all these vocabularies came flooding in - sinkers, jigheads, hooks, rods, reels, lures, lines, flies, rigs, floats, baits, swivels, Shimano, Penn, Daiwa, fighting belts etc etc.

You see, I used to love fishing. It was when I was in my early twenties studying in the States and lived a few blocks away from the North Pacific Ocean. Yeap, I was deep into fishing. You can call me a hardcore fishing enthusiast or Smelly Mackerel if you like..hahaha... but really, I was like that once. Every week, or whenever there was a vacant in my schedule, I’d go fishing with my buddies. On the pier, took a boat to the barge, or went deep-sea fishing at dawn and at dusk.

The best part of it all was when you got a nibble. It didn’t matter if you got to catch the fish or not. The joy of getting a nibble was enough to boost the spirit. And if you were lucky, the satisfaction of reeling the fish in was unexplainable. I remember catching Mackerels, Seabass, Sand Sharks, Barracudas, Snappers, Gelama (I forgot what Gelama is called in English), Halibuts and Stingrays. But Yellowtails were the real fighters, so I never did win them.

Fishing taught me to be patient - learn how to think positively and wait for the good to come. When you got your rod rigged, held the rod in your hand and began the waiting process. To breathe in the seabeeze, enjoy the sound of small waves, watch the birds in the sky and put a good song in your head really gave you the placidity of mind. And everything else didn’t matter.

Life was that simple.

It’s a fact that sometimes things that we once loved doing were forgotten along the journey of life we've taken. Things that we used to be passionate about and had become essential parts of the life we once lived. But when you stopped doing them altogether, you’d tend to forget about them in perfect total.

Anyway, now, I get my fish stock at the Pasar Tani. No more waiting for the nibblings and the undoing of the line tangles. Easy catch. Just show them the money and the fish sellers will gut and clean the fish for you. All you have to do when you get home is to re-clean them and cook them to your likings. Senang kan?

One thing for sure is - I don’t think I’ll ever fish again. I doubt if I still have the patience I once had. And I’m certain that my children’s screaming would definitely scare the poor fish away!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Weaning Hanis

I’d say that nursing your child is one of the best moments for a mother to experience. I breastfed all my six children and they were only being weaned due to reasons like another pregnancy (Haziq, Hasya & Haifa), performing Haji (Hanna) and weight problem (Husna).

But not my Hanis, who’s now a kindergartner at 3y 4mo. I have no reasons whatsoever to wean her off. Since she’s my youngest, I tried to delay the weaning process. But like all the good things in life, it has to come to an end. I started giving her the talk since December last year. She refused to acknowledge me whenever I started telling her that she was already a big girl and had to say goodbye to breast milk. Sometimes she’d sing out loud every time I began to open my mouth. That girl!

After many attempts to steer her away at night, she finally gave in. She’s been weaned off breastfeeding for six weeks now. Goal achieved, but how I missed the nursing relationship I had with her. The cuddling, the caressing and the warmth of her body against mine. Sigh.

Now she has acquired a new habit at night when I tuck her to sleep. I’ll have to lie down beside her. She‘ll take my hand and put it under her chin. Then she’ll start kissing the back of my hand, make some small bites and pinches. This will go on for a good 10 to 15 minutes before she enters a dreamless slumber. I guess she missed them...

But whatever it is, I’m glad that we’ve had that bonding for more than three years. The special feeling of closeness and coziness that only breastfeeding can offer.

And guess what - I got myself a new bestfriend... the ever so helpful - the Bust Firming cream! LOL!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The 30th Anniversary Reunion


The date was 4th February 1979. That was the day I registered myself as a Form One student in MRSM Kulim. That was 30 years and 6 days ago. To commemorate the day, we’ve decided to do a Reunion - 30th Anniversary Reunion of the never-ending friendship of our 1979 batch - The Killerbatch. I’ve no idea how or why this name was given to us in the first place - us 177 altogether, with the ratio of 1girl:2boys.

The last time I’ve seen most of them was like 25 years ago. That was when we left high school for good after the 1983 SPM. Now after more than 20 years, I was going to meet them again.

When I reached TEP with Hanna (my chaperone!) – there they were ... the girls and boys. My God, I realized how much we’ve changed. And how much friendship was left unattended all these while. My voice suddenly became hoarse for I just couldn’t contain the joy and excitement I felt inside while hugging the girls I knew who now had become beautiful women, and saying hi to the boys who had now become great men.

Although all of us have changed – the wrinkles, the extra ‘tires’, the pot bellies, the receding hairlines, the gray hair and all – they remained as 17 year-olds in my eyes. These are the people I actually grew up with. These are the boys and girls that had given me my five years of learning, exploring, making friends, getting new experiences and satisfying those curiosities.

It was a wonderful feeling I had that night. It felt tremendously good to meet up with old friends and realized that the 30 years of friendship has been brought up to a higher level -

... That these boys and girls are now my Brothers and Sisters...

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Of this, that and Caterpillars

Selamat Hari Wilayah! Since I’m not working in KL, tomorrow I’ll be working. Dear Hubby will have one off day and hopefully he’ll manage to get thru the crowd in one Selangor bank to collect his new checkbook. And I leave the task of getting back the deposit we paid to Hanis’s previous kindergarten tomorrow to him.

And it’s not RM13XX as mentioned earlier in my posting. It’s RM1449!

You bet, we’ll be asking for all the school materials etc etc if they refused to give back at least half of the money.

Last night Dear Hubby and I watched Red Cliff 2 at Sunway Pyramid. We didn’t bring the girls along since we thought they’ve already had their dose of films for now – The Bedtime Stories, Inkheart, and those during the school holidays - Casino Royale, Madagascar 2, Cicakman 2 and some which I can’t recall.

To me, the film was good. It was much better than the first Red Cliff. John Woo did an excellent job with this one. Although we sat at the front row - and had to mendongak all the while - I managed to read the subtitles and watched the whole screen as well. Overall, it was an entertaining film.

How I wish the Gaza people could win the war like the Red Cliff folks did....

Anyway, just look who came back to town! These green things!

They were here a few months ago and now they’re back... Can you imagine these are found in the same plant? My Pokok Susun Kelapa.

What I wonder about them is – do these things fly? My girls, maids and I wondered about this since they appeared out of nowhere. For instance, we took out a whole bunch of them in the morning, but by evening, some more appeared!

Menggelikan, but these wiggly things look kinda cute, don’t you think so?