Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Back to School

Danial has gone back to his school in Johore. Yasmin, Harris, and Hannah are in school and Najla is in kinder garden. We sent Danial to the bus station last Sunday after having him home for the whole week during school holidays. I took off from work that whole week also to do some packing. We managed to pack many boxes of books and some have been sent to the other house. We are still moving little stuff which can be transported in our car at nights. The big ones will be moved this Saturday. I have sorted out lots of toys and children clothes and I managed to get rid tonnes of them. Some were given to the nearby nurseries, and others were sent to an orphanage. My house is in such a shamble and I hope no one will stop by unannounced.

Yasmin spent the first half of the school holidays with her friend and our friend Husni in KL. She had a great time iceskating, an activity which I have never ventured in my life. Although busy, we managed to sqeeze in 2 movies, Alice in Wonderland(AiW) and Percy Jackson & the lightning thief (PJLT) on Saturday 13 March and Wednesday 17 March. Yasmin watched AiW with us but she missed the second movie because she was already in KL by then.

Poor Harris reluctantly attended a 2 day UPSR clinic which was organized by NST and held at Shah Putra on Saturday March 20 and Sunday March 21. He said it was boring and he was a little upset when he got home that Saturday. But then again everything is boring to him except for playing with computer games! I asked him to attend the session on Sunday but we would get him at lunch time. Surprisingly he agreed. I guess children are different. Danial and Yasmin didn't have any problem at all attending seminars or motivational camps like that. We just have to wait and see how Hannah and Najla will react when their times come.

That Saturday morning, while Yasmin, Hannah, and Najla attended their art class, and Harris was at the clinic, Danial and I went shopping for a ricecooker and a vacuum cleaner. My old ricecooker always gave me trouble lately so I decided to get a new one so I could make "nasi minyak" on Sunday, on Danial's special request. When I mentioned our shopping trip to Yasmin she said, "So you had a mother and son bonding time huh?".

We are so involved with this moving bit that we have been neglecting our agenda to build our new home. I have made copies of the newly approved plan but haven't found time to contact the potential contractors. I think I will settle one thing at a time. Come April, I will have more time to deal with it.

Mini Reunion @ TC

Thursday 12 March was our friend As' birthday so she asked me if we could get together with a few friends somewhere in town. We named a few possible places but in the end we both agreed on going to Telok Chempedak beach on Friday after work. She contacted Musab and Yani while I contacted Niki, Madhi, Amba, Lynnette, Tipah, Azie, Gie, Syamala, Ahmad, Joyce, Intan, and Gamini. They were all sounded excited to join but in the end only 5 of us actually showed up. Syamala had to give tuition, Joyce was too busy, Amba was tired, Intan was planning on going back to her "kampung" and Gie is no longer in Kuantan! Ahmad and Tipah said they were coming but only God knows what happened. I guess Niki was caught in the jam on the road as well as at home with her kids. Somehow, Azie, Lynette, and Gamini never replied until today. I wonder what went wrong. Oh well, maybe next time. We had a grand time anyway except that As had to leave early because her son had a terrible pain in his ear. Here are some shots at the beach.

Artist

As soon as Yasmin comes back from school she would lock herself in her room and does one of the three of her favorite things : reading novels, writing in her diary, or drawing cartoon characters. Sometimes I get a little upset especially when I am tired and would like for her to help out in the kitchen or do something around the house. But, when I see some of her drawings, like the one shown here, I feel that my frustration dissipates completely. She is definitely more talented than I am. Lately we had a discussion on what she would like to do in life. She said she loves mathematics and science but she would like to further her studies in art so that she can draw, paint, and write when she graduates.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

3 Categories

Last week I heard a talk on IKIM radio station. The speaker said that there are 3 categories of people that we must see or visit as often as we can:

  1. those who are sick/ill so that we value our health
  2. those who are in prisons so that we appreciate our freedom, and
  3. those who are dead in order for us to be grateful that we are still alive.