of not admitting and giving a break...

Since wifey is now working from home, I have been taking the car and driving to for the past week or so. Today’s drive to work was like any other day except for the fact that it was punctuated with a shouting match* right about halfway through my drive.

I was at the traffic lights crossing in front of what used to be the Eastern Garment factory and was stuck in the left turn lane due to the jam in front. Then this bas kilang came from the outer lane and tried to squeeze into the same lane (which is only able to fit one car’s width) and tried to overtake me. At that time I knew that if he doesn’t stop, he will definitely come into contact with my car and honked at him. But he still moved on. As it is a long bus and has a bigger turning radius, the side of the bus came into contact with my car’s rear view mirror. They guy kept moving and it scratched the rear view mirror all the way thru. And the guy kept moving as if nothing had happened. I quickly over take him and blocked his path and shouted at him ‘Sudah kena la!’. He looked surprised and said to stop somewhere down the road. But as he moved, he almost caused an accident with another taxi, which in turn caused the taxi guy to drive up to him and scolded him. Taxi guy seem a bit more unforgiving as he stopped in the middle of the road and scolded this bus driver right in there and blocked everyone. The scolding went on for ~2-3 minutes (which is pretty long considering that they are blocking rush hour traffic).
After the scolding, the bus driver drove to somewhere to the front and parked at the side of the road to wait for me. I approached him
Me: Sekarang macam mana? (although I was pretty incensed, I started off with a normal tone to see what his response is)
Driver: La.. tak kena la (this really started it all. I hate it when people do not admit and try to lie their way out)
Me: Apa tak kena? You tak nampak kah ini? *points to the spot when my car came into contact*
Driver: Ini you kena lama punya la. (salt+wound)
Me: Apa lama punya? Ini you lah yang kena! Mai saya tunjuk mana bas you kena. *brought him to his bus and showed the long scratch on his bus caused by the contact*
At this point the guy knew that there is no way of getting out of it.

Me: you sudah tau itu corner kecik you nak masuk lagi. Kita hon sama you, you pun masuk lagi. Sekarang you nak cakap tak kena?
Driver: OK la, sekarang macam ini. Saya betul betul minta maaf la. Memang salah saya. Saya suday lambat nak hantar. (His bus was loaded with factory workers, from the uniform I guess must be from the Sanyo company nearby)
Me: Ooh you ingat buat salah boleh senang senang minta maaf ka. You ingat you lambat, I pun lambat jugak. so buat salah langgar orang senang senang boleh mintak maaf ka.
Driver: ok la, lain kali I tak buat lagi.
Me: mana ada lain kali. You ingat nak buat lagi ka. Lain kali i nampak ini PBH4040 i sudah tau la auta punya driver.
Driver: Sorry la encik.

Anyway, the guy keep apologizing and I kept shouting at him. But in my heart I knew that there is nothing much I can do. The scratch on the rear view mirror was minor and can be polished away (although I think it will leave a permanent mark)

Eventually,
Me: Nie yang saya bengang. You sudah tau yang you tak boleh masuk you masuk jugak. You sudah salah you tak nak mengaku. Nie yang buat saya bengang. Bukan pasal benda lain.
Driver: sorry la encik, lain kali tak buat lagi la
I dunno why, but the more he apologized, the more i get pissed off.
Me: OK la, saya pun tak nak apa apa dari you. You cari makan, i pun cari makan. Kita sama sama orang susah. Tak usah buat susah lagi. Sebab itu saja saya lepas. Bukan pasal you buat salah, tak mengaku. You lain kali nak buat apa, saya pun tak boleh control. Tapi ingat, ini hari kena kecik saja, kalau you terus macam ini, silap hari, you yang kena lagi teruk.

I know, I know. Some of you might say why not let him have it, why let him go, why dun ask him to pay, if I do this then they will continue with their ways. I don’t have a perfect answer for that.

I guess sometimes when you screwed up, you wish that someone would give you a break. probably this is my break for him. I have offered a neutral start to discuss initially (but he did not reciprocate by not admitting) and I have said my piece on why I was pissed and why I let him go. I dunno if he is faking it, but he like kinda like he is having one of those down and out days. I feel that hopefully he will correct himself (if not all, maybe just a bit)

Ironically, today is the day I thought that I’d wanna show off to Anwar (an officemate) the new digital camera I bought. Turns out to be pretty handy.
Photos are still in the camera, so probably you will have to wait until later tonight for me to load the photos as the card reader is at my home pc.

the bas kilang driver got the first scolding from the taxi driver...








see the black line under the letters KER? that's my gift for him this morning.







normal snapshot...








*Actually it was more of me shouting at the other guy.

of warm fuzzy feeling and booties...

We are getting nearer to D-day now and I guess momentum is starting to build up. Anyway, we washed some of girl girl’s clothes last weekend. I know it sounds silly but somehow, hanging out her clothes and seeing them makes us keel kind of warm and fuzzy. I guess it’s one of those things that makes us feel and get a grasp of the physical being of her.
Here are some shots that I could not resist taking.





























btw, got notice any differance in photo quality or not?

Updated: more pictures*.

more booties...

we did the colors today...

* I know, I know, what's so interesting about a bunch of photos of baby's clothes, but they are to us, something more than that.

of a question and a long answer...

I was asked a rather interesting question by geekchic the other day. The question was “Why do you want to be a parent?”. That got me thinking. I guess it’s one of those obvious but potentially profound things that you ask. In any case, in the spirit of “There’s no stupid questions, only curious idiots neurotic engineers”, I will attempt to answer the question.

I guess one might ask back “Why not?”. Isn’t that the nature of things. Grow up, go to school, get a job, buy a house, get married, have a kid or two, grow old and become a prune and eventually expire? Probably that is the easy answer but we all know that it is just avoiding the question. Besides if that is the nature of things, then we might as well be a production line running on generic sequence of events.

The grandiose and utopian part of me would like to think that I am bringing another life into this world and shaping her to the person that she will be. I have always loved the idea of mentoring or you could say teaching a person to bring out their potential. I guess mentoring might not be the right word, but it’s the idea of teaching and sharing knowledge to someone. So, having a kid will be like having a captive audience that hopefully will listen to me. But in all honesty, even now, I just relish the idea of introducing the world to girl girl. There is some special quality about this thing called ‘knowledge’ the more you share it the better you feel because you know that you have in a way made another person’s life better.
Then there is also this thought that with wifey’s good looks and my ….er…… brain (perhaps?), it would have been a big waste if we do not pass down out good genes. But we all know that who am I fooling anyway. Girl girl will be her own person and I bet that the will definitely be the improved version of her parents.

Or perhaps it’s a form of insurance for our old age. I sometimes worry that when wifey and I become old wrinkled prunes, we would have no one to clean up after us. Or take care of us in case we break a hip or something. Or update wifey with the latest celebrity gossips when her eyesight gets too bad that she’s not able to read the gossips megazines. So probably it’s a good idea to invest in some insurance. (note to girl girl: no pressure la. Just make sure we get our yearly overseas trip and daily meals at 5 stras restaurants and we will not complain)

I do also have to admit that I am selfish, what I have, I want more. I am talking specifically about this quality that every human being has: Love. The thing about love is that it come form a bottomless vessel. You can never get enough of it and you can never give out enough that you run out. There may be times or people who have difficulty giving or accepting, but it is to my believe that everyone is capable. So, what is this with me and this selfish thing. For one, I realize that there is a special quality about love. The more you give to others the more it will grow in you. It can never run out. Sort of like the perfect investment. The more you give the more, the more it will grew in you and as a bonus, to more you give it to someone, the more you will receive. So I guess in a way, being a parent allow me to sort of indulge myself in this ‘selfish’ habit of growing myself and my daughter into more loving persons.

Or probably, I get bored easily and need entertainment. So probably a wriggly pink little human being will give me hours of entertainment. But on the downside though, with joy there comes work. So probably I will need to think of ways to make diaper changing and night feeds a fun event. (Mental cue: Tom Sawyer and his white fence trick)

But after all is said and done, I guess the most important to me is that It’s not even about the question of why does one wants to be a parent. It is about What have I done right that God have chosen me (and wifey) to be parents. We must have done something right in out life that God has chose to delive a life through us. I guess there is no greater blessing or privilege than to be handed something so precious and to be entrusted take care of for the rest of your life. Interestingly enough, in a lull during a meeting today, my mind wondered why they call the act of giving birth as delivering a baby. There’s no UPS nor DHL nor poslaju guy to hand anything to you. So why deliver. Then it occurred to me that it is actually the act of something (in this case a little human being) being given and entrusted to you. And then it hit me. this is some heavy stuff. Big responsibility, if I can say so. But whatever God has given to you, He will also provide the necessary add ons, upgrades and accessories to you. In this case, patience by the truckloads, strenght and preseverance by the bundles, good health by the bushels dan lain lain lagi.

of letter and full term...

Dear Girl Girl,
Today marks the day that you are considered full term. This means that you are now fully developed with all the necessary facilities to enable you to survive in the world outside. You are now a complete little person! Yay!
You are also now sitting very low on mommy’s tummy which is an indication of your pending arrival. Mommy and I have noticed that you tend to sleep on the right side on her tummy. I guess you have found a nice sweet spot there, but guess what, weather you know it or not, you already have already placed yourself in a sweet spot in my heart. I think you also like to sleep on your side and there were a few times that I think I can feel your leg through mommy’s tummy. As always you will give me a treat by moving around to assure me that you are there and is responding to me. And yes, it is the greatest feeling in the world. Sometimes when I felt you move and told mommy, she mentioned that she did not feel it. Probably because of the area when I felt it or probably it was just a little movement. Selfishly, I felt some kind of an unexplainable joy. Not because I was selfish and don’t want mommy to feel you moving, but I think it’s like realizing the fact that that was a moment that is purely just between you and me. I guess probably what people call it as a father and daughter bonding moment.
By now, we have got almost everything that we think will be needed. I am strangely still very calm and so is mommy. I guess that is good so that we do not create any unnecessary stress on ourselves and also to you. Needless to say, we do have our concerns and worries about taking care of you and bringing you up, but I do believe that we will be providing you with the best that we can give (plus a whole bundle of love).
Anyway, here’s a snapshot of the world around us these days.
Johor and in most of the southern part of our country was hit with flood since December last month. Lots of people (in terms of hundred thousands) have been evacuated, but the situation is beginning to get back to normal. The experts say that the floods were due to the changing weather pattern and most probably will be a yearly occurance. I guess we are living in times of change. I do hope and pray that the changes are for the positive and you are now living in an environment that is better that what we are seeing today.
The hot issue these few days is on the case where 2 bloggers who were being sued for allegedly defaming certain people in one of the major newspaper. People are making a big fuss out of that because some people claim that this is an act to stifle the bloggers and other’s freedom of speech. Then there are other camps that claims that they have the right to take legal action when people write things that put them in a bad light. I guess these things will never change and probably will happen in your times too. Probably you will meet people like that in your times too, but I do hope that in whatever you do, be humble and treat everyone with respect. Given that some folks might seem that they do not deserve respect, that doesn’t mean that we still can treat them honorably. Never be nasty to others just because they are nasty.
The popular TV show that people are watching now is a reality show called American Idol. It’s something like a talent search show where people who aspires to be singers will audition in front of 3 judges and get picked. Then they will move into the final where people will vote for them through phone. I think people like to watch the show because the judges (Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell) sometimes gives very nasty remarks and comments to the people who went to the auditions. It doesn’t help too that some of the people who went are really bad (borderline delusional). I do wonder if they will still have that show when you are reading this.
I guess this is the world that we are living in now. Flaws and all.

Anyway, I think the next letter to you will be when you have arrived to the outside world. Until then I will be waiting for you with open arms and open heart.

Oh yeah, if I am still around, do come over and give me a hug. I’m a sucker for that you know.

of 37th week and being calm...

According to lilypie.com today marks the 37th week of our pregnancy and this means that girl girl is already considered to be in full term. This means that she should be arriving any time soon now. somehow I have not felt the panic or kan cheong yet. All I felt was just a sense of anxiousness. Something probably like an oblivious state of calm. Probably that is good because that will keep me sane, but somehow I do wish that I feel a bit of nervousness or worries because that will keep me on my toes. But let’s not wish for something that I might not be able to handle lest I really get what I wish for.
Wifey is already starting to work from home and will be staying at home until girl girl comes. That means no more free rides to work for me. Have to drive to work myself. And that feeling that I mentioned last time, the one about missing wifey, guess what? It’s back. I miss her even though I know that she’s at home sleeping soundly. I guess it’s probably more to the concern I felt as girl girl is now quite low (in wifey’s tummy) now and that makes wifey’s movement a bit more difficult.
I was chatting with Zowiy the other day and was mentioning about building a PC (since she had done it recently). She mentioned that I should go down to KL (specifically Low Yat) to get all the components as it is very much cheaper there. I told her that I can’t because I am pretty much grounded due to obvious reasons. But cheeky zowiy responded that It is wifey who is grounded and I am actually free. Suggest that I do a weekend trip when wifey goes to confinement. It’ll be only one day and wifey won’t even miss me. (Zowiy, I think you are gonna kena from wifey!). I guess I was kinda surprised (with my own response) when I told her that it would be like ‘main kayu tiga*’. But the actual fact is that I find it hard to be away from wifey these days. Zowiy thinks that I am ‘jiwang’ but I think it’s more of a concern about wifey and girl girl after the delivery.
But I think enough of these soppy stuff. I’d better get to my project and write the full term letter to girl girl.

*main kayu tiga is a malay term for fooling around.

of pink banners and a list...

One of the blogs that I reads quite frequently is this one from geekchic. Dunno why I keep going back to read her blog (probably subconscious hypnosis from the pink banner) but I do. Anyway, I read one of her post too fast today and saw this list. Being a curious person, I put a comment in her comment section and then only I realize item #8. So here it is.

If you leave a comment on this post:
1. I’ll respond with something random about you
2. I’ll challenge you to try something
3. I’ll pick a color that I associate with you
4. I’ll tell you something I like about you
5. I’ll tell you my first/clearest memory of you
6. I’ll tell you what animal you remind me of
7. I’ll ask you something I’ve always wanted to ask you
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on yours

of 36weeks and 6 days, and hand me downs...

We are now 36 weeks and 6 days into the pregnancy and wifey told me yesterday that her boss have allowed her to start to work from home. Looks like we are on our final stretch now. Wifey did a round of rearranging all of girl girl’s clothing items last weekend and I was surprised that we actually have quite a sizeable wardrobe for girl girl. Most of them are hand me downs from my SIL and also some of my ex-work colleagues. So, thanks to those who have been generous with the hand me downs and I think you know who you are. Probably you can recognize some of yours in the photo below.

of the dog that ate a fish that swam somewhere and superheroines...

This is a really backdated post and have been sitting in here for quite a while.

It all started on the way back from dinner at my inlaw's place. As i was driving i notice a slight hint of what might have been a cross between the smell rotten fish and doggie poo. it was only a small and faint odor and i asked wifey is whe smell it too just to check if it was my mind that was playing tricks with me. Wifey said that she did not smell anything. but the odor continue to linger and when we stopped at the traffic lights turned my sandals over and see if i had stepped on something nasty. Nope. Wifey also didn't see anything on hers too. So I sort of dismissed it off as probably it was indeed my mind that was playing tricks on me.
At the next traffic light, i noticed that there was a big truck a few cars ahead of us. Suspecting that the odor might have came from it, i wind down the car window, stuck my head out and took a sniff (in retrospect, it was really the dumbest move). .....And that's when it hit me. It was one of the worst stench that i have ever smelt. It's as if some fish have been swimmnig in a pool filled with dead rotting fish and then get eaten by some tapeworm infested dog and got pooped out at the business end.
Yes, it was that bad. Really bad.
No no , it is not that bad. It's worse.

Wifey also got hit by the stench. I think it must have came from probably rotting fish in the truck.

Then, a few days latter while relating back to the incident, wifey commented that how come i have this super sensitive sense of smell. I have never been known to have very good senses especially my hearing and sense of smell.
Then wifey concluded through her mind boggling logic that I must either be pregnant or have stolen stolen her heightened senses associated with pregnancy. Well, i do believe that women have heightened senses when they are pregnant and I also do believe that sometimes the husband exhibit similar symptoms, but this is really odd. I guess probably this is just one of those mind playing tricks thingy.

Now this got me thinking about something. If superheroes or in this case superheroines have super senses, then it will be really nasty for them if they get pregnant. I mean the sensory overload will be so overwhelming.

of emails and roller coaster...

I checked my emails just now and got this update from babycenter:

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Babies born between 37 and 42 weeks are considered full-term; a baby born before 37 weeks is pre-term and after 42 weeks is post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position by now, which is optimal for a smooth delivery, but if she isn't head-down next week, your provider may suggest scheduling an external cephalic version, which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to turn your baby manually, by pushing her from the outside of your belly.

Then the thought dawned on me. Oh my God. We are now heading for the home stretch.
I guess it's like that feeling you get when you are in the roller coaster cab all strapped up and waiting for the operator to turn on the switch to start the ride. Brain tells you that you will most probably come out OK and they will be in capable hands, but heart is beating so fast in anticipation of the events to come.
I know for a fact that we have done the best that we can do and we have made sure that we cover as much angle as we can but i guess it is only human to have that lingering worrisome feeling. I geuss having a little bit od worrying feeling is good, coz it keeps you on your toes. But having said that, i should keep it in check so that it does not overwhelm me which will be detrimental.
Wifey is still pretty cool and collected, which really helps. Only occasionally mention minor worries.
In any case there is no getting out of this ride now, so the all I have to do now it to try to enjoy the ride and do what i can along the way.

of satelite speakers and Harvey Norman...

I had a very good experience with a retail store I bought something from recently.

A few weeks ago I bought these speakers from a home furnishing outlet at the new shopping mall (Queensbay). As reported in one of the earlier posts, one of the satellite speakers decided to go kaput on me a few weeks ago.
Anyway, I took the speakers to the store last weekend for repair and was promptly served by the sales assistants there. Long story short, they took the speakers, filled in a form and told me that they will call me for an update within 14 days. At that point in time, I thought that I will have to be prepared to wait for at least a month. Maybe my experiences with repairing stuff have not been good, but I tend to take a pessimistic view on these things. But to my surprise, I got a call from the store yesterday and was informed that I can collect the speakers today and they gave me the name of the person to talk to. Now this is what I call service. Needless to say, I am impressed. Their response were fast, but most importantly they identify themselves when they speak to you and give directions on who to look for and stuff. That in a way gave me the feeling that they are in charge rather than some other shop (I will probably blog about it later) that put the blame of the repairman etc. So, I guess a pat on the back is due to the guys at Harvey Norman.

of elbow grease and stroller...

This is a sort of like a backdated post.
I could not wait any longer and told wifey that I want to assemble the stroller that we got for girl girl. So last week I finally got to open up the box and see what’s inside.
We actually bought the stroller during our last trip to KL and have left it in the box since then. Wifey said to not to open it and assemble it as it is still early and she didn’t want it to get dusty.
Anyway, I found that they really put a lot of attention into packing the stroller as everything were secured nicely and also padded.
Assembly is actually easier that I thought. After removing the stroller from the box and cut all the cable ties, all that I need to do is fix the wheels. The front wheels needs a bit of elbow greese to coax it in but I think that is actually good because once fixed it is really secure. The back wheels are much easier as all I need to do is fix them to the axel and then fix it onto the chassis.

This box have been taunting me to ask me to open it up for weeks....

contents in the box...

After assembling and looking at it, wifey and I realize that it is quite big and wonder if it is another case of us biting off more than we can chew, but I guess it’s better to one with some elbow room for girl girl than to have one that cannot fit.

tadaaaaaa......

So now, instead of sitting there in the box in the second room, it is now wrapped in plastic bags in the second room. At least now I have the comfort of knowing that the stroller is fine and have no defects on it.

of fingernails and 2 coins...

As mentioned in the previous post, we got a lesson in parenting last night. We were sitting and waiting for our turn at Dr Tan’s clinic when this couple and their son came in and sat next to us. The mother was updating to the father the daily stuff with their son. Although, I don’t like to listen to other’s conversation I can help getting intrigued by how kiasu competitive some people are. This mother was telling how their son can memorize the alphabet and how he can count etc. That’s pretty normal but then came the crap part. She start telling her husband about this and that other kid in the nursery that cannot memorize the alphabet cannot count to 10 and this and that. 'This and this la cannot count backward.' Then came the complaining that this and that teacher is not good and how their son is so much smarter. I think it is good that she affirm her son’s intelligence and capability but I think talking down on others and complaining is really not necessary. That was lesson one.
Then came lesson 2. She start to tell the husband about the teacher saying that their son is not doing enough of his writing exercise. Then she started to ridicule her son, saying things like ‘you are so lazy and teacher say you never do your writing exercise’. Father is not helping too, in fact, he also chipped in. That got the son very irritated and he shouted and threw a tantrum. That happened for a few minutes and when the mother saw that he is not stopping, she tried to coax him by saying that she will give him money for every word he write in the exercise book and showed her money to him and promising to give him. I am not sure if that worked but the boy kept shouting saying he wants money. Probably he have been thru this before and expects money for doing exercises. I guess the mom got the message and eventually threatened (I think threaten is a mild word here) the boy and say that if he did not stop, she will take a stick and drag him out in front of everyone and beat him. She said id loudly within everyone’s earshot I might add. Then the boy quiet down. I am not trying to be a moral judge here but I truly think that ridiculing a kid is really not right, if in jest and everyone knows it, then probably ok, but in this case the boy looks really distressed. Then I also realized that probably we have grown more and more into a materialistic society because we were preconditioned to receive monetary rewards for perceived good actions to the point that it became an expectation.
And that’s not all, after the boy have quiet down a bit, and probably the mom felt bored, she started to nitpick on the boy again saying that he does not want to cut his nails. I think the boy must have some phobia about cutting nails (understandably as for a small kid and having something so sharp so near to your fingers can be a bit scary), and he started his screaming process again. Mom is not helping the situation, in fact she is aggravating it by ridiculing the boy saying he is dirty and such. Then came the bribing that if he let her cut his nails she will give him one coin. The boy bargained for 2 coins but mommy stuck to her guns. That got the boy riled up and he threw a bigger tantrum. Seeing that, the mom ignored him and chatted with the father trying to push aside the topic. But the boy have already had his sights on getting 2 coins and keep to his tantrum. Seeing that mom and dad is ignoring him, he threw himself at his mom and beat her (seriously!). and I might add that dad was as animated as a dead wood when he saw this. Mom ignored the boy but he kept to that until mom gave up and offered him 2 coins and told him to be quiet. When the boy have settled down, mom again felt bored and pulled the boy over to her. She took out a nail clipper which scared the boy, but she promised him that she will not cut his finger nails and that she just want to have a look at his fingers. But she went ahead and cut anyway. The boy cried but the mom keep saying that ’no I wont cut one I am just liking at it only’ and goes on cutting. I think either she has a very dumb boy for not knowing that his fingernails are being cut or she is really dumb to think that she can lie to her son and thought that he wouldn’t know it.
I am not saying that I am mr goodie two shoes and that I will not do the same thing, in fact I might be very tempted to do some of the thing that the mother do. I am not trying to be a moral compass, but I seriously don think that I will raise girl girl up like that. For one I don’t think lying (especially to a small kid) and ridiculing kids is something that is right. I think that kids do look up to their parents as a template of who /what they will be in the future and if you do not want your kids to be some one that you might not like then don’t be one yourself.

Anyway, as a footnote, I remember what Isaac’s mom told me once. ‘You can have all your grand visions of how/what /when/why about raising your kid, but when the kid really comes, all hell will break loose and you will not remember any of your grand visions.’ I guess she is right and I think only time can tell. All I can do now is to hope for the best.

of still being shy and talking to the hand...

We went for our normal appointment with Dr Tan again last nite. And as usual girl girl is still shy. Anyway, other than that, everything is normal according to Dr Tan and I guess that’s the important thing. One thing though, we really got to see her hands and fingers very clearly in the scan last nite. She raised up her palm for us to see. I guess she must be thinking that if we can’t see her face, at least we can see her hand. Or probably she was giving us attitude and gesturing us to ‘talk to the hand’.
Speaking of attitude I got a major lesson on how some people nurture certain attitudes in their kids, courtesy of the parents that sat beside us in the waiting area last night (Next post).

of 31 days and 4 fingers...

We are exactly 31 days to go from today. So technically it’ll be 1 month to go. I know that the aunties aunties out there will say ‘no lah, will be early for first one lah’ or ‘girl one will be early one lah’ and this and that, but we don’t care. It’s 31 days and even though it’s can be any time from now, I would still like to think of it as 1 month. OK, let me list out what thousands of years of Chinese aunties wisdom in predicting when the time will come.
There is one theory that says that if you can put your four fingers flat on the area below the sternum (basically it’s the lower part of the area between the mommy’s breasts – a bit hard to explain). Anyway, if you can put the 4 fingers flat, then it’s about time that baby will come out.
Then there is the one about feet swelling. There are 2 versions. One states that if the feet swells up and then recedes 3 times, then it’s time for baby to make an appearance. Then there is another version that simply states that if the feet swells, then it’s time. But wifey and I have a question, wifey’s left foot swells up much more than her right foot. Does that means that girl girl will only be playing peek-a-boo with us?
Then there’s one I heard from the ladies at work that if the tummy is very low, then it’s time, but I think that’s subjective, how low do you consider low?

In any case, I guess what matters more is that when girl girl decides to pop out, that it will be a safe and trouble free journey.

of aquarium and laksa...

this is another backdated post. suppose to post it last night.

If I can give a theme to last weekend, i'd probably called it 'biting off more than I can chew'.
Take 1:
Friday nite. It was about 9 plus pm and I was feeling a bit hungry. Wifey suggested that I go out to enjoy myself with some sup kambing. Sounded like a good idea, so I headed down to kassim mustafa. When I got there, I thought i'll just ta pau instead since I hate enjoying myself without wifey around and i'll miss her (actually I parked illegally and wasn't sure if i'll block someone, but it sounded sweeter that way). Anyway, remembering that the sup kambing comes in relatively small bowls, I went ahead and ordered two bungkus. But when I got them, I thought, 'shoot! If I managed to finish them, my tummy will be as big as (if not bigger than) wifey's!'. The packets are HUGE!!!
Have a look at it, this is only one packet after I poured it out.

Not wanting to waste and always up for a challenge, I went for the second pack after I finished the first. What a mistake it was. As if there is a switch somewhere, the once yummy taste of the sup kambing turned yucky and I had to give up. Needless to say, my tummy felt like an aquarium.

Take 2:
After what seemed like an eternity of not having laksa, wifey and I went out for laksa at the stall behind penang plaza for lunch today. At rm2 for a tiny bowl, it's not cheap. But when it's that good, the brain will have a temporary amnesia of one's wallet. Anyway, me being a slow learner, ordered a second bowl before I barely finished the first (one on top of the fried popiah and cucor udang). Needless to say, I was again a walking aquarium this afternoon. I've only manage to get an 'after' shot.

Sorry, I'm a bit kancheong and lost memory of other tasks when faced with good food. So, no photos of the yummy laksa.

of whirrrr and walls with ears...

this is a backdated post. Supposed to publish yesterday afternoon, but cannot for reasons to be made clear in the following post.

I'm not sure if it's the season but the electronic stuff around me are breaking down one by one.
It started with the hi-fi unit. After approximately three years of problem free viewing, the center speaker suddenly went beserk. The only sound that came out of it is loud static noise. Cannot even control the volume. Then next came the speaker in the third room. Left speaker refused to make even a peep.
Next came the desktop pc. Hardisk just went whirrrr and won't stop. Not even for me to shutdown, can't even access the hardisk.
Then came the laptop. Started on friday at the office when it can't power up. IT changed the motherboard and it seem that the problem was solved. 'Seem' being the operative word here.
I was trying to catch up with some work just now and what do you know, it won't power up!
The count now is four - hi-fi, speaker, desktop and laptop. Let's hope it sticks at four.
So, here am I blogging from my pda. I guess it must have been something to with that thing called year end thing. You know the one that start with 'bo' and rhyme with chorus. Can't say that word coz, as we all know the walls have ears. Once they got wind that there's a little bit of $$ coming in, the appliances will conspire to make me lose what extra ¢¢ I have. So you know and I know and let's hush.
Anyway, I guess I'll have to live without the hi-fi, speaker and desktop for a while for now coz as we all know, girl girl ha the preceedence over all.

of letter and a month to arrival...

Dear girl girl,
It is now about a month to the date of your arrival and I just thought that I’ll write you this letter to tell you about the world that your mommy and I are living in. My hope for you is that by the time you read this letter, you are already well in your way to discovering about the world and the people around you. As parents, we hope that you are happy, healthy and are surrounded by people you love.

For me, it has been an exciting few months of having you around us (although you are in mommy’s tummy all the time). We get excited about shopping for you and by now we think we have pretty much got every thing in place. Instead of looking at shoes when we go out shopping, mommy and I found that we hang around more often at the baby section. We are still as puzzeled as before on what is the right size of clothing for you. We still wait in anticipation for the next doctor’s appointment so that we can see you in the ultra sound scan and our hearts still skipped a beat when we see you. I still get engulfed with awe and amazement whenever I feel you moving when I lay my hand on mommy’s tummy.
It has been a great journey and you have grown really big in mommy’s tummy. Mommy is a real trooper and don’t complain much about carrying you (at least not that audible to me).
Mommy and I are living in a small apartment in the south east part Penang and our plan at this moment is to raise you up here. We have been living here since we got married and this is our first house that we stayed in.
Mahmah and Yehyeh (daddy’s mommy and daddy) live just opposite of our apartment block while Kungkung and Pohpoh lived somewhere at the northern part of Penang. They are also pretty excited and are waiting in anticipation of your arrival. Also, when you arrive, you will have 2 cousin brothers and one cousin sister. Isn’t that exciting?

We have just entered the year 2007 and everybody is excited because it’s going to be the Visit Malaysia Year. (probably they know that you will be coming and are throwing this huge year long celebration). The prime minister of the country is Abdullah Badawi and the Chief Minister in Penang is Koh Tsu Koon (check out his specs).
Newspaper cost RM1.20 per copy (The Star) and the headline news in recent days are about the big flood in the southern part of the country (mainly Johor). They have been getting heavy rain since the end of last year and around 60 thousand people were evacuated from their homes. On the international front, everybody were still fussing about the US war in the middle east. A guy named Sadam Hussien got executed just a few days before the new year and people are still riled about it. In sports, a spunky girl named Nicole David (I am proud to report that she’s a Penangite) is the world champ in Squash. Our foolball team sucks (as usual), and the youngsters these days are more interested in those European league football.

Petrol cost around rm1.92 per liter and this topic always got people in the country mad as it seem to be always increasing. Char koey teow cost around rm2.70 per plate although it is reported that in some places (lorong selamat) are charging people RM5.50 per plate. A loaf of gardenia bread cost rm1.90 and you can easily get a meal at the hawker for around rm3-4 (depends on what you eat la).

I have lost touch with what the teenagers like these days, but I guess their hang out places are shopping malls like Gurney Plaza or Prangin mall. There is also a recently opened mall near our place called Queensbay mall. But mommy and I prefer to go to youth park or botanical gardens to spend our time (mostly Saturday mornings). The music youngsters listen to these days are like Justin Timberlake, Black eye peas and stuff like that. I’m sorry as I am not very updated on that section. Mommy and I listen mostly to the light and easy channel which are mostly old and slow songs. For TV, Mommy likes to watch oprah and mostly the shows in Hallmark channel while I have been hooked on spongebob squarepants and discovery channel. Another thing that is really ‘in’ now are the reality shows. The popular ones these days are the ‘amazing race’ and ‘fear factor’. I wonder if those shows will still be around by the time you read this.

A daily snapshot of mommy and my life is something like this.
Wake up at ~7.10am (for me) / ~6.30am (for mommy) and get ourselves ready.
Usually we’ll leave the house at around 7.30am and mommy will drive me to the office. Normal journey (plus the jams and all that will be ~20 minutes).
After dropping me off, mommy will drive back, buys her breakfast and go home to have it. Then after that it’s off to work for her. Her work starts at 9.00am and her office is only 10 mins drive away. So she can relax and take her time at home.
My work is mainly running projects in the factory while mommy takes care of the accounts in the place where she works.
My day at the office ends at around 5.30pm and mommy’s around 6.00pm. So normally I’ll hang around the office until mommy comes to the office to pick me. Mommy’s boss have been nice and ever since he knows of her pregnancy, he have been flexible with mommy’s time. So for the past couple of months mommy have been picking me up at 5.30pm instead.
Normally after work we will either have dinner at mahmah and yehyeh’s place on Mondays and Tuesdays. Other days, Mommy and I will have our dinner outside.

On weekends, normally mommy and I will either hang around the house. If the weather is good, we will go to the youth park or botanical gardens on Saturday mornings. On Saturday evenings, we will go back to kungkung and pohpoh’s place for dinner.
And of course church on Sunday mornings.

Well basically that’s our dull routine and we think it will definitely be more exciting once you arrived.

I will be writing more letters for you probably when you are born and as you grow, so I hope you will somehow learn a bit about the world that mommy and I are living when you are small.

Oh yeah, after you finished reading this and if I am still around, do come over and give me a hug because I am pretty sure that no matter who, how or what you grow up into, I will always have a special place for your hugs.

of projects and letters...

(delete me later)
Readers, I think i wanna embark a project for my girl girl. What i intend to do is to write letters to her as she grows up. My thoughts are that the main content of the letters will be to evvironment we live in today so that when girl girl grows up and reads it, she'll have some insight of the life and times of her mommy and daddy. I have kinda lost touch of what the teenagers like and do these days but i think by the time girl girl reads this, probably she'll be in that period of her life. So if any of you have better insight of what the teens these days are doing, you can correct me or give comments so that i cam make my letters to girl girl more descriptive. thanks.

of worries and morons...

I just remembered a conversation I had with wifey in the car some time ago.
Wifey: Are you worried or scared about being a parent?
Me: Dunno la. Not really la. Will be exciting i guess. Why?
Wifey: I scared that there are so many things we might not know.
Me: Aiya, actually I also scared a bit also, but I think we should be able to manage it one la.
Wifey: Hmmmm
Me: You see there are people who are morons* and they still manage to raise up their kids. We might not be smart but we are not morons right? So I think we can manage la.
Wifey: ok la

Good save or not? Anyway, as a normal and neurotic human being, I too am worried, but i think i'll manage la. But just to be safe, i'll talk politely to my parenta and my in laws for the time being :P


* actually hor, we are not trying to say we are any better than anyone, but wifey and I have always think that people who let their kids cross the road without holding their hands, or people who let their kid ride in the front seat of their car then had an emergency brake causing the poor kid to be flung to the windscreen and it on the head till the screen cracked, or parents of people who share their traumatic childhood experiences in Oprah’s show –deserved to be called morons

of club membership and blouse lifting...

Wifey and I just came to the realization that being pregnant is kind of like getting a membership to an exclusive club. I am not sure if the mommies and daddies have experienced this when they were pregnant but we (actually to wifey only, but I just tumpang glamour) seem to have more strangers (not the wiredo stranger type but just the normal stranger) either smiling to us or talking to us. We live in an apartment and sometimes when we were in the lifts people who will not even give two hoots will sudden seem to be friendlier. Out of no where people will be asking things like ‘when will you deliver?’ or just gave us a friendly smiles. Now that girl girl has been growing bigger and wifey’s tummy is really round and protruding in your face out, we get even more people who are asking abt this and that. Even little kids seem to be oogling staring at wifey’s tummy. I guess it must be some kind of fringe benefit of being a parent to be.

One funny incident that wifey related to me is that there was one incident where my BIL explained to his 2 year old son that there is a baby in wifey’s tummy. The little fella then went up to wifey and lift up her blouse to see for himself!

of biscuits and jelutong...

Recently, I found out about this place that makes really really yummy ‘old wife biscuit’ or better known as ‘lo poh bing’. If you still dunno what I am talking about, just scroll down and look at the photo. It all started when an office colleague bought some during his lunch break and shared some with us. I dunno which was the bigger mistake, him sharing or us eating the biscuits. Coz, I am hooked toe moment I took a bite into it.
Anyway, the thing I like about the biscuits are that the crust are soft (but not soggy) and it breaks easily in your mouth when you bite into it (but not powdery/flaky). And then the filling is very tasty without being too sweet and most importantly not too sticky. But quality do comes with a price, the biscuits costs rm1 each. We bought 4 for ourselves and 4 for wifey’s parents last Saturday bet ended up keeping all 8 to ourselves. Then we went and bought some more last Monday.

If you are interested to check them out, the shop is located near the newly built shop houses near the Jelutong expressway. If you are traveling from town heading to bayan baru on the JE, then you shouls be able to see the shop houses right before you reach the old jelutong garbage disposal area. There is a small junction that turns to the left from the highway. Since most of the shophouses are still vacant, you should have no problem finding the shop. Oh ya, the shop’s name is Best Bites.

of scans and wifey's feet...

Went for our ususl appointment with Dr Tan today. Still not able to see girl girl's face on the scan. Even with wifey turned to her side. I guess girl girl must be shy and only wanna show us her cute face when she is good and ready.
On a side note wifey's feet (especially her left foot) are getting really poofy. even her Crocs sandals are getting too tight for her...

of loctormayat and heritage trail...

This is what i did on the first day of 2007. The guy from the loctormayat blog organized a photo outing among the members and friends of photomalaysia.com. We (about 20+ of us) went shooting photos along the Penang Heritage trail. Here's my outcome from that trip.

All photos shot with my rw6828 pda phone. OK ah?

p/s: my feet sexy or not? ;)

of fish and chips...

This entry is posted at the request from wifey. She wants me to write about this eating place that in our opinion is a bit too expensive. So here goes. This weekend was a long weekend for us and we as usual, we go jalan jalan a bit at the shopping mall. Thinking that the new Queensbay mall might be packed we decided to have a walk see at. Wifey wanted to catch a movie as we anticipate that once girl girl is hear, we will not be getting a chance to do so for some time. But when we got to Gurney, it seems that it has not lost any of it’s attraction to the new queensbay mall. The place is still as crowded as ever. We didn’t get to catch the movie that we wanted to watch as all the tickets were sold out. (the ones left are the front rows). So we thought we should go to have a nice dinner instead.
We went to this franchise restaurant place at the ground floor. Wifey ordered their mushroom soup and fish n chips. And I ordered their beef pie (and soup). We also noticed that the price of the stuff there have increased since the last time we went there. Even the ‘freshly squeezed orange juice’ had had a price increase and worse still is that is not freshly squeezed anymore, rather, freshly stored in a bottle and poured out. I think rm11+ for a glass of orange from the bottle is a bit too much. I am not that particular about food but I think their beef pie is not as good as it used to be. According to wifey, the fish and chips were awful. Wifey is very particular about her fishes and her comment on the fish n chips are :the fish is cold (actually: the batter outside were crunchy and hot, but the fish inside is cold). But the ultimate sin is that the fries were soggy! I could have swore that that dinner will go down the history books as the only time when wifey did not finish her fries. And don’t get me started on how much wifey likes fries, sometimes I even think that she likes fries better than me. I am just lucky that that Ronald McD guy dress weird (not to mention the hair and exceptionally white foundation that he use), else wifey would have ran off with that freaky guy many many years ago.
Anyway, back to this awful dinner experience, the hatchet came down when we got the bill. All that for RM92++. Definitely not worth it. I guess that will be the last time in a long while before we set foot at that Dome restaurant again. Personally, food is one thing, but if they expect their customer to pay they would have to up their service. Let’s see, one waiter was chatting over the phone and one was flipping thru the newspaper on the counter which probably explain why I thought that comparatively it is easier to get the attention of a primate in botanical garden than to get my bill.
Anyway, hope it does not deter you from going as I think they do serve good food (esp the mushroom soup) albeit the service and price.