30 August 2008
26 August 2008
'Izzy's' lipstick
Actually my lip gloss that this 2-going-on-15-year-old has claimed as her own. 'To make my lips all sparkly.' The plus is that she believes it needs to dry so you get a minute's peace after each application.
Izzy makes a sand angel
Sadly not at a real beach but at one of the fake ones set up in town to amuse shoppers. One day we will make it to a real beach.
25 August 2008
Secret pregnancy post I
That's right - this will be published AFTER I confirm all is well. But in the meantime if I don't get anywhere to bitch about the fact that one million and one smells in the world are driving me crazy I will go MAD. These first three months are a total pain in the ass because you probably have the most to whinge about - in my case feeling puky come 2pm till about 10pm when Izzy is finally asleep and not being able to stand the smells of just about anything except apples in that same time period - but can't. What kind of lousy system is this, I would like to know?
I twigged that I might be pregnant while we were home on holiday I think. Partly because I didn't get my period in June. And partly because I was feeling a bit tired for no reason every day. I mean even more than the usual holiday malaise. y
That's right - this will be published AFTER I confirm all is well. But in the meantime if I don't get anywhere to bitch about the fact that one million and one smells in the world are driving me crazy I will go MAD. These first three months are a total pain in the ass because you probably have the most to whinge about - in my case feeling puky come 2pm till about 10pm when Izzy is finally asleep and not being able to stand the smells of just about anything except apples in that same time period - but can't. What kind of lousy system is this, I would like to know?
I twigged that I might be pregnant while we were home on holiday I think. Partly because I didn't get my period in June. And partly because I was feeling a bit tired for no reason every day. I mean even more than the usual holiday malaise. y
Whoo hoo!
Alex has bought me a cute little dinky laptop - an Acer - which is smaller than a hardback and about as light; the aim in life of which is to enable us to return to the world of online living (and via Linux! Eat that, MS!) while awaiting replacement vouchers for our stolen laptop. As a result of spending GBP200 I am now trying to reconfigure my fingers to typing on a dinky little keyboard. Works pretty well though and I'm pretty glad. Because Izzy is funnier by the day and I know I've already forgotten a number of gems she's come up with in the last few weeks because I haven't noted them down.
This morning, to my horror she parroted me going 'Oh. My. Gaaaawd', about some cartoon I think. And I think she heard me saying it in response to some hoohah or other over Permatang Pauh. And this morning while I was washing up in the bathroom we had quite a giggle over her going 'Yes-lah' - just like an ang moh - in response to my going 'nolah' when she asked me something.
'Yes-lah. Heee heehehehehehe.'
'Nolah...'
'Yes-lah, heeee heeheheheheh.'
'Nolah.'
OK maybe you just had to be there.
Anyway OK so the next big shock was that we got robbed. And although moms I know you're kind of thinking what ghetto are we living in, I hasten to say that although the insurance woman did say burglary was a bit rife down here in Asboland, it seems it is mainly all opportunistic. And not entirely un-coincidental with the fact that it was during the summer holidays. Apparently the kids around here have a bit of a reputation.
Anyway in the long run, let me reassure you we are looking to moving out. And in the short term, we are definitely not leaving any more windows open at night. However small.
Er so back to the robbery. I awoke one morning to see Alex disappearing down the stairs for work as usual. Izzy and I were still sleeping. Then a minute later he dashed back upstairs, as he sometimes does if he's forgotten something. But this time he just blurted out 'Our TV's been stolen!' before disappearing downstairs again.
After a while I had an uneasy feeling he might not be joking so followed him down. And there, wide open, was one the French windows in the living room. And our TV most definitely wasn't there. And so I looked for our laptop. Which had also disappeared. As had Alex's wallet, which he'd been hunting for. As had my wallet. And his watch. And, we realised later, our SLR.
At first we thought they'd somehow managed to open the front windows. But later, as I walked around the house, I noticed the kitchen window - which I'd left ajar so the rubbish didn't stink up the kitchen - was pushed wide open. And when I looked outside I saw the things that had been on the windowsill neatly lined up outside. So they'd come in that way. And Alex checked, and found our garden gate open.
So that was how they got in.
Fortunately we've been using our mobile phones as alarm clocks, so we still had them, otherwise they would no doubt have gone the way of our more expensive stuff. Alex began calling all the banks to cancel his cards and I dialled 999 to get the police over.
Turns out we weren't the only house in the area to have been burgled. Another house round the corner was hit the same way the same night. So it took a while for the police to arrive. And for Alex to acclimatise. Because after an hour of waiting and more phone calls to cancel credit cards he suddenly asked 'how am I going to go to work?' My answer was short and rather testy.
Izzy in the meantime wasn't particularly perturbed, we got her dressed when she got up and she asked where our TV had gone and quite calmly accepted our explanation that some naughty people had taken it without asking. After a while I decided to bundle her off to nursery and she went quite happily after a bottle of milk as usual.
So then the police arrived and the officer was quite nice, took down our statements - or rather Alex's since he was last to bed and first up. Then we sat around waiting for forensics to arrive. After an hour of no show - we'd been warned they were busy at the previous place too - I went to work anyway and Alex said he would call if they came and needed my fingerprints. Turns out they didn't find anything. Scummy AND professional. So that was that.
After that it was all just waiting for replacement credit cards and documentation. I still have to get round to informing the Malaysian High Comm about my missing ID card. The annoying thing is that work has been so busy - because I'm at the end of one attachment - it's been impossible for me to take a day off to go to the Malaysian High Comm to report it. And it's not like the High Comm operates anything other than office hours either.
I'm just hoping the yobbos who took our stuff just chucked it rather than anything else. God only knows what bureacratic nightmare getting a replacement might entail.
Anyway so that was reason number two that I haven't been blogging very much. What follows from that of course is the fact that we had no laptop so I couldn't actually blog.
Alex has bought me a cute little dinky laptop - an Acer - which is smaller than a hardback and about as light; the aim in life of which is to enable us to return to the world of online living (and via Linux! Eat that, MS!) while awaiting replacement vouchers for our stolen laptop. As a result of spending GBP200 I am now trying to reconfigure my fingers to typing on a dinky little keyboard. Works pretty well though and I'm pretty glad. Because Izzy is funnier by the day and I know I've already forgotten a number of gems she's come up with in the last few weeks because I haven't noted them down.
This morning, to my horror she parroted me going 'Oh. My. Gaaaawd', about some cartoon I think. And I think she heard me saying it in response to some hoohah or other over Permatang Pauh. And this morning while I was washing up in the bathroom we had quite a giggle over her going 'Yes-lah' - just like an ang moh - in response to my going 'nolah' when she asked me something.
'Yes-lah. Heee heehehehehehe.'
'Nolah...'
'Yes-lah, heeee heeheheheheh.'
'Nolah.'
OK maybe you just had to be there.
Anyway OK so the next big shock was that we got robbed. And although moms I know you're kind of thinking what ghetto are we living in, I hasten to say that although the insurance woman did say burglary was a bit rife down here in Asboland, it seems it is mainly all opportunistic. And not entirely un-coincidental with the fact that it was during the summer holidays. Apparently the kids around here have a bit of a reputation.
Anyway in the long run, let me reassure you we are looking to moving out. And in the short term, we are definitely not leaving any more windows open at night. However small.
Er so back to the robbery. I awoke one morning to see Alex disappearing down the stairs for work as usual. Izzy and I were still sleeping. Then a minute later he dashed back upstairs, as he sometimes does if he's forgotten something. But this time he just blurted out 'Our TV's been stolen!' before disappearing downstairs again.
After a while I had an uneasy feeling he might not be joking so followed him down. And there, wide open, was one the French windows in the living room. And our TV most definitely wasn't there. And so I looked for our laptop. Which had also disappeared. As had Alex's wallet, which he'd been hunting for. As had my wallet. And his watch. And, we realised later, our SLR.
At first we thought they'd somehow managed to open the front windows. But later, as I walked around the house, I noticed the kitchen window - which I'd left ajar so the rubbish didn't stink up the kitchen - was pushed wide open. And when I looked outside I saw the things that had been on the windowsill neatly lined up outside. So they'd come in that way. And Alex checked, and found our garden gate open.
So that was how they got in.
Fortunately we've been using our mobile phones as alarm clocks, so we still had them, otherwise they would no doubt have gone the way of our more expensive stuff. Alex began calling all the banks to cancel his cards and I dialled 999 to get the police over.
Turns out we weren't the only house in the area to have been burgled. Another house round the corner was hit the same way the same night. So it took a while for the police to arrive. And for Alex to acclimatise. Because after an hour of waiting and more phone calls to cancel credit cards he suddenly asked 'how am I going to go to work?' My answer was short and rather testy.
Izzy in the meantime wasn't particularly perturbed, we got her dressed when she got up and she asked where our TV had gone and quite calmly accepted our explanation that some naughty people had taken it without asking. After a while I decided to bundle her off to nursery and she went quite happily after a bottle of milk as usual.
So then the police arrived and the officer was quite nice, took down our statements - or rather Alex's since he was last to bed and first up. Then we sat around waiting for forensics to arrive. After an hour of no show - we'd been warned they were busy at the previous place too - I went to work anyway and Alex said he would call if they came and needed my fingerprints. Turns out they didn't find anything. Scummy AND professional. So that was that.
After that it was all just waiting for replacement credit cards and documentation. I still have to get round to informing the Malaysian High Comm about my missing ID card. The annoying thing is that work has been so busy - because I'm at the end of one attachment - it's been impossible for me to take a day off to go to the Malaysian High Comm to report it. And it's not like the High Comm operates anything other than office hours either.
I'm just hoping the yobbos who took our stuff just chucked it rather than anything else. God only knows what bureacratic nightmare getting a replacement might entail.
Anyway so that was reason number two that I haven't been blogging very much. What follows from that of course is the fact that we had no laptop so I couldn't actually blog.
19 August 2008
Why I haven't posted for a while
Well there have been several reasons. First we were totally pooped from the three-week or so party that was our holiday home and Soph's wedding. But then after we got back one thing after another happened. First my grandfather passed away. And then our house got burgled. I'm just about recovered enough from the shocks to start being able to think about them I think. And so now I can of course blog.
Kong-kong
I found out about Kong-kong's passing via text messages on my phone on the morning of July 15th. Three stark messages, from my dad, brother and sister, about what had happened. The good thing was that he went swiftly and, I hope, without realising it. And that my mother was with him at the time and happened to have some of her best friends with her at the time, who were a real comfort and support. I still have to think of a way to thank them.
I haven't totally come to terms with Kong-kong going. I flew back for a short few days to say bye, and scatter his ashes in the sea off Port Klang. But I haven't really, really said bye yet because I suppose I haven't totally accepted it yet. I'm still kind of reeling from realising he's gone. When I was home I kept turning corners and expecting to see him at the table in the kitchen; reading his newspaper on the easy chair on the porch; walking out with the joss sticks.
One of my colleagues asked if we were close. And I said I suppose we didn't have long, deep meaningful conversations. But yes. He was there all the time. And that's a kind of closeness I think, even if we never said much to each other.
Some of it was the little things - like once, in A-level college when a friend who happened to be male came over to borrow some books we'd discussed, and no one else was home, I took him up to my room, where the books were, gave them to him, we chatted standing there, and then he left. I realised that Kong-kong was walking around in the background but that wasn't anything unusual. And then after my mom came back she asked if I'd 'brought a boy up to my bedroom'. And I said yes, it was Jack and I lent him some of my books. And she went ah, hmm, yes, well next time let him wait downstairs. And I realised of course that Kong-kong must have been scandalised! Good thing the bedroom door was always open otherwise goodness knows what he must have thought!
Mmm - by which I mean to say I think we knew he cared about us, even though he never said anything.
And I remember lots of his little kindnesses to us when we were children and he was within his traditional Asian grandparent role to pat us, carry us, and give us rides on his motorcyle. The best thing I ever remember him making us were simple wooden guns, which fired rubber bands that you stretched from the sight to the hammer. They were neat.
As in other instances when I've thought about Kong-kong since, I now feel I have to stop. Not just because I'm running out of lunchtime, but because I still haven't totally come to terms with it. And I think I need a little more time to think before I say anything. So, next post: the burglary...
Well there have been several reasons. First we were totally pooped from the three-week or so party that was our holiday home and Soph's wedding. But then after we got back one thing after another happened. First my grandfather passed away. And then our house got burgled. I'm just about recovered enough from the shocks to start being able to think about them I think. And so now I can of course blog.
Kong-kong
I found out about Kong-kong's passing via text messages on my phone on the morning of July 15th. Three stark messages, from my dad, brother and sister, about what had happened. The good thing was that he went swiftly and, I hope, without realising it. And that my mother was with him at the time and happened to have some of her best friends with her at the time, who were a real comfort and support. I still have to think of a way to thank them.
I haven't totally come to terms with Kong-kong going. I flew back for a short few days to say bye, and scatter his ashes in the sea off Port Klang. But I haven't really, really said bye yet because I suppose I haven't totally accepted it yet. I'm still kind of reeling from realising he's gone. When I was home I kept turning corners and expecting to see him at the table in the kitchen; reading his newspaper on the easy chair on the porch; walking out with the joss sticks.
One of my colleagues asked if we were close. And I said I suppose we didn't have long, deep meaningful conversations. But yes. He was there all the time. And that's a kind of closeness I think, even if we never said much to each other.
Some of it was the little things - like once, in A-level college when a friend who happened to be male came over to borrow some books we'd discussed, and no one else was home, I took him up to my room, where the books were, gave them to him, we chatted standing there, and then he left. I realised that Kong-kong was walking around in the background but that wasn't anything unusual. And then after my mom came back she asked if I'd 'brought a boy up to my bedroom'. And I said yes, it was Jack and I lent him some of my books. And she went ah, hmm, yes, well next time let him wait downstairs. And I realised of course that Kong-kong must have been scandalised! Good thing the bedroom door was always open otherwise goodness knows what he must have thought!
Mmm - by which I mean to say I think we knew he cared about us, even though he never said anything.
And I remember lots of his little kindnesses to us when we were children and he was within his traditional Asian grandparent role to pat us, carry us, and give us rides on his motorcyle. The best thing I ever remember him making us were simple wooden guns, which fired rubber bands that you stretched from the sight to the hammer. They were neat.
As in other instances when I've thought about Kong-kong since, I now feel I have to stop. Not just because I'm running out of lunchtime, but because I still haven't totally come to terms with it. And I think I need a little more time to think before I say anything. So, next post: the burglary...
17 August 2008
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