What do you do?

January 20, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

What do you do? The question threw me. A fellow condo-resident asked me that while we were in the lift. And, I babbled ‘this and that.’ What? Seriously. Not quick on my feet or wit. Body and brain inertia. Big sigh. What do I do? The question made me ponder. Why couldn’t I articulate what […]

Independence

January 13, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

It’s been just over four weeks. I haven’t fallen off the wagon, yet. Pat on the back. Well done. This is the longest I’ve managed to voluntarily, not begrudgingly, not eat as much desserts like I always have, all my life. Seriously, I have been on a protein trail since my last medical screening. Even […]

Another new year – 2025

January 6, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

It’s the new year. Good health. Much love and happiness. Many successes. Glad tidings, and all that. The new year comes around like clockwork, and yet it kind of springs up on us. Even after a long 365 days – 52 weeks, 12 months. Fireworks. Parties. Blaring horns. Midnight traffic jams. The new year has […]

Nostalgic Penang

December 30, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

Penang evokes nostalgia, memories and emotions. I remember travelling with my parents and siblings from Alor Setar on single lane roads. Past kampung houses, paddy fields, Sungai Petani, Pantai Merdeka, and arriving at the ferry terminal in Butterworth. The excitement and sometimes discomfort of waiting in long queues under the sun to get on the […]

Earlier Christmas

December 23, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

Christmas came early this year. As early as Deepavali, which was on the 31st of October. Yes, that early. Christmas decorations were put up in parallel, whilst Deepavali was still being celebrated, and far from over. I kid you not. Shopping malls like ‘Avenue K’ could not and did not wait for Deepavali to be […]

Fair premium

December 16, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

After the three strikes, I decided to invest a bit more time and attention to my medical insurance policy. My new policy, as expected, is wordy. And, this time with annexures. Yes, annexures. Like an annex, an additional or supplementary document. With more words to read and digest. I made sense of most of it. […]

Six months on

November 18, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

Tomorrow is six months since my mum passed. I’m not keeping count of the days or months, but the 19th is difficult to forget. It’s etched in my heart and head, as is my mum. I see my mum every day, everywhere. I have a photo wall, photos on my side table and more photos […]

Keeping in touch

November 11, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

I met up with seven school mates a fortnight ago. One of them lives in England, and it was her ‘Balik Kampung,’ the reason for the get together. Our collective home town/kampung is Alor Setar, Kedah. We went to the same primary and secondary school until form five – St. Nicholas Convent (as did sisters’ […]

London

October 28, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

Sister number 3 and I did a two-night stay in London. The idea was to spend ‘we’ time together. Leisurely do or don’t do stuff. Maybe, revisit places that we visited when I first came to London over 40 years ago. That long ago, yes. Hmm. This was after a day trip to sister number […]

Still in England

October 21, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

I didn’t know what a trolleybus was. A tram yes, but not a trolleybus. The Trolleybus Weekend was brother-in-law number 3’s suggestion, an avid steam engine enthusiast. A good suggestion, it was. More so as it was conveniently held in Carlton Corville, a town south of Great Yarmouth – the seaside resort where my mum-in-law, […]