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Madame de Maintenon

It has been a maintenance month, this February.

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The relationship maintenance job was done on the 14th with a 24-hour getaway at the Radisson Slavyanskaya by the river. Nice! I finally could hear my voice coming out of my mouth in a quiet conversation with Rahul,  when he took his Anjali out for Valentine’s rrrrromantic dinner at Maharaja. Usually I just do lip sync for me Monchies. Well, we do do the monthly maintenance on every 19th. But nothing as maintaining as overnighting. Ehem!

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The last 2 weeks have been a dental maintenance session as well.  Cleaning,  whitening, filling, filling-replacement, crowning, root-canal. No dentures yet, thanks to Sensodyne. Speaking of filling-replacement, I think it’s also time to update my will. I should leave a specific instructions to whomever survive me of what to do with my teeth. No matter how much surviving me bites.

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By now I should have enough porcelain filled in my molars for my survivors to make a tea set with. And by the time I am 75, if long lives the queen, I shall have enough porcelain to make a dinnerware set for each child of mine. As it is, my dentist bill is already equivalent to a set of Silver Palace all inclusive for me Monchies and me Conchies (Monchies’ cousins).

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In case you have no experience having cavities and having your teeth filled: dentists these days use porcelain (and many other aesthetic materials) instead of amalgam alloy (mercury or silver).

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It has also been a month of maintaining my running activity which I had been running away real far and fast from. On good days (though not very many, due to February being the shortest month this year), I can run 10km in my 100m² bedroom in a breeze. On bad days I can run 100km non-stop in my size 9 Ushanka-capped head in 10 split seconds. And that 10 split seconds have to be split and spilled into 3m³ of diet juice called Axe-Cues Me.

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Now that I have maintained blogging, posting at least 3 entries per week… I should go spank my maintained round behind, put on my 3-year-old runners that still maintain their brand-new look, and do some maintenance job on my weight. Hey, wait a minute… I have an article to edit, don’t I? Yeah, that Super Lynx article for Berita Harian from Mr. Maintain Delicious Heli Pilot old friend of mine.

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I am gone running… away from running.

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What Makes It Okay

You know the pillars Kahlil Gibran was talking about? Those that stand apart from each other? Do you know what comes in between, the space that Kahlil Gibran did not talk about? I found it. That space, that nothingness between the pillars. Yes, I found it.

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And I found that emptiness… is not always a bad thing.

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Mere Pehla Pyar

It was just too much to bear. The loss of Bibik’s baby. And I am missing my mother and my sisters like it’s my business alone. I had to cry it out. So, for the very first time I went and watched Kuch Kuch Hota Hai! Yes, honest to God it was my first time. Cik Nan once told me about this Anjali movie, I didn’t realize it was Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, so I went looking for Anjali.

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Now that I’ve found Anjali, am fighting fire with fire, tears with tears, recalling more than what I should about mere pehla pyar, something is happening to my heart. Kya karoon haaye?

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I’m gone… crying.

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Page 368: Chapter 8

… of the Face-to-Face Interpersonal Communication in the Workplace by Peter Chiamonte and Marco Adria:

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Epistemic Writing

Writing enables us to find out what we know – and don’t know – about whatever subject we are exploring, including ourselves. With each stroke of the pen an idea takes shape and becomes clearer. Mark Strand, a Canadian poet, describes the act of writing poetry as one of self-discovery: “What I want to do in a poem is discover what it is that I have to say.”

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Epistemology is the theory of the methods of knowledge. Therefore, epistemic writing is writing that aids in thinking, learning, and self-knowledge. This approach considers writing to be a form of thinking. We suggest that writing is an important means not only of expressing thought, but of discovering new ideas and reformulating them. In this sense, then, writing is thinking and thinking is writing.

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Many people keep journals, for many reasons…. We each have our reasons for writing – self-guidance, personal growth and the realization of our creative and leadership potential. Journalling can “help you to understand your past, discover joy in the present, and create your own future”.

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Postlude:

I wonder no more why I write. Future, I am creating you while discovering my present joy and understanding who I was. I am gone… writing.

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In the picture:

Thinking of You card by Emila Yusof
Envelope with IVANA written by Enida
Enida’s favorite color pencils

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The Departure of An Arrival

This time, it’s not words that fail me. It’s my sorrow. For everytime I say something, or write something about the loss that Bibik went through, I feel too much. I feel my own words as I don’t think I can come close to understanding how it feels to wait for someone who goes away before she arrives. It wasn’t the wait that was long enough. It was an arrival that wasn’t.

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I will call Bibik later today if words would say it and if thoughts would count.

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Polar Express

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I’ve been watching way too much Polar Express since Christmas that I would grow a beard before I post another entry here. One thing for sure, though I’ve also been out, about, knockedout and talkedabout, I sometimes do feel that I am destined to be a polar bear in my next life – stuck in the snow and loving it..Snow is awesome (senza the yellow stain). I don’t mind the size. The bigger the cuddlier. And most of all, I like fish,  bearded seals, walrus and people. Beardlessly.

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Siri Bercakap Dengan Edrick V

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Edrick: Mom, why do you have this thingy on your bed thingy?

Mommy: What thingy? *not looking because she is in the walk-in closet*

Edrick: This red thingy on your bed.

Mommy: *pokes her head out to see what red thingy she has on her bed* Oh, that’s a bedspread, Monch.

Edrick: Yeah! The bedspread thingy. Why do you have the bedspread thingy on your bed thingy?

Mommy: *knows where this ‘thingy’ business comes from, thinks it’s very Spies Girls, and knows she has one Spy Girl in her house* Well, that’s what Daddy got me for Christmas. It makes the bed look nice, don’t you think?

Edrick: Yeah! It looks nice. But what does the beadspread thingy do, Mom?

Mommy: It makes the bed comfortable.

Edrick: Oh! If you don’t put it on, it’s not comfortable?

Mommy: It is. But it is more comfortable.

Edrick: What happens if you don’t put it on, Mom?

Mommy: Nothing happens.

Edrick: You won’t be comfortable?

Mommy: I will. It’s still comfortable even when the bedspread’s not on.

Edrick: Then, you don’t need it?

Mommy: Well… I don’t need it. You’re right. But I want it on my bed. It feels nice.

Edrick: That’s why Daddy gave it to you? You wanted it?

Mommy: No. I didn’t want it. It’s a gift. He wanted to give it to me. I didn’t ask for it.

Edrick: But why did Daddy want to give it to you if you didn’t want it?

Mommy: I didn’t say I didn’t want it. I said I didn’t ask for it. Daddy was being nice. He got me the bedspread to make me more comfortable than before.

Edrick: But I want my bed to be comfortable too.

Mommy: *thinks she knows where the conversation is going* But your bed is already comfortable.

Edrick: No, it’s not! I need a bedspread thingy to make it comfortable.

Mommy: No, you don’t.

Edrick: Yes, I do.

Mommy: No, you don’t. If it’s too comfortable, you don’t wanna get up and get out of bed then.

Edrick: *looks at Mommy and quickly reconsiders as he knows he is very much a morning person* Never mind!

Mommy: *goes ‘Huh?’ again as she is gearing up and getting ready for a tug-of-bedspread-war with her sunny-side-up son, potentially fighting for the red bedspread thingy*

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Less On

Lesson Number 1

Enida, please have a cup of coffee before taking the Monchies to school. The other day, you really made yourself sound like one of those who solo parlano poco Inglés when you spoke to the Dutch lady who introduced her son to Edrick as Dillan and on behalf of Edrick you said, “Hi Villain!” Bad move, Enida, bad move! On mornings when you have not had your caffeine, just let Edrick do the talking.

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Lesson Number 2

When you do have a cup of Vivalto Lungo before walking the Monchies to school, keep your eyes peeled when you walk by the Sled Slope on your way home. Your daughter might still be there playing with Tia at ten after the bell. Your Monchies are no angels. They’re kids. If they’re not naughty once in a while, they are no good. They would make parenting too easy. And easy is no fun.

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Lesson Number 3

Just because you brush your teeth twice a day and floss every other day, you are not guaranteed to be safe from cavities. When you are rotting, you’re rotting. Be thankful it’s just your teeth, or maybe later your bones. Not your morality. So two visits to the dentist can buy you that Lattissima Nespresso Machine, so what? If you can’t enjoy your coffee, what can you?

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Lesson Number 4

Stop pulling your gray hair out. You’d be bald in two weeks if you don’t stop today. Or tomorrow.

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Lesson Number 5

Make the bed as soon as you jump out of it. If you don’t, more often than not you’ll jump back in as soon as your kids are out of the house.

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Lesson Number 6

Enida, please remember not to leave the adaptor for the three square prongs on the washing machine. Your helper might think you forgot about it and she might take it home. When you call her to ask if she had removed it from where you put it last, she would say that she would come over to look for it and find it for you – she doesn’t understand what you mean by, “I’ve looked everywhere 12 times and a half!”. And she would come when you are not home and make it look like she had found it and could not explain where she found it 15 minutes after she found it.

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Lesson Number 7

Do not wait until tomorrow morning what you can do tonight. Pack those lunchboxes with what you can prepare the night before. Wake up! You are not a morning person. Stop denying that you are not in denial as well. How would you explain that you forgot to pack the kids’ lunchbox until just before you stepped out to walk them to school this morning, then? You were lucky there was Smoked Salmon Linguini leftover you made the other night, and mandarin oranges you grabbed at Tsum Gastronomia for the kids’ quick snack. You can’t grab luck every morning when you forget or when you don’t wake up early enough. Can you?

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Masih Aku…

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terbau.

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Bebel Babe

Everything went really smoothly and well when Monchies were all showered, dressed and ready by 0800 on that Saturday morning. Saturday morning? We never wake up earlier than 0900 on any given Saturday mornings. So to be up at 0730 was record-breaking, I tell you! I also knew by 0820, all butts had to be out the door if we were going to make it to our 0900 dentist appointment on Bolshaya Dmitrovka, the second busiest one-way street near Kremlin.

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The appointments were only for Mommy and Kit that Saturday as Edrick’s and Kitreena’s teeth had had the cleaning done the previous Saturday. Kakak had two teeth with cavities and they needed to be fixed. While Mommy’s teeth were overdue for a cleaning and check-up. Foregone conclusion… breakfast could wait. At 0817hrs I went downstairs to get my boots on and…

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Whattt? What are you guys doinggg?!

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My jaw, my teeth, my tied tongue, my soft palate, my hard palate, my premolars, my molars, my whole dentition, my throat, my throat’s child and all my hope to get to the dentist on time dropped to the floor and they all went rolling bergolekdog out of the garage door faster than I could say, “Huh?”

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Here they were, my husband and my children, having gourmet breakfast like there was no tomorrow and like there was no dentist appointment due in approximately 37 minutes! I could not believe my eyes, my nose, my mouth, my throat and my brain when I saw that! Be and I had an agreement (I thought?) that breakfast could wait until after! (Did I just put an exclamation mark at the end of every sentence I just wrote? Well, for crying out loud, I was very exclaimed!)

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And here it was, breakfast on the table for father and two children… scrambled eggs, brown toast, breakfast meat, cheese and orange juice! I was just standing motionlessly and in disbelief at the kitchen counter trying to feel what shock would feel like if I had not known my significant other for twelve years, him and his punctuality.

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I finally decided not to feel anything, put my boots on and shut my emotion detector down. We finally left Bukit Pokrovsky at 0838 trying to make what could be an hour drive into a 22-minute flight. Oh I felt like my head actually rolled down to my feet and my feet were not on the ground. And all along Volokolomskaya, Leningradsky, Tverskaya and Bolshaya Dmitrovka, I was going…

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Dah tauuuuuuuuuuu nak pegi dentist, lagiiiiiiiiiii nak sarap macam lah lepas tu karang tak boleh makaaaaaan. Selalunya Sabtu sarap dah tinggi hari tak lah pulak laparrrrr, boleh lah pulak tahaaaaaan. Kalau setakat yogurt ke, cereals ke, or roti planta tu paham lah jugak mengalas perut, ehhhhhhh! Siap goreng telur buat scrambled eggs tuuuuu! Nasib baik takde segala hiasan plus a Swedish flag tercacak kat atas toast itu tadi, lady and gentlemen ni kang aku gentel belaka-laka buat sarapan besok pagi ni karaaaaaaaaangggg!

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And dah tauuuuuuuuuuu jalan pagi Sabtu ni sesak mengalahkan orang Melayu dan India nak balik kampung Raya Cina,  orang Cina dan India nak balik kampung Raya Melayu, orang Cina dan Melayu nak balik kampung Raya Hindu… parking susah nak cari macam kat Batu Caves on Thaipusam, and macam Tesco Selayang, naaaaaaaakkkkkk lah jugak melambatkan orangggg! Dah berapa tahun, taaaaaakkkkk reti-reti nak jaga masa. Ini bukan kali pertama, malah kali keTIGA kita akan lambat for appointment tempat yang sama. Malunya kalau orang panggil kita the Late Johnsons tauuuuu! Kita tunggu dentist tak apa, jangan dentist tunggu kitaaaaa! Kita nganga kita bayar, dia nganga kita jugak bayar! Eeeeeeeeessssyyyy sakitnya hatiku iniiiiiiiii!

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I must have had my eyes closed all along Volokolomskaya, Leningradsky, and Tverskaya entertaining my thoughts. For when I opened my eyes and opened my heart to accept that some people just would not change their priorities to suit mine, we were already on Bolshaya Dmitrovka parking right in front of US Dental Clinic’s door! Huh? And it was 0900hrs right on the dot, and right between my eyes if I were to be shot for my crime of having no faith. 🙂 I had a big smile on my face and Be didn’t even notice the ‘exclamation marks’ I just swallowed!

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Va bene, questa è Enida!

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I am glad that over the years… I have learned to not nag. And when I do, my bebel is always voiceless and motionless. Because I have been wrong many times. Including last Saturday. But after all that went well and positive, nobody knew the negativity of my thoughts until today. Here. Hehehehehe.

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