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Ex

Posted in Culture, tagged , on April 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The whole visit was intended for THE day. So we were all supposedly geared up for Mom’s 80th Birthday Celebration on Saturday April the 11th. We arrived on the Saturday week before, ready to battle the jetlag head-on. We lost our heads in the process, but I would like to believe we actually won. I still went to bed 5 o’clock in the morning Calgary time. Just like I do at 5 o’clock in the morning Moscow time. If consistency is the key, I won big time.

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Three days in Calgary that is in GMT -7, we tested yet our superjetlag power by going back 2 hours of time zone on a 4-hour flight east. Ottawa was happy to see us for two nights.

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Anyway, I must admit… no matter how much I was gearing myself up for Mom’s big celebration, I was in no mood to socialize. Honestly! And since when does an 80th birthday celebration not come with socializing? Mom was expecting close to 100 guests of families, friends, foes and foie gras. She’s more popular than yours truly. What do I expect? She has lived long enough to be the mother of popularity herself!

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My Facebook status prior to the event – held at the Delacour Community Hall – was ranging and changing between:

  • Enida wishes she could cut today out and paste it somewhere else.
  • Enida is telling herself that THIS will be over in 3 long hours.
  • Enida actually ENJOYED the three dragging hours! Oh my God!

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Yes, you read it right, all right! I actually enjoyed the socializing event with most of the almost 100 guests who turned up to wish Mom what she has been wished 79 times before. There were a few relatives I was looking forward to see. There were many whom I never saw before and probably never will see again.

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But most of all, I proved it to myself one more time, perhaps the 2571st time that I am not a true introvert. I am just not! I do get my energy from people. From socializing. But how did I not listen to myself this last 2570 times? I dragged my feet, I dragged my anchor, and I had to drag my boobies if they were the size of papayas… all these years to still work harder than steel to convince myself, I am an exhibitionist. Uh, I mean… an extrovert.

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Tankfully Yours

Posted in Write On, tagged on December 29, 2009| 7 Comments »

Yours truly actually has a tankful of candies leftover from Halloween to give each and every one who had me in mind today – and would still have half a tankful of candies for those who didn’t think of me. Because I am pretty sure on any other day, I have been on your mind more often than I have been on your nerves. Aye? (Thanks KaCher, for lending me the expression!)

 

Nonetheless, in alphabetical order, I would like to thank:

 

and…

 

and…

 

and…

 

and…

 

and…

A special mention of Bahtiar Mohamad who jussssssttt sent me a birthday wish from snowy London to snowy-er Moscow. Thanks Baht! And oh, another Londoner, Nor Fadzlinda Ishak, just wished me Happy Birthday too. Thanks Linda. I love this! I love celebrating my birthday in Moscow. It’s longer! 🙂

 

 

I did have a great day, despite sniffling and sneezing in between cups of honeyed Earl Grey. The snow came back in my honor. Indeed, Nicola, sure felt like it did… and to your delight too, eh? More  sledding, more tobogganing, more laughter from the kids playing outside this week. Hurray!

 

And hurray to another year well lived!

 

 

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I

Posted in Write On, tagged on December 29, 2009| 2 Comments »

I would usually avoid starting a sentence in a post with “I” – hence you’ve seen many that started with “If”. Well, close enough. But tonight I am just going to let go of that care.

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I have read all blogs that are on my blogroll. Tonight. Yes. All of them. Loved the photo of the moth and the painting of a treetop-walk bridge on Emila‘s. Tagged along with Mak Andeh to Bali and made to miss those soft-spoken men of Bali. Drooled over Mat Labu‘s gulai’s. Sulked over Ahau-Dee‘s blog that has not been updated for 300 years! And got re-uplifted by the sugar rush on my daily Donut.

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I have also read all the early birthday wishes from families, friends, foes and foie gras. Five hours early for me, but hey… I celebrate my birthday 29 hours here in Moscow, 39 hours in Calgary. I know I am special. And I really should be working on the Thank-You replies right now. But I am not.

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I am just feeling a few degrees under the weather for the past 24 hours. The usual package: running nose, straying head, jumping tummy. You know, the lot. I am, nonetheless, still counting my blessings – thankful to be alive and feeling the pain of growing.

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No, I don’t feel my age. What I am feeling today has nothing to do with the aging process. Afterall, I made a pact with the devil on my 29th birthday in Paris… that my age from then on would be numberless.

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That my gray hair, each strand, would be a sign of wisdom. That my wrinkle, every line, would be an evidence of each road taken and well traveled. That my scars, each mark, would be a reminder of every lesson well learned. All, numberlessly.

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To all the well wishes sent by all well-wishers… Spasiba Bolshoi! I humbly dedicate each and every prayer I received today to the woman who made it all possible. Who made it all beautiful. The woman whom I was honored to be born to and through. The woman who was there on my happy birth day.

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I miss you…

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She’s In Love With The Boy

Posted in Monchies, tagged on November 30, 2009| 1 Comment »

He wasn’t supposed to be a late November baby. In fact, he wasn’t supposed to be a November baby, late or early. Our first date wasn’t supposed to happen until December 15th, 2005. But then again, he wasn’t supposed to sit the way he sat… across Mommy’s tummy, however he wanted, refusing to compromise his own comfort.

 

Hence, Dr. Ravi Chandran suggested the dreaded C on December 1st. Came Noah’s Ark, hovercraft, high water of the water-break, he had to come no shorter than 2 weeks earlier (than the due date). And then again, Mommy had a selfish idea – she wanted to have a collection of two November babies!

 

And so he came on a Wednesday morning the 30th day of November 2005. It has been four years now since our first date and since I fell in love with this boy. The blessing is, I have kept falling in love with the same boy. Everyday.

 

Happy Birthday, Edrick Karl Johnson!

 

 

 

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Three You Are!

Posted in Write On, tagged on November 30, 2008| 5 Comments »

Hey ya Daddy,
It’s MY birthday today. I didn’t realize it was going to be a special day because Mommy got up late like she did yesterday. She must have gone to bed late again (the other night she had to cook a second supper for guests that arrived later than MY bedtime!). I tried not to storm into her room this morning, so I went downstairs and bugged Bibik instead.

When I opened the fridge to get some ideas on what to eat for breakfast (I usually know what I want now and I make sure I say ‘please’ to Bibik when I ask for my choice breakfast), I saw some marinated fish Mommy must’ve prepared the night before. Just before Mommy took me to the barber for my haircut later this morning, the fishy but yummy smell from the oven had filled the whole house.

I don’t really want to talk about my haircut, Daddy. I didn’t enjoy it one little bit! I kept on saying, “All done! All done!” right from the start to the end – it took the barber ten minutes to make me handsome again. It took Mommy all her talent to calm me down, but that ten minutes sure felt like ten slow hours! I didn’t enjoy the haircut one little bit, but I sure do like the way I look now. Life is not fair!

After the haircut, Mommy drove us (Kitreena and Uncle Flick came with) to a secret place. She was whispering all the time to my sister, and I didn’t really give a care because Mom and Kakak always do that. Must be the girls thing – secret this, secret that! But when Mommy came out from that secret place with two red boxes in a big red paper bag, I knew she didn’t just get the secret recipes. She got the Secret Recipe Cakes! Then, I remembered it was my birthday – after all, Mommy made me sing the famous Happy Birthday song when I was on the barber chair to distract me. She even made me imagine counting and blowing the candles. The thoughts of my birthday really got me through the trying and difficult time (such as during the ten minute haircut!)

I was so extremely excited when I saw the Vienna Brownie and the Banana Chocolate cake that I fell asleep on the way home! But of course the birthday lunch could not start without the birthday boy. That’s me me me! So Mom woke me up. We were joined by Grandma, Atok, Aunty Reen, Uncle Shahril and both my cousins – Afiq and Mariessa. Uncle Lam and Uncle Flick were there too. I have a list of wishes today, Daddy. But the top few hundreds are the wishes that could only come true if you were here. I hope you will give me a phone call tonight so I can tell you what I can remember from today.

Lunch was followed by the cake ‘ceremony’, of course. It was neat to see that I didn’t get three candles on my cake. There was only one candle in the shape of the number 3. But for some reason it took me one to two good minutes to blow just one candle! You will have to watch the video clip from Mom’s camera to know what I am talking about, Dad. It was awesome, nevertheless, that I also got to cut the cake myself this year. I am pretty sure I get to do so much more next year!

Oh Dad, thank you for the card and the present! I love those numbers and I am now learning to count and match the pictures with the correct numbers. I got two birthday presents this year – the one from you, Mom and Kitreena (the numbers), and a set of play dough from Bibik. Thank you Daddy, Mommy, Kakak. Thank you Bibik.

So, the day went really well despite me thinking about you most of the time. Mommy thought it would have been really nice if you were around because you take better pictures than she does. Kakak was just busy eating, playing with Afiq and helping me open the gift, she forgot all about HER camera. Duh!

And oh, another thing…I overheard Mommy telling Kakak today about us moving to Moscow. Is that true Daddy? Do we get to be in the same house again? And it sounds like we are going to speak Russian with each other. Kakak thought we were going to change our citizenship and we were going to be in Russia forever. How many years is forever, Daddy? Because I don’t believe it when Kakak said it’s going to be a long long long long long time. Did Kakak just make that up?

Okay, I’d better go and enjoy the rest of my special-but-would-be-more-special-with-you day. I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures – although I know you enjoy ‘taking’ more than looking at pictures. Maybe my birthday next year when we are in Moscow, eh. Mmm…I imagine my cake would not say ‘Happy Birthday’. It will have something that says С ДНЁМ РОЖДЕНИЯ or something.

By the way, I saved some cakes, nuggets, corn-on-the-cobs and hugs for you, Dad. Mom said I can tuck them under the Christmas tree. Spasiba Mommy!

Your Russian Roulette Son,
Edrick

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