It's official

I am now a quarter of a century old.

I remember one time when I first started work at my company, a colleague remarked how young I was to start working... and said the same thing again when I announced that I was getting married.

I don't like it when people pass comments like that, what kind of response are they hoping they get from me? I only have one answer for a question like that: Yes, I suppose I am.

She would then say condescendingly, you are young now but once you hit 25 and over, you'll start to feel it.

So here I am now at 25.

What is it I am suppose to feel again?

Clicking

We had lunch with our couple friends today after church. They are very nice people... pleasant, helpful, generous... But somehow, something isn't clicking firmly in place yet. There are still moments in our conversation filled with short awkward silences... times when we are not quite sure what to talk about next... instead of a smooth-flowing conversation, I rack my head trying to think of something interesting to talk about... settling down in Australia, church activities, family back in Malaysia, places to go for holiday... but this shouldn't be the way, should it?

I really hope we find something that clicks us together eventually soon. They are very nice people and we do value having them as friends in our new country. But sometimes I fear that they might soon become bored with our company... heck, sometimes I'm tempted to feel bored too... but I try not to let myself dwell on thoughts like that.

Cherries Galore!

What to do with all these cherries???



Make Cherry Clafoutis!!! It's very easy...

Click here: Cherry Clafoutis by Bill Granger

Yummy Supper

Raspberry and cream cheese triangle pastries, mmmm...
Lucky for MH and lil' bro that I had a whim to bake something up last night for supper!

Friend and playmate

Today is my friend, JC's birthday.

She is exactly eight days older than me (which means my birthday is... ahem ahem...)

JC is my first and longest gal friend in my entire life. I don't remember in precise detail the first we met. My mom tells me that it was when she and JC's mom introduced their daughters to each other... you know... the "Serene, say hello to...". We peered at each other shyly. And then we made an instant connection. You see, Serene doesn't speak Chinese. But JC said kindly, I like to speak English... and I like reading English books... Plus both our birthdays are in November, talk about connection. And that's how lifetime friendships are made.

What I do remember on my own are the "come over to my house to play" sessions we had almost every week at each others' houses. We played barbie dolls, showed each other our secret diaries, JC was writing a novel which she let me read, we beaded matching necklaces, baked cookies, and talked for hours on the phone... no girlie childhood is complete without this kind of gal friend. My brothers seemed to enjoy her company as well because they let us in on their games (or maybe it was we who let them in our games). Family picnics, birthday parties, church retreats... it just would never have been the same without JC.

Friends forever. Corny but true.

Toggle Genius...

I just uploaded a little puzzle in my sidebar. Very interesting. I clicked away and finally solved the puzzle in eight moves... waaah... I thought I was so clever.

Then I showed it to MH.

He solved it in four moves.

Sigh.

I'm so happy that you're here

...

Sweet brother… baby brother…
I’m so happy that you’re here,
I’ll share all my stuff with you,
My treasures, toys and things.

Sometimes you annoy me (hey, stop that!)
Sometimes you can be a pain,
But most of the time I like you,
I’m so happy that you’re here.


We’re growing up, it’s time to go,
I’m far away from home,
I miss your funny ways and jokes,
I’m so sad that you’re not here.

I’m glad that you’re my brother,
Coz you’re truly a real cool guy,
As time goes by, please don’t forget,
That I’m happy that you’re here.

Laundry blues

Today I realised that I had forgotten to empty MH's work pants pockets before washing. MH's train ticket which was valid for another 3 days had disintegrated into a fluffy mess inside the front pocket. Bad wife. Fortunately, MH had decided to be civil about it. So I am writing this now to reinforce this reminder to never forget to look into every pants pockets before tossing them into the wash.

Pondering...

One of my fears is that my life has been too easy so far. Sure I've faced challenges. But nothing nearly enough to say that I've been broken and humbled to the level of the contrite spirit I should be. I somehow always manage to get through (it seems) by God's grace. Is my life too ordinary? Am I taking it too slowly on Easy Street? What if my whole mediocre life is making me too shallow?

I know a number of people who overcome this by deliberately stepping out of their comfort zone into the most extreme circumstances... they dedicate an impressive number of hours every week to contribute in a ministry. Some go as far as to take a few months off for a mission trip to Cambodia or Mongolia. But is that all I'd need to do to make me a so called "deeper" person?

And as I ponder the question, I also ask "So what is the next step for me?", "What do I want to do" and "Who do I want to be" ("Do I need to go to Cambodia too?"). Pastors and preachers urge us every week to look beyond our meagre lives to see the bigger vision and contribute to it. But then I go back to my ordinary little life and everything is still the same. Besides trying to get out of the financial rat race, there are still many rat races of the soul and spirit which I struggle in. No matter where I go and what I do, everything in life still seems to be just the same.

I keep pondering... but my mind is still full of questions with no final answers.

Weekend with friends

We had a lovely time yesterday at IKEA with D&G; whom we met at our church connect group. They just bought a car and were planning to drive down to IKEA to buy some furnishings for their house and invited us to go with them. We didn't intend to buy anything at all but ended up spending $70 (phew!). I told MH that we mustn't buy on impulse, but these were all little things we needed to get sooner or later... a rubbish bin, dish rack, placemats. We also bought some Christmas decorations for our Christmas tree (yes, we have a tree... we bought for $5 at a garage sale). MH insisted that it was very important for a Christmas tree to have lights, so we bought those as well. We spent the whole day shopping together and only reached home at 5.00pm.

Today, they picked us up to go to church and we had brunch together afterwards. We wanted to find a nice dim sum place to eat but we were all not familiar with the area, so we ended up eating MacDonalds (much to the delight of the two men).

It's nice to have friends to go out with. But I remarked to MH that having friends somehow makes you tend to spend more money.

What is the future of Malaysia?

I think most Malaysians abroad have hopes or plans to return to their homeland. But this letter portrays some of the fears that every non-Bumi harbours in their heart. Is there a future in Malaysia for non-Bumis and their children?

Dear Mr Ooi,

I have been meaning to pen some thoughts for some time now, to let people actually read the views of the typical 'overseas Malaysian' who is kept away. I realise that my email is rather long, but I do hope that you would consider publishing it (and also keep my name private!).

I shall start by telling a little about my background. Mine is a rather sad tale - of a young Malaysian full of hope and patriotic enthusiasm, which is slowly but surely trickling away.

Please click on the following link to read the rest of the letter...

Higher Education Crisis

What's on the menu for lunch?

Grilled tomato & cheese sandwiches for lunch today.

Yummy snack...

Remnants of my yummy banana & strawberry smoothie... we gulped it down as a healthy post-dinner-snack... very filling! *burp*

Our house looks more like a home now

We brought in the final load of furniture on Sunday... 1 dining table, four dining chairs, 1 coffee table, 1 sideboard, plus a swivel chair... a great deal at only $180 for the entire lot. We bought it second hand from this foreign uni student who was going back to Canada after completing her studies. With the couch costing only $10, we actually furnished our entire living / dining area for less than $200!!! MH is so amazed and blown away that I managed to accomplish all this. I spent Monday afternoon arranging the furniture and setting everything up. The place looks quite nice now.
(Check out the link in the blog title)

Leisurely Saturday

It's such a treat to have a nice leisurely Saturday (big difference from Saturdays in Singapore which were packed with activities or at our cafe).

Aaahhh... the luxury of sleeping in till 10.00am...

This morning, I convinced MH to sit with me and watch Dances with Wolves... one of my favourite epic films. He was wary of getting sucked into some boring drama at first, but in the end he had no regrets.

After the movie, we went to do our usual weekly grocery shopping. We racked up a little more than our usual bill because we decided to buy some extra pillows for guests and 4 bottles of wine which were on special... only between $6.00 to $7.00 per bottle.

After putting the groceries back home, we decided to walk down to the park near our home and explore our neighbourhood further. Most of the shops were already closed, but at least we could get an idea of what other shops there were in our vicinity.

Tonight, we had leftover spaghetti bolonaise for dinner... I put in whole peppercorns like how mom does (I love the extra peppery bite). But MH didn't like it... so I'll have to think of a way next time to separate the peppercorns from his portion.

Sinful food...

Can't get enough of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts!

Free ice cream last night!

Last night was the last night of the 3 sessions for Partners in Vision at church. We've been attending the sessions every Thursday for the past 3 weeks. As a special treat, everyone received a FREE Heaven Ice... my flavour was Cookies & Cream... yum! It was very generous of them as there were probably over 100 people there last night.

We got a lift home from one of our fellow connect group members.

Meeting with possible future boss

Finally confirmed my meeting with my prospective employer in Sydney. It's scheduled on November 28th at 2.00pm.

He has just returned from Singapore, apparently receiving "strong recommendations" from my colleagues there.

I hope not to disappoint.

Tuna + Pasta

I tried making a simple tuna and pasta dish on Sunday afternoon for a fuss free lunch. I used penne pasta, canned tuna in spring water, some spring onions and coriander for colour, and salt and pepper to taste. It didn't turn out exactly the same way as how mom's used to taste. Did I miss something out?