My Funny Valentine

Hubby has this calming effect on me. He took the boys out yesterday after they drove me nearly nuts at home, squabbling with their sister. I was complaining away and he only smiled. When he returned, he bought me a heart-shaped locket for my birthday. He shouldn't have, especially when the price of gold has gone up, but he did. What a sweetheart. I had asked for a mixer, thinking that he'll be the practical gift-buyer. I guessed wrongly. He surprises me every time. Guess I'll get the mixer myself, if ever I get into my baking mode.

Taekwondo Competition

We were the organisers for an inter-college taekwondo competition recently.

Since I am quite new to this taekwondo community, I noticed from the 2-3 competitions I have been to that some fighters come with their entourage (parents, supporters and/or girlfriends).

It's a very interesting sight. There are parents and supporters who stay and cheer for every fight and there are girlfriends draped on the shoulders of some male fighters. Somehow I don't see boyfriends hanging about- I suppose the prospect of having a gf with a tkd black belt is not terribly appealing.

On the competition front, there were lots of things to be improved (I felt). But after everything is said and done, we WON! At least that's something- another trophy for our trophy case.

An Alternate Universe

Have you ever felt that you are maintaining 2 sets of relationships- one in the virtual world and another in the real world? I'm not talking about the affairs people have via chatrooms but rather the e-mail communications we have with our colleagues.

It is surprising that we resort to e-mails just because it's there. Instead of speaking to "Mr X" in person, why don't we e-mail and discuss issues by sending e-mails to and fro?

A Meaningful Raya

This year Dikmi thought it'd be great if we made out own ketupat. He conducted a ketupat weaving session to teach the other siblings to weave 2 different types of ketupat, their names have escaped me (i.e. the names of the ketupat, not my siblings). The night before raya we fired up the coal stove and the smoke filled up the whole house. My children were fascinated at the preparation- we usually buy our ketupats ready made.

Dikmi says the essence of hari raya was in the preparations- I couldn't agree more. Well, he did most of the work anyway while my main duty is to keep the kitchen clean. Not easy when there is food preparation, consumption and disposal round the clock.

We visited Baba's grave. I cried when I saw Aziz's eyes turning red. My eldest remarked that I looked funny when I cry :p

A huge family gathering happened at Mak Long's house and I visited my cousin later in the evening.

After 1 day in BP we drove home. The back window failed to work & couldn't be closed so I had free-flowing air and no a/c. Arrived in KL at 10 a.m. on the 2nd day of raya.

That's pretty much it actually. The children did enjoy the time they had in their grandma's and collected quite a bit of duit raya. Hopefully they've taken home some meaningful memories of Hari Raya 2006.