He ain't heavy, he's my brother

Spring hair-do!
Originally uploaded by Rahim Rahman.

Adik is flying to Los Angeles and Boy is flying from Denver to meet him there. I'm excited at the prospect of my brothers being reunited after 11 years. I wish I could be there with them but it's no bus ticket to go to the States. Of all the things my dear brother could have asked for, he asked for sambal goreng ikan bilis... That's a walk in the park for me. So, the evening before Adik is due to fly, I went to Giant to get the ingredients. Adik specifically asked me to cook it and not Bibik, for fear Bibik would not make it the way mama does. So, I'm the next best thing. I hope they get to catch up and make up for lost time. I love my brothers dearly. Adik adores Danial and likewise, Danial loves his Ami. I think, given the chance, Boy would be a great uncle to Danial too.

My readers...

When I first started blogging, I didn't expect people to read my entries. At most, it'll be Boy, my brother, Danial's uncle in the States and Azrai, Danial's dad, on occasions. The blog helps as a channel to vent my thoughts, feelings and everything else to keep me sane. Only recently, Colin, our friend in England emailed me saying that he read my blogs. I was pleasantly surprised. All my whining became a reading pleasure to my readers. Then, a few weeks later, I met Nami. She too told me that she read my blogs and could really understand where I was coming from struggling with the baby and the pure bliss of having a maid to help out at home, and the works. Wow! that's too much! My reader base has increased by 100%! From 2 readers to 4!!!! 4 today, 4 million readers tomorrow!!!!

Sweet for my sweet, sugar for my honey...

Not for my honey-bunny Danial's babah. We soon found out the cause of his upset stomach and under the weather condition were due to his rising sugar level in his blood. We found out about it when we came home from Awana Kijal and went to see Doctor Amarjeet Singh. Call it woman's intuition, I somehow had a sneaky feeling that his diabetes is acting up again. Lo and behold, I was right. Not that I want to be right this time. So, the good old doctor put Azrai on a week's no rice diet much to Azrai's dismay.

I was a bit worried for Azrai. Dieting is not one of his strong point and he simply loves rice. I feel sorry for him. He looked miserable with the bread and soup diet that he had to put up with. He has to go back on his medication to control the sugar level despite taking D-tics, a herbal supplement that used to be enough to control the sugar level for him. He had a full blood test done just to reveal another abnormality, the enzymes reading from his liver is unusually high. This led to a visit to do ultra sound which results turned out to be OK, thank God!

The moral of the story, Danial's dad is not getting younger so he has to take care of himself for his sake and more so for Danial's sake.

Happy Birthday Dzareen!

We celebrated Danial's Aunty Dzareen's Golden Birthday at CIAO! Jalan Ampang. Other than the ambience, I begin to understand that the reason why they name the joint as such is because of the service. It was so slow that 'Ciao' would be the only word they would hear from their first time customers at the end of the meal and never come again. Maybe I'm being harsh. But as a first time customer, after that evening, that would be the last time I would go there. Unless of course, someone else is buying

To Dzareen, Happy birthday dear and many more to come.

Awana Kijal

We didn't plan to go for another holiday after Langkawi but Aunty Mie called at the eleventh hour and asked us to come along for Pak Long's squad reunion in Awana Kijal over Wesak day holiday. The offer was too good to pass when the room rate is way below the rack rate and what more, during peak season. So, on Wesak day, 12 May 2006, we packed everybody up in the car and started our journey bright and early. Well, not all bright. Azrai was complaining of stomach discomfort and nausea; so I offered to drive. Good thing the weather was nice and pleasant so I don't mind driving. Poor Azrai, trying to cope with his discomforts.

Long story short, it was a busy retreat. You can bet if Aunty Mie is the ring leader, there would be tones of fun. Everybody enjoyed themselves. There were telematch, treasure hunts, dinner and karaoke with lots of prizes to bring home and best of all, this was the chance for all the atuk-atuk and nenek-nenek to behave like their grandchildren.