We met up at U Seng’s house this morning at 10.30am, with the plan to take a drive to the Dandenong Ranges. We ended up spending 2 hours there finalising the plans for the 3 sisters – my mother in law, A Hooi, and A Wee Leng – to visit a cousin of theirs in Newcastle. At least that is now confirmed, with the plans having been on the back burner for a few days now. The leave on Monday morning and return on Wednesday night.

We finally left U Seng’s at 12.30pm, and headed for Springvale for lunch. The Yum Cha lunch was nice, and everyone was stuffed. After lunch we strolled around the area and as we did that, I got a call from the recruiter who interviewed me on Monday, saying his client would like to meet with me – that is now fixed for next Monday. I’d drop into the city again, after dropping them off at the airport. Deja Vu.

We left Springvale around 2.30pm, and finally headed for the Dandenong Ranges. Right through the drive, my father in law remained the most agreeable man – he kept nodding his head at everything I said. I felt strange, but later realised he was doing his swivelling act of shutting eye again. Looks like our family car has become a tour bus for Malaysian retirees, where one snoozes the moment it takes off.

While at the Dandenong Ranges, another person called and we chatted a little about another role I had applied for. The person sounded a little positive with my responses and hopefully, would revert with an interview time.

We got back around 6.30pm, after stopping for scones and coffee/tea. The scones were great. Back at U Seng’s, the elders started another brain teasing session of shuffling ceramic pieces around a square table, while we watched a movie. The Apocalypto was very entertaining, gripping from the beginning right to the end. Mel Gibson has done it again. I enjoyed Braveheart when I watched it, and Mel was a bit of a sugary film figure then. So when I told some people that I enjoyed Braveheart, they laughed. Guess Braveheart was a turning point of sorts for Mel, whose movies have become better since.

Gotta go now – have to go pick up the retiring mahjong players…

Theresa and I left home at 8.15 am and headed west, to the airport. We arrived almost exactly at 9am, parked the car and went to wait at the arrival lounge. The board said the flight had landed, but had also been delayed for 15 mins. After about 30 mins, they emerged, we packed their luggages (bulk of it foodstuffs – why am I not surprised) into the trunk, and headed for the city, where I was to be dropped of at Collins Street for an interview.

Theresa took them home and by the time I finished my interview about an hour or so later, They had settled down to a heavy lunch at Imperial Kingdom restaurant on Waverley Road. U Marloney picked me up from Syndal station and I joined them. After lunch, we headed for A Hooi’s house and while they were chatting away, I kept signalling to Theresa that they ought to go home to wash, freshen up and catch some sleep – they looked tired.

They eventually peeled themselves from A Hooi’s, got to our place and catch some shut eye. That evening we headed back to A Hooi’s for dinner and watched a DVD after dinner. Again, I kept casting glances at my in laws, who were both having an almighty struggle to keep their eyes open, their heads swivelling in all directions. By the time we got home, it was close to 12 but they had so many needs by the time we attended to all of them, like I was saying to an ex-colleague, they were so zonked they would have slept in the garage had we put them up in there.

This morning, they slept in till almost 9am and when they woke, I made their drinks and made toasts for them. Then they decided to go to the market in Dandenong. Theresa had planned to take them to the city but in accordance with this family’s trait, everyone had a different idea and each had to be heard, so they ended up in Dandenong, decided to have lunch in Springvale but ended up in Glen Waverley but left U Seng in Springvale who wasnt told of the change of plans. Apparently he’s a little pissed off even as I write this…it’ll boil over.

They left about an hour ago, supposedly heading to U Jin’s cafe and Crown Casino after that but yet again, their plans changed. Theresa said they have now decided to go to U Jin’s house (both his present house and his new place in Point Cook) after visiting the cafe, and will only go to the casino later tonight. If I join them there, I am so going to pull them back early tonight, so that they can make the Great Ocean Road trip like we planned. I am so going to throw my weight around and insist on that.

Re that interview I had yesterday…the agent thought I am suited for the job, but wanted me to do up a skill matching doc for him. I thought that should have been his job but what the heck – it gives me the chance to make the most of it. I did it yesterday afternoon, emailed it to him and he responded this morning saying he liked it alot and would be recommending me to his client. I’m just going to leave it to God. He knows better than I, as always. The job sounds challenging anyway – the company deals with intelligent access program for the Australian road network – ensuring GPS services of commercial vehicles adhere to some standards.

Kiddo

Last Sunday she arranged for 2 mates to spend the day at our home today, watching DVDs. So at 11am, they got here, and once they settled down, I sneaked away to the gym, did my run and stretches, and picked up a pizza for them on the way home. Of course, purchase of a pizza without beer is incomplete, so I also picked up a slab of Carlton Draught. The kids are now almost finishing their 3rd DVD, polished off 2 packets of chips and about a bag of chocolates, on top of the pizza. I gave them each a bottle of water about 30 minutes ago, just to make sure they dont dry up on my couch. They look happy, so at least one of my 2 ladies is happy. I doubt Theresa is having a good time now – she’s probably worrying about the nightmares to come, associated with juggling her parents’ itinerary in tandem with the uncles and aunties’ ideas of what she ought to do. Aiyoh…

Getting ready for In-Laws’ Visit

Theresa’s parents are due to arrive in Melbourne in 3 days’ time. This morning, some sites suggested that there is an impending storm in Malaysia in the next few days. I hope that doesnt affect flights out of Malaysia.

My in-laws are wonderful people. So, their 2 week stay would hopefully be a pleasant one, not just for them but also for us. Theresa already has a well planned itinerary, which includes Warnambool and Sydney.

I have just spent the entire day cleaning up the house, and rearranging the furniture in the living area to make it a little more spacious.

Resumption of Job Hunting

This is the first week back at work for most people. Next week, more people should be back, full on. Hopefully that means looking for work resumes. I got a call, about 2.5 hours ago, regarding a position as an in house lawyer with a transport company. I’m meeting the recruiter on Monday morning, after picking up my in laws. I wonder how this would work out.

I attended another interview just a few days before the Christmas break, and they said they would get back to me when they return to work. Again, hopefully they call me early next week.

I have also toyed with the idea of getting into the fitness industry, hopefully getting a franchise with a fitness centre. I have been to gyms for close to 10 years now, and continue to do so. I am still clocking 11-12km per hour, about 3-4 times a week, and make sure my pulse rate remain under 60. So, I like to think I am staying in touch with the fitness regime – why not make a living out of it, as I remain very interested and read up on issues affecting running, cardio vascular strength and other age related fitness matter. Also, I have maintained my supplement intake and continue to be in touch with issues surrounding this. My only issue with physical wellness is my continuing affinity with grog…

Malaysia, Oh Malaysia

I continue to be dismayed with the ills of my country of birth. Now, even simple courtesies escape our gateway keepers. Worse, the racial superiority of the Malays now extend to affect not just the Chinese but also the African Americans – if I want to be racist, I’d say the Malays have more reasons to feel inferior rather than the opposite. One thing worse than a racist is a bloody minded, ignorant and idiotic one.

Religious bigotry continues to fester, and even leader wannabes like Khairy Jamaluddin continues to make excuses. Khairy should realise the big difference between growing “religiosity” countries like the US and Australia and other, Muslim, countries. The “growing religiosity” of Christians does not result in exclusionism, marginalisation and condemnation of those outside the faith. Someone is yet to convince me there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the teachings of Islam, which I blame for many of the world’s present woes.

There are several other issues (and, I believe, endless more to come) like the toll agreements, plantation mergers, BN bloody mindedness but a lot of it comes down to the attitude of the UMNO buffoons. I think I’m going to re-read Harry LKY’s “Singapore Story”…

I have just searched through my PC, and combed through what must be hundreds of photographs. I cant find a single photo of my father.

There are loads and loads of pictures of all sorts of people and all sorts of sceneries, including so many kiddo made, to line pages of her websites. None of my father.

There are also dozens after dozens of photos of Theresa’s brother’s family, especially those of his two young children, whom kiddo adore. Cant find any of my father.

Dozens of photos of kiddo’s friends, both in church and school. Not a single one of my father.

Dozens of photos of houses, schools, and other seemingly useless and inconsequential photos. I cant find any of my father.

Theresa and I woke up on new year’s day feeling like we need to go straight back to bed.

We had climbed into bed a little after 3am but neither of us could sleep. It has been that way for a while now – once we get past our bedtime, we’d find it so much harder to sleep.

We had been at Lynda and Leng’s place on New Year’s Eve, and did the countdown together with about 7-8 other families. The Chua’s were well prepared. At about 11.45, they took out a tray of champagne flutes and had them filled just before the countdown. They also had poppers, streamers and all other paraphernalias ready. It was a costume party theme and there we were, us as The Wiggles together with the cotterie of the usual suspects – the Audrey Hepburns, the Michael Jackson, the Santa Clause, the Jedi, Elvis, Sean Connery, Cat Woman, Hannibal Lectre, and even Shane Warne. All these bad impersonations had their glasses of champagne in hand as we tuned into Channel 9, countdown.

A few hours after waking up, Ing Tung and Chin Moi rang – it was 12.25pm and they were checking if we were coming. They had rang and left a message the night before but of course we were too stoned to notice the message which asked us to go over for lunch that day. My vegetable curry has found another set of victims, so we woke kiddo up and went over, for yet more eating. We caught up with Patsie and her family, as well as Clement and family and Chui Boon. By the time we got back a little after 6pm, we were so tired we just lazed by the tele.

I wondered, and still do, what this year would hold in store. As I spent time earlier this morning with God, I asked Him to simply be gentle with me. It was an odd prayer, clearly betraying my inadequate theology. I guess I need to know my maker more this year. Perhaps a little less costume or facade of being a Christian and more substance of knowing, loving and obeying my maker. That would be good.

This is the last dish I’m cooking for the year…a vegetable curry of sorts. It has always been a personal favourite of mine, as i love veges and curries. I have not cooked it before however, as kiddo doesnt touch curries and there is simply too many ingredients for a dish like this for just the 3 of us. I had to get

cabbage, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, cauliflower, tofu puffs, ginger, garlic, onions, mung bean vermicelli, bay leaves, coconut milk, curry powder, garam masala, basil, corriander, cardamons, etc….

I slaved for over an hour, peeling, slicing, chopping … actually this can be the best time of a day. I’d put on a CD, fill my glass with my personal “Chateau Embankment” (usually cask wine which I use mainly for home consumption as I stand over the stove) and just enjoy the cooking process.

For me, it is usually coming up with the idea for a dish which is the worst part. Once I have decided what I want to cook, the rest is basically a mechanical process and I’d just go with the flow, aided only by a glass (or 2) of red (or sometimes a white). I dont know what the end result is like, usually…just what I myself would have liked to eat. Something like this, perhaps.

Sorry, it should have read “New Cleaning”. I thought I’d be a little more dramatic. 2 days ago, we got rid of our old washing machine. It was a top loading unit which was recommended to me when I arrived in Melbourne over 2 years ago. I had never bought a washing machine in my life. When my wife and I got married in Klang, we moved into our new house and were given various prezzies which included a top loading washing machine. So when I got here and looked for a washing machine, I naturally looked for another top loader. The guy in the store told me top loaders have a “middle stump”, which wreaked havoc with your clothes. There was this unit which is a top loader without the middle stump, and it was cheap! The catch? It was branded “Centrex”, a Made in China immitator. It worked alright but in the past, say, 6 months or so, Theresa has been complaining that it has not done much washing for our clothes. On the odd occasion when I did the laundry, I thought she was right.

2 days ago, after advertising in the Trading Post for a few days, I got rid of the Centrex Top Loader, capacity 6kg. Aquired 19 Nove 2004, disposed 29 Dec 2006.

This morning, Theresa and I went again. We bought ourselves a front loader this time. A Bosch one. 7.5kg capacity. Paid a little for extended warranty so that for the next 5 years, we’d have less to worry. The lady at the store told us it was made in Germany. All Bosch products are, she said. She was a sales lady. She is expected to lie. We should have known. When it was delivered about 3 hours ago, and I did some installation work, I found a largeish sticker on the back. It said “Made in Thailand”. Liar you. Stupid us. Anyway, we had to go out to buy some groceries to cook a dish for tomorrow night’s New Year’s Eve dinner with some church friends so we didnt have too much time to fume.

About 20 minutes ago, we put the new Bosch 7.5kg front loader on. It’s spinning now. It sounds like James Taylor compared to the Centrex. Smooth, unpertubed, and sounds like it’s on valium. The Centrex had always sounded like it was always on crack or something more potent. Are Germans really more serene than the Chinese? Waiting now with baited breath, to see if the wash would turn out better than the Chinese laundry work…

More dinners

Last night we were at yet another dinner. Another pot luck thing, this time at Auntie Hooi’s. I did a tofu with chicken mince and prawns, which went down okay. No one got sick and only one person politely left the little piece on her plate untouched. Recipe:

400g chicken mince (approximately, based on “lift the bag and guess” weighing method)
For seasoning: Salt and pepper, five spice powder, basil, corriander, soy sauce, sherry (dry and sweet) sesame oil
Chopped onions and carrots (1 large one each)
2 eggs (beaten and mixed into the above lot)
500g tofu
500g peeled uncooked medium prawns

Method: just mix the seasoned chicken mince with the chopped carrots and onions and leave for about 1 hour. Mix the beaten eggs into the mince, and set aside.

Something about our relationship with kiddo has been gnawing at me. I feel, somehow, that we are at a crossroad and I need to think about this more deliberately and come up with a plan of some sort. She’s 12 going 13 and has started forming ideas and attitudes of a teenager. Yet she has the emotional needs of a child.

Last night, we decided to go out and rent a few videos. A stack of Video Ezy vouchers have been sitting around and would expire in a few days. As we browsed the shelves, the familiar divergence emerged again. Theresa wanted something fun and sentimental. She eyed Steve Irwin’s “Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course”. Little Bindy’s emotional speech at Steve Irwin’s memorial was still tugging at her heart and she wanted to watch something he made. She used to enjoy Irwin’s shows on Animal Planets, especially those episodes on individual animals’ plights in Australia Zoo. I was impartial to that and went with it.

Kiddo on the other hand, wanted one of those zany comedy that only teenagers (or perhaps I should say “mainly”, as I get the impression that Uncle Seng enjoys those as well) would find amusing. I told kiddo I didnt want any Adam Sandler rubbish. I never enjoyed his movies and I have never found him funny. I should have been more open minded, especially since what is important is how I connect with kiddo, not my taste and preference for movies and performers. I could see the disappointment and frustrations on her face when I said that, and I regretted it. We compromised and went for her choice of Batman Returns, the one with Danny De Vito as The Penguin. Again, for some reason, I never enjoyed the Batman movies. Not even with Jack Nicholson as the Joker. The one I at least enjoyed a little was the most recent one, with Christian Bale.

I went for the Maltese Falcon, having recently watched “The Brick”. I had watched Bogart’s Maltese Falcon years before but thought it would be worthwhile to re-watch this gem again. I think I’m the only one who is going to enjoy this.

When we got home, we watched Irwin’s offering, enjoyed it and thought we should go to bed. Kiddo wanted to go on with Batman but I was ready for bed. Theresa had gone to bed at various points during the Crocodile Hunter’s battles and was definitely for bed when Irwin signed off. I didnt think a dark movie like Batman would be good for Kiddo just before bed time and suggested we watched it the day after. She on the other hand, was adamant about watching it but this is where the connundrum lies: she wanted me to watch it with her. She knew I didnt like it, was ready for bed, yet she wanted me to watch it with her.

Kiddo has started becoming her own person. Yet she has the emotional need for us to be around her. I’m thankful for that. I made the effort to, but snoozed midway through movie. When I could stay up no longer, she watched it alone, but I know she knew I made all the effort I could, do be around. Small matter, I know. But…I need to pay attention to little details like that, make mental notes of them and act on them. I need kiddo as much as she needs me.