Journey mercies

Since I've been left hanging in limbo for nearly 2 months pending my visa approval, the only option that I have to do is to go have holidays!

I went to Kuantan, Pahang for a week with some friends and for the first 6 days, roughed it out by sleeping in tents. The first night was the roughest as it was a little hard to fall asleep with the natural surround sound system of crashing waves. But the next 5 nights I slept like a babe.





But roughing it out only extended to sleeping arrangements, toilets and showers while for our meals we went to scout out all the best coffee shops Kuantan had to offer. Malaysians has not yet cease to amaze me with their love for food. It seems the #1 business here is the food business.

Labels: Travels

As we were passing some bridal boutiques in the car, my mind preoccupied with thoughts on how some people can spend outlandish amounts of money on weddings I said...

Me: If I ever get married...

Mom: What!?! Why you talk like that one?!?

Me: Huh?! Err... if I get married...

Mom: Not IF!! WHEN you get married!!!

Me: -_-

Labels: Random things

It has been a month plus since I first arrived back in Malaysia and rushed for my grandfather's funeral. I'm not too sure why, but I felt the loss of my grandfather much more keenly than my maternal grandmother. Maybe it's partly because he was the only grandfather I had, since my maternal grandpa passed away before I was born.

When I first heard the news of my grandfather's death I was in my office in London. I was in a small usually unused room in one end of the office trying to bring my flight earlier so I could make it for the funeral and Parm, an British-born Punjabi happened to walk by. He was hoping to have his lunch and read a magazine in that same room.

After letting me cry a little, he asked me to tell him memories of my grandfather, which made me cry even more and in my head I was wondering why was this idiot trying to make me cry harder.

But after that, I realised that there was something about remembering those who have gone before us that gives a degree of solace. I wonder what it is; I haven't put my finger to it yet.

As the days passed, more and more memories started trickling back to me.

I remember him bending down towards me when I was still a small kid grinning at me, wearing his usual boxer shorts that he always wears around the house and his hair always combed to the side with gel. I remember he would always rub his back against the pillar in the back of the house like a cat to scratch his back.

I remember he took me to my cousin KaiChi's concert and we sat in the front rows while we waited for her turn to come out to the stage. And I remember she came out crawling as she was supposed to act like a baby, and I jumped out of my seat and called out her name very loudly and pointed to her as I turned to look at my grandfather excitedly.

I remember we were at the back of his textile store and he grabbed my small hand to rub it against his stubble on his chin and I remember squealing because it was sharp and prickly. I remember sitting in the living room when he came home in the evening and he whistled like a bird. He could whistle so well!

I remember every morning and evening when he came home from taichi and work, I would stand at the grill door and excitedly shout out to him, "Yeh Yeh! Chou Ahn!" and "Wahn Ahn!"

And he would respond back with a shout and greet me in return.

I remember as we waited in the car for my grandma, he turned around and grinned at me and asked if he should find a new girlfriend, and I jumped up from the seat and shouted indignantly, "No! Cannot!" and he just laughed.

I remember asking him about the past, and he was recounting of WWII, where the bombs fell in Taiping, and of his arranged marriage with my grandmother, who he claimed was the second most fairest girl in town at that time.

I'm glad I have all these memories of him, and only wished I had more. I was crying so hard during the funeral, I felt my younger cousins trying not to stare but stealing furtive glances at me, looking a little puzzled as to why I was so overwrought. But KaiChi, who is my age and was raised in Taiping where my grandfather lived, came up from behind and patted my shoulder in understanding. It's a shame my younger cousins never got a chance to know our grandfather the way the older cousins did.

I'm glad for many things, and it has been a rather emotional rollercoaster the last few weeks with the funeral, and the visa and things. But today I feel a lot more at peace with things. I think I'm also partly tired of worrying about things that I have no control over. And the one verse that has been the cornerstone of peace for me is Romans 8:28 - "For all things work for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His will."

And God has not once proven Himself false to that as that promise has even stretched beyond the years of me being a Christian.

Labels: Musings

Last week I followed my mom to Malacca on one of her business trips. My mom's reasoning was, if I was just going to bum around in the house, I might as well bum in a 5 star hotel. Good enough for me!

Plus I've actually been wanting to visit Malacca because it's a really interesting town, with a lot of its historic heritage preserved, not like KL, which has erased a lot in its bid to be a modern urban jungle. More importantly and probably the real reason - to eat the Malacca chicken rice ball!!! It didn't disappoint!

Labels: Travels

When I was in my ex-company, I was promoted to be the team's CMO. Over a period of time, after buying a few cakes for different people's birthdays, a few people started commenting that I buy the best cakes ever. I started scouting around for good cakes after that to maintain that reputation. I doubt anybody even remembers me having such a reputation right now, but don't underestimate the power of bribing for goodwill in the office! It served me well then.

People would ask where I got such good cakes from and I would always give them a vague response because sometimes, you needed to keep your best resources a little more private so that it keeps you on top of the ball kinda thing.

Although I would like to keep this one my secret, I don't think it would be fair to Su Yin (she probably isn't really the best kept secret anyway). She is as sweet as sweet Ipoh girls go and I love reading her blog and be wow-ed by her amazing creativeness and very obvious passionate joy over what she does.

I can only see what she can do, not sure what it would taste like, but she was very very confident that it's yummy. She actually isn't as confident of the look of the cake as she is of the taste. If that's the case, I think it would taste better than just yummy!

If anyone is thinking of getting married and need a cake, she's in the midst of finishing up her wedding portfolio and is more than happy to have anyone interested in her work! Colin&Guatz?

My stress levels were oscillating throughout the last 5 weeks while waiting for my visa to be approved. What added to my chagrin was that the High Commission had very neatly barricaded themselves from being contacted with their stipulations and what not, and I'm not given any progress reports, no clue where the heck my application is and I can't do anything at all but wait.

Very x10 annoying.

Last week I was very anxious to get back to London because Bro O and wife was meant to be visiting me! A few days before they left for London, they thought of an alternative plan and different people to visit. Was quite disappointed as I was looking forward to their visit for a while, and of sharing with them what my life is like there. But I've had to remember that it's not always about me! I'm sure the other people they are now visiting will enjoy their company as well. At any rate, they will be staying a night at my place though I highly doubt I would be back in time for that.

Shanx2 will no doubt bring up the topic of how I'm always never around when my friends come to visit me.

So yes, visa application was delayed because of a SYSTEM FAILURE. I could strangle necks for a lot of reasons, but I'm just so happy to know for certain that things are finally moving that I can be a little more gracious about the situation. They have also called me for an interview with the High Commission on the 27 Nov, which is a very long time away and I've requested for it to be rescheduled sooner, but I reckon that there is a huge backlog for applications to be cleared as I've heard from the grapevine that visa applications in Singapore are being sent to Malaysia as well, but then that doesn't make sense does it for applications requiring interviews.

Anyway.

Friday was a good day because things just began to fall very nicely into place. Worries in regards to work has been put to rest with certain news my manager shared on Thursday night. I now have an idea of when the latest I should be able to leave. I'm apparently missing a bizarrely cold spell in London where it snowed during autumn! I'm enjoying time spent with parents and my best friends and now I can even happily plan for having a nice beach holiday now!

Oh yes... now I can fully enjoy my time off!