a day at the movies with the kids..

I have just gotten back from the movies with my husband and two kids. The movie of the day was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs...quite a mouthful, so I will just call it "Cloudy". As with the previous movie, both our two little girls were with us- my eldest Ikhlas,4 and my youngest, Ihsan, 2 and a half years old. I thought I had learnt my lesson with the previous movie ( which by the way was the very cute G-Force) in which Ihsan spent most of the movie running around the aisles with me frantically whispering at her to si down. her elder sister ,Ikhlas was unusually well behaved, which I attribute to the fact that she was sitting on her Auntie Nafis' lap. Otherwise, she would usually be questioning everything that she saw in the movie until at one movie some of the audience members actually shushed her! ( she DOES have a rather clear high-pitched voice!) And so, today, at the Cloudy movie, I was naively wishing that the two sisters would behave better as it was a fully animated movie ( as opposed to partially animated in G-Force). But of course-NOT! Little Ihsan started chucking of her shoes and found the crawling space under our feet and in the gap of the rows of seats in front of us more exciting then the movie.I lived in peril of losing sight of her in the darkened theatre. Thank God she only started acting up about three quarters way through the movie. So, in between catching whatever scenes I could, I was also frantically looking out for her as well as...you guessed it- shushing my other daughter! Sigh....movies with kids are ANYTHING but the relaxing enjoyable thing it ought to be (in my dreams....maybe in another couple of years,huh?) but at least we all made it back home safe and sound and most importantly, with all shoes accounted for!

another tragedy occurs...

Just barely a couple of weeks after the tragic death of little Aaliyah Aiman, another incident involving children occurs due to negligence of the responsible parties. Unbelievably, 22 pupils from various schools in the district of Kinta Selatan fell into the Kampar River while on a camping trip for a 1Malaysia themed activity. The suspension bridge on which they had been using for the duration of the camping to cross back and forth between their camping site and a school for the purpose of meals suddenly collapsed at 10.30pm during suppertime. A student witness at the time had said that some of the children were jumping up and down as well as shaking the bridge. Following this, the bridge shook and then collapsed with the hapless students on it. The students were reported to be hanging on for dear life onto the suspension cables. Most of them were rescued by a security guard and a teacher, but some unfortunately were swept up by the fast current and carried downstream. Search and rescue operations were initiated by police, army and fireman as well as Rela, but none of the missing were found initially. The next morning, about 12 hours after the incident the first survivors were found. At the end of the first day of search and rescue, 19 students were found to be safe, and the body of a 12 year old girl was found. Two other students were still missing at this point. Their bodies were later recovered far downriver- about 15-16km downstream a couple of days later. As with any high - profile tragedy, a committee has purportedly been set up to pin- point and punish the culprits who are responsible for this travesty happening. But the question is..will justice truly prevail?

latest releases

I have been trawling through the entertainment pages looking at the latest releases- seems to be quite a few choices. I was going to see Surrogates ( latest Bruce Willis offering post marriage to Emma Heming) but I think it's out of the cinemas. Next on the list was Jennifer's Body, a wicked looking movie about a man-eating (literally) high school reigning hot chick, played by the seriously foxy Megan Fox. Then it's back to remembering Michael Jackson with the posthumous release of the recordings made of his planned concert - This is It. Afterwards, it's a couple more weeks til the most anticipated movie of the year - Twiligt Saga-New Moon. So many movies, so little time...heheheh.

why why why....aaliyah?

Yet another tragic tale has come to our attention. An innocent three year old girl by the name of Aaliyah Aiman was killed after being horribly abused by her mother's foreign boyfriend. Even more disgusting, the mother tried to cover up the crime by reporting that a maid had caused the death to the police. ( later it was discovered that they never had a maid in the first place) What is happening to this world? That even the young and innocent are victimised in the very presence of the person who should have had her best interest at heart- the woman who brought her into this world- her own mother. Sadly, the statistics have shown that the people children should fear most when it comes to the role of the abuser are their own family members and close acquintances. sad, but true. It is these very individuals in the position of trust that are frequently abusing the privilege and the right given to them to care for and nurture children. In the case of Aaliyah, I can't even begin to imagine what kind of a mother she had - to put her own illicit relationship above and beyond that of her own flesh and blood. Taking care of children is not an easy task, what more of young children, but if that person is not willing or not able, then the child should be given into the care of other people ( eg. grandparents) who would be more than willing to care for them in the way that they deserve. Stop being selfish and start being responsible. May Aaliyah be at peace after her short and tragic life here on earth.Al -Fatihah.

...and now for a bit of patriotism

As I have proclaimed underneath my blog name, I like to think of myself as a patriot. Let me elucidate what exactly i mean by that- I like to ponder about things that can be done to make us a better people and a better nation as a whole. This includes how to improve our lives,live safer and to that end,for now, my one grouch is about.....cars. As a rule, I consider cars to be purely a mode of transportation that takes us from A to B. Nothing more,nothing less. Other people, of course ( including my husband) view them as something else entirely. An obsession doesn't even cover it. More like a lifelong unrequited Great Love Story...why unrequited you ask? Because of what I have seen my husband putting into this obsession , the rewards are few and far in between.Tak berbaloi!!.Anyway, I will continue ranting about that in another blog entry( of which I'm sure many will empathize with me) but for now, back to the topic at hand.

Cars- that thing which most of us take for granted and pay through our noses for the privilege of owning, driving,parading, modifying, etc..is something which most of us will agree is an essential piece of our everyday living. This is even more so for the urban dwellers, as the public transport system is still woefully inadequate for our needs. Which amounts to the ever increasing numbers of vehicles on the roads- this despite the fact that Malaysia rates as a country in which it's citizens have to cough up a lot of dough to own a car...hugely due to it's massive import tax imposed on the cars ( and hence buyers). I feel that it's high time the Government ease up on the import tax, and allow Malaysians to own cars at a much lower price. This not only makes cars more affordable to the general masses, but also allows consumers to be able to buy cars which are safer and more value for money. Think about specific groups where ownership of a car is not only helpful but is a downright necessity- families with small kids and school-going children, families with elderly parents, disabled or even the sick. It is definitely not ideal for these groups of people to go around in motorcycles, for instance. You could argue that public transportation is available, but these can be restrictive and unpredictable ( buses, for example) and if used often too expensive for people to afford. Hence the need for cars which are more affordable and for better cars to be more accessible than to just the high income earners.

Gastronomic delights...

I have just returned home from a dinner/supper with my family. My brother had asked me along to this Middle Eastern restaurant he had been to before. i though, heck, why not? I haven't had that kind of food in ages and hummus sounds really good to me. And so we went off to this place called Restaurant Saba' in Cyberjaya. Boy, was the place packed!! that obviously brooked well for the rest of the evening, and suffice to say, the food definitely did not disappoint. We ordered the lamb hanith, chicken kabash, chicken shawarma, lamb kebab and of course, hummus. All of the dishes which were gobsmacking delish. I especially liked the chicken kabash( i may be misspelling this) The service was a bit slow due to the crowd, but otherwise bearable. The lemon juice I ordered as an accompaniment was also satisfying. I heartily recommend anyone who loves Arabic food to give this place a go. Definitely warrants a return visit ( or two) Added to that the delightful company, and I would say the evening went well indeed. Thanks to my big bro for the belanja :)

my 'hot' little organic surprise

I was doing some washing up today when i noticed something peculiar...it seemed that the little plant I had noticed growing out of the sink hole out in the backyard had actually bore some sort of fruit. Instantly curious, i set out to find out what it was. Lo and behold it was a little cili padi plant! ( aka bird's eye chilli) There was a bunch of 4 little green chillies, looking absolutely gorgeous and ripe to be plucked. I couldn't bear to harvest it though, but took out the camera to record this little unexpected bonus. . As you can see, it really is cute!! I think it's doubly ironic due to the fact I did actually try to plant some chilli plants but they all failed to sprout..and here that little plant made it all the way just by being caught in the sinkhole...with just the right amount of light, water and nutrients form the drain water. After I ( mistakenly) told my husband about it, he went out and took out the whole bunch!!( which upset me a little)and when we ate rice he tried it....boy it was HOT!!! I think the next time it fruits ( if it can recover from the damage inflicted by the hands of my not too gentle husband) I'll give some to my father who absolutely loves hot cili padi.

Life goes on...and on...and on...

And so life goes on..no matter how many big or momentous or stupendous things happen to a person the world still goes on doing it's thing. Kind of makes you feel humble when you think that everyone is expendable. Was watching a tv programme today that dealt with the issue of inheritance and what happens to the family of the bereaved, the formalities involved in dealing with this highly sensitive and delicate topic as well as distribution of the deceased property etc. They even had a well-known actress up there who shared some of her own ,very private, experiences I'm sure.Also, they had an expert there who seemed to know what he was talking about , form this company called the Wasiyyah Shoppe, which specializes in helping people make out their wills and then how to execute it. Being a mother myself, I'm inclined to think about the possible futures of my two daughters and their well being. We none of us know our own fates and it would be really prudent to be prepared in this matter even at a young age in order to ensure that any dependents left behind have the appropriate guardianship and adequate means to continue on their own lives. Morbid as it sounds, as parents we can't afford to be anything but practical.