Belated Birthday-Do

Today was very hectic as the Fabulous Four got together at the Wise One's (WO) house to complete a project that we're all working on together.

In short, this cooperation thought us much about working together and meeting deadlines - in a nutshell, there was good and bad that came through the colloboration and we'll no doubt use it to improve ourselves further.

What came totally as a surprise to me is that the Prominent Three decided, on their own and without my knowledge, that they'll do a small-time but very meaningful belated birthday-do for old me.

Surprise, surprise - they bought me dinner at Pizza Italia in Taipan, USJ and even got me to cut a small but really, really cute cake! How's that for a birthday celebration? Fantastic to say the least - nothing comes close to this cosy celebration I had among beloved pals and not to mention (ahem, ahem)...the guest of honour of the event, the Scandinavian Prince, was also present to witness the cake cutting ceremony.

It was a bash of a kind - filled more with love and true friendship rather than loud noise and merry making. This is my kinda birthday celebration. Quiet but meaningful. Simple yet captivating. Small scale yet grand in its own way. A party in literal sense it may not have been, but above all, this celebration was a gift of love that no other birthday parties could match against.

Thank you Ms.Wise One, Ms. Little One, Ms.Cranky and not to forget the ever so charming Scandinavian Prince himself - thanks a million!

Inactive

This certainly has not been the most productive of times for my blogging activity.

Something that I'm working on together with the Prominent Three is taking up much time and effort. Thus, much of my attention is channeled there.

Whatever it is, this is a pledge that I haven't completely forgotten about my blogging...will get back in here soonest possible!

Turning 24

Ah well, this is one of those self-birthday blogs.

Don't get it?

Well, it ain't that difficult to understand really - I just turned 24 today.

In other words, oh yes, its my birthday (and no doubt I'm older!).

Shall blog about all happenings today much later.

Coincidence?

After my assignment this morning, I met up with the Scandinavian Prince for lunch and he subsequently dropped me off at work.

The strange thing about today is in that brief hour I spent with him, both of us experienced a strange incident which can never be described better than to just term it as pure coincidence.

But after everything is done and over, I'm actually asking myself if coincidence it was? I don't wish to eloborate on the particular incident which happened today but suffice to say that it was one coincidence we hope never will repeat.

Meera's Birthday

Today is my good friend Meera Menon's birthday. I had sent her an e-greeting to which she replied saying "Thanks...can't say I'm going on 30 anymore!"

Hint, hint, I wrote Meera's comments here to remind myself that I'm way younger than her (wicked me!).

Anyhow, I'd just like to dedicate this blog for her and wish her all the happiness and love that she truly deserves from the Almighty for a truly blessed life.

Happy Birthday, Meera!

Baking @ Home

Today was a hell of a tiring day as all I did at my brother Suresh's house was bake cookies.

Yup, his wife Boo and I teamed up to bake two type of cookies in preparation of the upcoming Festival of Lights on November 11, 2004.

We started baking at about 11am and only finished some 12 hours later...boy, were we tired!

Scandinavian Prince in Penang

Am feeling a little down due to several reasons today. Earlier this morning, a scheduled interview with a property consultant for my upcoming article got shelved due to the interviewee having something urgent to attend to at the eleventh hour.

My mom and dad paid a visit to the dentist to fix their dentures (yeah, I'm thinking about how frequently I'll have to visit the dentist myself when I reach old age) and spent close to RM600 in just one visit this morning.

But the real reason I don't quite feel chirpy and up is because my sweetheart, the Scandinavian Prince has flown to the Pearl of the Orient...Penang Island for a Honda car launch assignment.

He'd be away today and will return to chaotic Kuala Lumpur by mid-day tomorrow. Though it seems like only a few hours of being apart, I have to admit that I do miss my Prince very much - thanks to the fact that we usually meet for only a couple of hours daily after work. Most times, our meetings are restricted to when he sends me to work or picks me up on the way home:-(

I guess I can only be patient and anxiously wait for noon tomorrow but then again, I'd most probably only be able to see him later in the evening after work as I have my scheduled interviews to conduct. Patience in this sense is a virtue that I must exercise I suppose...what much can I do?

Oh yes, I have my annual staff appraisal scheduled to take place at 4.30pm today as well - my editor will be appraising me for my performance this year which might / might not translate into monetary returns. I'd only know that the outcome is positive if I ever get a letter from the Human Resources Department informing me of a pay rise, in like months from now. This is probably adding to my feeling low today, too.

Hectic Saturday

The weekend was not planned for but things just happened and it turned out to be a tiring but time was well spent.

Saturday morning involved dragging the Scandinavian Prince to go see the dentist to have his tooth extracted - he had developed an infection for which the dentist had erlier given him five days worth of antibiotics to reduce the swelling and pain to ensure a smooth extraction.

However the scheduled extraction did not take place and the Prince continues to feel the slight pain whenever he consumes cold water and other frozen food.

Then, after eons of not having had the opportunity to wake up to a lazy Saturday and have the typical Malaysian breakfast of nasi lemak I finally had the chance to live the 'dream Saturday' by having nasi lemak at Kausi Restaurant in Bangsar Baru in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Soon after breakfast it was lunch time. The Prince and I religiously followed my brother Suresh Ramasamy and wife Ms. Boo to have lunch at Wangsa Maju - it was generous helping of banana leaf rice with ample vegetables and fried chicken. Now that my tummy was so full that I felt I was about to burst, we reached my brother's apartment and I took a cool shower in the hot afternoon. Ideally, the shower would help me sleep well in such weather but we had a different agenda for the day.

While I took a sneak to the shower, the Prince helped himself to a short nap and the couple watched Austin Powers while trying to figure out where the Unilever warehouse sale was taking place in Subang. We didn't have much luck in tracing the address of the warehouse sale but we did something more exciting.

Once done with my refreshing shower, the four of us headed to Klang's Indian town to have a look-see at the Deepavali goodies on sale. Clothes were the biggest attraction but my sister-in-law (SIL) Ms. Boo did manage to buy a few stainless steel kitchenware goods for the house.

We basically strolled along Jalan Tunku Kelana while passing by the many outlets showcasing the latest sarees, salwar kameez, lenghas, kurti tops and other traditional outfits that are specially imported from India for the festival of lights that is scheduled on November 11, 2004.

At one end of the road, the four of us discovered a shop which appeared like it was just open for business recently and boy, did they have a good bargain that was reasonable. The outlet had many beautiful traditional Indian outfits for both male and female that was on sale at 50% discount price. We didn't buy much as Suresh was rather tired and wanted to return to Kuala Lumpur so that he could go for his weekly pasar malam vegetables and fruits shopping. SIL Boo bought a blouse and I got myself two - it was a good bargain to say the least. The Prince and Suresh got new bath towels at a cheap rate.

On reaching Suresh's home at about 8pm, I quickly showered again and got ready to meet Prince and head to the temple. That is our Saturday evening routine that we try to fulfill every week but this time it was a rushed prayer since the temple was almost closing when we were finishing our prayers.

After temple, the Prince and I headed to the SS2 food court in Petaling Jaya to buy dinner for us and the couple who were resting at home - Suresh, Boo and I had prawn noodles while the distinguished Prince had his favourite Penang char kway teow. We had dinner close to midnight and proceeded to watch a Tamil movie on VCD. And the day ended with each of us feeling extremely tired, looking back at the unplanned activities that we did for the day:-)

Cut By Mistake?!

I've read numerous news that are similar to the one you can read here http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtmltype=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=6406472.

And I'm pretty sure you'd agree to what I say. There ain't much I wish to blog on this but I bet my every penny that this is one mistake we don't want to make or see four ourselves...yikes!

Handle with care - both the news piece and everything else that you come in contact with that has a potential to be cut off by mistake (no offense please, this is not written with a bad sense of humour even if you may want to take it that way).

ProCreating With Responsibility

Honestly speaking, this is a serious issue if one is to look at the rate of newborns being found in rubbish dumps, women resorting to hazardous forms of abortion and the increasing number of people who do not want to be responsible for bringing an innocent life to earth.

For a person who is little well versed and never well read with world matters, I didn't even know that laws requiring one to pro-create with responsibility was in place in some parts of this world - in a way, it appears that this is a blessing in disguise.

It helps put some form of responsibility through force and as this article reads http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=6377739 - chances are, it could also have adverse negative effects when such restrictions are exercised at the wrong time and place.

This blog is not a comment on the article posted above - its more of my own take in view of the issue of pro-creation with responsibility on the whole. When I sent this article to a friend of mine, she just sighed and said, "If only these laws are in place in this part of the world, we probably can solve a lot of problems...some natural ability bestowed by God to mankind only works to the best of our interest when it conforms to some control that is legally enforceable!"

Such strong reaction was not limited to my female friend alone, it was received with equal concern and agreement from the male counterparts.