Money or passion …

Money or passion? Interests or needs? A few weeks ago, my husband and I had a good morning at an exhibition by students from a local art college. They were from the illustration department, and they put on an enthusiastic ‘show and tell.’ From the exhibits, we saw that much thought, effort, and time had […]

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Trains, not buses

I like trains. Buses, not so much. I’ve taken buses most of my life. To school in Alor Setar and whilst I was in university. For four years, I did a four-state hike of Selangor-Kuala Lumpur-Penang-Kedah. I travelled every three weeks, on a Friday, from Bangi to Kajang to Pudu Raya to Butterworth to Alor […]

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Online, they or them

Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes it’s not.    And, I’ve wondered if it was/is I or me or ‘they’ or ‘them’ that make it not easy. To start with, it’s not easy to buy presents. For siblings. As they get older, they don’t want/need too many things. And, I don’t want to add to their clutter […]

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Happy events

My husband and I were invited to two graduation ceremonies. The graduates were my nieces, number 4 and 5, brother number 2’s daughters. Coincidentally both sisters had their graduation in early November. One on the 1st, the other on the 13th. 1st November was niece number 5’s big day. She got a First in Mechanical […]

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Lift pain

One of my phobias happened. Twice, in under two weeks. I got stuck in my condo lift, and I don’t like confined spaces. I live on the 30th floor. The first time, the lift stopped on level 25. My destination was level 7. Fortunately, the lift door stayed open. I immediately got out and walked […]

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Vehicle spotting

I am not the most observant person going. I remember my mum asking me if I had seen this or that person wearing this or that, usually jewellery or something fancy or new, and nine out of ten times, I wouldn’t have/didn’t. She was flabbergasted at my ‘ability’ to not notice people and/or what was […]

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Sirens and security

I live in the city centre. I hear them all the time. Night and day. I thought I’ve heard it all. Not quite. Last week, the sounds and frequency of sirens went up many notches. They intruded my airspace as if they were on a timer. I did not clock them but they screamed regularly. […]

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Conversations

I’m not a talker or so I tell myself. I considered if that was true. I do talk. I ask questions. I engage in conversations. At work or rather when I used to work, I was vocal and I was heard. As a journalist, I asked or shouted out questions, depending on the situation. One-on-one […]

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‘What to do’

‘What to do’ is my perennial lament. I have wondered this aloud many times. Usually for matters that are outside my scope of comprehension, beyond my control or just … don’t know. And, they can be stuff that happen at the micro, personal level or the macro, national or global level. Anyway, I say this […]

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Clean running water

My husband and I officially moved back into our condo yesterday😊. We’ve been moving in since the first week of September, when the last of our ‘replacing-our-water-pipes-cum-renovation’ was finally completed.   Briefly, for most of the 18 years since we moved into our condo, we’ve had to endure rust smelling, yellowish, trickling water from our […]

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