Train of thought

December 8, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

Last week, the plan was to write about trains. And, the trip my husband and I took from KL to Ipoh via the ETS or Electric Train Service. It got derailed by buses. I kid you not I had no plans to write about buses, especially as I don’t like them. The years of pent-up […]

Trains, not buses

December 1, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

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 […]

Happy events

November 17, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

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 […]

Vehicle spotting

November 3, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

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 […]

My mum’s celebration

October 20, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

It’s Deepavali today. I’ve been thinking about my mum for a while now. How excited she got at every Deepavali. It was her celebration. She said and reiterated how Deepavali was the main event in her life. Not Ponggal, Thaipusam or even her birthday. Nope, it was Deepavali. From childhood, all through her married life […]

Conversations

October 13, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

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 […]

Clean running water

September 15, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

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 […]

Collecting collectibles

September 8, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

They are everywhere. Almost. Well… feels that way. I first noticed them many months ago in a shop selling toys. Not the kind you play with. Collectibles, mostly. With dramatic features and expressions, they are cutesy and a tad creepy. Not in a bad scary way but in a quirky, appealing way. They made me […]

Taxes, aging, death…

August 11, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

Nothing is certain but death and taxes. Aging is also certain. If we don’t get hit by a bus or die instantly from a heart attack. Thanks to modern medicine, prolongation of life, the process of living longer is more certain than not. No so certain is the quality longer life offers. Aging is inevitable. […]

Pickleball tumble

July 28, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

I’ve felt dizzy, nauseas and sweaty, before. Singularly and all at once, at various times. But not quite like the way I felt at pickleball the Sunday before. I was all three plus blurry eyed, unable to focus and in agony. My wrist throbbed. Everything spun. Sweat ran down my face. And I was shaking. […]