A little samey

May 12, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

My husband and I returned yesterday from a 5-day holiday in Khao Lak, a quieter tourist destination some 90km north of the more popular Phuket in Thailand. We met up with my husband’s friends, who had planned this holiday, a year in advance, yes, one year ahead. We’ve had other holidays with them. One in […]

Requests

May 5, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

I was enjoying riding and reading on the LRT until a gentleman took a seat in front of me. He whipped out his mobile, and single-handedly robbed all the other passengers, mostly me, of peace and quiet. A cap on, face down, he cranked up his mobile to full volume. A non-stop barrage of music […]

Climbing medical premiums

December 9, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

I didn’t pay enough attention to my medical insurance policy. I wrongly assumed that my already high premium would not and could not increase much more than it already has. It did. Apparently, it can and very possibly will. Again. And, maybe again. It all depends. I know insurance premiums are not fixed. They increase, […]

Generations

September 16, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

Last week I wrote about my mum and the Silent Generation. I wasn’t sure if my mum fitted the definition of that generation but the characteristics, generalised as they were, seemed to have generally fitted her. I’m still unsure because generational studies were mainly done in the United States. That said, as I am the […]

Premium chocolate

May 6, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

I can quite easily tell apart good chocolate from the mediocre and less nice ones. But I have real trouble differentiating good chocolate that I usually buy from supermarkets and sometimes speciality shops from the luxury, super-duper premium brands. As ‘they’ say, the proof is in the pudding. I’ve had some eye-wateringly priced ‘pudding’ from […]

Speaking up

March 25, 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.

I wanted a little more pressure applied to the soles of my feet. I deliberated. I contemplated. I then asked my masseuse to up the pressure from medium to a little hard. I was hesitant, yes. But only because I didn’t know where the sweet spot was. The fine balance between medium and a little […]

Sunny discovery

March 11, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

I finally managed to buy a long sleeve Ultraviolet/UV hoodie. Not quite a sun shirt, which was what I was looking for as my outer layer sun protection. Strangely, most shops that sell sports and outdoor products don’t seem to stock them in sunny Malaysia. Anyways, my online search for sun shirts was a learning […]

Dogs and cats

March 4, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

Niece number 3’s stories about her pet-children, Coco the dog and Zupa the cat, made me smile and go awww. My husband also smiled when I related the antics of these two animal species that are not usually friends or friendly. I especially liked the photo of Zupa waiting for Coco to return to the dog-and-cat […]

Holiday happiness

February 26, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

One sure fire way to lift sagging spirits or general malaise is a holiday. It works every time for me. Wide smiles. Happy hormones. Great anticipation of what can only be good things to come. Hopefully, sleeping more as I’m an insomniac. Hopefully, relaxing and worrying less as I’m a certified worry wart. The sooner […]

Getting back my jolly

February 19, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

Last week I wrote about losing my jolly. I’d identified the jolly stealers in writing in the hope of not thinking and giving them more brain space than I already have, and do. All in the hope of getting back my jolly. While I sort of knew somethings that could help, I still searched on […]