Baby-sitting

I had a day out with my old buddies today, Jason and Shirley, and lil Rio. It was really good meeting up with them again. The last time they visited from Australia was about one and a half years ago. It was a day of shopping for them as they tried to buy their year's worth of supply here in KK due to the favourable exchange rate.

Rio giving me his most charming smile
in exchange for a sip of my iced Milo

After meeting up for breakfast in Damai, we went to 1B as Shirl needed to get her office wear. I found myself taking up the role of a baby-sitter to their lil tyke, Rio, and ended up at the toys section in Parkson. Rio went bonkers over the toys, the interactive TV games and the Lego set. It was so amusing to observe his reactions to all the colourful toys there. Since it was the morning of a working day, the store was literally empty and he had the whole section to himself.

An architect in the making

Playing Alphabet Park

Absorbed in the cartoon

A quick smile for the album
before quickly gluing his eyes on the TV again

After dropping Shirl off at the hairdresser's to get her hair fixed, we went to Citymall for lunch at Old Town and to hunt for shoes. My left shoe came off while in 1B.

Jason fulfilled his craving for Asam Laksa, Rio had a Strawberry toast while I had nasi lemak. The lil boy surely knew what he wanted when he ordered kit-chai ping (iced lime juice), much to the amusement of the waiter.

It was not a 'shoe day' for me. The few shoe designs that I liked did not have my size so I ended up part walking-and-dragging my left foot. Jason managed to buy a pair of sandals while lil Rio spied on an arcade and made a quick dash for the Daytona Race.

All too soon it was time to get Shirl. When Jason went in the salon to get Shirl, I taught Rio to praise her mom: Mom, you look beautiful!

However, we arrived a little too early and Shirl was not done yet so we had to wait for another five minutes.

So I asked Rio to repeat the line to his dad. Over-excited and smiling gleefully, Rio quipped: Mom, you look beautiful! What happened to you?

Jason and I laughed our heads off because it sounded so wrong! We corrected him and made him repeat the 'correct' phrase.

Poor lil tyke. I think he got confused because finally, when Shirl got into the car, Rio turned to her and said: Mom, you look NOT beautiful!

Hahahaha...

Kids say the darndest things.

Officially Missing You

This is a beautiful cover of Officially Missing You done by a pair of twins, Janice and Sonia. I thought that their harmony was really good and Sonia has done a great job singing and playing the guitar at the same time.

(Youtube uploaded by Jayesslee, Sept 28, 2008)

This song is originally sung by Tamia. While the twins sounded sweet, I feel that Tamia's voice is much richer and deeper.

(Youtube uploaded by TamiaWorld, June 12, 2007)

Love Story & Viva La Vida

(Youtube uploaded by onlinesuccess44, May 18, 2009)

However, because of copyright issues, Jon Schmidt rearranged another remix - Love Story meets Love Story.



(Youtube uploaded by carlosian2, Aug 28, 2009)

How cool is that?

Retreat: Oct 17 - 18

Waking up at noon last Saturday, I pottered about at home and took my time packing up my clothes for an overnight AWLT retreat at the Beringgis Beach Resort. It was the team's 13th annual retreat and my tenth! I only left home at 1.30 p.m. while the rest had gone up earlier at 9 a.m. for a game of paintball.

Here are some pics of the paintball session from Debs' and Wun2's cameras.




























Craving for really fatty food, I made a stop at Burger King and bought a BBQ Double Grilled Onion Cheese burger set that comes with free onion rings! The onion rings were superb! The crispy crunchers sent me down an aromatic memory lane. I think it has been more than 10 years since I last had BK's onion rings. The burger was delicious too.

Yummy! Nom nom nom...

Confession: I ate all of them while taking a leisurely drive to the venue, hence the turtle-paced journey. Definitely not recommended for fast-driving and amateurs. Note to self: Will not eat and drive, again...

I arrived just in time for the 3 p.m. indoor games session handled by Debs, Fifi (labeled by James) and Wun2. It was a smaller group this year compared to previous years' but nevertheless, we had great fun.



Yup, we found out that Uzbekistan is a country name that is hard to pronounce under stress and the three female musketeers thought that San Francisco is a country ;)



At 4 p.m., it was free time. Tradition has it that the boys and men will be in the shallow pool for a game of water basketball.

The boys warming up

Bel2 and Mel2 in the kiddie pool

Aww... cute Bel

Fifi's failed attempt down the water slide

The girls, as usual, snubbed me for a decent photo of them :P except for Wun2 :)

I went for an evening walk along the beach with Susie. It was windy and cooling. The cloudy sky protected us from the harsh glare of an evening sunset.

Serenity

A jet plane cutting through the sky

I returned from the walk to find that the girls had also joined the boys for water basketball. It was definitely a first for the team! They gave the boys a run for their money because they could play really well! Bravo!

Every year, someone is bound to be a victim in the fun but violent game because of kiasu-ness (fear of losing). One would think that the men would play and behave more gentlemanly since it was the ladies' inaugural participation, but no!

This year's first and thankfully, only casualty was Victor, who suffered a long, unsightly but fortunately, superficial scratch on his chest... *painful*


I had a dip in the pool too and stayed on with Wallace to shoot some rings long after the rest had gone. He was the runner when my shots strayed because this aunty was just too lazy to move much. Warning: You may call me aunty only if you are young enough to be my children :P

As I made my way to the function room after dinner, I passed by the lobby and saw this simple flowery decoration.

Samson led worship before we had another round of gelling time. It was a round of Michael's famous stretching and massaging exercise before Debs took over.










We found out that some of us are quite poor in relaying visual and audio messages but are decent 'actors and actresses' ^^ We capped the night session with some hot beverages, courtesy of James.

But the girls were not ready to call it a night as they visited Debs' and my room on the pretext of studying for school exam. Fifi and Nana actually brought their Maths books to the retreat for revision -.- Of course their noble intention failed miserably as they were soon enticed by Wun2's (the 'too free' post-PMR student) suggestion to play guessing games - white magic.

Debs and I also chipped in and introduced some games that we used to play when we were young from ages ago... black magic, 9-squares, Johnny woops, Mrs Pearson, pencil trick, blah... blah... topped with potato chips and more jokes before they left our room at midnight.

I dozed off soon after but woke up sometime in the night and couldn't go back to sleep. There I was tossing and turning for nearly two hours, I think, before sleeping soundly again. Both Debs and I overslept and only woke up around 8.30 a.m., with just another half an hour to spare for brekky. We made it nevertheless.

Sunday morning saw Samson leading worship, Michael sharing his sermon, all of us taking a groups photo and yours truly facilitating the group sharing. It was the time where we shared what we have learned for this year, how we can contribute more and our hopes for this team. It was also a short time of encouragement and I hope, openness.

After a buffet lunch, it was time to go home. The short retreat had come to an end.

Here, Wun2, the 'entertainer' held her audience captive with her black magic.

 
I was to send Nana and Wun home but the 'post PMR student' was itchy to make a detour to somewhere else, anywhere, before going home. We ended up going for roti canai. Surprisingly, Nana could finish what's before her and took another bite from Wun's plate! It was also Wun's first roti canai -.-

Nana finally posed for a pic. No choice, or else walk home ;)





Girls, sedap right?

Though not all of us went, those who did had a jolly good time. I know I did...


Something old, something new;
Of the past but mostly present;

Something revisited but not pining;
Not bitterness, only memories.

Distant Memories

unexpected, you found me
so long ago
it is a distant memory
an afterthought
yet when revisited
it seemed just like yesterday
sweet, with tingly warmth
unexpected, i listened
unsure, doubtful, complicated
yet strangely excited
as if anticipated



the fateful day
on the sandy ground
ocean roared
warm breeze kissed
my innocent heart



t'was so sweet
a promise
soaring like an eagle 
giving hope to the faint-hearted
yet only a promise
it shall remain
for it was never meant to be
 






two hearts met
in all purity
yet reality was firm
uncompromising
unflinching
unyielding
the chasm widened
what was never meant to be








only a memory now
it shall remain
t'was painful, raw
but healed by the sands of time 

on the beach
by the ocean
i remembered
sweet memories of years gone by
they are but now distant