Friday, December 23, 2005

Roses Are Among My Favorites!

I haven’t been showering much attention to my Plants for the last couple of weeks, mainly because I was missing in action.

But last nite when I reached home late around 10.30 pm, I saw some wonderful roses blossoming.

Early this morning when I was about to go to work, I finally had a chance to look at them carefully and saw some stalks of really huge bloom, like those Grade A ones from Cameron Highlands. I just wished I had a digicam now to capture them all.

I cant exactly figure out which rose family they are from, but I simply love their fragrance. They do look like from the Margaret Merrils, Teas... I recall there was one called Peace. Their colors are mostly ranging from light pink, peach, various shades of red, lilac.

Thanks to the rainy season which has made my life simpler. The roses have been getting enough attention!

I wonder if my parents will have the opportunity to see them in full bloom. They are coming over for the Christmas this afternoon!

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

The Unexpected and Expected...

It is funny how December always makes me feel bewilderingly good and extraordinarily cheerful.

I guess it all started with the wrapping of presents for my family members and some friends middle of November.

Then early last week, my buddy called up and gave me less than 24 hour notice of invitation to pay Singapore a 3N/3D visit! I had my frantic arrangement last Monday to get my work out of the way before I fled to meet a friend to bring her to a fengshui shop. We went zig-zagging all over the blocks of buildings, and after spending like 15 minutes under the hot sun and numerous calls to my colleague, I finally brought her to the right place. I had to leave her there after about 15 minutes as there was still some work left in office. I also managed to get some money changed for Sing Dollars.

I left for home to pack around 4.30 pm. Did some light gardening, felt like cleaning the toilet, wrapped more presents for my friends in Singapore, then had my shower and instant noodles, oh, of course my juice too!

By then it started to rain like there was no tomorrow! I couldn’t decide to take a cab to the airport or go to Sentral Station to catch the super train. I decided to give the train a chance. Got my youngest brother to drop me off at KL Sentral. It was a most impressive experience for me, I mean… it was convenient and efficient, tho a family of 3, 2 pear-shaped middle-aged women and a teenage girl who looked so enchanted by her surroundings squeezed beside me the entire journey.

The lights in Orchard Road were amazing, and definitely made me felt like on top of the world. Then I realised I left my old camera on my bed at home.

I managed to catch up with 3 good friends over the next 3 days. We had lunch/tea breaks when I got tired. There were endless dresses and handbags that I was struggling to buy but I had to clench my teeth and just picked a few to bring home with me. 1 bought me a dress, 1 Issey Miyake perfume, and the other a music box from Hokkaido during her recent holiday. It was most kind of them as it was really last minute and they all managed to squeeze some time for me.

Oh, my poor worn out shoes, I intended to get it replaced in Singapore but in the end decided that with the equivalent amount of money, I could have got better, nicer ones back home. My old shoes must be glad I dint leave her behind. Almost!

Then, over the weekend, we had our Family Day! It was a relaxing one this year round as compared to the previous 2 where we had a back-to-back activities to catch. This year’s focus was on the babies. A good friend sponsored a specially home-made carrot and walnut cake for my family, it was so popular that we dint leave anything behind.

My mom made each of the family members a matching “his and hers” Bermuda pants, including the babies. She had her fair share of frenzied moments, busy with sewing altogether 12 pairs last minute. Could imagine her cold sweat and panic the last couple of days before the trip! We were all impressed with her fine work of creativity and sewing techniques.

Dad was cool as he conveniently got his daughters and daughter-in-law a pair of thongs each, while the sons got some working socks and sons-in-law 6 sets of china bowls each with the infamous chicken motifs.

All in all, it has been an exciting and most pleasant month for me!

Hmmm... less than 10 days before 2005 is over *ponder*

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Flying Cockroaches

A friend inspired me to write about this after I received a forwarded mail from her.

Apparently, cockroaches that fly are pregnant!!! Like my dad, I freak out whenever they give me a visit. This is normally followed by my frantic search for the insecticide, then continuous spraying in cold sweat with heart beating non-stop, til the fellow collapsed. For assurance, I will spray directly onto it for another 10 seconds or so after it stops moving.

The write up also said that we are supposed to burn it otherwise the eggs will continue to hatch, nor are we supposed to flush down the toilet bowl unless we welcome the idea of them crawling out in a group of babies in time to come.

Some years ago, I had a very entertaining PC baby ape who taught me that cockroaches can survive up to another 2 weeks even if their heads are being chopped off. I cant quite recall his name, Bongo perhaps. He disappeared from my life after I left my former job.

Maybe... maybe in my previous life I was an insect or something and those cockroaches were always attempting to eat me, so in this life, it becomes a hostile and intense struggle whenever they are near me!

Yuckh!