another day in paradise

It was 11pm and we were having guests at home. I don't normally entertain whole families at this hour unless it's for dinner but this was an exception and all the reason more for the visitors to have made it earlier. They left at 11.30, I waved goodbye quickly and hit the bed after securing the snooze. The alarm went off at 2am. I did a quick stretch and continued with my morning chores. There was no time for breakfast so I settled for Nescafe. It was 3.15 when we left the house, the target was 3am but this is the norms when you get the whole crew to get ready simultaneously. The timing was appropriately early for their standards.

The traffic was clear all the way. Other than a few trucks and a handful of cars on the road, it was awfully empty. We reached LCCT at 4.15. After dropping them at the departure hall and giving specific instructions to head to the luggage check-in, I headed for the nearby parking. That too was a breeze as compared to my prior afternoon engagements here. 

I got a nice spot right opposite Old Town White Coffee and the stroll to the hall was pretty quick. It was not crowded as compared to the late morning rush. The bags were tagged and ready to go as I approached the check-in counter. As we were ahead of schedule, my dad-in-law wanted to get some US currencies. We tried the Hong Leong bureau but the rates were not so attractive and so we decided to try CIMB. The lady at the counter was very pleasant and we managed to get a good deal. As the seniors had to settle all their natural calling prior to flight, we decided to go to the gates early. After this, they will be engaged in a four hours flight to Chennai which was scheduled to depart at 6.15. My daughter was very emotional as she had not stayed away much from her Granny and the thought of not eating my mom-in-laws fried fish & not being fussed by the elders was a bit too annoying for her liking. She did air her grievances to them several times in the last few days; “Why can’t all of us go together during the school holidays?” We bid our farewells and they took the escalators up at 5.05. 

We cleared the parking by 5.15 and were home by 6. The ladies were pretty tired and decided to hit the bed. I did a bit of surfing while relaxing to the tune of Pink Floyd’s ‘the Wall’ album, then left the house for my jogging at 6.45. I wanted to do 8 laps but was too tired and managed to do only 6 that day. I completed the whole routine before 8 as planned. I then went back home to hit the shower before having toast with tea. After breakfast, I decided to read Gopal Bharatam's, 'Sayang' (courtesy of Ms. Mello) which has been sitting on my desk for about a week now. Mel told me recently about this book exchange programme. What happens is, upon completing your book you share the book title on the web with other aficionados who do the same. When you lock into the title you desire and the other person likes your book, you make plans to barter trade the item. It’s a super way to devour all the books you can without having to pay for all of them. The saving is not restricted to monetary value but imagine the number of trees you can save by re-cycling. If you ask me, it should be introduced in a larger scale in Malaysia...this idea must also be shared in schools & colleges extensively. The thought of forking out $60+ for a novel is not very appetizing to most readers. The authorities should realize that if you want the nation to read, you just got to bring down the price of books… I'd rather download a free e-book anytime. Mello's option would be a win-win situation for all parties concerned.

  

I couldn't read much but Ri's character was intriguing to say the least. I decided to take a nap at 9.30 as the dawn wake-up call had made me very tired by now. I woke up at 12.30pm and lunch was already on the table. It was mango curry, fish curry & mixed vegetable…yummilicious. I just lazed around listening to more music after that. 

the record book

There was a ‘KK Banting’ medical fare going on in Dewan Meranti Sg. Buloh. It was an all day event with free medical/ dental check-ups and many activities lined up for the kids. I made my way straight to the registration counter and enquired about blood donation. From there, I went to fill up the forms and take my vitals before giving a blood sample. The doctor ran through my medical history to eliminate the odds. I weighed myself and took the kit to wait for my turn. I was stretched out for a long time before the nurse came to locate my vein. It was difficult to find a spot on my left hand but I insisted it be done there. She gave up after some time and called for reinforcement. A senior nurse came and sorted the vein in less than a minute. I just lied back and watched the kids running around. I also made small talk with some children who were at my bedside to watch the blood sucking process. I was solely here to collect a new record book as I have lost the old one which carried a lot of weight as far as medical privileges were concerned. I feel they should computerize the record keeping because it’s not fair when you misplace a book after donating more than 20 times, the loss is too great then. It would have taken me about 15 minute’s tops to clear the blood-letting. I had a quick Milo and started to wander around there. There were many booths on the outside selling ‘nasi ayam’, cool drinks, tom-yam and other local delicacies. Alas, it started to pour and the visitors were clearly pissed with this new development. I hung around for a bit and headed back home. My daughter was gasping when she saw my arm and asked me what happened…so I explained to her what I just did; she was amused but frightened at the same time. We all sat down and had tea together. We were plotting our next escapade as the ongoing school holidays did not offer much relief to my daughter or us. The May-June break will be waited upon in anticipation from now on. She wanted to go to ‘Curve’ to chill out that evening and my wife wanted to get some groceries & household items from ‘Tesco’. So be it…let the evening begin.

We reached the Curve parking by 7.30pm. The traffic as usual was very hectic on the road near the malls as well as the parking inside. We went to the supermarket straight away to get the job done. That was sorted by 9. After sending the goodies to the car, we headed for the eateries. We decided to try ‘ThaiExpress’ for something different. My wife ordered rice & soup and my daughter asked for sweet & sour fish with rice. I went for Olive fried rice with chicken  & fresh black olives aka ‘Khao Ob Nam Leab’(King Chulalongkorn’s favourite dish-as stated in the menu). It was khao-khao alrite…all their dishes were excellent. We washed it down with mouth watery sweet sticky rice added with coconut milk & mango slices. Thumbs up for the food here folks, these patrons were truly content. Just to keep the rhythm going at the right pace, we slid down to ‘Chocolate’ to have some ice-creams.

I drove out from Curve at about 10.20 and the roads were packed to the brim, all the way to LDP exit. I took a slow drive after that to just enjoy the ride back home, away from my normal fast lane. It was not much of a school holidays but we did manage to do these things together and that is what matters in the end.

Bring on Monday quickly but do let it slide to Friday in a jiffy….