Ellipsis [...]

Khidhir’s 3rd birthday fell on Sunday, and we gifted him with a bicycle. Not a tricycle, you understand, but an actual (albeit miniature) bike complete with a basket, a carrier thing at the back & inflatable tyres! The next morning, his mum reported that he was zooming all over the house as soon as he’d gotten the hang of riding it, ringing the bell non-stop & annoying the heck out of his parents. Threats to remove the bell backfired when he simply switched to shouting “Riiinnngggg! Riiinnngggg!” as he flew around on his new mode of transport. Haha. Trust Khidhir to never shut up.

On Monday morning, he leapt (yes, LEAPT) onto my bed while I was still asleep, telling me all about how he sang “Happy Birthday” & blew out candles on his Thomas the Train birthday cake the day before. I asked why he didn’t bring some cake for me, and his reply was that it’s “only for Mummy, Abah & me to eat”. Cheeky little monkey.

It still continually amazes me how effectively bilingual he is, at three years old. By “effectively bilingual”, I don’t just mean that he knows the Malay/English equivalents of most words, but he could relate a story to me in English, and then later tell the same story to my granny in Malay. He knows when to switch languages depending on whom he’s speaking to.

Nowadays, whenever I catch him doing something he’s not supposed to, he’d sneak a look around to make sure his disciplinarian (i.e. my mother) isn’t within hearing distance. Then he’d offer a conspirational “Shhh!” indicating that I shouldn’t tattle on him. Sneaky little monkey.

First day of Eid was so-so. I guess it could be attributed to the fact that I haven’t been in the best of moods these days. I’m finding it hard to get excited over anything. Maybe I’m just getting old.

But still, I treasured the day. After all, when else do we have four generations of family members gathered under one roof. When else can we meet all those relatives we only see once a year. And when else do we get down on our knees & ask for forgiveness from our elders. To me, the best thing about Eid is that it makes you feel thankful for what you have. Family members around you, a roof over your head, a home-cooked feast, new clothes, new furniture & whatnot. As they become part of our normal lives, we take them for granted. I know I do.

Eid Mubarak or Selamat Hari Raya to everyone.

After a discussion with my parents last night, we decided that we’re going to downgrade to a smaller apartment. This has been debated for more than a year, but the decision was held back in favour of a wait-and-see approach. Various reasons have lead to our decision, but the bottomline is, it’s for the good of the family’s financial health, considering my parents’ age & the fact that my younger siblings still have years of schooling ahead of them.
Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t ask why my 연애시대 (Alone in Love) DVD and Japanese / Korean albums are there. (I’m just too lazy to put them back after I’m done with them.) My new school textbooks are arriving by courier tonight, so I’ll have to reorganise & make space on my desk. X_x

TA-DA!

Spacious, isn’t it? Perfect for spreading out all those papers & books when I’m studying or working on my assignments & projects. The situation got quite desperate last semester when I had all those papers to work on, so I decided that a revamp of my work area was in order. The desk still needs to be decluttered though, but that has to wait till I get a drawer unit.