Miss Hong Kong Feet

…seated 1 o’clock in front of me in church with her shoes off. 🥴🦶😮‍💨 Uh oh. Looks like it’s going to be one looooong Saturday Evening Service today. God, help me! 😫😷

You Can Run But You Can't Hide 💦

So, Penang is bracing for water cuts, starting tomorrow. Taiping, on the other hand, is known as the wettest town in Malaysia – rains almost every day, cloudy skies, beautiful lake gardens – it’s practically a walking waterpark. So what does Taiping Meeku do? Zoom on home today, of course! Strategic escape plan engaged. Goodbye, Penang... 👋 Hello, Taiping! 

But guess what she discovers???

 NO. WATER. IN. TAIPING. 

LOLOLOLOL!

I mean... You cannot make this stuff up lah. 😅😂

You know what they say about running from your problems, right? Sometimes, you just run straight into them. 😅😅😅 With a suitcase full of towels and a dry tap. 🤭

The Problem With Moving

Source: "The problem with moving abroad" by @destination_savvy

Saw this on IG today and it just summed up how I felt

when I was in the thick of planning my move back to Penang. 

No, I never lived abroad. Never had the chance. I studied, began my career and started my family in my homeland 🇲🇾, except I was a 3.5-hour drive away from the city in which I was born. 

Moving to KL at 17, I didn't think anything would change. I didn't feel the difference nor expect the divide when I left. I didn't foresee any detachment. I mean, I was born and bred in Penang! NRIC 07! I would always be a Penangite! And a proud one at that! 🫡

But still, it happened. This happened. 👆

It was only when I was preparing for my move back to my hometown a good 18 years later when I was in my mid-thirties, that the distinction between the me then and the me now became obvious. I realised that I didn't know how to move back home,... because home didn't feel like home anymore. 🫤

I left a carefree teenage student at the cusp of life.

I returned, a wife and a mother, and later a survivor, 

with a business to run and a home and family to care for. 

I can't explain it any other way. It really, really felt like time stood still the whole time I was away, and I had outgrown this life that once was mine. To be honest, Penang was almost unrecognisable. I couldn't get to where I wanted to go without Waze. (I learned to drive in KL. 😅) And even old friends had turned into familiar strangers almost two decades later. 

Still, I had to try.

Refamiliarising myself with my little island took a while. In fact, it took longer than expected, no thanks to Covid and the lockdown. And although I still miss my life and friends in KL so many, many muchness, 4.5 years later, I can finally say that I'm starting to grow accustomed to life back in Penang. 🏝️

I've kinda settled on my favourite hawkers, haunts, and hangouts; places where the aunties, uncles, and service staff know me, my name and my order well enough for me to sit down and just have the food arrive. (Every day go same place, eat same-same. 😆) I've rekindled old friendships and made new ones. But yes, I still use Waze everywhere I go; at least now it's mainly to avoid traffic. (Penang also always jam.)

Is this home? Well, my house here feels like home. 🏡 But beyond these four walls, I still have a ways to go before I can honestly say that Penang is, without a doubt, where I feel most at home at as opposed to anywhere else in the world. In the mean time, I guess this is my truth:

Penang is my base, KL is my escape and Family is my home.

Had To Stop For A Picture...

...because some afternoons are just

more breathtaking than others. 🤩

#seasunsky #islandlife #PenangIsland 🏝️

So. Very. Tired.

I've always said this:

"I don't want to survive cancer,

only to be killed by Covid."

Unfortunately, the journey from being "unvaccinated" to becoming "vaccinated" in Malaysia is a long and exhausting one. Even if you're being treated with a whole bunch of meds and have got a history of critical illness. 😞

Dermatology Wing, Penang General Hospital.

It feels like I've been everywhere today but have gotten nowhere at the same time. Stuck in some kind of sadistic limbo with clear goals in mind but none of them reached. Much like how it feels like the entire nation has been in a seemingly perpetual state of some form of lockdown or another for over a year now, but has far from contained the spread of COVID-19. 🦠 

It's taking forever for the elderly to be inoculated. (I'm told that in Penang, we're still at those 79 and above.) Vaccines are insufficient. (Private hospital PPVs are on standby but have yet to receive their share of the vaccines from the government.) Frontliners are overworked and tired. (My cousin is a dentist in Kapit and she's been put on Covid duty for awhile now; how crazy is that?)

When will the wait end? When will I be called? When will Malaysia achieve herd immunity? When will life go back to normal? Will life ever go back to normal? Aih. Who knows, man. Who knows. Am tired after today's runarounds. Body tired; brain also tired. Don't want to think liao.

A Moustach-y Movember

Hahaha. 🤣🤣🤣

This boy never fails to crack me up!

#neveradullday

I can't decide if he looks more like

Hitler 😠 or Sherlock Holmes! 🧐 

A Royal Supper

I'm usually a Quaker Life cereal or General Mills Cheerios cereal kinda girl. But tonight, I'm having Kellogg’s Special K – Queen Elizabeth's favourite breakfast cereal – for supper. Why? Because The Husband did his googling a few of weeks ago and discovered that Her Majesty – the world's oldest, longest-living and longest-reigning monarch – eats this particular cereal for breakfast.

Wiki tells me that...

She is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch. She is the longest-serving female head of state in world history, and the world's oldest living monarch, longest-reigning current monarch, and oldest and longest-serving current head of state. [Source]

And I don't know about how things are this year with this COVID-19 pandemic casting a dark cloud over 2020... but despite being 93-years-old, the Queen attended a whopping 295 engagements in 2019. 😱😱😱 At 93, ok!! Talk about living a long, active, productive and healthy life! She and Mahathir really can shake hand. #workaholicsunite

Anyhoo, I may not have perfect curls in white hair or paint my nails a pale shade of pink with Essie's Ballet Slippers, but what I can have is Kellogg’s Special K. Lai... Mai kong liao. Ciak!

First taste of Kellog's Special K cereal. It's not bad. Not bad at all.

The Hunt For A Double Scooter

A little over a week ago, the boys went to their friend's house for a playdate. There, one tried skateboarding for the first time, while the other tried double-scootering. After that one afternoon, there was nothing else I heard about for days. Skateboard-scooter fever was ON!

Decathlon was the suggested place for us to get a good quality skateboard. Unfortunately, it's sold out online and there ain't no Decathlon brick-and-mortar store on the island. 😩 #smalltownwoes So, it looks like JZ's gotta wait till Ah Ma and Ah Kong head down to KL. 

So, all I needed to get was a double scooter. And I have to get it ASAP cos I've got surgery coming! How to go scooter-hunting if I'm all bandaged up, right?? 🤕  Plus, I want the boys to be happily and adequately occupied while I'm in the hospital so they don't feel my absence. 😔 

The first place we went to had some double scooters but they were really old, faded and dusty. I wasn't going to spend a good hundred ringgit on that. The shop lady also said she didn't want to sell those scooters to us cos she said that they were old stock. 😅😂  #tautakpe

The second stop... BINGO!

*choir of angels sing*

Trying out the double scooter to decide if he wanted it.

After a few rounds of butt-shaking in-store,

JJ finally made his decision – "I want!"

After discount less than RM100. Not bad la. Can tekan brake summore. Plus, it was totally worth it after I saw how happy and excited he was. 😍 #happysonhappymom

It fit in the boot so I put it there.

But all the way home,

he occupied himself by playing

with the handles and brakes quietly.

 

And then, it got quieter...

I turned around to check on him and discovered that he had fallen asleep! 😴 Guess the excitement of the day wore him out. But even in sleep, he hung on to his new toy all the way home.

Keith Kee "Lady in Pink" Limited Edition Masks From MODA "Pink Merchandise" 2020

#PinkOctober has taken on more meaning now that I'm a survivor. Last year, I lusted after the pretty pink broaches they were selling to raise funds and bring awareness to breast cancer through #BAZAARPinkProject2019 but didn't end up getting one because... well, I just couldn't be bothered to try while undergoing chemo. Tired la. 😪 

This year, however, is a different story.

Malaysian Official Designers Association (MODA) has partnered with Estée Lauder for its Breast Cancer Awareness 2020 project and 20 "Pink Merchandise" by 16 local designers have been launched. 

The designers involved in this project are Ashley@kapas, Brian Khoo, Celest Thoi, Chee of GOCHEEKS, Double U by Jimmy Wong, Ellie Lim, Keith Kee, Key Ng, Kit Woo, Leslie Variyan, Lue Syn, Melinda Looi, Melson Kuala Lumpur, Stephanie van Dalen, Styled by Peter Lum and YULEZA by YouSheng. 

The concept is really interesting this time around as these items are sold in Campells Soup cans in eight vending machines that are located in five shopping malls – namely, Pavilion KL, MidValley Megamall, Sunway Pyramid, Avenue K, and MidValley Southkey in JB.

Why no Penang malls??? 😩 

Penang got survivors, too, maaaa...

Thank goodness last year, I happened to get to know Keith Kee through a mutual friend. 🥳😏🤓 So I got in touch with him and he so very kindly got his team to help me buy me his "Lady in Pink" masks! Collected them from Keith Kee Couture today. You see, you see... 🤩

Such pretty shades of pink! 😍

Based on what I can see on their FB page, it looks like "Pink Merchandise" sales via vending machines in those aforementioned malls have been extended until 15 November 2020 so, it's not too late to get your hands on these designer items that Breast Cancer Awareness, too! 

Prices are RM30 or RM50 per item and a whopping 80% of all sales will be donated to four organisations, namely the Breast Cancer Welfare Association of Malaysia, Cancer Research Malaysia, College of Radiology Malaysia and National Cancer Society of Malaysia. Go support, kays!

Back To Homeschooling

As COVID-19 numbers rise nationwide, our family has decided to return to a state of self-imposed semi-lockdown. 😩 At least for a week or two until the curve flattens. Or until people freak out enough to really start practicing the SOPs that have been put in place to keep us safe, like proper mask-wearing and adequate social-distancing. 😒

As such, after much debate, discussion and deliberation between The Husband and I, we finally sent an email to JZ and JJ's teachers informing them that the boys will be absent from school for awhile. That effectively means that it's back to homeschooling for us. Sigh. 😩 

Parenting is already hard as it is la. Top that with teaching your own kid and maintaining some semblance of structure, order and routine in the home where there are comfy beds, cool gadgets and boys toys aplenty... well, that's a real challenge. And experience dictates that just staying within the four walls of home gets increasingly difficult as the days go by. 

Really all the best to us la. 😅 

#homeschoolingsucks

Walking The Gardens In A Post-COVID-19 Era

Hi hi! This picture of JJ and I from this afternoon's walk was so very easy to post. Already naturally blog-friendly and pre-censored. HAHA. 😎😷

I tell you, I really dunno whether to laugh or to cry la with this #newnormal – haih. Dah lah, I hate exercise. Now, have to bungkus up half the face to meet SOP lagi. So, end up become super-duper, extra, maximum hot and cannot breathe. Really beh tahan. 🥵

But Penang Botanical Gardens remains as green, grand and glorious as ever. I wish I could say that the grounds were as people-free as seen in this picture but... no such luck, mates. Even at 3-something, it was already teeming with sweaty folk 🤭 all desperately trying to cepat-cepat clock in their exercise time before the real crowd arrives a little later in the evening. I just very clever to sim sim (that’s Cantonese for dodge or avoid) take photo. 😆

Run, my children!

Run wild and free!

Solar flare! 🌈 

I totally kena conned by the weather today la. It really looked like it was going to be cool and windy when we were still at home but nooooo... tipu wan. So damn hot. 🔥🔥🔥  If I knew it was going to be such a sauna, I wouldn't have suggested this for exercise in the first place. 🤐

A Peaceful, Misty Morning

Given that the land is blessed with an abundance of hills and seas, waking up in Penang often results in some pretty breathtaking views. This misty morn was no exception. ❤️ JJ spotted some low-hanging clouds in the distance while dressing for school and was really excited about it. So, we all stopped to just enjoy the calm of this cool morning for a bit.

You know how it is. School Mornings + Kids = Mad rush with lots of parental growling involved. 😅 So it was really nice to just put a pin on things, catch a breather, and enjoy the moment for a bit before the madness resumed. 

Before we let the busyness of everyday life

steal away the calm and quiet of the night.

And ruin the view moment. 🏞 

Yes, it was nice. 🙂

Storytime With Kong Kong – The Kampung Boy From Kedah

I grew up hearing stories of days gone by from my dad. Whenever I was in bed by 10.00pm, I was rewarded with a story. And each time, the story would begin in the exact same way... 

"Behind my house was a paddy field...

Behind the paddy field was a rubber estate...

And behind the rubber estate were some train tracks."

I enjoyed hearing all about how he caught fighting fishes and trained them to fight and win. About how he rigged his rubber seeds with candle wax so he could crack his opponents' seeds effortlessly. How he caught spiders amongst the trees and let them fight to the death. And how he (very dangerously) put nails and stones on the train tracks so they would go flying all around when the trains sped by. #donttrythisathomekids

Having said all that,

I'm so glad that last night,

the boys listened to their very first

kampung-boy story from Kong Kong.

Updated storytime experience for a very visual and tech-savvy next gen, of course, with YouTube videos of fighting fishes jumping out of the water and attacking each other, for added effect. 🙄

Stepping Out In Penang @ Urban Daybreak

I’m a creature of habit. I don’t try many things, and usually prefer to do what I’m comfortable with, where I'm comfortable at. Basically, I stick to what I know la – to what is safe. Having said that, I’m finally trying a new breakfast place The Husband found in Penang via the Internet, after living here for over a year now. 🍳🥞🥓☕️ #babysteps #newbeginnings

 

Three pictures is all you get. Cos after the food came, I forgot about blogging and just started eating. HAHAHA. #failmax Sorry la, it's been awhile since blogging has been a priority, ok. After having kids, I've come to realise that if you don't eat when you can eat, you lose your chance and don't get to eat at all liao until your next meal. 😆


Anyway, I didn't think my french toast was anything to shout about, the bacon 🥓 wasn't well-done enough (read: crispy and fat-free) for my taste, and I didn't like that there were cats 🐱 walking around, which the servers were patting between serving us. Ick! 😱 The peanut butter was interesting but not interesting enough for me to go back just for it. Oh, and parking's horrible in that area. 

One thing I would possibly go back for though? The music. Relaxing tunes played at just the right volume for us to be able to hum along to, yet quietly enough for us to still be able to chit-chat without having to raise our voices. This is ambient music done right. The place also didn't echo much so it's was nice and peaceful. And who wouldn't like some peace when the kids are in school, right? 😝 

In hindsight, I think not really my fault la. #excusesexcuses I came back to Penang with grand plans to settle in and reestablish my roots wan. But then cancer struck and COVID-19 hit. So, plans got put on the back burner for a bit cos it's just been a tough one year la. But now that I'm done with treatment (daily pills not counted 💊) I hope to be able to explore the many quaint cafes in Penang. One by one! Ini kalilah! 💪 LOL.

Freedommmmm!!

Finished my final radiotherapy today. Whoopee!

That's 15 + 5 scar-boost – DONE AND DUSTED!

Radiotherapy wasn't horrible, to be honest. But going to the hospital every morning for a whole month was a real chore. Real scary too, considering how the Wuhan virus outbreak got more and more out of hand as the weeks went by. I personally felt that the hospital wasn't doing quite enough to ensure that everyone – especially the immunocompromised like myself – were truly safe from those carrying any germs but... #MalaysiaisMalaysia la, right? Whatever the case, I'm really looking forward to having a break from visiting the hospital. 2 weeks off! Wheeee!! #letsparty

TOP 2019 Watchnite Service Testimony Mini Series – Part 3: He Answers Prayers

NOTE: This testimony is the 3rd of 6 instalments. Click on the links below to read the others that came before it.

• Part 1: God's Timing
• Part 2: Trust Him

So… what happened during the lumpectomy?


PART 3: HE ANSWERS PRAYERS

Well, the lump I had was 3cm in size. Not small at all, especially considering I'm not busty to begin with. But guess what? We discovered that, in spite of the size, there was no spread at all to any other organ or lymph node in my body.

Results of further testing on the cancer post surgery also showed us that the margins of removal were clear. That means that my surgeon managed to remove all cancerous cells even without technology present to double check her work before stitching me up again, unlike what they are able to do in Singapore.

Before surgery, we also prayed hard for there to be no spread so that the next steps would be simple, straight forward and direct. And truly it is as Proverbs 8:29 says – “when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.”

We thank God for His mercy and we are grateful that He marked out the areas for us so no cancer cell could go beyond the lump. This meant that I could go ahead with chemo right away without wasting time, or having to go through another surgery, which would have most likely been a mastectomy.

Truly, He is a God who answers prayers.

--------------------------------------------
Side Note & Additional Information:
--------------------------------------------

I really thank God for leading us to Dr Teh Yew Ching (my Breast Surgeon) through Dr Shaun Khoo Boo Hock (her husband – also a surgeon) via Dr Yeoh Chee Lim (my OBGYN) those many years ago – seven, to be precise – and praise God she turned out to be a super surgeon!

We really didn't have to second-guess anything that was said to us, and there wasn't even a mad scramble to find a good doctor to begin with. I see now that God led us to the very best doctors in their respective specialities to give us the best advice and care possible during crunch time.

Random Finds Along King Street & Church Street

Public payphone with coin AND prepaid card slot.

Spotted this while walking back to the car after our Tong Christmas cum Birthday Lunch @ Reve and just HAD to take a picture. My kids have never seen a payphone before! Sure, it's missing the most important thing that would indicate that it's a phone in the first place but... hey, that's what Mommy is for. 

Ring ring! 📞

This foreboding staircase sat right opposite the payphone.

And diagonally across the street...

Melsong and I being touristy.

Although I'm a Penang Lang, I've never taken a picture with any of these decals before. They were only erected in recent years, after all. (I is old.) You know what... After I'm done with treatment, Imma take the kids on a stroll along the Penang Heritage Trail. How can Penangite no see and no know Penang, right??

Grateful

...to those who have helped us get through the last few months, and have made this difficult time a little more bearable for me and my family as we survive one of the roughest, toughest seasons of our lives.

----------

Happy Birthday, Maricar.

Thank you for taking care of us,

and may God bless you always. ❤️

Kin Chi Bee Hoon @ Jalan C.Y. Choy

Turns out the Kin Chi Bee Hoon from last night was actually lousy. Everyone else at home who ate it also agreed that it was tasteless and just blah. So it wasn't just my tastebuds acting up! Haha. Memang lousy punya.


So, since I've got nothing but Kin Chi Bee Hoon on the brain, the Husband went off in search of Kin Chi Bee Hoon again for me tonight. Today, he went to Jalan C.Y. Choy to tapau on Papa's recommendation. Good call! Cos this totally hit the spot.

Soooooo yummy! 🤤

One packet not enough. 😅

Big Crustacean, Little Satisfaction, Minor Inconvenience, Major Frustration

Suddenly felt like eating baked crab tonight so I quickly called upon my crab kaki – Mee and Dee – and before I knew it, we were standing in front of an extremely bubbly aquarium at Northam Beach Cafe, picking a big, fat mud crab for dinner. Haha. 🦀


I know, I know. The Chinese believe that shellfish are "tok" (Hokkien for "toxic" or "poisonous") and that one with cancer shouldn't eat "tok" food yada, yada, yada. 🙄 But heck it la, no doctor of mine has said that shellfish is off the menu; only red meat and processed foods. So if crab is what I want, crab is what I'll hunt! (Hey, another rhyme! ✌️)

And boy, did I get a big one!

Big, right??? Mind you, this bad boy wasn't the biggest mud crab in the aquarium. There were a few others that were significantly bigger! But bigger = more expensive. So, no thank you. We decided to stick to a reasonably-sized crab with a price tag we could swallow. LOL. 😅😂

BUT... I so, so sad in the end!

The crab somehow didn't taste like I expected it to. Damn these blasted chemo tastebuds!! 😡😩 I mean, it was ok la. But it wasn't great. And for the price we were paying, I was expecting greatness. Argh! I only managed to down it when I drowned it with the leftover sauce from the Sweet & Sour Fish we ordered earlier. (Wah, I am on a roll with the rhyming tonight! 🤪)

Halfway through the crab, I pula felt like I maybe kinda wanted to eat Kin Chi Bee Hoon. So after crabbing, The Husband and I went off in search of some good, old-fashioned Kin Chi Bee Hoon at Kimberly Street. Balik balik... guess what?

Tak sedap also. 🤦‍♀️

It was just bland and tasteless.

What the heck is going on!?