Just one Sunday

“You will live till 77. Whatever illness you were suffering from the past few months will be over. You were going through some problems but that’s all in the past. From here on your life will be smooth. Family relationship all okay. You very clever to spend money! But even though you have difficulty with your savings, financially you are okay. "

That was the prediction given by the Indian tarot card reader to SooSan at The Curve.


SooSan and the seer ...

Let me start from the beginning…. Ha! Force me to blog, I very cheong-hei one!

E had planned to meet up with an old friend in IKEA on the Sunday before Deepavali. She invited me along since she found out (and to her utter amazement!) that I had NEVER stepped into IKEA. (Jinjang Joe). We asked Pauline to meet us there so we could have dinner after that. Since the car had room for 3 more, E asked her other sis-in-law ie. Mrs Lee, Li Cheng & SooSan to come along. (She said these people all very free one and true enough all said okay)

The day before, E had a bad case of food poisoning … simply eat la. When I sms-ed to ask how she was that night, she replied that she had slept the whole day and was going back to bed again. I had my doubts that she would be well enough to go out the next day and I thought to myself, perhaps its not my nasib to visit IKEA lor?

The next morning, surprisingly E had recovered enough to make the trip after all. It must be the thought of “a good dinner” that revived her?? We all know how she feels about food, like plants crave the sunlight and bees to flowers.The malu-fying thing was, E told everyone we were going for a good dinner but she omitted to tell them that we were only going to a food court!

I learnt that Mrs Lee’s daughter, Hui Hui had decided to join us oldies and they drove up earlier with Li Cheng so we only had to pick SooSan. On reaching IKEA at about 4.00 pm, E went to meet her friend.

I stood at the entrance with Pauline and SooSan and was awed by the crowd going into IKEA. The two of them didn’t mind if we skipped IKEA altogether. (So its back to me NEVER stepping into IKEA before, again.) The other 3 had already made their rounds and were having drinks at Starbucks. We opted to join them since Pauline and I were each dying for a smoke.

As it got shadier towards the evening we took a walk at the flea market hoping to find bargains but there were none. Call it a flea market yet everything was so expensive!

We leisurely strolled the Curve and came across a few booths promoting goodies for Deepavali. Among them was this Indian Tarot card reader. Mrs Lee told us that she has had her fortune read many times in Klang where it costs about RM 5.00. The rate was double here. We stood around like busybodies, trying to eavesdrop on what his translator (a pretty Indian girl) was saying to a client who eventually bought a horse-shoe along with some incense from him.

After much nudgings and encouragments, SooSan sat down for a reading. A little green bird (so cute) came out of its cage and picked a card that would fortell her future ... "you will live till 77 ..."



the little green bird ...

Mrs Lee made Hui Hui sit down next. Little bird, like clockwork, came out, picked a card then went back to its cage. All ears strained to hear what was in stored for her...

“You will live till 72.” And then…. “Even though there are obstacles in your marriage, it will happen. It is actually better for you to get married later but don’t worry, it will happen soon.” By now, Mrs Lee’s face was all aglow and she couldn’t help but asked, “will the boy come from near or far?” He said through the translator “that I cannot tell you but I can tell you, you will marry for love.” (Mrs Lee seemed to be floating now….) You will have lots of money. For the moment you will stay at your current job. Maybe next year there will be changes… Your family members all very close but after marriage, relationships will be even better…. “

who more excited .. Mrs Lee or Hui Hui ??

I suggested that Mrs Lee sat down for a reading. She could ask the fortune teller when to expect grandchildren but she declined saying that it didn’t matter. We went off noticing that there were quite a few Chinese queuing up after us … They too were eavesdropping during Hui Hui’s reading.

Soon after meeting up with E and after Hui Hui and I had each bought 3 shirts each, we left and drove to 888 for dinner. Dinner was followed by drinks at a mamak store. We parted ways at about 11.20pm and I accompanied E to pick up her dad from a depot somewhere in Damansara. He was coming back from Singapore.

It was 1.00 am when I reached home. I was tired but happy cos’ I came home with new clothes and most of all, ahhh.. I thought, what a pleasant way to spend a day.

F

The Hymn that touched my heart

My sis chose this hymn to be sung at my mum's funeral mass and it's been stuck in my head ever since. The first time i heard it at the chapel, it brought tears to my eyes. But i loved it immediately. At my mum's funeral mass , the first hymn that was sung was this one as well. And my brother turned to me in the middle of the hymn and clutched my hand in his , smiled with tears streaming down his eyes and nodded his head, as if to say Mum will love this :) And it chocked me up as well.
This morning i woke up and decided that i am brave enough to watch the video of my mum's funeral mass. And i broke down again . It was good therapy tho cuz i was starting to feel guilty about not grieving more when my dad and brother seems to be taking it quite hard.
I listened to all the songs we played at the wake today and it felt good to have another good cry! but this one still ranks as my fave.

Eyes filled with tears

In Loving Memory of my Mother

Born on the 29th May 1932, my mother , Beatrice Tan Cheng Bee was called Baby! With a baby doll face and the fave of her dad, she grew up into a beautiful girl and later an elegant woman. Her natural maternal instincts made her give up her job and dedicate every single moment of her life to being a wonderful mother. I have so many memories of her ~ she was a very hardworking housewife who cooked up fantastic dishes that all my friends marvelled at and savoured up till our plates were clean. Sweet as she was, the disciplinarian in her didn't let us get away with any nonsense!! ( even tho i did try several times to outsmart her but she still caught on !!) She was always there for me ,being extra strong when the baby of her family ( me lah!) had to venture to the east coast of the peninsular for the new job! I heard her cry in the night and my dad hushed her up for fear that i would hear! She was there for me thru all my casual and serious relationships , giving me advice on how marriages work, and eventually how to care for my own babies. Needless to say , she was the best grandmother any one can dream of for their children and mine were the luckiest. She was always a friend to her children and her grand daughters. When the IT age came , she surprised us immensely with her ability to catch on and we spent endless hours almost every night on MSN , chatting and having our laughs online.
For the past year tho , she had started to weaken and eventually she couldn't do all the things that she loved . It pained us to see her this way and even tho we know she is in a better place now with the Lord , our hearts still ache for her. We miss her every single day but her love will always shine on us and she knows that we will love her endlessly till we meet again in heaven.

We love u , MA...always and forever.

E-mpty without u!

Trip to Tg. Sepat

Let me blog about this trip while its still clear in my mind! We just got back slightly more than an hour ago. I am tired but had a good time in Tg. Sepat.
This was kind of an impromptu trip. We didn't spend much time planning this event. F had always wanted to go back to TS (Tanjung Sepat) ~ i think she is only interested in the snacks factory there . She loves the kerepek's there !! I don't think they are all that fantastic but i am game for any trip that has food :)
We decided at the last minute to go on a Saturday instead so S couldn't go. She has parental duties at 5pm. M couldn't really commit and finally said she other plans. Pauline fell sick at the last minute and had to cancel. But prior to her SMS i had already invited 2 more people to fill up the car space. And on the morning of the trip i invited 3 more cuz at the last minute i remembered that these 3 did mention that they would like to go if i ever do plan one. The journey that was suppose to start at 1pm, got postponed to 1.15pm cuz F said that she may be a bit late. And then Ping said that she has to drive her son for a medical check up, so we re-scheduled at 1.30pm . But finally we only started out at 2pm !!
I was so hungry that we couldn't wait to reach TS for lunch. We made a stop at Telok Panglima garang to have lunch. The food was delicious and cheap. We had 7 different dishes and it all came to RM111 :) nice number so we put our bets on the number 1117 ( 7 of us were there!) and 7111 but eventually we bought all the combinations . It only costs us 3.50 each !!!!
Our next stop was the Lingzhi farm .

We bought some stuff here from fresh oyster mushrooms to lingzhi powder and ginger powder. From there we went to the pau shop. They have the special "mui choy" pau . We tested every pau they have so we could decide on which ones we like. There were 6 different types from veggie ones to kaya , and read bean to meaty , mui choy and peanuts. Our next stop was the factory that sells crisps and snacks , its called arowana malayan food industries( don't ask me why!) I didn't see any fishes there! I didn't really like most of the snacks there but i did like the pumpkin one so i bought just that. Some of the products sold there :~
It was almost 6pm by then so we came home. It was dark by the time we got home. I find it a very satisfying trip ~ short and nice :) Good company , great food and lots of laughs :)

E-ating trip!