will i am's delayed diary

During our yearly body check-up, the general practitioner suggested that my mum go for a follow-up ultrasound of her kidney. He wrote us a referral to Columbia Asia at Bandar Puteri Puchong. The whole visit took several hours, and thankfully the radiologist reported that there was nothing wrong. On the way back home, we stopped by at Akka Nasi Lemak , the viral ( the hype had long died down ) nasi lemak stall at Puncak Jalil. Just a short queue, nothing explosive. I chose the less spicy version, and still found it pretty hot! In general terms, it was really nothing to shout about. In the evening, mum made yam cake for Big Monster's 15th birthday. The kid never liked traditional birthday cakes.

I took leave on Tuesday to settle a few chores. Did my annual health check-up, and collect mum's passport at Plaza Glomac, Petaling Jaya. Earlier on, I had some unnecessary drama trying to submit mum's online passport application. Finally went through when I realized that I had keyed in the wrong old passport number. I actually keyed in the passport from two renewals ago. Blur.... Luckily the process was painless for senior citizens. Bumped into a BEC member of mine, and he told us that he skipped the online process by just walking in. 

Mother's Day was pretty fun in 2023. Sunday mass as usual, then we headed to Pavilion Bukit Jalil for lunch. Treated mum to a freshly-piped Tiramisu at Et Cetera . Pretty, but that was about it. Haha. Some aimless wandering in the mall brought us into Dulu Kini , and that turned into a mother-son Batik shopping spree. Both of us found some pretty items at half price. Mum got a beautiful top in the Mega Mendung motif, while I found red Batik shirt in an oriental style. A steal. Dinner was at Ho Vietnam , but I think it doesn't exist anymore. 

Not long after my run-in with COVID-19, KH organized a trip to his friend's durian orchard in Melaka. Both our mothers joined us, so it was an interesting bonding session. Located at Durian Tunggal, the orchard was pretty easy to get to as it wasn't far from the highway exit. The durian trees are planted sporadically, interspersed with other fruits like rambutan. More a retirement project than a commercial undertaking, there's plenty of flowers on the grounds too. Also spotted some bee houses, probably to aid in pollination. Freshly-gathered durians were collected at a shed, and we made our picks there. Well to be exact THEIR picks, I was just there to watch.  Another interesting thing about the orchard was the three-storey homestay that was built on crest of the hill to tap into the ecotourism market. The top floor provided a great view of the surrounding terrain. Got a few lunch recommendations from the host, and we left for Melaka town. Once we had cleared the hundreds o...

Lady Luck smiled on my brother when my neighbour ( the metal detector hobbyist ) passed me lemang and beef rendang on the second day of Hari Raya Puasa. When we split open the bamboo sheath, the fragrant aroma of creamy glutinous rice wafted out. Frankly, I think my brother enjoyed that more than the modern Italian dinner we had at A.zeta Kitchen to celebrate Mother's Day. Not to say the restaurant's mediocre, just that my brother is not lacking for choice of great Italian restaurants in Singapore. But lemang is a different case altogether. Beggars can't be choosy yo! 

Every quarter, mum would visit her medical specialist for a follow-up. The clinic is located on the second floor, so she would have to climb up a couple of flight of stairs before registering at the counter. During registration, her blood pressure is also taken. Her blood pressure was high during the last visit, but I shrugged it off as a one-off thing. Unfortunately, it was the same during her subsequent visit. Wouldn't want to leave things to chance, so I brought her to a GP to check it out. The doctor diagnosed her as having hypertension, and started her on an initial dose of blood pressure medication. To start at age 76 is considered very lucky I guess. Also started monitoring her blood pressure at home to see if the medication is working. Mum had a perception that she could stop the medication after her blood pressure normalized. After a few rounds of explaining, she finally understood the medication wouldn't cure the root cause. 

For some time now, I've heard of Taman Saujana Hijau in Precint 11 of Putrajaya. I've seen some photos of it posted by a church member and an ex-colleague. Been wondering if its suitable to bring my mother. Early one October morning, we went anyway as we were sick and tired of Taman Bukit Jalil. It's approximately 16 kilometers from my house, about a twenty-minute drive. When we arrived, the parking situation was pretty chaotic, and I made a mental note to arrive earlier next time. From the car park, one has to climb a few flight of stairs ( bad news for the wheelchair-bound ) to get to the park. The stairs are narrow, and midway up, one has to perform the usual MySJ scanning. The park management should definitely look into constructing a separate set of stairs for smoother human traffic, and social distancing.  Taman Saujana Hijau is a park that spans 47 acres of land. The path snakes around a hilly terrain full of evergreens. Everywhere you look, you will catch sight of ...

University of Malaya's Astra Zeneca vaccination center at the Examination Building has a capacity of 1,000 vaccinations a day. Chose this venue because of the proximity, ease of parking, and relatively low capacity. We left the house at 8:30 AM, and arrived at the KL Gate of the university before 9:00 AM. Traffic was extremely smooth as most people were working from home. The security guard let us in after checking the appointment date on the MySejahtera app. The security guards checked the appointment date a second time before allowing us into the parking lot. It was just a short walk to the building. I was surprised to see so many people loitering outside the building. Were they too early for their appointments? We joined the line to enter the vaccination center. At the entrance, the RELA stopped me from going. Turns out that they don't allow anyone to accompany unless absolutely necessary. Hence the reason there were so many people outside. Anyway, they had sufficient staff ...

Mum had been waiting a long time to get her hair permed. Finally got her a booking at Bandar Park, OUG. The salon was located on the second floor and I was impressed that it had a secret garden. The stylist made good use of the natural light by planting all sorts of palms and greens by the clear pane windows. And his shop is a great vantage point for pigeon-watching. Didn't wait around in the salon, but went to spend some time with KH instead.   KH has an unexplained fascination with Snowflake. I don't really care for it, so I veto-ed that idea. Hehe. We went to Hey! I Am Yogost instead, another yoghurt drink joint ( and we just visited Yee's Yoghurt a few days earlier ). Our pick was the purple rice yoghurt. Personally, I prefer Yee's. The place looked brand new with loads of artificial lighting and loud Mando-pop. We actually asked them to turn it down. Uncle ma. Can't imagine the reason behind the brand name. Yoghurt ghost?! Once mum was done, I picked her up t...

Some 7 years ago, my mum sold off a terrace house in Bercham, Ipoh. That house gave us a lot of headaches for years due to problematic tenants, legal issues, and unpaid taxes. In my late-father's master plan, he was supposed to retire there, but he never got the chance. Anyway, we were thrilled when the adjacent owner wanted it. During the sale, my mother exercised her once in a lifetime real property gain tax waiver. By that virtue, part of the down payment ( 2% of selling price ) for the sale was remitted to the tax authorities pending the processing of the waiver. For years and years we heard nothing from them. Chased them through our lawyer but got nothing. In the middle of last year, our lawyer finally got a reply from the tax department but it went silent again. Mum was getting pissed with them. Finally decided to make a complaint to their headquarters via their website feedback form . Surprisingly, I got a reply after 6 days, and was directed to their Teluk Intan branch. A ...

What to do on the first day of 2021? Go eat dim sum of course! Nearly half of the people of Kuala Lumpur had the same brilliant thought. Mum and I arrived at Oriental Treasure , The Sphere at a little before noon. The situation was out of the ordinary because there was a long queue at the door. Opps. Many had made called earlier and were checking their reservations. Although mum and I were walk-ins, it was easy for us to secure a table because we were only two. From our table we could see more and more people arriving by the minute. By noon, we put in our order. Our appetizer of wasabi jellyfish came pretty quickly. The wu kok took much longer than expected. The staff were running up and down. They were obviously understaffed. Then we saw a very peculiar scene. One of the large tables close to us had asked for the bill. There was only tea on the table. At about a quarter before one, the staff started turning people away at the door: "We have run out of dim sum!" Oh! I never...

On the night that I poisoned my hubby , mum actually had an accident at home. She slipped at the top of the parquet stairs after showering. That caused her to miss several steps, and she landed on her buttocks. The fall was painful, but luckily she could still walk. Such a scare! Falls can be devastating for the elderly. Prompted me to immediately get anti-slip strips for the stairs, and change the floor cleaning solution.  A bit later, I even added motion-sensor lights on the stairs in case mum gets out at night, or if there's a power outage. 

KH alerted me to the existence an Instagrammable place in Cyberjaya called Tamarind Square . In today's market, it's not enough to serve good food, have good variety, or sell something that is special, the architecture and design of the venue must also be attractive. The place is actually just a little down the road from D'Pulze if you're familiar with the area. When I turned in, I realized that they do not collect parking fees, and the place still looked to be under construction.  According to the website, Tamarind Square is an attempt at "reinventing the village charm" with an urban village concept. Community meets commercial meets arts and culture. Reminds me of an episode of South Park.  The design is a meld of Malaysia shophouse, shopping mall, and village square. All connected with bare concrete, steel, and greenery. Brought to you by the same people behind PJ Trade Centre. We emerged from the parking lot right at the so-called village square. Retail spa...

When we first visited the orthopaedic surgeon at the end of 2019, he did suggest that my mum try ultrasound therapy for her bursitis. We dilly-dallied for more than half a year trying medication, gels, and medicated plasters. By the time mum got frustrated enough to try the physiotherapy, the referral letter had expired. Lucky for us, the process of getting it renewed didn't require us to get another appointment with the specialist. With the new letter issued, we could proceed with the therapy. It was just fifteen minutes of running an ultrasound wand over mum's heel. She didn't feel a thing. At the end of the session, the physiotherapist showed her some stretches, and showed her how she should ice her heel. That session cost MYR50 with no waiting time required.  Didn't know where to have breakfast, but we somehow ended up having curry noodles at Restoran New Lian Hin . I had a lunch date with KH, but we didn't know what to eat either. The universe led us to Yamatat...

As usual, we celebrated mum's birthday together with Little Monster. But with 2020 being a year of surprises, even a simple HaiDiLao hotpot at home could go awry. For one reason or another, mum got pissed off, and a dark cloud descended on the family gathering. She didn't want to take any photos, and rushed off after dinner.  Mum's dark mood didn't dissipate the following day. SK tried to cheer her up by packing a Japanese lunch from Washoku , BK5.  In the evening, The Tribe came over in an attempt at reconciliation. They packed a Vietnamese dinner from Subang. The Monsters made birthday cards for their grandmother. And sis came bearing gifts and a birthday cake. Thankfully mum softened up and reversed her frown. Something about not feeling appreciated.  Kena pandai jaga hati orang tua...

From past experience, I dare to say that mum's not a big fan had of dim sum. Imagine my surprise when she suggested that for lunch after church. Didn't have to scramble for a suitable restaurant because I recently had a great dim sum lunch at Oriental Treasure , The Sphere just a couple of weeks back with my colleagues. Among the recommended items are the pan-fried radish cake, white egg tart, and crystal prawn dumplings (two huge prawns inside). Although it was just the two of us, we still managed to rack up a bill of RM120. The Sphere is an interesting concept. The whole area well-designed with lots of greenery, and is very pleasant to look at. Mum and I actually went cam-whoring at the common areas and at the numerous uniquely decorated food and beverage outlets there. Dessert and coffee was not far from our minds. Made a stop at Sunbather Coffee for a long black and a parfait. Not exactly cheap, but quite interesting. After lunch, we headed to Apollo's hom...

Mum's heel was still hurting regardless of the multiple visits to the orthopaedic specialist at Tung Shin. Decided to try TDMC instead. Waiting times were much better there. The doctor told us that it was bursitis and would not go away so easily. He switched the medication, and recommended mum to undergo shock-wave therapy to clear off the inflammation. With the medical consultation out if the way, we went to get some comfort food at Kuchai Lama. Been wanting to try the curry noodles at Restoran New Lian Hin . We weren't disappointed. The curry was really thick and creamy. As if it wasn't sinful enough, we had the buburchacha too. Another explosion of santan with starchy chunks of yam and sweet potato. Although it was already late, we still made a quick stop at OUG market. Still managed to get some marketing done. In the evening, we received a dinner invitation from SK and Bryanisation. Shocked when they said that it was gonna be HaiDiLao . The pair of them actu...

Through mum's connections, she managed to secure two free VIP tickets to Matilda Tao's first concert in Malaysia. Those tickets to “The Golden Age of Matilda Tao Live in Malaysia 2019” cost MYR488. Matilda Tao or better known as Tao Ching-ying is a famous variety show host in Taiwan. The concert marked her twentieth year as a recording artist. The venue was at Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam. My first time there. Horrible place~~ pot-holed parking, and dark, and dirty toilets. The  evening rain turned the place into a mini water park. People had jump across puddles to navigate the mini night market outside the stadium. There was a halal and non-halal section, selling all sorts of artery-blocking fried foods ( we had a lohmaigai earlier ), and concert accessories like light sticks, and glow in the dark hoops. Getting to our seats was a smooth process, once we knew where our entrance was. Supposedly couldn't bring in water bottles, but their half-hearted bag searches worked...