Backstreet Boys Unbreakable Tour.

BSB ready to ‘bowl’ over fans

Gorgeous and cool: (From left) Dorough, Carter, McLean and Littrell posing for photographers at KLIA yesterday.

PETALING JAYA: The Backstreet Boys love sports, and they wasted no time hours ofter arrival here when they were seen bowling at the Mid-Valley Megamall last night.

Despite their tight schedule and with their concert tonight, they were scheduled to play a round of golf this morning.

Looking gorgeous and cool on arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 2pm yesterday from Jakarta, Indonesia, they were sporting enough to pose for a few pictures for The Star.

With a large entourage, the group, comprising members Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, A.J. McLean and Nick Carter smiled and promised an excellent show at the Sunway Lagoon Surf Beach tonight.

“We are excited to be here and are looking forward to meeting our Malaysian fans,” Howie said. “It is good to be back.”

The concert is part of the foursome’s Unbreakable World Tour 2008 which follows the release of their sixth album Unbreakable.

Tickets are available at the Sunway Lagoon Ticketing Counters (Surf Beach and Main Entrance).

Sunway Lagoon Theme Park is the official venue while The Star is the official newspaper.

Are you going? Cause I am! See you there?

I Sleep Better With Chipster.

Ever get a sudden craving for something particular in the dead of the night? I do, most of the time. Especially recently, topped with my late night escapades on the computer or TV, I get hungrier as the night goes further, usually heightening as the hours go by when I'm still going to continue the next episode of Grey's Anatomy as the show gets more intense. Seriously, the cravings get crazier and crazier each night. One night, it could be pepperoni pizzas and the next it could be dairy milk chocolate bars or instant noodles the next. Talk about the epitome of bad health. Of course, given the ridiculous hours, I usually sleep it off and forget about my cravings, often downed with a bottle of plain water.

Lately though, there's been a gnawing at the back of my head, prompting me to get Chipster, whenever I stay up late and I realized that the later I stay awake, the more my mind will steer towards Chipster. I won't deny, I've been having this "Chipster Crave" for the past few nights now, only it has been growing stronger and stronger that it's beginning to turn into desire. More like a need, actually. You have to know though, I'm not the kind of guy who snacks on junk food every chance he gets. No way. As a kid, mom and dad has always monitored and limited our intake on junk food, contrary of what other people think. Which is why you won't be able to see a lot of chips, cookies or any other packeted food any children would go crazy for, lying around at home on ordinary days. Yet, the only reason we have a lifetime supply of chocolate in the fridge is because they come as gifts from visitors and relatives. Even that has become a favourite among my cousins whenever they come over. So till now, even when there's an enormous amount of junk food (courtesy of hampers and such) at home, my siblings and I just couldn't be bothered to snack on them.

I don't get my size from junk food, baby. It's real meat (if you know what I mean)!

Anyway, minus the occasional splurge on a packet or two of chips during grocery shopping, I've still been thinking about Chipster. Started the whole Chipster crave about two months ago, and now, I find myself unconsciously (and discreetly) purchasing packets of them at the oddest times. Twice already, I bought them when dad was filling up his tank and about a couple of times I've secretly stash them underneath the groceries. Even jie and Edmund likes it! Honestly, I don't know why I do that because it's not like mom would detest but it's one of those inexplicable thing you do, you know. Very strange. And I even have this odd habit of stocking them up. You know, reluctantly eating it because its so good. Almost like wanting to keep it till when I'm dying for it and not leisurely take it. Probably it's because I wanna heighten my enjoyment the best that I can.

Which is why I think that because I've only just finished my last packet of Chipster that this craving's been coming to haunt me in the night. The worse thing is that this particular craving just could not be put away with sleeps or countless bottles of plain water. In fact the craving's so strong that I've even been dreaming about it in my sleep, causing undesirable amount of drool to appear on the sheets the morning after. It's been clearing away my other cravings though. Seriously, no more pizzas, instant noodles or roadside burgers. Considering that, I let myself cave in to the craving and went out in the middle of the night, hunting for Chipster at the nearest 7-11 store without even bothering to change from my night clothes. Thinking that it'd be weird for one to go to 7-11 in his pajamas, jie dragged the camera along and shot me. Really weird situations, I tell you. It got me going so much that I can actually ignore the stares and bemusement of other late night shoppers.

Where is it?!

Hey, maybe we should just get instant noodles instead.

Oh wait! Hell yeah! Found them!!

Hold on, I need to pay first.

Of course, the above shot was a a posed one. None of us could retain our excitement to dig in into them. I only used the only sanity I have left just to visualize that I sleep better with Chipster before opening them. I couldn't resist or you'll probably notice saliva stains on this newly changed sheet. It gets ugly when I do though. Just imagine two hands in a bag of chips and crumbs all over the face. Funny though, how come I've never had such a craving for any other chips I've tried. Immense.

And naturally, I had a good night's sleep after that.

Chinese New Year '08 - Day 4 & 8

Come the fourth day, most relatives were already packing their bags to go home to their respective states, literally. As I can recall, the only reason why they were still here was because of the reported traffic congestion at the bridge which of course, resulted in their reluctance to return. Jie on the other hand has returned to KL the night before on a hitched ride with a friend. Most of us were still gathered at apoh's place, eating, chatting and of course, gossiping. Seeing that our mothers are in deep conversations, we children didn't do anything much than to play with fireworks. At least they did and I only recorded them.


At one point though, out of boredom and Carina's persistent, or shall I say, annoying whining, I did grab apoh's bicycle and took Carina out for a ride. In fact, we ended up hunting for a river which we both knew existed but just out of sight. We were literally, riding through the thick forestation and turning into every little road we could see and stopping at all the houses which they lead us into just to take a peak at their backyard for the hidden river, while Carina was meddling with my camera behind me. By the time we found it, we were both covered in grime and perspiration and almost out of breath, due to the burning sun (the trees didn't do much shading) and also spotting several bite marks from the mosquitoes. In the end, we found out the river was way too down below for us to even dream of climbing down and taking a dip.


Adventure. from matrianklw on Vimeo.



Road-show. from matrianklw on Vimeo.

We did however, on the way back, saw something grotesque on the road which made me turn the bike around to get a better view and a closer shot - and below was what we came across.

Oh, below is my favorite shot of the day.


4 days later, on the 8th day of Chinese New Year, I got them another gathering at apoh's place seeing that I still had a few bottles of sparkling juice (I can't tolerate alcohol!) stashed in my fridge since Christmas. I just needed another reason for toast and to finish the bottles of sparkling juice, since Chinese New Year was the only big occasion left till we don't know when. I picked the 8th day of Chinese New Year because the kids have no school the following day, coinciding with the 9th day where Buddhists and Taoists hold their religious ceremonies to appease their deities and gods. It's a big event for most Chinese people and therefore, most Chinese schools get an extra day of holiday. Being Catholics, I took the opportunity and hold a fake gathering to appease our hunger and thirst instead, and also because amah wasn't doing it this year.



Yam Seng. from matrianklw on Vimeo.


Cork Popping. from matrianklw on Vimeo.

Besides having fun toasting and later, posing with the wine bottle, I followed them outside to watch a display of fireworks again. At first, I was getting my hands dirty too considering how long it was since my days of spending near to a thousand ringgit on fireworks. By the way, I only have the guts to stand the kiddies bombs nowadays. I just seem to have lost the ability to withstand deafening explosives anymore. I reckon it must be the age that's to blame and all the years of being dormant from the fireworks. Kinda lost interest in risking my fingers to dynamites after 15, I think. After that, the lights and the motions only sparked interest in me with the camera again. Below, the biggest shot is our best attempt of drawing '2008' with the fireworks, which goes to show, the rest of my attempts were close to mud.



Firecrackers from matrianklw on Vimeo.

Having said that, surprisingly, I still have my favorite shot of the day below. =)


And that pretty much is my celebration for the year of the rat, in a nutshell.

Chinese New Year '08 - Day 3.

So, on day three of our celebrations, things were already toned down. Partly due to the overdose of carbonated drinks, cookies, extravagantly prepared home cooked meals, firecracker smoke and of course, sleep deprivation, we were all pretty bummed up to have to wake up at 10a.m. just to do more visiting again the next day. Plus, with the conscience that holidays were running out and school and work are setting back (for them) could pretty much dampen the celebratory mood. On a short note though, growing up in the family, I've never done anything else on such days except visiting. Really, can't think of any other "family" thing to do. Drinking, gambling and partying with friends like every other regular 18 year olds? Not my cup of tea. Don't have that many friends to start with and also, an idiot with cards. Well, a good boy, I am. Fulfilling filial piety and visiting the elderly seem more appropriate after all on Chinese New Year. 

Broadcasting. from matrianklw on Vimeo.

Anyway, Carina and Adrian, as usual spent the past two nights over at our place - just for the fun of it, in the name sake of 'holiday'. I should mention of course, they were more wrecked than I was when the night before this, both of them could barely keep their eyes peeled when Edmund wanted to watch Bee Movie - which was the only reason why I went to bed quite early too. It's not like we don't meet enough throughout the year, but still, their the closest cousins we can relate too. Besides, it's fun to be hurried up in the morning and queue for the bathroom and trying our very best to color co-ordinate our outfits, no doubt. It's not like we even try that much. It just so happens that all of us had the same color outfits and we just decide to put them on on the same day. We'd be walking out of the room and go, "Hey, ur wearing this color too! High five, man!". Except for one person, of course.

Basically, we only did one house together as both our families had our own plans to carry out and different people to visit. Plus, jie was going back to KL already. After that, not much cam-whoring for me with them. If you haven't noticed already, I barely cam-whore by myself, it's always with somebody and I'm not even hiding it on my drive. There really are no pictures of my smiling by myself. Still, I won't blame you if you're probably sick to your stomach already for seeing so many pictures of me. Oh well... below are some of my favourite shots of the day. 

The black gang!

Snake Spotted.

A little diversion from the Chinese New Year postings. Well, not exactly since this was spotted during one of our visitation to our near-forsaken relatives in the depths of thick forests amidst lush greeneries and unknown wilderness. Anyway, during one of our visits and while the cousins were busily blasting little plants with firecrackers, one of my uncles spotted a snake on a short palm tree, which, I should mention, I was standing dangerously close just moment before watching them blast a bowl. By the looks of it, a sudden appearance of a green serpent (or other creatures of yet to be uncovered species) at the front yard seems to be a daily thing - almost like the evening news broadcaster appearing on TV daily - since my distantly related grand-grand-uncles looks pretty much unperturbed.

City folks like me was, of course, intrigued by such phenomena that all my mind told me to do was to photograph it. It's not like everyday, we get to see a snake at such close proximity without it being captives in a cage or behind a glass wall, or even worse, pickled in a jar. Despite the fact that the creature was small in size (probably still young) with the species unknown to us and without any knowledge of how venomous its fangs could be or how fatal its bite would be, they were practically prancing around the tree watching it. Me, being not that comfortable around creatures that slither, of course, kept a good distance and put the camera's zoom to good use.





Snake Spotted. from matrianklw on Vimeo.




Below are two photos that I've turned into wallpapers. By turning, I mean resizing, touching up and adding text. Please feel free to download, especially if you're a fan of snakes or if you're favourite color happens to be green.

Chinese New Year '08 - Day 2

Yee Sang. from matrianklw on Vimeo.

So, after discovering (or rather, re-igniting) my passion for cam-whoring and the plain joy of taking photographs, you could bet I just couldn't wait for the 2nd day to take off. As long as traditions go, the 2nd day of our new year is allocated for the maternal side of the family and I was sure it wasn't only our family who kept the tradition alive, seeing that all the aunties and uncles were there alongside with the whole troupe of cousins. The long portrait above pretty much sums mom's siblings up. Being as Malaysians as we are too, what other better things to do when gathered at such an auspicious day but eat and drink? Frankly though, the new year's eve and new year's day itself have been reserved for reunion dinners and lunch with amah (paternal side), so the gathering on the 2nd day is like another version of a reunion dinner lunch meal. A relatively big one too!


Lion Dance '08 from matrianklw on Vimeo.

This year, splendidly enough, apoh managed to arranged a lion dance troupe to grace her home with and to help her usher in the new year and on the 2nd day too! Usually, these troupes couldn't be bothered much to your preferred time and they'd just drop by whenever they can since ours wasn't the only home to be "graced" but apoh somehow managed. I've forgotten though, why we didn't have one last year. Or did we? But anyways, the lion dance was a blast, despite the fact that it wad dancing in the small confines of the apartment. I mean, c'mon, we even drew neighbors and passersby to watch - though it still remains a mystery if their attention was caught by the beating of the drums or the euphoric screams and yells by us cousins. Nonetheless, I had loads of fun recording it on video, instead of sweating my ass off, trying to figure out various ways to avoid the lion dancers' path and still get good still shots.


As traditions are concerned as well, after all the devouring of Hakka (mom is Hakka) Chinese New Year dishes and unnecessary yelling at the lion performance, we'd dutifully visit far-off and almost-forsaken/deserted relatives. The reason being, we only do that once every year and as I said, almost like a tradition already. Even the relatives themselves look forward to our presence. It's pretty apparent from their relief uttering of phrases like, "Wah, this year you all so late only arrive!" or "Wah, I thought you not coming this year lah!" Of course, they only converse in Hakka with apoh. Of course by far/distant/almost-forsaken/deserted, I was talking about houses on top of hills and deep in jungles where electricity comes from a generator, activated only for a few hours in the night and where water source comes staright from the mountains and where daily trips to the market require patience and physical fitness that most city folks don't possess. Still, we've been doing this as far as any of us can recall and thus, every year, we look forward to it - although, I still doubt the sincerity of some who curse under their breath when we have to hike up the rest of the way where vehicles can't access. =P


Fast Drive Down The Hill from matrianklw on Vimeo.


Boom from matrianklw on Vimeo.

And of course, after collecting the red packets and after reaching the point where we've empty out multiple boxes of cold drinks (understandable after the tiring hike under the scorching sun), almost finishing a wide variety of Chinese New Year cookies and delicacies laid out for visitors and leave the jungle with resounding explosions from firecrackers, we part farewell and turn back to mindless, insensible, vain and narcissistic cam-whoring.

Look, I'm barely ashamed anymore!

4 by 4s: They can even do it by themselves!

Posed and candids, how can you not love them?

And here, I would like to introduce Ai Ai, our so called "aunty" according to the family hierarchy, whom after all these years of growing up together, we barely address as aunty. We kind of reached a mutual agreement that to add the address of aunty in front of her name would be tremendously speed her aging process and increase our awkwardness between her, given that she's my age in real life. Thanks to us, now she still looks her age! Of course, from time to time, we do remind ourselves of her status in the family tree through minor jokes we make, especially, when she gives advice - "Oooh! Hail, the aunty speaks!" - stuff like that. Now, the one reason we're all so fond of her is because she's cool with us and our antics. I mean, she's the one who can accompany us till the wee hours of dawn during a sleepover, she's the one who loves shopping trips with us and visits to the movies (she's a good companion for horror movies, by the way!) and she's the one who gets our jokes and the one who cracks jokes! It's truly a wonderful thing to have such a close relationship with someone of a higher level in the family tree. Oh, and did I mention, her real name's Eva (glamorous, ain't it?) - Ai Ai's just stuck with us since we were children.

Below is my favourite shot of the day. It was so random, so pure, so joyful. Photographer: ME.

T-B: Jie, Adrian, Ai, Carina and me

P/S : I'm aware that the are quite a number of videos and it might take some time to load. If you're patient, then wait. But if you aren't, just make sure you don't miss out the 2nd (cause it's fun to watch!) and the 4th (cause it's just really short) videos. Oh, the 3rd video is just to illustrate my point of having relative who live in remote areas of the island.

Chinese New Year '08 - Day 1.

You know, I've always associated my camera with working - when I'm prepared to sweat as a result of going all out to various angles and when fun is sucked the hell out of the event. For me, at least. Well, good pictures calls for sacrifices, don't it? This time around though, I figured I was going to have fun and record it at the same time. I mean, c'mon, all those new clothes and accessories and gay spirit were worth capturing by itself. Of course, given the circumstances, I had to forgo the picture quality and the above-mentioned, angles. And that was exactly what I did. All I did was take off the photographic self in me, and slipped on the regular compact camera / cam-corder persona (and a little bit of narcissism) and snapped away. Anything and everything. The best of all is, the photographs didn't turn out to shabby!


Surprising enough for me, as it may appear to you, considering I'm not the usual cam-whoring type, I've taken more pictures of myself (via cam-whore style) than I have ever did before this. Of course, most of them had other people in it standing by my side - the same narcissists of the season, I suppose. Still, I guess you can call it a-spur-of-the-moment thing, seeing that I only took out my camera because I was in love with the lighting of my 3rd grandaunt's (the lady in red in the above photo who's being kissed by her husband) house by that time of the day. Which was exactly how everything started to take off from holding up the camera and pointing it towards me and the person beside, to group shots and family portraits! Yeap, the camera could be a dangerous possession, capable of bringing out the narcissists in people.



And let me tell you, holding my camera and pointing it towards myself isn't easy. It's not like it weighs as light as 2 pieces of credit card stacked together (isn't that how thin things get nowadays?). Every picture I took, I risked dropping my camera with my stubby little fingers and shaky hands. Also, as you can see, I've found this new way of putting all these great photos together, and posting them up. It doesn't tell a story or whatsoever but I find it more appealing than posting them singularly, shot-by-shot. Plus, I'm experimenting with a load of stuffs right now, so disregard the amateurish touch of things. Hey, at least, it's a far better improvement than last year's Chinese New Year! Indeed, I found myself smiling all the way while scrolling through the photos. And below is my favorite shot of the day which was taken by jie.

L-R : Ai Ai, Adrian, Edmund, me and Carina.

Oh, and do watch out for Day 2 soon!

Kitchen Tales.

Ok. So I've been lying. Partially. A tiny bit.

All those time I've mentioned that I can barely find time to indulge in my favourite activities and hobbies (take reading a novel for one) when my hands are practically filled with household chores, despite the fact that I may appear to have all the time in the world seeing that I'm still on my prolonged holiday study break. Well, the part about the having all the time in the world is fairly true and the part about the endless household chores... kinda. Of course, any systematic and organized suburban housewife will tell you that with a little proper planning (and less indecisiveness), she'll surely get some alone time where she'll get to indulge in her fantasies. Considering my domestic skills are slowly but steadily blossoming growing into the likes of foreign maids and cleaners hired by mothers of the Upper East Side community, added with my unquestionable planning ability, I do get some time off my shoulders.

Rare as they may come though, I still fill those little free times I have in the kitchen, enhancing my culinary skills. Surprising as it may sound, I do have an undying dream of becoming a chef one day. If there was a secret identity in everyone, mine would be the hopeful chef. It's more like a longing to want to be able to prepare meals for myself and others. Call me delusional in believing in myself, considering I own a pair of hands which works no better than my feet in holding a spatula. Mind you though, I've gotten comments by relatives that I've got the looks of a chef while they struggle to strike up conversations concerning me and my future if my camera wasn't in sight. Nonetheless, I usually dismiss those conniving compliments since they're usually associated with my extraordinary body size. Not that I'm not flattered when someone sparks a hope on that secret dream of mine.

So, whenever I'm done with my laundry, ironing, sweeping and mopping, dusting, dishes etc. etc., plus that sudden hunger pang as encouragement, I'd pick up the pan and the knife and spend about 2 hours of the afternoon in the kitchen, waltzing around while listening to E! News' cover on Britney's shameful breakdown on the television. I have to admit though, at this point, my cooking skills are only limited to frozen produced food, I still enjoy cutting up the lettuces and tomatoes for garnishing and the pure joy of having the liberty to handle your meal in whichever way you want. For an amateur like me, every session would just feel like an adventure. I mean, I barely know the As and the Bs in the kitchen and with no one watching my moves, I'm pretty doing things according to instincts, which, to be frank, wouldn't help me in cooking to even save my life. Exactly, how much is a pinch of salt? Cause I seem to be always giving it too much of a pinch. Don't even get me started on the burnt hashbrowns and overcooked tempura fish. Oh, we all learn from mistakes.

I guess all of these started back in December when jie was around and when we discovered the convenience of cooking with an oven (it saves you from all the oil splatter by a pan), instead of placing a pan over the stove and the many nights we were lazy to go out for dinner. To be thinking of it, that month itself, I've cooked up quite a lot of mid-afternoon snacks and quickie dinners with the oven and microwave. You know, we were busy teenagers with electronic cooking devices and no certain mealtimes. What did you expect? It's just a shame I didn't care much about recording anything back then. No photographs or whatsoever. I guess I was more into joining in the fun than recording it for later. We did manage to cook up pies (Banana Toffee Pie to be exact) on several occasions last month which totally broke my skepticism that Asians are incapable of making pie.

Caramel filling.

This shit is bananas. B.A.N.A.N.A.S!

Pie maker.

Pop it in the oven.

On several other occasions, just the other day, I mad myself some breakfast - consisting of hashbrown, scramble eggs, a burger (only edible after the second attempt) and a glass of juice. A week before that, I even made some mashed potatoes with a random mashed potato recipe taken off the internet. Oh, I do own a shameless amount of cooking recipes pages, bookmarked and just a click away for that cooking fix. And the mashed potato turned out ok, I guess. Let's just put it this way, it was left unfinished on the table till moss started growing over it on the third day which forced me to dispose it. I wouldn't take pictures of that, no way. Of course, those were the few things which I psyched myself to do almost on a weekly basis. Still, I wouldn't dare offer anyone a meal that I would prepare completely by myself. At least not till I'm ready. The occasional breakfast I prepare for the cousins and sister, well, that's just because I get feedback from them and they trust me enough to put the food I prepare into their mouth. Not that my cooking is bad, is it now?

Breakfast for one?

Can it look any more palatable?

On another note. Being the child on a study break and to be giving the misleading signal that I own all the time in the world (I kinda do for now), I've been helping mom a lot lately in the baking department, with the much anticipated Chinese New Year around the corner. This year, it appears that mom's coming full circle again, baking various traditional cookies and delicacy for the season after a lengthy two years hiatus since the death of kong kong. She's keen to do everything that she knows from the recipe book in her mind, result of many years of learning from women of the older generation. If I didn't know mom's real age, I'd say she pretty much came from the older generation as well. Like always, she's still amazingly capable of finding time to satisfy her baking cravings despite her being a full-time working mom. So far, we've already come up with three types of cookies for Chinese New Year - kueh kapit, kuih bangkek and ribbon biscuits produced usually in apoh's three bedroom flat. You'd be surprised by how these women are able to defy all odds and turn the flat into a confectionary of some sort just for the sake of keeping the traditional alive. The only thing is, mom refuses to go commercial with these cookies. She doesn't want to sell them. She still insists that they remain in the comforts of our own family and as gifts to visiting relatives during the new year.


Kuih Kapek from matrianklw on Vimeo.

And being in the boat that I'm in right now, I'm expected to be present on every baking session, dutifully helping out in whichever ways I'm needed and often, being caught up in the conversations amongst the women of the older generation. Sometimes, I'm even turned into the subject of conversation which could be pretty embarrassing. Besides that, mom has planned her schedule out this week nicely to make way for two more types of delicacy - the peanut cookies and sugared potato chips. To be honest, these names are quite tacky. The real pronunciations for all the delicacies (usually in the Hokkien dialect) sounds much better. Also, since this will be the 1st year after so long without akak's impeccable skills, mom would be fulfilling her duty as daughter-in-law and try to whip some traditional dishes for the celebration. Just imagine, 7-8 years without taking charge in the kitchen - she'll be needing all the help in the kitchen. Marketing itself would be a pain in the butt. Don't get me wrong though, she's a great cook, just a little rusty on the side.

But there I'll be the dutiful son by her side, carrying the marketing goods and chopping up carrots and cabbages (if I'm ever trusted upon these tasks). Until my time finally comes, I'll still be under the shadow of someone more experienced and no doubt, elder. I'm still working on gourmet meals, if you were ever wondering. Oh yes, and jie will be back this Sunday which only means another companion to the above chores.

My December.

About 5 months back, akak left the family - for good. Unfortunately, if you were looking for some juicy story regarding jeweleries, Bangladeshi workers or sick voodoo, you might be disappointed. No, I'm not going to uphold the average housewife legacy for bad-mouthing about maids, while hiding their own treatment towards them. Akak, however, left us for valid reasons, both agreeable and respectable to mom and dad, with great reluctance. I mean, she's been with us, managing the household for the past 6 or 7 years, friendships were formed, of course there'll be reluctance but to ask her to stay would be sheer cruelty and selfish for our part. She did go back 4 months earlier than her contract with us, though. Given the circumstances, we had to let her go. So, when she packed her bags and got on the plane, the family felt handicapped. It's been 6 years and none of us has done any chores for that length of a time (apart from that stint back in October '06 when she went back for a short while). To say we were rusty on our skills would be an understatement!

When she left, I was in the midst of my examination preparations, which mom intended not to interfere with chores. She always told me not to think so much about the chores and leave it to her. Back then, all I did was do the clothes, seeing that I was the only one whom akak passed down the knowledge of work the washing machine. Even that, mom was a tad bit worried that it might affect my studies, every now and then, offering to do the chores which we both know is impossible to ever get done with her working 8 hours a day. Let's be frank, working moms are not model housewives. Mom did do the ironing though (since neither dad nor I knew how to iron) while dad did the sweeping and the mopping. The household was manageable with me doing the weekly dusting of furniture and cleaning of the toilets. Naturally, it fell into a routine and we were getting used to it. Admittedly, there were times when things take a toll on us but I think we got through just fine. Even up to my exams, I didn't feel much pressure and the house was still liveable.

Come December, that's when things really got hectic. Jie was back for the holidays and she offered to help around the house. If you consider dragging me and dad along, cleaning the entire house for the entire first week helping, then she did help out alot. It was more like a mini house remodelling cum spring cleaning, instead of the weekly dusting. I don't blame her. To make the complete transition from having a maid do things for us for the past 6 to 7 years to a normal functional family with divided chores, we needed to reshuffle everything to our liking and understanding. After all, Christmas was near and we had to do our spring cleaning anyways. So we spent the first week at home, cleaning. Jie did take up the ironing as well, if I may mention. And when I thought December would be a breeze after that, amah comes running along having the fall and turning our just-settling-down lives upside down all over again.

Not that I blame her or anything (nobody wanted this accident to take place) but I've got to admit that it was the last thing any of us needed. The forth and back trips from home to the hospital just doesn't do the situation any good. Apparently, the grand old lady isn't dead yet. Wait, that was a little harsh of me - she hasn't passed away and according to some hocus-pocus Buddhism witchcraft, she's expected to live another extra 2 years, with her ailing condition. She finally moved back from the hospital into her own home and has been looked after by mom and dad ever since - we're talking about meal times, personal hygiene and medication - which pretty much puts another set of routines on my working parents, bounding them in their seats full of commitments. She isn't paralyzed or anything, just unable to do things by herself, especially when it comes to personal hygiene. Considering us being kids, we can't help out much in our part. Which made it no surprise that our family is the one who were usually late for gatherings, meeting and parties, given the schedule mom and dad constantly needed to plan around. So there, no death or whatsoever.

When things finally got a little settle down (when routines were familiarised) , jie and I became busy with last minute Christmas shopping. I know it seems here like we are horrible children who couldn't care less about other stuff at home at this point, but someone really needed to run the show and with mom occupied with her job and amah, who else was supposed to do the gift shopping, the wrapping and other monumental preparations for the season (albeit the mood being already dampen by the tragic fate of my dear grandmother). The show had to go on. So basically, we were running up and down malls, 2-4 times a week, a different mall each time for different reasons and by all means, let me tell you, shopping easily gets tired when you've been on your feet all the time, waltzing pass stores with shoes that aren't too comfortable to start with, and of course, the sheer thought of the parents slaving away in the day. With that sense of guilt swimming in me, I did constantly remind jie that we were bad children and we deserved to be punished, which she didn't retaliate to the remark in return.

To think about it again, the shopping wasn't easy task filled with stress-free moments. I mean, with parents trying to burst through your cellphones, insufficient cash flow and year end sales going on, shopping should be considered a hazardous activity (sometimes, we even skip lunch to fully utilize our time and save pennies!) which only manages to breed greed, self-absorption and fickle-mindedness. In other words, it only brings out the evil in me (and jie, no doubt)! Still, having the knowledge that there's still house chores to get back to after a tiring day of walking, gnawing at the back of my head most of the time should account for something good doesn't it? Surprisingly, I actually worry about not getting my laundry done or the dishes washed which usually results me in acting strangely during our one-to-many shopping sprees. Of course, after spending almost 8 hours at the mall, chores would be the last thing one would wanna go home to. Inevitably, I still return home and finish my chores (regardless of what time is it) and mind you, I do stay up at times to wait for the laundry.

In the midst of all that chaos, I still play host when cousins come over for sleepovers. Not only do I manage a big part of the family chores, I still need to ensure my guests have a splendid stay and that they don't notice the immense pile of laundry stacked up in our room, waiting to be ironed. Oh, and did I mention, I cook for my dear cousins as well, occasionally. Usually, it's breakfast as we normally eat-out for lunch (thank God!) but I do a little baking form time to time. And may I add, any new housewife would agree with me that cooking isn't an easy task, especially at the end of the meal when kitchen utensils pile obscenely in the basin. Whether it's just a reheat or a sauté, it still requires work. This season though, I've tried baking pies - banana toffee pie to be exact - ever since one of mom's friend passed jie and I the simple recipe. A good leap from the baking I did 2 years back, don't you think? Well, you definitely don't expect us to show up empty handed at parties and and family gatherings we've been invited to. It's a good way to get comments and feedback as well. If that's not getting my hands full, I don't know what is.

Plus, did I mention that I had to do all these with minimal amount of sleep. Hey, when the cousins are over, it's more like a who-can-keep-awake-the-longest-competition rather than a regular sleepover. If we weren't overdosing of midnight knickknacks (chips, pizza and candies), we were probably overdosing on movies or boardgames. Now, how much sleep do you think I can get out of these over-energized brats? Furthermore, I'm not the kind of wet blanket cousin who gets fussy over health issues and start giving them a lecture on living a healthy lifestyle. I'm more of the kind which allows them to go crazy if they wanted to and most of the time, joining in mindless adolescent games. After all, I don't stay young forever and it's the holidays! Oh, and the family gatherings on various occasions that keeps me awake till the wee hours, where could I possibly find sleep? Seriously though, I can still put my chores aside and have fun. Whoever said I was a serious no-nonsense freak. And I never get afternoon nap or anything like that, except for the 40 winks in the car and the mere ability to keep awake during church. Gee, have I sinned too much this Christmas?

Nevertheless, you still gotta admit that I am getting kinda good at this whole househusband role. As they always it's never to early to start and I will need all the training I can get to be more domesticated. My December was a helluva ride, that's for sure. At the end of the year, I was surprised myself that I'm still standing strong after everything (although getting unnecessarily cranky every now and then) that's happened. Realised that I barely have the time like I used to when I could sit and write all day in front of the computer, not the previous December or for the Decembers to come. Things have definitely changed around this household and I'm definitely armed with an excess baggage this new year. There's still a lot of getting used to and there's still a lot that needs to be done. In the meantime, I'm considering working and taking my driver's license by the end of this month and February, I hope - if things ever ease up enough for me to make time for a new commitment. I sure do hope.