Hello, I blog!
I share all my sporadic and toilet thoughts in here, because I am random like that.
Spending time with those I’ve neglected for so long
My grandmother’s sudden death two weeks ago (more on that later) seems to have brought the cousins and I closer together, which is the ‘brighter’ side of the whole situation. Although of course, I do wish she’s still around with us.
We went on our first gathering yesterday evening. Honestly a memorable one, and I’m confident there’ll be more to come. These are the people I grew up with. We’ve known each other since we were little runts, subsequently brats, then snotty teenagers and now grown-ups with our own hopes and dreams. On top of that, a shared identity, family history and genes to match.
Laughing at one another’s jokes and ridiculous boo-boos were reminiscent of my last proper interaction with them, sometime 5 years back. (During the 5 years, I withdrew from my extended family a lot – for a variety of personal reasons. Now, I’m kicking myself for having done so because I have lost out on a lot of precious time.) I’m really happy that after all this time, some things don’t change. :’)
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We had dinner at Saveur, a lovely place with awesome French food at really decent prices … to the point where we had no qualms about topping up our orders because the food was so good.
In fact, the staff also had this strange tendency to send food which did not belong to us (but meant for the table next to us) our way. And of course, some unsuspecting cousin will scoop a huge mouthful and plop it into his mouth … just before a more observant one goes “waaaait, did we order that?”
The occupants of the next table got so paranoid that they’d never fail to look over each time food gets served on our table. It was quite hilarious to watch.
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During dessert. M ordered ‘cookies and milk’ which turned out to be this plateful of … something completely covered with milk froth. It was so intriguing that everyone leaned in for a closer look.
“What’s underneath?” J asked. (Obviously asking about the dessert.)
In response, M lifted the plate and peeked below it.
Facepalms all around.
The above, and a tonne of other laughter-inducing moments. I’m even giggling to myself as I’m writing this, and am suddenly aware of how much I really miss all these.
Good night, folks.
Grey areas in perception
So, apparently I’ve been taking waaay too much chocolate during the last few days in Vancouver – no thanks to my aunt’s seemingly endless chocolate supply and not to mention how chocolate is really, really cheap here.
It was during two of these chocolate-gobbling sessions where I noticed that there are many ways I can perceive situations, especially concerning other people’s intentions.
Scenario 1
En route to Whistler Mountains with the rest of the family in a rented jeep, my aunt was passing chocolate supplies around as she normally would during a long road trip.
I received a packet of Maltesers (mmm, one of my favourites). In front of me, the younger cousin had just received a bar of Lindt 70% dark chocolate.
A coupla’ seconds later, the younger cousin turned around and offered to trade his chocolate with me.
“Brenda, you want?” he asked, holding out the Lindt bar. “I know that you love dark chocolate!”
I was really, really touched at first – because he remembered that I love dark chocolate more than any other types. (And men in general are really good at forgetting these things.) So I accepted the Lindt bar and began chomping gleefully.
Nomming my chocolate bar and gazing out at the scenery outside, it suddenly struck me that I had conveniently overlooked one fact – that the younger cousin hated dark chocolate, but also loved Maltesers … quite possibly more than I do.
So, there are two ways of looking at this.
A. The younger cousin offered his dark chocolate to me because he knows that I love dark chocolate and that I would definitely enjoy it more than he would.
B. He offered to trade his dark chocolate only because he himself hated it, and wanted Maltesers instead.
Mmm, something to think about.
Scenario 2
A continuation of Scenario 1. So, I’ve finished gobbling up the last bit of the Lindt bar just as the jeep pulled into the petrol station for a gas top-up.
As the younger cousin hopped off the jeep to the convenience store at the gas station for a top-up of munchies, I requested that he help me get another Lindt bar. Ten minutes later, he returned and passed me an extra-large bar of Lindt 70% dark chocolate, two times the size of the standard bar I was munching on before.
So I expressed shock, because I definitely couldn’t finish all of it. “It’s okay, eat it slowly,” was his reply.
Again, there are two ways of looking at it.
A. He bought the extra-large chocolate bar because he knows I love dark chocolate (as in, seriously!) and so, decided to get me a supply that can last me a couple of days at least.
B. He bought the extra-large chocolate bar because it was much cheaper to buy in bulk (or larger sizes), rather than a single, standard-size Lindt bar. So he saves money that way, just in case I end up asking him for even more Lindt bars.
If the above scenarios happened to you, which one would you choose?
For me, I chose option A for both – because despite how the younger cousin has his share of annoying (and occasionally, selfish – but who doesn’t?) moments, I know he really, really, really cares for me a lot and would basically go out of his way to make me happy.
If he is in the mood to, at least. Heh.
Never a dull moment
[Written at 1.50 P.M. (19th May) Singapore time, 10:50 P.M. (18th May) Vancouver time.]
The nice thing about travelling with my extremely crazed, wacky relatives is that something funny/odd/downright ridiculous happens almost every hour. (This almost makes up for the way they drive me up the wall the rest of the time. Hur.)
Scenario 1: The car seat murderer
Younger cousin David attempts to re-adjust the seat of my grandma in the MPV we rented for our long drive to Seattle. He had previously reclined the seat too low to the point where my grandma was beginning to have a backache.
Unfortunately, the seat was tricky to maneuver and my cousin had quite a bit of struggle.
“Pull! Pull, David! Pull!” my aunts were egging him on.
“This is too difficu-” David gave too hard a yank at the moment and the entire seat lurched forward … and managed to whack my poor, unsuspecting grandma at the back of her head.
The entire group gasps, and my grandma utters her trademark phrase.
“KIA SI NANG!”
(*Kia si nang – Singaporean slang to express outrage or shock.)
Scenario 2: We had some nice butts for dinner
Aunt Olive, David and I were comparing what we had for dinner, and Aunt Olive was talking about how the halibut was much better than the ribeye. Only that she mispronounced ‘halibut’ slightly, turning it into ‘hali-butt’.
Aunt – “The hali-butt tasted nicer than the steak!”
Me – “The what?!”
Aunt – “Hali-butt?!”
Me – “Why not just call it ‘hairy butt’ and finish with it?”
So my aunt had some pretty tasty butts for dinner. Hmm, I wonder whose.
Scenario 3: Unintentional child abandonment
On the way back to the hotel, my group of relatives ran into a group of my aunt’s friends. Sensing a potential long conversation ahead (and seeing how both of us were laden with heavy bags), younger cousin David and I decide to park our arses on a nearby couch to wait.
Only that we both ended up falling asleep and I was abruptly shaken awake half an hour later by David telling me frantically that everyone is gone. Apparently, the adults had completed their conversation, completely forgot about us and simply returned to the rooms.
The worst part? Neither David nor I had the keys to enter our rooms.
After sitting around and stoning for quite a but, we both came up with the perfect solution – which was to continue sleeping on the couch. o.O
Our theory was that they’d realize that we’re missing sooner nor later and would come back for us. Plus, we’re both pretty drained from the day’s events so that was the best way to conserve energy and get out of our current predicament, we felt.
Sure enough, Aunt Olive came back for us less than ten minutes later – apologizing profusely. (But looking more amused than guilty. Tsk, really.)
Scenario 4: The unfortunate need to share bathrooms.
Overheard while I was still semi-asleep this morning. Someone was already using the bathroom in my hotel room (with the door locked) but my mum desperately needed the toilet fast – so she walked into the adjoining room (which belongs to my Uncle Daniel, Aunt Olive and the younger cousin David) and requested to use their bathroom in the queerest of ways.
Mum – Olive, does your son need to bathe?
Aunt Olive – No, he doesn’t bathe in the mornings. He only needs to change.
Mum – Okay, good good. Is he naked?(Me thinking “Whaaaaaaaat?” in my sleep. But later managed to put two and two together and realized that David was probably in the bathroom at that time. But because the bathroom was so madass big with two sinks – and an additional private toilet with a door – we could usually do our stuff alongside one another.)
Aunt Olive – Uh, well … he IS changing in the toilet.
For the record, my mum spilled some coffee and wanted to wash her hands. She is not some child-peeping pedophile or anything of the sort. (;
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