Shape, Money and Clothes

I was chatting with Baby Sis and we were lamenting over our shape, or lack of it, when it occurred to us that...

When we were young we had no shape, and no money.

Those were the days when we were skinny as a rake and we only had one new dress a year that was sewn for us by our paternal grandmother. We had no say in the choice of material nor the design of the dress.

There was a year when she bought a lovely rose pink material and she sewed us dresses with lace on the bodice. I really loved that dress and my memory of it remains as fresh as if it is still hanging in my wardrobe.

Unfortunately we weren't always so fortunate. There was a year when she sewed us dresses from a piece of ugly, brown cloth. I hated the colour and, to make things worse, the cloth was very scratchy.

Those were the two dresses I remembered out of the many that she sewed for us over the years when we were growing up - the one I loved most and the one I hated most.

In those days we hardly ever bought clothes. Most of the time we wore hand-me-downs that friends and relatives gave us which our mother would send for alterations before we could wear them.

As we grew older, we had the shape, but no money.

We filled up as we grew older even though we were still on the skinny side. That made it very easy for us to buy clothes and to look good in them. However, money was still tight because we were starting in our careers and our pay was low. Moreover, being a sandwich generation, we had to care for both our children and our parents.

Now that we are in our golden years we have the money but no shape.

Our parents have passed on and our children are already working, except for my nephew. We are now able to indulge ourselves but, unfortunately, we have lost our shape. The pendulum has swung from being too skinny to being too fat. And all in the wrong places. :(

We used to wear S, XS or even XXS size but now we have to request for L, XL or XXL size. To make matters worse, some of the clothes are imported from Korea and China where people are really tiny. To our chagrin, there are countless occasions when there isn't a size big enough for us to fit in!

Of course, we can always have our clothes tailored but one thing I've learnt through the years is that dress-makers often fail to deliver. The beautiful dress I picture in my head seldom ever materializes at the hands of the dress-maker.

So why, oh why, is it always a no-win situation for me when it comes to clothes?

Frustrated

Living one's life around people who don't plan is very annoying and frustrating. It's much worse waiting for someone who is waiting for someone who is waiting for someone who is waiting for someone to make a decision before anything goes. It makes one feel that one is at the bottom of the food chain.

Most of the time is spent waiting in anticipation for a decision and when nothing happens you get disappointed. But when you decide to get a life and do something else instead of wasting time (and life) playing the waiting game, suddenly things get moving and you have to scramble like crazy to make adjustments.

I have nothing against spontaneity and enjoying the moment. In fact I enjoy the spirit of adventure that spontaneity brings but it should be within some form of structure.

We live in community which means there are other people involved in every decision you make or don't make. Such behaviour is just plain selfish.

Iron Therapy for Sleepless Nights

I had one of my sleepless nights last night. I was so fed up tossing and turning, trying to sleep that I finally resorted to my tried-and-tested Iron therapy. It works without fail. Every time!

 

My best buy of the year

Glassy Problem

I hate these glasses of mine. They don't suit me at all.

I don't understand why some people can look so gaya in glasses whereas I look so dungu in them?

But I can't change them for the moment because of the cataract on the left eye.

If I remove the cataract, I cannot wear glasses because of difference in power for both eyes will be too great. According to the optometrist that'll cause me a lot of problems.

I can wear contacts on one side, which I do, but I don't want to wear contacts all the time.

All I want is a pair of glasses that makes me look good and is not too heavy so it doesn't press down and leave two depressions on both sides of my nose.

Susah la.

Lousy Band

We were very unhappy with the band's performance at the wedding on 3 July 2011.

In the first place, there were too many gaps in the performance. They were all talking to each other in between songs. We had already run through the songs we wanted for the night so it is inexcusable for them not to know the sequence of the songs they'll be singing. The last minute discussions make it seem as if they were some impromptu band that we have dragged in off the streets to play at the last minute.

We expected nothing less than a smooth and effortless transition from song to song but what we got were long and uncomfortable silences between numbers that only served to draw attention to their lack of preparation and unprofessionalism. Our usual Sunday worship team, who are all amateurs by comparison, put them to shame.

The bassist was still texting on his handphone when he walked on stage! That was how unprofessional they were.

One of my guest's comment was that Tracy the singer was treating the whole event as if it was her concert. What's with all the walking around the crowd and saying hi to old friends in the crowd? She shouldn't have made it personal because many of our guests don't even know what TOP or TOPian is. The wedding is about the couple, not about her or TOP. Our mistake was hiring someone we know that led to the lack of professionalism.

She also put us in a tight spot when she asked the bride and groom as well as the parents to dance. My new in-laws are NOT dancing people. They had repeatedly asked Ky-Shen and my daughter to make sure there were no surprises – worse, they were specific about "make sure no dancing" – and my daughter had given them her word that there would be no dancing in the programme.

They were our guests on the 3rd and we were appalled that we have offended them albeit unwittingly and through no fault of ours. Fortunately Ky-Shen didn't kick up a fuss but graciously agreed to dance with Pam. Kenny and I had no choice but to also oblige since we were the hosts. Kenny was also not pleased because he is also a non-dancing person.

Tracy was really a loose cannon on that night. Isn't it just common sense that the band should not ask people to do things like that? Not everybody can or like to sing or dance, especially in public.

All these bad surprises left a very bad impression on my in-laws which, I fear, would be hard to rectify. They are so afraid that they have now insisted their band give them a complete itemised list of what they will be doing for the wedding dinner on the 9th.

BTW, the name of the band is Q Jazz under the leadership of Jerome Quah. Avoid them like a plague or you'll be sorely disappointed.

Acceptance

Acceptance. It is the true thing everyone longs for. The one thing everyone craves. To walk in a room and to be greeted by everyone with hugs and smiles. And in that small passing moment, you truly know you're loved, needed, and accepted.
~ Rena Harmon

It is very sad when you have to be someone you are not because the person you love cannot accept you for who you are.

It is very, very sad that when you are real they think you are faking it so you have to fake it and be someone you're not in order for them to accept you as real. What an irony!

The danger of such prolonged fakeness is that:

“There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout:
This is me damn it! I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel, love the way I love! I am a whole complex package. Take me... or leave me. Accept me - or walk away! Do not try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don't fit your idea of who I should be and don't try to change me to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.”
~ Stacey Charter

RSVP

The biggest headache when you invite people to a wedding comes during the RSVP 'cos the RSVP etiquette is seriously missing among Malaysians. Only 25% of our guests bothered to confirm their attendance before the RSVP deadline.

The worst culprits are relatives. I suppose most of them think that an RSVP is unnecessary simply because it is assumed that they would be attending without considering the fact that we have to know the number of people coming along for the party.

The deadline for our RSVP was last Sunday and, after numerous smses and phone calls the past 3 days, we still have 6 invitations without RSVP and one tentative (subject to leave approval so considered excusable).

I really don't know how people manage huge weddings that run to thousands of guests.

Speaking the Truth in Love

It is good to speak the truth but do use some wisdom and mix in a lot of love. As Thumper's mom told him in the cartoon Bambi, "If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all."


Need I say more?

It's All in the Mind

This is so true.


BTW, this is a mogok post. I have so many things to do that I don't know where to start so I'm simply not doing anything that I ought to be doing.

Frustrated

Some people trying to show they are smart - cannot cannot do can can!

Hazy Days and Scratchy Throats

Lately hubby and I been having scratchy throats which I attribute to the haze.

I'm sure my suspicion is correct because we're talking about the air we breathe here. Dirty or not we still have to breathe and end up clogging our airways.

Soon we'll have no choice but to pay for clean air by investing in an air purifier indoors and donning a space suit whenever we go outside.

So you can imagine my consternation when I woke up to another hazy morning.

Could hardly see the sun and the mainland was lost in the haze

Thank God the haze cleared by lunch time and we have clear skies in the evening.

Counting Calories & Blessings

That reminded me of the good, old days when I could eat as much as I wanted to and not put on an ounce. In fact people used to say I have hollow legs. I wouldn't believe if anyone had told me then that there would come a time when the weight would start piling up and I would have to reduce portions and watch the calories.

Nowadays I put on weight just thinking about food! Susah la.

BTW, that comic also reminded me that I really should count my blessings. For something as basic and as common as strong water pressure. I used to complain about unsatisfactory water pressure at home until I experienced what low water pressure was while I was in KL.

The water pressure was so low that bath time took longer than usual because I have to wash section by section or parts of my body will not get wet at all!

I was never as grateful and neither have I enjoyed my shower that much as on the night I reached home. Isn't it so human of us to take our blessings for granted?

People Who Talk Too Much

Lillian and I attended the Green Apple Charity Concert last night.

We have seen some of the costumes and dances before but that is to be expected. From the performance we reckon that their forte is in hip-hop and jazz. That was the general perception as well 'cos the modern dances drew the most applause from the audience.

The only other dance that reaped a thundering applause was the belly dance. The ladies, and there were so many of them, were so good with their "camels." In fact most of the time they were doing the body roll and hip lifts. There was very little variation in the steps but the use of veils added a real Arabian night flavour to the dance.

We would have enjoyed the evening more if it weren't for a talkative lady MC who spoiled it all with her endless chatter and broken English. Her English is not really that broken, but tak jadi lo especially for a big event like that.

I really cannot stand her instructions for another round of applause after every performance, after we have already applauded.

She also has the bad habit of telling the audience the comments of the stage manager to her. That's washing dirty linen in public! So lacking in finesse and not professional at all.

Doesn't she know that we are at a show? Even the radio stations acknowledge people's lack of tolerance for talk and they have come up with programmes like Music Marathon or 9 In A Row where listeners can enjoy the music without the interruption from the DJs.

We want to feast with our eyes, not listen to some grandmother stories. Summore tell us what is going to be on stage as if we cannot see the props when the curtain opens. That's so silly. Geram only.

I think she is just stage-struck. Give people like her a mic or put her on stage and it's disaster in the making.

They would have done better to just use the Chinese speaking MC. He's bilingual and does not grate on my nerves with all the self-promoting nonsense.

2nd Childhood

Princess is experiencing second childhood. She has started biting shoes. She did not do that when she was a puppy.

Time Flies

It certainly does. I was doing so well with regualr posts until 6 August and then all posts vanished. Sigh. Already not getting enough sleep where to find the time to blog?

I surrender.