Where have all the days, the work days, that is; in the week gone? Before you realise that you are on one of the weekdays – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; they vanish right beneath your feet. Time is moving so fast that warp speed seem unnervingly slow. It is quite unfortunate that many of us are moving from weekend to weekend, without actually living the workdays in each week.
Life is short, very short. Each moment that comes from the future, becoming the present, and soon vanishes into the past is gone – twee twee tak balik (1), unretrievable, can’t rewind… So, we should count each moment every day and make them count. There are gonna be great days and there are gonna be days that could have been better. Each day is definitely a plus.
I heard a preacher once say that we cannot control the beginning and the end of our lives, which are givens. What we can control is between those two givens. The length of time between those givens are different for each of us. It is like as though we are presented with a blank canvas for us to paint the best picture of how we are going to make our lives to be.
For me, I wish the weeks were elastic so that I could stretch them. I have so many things to do, writing being one of the main items on my list. I have a growing backlog of essays that I would like to write on subjects, that would be interesting and fun to explore and put pen to paper…in this case keyboard tapping to words on the screen.
This weekend, which has begun just over 4 hours ago (the time is 4.10am at this point of keyboard thumping) this Saturday morning; the Batik Influencer, Jeannie (my wife) and I, Alan, the Hatted Writer; will be at our usual place at F1.08 on the first Floor of Amcorp Mall. The Batik Influencer has got a new range of her very famous JEANNIE’S OWN label Batik Cape Creations that she will be showcasing. Very limited in numbers; come quickly to acquire one of each design pieces. She represents the Malaysian in each of her pieces.
Last weekend; I had the pleasure of meeting my school (La Salle Primary & Secondary School, Klang) classmate, Dr. Michael Lee Pillai who came by with his wife, daughter and her husband. Dr. Michael and I have known each other since we were 10 years old. I remember having had to go to his house twice a week for Bahasa Malaysia tuition when we were in Standard Five (1969’s version of today’s Year 5).
It was a nice surprise meeting him and his family. We don’t meet as often as we would like to. A major event in the works, coming up is our 50th anniversary reunion. It would good to meet with the other schoolmates of 1975 graduation.
Dr. Michael got a copy of my book, SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT, with me personalizing it for him.
I am expecting to meet a gentleman this weekend who had a serious issue in writing an article. He was inspired by my book, and my story behind writing and publishing it. Several months had gone by but he couldn’t stitch an article together. I helped him by providing him a solution. And that was it. He was sure to have this important article that he was to write, done, and present to an important group of people. He is coming back to see me and tell me how he fared with finally being able to assemble enough words together to create a highly credible article for his presentation.
The Batik Influencer and I, the Hatted Writer; have had the wonderful opportunity of meeting multiple number of people that visit us at our booth each weekend. These people are mainly Malaysians. We have also met many people of different nationalities from China, U.S,A., the U.K., Japan (Akato is coming to visit us again this weekend), Brunei, Australia, Singapore, India, Mauritius, Maldives, Italy, and many more. We welcome everyone to come visit us. That includes you, our friends. Looking forward to meeting with all of you.
NOTES:
1. Twee twee tak balik is a famous Malaysian play slang in the Bahasa Malaysia language; which means not “twee twee” coming back.
“Chup” is another word which means the same thing “or cannot take back.
Address:
Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Booth 1.08, 1st Floor, ,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: September 27th – September 28th, 2025
Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)