Cars

YAY! IT’S THE WEEKEND!

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

As “they” say, “Yay!” (And I ask, “Who are the people behind” they?), the weekend is upon us. Was it not upon us yesterday? Time waits for no man. Nor any other living species.

It is the rainy season. We have been experiencing heavy rain almost any time of the day. In a way, it is a good thing: the days aren’t so hot. However, humidity is high; which is quite frustrating. You shower, dress up nice to go for an outing like dinner for instance. Many people will perfumate (1) (a new word that I just created, or is it invented?) themselves for their outing. Then, before you reach your destination, you would already be perspiring (2) (This word sounds nicer than “sweating” which may be linked to intense activity like sports).

Each day…, really, is unique. Each day can never be the same. Yes, the parameters of time, that is each day has 24 hours or 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds, that is the same, and will not change.

Another constant is that time that has past us by, can never be recovered. If we can understand that in its entirety, time that past us by is gone. It leaves only a memory (that is, if we can remember).

So, as each moment is unique in itself, that before it comes, it is our “future”, when it is with us, it is our “present”; and when it has past us by, it is our “past”. Another fact is that we get older as each moment passes us by. We can decide to “get in each moment and be active in it” or fall by the wayside and let it pass us by. I have decided to make every moment or series of moments an adventure. I feel like I am Mark Twain (3), on one of his adventures.

Mark Twain wrote, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (1876) and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1885), both classics. I remember when my siblings and I were young children, our father bought these books and many others, for us to read. I encourage you to read these stories. I may be nostalgic but it would be better to read the actual books rather than read from an electronic screen. The stories come alive. Fascinating.

Our adventure this weekend is that the Batik Influencer, Jeannie; and I, Alan, also known as the “Hatted Writer”; will be at Booth F1.08 in Amcorp Shopping Mall.

The Batik Influencer has a new range of unique designs of Batik Capes under the JEANNIE’S OWN” label. There are only a limited number of pieces available. So, come early to secure yours. Let her show you its uniqueness of casual and formal, and the multiple ways that it can be worn.

Colours, used to express the beautiful designs and fluidity of batik.

I am really excited as my book gets closer to launch date. Multiple people have indicated that they have booked their copy (some have told me that they are obtaining several copies to give away as Christmas gifts. I am looking forward to meeting with all you readers of leatherpotato.com and about to be my book readers, too.

It is definitely going to be another fun weekend for us as we get to meet all of you, and also meet some old friends who will drop by to visit, too. And, not forgetting many of our family members who use this as an opportunity to meet up with us. See you all there.

The gold on blue songket (4)-like design, with bold floral.

Almost everything, from a Insta360 Go3, Samsung Buds pro, Hotwheels cars, watches, BMW key rings; to Star Trek knapsack, leather bags, books, Yonex badminton racquet and many more. There is also a very rare porcelain-type doll with fully movable limbs, in a pretty outdoor dress. Great collectibles on offer.

NOTES:
1. “Perfumate”: A new word that I just invented.
A verb: To fill or infuse something with a pleasant odor or odor-releasing substance. For example, “Roses perfumed the wedding chapel”
2. We are told that “sweating” usually refers to animals. Perhaps that was in the past and does not apply any longer.
3. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the “greatest humorist the United States has produced,” with William Faulkner calling him “the father of American literature.”  Wikipedia
4. Songket or sungkit is a tenun fabric that belongs to the brocade family of textiles of Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. It is hand-woven in silk or cotton, and intricately patterned with gold or silver threads. The metallic threads stand out against the background cloth to create a shimmering effect. Wikipedia

Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Booth 1.08, 1st Floor, ,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: November 23rd & 24th, 2024
Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)

F1.08 AT THE MALL

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Yay! It is the weekend again. We sure can be happy about it. The last two evenings, coming through P.J. on the Federal Highway and surrounding areas was what can I say? “Peachy”. It put P.J.’s road system to the limit. You are going to say, “What system?” I am sure that all of you who were on the Federal Highway or surrounding areas are going to agree with me and say, “Yes, it was just…’peachy’”.

To be fair, it was the exceptional heavy rain downpour that probably was the culprit. Come to think of it, in all the areas that we drove through on both evenings, we had missed both storms. The rain at its heaviest, was just a heavy drizzle. Today, the weather is fine. And, I don’t need to pick my wife, Jeannie; and our daughter, Laura; up from work. They both, have own their plans for the evening.

Which leaves me home alone. It works out well for me as I have lots to do in the current phase of getting my book manuscript ready for publication. My target deadline is to complete this phase by middle of next week.

Both Jeannie, who is the Batik Influencer; and I; are looking forward to this weekend, which has officially begun. We are looking forward to it because we will be having a booth at Amcorp Mall Shopping Centre in P.J.. We always look forward to having a booth there as it gives us multiple opportunities to meet and make new friends.

As the Batik Influencer, Jeannie talks of batik with passion. Batik designs are endless. They are either factory or block printed, or hand painted motifs. Hand painted motifs are really for the exceptional exclusive few.

Batik showcases colour in all its richness and vibrancy. I love colour. At one time, handheld Personal Digital Assistant devices boasted 16k (16,000) colour screen displays. Recently, the brand, Oppo, a smartphone maker from China, introduced its Reno8T model, which is capable of displaying 1 billion colours. Wow!  Technology takes the spectrum of colours to a whole new level. Can you imagine, batik, in its finest; displaying 1 billion colours in its prints?

The Batik Influencer will be showcasing her Batik Cape Creations under the “JEANNIE’S OWN” label. There are a very limited number of pieces of these “JEANNIE’S OWN” Batik Cape Creations available. So, come early to get yours. One of our good friends, Jino Lim; has somehow always missed us. So, we have to send a personal invite to him and his wife, Angie; to head on down to our booth this weekend.

I will get the opportunity to meet followers, readers and visitors of www.leatherpotato.com in person. I am honoured to meet these wonderful people. They share their views on the articles and have many, many suggestions for various stories, and cafes and restaurants all over town that I should write about. The biggest takeaway I guess, is that they are excited for me, that my book is going to hit the bookshelves at bookstores real soon. They are pre-booking orders so that they can be the first to get the first series print. They seem to be making it a “limited edition”😁. One of the most important points that resonates with them is that this will be a physical book.

A physical book offers the opportunity of the reader getting immersed in the stories, which come alive as they are being read. There are no distractions like notifications and other such things that you would get if you were reading from a screen. No glare, pleasing to the eyes. Anytime, you want to re-read the story or article, you just refer to the book. As the Hatted Writer, I am always reminded of the multiple reasons that reading a physical book is always better.😊

While we take weekends running a booth at Amcorp Shopping Mall such as this as an opportunity to meet new people, we are just as happy to meet with all our exisiting friends again. We have met multiple people whom we had not seen in years, come by. I wonder who will be the mysterious friend or friends this weekend.

We are at Booth F1.08, First floor. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Booth 1.08, 1st Floor, ,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: October 5th & 6th:
Time: , 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)

50,000 HITS

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

50,000 HITS!

From over 100 countries. Thank you to each and everyone of you for your support through all the various forms of social media and communication. I enjoyed meeting multiple readers / subscribers / followers in person whenever the opportunity was made available.

As one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers, Michael Schumacher once said, “Records are meant to be broken”. I am looking forward to the next 50,000.

I am grateful.

ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller

IT CAME, IT WENT

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Aren’t we all in a hurry? Everything seems to be in a rush or rushing to catch the tail end of something. Tail end of a moment? Now, that will be a feat to watch. A moment is what I believe to be wa-a-a-y faster than a second. So, can you imaging trying to catch it’s tail end? I think a dog, running in circles, trying to catch its tail is more likely to succeed though the odds are stacked against that from happening. Compared to us trying to catch the tail end of a moment.

We were waiting in anticipation for the weekend to come, because it was the “Merdeka” weekend. Malaysia’s 67th Independence anniversary. Though some purists will tell you that it was to be Peninsula Malaysia’s (Malaya in 1957) Independence. Sarawak and Sabah got theirs a few years later, what is now known as “Malaysia Day”.

Also, it was the first time that we, the Batik Influencer, Jeannie; and I, would be manning a booth at Amcorp Shopping Mall’s Flea Market starting on a Friday and ending on Sunday.

Friday came. We were at our designated booth on the 1st Floor by 11.00am, set up and displayed the things that we hope would have found new owners by this weekend. At first, we only expected the people traffic flow to be from the office crowd since Friday was a working day. The crowd was good, with a good mix of those still working and those who were not.

The first two of JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Cape Creations were quickly snapped up by these two ladies.

There was a D.J. / M.C. this weekend. He was good. We weren’t at our booth for too long before the M.C. (let’s call him that for the rest of the article) made his way to out booth and interviewed the Batik Influencer. He promoted her batik capes (Jeannie’s Batik Capes under the lable of JEANNIE’S OWN) over the air. I met him, but we did not recognise each other).

The M.C., Denis; getting to know about the Batik Influencer’s Batik Cape Creations under the JEANNIE’S OWN label.

A while later, I saw my cousin, Darren Atkinson, walk by. When he heard the M.C.s voice over the speakers, he said that was Denis Lim. I said it couldn’t be because we met each other earlier. However, I did not recognise him, and vice versa. No names were exchanged at that point of time.

Darren went looking for the M.C..

Friday was soon over, and Jeannie and I headed for home by about 5.00pm. We wanted to avoid the office crawl (literally). It is the usual time when you can see snails move faster than us. Looks like I’ve been influenced by “Turbo”.

The Batik Influencer demonstrating the multiple ways of using the JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Cape Creations.

One of the first people to visit us on Saturday morning was the M.C., Denis. Now, I knew who he was and vice versa; after Darren. We were all connected through the youth of Assumption Church, Petaling Jaya. (1) We reminisced of the great times we had when we were the youth (we still are…depending on how one looks at it😉😂) of the 1970s and 1980s.

My cousin, Chris; stopped by, too. We had a good chat since our last coffee meet up a few weeks ago.

We had many people come see us during the three days we were at our booth. There was never a time the Mall was quiet. The M.C. did a fantastic job, keeping the crowds entertained and updating them on where there could find great bargains for the bargain hunters. He also advertised the products of all the booths had to offer.

Emir visited us, and so did his sister. They picked up a few things of ours for their use. My Fujimi brand e34 BMW 535 SOHC unbuilt model kit which I bought in 1989 and kept all this while, has now found a new owner, who apparently does not intend to build it, but to keep it like how I kept it. He has a real “Mazda red” (colour) e34, double vanos model, as his daily use. He loves it.

More of my Hotwheels collection have found new owners, leaving me with barely 10% of my original collection left. They all must have new owners.

The Batik Influencer met with more fashion industry people and talked away about batik and how it is a growing powerhouse in the international arena. I met many more people who have become followers of http://www.leatherpotato.com. They have wished me well on the upcoming book and have indicated an interest in getting a copy each when it reaches the book stores in Q1, 2025. For, you, readers; a multiple number have indicated that you want a copy, it is coming real soon. It was supposed to be out for the Christmas holidays. However, due to a slight delay, it will be out in Q1, 2025 (not too long from now). I am excited to see its fruition.

We headed home by about 5.30pm. But first, we stopped by at Kwai Sun for dinner…

NOTES:
1. Petaling Jaya is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.

THE BOOK: ITS NEXT PHASE

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

The book moves into its next phase of development. This is one of the toughest stages – what goes into the book from the raw manuscript. Totally exciting!

Thank you, everyone; for all your kind words, encouragement and support. Thank you to the multiple people who have already made pre-bookings. Wow!

Email: leatherpotato6188@gmail.com

Links to the lead up until now:

THE BOOK

THE BOOK’S MANUSCRIPT

PROMISE YOURSELF

F1.01 BOOTH, THE YOUNG GIRL AND THE LITTLE TEDDY BEAR

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

The weekend has fast approached us, slower for some, faster for others. The weather, Formula 1 and the Paris  Olympics, among others; have been dominating the news.

What is great about this weekend is that we, the Batik Influencer, Jeannie; and I, are going to be at Amcorp Shopping Mall, in Petaling Jaya, or “PeeJay” as it is more commonly known.

We are operating a booth in the east wing on the first floor (our booth number is F1.01, by the escalator).

We are excited to have our booth opened as this gives us the opportunity to meet with many new people and our friends, too. Amir, is one of those many friends. He texted me to ask when I would be at Amcorp again. He was happy when I told him that we will be there this weekend.

There was one young girl, aged between 10 – 12 years old; who stopped by our booth several months ago and showed an interest in a little teddy bear we had on sale. She asked how much we were selling the bear, and I told her the price. At that particular time, we had a stream of people visiting us, requiring our attention. I thought she would hang on for a while until I settled with the person who grabbed my attention first , and I would have given the teddy bear to her for free. Ever since then, I have reserved the bear for her. I have been looking for her, hoping that she would come back to visit us. The look in her eyes said it all, and I am quite sure the little bear would have found a worthy owner. Let’s hope she comes over this weekend.

The Batik Influencer has a new selection of her renowned Batik Capes for you to choose from. The number of pieces in this new range is very limited. Eye-catching designs and vibrant colours, the Batik Cape Creations under “JEANNIE’S OWN” LABEL, oozes style, charm, sophistication, under statement, comfort, pleasure…the list goes on. Come early to get yours.

Some of the latest from the label, “JEANNIE’S OWN” by the Batik Influencer.👆

I am putting up my Insta360 Go 3 for sale. This is absolutely the action camera (even for those with not much action like me😁). Just in case you want to action action when you carry or / and use this camera in public, you can. This is tremendously the best camera for everything. Film your own sci-fi movie or anything else, including stills photography.

I have only used this Insta360 Go 3 twice. Why am I selling it? Valid question. I just don’t have the time to spend with it. It is still brand new, so to speak. I purchased a Harvey Norman extended warranty for it. The warranty extends right to December 2028.

We have multiple new items up for grabs / sale.

I am looking forward to meeting as many as possible – followers, subscribers, readers of leatherpotato.com. I had many interesting conversations at our Amcorp Mall booth sessions in the past. I am sure this weekend is going to be just as good. The topic of my book will come up. It is shaping up, going through its due process. I have had many suggestions on what my next book should be. One is to write a serious book based on my past experience as a Financial Planner. I see it as a short book that would help the customer invest their money in protective assets. I am giving much thought to it.

Come over to Booth 1.01, First floor. Tomorrow, August 10th, we will be there from 12.30pm onwards. Sunday, August 11th, we will be there at 10.00am. We, the Batik Influencer, Jeannie; and I (the Hatted Writer), look forward to meeting with you all there.

Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Booth 1.01, 1st Floor, West Wing,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: August 10 and August 11, 2024
Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)

MAXIMIZING MINIMIZING

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

As the “Energise” vapour rises like smoke from the onion-shape air diffuser with a thin funnel on its top; The Blueair air purifier has its blue light (which is also its logo) stare aimlessly and without expression; diagonally, at the opposite end of the living room from the D’Natural air diffuser. “Energise”, is an essential oil that is supposed to create a soft calmness, feeling, while energising and re-energising us, especially if we have had a long, tiring day. Well, at least that is what the salesperson who sold me this, said. 🤔

Having dropped Laura off at the gym, we; that is, Jeannie – the Batik Influencer and I; headed back towards home. But first, “What shall we have for dinner?”

Hardly an option of whether to eat or not – dinner. Jeannie and I unconsciously or subconsciously practise (the red squiggly line appears under the word indicating that the spelling is wrong) (1) intermittent fasting. (2) We decided on Star Bhavan. It’s the place where all the stars meet? 🌟🤔I guess. We find it quite a convenient stopover / break journey.

As we got to the restaurant, we had to make two rounds, looking for a car park. Generally, finding a space is fairly easy. On our second round, we found a slot a short distance walk before the restaurant.

As we walked towards Star Bhavan, we passed a store that looked different from the rest of the shops around there. Looking through its window, it was brightly lit, racks and tables of multiple things – definitely different and so inviting.

We went in to have a look. As we got in, I, for a moment, got a shock! Yang Berhormat (Y.B.) (3) Michelle Ng greeted us. My shock: how come our Subang Jaya State Assemblyperson was working here(?). We were greeted by a sweet, friendly person, whose name we soon got to know, Jane.

Jane looks exactly like Y.B. Michelle, like her twin. I bumped into Michelle at a cafe, the day before that. Michelle is a super-amazing, friendly person, who always has more than a full work schedule. Yet, whenever she can; she will try to make time for you.

You can be forgiven to think that Jane and Michelle are twins. For one, they’ve got the same welcoming, smile.

Jane, together with her husband started “Minimize Zero Waste Store”, 3 years ago. They are strong believers at working towards zero waste. Their multiple products on sale are based on that. For instance you can buy corn flakes, or cookies and stuff like that, however, bring your own containers. This encourages less wastage going towards packaging. I think that is a super-excellent idea.

There is a wide spectrum of things that are available at Minimize at affordable prices.


Another thing that Jane believes in is helping promote local products wherever Minimize can. However, the products have to fit the idea of zero waste.

With amazing Jane.

With amazing Jane. She’s got a nice flower tattoo on her arm.

Minimize helps people who want to sell their products like bags and clothes. These products have to be in line with the theme of “Minimize, zero waste”.

You can spend hours going through all these wonderful and affordable items in Minimize, that’s for sure.

Minimize has so many products that it has something for everyone of all ages. This is the place to find it. Jane is a super nice person. For sure, Jeannie and I will be back for multiple visits.

We got to Star Bhavan later than planned. We first ordered Nescafe Ais (ice) and a dish of chickpeas, while waiting for our main meal orders to come. The chickpeas dish was unusual. It came mixed with other beans and some spices in it. It looked convincingly spicy. It was not. This chickpeas dish was a great way to start our dinner.

NOTES:
1. My computer is configured to British English, or the late Queen (now the King’s?) English or English English.
2. Intermittent fasting is an eating plan that switches between fasting and eating on a regular schedule. Research shows that intermittent fasting is a way to manage your weight and prevent — or even reverse — some forms of disease. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org
3. Yang Berhormat or YB, in Malaysia, translates to “the honourable”, is used by members of parliament and state legislative assemblymen. Finally, YB hg, meaning “the felicitous”, is a style of persons with a noble title.

ANOTHER THRILLING DAY

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Just as one is published, another becomes due. An essay just published recently, COFFEE SHOP AT PARAMOUNT, somehow took more time than usual to complete and publish.

Or are the days losing its value by becoming shorter? There are several theories floating that each day made up of 24 hours or 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds, are actually losing it’s value in terms of time. Maybe, a couple of seconds or so, every 50 years… Whether these theories and studies have merit, is left to be seen.

I have mentioned this before. Maybe, we, as individual, ordinary people, cannot control the shortening or lengthening of time. But what we can control, is what we put into that given time.

I didn’t have a good enough sleep last night. I thought that since I was so tired, I would have been out like a lightbulb switched off. But I wasn’t. Toss and turned, got up several times, so, yeah not the best of nights. Night went and as usual, the next morning showed up as always, on the dot. Maybe, the night was too warm. I don’t know if it is just me, but the past few nights have been unusually warm. However, the early mornings become very cold. Same thing happened today. By time it was 8.30am – 9.00am, the temperatures started climbing and the humidity bringing with it – perspiration.

Ain’t nothing gonna spoil my day (not exactly the Queen’s English [have not heard the phrase “King’s English”. I wonder if it is referred to that as such]). We were about to leave for Amcorp Shopping Mall. I had a quick brekkie – had two vadai (one made from beans and the other, a donut [American spelt version of doughnut]) which we bought from Star Bhavan – the latest Indian restaurant craze of Subang Jaya.

I was not feeling all that “awake” , yet it was almost 10.00am. Yes, we were still at home. Our neighbourhood contractor, Mr. Teoh; had some of his men come to out house to help repair the fencing. We left for P.J. shortly after that but not to Amcorp Shopping Mall. We had to make a detour to the hospital first where Jeannie wanted to visit a close relative. By the time we got top Amcorp, it was close to 11.15am. We set our booth up within a short while.

The Hotwheel cars, key chains and fridge magnets were top on the list today, as people seemed to have a renewed interest in these items. The Batik Influencer was as usual, entertaining and enlightening people on the “Why Batik? ” – old times, current times and the future – in vogue, always.

I got the opportunity to meet with two other writers, one focusing on ladies’ fashion; the other on food. They are establishing a foothold in K.L. and P.J.. Both these cities are so vibrant, that it would take a very long lifetime to cover everything. Come to think of it, not really. It definitely will take more than a very long life time, as K.L. or Kuala Lumpur and P.J. or Petaling Jaya, are both vibrant cities where the landscape for food and fashion are continuously evolving.

Hmmm…This looks interesting; they were both, thinking to themselves.

Looking chic in batik.

Bond’s cars, Swatch watches, a incredibly uniquely, rare Parker Duofold laquered blue, ball point pen.

The evening arrived faster than we realised. I think it’s because we were having fun as usual. In fact, we did not have much time catching up with our friends who were running the other booths. We plan to do so tomorrow. We got back home after 7.00pm. Just in time to think up of something new for future essays.