Laura Kristen Atkinson

PERFECT: CHAPATI AND NESCAFE ICE KAW

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

A day of driving, miles and miles; 2 hours 57 minutes on the road travelling.

Was I travelling outstation, in between towns, from one state to another (inter-state by another description)? You can say a little bit of all of the above.

My daughter, Laura sent me a message that she needed a ride back to her house after work. I immediately agreed. Her office is somewhere North East (depending on where you are at) of Kuala Lumpur at Damansara Heights.

I did the usual (most of the time. How many of you would tell some one who is waiting for you that you are just around the corner, when actually you have not started your journey? ) and left the house 5 minutes to the hour of 5.

Indian delight – curry puff and paruppu (dhal / lentil) vadai.

It had begun to rain heavily. I was hoping that it would stop quickly as I did not want the car to get wet in the heavy rain. I just sent the car for a good wash and vacuum this morning. After about half an hour, the heavy downpour did not look like it was going to let up anytime soon, so I made my way to Laura’s office.

The trip to Damansara was smooth despite the heavy rain. As I got into the PJ (Petaling Jaya) section of the Federal Highway, the rain had stopped. I got to Laura’s office a few minutes before she was supposed to finish work. She sent a message (or the local term is, “She Whatsapp-ed me”) to say that her boss had called her in for a last minute meeting. Being the great dad I am (pat on my back😇), I said, “No worries. Take your time”. Waiting for her gave me some time to work on an article, no, not this one; on another one. I am working on several articles at the same time. I saw a movie (I forget the name now) once of an artist who worked on several canvass pieces of art at the same time. She worked on whichever picture gel-led (pronounced as “jelled”) with his mood / feelings / thoughts at that time of his work. Likewise, I am doing the same.

My writings / drafts of unfurnished work are all on my ideaSketchpad💡. Some work have been on the backburner for months. Inspiration has not got me to complete them yet.

Laura was done with her meeting within half hour and we headed back to Subang Jaya. As we got into PJ; we hit the traffic jams. We used Waze to get us the shortest route. All of PJ was hit with massive traffic jams, full force. Waze led us through a route that we had never or probably used once or twice before. We were moving – slowly.

We got back to Subang Jaya within an hour which probably saved us half an hour to three-quarter of an hour compared if we took our usual route (which is using the Federal Highway) back. This new route helped us avoid the Federal Highway altogether. We went through SS3, Kelana Jaya, behind Paradigm Mall, pass the Glomac building, onto Jalan Lapangan Terbang Lama (I think), then onto the flyover that went straight into Subang Jaya, pass Subang Jaya Medical Centre, towards the roundabout near Sri KL school. (Those living in and around Subang Jaya will know this route, or at least, most of it.)

After dropping Laura off at her house, I decided to go to where all the stars meet for a comfortable and nice meal – Star Bhavan. Laura could not join me as she had other plans.

Star Bhavan is a restaurant that caters for a meal whether you are alone, or with someone or with a group of people.

Some of the variety of snacks offered by Star Bhavan. They have a large variety of Indian sweets (snacks and cakes) – not many places offers many different sweets and cakes.

I ordered my usual (most of the time) – chapati (such an easy word, yet the spelling can be a bit confusing. Localised [nowadays], it is spelt as “capati”, without the “h”) and Nescafe Ice Kaw. Ever since I started seriously working on reducing weight, I eat chapati most of the time. No diets. I have never been on a diet, at least consciously.

I go for my daily 10 kilometer (km) to 11km brisk walk, everyday; and on most days, I don’t eat lunch. I also minimise my sugar intake as much as I can.

Some of the large variety of sweets and cakes for those with a sweet tooth and more. I love many of them including the Ghee Mysore Pak and the yellow ghee balls (2nd from left, bottom row).

It makes common sense: burn / work off more calories than what you take in to lose weight. No rocket science needed to come up with a “I’m on a diet, too”. So far, my weight has come down by 9kg and fluctuates between the 67kg – 69 kg band. It has been hovering around this range for the last one and a half months. I am still working at it. My target ideal weight is 63kg.

One for the camera.

Back to my chapati and Nescafe Ice “story”.  I often have this meal combination when I am here. It seems light but it’s just nice for me.  Once in a while, I will add on an additional potato or a spicy fried chicken, chicken varuval or a spicy potato dish. Today, is one of those once-in-a-while days.

Dinner for one.

My meal was quick to arrive. There were three small side dishes that came with it – a “set” in the chapati tray. The “set tray” has 4 compartments, if I may call them that – one large and three small. The large one is for the main serving, in this case, it was the chapati. The three compartments were filled with what I call three different curry gravies. No, not right.

The white condiment was coconut chutney. The greenish condiment was some sort of potato dish, maybe it is a green curry. The other was a natural curry. 😀

This is an unusual potato dish with beans. Very spicy. Very tasty.

I decided to “live it up” – I ordered an additional potato dish. This looked like a dry curry dish, promising to take “spicy” to the next level. It was quite unusual. It had big beans (the baked beans type) in it.

Potent stuff. At least to those who are only used to eating 1 or 2 chilis in their food.

Green “curry” dish?

The delicious, spicy, yet not too spicy coconut chutney – sort of a sambal dish.

Capati (pronounced “char-par-tee” [as it sounds])

What can I say about this meal? It wasn’t fanciful nor was the dish patterned with sauces used to design or decorate. It sure was delicious, all the way, right to the last tiny flaked piece of chapati and dried potato curry with beans and coconut chutney. The only thing fanciful about this meal was the price, I guess. It was more than reasonable, I sure was satisfied. It was a good meal. And the Nescafe Ais Kaw – was just right. It complimented my dinner very well. I will be back for more meals in the future.

Spicy potato and large beans dish. Really delicious – one of Star Bhavan’s best, by far.

Bean vadai. Excellent for breakfast, tea or snacking during any time of the day.

I picked up some bean vadai and currypuffs to go, for my next morning’s breakfast.

BARE FEET 10 KILOMETER WALK – Pt2

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

cont. from BARE FEET 10 KILOMETER WALK (28th January 2025)

Yes, this is part 2, a continuation of the earlier essay. After all, it was a long walk in the sand (most of the time, I was on the sand).

An early morning light, gentle cool breeze was blowing ever so softly. It didn’t seem to come in from the direction of the sea. It was not strong enough for people to pause everything they were doing to say, “ah yes, I feel the breeze”. Most things are taken as a given or for granted, or with a “so what?” attitude.

The sun was up, not overhead. It was still in the distant east, but climbing at a steady pace to meet its overhead position at noon.

As I stretched my gaze to the edge of the sea in the distance, I could see ships, three of them, all keeping a safe distance between each of them, move from the south upwards to the north (I still have my sense of direction). This would mean that many of them would have made their way from ports in the east like Sabah, Sarawak, China, Japan, and other countries to the west, upwards to Europe and the U.S. Come to think of it, this would mean that vessels travelling from the east, going around Peninsular Malaysia; would be travelling on the right side of the Straits of Malacca, going up north to Europe and the rest of the west.

Therefore, vessels coming from the west, would use the left side of the Straits of Malacca (closer to the Indonesia), and go around the peninsular to head to the east. The narrow Straits of Malacca is one of the busiest sea lanes in the world, with about 94,000 ships (200 ships per day) (1) passing through it each year.

I got the walking exercise on the Samsung Health app on my Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Ultra fired up. I think Samsung’s Health app is one of the most comprehensive health information trackers there is available today. It is worth noting that this is one of the most accurate health data providers. It tracks almost all of my health extensively on a daily basis. The caveat I place on it is that the information it comes out with are only indications to how I am doing, health wise. Nevertheless, I find it fun to use.

The length of the beach was only about 300 meters long. So, I was walking up and down, from point to point and return, quite quickly. At the beginning of the “journey”, the beach had quite a lot of people on it, though not enough to say it was crowded. After a few laps on the beach, I removed my cheap, rubber slippers and parked them next to where Jeannie had left hers. It was the spot, water-wise, where Jeannie was in the sea.

When I started walking bare foot (feet?), I had hardly covered a few hundred steps. I found that walking on the damp sand was easier that in the dry beach sand, where each step , I sunk in the sand by a few millimeters, and momentarily, lost my balance, due to the unevenness of the sand. This was kind of slowing me down, too; as I like to keep a quick pace and complete my daily walk within the 1 hour 50 minutes to 1 hour 57 minutes.

As I walked on the damp sand, my speed (pace) picked up. After a short while, I had created a trail of footprints back and forth. I knew they were mine. First of all the pattern and path were the same, to and fro. Then, the size of the footprints. It was size 8,9, or 10 (depending on which country measurement is used). I usually use US size 9.

Within an hour, the crowds on the beach had swelled up. People who were there for sometime, must have been wondering to themselves while watching me walk down the beach to the other end, and then return, then go down the beach again, creating laps, “This guy is crazy or what? (“Or what?” is very Malaysian. Not quite sure if a statement has been made or a question has been asked), patrolling the beach up and down”. What must have made them even more curious was that the sun turned up its heat, like it had a knob to raise or drop its temperature; and yet, I was walking like there was no stopping me.

During my walk, I allow my mind to roam freely. Sometimes, I take in the scenes around me, the people and any thing that may be out of the ordinary.

Letting my mind roam freely is freedom. No Artificial Intelligence (AI), Chat GBT or anything like that can ever mimic the mind of a human, that’s my belief. The creators of these technologies would like you to believe that these technologies do, until you ask them if their minds can be replicated. More important question, “Will they allow their minds to be replicated?”

As I passed the 8km distance I walked, I realised that I was at my usual regular speed as per my daily walks. Before long, I crossed the 10 kilometer distance, and hit 10.46 kilometer when I achieved the 15,000 – step goal.

Wow! I actually walked 10 kilometers barefooted. That was a record of sorts for me at least. It seems like a crazy thing to do when I think back. Sure, the beach and sand were kind to my feet. Not much pebbles or any other thing that otherwise would have hurt my feet. I did feel a couple of blisters building up though; but not too serious.

I walked back to my slippers which I laid next to Jeannie’s on the beach. They were gone, both pairs were stolen! I waved Jeannie to come up from the water and asked if she noticed someone around our slippers, as they had disappeared. Jeannie said she was too busy enjoying herself to notice any slipper thief or anybody that resembled a slipper thief (not that she or even I, would know what a slipper thief looks like).

It did not bother us as our “feet protectors”, otherwise known as slippers; weren’t expensive. We walked barefoot back to the hotel, satisfied with ourselves; that she spent time in the water and I, did my 10 kilometer walk – both having accomplished what we set out to do for the day.

If you have a chance to do something wild (not too wild, I hope) or something out of the (extra) ordinary, please share it in the comments. I am not sure if I will pull off another “stunt” like this again.

NOTES:
1. Wikipedia

BARE FEET 10 KILOMETER WALK

/ Alan Atkinson / 1 Comment

Not really a good idea. I should have thought of that before I started it this morning.

Early Saturday evening (known as mid-afternoon or late afternoon by some)… We’ve settled in at the hotel. Rested for a while from the drive. My wife, Jeannie; was eager to feel the sands that made up the beach. Looked white (an illusion), initially, it was more a tanned white.

With a little (not much needed 😉) persuasion, I agreed to accompany her on this sandy expedition. Laura, our daughter, said she was good where she was and didn’t want to trade the comfort of her bed and air-conditioning to walk in the sands, more often than on the sand, (Much persuasion. When you get on the bed, you don’t want to get out of it because the weather is hot outside. Have a Spanish or Mexican siesta, perhaps?).

We took a short ride in the lift, down 5 levels. When the lift doors opened, an immediate response that you wouldn’t be faulted for expressing would have been, “this is a secret cave. Maybe it would lead to the Batmobile”.

No such thing. It was the hotel’s basement which they called the “games room”. It had a variety of indoor games and activities that would keep you occupied if you did not want to go to the beach.

Now, you would wonder why people would come and stay by the beach and not want to go to the beach, not wanting to feel the sands and the biting, salty sea waters? I wonder. Not forgetting, have the sun’s rays lash out at you from 93 million miles away. Maybe, just being there, knowing that the scenic view is close at hand was enough. And getting the whiff of the ocean, too; it’s undeniable, the salt that is.

We made our way to the beach which was about a 100 meter walk. The beach was crowded. There was still enough space for more people to get some fun out of it.

Jeannie got into the water after a short walk in the direction away from the hotel. That part of the beach wasn’t too crowded. She was in her element, enjoying the water. I opted to walk on the beach.

I walked at the edges of the waves as they came up the beach. I was ankle-deep in water, whenever the waves breached the unmarked fringes and came past me.

The beach was clean and pleasant to be on. Everyone was happy. Jetskis, and a variety of boat rides were available for those who wanted to “go out to sea”.

I thought I’d do my 10km walk on the beach. I found that sinking in the soft sand was OK, I guess. The “sinking in the sand effect” was slowing down my pace, slightly. This was the dry part of the beach.

After walking a couple of kilometres or so, rain clouds soon formed above us and before we knew it, heavy rain came down on us.

We spent the rest of the evening back at our hotel room. It was one of those rare occasions where we just chill-ed / relaxed, without having to do much. That is the word, “Do”. Sometimes, we just have to do something to be doing something, instead of not doing anything but being the present, which can be considered as doing something.

Breakfast at the hotel was early at around 8.18am. Buffet style, the spread (choice) of food was both local and western. The breakfast hall which had a seating capacity of over 100 people, was crowded with people. We managed to get a table with quite a bit of space around us. I like elbow room. My elbows tend to go up, outwards, when I cut through my food.

The food was good. Jeannie and Laura went for a mix of local and western. Laura had her Nasi Lemak (a must have wherever she goes), and a bit of a western style meal, leaning more to an American breakfast. Jeannie had a little bit of everything, which was quite a lot in the end. I went for some scrambled eggs, a couple of sausages, local fruit, fruit juice and black coffee. The three of us enjoyed our meal.

The Batik Influencer was eager to head down to the beach and into the Straits of Malacca (the sea, which is world renowned and one of the busiest shipping lanes, Straits of Malacca). So, she and I made olur way down to the beach while Laura headed back to the room to chill.

Jeannie wasted no time getting in the water. I started my 15,000 step walk, which would make up just over 11 kilometers.

to be continued…Pt 2

Did I say relax? Therapeutic.

This is how it’s done…without the surfboard.

Footprints in the sand – mine; all 11 kilometers of it. You can tell by the size 8, 9 or 10 (depending which country shoe size measurement).

IT’S OUR 29TH. CELEBRATING WITH FAMILY

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Some of the best moments of life are snap-shotted or roll ’em videoed to preserve them in memory. Preserving these memories for eternity? I think there are cloud services and social media sites that provide (offer) this service where all your content will be maintained for a period of time like a 100 years. For a fee of course. Not sure if it is renewable and who is to check that all content will still be up or preserved in its original form in say 75 years or so.

It was our (Jeannie’s and mine) 29th wedding anniversary. Looking back, memories of our wedding remain fresh in our minds.

It was a Saturday, which I planned to sleep in the morning, as our wedding ceremony was at 3.00pm in the afternoon. Ample time to get ready and get to church well before 3.00pm. However, that plan was dashed with a phone call at 7.00am in the morning.

“The flowers have not arrived”, exclaimed Jeannie in a worried voice. I had to go round P.J. (Petaling Jaya)(1). I called up Brenda Au Yong (one of the two people who would act as witnesses of our wedding), to help me find these flowers. Together, we went to many of the florists we knew in P.J., hunting for these specific flowers. After 3 hours of flower-searching, no luck.

Our wedding, which took place at St. Francis Xavier Church, was beautiful. Jeannie and I were relaxed and enjoyed it. The late Aunty Alzira Gomes (the late Uncle Joseph’s wife), took over the microphone at the choir section and sang “Panis Angelicus” impromptu. It was a welcome surprise.

Then, we had the customary tea ceremony, a Chinese tradition for marriage, since Jeannie is Chinese. We managed to get a couple of hours rest at Brenda’s & Martin’s house, before our reception at Loyola Hall in St. Francis Xavier Church itself. We had a Chef from the French Embassy in K.L. (2), who catered a wide variety of western and local dishes for the dinner. It was excellent.

Fast forward from then on 25th November, 1995; to now, 29 years later. What better way to celebrate, then with family. This time round, we had our daughter, Laura; and son-in-law (Laura’s husband), Praga; to grace this occasion with us.

We met for dinner at Benjy’s, a little restaurant in SS16, Subang Jaya (3). Located in an apartment building, a couple of blocks from AEON Big Supermarket; it serves western cuisine. The food served is good. There is ample car parking space (a big “+” point for Malaysians).

Wedding Anniversary dinner at Benjy’s; with our daughter, Laura; and her husband, Praga; on 25th November 2024.

Jeannie and I got in slightly earlier than our appointed time. Laura and Praga arrived not long after. Being early eaters, generally; we soon got to ordering our food. Another good thing about Benjy’s is that the menu is not complicated and not overly crowded.

Praga’s order: Smoke Duck Pasta Carbonara.

We all opted for noodle meals, our belief is that it was a healthier choice instead of the usual. heavy steaks.

Laura ordered “Bolognaise” pasta, Italian style. It came with a generous serving of mince beef in tomato sauce, with grated cheese on top. We knew it was going to be good because we have ordered this meal multiple times before.

Praga chose to have “Smoked Duck Pasta Carbonara”. It was loaded with carbonara. The presentation was a row of sliced roast duck pieces on top of the carbonara prepared noodles.

Jeannie went for an “Aloha”. It came with a bull’s eye on top of a big portion of chicken breast meat, together with garlic bread, some green vegetables, corn, a large slice of garlic bread and a side dish of black pepper sauce with some white cream (not sure what that was) on it. The black pepper sauce is always served with the white cream on it.

Jeannie’s order: Aloha. I suppose the restaurant named this dish as such because of the “sunny side” up egg.

I, like Laura; ordered a bolognaise meal. I have been downsizing my meal intake in order to reduce my weight. The meals served at Benjy’s are generous portions in size. When, my meal came; it looked delicious. I had to finish it, since I did not want to waste anything. And finish it, I did. I felt really full and “regretted” that I over ate. My regret did not last long enough. I ordered a double scoop chocolate ice-cream. Sigh!

My order of Bolognaise pasta, with grated cheese on top.

Laura ordered Bolognaise, too.

Praga and Jeannie went for apple crumble for dinner; whereas Laura shared a bit of my chocolate ice-cream. I thought the consolation was that Laura will share at least half the ice-cream with me. She only took one spoon full, which meant that I had to eat the rest. I don’t like the idea of wasting any of it. Though I did not say it out loud, I was not complaining.

The chili sauce (on my right)- a pre-requisite for most types of food, except ice-cream.😁

Jeannie, about to start with her meal.

It was a very pleasant evening. Having Laura and Praga join us in celebrating our wedding anniversary. made it all the more special. It has been some years since Laura last joined us in our annual celebration.

Jeannie and I look forward to many, many more years of married adventures together.

NOTES:
1. Petaling Jaya is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.
2. K.L. or Kuala Lumpur, is the capital of Malaysia.
3. Subang Jaya is a young, vibrant city of the state of Selangor, Malaysia.

AN AFTERNOON IN PORT DICKSON

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

I could live here. I love the movement of the waves in the sea.

In Starbucks, relaxing after the drive.

The drive up from Subang Jaya was crowded with traffic on the highway, right up until after Seremban. Then, it was clear right up to P. D. town.

The last time we were in P. D. was in February. Jeannie and I had a great time then. We are looking forward to a great weekend here.

One of the first times we noticed when we got in was that the town seemed pretty quiet for a Saturday afternoon. After all, this is supposed to be a tourist and holiday getaway for people around this area. However, we are not complaining. It is more comfortable this way.

We drove around town, remembering the places we visited in our past trips here. The town is growing in size. There are more modern amenities and eateries available now. Our favourite, Billion Supermarket is still there, going strong, faithfully serving the needs of the people of Port Dickson. We have purchased things from this establishment on several of our trips in the past. It is the place to go to. Probably to be seen at, too.

There were several cafes other than the usual Starbucks. However, Starbucks offers a great view of the sea, while sipping on our coffee beverages and pastries.

We (meaning Laura, though she let us decide) chose Starbucks at the Waterfront. Starbucks is one of Laura’s favourite cafes.

Starbucks at the Waterfront has a really nice view of the open sea of the Straits of Malacca. After ordering a coffee beverage, Jeannie chose a table next to the café’s wide frontage view.

The view was good from here. The sun was blazing, the reflection of its rays from the sea helped it look hotter than it was. All the same, it was very hot on its own, not needing help from the sea.

The sea was greenish / brown, coming in to shore, calmly. The smell of salt water in the air (OK… That’s a bit of exaggeration. Haha. My sense of smell is not tha-a-at sensitive) was over-powering, where clean, clear air, escaped my attention. However, it in no way deminishes the fact that this was a welcome scene instead of the gigantic (in some cases) concrete  buildings structures that seem to block out the skies in the cities, the traffic and so called urban modernisation of transport, leaving behind it’s harmful emissions, as well as unwanted noise crowds.

There were a couple of tug boats anchored, lazily about 100 metres from the shore; looking very Mexican siesta type, not in an immediate hurry to change the pace of their current lifestyle. If they had a choice, this would be it, year in, year out.

In the distance, over the horizon, we could see ships going up and down the Straits.

We spent a bit more time enjoying the comforts of Starbucks before we made a move to our hotel.

We got to the hotel within a few minutes. Our rooms were comfortable and inviting that the next thing we thought of doing was nothing. However, the white beach was beckoning us for a walk on it. Later… Maybe.

I LOVE THE COLOURS

/ Alan Atkinson / 2 Comments

I am overly tired, I think.. What a day today was. It is not over…yet. The time is only 11.30pm. I am yawning all the time, so much so that when I yawn , it does not seem to be in sequence. Before I can finish one yawn, another one comes.

I was working on 5 new articles for my upcoming book over the past few days and I was falling behind. This was on top of my usual daily tasks to do…one of them is an article everyday. So far, I have had an article published each day, every day; over the last 488 days. Whose keeping count? Not me. WordPress is.

WordPress keeps tally and has been sending me notifications each time I publish an article consecutively, each day.

The Batik Influencer (My wife, Jeannie) and I, the Hatted Writer; set up a booth at first floor (F1.08) in Amcorp Mall this weekend. I could not get an article out in time to inform our friends, families, customers, readers and followers that we would be in Amcorp Shopping Mall. The details of our booth are below.

It was a good day at our booth. We met many people who came over for different interests. I met with a lot of people who were giving me advice for the book. I will definitely try to take everyone’s suggestions into consideration. Many fantastic ideas. A close friend suggested that I write an article about him. I’m not sure if he meant it.

I took a short break from manning our booth, to go visit a good friend, Mahmud and his wife; and see their new hats on sale. Mahmud is the guy I buy all my hats from.

I came across a green and red flat cap. It really looked stunning. The colours of the cap “called out to me”, “Take me, take me”😁. I was trying not to hear the “take me” pleas. Hahaha.😂

My short break time ran out rather quickly. I told Mahmud that I will come back and see him tomorrow. I like this flat cap.

Funny thing happened a couple of times while I was trying on this red and green racer flat cap. I was wearing my tweed newsboy cap when I went to see Mahmud. I removed my newsboy cap and put it on top of the other caps on display as there was no where else to put it while I tried on the new hats. Twice, people came up and straight away went for my tweed newsboy cap. I told them that that it was my cap. Both the guys said that my newsboy cap was very nice.

A bit of new information. The newsboy cap is also known as a baker’s cap. I will inform Sarah and Joanne of Good Ground Bakery the next time I go there, wearing this cap.

JEANNIE’S OWN label Batik Cape Creations had the “wow!” factor that drew many people to our booth. Most of the pieces were sold, with only a couple remaining, which will be sold by tomorrow.

It was a fun day today. Looking forward to meeting more people tomorrow. You may want to suggest what subjects I should write about for the 3 articles I have outstanding to include in the upcoming book. It will be fun to meet with you all. See you there.

Me, wearing the New Yorker newsboy cap.

Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Booth 1.08, 1st Floor, ,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: October 26th & 27th 2024:
Time: , 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)

KEEP ON LOVING YOU

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

While I am working on my latest article, REO Speedwagon is entertaining me with what I consider one of their best songs that they have ever produced. “KEEP ON LOVING YOU” Iconic! The music is coming from our little Google Home Mini.

I was reading an article I wrote, “Side-Tracked An Essay” (1) which coincidentally was written on a Sunday, too; as today is a Sunday. It was also written around the same time of the day. Written in days approaching middle of November last year, it talked about “colourful Christmas tree lights blinking chirpily”. I was referring to the lights on our Christmas trees at home. Yes, our Christmas trees (not one, but two) were already up in the near middle of November.

The article went on to describe one of the trees which was decorated with some of our keepsakes from our travels to countries near and far. You can go to the link below and read more about it. (1)

From the pictures of then and now, you will notice that the shirts I have on are different in colour, with the brand “Funkita” on both. Funkikta is a brand linked to swimsuits and accessories. It was during the time when Laura, my daughter; was a state swimmer swim athlete, representing the state of Selangor (2) and then, when she went abroad to U.S.A for her tertiary education; represented her university as a swim athlete, too.

I think you may compare, consider or link writers to “messy” sopranos (3). In the pictures below, you may think that I have too many “tools of the trade”; what with four monitor screens, notebooks, paper, at my workstation. I believe that I have most of the stuff I have to make it as easy as possible without having to scramble for something when I need it. The thing is, I don’t know if I will need whatever I think I may need. Haha. 😂

Here, when I talk about messy sopranos, I am talking about sopranos in music. I have no idea why some, not all; sopranos are referred to as “messy” sopranos. Does anyone know? Do tell. My mother sang descant (4) and my father sang bass, at the many choirs they participated in.

Now back to working on my article. Oh, I do hope that the young gentleman and his wife, who I met on the street near my neighbourhood last night while I was on an additional 5km walk for the day, finds his wallet. He put his wallet on the top of his car, drove off a while later forgetting that his wallet was on top of his car, only to remember about it after that. They came back twenty minutes later to look for his wallet around the area. I helped them with the search, but the wallet was gone. He said he would call the banks to block his credit cards, and, make a police report, too. Let’s hope that the person that found his wallet will hand it over to the nearest police station.

Happy Sunday evening everyone and a great week ahead.

The Google mini with its lights on.

The Google Mini is small enough to blend in with its surroundings, yet big on sound. The sound that comes from it is crystal clear and multi-directional.

At my workstation.

Going through some of my jotted down notes.

NOTES:
1. https://leatherpotato.com/2023/11/12/sidetrackded-an-essay/
2. Selangor is a thriving and bustling state of Peninsula Malaysia, Malaysia.
3. What is a soprano? The soprano is the highest female voice type. There are many types of sopranos such as coloratura soprano, lyric soprano and the soubrette, which differ in vocal agility, vocal weight, timbre, and voice quality. All sopranos have the ability to sing higher notes with ease.
4. Is descant higher than soprano? https://www.rochdale.gov.uk/rochdale-music-service
There is also descant soprano line, often used in choral pieces, that is an higher extension of the soprano range, showcasing notes above the treble stave. It’s tone colour can be described as: piercing, ringing, airy, bright and strong. tracemusicwork