Yes, it is another day in paradise, with Jeannie.
We, her immediate family, i.e. her husband (me), our daughter, Laura; Laura’s husband / our son-in-law, Praga; and her mother, Mum Ong; had a lovely, quiet dinner with her.
Jeannie has always been a blessing in all our lives. She is just the same as the first day I dated with her, 32 years ago.
HAPPY, HAPPY AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEANNIE!
LOVE YOU ALWAYS!
“To love somebody…to love somebody the way I love you…” coming over the “airwaves(?)” Bee Gees… and I am taken back to 1971, 1972, when the movie “S.W.A.L.K” was showing.
It was also the time when Susan B**l was the “Wow! The gorgeous Girl” that every guy could only watch from afar. She was 21, we 13. Her boyfriend drove her around in his brand new Ford Cortina 2000 GXL, we…many of us did not even own a bicycle. I saw her a few years ago…she was still a stunner. Oh…and she married her boyfriend of 1971, 1972.
Mid-way through the second day at Amcorp Shopping Mall. The crowds are in, full-swing, browsing, window-shopping (no windows here. We are an open booth😂), shopping.
By the time I got to typing, thinking, tinkering, screen-tapping (was about to use “thumping”. Leave it to your imagination), Bee Gees was over. Either I was a tad slow in typing, Bee Gees was taken off the air, or the song finished. I will go with the last option.
Jeannie has sold her latest creation to a very, very happy customer. She said she will be proudly wearing it during the coming soon Chinese New Year (lunar new year).
And I; I met with a journalist from a leading Malaysian newspaper. I decided to add more pizzaz to the fun I have in writing. I went for the new look.
Towards the end of last evening, at the closing stages of sales for the day; I remembered that there was a booth selling hats. I went looking for it and found it. The booth was on the west side (our booth is in the east wing), 1 floor above us. I saw a couple of hats I liked, one much more than the other. However, I did not want to hold back the hat seller from packing up for the day.
Today, while I was eager to don a new look with the purchase of the new hat that I had yet to buy; we had a good number of people visiting our booth. Some were friends that we made in our previous outings here. I met an old La Salle Klang, schoolmate, Charles Thomas; too. He introduced me to his younger brother and a friend of his; both from La Salle Klang, too.
By the time I got going to get the hat I wanted, it was way into mid-afternoon. I met Mahmud, the specs & hat seller. He has an excellent selection of hats.
The hat, known as the “Panama hat” was still there. I tried it on again and confirmed it had to be you (the hat). The one I liked. I was sold.
If you are looking for a hat for any occasion, Mahmud’s the guy to see. He runs a booth on the 2nd Floor, East Wing.
While the hat itself has no. Magical powers, it sets the tone for new fun and conversations. For one, as I started wearing this hat, I noticed there were many others who wore hats, too. I mean, besides the common sight of those sporting baseball caps, there were many others who wore hats of all shapes and sizes.
Before we knew it, it was time for us to pack up and head for home. Not everything had gone the way we would have liked it to. I believe that the biggest takeaway Jeannie and I had this weekend was that we made more new friends.
Now, to go home and enjoy Harry Connick Jr.’s “It Had To Be You”.
1st Floor, Amcorp Shopping Mall (1),
Booth 1.16, Level 1
Amcorp Shopping lMall,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: Jan 27 and Jan 28, 2024
Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)
1st Floor, Amcorp Shopping Mall (1),
Booth 1.02, Level 1
Amcorp Shopping lMall,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: Jan 20 and Jan 21, 2024
Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)
Yes, we, i.e. Jeannie and I; are at it again. We are at Amcorp Mall, the happening place, where discerning customers come looking for specific things of interest to purchase and collect. This is our first outing at Amcorp Mall for 2024.
Already having fun. We are entertained by Tamil (2) rock n roll songs, and now, Kenny G, playing “I’m Dreaming Of a White Christmas” – music coming over the speakers from a booth one floor below us, selling vinyl records.
We watched the film “Shadows In The Sun”, starring Claire Forlani, Harvey Keitel and Joshua Jackson; 5 times on tv during the week. I thought this is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. The setting: a little village in Italy. Jeremy, an editor / publisher, was tasked with getting Weldon Parish, a writer, to come out of retirement and sign with his publishing firm that he was attached with. The movie was very captivating. Claire was absolutely stunning in her role as Isabella Parish.
Weldon, the writer; wore a hat or a cap (more the “Andy Capp” [3] cap) wherever all the time. So, Jeannie thought, that me being a writer, should wear one, too. What do you think? Should I start doning a hat to have a more distinct writer image?
Here, below; is a couple of pics of me trying on a couple of hats which we are selling. One took me back to the era of the tv series, “Colombo”. However, a close friend, Patrick Archibald; may claim that he has inspired me with a hat like this. I can see the smile on his face now. 😀
The other hat was a baseball cap, with the word “Girl” in pink on the front of it.
The atmosphere, in Amcorp Mall, at least in the area we were at; was wonderful with one Christmas carol after another by Kenny G; coming over the speakers, filling the air with Christmas calm and joy. After all, Christmas is everyday.
“Silent Night” is on now.
Met with my dear friend, Khatijah Marianne Abdullah and her husband, Fadil; at their booth. Their booth is super, super colourful; with their many colourful handmade and painted works of art. We had a nice chat. Marianne said that she now bakes homemade brownies, too; and will bring some tomorrow. Looking forward to tasting them.
The Batik Influencer (4) is making her rounds to all the booths, visiting all our new friends that we have made over the multiple times that we had set up our booth here over the last nine months.
Throughout the day, I was sipping ice-cold, super kaw kaw (5) coffee we picked up from New Apollos restaurant before coming to Amcorp. Mall. Jeannie’s ice coffee was of normal strength, without the “kaw”. The coffee remained cold throughout because we kept it in our Hydroflasks.
We have made quite a few new friends today. One of them is Jean Dorcet, who runs a women’s clothing business. Another, an engineer; who collects expensive watches. He was wearing a nice Carter Santos with leather band.
As we draw to the end of the day at Amcorp Mall, Jeannie is making her final rounds to the shops around here.
We will be back tomorrow for more fun, laughter, thrills, and excitement. Come drop by for a chat. See you.
NOTES:
1. Amcorp Shopping Mall is located in Petaling Jaya, a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.
2. “Tamil” language is spoken mainly by Indians in Malaysia.
3. Andy Capp is a British comic strip.
4. The well-known Batik Influencer is Jeannie Ong-Atkinson.
5. “Kaw kaw” is inb Hokkien dialect which means very thick or strong.
Every day is a new day. For the last 30 years, save but 1 day; it has not just been any new day, each day.
For the last 30 years, save but 1 day, it has been with Jeannie. I never in my wildest dreams (pun?) and imagination would have thought that she was going to be with me as my life partner.
It all began 30 years ago, when I was one of the facilitators for the RCIA (Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults) programme at Church of St. Francis Xavier, Petaling Jaya. We facilitators, together with those walking in this 9 month programme; organised an outreach event to “Rumah Faith”, a children’s orphanage / home in Kajang (1), Selangor.
We gathered at the arranged meeting point early on the Saturday morning of January 18th. The sky was fairly gloomy, with large light grey clouds hanging (literally).
Jeannie arrived with her sisters. We decided to carpool and I quickly asked Jeannie to come in my car. I think that since my car was 2-doors (it was a near brand new [I already had it for 9 months] white, Ford Laser TX-3 1.8i (with the “T-spoiler”); the other people chose to go in the other cars. Which left Jeannie and I in my car.
We had a very good eventful experience at the outreach. The day ended early evening.
Come Monday, January 20th; I wanted to meet Jeannie again. By now, I had her office contact. I had to find some excuse just to meet with her. So, I telephoned (yes, “telephoned”) her and told her that I was nearby her office, whether she would like to meet for lunch. Her office was in the heart of K. L. (2) That was a huge fib! I was in my office in another part of K. L. Traffic snarls were notorious at that time and I had about 20 minutes to get to her office. She said, “O.k.”
I was to meet her at the lobby of her building, and then, we were to walk over to McD’s for our lunch. Her lunch break was limited to an hour, and I didn’t want to make it seem too forward. So McD’s it was. I put the “boy-racer” (that was what the Ford Laser TX-3 1.8i was known at that time. It was a powerful road machine) through its paces, nervously; managing to get to her office just a few minutes late.
We both ordered a McD’s “prosperity burger”. It was our first time trying this burger out. I think it was the first time that McD’s had introduced this burger. It was during lunch that Jeannie told me that her birthday was the day before (yes, I asked; trying to get as much information about her as possible).
From here on, it was history. We try to get the prosperity burger at McD’s every year. So, come every Jan 20th anniversary, we go for a prosperity burger meal.
These last 30 years, save but 1 day; Jeannie has been what a wife should always be: my better half. She has always been there for me. If there was anything that needed changing, it would definitely be my dancing.
Happy and Blessed Birthday, Jeannie!🌹🌹🌹❤️❤️❤️🌹🌹🌹
NOTES:
1. Kajang is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.
2. K.L. is short for Kuala Lumpur. It is the capital of Malaysia.
November 25th – a date to remember.
It seems like each year has only one day & date. It was only like yesterday when it was November 25th… of last year.
28 years. That is how long it took us to get to our 28th Wedding Anniversary. Even if we wanted to take a shortcut, it still would have taken 28 years.
I still remember the time I asked her to marry me. It was just after attending Uncle Ronnie’s (Atkinson) and Aunty Maryjane’s 25th wedding anniversary celebrations. I believe it was December 28th, 1994. I was inspired to sign up.
Her response was not what I expected. I thought it would have been a simple, “Let’s do it!”. But no, she had other ideas. When I asked for her hand in marriage, she said, “Let me think about it”. Huh? Got like that one meh?, I thought to myself. Plus, she never gave a specific date when she will come back with an answer.
I was not really a good waiter at this waiting game…wait and see… wait for the results. I was on pins, needles and nails. I was walking up and down pathways of fiery flames…with thick, shoes on. I think it was during that time, that each day stretched out to 36 hours. It is as though I could see the second hand on my watch, move each second in slow motion. The background music was an orchestra playing, with all the violins and cellos stuck on that musical note of worry, waiting to move on but couldn’t unless the scene changed. A lot of drama…like a Bollywood movie. I love Bollywood dramatic movies, especially when they slow the action parts in slowmo. They are absolutely in a class of their own.
On New Year’s Day, 1st January 1995; she gave me a new year’s card. When I opened it, it just said, “YES!”. I knew it all along. Just that I wanted it in black & white…actually, I would have accepted it in any colour.😉😁
Hitched on Nov 25th that year. And the rest as they (who are the “they”?) say, is history.
Jeannie wanted to have dinner at The Social at Empire Gallery Shopping Centre, Subang Jaya. Laura, our daughter; helped make a reservation on our behalf.
The Social had a sort of nice setting. Christmas decorations were already up. Christmas music was piped in, softly. We were shown to our table….just next to a Christmas tree, which made us, especially Jeannie; more happier.
I saw wagyu beef burger on the menu and decided to go for that. I’ve heard so much about wagyu beef but never tried it. So, wagyu beef burger it was.
Jeannie went for a fried rice dish, with fried chicken.
We did not have to wait too long for our meals to arrive. Just looking at the wagyu beef burger, it looked quite ordinary. But then, looks can be deceiving. Unfortunately, in this burger, it was not. My meal came on a chopping board(?). The potato chips were in a wired basket, to probably give it the idea of sparklers.
I thought the wagyu beef was nothing more than just above average. The impression I got of the chef (cook?) who prepared this meal was as long as he knows how to put the meat on the grill and throw in some sauces, flip it a couple of times or so; it would be done. I was expecting much more from “wagyu beef”. Jeannie kept reminding me that this was processed wagyu beef. I understood that part but couldn’t it have been even a bit more better than the average burger? The chips were nice.
Jeannie’s meal came on a plate. It looked good and appetizing, too. The fried rice came with a sombrero on. Jeannie liked her meal. I tried a bit of the fried chicken. It was nice.
The whole evening was not so much about the food. (I think. yeah…yeah…😏 and I am going to talk [write] more about wagyu in days to come.😉). We were relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company. It was kind of cool that Laura made the dinner reservation. In fact, she had spent some days looking up places for us to have our dinner or spend this evening; where we would have loved to have dinner. The Social is a great place to dine.
We ordered the same coffee that we had the last time we were here. The coffee comes with ice-cream. Locally, it may be known as “coffee float”. The educated may not know what that is. If you say, “affogato”… “Oh, affogato, which is coffee with ice-cream. Why didn’t you say so?” But I did!
The affogato was another disappointment. When it came, we, more like I; did not quite know what to make of it. It looked like a fruit cut in half, or a near full boiled egg, cut in half, with a small pitcher of coffee by the side of it and bits of sweet crackers.
We had to call the waitress and ask what happened to the way we were served affogato the last time, where it came with a scoop of ice-cream and a small mug of expresso coffee. Then, we, at our own pace, pour the expresso slowly (get it? expresso…slowly) over the ice-cream to enjoy the perfect culmination of coffee with the ice-cream at that point, where the blend reaches perfection. She said, “We don’t talk anymore…”. No, no, no, just joking😂. She said, “they don’t serve it that way anymore”. There goes that expectation of perfection where the hot expresso is poured over the ice-cream…where it flows down the side of the cold ice-cream, reaching that desired temperature mix, then eating it.
Jeannie and I did have a wonderful evening. 28 years would not have happened if Jeannie did not say “YES”. Looking forward to many, many more adventurous years together.
When Laura was just about a month old, I had already become an “experienced” dad. Jeannie had been at home for that whole month or so. She was thinking of going out with some of her close friends. I told her to go and enjoy herself. Don’t worry about looking after our baby, Laura. I’ve got this!
Jeannie went over the “how(s)” to prepare Laura’s infant milk in case Laura needed more than the 1 bottle that was ready; change her diapers; Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera! (sounds like a quote from that famous movie[1]). Jeannie said she would only be out for a couple of hours. I said, “Don’t worry. As I said, I’ve got this”.
Laura was a pleasure to look after, never gave much bother. When the time came for her milk; I duly made it, scooping the right amounts from the tin of milk nearby, mixing it with the right amount of water, etc.. I forgot that Jeannie had already prepared a bottle of milk and kept it in the warmer.
So, I fed Laura the milk I had prepared her; carrying her while she was going to sleep. I was actually slow dancing with her in my arms to “I Love The Way You Love Me” by Boyzone and other songs of that era.
When Jeannie got home, she noticed that I had not given Laura the milk that she prepared before she went out. Oops! “I forgot”, I said. I made another bottle of milk. I showed Jeannie where I got the milk and… “Alan, that is my milk for me to recover. You gave Laura the wrong milk!” And I was wondering why there were two opened tins of instant milk. Now, I know why.😂😂
One of my favourite moments was at Subang Parade Shopping Mall many years back, maybe around year 2011 or 2012. It was a Wednesday. Either I, or Jeannie (on days that she was not working) or both of us; would take Laura for her music lessons at Yamaha Music School.
The best dad / daughter / best friend / best dad moment: Laura was about 11 years old at that time. She had finished her lesson, which would have been around 8.30pm. This was the time that Laura was skipping her competitive swim training for her music lessons. It was the only time she would skip competitive swim training. (2) We had just finished dinner at McDonald’s and started walking to the other end of Subang Parade towards the car park. A casual walk. While walking, she put her arm round my shoulder and I instinctively put mine around her waist. It was a bit of an arm’s stretch for her as she was much shorter at that time. Our walk was only a few minutes long. However, the time captured of total friendship : priceless! I still remember this walk like it was yesterday.
Laura does not trust my cooking. She has had this “thing” about my cooking. I wonder if it is because of… It was a time when Jeannie was travelling out of town for work. So, I told Laura that I will cook up (prepare) some burgers, chicken nuggets, potato wedges and other stuff.
I got the stove plate heated up, poured a little bit (not too much) of oil and started first with the square burger patties, then the nuggets, potato wedges and the rest. I thought I’d cook up a feast to keep Laura and I fed for at least 3 days. By the time I was nearly done, there was a mountain of food ready for eating. Laura came into the kitchen, took a bite into one of the wedges and spat it out, saying it tasted like soap. I asked her to try the nugget. She said, it, too; tasted like soap. I told her she must have been imagining things. I took a bite of one of the burger patties and it, too; tasted like it had soap in it. I wondered why it tasted like soap.
Laura saw a bottle of dishwashing soap near the cooker. What I did was I took the dishwashing soap by mistake instead of the bottle of cooking oil which is usually stored near the dishwashing soap. Both the dishwashing soap and the cooking oil looked the same colour and were in near similar shaped bottles. I just grabbed the bottle without checking if I had the right one. 😅😂
Come to think 😏of it, at that time; I wondered why the oil dried up so fast in the pan. I didn’t think further than that. I just added more.😅
Moral of the story(ies): read the labels.
I have always considered being a dad as the highest honour and privilege. Each moment is a learning moment; I have never been through this before. Laura is about to turn 22 years in a week’s time. Working and all official and stuff like that, she would describe to us (Jeannie and I) how her day went. She is very excited about work. A few days ago, she told me, “Father, your role is not to say anything, just listen to what I have to say”. “Sorry, I am still learning to be a dad of a working daughter”, I said. Hahaha.
It was Father’s Day last Sunday (June 18th). She and Jeannie took me for a scrumptious dinner on Saturday evening at “The Chicken Rice Shop” in Mid-Valley. I opted for noodles instead of rice. The “mango kerabu” was super delicious. On Sunday, Father’s Day itself; we had a scrumptious lunch at Benjy’s in Subang Jaya.
Laura has grown to be an amazing person. She fusses over Jeannie and me all the time. She knows exactly what she wants, sets goals, plans and goes all the way to achieve them.
Father’s Day is everyday to me. Even though Laura is all grown up and very independent; she will always be daddy’s girl. Her grow up-ness has elevated our status to “Father” and “Mother” as such; from “daddy” and “mummy”.❤️❤️
NOTES:
1. The movie: THE KING AND I; starring Yul Brynner and Anne Leonowens.
2. Laura stopped her music lessons to focus on her competitive swimming when she was selected as a state swimmer to represent the state of Selangor.
To the one who to me is perfect everyday, from our first date on January 19th, 1994.
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY, JEANNIE❤️
To the one that came into our lives on June 27th, 2001.
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY, LAURA❤️
At the Ice-Cream Bar. You should try “Kaki Botol’s Rum & Raisin” – a new flavour. Their D24 is yum, too. Oh, I did my 15km walk in the afternoon .
28 years ago (actually, a day to 28 years); on January 19th, 1994; I was in Subang Jaya and I called up this lady / girl / gal and told her I was nearby her office, just around the corner. Her office was then in MUI Plaza, Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur. As those of you who are familiar with Subang Jaya and Kuala Lumpur, know that the distance between them – definitely not a stone’s throw away. But heck, I wanted to get a date with this lady. I asked her out for lunch and she said, “yes”!
Now, I was in a bit of a fix. It was about an hour to her lunchtime and I had to maneuver through what Kuala Lumpur was notorious for: it’s massive traffic jams.
Somehow; this lady had magical powers
as I managed to get to her office in time that was thinner than a strand of hair. No coincidence that her name was Jeannie. I don’t believe in coincidences.
By the way, lunch was at Macdonald’s at The Weld, which was the building just next door to MUI Plaza. We had prosperity burgers (Chinese New Year, ma! Got to throw in a few “ma”s and “meh”s to flavorize the sentences – Chinese style). I still remember the dress she wore that day.
Though I knew a lot about things at that time (I was a life insurance agent and was supposed to know just about everything. The truth is I didn’t, and still don’t. I am trying to figure out how an atom is formed [nah! At one time maybe, no longer now]); I didn’t know it was her birthday. And, she didn’t tell me until I found out several days later.
Jeannie and I started dating and the rest as “they” (not sure who they are) say, is history.
As you can see, our lives are surrounded by family and the many celebrations like birthdays.
Jeannie has always had the Jeannie’s touch with people – with family and friends; with people from the world over. She is very approachable and adapts and assimilate with the cultures very easily.
As you may have guessed by now, it is Jeannie’s birthday 🎂 today. Laura video-called from the U.S., 3 minutes before midnight of today, to bring in and start the celebrations. She and I, together with our families; have been blessed with Jeannie in our lives. May Jeannie be blessed with God’s choicest blessings🙏 today and many, many more awe-inspiring years to come.
