#TheHattedWriter

WEEKEND TO WEEKEND

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

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.

One for the camera.

Showing that the JEANNIE;S OWN Batik Cape Creation is a fashion symbol for any occasion, anytime.

The WOW factor.

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.

The doctor and the Hatted Writer.

Dr. Michael with his copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT, and I.

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)

MOMENTS AT F1.08, CATCH THEM WITH US

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Celebrate the weekend, come on, There’s a party going on over at Amcorp Shopping Mall in Petaling Jaya; as there has always been every weekend. Theme: Flea Market. It is a party for all ages – there is always something for everyone. My wife, Jeannie, the Batik Influencer; and I, the Hatted (have to make sure I type this correctly…otherwise havoc! Lucky I saw the spelling error, 😂) Writer ; will be there, manning a booth at our current usual spot (F1.08, First Floor).

One could be forgiven to think that our weeks seemed to have shortened to a mere Saturday, Sunday. Monday, Friday…and it’s back to Saturday. It seems that was as time keeps zooming past us at breakneck (not literally) speeds. I am a firm believer in living each moment in the present.

The speed of each moment is supposed to be way, way faster than each second; I believe that speed is relative. We can actually feel and live each moment as we do each day, month, year. Or it can be absolutely fleeting as we feel the days, months, year has been. You may think that it requires some skill to capture each moment. Maybe it does. We can start by looking at time in a different perspective. That rushing and jam-cramming schedules so that we can add more to our free time that we have managed to save, is not all that important. Just saying.

The Batik Influencer is showcasing a whole new range of her Batik Cape Creations under the JEANNIE’S OWN label. Like always, the number of pieces to be made available; is limited to several, only. You will have to come to our booth quickly to acquire one of these very limited in n umber one-of-a-kind JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Cape creations.

Should I or should I not? That is the question.

I am looking forward to meeting multiple x multiple numbers of my followers and owners of my book, SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT. I learn so much (cannot quantify the amount) from all of them. Their insights go a long way for the book titles I am working on. I can’t fit all the insights and ideas into each book title, that’s for sure because the spectrum of ideas from end to end is so wide. However, just like each sunrise every morning where as time progresses in the day and the sun becomes brighter, and we filter the rays and light to choose what best suits us; I will do the same with the ideas for each book title.

Percy Reyes and I; the Hatted Writer, also known as The Writer Innovator – Alan Ian Atkinson 😁.
Percy and my dad are first cousins. Does that make him my cousin brother, or my brother’s cousin? Or is it second or third cousin?

Amcorp Mall has loads and loads to offer from the safe to say, “most renown flea market in Malaysia” to the many stores and restaurants that surround the flea market. Come on over to be in the most happening Flea Market in Malaysia. If you have a prior appointment elsewhere, try to relocate the appointment to Amcorp Mall.

The Batik Influencer and I will be at F1.08, First floor; to greet you, to entertain and be entertained by all you wonderful people. Par-t-eee! (wrong spelling for “party”).

Regal! Trying out and acquiring this absolutely stunning JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Cape Creation.
The King & I. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Thomas Doherty, an ex- U.S. Vet – Navy, the proud owner of a copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.

“Best wishes! Live life to the fullest!” -a personalised message in Thomas Doherty’s copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.

She acquired it. Another happy person.

Address:
Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Booth 1.08, 1st Floor, ,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: August 16th – August 17th, 2025
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)

DRESSED FOR THE OCCASION?

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Monday evening. Time: 6.07pm. Place: D.C. No, not Washington. Damansara City.

Jeannie and Laura are with me after work. Laura was not going to the gym this evening. Getting back to Subang Jaya was the usual crawl, slower than a snail moving in reverse.

We did not have that usual question pop up: “What are we going to have for dinner?” Laura straight away said that dinner will be at that Scottish restaurant (I learnt this from a very good friend who resides in South Carolina, and is about to celebrate his 85th birthday soon – Richard [Dick] Black). This was / is usually an everyday tough question – “What to eat?” Now that that was settled, getting back to Subang Jaya would only on a fairly good day, take an hour and a half.

I already had in mind which McD’s I was planning to head to, when Laura said, “You are planning to go to the SS15 drive- through”. I said, “Yes”, mainly for the ease of parking. This restaurant had a more spacious layout for a comfortable dining experience.

After a long while, we were on the Federal Highway and passed the suspension bridge next to the former Motorola factory. Traffic was still at a crawl here, when normally, we would be able to pick up the pace. The reason for the longer than usual crawl was that a DHL truck had broken down on the fast lane (far right of the highway). Once we passed this truck, the traffic was smooth sailing or was it rolling as we were on the highway, not on the river? We got to the Scottish restaurant a few minutes later. I was obviously dressed for the occasion. I had my newly acquired Tartan design (and material? -wool?) flat cap on.

Laura and Jeannie made the orders. I had the usual – Beef Prosperity burger which is dressed with black pepper sauce. It came in a combi set with a large packet of fries and coke. My first experience with prosperity burger was 30 years ago, when I went on a Prosperity burger lunch date with a girl I had eyes for.

The prosperity burger is on sale only at McD’s for a limited time each year just before Chinese New Year (CNY) (Lunar New Year), till just after CNY.

Laura and Jeannie both ordered the hot ‘n spicy fried chicken, also in sets with drinks and fries. Jeannie ordered apple pie as dessert for herself.

The rectangular shaped prosperity beef burger was absolutely delicious. With spring onions and black pepper sauce.

The prosperity burger was its usual – really good. It has maintained its taste, quality and size for over 30 years (all but a couple of years where what looked like a reduced size burger and the black pepper sauce was not up to par). It came freshly prepared. I had to delicately unwrap the burger to prevent getting some black pepper sauce on me.

Laura and Jeannie enjoyed their fried chicken. It looked really good. However, there was no space in my stomach for the chicken, what with we having to finish two mountains of fries. The food looked like it was way more than the three of us could eat.

We did have a nice time. The drive-thru’ was not overly crowded and it was generally quiet. It was a good chill time for us family. We treasure our family togetherness time.

Just before we tucked in to our meals. Me, with the red tartan flat cap.

Notice in the middle picture and the one just on top. The guy with the tartan hat was holding his magic wand, a.k.a. (also known as) the “S-Pen” from his Samsung S23 Ultra; and shooting pictures while Laura held the camera phone at the right distance away to have all of us in the picture.

As for the girl I had a prosperity burger meal lunch date 30 years ago – she is now my wife.