Enjoying herself. With my Compaq 64GB, playing continuous music for her.
Where have the 23 years gone? I ponder on this question as I sit here, in the car, thumb typing this essay out on my Samsung Galaxy Fold 5, while in the mood of pondering or is it wondering? I will have to go with “pondering”.
I am sitting here in the car, waiting for Jeannie and Laura, while they shop for groceries at Aeon in Subang Jaya (1). We had just come from Mid-Valley Shopping Mall (2) after having lunch at Oriental restaurant and then doing a bit of shopping. Oriental was crowded, with a long queue as usual. While Jeannie and Laura waited in queue and made the orders at the same time; I made a bee line to Harvey Norman. It was quite a nice afternoon at Mid-Valley. As I wait for Jeannie and Laura; I tap, scribble, write and gesture-make commands on the Fold 5 with the S-Pen (besides the thumb-typing, coming up with this article; they, the two ladies; are getting groceries to stock up for the weekend.
I made a quick round to the usual favourite shops while we were at Mid-Valley, to check out special offer deals, if they had anything new. I stopped in at Planet Traveller, Crumpler, Samsung, Flash Gadget, Hat Attack, Teva, Harvey Norman, Timberland and the Nescafe booth where they sell the capsule coffee machines. It was more of a browse through. I was done in about an hour. So was Jeannie and Laura. I caught up with them at Bath & Body Work.
As we headed back to Subang Jaya, I suggested we stop by at Good Ground Bakery on our way in. (Story for another day). We had a nice, late afternoon slice of dark chocolate cake, a big pastry puff for eats. Laura had a chocolate drink while Jeannie and I both had a calamansi cooler each. The drinks were real thirst quenchers on such a hot Thursday afternoon.
These two pictures of Laura are at my work station.
Laura did the two pieces of art above 👆 on my Samsung Note 2 (at that time in 2012), using the S-Pen. Notice her eye for details. Amazing! Laura was nearly 12 years old when she put the Note 2 through its paces.
Singapore
At Universal Studios, Singapore.👆
A couple of recent pictures 👆taken at Starbucks, Empire Gallery Shopping Centre..
This was taken at The Carpenter’s Daughter (TCD) on Mother’s Day. With us (Jeannie, Laura and I) are Praga, her fiancé, (sitting on her right); and Christopher (my cousin), and his wife; Evalina.
Much of our get togetherness was always at the dining table, be it at breakfast, lunch, coffee / tea afternoon or dinner. These were the times when we all needed to do the same thing – eat / have our meals. And, many times when we were with family.
One for the album. A recent Atkinson family picture.
An evening recently, when Sarah Atkinson, was able to join us for coffee at Marks & Spencer, Sunway Pyramid.
“O.K. You caught me. I am still gonna eat.”This was a good candid shot.
When Laura was there to celebrate Jeannie’s and my MBA graduation. Not too long after that, some 20 years or so; Jeannie and I, were there for Laura when she graduated from university.
This was a time when Laura was embarking on a new adventure; when she was leaving for the U.S. for her tertiary education.
HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA! MAY GOD SHOWER HIS CHOICEST BLESSINGS IN ABUNDANCE ON YOU. LOVE YOU MUCH MORE THAN FOREVER!
NOTES: 1. Subang Jaya is an urban city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. 2. Situated in K. L.. Kuala Lumpur or K.L. as it is commonly known in these parts, is a bustling metropolitan city. It is the capital of Malaysia.
It’s another day. Yay! Does not sound too over-joyous? Is the “joy” in that statement?
We tend to take “tomorrow” as a given. We all set our alarms the night before to wake up the morning after, to get ready for school, work, or some morning activity. O.k. o.k., not all of us.. well most of us do.
I seem to be making a lot of typo errors with clikity-claketing (spelling correct 😁), and all the other sounds that are coming out of my Logitech MX Mechanical as I thump on the keys, typing out wortds, (there I go again: it is “words”), sentences, paragraphs and this essay that I am working on right now.
Molst (there it goes again: the word is “most”) of the time, I get on the keyboard and start typing away from memory. I do refer to some notes (whenever I have something jotted d0own[down]).
What is really important is how we receive each day, what we do with it and do we look back at the end of each day with gratefulness?
As I am living my next 65 years (from July 10th 2023), I look at life with vigor. I try not to take anything for grant6ed (“granted”. It’s not my mistake, it’s the keyboard. Haha. If we can’t have fun now, then, when can we?).
One of the livings of life that we enjoy is when we have a family meal together. Our “big” family of three, yes the number is right : 3; can be quite a task getting together.
Our gewtting (it’s “getting” la [with a bit of “a”? Malaysian slang]) together at most times is quality time. What meal we have is not as important as having that bit of quality time. Quality time means, our smartphones are smart enough not to interrupt our family time. It is not that the phones are never used. It is just that we are not staring at the screen while having a conversation.
This time round, it was a morning breakfast at the Scottish restaurant, McD’s. McD’s does serve up a pretty cool breakfast.
All our meals came with hashbrowns.
I had a coffee from their McCafe counter, Laura had an iced milo and Jeannie and iced tea to go with our food.
Mine was a sausage McMuffin.
Jeannie and Laura do most of the talking as I like to listen to their daily happenings and plans. I find it very interesting. What may seem ordinary to the person, can be interesting to others. The smiles that come about, the noticeable distinct sparkle in the eye when a happy moment, thought or memory comes up.
Jeannie and Laura, both; had an egg and chicken muffin.
Jeannie and Laura are my Number 1 supporters for me to have my book published. It is coming. I am as excited as they are. The manuscript is taking shape. I have to organize a dedicated time space each day to work on the book. Once that is in place, there will be a fixed momentum with an ETP (Expected Time of Publication) on trhe (“the”… another MX mechanical typo?) calendar.
Picture taken by Laura with the Samsung S23 Ultra. It was a quick frame and shoot picture. She always seems to get the better angles.
Our breakfast was for about an hour. Needless to say, it was really good. Family time is good time – always.
NOTES: Just having fun with the Logitech MX Mechanical keyboard. It is the best keyboard I have had so far. I am enjoying the use of it. I can see that it is going to be with me for a long time to come.
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.
Yay! It’s the weekend again! Actually… – I don’t like to use this word as I have learnt the meaning behind it. It means, “the truth is” or “honestly” or “to tell you the truth”. There I go , slicing through the English language. So, when you hear people use one of these terms, phrases or words…you begin to question, “Does this mean they weren’t telling the truth before this?” You will hear many public figures and celebrities use any one or more of these, often. … Just having fun with the English language… after all, it is Friday mah (English – Mal;aysianized 😁😂
So, as I was saying… Actually…I think I will use “As a matter of fact”, everyday is “Yay” for me. Every moment ahead which turns to seconds, then to minutes, then to hours, then to days is the future that unfolds in front of me. It allows me to do my thing, starting anew. Like an artist starts with a blank canvas, which awaits his or her inspiration.
The Batik Influencer, Jeannie; and the Hatted Writer, me, of course; will be having a booth, tomorrow, Saturday, May 18th, and Sunday, May 19th. We are looking forward to it as we get to meet lots and lots of new people, and friends, readers and subscribers of this website and the community of the other people who operate booths there on a permanent feature.
The Batik Influencer has multiple (the American version of the word “many”) new designs to showcase. They keep getting snapped up ever before we get to our booth. The numbers are limited. Here’s an opportunity to own at least one of the Batik Influencer’s latest creation under the “JEANNIE’S OWN” label.
Batik
As for me, I look forward to meeting all you readers and subscribers of leatherpotato.com. I can tell you now that I am putting together a manuscript for my first book. Yes, not the only book. This first book which is under wraps for the time being, was a suggestion put forward by several readers. I look forward to talk about this book, without revealing too many details.
I am formulating ideas, mission, vision of my next book. It looks like a three genre seems to be forming. Which one will I move into, Que Sera, Sera. I find it fascinating how a thought, just a fleeting momentous thought; can turn into an idea and become real. It must be magic!🦸🏻♂️
I will also be selling many of our personally pre-owned & pre-loved items.
Come over and let’s rock the whole place with fun and laughter, like always. We will be at our booth from 10.00am onwards. We, the Batik Influencer, Jeannie; and I, the Hatted Writer; look forward to see all of you.
And, as for the video below; I am not that man who knew too much. I am still learning.🕵🏻♂️😅
Booth F1.03, 1st Floor, Amcorp Shopping Mall,8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia Date: May 18 and May 19, 2024 Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm
Soundtrack from the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock film “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” with Doris Day, James Stewart, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles, Daniel Gélin, Christopher Olsen & Reggie Nalder.
Look out the window. What do you see? Bright dark rain clouds forming. Bright dark? Got meh? Got la! Look properly. I love throwing in “meh”, “mah”, “la”, “lor”, “hi meh?” into an otherwise, perfect(?) English, sentence, paragraph or essay.
What is a perfect English sentence, paragraph or essay? A perfect English sentence, paragraph or essay is without those funny sounding add-ons, usually at the end of a sentence or question. It was how we were thought English in school.
Here, I am talking about English in Malaysia. People in Malaysia will hardly miss an hour or day (let alone skip a heartbeat) without subconsciously adding either “meh”, “mah”, “la”, “lor”, “hi meh?”, or a combination of these colourful expressions to their conversations. These” colourful expressions” are not exhaustive to the words(?) stated above.
So, ya; bright dark rain clouds forming. The dark coloured shades of the rain clouds are very brightly dark. Then, it rains like there’s no tomorrow…and continues after that. At times, they just tease us with a few drops, “That’s all you are going to get. Live with it. Not a drop more, today”.
However, over the last few, or several or multiple (many, for most people) days and nights, we’ve been getting heavy showers of rain, up to a point where the roads and highways began to flood with a few inches of water.
The thing is with rain aplenty pouring down, we would expect to have cooler or cold late evenings and nights. But they aren’t. It becomes quite uncomfortable as temperatures rise from the evenings onwards. Maybe, it is due to the fact that there are hardly any winds blowing in the evening; not even light breezes. The humidity is probably the main culprit for our discomfort. I can’t tell for sure, as I am not one of those weather people you see on tv who give us the weather report like they are running an auction. That is why I don’t watch the weather news.
Jeannie, my wife; said, “Let’s go for some ice-cream”. Without giving it a second thought, I said, “Yes”. We jumped into the car (not literally), and headed to the nearby Scottish restaurant. It would be the only restaurant opened, that served ice-cream at that hour as it was already after 10pm.
Jeannie ordered the vanilla soft ice-cream; I went for the McFlurry. The McFlurry looked interesting enough on the menu, so I had to give it a go. I am not really an “ice-cream” person. I can eat it once and not have any for months. Another reason we came for the ice-cream was that we just wanted a short break from the work we were doing at that point.
Our ice-creams were ready in a short while. Jeannie’s order of the vanilla soft ice-cream in a cone looked good as usual. It tasted good as usual. I remember years ago when we used to frequent Subang Parade because we had to take our daughter, Laura, for music lessons there; we’d see on most days, a long line of people queueing to buy either the vanilla soft ice-cream or the one with chocolate fused into it.
Jeannie’s vanilla soft ice-cream.
My Oreo McFlurry looked as unusual as in its advertised picture. It even sounded unusual. Crushed, almost fine, Oreo cookie crumbs was the top layer. As I broke the top layer and went into the ice-cream proper (which was vanilla), I tasted a bit of the gula melaka in it. I could also get the taste of fine coconut shavings, not really noticeable at first. As I got deeper into the ice-cream, the presence of the coconut shavings was more evident. So, was the gula melaka.
In the beginning…the layer of oreo biscuit (oh sorry…cookie) was penetrated and the vanilla ice-cream revealed itself.
I think the coconut shavings helped create a balance to the taste of the gula melaka and the ice-cream.. Otherwise the sweetness of the gula melaka would have been over-powering. The gula melaka was awesome. It was in a thick syrup form. However, I still thought it was too sweet in large quantities. At this stage of the eaten ice-cream, most of the crushed, fine, Oreo cookie crumbs was eaten.
As the spoon dug into the crushed Oreo cookie layered surface; a white volcanic vanilla ice-cream emerged.
We headed home after our ice-creams. The short break was much needed. The change of scenery, though it was not too long, was quite fun, too. “Was quite fun, too”? What Englander is that?
At this stage, the molten lava (gula melaka) was very evident.
NOTES: Having fun and testing the different strokes of English.
Laura is at the gym, and we, Jeannie and I, that is the Batik Influencer and the Hatted Writer; we are at where the stars go (I presume), Star Bhavan for dinner.
Being the journalist in me, I tend to notice more than the average person. For instance, things are a wee bit slow here. I took note of this the last time we were here a couple of days ago. This is compared to all the other times when we practically did not have to wait too long for our food. They seem short-handedly. However, the food here is always good.
“Why are we waiting?” in sing song fashion. 😁
Our food arrived just as I was writing / keyboard thumb-typing (on my Samsung Fold 5) the last line. Jeannie and I both ordered the same: Roti (1) Sardine and Nescafe ice. By just looking at our drinks, you would surely ask, “Is the milk drowning the coffee?”, as the coffee was struggling to have some semblance of its colour, “brown”. The milk seemed to definitely over-power the coffee.
Just before that, we tapau-ed (2) both the kacang vadai (3) and the doughnut (“donut” in American) version. Foreseeing that we…o.k. o.k…. more Iike I will be hungry later on this evening or night. Now, figure this out. I didn’t plan on being hungry later on, but then… the vadai were singing, “take us home” to the tune “Country Roads”. The Nescafe ice must have been spiked, haha.😁😂 Can you imagine the 6 vadai in the bag singing a song to the tune of Country Home? That would be hilarious.
Notice the vadai goodies in the bag, all set to be taken home?And the very light brown Nescafe ice?
We discussed broadly, what we plan to do at our booth in Amcorp Mall this weekend, that is tomorrow and Sunday. Yes, we will be mending a booth at Booth F1.03 Amcorp Mall. The Batik Influencer will be introducing her latest JEANNIE’S OWN batik cape creations.
The Batik Influencer has introduced, encouraged and helped people understand why batik. So, why batik? Come see for yourself.
Roti sardine, with spicy fish curry (on the left) and what seems somewhat like “dhalcha”.
The Hatted Writer (me, of course😉) will be there to talk about what’s next on the idea Sketchpad💡. One of the things that has caught my attention (amongst the many others) is that people are flaunting bombastic english words like nuance/s, exacerbate and stuff like that on talk shows and interviews. These people must be well-grounded in the language and may be seen as sesquipedalian. (4) Some people say that I am a logophile. (5) Really?
I guess in most ways I am a logophile as I find the English language quite fascinating. My interest in the language, to test its elasticity and boundaries, has only been quite recent. I find it more interesting to see if I can refrain from over-stretching the use of bombastic words. In fact, I try to refrain from such words if I can help it.
Come meet us this weekend at Amcorp Mall. This weekend is going to be as “fun” as ever. As everyday is. Looking forward to seeing all of you. 😁
The semi-visible vaadai, ready for home eating. Eating while in “relax” mode.
Amcorp Shopping Mall, Booth 1.03, 1st Floor, West Wing, 8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia Date: Apr 6 and Apr 7, 2024 Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)
NOTES: 1. “Roti” means bread in Bahasa Malaysia. 2. “Tapau” as in take-away or take-out, is used by Malaysians when they want to pack food. The “-ed” (past tense) is to add colour in the use of the word. 3. Vadai also known as vada, wada, or bara; is a category of savoury fried snacks native to India. Vadas are sometimes stuffed with vegetables and traditionally served with chutneys and sambar. 4. A sesquipedalian can be used to describe a person or something that overuses big words. People often assume that if someone gives a sesquipedalian speech, he / she was smart, even if they don’t really know what it was about because they can’t understand the words. 5. What is a “logophile”? A logophile is someone who loves words, enjoys learning new words, and has a deep appreciation for language. Logophiles have an extensive vocabulary and take pleasure in using and exploring words to express themselves effectively.
Sunday morning, 9.45am. Just after mass at St. Thomas More.
In the car, on the way home and to every restaurant, cafe coffee shop, eatery…in that direction. I ask my wife, Jeannie, “Breakfast? What do you want to eat?”
She throws a curve ball back at me, “What do you want to eat?” “We could go to Always Your Choice or better known as AYC, Chinese food, western or go home.
Definitely not stall food, I thought. We weren’t dressed for stall food. I thought maybe, T23 chup fun (mixed rice, meaning rice with a wide variety of dishes to choose from), however, they don’t serve coffee.
We both agreed on the Scottish restaurant. We got to the restaurant in about ten minutes.
Not crowded, we went to the counter first, to see the menu displayed on the screens behind the counter.
We then, went to the up, down, left, right and “back” – that is the order screen scrolling up, down, left, right and we did not do a “back” step as we got our order right.
We got to a table and waited for our order to be called. Did not have to wait very long. The restaurant was playing a nice choice of songs over their P.A. system, which set the mood right. The weather outside was bright and sunny, not too hot and humid.
Today is International Women’s Day. When you hear the word, “woman”, it will become confusing…for most…men (said in a whisper!), and women. Just the word “woman”, a simple 5-letter word; is not as simple as it seems. W-o-m-a-n the plural is as pronounced: wooman, woomen, veman, and the real toughie: “women” that is pronounced wee-men, spelt as it sounds. In Malaysia, the dynamics of the English language is stretched to its thinnest, taking it to the farthest corners of the boundaries before it becomes another language. The language is highly elastic, that’s what I think. Guess what? Who are we to say which pronunciation is right or wrong? Just enjoy the many shades or variety of sounds of each word. Another example is the word “their”. Should I go further?
I won’t go into the intrinsic of International Women’s day or delve into the importance of it as I have not researched on it and I am sure there will be much to be covered, if I do. However, I will share a little of the importance and how it resonates in my life.
All game for Chinese New Year celebrations: Jeannie, my wife, the Batik Influencer; and I, Alan, the Hatted Writer.
The two women that are pivotal in my everyday life are my wife, Jeannie: and my daughter, Laura. They create a zillion shades of colour in life that no two days are the same. On weekdays, we go our separate work ways. In the evenings, when we meet after work (though in reality, work never ends as we continue with after work, work.), we, share how are our day went. I have learnt to say less so that I can absorb more of the experiences of Jeannie and Laura. It is like appreciating the finer strokes of the paint brush done in a painting on canvas.
Here, Jeannie and I, with our daughter; Laura
Another person who had an impact (and still does in certain ways) in my life was my late sister, Jennifer. In the last years of her life, she preferred being call, “Jen”. My mum and dad also called her “Jen”. I still referred to her by her full name. Maybe, there’s a reason behind it.
Jennifer is a year 4 days older than me; her birthday is July 6th and mine is on July 10th. Shared birthdays in our early years. That is about as common as we got. Oh ya, we also shared the same surname. Other than that, we were poles apart especially in our thinking. We never really fought except on trivial matters, again in our early days. As we grew older, we became much closer, as with our siblings, too.
When she was diagnosed with cancer, she was one helluva brave woman. She decided that she wanted to live the rest of her life on her terms. She decided that she wanted to do all the things and experience all the experiences that would have otherwise be hampered by spending time in hospital with chemotherapy and radiation treatment. She decided that she wanted to live life to the fullest. SHE DID! In a few days, it will mark her 5th anniversary. Her message to women, in fact to all: Live life to the fullest.
My late sister, Jennifer or “Jen” as she was known by many.
I think Jennifer got much of her living skills from mum. Mum and dad have never stopped being mum and dad. They always fuss over us. Mum has always been the gentle one. So, I guess now you know where we, my siblings and I; got our stubborn ways from.😁😅😂
Christmas 2023:My mum, seated in the centre, surrounded by our whole family – The Atkinsons
I take this opportunity to wish all women the world over, “Happy International Women’s Day”.
That was the time we sauntered (1) in. We carried the two biggest bags out of our car. Looking at us, one would think that we were running away from home; or was it “ran away from home” since we had already done it; i.e. the action was already put into motion.
Just before arriving here, we stopped by at New Apollos restaurant near our house; to get my “fix”. Jeannie, the Batik Influencer, also known to be known as my wife; brought along our Goji and Rain 532ml Hydraflasks. For those wanting to go out and get themselves a Hydraflask Goji or Rain 532ml flask; it may be a bit difficult as it does not show up on their website. “Goji” and “Rain” are Hydraflask’s version of Red (Goji) and Grey (Rain). I know, I know, my thoughts exactly! Why can’t they just call a red a red and a grey a grey.
We hand over our Hydraflasks to the drinks guy who promptly fills these containers with Nescafe Ice Kaw Kaw, including adding several ice cubes to make sure the drinks stay chilled throughout the day. The Hydraflasks do an outstanding job in keeping my Nescafe ice Kaw Kaw super ice cold, right up till the evening, when we pack to head home.
So, we lugged, tugged, dragged (not really) our two biggest bags from our car to the booth, first. We laid out all the main things like the batik, Hotwheels cars, watches, and some tech stuff. We made a couple more trips back to our car, which was 3 levels below us, in the carpark.
It did not take us very long to set the booth up the way we wanted. People were in a “Relak lah, brudder” (2) “Sunday mood”, which was good. A change from the usual “hard at work week”, for most of us, at least.
Gong Xi Fa Cai (Happy New Year) – the Chinese New Year decorations are still up.
While I watched people go by, I recognised a gentleman walking by in his Sunday’s best at relaxing. “Mervin”, I called out. The gentleman turned round, “Hey! Alan”. With him, was a young lady who was heavily tattooed. She also happened to be the younger of his two daughters. Mervin, his siblings and parents, their cousins, uncles and aunties, have been close friends of the Atkinsons of Klang; going back over 50 years. It was good catching up on things since we last met, here, at Amcorp Shopping Mall; a few months ago, when he passed our booth.
Mervyn Gomes, with the unhatted (at the time of this picture) Hatted Writer.
I came to the mall today, unhatted. (3) I already had my sights for the “tweed” and was waiting for the right moment to visit Mahmud.
Mahmud was a floor above us, on the west side. I put the flat cap (also knowns as the “newboy” cap) on, and it was perfect. Mahmud said it matched the sling bag I had today.
Mahmud, the hats and specs guy with me, the Hatted Writer.
Me, the Hatted Writer; sporting the tweed Newsboy flat cap. I love it.
One could be forgiven if he or she for a moment thought this was Sir Elton John or John Lennon with me. I wonder why? Must be his smile, no? Mahmud, with me, the Hatted Writer; at his booth on the second floor.
Another satisfied customer. The red was super, awesomely striking; making the gold flower designs rich.
Throughout the day, there were people coming by, purchasing many of the Hotwheels vehicles that were on display, A guy bought my Thronmax full professional mike set. I used it only once thinking I was going into podcasting. However, I realised that I was not ready for podcasts now. The planning, script writing, perfect environment, editing – this was not my thing. At least for now. I may pick it up again sometime in the near future. Another person also bought my Cross fountain pen, which I first purchased 40 years ago. That guy is going to get many years of good writing experience from it.
Jeannie, the Batik Influencer, and I, (yes, ’tis I) Alan, the Hatted Writer; at our booth F1.16.
I was also the D.J. for the afternoon; playing a wide variety of English and Malay songs. I played Liyana Fizi’s “Nona Nona Zaman Sekarang”, “Stay”, “Jatuh”; CCR, Michael Buble, Meghan Trainor, Ushera, Sheila Majid with her hit, “Sinaran”; just to name a few. I saw lots of people moving to the rhythm of the songs,. enjoying what they heard. Probably a good 3 hours of music. I think the speaker must have popped as there is a bit of a rattling sound when the volume is turned up.
And another happy customer – this couple purchased the last batik cape under the label of “Jeannie’s Own” that Jeannie had with her for the day.
A Singaporean couple came by just as were about to pack up for the day. They purchased the last of “Jeannie’s Own” batik capes that the Batik Influencer had for the day.
The “CARS” display, keychain, and the diecast cars of Mater and Flo, were also sold just before we closed. Everything CARS is sold.
By the time, we got everything packed in the car (we did not saunter. We moved at a much faster pace as we wanted to get home), it was past 6.00pm.. It had been quite a long day.
I, during the day, through observations as it (the day) went passed; have got several more ideas for my book. Right now, it seems disjointed. I need to thread the ideas together. While it looks like a trillion (4) piece jigsaw puzzle at the moment, the excitement is building up working at putting these pieces together.
NOTES: 1. “Sauntered” means to walk in a slow, relaxed manner. 2. “Relax lah, brudder” (spelt according to how it sounds) means take it easy. It is very common to hear this in everyday life in Malaysia. Though the little speck down south of the peninsula claims (like every other thing that becomes catchy and famous); that this popular phrase originated from them; there are doubts to this claim. 3. “Unhatted” means not wearing a hat. 4. Trillion a million million (1,000,000,000,000 or 1012).
A fun weekend it was. We were at our F1.16 booth, setting up all the things we were putting up on sale. There were lots of new things we brought this weekend. Some of those new things included hats and angpow packets. For our readers who are connecting from over 80 countries; the ang pow packets are in connection and celebration of the lunar new year or “Chinese New Year”, as it is known in Malaysia and it’s neighbouring countries.
Once our booth was ready to rock ‘n roll; I headed over to Mahmud, the hat-seller’s booth. The traditional red & black tartan cap was there, waiting for me to choose it for my own.
The Hatted Writer with my friend, Mahmud; the man with many hats – the hat seller, if you may.
Mahmud confirmed that this cap suits me. What do you,readers; think? I love it. I bought it. It is just the right size, very comfortable to wear and creates an understatement about the Hatted Writer.
A nice pic of the Hat Seller and the Hatted Writer.
The Batik Influencer in the meantime, was busy explaining to everyone that stopped by, about her Batik Cape creations: unique, for formal and informal use, and when not in use; fold it into a small bundle which can be slipped into a handbag or small bag for ease of carrying and taking with you wherever you go.
When Derek Fernandez found out through an article I published that morning that we were in Amcorp Shopping Mall that day (Sunday) and that the Batik Influencer was there with a limited number of batik capes available; he asked me to send pictures of what was available, chose one and said he would come over to get it in a while.
He was not kidding. The next thing we knew, he showed up to pick his chosen Batik Cape. We chatted for a while. Very interesting guy. A lawyer by profession, he has served on many committees, all with the aim of improving and “jaga-ing” (1)the beauty of Petaling Jaya (P.J.) for residents and people who are in P.J. frequently; from especially what development of concreting almost everything in sight calls “modern times”.
Look who dropped in. Kirk Raymond; St Thomas More’s Sound and Technical Specialist. With the author.
Surprises of surprises, I saw Kirk Raymond, St Thomas More’s sound and technical specialist, passing by and called out to him. He was just as surprised to see Jeannie and I manning a booth. We had a nice chat. He had to do a drama shot of us (picture above↑).😁
Farid, our new friend, just bought this hat from us. He looks a typical journalist.
We had a couple of hats of our own up for sale. This guy, by the name of Farid, sporting a grey worker’s cap, tried on the Fedora hat. I took a picture with him wearing it. I told him that he looked good in it. He bought it.
A Japanese interested customer, with the Batik Influencer.
The Batik Influencer, Jeannie; and the Hatted Writer, the author, me, Alan; having a “wefie” moment. It was more like several minutes 😏 because we had to re-take this picture several times to get it right. 😉😁
The limited number of Batik Capes the Batik Influencer had with her today, were sold out. She will be working on new designs and have them ready soon, for the many, many enquirers. Many of the Hotwheels and ang pow packets were sold. We found it really fun to meet so many people – friends as well as new friends. We got to talk about fun subjects: family, living and what they do to chill and relax. We have learnt so much from them. The biggest take away on weekends like these, that we, Jeannie and I; get, is that people are relaxed and away from the everyday hustle and bustle they get during the week. That’s a good thing.
We packed up by 5pm as we had a birthday dinner celebration to attend in Subang Jaya. We were hosting a dinner for Jeannie’s dad, my father-in-law; who was turning 85 years old. Yes, of course I would be wearing my tartan flat cap.
NOTES: 1. “Jaga-ing” (If there is ever such a word), is a Malay word, the “ing” part is the English side; meaning protecting.😉😁😂
