Competitiveness

Another 2 weeks before I can reclaim my Sundays. Till then it is a late lunch in our household to synchronise with Regina (that's Queen in Italian and that's Franco's pet name for me)'s work schedule. 

Today it was lamb chops with pasta which was yummilicious. I boiled some edamame so that there was some green on the table. I ended up eating the whole bowl by myself while Franco and Tasha sucked the bones dry. 

Conversation at lunch varies from Tasha's best friend to fake diamonds from Tiffany's but today it centred around golf since I had just acquired a new club membership yesterday. Of course, no golf talk is complete without some reviews of the performance of the caddies. After all they are the ones who make or break our game. Well...mine anyway. Tasha thinks that I am way too pampered to always be playing with a caddie. The only reason she normally plays without one is because she is too frugal to tip them! 

Anyway, I mentioned to Franco about how terrible the caddie at Palm Garden was. Tasha concurred with my observation as she missed a birdie and a par chances when we played there a few days ago (plus it is always good to blame it on someone else)! 😄😄

FRANCO: I like Nordin. He reads the line very well. 

ME: He is good but he talks too much. Maybe because we are both Kelantanese and he feels that he needs to constantly chat with me! I don't like chatty caddie because I need to focus when I play. That's why I like Manik. He is not the best but he ticks all the boxes. 

TASHA: Ma, you like him because he is as COMPETITIVE as you. He is always giving you hope for sinking the ball in the hole even when the chance of that happening is less than 5%! Not to mention, he will make you fight until the last stroke. Even when you are already winning, he has to make sure that you have a landslide victory!  Seriously! Who does that during a fun game? 

FRANCO: Babe....what's with you and getting people to be COMPETITIVE? Last week it was Kaarthi. What was it. He did 1 speech the whole of last year and now that he is mentoring you, he did 4 speeches in 1 day? 

TASHA: Yeah ma. You remember when we played last week. I was one up against you. Then Manik was cheering you on to make sure that you squared with me, which you finally did on the last hole. How both of you were high 5-ing when you managed to even your score. And that was against your own daughter!!! 

For the rest of lunch, Franco and Tasha took turns to be in the firing squad that finally left me unarmored! For the first time I was relieved that my break time was over. I reminded everyone to be quiet and hurried back to the desk to talk to my mentee in Turkey, a very COMPETITIVE national athlete turned coach. 

Yesterday's Gallagher's Challenge! 

  Looks like it is the story of my life!  

 

Not Today

Woke up feeling really tired this morning. 

Regardless, I dragged myself out of bed for my morning ritual of saying a prayer and recite some Quranic verses. It helps to soothe the soul and serves as a daily reminder of how lucky I am to still be alive and healthy. The feeling of gratitude normally would make me spring into action. NOT TODAY! 

Tasha and Franco were still deep in their sleep, so the house was eeriely quiet. I turned the coffee machine on and within seconds the aroma of the freshly grounded beans permeated the air. Most days this would have perked me up. NOT TODAY! 

I had a list of things to do - from revising my Toastmasters speech to completing my Module 3 for the Mentorship Program. Mornings are always the best time for me when it comes to “creative” work. The deep sleep from the night before provide such clarity, ideas ooze out from pen to paper so fast that I had created a lot of shorthand to help me keep up with the flow. NOT TODAY! 

I had to choose a couple of photos from TKC for the Book Project (have they not printed it already?), and by now Tasha was awake and joined me in the search for the least ugly photo of me playing sports! Most times we are always able to agree on one thing. NOT TODAY! 

So I sent both photos to the editor. 

Managed to complete everything on the Things to Do list just before noon. Yes! Now I have the whole afternoon to errr....twiddle my thumbs. But decided, NOT TODAY!

So I set a conversation about Dennis Ignatius in motion. He recently wrote an article on the book by Tommy Thomas that has sparked controversy in the Malaysian political circle. We ordered the book, "Justice in Wilderness". It arrived 4 days ago and Franco who has the monopoly of the book is still reading the Preface. I reminded him that it took him 2 years to finish Sarawak Report and that maybe I should read this book before him so that I don't wither to dust waiting for my turn! 

He looked up and said, "ok sayang!" 

No way! We have been married 23 years and this never happens! Whatever bad news he has to break, I hope he will save it for another day. 

Please, NOT TODAY! 

Women of Substance

Citi-ZEN January 2021 Issue

Truly honoured to be sharing the front cover of Citi-ZEN with Cindy Ong, the swimming gold medalist at the 2019 World Masters Championship and Michele Low, the Malaysian golfer who has made our country proud on the LPGA circuit. 

I am even more honoured to be receiving hundreds of congratulatory messages from family and friends via Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. And yet the ONLY person I would have truly loved to share this piece of news is my late father. 

I hardly speak about him because we never really had a chance to do or share a lot of things. Growing up, I was home only until I was 12 years old. Right after, I was shipped to a boarding school in Seremban for my secondary school and for my A-Levels in Oxford before attending university in Nottingham. Daddy passed away just a few months after my university graduation. I had just started work in the UK then and was planning to visit him once I am entitled to take some leave. 

I remember him cutting my nails every Friday, I remember him teaching us math crossed legged on the floor, using the parquet tiles as our calculator, I remember his favourite "ikan singgang" which he ate almost daily. I also remember him waiting for me in front of the gate with a belt in his hand! They are little things but even after all these years, still very vivid in my mind for some reason. 

Most of all, I remember him as someone who loved sports. We ran together as a family, when he was the President of KAFA, he would bring us to watch football matches at the stadium. Of all the sports, he loved badminton the most. He played every evening after work and in fact spent his last breath doing what he loved when he had his heart attack while playing against our cousin. 

We grew up loving sports because of him. Thank you daddy for this awesome gift. 

Inna lillahi wa'inna ila hira ji'un

  
 

When I Grow Up - by Tasha

Tasha wrote this on her blog some years ago:

When I grow up I wanna be a hairstylist,
But I can't even do my own hair, How can I be one?
When I grow up I wanna be a doctor,
But I'm scared of my own blood, How can I be one?
When I grow up I wanna be a veterinarian,
But I'm scared of even tiny little hamsters, How can I be one?
I like singing and dancing
But I can't reach those high notes and I am so not flexible
So, you know what I am going to do?
I'm going to wait until I grow up to figure out what I wanna be.

5 years later, she finally may have figured out what she wanna be.... — withNatasha Franco.

Physics Tuition

Tasha: I didn't do so well in my Physics, mom.

Me: well, since you are going to be homeschooling for the next 7 weeks, I can teach you. 

Tasha: ...but you always raise your voice when you teach me! 

Me: (in a slightly raised voice) well, maybe your teacher's too soft and that's why you didn't do well! 

Tasha: see...you haven't even started teaching me and you already raised your voice.

Me: (in super soft voice while blinking my eyes furiously and planting a BIG smile) sweetie, I can really help you if you want me to.

Tasha: that's so fake, mom!

4/4

I am really bad with dates, so, when we decided to get married we chose an easy date to remember that fell on a Friday. 16 years ago that date was 4/4. 

This morning while making breakfast, Franco came to the kitchen and gave me a loving kiss with eyes that looked like they belonged to a missing dog who wanted to be adopted. So of course, I looked back at him with suspicion. 

Franco: we might as well just got married on any date, babe!

Ooopsss...even with such meticulous date selection process, I still forget!

Tubular

Franco Rende knew I did the best I can to finish the race yesterday despite having two punctures and he also knew that although I would never blame life for treating me unfairly, I would be thinking of improving the odds for the next race. 

So, this morning, while I was busy preparing breakfast, he came to the kitchen and instead of the customary good morning, he uttered the word I have been wanting to hear. 

"Tubular, babe?"

That word was like music to my ears..........

GRANDMOMS

Both my grandma and Franco's grandma passed away this year. They had a lot of similarities - my Tok We and Franco's Nonna.

They both were very independent, living on their own until very very late in age.

My tok we made mean pisang murtabak and Nonna made doughnuts to die for.

My tok we would always slipped in some money, no matter how little to her great grandchildren and Nonna would do the same. However, Nonna took the meaning of sustainability to a new level when she made us return the white envelope that she used to put the money in so that she can reuse the envelopes for the next handout!

Nonna is the only one whom I know who drank her wine with Sprite. Salute to you Nonna!

I pray that both of them will be rewarded with the garden of paradise for being such a great person who touched so many lives in this world. They certainly have touched mine and they will forever be missed.

GOOFING AROUND

One of the many things I missed when Tasha went to CILC was mom and daughter goofing around in between prayer times.

One of my many prayers is for Allah to make easy for both of us to perform solat so that we will be placed amongst the muslimin and muslimah who are true believers in the jannah. Amin.

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK

Usually I deployed my team to negotiate on the company's or client's behalf. But in this particular case, the pressure to reduce cost by 30% will be too much for my team of professional negotiators to handle. So, I decided to assist. The negotiation started at 10 am and by 11 am we wrapped up the deal.

I was so chaffed that I sms to Franco:

LK: just saved the company RM 100k, all in an hour's work. Now I am going for my wantan noodles.

During my brunch, I read a review on C250 CGI and text Franco the page number of the SUN for him to read.

FR: what a gem! I noticed that after saving RM 100k, you proceeded to contemplate buying C250 instead of C200.

LK: No lah! Anyway, you should see Wesley's face when I came out of negotiation and told him I shaved off 30%. His jaw dropped down to his knees. He asked me how I did it. So, I told him, he doesn't have to learn it, he just have to keep me employed for him to be a hero.

FR: Good girl. You are going to have to be employed for at least the next 7 years.

LK: Alamak, I thought until 2015?

FR: Boleh tapi you will need to increase monthly installment amounts ergo you will need to negotiate a significant salary increment.

LK: Cannot increase salary cause don't want more responsibility. In fact, I am negotiating for the same salary with less hours!

FR: Then year 2018 it is!

At about 2 pm, Franco texted me again:

FR: any more savings?

LK: Nope, having my weekly massage now on the 6th floor!

FR: All in a day's "work", huh?

BYE PAPA

We dropped Franco off at KL Sentral this morning and as usual Tasha was in tears.

Eventually, I managed to gather enough courage to ask her the question, the answer to which might hurt the feeling of a mother.

Me: Girl, why do you always cry when Papa has to go on a business trip and you never cry when I go anywhere? Some times the places I have to go to are more dangerous, like Pakistan, Cambodia?

Tasha: Cause I know you will survive wherever you go, mom!

REFLECTION ON 2010

2010 was a good year for us.

a) Tasha started playing 18 holes of golf with us. This has come top in our list of acheivement as we are now able to spend more time as a family!

b) Franco and I ran the furthest distance ever in our life - 30km and we hope to at least complete one marathon in our lifetime in 2011.

c) Tasha made major improvements in her skiing and skied on slope 6 in Club Med Sahoro! Even Franco and I struggled on this slope which is meant for intermediate to advance level skiers. Kudos to my little wedgy!

d) Despite her lack of practice, Tasha passed her Grade 4 piano exam and now resolved to spend more time on her piano for her Grade 5 exam in 2011.

e) Franco got promoted 2 scales up the ladder! He is the most hard working in this family of 3, so, it is definitely the promotion that is well deserved!

f) I managed to get out of the gruelling Shell program (thanks to the Client) and am currently working for the same Client at advisory level, giving me more time to golf during the weekdays. In 2010, I managed to play 30 rounds of golf on weekdays and expect to top that up this year!

g) After 30 years, I was finally reunited with some of my primary school friends from Zainab 1 over a raya do. It was wonderful to see how well everybody is doing with their lives.

h) On the family front, I managed to help mom with her treatment with Dr. Nick Boden. Despite a lot of hardship in organising the trips to the hospital, we managed to endure it and now she is back to her active self.

i) Found a tennis partner who is as crazy or even crazier than I am. So, we started playing 3 days a week resulting in a major improvement in my tennis game.

j) I was out of Malaysia for 67 days out of 365 (source: SOS International) and did not get fired by my boss for it!

Hopefully 2011 will bring us more happiness, health and wealth....ameen.

SHOWER

Thanks to Air Asia. Our flight on the return journey from Kota Bharu was delayed (again).

As a result, we got home past midnight. We all took a shower and went straight to bed.

The next morning:

MOM: Tasha, Can you please go and take a shower?

TASHA: I already showered this morning.

MOM: Don't lie, girl. You just woke up.

TASHA: Mom, I showered at 12.42 this morning when we came back from KB, so, technically, I already have my morning shower.

MOM: !@#$^&*())

ROAD TAX

For two years in a row, we have been delinquent with the renewal of our road tax.

Last year we drove all the way to Singapore only to be refused entry by car and escorted out of Singapore.

This year, we did the same thing again, only the repercussion is not so serious (not yet....since I have not received the renewal). I am trying to stay out of the radar and it is just so hard to drive 80km/h on the road I am used to at least double the speed!

Had Sharma still be around, I would NEVER be in this predicament. We miss you Sharma.

n.b: Sharma was Franco's driver for more than 10 years. His official title was actually "Asset Manager". He passed away in his sleep 2 years ago and his replacement was not even half as good as he was.

FATHER-DAUGHTER

We finished playing squash with some neighbours and our special guest, Carrie Yeoh (who used to be on the National team) and his adorable son of 8 years old, when the son turned to Franco while pointing at me and asked,

"Is that your daughter?"

Franco didn't find it amusing and resolved to dye his white hair while I gloated the whole night!

I'VE GOT TIME

Date: 21st August 2010

Venue: Pavillion Swiss Watch

I was "timeless" for so long - 2 years, 4 months and 17 days to be exact, and now I am the proud owner of a timeless masterpiece.

Thank you Tasha for helping me with the choices, Samme who acted as my professional negotiator, Sherm for the great company and Franco - not sure for what.....(just kidding!) for finally getting the watch of my dream.

MELANKOLIS SANG ANAK BUAT ARWAH EMAK

Franco and I were late for this performance.
Also found this on her laptop.

(SING IBU SONG)

BERMULA DARIPADA SEGUMPAL DAGING MERAH
HINGGALAH KEPADA PEMBENTUKAN TULANG-TEMULANG
TERBENTUK DI DALAM RAHIM SEORANG INSAN
MENJADI PERANTARAMUKA
ANTARA MAKHLUK DENGAN TUHAN

SELAMAT SEJAHTERA
DARIPADA INSAN YANG SERING ALPHA
INGIN BERKONGSI NASIB
BERKONGSI CERITA
KISAH SANG ANAK YANG RINDUKAN EMAKNYA
DENGARKANLAH
SUARA HATI
BUAT EMAK
INSAN YANG TERCINTA
TERNGIANG-NGIANG DI TELINGA KAMI
KETIKA EMAK MEMANGGIL KAMI
KETIKA EMAK MENASIHATI KAMI
KETIKA EMAK MENEGUR KAMI
KETIKA EMAK MENDODOI KAMI
DAN KETIKA EMAK
MENDOAKAN KESEJAHTERAAN KAMI

MASIH SEGAR DALAM INGATAN KAMI
KETIKA EMAK BERKATA “ANAK-ANAK MAK……. EMAK TAK ADA PUSAKA UNTUK DIWARISI…. EMAK TIADA HARTA UNTUK DIBERI.
MAK HANYA MAMPU MENYEKOLAHKAN KAMU…. KERANA MAK PERCAYA HANYA ILMU SAHAJA YANG DAPAT MENGUBAH NASIB KAMU SEMUA….
JANGANLAH ANAK-ANAK MAK SIA-SIAKAN SEMUA INI…… KERANA MAK TAK HARAPANKAN APA-APA BALASAN DARIPADA KAMU SEMUA…
CUKUPLAH BAHAGIAN ANAK-ANAK EMAK DI DUNIA INI”


MACAM KAMU SEMUA EMAK KAMI CANTIK, LEMAH LEMBUT, SOPAN SANTUN BAIK BUDI PEKERTINYA


BETUL! BETUL! BETUL!
EMAK KAMI CEKAL,GIGIH, DAN PENYABAR ORANGNYA
9 BULAN 9 HARI EMAK KANDUNGKAN KAMI
TIBA MASA EMAK LAHIRKAN KAMI
EMAK JAGA KAMI
DENGAN PENUH KASIH SAYANG
EMAK SUSUKAN KAMI
DENGAN SUSU BADANNYA SENDIRI
EMAK BELAI KAMI
DENGAN KELEMBUTAN DAN KEIKHLASAN
EMAK TAK PERNAH ABAIKAN KAMI
KERANA EMAK AMAT MENYAYANGI KAMI

SAKIT, PENAT, LELAH
SEMUANYA EMAK PENDAM

EMAK…..! EMAK……! DI MANAKAH EMAK?
KAMI RINDUKAN EMAK! KAMI SAYANGKAN EMAK
MAAFKAN KAMI JIKA KAMI MALAKUKAN KESALAHAN
KAMI DAH MENYESAL KAMI MENYESAL…… EMAK!
JIKA ADA SATU HARI LAGI TIDAK AKAN BERHENTI
TANGAN INI MERANGKUL ERAT TUBUH EMAK
TIDAK AKAN BERHENTI IKHTIAR KAMI

MENCAPAI KEJAYAAN

POEM FOR MUM

Found this on Tasha's laptop, during one of my random surveillance....
(the documet is saved as POEM FOR MUM.doc)

10 years ago I was born.
My mum always told me it was
the happiest day of her life.
I wonder if she just said that because
all mums say that.

One day I was flipping through the album
of my first few pictures at the hospital.
These pictures had been taken several hours
after my mum gave birth to me.
Some of her friends were there to.

As my mum held me in her arms I
could tell from her eyes that she was about
to break down in tears.
I nearly broke down in tears when I saw
the pictures.

It was such a beautiful moment.

Now that’s how I know my mum didn’ just say
that it was the happiest day of her life.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!
God Bless You

THE PATIENT

Franco has been sick for the last few days. This morning he was still sleeping when I left the house to send Tasha to school. At 8.15 a.m. my sms beeped:

Franco: Sorry to inform you but I am still alive!

Lini: What is the new ETD?

Franco: Unknown - on death watch!

HARI RAYA HAJI 2009

THE LONDON FLIGHT

Normally, we would all sleep for the most part of the journey. But not this trip – not for Tasha and me anyway.

So, while Franco slept, Tasha played hangman and I resorted to the movie channel. 13 hours of flight and I managed to watch a record breaking of 5 movies in a row:

a) Julie and Julia
b) Adam
c) The Weather Girl
d) The taking of Pelham 123
e) 500 days of Summer

On the other side of the world, mom was tasked to perform Qurban on my behalf. My sister sent me an MMS of the photo with the caption “Lembu Kak” (translation: sis, your cow) just before I boarded! I figured by the time I reached London, the meat would have been distributed to the poor and I would feel a hell lot better to roam the streets of London in search of worldly bliss.

Or is that an oxymoron?