2024 - A year well spent

Happy Chinese New Year! 

 

What a year! Megan said she must be the Megan of all Megans in 2024 - very pleased with how everything panned out. Morgan also cemented 2024 as one of his best years. Not so sure for myself as I was mainly occupied with work. Impressively, Kenneth stepped up and did an amazing job, securing left right center picture-perfect pose in every aspect of M&M’s life. What a good father and husband…. ho ho ho..

As I was saying, too much work last year that most of my phone photos were merry making crazy colleagues.  

What does HBA do best? Parties and parties of course.. Cheapskate reception counter makeover to become mama shop. All my favorite childhood snacks! 

Scary villains of the night where Canvas managed to pull off an epic hellscape in broad daylight at their desks. 

This is what I call Commitment.

Though I obviously came as 路人甲, which my CEO failed miserably to appreciate. What can I say? Lack of imagination in management’s bloodlessness of logic and reason.

Woo. Is that Guanyin drinking alcohol by the bar? Naughty naughty gal. 

Mimi said I was too spontaneous with my activities with M&M and should be more consistent. I did try to be like Lily and bake a fresh loaf of bread every week but consistency and discipline were … boring. The best we putted together this year were some random egg tarts, sausage rolls, Xmas cookies etc

Learning to make onigiri was essential after Japan trip. 

Tangyuan making was more a last minute “I found glutinous rice flour!” episode. Yes, maybe I should be more consistent as Meggie had been whispering “tiramisu” in my ears for the past few months. (I couldn’t find lady’s fingers!!!)

Meggie’s food making involvement was also on and off as she officially entered Teenager Phase and that meant - MOODY… Learnt that as a mother, you can’t win your kid. Just ride the phase out, Mimi advised. She is right, as usual.

Thought Meg would continue with her crochet business but, too labor intensive – money hard to earn, bored… all that yarn became more secret stashes somewhere in the house. May they see daylight one fine year. 

 

Instead, working on more time-consuming Paper Mache art… Dotter is good at what she does, so proud of her….

Morg continued to produce more digital comics. I printed them into proper books and he was absolutely horrified with the square format, accusing his publisher of not respecting his artistic directions of everything landscape… 

Very hard to please, these Gen Z divas. 

14 months ago, I started my first dizi lesson because I was worried of dementia and needed something new for my brain to chew on. And OMG… 14 months later… zero improvements!!! I still suck! Not as talented in everything as I tot I was. Damn.

Though the main gig remained off limits to human ears, the passion still burned strong. I loved my flutes enough to make new bags for them…. (final product pending Mimi to machine sew my work of love together)

Since flair and aptitude, I have none, I invested great effort to look good in 2024.

Attempted to charm my way around with Eye Lashes Extensions. Did you guys see it? Did you? Verdict – Not being able to rub my eyes with my knuckles every morning was an irritating and unpleasant way to start a new day. OUT!

Tried elevating my status to goddess level with Pretty Pretty Nails! Verdict – LOVE, felt so ladylike... 3 weeks later… What? Need to go back salon to remove this before I can cut my nails short? Total waste of time!! Nope.

Practiced smiling in the mirror so my face looked less round captivating. Verdict – very tough call for a resting bitch face. 

Concluded that in life, one cannot 既要，都要，还要. 

Then I had to fix this ceiling downlight. I mean, I needed to change a light bulb. How hard could it be? Translated into many-many days of mental burden, many-many ups and downs the ladder, multiple tips from different light shops staffs, youtube videos, tampering with circuit board…. AND cutting the whole wire instead of exposing more copper!!!!!! 

Once again, I thought I was a “site” person but obviously not – never even knew this tool existed… "Hello Hello Electrician? HERE Take my money!" Totally drove my self-esteem down a spiral of deep reflections. 

 

But seriously, 2024 was different. 2024 felt different. 

Hard to pin down what, but there was this barely noticeable yet seismic shift within myself. First thing I noticed was the interminable boredom of dinner parties chatting about vitamins and humid weather. So numbing that my sub conscience haunting, amidst mindless noise, that things, if not started here and now will fade into nothingness. 

It was not an anxiousness. More like, I somehow settled on a very simple and evenly paced way of organizing myself. Mateusz Brodowicz explained it best in “The symbolism of time in modern novels” - The future, that infinite horizon of innovation and progress, segregated its contents into measurable, attainable units which were made accessible to administrations, to techno-science. They became an element of calculability, a passive subject of social planning and control. 

Time spanned outward and life sequence broken down into manageable portions slotted into place neatly. I just strolled peacefully down this passage of time closing box after box. Wait a minute, am I enlightened? 

2025.

It was forecasted that this snake year will be a year of change for the horses. Hohoho.... LinkedIn, here I come after 10 years.... 2024 had not been the easiest of years for both Ken and me. But we both certainly agree with M&M – 2024 was a year very well spent. 

My favorite son ever

2024 was an interesting year for Morgi with plenty of new experiences. Parenting this fella for the past year was full time competition to see who excelled in discipline. Unfortunately, I was on the losing end since my son monitored the clock quite seriously. “It’s 4pm, let’s start Science revision” was a slap in my face (since I was the one who suggested this, but while waiting for 4pm, my favorite on screen character was just about to expire in a grand way). To off or not to off the TV. That was the question. Discipline backfired. 

Moontent

Father and son ONLY overnight school camp. All mothers were given a “Manager” T-shirt and counselled to Just Go Away. Aka the Gentlemen should could survive on their own... Hahaha, I like a humorous school.

Feel the silent despair of impending separation in this photo. (start of the camp)  Heaven knew we need never be ashamed of our tears, bhawaaaaaa… going to be apart for one full day!!!!

On the opposite end, overly excited managers were happily posting photos of themselves heading to JB for a girl’s day out. FINALLY!!!! BYE BYE BOYZ!!! Me? I secured good seats with Meggi at Hamilton, and slept soundly that night with extra leg room. Sweet.

Boys will be boys. Everything was a competition. New sleeping bag purchased (we had 2 in the storeroom). New tent delivered (we had 1 in the store room). New cooking equipment bought (hello, you are just cooking one meal, bring a pot and cook noodles!)

Let’s rehearse camping in the living room before camping in school. Total eyeball roll… “What if dunno how to set up on site, HOW?” 

Photos of the gentlemen were released a la minute on group chat as proof to management that their family members were still alive. What miracle, they could cook… Oh… Wow, what are the other fathers cooking? Ok. Certainly, some serious competition going on…. Wah that grandmother stove even made an appearance. Pride. 

Chili crabs?!!! Win liao.  

Check out the “other” tents. Legend has it that some dads even ordered ice blocks to provide “air-con” to their stuffy abode. To those who sneaked home in the cover of darkness by climbing over the school fence (you know who you are), you have my utmost respect!!! Moi did the same during my P6 camp but ended up in the police station. Who knew our friendly neighborhood policemen were so hardworking even at night. 

 

Home Theatre

One evening, Morgi suddenly declared he was staging a play and gathered us in his room. Needed 2 more person to act and 4 audiences - generally more than our household population. Oh wait, he counted his soft toys…

Lights off, torchlight suddenly switched on with Morgi narrating a story about a treasure on an island guarded by a monster…” Dad, your turn! Now! Next scene, off the lights Mum, change scenes. Dad HERE!!!” All super chaotic with torchlight on and off, Ken and Meggie ushered everywhere in and out of the spotlight. Nobody knew the role they were playing or the storyline.  Just wing it! Impromptu. 

Suddenly ended off with a bizarre mass dance. Best play ever.

Chinese Tuition

In line with our slow awareness on all things school related. In Aug, we shockingly discovered Morgan’s Chinese result was a FAIL. Time to take the hard stance as a responsible parent… Tuition! But. How to sell tuition to a wimpy kid? My successful strategy was to put him on a month-long cocktail of hard-sell, potential results glamorization, passive aggressive “all your peers have tuition except you” plus a somewhat apologetic plea to just TRY, you might like it?  

SUCCESS.  Well done, Morgan. Well done, us. 

A Yellow Butterfly

Morg found a caterpillar and happily adopted it. Less than 24 hours, he was horrified at the amount of poop a caterpillar can produce. Instead of learning about pet care 101, he was more excited to have found a great name to his new love. Thou shall be called Poopido. 

Sonny spent the following weeks staring out of the window calling for his yellow friend to visit and pestering me to bring Poopido to the butterfly park to make friends. 

Happy Birthday

For the first time ever, Morgi invited his friends for his Birthday. Almost burst out in happy tears. MORGAN HAS FRIENDS!!!! 

He was so happy. We were so happy he was so happy. 

Sigh… No wonder sonny is my favorite son ever. 

Japan Trip 2024

Japan holiday with the kids in Nov and time simply flew by... Weather was great, nobody got sick. Two and a half cabin size luggage just enough for 4 of us with ample space for shopping loot!!! We did what we set out to experience - bento on the Shinkansen, frenzy scooping up discounted Isetan food after 7pm, mandatory picture of the Gilco Man...

Tokyo

Always wanted to skip Tokyo altogether... BUT... I really wanted to visit TeamLab. Interesting start to the journey... 

I have deep affection for the Harry Potter series so this place was on my check list. With such high expectations, I was slightly disappointed that we were not sorted by the Sorting Hat upon arrival. I wonder which house I would be in. But we did spent a good 4 hours from beginning to end. 

"Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike." 

— Albus Dumbledore

"Youth can not know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young." — Albus Dumbledore

"If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." — Sirius Black

"When in doubt, go to the library." — Ron Weasley

And so we did! Not to the library but to a second hand comic stall in search of anime. Serious stuff.

Osaka

One day, the kingdom of the peaceful mushroom people was invaded by the Koopa, a tribe of turtles. The mushroom people were turned into stones, bricks and even field horsehair plants. And the Mushroom kingdom fell into ruins. 

The only one who can undo the magic and return them to their normal selves is the Princess Toadstool, the daughter of the mushroom king. Unfortunately, she is in the hands of Bowser, the king of the Koopa. We, the Mario warriors set out to earn as many points as possible to free the princess and restore the fallen kingdom!

I was not even a Mario fan but I needed to get my hands on their merch after running around Mario land. This place was way too cute.

Jaws was a big part of my childhood yet M&M had never heard of the movie. Threw them into the deep end without much context or what to expect. Morg was quite rattled. I was... wah this was soooo good.

Kuromi - who the hell is she? Mr. Morg, to our disbelief, insisted we stayed and watch Kuromi sing and dance!! Infinity infinity infinity!!!! Bizarre scene of Morgi dancing with whole bunch of adult fans. I flatly commented in the crowd that the only bunny I like is Miffy, with Megan going into immediate panic, "ma, you cannot say that loud!!!" Death stares from all My Melody fandom. Oh. Different groups yah?

USJ was such a happy place. I found myself smiling the entire day... 

Osaka Aquarium - this was as close to diving as I can show my family. The ocean and its creatures have their ways to enchant us and draw us into their deep mysterious world. So calm, yet powerful. M&M could sit there watching fish for hours. Even Ken was mesmerised like a little boy trying to take everything in. 

Kyoto

Fushimi Inari Shrine! Insta perfect tori gates was one thing but the food stalls right outside were the real deal! Street stalls selling Wagyu and Kobe beef steaks!!! Megan voted wagyu whereas I was camp Kobe all the way. Didi preferred his Potato Tornado... Ultra pretty and tasty daifukus and candied strawberries just a few meters away. Snacking was never this good.

Morgan was dead serious about Omikuji. He wanted the full experience shaking the box, exchanging for the fortune written on a piece of white paper. Google translate could not fully placed his fortune in the good/ bad category. Hence, following traditions, he had to fold the paper and left it behind at the Shrine. It was charming. 

Mr Morg said his fav place on this trip was Nara - because he overcame his fear of feeding the deers! He became brave. 

Meggi's fav place was the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. Or not exactly the forest, since we were so blissfully distracted by all the shopping and food along the Saga-Toriimoto street leading to the forest that we barely enter the bamboo section. Meggi declared after an hour, "maybe we should just forget about the bamboo (and continue to explore the much more exciting streetscape)". 

A Miffy Bakery!!!! OK, let's skip the Bamboo forest. I agree! In life, we must have priorities... Mocha ice-cream, possibility the best ice-cream we have tasted in our lives... Actually, in hindsight, we should stay a night right here. Advice to anyone reading this blog. Stay. Bring more cash. 

Japanese food can never be not nice. 7-11 was Morgi's standard visit everyday. There was always space in his stomach for a 7-11 Onigiri. So much so that he even pray to the onigiri section - Never run out, Please Please never run out... 

Happy happy food... I miss Japan already....