"Coming of age"

Nachos, alcoholic drinks, good music, great environment and fantastic company - these marked my so-called "coming of age" night. Having never experienced any clubbing or drinking of alcohol WITHOUT my parents being around, last night, Trish, my sis and I went to Hard Rock for its soft opening of the cafe. After much debate, indecision and "obstacles" (my sis is underage), we managed to get into the cafe and enjoy ourselves. The worry we had about being checked or of my sister being left out as she is underage was all water under the bridge, as we sat at the table, near to the stage, sipping our drinks and picking (I say picking coz we had to order some food as we "conned" the hostess into letting us in early during dinner time and we already had dinner) on the nachos we ordered and enjoyed the music. The fact that I've not been clubbing or drunk any alcohol without my parents' presence just goes to show how "ulu" I am!! Of course, when I drank wine and beer while I was in India...well...that's not counted!! HAHA!

The table in front of us consisted of 4 ladies celebrating one of the gals' bachelorette night. They were dressed to kill, complete in shorts, fish net stockings, a garter around the bride-to-be's thigh, paper crowns and a sash. They'd been there long before we arrived and we could see that they were already 'high'. Things went up a notch when another of their girlfriend arrived. THe newbie was a socialite and managed to get some other patrons to dance and take part in the ridiculous gags that she came up with for the bride-to-be.

The band was good - they really kept the crowd entertained, although I felt as though the female singer of the band had a worm in her body as the way she danced was just so funny!! It was as though she was constantly wriggling!! Haha!! I think the best part was when the band broke into the YMCA song and all the Hard Rock employees came out and stood on stools and the bar and danced to the song!

My sister had her fantasy fulfilled when she got to drink the "Ultimate Bloodmary" - though she struggled to finish it as it tasted awful. I know this as I tasted it. I stuck to the conventional beer as the prices of the drinks were high; plus, Trish had said that the mixed drinks were not that good.

We left the place at about 1am, but not before we had our fill of taking pics around the hotel. Pics are on FB!!

Thanks to Trish for inviting us and for paying for the drinks!! !! Thanks to my dad for helping us get my sis in and also checking up on us!!

Next stop is Sunset Bistro for Halloweens!!

And it's all over once again

Two full days of festivities - eating, drinking, laughing, talking loudly. Ahhh.....I wait for this every year, when everyone is gathered in a small house, enjoying each other's company, catching up on the past year's happenings, all while munching on murukus and other little titbits.

Deepavali is the festival of lights and indeed...I do feel that this festival lights up our lives. You can see it in the lights that shine from every Hindu house; from the smiles and eyes of grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts and cousins; on the neighbours' face when you share with them all the murukus, ghee balls, cookies etc; and also...I believe, on the faces of the Gods.

This year, once again, I had a blast. Of course...all this would not have happened but for the long list of "things to-do": washing, cleaning, making the muruku etc!! Not forgetting the "almost" tragedy that happened which rendered my poor aunt immobile during Deepavali.

Anyhow, as usual, Deepavali eve saw the whole family gathered at my grandparents' house for the prayers. Although the eve is set for prayers to the deceased, it always becomes a reunion of sorts, as EVERYONE will be there. It's as though there's a silent rule that says, "Everyone in the Arumugam family has to be present on the eve of Deepavali". This I find especially weird because, instead of everyone gathering on Deepavali day itself, we do it on the eve!! Anyway, there was the usual GREAT food and FANTASTIC company despite the usual delay in beginning the prayers. I suppose this was expected since the prayers ALWAYS starts late (every year)!!

Deepavali day of course saw most of us dressed in our new outfits. I saw 'most of us' as my grandmothers and aunts opted for the more comfortable "housecoats" as they were busy cooking. After having brunch, we cousins then proceeded to have our annual photography session.

There are only a few of us here as other cousins came later in the day and some are overseas.

By mid-afternoon, we were all tired and so my family and I headed home to have a siesta. That night, we returned to my grandparents' house for dinner and more laughter. :-)

As always, I enjoyed Deepavali this year and it's a bummer that I have to return to work tomorrow. If only my holiday could be longer....haiz!! HAHA!!

More pics on Facebook!

Deepavali preparations

The yearly gathering at my grandparents' house this year saw a smaller group present. Since the majority of the usual "gatherers" have left Penang, the group this year was narrowed down to my sis, two aunts, grandma and me. One week ago, we all gathered to make the all-time favourite "kulcha" - a delicious yet work-consuming delicacy. It takes a long time and a lot of work just to make this "kulcha" but the end result is always satisfying. As I said, it's an all time favourite among the grandkids and also the grown-ups (oldies). And to add, the "kulcha" is a family recipe - no one else knows how to make it!! :-)

Yesterday was 'muruku' making day. One of aunts went to KL and so the group was even smaller. To make matters worse, my sister and mum got sick. Both were vomiting and had diarrhea (food poisoning) and so, that left the group with just three pairs of hands!! My grandma was stationed at the stove, my aunt was in charge of the flour and I had the all important job of pressing and designing the murukus!! [My arms hurt today]

The first batch went well with no incidents. However, at the start of the second batch, something bad happened. The gas pipe that was connected to the stove came out of its place and that started a fire in the kitchen!! Amidst trying to put the fire out and pulling the gas tanks out of the way, my aunt got burned!! Thank God her dress did not catch fire and although she was not in the fire for a long time, her legs got burned. We rushed her to the bathroom and doused cold water all over her legs to stop the pain. There was no peeling skin or anything but she had a blister (the kind you get when you come in contact with an exhaust pipe) on the back of her thigh.

I told my grandma and aunt that we should stop making muruku and that I could do it at home but they refused. We cleaned up the kitchen, threw away the pipe and small gas stove that was used, and promptly got back to work. My aunt was in constant pain as her legs were smarting from the burn but she insistently said she was fine.

We finally finished everything at 1am and my sis and I went home. Today, when I called my aunt to ask how she was, she said that the pain was gone although now, blisters had appeared around her ankles as she had been wearing silver anklets. We took her to the doc for a check-up, where she was given cream and painkillers.

The fire yday really gave all of us a shock. I'm really thankful that nothing seriously bad happened and that everyone is okay!! To think that the whole house could have caught fire!!! I'm really really glad and thankful to God that nothing bad happened!!

Of being exhausted and having to put up with tense people for days

I'm finally back at the office after having spent the past 5 days at Copthorne Hotel for my organisation's Conference and Congress that were held back-to-back! These meetings were THE meetings of the year. The idea came up in January-February and from then on, it was go-go-go. Despite having hired a conference coordinator all the way from the Philippines, whose sole job was to organise the conference and congress, nevertheless, everyone at the office got saddled with extra work!! I was put into the "meeting kit" and logistics team, in addition to being in charge of one of the nights' special events, The Night of Inspiration. That workload was an addition to the 4 workshops that was being organised by my programme over the course of the conference and congress.

The long Raya holidays were cut short as we had to come back to work on Tuesday (22nd) and from that Tuesday, it was non-stop work. We came to the office early and left late. When we shifted our office to the hotel, things seemed to speed up. For those of us commuting, it was especially tiring as the program, as usual, always overshot the time schedule.

Despite a few hiccups and with missing delegates from the Philippines due to the typhoon (which affected the whole program), the conference and congress went on smoothly. By the second last days, tensions were high. Everyone was tired.

The congress ended yesterday and next Monday was declared a holiday for us!! Yippie!! In addition, we could come in to work later today, instead of the usual 9am.

For now...all I need/want to do is sleep. But...with Deepavali coming in two weeks' time, I'll have to get started on the shopping!!