Brother(s)

It's on my Facebook; I've also written about "it" in a couple of entries here. My friends know; his friends also know. All in all, it's Facebook official.

What am I rambling about? Am I finally in a relationship? *grin* No! Lol...rather the question should be, WHO am I talking about?

Jared Cheow. Jared John. Jared Soliano Cheow. Whatever he chooses to call himself, my sis and I simply call him BROTHER.

Yes, he's Chinese. Yes, he's from different parents. Yes, he looks different from us. But that's where the differences end, for as much as we are different, we are in fact much more alike.

To the world,, he's my cousin; to us, our brother. We grew up together; played together; laughed together; MADE FUN of our parents together! Fights? None that I can remember of. Though two years younger than me and four years older than my sis, Jared is very much the bigger brother (and I don't mean his size!).

We keep in touch through Facebook and SMSes; and though we rarely call each other due to our schedules, we never fail to meet up whenever one of us are in each other's hometowns. He is the son my parents never had; and my sis and I are the daughters his parents never had. Jared is also one guy I know who will always be there for me.

But...

Unknown to many, I have another brother. And come March 1st, he would have been 21. No...he's not my sister's twin.

Eric Joseph Cheow. Son of Douglas and Lita. Brother to Jared, Vayshna and me.

A fair boy akin to a mat salleh boy, with brown hair and a cheeky grin. I barely remember interacting with him, though I vividly remember being told that he always had to have a small pillow behind his head whenever he slept in the "buaian". I also remember him having his pacifier always pinned to his t-shirt.

Eric left us too early; choosing instead to go up and accompany his father and maternal grandfather. I simply believe that he got his 'key to freedom' much earlier than us. Later, he would be joined by paternal grandfather, great-grandfather, granduncle and great-grandmother. A congregation of great people above, watching us. And amidst them, a young, fair-skinned boy, running around, laughing, playing.

I remember him every March 1st, always wondering how it would be if he were still here. Would he and I be close? Or, would he and my sis gang up and attack us, the elder siblings? Or, would he and Jared gang up on my sis and I? What would most probably happen is the four of us joining forces against our parents!! Now that seems more likely!! :-)

And so...while my sis and I grow closer to Jared, our brother on Earth, I believe that the three of us can be assured that, not only do we have our great Father and relatives above us, protecting us and showering us with blessings, we also have our brother in Heaven, looking down on us, smiling, laughing, watching...loving us.

And as much as we love and miss him, I'm sure that Eric knows. And with that knowledge, I'm comforted.

Happy Birthday

To the most wonderful person I know:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMAH!!

Here's wishing you many many more years of good health, happiness, success, love and wealth!

Muax!!!!

Xin Nian Kuai Ler!

Tong Tong Tong Cheang!

Here's wishing all my Chinese family and friends,
GONG XI FA CAI!!

May the year of the rabbit bring you much joy, happiness, success, wealth and good health!

:-)

2011

It's the 4th day of the first week, of the first month of 2011! This is my first entry of the year and I hope that there will be more to come.

I decided last year that I will not be making any resolutions this year. It's not because I've failed or broken any of the resolutions I made for last year; I managed to tick off a few and there were one or two that was not achieved. Nothing major but still...

So it's been kind of a hectic first week. There's a 3-day meeting going on now and thankfully...I'm not involved! This gives me the time to ease back into working life (after a 10 day break) and get back to routine. I was fine on Monday, managing to get up early without any hassle. But Tuesday and Wednesday proved slightly difficult as I was tired upon waking up in the morning, despite sleeping early the previous night!!

It's Thursday today, which means tomorrow is Friday!! For those of you who reads my blog and is my friend on FB, you'll know that Friday is my favourite day of the week. Lol!

Well...I don't have much to say except that I had a blast during Xmas and New Year! I hope to have a blast all year through!!

I have one major matter that I hope to achieve by mid-year or at least end of the year; it's been on hold for quite awhile now and I think it's time to jump on it again. I'm not saying what it is for fear of jinxing it...but WHEN I do achieve it, there will definitely be an entry about it!!

So wish me luck!!

2010 sum up

So I always write a recap of what has happened in the year that is ending. Although it's like an unspoken rule that almost everyone with a blog has to do this, I actually got this idea of a recap waaayyy before blogging started. You see, my aunt (you know who you are *wink*) used to write, or should I say type, about her year; the ups and downs; the experiences etc. I was on the receiving end of this "recaps" and back then, I received printed copies in the mail. I remember reading them and thinking..."Wow! What a great idea!". Of course, I was still in school back then and I had nothing much/interesting to write about.

But as I grew older, gained a wee bit more experience and then started blogging, it was high time I started a "recap". So here's my 2010 sum-up:

1st quarter:

I can't really remember much about what happened in January, but in February, my car got broken into and my spoilt radio got stolen! I had to drive home from the office with the passenger side window broken and glass all over the inside.

And then in March...I made the much and long awaited trip back to Singapore!! After more than 10 years, my trip back to Singapore was fruitful! I met Uncle Stephen's mum, I met Uncle Rufi and his family for the first time and I met Uncle Maurice. Sightseeing and visiting the Night Safari made up the trip! What a time I had and I can't wait to return!

Grandma also had her knee operation and now...I reckon she can run faster than my mum!! Lol!!

2nd quarter:

So this year, I had more trips to KL than I ever did over the past years. I also celebrated my 26th birthday in June and got a nice present from my family: a HP!

This quarter also marked MJ's 1st death anniversary. Sighs.

3rd quarter:

I was supposed to spend a month in Philippines from July - August; but due to safety concerns, the trip was cancelled.

My sister turned 20 in August, marking the end of her teenage years. :-)

4th quarter:

The last 3 months of the year proved to be the most exciting. First, we got a new sofa!! And then it was Deepavali which is always nice! Family, friends, food, laughter, pictures. You get the picture!

After Deepavali, both my sister and I got the dreaded chicken pox!! I don't know how I contracted it but I was out of action for 3 weeks!! Thankfully....my spots were not the itchy type but rather it was painful! My sister was luckier as hers only lasted for about a week!

Then Xmas came along and it was time for decorations and presents! And also wine!! hehe...

Xmas passed really quickly and now...as I sit here writing this, tomorrow is New Year's eve!! I decided I wanted a change for the new year and so instead of cutting my hair, I had it dyed. The colour: Medium Auburn, which turned out to look more coppery. There hasn't been much sun lately and so I don't really know the full "force" of the colour. I hope I don't faint when I finally see it in full blast!!

So that's it....my 2010 sum-up! I hope I have another fruitful year next year, with more to experience and more to write!

Signing off for the year 2010!!

See you next year!! HAPPY NEW YEAR AND GOD BLESS!

Xmas is over...

Xmas is finally over. After spending so much time just THINKING about what I should get for my sister, I finally finished my Xmas shopping on Friday!! If I wasn't on leave on Friday, my shopping would have been left unfinished!

So Friday night was spent at the shop as there was sort of a gathering. We feasted on roasted chicken, prawns, KFC mash potato and coleslaw, beer and wine. It wasn't exactly a party but rather...just a way to usher in Xmas and spend time with family friends. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken as we were all hungry and by the time we remembered that we had our cameras with us...almost everyone had gone home.

Xmas morning was spent at home. We opened our presents, watched TV and had a very light afternoon meal as we had a dinner to attend to. Mum got me a perfume and bath gel (although the gel was a mistake as she had wanted to buy me a moisturiser. This is the second year she's made that mistake). Sis got me a bag and the book, THE LOST SYMBOL!! Yay!! :-)

Dinner that night was at my dad's friend's house. There we had crabs, prawns (yay!), chicken, mutton, beer, stout and wine! We had planned to only stay for a couple of hours and leave before midnight. But as usual...once the drinking begun and conversation started to flow....we ended up leaving at nearly 3am!

Thank God I still have the next week off. I've got a few things to do before the new year; like fixing my "new" pc, getting my hair done (I'd wanted to cut it but then mum disapproves. So I compromised and said I'd get it dyed), doing nothing...lol.

I can't believe it'll be a new year in a few days' time!

Xmas preparation

I returned to work after a 3-week "break" and boy was I looking forward to it.......NOT!! But thankfully, I only had another 3 weeks to work then the office was closed for the year! Yippee! I also found out that Dec 24th was declared a holiday!

To me, December is the month for presents and Xmas trees. It also marks the end of the current year! Usually, my Xmas tree would be up by the second week of December [I'd wanted to go down to KL or S'pore this year since I have a long break but then my sis has no holiday so it's Xmas in Penang this year]. This year...laziness took over. Considering that I was still on "break" in the first week of December, I could very well have set up the tree. But alas....that did not happen. My sis and mum started asking when the tree would be up and I suddenly realised that almost every year, I'M the one who sets up the tree!! But then again...I can't or rather shouldn't complain as I'm the fussy one when it comes to decorating the tree. The OCD in me comes out like a charging bull; the lights are not evenly put, the shiny balls and boxes are not evenly placed etc! And so...I guess after years of complaining...I guess my mum and sis has decided to leave it to me. Nevertheless, my sis helped me this year; AFTER I had assembled the tree and placed the lights. It took us about an hour to get it done.

After the tree...comes presents and this is ALWAYS a problem! What presents can I get for mum, sis and dad, while sticking to a limited budget? For the past few years, I've gotten the same gifts for my mum and dad. Thankfully, the presents are useful and will always be used. But then again....there goes the surprise element. So far, I've already bought presents for my mum and dad. Deciding to choose what to buy for my sis is proving to be a real problem. She gave me a list of things she wants (from books to clothes) to make it easier for me, but still...I find myself looking at the list over and over again not knowing what to get her.

Xmas is only 3 days away, so I'd better hurry up and finish my shopping. Sighs!