Finally, married

Happy New Year! I have a thing for controversial titles. But really, what’s it like being married for a year and a half, after being engaged for 3 years? (Read my engagement post here)

Picture an arranged marriage – coz, truth is no one studies ACCA coz they love ACCA & then proceeds onto becoming an Auditor. It’s always you the case of doing ACCA, then you try loving it and you become an Auditor (in some cases). So yeah, you can continue to picture this:

1. The other person occupies your time, most of the time.
2. Have to cook & do chores, introduce yourself to the kitchen utensils you never said hi to, since you’re away from home.
3. Devote your entire time to making them happy (ie: inevitably you also try being happy la in the process).
4. Might change your last name, if you want/like (in a real marriage, I won’t. Read here

All of the above applies to my scenario. It occupies most of my time, I devout most of my time to meet client’s & the team’s expectation, might get a new last name (ie: CA) in 3 years (but yeah, if you know me, in a real marriage, I would refuse to change my last name. Prince Charming click here to read your manual).

Basically everything, except for No.2 coz I married my profession and am still at home hahaha. The plates at home recognise me, but sadly the pots, pans, blender don’t – they do stuff like not cooking as expected, emitting burnt smells or merely tasting no-so-nice as mummy’s when I do stuff. (It’s okay, someday Mrs Home Minister will get me a Thermomix, and then I’ll show it off to those snobbish pots & pans).

In all honesty, I like my job on most days, on the somedays I feel like Microsoft Excel is against me or the laptop keys are conspiring against me; but I’m grateful to be working from the comfort of home.

I went back to work after a long leave today, coz I worked enough to go on a long leave and it felt a bit alien doing what I was used to doing. But on days like today, I remind myself that waking up and showing up is progress.

All I hope is that tomorrow –

may the seconds and minutes in my clock tick faster

may my lunch break arrive earlier

may my eyes not twitch like it’s performing breakdance after working for the entire day

I write this verse (Philippians 4:13) on my book on the days I feel like my To-do’s need some motivation:

Side note: to all the people asking on my marriage for real; sis got no time, need to work on becoming good at my profession first. Thank you, next.

About Me

Today was one of those “less fire” days. I’m not sure what didn’t work out well. Was it my to-do list that wasn’t done before I started my day or was it the tiredness from yesterday or was it this pandemic that has been draining most of my life? I still don’t know, but maybe I would – once I finish writing this. 

We all have our share of less energetic and idk-wth-is-wrong-with-me-days. On those days, I stick to binge-watching Alexa & Katie, When Calls the Heart or my fav – Vivek’s comedies. Coz, I’ve always had this thing – to only blog when I’m really happy, fun & chirpy about stuff that’s going on. Today is that non-chirpy day but I choose to blog, simply because I should write, even on non-chirpy days. If I were to wait any longer, you’d probably have to wait for Christmas or the year-end hols (that’s when I’d be happy), but maybe I wouldn’t be so free then. 

I used to be this person who loved to write, loved even more to read. It’s been 7 years now and I can barely recognise this almost grown Kezia, who works (like crazy), binge-watches stuff (like there’s no tomorrow) and can’t finish a book. Weak. (Note: Do not ask me on what went on with Michelle Obama’s book) So, I tried finding this older-version-Kezia, let’s call her Kezia0.5 (current version: Kezia1.0) and guess what, I found traces of her, in the stuff she had left behind. 

Ta-da! *fanfare*

Presenting you, the “About” page, that was done ages ago. I mostly laughed, slightly cringed at my level of kiddoness after reading it. Nothing much has changed, still vertically challenged, loves heels but nowhere to wear them and ambidextrous. The only difference is that I survived college, completed ACCA and am a few steps closer to becoming a CA. 

So yeah, I’m so changing that About page soon, but just wanted to leave it here, as a kenangan. I started this blog during my zaman kegemilangan – when I was writing for NST’s Niexter, winning awards, editor-ing.

Kezia0.5, it was nice knowing you and I hope Kezia1.0 will try to keep up with you, at least by dusting this blog once in a while la. First love, always lasts, so chirpy or not, I’ll “try” to write. 

Jokes apart. How’s this for a new about me page? 

Hi! I’m Kezia. An awesome, talkative & great tripod. I help my mum do reels by standing on chair/ kneeling on countertops, coz I believe in the stuff she does. If you follow me on Insta, you’d know for sure!

I work long hours and am paid for staring at screens. To obtain work-life balance, I stare at smaller screens (ie: my phone, iPad). Occasionally, I feel guilty for the lack of exercise and do stuff like playing badminton.

Love reeling, hate cookin’. Message me, if you need content. 

Side note: Mrs Home Minister & Mr Prime Minister are quite convinced about my trips to the kitchen. They probably think and console themselves the ‘at least I’m learning on how to cook a little’. Little do they know that all I think of is, how do I get that transition? Why the world is the vengayem (onion, in Tamil) not matching the countertop? Why does the carrot not look aesthetic (poor carrot)? Next, I need them to revamp the kitchen like Khairul Aming’s one it would look amazing for me to “start cooking” (which involves a phone in my hand). 

That’s all for today! Now that I’ve got my mojo back, time to hope that tomorrow turn out to be a better, chirpy, fire-filled day!

Kezia Translate (Google translate with added emotions)

kenangan = memories

zaman kegemilangan = good ol’ days

Lion Queen

Today I woke up to at least 5 people who had a status which had the song “Singgapenney” playing in the background of their videos. So much love and respect for women in a single day, which is nice, but I wonder if they feel the same every other day. Then I checked Instagram and saw lots of posts about girl gangs, women who stand by each other, quotes from inspiring women and a whole load of other stuff. 8th March is Women’s Day, usually young and free Kezia would have roasted someone via a social media post but now she’s transformed into a workaholic. Plus she had an audit signing today (that’s a huge deal) – so huge that she had time only sip on Vitagen for lunch and postponed meeting Mrs. rice & Mr. curry at 5.30pm.

Okay, let’s get back to business. The annual roast.

1) Women pull down women vs Pen queen

That’s the truth, anyways it varies based on the culture, respective communities and age groups. More often than not we see older women (we call them aunties) passing remarks on younger ones. At your age, I could cook, clean, manage two kids, send my husband off to work.
Wait, did I ask you about it?
At my age, I can manage my expectations. Could you?

The next time someone tries to compare you with their own ‘ruler’, you take it, smash it, and draw your own freaking line. Got it?!

[ (Tamil word) Pen = woman ]

2) Learn how to adjust vs Know your limits

If you’re a female, high chances are you’ve always been taught to give in, be forgiving, forbearing (whatsoever) with all the people who grew with the least amount of values in life.

Forgiving is a good trait, especially if the person deserves a second chance and considering the probability of error (haha) and the expected frequency of error (haha again), but if you’re going to feel like you’re stuck with an onion for life (please contact me via the comments section if you don’t know what this means) you need to get out of that situation ASAP.

Onion-beings (opposite of human beings) exist everywhere, if someone makes you unhappy (your friend, family, colleague, you name it) – know your limits, set them and walk away if needed.

3) The Great Kitchen: Mamiyar vs Marumagal

(Mamiyar = mother in law, marumagal = daughter in law)

I’ve always had this burning question. Mothers were meant to have the same traits, right? Caring, loving (adds every other nice word which has ‘ing’). But why is it that I’ve seen/heard about a scarce number of ladies who are BFFs with their mother-in-laws?

I’ve tried figuring out that whole confusing cycle, but let’s talk about the majority – BFFs with their own mothers, and frenemies with their mother in-laws (mamiyar) .

I guess it’s the case of giving each other enough space. We love our own mothers for understanding us, not rushing us and letting us have our own pace, but it often doesn’t happen with the latter.

So here’s the verdict, if you’re a mother who loves your son immensely, so much so that you’ll almost terrorize another person (ie your future daughter in law), let him stay with you. No one’s asking for him, really.

If you’re a daughter in law (or soon to be), speak up and let others know how you feel and how you’d like to structure your life and family to be. Don’t be that goody-two-shoes who says ‘amman chaami’ (translated as : Yes Lord) for everything and then vent it out elsewhere.

The final verdict: if you’re almost becoming my mother in law, for Jesus sake kindly read the Bible especially Ephesians 5:31. Thank you. (I don’t take no for an answer, in case you’re wondering).

(Disclaimer + note to the world: no mother in-laws were hurt in creating this blogpost. Also, current status – not accepting mother in-laws as I’m super busy accepting audit assignments.)

Shout out to all the nice mummies, who accept their daughter(s) & son(s) in-laws as their own kids ❤ (whilst staring at the others).

—
To all women out there: step up, stand out and speak up, because it’s never too late.

“Since you’ve become the answer for everything, they thrive being the question. If you become the question, no one will have an answer”

– 36 Vayadhinile

Unless your mum asks you to do a house chore, you step up, stand out and take the broom and start sweeping, coz there’s no arguing with someone so special ❤ (and that’s what I did earlier, experience speaks)

On a final note, here’s my favourite line from a really inspiring movie:

“Who decides the expiry date of a woman’s dream?”
– Jyothika, “36 Vayadhinile” (At the age of 36)

Lion King who? #lionqueen!

Singgapenney is a famous phrase made up of 2 Tamil words: singgam = lion, penney = female/woman. After translating it – “Lion Woman”, “Lion Female” sounded weird, so I changed it to Lion Queen!

Photo of the day: Homegrown Mint leaves from #Singgamummy’s garden!

Mrs Home Minister: Plant something, it will make you happyyy when you reap the benefits ❤

Hacks

Back in the 2000s (I mean year 2008 onwards) hacks meant hanya aku cinta kau seorang (h.a.c.k.s), that’s what my friends told me so. Idk if you’ve heard about it, but chances are if you’ve heard of it, you’re probably so old now which leads to my next point i.e – you’re most probably in your final year of university or started working or maybe you have a hustle of your own.

Remember those days when life was normal? Going out was essential, staying at home was a luxury but now the tables have turned. Although WFH initially felt like a blessing in disguise (you know how I rant about train commutes), over the past year it has somewhat turned into a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Having massacred a countless number of whole cakes, endless hours of doom scrolling, not forgetting the wide range of unhealthy eating habits & sleeping patterns getting back to work from home this year was a challenge.

In loving memory of all the cakes I’ve eaten.

Here are some hacks that helped me get kick-started after months of unhealthy lifestyle:
1) Snack who?
I was a fan of unhealthy snacking, anything filled/coated/sprinkled/dunked in chocolate I’m your go-to person! There was one day I solemnly promised myself to pull my mask up to my eyes while walking past the biscuits & snacks aisle in Family Store and life has been good ever since. If you’ve been to my house, you probably know the family favourite / welcome fruit (like a welcome drink) drumroll Bananas. Mrs Home Minister stocks up on bananas and now they’re my current go-to favs! You can make your own chocolate sauce out of Milo and plate your fruit a’la Masterchef.

2) Shred ‘em!
I’m that dream kid every mum would want. I eat whatever cooked under the sun.
Unless its sashimi.
Well, no mum makes sashimi at home so I’m still everybody’s favourite. I’ve eaten all my veggies since I was young coz there’s a “no throwing in the bin coz people in the world don’t have food policy” and a “don’t throw God-given food policy” back at home. If you didn’t like eating something, you had to pray for your dad/mum/some elder person to validate that thing wasn’t nice. There was a 0.0000% Probability for that to happen coz Mrs Home Minister was a decent chef (she’s transitioned into an amazing one over the years).

A few months ago, I decided that I didn’t like the taste of some veggies (after a mind-boggling incident – I’ll keep this for another day) and didn’t need anyone to validate it. LOL. So I took things into my own hands and informed the head chef of Kitchen de Residence (that’s the name of my kitchen) that I’m no longer murdering my tastebuds. Luckily enough, the chef was cooperative and decided to shred all those weird tasting veggies.

Trust me any veggie that is shreddable would go well with shredded coconut tossed with spices. I mean you kind have to almost-goreng-it la, Idk what’s the process called.
(Shred-able = doesn’t end up mushy when shredded/has less or no water content.)

By shredding, you’ll be able to eat twice the serving of veggies it would feel super light & not weird to see forcefully present chunky stuff on your lunch plate.

A Tried & tested list of shred-able veggies – Green radish, white radish, turnip, cabbage, beetroot + carrots. (Obviously can shred carrots la, but don’t go mix it with coconut for God sake! Toss it in yoghurt – Recipe here)

3) Stand up! (for yourself)
I used to get my dose of exercise & movement from rushing for trains and buses daily and staying at home meant being a couch potato. Sorry chair potato. It felt weird and I felt heavy so Mrs Home Minister came up with a suggestion to stand for an hour after mealtimes. Stand as in work while standing, not stand like a Tugu Negara. In that way food digests, you’re not always sitting. The minor problem is that you’ve got get a proper position and place to prop your laptop so that it’s at eye level or you’ll be straining your neck. If you’re left with no choice, do the Tugu Negara sort of standing for 15 minutes and while you’re at it do some Popsugar Fitness exercises.

Toodles for tonight!

Pet Peeves

The first time I heard that word I was like, wait what – pet pee? Then I obviously googled it, it had nothing to do with pets. To sound fancy at work, recently I made everyone (my teammates) talk about it. I’ll save your time so that you don’t need to google it in case you haven’t heard of it:

Pet Peeves = Something/habits that annoy the heck outta your life.

That reaction you give when someone does something that’s your pet peeve.

Obviously, I can’t disclose what annoys my friends but am at liberty to inform my readers about the top 3 things that automate blessings (you know what I mean) from my heart & soul.

1) Talk faster la!
This annoys my life weekly, especially because it usually happens on Sundays. FYI, I’m always rushing on a Sunday to church, simply coz I fell asleep in the bathroom or forgot to iron my clothes the night before. Just when I’m running helter-skelter and getting my stuff, I’m occasionally bound to get a call from someone. That someone decides to talk at the speed of 4 words per minute and I get so mad.

I’m always like, “For God sake, can you just tell me what you want. No need hello bello dirty fellow all”. So the next time you call me before 9 am, on any given day, here’s your script:

“Kezia, bring xxx and yyy”.

End the call, trust me, it would take lesser than 15 seconds to get your message across. You can also change the script, just make sure it doesn’t take longer than 30 seconds.

2) What’s up with your feet?
I’m generally nice unless you decide to walk slowly in front of me on a sidewalk/pathway. I mean there’s a whole lot of exclusions: people who carry heavy stuff, the elderly, women in high heels (yeah, sometimes your toes are stabbing you so you can’t walk fast, I get it). But if you’re healthy, kicking and alive, and wearing flats, I don’t see why you should be mimicking a snail.

I guess it’s all those days where I’ve had to be like Usain Bolt to catch the train and bus so that I don’t wait for another hour.

Anyways, no one has managed to annoy me in this department for almost a year thanks to the restrictions. It’s been a year and I’ve barely walked on sidewalks, I’ve stopped memorizing train schedules, I’ve stopped fretting thinking if my Touch n Go card has enough balance or I’d have to miss a train to get it ‘topped-up’. Good ol’ days. But nope, I don’t miss running around like a headless chicken, I’m good with WFH for now.

3) Endless ‘when are you’ questions.
There’s a post dedicated to this, in case you haven’t read it. The good news is – social distancing and wearing a mask has been a good chance to stay away from all those corporate socially responsible peeps. Now, you can just mumble behind a mask and keep a distance of 1-meter. Woohoo! What a win-win situation.

That’s all for tonight! Ask your family & friends what annoys them the most and be sure to (not) do it.

Toodles for tonight.

When are you…?

Everything and everyone is compared to anything and anyone. – Kezia

Remember that time where everything accomplished had a category?
Graduating within a given time frame was ideal, getting married before turning 26 was ideal, knowing how to be at least 50% like Gordon Ramsay was ideal, a wedding had to include hundreds of people because that was ideal and dropping someone from the guest list coz you never spoke to or had anything to do with you for the past one year was not ideal. Moving on in life required a prerequisite. Whether you agree or not, these standards have been some-what eased because of the recent pandemic.

Everyone is trying to cope with life on totally different standards. We’ve had to face exams being postponed, engagements being scaled-down, weddings conducted in a hush-hush, cooking simple meals yet posting them on our social media simply because it made us happy.

Then there’s another whole level thing some have faced – “when are you graduating?”
“I graduated la aunty, I got the cert, just no ceremony. You wanna see?”

Ultimately, people know when to change their standards and chose to be happy. Over the past year, I’ve seen friends with totally different professions doing things they love & I’ve been so amazed. Check @pravinaa_k for amazing cookies (based in Klang Valley, but her account is private so message her maybe?) and @catladybakes for adorable looking brownies (based in Seremban and I’ve never seen someone put in 100% effort for brownies, like really). Anyways, don’t be shocked if you see @petitepicasso on Instagram hosting painting classes. (just kidding, pigs will fly the day that happens)

Non-exhaustive list of accomplishments:

Not replying to work emails after working hours.
Starting a home business.
Turning down a proposal which you weren’t ready for.
Sticking to your daily routine & self-care.
Speaking your mind.
Knowing what (the heck) you want in life, regardless of what everyone else is choosing is an accomplishment.

So even when the pandemic ends, happiness should always be in trend regardless of accomplishments. The next time you hear the ‘when-are-you’ questions coming your way, always Mask On, Chin up and walk away – you don’t need that kind of negativity. Unless it’s your mum asking you “when are you cleaning the room/when are you doing the laundry” then don’t you dare mask on la – or else you’ll see the velkemare (broom) come to life.

Here’s a tip, in case they ease MCO restrictions and you see the legendary ‘when are you getting married’ questions coming your way (if you’re in you blessed mid 20’s), just let them know, only 30 people allowed. Even if you’re married, they’d never know.

Toodles for tonight! #happinessisalwaysintrend

Honesty & Necessity

It has been 11 days to be exact, ever since I decided to embark on this whole Kezia 2.0 lifestyle. Blogging every day, which ended up to be alternate days, because I need time to think and every day was just too overwhelming. I wanted blogging to be a happy thing, not something that causes me stress. There was one other thing I wanted to do – reading, in fact, reading was like my main goal and not sure how it pivoted to blogging.

Ultimately, I’ve been trying to balance both, but as much as I’ve started to love writing (again), my progressing with reading has been so-so and not really uplifting as I expected it to be.
[Disclaimer: the book is uplifting, the process wasn’t.] Partly because of the book I chose to begin with – Becoming by Michelle Obama. Don’t get me wrong, I loved reading on how Michelle progressed from preschool, middle school and college etc. I guess I’m at the college part now, reaching here was a hundred pages I guess (or probably a few pages lesser) but the amount of detail is overwhelming for someone who’s trying to rekindle reading biography sort of books.

Stuck between wanting to finish the book and proving myself a point vs wanting to check if I had become such a distracted reader, I picked another book – Purple Cow by Seth Godin, just to test what the world actually happened to me. Considering it a relatively manageable book, with around 200-ish pages, plus, it was an e-book, I had to be a little un-loyal to Michelle. If you read books, reading book ABC while you’re reading book DEF is a big no-no, you’re supposed to stay loyal (I’ve always stayed loyal). Just this one time, I had to make an exception to prove point No.2 – that I’m still an avid & fast reader. Bingo! I read 50 over pages within 40 minutes and didn’t go like “Oh God, when is this imsei (trouble) going to end”. That’s a win.

Here are my two cents, anytime if you don’t do something as much as you expected to, don’t just sit there till the cows go home, try changing the ‘variables’ (I seriously sound like I’m doing a Standard 6 science experiment here). But yeah, you get the point? Then good. Let’s move one.

Moving on…Have you read yesterday’s post? I’ve been on a roll of ideas! You should try my recipe (let’s just hope my mum doesn’t read this), coz yesterday I had to ask her (while blogging) “Ma, what’s the name of the thing we put on our salad”. One more thing, I forgot to include ‘a pinch of salt’ in my recipe yesterday (mummy just reminded me). #Budakbarubelajar problems.

Today, I found another “thing” in our fridge because it was necessary. Yeah, I know necessity is the mother of all food creation. I’ve been wanting to do a fancy snack, (remember that time I was cycling and thinking of a cheese slice – same story) which involved the least amount of risks. Risk = ingredients getting wasted, greater risk = my food looking ugly, greatest risk = someone risking their lives after eating (a.k.a uyir seytharem).

So, I went with the basics. Snack Platter. With just 1 item x 6 (coz I was hungry).

Ta-da, the ingredients. That “thing “ was a cherry tomato.

I’m naming this the Four C’s Snack Platter

Crackers, cheese, coriander, cherry tomatoes

Did you know, you can’t actually dice a cherry tomato. I mean if you manage to dice one, please contact me (via the contact form in this blog). I really wanna be friends with you and know how you did that magic.

Here’s what happened: I actually tried dicing but all the seeds & juice and the good stuff squeezed themselves out, so I had to eat that massacred cherry tomato, coz mummy wouldn’t like me wasting ingredients. I thought it was just one cherry tomato that had the problem (tryna mess / cari pasal with me), then I realized their entire lineage had an un-dice-able problem. RIP to those tomatoes that were butchered.

But not bad, I ate all the butchered stuff, cut few into decent-looking halves, then ‘plated’ it and did something so essential. I took a picture. (If there’s no evidence it didn’t happen.)

That’s all for today, now that I’m currently brimming with achievements like reading, blogging and snacking. Also, there’s no recipe for today. Just go replicate my snack. It’s easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. You’re welcome.

Toodles for today!

Love it? Let it go.

If you know me, you know my never-ending love towards cooking. Heard of the saying, if you love someone/something, let them/it go. Yeah, the same story, I “love” cooking and that’s why I let it go. In case you haven’t read about my dessert mishaps, I’ve been banned from the kitchen ever since. However, I make frequent visits to slice fruits or whenever I’m given the honorary job of shredding carrots for our daily salad. This who carrot salad is a thing in my house lately, coz I was becoming as blind as a bat and after 8 hours of staring at screens my eyes used to water like crazy and do a twitching-break-dance of their own.

In a day I make several trips to the kitchen to refill my water bottle or do the dishes and never thought of attempting anything. Like never, coz I’d like everyone in my house to stay kicking and alive. Anyways, recently, something happened and it has sparked my interest ever since.

A few weeks ago, I got locked out of my room with all my gadgets in it. So obviously, my house has other rooms and I went and sat there without a clue on what to do. I spotted a mini-cookbook on ‘100 Student Recipes’. G got it during a Big Bad Wolf sale and as usual, I didn’t get another copy because I thought we’d be sisters forever and stay in the same house till God knows when. Also, it was a cookbook, like why get something I’d never use.

Long story short, G took the book to her house after getting married for remembrance and I never actually bothered about it till one day I found it in her house. So, I hijacked it back to my premises.

While I was locked out of my room, I found a few recipes in there, which looked colourful (typical me), but never attempted any of it thus far. There was a really cool looking omelette I thought of doing for breakfast and I was so serious about it, but the next day I woke up late for work, so I’ve stored that brilliant idea elsewhere. Also, I decided that grabbing cereal for breakfast is much easier than doing something in the morning.

I guess this whole kitchen & cooking story of mine is the case where, ideally you’d like to do something, but you just presume it would never work out just coz it didn’t work out the first time. I promise you, my dessert was kevelems (kinda horrifying). I’ve watched way too many seasons of cooking shows – Masterchef, Masterchef Junior, Hell’s Kitchen, Cook with Comali. I know what sautee, braise, baste, vinaigrette and other fancy words mean. At the same time, IDK how the world to differentiate between wheat flour and custard flour, they look so deceiving and are the main reason why I have trust issues.

Before I leave, I have one recipe for you (you can thank me later), you’re welcome in advance.

Now You See Me (get my recipe name?)

1. Shred 1 carrot
   Large size /medium size /whatever your mum allows you to take. Make sure you ask if she needs carrots for sambar curry. Don’t be such a cashew nut (translate in Tamil, it will make sense) and take if she needs it.
2. Get 4 large dollops of plain yoghurt.
3. Massacre a bunch of coriander leaves – trust me it gives an awesome smell and tastes amazing as well. Life-changing ingredient. Coz this is the only stuff I make for now.

Mix number 1 & 2 and sprinkle no. 3 like how Salt Bae does and you’re good to go!

Do it the ‘Salt Bae’ way.

Ps: While sprinkling like Salt bae, if it falls on the counter top (and the counter top is clean) you are most welcome to pick it up in a dignified way and put it in your bowl and pretend nothing happened.

I kinda love-like cooking, but for now, I’m letting it go and sticking to my salad.

Toodles for tonight.

You can handle this

It’s 11 pm and I wish I knew what I was doing with my blog. Old me would have chucked this whole blogging routine and gone to sleep, but the ideal version of me wants to strive.

Here I am cycling, thinking of the cheese slice in my fridge and telling you about another new day.

Kezia version 1.0 (i.e. a Junior in the Audit team) would probably wake up at 8am during MCO. Don’t let me get started on how she used to wake up at 4.30 am just to get ready and board a train. Coming back to MCO days, she would then, get ready, switch on her laptop, grab her breakfast from the kitchen and get started. Her typical day ranged from 8.30 am to 7pm. She takes her lunch breaks seriously and devotes her time to her food & family. After work, she usually binges on 7 seasons of the show: When Calls The Heart.

Fast forward a year, in February, Kezia got upgraded to version 2.0 with the latest operating system updates such as a goal and somewhat unrealistic number of hobbies. So, this is what her day looks like.

Wake up at 8 and do the necessary stuff to survive (i.e. shower, eat and pray). Get to work at 9 and reply emails for the first 1 hour (I have no idea why). An email always leads to another work and that work has another work, to begin with. Work, work, work. Lunch for an hour, unless Kate Middleton / VP Kamala Harris wants to talk to me during lunch hours, I have lunch for an hour. After all the spontaneous calls, schedule catchups, occasional google chat messages and checking why the world my excel sheet has #REF! I’ve been ending my day at around 6.30pm/7pm for the past month. I try being productive and keep up to finishing my work latest by 7.30pm, simply because my brain has a toggle switch. As the clock strikes 7.30pm, that switch goes from ‘on’ to ‘off’ and usually any work done after that is a waste of my time. You’d probably turn around and ask isn’t audit supposed to be like working for crazy-long hours? The answer is that I’d rather wake up earlier to finish stuff than to work late.

Something even more challenging than my job is my personal set of to-dos. They range from learning a new language (yes, I attend classes for real), blogging, reading different books, doing house chores, watching videos on Youtube and doom-scrolling on Instagram. I’ll be honest and say that usually Youtube always wins, and then I think of my abandoned blog, the promise I made and filled with guilt pull Goldie (my laptop) from my shelf at 9.30pm every alternative day. I also perform as the world’s best daughter after dinner by doing the dishes, because I feel guilty for sitting all day with a wide range of gadgets.

At the end of all that, I think, why am I doing this and who am I trying to prove a point to. Surprisingly, I’ve found the answer: MYSELF. Sometimes, you gotta to challenge yourself and push your limits.

Also, I remember what someone told me a week ago at work. No worries, Looth, I think you can handle this. We were on a call and I guess that person was still learning my name, but still thank you so and so for reminding me.

At the end of each day I remind myself, Looth you can handle this. (At least till end of this month)
At the end of this month, I’ll tell myself, Looth if you ever commit to any more hobbies, velekematthenaleh vanguveh. (English translation: you’ll get whacked big time with a broomstick)

Here’s how you pronounce my first name: Ruth (Ruu-th) not Loo, Looths, Roof or Roofs. Thank you.

Toodles for tonight!

Love or Hate?

We live an average of 70 years on earth. I mean, sometimes God extends lives and that’s a whole different story.

But if there’s one relationship you can never understand is, the relationship you have with your sibling(s). You can’t live with them, you can’t live without them and you spend almost 20 years wondering if that person in your house is a villain or an angel.

G and I spent most of our time, fighting. In case you read Tom and Jerry , we used to have 3 mini fights, 2 minor fights, 1 medium fight in a day. JK, I didn’t write the number of times we fought, but you get the idea, we fight the uncountable number of times in a day.

I vividly remember that we used to discuss buying houses in different housing areas so that our kids can tell their cousins that they’re coming over for holidays. Little did we know that times will change, she’d get married, move to a different country and if we ever have kids now, they’ll have to go to the neighbouring country to see their cousins.

Okay yeah, this doesn’t sound like me at all. So sentimental. You can keep your packet of Royal Gold / Premier tissue away.

Let’s talk about this love-hate relationship.

You have no idea how close G and I are, that 15 minutes before she walked down the aisle to get married, we fought. Because her bridal car was late. Like excuse me, did I look like the driver or something? So, let me narrate the scenario, coz I’m good at it (and y’all know it).

Back then, it was the time when you could get married and invite 700 people to a wedding and they didn’t have to sit 1 km away (sorry, meter). G was decked in her wedding gown and veil and all and after the gazillion photos, we finally came down the apartment lift lobby. Basically, the entire apartment knew that someone was getting married. Scuttling behind her, basically, on the floor, they might have seen a gold-coloured creature (i.e. me). Struggling with her veil, my fusion dress (yeah, I got myself something fancy) and ultimately G.

FYI, an apartment lobby is ventilated well, unless you’re fully covered with a veil and gloves and all of that kinda stuff you’d be sweating like crazy and you’d be blessing (you know what I mean) the builders will all your heart. We were in that same situation. As we patiently waited for what seemed like 3 hours (tbh, it was just 15 minutes I guess), we tried remaining calm, except for G. She thought I was in charge of driving the car and she kinda ranted/vented/scolded me. I got partially mad that I told her to not get on my nerves. Mummy and daddy tried to command peace at what seemed like a mini Iran-Iraq war.

Hello, is the car coming, or not. My sister is so near to taking a bus and she’s driving me up the wall.

The disaster was averted when the decorated car, finally arrived. Just so you know the church was just 1 minute away, even if you walk. Haha, but please ah a bride doesn’t walk on the road in a gown & veil.

Mission accomplished. That car = angel of God.

As she walked down the aisle, I thought good riddance, I get all the cupboard space I need plus no more running helter-skelter around Klang/KL/Seremban finding for stuff.

My happiness was short-lived as I reached the end of the aisle, where I had to help her get seated and adjust her dress/veil, making sure it looked picture perfect so that I don’t get scolded later when the pictures come out and the back portion of the veil looks scrunched up like a cekodok/bajji. I said bye G, turned to walk away and then all heaven was let loose, and the floodgates were open.

Honestly, I never thought I’d cry, so I never brought a tissue. So much confidence. I ended up sniffing un-glamourous-ly in my Aunt’s / Grandma’s hanky (not sure who came to the rescue). Thank God I tried not wiping my eyes too much or I would have ended up looking like a racoon during the wedding.

After the wedding ceremony, being a good sister, G told me not to worry/cry as we went up to get changed.

Guess what I told her, I cried coz I was so happy that she’s gone. Yahooo!

Hahahahah. The Tom and Jerry story still continues.

Let me know if you’re still confused about whether to love or hate your sibling. That’s something we will all never figure out.

Toodles for tonight.