This week I turned 32.
It’s happened. I’m smack in the middle of my 30s. It’s gotten so that I can’t even remember exactly how old I am off the top of my head – I have to think about my birth year for a second and count backwards. On the other hand, I can remember perfectly how old Fatty and the kids are, down to the months. ._.
They say, with age comes wisdom, but maybe with age also comes self love.
It’s not that I didn’t love myself, far from it. I was always very sure of myself, confident in my abilities and accepting of my flaws. It definitely helped that I (uhh ok sounds bigheaded la feel free to vomit) was perceived as pretty/cute all through my twenties. Life tends to be easier when you’re pretty and I coasted along, secure in my looks, my dressing sense, and charm.
But in the superficial world of social media, youth and trendiness trumps all.
And today, I am 32. Two toddlers came out of my uterus and my C section scar. My eyes now crinkle when I smile, and my cheeks are no longer as plump as they used to be. My eyebags are bigger than ever. My baby pouch is probably going to stick with me for life and my boobs are misshapen fml so underwired bras are my new BFF.
No lie, I mourned the loss of my youth and the ravages of motherhood on my face and body. I’d quickly scroll past Instagram photos of 20 year old girls with toned tummies and long, lean thighs since they were only sad reminders of my not so long ago past lolol. I scrutinized other women’s faces, marveling at their perfect un-saggy double eyelids and searching for signs of fillers or botox hahaha.
I couldn’t even depend on the predictability of my wardrobe anymore. What used to be uniform for me – skater skirts, cropped tops, short shorts seemed too try hard, too clingy to my fats, too Taylor Swift. Everything I wore or liked seemed to fit in the category ‘made for women ten years younger’ and uncomfortable for my age and role in life. So my wardrobe has evolved to suit my current needs – looser, longer, and better for heavy lifting hahaha. But I felt adrift. I, whose identity tied in so strongly to my looks, started to feel unsure about the person I was.
In a big to reclaim the person I thought I used to be, I started doing Kayla’s BBG program (also cos it’s free wtf). I weighed myself every day. I’d always loved shopping but now I shopped more impulsively, trying to buy beauty. I even contemplated getting surgery for my eyebags and boobs.
Then something happened. I don’t know why or how, but slowly I started to ease past this somewhat identity crisis. Instead of trying to squeeze myself back into my 24 inch shorts, I just went out and bought roomier sizes. I stopped BBG (because sorry it may be effective but it’s boring like anything T_T); instead I signed up for muay Thai classes and asked to follow Fatty to his badminton sessions. I may not be toning target areas but I don’t feel the need to anymore, just to be active. In the biggest change, I got sick of shopping.
I don’t know what came over me! Maybe it’s all those sustainable fashion articles I read on Huffington Post. Maybe it’s my overflowing closet which I have to clear every few months. Maybe it’s the austerity drive Fatty and I are now on hahahaha. But I’m suddenly tired of the cycle of consumerism that’s been *ahem* consuming me. And I’ve been slowly working on a capsule wardrobe which will enable me to stop shopping yet wear different outfits! (More on this in a later blog post)
I realized my life goal is not to be fit or look young – because ain’t nobody got time to go to the gym daily or count calories yo. It’s to age with grace, and to be comfortable in my own skin. Even if it’s 32 years old lol. And on my 32nd birthday, I finally feel that I am. 🙂
My own skin is that of a 32 year old mom of two and wife of one good, loving man. My skin comes with silver stretch marks and stomach flab. I may not be able to wear bandage dresses anymore but I can still rock a good pair of culottes and not bulge in the wrong places. I may have to draw on my abs with eyeliner WTF and buy more eye serum but I can also do sit ups and carry 20kg of toddler ahaha. Considered damn good for me already.
Even more significantly, social media activity doesn’t bother me anymore. I look at photos of girls in sports bras with bemused admiration instead of envy. Not getting an invite to the next ‘it’ event is fine, it just means I get to put my kids to bed. I have fine lines but I also have these two children that are worth more than a billion wrinkles.
I have realized not to hold on to the past because while you may lose some, in the future you also gain much more. So hello, motherhood and growing older with all your fine lines, chaos, and wisdom. I embrace you.
Fighter usually asks the most random questions so the other day when he piped up, “Mommy?” I thought it would be no different.
“Mommy,” he went. “How old is Chase?”
(Chase is his best friend.)
“Chase is the same age as you, darling. He’s three, turning four this year just like you.”
“Oh.” He paused. “But why is Chase so big and I’m so small?”
My heart cracked in half.
I didn’t think it would be this soon but my very small son has noticed the difference between him and his peers. Since he was born, a teeny premature baby who weighed only 1.1 kg, he was always tiny for his age, hovering around 5th-10th percentile for his weight and height.
They say premature babies catch up to their peers at around age two, but at two, Fighter dropped off the chart to 0 percentile. :X Which means to say, 100% of kids his age are bigger than him wtf. It was obvious last year when he joined N1, and it’s even more striking now in N2, the year his classmates and him turn four. Most of them tower at least a head above him now, when last year some kids were still closer to his size. And he’s noticed.
Fighter’s emotional and mental development is pretty amazing to us. Maybe we’re just doting parents hahahaha but his grasp of language is fantastic and so is his level of perception! I think he’s a precocious child but it’s just his size…………
I keep thinking he should catch up sooner or later…. but it seems like he’s getting left further and further behind. T____T Do you know he and Penny are nearly the same size already until people think they’re twins!? One person even asked me who is older WTF. (And Penny is in the 50th percentile for her age, which means Fighter is basically the size of an average two year old fhl.)
Size seems like an awfully superficial thing to worry about; I can hear people rolling their eyes and telling me you should be glad he’s normal and healthy and everything else. I am! You have no idea how much we’re aware of how lucky we got with this little guy (and his sister) – no major health issues, to be the bright, loving, awesome little kids they’re turning out to be.
But size does matter. You hear about all these studies saying that taller people earn more, perceived better, more successful etc. They may or may not be true but what I worry about is…
Fighter getting picked on in school because of his size.
Fighter getting rejected by girls because of his height.
Fighter developing self confidence issues because of his height.
Fighter developing a chip on his shoulder because of his size.
Being a short guy is one thing, being a guy who could possibly be four feet nine is another wtf. Having flaws to overcome brings a certain strength to character sure. And sure, I had that burden to bear myself but I’m a girl! It’s not as bad for a girl! And I have unbelievably thick skin! What if Fighter doesn’t? but I’m not sure I want this 4’9″ burden on my son leh. :((((
I actually asked our pediatrician about this the last time we saw him. Dr A told me it’s cos Fighter was a preemie, plus half his genes are from me wtf and Fatty isn’t that tall either, to balance out my height genes wtf. (To Fatty’s annoyance hahahaha). He actually recommended a specialist for pediatric growth so Imma make an appointment.
In the meantime we’re shower him with more love and support.
MAS has responded. They actually replied pretty promptly, late in the evening on CNY eve but I was too tied up with reunion to update yet.
I actually asked if they could set up a special hotline or email address or something specifically catered to passengers who encountered flight problems this Chinese New Year. But they said that anyone who was affected this festive period can go through their regular channels instead as mentioned above. To make it easier, I’m putting them down here.
MAS website
Email :customer@malaysiaairlines.com
Facebook
Twitter @MAS
They have pledged to sort out the cases whose passengers were affected this festive period the soonest so let’s give them another chance. Please direct your complaints there and I hope MAS will be accountable for their issues.
Taken from the MAVCOM website (Malaysian Aviation Commission).
These are your rights if you’re ever denied boarding. Good cos I myself didn’t know this until this incident either. Please take note guys if any airlines try to pull a fast one on you again.
There were a few people who condemned me for overreacting. One remarked he hardly thought that this Malaysia Airlines mess ‘ruined my Chinese New Year’ and that I overreacted over a small issue. He said I caused a lot of PR damage and named me a keyboard warrior. (Hmm funny I thought keyboard warriors were usually anonymous.)
Another reader, who after accusing me of ‘cyber bullying MAS’ – really? I didn’t think I was more famous than MAS to be able to ‘use my influence to bring them down’ – told me my rant made me look like ‘a short tempered lady’ and nothing would come out of my blog post; all it would serve is make me look bad. In fact, I was baffled when she asked me, “I’ve also had bad flight experiences. Since I don’t have a blog, should I write in to the newspapers about it?”
Huh??? Is she really asking this question?
YES. The answer is YES YOU SHOULD.
You know what guys? If I hadn’t written that post, maybe MAS would have continued ignoring us all. If I didn’t cause “a lot of PR damage”, maybe this issue (which also affected so many other passengers) would not have escalated high enough for action to take place. Six months from now, we’ll all probably be still banging out angry follow up emails, or dialing in to their hotlines trying to speak to a human customer rep.
For those of you who say “Nothing good will happen la. All you achieve is making yourself look like a spoiled brat.”
I beg to differ. The emails above happened. All I have to say is, you don’t try, you never know. Never stop yourself from standing up for what you think is right just because you’re scared of how it makes you look. Every hero in history stood for their beliefs and for the truth. Galileo, Thomas Jefferson, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi… I seriously doubt they cared about how they “looked” wtf.
I’m not saying I’m that level la OMG far from it. -_- All I want is my dues and for everyone else who got stranded thanks to bad customer service. But if anyone says, “don’t do it cos you look stupid!”, this should be your rebuttal to these unfathomable people.
Anyway, I really for those who were treated poorly by MAS this festive season or if you know any friends or relatives who were, please please contact MAS through their official channels. I sincerely hope they will sincerely fix their customer problems. Feel free to share this information and leave a comment to let me know if MAS have been keeping to their word. I hope they do cos I honestly did like our national carrier before all this happened.
Thank you and Gong Xi Fa Cai, everyone!
Audrey.
I’m not new to taking flights, obviously. I’ve had my fair share of good service and bad service. Years ago, I had terrible service from Fireflyz and I wrote a scathing post about the experience here. I still think it serves them right, and if you google ‘Fireflyz’ my blog post is the second link, right after the Fireflyz website.
Today Malaysia Airlines screwed us over and that’s why I’m writing this post.
We booked flights back to Penang for Chinese New Year for today, 26 Jan 2017. With one toddler and one baby, we didn’t want to take the risk of getting caught in the highway jam. We used our Enrich points to redeem us adults and Fighter’s tickets. Penny is still an infant and we purchased her infant seat with cash. Our flight was MH 1140, scheduled for 11.15 am, from KLIA.
We arrived at the airport at 9.45 am, a whole hour and a half before the flight. Ample time right? Considering that this is a domestic flight and we didn’t even have luggage with us to check in – we had sent our luggage off with my brother in law who was driving down to Penang.
Since Fatty is an Enrich Gold member we went to check in as usual at the Business Class counter.
This is the conversation that took place between Fatty and the counter staff.
Staff: I’m sorry, you checked in too late.
Fatty: Huh what do you mean too late? We’re here 1.5 hours before the flight to check in.
Staff: Yea, because check in is open 48 hours before a flight…. Other people already checked in before you so there are no more seats.
Fatty: So? I’m not late to check in what. And I have my tickets!
Then only the staff sheepishly admitted that the flight had been overbooked, and that she would put us on the next flight, at 4 pm.
I was managing the kids behind Fatty and overheard bits and pieces of their conversation. By the time I came up to the counter, the staff had disappeared, presumably to talk to her supervisor. Waited a bit for her and my blood boiled in the meantime wtf. She didn’t come back so I took Fighter with me and tried to find someone else to talk to.
Counter we were at.
Which had this sign standing next to it. 60 minutes before? I have 30 minutes more! What are you going to say?
I went to another counter and demanded an explanation and got one – the second counter staff explained that an earlier flight had been canceled, and they had put the passengers on our flight, effectively kicking us off our flight even though we had done nothing wrong.
By then, she informed me that the first staff serving us had returned and asked me to go back and talk to her, probably very relieved to get me out of her hair.
We ended up not taking a flight back; instead we went back to get our car and drove all the way to Penang with no supplies – no potty for emergencies in the car, no milk powder, extra diapers or change of clothes. Nothing that we would need for the kids.
Stuck in the car suffering with no space between two car seats because our BIL drove our van back. Thanks to MAS, my shoulders and back hurts from not being able to sit properly for 4 hours.
TL;DR: Here’s what MAS did to us.
1.Gave away our seats to other passengers even though we’ve paid for them and booked us on the next flight, without considering the implication and inconvenience to us. How are we supposed to wait for 6 hours in the airport with two toddlers?! They offered us lounge access – which is useless cos we already have it as Enrich members; this is not a compensation at all!!!
2. Did NOT inform us beforehand so we can change our plans. If we had known earlier we wouldn’t have rushed to the airport so early. As it is, we made our way to the airport so we can be stranded there for the next 6 hours.
3. Did NOT process a refund for us. The counter staff told us it was their policy that passengers who want a refund have to write in and apply. Later when we spoke to the duty manager, he told us that Enrich does not normally refund points, maybe only 1 person out of 100 gets refunded. So we basically have a 99% chance of losing the points that we used for our tickets.
4. Although Fatty told the staff to cancel our tickets and give us a refund, she printed out boarding passes for the 4pm flight anyway before hustling us to the duty manager. In the haste, I just took the passes together with our ICs and passports and it didn’t occur to me until now that she effectively checked us in. EVEN THOUGH WE SAID TO CANCEL. So it becomes our fault now that we did not take the flight.
WHAT THE FLYING FUCK.
HOW CAN THEY KICK US OFF A FLIGHT WHEN WE ARE NOT LATE? HOW CAN THEY SIMPLY GIVE AWAY OUR SEATS LIKE THAT? WHY IS IT THAT THEIR INCOMPETENCY BECOMES OUR BURDEN TO BEAR?
If we were late to check in, I can understand assuming we’re a no show and giving our seats away. But they CANNOT preemptively give away seats like that la FFS. Those earlier passengers sorry dudes but they should be on standby, until we give up our flights. Not the other way round!
HOW CAN THEY ASSIGN A FLIGHT TO US FOR NO GOOD REASON WHEN THE LATER FLIGHT IS SUPER TROUBLESOME AND IMPOSSIBLE FOR US?
If we took the 430 flight, we would arrive in Penang at 530. By the time we arrive home, it would be 7 pm at least. Kids don’t need to eat dinner? Don’t need to sleep is it?
HOW CAN THEY REFUSE TO REFUND US IF WE USED POINTS? POINTS IS NOT MONEY AH?
So basically MAS just cheated us right!? Took our money and never delivered the service. The duty manager told us to write in, but why should we even have to do that!? They caused us this extreme inconvenience and we are further inconvenienced by having to write in to get a refund. Your fault you just freaking give us back our money la! And we won’t even get the refund for sure, according to the duty manager, because they already gave us another option, so it’s our choice to not take the flight.
WHAT NONSENSE IS THIS? IT IS NOT MY CHOICE TO FLY AT 4 PM. HOW IS THAT MY CHOICE? YOU GAVE ME NO CHOICE AT ALL, MAS.
HOW CAN THEY CHECK US IN ANYWAY WHEN WE SPECIFICALLY SAID ‘PLEASE CANCEL AND GIVE US A REFUND????
It is further putting the burden of blame on us right!? Cos then they can say, oh you already checked in ma, means you are taking the flight already. Let me be very clear: WE DID NOT CHECK IN. WE ASKED FOR A CANCELATION AND A REFUND. YOU, MAS, CHECKED US IN WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION.
I cannot believe the utter ridiculousness of this whole scenario. It’s disgraceful, the utter disrespect MAS is showing to us. They blatantly swindled us, then treated us with contempt by assigning a random flight that is at a terrible time for us, and issued no compensation or refund.
And if you think we’re the only unlucky ones, you are wrong. I saw people talking on social media that MAS has been doing this over the last two days to unfortunate passengers. Even the duty manager himself admitted to us that “today is not as bad as yesterday”, we can get the next flight considered good already.
EH SUCK MY NON EXISTENT DICK LA MAS. YOU ARE NOT A BUDGET AIRLINE. You can say, this happens with budget airlines all the time, and yes it does. But the difference is at the price we’re paying, we’re getting service equal to or worse than budget airlines. You are so disrespectful and incompetent and inconsiderate, I cannot.
When MAS went through all that missing plane sagas, we still continued to fly them. Some people switched to other airlines on purpose but we still flew MAS when we could to support them. We believed that those incidents are out of their control and it doesn’t mean that they’re a bad airline.
Now? Don’t make me laugh. To screw us and all the other passengers like this, you don’t deserve my faith, liking, respect. You definitely don’t deserve our patronage. If they were really apologetic and showed effort in trying to refund or compensate us, I could still accept it and move on. Just give me a reason to believe in your sincerity! Sadly, you did not. Thanks for ruining the start to our Chinese New Year. That was really fun.
You got your chance. Now this is my turn. I am going to blow this up as big as I can. I’m going to share this blog post on all my social media platforms and I hope you guys can help me do the same. Send to everyone you can. They cannot be allowed to get away with such cheating and deplorable customer service. If they do, they will continue to do this in future. I’m so angry I’m considering buying Facebook and Instagram ads to spread the word HAHAHAHAH.
Please comment here if you have been screwed over by Malaysia Airlines in this manner this festive season so they can take notice. I am going to lobby for a refund and compensation over the extremely shitty way they’ve treated us paying customers.
Thank you for reading! Sorry my post is so long and ranty.
Aud.
P/S: Looking at the comments coming in, OMG MAS is horrendous! WTF kind of service are they running!? Duh but I will strongly say PLEASE DON’T EVER FLY MALAYSIA AIRLINES IF YOU CAN HELP IT. People say fly at your own risk, but besides the risk of flying itself, you also have the risk of getting effed over by unscrupulous scumbags so yea.
PP/S: Fatty’s account of this incident here.
UPDATE 7.35 pm, 27 Jan 2017:
MAS reached out to me at 9.30 am today. I just didn’t have time to update until now.
I really appreciate that they have extended contact and tried to make amends! But I can’t help feeling that it’s only because my blog post went viral (thank you so much for sharing it btw!!!). I told them I don’t expect anything besides what I’m entitled to (a full refund) so I’m appreciative.
But I don’t want to be singled out for special treatment because of my blog post. I’m not the only person affected by their overbooking this CNY and I asked if they would make amends for everyone else affected this time. I would ask for everyone else ever wronged hahaha but I think that would be too difficult and too much for them to stomach. One step at a time. Cross fingers for their reply!
UPDATE:
Malaysia Airlines have issued a response to my request. See the update HERE.
So the past couple of days have been quite chilling wtf. The mornings to be exact.
Cos every morning when I wake up, my right eye would be completely blurry. The first time it happened, I freaked out. It was as if there was a pale yellow film over my right eye, blurring everything out. When I looked at a light, the light would be surrounded by a rainbow halo.
Using my left eye, I started googling and nearly peed my pants cos I thought it was a cataract WTF. FML. Woke Fatty up with my trembling voice and told him I couldn’t take Fighter to school cos I needed to go to the hospital WTF.
But then five minutes later, the yellow film dispersed and I could see again wtf.
So I went on with my day. Cataracts means it will not go away so it didn’t seem to be it. I read that it could be allergies causing it so I thought ok lemme wait and see.
The same thing happened the subsequent few mornings. I’d wake up with this film which would dissipate over the next 5 minutes and everything would be the same.
This morning I woke up and thought eff it Imma find out the root of the problem. So after I dropped Fighter off at school, I headed to ISEC in Midvalley to go pester some eye doctors wtf.
I was thinking stuff like… glaucoma wtf. Maybe my cornea had shifted cos I did LASIK 4 years ago. Maybe my eyeball had changed shape WTF. Like really thinking the worst la hahaha.
So I got called in to the doctor’s office and he ran my eyes through that machine they have. He asked if I had any redness in the prior months and I said probably, but I can’t remember exactly. Then he said a few normal sounding stuff and finished with, “OK I will prescribe you some eye drops and fish oil and you’re good to go.”
I was surprised he hadn’t diagnosed me yet but I can leave already!? Then I remembered he said “You have a bit of dry eyes” and then only I realized that was the problem. Hahahahah. Expect the worst until when he diagnosed the problem I didn’t even register that that was it. Hahahahaha.
It’s because I did LASIK exactly four years ago! So now I’m blessed with good eyesight and dry eyes FML. No regrets doing it though cos it’s been so great not needing to wear glasses for 4 years now.
My shortsightedness has come back a little bit though. My eyes used to be so bad, -7.00 on each side omfg. Today they are -0.75 and -1.00 and I’ve recently noticed it so I started wearing contact lenses occasionally. So now I got dry eyes I need to stay off lenses la until my eyes recover.
Which means I should probably get a pair of glasses for driving.
So no time like the present! *act Type A personality wtf (cos I read that Type A personalities will never put anything off and Fatty is a prime example. Actually I told him I’d just go next time but he said GO TODAY so ok lor. Hahaha. Packed the car and this critter and his sister and off we go.
To Seen at Sunway Putra Mall. Seen is owned by Alyicia, a reader of mine. ^^ Seen has a JV with Gentle Monster so they are the official distributor of GM in Malaysia!
*gasp*
The infamous Big Bully. 😀
Love Punch!!! But we are not here to look at sunglasses, only functional glasses ok ahem.
Penny’s pick. Good taste baby. The kids don’t understand why they cannot have new glasses too.
Uh how about cos these baby Ray Bans cost the same as my adult glasses. Hahahahah.
Super adorable though! When Audsterity Drive is over I may consider hahahaha.
This pair Fighter loved! (for himself wtf.) He cried when we didn’t buy it FML.
Penny thinks she got bad eyesight too wtf. So…. wanna see what I got?
Pass? Yes? No? Ok better say yes cos I chose this pair hahahaahha. I like them cos they look like those lensless hipster glasses I wear when I have no makeup on hahahaha.
Why I chose to get glasses is that I don’t want to do LASIK again at this point yet. Every surgery thins the cornea further and I don’t even know if my cornea now can redo anyway. So better let my eyes remoisturize and accessorize cutely in the mean time hahaha.
Thanks Alyicia and Seen for the awesome service as always! Not an ad cos I paid for my glasses but since we really like her hahaha I wanna help her and help my readers too!
So she is offering my readers a further 10% discount off all her regular priced and sales items, sunglasses and prescription frames included. Which means if there’s already a 20% discount, there will be an additional 10% on top of that. Just quote my name or FOURFEETNINE. ^^
Is this what toddlerhood in 2017 looks like?
Anyway, Fighter has been (predictably, like every toddler in the world) captivated by PPAP.
To our slight worry, he proceeded from the PPAP video to PSY’s videos on Youtube. Thanks ah Recommended Videos. >:(
PSY is not exactly the most wholesome entertainer and while his videos don’t contain any explicit content, it’s still not nice la and not something I want my kids watching!
Why? Cos after watching Gangnam Style, we caught Fighter doing the stupid pelvic thrust move that PSY does, much to our chagrin. So we’ve gently tried to steer him away from his videos.
So anyway I didn’t notice anything amiss. Until a few days ago, when my parents came over. Fighter kept doing this action to Grandma – he’d swipe his hand across her mouth, fingers and palm facing her.
Grandma was suitably confused and asked, “What are you doing Fighter?”
“It’s what gentlemen do to ladies,” Fighter replied, very confident like that.
Over the afternoon Fighter would come up to her and repeat the hand swiping motion, baffling us all. He did it pretty lovingly too so we were quite amused, although we couldn’t figure out where he learned it or what it was supposed to be.
Did he see some gentleman in the midst of courting a lady, wipe her mouth for her or something? I didn’t even realize he knew the word ‘gentleman’! My son surprises me with his vocabulary every day!
Then something pricked the edge of my brain. The only ‘gentleman’ I’ve heard in association recently was another one of PSY’s damn videos wtf. On a hunch, I clicked open Youtube and tapped on the Gentleman video.
Here it is if you need your memory refreshed.
I watched it idly, noting that the video was about PSY being the opposite of a gentleman, doing asshole-y pranks to people around him wtf. Nothing overtly sexual though, besides his usual pelvic thrust dance moves but at least there were no girls around when he did that move.
Then I saw it. At 0:57 seconds.
I happened to be taking a drink from my bottle of green tea and nearly sprayed my laptop screen wtf.
At 0:57, PSY farted in his fist, swung his arm to the front, and opened his fist in front of some girl’s face, “releasing” his fart into her nose and mouth.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WTF!!!! So what Fighter thought he was doing out of love, was in fact a super annoying move; he was making Grandma smell his fart HAHAHAHAHAHA. Thankfully he didn’t catch that PSY had his hand behind him and he didn’t recreate that motion la wtf.
I hurriedly picked Fighter up and asked him who let him watch this video? He said Kuku (his auntie Fayth).
It turns out that when we didn’t allow him to watch PSY on Youtube, he went and asked his auntie Fayth to let him watch Gangnam Style on her Ipad wtf. Auntie Fayth was likewise a bit disturbed by Gangnam Style so she tried to distract him… by letting him watch Gentleman instead, thinking that Gentleman looked like a more U (for Universal) rated video and didn’t have I dunno…as many pelvic thrust dance moves wtf.
We tried not to make it a big deal so he wouldn’t focus on doing that again to get more attention and so far I think he’s forgotten about that move already thank Buddha hahaahahah. I was actually quite annoyed with myself for letting this slip and at the world for producing such ridiculous, bad example-y content! Not even talking about things like sex and violence, now we have to deal with stupid nonsense like this too that kids pick up like the flu wtf. And this idiotic content is everywhere which makes it tricky to filter.
But the moral of the story is, if you’re going to let your kids watch Youtube, be very careful wtf.
I don’t know much about children’s security software and I probably have to go research it pretty soon but I do know there’s YT Kids! Lay See introduced it to me: YT Kids is an app by YouTube which only limits itself to kids’ content which is safe for their consumption obviously. It’s free and it’s already installed on our iPads and phones so yea do check it out hahahaah. This is not an ad, I just wanted to tell you guys in case to prevent other mini PSYs running around wtf.
Thanks Fighter for teaching mommy more and more every day. Lolol.
God, I’m always late, aren’t I?
It’s already 1 January 2017 and only now do I sit here to type my reflection post on 2016 wtf.
Everyone says 2016 has been terrible (ahem presidential election ahem) but I’ve never really been into grouping catastrophes or happy incidents into years nor do I believe in good or bad omens. Cos every year sure got good things and bad things that happened what!
The Good:
Traveled a fair bit: to Japan with Fatty, the kids and my in laws, to Croatia with Tourism Istria, to New York for Fashion Week with Sieu Ee, and even Legoland with the kids.
Made new friends, Sieu Ee and David whose children are BFFs with ours. Continued to have strong friendships and bonds with my close friends. 🙂
Fighter started school!
Penny really blossomed. She still has her high needs characteristics but she is a lot more cheerful and comfortable with herself now. She also started speaking in short sentences (although her pronunciation still sucks hahaha)!
The Bad:
I broke my leg wtf.
I developed shingles.
Our house had a major flea infestation and we had to fumigate it and clean EVERYTHING.
Fatty decided he needed a career change and left his job. So now we have no household income besides blogging HAHAHAA.
The Ugly:
Me in my pajamas WTF.
Despite all this, I consider this a normal year – every year has its ups and downs, surely? 2016 is no different, and while we had some trying times, we had fun too.
But I found myself feeling quite sien with 2016 anyway. After seeing a friend’s Facebook post on her achievements, I figured out why.
In 2011, Fatty proposed to me.
In 2012, we got married.
In 2013, I was pregnant and we had Fighter.
In 2014, I was pregnant again wtf.
In 2015, we had Penny.
My body is super thankful that we’re taking a break from pregnancy this year hahahaha. But I’ve had a major event happen every year until 2016 and I guess it feels strange that this year we’ve had none. It makes me feel like I under achieved.
To a point, I think I have. I’ve been very busy every year with various projects – wedding planning, getting in the groove of housekeeping, learning to be a wife, learning to be a mom, vlogging, blogging, all a diverse set of experiences and skills and knowledge to pick up. However, 2016 was the year when I haven’t really taken up anything new; I’ve just been caught up in the day to day and I’ve been cruising along doing what I’ve always been doing. And that’s why at the cusp of 2017, I’m left feeling like I’ve wasted the year a little bit.
To tell you the truth, I’ve been trying to find what I can do with my life besides blogging for a living. I realize I am super lucky, that lots of people would love to make money off their “influence” on social media. But while I love writing, blogging for a living does not fulfill me.
If I were dying in errr 70 years (target age to die: 100 years wtf), I don’t want to look back at my life and realize my life was defined by being someone who pushes products to her followers as much as I like the brands I work with. Hahahaha.
I’m sounding super millenial here (and I am not a Gen Z hor) but I need to do something impactful, not just post pretty photos and write a post or two. And that’s it as well – while there’s a certain satisfaction cos I think my photo taking and editing skills are improving, I hate having to compete on Instagram to post the prettiest photo. It just doesn’t do anything for me hahahaha. So I’ve been thinking but I never found something I got very excited about. I did not feel entrepreneurship is for me because I am not a self starter / I can be damn lazy wtf / the Instant Gratification Monkey inside my brain is the size of a gorilla / I am a horrible procrastinator.
But if there’s one thing that 2016 had going for me, it was that I think I finally found what I want to do with my life. 🙂 I know! So melodramatic right! But I really feel this is it. My whole life I’ve really cruised through, and I’ve never been super excited about any one thing ever. I thought it was just me and a very stable temperament wtf but finally…. I think I’ve found something that I can really imagine working on long term and not just not getting tired of it, but not have my enthusiasm fade away.
It’s a hugeee project and to tell you the truth, I don’t know head or tail about this industry at all wtf. But I am so excited about it, guys! 2016 gave me a direction and this is what I’m going to spend 2017 working on.
Pretty excited for the year actually cos there are a lot of huge projects coming up! We will be renovating and moving in! Fatty will be starting his new venture and I will help! And erm my new year’s resolution is to be better at housekeeping wtf cos I really suck balls at it hahaha.
And Aud’s Secret Project of course! When things are more concrete, I will be writing more about it. 🙂
Hello, 2017. Bring it on. 🙂
If you thought the 90s resurgence in fashion has peaked? Nope.
You got your chokers. Your cropped tops. Your platform shoes. Your high waisted mom jeans. Your matte brown lips.
Not enough 90s for you?
Will this do? Hahahah if there’s one thing that’s classically 90s it would be the Trolls! Together with Polly Pocket, Beanie Babies and the Spice Girls, the Trolls were a major 90s icon that shaped our childhoods. I didn’t have a Beanie Baby but I sure had a troll doll! It was naked with pink hair, and it doubled duty as a magnet so most of the time it sat on our fridge door… when it wasn’t repurposed for play time with the rest of my stuffed toys lolol.
MAC Cosmetics have released this range called Good Luck Trolls in conjunction with the Trolls movie that was recently released…. and the shades are wild.
I got these to review! Clockwise from top left:
Lipstick – Midnight Troll
Hair color spray – Tease & Thank You
Lip gloss – St Germaine
Eye shadow – Paradisco
Pigment – Chartreuse
Did a swatch just to show you guys the colors! St Germaine is a bubblegum pink color, Midnight Troll is a shocking midnight blue lipstick in matte, Paradisco is a peachy shadow which is actually is really light compared to the other pigments in the collection. Chartreuse is a glittery yellow that actually really scared me at first.
At first when I saw these colors I was like uhhh how do I put all this together into a relatively wearable look without looking like someone pushed me into the mixer in a paint factory!?
Did some plotting and I figured out a look.
Started with my usual base – foundation, concealer (for those damn eyebags) and brows. 
I started with the eyeshadow, Paradisco. It’s the least pigmented item here so I thought it would balance out the bolder colors hehe.
Applied it all over my eyelids, but only up to the crease.
Then taking the glitter pigment in Chartreuse, I used a flat brush to apply it in the corners of my eyes and under. This Chartreuse is super bright so be careful not to go crazy with the brush and apply it too widely! I tried to stick as close to my eyeballs as I could.
Finishing touch – Midnight Troll lipstick! 
WAH WAH WAH. This lipstick is matte and comes on sheer the first swipe. Layer it on and the color becomes more opaque and bolder. Because it’s so pigmented, I recommend using a lip brush to apply it for more even lines. ^^ I didn’t that’s why hahaha.
Because the lip color is so stark, my face looked a bit too pale in comparison so I swiped some pink blusher across my cheeks. For a little more definition, I also lined my eyes with fine brown eyeliner to set off the Paradisco. 
Done! Not a look I’d normally wear hahahaha but very interesting and fun! I don’t mind trying this for the next event. Fatty finds this a bit hard to digest though hahahaha. KL Sogo has teamed up with MAC Cosmetics to promote female confidence. Being confident is being comfortable in your own skin and having faith in yourself. From having the confidence to achieving something they all said would be impossible, to something as light as wearing blue lipstick out. 🙂
Do check out the KL Sogo Trendsetter website for beauty and fashion tips, as well as product giveaways and workshops.
This post was written in collaboration with KL Sogo.
WARNING: Photo heavy post (does anyone even care now with today’ internet? Lolol)
A couple of months ago, I heard from Fat Her and Fatty that FamilyMart was finally hitting Malaysian soil, and that it would be brought in by the two Fats’ mutual friend, Lik Khai, of QL Resources.
Lik Khai asked if we would come support him and write about it. I said sure! Just pay me in onigiri HAHAHAHA.
[I have been waiting for this my entire life *dramatic.
Japanese convenience stores or are one of my favorite things about Japan (and I suspect most other Malaysians who visit Japan too). Every trip I’d make multiple visits to FamilyMart to stock up on random necessities (or trivial limited edition items) and buy lots of food.
In Japan, I basically subsisted on a specific brand of bottled green tea and I’d buy these like mad. Every morning I’d get to the nearest konbini and buy green tea and onigiri for breakfast ahhh bliss. <3)]
Anyway on the day of the soft launch we got our butts over to FamilyMart in Midvalley (North Court, first floor).
My family at FamilyMart hahahaha geddit wtf *crickets. With Lik Khai. ^^
Fat Her and Mummy Ooi were there too!
FamilyMarts in Japan tend to carry a bit more stock I think but our Malaysian one carries a blend of Japanese imported or Japanese style products and items made for local tastes too.
Here’s the candy aisle.
Happy kids in an aisle filled with snacks on one side, and personal care items and stationery on the other.
Um… what is this Penny? How about we put it back? :X
Some of the snacks available. My kids as babies love Tamago Boro which translates to egg balls. They’re mildly sweet and melt in your mouth even I love them hahaha.
This is …an entire freezer of Japanese ice cream. !!!! Lik Khai’s favorite hahaha.
Trust the Japanese to come up with this. They sell ice by the cup so you can just buy a drink and add ice for an ice cold beverage.
No Penny you’re not having a soda.
Maybe the most beautiful display in FamilyMart hahahaha. Lots of milk tea AND my favorite unsweetened green tea. I never know why Malaysia just isn’t interested in bottled tea unless it’s sweetened *pulls face
So finally FamilyMart has unsweetened green tea! Their in house FM brand has it at a cheaper price too. ^^
Penny choosing her drink – strawberry milk hehehe.
Fighter is happy with his choice – chocolate milk.
My’s favorite!
Their display of fresh meals. FamilyMart food comes freshly made from a central kitchen and is delivered to their stores daily. 🙂
There’s onigiri and bentos. And their bentos range from more traditional Japanese fare (rice and katsu) to spaghetti carbonara to even mee hoon and nasi lemak! I can see myself dropping in to pick up lunch on the go if I have no plans and I think it’d be perfect for people in a rush like office workers too.
Got a sweet tooth? They got you covered.
From sponge rolls to pudding to even strawberry shortcake in a cup. 😀
For a healthier option, sandwiches are also available. These are chicken teriyaki! The bread looks softer and whiter than usual because it is! It’s specially produced by FamilyMart for their sandwiches yo.
And… dim sum if you’re in that kind of mood.
If you’ve just finished your diet lolol. Fried goodies galore!
And this. Oden! Which is a favorite Japanese dish and is offered in konbini in Japan. In Malaysia, we have the original version and tom yam for our spicy taste buds!
Fat Her’s a fan.
There’s also a selection of FamilyMart branded snacks – cookies to chips. Bought a ton of these for the kids. 😀 
While I was going around snapping photos, these two were struggling to open the drinks fridge. -_-
Got them a Yan Yan and here they are, sharing the snack. <3 
Oh let’s not forget their selection of baked goods! Convenience stores here normally sell packaged buns made in factories which can last quite long and uh I’m not a fan hahaha. I prefer freshly baked bakery style pastries which is what FM has. ^^ Recommend!
FamilyMart prepared all these for us to enjoy OMG. No need to buy lunch already hahahaha thank you guyssss. Spoiled for choice please. Got different coffees, sandwiches, bentos, salads and dressing, (and on the opposite end, fried goodies), Oden and lotsa types of drinks.
Fighting over who gets to hold the basket so they can buy their snacks and toys. >_>
Here’s me attacking the unsweetened green tea fridge HAHAHA.
The nice thing about FamilyMart is they have a small section with tables and chairs so you can buy your food and go sit down for a quick meal. No more hunching at some plant pot outside with your cup of instant noodles lolol #truestory
In Japan, people use the seating for a meal on the go. But in KL, people use it as a mamak HAHAHAHA seriously saw people who look like they’re having parties at FamilyMart already wtf.
Like this fella here. -_- Using the table as her leg rest wtf.
This baby… got discount or not?
All the stuff at the back belong to us! Hahahaha I would have bought more too but I controlled already hahaha.
It’s nearly ridiculous how much fun we had at a convenience store hahaha. But the kids definitely had fun too (from the photos). I’m really glad that Family Mart is now in Malaysia and they’re upholding their Japanese standards pretty well. Malaysians will now have another, better option when shopping !
FM plans to open 300 outlets within the next 5 years so we’ll be able to shop everywhere soon. ^^ Their next outlet is slated to be in KLIA2!
This post was written in collaboration with FamilyMart.
Last weekend we were in Penang for Fatty’s brother’s wedding.
My sister in law asked if Fighter and Penny would do the honor of being flower girl and page boy respectively for when they walked down the aisle. I said of course! They (aka Mommy) would love to.
So I went out and found wedding outfits for them and everything.
Here’s Fighter. Being not very sure about his suit. Got this three piece suit from Isetan for RM160 which is a steal la!!! Includes, shirt, pants, vest, coat and bowtie ok damn worth it. And there’s Penny showing attitude cos she got no new clothes.
There you go Penny! Your flower girl dress! She was so excited to have a new dress but on the wedding day itself she chose to wear her pajamas WTF. Then when I told her cannot, she asked to wear her swimsuit FML.
Anyway we finally got everyone cleaned up and dressed and ready for the wedding banquet. ^^
So in the days leading up to the reception, I’d been briefing Fighter and preparing him mentally for what he needed to do. We even had a rehearsal the day before where they did splendidly – although it was mostly Penny giggling and dragging her Koko along by the hand down the red carpet wtf.
But the day before don’t mean shit wtf. One good rehearsal means nothing so the actual day I was predictably nervous hahahaha.
I had good cause to be. *grim*
The kids were both okay during cocktails. But earlier on during the tea ceremony, Fighter was already acting up. He does this often at big events with lots of people; I think he feels overwhelmed by the people that he gets irritable and clingy and just a downright nuisance of himself. So at the tea ceremony, he clung to the bride. Imagine the poor bride in her wedding dress, carrying this threenager who is whining and sobbing into her shoulder. -_-
By cocktails though he had settled down so I had a faint glimmer of hope. He and Penny were rushing around playing and generally looking happy and relaxed.
Then when it was time for all the flower girls and page boys to line up in front of the bride and groom outside the ballroom for the march-in, everything went to poop wtf.
First, Fighter wouldn’t take his place in line because he wanted to….. crawl under the bride’s skirts. -_- As if that wasn’t enough, he wanted to take her bridal bouquet with him. -__-
If ever there was a time I was a tiger mom, this would be it. I cajoled, hissed, threatened, turned purple in the face. Nothing worked.
In the end I pried the bouquet from his small, vise-like grip, tossed it back to my poor sister in law, yanked him away from her skirts and forced a calm voice and said, “Get ready. We’re going to walk in and find Grandma.” Then only he relented and guai guai stood in his position wtf.
I was thankful enough he agreed to march in….. until I saw this face. WTF! He was making faces the entire trip down the aisle oh Buddha help me hahahaha. I really don’t know if I should laugh or cry.
And yep. That’s Penny refusing to walk despite her over enthusiasm during rehearsal. Didn’t have the energy to battle a second toddler so I decided to just carry her and walk in.
So we were gliding gracefully down the aisle – well as graceful as possible with that monkey face on wtf. Everything seemed to be on track. We were already halfway down the aisle; just a little more and my job is done and I can put down this 10kg froth bubble wtf.
Then it happened. Fighter jerked to a stop on the red carpet.
I looked down, confused…. and saw with horror that one of his shoes was missing and he was in the process of kicking off the other.
I frantically looked around and saw a smiling guest in a nice suit bend down and pick up Fighter’s missing shoe and carefully hand it to me. By then Fighter had kicked off his other shoe and was looking around defiantly for anyone who dares to challenge socked feet. T______T Seriously dunno if I wanna laugh or cry FML.
But before I could try to chivvy him along, he suddenly spotted what he was looking for the entire time – Grandma.
Grandma and Grandpa were standing at the front of the ballroom, with the other relatives, smiling and clapping the bride and groom in. Fighter saw Grandma, shouted “GRANDMA!!!” and dashed to the front to jump on her lololol.
The other older flower girls and boys continued to walk sedately behind, in tune to the music. I hastily snatched up Fighter’s other shoe and scurried to the front, Penny bouncing on my hip.
And that was Fighter’s first page boy experience. Never again WTF.
Just kidding hahaha. Practice makes perfect ok!
I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my brother and sister in law, who are super chill and didn’t care about a mad toddler up to no good on the red carpet. Hahahah. And thank you to my kids for teaching me patience and allowing me to do weight training.
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