Biker Girl

I love my spanking new Vespa!!



Thank you Godma & Godpa for the best birthday present ever!

xoxo
Ana Icha

Asian Television Awards 2008

Apparently its a big thing in Asian TV. I went last year but IFA only had 1 documentary submitted- Hyper Rescue Tokyo and that didn't win an award so the ceremony didn't leave much of an impression on me. Also because the food was crap last year and I was so hungry by the end.

This year I thought I had safely ignored the multiple invitations sent until I got a last minute call from my MD in Bangkok saying he wants to buy a table (at S$3000- waaaaaaat!!) and everyone involved in the projects should attend. "Tell everyone I'm in town honey, and I expect them there, it'll be a fun nite!", coming from the effervescent DC, I knew instantly it would be a nite of continuous boozing.

So everyone flocked to Intercontinental Hotel dressed to the nines, but me- I had back-to-back meetings with Frank Smith that Thursday and didn't get home to change or manage to stumble into Suntec to buy anything resembling 'cocktail'. Erin, Nellie, Varsh and Camille all looked stunning and Frank, DC and Jesse looked polished and well, different in their suits and black ties- too bad no one remembered to bring a camera! Duh.

And from the moment dinner was served, in spite of the red/white wine offered by the banquet staff, my dear DC was ordering champagne and whiskey and tequila shots from the bar downstairs intent on getting everyone sloshed. I declared myself a teetotallar and sat this one out.

Bumped into a couple of industry people and cornered by some Italian rats who stunk of alcohol before the night started and was asleep before the awards ceremony began. His pickup line to Camille is worth a mention here:

Rat: Hi, did it hurt when you fall?
Cam: Huh? I didn't fall.
Rat: I meant when you fell from heaven.

Bahahahahahahaha!

And for all the hard work in 2006/7, our team (minus Joe Peter who was filming a Tatler event that night) finally got to see the blood and sweat and tears 'pay off'. The only annoying thing was because these were fully-commissioned projects by Discovery Inc. and MDA/EDB, the IFA name was totally taken off the credit list and made to look like the Discovery team produced them. Grrrr...

Best Natural History or Wildlife Programme or Docu-drama
WINNER
Kingdom of Elephants
Discovery Asia Inc.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Soul of a River - Cambodia
Discovery Asia Inc.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Soul of A River - China
Discovery Asia Inc.

Best Cinematography
WINNER
Kingdom of Elephants
Discovery Asia Inc.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Soul of a River - China
Discovery Asia Inc.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Revealed Hajj
Discovery Asia Inc.

Best Direction
WINNER
Kingdom of Elephants
Discovery Asia Inc.

Frank grumpily went up with Discovery EP, Lynn Ng, to receive the awards but they were snatched out of his hands once they got to the Discovery table. He mooched back to ours at the back of the room and gladly downed the tequila shot that was lying untouched in front of me. Next time, we demand back-end revenue and co-funding!

NB: Pictures to come, if any..

..and baby makes 3

Welcome to our world Hadi Bin Hafizi..



























..in this age of multiple names, your parents have been kind enough to give you a 2-syllable name. I secretly think its because they are:

a) too lazy to think of more names,

b) want you to be able to spell your name by age 1,

c) give you a headstart in exam halls whilst other kids are struggling to fill up the name field,

d) like Hadi Mirza and want you to be a singer when you grow up,

e) want to remember all their children's names easily now that they have 3 (and counting- ha!).

























.. and this little abang is obsessed with how tiny you are, wanting to see your little hands and your little fingers and your little nails. He will have his own plaything come March. :)

Village Life

Another long weekend, another family gathering across the Causeway where everyone is kept full and happy with endless gossipping, jibing, eating and merry-making (ie mercun firing, this is after all Malaysia). I turned 31 that weekend and enough people remembered so I feel important enough- heh.

It rained so much that we had to keep the kids indoors, much to their chagrin and to ours- try controlling 5 overactive children who kept smacking each other in a 10ft by 10ft resort room with the Astro down because of bad weather. Impossible!.. so after a while we let the kids do as they will whilst we all played pakau(I've lost my skill, last time I had it was when I was in NUS playing Chua Tai Ti endlessly with Haz, Theresa and the gang).. I think Arissa learnt some survival skills that weekend having to fight for her right with the bigger cousins.

But when the rain let up, we went out in droves to the Tangkak 'city centre' to romp around before heading back for the kenduri and feasting. Ah... nothing good kampung food and a lavish Hari Raya spread can't cure.

The geletis girl who can't keep still for 1 minute on the 2h drive from Singapore to Tangkak.


















The 'must-try' Tangkak chendol


























..and the 'must-try' Mee Bandung Muar
























Homestay
























The happily-fed faces


























Dad's family is in Muar, pretty close by, and Hafidz and I think its high time we brought Arissa there to visit seeing how she enjoyed the fresh air, the roaming insects and big wide fields of Tangkak. Perhaps when the monsoon season has passed, we will take her to the village I visited all too often as a child, chasing chickens around the house and picking fruits fresh from the trees. Too bad Dad's sold his 2ha field, the pleasure of eating fresh durians is indescribable (as indescribable as the stink afterwards) :D

Separate the sheep from the goats

..I'm not referring to the sheeps or the goats that are being sacrificed for the Qurban season. Although we are expected in Tangkak over my birthday weekend for the Qurban feast. I'm excited because Arissa will have her first taste of village life and being so hooked on the Upin & Ipin series, I'm sure she will enjoy it.

www.upindanipin.com.my

Just have to bring lots of clean clothes for she will get dirty and muddy running around chasing chickens.

But I digress. What I am referring to is separating the good childcare centres from the bad ones. You know, the bad ones are those where the teachers smack the kids around or smear their faces with chilli to get them to behave. Grrr...

Being a Nov baby, I forget that soon after turning 2, Arissa will be regarded as a 3 year old in 2009. Time to take the huge leap- for Mummy and Daddy that is- into school life. I'm still uncertain I will be able to leave her with a bunch of strangers while I head off to work but the apron strings have to be loosened at some point and Mummy just has to deal with it. After all, she is striking up conversations with kids her age at department stores or lift lobbies (gibberish aside) and loves to colour and read her story books (gibberish aside too).

So I drew up a list of criteria and right on top of my wishlist lies:


1) Location- Must be near mum's (in case of any emergencies)

2) Must be muslim centre (because I went to a Christian kindergarten as a child and accidentally ate a ham sandwich there).


So with the help of a very useful link (http://www.childcarelink.gov.sg/), I got one childcare centre that fulfils the top 2 criterions- rather sad really.

I called up the centre and the teacher on the other line sounded very professional and eloquent- pretty impressive. Fees are surprisingly fair, they have a mix of Muslim and non-Malay students hence a more secular education and I needn't worry about Arissa eating pork sandwiches- ha. Their curriculum includes art & craft, alphabet tracing and music amongst others.

I've fixed an appointment for Saturday to view the facilities and talk more to the teachers. If everything pans out, Arissa would be well on the road to lifelong learning by mid 2009. And then Mummy can start thinking seriously about Baby No 2.. *faints*

Simply having children does not make mothers

What kind of a beast can beat a small child to the extent that it breaks their little backs or causes their brain to rupture? What kind of a Mother turns her face away and numbs her heart when she hears her child scream with pain and terror? Or worse, inflicts more pain on the little body?

Nia Glassie, 3 years old, died on August 3, 2007, from massive bleeding between her skull and brain, 12 days after being taken to hospital.

* Kicked in the face, causing her nose to bleed;
* Hit, slapped, punched and jumped on;
* Objects such as shoes thrown at her;
* Verbal insults, for example continually being told she was ugly;
* Forced into a television cabinet drawer;
* Dragged through the sandpit half-naked;
* Shoved into piles of rubbish;
* Made to bathe in cold water in mid-winter;
* Folded into a sofa and sat on;
* Flung against the wall;
* Held high in the air and dropped to the floor;
* Used for adult wrestling moves copied from a Playstation game;
* Whirled rapidly on a rotary clothesline until flung off;
* Put into a tumble dryer and spun on high temperature;
* Had her head and feet dangled into the fireplace when the fire was lit;
* Kicked repeatedly in the head because she was crying;
* Left lying in a coma for 36 hours without medical attention.


Baby P, 17 months, died in his cot 3 Aug 2007 after sustaining 50 injuries to his face and body including a broken back.

It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours.

~Joyce Maynard

Bikini model meets Speedy Gonzales

Thank you Nana for my se-xy 2-piece suit...

























even though I look like I can barely open my eyes, I'm actually enjoying my swim with Abam Speedy Gonzales Iki.

..and she's 2!

Here's another mental note to self. Well, a few mental notes to self AND husband in case one of us develops amnesia and forgets how tiring the whole affair was:

1) We should organise a party for our child(ren)'s birthday once every decade only.
The next one for Arissa would be when she turns 12. Her coming of age (21st) party can be with cousins/friends to ensure no old boring party-poopers are around including Mummy & Daddy.

2) We should NEVER have any parties at chalets because we end up 2 times more tired- having to lug the whole kitchen there and back (ladles, deep fryer, pots and pans, airpot, teabags, coffee powder, sugar, dishwashing liquid, sponges, mats, paper plates, forks and spoons etc). If we can't do without a chalet, make sure its no more than a 15m ride from our kitchen i.e. the BBQ pit at Sembawang park will do.

3) Get guests to send presents directly to home address to save boot space. Or provide appropriate gift dimension/price guidelines to guests.

4) Hire Amah-on-Wheels to do the cleaning up afterwards!

But, hey, you guessed it.. we were none the wiser this time round and broke all the abovementioned rules for Arissa's 2nd birthday party. To make life more difficult, both Hafidz & Arissa were sick and I was getting there too, having to breathe the air contaminated by these two people in the bedroom.


Me, MIL and Arissa's babysitter/aunt chilling @ Costa Sands Pasir Ris


















Sous chef & Chef de partie
























Lamb chop in black pepper sauce, hot from the stove


















Chicken chop, sauteed prawns and buffalo wings
























Our guestlist:

...but don't things always seem a lot more fun on hindsight.. we had a great party, the Aussie-style Barbie concept by Hafidz & Fendi was a resounding success (minus the Caesar salad which never got made somehow) and birthday girl had so much fun she wasn't able to wind down at night. We ended up driving home at 4am just so she can fall asleep in her own bed (aka my bed), then up again at 8am in order to get back to the chalet in time for the big cleanup & checkout.

The birthday gifts are still unopened because Arissa slept from 6pm on Sun all the way through to 9am on Mon morning, a loooooooooong respite for me & Hafidz to nurse our aching muscles with heat pads and a spot of Simpsons, The Movie (hah, thats how long I've wanted to watch it).



















I plan on giving her one package every morning to open to lengthen the excitement because after all, the next big party is 10 years away.. Gotta milk this one for as long as I can!

My thank you list extends to:
Yani, who secured us the preferred chalet unit (Q1 in case I forget) at a very competitive price,
Joe Peter for purchasing the KungFu Panda party favours from US,
Hafidz & Fendi who worked really hard preparing food for our family & friends,
Sapna & Anil for the very yummy chocolate truffle bday cake,
Sanah for helping prepare the party and sleeping over in spite of being 6 months preggers,
Friends & Family members who came all the way with your gifts, ang pows, potluck deserts and well-wishes.

xxx

Tadaa!!!

:)

PS: It arrived a week later than expected so it missed an unvealing at our Eid Open House. Sappy, I wanted to surprise you but grrr...

Eid 08

My, my... looking at last year's Eid photos, its pretty obvious how Arissa has grown over the course of a year..

.. She looks so prim & proper here! How deceiving pictures are (it took me 5 takes and a lot of persuasion to get a decent solo photo with the hairclip on!)

And oh! the damage done to Mummy and Daddy- a year's worth of extra white hair and added wrinkles..




This year's standard line of questioning is "So when is No 2 coming?" to which my retort is "I'm skinny enough, one more and I'll disappear into thin air!"

Compared to last year where Arissa was a social butterfly and took to everybody instantly, this year she was at the other extreme- clinging onto me and burying her face in my dress until she warms up enough to the strange gathering of hot and sweaty aunties/ uncles/ cousins who make enough ruckus to wake up the dead.

We organised a mini open house the day after Arissa's Muslim birthday, 17 Syawal. Thanks all for popping in and hope you ate enough :)