pelf-ism is contagious

It has been a couple of days since I received the first postcard and I was really looking forward to receiving my second and third and fourth card. I even told a friend of mine about this new and fun thing that I have just found out and I think I have kind of influenced her to join the herd

So, I received two postcards today, when I return from campus:

No prizes will be given for correctly guessing where this BALI postcard was sent from It was from Gloria, who lives in Surabaya Indonesia, who is currently very excited about her trip to KL next month.

And this little strawberry-kid postcard was sent from South Florida by Yvonne. So cute, don’t you think so??

I cleaned the fridge *yucks*

But I did it because I had to. I realized the freezer cover could not be shut tightly due to the thick layer of ice that had formed in the freezer and the ice had already begun to form outwards.

Just like any other sane person in the world, I did the right thing by pressing the DEFROST button. Wrong.

Apparently, the tray that is supposed to collect melted ice at the bottom of the fridge was missing. And all liquid dripped onto the floor and messed my kitchen up. Like Jason, I too have housemates who tend to leave things in the fridge and then forget about them.

Before they went home in April for their 3 months holiday, I requested that they clear whatever edible stuff in the kitchen because for all they know, those stuff would be expired by the time they return to KT in July. They nodded their heads and headed to the kitchen and I thought they really understood me. Wrong. What they did instead was to rearrange the food stuff in a nice way, the Milo together with Nescafe and Ipoh Old Town 3-in-1 white coffee. The bottles of unopened Pringles and Ribena were nicely arranged at one corner.

So, back to the fridge.

I had to clean the entire kitchen floor that smelled like vomit and there were a few times I almost puked on the floor. Can you imagine it? Thinking about it now scares me.

I was sooo stressed. I was sweating. I was cleaning the floor with a piece of cloth because I didn’t know how to operate the high-tech-mop. I cleaned the floor soo many times with Dettol I thought those Dettol sipped into my hands was enough to kill all the germs and bacteria in my entire body. Then I used the Apple-flavoured floor cleaner.

I am sure my kitchen is now germ-free.

I had wanted to write this when I read Bunny’s D Day the other day. But I was too tied up with other things. Like deciding whether or not to get that D600. Blah.

I had to agree with Bunny, hands down, that I too, do not know whether Mum likes her fish deep fried or steamed. I do not know whether Mum likes chicken with sweet and sour gravy. The only things I know are that her favourite fruit is the rambutan and that she likes her Nescafe thick.

Really, talk about filial daughters *covers face in shame*

I do not know what to present Mum with on her birthday either. Cook her a meal? I can’t cook. I do not know how to cook. Get her a present? But what present?! What is it that I can buy with money that Mum does not have? Nothing.

The least I could do was to take her on a trip for Mother’s Day. But I could only afford a local trip, hence we decided that it would be good to visit Kuching since none of us had been there. Eventually Mum insisted that she pay for the trip. And it wasn’t that she thoroughly enjoyed herself. I could see the disappointment in her eyes. She just didn’t tell me about it.

I have learned a lot from the recent trip to Kuching. I have learned that Mum does not like the hassle of having to have our own travelling documents processed. She prefers to have a tour guide in charge of all the messy procedures of filling up forms, having the passports stamped and she prefers an airline where the seat numbers are determined the moment you check in. She does not like the idea of having to push each other just so we could get into the aircraft and still had the “luxury” to choose to sit together.

I have learned that Mum does not like to have to worry whether or not we would have a place to go to the next day. She does not like back-packing. She prefers to have the itinerary lined out in an easy-to-understand way. She prefers to have her days filled with sight-seeing, picture-taking, souvenir-buying compared to the freedom of exploring a city by foot.

I have learned that Mum does not like to hang out with my friends who do not speak the same language that she does. Purely because it will make her look st*pid. And I have learned that I should NEVER EVER take Mum to meet my friends, especially friends who are not sensitive enough to understand that my Mum does not understand them.

But at the end of the trip, when I asked whether she enjoyed herself, she said, “Yes, I enjoyed myself. I am happy most when I see both of you happy. I am happy whenever I see your delighted and grinning faces, especially after buying a lot of souvenir.”

I cried when I heard those words. I cried because I have failed to ensure that she enjoyed herself. I have failed to make her happy by taking her on a trip.

It was not my intention to make her happy by being happy myself. It was my intention to be happy to see her happy.