Man Cave

 Do you have a man-cave?  Somewhere you retreat to, to be alone, away from the world.

In my family, there's 8 of us living under the same roof.  That's 3 nuclear families making up one big extended family.  Well, not so big actually.  just 8.  But that's still a lot.  And sometimes, it can get too much.  Too noisy, too chaotic, too hot (literally - because not all the areas has aircond).

But in this chaos, I am thankful that each nuclear family is blessed with our own room, with our own air-conditioning to boot.  I always remind the kiddo that even though he doesn't have his own room, he must be thankful for the fact that we DO have our own room, and a clean room that's so comfortable with our own comfy bed, good thick mattresses and pillows and most importantly, a nice cool air-cond.  And that my friend, is MY mancave.

Sometimes, I just retreat there after a whole day of work and when I do not have the energy to talk to anyone, including the kids, especially the youngest that needs help with her homework.  I just turn off and can be on my social media for hours.  Sometimes, I'd be on Netflix, but not that much, I somehow do not have the addiction to Netflix.  But when I'm hooked on a series, that's the end of the story.

We don't normally allow our kids to hide in their man-cave, a.k.a the room.  So they will almost always hang at the "study room", gaming (a.k.a shouting at online friends) or watching their movies etc. (rarely "studying").  And recently, I learn a new word from Noel - "mental man-cave".  Because the boys aren't allowed to cave in their room, they obey and will retreat to their "mental man-cave" even in the presence of chaos around them.

And that, I think is a very important skill I need to learn.  When things aren't going too well, when my emotions are hay-wired, when all I want to do is bolt... but I still need to function as a human being, I still need to cook and clean and be a mother / daughter, I need to learn to retreat to my mental man-cave, to have that peace in order to move on.

But most importantly, this mental man-cave shouldn't be filled with trash.  It needs to be filled with whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy (Phillippians 4:8), there are the things that should fill whatever man-cave that we are retreating to.  And this is a reminder to myself today.

Covid-19... what if...

 Isn't this thing such a nuisance?  I absolutely hate hate hate hate HATE it.  When we want to do things / activities and yet at the back of our mind, we are afraid that we might be infected or be a carrier and infect those who are our close contact.  There are things that we still carry on doing, so that life at least bears some resemblance of normalcy, but to be honest, at the back of my mind, "what if..."  The things that scares me most is, what if it kena Mom / Dad and it was because of me....

10 things I miss due to movement control order (MCO):

1.  Planning and GOING for JJCM trips

2.  Planning and hopefully meeting schoolmates (reunion that was supposed to be in June 2020).

3.  Hiking and makan2 with FREAK, Trienekens Hiking Club (without rasa bersalah).

4.  Church.  Full house.

5.  Freely hugging and kissing my kids.

6.  Cinema

7.  Love Language - touch.  To be able to touch and be close as you talk to others.

8.  Driving up to catch sunset at my fav spot.  Too crowded.

9.  Going out / coming home at any time.

10.  Giving and getting hi-5 from TMT kids first thing in the morning (when I was still in Tadika).

6 things I will miss after MCO (can't think up to 10 things).

1.  No traffic on the road.  At all.

2.  Sleep

3.  Minimal living

4.  Time with my own kids.

5.  Chillin (alone)

6.  Not having to rush going here and there (for tuition, meeting, activities etc)

Current Favorites

Because we are currently doing no carb diet (NCD), it's quite hard to find food.  But here are some current favs.  There are others, but I will need to find pictures.  Till then...

Chicken wings from 101 Premier.  There are 2 stalls there.  We do not like "Hans".  We prefer the one named BBQ King.  The laoban is very nice.  Even gave us extra pieces when he feels that his wings are small on that day.  Currently boleh makan hari - hari but segan.

Fried Chicken RM2 from Sumon stall depan Everrise Matang Jaya.  There are many Sumon outlets, but this is the best.  We normally just bring a container and buy like RM40 worth (20 pcs) and eat to our heart's content.  Such a life saver on lazy days.

McD or KFC nuggets are very expensive.  Sometimes, this is one of the easiest things to cook.  But this ain't cheap too.  RM 17.50 for one pack.

Not really an addictive item, but something we will sometimes crave.  Satay Ceko.  The sauce is a bit sweet, but they open (and have satay) at 7am, so that is a real bonus.  RM0.80 /ea for chicken.

This boleh bikin addictive.  Babi at Rumah Asap Tabuan Dayak.  There are many stalls, but we prefer this one.  The last one (I think it's called Tawau or Keningau stall - somewhere in Sabah), coz the guy used to work in Sabah before.  The skin is nicely crunchy.  Not cheap.  The above cost me RM46.  But well... sometimes just crave for it.

And THIS is my current fav.  Friday - went before work.  Ate 1.  Saturday, went after send Noel to badminton, ate 2.  Sunday, went with noel before church, ate 1.5 (shared 3 with Noel).  Monday, skipped because the kopitiam is closed.  Tuesday, busy whole morning, went at 11.15 to try my luck.  They were lelong-ing the popiah.  My luck. Buy 5 Free 1.  So I ate 1 at the shop, 1 in car and another 1 in car an hour later.  Today is Wednesday.  If it wasn't for my laziness to get dressed to go out, I would have gone here again.  Addicted.  This isn't exactly no-carb because (a) skin is made of flour and (b) jimaca and carrot grows under the ground making it not carb-friendly.  But, who cares.  It's just veg.  Mahal also.  One is RM3.80.

Keep going at it!

I dunno how it started, but it did.  And we kept on going.  Week after week after week.  It's been 3 months.  Even when it rained cats and dogs.  Even when we're in #cavemode and don't really wanna deal with another human being (or even each other).  We kept at it.  

And I'm super thankful.  Thankful for the comradeship. Thankful for the pick ups and sending home.  Thankful for the good food before and after.  Thankful for the light chats.  Thankful for the heart to heart sharing.  Thankful for the laughter (kasi ketawa orang most of the time). Thankful for the comfortable silence.  Thankful for the huffing and puffing.  Thankful for the companionship.  Thankful for the friendship.

9 Jan 2021

16 Jan 2021

23 Jan 2021 - 1st time Togs ikut.  And 1st time big group.  And 1st time the 2 guys ever reached Serapi.
Purdey is my schoolmate.  Purdey and Nana are Barb's drinking mates.
Peter is Purdey's brother.  Gabriel is Peter's friend.
#itscomplicated

30 Jan 2021

30 Jan 2021 - hujan lebat.  Togs pakai cermin mata.  Jadi, it "banjir" and made her motion sickness.  So, she couldn't reach the summit.

6 Feb 2021 - rained cats and dogs.  Sampai Serapi had to close their gates.  So we hiked at a nearby "temple" trail.  Twice.  Nuts.  Togs hiked the same trail but separately with her officemates.

13 Feb 2021 - Barb went for family outing to the beach.  So Togs and I went with her officemates.  #sekaliseumurhidupcukuplah

- I missed one day - 21 Feb 2021.  Because we have a close contact scare - 

27 Feb 2021

6 March 2021 - this was the first week we met "Aunty New Balance" - The night before the hike, Togs and I went to look for shoes (for togs).  And "we" fell in love with a pair of new balance shoes yang super mahal.  So she didn't get it.  Sekali see, the next day, there was an aunty who wore the same shoes.  She also used 2 "rukud" that looked so heavy for her.
This was also minggu "nur" - we tried to take photo of sun shining in the midst of pokok2, and yet Barb ended looking like performing the adzan.  Haha.

13 March 2021 - Togs missed this week.  Because her kaki terseliuh after badminton the day before.  Week 2 of meeting Aunty New Balance and her friend.  She said "cukup lah setengah jalan pakei kempis perut". hehe.

20 March 2021

 

Tough

This is a tough journey, I won't lie.  Constant daily struggle.  And I hope I'll never go back.

Simpan di sini buat kenangan. 
Dec 2016 would be around 90++ish.  Dec 2020 would be 68ish.

 

I still read blogs

 I have a bad habit in the office.  I love blog hopping.  I spend hours and hours on blogs.  Yea, I still do read blogs.  But I'm just lazy to write in my own...  I write in my insta, which makes my insta post akin to essay writing!  Bah!

It's March 2021.  Covid-19 came upon us in March 2020.  It's been a year, and this Covid thingy is still here.  And it looks like it's going to stay.

What do I miss most with this Covid situation?  Travelling.  I miss travelling.  I wish I had done more of it, but well, finances doesn't allow it.  But if I could again, I would.  And hopefully I'd be able to do more.  Alone, with Noel, with family, with friends (Jane et al).  Just travel.