9th Wedding Anniversary

Today marks our 9th wedding anniversary.

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Time really flies. I could still remember our wedding night where many many things went HORRIBLY WRONG, horrors! Sometimes I do feel like having another wedding dinner, just to make up for it, heh! Yeah yeah yeah, I am becoming less common sense ;)

If any young couple asks us today, I would most likely advise them not to have the usual wedding dinner. A small dinner with immediate families from both sides will suffice. Honestly, these day, many relatives would thank you for NOT inviting them, especially when a simple dinner table easily costs RM1,000! Back in 1997, we were already struggling with RM400 per table. Inflation.... but DPM Najib did say "Change your LIFESTYLE"... duh?

If we did not had that big hotel wedding, 45 tables in all, I think we probably would end up having a 6 table dinner just for close relatives from both families. As for close friends, we would probably have a small get together, maybe at a hotel buffet or potluck at home, just to introduce the spouse to our closest buddies. Simple, right?

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For the past 6 months, Mrs B has been quite stressed at work. These are difficult times, even for financial institutions and the pressure to survive is sheer compelling. I was thinking hard what to give to her as a show of my love, something that is not flashy like jewelries, which she doesn't wear anyway, something almost practical on a daily basis.

Think.... think.... think....

Finally, I gave her this, a blue iPod nano 8Gb, to have some stress release while at work.



And she can plug it into the car's player through the iPod adapter, which is another story here. Looking at the total cost, I think all these can be grouped as wedding anniversary, Christmas and even till next year's birthday presents, muahahahar! Yeah, I am kedekut king. Now going back to saving for the kiddos education, ouch!

Speaking of which, when I presented Mrs B with the iPod nano, she main "tak mau lar, why you buy so expensive one? you should save lar" and all that jazz. Enter our lil'SueAnne, 3 year old predator, who pounced on the opportunity and said, "My one! Daddy, mummy dowan, I want."... seriously! And then Mrs B quickly said, "I want I want!" Bwahahahaha! Just like her daddy, she sure knows a good thing when she sees one ;)

Anyway, may we have many more years of happy togetherness as a family, muacks to Mrs B!

Buaya69 trying luck... "Wii Wii?...." *cough cough*

Mrs B's birthday present

Note to readers - Mrs B's birthday was LAST MONTH. This is really a belated post, oops!

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A few months ago...

Mrs B: dear, my birthday is coming. I warn you, don't go get me anything, ok? I don't need presents, ok? Don't go get me some Mikimoto's again, got it? *gives stare of death*

Me: Sure sure, ok ok, promise.....

Mrs B: Sure?

Me: yes *wink wink* definitely... :P

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Much much much later......

Me: OMG! Tomorrow is Mrs B's birthday! I have been so busy I have forgotten about it! Die Die Die! Wait a minute... I remembered her saying "No more pressies", heh! But I think I will still surprise her... :P

That evening, I was going to attend a wedding dinner at Westin Hotel Kuala Lumpur. Since I had time, I walked over to Starhill shopping centre. Now, this is a place where I am totally not familiar with. I had not set foot into Starhill for more than 2 years. Why? Because things here are superduper upmarket. The last time I was here was due to Tangs closing down sale. Yup, I am super kedekut. I am definitely worthy of the title "Accountant", hah! :P

As I was jalan-jalan-ing in Starhill, trying to spot anything nice and el-cheapo on the wallet, a shop that I wanted to go in for sometime loomed ahead. I recalled that when I was last in Brunei, I went into their branch there and walked out within 3 minutes. The cheapest thing there was RM2,000 after conversion, yikes!

Back here, I took a deep breathe and walked in, and immediately spotted a nice handbag thinking "that would look nice on my Mrs B". Held it, looked into the space... feels good, has enough space for all her barang-barang yet looks elegant, I LIKE!

OK, then sloooowwwllllly, I looked for the price tag.....

OMG! It was affordable! I can't believe it!

Done!

Ladies and gentlemen, Jim Thompson silk handbags are not that pricey, really. And they are darn elegant. Really really looks good on my Mrs B ;)

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At home....

Mrs B: Oh no, you shouldn't have....

Me: Too late, sudah beli. Happy birthday, muacks! Nah, ambik.

*Hugz*

Mrs B: ok, hoowww muuccchhh?

Me: Cheap! Well, not THAT cheap but worth it all.

Mrs B: annnndddddd?

Me: aiyah, you ar! Ok lar, it's almost RM300, happy?

Mrs B: Izzit? Ok ok, now I am double-ly happy, muacks! *Hugz & kisses*

That's what you get when you have two ACCOUNTANTS married to one another, heh!

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BTW, I think I am setting a bad example to me girls. They saw the whole thing and was like "wah, daddy nice! sooo niceee! I wannntttt! 111111". I must remember to say sorry to their future husbands, heh!

Buaya69 says, "Happy birthday dear, love you lotz, muacks!"

Tongkat Ali

Mrs B: Dear, do you know where to buy some tongkat ali?

B69: errr.... tongkat ali? -_-"""

Mrs B: Ya, I want to buy some but I want the real one. Not those pills type one.

B69: errr... must be at the Malay shops lor. I don't think the chinese traditional medicine shop got. anyway.... why do you want to buy tongkat ali? -_-""""

Mrs B: I read in the paper that it's good for rei-something-something-sinustititis.

B69: Huh? What's that?

Mrs B: Neh, rei-something-something-tititis leh. That's what I am suffering from mar.

B69: OOOOHHHH! I seeeeeee. :D

Mrs B: What! You think for you ar? :P

B69: How I know? hehehe. Ok ok, I go ask my malay kaki's. They sure know one.

Mrs B: Really? I bet you are going to have a tough time explaining to them that it's for your wife, kakakaka!

B69: -_-"""



Source: http://www.rainforestherbs.com.my

Buaya69 asks... "Anyone know where I can get 100% tulin tongkat ali root in KL? Kat Alor Star I know la but in KL..."

Motherboard kaputed

Last blog update was May 13... basket! And could that have been a jinxed date? Loads of things had happened on that infamous day....

Anyway, the 13 month old Dell PC at home gave up it's heart. After diagnosing by pulling out the ram, sound card and modem, switched it on and... silence.... yup, the board's DEAD! Called Dell up and a SYT voice by the name of a calendar month answered. Naturally, I turned from Belacan to Buaya *cough cough*

Not sure which engineer will attend to me. Could it be that 62% evil blogger up north? Nah...

In the meantime, can't put up any of the pics that I have planned for both my blogs. Grrrr!

Buaya69 asks... "what sizzled the drizzle off my pixels? KNN!"

I missed my family

Work has been terrible these past weeks. As they say in cantonese, "Orr see also got no time ler!"

I really missed my two kids. By the time I come back home, they are already asleep with Mrs B. The only thing waiting for me are cold leftovers for a very very very late dinner. And I still wonder why my waistline is increasing, hehehe.

Today, I had to work in office, despite it being a non-working Saturday. Basket. When I came home late evening, toddler SueAnne just wants me to carry her everywhere. I was tired but she refused to take no for an answer. Maybe I should learn about persistence and active persuasion from her ;).

Upon carrying her, she then refused to come down! Not that I am really really complaining, on the contrary, I quite enjoyed it. There's a certain warmth when you carry a child in your arms, that trust they put into you and that feeling of being wanted coz they really want to be in your arms. I wonder whether I am making any sense at all ;)

I am now blogging from the KLIA. Paid RM10 at Cafe Marche for 50 minutes of internet usage. What to do? I don't have a wifi PDA/handphone yet. Now, if only I had a Nokia E61.... hehehe.

The check-in counters are very much quieter now after the China flights have departed. This is the first time I come across China bound tour groups flying at such late hours. Having said that, mine is worst. Departing at 4am *yawn*.

Well, time to go through my materials. I have 7 hours of flight time to sleep (snore) through, hehehe.

Buaya69 says... "I wonder will the business class stewardess tuck me in? muahahahahar!"

Done!

Just finished both our tax filings, woohoo! Abuden, we both owe the gahmen moolah, @#$%!!!!

Belacans unfinished Langkawi story to resume after the weekend. Not to forget Buaya69's cerita dongeng oso, hehehe

Cheerio!

Chicken Pox struck da Buaya

I'm back!

Wahlaueh, chicken pox is excruciating, especially when you are nearing 40 years old. I was practically under "house arrest" for 3 weeks. Can't go out of the house, just stayed at home and "eat porridge", literally.

Worse, I got the pox over the CNY holidays. No kueh kapet, no bahulu, no cookies... and no blackjack! Suffer man. ;)

Every time my toddler SueAnne saw me, she would point at my face and ask, "Pain ah?". Yes, I would reply. Then she would point to my arm, "Pain ah?". Yes, pain pain. Then, almost always, she would poke at one of the spots on my leg, "Pain ah?". Ouch! Yes, Pain Pain! "Oh... pain pain ah?" *pengsan*

FYI, I got the chicken pox from the girls. First was Suzanne followed by SueAnne, where the latter's was very very mild. The doctor did say that chicken pox is kind to the kids but to adults like me, well, just have to TOUGH it out.

So, how's the Buaya face now? Marked with lots of scars and craters.

Now, please excuse me while I ransack Mrs B's dressing table for that bottle of NuSkin :P

How a schooling kiddo changed Mr Belacan

A schooling kiddo can do more changes to a man than his wife can ever will. Ladies, mark my words, heh!

Change #1: No more waking up late, ever!
Monday to Friday - Wake up latest by 6.15am, shower, change and then send Suzanne to school by 7.00am.

Thinking of sleeping in late on a Saturday morning? Forget it! Your bio-alarm clock will wake you up by 6.15am... unless you got yourself pissed drunk on a Friday night, which I did two Fridays ago *hic!* :P

These days, I am normally working at my desk by 7.45am, dang...

Change #2: You become a safer driver
I have seen a few desperado fathers/mothers speeding in their cars/MPVs near the school, just to get their kid to school on time. Everytime I see these cars, my blood boils and I say a silent prayer. Hopefully these bangku drivers don't knock into any child. Can't they see the many kids walking on the side of the road? I shudder to think of a bangku driver losing control of their car as they make that illegal 360 degree turn near the entrance to Suzanne's school. *gulp*

Recently, even Mrs B admitted that I have become a better driver. The automatic transmission car does not jerk that much (as I don't press the accelerator like a manual car anymore, hehehe) and my braking is way smoother. What to do? I have become a chauffeur to my precious!

Change #3: You start to listen to your kiddo
Not that I have not been listening in the past but these days, I want to know who her best friend(s) is/are, what happened in class, what she thought of this and that. And you know why? More for security reasons lar. I want to be the first to know if a still wet-behind-the-ears kiddo-buaya-wannabe is going after my Suzanne! Bwahahahaha!

Change #4: You look forward to meetings/conventions in hotels
A few key reasons for this. Firstly, I get to go home earlier than normal. I usually leave the office after 8pm.... every night, sigh...

The other key reason is PENCILS! I make it a point to collect as many pencils left on the tables as I can. Call me kedekut if you want. Heck, I am a trained accountant after all, muahahahar!

Change #5: You wanna look good physically
I am 5'8" and is dang overweight at 80kgs. Suzanne is super observant of everything, albeit have shorter and selected memory (just like her getting-older daddy here). When Mrs B said that I need to loose some weight, I said "Ya ya ya" and continued eating my nasi lemak ayam. But when Suzanne asked me, "Daddy, why are you so fat?", now that triggered the warning bells in my head.

Your daughters would want their daddy to look good, handsome if possible, hehehe. So beginning this year, I need to workout more often and loose 10 kgs. As a start, I am targeting to loose 1 kg by Chinese New Year and then maintain that during the festive period. Yah, it's gonna be a looooonnngggg year for me, sob sob.

Belacans says... "Yo mama! I am (gonna be) too sexy for this blog, heh!"

8th Anniversary

They say that pictures are worth a thousand words...


That blue Mikimoto box


Gift#1 - Stainless steel Mikimoto compact mirror


Another view of the compact mirror - comes with it's own velvet pouch


Gift#2 - finally, bought Mrs B the real thing. An Akoya pearl pendant in silver.

And the first to congratulate me was my credit card's fraud officer, "Mr Buaya, did you just purchased XXXX amount at Mikimoto?".

Tomorrow, the Belacan family will be going up to Genting Highlands for the weekend. Good time for some R&R. No, not Rest & Relax but rather Romance & Rejoicing. ;)

How happy was this Merdeka and budget?

Maybe Merdeka was felt more by the very young and the very old, but as for me and a number of buddies nearing 40s and with a young family to feed, this Merdeka sure was a depressing one. Why so? A sample of our conversation…

"Aiyak, budget day tomorrow (today)… cigs and liquor sure naik one, damn!"
[Latest: excise duty for cigs raised by 1 sen/stick and hard liquor by RM5/liter]

"Aiyak your head! Minyak more like it. Gabermen sure decrease petrol and diesel subsidy one!"

"Ya lor… see this roti canai and tea tarik? Harga already naik also…"

"Wait ler, interest rate sure naik one. It’s just a matter of time. You guys better pay off that housing loan and OD….It’s gonna be more expensive to buy a car also. HP interest may naik again…"

"Savings? What savings? Bring family out for a day will easily take RM100 off my wallet! You think feeding family cheap cheap ar?"

"Wah, if people like you also slow down on consumption… our economy sure diu lor!"

"F*ck, don’t spread your depression can or not, KNN! Go buy a few small flags, give to your kids and let them wave it, dius!"

"High salary? My foot! Most of it goes to income tax lar. Tengok tengok on payslip only. Worse, my cost so high I can kena lay-off also, sniff sniff…"

"Promotion? Dream on ler. My kulitfikasi not qualified ler... dunno how to angkat also, sigh..."

"You think self-employed manyak syiok ar? I go gila trying to pay salary every month. Want to get working capital loan also susah... cry cry cry..."

Belacan says…"Yah, happy happy Merdeka…"

The Good, the Bad and the Lost

These 2 weeks have been bad. It's so bad that I have lost my car keys, my favourite and irreplaceable sunglasses and just yesterday, my house keys! and made worse because that was the original keys set, aarrrgghhhh!!! @#$%!

More bad news. My trousers are getting tighter - all of them! Sometimes I think I am just working to buy new pants every half of the year.... Hence my action plan - just joined Fitness First on 31 March. Bad news? Yet to step into FF and it's already mid-April! @#$%! I think I will go to FF tomorrow morning and work our some sweat (which is very easy for me, heh!) before I start the day's work. Will there be hotbabes? Laporan selanjutnya dalam saluran Buaya69, muahahahar!

Good news. Lil' SueAnne is clinging to me so ever lovingly. Whenever I reach home, she will ask for me to carry her around, resting her head on my shoulders. Hehehe, I guess I am the "Flavour of the Month" to baby SueAnne and I better enjoy the moment. And is Mrs B jealous? Not at all... actually I think she welcomed the distraction, hehehe

Suzanne is growing up too quickly. By 2007, she will be in Standard 1. How time flies...

Two nights ago, Suzanne found Mrs B's secret stash of soft toys - 3 Ikea size plastic bags full! You can imagine her joy! So as she was playing with her Winnie the Pooh characters soft toys, I asked for Eeyore, said that I wanted to bring that to office. She looked at me in the eye, not sure what to do for two minutes, then said "Take Tigger. Got two Tigger mah!" and smiled so ever innocently. Man, when did she learnt to negotiate? Hehehe. So I pun mau main negotiate, and said no, daddy only wants Eeyore. Realising that daddy is so hard headed, Suzanne ran to Mrs B in the kitchen and said "Daddy wants Eeyore! Dowan Tigger!" - bwahahahaha! Kids.

Belacans says... "Eeyore is so me - the donkey! bwahahaha"

Working late... again!

I hate working late in office. It's not like I don't have the energy anymore but I hate not seeing my kids.

Recently, baby SueAnne has been calling me "Yayi" for daddy. I liked that. And if she wants to be carried, she will clap her hands. That's because I normally clap my hands once when I offer to carry her.

These days, she would normally rest her head on my shoulders. It feels good to carry her around like that.

Man, I really need to get a home PC. Then at least I can be with them even if I am working from home.

Belacans says... "I need a life! dang..."

Quote of the day

"A man's best possession is a sympathetic wife. "

Empty nest feeling

I think I sort of know what an empty nest feeling is like. Mrs B is away on job and I had the kids left overnight at the babysitter because I have been working late nights.

Coming home to a dark and quiet house, without any kids screaming at each other fighting for that darn same toy, and no kids fighting for that Astro remote control with you... yah, too quiet.

Maybe I should get some of the guys over and have a few bottles of wine, beer and whiskey. That should liven up the place a bit... just a bit.

Belacans says... "No Wiggles! Woohoo!"

Have a blessed Christmas

The Belacans family prayer.

"Peace on Earth"

No tsunami, no bombings, no landslides, no air crashes.... you get the drift lar.

To everyone, have a blessed Christmas and a happy new year!

Belacans says... "mama mia! pass me the salt!"

7th Wedding Anniversary

Today marks my 7th Wedding Anniversary.

Many years ago, I wanted to have a 7th Wedding Anniversary bash and call it "The Itchy Party". Well, that's passed now.



Here's looking forward to a 10th wedding anniversary in three years time. I think 3 years should be long enough to think up a party name and organise the whole thing, right? :D

Belacans says..."Happy anniversary darling, muakz"

Day of Condolences

Our deepest condolences to Pak Lah and his family for the passing of Kak Endon this morning. The nation mourns with you. Malaysia has lost a loving matron. We pray that you will find the strength at this hour of bereavement.

Our deepest condolences also to the family of LKS on the sudden passing of their eldest daughter Eunice, yesterday afternoon due to a lung infection. We have watched her grown into a fine young lady, full of life and vigour. I will always respect a young girl who can play the drums better than me. We grieve along with you as she meets our Lord.

This indeed is a sad day.

My little garden

In my little garden of concrete
Potted greens and flowers bloom
Some bravely embracing the sun
Like lovers in a tango dance

Click here for the rest

I need a break

Click pic for source

I need a break, seriously. Brain matters gonna ooze out my ears liao. Oh wait, sniff sniff... is that a fried brain I smell?

Man, sure wished it's the other head that's feeling hot now....

Regular postings will resume in 5 days

Apologies to all (yes, meaning you and the handful of regular visitors) as I don't think I will be posting much this week. Reason? Officially, it's meetings lor. So many meetings and so little time to dish out my own outputs. Sigh....

Unofficial reason? Hehehe, I will be busy tweaking this and that buaya69 blog templates.

Belacans says... "maafkan kami, maafkan kami...."