Wasn't a spectacularly eventful week. Forgot to blog on this last time around but on Monday 16th October, the Protem Catholic Lawyers' Society Committee paid a courtesy call to the Bishop of Penang. We had lively exchange on several key subject areas and spoke on the future direction of the society.
Wednesday 18th October was a busy day at work. Jo & I stayed back late to finish up some outstanding work and I had a conference call of sorts that evening too. But the feeling that things were winding down for the long bbreak ahead began to show.
Friday 20th October, proved to be a quiet day after all. We allowed the staff to leave earlier than usual and Jo and I packed up, locked up and headed for Gurney Plaza for a spot of shopping that evening. I must admit I had been pretty stressed thru the week and the slight feeling of trepidation remain even as I stepped into the complex. The promotions in the concourse area greeted us with full force - loud music blaring over the PA system, sales personnel attempting to sell you more of what you don't need and unneccessary glitz and glitter strewn across the exhibition areas. One can't help being caught up in all that marketing. Including me! In short, I ended up buying a couple of T-Shirts, two pairs of pants and even a pair of boxer shorts. Oh well...
Our trip home that night was quite an adventure. Due to a heavy downpour, there were flash floods everywhere - including in front of the State Mosque in Air Itam. We were caught in a crawl and had to divert ourselves thru Green Lane and Batu Lanchang Lane to get home. Nearly an hour and a half after leaving Gurney Plaza, we arrived home, battered and worn. Ethan must have wondered why his parents were so late that night.
Saturday, 21st October was Deepavali. The festival of lights. It came along soon enough and proved to be a quiet day throughout for us. Jo stayed safely at home with Ethan as I brought mum and our maid out to Tesco to do some grocery shopping and also to get something for our maid for Hari Raya. The place was as expected - busy and noisy but it wasn't packed like sardines.
That evening, Jo and I went out to mass as usual and then on to dinner with Jinny, KH & Raphael at Ribs Barbeque next to the Penang Plaza. It was still good there, one of the few places you can get real good pork ribs. After that we ventured on the the new and revived "Beach Blanket Babylon".
The old favourite haunt started its legendary life along Bishop Street when I first started working many many years ago. It had gone thru many a transformation and ended up closing its doors quietly a few years ago. Well, its now back - located right smack in the middle of the "happening" Upper Penang Road belt (former lot of Gloria Jeans Coffee). The place had the look and feel of the old, with a notable improvement of a quaint but not unique area upstairs which had been converted into bed cubicles resembling a boudoir. It had a darker and more sinister feel about it as compared to the Bed Supperclub in Bangkok which played strongly on the all-white theme. Still, it will be pretty popular amongst the "chill out" type crowd. The drinks were as you would expect for a place like that but it wasn't overly crowded. I guess it will take time for the place to slowly warm up to the younger set.
Sunday 22nd October - we left home early that morning, around 9.30p.m., for breakfast at Bali Hai on Gurney Drive with KH, Jinny, Raphael and another of our old schoolmate Chong Yean. He came with a Singaporean friend of his - Patrick. Bali Hai is a fairly new place serving dim sum in the mornings and sea food in the evenings. We brought Ethan along and he did have a good time running about and even spent sometime on his dad's lap by the sea front promenade. Bliss.
Later, we dropped by Gurney Plaza again. This time, Jo and Jinny wanted to catch up on gift buying for a planned birthday party the coming weekend. This left me to watch Ethan and so I took him to his usual haunt - the kiddie ride area on the 4th floor. He had a ball of a time, playing with the kids there and then riding on his usual car ride no less than five (5) times!
We eventually left and headed back to my in-law's place for lunch. After lunch, we left Ethan with his grandparents and met up with Stacy and Mel for a movie. We watched "The Prestige" starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. The movie was pretty good. I enjoyed it as it had the right amount of intrigue and twists to keep me thinking throughout.
After the movie, we did a bit of grocery shopping and then left to pick Ethan up. Later back safely at home, we had a quiet dinner, deciding to give Jo's friend Celina's invite for dinner a miss.
Monday 23rd October was theorethically a public holiday. We decided to sleep in a little. Till 9.00 a.m. anyway, cos that was when Ethan screamed at us to wake us up! We got to spend some home time playing with the little fellow till later that evening when we went out to do some grocery shopping and ended up dropping by Jinny and KH's place bearing some goodies for tea. We spent the good part of the evening there till 6.30p.m. That night, dinner was with my Australian relatives - Uncle Walter and Aunt Evelyn were treating us at the Double Dragon Restaurant on Gottlieb Road. Uncle William and Aunt Peggy were also there and so were Aunt Florence, Aunt Daphne and Uncle Paul. Ethan proved to be quite a handful as he decided to run around the whole cramped and crowded restaurant. He also turned doorman for a while opening and closing the main door and going in and out as well. Phew!
Jo, Priscilla, Aunt Florence, Aunt Evelyn & Aunt Daphne in a row...
Uncle William explaining the intricacies of the double boiled soup!
Jo trying to keep her son from doing the four chopsticks drum ovation...
Mum saying "cheese"...
Ethan trapped by his mummy...
It has been a great holiday so far and what with Hari Raya still to come, I'm beginning to feel a little re-charged to face the tiring season ahead. Oh, and the planned party this coming weekend to celebrate my birthday has been postponed for sometime due to unforseen circumstances. I guess Jo and I will be able to spend some alone time on the actual day itself. Am looking forward to that...
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