Papa's Boy

Imran's favourite person in this whole wide world is his Papa, or as he says it "Apapa". No matter how much I kiss and cuddle him, his first question when he wakes and before he goes to sleep is "Apapa?". There are times when Zach is unable to stay the night with us due to work obligations, hence he'd spend time with Imran for a few hours in the day instead then leave around Maghrib to continue on his work. 

When I play with him, he entertains me for a bit but there's never a time when he wouldn't say, "Apapa?" Or "Where is Apapa?".

Sometimes when Zach's around and I join in whatever they're doing, he'd go "Amama Bye Bye. Go!" Sigh...*knifepiercesthroughheart :(

So yeah....

That's what Imran's been saying these days. Papa's boy, that one is.

Looming Uncertainties

It has been forever since I last wrote a post. It has been crazy times, hectic, both personally and at work. Work especially has been crazy. Not so much on the workload but rather the uncertain times ahead. Given the economic condition at the moment, business hasn't been all that great hence a reorganization of the company is in order. All of us in leadership positions were put through assessments, much like when you're being interviewed for a post complete with case study, focus group and one on one interviews. My God! The stress has been major for the past few weeks since we first heard that we were gonna be part of this Leadership Interactive Centre, they call it! A load of bulls**t to mask the simple fact that they're really just assessing us. 

I personally have no idea where this will take me and whether I will be part of the new org structure. I tried to take the whole experience positively, in that, at the end of it, at least I learnt something about myself as a person and as a leader, but at the same time, it would be a lie to say I'm not nerve-wrecked and anxious about the whole thing.

The next few weeks, if not days, will give us an idea as to where we're all headed, who's staying, who'll be let go etc. Will wait and see and regardless of the outcome, InshaAllah Allah knows best!

Eating Independently

Here’s one of the independent care skills I’ve been trying to impart on Imran – eating independently. Though he can, he doesn’t seem all that interested in it, preferring instead to be the manja boy that he is and letting others pamper him to the max. Though occasionally I get disheartened at the seemingly lack of progress, I try not to let it get to me and instead continue to persevere. I had the best chance of doing this whilst I was on leave for 2 weeks back in December. Some things I tried:-

1.    Finger feeding

Messy, but I bear with it. Basically, I made sure everything’s cut up into small, edible pieces and let him have his way with his plate.

2.    Drinking independently

Imran drinks his bottles on his own, so that works out well. He has yet to learn to drink from the straw and simply refuses the straw at every opportunity, though he is a master at drinking from cups and glasses, though we hold it for him. What I got him to do is try to hold his lil plastic cup on his own and drink from it which worked out okay. 

Next on my to-do list is to get him to independently use his own cutleries to feed himself.

Outsmart Credit Card Companies

Some tips and tricks to remind myself to clear off my debt in 2017:-

Never Carry A Balance

This is the holy grail of credit card use. As long as you pay your balance on time and in full every month, you will never pay a dime in interest or fees. Better yet, you will be earning interest on the cash you held onto from the time you make your purchase, to the time your statement becomes due. That's up to 50 days in interest gains.

Keep A Clean Card

Let's say that you are unable to pay your balance in full every month, but you are steadily reducing your total debt. You'd like to be able to take advantage of the perks credit cards have to offer, but you don't want to increase your debt load. 

If you only have one card to begin with, and are already in debt, you should focus on paying that card off before opening any new accounts. However, if you have more than one credit card, there is a way to continue to pay down your existing debt without incurring interest on new purchases.

The key is to keep one card "clean" by paying its balance in full every month. As stated above, when you pay a card off each billing cycle, you avoid paying any interest or fees. This is not so if you continue to charge new purchases to cards that are already carrying a balance. When you carry a balance on your card, you incur interest on all new charges to that card at the moment of purchase.

Thus, as long as you pay the balance of the "clean" card in full every month, you can use it without worrying about incurring interest on your purchases. Just make sure that you never spend more on the "clean" card than you can easily pay in full, while paying more than the minimum on your cards that carry a balance.

Know Your Statement Closing Date

If you pay your balance in full every month, you are getting a free loan from your bank from the time of purchase to the due date for that payment cycle. As a result, if you make a purchase a day before your cycle closing date, you will have 21 days to pay before incurring interest. Complete a transaction after the cycle closes and you will have an additional month until the next cycle closes, plus another 21 days to pay off your balance.

When you get towards the end of your cycle, it pays off to hold off on major purchases. By delaying your spending just a few days, you can gain an additional month of time until your payment is due.

2017 Resolutions

Hello 2017! I must say, I am all happy and refreshed for 2017, having recently taken a long 2 weeks break from work, spending quality time with my lil one and other family members. More about that in other posts, but, essentially, it has been blissful.

Looking back at 2016, whilst a large part of it was normal, normal, with ups and downs here and there, 2016 had been a reasonably good year for me. Whilst there weren’t any major exceptional milestones, I did travel a lot and had various life experiences which made 2016 all the more worthwhile and memorable.

So how far did I get with the 4 goals I had started with in Jan 2016?

a.    Read 30 books a year – wayyyyy off with this one. I have only managed to read all of….wait for it….9 books this year. Next time, I should be a little more realistic and probably aim for something achievable…like 10 books. haha.

b.    Exercise at least once a week – I’d say I’m about 70% on point with this one. I did do the exercise, I just didn’t lose the weight I wanted to lose. L

c.    Declutter at least on a semi-annual basis – Done and dusted, easy peasy lemon squeezy.

d.    Start the 52 Week Money Challenge and adopt better financial habits – Didn’t even start on this. I saved a little here and there, but didn’t do it to the tune of the 52 Week Money Challenge. But I can certainly do better for this point.

So what are my resolutions for 2017 then? Let’s be more realistic, shall we? J

a.    See at least 3 new places.

b.    Read 10 books this year.

c.    Start Imran on nursery school.

d.    Exercise at least once a week.

e.    Save all my RM1, save at least RM50 a month into ASB2, Imran’s ASB and Imran’s SSPN and clear credit card debt as much as possible.

f.     Clear qada puasa from pregnancy and pray on time.

Couple Escapade to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Zach and I went on a couple's trip to Ho Chi Minh City recently. I must admit when we first made the decision to go, I was kinda hesitant and apprehensive about the place. I've never been to HCMC and guess it never featured as a go-to destination for me. I was however pleasantly surprised when I got there as the city was bustling, the architecture beautiful to the point that I felt I was in a mini Europe in Asia. I was definitely proven wrong and it really goes to show that every place has its own unique charm and should definitely still be explored and experienced.

Our day started quite tensed. We took up a morning Malaysian Airlines flight and given that it was a 4 day long weekend for us Selangor-ians, I was not surprised. But even then, the huge crowd was simply astounding and it can be attributed to poor crowd management at the airport. There were people missing flights etc and the line to simply drop our baggage was crazily long! KLIA should really do something about crowd management, particularly during peak periods, and a suggestion that I have would be to go back to the old system where a particular set of counters is dedicated to a flight rather than have everyone lining up at the same spot no matter their destination nor flight time.

The airport experience was certainly incredibly stressful for us, but Alhamdulillah we managed to make it (just in time) to board our flight. Up in the air, everything's just cozy schmozy and we were all ready and happy to begin our Viet adventure.

We arrived in HCMC to an incredibly crowded airport and luckily managed to secure a taxi to our hotel rather quickly. The journey to our hotel which is located at District 1 was long, but nice to see the surrounding street views. District 1 is probably a convenient place to stay at in HCMC as it's located near most of the tourist attractions. We settled into our beautiful, colonial-style hotel, Hotel Majestic, quite quickly and enjoyed a short rest before venturing out to the streets of HCMC. On our first day, we had covered the grounds of surrounding parks which were just beautifully maintained, the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Saigon Post Office.

Beautiful sights aside, one of the first things you'd notice as you step into HCMC is the crazy number of motorcycles on the road. It's truly a scary experience just to cross streets here and you'd sort of just have to resort to blind faith and go, otherwise, you'll never go anywhere! There are no pedestrian crossings and everyone in HCMC pretty much ignores traffic lights, so, crossing streets was definitely a terrifying experience for me. But, I survived! LOL!

After tons of pics at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Saigon Post Office, we started to make our way to the Night Market near Ben Thanh Market area. Now, that's one heckuva bustling scene. We even uncovered the "Malaysian" street so to speak where we can find tons of halal eateries and sellers selling tudungs, telekungs and t-shirts etc. They even accept ringgit, which was a pleasant surprise to uncover.

We've never ever had Vietnamese food before so we made it a point to try the Vietnamese Rolls and Pho at one of the halal eatery there. The Vietnamese Rolls didn't bode well for us but the Pho was seriously good stuff.

The next 2 days in HCMC was basically spent going round the various streets of HCMC, discovering the malls that they have, the parks and of course the markets. Once we have discovered all there is to see in the city, we spent our days re-visiting our favourite spots and shopping up a storm at the markets. We didn't go to all the touristy spots outside the city like the river and tunnel etc as it was raining half the time we were there.

Though a short escapade, it was certainly an interesting one and I believe all couples should take up this kind of escapade at least once a year. It offers you the chance to reconnect as a couple, a connection which could so easily get lost with all the parental and work and other family responsibilities we all have. HCMC is definitely a recommended destination and I definitely don't want it to be my first and last time there. Will definitely come back in the future!

Hameediyah Kota Damansara – Restaurant Review

Ambience: Your typical air-conditioned nasi kandar restaurant. Hameediyah had branched out from its original George Town branch to set up shop here at Sunway Nexis, which is really just super close to my home. Awesome shmawsome.

What we ate:

What else? Briyani lah. J - incredibly comforting and tasty dish.

Verdict: Hearty ensemble of well loved nasi kandar favourites in a clean and comfortable environment.