14th year anniversary

 Shu and I had been needing an island getaway for sometime now. The school holidays were never a good time for us to go anywhere because there are people everywhere. We like less people and less hectic coz we just wanna play in the sea and enjoy the beach. As soon as the school holidays were over, we packed up our kids and headed out.

The kids enjoy open air boats now as opposed to being on closed up ferries and our drive makes the boat ride quicker to the island by about an hour. We've been doing this quite a bit lately. Also, all 3 of our kids are now able to go snorkeling so our island trips are a whole lot funner now. We spent most of our time in the water fish watching. 

Our trip this time around was fun because the beach was right at our doorstep. The corals were close and we spotted a lot of anemones with clownfish in them. There were other coral reef fish too. We even spotted a couple of baby black tip coral reef sharks. We are all super burnt now 😂 The sunblock lotion couldn't save us no matter how much we use.

I got a lot of bug bites. For some reason, sandflies really like me. There were also tiny, green caterpillars that would drop down from this huge tree near the restaurant area. I was screaming so much coz that mofo fell onto my arm and I was getting sick 🤢 Not from the bugs but I think it was something I ate........

Anywho, our next door neighbour was a Japanese lady. She was travelling alone. Next to her chalet was a chinese couple. Shu said that guy was super excited to get into the water that he was up all night waiting for the right time to go snorkeling. It was so funny. On the other side was an old chinese lady and her daughter. They were headed to Penang after the island.

It was fun. We ended up helping the Japanese lady named Miho get her bus tickets sorted out. Shu thinks she may have gotten her plan mixed up so instead of heading to the Besut Jetty, she ended up back at Merang Jetty. She was trying to get to the airport in Kota Bharu coz she was gonna catch a flight to Kota Kinabalu the next day.

It was so funny. She can hardly speak English and her accent made it very difficult for people to understand. We communicated mostly using Google Translate. We took her out to lunch coz we were all starving and the bus ticketing counter wasn't gonna open till about 2:30pm-ish so we had time. She ended up taking my phone number and I took hers in case she ever was back here and needed help with anything. We got her a bus ticket for 4pm. Hopefully, she made it to the airport tonight.

I think we had so much fun this time around. Ali Imran didn't wanna leave but we had to coz the weekend was coming and people were starting to come in. It would have been too crowded for our liking. We're already planning our next island trip in this next month ^_^ 

Happy birthday Ali Imran

 Ali Imran is 8 today. It's been a long week, month..... Whatever...... I think we had a pretty good month even though its super hot back at home, the temperature here is very different. It rains in the late afternoons.

I miss sailing ☹️ I especially miss sailing the 470 with Shu ⛵

I've gotten sick twice at least, once was a really bad case of acute gastritis. I managed to work out a couple of times which was pretty good considering how hot the temperature was, I was afraid of dehydration but I was OK 😁

We decided to skip Hari Raya celebrations altogether and hungout doing whatever we couldn't do all month long.

We went to watch the Super Mario Bros movie which was pretty good. I like how they kept the storyline accurate. Can't say I'm a big fan of the voice actors but I thought seeing Mario and Luigi was nice.

We were hanging around Sunway Pyramid and doing some shopping. Lunching. Coffee.

Today, we took the kids to the Splash Mania waterpark over at Gamuda Cove. It's nice coz it's new and big. The kids had fun 😊

I love the pirate ship ❤️

Paka

 I've been so sick and while I'm struggling to fully recover, I've also been so sick of everything around the house. I've come to the point of getting so sick of the smell of my shower gel.

I've been proposing for a vacation or trip especially to the beach....... I am fully aware that I live by the beach. I just needed a new view. Some fresh air. Away from human beings. I swear, I thought us moving here meant that we were gonna finally get some peace and quiet. There is an event happening EVERY WEEKEND. I'm not exaggerating. We'd avoid the drawbridge area on Saturdays just like how we avoid shopping malls.

We've also been looking for new places to call our common spots just so that we can relax. Apart from discovering a new favourite island, we've also discovered a town about an hour away from where we live that has this nice quiet place. The kids enjoy both the pool and beach area and although the sands are not as silky smooth as island beach sands, it's totally fine. We just need to watch out for jellyfish and stuff.

There's a roadside shop that sells mee Siam which has quickly become a favorite of ours. I've never been a soup or broth person but this place made us drive back for it. That says a lot.

We finally made a stop at the Cat Park on our way back. The kids were ecstatic. The cats there were so clean and fat. They're super friendly too. We have two kittens living with us right now but Shu and I are not fully convinced that they can be trusted to be in the house for now so the kids are only allowed to play with them outside. Yusuf had been wanting a pet cat for the longest time. Shu and I are always the ones who end up having to clean up after them 😑

Our overnight trip was short and unplanned but that's the fun part. We used to do this all the time. Just pack up a backpack and drive off somewhere...... Anywhere....... It's a hell lot better than being stuck in traffic just to get somewhere like we used to do while living in KL.

If plants and animals could talk.......

 They'd have a court restraining order against me by now. I seem to be drawn to touch most plants and a lot of animals I could possibly touch. I do love iguanas but they run away whenever I approach them 😑 

The jelly fish and random weird tropical fish seem to be attracted to me. I am mostly terrified of them. However, I have made progress when it comes to swimming in the ocean it seems. We recently spent a few days on an island. Not our usual island. This place is more quiet and very much less humans. It's relaxing this way........

Anywho, we spent a lot of time in the water at the beach. This one morning, we spent about 5 hours just swimming and playing sand. My dad said I'm gonna get super tanned from the amount of time I spend at the beach eversince we moved here. Well, he's right.

So, this beach....... There's a lot of baby black tipped coral reef sharks in the water and they swim with us. Sometimes, they'd come really near to us and then swim away. They've never actually attacked anyone and so far, we're not the only ones who swam with them in the ocean. The bigger ones are far off at the deeper parts where the corals are and still, people go snorkeling there.

The strangest fish were the blue hued ones with spots...... Almost orange - ish spots. They were a bit crazy. They bit my toe as I was floating on my back. Yusuf said they bit him too. Weirdos.........

Late night hotel balcony talks

 Everytime we are on holiday somewhere away from home, Shu and I like to let the kids mellow down in bed with the lights dimmed low. Usually, it's after an entire day of activities like swimming or playing by the beach. Sometimes, we'd have coffee. Sometimes, we'd just sit outside and talk in the dark. It used to be us smoking something but we don't do that anymore........

Last night's talk was long and pretty good. We'd be married for 12 years this June and every year, we try to always be on the same page and be as transparent as we can to one another. I am usually brutally honest with a lot of things but my problems are usually emotional and just me trying to understand other human beings. Shu deals with real problems and he used to think that in order to not let me freak out or over think, somethings are just better left unsaid.

That's gonna change. I need to fucking grow up. I can't spend all my money on coffee and toys -_- and other random nonsense that only makes sense to me...........

Well, it's not a money related problem that we talked about last night. I think we're ok with that.

I seem to be facing problems understanding people, in general. People that are related to me and just people who know me. Sometimes, I have people like my cousin who'd just text me about whatever. I am the type of person who would personally text someone if I needed to ask something or say something on a personal level. It's just better that way. I also like to express things that make me happy and share the experience however I can.

I am aware that we spend a lot of our time away from home in a year. Sometimes, we're away from home every week. Sometimes, every month. It's just a way for Shu and I cope with our mental stability. A different environment. A different ambience. A different atmosphere. We don't have "friends" to have an actual "social" life. I don't know about Shu but I usually find it difficult to connect or understand people in general. I find that I am more productive when I am on my own in the studio or just dancing with the kids or working out.

I love walking along beaches and wetting my toes in the scorching hot sun. I enjoy collecting random shells or whatever and sharing it with my kids.

Last night, I told Shu that I cannot understand the signs or signals that people are sending me. I don't know if they are unhappy with themselves or if they are unhappy with what I am doing with my life or how I choose to spend my time. Either ways, Shu told me a few things that made me think a little differently about how I am perceiving all these signs. One of it being the age gap. Older people have different ways of trying to confront me. Other people are just deflecting their shortcomings by picking on every little thing I do. 

I've said this before. I like spending my time and money and energy on doing things that make me happy and the things I do may not make other people happy and that is OK because we are not the same. They make decisions which I would not choose to make but I don't think of it as a problem because that's not my call. Some people cannot accept or tolerate this and thinks that I must do what they would do.

I have come to a point in my life whereby if you were to tell me something and that is what you truly believe in doing, I'd say "you do you!" And I am happy for them. No resentment. No hard feelings. The problem is not everyone is on the same page. I really can't help them.

Anywho, the other thing we talked about was my band, RadioEdit. We were living in a different time and we had different things to deal with in our lives. Ayie was married and had a kid. Kamal was working but lived on his own. Rashid and I were university students who were living with our parents and had curfews. I spent all this time thinking that I let they guys down (Ayie and Kamal) by walking away just like that. We never actually spoke about things. 

I, for one was very much aware on how much we were spending on jamming studios. Kamal and Ayie were talking to Shu but not to me. It was weird. Maybe because I was the only girl in the band? Maybe because I was to naive and stupid to understand real world problems. But I found out from Shu last night that Ayie was actually thinking of quitting anyway because he found an actual job with a stable income for the family. The rest of us never understood that because we weren't married with kids.

Now, Kamal is beginning to sound like Ayie back in the day. I just happen to have a supportive husband like Shu and my kids are old enough for me to do the things I want to do coz they have their things to do themselves.

We had awesome materials. We worked on them real hard. Now that Ayie is no longer with us, I am more than happy to actually do something with all of the stuff we've written together. I am in it to see just how much it's worth and I am splitting equal parts with Kamal, Rashid and Ayie's family. There are millions of bands out there but I am not doing it for the fame and glory. I am not seeking any approval from anyone. I just enjoy doing it and I want to savor it for as long as it lasts. We are not the same people we were back then but we had our music. That was our connection.  

We got up later than planned today.......

 I was in so much mess this morning. Typical menstrual problems. 😑 Shu had to drive to the land office in Marang. That's actually the reason we're here but......... I just don't wanna go home...... Yet........

The last time I was in this mood was before we got married and I visited Terengganu fir the first time and it was the monsoon season. I was on a semester break. I bought an open return flight ticket. I stayed for about a week. My mum called me every other day asking when I was coming home. My mindset is kinda in that mode right now...... Just with the kids.

Anywho, we passed by schools and I kept asking Shu if they were good schools coz..... Who knows, we might actually end up living here after all. I also realized how much I hated my secondary school growing up and that was the beginning of my depression. I hope my kids won't have to experience my school experience.

It took Shu over an hour to get his paperwork done and since the kids have been waiting patiently and we had time, we decided to stop by at the museum on our way home. The main museum is still closed but the Cultural Village side is opened and it's free entry until further notice. Sweet!

The museum is one of my favourite places to visit here coz I can never get enough of traditional houses and music and culture. I know, I am mostly Bugis with a dash of Chinese and a hint of Riau. Shu's dad said that Kampung Telaga Daing was opened by Bugis so that's why I feel at home here. Haha. I wonder if it's true 🤔