Merdeka Day Picnic, Reflection On 1MDB Scandal, Culture of Corruption, My Hope For A Better Malaysia
***Note: Another outdated post I was supposed to post on 1 September but got caught up with life.***
I was supposed to share this post yesterday but was too tired to think and ended up writing a completely different post inspired by a conversation I had with a friend of mine yesterday evening. https://peakd.com/hive-141359/@coloringiship/on-taking-responsibility-for-our-lives-and-supporting-someone-willing-to-change
Malaysia celebrated its 65th Independence Day (Merdeka Day) on 31 August 2022 (Wednesday). I thought long and hard about what to write on this post. I certainly can write about our Merdeka picnic at the park, but I feel this post warrants a more thorough reflection on this day.
**❤️ Picnic At Bukit Jalil Recreational Park ❤️**
After two years of not having a Merdeka celebration, a national parade was finally held at the historical site of Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square), where the Independence of Malaya was declared 65 years ago. Thousands of spectators thronged the city center to witness a parade of 20,000 participants from different contingents.
I'm not fond of crowded places; the last place I wanted to be was in the middle of a large crowd. So, we avoided the city and went for a picnic with a group of friends and their respective families.
Bukit Jalil Park is a popular 80-acre recreational park located in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur. I have been to this park several times, but it's not my favorite place because it's always hard to find a parking spot. The parking bays were fully occupied by the time we reached the park at 8am, and many visitors parked their cars by the roadside, making it hard to navigate the parking area. However, we were lucky to find a spot after cruising for 10 minutes.
Since it was a picnic, I didn't get to walk around the park to capture more pictures. A friend found a nice shady spot and spread the mats on the grass. Another friend brought food consisting of "nasi lemak", fried bee hoon etc. for everyone to enjoy.
To protect the privacy of my friends, I am just sharing some pictures taken at a distance or where the faces were mostly obscured.
After enjoying our food, one sweet mom was kind enough to organize some fun games for everyone and the kids. My kids were a little apprehensive, but as the games progressed, they started to relax and even participated with gusto. There were a lot of delighted shrieks and laughter as everyone participated, including the adults. This was a rare occasion where everyone become less inhibited and even allow themselves to be made fun of or laughed at.
We became more connected and closer through some simple activities. I am grateful because my kids had the opportunity to have a wonderful bonding time with friends that was almost non-existent in these two years of the pandemic. Both of them were drenched in sweat after running around the field, laughing, and just being kids.
**❤️ My Thoughts On Merdeka Day ❤️**
As I pondered on the significance of this day, I couldn't help but be moved by my thoughts. We certainly had gone through so much as a nation. I will not talk about things that happened in the distant past but let's focus on one key event that occurred in the past decade. This event needs no further introduction, the infamous 1MDB debacle by the former Premier of Malaysia, Najib Tun Razak, and his cronies.
For many, many years, I felt ashamed of calling myself a Malaysian because the negative news about 1MDB flooded headlines all over the world. This scandal has been described as one of the world's greatest financial scandals and declared the largest kleptocracy case in recent history. I quote this directly from Wikipedia:
The 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, often referred to as the 1MDB scandal or just 1MDB, describes a corruption, bribery and money laundering conspiracy in which the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was systematically embezzled, with assets diverted globally by the perpetrators of the scheme. International in scope, it implicated political, banking and entertainment figures and institutions and led to criminal investigations in several countries.
*Note: 1MDB, a state-owned investment fund was founded to pursue development projects in Malaysia. Whatever profits gained should be channeled to the country to alleviate poverty.*
Billions of the state funds had been embezzled and squandered by greedy, greedy people for their personal benefit. And one of the key figures in this scandal is a coward fugitive hiding possibly in China - Low Taek Jho or widely known as Jho Low. This sorry excuse for a man spent millions purchasing gifts for celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Miranda Kerr. He bought multi-million assets for himself and threw lavish parties attended by Hollywood celebrities.
Another key figure in the scandal, a former banker for Goldman Sachs Group (former head of Goldman Sachs in Malaysia), Roger Ng was convicted by the US Court in April this year.
Today’s verdict is a victory for not only the rule of law, but also for the people of Malaysia. The defendant and his cronies saw 1MDB not as an entity to do good for the people of Malaysia, but as a piggy bank to enrich themselves.
~ Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York
And last week, ex-Malaysia Premier Najib Tun Razak lost his final appeal in a corruption case linked to 1MDB scandal and began his 12 years of the prison sentence. He faces a total of 42 charges in five separate trials linked to 1MDB.
And today, hours ago, Najib's wife, Rosmah, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay RM970 million fine for a solar project corruption case.
Are these verdicts victories for the country?
I have mixed feelings. While I applaud the court's decisions that restored the reputation of Malaysia's judiciary system, I couldn't help but pity the disgraced Premier and his wife. I am sure they will be treated well in prison, but to go to jail as elderlies 😫...I guess they reaped what they sowed. I hope they use their remaining days reflecting on their sins and asking forgiveness from God for the transgressions committed against Him and every Malaysian.
Anyway kudos to the team of judges for upholding the law with integrity and fairness, and persevering in the fight against Malaysia culture of corruption. You guys restored my faith in this country. You guys rock! 👏
**❤️ My Hope For the Future of Malaysia ❤️**
When I reflect on the moments of joy we spent at the picnic and the court's favorable verdicts, I cannot help but notice rays of hope for the future of Malaysia. I hope with the court's rulings, we, as a nation, begin our journey to be "Merdeka" from our national culture of corruption. Many other crooked politicians must be hauled to court, and I hope it can be done swiftly and systematically. But I know this is no easy task when corruption has been accepted as a natural part of our life. Those in power have ingrained it so deeply in us that the new generation doesn't see corruption as wrong.
However, I hope things will change. I always have that hope. When I look at my kids chasing one another on the field, I pray to God that I continue to do the right thing by teaching them to be people full of righteousness and integrity. That they someday will be the courageous agents of change that fight for what is right and true.
I am just one ordinary Malaysian woman. I may have no power like those in the high places, but I have the ability to nurture those within my care to be upright and fear God above all things.
And I hope that simple motherly duty, on my part, will contribute to a brighter future in my "tanah tumpah darahku", Malaysia.
Selamat Hari Merdeka to all my fellow Malaysians, wherever you are in the world.
*Note: Tanah tumpahnya darahku (in Malay) literally means the land where my blood is spilled, or where I was born and bred.*
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
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On Taking Responsibility For Our Lives And Supporting Someone Willing to Change
***Note: I wanted to post this on 31 August, but I was too busy with other things it got delayed until today.***
Today, Malaysia is celebrating its 65th Independence Day, or Hari Merdeka (in Malay). And I wanted to write a post on how we spent our Merdeka morning at the park, having a picnic with a group of friends. But I was stuck with what to write because I could feel that it would be just another bland post detailing a snapshot of my life. I had wanted to write about unity and maybe throw in a bit about the state of our country. However, no words came. So I abandoned that post for another day when I could think better. Not everyone would agree with me on this, but I hate to churn out a post for the sake of posting. I feel I need to at least put on more effort into writing something of value so it would be worth my readers' time and, of course, the votes I will be getting.
However, thanks to one of my friends whom I had a lovely chat with this evening. I had not spoken to this friend for a while because of the pandemic, and we aren't that close in friendship. So I was surprised to see her message asking me whether I am interested in attending a personal development course. She shared her challenges in life and how this course helped her to overcome her struggles. We chatted a bit about life and stuff, and I politely declined her invitation to attend the course. Now, I do see the benefits of the said course and am genuinely happy that it helped her tremendously.
I am just not ready for it.
Maybe someday, but definitely not now. And I thank my friend who is kind enough to invite me to the course.
After ending our conversation, I thought about it for a while, which gave me the idea to write this post.
Image credit: Google https://www.wordsaregod.com/quotes/8042/oprah-winfrey-life-quote.html
What do you think about the above Oprah's quote?
Yay? Nay?
I agree wholeheartedly with Oprah because, newsflash, we all hate facing the reality of our lives and being responsible for that reality. It is easier to point our fingers at someone or something and push that blame on that person or situation. Truth hurts, they say, and it sure is. Blaming others or situations absolves us of the responsibility to make right what has gone wrong.
And that is why so many people are living in denial and find solace in vices as a way to escape, albeit temporarily. I saw someone posted this image here on Hive and I downloaded it. I can't remember who posted it, though.
But my post is not to shame those struggling with addictions or quietly struggling with issues in life and feel vulnerable. While I believe we need to be brave and take the bull by its horn and face whatever is ailing us, it is easier said than done. I acknowledge that because I am like that too. I feel it's easier to rant about things that didn't go well in life, but when it comes to finding a solution, I rather not think about it. Sometimes misery has a soothing presence because ranting about it gives us attention, "love," or "support" from others.
We are all walking wounded; while some are not willing to change, some are eager. To those who are keen, it is imperative that they get the support they need. Family members, close and trusted friends, or professional assistance can significantly support them in their journey. But bear in mind that while a support system is necessary, it is not a final solution because only they can enact the change needed to break free. While someone can help them from stepping off the ledge, they still need to do the hard work of changing.
Image credit: personal drawing
And if we fall under the "support system" category, it is important to be a good listener. I wrote a bit about it here in my post: When Someone Shares Their Struggles With You, Listen to Them, Don't Judge https://peakd.com/hive-141359/@coloringiship/when-someone-shares-their-struggles-with-you-listen-to-them-dont-judge
And if someone is not willing or not ready to seek help, try to offer kindness nonetheless. I know this is a very simplistic approach, especially if you are dealing with someone who has an addiction and is abusive. I don't know how people can offer kindness to someone abusive towards others or wastes their life to oblivion with substances. It must be hard, and my heart goes to those dealing with such people in their lives.
I am in no position to advise on dealing with such individuals because I have no experience or credentials.
However, I think it's good to stick to a general rule of thumb - be patient, be kind, and offer support to the best of our ability. And if we can't provide anything other than our ears, so be it. Offer a solution if the need calls for it but respect their terms and pace. If they reject it, don't take it personally. It's not because they aren't willing; it just means they are not ready.
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
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My Thoughts On The Ideal Body Shape and Being An Apple-Shaped Woman
I tried to write a post earlier today, but I had a splitting headache (possibly a migraine) and had to pop a pill and do some neck stretching to reduce the pain. The pain is more bearable now. Migraine runs among the females in my family. My mom was always incapacitated with migraines every month when I was growing up. She would spend a couple of days off work to recuperate. Some years ago, I shared my struggle with her, and she assured me it would get better once menopause hit and taper off for good. I don't look forward to menopause which I eventually have to face in 5 years' time, give and take, but getting rid of migraine for good is one of the "perks" I look forward to.
The purpose of this post is not to talk about migraine or menopause, but this picture. See the difference? Someone posted this picture on Facebook, comparing these two individuals. The caption that was written on that post:
"Other with chubby And Me" .
I guess whoever posted that meant to compare the lady with long hair on the left is the "ideal" version of plus-size women - big boobs with an hourglass figure. And the picture on the right, obviously a man, is not the "ideal" body shape for plus-size women - flat chested with an apple-shaped upper body 🙄. Huh! How insulting! 😠
Image credit: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=440510314785654&set=pcb.440510881452264
**❤️ We All Have Different Body Shapes ❤️**
The human body shape or figure is defined mainly by skeletal structures and the distribution of muscles and fat. It's a complex thing involving hormones and genetic makeup, and everyone is shaped differently. However, there are five common body shapes or types - pear, apple, rectangle, inverted triangle, and hourglass. You can read about this everywhere online, and I am not going to discuss them here.
But to think that one body shape is superior and more acceptable than others is shallow and stereotyping. The media played a major role in harping on the acceptable beauty standard, and the hourglass figure is often deemed more beautiful than others.
And it's no wonder that women worldwide, regardless of their age, are struggling with body image. According to a 2020 research, negative body image begins at an early age, as early as 6 or 7 years old. And this dissatisfaction with their bodies deepened when the kids reached teenagehood. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK546582/
It makes me sad and concerned thinking about it.
**❤️ I Am Apple-Shaped 🍏🍎 and Proud of It ❤️**
I am an apple-shaped woman. I am fine with my shape because almost every female in my extended family has a similar body type. An apple-shaped person has a larger waist/abdomen because fat accumulates in the middle region. And because of this abdominal fat, we are at the highest risk for health issues compared to the other body types. While I am okay with my shape, I am more worried with the risk associated with it. My middle region does tend to be rounder and plumper than the rest of my body, even before having kids. So, even when I am not overweight, I still look "fat", which is an added bummer, to be honest with you.
And not to mention the difficulties of finding the right outfit that suits my shape. I avoid wearing skirts and dresses because they make me look pregnant. Since my legs are slimmer, I wear pants to make my appearance more proportionate. While my shape generally unfazed me, I admit the right kind of outfit does make me feel more confident and relaxed.
**❤️ Exercise and Eat Healthily to Trim My Apple-Shaped Waistline ❤️**
I wrote about my health challenges and fitness journey several months ago and you can read it here: On the Verge Of Death | My Health Challenges, Losing Weight & Fitness Journey. Because of the health risk associated with being apple-shaped, I have been trying to consistently improve my health through healthy eating and exercising. It's not an easy journey, and I hit the plateau many times, but I am not giving up. Hormones also play a huge role, and the ups and downs of hormonal cycles have a huge impact on the waistline. https://peakd.com/hive-141359/@coloringiship/on-the-verge-of-death-or-my-health-challenges-losing-weight-and-fitness-journey
This picture is taken this morning, right after one hour of fitness kickboxing workout.
**❤️ So, Is There An Ideal Body Shape? ❤️**
All body shape is an ideal shape. Why can't we think of our bodies not in terms of how they look? Why not change our perspective and give our bodies the awe and respect they deserve for being breathing, thinking, amazing, and efficient disease-fighting miracle machines? And if you are a mother, your body deserves to be revered for being the vessel that grows and nourishes a human being or several human beings. I am a mother of 2 kids. Even though society at large deemed my protruding, round belly to be ugly, hey, I grew 2 humans in them and birthed them. My fat belly is my trophy 🏆.
This message is for all women. If you feel discouraged, you don't have that sexy hourglass figure, or you despise your shape, try to do some mental readjustment. You are amazing. Your body is amazing, awesome, and beautiful for the things it does for you. If you could adopt that perspective regularly, you might be less susceptible to shallow societal ideals that create a harmful, self-serving negative body image.
Be proud of yourself. Be your own champion 😘❤️
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
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Blast From My Past | Pictures From the Early 90s and Memories Associated With Them
One of the best things about Facebook is that we can reconnect with old friends from the past, even those who lost touch for decades. Some 15 years ago, I reconnected with my ex-schoolmates that had lost touch for many years. Like everybody else, the first thing we did back then was to share some old photos from our schooling days. We had a blast discussing and laughing at those photos, and I felt grateful that we could stay in touch again. After that excitement of initial contact, gradually, we returned to our lives with careers to pursue and families to raise. And those photos had been forgotten until they resurfaced again recently in the form of Facebook Memory.
Looking at those pictures, I had a great laugh and even reshared them again on Facebook. But I knew not everyone is keen to see their past get dug out and re-post for everyone to see. So I made sure not to tag anyone because I knew it could embarrass someone. I knew because I noticed some friends quietly untagged themselves from the photos I posted in the past. Personally, these photos don't embarrass me at all. I am proud of them because they are just moments from my past frozen in photographs. I am sharing some of these photos here; you can spot me in those yellow circles.
No, I didn't get permission from anyone to share them here because, come on, look at the quality of the photos...unless you knew me personally from that time in my life, there is no way you knew anyone in these pictures. So chill.
**❤️ From 1990 ❤️**
This picture was captured during a school assembly sometime in 1990. I was in Form/Secondary 1. A talk or speech was probably ongoing, or we wouldn't be sitting on the floor.
**❤️ From 1991 ❤️**
This photo really cracked me up! That classic "rock on" hand gesture was the coolest thing to do when taking pictures back then. This picture was taken in 1991 at the height of the worldwide rock phenomenon. Our generation listened to Guns & Roses, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Smashing Pumpkin, Radiohead etc. Why the obsession with American bands? I have no idea. A totally different time but a wild time nonetheless. This photo was captured during an inter-division sports meet. I was just 14 years old. Recently it dawned on me that 3 of my ex-boyfriends were captured in this photo 🤣. I told my husband, and he just cracked up. Gosh...I miss those days....
**❤️ From 1992 ❤️**
I was a scout back then. And let me tell you a not-so-secret: I joined the scout not because I was keen to become one but because the most handsome guys in school were scouts. And it was cool to hang out with them. I guess kids worldwide aren't so different from one another, regardless of our era. We all wanted to be accepted and part of the "it" crowd. It is shallow and stupid, but back then, it was essential for the survival of our self-esteem. This picture was taken in 1992 during the annual scout camping. We were hiking along the beach (hence the rock cliff) and someone, probably a teacher, took a photo while we rested.
**❤️ From 1994 ❤️**
This is probably one of the last photos we took before sitting for our national examinations, SPM or MCE (Malaysia Certificate of Education). We were sweet 17 and the Class of 1994. We literally had a party in the jungle - BBQ, games and a lot of fun stuff. I left school right after sitting for my examinations and never returned. Heck, I didn't even return to collect my certificates. I had the school mail it to me. Some of my classmates enrolled in Form 6 but I registered for a Diploma in IT and never met any of my friends until Facebook years later.
So there you go, a blast from my past. I miss those times, but everyone has long moved on with their lives. I am still in touch with a handful of my friends from school, but some prefer to keep their distance, and our friendships drift away. Many years ago, that used to upset me, and I took it as a sign of rejection from them. But now that I am in my mid-40s (hell, yeah), I realized that assumption on my part was unfounded. We all have lives to lead, families to raise, jobs to keep, and not to mention countless bills to pay. Some had it good in life, but some aren't so fortunate. Some have gone through a failed marriage or the death of a child. We all have unspoken traumas to varying degrees. To think that a friend from my past would just pick up our friendship where we had left, and act like nothing has changed, is plain ignorant. I am all good if any one of them decides not to initiate contact and becomes strangers for the rest of our existence. I respect that. Now, I am just grateful that I knew all of them at one point in my life, and I still carry our memories in my heart, and no one can take that away from me, forever.
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
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This Is Our Life | Friday Is the Day to Eat Out, Buying Fruits and Candies, And A Book For Hubby
**❤️ Friday Is the Day to Eat Out ❤️**
It's Friday, and usually, on Fridays, I am too lazy to cook lunch for the kids and I. It's not that I don't want to, but the school dismissed early, and I have to pick up the kids earlier than usual. My day starts right after the kids are off to school, slightly before 7 am, and includes flurries of activities; cleaning the house, washing and hanging the laundry, reading for an hour or more, planning my Hive post or arting, cooking, and most importantly, the one hour of workout that must be completed by 11.30 am. But today I must be at the school by 11.30 am to pick up the kids. So, since I am strapped for time, I decided not to cook lunch but eat out.
Friday traffic is usually heavier than other days, so we took a selfie while waiting for the traffic to ease up. It was drizzling since morning. It has been raining almost every day since June, and I wonder if global warming has changed our climate and shifted the rainy season to the middle of the year. It is unusual to get so much rain, especially when it is supposed to be the hot and dry season.
We headed to Puteri Mart, a local wet market located at Bandar Puteri. It's a common market you can see across South East Asia, so I don't need to show you around. But here is how it looks from the outside. The place is huge and divided into several sections. Half of the building houses a food court with various stalls offering street food and local cuisines. And that is where we are going to have our lunch.
The place is packed with people, but we found a table slightly away from everyone else. Although the country has eased up all restrictions, I am always aware of the Covid threat and make sure not to get too close to others. Sadly, most people don't seem to care and continue to walk around, sometimes maskless (in crowded and confined places) or not practicing social distancing.
My daughter decides to bring a storybook and read while waiting for the food to arrive. She just finished her exams this week and feels upset with her Maths and Arabic. She does well in the other subjects - Malay Language, English, History, Science, Design & Technology, Moral Education, but she thinks she will fail her Maths and Arabic. I told her that's okay as long as she did her best and she can try harder next time.
**❤️ Dragon Fruits and Candies ❤️**
After lunch, we went to the fruit stalls located at the section that houses the wet market. Fruits are an important part of our diet, and I make sure to replenish our supplies at home. I bought some dragon fruits at a low price - 6 for MYR10 (USD2.24). I was thinking of buying some of my son's favorite fruit, bananas, but I changed my mind. Perhaps I can buy that on Sunday or when we finish the dragon fruits.
We also stop at the candy stall to buy this sweet treat for the kids - the White Rabbit creamy candy! I have a sweet spot for these candies because, like many Malaysian who grew up in the 80s, these candies were part of our childhood. However, several years ago, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia declared that these candies are non-halal and thus prohibited from being consumed by Muslims. I was unaware of this until I read a Facebook posting several weeks ago. Living in a multi-racial and multi-religious country, it is essential to take note of such news to avoid comitting faux pas, like offering non-halal food to the Muslims or food with beef to the Hindus.
**❤️ A Book In the Mail for Mr. Hubby ❤️**
When we reached home, I saw a parcel at our door, and I knew the content. A forex trading book for my husband that he bought recently. My husband used to write on Steemit, albeit sporadically, but he abandoned it after several months because he couldn't find time to post with his hectic work schedule. But that doesn't stop him from looking for side gigs to supplement our income. For the past two years, he has been moonlighting as a forex trader at night. He earns okay but thinks he needs to learn more about strategies, hence the book. I truly appreciate his effort, and I am blessed to marry such a hardworking and responsible man. I hope this book will help to improve his trading skills and limit his loss 😉.
_________
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
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Super Simple Home-Cooked Dish | Bitter-Gourd Soup That Anyone Can Prepare
My first ever recipe post on Hive! I was racking my brain, looking for ideas for today's post, but nothing was forthcoming. After a very lengthy post yesterday - Running On Empty | Struggling With Childhood Emotional Neglect And Developing Resiliency - I am thinking of a lighter topic that doesn't require a lot of thinking. And while I was getting ready to make lunch, I thought, well, why not? Though my cooking skill is nothing to write home about or the dish is nothing special, perhaps it can encourage someone to try it since it's super duper simple to prepare. https://read.cash/@coloringiship/running-on-empty-struggling-with-childhood-emotional-neglect-and-developing-resiliency-52a9485a
Even though I am not overly obsessive with my diet, I take special care of the food I consume daily. I try to avoid oily, sugary, spicy, and salty food as much as possible and limit my intake of processed or junk food. Since I am not a foodie and seldom crave special dishes, my daily diet is simple and easy to prepare. I make sure to include the essential macronutrients in moderate portions.
Anyone here loves eating bitter-gourd? If you do, then this recipe is for you. I love eating bitter-gourd, and so does my husband, but my kids made nasty faces whenever I served it during meals. This dish has no special name, but for its sake, let's just call it the "bitter-gourd soup".
**The Ingredients**
Since it is a soup, we obviously need water. I used a medium size stainless steel pot filled with 800ml of water.
Medium size bitter-gourd, cleaned and sliced thinly.
Oyster mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thinly.
Small size carrots, cleaned and sliced thinly.
A clove of sliced garlic and one inch of sliced ginger.
One or two eggs.
Salt, white pepper, seasoning (not in picture)
**Instructions**
#1) Boil the water and add garlic and ginger.
#2) Heat it up until boiling and put in the bitter-gourd.
#3) After a couple of minutes, put in the carrots.
#4) After a minute, put in the mushrooms.
#5) After a couple of minutes, pour the beaten egg(s). Add in salt, white pepper, and seasoning to taste. Stir for a couple of minutes and turn off the heat.
#6) It's cooked and ready to serve with rice.
Very simple and wholesome, isn't it?
**Tip:** For a better taste, add some pork, chicken, or fish fillet slices if you want.
Bon Apetit!😃
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
Running On Empty | Struggling With Childhood Emotional Neglect And Developing Resiliency
While browsing Hive, I came across this community and found their blog prompt. The blog prompt for this week is "resilience," and I feel I have a lot to say about this topic. I was thinking of writing about my fitness journey, but I did that several months ago, and you can find that post here: On the Verge Of Death | My Health Challenges, Losing Weight & Fitness Journey. I racked my brain to find the best thing to write about, and my eyes laid on a couple of books on my table: *Running On Empty - Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect. And the sequel: Running On Empty No More - Transforms Your Relationships With Your Partner, Your Parents and Your Children.* Both books were authored by a psychologist, Dr. Jonice Webb. https://read.cash/@coloringiship/on-the-verge-of-death-my-health-challenges-losing-weight-fitness-journey-b7d40999 https://peakd.com/hive-141359/@coloringiship/on-the-verge-of-death-or-my-health-challenges-losing-weight-and-fitness-journey
Maybe this is a perfect idea to write about the journey of my inner growth. This is quite a sensitive topic for me, but I wanted to be brave and share my personal experiences, and perhaps my post will inspire someone else to have the courage to heal.
**A very important caveat**: I am writing this post not because I hate my parents or have any lingering bitterness towards them. I love my parents dearly, and I have no intention of shaming them. No parent is perfect, and no childhood is perfect. Every parent struggles to do what is best for their child, and everyone makes mistakes.
This post will be long because it is essential that I write about my background story. Please bear with me, and I hope you can see how I develop resiliency as I persevere to heal from my past.
**What Is Childhood Emotional Neglect (CEN)?**
Emotional Neglect is a parent’s failure to respond enough to a child’s emotional needs.
Emotional Neglect is, in some ways, the opposite of mistreatment and abuse. Whereas mistreatment and abuse are parental acts, Emotional Neglect is a parent’s failure to act. It’s a failure to notice, attend to, or respond appropriately to a child’s feelings. Because it’s an act of omission, it’s not visible, noticeable or memorable. Emotional Neglect is the white space in the family picture; the background rather than the foreground. It is insidious and overlooked while it does its silent damage to people’s lives. ~ Dr. Jonice Webb https://drjonicewebb.com/about-emotional-neglect/
I bought the books from Book Depository because they weren't available locally.
**My Life Story - How I Developed Childhood Emotional Neglect (CEN)**
I grew up as the youngest child in a family of 5. There is a wide age gap between my siblings and me, so needless to say, we had little things in common. My parents worked full time and often away from home, 3 to 4 days a week. My aunt took care of us while my parents were at work. Due to their busy schedules, my parents rarely attended any of my school events. Since I had different interests than my sisters, I spent a lot of my time at various friends' houses after school. I played, did my homework, and even had lunches or tea breaks at their houses. And I would only come home late in the evenings. My parents hardly asked about my whereabouts as long as I was safe and stayed out of trouble.
When I was 13, I left home to pursue my studies in a boarding school 800km away. I did not feel sad at all being away from my family because I was so used to not seeing my parents around. While I was at boarding school, I only communicated with my parents through a public phone. I seldom call home, and when I did, it was only when it was absolutely necessary, which was to request pocket money. I rarely went home on holidays and chose to stay at the hostel with my friends during school breaks. And that means I only got to see my family 2 or 3 times a year.
I stayed at the boarding school until I completed my SPM (national public examination). I did very well academically, and when I was 18, I pursued my diploma and later my undergraduate degree at a local university in Kuala Lumpur (KL). Staying in a big city far away from my family was like a dream come true for me. KL offered many new opportunities and a great place to meet new friends. I wasted no time trying out new experiences that included the negative ones. Again, like my life in boarding school, I seldom communicated with my parents, but they were fine with it as long as I was out of trouble. My life up to then was mostly spent with various groups of friends. I hardly got enough input from my parents and essentially was left to figure out myself: what I was good at, what my weaknesses were, and what I should strive for.
After many years of living so emotionally disconnected from my parents, I developed very damaging behavioral patterns. I became rebellious, reckless, and I enjoyed the freedom of being away from my family. Flouting school rules like truancy and getting up to all sorts of mischief gave me so much thrill. The riskier, the better. That was my mantra back then. But despite enjoying my unconstrained freedom, I was struggling with intense feelings of emptiness, loneliness, sadness, and anger. I always had friends around me, but I secretly felt disconnected. I felt awkward in social or family gatherings and struggled to form close relationships. I was aimless in life, and everything felt meaningless. I often wondered what was wrong with me. I fell into depression without knowing the reasons and felt ashamed that I struggled so much. I was in a lot of emotional pain, but I didn't know how to seek help because I could not put any of it into words.
Things started to improve better when I became a born-again Christian. However, healing did not come instantly. I was still struggling, but I thanked God for the blessings I received from the church, and I was able to work on my issues slowly. The church's marriage and parenting workshops helped me see my deep-seated issues clearly. I learned how harmful childhood emotional neglect (CEN) is to a person and its impact on health, work, and relationships. I realized that throughout my adult life, I had exhibited so many symptoms of CEN and the role it plays in my depression and anxiety. It affected many areas of my life, especially my marriage, parenting, and relationships. I figured enough was enough, and I should stop it and find a way to heal.
**Inner Work and Healing Journey**
The hardest part of my healing journey was when I confronted myself and admitted to myself that I had issues and I needed to get help. It was sort of like I had an intervention session, except that I did it to myself. I felt very vulnerable and broken and blamed my parents for their failures. But the bitterness didn't last long because I knew my parents did their best to raise me with what they had. Their mistakes were not intentional. They never meant to harm me in any way.
I went for counseling in 2021, and it lasted for 6 months. The sessions with my counselor gave me many insights into my behavioral patterns. The counselor gave me techniques to deal with my depression and anxiety that I still practice to this day. I quit counseling once I felt a lot better, but my healing journey is still long. Now and then, I would fall back into my old patterns of behavior and be wrecked with shame and guilt.
But I resolve not to quit and keep persevering. I knew that healing requires me to be intentional in all aspects of my communications with my husband, children, and others.
Think before I speak.
Think before I act.
Be mindful of my triggers.
Why am I reacting this way?
I have to keep all these things in my mind to teach my brain to build positive neuron pathways that eventually heal me from my negative CEN patterns.
They are times I failed miserably when I snapped and yelled at my loved ones. Or the times I became moody and distant from everyone. And the feeling of emptiness still haunts me to these days, but the intensity varies depending on the state of my mental health. But I will not let any setback hold me back from my progress. My positive progress will benefit my relationships in life. I am determined not to let my past issues become a huge stumbling block to enjoying my best life with those I love.
**Am I more resilient because of this pain and experience?**
Absolutely. The healing journey is long and arduous, and I believe it will last for the rest of my life. There are many discouragements along the way, but I reminded myself that people don't change instantly, only in small increments. I am in a better place today compared to a year ago, and I am proud of this progress. I will not give up, and I hope the knowledge and insights I gain from reading the books will further equip me to face future challenges related to my CEN issues.
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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
When Someone Shares Their Struggles With You, Listen to Them, Don't Judge
*When someone shares*
*their story with you*
*and if it doesn't resonate with your truth*
*Then don't*
*invalidate their version of truth*
*don't put words in their mouth*
*for your comfort*
*to align with*
*what you think*
*they should be*
Have you ever unloaded your problems to someone and got nagged? Or they became very condescending and started to instruct you what you should or should not do?
I have. Several times and I quit sharing my problems with others because of that. All I ever wanted was someone to listen to me and not get shame for telling it.
Years ago, the kids and I were very sick with dengue and were hospitalized. Our family was in a dire financial crisis, and we could only afford to stay in a cheap flat. Friends were very sympathetic, and I am grateful for that, except for their unsolicited advice: we should move out and find a better place to live. Someone even offered to go house hunting with me. I remember feeling very discouraged by their lack of empathy and understanding. Tell me, if I could afford to live somewhere better, would I choose to live in a dump? I would love to move right there and then and give the best for the kids, but we **COULD'T AFFORD** it. And they failed to see our true needs at that moment. They could only see that "we needed to move out to a better, cleaner environment." Such a condescending attitude veiled by kindness - offering advice, offering to house hunt, etc.
And another time, I was very sick in the hospital bed, and a friend came to visit. He looked at me, and instead of offering some kind words of empathy, he started to nag me for being sick. He said some hurtful things like I got this sickness because I stayed home and sat on my butt the whole day, that I was overweight and that was why I fell sick. And he proceeded by recommending some supplements to me to prevent my sickness from recurring in the future.
I would rather he never come to visit forever or stop talking to me if all he could muster was criticizing me while I was on the verge of death.
I forgave these people for their insensitivities, but I would never tell them anything in the future. I promised myself that.
You see, all of us want to be heard, to be acknowledged, to be seen. We need people to connect with so life will be more bearable. We need to talk about our struggles in life; hopefully, by talking about them, we can clear our minds and see the solutions more clearly.
We need empathy. We need sympathetic ears. We need shoulders to cry on.
We don't need criticism, nags, accusations, or even solutions from people. We don't need to be shamed for struggling.
But be careful who we talk to. Some people are not comfortable with our stories because they feel scandalized. Not everyone is comfortable with our truthfulness, vulnerability, and authenticity. So, to avoid awkwardness, they try to fix us instead by telling us what we should and should not do; pray more, and read the Bible more. We have rocked their comfortable existence with our stories.
Now, I am not saying we shouldn't appreciate their kind advice and help. Praying and reading the Bible are good things. But sometimes, it feels jarring and does not meet the actual need of the struggling person.
Listen. The key to helping someone struggling is to be present and listen. Create a space where someone can feel safe and supported. You don't have to come up with a solution unless requested. Ignore that pre-response or judgment in your head, and sit silently while the person unloads whatever is ailing them. Let them process their emotions and experiences by talking about them. Most of the time, just talking about them would give them clarity on the direction they need to take.
See, you don't have to spend money to be empathic.
And if you feel uncomfortable with their stories (because they trigger your anxiety, for example), just tell the truth gently without passing judgment and direct them to a place where they can seek help or meet their needs.
**Progress Photos of The Painting**
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
My Weekend Report | Lunch At Bangsar South, Volunteering At Church, Dinner At Fish & Co
Hi all...today's post will be image-heavy, so I apologize if it takes a long time to load. I wanted to post this on Saturday, but I couldn't find time between my packed weekend schedules.
Since July, my husband and I have been volunteering to do devotionals for the church's pre-teens (or tweens) children. The devotionals are scheduled on Saturdays, 3-5pm, twice a month. We are not excellent teachers, but we served out of faith and knew that God supplied for our lack. However, the focus of this post is not on that, though, since we want to keep the children's privacy.
Not wanting to be late for the devotional, we decided to have our lunch at Bangsar South City. I rarely come to this side of town, but my husband frequents this place since his workplace is nearby. It was raining when we reached Bangsar South City, and I took the opportunity to snap some photos of the impressive establishments around the area.
We passed by Pantai Hillpark, a well-known condominium complex in this area. I have some fond memories of this place because my sister and brother-in-law used to stay in one of the units many years ago. I took this photo of the main entrance and sent it to my sister. She was surprised to see the surrounding area with new buildings and unfamiliar landscapes.
I was worried about where we would have our lunch since this is quite an affluent neighborhood, and the price could be beyond our budget. But my husband assured me he knew where to go and promised me it wouldn't put a big dent in our budget. With the inflated price of almost everything these days, my worries were not out of place.
We found a nice spot to park the car and headed to the main entrance of The Sphere (the mall), and proceeded to Aeon MaxValu Prime Supermarket. Well, my husband was right. This is the cheapest place we could have our lunch. My kids love sushi and picked whatever they needed from the sushi station before my husband made payment at the self-pay kiosk. This was the first time he had used the kiosk, and he needed some guidance from the staff.
We proceeded to the dine-in area and ordered the rest of our food - pork rice and fruit salads. I am quite disappointed with the portion of the rice because, for the price of RM12 per plate, there were only maybe 6 slices of pork? And the rice was a bit too dry for my liking, but I gobbled everything up because I was famished.
After lunch, we went to the church, which was not very far from Bangsar South City, and got ready for the devotional. We came early to prepare the room and the laptop and waited for the kids to arrive. We had known and taught these children since they were 9 years old and they were like our own children. It was a great privilege to teach and guide them in their faith, and I genuinely love to interact with them because of their endless questions and innocent fascination with everything. Like I said, we were not very good at teaching, but I believe God does not overlook our efforts...amen to that!
We had a short lesson and a couple of fun games to build teamwork and connection among the children.
We finished the devotional at 5pm and went home in the rain. It was raining heavily, and I was worried about the flooded roads. To those who aren't familiar with Malaysia, Klang Valley specifically, this country is well-known for flash floods. A couple hours of torrential rains would produce flash floods in the city and the suburbs. This issue has been ongoing for many decades, but no viable solutions have successfully mitigated the problem. A local politician even suggested the floods become the country's "tourism attraction". What a sick idea to profit from the people's suffering and misery.
But thank God the road was clear until we reached Puchong. It was 6pm when we arrived at Puchong, and I suggested we go for dinner. We just had lunch several hours ago, and it was already dinner time 😂.
We decided to give Fish & Co a try. We had walked past this shop many times but never dined there. I figured the menu would be pricey since it's a seafood restaurant, and I was right. But we had a rather frugal lunch in the afternoon, so why not?
I didn't take many photos of the restaurant, but the menu impressed me. You can check it out here on their Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/fishncomy/menu
I had a difficult time choosing because everything looks delicious! In the end, the kids opted to try the kids' portion of fish and chips.
And as for me, I decided to give "Coriander Catch" a try.
Coriander Catch: White fish fillet grilled with a home blend of coriander sauce to give it an intense, healthy flavour.
And hubby went for "Seafood Spaghetti".
A seafood medley of prawns, calamari and mussels with spaghetti in a hearty tomato pasta sauce.
And of course, we couldn't help it and added another dish to the mix - Grilled Calamari.
Calamari rings slightly charred and drizzled with our signature lemon butter sauce.
The meal was very nice and the price was "nice" too. Total spent for dinner was a whooping RM118.95. So there goes...😆
Anyhow, we don't usually splurge on stuff or food, so this was just a special treat for everyone. So that's all for my weekend report, and I hope you enjoy reading it!
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
I Found A New Site to Sell My Art - Artmajeur
Hi all...yesterday I talked about reactivating my Artfinder shop and sent a request to Artfinder and today, I received a reply from them. This is their email content. https://read.cash/@coloringiship/my-mental-struggles-reopening-my-art-shop-a-video-of-my-art-folder-2f2cd308
So basically, they are telling me they had deleted my shop and wanted me to reapply as a seller. I am okay with that but when I looked at their Artistic Quality Guidelines, I felt very intimidated. And now, I don't think I will return to the site, and I am back to square one. I looked at a few other places like Saatchi Art, ArtPal, ArtFinder, and even the old Etsy, but nothing interested me. And I found a Youtube video about another site I have never heard of before, Artmajeur. I did a little reading and was surprised to learn that that had been in business for two decades. They are based in Paris, France.
When deciding on which site to sell on, there are several factors I need to look at, including:
type of art that can be sold
commission fee
site traffic
seller plan
**Type of Art That Can Be Sold**
Artmajeur welcomes everyone, professional or amateur artists. And these are some of the things artists can sell on the site:
painting
drawing
sculpture
photography
textile art
digital art
I think those things cover almost everything, and it's great that they make an effort to include textile art or sculpture. Many sites only focus on selling fine art paintings, which is not inclusive and is a little bit snobbish, IMO. Here's a sample of textile art from the site. https://www.artmajeur.com/en/valerij-stepanenko/artworks/15453622/buket-dla-nevesty
And on top of selling the original art, sellers may diversify their income streams by selling the print reproductions of their art (print-on-demand) and digital licensing. How cool is that? It's pretty unheard of for art marketplaces that offer digital licensing opportunities. To those unfamiliar with digital licensing, it means people can 'rent' your art to be used on their websites and in advertisements.
**Seller Plans and Commission Fees**
There are two selling plans - basic (free) and platinum ($4.58/month). Both plans offer an unlimited number of artworks posted. However, the premium plan provides more in-depth features such as selling on Facebook or Instagram, details statistics, and more. I think I will go for the basic plans for now because I don't see the need to upgrade unless it's truly necessary. Now, what about the commission fees? The commission fee for the basic plan is 35%, and 30% for premium. Those are pretty standard, except that it might be slightly lower than other marketplaces (Aftfinder's free plan takes 40% commission and 33% for paid plans).
**Site Traffic**
Artmajeur has been in business for a long time and it's quite a well-known website. They claimed to have 700K unique visitors per month. I think that's a pretty great number.
I already signed up for the site, but posting anything will take a while. I need to figure out the shipping fees and stuff like that. Things have changed a lot since I shipped out anything overseas, and the shipping fees might have increased slightly by now.
Anyway, enough talking about Artmajeur, I am sure this post is pretty boring already. Nothing much to update about today's activity except that I went for my routine follow-up with my doctor at the hospital early in the morning.
And here's a picture of my dinner tonight. Nothing fancy, just a simple vegetable dish with rice.
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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
My Mental Struggles, Reopening My Art Shop, A Video of My Art Folder
Hi all...I have decided to reactivate my account at ArtFinder and start selling my drawings and paintings. Throughout the years I have amassed a huge amount of work and I have been keeping them in folders. I used to dream that someday I could open a stall at an art bazaar, but alas, a dream is just a dream. As the years passed by, it never materialized. https://www.artfinder.com/#/
I had an Etsy shop once, but that too was reactivated because I didn't see the point of maintaining the shop and paying for the quarterly listing fees.
**Life Feels Meaningless....**
Photo by Dollar Gill on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/@dollargill?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText https://unsplash.com/s/photos/depression?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText
For the past several years, since 2019 to be exact, I have been struggling with an intense feeling of emptiness. I have always felt that way for many, many years, but it had become intense before the start of the pandemic. I don't quite know how to describe it, but it feels like **EVERY SINGLE** thing in my life feels meaningless. I suspected that I was (still am) suffering from Persistent Depressive Disorder or dysthymia, but I had never been properly diagnosed. I don't talk about it with anyone; if I did, it was just a passing comment and nothing more. Writing about it here brought about a tremendous amount of shame. And talking about it feels pointless too.
So, out of this lingering feeling of meaningless, I quit making art gradually for the past few years. I closed my shops and stopped accepting commission work. I tried to make art, but it often ended up unfinished. I couldn't find the motivation to keep going because it felt so pointless. People said my art is brilliant, but I couldn't see anything great about it.
The feeling spills to other areas of my life too. I couldn't fully appreciate joyful occasions and preferred to coop up at home, avoiding interactions because I didn't have the energy to make small talk or smile.
I felt exhausted and irritable most of the time.
At its worse, I would suffer from frequent anxiety attacks, heart palpitations, sleeplessness, and weepiness. But thank God because I never have suicide ideation. Imagining it, yes, but never desire it.
I did get better. I was always able to bounce back after months of struggling. The fact that I could write here on RC, make new art, and make plans to reopen my shop is testimony to that.
I don't know why I am putting this here. But I guess it's important to create awareness that mental struggle can be debilitating like any physical illness. I am not seeking anyone's attention or sympathy. I want to spread awareness about mental health issues. Treat someone who is struggling with compassion and understanding. Never shame someone who is struggling. They can never snap out of it at will or get cheered with toxic positivity. They can't just ***'pray more'***, ***'be more spiritual', 'connect more'.*** Healing journey is often complicated and takes a massive amount of courage.
Is anyone else here having similar struggles? Feel free to share your story under the comment below. I won't judge you, and I encourage everyone to be kind and compassionate towards one another.
Now back to the plan to reopen my ArtFinder shop. I contacted the support team this morning, and I got their return email saying they will look into it in the next few days. So, while waiting to access my shop, I flipped through one of my art folders. I haven't decided which ones will be put up for sale. I must spend some time reviewing my collection and choosing the best ones.
**And here is the video of the flipped-through.**
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4AkODXD5vY
Some of the whimsical drawings I plan to put up for sale. What do you think of them?
____________
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
First Post After 3 Months Of Hiatus and A New Painting!
Hi all...it's been three months since my last post. I am back! The dust has finally settled - we moved out to our new apartment and dealt with some life challenges we had faced for the past three months. It feels good to spend some time writing down a post, finally. But this won't be a long post detailing everything that happened to me over the past few months.
I just want to share one recently completed artwork. I finished it last night, as a matter of fact. I am very proud of this piece because this painting is the first painting I managed to work on after months of having a severe art block. Oh, I did some sketches and poetry too, and I will share some of them here one of these days.
Here are the progress photos:
There is text on the painting, and it is some of the things I jot down as I reflect on my healing journey. You can call that anecdote or a poem, maybe. I like making such art with text because it makes them more personal and meaningful, not just a beautiful random image.
And of course, here is the completed painting:
What do you think of the painting? Do you like it? I really love the color combinations. I think I would like to try painting using different minimal combinations in my future work 😊
And before I go...here's a picture of me and my hubby, saying hi to everyone after months of not interacting with Read Cash universe 😆
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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
A Trip To Kuala Lumpur Tower | Southeast Asia's Tallest Tower & World's 7th Tallest Tower
Hi all...it has been more than a week since my last post. The past week had been very busy with Hari Raya Aidilfitri (Eid al-Fitr) and a one-week school break. Our family went for a short staycation and a trip to KL Tower before I had nasty gastritis that left me weak with pain and no appetite. And to top it off, I have been enduring migraine for the past couple of days.
And not forgetting we are busy with matters relating to moving to our new apartment. I spent a couple of days packing and sorting our stuff. We are supposed to get the apartment keys tonight but were told by the landlady we couldn't move in yet because Air Selangor (water utility company) needs to fix the water meter. So we are still waiting. Anyway, let's focus on the topic of this post - our trip to KL Tower last week.
**Kuala Lumpur Tower**
While several million city dwellers traveled out of the city to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, our family decided not to follow suit. The highways were badly congested with traffic, and the airports were packed. I am glad we stayed because everywhere seemed to be crowded with people.
After a couple of nights of staycation at Putrajaya, we planned a trip to KL Tower. This would be my and the kids' first trip to the tower but a second one for the hubby.
Kuala Lumpur Tower, also known as KL Tower is a 15-story, 421-meter-tall telecommunication tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the world's **7th tallest tower**, also, Malaysia and Southeast Asia's tallest tower. Its construction was completed on 1 March 1995. It features an antenna that increases its height to 421 metres (1,381 feet). The roof of the pod is at 335 metres (1,099 feet). The rest of the tower below has a stairwell and an elevator to reach the upper area, which also contains a revolving restaurant, providing diners with a panoramic view of the city. ~ Source: wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuala_Lumpur_Tower
Me and the kids in front of the tower.
We planned to buy tickets to the open-air viewing deck or Sky Deck and the Sky Box, a glass cube that extends out from the ledge. But unfortunately, we were told by the staff it was closed for the day due to bad weather (it was cloudy and drizzled). So we bought tickets to visit the Observation Deck instead.
Ticket prices: RM30 (USD6.85) for adult, RM20 (USD4.56) for kids.
The Observation Deck offers unobstructed 360-degree views of Kuala Lumpur and is, without a doubt, the best spot in town for taking great photos.
That's Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest twin skyscrapers in the world. They were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 when they were surpassed by Taipei 101.
And that is Merdeka 118 Tower, the second tallest building in the world. At 678.9 meter-tall, it is the world's second-tallest building behind the Burj Khalifa, UAE.
That blue tower is called the Exchange 106 located within the Tun Razak Exchange financial district.
More skyscrapers around the Greater Kuala Lumpur metropolitan. You can see the Titiwangsa Mountains surrounding the city, which is why this city and its surrounding areas are known as Klang Valley.
I can't help but include this gorgeous night view photo from Wikipedia.
Photo source: wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuala_Lumpur_Tower#/media/File:Panorama_view_of_Petronas_Twin_Tower_from_KL_Tower_in_2019.jpg
A nice photo of me with the kids 😁.
**Blue Coral Mini Aquarium**
We proceeded to the mini aquarium next to the tower after spending one hour at the observation deck. Blue Coral Aquarium is one of the attractions around KL Tower.
Ticket prices: RM18 (USD4.11) per adult, RM15 (USD3.42) per child
This is a mini aquarium, so please don't expect a vast exhibit. You may want to skip this and go to the bigger aquarium, Aquaria, located at KLCC/Petronas Twin Towers. https://klcc-aquaria.malaysia-tickets.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwmuiTBhDoARIsAPiv6L9sLxuGENeKvgpdxoDn_-BgBUG_ACGvKvxroqg8L7ZNLd-2ckc5dlcaAuUXEALw_wcB
**KL Upside Down House**
Our last destination is the KL Upside Down House. I have seen people sharing photos of their visit to this house. I always wonder how did they make such interesting photos 😅. I figured that all out finally 😁.
Ticket prices: RM24 (USD5.48) for adults and RM19 (USD4.34) for kids.
This is a small house, with 2 floors and 6 rooms. I am a bit disappointed because they only allowed us 20 minutes to take pictures. But to avoid overcrowding, only a small group of people were allowed to enter at once and the rest have to wait for their turn.
Initially, it felt awkward to pose because our brains were confused looking at the upside-down furniture 😆. But we got the hang of it after several tries. And boy, it was fun! 😃
Here are some pictures we took. To avoid loading issues, I have to combine them as collages.
And a family selfie before we leave for the day. There is another attraction nearby, the KL Tower Mini Zoo. But we decided not to go because we had been to a zoo several months ago. Maybe I should make a post about that zoo trip too, we'll see 🤔
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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
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What I Just Got In the Mail | 3 Non-Fiction Travel Books By Simon Reeve and Sue Perkins
Hi all...today I want to show you what I received in the mail. It's a parcel that contains three books I ordered from BookDepository.com sometime earlier this month (April 2022). I am a regular customer at Book Depository, but I only shop if I can't find certain books at my local bookstore or the title is unavailable in my Scribd.com subscription. I have been an avid reader since I was 8 years old, and I shared some of my reading lists in my previous post: May the Books You Read Light the Way | What's Inside My Book Totebag https://www.bookdepository.com/ https://read.cash/@coloringiship/may-the-books-you-read-light-the-way-whats-inside-my-book-totebag-91ab883d
I don't have a lot of material possessions. My tiny apartment has sparse furniture, but I have tons and tons of books lying around in the apartment. It used to drive my husband crazy because he didn't like reading. But as years went by, he slowly picked up the habit, and now he buys books almost every time we visit a bookshop 😆. I tried to tone down my book spending habit because books are fairly expensive in Malaysia. (It does carve out a small chunk of our monthly budget). To stave off the habit, I subscribed to Scribd.com ($9.99 per month) about 4 years ago and never looked back. It gives me unlimited access to one million titles, including ebooks, magazines, podcasts, news, and audiobooks. https://www.scribd.com/g/7c03dg
But sometimes, I like to buy foreign titles that I can almost guarantee are nowhere available in Malaysia. For those who aren't familiar with Book Depository, it's a UK-based online bookseller that offers free shipping worldwide. It was founded by a former Amazon employee and was acquired by Amazon in 2011.
It took three weeks for the parcel to reach me. I don't mind the delay because, hey, it's FREE SHIPPING, remember? 😍
The parcel was securely wrapped in a thick cardboard box. It fits perfectly inside my mailbox. It contained 3 books - two of the books were written by Sue Perkins and another by Simon Reeve. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Perkins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Reeve_(British_TV_presenter)
If you watched BBC, you might be familiar with both names. Both authors are my favorite travel journalists, and I have watched their documentaries for years.
**Book #1: East of Croydon by Sue Perkins**
East of Croydon is Sue's second book. The book follows Sue on her travels around South East Asia (specifically the IndoChina region), and India while making documentaries for the BBC. It also covers her dad's struggle with cancer and coming to terms with his death. I have watched her documentaries, The Ganges, and The Mekong River With Sue Perkins. I thought it would be fun to read her depiction of the landscapes she saw, the places she stayed, and the people she met throughout her adventures. I want to learn more about the environmental issues she encountered, like the dams in Cambodia and the struggles of the local communities.
Sue is a comedian, and I love her wit. She is not afraid to poke fun at herself, which is refreshing and real. I would love to have a funny friend like her 😘
Here's a trailer of Sue's documentary about the Mekong River.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zheLxkqyPw
**Book #2: Spectacles by Sue Perkins**
Spectacles is Sue's first book and a memoir. Obviously, I bought this to get to know Sue more 😅
**Book #3: Step By Step by Simon Reeve**
Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:
Simon Reeve is a British author, journalist, adventurer, documentary filmmaker and television presenter. Reeve divides his home time between London and Devon. He makes global travel and environmental documentaries, and has written books on international terrorism, modern history, and his adventures.
I love Simon. Through his documentaries, he introduced me to some interesting countries and places. His documentaries are thought-provoking, and he always opened my eyes to issues I was unaware of, and often at the end of watching them, I felt grateful for the life I am having.
Here's a short clip from one of Simon's documentaries, The Americas with Simon Reeve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NXJAYUwlC8
And this is a complimentary bookmark from Book Depository 😘
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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
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May the Books You Read Light the Way | What's Inside My Book Totebag
I am a bookworm. I have been one since I was eight years old. People from my generation grew up without electronic gadgets, so we played outside a lot and perhaps read books to pass our time like me. Reading since then has been a lifelong habit that I cherish. I visit bookstores and buy books more than I buy clothes, I think. However, I didn't have much free time to read when I started working and having kids. I read whenever I have some spare time, but I try to make it a habit to read at least 15-20 minutes a day. It can be challenging to make time for that even though 15 minutes is not long. But I try to make it easier to grab some reading time by reading materials next to my workspace. I keep these books or magazines in a tote bag I bought from BookXcess. Do you want to know the content of this bag?
**The Content**
Here's a video of me emptying the bag and showing the content.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwnv3CA26nY
**List of Books**
**1. The Book of Black by Faye Dowling**
I bought this book after being intrigued by the title. I love black stuff and often wear black clothes. It's not about trying to appear slimmer or anything like that, but black is just simple, classy, and no fuss. But I digress. Okay, this book provides an exploratory visual narrative to reveal and celebrate the artists, aesthetics, and styles of gothic visual arts.
**2. Shame and Grace by Lewis B. Smedes**
I bought this book because shame was one of the topics discussed in my church last year. I wanted to learn more about it because, believe it or not, all of us are dealing with a varying degree of shame personally.
**3. So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore**
Like shame, insecurity is one of the issues I am dealing with (don't judge). And this book is an eye-opener because men deal with insecurities, too, not just women.
**4. My Bible**
There is no explanation needed for this one. I bought this Bible 13 years ago, and it is still my favorite Bible.
**5. You Belong From Belong Tour Speakers and Friends**
This book is a 52 weeks devotional written by various Christian speakers. This book is also one of my favorite reads. It is simple but thought-provoking.
**6. Blockchain Revolution by Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott**
I bought this book several years ago because I wanted to learn more about blockchain and its impact on modern societies. It's pretty thick, and the font is small, so I am taking my time with this one.
**7. Discourse With Birds, Poems of Malaysia by Liew Suet Fun**
This self-published book of poetry is a gem. I love poetry and was genuinely surprised to find this copy tucked away in a bookshop's shelf.
**8. Our Daily Bread Journey Through Series**
A dear friend of mine gave these devotional books to me as Christmas presents. I am currently reading the book of James, and having this book as a guide to gain new insight from the Bible is precious.
**9. Legendary Women of the Bible by American Bible Society**
I love this magazine. This magazine features women from the Bible and the lessons they are teaching us. Their stories reveal something about the human condition, God's nature, and His work in the lives of His people.
**10. Sarawak Tattoo Mandalas by Olivia JD (that's me!)**
Yes, this is the first coloring book I published in 2015. It contains 15 beautifully illustrated mandalas inspired by Sarawak tribal tattoo motifs. You can purchase a digital copy (PDF) of this book in my Gumroad shop. I have it inside my tote bag because I want to choose the best illustrations to mint as NFTs. https://coloringiship.gumroad.com/l/HzvMF
**11. Notebooks, journals, sketchbooks, pens**
These are just various journals and sketchbooks I am currently using. I use a different notebook for sermon notes, Bible insights, and daily musings.
**So that is all from me. What do you think about these books? Have you read any one of them? Do you keep a bag full of books like I do?**
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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
House Hunting | We Decided to Move Out After Unpleasant Experiences With Neighbors
Hi all...for the past few days I have been busy and couldn't spend time reading and commenting here. After a series of unpleasant incidents with our neighbors (more on that later), my husband and I decided to find a new place to stay. So I have been busy house-hunting since Sunday.
**Unpleasant Neighbor 1**
We have been staying at this walk-up apartment for the past 4 years. The rent is very affordable, and it is near the kids' school and my hubby's office. We have no personal issues with any of our neighbors. Still, I have to be honest that I am not very comfortable with the religious practices of one particular neighbor. This family is staying right downstairs, and to their credit, they have been keeping their compounds clean all the time. But the thing is, they would perform their religious duties that involved burning incense twice a day. The smoke from those incense would last at least 30 minutes to one hour. Now, it doesn't smell bad, but the aroma is strong and intense, which I hate. And it blows straight up to my windows because we live right upstairs. Yes, we do close our doors and windows while they are burning it, but I think after four years of being respectful and tolerant of others' religious beliefs, I have had enough. I feel forced to close my windows, and it annoys me that I have to be the one to give in all the time. Malaysia is a multi-cultural and multi-religious country. And being a true blue Malaysian, I respect everyone's religious beliefs. I will not prohibit or persecute (or say anything bad about) anyone for practicing what they believe in. Still, deep within, it annoys me greatly. So the only way to be at peace with this is for us to move out and let them practice their religion in peace.
**Unpleasant Neighbor 2**
This new neighbor lives right upstairs from us. Two things contributed to their unpleasantness:
**1) Unwashed litter box**
Now, I am a cat person and so do my kids. But we can't keep one because of my son's health issue. I have nothing against anyone having fur babies except for this one thing. They keep the litter box on the balcony, and they don't clean it regularly. You can guess what happened. The shitty litter odor would waft through my windows several times a day. We complained to the management, and they cleaned up a bit, but it's still happening.
**2) They clogged their toilet, and the leakage drips down to my bathroom**
This would be the straw that broke the camel's back. We made several complaints to the management. After investigating, they found the toilet was clogged because of used sanitary pads. I don't have to explain this further. It's too disgusting.
You just draw your own conclusion about this neighbor's sense of hygiene.
I have had enough, and it's time to move out.
Of course, there are other reasons, such as my kids are growing up and need their own privacy. We need a bigger space, and the kids need their own rooms. Both have been bickering at times because one or the other invaded his or her privacy.
**Where Did I House-Hunt?**
We don't intend to move far from here. We have set our sight on an upscale neighborhood on top of the hill, less than 1KM from here. This residential area is called Seri Puteri Hills, located in Bandar Puteri Puchong. Here is the promotional video of the place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NU2lBSWUsM
And some photos of the townvillas. Photo source: IOI Properties. https://www.ioiproperties.com.my/bandar-puteri-puchong-puchong-jaya/seri-puteri-hills-town-villa
Do we intend to move to one of these luxurious villas? Of course not! We would never afford that. A month's rent would be at least MYR3000 (USD688) on a basic unit. We plan to rent an apartment in a nearby and more affordable condominium. There is a vacant unit and I have called the property agent to make an appointment to view the place this Saturday. I hope the viewing will go well...crossing my fingers 😊
And here's a video I took of the road leading to the place. This residential area is quiet, has a low population density, and is full of trees! It's a great place for families.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfnwUyLTqlM
This place is about 2KM to the Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve and Taman Wawasan Recreational Park. And that is another reason why we love this place.
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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
Celebrating My Hubby 46th Birthday
Hi all...how was your weekend? I hope you had a great time whatever you did throughout the weekend. We celebrated my hubby's 46th birthday yesterday. However, we didn't plan any big and grand celebration for him. We usually don't make a habit of celebrating birthdays with parties or things like that. We prefer not to make a big fuss about it and choose to celebrate it simply within the family or with close friends. I noticed that in some countries, at least those people who share their birthday celebrations on Hive, they made birthdays a very special occasion. They would typically hold a feast with grand decor and mouth-watering food.
Regardless of how you choose to celebrate it, the most important thing is you have fun and use that special day to encourage and appreciate the birthday girl/boy. It's just different strokes for different folks.
Initially, I wanted to buy him a cake, but he said it wasn't necessary because he had a dental procedure a day prior and still felt uncomfortable. A cake would aggravate it further, and he decided not to have one this year.
The kids wished him heartfelt birthday wishes early in the morning. They were eager to celebrate because they were hoping to have a taste of the birthday cake! Unfortunately, there was no cake this year 😂
We spent some quality time and went grocery shopping at Aeon hypermarket. We even made a trip to our optician to get a new prescription glasses for me. I usually get my vision examined at least once every couple of years and change my glasses. I have been wearing spectacles since I was 10 years old. But my vision readings/vitals don't change much for the past 30-plus years. The only difference is now that I am in my 40s, I have presbyopia, too, which means my glasses are multi-focal.
We head to Borneo Asian Food (SugarBun) to have our dinner. My husband ordered a set of rice and chicken soup that he shared with the son. https://read.cash/@coloringiship/sugarbun-borneo-asian-food-restaurant-conezion-putrajaya-nostalgia-and-comfort-food-ef81dfaf
This was my daughter's dinner.
And mine - fried tilapia and rice. I wish we could have a vegetable option, but sadly it wasn't on the menu 🤦♀.
And a picture of the birthday boy. Yup, he turns 46 and still rocking it. We are just grateful that he is still blessed with good health, but it doesn't mean he can indulge in whatever unhealthy food whenever he wants 😅. But I think his top priority is to have a more work-life balance. His job as a Broadcasting System Integrator could be very stressful and challenging. And his busy work schedule was the main reason he couldn't write here on Hive 😏.
Happy birthday, mi amor 😘
*May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace. ~ Numbers 6:24-26*
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**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
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The Pursuit of Gratitude | How Am I Fortunate?
I am writing this in an attempt to cultivate a gratitude habit. Some of my church folks have been going ga-ga over ***Brene Brown's book, The Gifts of Imperfection***. Initially, I wasn't keen to pick up the book and start reading because I have a long reading list. But I was curious, so I bought the book earlier this month. It was very expensive, MYR79.90 (USD18.52). But I bought it anyway. I am currently 3/4 into the book. I like it. I like the message that Brene is trying to communicate to her readers. But I don't like how she writes because her sentences are hard for me to understand. She doesn't make her point across succinctly but beats around the bush in many parts of the book. I had to read some of the sentences several times to understand her points. Nonetheless, I still like the book. https://peakd.com/hive-180164/@coloringiship/may-the-books-you-read-light-the-way-or-whats-inside-my-book-totebag
One of the chapters that resonate with me is ***Guidepost 4: Cultivating Gratitude and Joy: Letting Go of Scarcity and Fear of the Dark.*** Brene talks about practicing gratitude which is no foreign concept to me. But what struck me the most was when she wrote about "foreboding joy." Here's an excerpt from her book:
For years, my fear of something terrible happening to my children actually prevented me from fully embracing joy and gratitude. Every time I came too close to softening into sheer joyfulness about my children and how much I love them, I'd picture something terrible happening; I'd picture losing everything in a flash.
I can relate to that.
And this is what she wrote a couple of paragraphs later:
...the best way to transform our compulsive need to dress-rehearse tragedy in times of overwhelming joy is to practice gratitude. Rather than using that vulnerability shiver that comes when things feel "too good" as a warning sign, use it as a reminder to practice gratitude. Also, know that if joy scares you—you're not alone. Most of us have experienced being on the edge of joy only to be overcome by vulnerability and thrown into fear. Until we can tolerate vulnerability and transform it into gratitude, intense feelings of love will often bring up the fear of loss.
I can totally relate to that.
How often in the past had I stopped myself mid-celebration and whispered in my heart to "reduce" my happiness because all this jolly good time might be taken away instantly? It's like I live my life in the constant state of waiting for the other shoe to drop. So I "tone down" my happiness and brace myself for the next disaster in life that would inevitably happen.
According to Brene, gratitude is the antidote to this fear. And I think that makes sense. We are grumpy people who are badly hungry for joy because we are starving from a lack of gratitude.
What does gratitude have to do with my title "How Am I Fortunate?". I mentioned earlier that I wanted to cultivate a gratitude habit. That question is supposed to make me reflect and see in what ways I am fortunate. I am not going to list down everything, but I will be grateful for one thing only.
I am fortunate because I have a strong sense of self-awareness. I am not bragging, but it really is one of my strong traits that others often point out. My ex-counselor encouraged me to continue cultivating it because it gives me the power to influence the outcomes of my fight against mental struggles. There are many more benefits, but this is the benefit my ex-counselor emphasized the most.
So there. I have reflected on the "gratitude" question and answered it accordingly. I will continue to answer more questions in the coming days and continue my pursuit of gratitude.
As for the book, I still have several more chapters left to read. But I will take my time to reflect on the points Brene presented and seek answers or, if needed, confront myself with my shortcomings and resolve to change.
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
Justice For Bella | A Victim of Abuse
Two court cases have recently dominated the news, and both are related to abuse. The first case is happening here in Malaysia and is so horrific that I have to avoid reading about it because it could become an anxiety trigger for me. If you google "Justice for Bella" it will return at least eight search results pages related to this case.
**Justice For Bella**
Source: Focus Malaysia https://focusmalaysia.my/bellas-case-probe-civil-servants-who-failed-the-teenager-too-ngo-says/
Who is Bella? Bella is an orphan abused by her guardian since 2021. Bella is a child with Down syndrome. Her case came to light when some social workers visited her guardian's residence. They were shocked to discover she was covered in open wounds with pus all over her body. You can read about her case in this article. Please be warned. It contains graphic images that may upset some viewers. Many news outlets cover her case and are available online for anyone to read. https://says.com/my/news/justiceforbella-m-sians-cry-foul-over-alleged-abuse-of-oku-child-by-her-carer
Bella was badly abused. These were some of the torture she had to endure:
She was forced to eat her own feces
Beaten with a cloth hanger
Splashed with hot water
Forced into isolation in a room
Forced to eat chillis
What kind of human being would do that to a disabled child? This person is no human but a demon straight from the belly of hell!
When the case first came to light, Malaysians were extremely appalled by her condition. Many Malaysians expressed their anger on social media and demanded the police haul her guardian to court. The tag #justiceforbella has been trending on social media since 2021. https://peakd.com/trending/justiceforbella
Her guardian was charged under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment or a RM50,000 (USD11652) fine, or both if convicted. She pleaded not guilty to two counts of abandonment and abusing Bella. The trial is a hot topic among Malaysians almost on daily basis. I hope justice will be served swiftly, and Bella will be taken care of in a loving home for the rest of her life. The Social Welfare Department is taking care of her while her case is still pending in court.
I wonder what made her guardian abuse her? Why hate Bella so much? And if she couldn't take care of her anymore because of her special needs, why didn't she seek help from the social welfare department? What benefit did she gain from torturing the child and seeing her dying? What sick individual can sleep at night after knowing the evil things she did to a defenseless girl? Only a **PSYCHOPATH** will do this kind of thing.
**Video of the Accused**
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCWvpbFpqpE
Poor, poor Bella.
The effect of abuse has been well researched. Repeated abuse has long-lasting traumatic effects such as sleep disturbances, flashbacks, panic attacks, depression, and psychosomatic symptoms. The victims experience a myriad of emotions such as shame, guilt, abandonment, humiliation, and an enhanced sense of vulnerability. It has already been reported that Bella couldn't sleep and screamed in terror at night. She could be suffering from PTSD.
Poor, poor Bella...
The court trial is a long and arduous process. But no matter how long it takes, I hope actions must be taken, and justice must prevail!
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
Lee Seung Gi Fanart - Portrait Sketching
Who Is Lee Seung Gi?
One of the fan art that I drew recently. I am sure not many of you know this guy, well unless you are a k-drama fan. His name is Lee Seung Gi, a South Korean singer, actor, and host. I became a fan of his after I stumbled upon a clip of the variety show he hosted, Master In the House, on Youtube. The clip shows him and the rest of the cast having a lemon-eating competition. I thought who on earth would eat a whole lemon? Yeww! Just thinking of it makes my teeth hurt 😅. Unfortunately, I can't show you the clip because it has been deleted from Youtube :(.
It was very funny and I got hooked on the show. Lee Seung Gi is your typical alpha male: loud, extroverted, and take charge kind of person. He is charismatic and a very good leader to the rest of the cast. Initially, I thought he was kind of annoying 😂. Being an introvert, I naturally feel annoyed by "extravertedness" of extroverts and it didn't help that Seung Gi was kind of bossy at times. But as time went by he grew on me. I love his integrity, charisma, leadership quality, and he is just freaking funny and cute 😍. And he takes good care of everyone and has a strong sense of responsibility. And because of him, Master In the House has become my favorite TV show. I haven't missed an episode since its pilot episode in December 2017.
Lee Seung Gi is also an actor and the latest role he played was as a psychopath, Jung Ba Reum, in k-drama MOUSE. In my opinion, this is the best role he played and I highly recommend it to all K-drama fans. He has been confirmed to star in a new drama this year, "Love According to the Law" (literal title).
And as a singer, Lee Seung Gi has recorded 7 albums. You can listen to all of his songs on Youtube.
Progress Video
I didn't capture any progress photos of this portrait but I did make a time-lapse video sketching it from start to finish. You can watch it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKKo7qmeuP4&feature=emb_title
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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
Hit That Bag | ASEAN Hive Community GIF Challenge #2
This post was originally posted on my Hive blog as part of ASEAN Hive Community
Challenge.
Hi all...here is my entry to this week's ASEAN HIVE COMMUNITY gif challenge. I wasn't sure whether I would participate in this week's challenge because I didn't know what to submit. Last week's challenge was easy because I already have a stash of photos I could easily combine to create several gifs. I didn't expect to win anything, and I submitted it just for fun and to support @justinparke 's effort to build the community and encourage engagements. I ended up winning all the prizes because I was the only participant 🤣. Thank you! https://peakd.com/@justinparke
The theme for this week's challenge is **Life In Motion**. I didn't know what to include because my days were mundane and boring. There wasn't much traveling other than sending and picking up the kids to/from school, grocery shopping, and other boring stuff. How could I make it interesting?
An idea came to me after being inspired by @me2selah 's post.
Well, I could include something related to my daily workout too. For those who do not know me, I love to workout every day for 1 hour. My routine consists of a couple of days of 5K run/brisk walk around the community park, 2 days of fitness boxing, and a couple of days for either a cardio activity or strength training. (You can read more about my fitness journey in this post.) Since yesterday was Saturday and the kids weren't in school, I headed to the park for my 5K run with my husband. I instructed him to take a short video of me running, but I did not use that for my entry. Still unsatisfied, I told him to take another video of me hitting the bag. This video is purely for this contest, which explains why I was wearing that flip flop 😅. https://peakd.com/@me2selah https://peakd.com/hive-141359/@me2selah/asean-hive-community-gif-challenge-2-or-shoot-that-ball https://peakd.com/hive-141359/@coloringiship/on-the-verge-of-death-or-my-health-challenges-losing-weight-and-fitness-journey
I made this gif using a free gif generator from Adobe. This website is very simple to use. Just upload your video and trim and select the part you want to make into a gif. You can choose 3 gif qualities - high, medium, and low. I went for the high-quality gif. And here is the result...(I am reposting the lower quality gif due to Read.Cash file size limitation). https://www.adobe.com/express/feature/video/video-to-gif
That's it for my entry this week. For those who are still on the fence, I encourage you to participate in this week's challenge or the next ones. Joining Hive contests is one of the surest ways to "expose" yourself to the community, building engagement and following. It's perfectly okay if you don't win though winning doesn't hurt as that builds your wallet too 😁.
And before I sign off, here's a couple of selfies from hubby and me. The photos were taken at the park yesterday morning. Please don't mind us...we are just a couple of vain middle-aged folks 😆
**Note:** ***The result of this challenge is out and I won second place. Yay! If you are on*** ***Hive******, feel free to give me a follow or drop by in the comment sections to say hi. If you want to sign up, you may use this link (referral link).*** ***Hive registration.*** https://peakd.com/@coloringiship/posts https://tinyurl.com/myhive1901
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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
Eight Underage Boys Mowed Down By A Car, The Driver Sent to Jail But What About the Parents?
I was deliberating within myself whether I should or should not write this post, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and go ahead.
One of the hottest news in Malaysia that has sparked debates all over the country recently is no other than the sentencing of a young woman, Sam Ke Ting, for reckless driving, which resulted in the death of eight teenage cyclists five years ago. So many people feel dissatisfied with the High Court decision, including me, and I will tell you why shortly.
Here's an old video about this high-profile case that has caused an uproar in Malaysia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=annagnG_D4Y
Here's the gist of what happened five years ago:
A young woman, Sam Ke Ting, was on her way home after a long day at work. She was driving alone at that wee hour of the morning (3AM). She was traveling on a dark, hilly, and winding highway when she crashed into a group of forty (yes, you read that right) teenagers (13-16 years old) who were riding "basikal lajak" (modified bicycles). Six of them died on the spot, and two others died on the way to the hospital. And the rest were injured.
She had originally been acquitted and discharged by the magistrates' court in Johor Bahru in October 2019. But the victims' family appealed to the High Court, and the judge convicted and sentenced her to six years in jail and fined her RM6,000 (USD1416) for reckless driving.
Sam was only 22 years old when she mowed down the boys.
Pretty intense if you asked me.
Forty teenage boys were racing on the highway at that ungodly hour. They should be at home, sleeping in their parents' care. But they sneaked out or lied to their parents about their whereabouts. A lot of Malaysian felt the judgment was unfair. Before I proceed, let me explain to you the gravity of the case.
This is the "basikal lajak" or the modified bicycle the boys rode on. The underage group was joyriding at 3AM on that stretch of highway.
The specifications of the modified bikes:
High seat
No brake
No bell
Riding without a helmet
Image source: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=3013970695279884&id=161086313901684
And this is how they rode the bike, in a big group, on the highway, late at night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7WRcbJ1Cus
And in this video this group of boys were racing and almost got hit by a car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RkmQ1t_JOY
Eight boys died senselessly on that fateful night five years ago. They were all underaged and sneaked out in the dead of night without their parents knowing. The driver, Sam Ke Ting, was convicted and sentenced to 6 years in jail with MYR6000 fines. And here is the interesting thing that caused an uproar in Malaysia. ***The boys' parents were not hauled up by police or courts.*** They should be charged and punished for gross negligence of their young children's lives. But nope. Nothing has been done to their parents. I agree that the boys were at fault and the driver was wrong too. Unfortunately, the boys died, and the driver was sent to jail. The parents should be held responsible too. In fact, the parents have the biggest share of responsibility: who bought the bikes? The parents knew their kids loved to race on the roads, and the bikes were modified. Their parents knew to some extent their love for dangerous racing on modified bikes. The parents knew, and some even admitted that they couldn't control or impose discipline on their kids. So they just let them be. They let them endanger their lives and the life of other road users. This tragedy was preventable but the people who hold the most responsibility didn't do their job properly.
It's just very wrong to let the kids roam at night doing such a dangerous and illegal race at such an ungodly hour. But nope. The parents were not held responsible for this tragedy.
I could go on and on about parenting failures, weird Malaysian law, or things like that, but I end this here. It is very upsetting how unfair it was for Sam Ke Ting to carry the weight of the blame while no actions were taken against the parents.
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
Lead image source: Pixabay https://pixabay.com/photos/bike-trip-friends-cycling-tourism-1534902/
SugarBun Borneo Asian Food Restaurant, Conezion Putrajaya | Nostalgia and Comfort Food
Hi all...I will share about our trip to Sugarbun Borneo Asian Food Restaurant located at Conezion, IOI Resort City, Putraya (Malaysia). I know it sounds not so interesting since there are plenty of nicer places or restaurants for anyone to visit. So what is so special about this restaurant? If you are a Sarawakian (East Malaysian from Borneo), you would know this place very well. Perhaps if you are like me, this restaurant is your first introduction to the world of fast-food chains before being introduced to the international ones like McDonalds, KFC, Burger King etc. Here's a bit of introduction about this place, quoted directly from their website:
Established in 1979, we have grown from a humble ice cream parlour into an innovative Food and Beverage Franchise Restaurant Brand. With monumental presence in Sarawak (East Malaysia) (even in rural towns such as Mukah, Kapit and Saratok), we have moved into international markets successfully - Brunei Darussalam, Bangladesh, Australia and Indonesia.
Many of us grew up with this fast-food chain. Many of my memorable moments in life were celebrated at their various branches throughout Sarawak - my first date, hang out with friends, countless family meals, and even an ugly break-up where I splashed a cup of Coke (or Pepsi) at my two-timing ex-boyfriend! I have so many memories of this place! Of course, I don't mean *this outlet* at Conezion but this fast-food chain, in general.
So, when I heard they are opening an outlet at Conezion, I was very excited. We live not very far from Putrajaya (Malaysia's federal administrative capital), so this place is fairly close to us. There are other outlets around Klang Valley, but most are located in downtown Kuala Lumpur, where traffic and parking spaces are horrendous.
The drive to IOI Resort City/Conezion was roughly 20 minutes from our apartment. I have never really explored this place despite staying close by. I prefer to visit parks and nature and often avoid commercial buildings and spaces. Malls bored me to death simply because they all look the same. I don't understand the excitement of crowding a place where the goods have exorbitant prices. It is just a waste of time and money. I don't shop at high-end shops or buy branded stuff and prefer to shop for clothes or groceries at hypermarkets where the prices are lower. But that is just me.
So these buildings greeted us as we drove into the area. Condominiums, 5-stars hotels, and corporate establishments.
It wasn't hard to locate the restaurant because it faced the main road. The sign - Borneo Asian Food. There are two 'versions' of this restaurant:
The classic SugarBun
Borneo Asian Food - these outlets are only available in Klang Valley
This year (2016), we have launched "SugarBun - Borneo Asian Food" in Kuala Lumpur through a fresh, multi-stall concept, with each stall promising specific signatures. With this, we have reduced our service times and simplified operational processes. We intend to bring the best food from East Malaysia to the world, under one roof. ~ Source: SugarBun website
The menu. Unlike the classic SugarBun, BAF doesn't offer a wide variety of selections, but they do include their signature dishes -
Broasted Chicken Meal
Saucy Kano Broasted Chicken Meal
Borneo Eco Fish Meal
We ordered a set of Broasted Chicken Meal, and a set of Broasted Chicken & Fish Fillet Meal. We decided not to dine in to avoid the evening crowd, so we did take-aways.
The classic packaging!
Here's a short video of the interior. Check it out here. The place was void of customers, but they started to trickle in by the time we left. https://3speak.tv/watch?v=coloringiship/pahjpzpm&utm_souce=player_brand
We paid for the food and left. The sun was setting by the time we left, so I took a snap.
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
On the Verge Of Death | My Health Challenges, Losing Weight & Fitness Journey
Hi all...this post is long overdue because I needed to sift through so many photos and select the best ones to include in this post. But before I proceed, here's a disclaimer:
*This is a very personal post and it is about my journey. It is about what I have been through, my experiences, and things that worked out for me. I am not giving anyone professional advice or anything like that. I am not endorsing anything other than living a healthier lifestyle. I am not saying my experience or choices are better than anyone else. If you disagree with my choices, please refrain from judging and criticizing. And please refrain from giving unsolicited advice too. It's not appreciated. Thank you.*
**Diagnosed With Cholelithiasis and Cholecystitis**
About five years ago, I was diagnosed with cholelithiasis (gallbladder stones) and cholecystitis (inflammation of the gallbladder) after suffering from chronic gastritis. This disease causes complications when stones obstruct the common bile duct that impedes bile flow from the liver to the intestines. The duct blockage caused severe abdominal pains, and I had to be hospitalized. The doctor suggested surgery to remove my gallbladder before the disease progressed to a more serious stage which could be fatal.
However, I didn't go for the surgery immediately because I was dealing with some other challenges simultaneously. So, needless to say, I was in and out of the hospital several times before the surgery was performed a couple of months later.
I was recovering without serious complications and went about my life disease-free for the next 2 years. In April 2020, I started to experience another episode of severe abdominal pain similar to what I had experienced before. Initially, I thought it was just a bad case of gastritis and ignored it. But it turned serious when I started to develop a high fever. I made an appointment to see my doctor, and an Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) was scheduled immediately. And guess what...she found bile sludge on my bile duct that obstructs the bile flow once again! The obstruction caused liver inflammation, which was why I had a fever. An ERCP (endoscopic procedure to remove the sludge) was scheduled first thing the next morning, and I was told to fast in preparation for the procedure.
The procedure was a success, and again, I went back to my normal life as I had before. Everything went well for the next 3 months until July 2020, I had another episode of severe abdominal pain! Oh no, not again!
However, this time I was diagnosed with a more serious illness - stones in my liver! I went through unbearable pain and was on the verge of death. I was hospitalized several times before the doctors removed all traces of stones from my liver. I am not going to bore you with the details of my illness. It suffices to say that I almost died and was in a lot of pain, and took countless intravenous drips and pills. My hands were blue-black from numerous needle pokes and procedures. 2020 was a terrible time not just because of the pandemic but also because I was going through my own personal hell concurrently.
I was finally given a clean bill of health on my last visit to the doctor in October 2020.
**Time To Reflect**
I spent the next few months reflecting on my experience. Why did this happen to me? What needs to change to prevent it from happening again in the future?
I researched the disease and found that I fit the 4F criteria - female, fat, forty, fertile. I can't change the fact that I am an over forty female who is yet to experience menopause. But I do have control over one thing - fat. My family has a strong genetic predisposition to obesity and cardiovascular diseases. It doesn't help that we have an apple-shaped body, which accumulates fat mostly on our tummy. It seemed beyond my control, but I told myself I would not be defeated by my genetics. I resolved to change my dietary habit and include more physical activities in my daily life.
I was 74kg (163 lbs) at my heaviest, and that was 5 years ago. It was a lot of weight to carry for someone who is just 150cm (4 ft 9 inches). I wasn't happy with how I looked, and I felt tired easily. Minimal exertion would make me breathless. I knew I was not doing well physically, but I ignored it.
These pictures were taken when I was at my heaviest. I was smiling all the time, but deep within, I felt ashamed of how bad I looked. I remember when the doctors were desperately looking for the veins in my arms, but they were having a hard time because my arm was too fat. That moment gave me an epiphany - I need to do something for my health.
**It's Time To Change**
The traumatic experiences I had to deal with caused me to develop depression and anxiety. And that was when I decided to take the opportunity to seek help from a mental health professional and started my counseling in November 2020. During one of the sessions, my counselor encouraged me to pursue healthy living and make small changes to my dietary habit. She suggested I go for yoga, and I implemented her suggestions. Baby steps at first, but I felt so empowered to do more every time I accomplished something.
I evaluated my diet and decided to adopt the Malaysian Healthy Plate (MHP), which emphasizes on Quarter Quarter Half (QQH) concept.
¼ plate grains or grain products, preferably whole grains such as brown rice or wholemeal bread
¼ plate fish or, poultry, meat, or egg
½ plate of fruits and vegetables
Some pictures of my typical daily meals.
I started to exercise too. As I mentioned above, I began to do yoga daily. After a couple of months of it, I felt I wasn't progressing much, and I decided to try something more strenuous - jog. I signed up for several virtual marathons under the 5K category. Lockdowns and Covid restrictions didn't deter me from completing my runs. When we were prohibited from going to the parks, I completed my run around my apartment. I was determined not to give excuses. I worked out 5 to 6 days a week, and as I became fitter, I started to sign up for the virtual half marathons. My weight slowly melted, and I felt stronger than ever before. My mental health began to improve too, and after 6 months of counseling, I was given the green light to stop my sessions.
However, I discovered jogging/running wasn't too kind to my knees. I had to find something gentle on my knees but still give me the intense workout I enjoyed. And I discovered boxing after watching a Korean drama. (I had a celeb crush on the main character, who was a boxer 😁). I thought, well, why not? It looks fun. Cardio boxing or fitness boxing is a big thing among Hollywood celebrities, and there are plenty of YT videos about it.
Cardio-boxing is a combination of the traditional training movements of a boxer—including sparring, shadow boxing, and blows delivered to a boxing bag—structured so as to be performed in sequences, similar to those of aerobics classes, that have a primarily aerobic training effect. Cardio-boxing also developed its own offshoot, cardio kickboxing, where martial arts movements involving blows delivered with the feet are incorporated into the training routine. Source: Encyclopedia.com https://www.encyclopedia.com/sports/sports-fitness-recreation-and-leisure-magazines/cardio-boxing
I fell in love with this sport because it incorporates cardio and strength training. Someone suggested I train at a boxing gym, but I had to decline her offer due to some challenges. I bought a pair of 10oz boxing gloves, a medium-size punching bag, and hand wraps. Simple equipment, but I always had a blast working out at home. Here are some of the things I have at my mini-gym at home - resistant bands, boxing boots, a smartwatch to track my progress, gloves, wraps. I don't go to the gym, but that is no excuse to not exercise.
My punching bag and gloves.
My collection of bandanas or scarves. A bandana is an essential piece of my sportswear to prevent sweat from trickling into my eyes 😅
The entrance to a local park where I go for my jog or walk.
And my collection of marathon medals. I am very proud of my collection 😘
**The Result...I Am A Work-In-Progress**
This is me now, 15kg (33 lbs) lighter. I am not putting up this picture here to show how good I look. I am just so proud of myself for accomplishing this. Never in my wildest dream that I dare to achieve this, but here I am. My physical health is not the only thing that improved. I am doing so much better mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
I will continue my fitness journey for the rest of my life. My day is incomplete without exercise, and I work out 5-6 days a week, 1-hour session each and every time. It's a promise I made to myself.
**My Motivation and Final Thoughts**
My motivation? Simple, my family. While I was lying alone on my hospital bed, I thought about my husband, my kids, my mom, my siblings. I realized that I wasn't the only one who was suffering but my family was badly affected because of my illness. I had to send my kids to live with my relatives because my husband had to work, and we had no babysitters. It was hard for them, and it was hard for my husband too. He was the one who had to fork out the money to pay for my medical bills. My insurance was maxed out, and we had to settle the rest of the bills using our savings. I spend close to MYR30K (USD7K) on extra expenses like paying for deposits and stuff like that. My siblings and mom helped us a lot and I am forever grateful for their unwavering support. Some of that money was from my Steemit earnings. *(Side note: that explains why I am not a whale yet 😂).*
I resolved to change my bad habit and become a better person. I will not become a burden to my family and vow to always try my best to keep the promise to myself. I might still fall sick again in the future but at least my conscience is clear, and I am doing my best to reduce the risk of that happening again.
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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
I Still Haven't Got My Mojo Back | Working On Women Empowerment Series
Hi all...I know it's late, but I want to write this post before going off to bed. I thought I might post this tomorrow instead, but my weekends are always packed with activities, and I doubted I would have free time to post.
I mentioned experiencing an art block in one of my posts some time ago. Well, guess what, it hasn't gone away. It has been more or less a couple of months, and I haven't got my mojo back. It is very frustrating, and there isn't much I can do but keep showing up daily and get busy and do something. I tried to take a break, but that made me feel anxious because I couldn't shake off the feeling that I needed to do something.
I am careful not to let my mental health deteriorate and would scale down my activities if I started to struggle. I never really mention my mental struggles in my posts, maybe once or twice in the past. I will not talk about it here either because it feels a bit uncomfortable and raw right now.
So for the past few days, I have been struggling to complete this painting from my **Women Empowerment** series. I have been working on this series for the past couple of years, and I don't think I will stop working on it because this topic is very dear to me. This is the first time I have used the watercolor canvas panel to paint. I purchased several canvas panels and other art supplies as a birthday gift for myself in February. I made a post about it here: Derwent Inktense Water-Soluble Ink Pencils Review - Set of 36 Pencils . I will make a review post about this panel once I complete the painting. And I will talk more about this painting too once I finish it. https://peakd.com/hive-174301/@coloringiship/derwent-inktense-water-soluble-ink-pencils-review-set-of-36-pencils
As you can see, I wrote “I have thunder thighs and I am hot” on this painting. It doesn’t take a genius to guess what the subject matter is. For decades the female body is expected to be slim, trim, lean. Tight, toned muscles. Six-pack abs. Hard bodies. But that sounds too masculine, doesn’t it? Women with rounded bellies, padded hips, curvy a.k.a thunder thighs, are frowned upon. We need to fix those “problem areas” to conform to societal standards. Young girls and adults women alike are brainwashed by media every day, and it’s no wonder too many of us have learned to dislike our bodies. I could talk on and on about this topic but let's save that for another post 😅
Before I end this post, I would like to show you some of my Women Empowerment series paintings. I completed this one about a month ago, but I have yet to varnish it to seal the painting.
And here are 5 more paintings in the series. I have sold merch and copies of these paintings to fans worldwide for the past couple of years. I am quite proud of these collections and regard them as some of my finest work.
I am thinking of tokenizing this series on NFTShowroom, but I haven't worked on its details. I am careful not to take on too many works at one time or risk getting myself burnout. https://nftshowroom.com/
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
Let's Get Goofy With the Kids | ASEAN Hive Community GIF Challenge
Hi all...this post is entirely different from any post I have ever made. It's time to get goofy with the kids! As the title suggests, this post is my entry to the first ASEAN Hive Community GIF Challenge. *(Note: if any of you are in Hive, feel free to give* *me a a follow.* *You may leave your Hive handle in the comments below ;)* https://peakd.com/hive-141359/@asean.hive/asean-hive-community-gif-challenge-1-lets-get-goofy https://peakd.com/@coloringiship/posts
I haven't participated in any Hive contest or challenge since my Steemit days, which was a couple of years ago? I used to be active in Steemit art contests back in the days, and I remember they used to be fun. Maybe it was just my luck, but somehow, I always won something hehehe...I kind of miss those contests. I am not sure if any of those contest organizers are still around, maybe they are, but I haven't come across any of them here on Hive. I took a couple of years of hiatus from Hive since the debacle with Justin Sun (on Steemit) and the whales' war. I felt the environment on Steemit was toxic at that time, and it was not fun anymore when everyone started to take sides. Anyway, enough of my rambling, and let's get back to the post's main topic.
I took these pictures about 2 years ago when we were under the first lockdown. We were stuck at home all day, every day, and everyone was getting on everyone's nerves. The kids were restless because they couldn't go out. And so did my husband and I. We were getting frustrated with the fear of Covid and the uncertainties it brought. So what did we do? Face Warp app came to the rescue! I downloaded the app from Google Playstore just for fun with the kids. I remember we laughed so much while using the app and generated all kinds of silly faces. I saved the generated images and uploaded them to Google Photos. They remained there, forgotten for a couple of years until @justinparke announced he is hosting a brand new ASEAN Hive community challenge. I didn't have any idea what to submit or where to begin. I am not creative in creating funny stuff. Then I remember I had these photos from Face Warp. Great idea! I downloaded them, edited and combined them all to become four different GIFs. https://peakd.com/@justinparke
The first GIF is the combination of my daughter's silly faces 😂.
And the second GIF is my son's 😂.
And of course...that's me, looking like a disgruntled Na'vi's housewife 🤣
And my hubby was not spared too. He reminded me of Worf, son of Mogh, the pure-blooded Klingon at heart. Minus the hair and beard, of course 🤣.
So that's our entry for this week's challenge. I don't know if it will make the cut, but if it doesn't, that's perfectly okay! We just want to have fun and a good laugh!
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
Unboxing My New Tripod
So I have been wanting to buy this table tripod for a while now but for some reason, I just never got around to it. But a recent sale on Shopee prompted me to take action, I mean since it's cheap, why not?
I need the tripod to record my art videos. I have a YT channel and though I am not active, I do want to record my drawing, and sketching videos and post them on my channel. However, I am not happy with the quality of the videos mainly because https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxlTVXZ21taTb2HeUZ6vXVQ/videos
bad lighting
bad camera placement
I am inept at photography or videography.
So I figured perhaps with this tripod the quality could be improved somewhat, fingers crossed.
Here's one of my videos and you would see what I meant...and give me a follow if you want to 😘
https://youtu.be/_Y481sdlVSw
**Unboxing the Tripod**
It took 5 days for the tripod to arrive which was mehh...considering it was 'shipped' from Shah Alam, roughly 20KM from where I am staying. Why took so long? 😒
But I am quite happy with the overall packaging. It was wrapped securely with bubble wraps and boxes and nothing was dented, broken, or missing.
I unwrapped all the parts and hmmm...I need to figure out how to assemble the thing on my own since no instruction manual was included. I am dumb at assembling things and such tasks are usually done by my husband. My mind just goes off somewhere else whenever assembling is required.
But after fumbling with the parts for a good 5 minutes, I managed to assemble the ring light and the tripod stand *gasp*!
I struggled a bit in attaching the light onto the stand. I had to be careful or I might drop the light and broke it. But phewww...after several tries it was securely attached to the rotation head on the stand.
Here's the coolest thing. Being a total noob I didn't realize that the light has 3 different modes - white light, warm light, and warm yellow light. So I could change the modes using this cool USB switch connected to my laptop. And guess what, I can adjust the brightness levels, not one, not two, not three, but 10 freaking brightness levels! How cool is that?
It includes one Bluetooth shutter but I haven't tried that one yet because I was too excited and couldn't wait to write this review 😏
And voila!
Oh I forgot to mention that the stand is clipped to my desk. I have a small workspace so this type of tripod is so much suitable for me. Whenever unused I just retract it to the side. Oh...and yes if you noticed, I have my marathon medals in the picture too LOL. I got all medals (12 in all, I think) accomplishing virtual marathons throughout 2021. But that's a story for another post in the future 😁.
So that's all for now. I look forward to recording videos using this brand-new tripod. I am currently working on my second NFT collection and hopefully, I can capture videos of my drawing process 😃 https://coloringiship.com/nft/
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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
What Christina Has Taught Me
I posted in Dbuzz recently about my friend, Christina, who passed away last week. She passed away peacefully after many years of battling cancer. Though it was heartwrenching to lose someone, I wasn't surprised by the news. She had deteriorated rapidly since the beginning of the year. Everyone hoped she would pull through, but God called her home when the time was right. https://peakd.com/hive-193084/@coloringiship/pimg4rmro4unin2yrk0l8a
To be honest, I wasn't close to her. She was more an acquaintance than a close friend. We were 'sisters in Christ' because we attended the same church for many years. However, we were never in the same ministry, so we never really got to build our friendship. We talked casually in church, but that was the extent of that friendship. Other than knowing each other's basic background, we had never known each other on a deeper level. And yes, she was my makeup artist when I tied the knot and when I was so new to the church and hardly knew anyone. I will always be grateful that she was willing to extend a helping hand and offered her service despite not knowing me personally. I will always be thankful for her kindness and generosity. I mean, she could have said no to me. And I would have understood because I knew she had a baby daughter who needed her attention.
My husband and I attended her online funeral service. What I meant was that the service was broadcasted online via Zoom to benefit those who couldn't participate in it physically. We wept as we listened to various eulogies, childhood anecdotes from siblings, fond memories from relatives, etc. She loved to welcome family and friends to her home and cooked for everyone. She just enjoyed spending time with those she loved. Everyone loved her. The stories of her selflessness, friendliness, and kindness stood out the most. And she loved God the most and always shared her faith with anyone she met. She continued to teach us about servanthood even in her death.
I reflected long and hard for the past few days because death often changes our perspective on life. What kind of legacy do I want to leave behind? Christina had taught me the value of cherishing people more than anything. We all will die someday, but most of us don't think about death all the time, or maybe not at all. We often delude ourselves into thinking that life is perpetual, nothing bad will happen to us, and we could go on living to old age. But the fact is, accidents occur every day. People fall sick. We can't predict these things and plan ahead of time to prevent them from happening.
Christina's passing has changed my perspective about my relationships with people, especially my loved ones. In death, she taught me to hold my loved ones close and always make an effort to nurture that relationship. Prioritize people above things. Think more of TODAY and worry less about TOMORROW.
Life is precious. Never take anyone for granted, but cherish one another dearly. Be the light to the world. Leave a positive legacy and meaningful impact on those around us.
***Note: All pictures were taken on my wedding day, 16 years ago. Christina was my makeup artist.***
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
My Second NFT Collection – Oli Kawaii Verse – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/oli-kawaii-verse
A Portrait of My Nieces - Portrait Sketching With Time-Lapse Video
These beautiful young ladies are my nieces. Several months ago, one of them approached me and asked if I could sketch a portrait of her and her sister. I said yes, of course, I could. I had several commissioned portraits in the queue so it took me a couple of months to finally finished sketching this.
People asked me why do I love to draw people's portraits and the answer is always every individual that I drew has their own stories, their own struggles, their own joys. And I would like to bring out the "essence of an individual" through my work using my own interpretations. And I always pray for every person I drew. I pray they would always be well, be blessed, and be held by the loving God whenever they are going through trials in their lives.
**Progress Photos**
I managed to take several progress photos but you could also watch the time-lapse video of me drawing it from start to finish.
I always start a drawing from left to right to avoid smudging or smearing the graphite and dirtying the paper.
I recorded myself while drawing using an old iPhone 6 and a basic tripod.
**Materials I used:**
Acid-free 170gsm A3 paper
Various sketching pencils grade H to 12B. I used 4 different pencil brands - Staedler Lumograph, Derwent Graphic, Mitsubishi 9800, Martol, Faber Castell 9000. My favorite is Derwent Graphic and I used it the most.
Faber Castell putty eraser
Daler Rowney Perfix Fixative spray to set the graphite
Simple and inexpensive materials but still produced exquisite results 😁
**Time-lapse Video**
https://youtu.be/45zc-Q30Nwc
That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow/tip/sponsor if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
First Trip to Sarawak (Malaysia Borneo) Two Years After The Pandemic Started
This is my first post in Read.Cash showing you my family. I blogged for several years but rarely showed my family or wrote about them. I prefer to keep my privacy, and most or almost all of my posts are about my art. I wrote about personal stuff maybe once or twice throughout the years but I usually shied away from writing about personal life. But I am making an exception for this post because this trip to Sarawak is special. See, like many people living far away from home (family, relatives), we didn't get to visit our loved ones due to the travel restrictions during the pandemic. I had not been seeing my mom, physically, for the past 2 and a half years. Sarawak is just roughly 2-3 hours (depending on your destination) flight away from KL but it took us this long to make this trip home. Travel restrictions to Sarawak were relaxed sometime in October 2021 but my husband and I then decided to hold our trip because we knew the exodus of fellow stranded Sarawakians who would be traveling home throughout the final months of 2021.
So we booked our flight tickets after the holiday season and set to fly home in mid-January which was two months ago. My kids skipped school and I notified the teachers accordingly, reasons and all. And they had no objections.
**Photos of Family Luncheon**
We had a rather short trip, 9 days in total. Honestly, there wasn't enough time to catch up with everyone, so because of our time limitation, I tentatively made pre-arrangements with some groups of friends for meet-up sessions. My husband and I also hosted a luncheon for immediate family members at a local restaurant to celebrate our son's 8th birthday. Here are some photos from that luncheon.
That's my mom in the picture, with my 2 kids.
Faces are concealed to protect their privacy. Not everyone like their photos floating on the internet publicly, ya know 😘
**Mini-Reunion With High School Friends**
A couple of days later I finally had a mini-reunion with some of my high school friends. This was our first reunion since 1994 (Form 5)! Go ahead, do the math and figure out my age LOL. We had a seafood dinner at a famous local seafood eatery, Top Spot, Kuching. I would avoid this place if I could considering it was a hot spot for diners and to avoid a large crowd but since it was hard to find a better location, we decided to go ahead with it. And the food was heavenly...
Here's a photo from that dinner. I had to conceal their faces to protect my friends' privacy.
**Another Mini-Reunion But With Primary School Friends!**
A couple of days later, we drove to another town that was 5 hours away from Kuching. I had another mini-reunion but this time around it was with my primary school friends that I've known since 1985 LOL! I hadn't seen them in person since 1989 and we were only connected through Facebook for the past 10 years. It was a short meet up but we had a great time catching up with one another.
And finally, on the 7th day of our trip, we paid a visit to my dad's grave. My dad passed away 22 years ago so unfortunately he never got to meet my husband and my kids. I missed him.
So I guess that's all for now. This post is super long already. Obviously, there are countless other special moments spent with loved ones but those I shared here are just some of the highlights of this trip. If you are reading this far, THANK YOU! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
**Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!**
My First NFT Collection – Stencil 2017 – Is Now Available On OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/stencil-2017
@coloringiship
