Hello Out There.

I wanna come back to write. Are you a ready for me?

Migration

I have not entirely migrated but if you delight in a more visual presentation of myself, please go to www.othenticmom.multiply.com

Belom banyak album. But it's a start nonetheless.

Kemana Kakak Krayon?

Ya, ramai yang tertanya-tanya - Krayon takde lagi? Seperti malam ini. Saya bersama suami, duduk di Kedai Makan Mr Teh Tarik di Street 43. Seorang bapa di meja sebelah bertanya "Takde shooting lagi ker?"


Sebenarnya, memang tak ada. Dan teringin sekali suara Kak Oni kita ni didengar.

Saya dengar Khabar - Krayon Musim ke-5 akan kembali. Bestkan? But wait. Get a hold of this. I have not been told about the new season. Neither have I been told I am not in it.

Someone, months ago, told me that Krayon 5 would be a collborative effort with Malaysia. What that meant then was very fuzzy - new concept? new studio (in Malaysia kot?) new presenters? I knew nothing. But I also knew I usually am the last to know, where recording is concerned. Truth is the programme is more than just us presenters.

Some weeks back, someone else mentioned in passing that she may well be working with the programme when it does come back. Strange. For someone else had been doing it previously - takkan tukar orang yang menjaga muka dan rambut kiter macam gitu aje?

Today... I was told (surely not by a producer) indeed there is going to be a season 5. Real soon for that matter! My menggelitis fingers called E.

I asked if there was a season 5. She said yes.
I asked if she had been called to do this. She said yes.
I asked if I was going to be part of it. She said no.

So there. Kak Oni has been wiped out. No thank-yous. No goodbyes.

I was once a children's TV host in the 90s. My memories of times then are good ones... each time we had a new host, there was a welcome on air. Each time a host had to leave, we said our goodbyes. But then again, that is by Disney's standards. Production house Melayu punya standard?

Susah ker nak berterus-terang dengan saya? Saya boleh terima jika ada yang menerangkan bahawasannya rancangan ini memerlukan wajah baru yang lebih Muda, bertenaga dan takkan hamil di kaca TV lagi. Tapi yang saya hairan, does no one have the decency to tell me?

Sedemikian, saya ingin mengambil peluang ini untuk mengucapkan terima kasih kepada semua yang telah menyokong saya selama saya berada di rancangan Krayon. Ini termasuk, kakak-kakak di MAC counter yang selalu memberi saya diskaun bila saya beli makeup, abang bouncer di Pump Room kerana tidak membenarkan saya beratur untuk memasuki kelab itu minggu lalu, uncle jual air di Sekolah St Nicks kerana selalu belanja saya Milo.

Saya ni tidak lah mengharap-harapkan penghargaan apa-apa pun. Namun tidakkah ada yang melihat usaha gigih dan keikhlasan saya dalam apa yang saya lakukan? Dengan itu, saya mintak diri.

Selamat tinggal Krayon.
Selamat tinggal Kak Oni.

We Are Back!

Yes, most of you may have heard or even seen the trailers.

Indeed, KRAYON AKAN KEMBALI KE KACA TV ANDA!

And what does this mean for me?

1. I will be getting some December income. (For a freelancer, this is good news. If you are getting a 2-point-something bonus, shut up.)



2. I start my morning looking forward to work with my swell co-host, Nura. (Work? Where got work when Oni meets Nura... Bedek banyak)



3. I get time out from my kids to... err.... sing and dance. (With OTHER people's kids.)



4. I need to use my Medela pump all over again (the return of the Ibu-Lembu, so I have been labelled... Duta Susu, Ambassador Tetek.... somebody stop me for this list could go on... ).



5. I get dolled up and dressed up (like I was younger than my actual age).



6. I attempt to successfully lip-sync AND get my steps right (Abang Eddie, pusing kanan means right leg first or left hah?) will not only get to the producers' nerves, it may well invite my chroreographer to curse under his breath (Tu lah, mak orang ni, dah berat sangat after 3 seasons...)



7. I get to eat Mediacorp canteen food which is super yummmmmmyyyyyyy (Nura, Nasi Ayam on Monday - Amacam?)



8. I get to say 'pass' to the Weekend Visit to MIL's (Don't tell anyone I said this) and other jemputans.



9. I will bring my daughter(s) - [depending on hubs and his ability to juggle a wriggling 10-month-old and an agile 2 year-old who thinks Hatta is her Abah] on set and perhaps even dance with her if she is up to it.



10. I pray our viewership will increase so that there will be season 5, and 6, and 7, and 8.... you get my point.

You see, Krayon is THE Malay children's programme of the 2000s. We had Mat Yoyo while I was growing up and this, by far, comes as close as it gets, in re-creating the same energies of children's television and the impact it has on our children audience. Tell me, which other programme in our mother tongue can we find which teaches our children fundamental concepts through song, dance and storytelling?

I remember how it was when we first started. December 2003. (Yes it has been 3 years.) I was a teacher then and in the midst of O-level invigilation and fasting, barely 2 months since I got married. I had gone for an audition. Hatta who was there first - I had thought was the auditioner. And Nura, gosh she was (and still is) gorgeous. Strangely, the 3 of us were auditioned at the same time and already started to have a ball of a time trying to sing Amy Mastura's Shanana song. Nura was the only one who knew the song. That, plus her good looks, got her the job I think. Hatta was a go-getter. He likes to show-off that he can dance. Me? I could cockadoodledoo like a rooster, hop like a rabbit and do a convincing gorilla-prance. Before you know it, we were on the road. A successful 13-episodes in the first season, multiplied itself to 39 in season 2 in which I even braved a full house concert 38-weeks into my pregnancy. Season 3 came soon after with a new addition to the team and another Krayon baby.

And now, we are back - 3 babies in tow, and a new boy altogether.

I love what I do on Krayon. And I fought to be where I am now as Kak Oni when I was a teacher in an independent school and had been told (0ff) to prioritize and drop this as it did not add to my portfolio as an educator. Right...

I am glad I stood my ground. Because Krayon is where I am that educator I will always be.

I hope Season 4 will bring smiles to your children, as much as it has to these 2 babes. :)

"Hi! Saya Kak Omera dan ini rakan saya Kak Nyla...

Saksikan KRAYON bersama Mummy-mummy kami!"

A grandfather...

... knows only how to love unconditionally.

Main-main...

Nampak sah mak tak der kerja lain... Malam-malam buta pat computer, jakon pasal baru tau macam mana nak pakai Picasa...

Forgive me for this unrefined collage. Me still new at this technology.

So exciting!

A Tai-Tai I am.... NOT!

One would have thought, and many have expressed an expectation of sorts - that this o-thentic Mom would be having time in her hands to update this blog, given the circumstances of being a full-time mother.

The truth of the matter is being a SAHM is no easy job. And the other truth (which I had anticipated long before I stepped into this) is this... I couldn't last days being a full-time mom and have since said yes to being a part-time lecturer at an Arts college teaching dramatic literature.

Anyway.... to those of you who would trade places with me just so you could stay at home with your kid, trade places with me - let's do a mom -swap or something, and then tell me if you want to do this any more than 2 weeks. To those of you who are thinking of staying home, and are probably painting beautiful thoughts of mall-hopping with your kiddo, let me but break that bubble of illusion. You cannot afford it - maybe not the money bit (that too), but the time! C'mon - who are you kidding? Who is going to cook and send the hubs to work and clean the toilet and iron the clothes.... I could go on here...

But for those of you who have survived staying home and are still standing in one piece, may have gone a little cuckoo momentarily (whether you admit it or not), I salute you!

I admit that I have the luxury of time to send my daughter to playgroup while I walked every inch of Marina Square and the library @ esplanade 3 times a week. I mingled with Tai-tai moms - one lives in Marina Mandarin (yes... she LIVES there as a resident and not a hotel guest), one in Serangoon Gardens, but originally from Perth, one works out at the gym across the road at Millenia Walk, three just held theme parties for their children's birthdays in their backyards). And then I realised, I could not possibly afford this lifestyle - no no no.... who am I trying to kid?? So when the Dean of the Arts College called me, I jumped at it and immersed myself in work twice a week. Not too bad a deal, considering I was in class while my daughter was in her playgroup. And then came another offer from the same college for another cohort of students. Me jumped at it again - clocking some 6 hours a week of actual class time. Fridays, I do not teach... so I take Romana with me while Omera is in class.

While I pen this, I realised just how much composure I have regained. You see, some time after I returned from my trip to KL, the family discovered that my helper was almost up to no good... Now that calls for another entry altogether... for now, I will give you an abridged version. So, to cut the story short, we sent her back.

The 3 weeks I went without a helper - I cannot begin to describe the turbulence. Put simply - I had, one night, asked my hubs to pack bags and send me to IMH so they could put me on tranqulizers so I could get some sleep. Scary kan? Apa tak - Omera contracted HFMD from a visiting friend's sister's son, and of course Romana followed suit and of course dear hubs also kena - threw up at 3 am on our sheets which I had to remove and get cleaned there and then... Sudah sudah sudah... I must not go on lamenting - yang sudah tu sudah...

There was a reason for all this - I might have just been tested and reminded that being a Mother (and by this, I mean doing everything from cooking, to cleaning, to bathing the kids and again I could go on....) is one hell of a job. And because I so wanted to be that Mother, I was tested and I came out - scarred... but alhamdulillah, stronger.

I now have a new helper. (Good for you ladies out there who can manage keeping your house clean and neat, AND go to work, AND still love your spouse - I, not so champion.) I need my house clean but at the same time, I need to spend quality time with my 2 young children, I needed to stop the unnecessary arguments just because I had expected hubs to help out with the chores (this part, you all tau lah kaum Adam... bagus lah kalau suami you pandai masak, gosok baju, cuci jamban... ) and I am learning to enjoy my new role... not just as a mother... but that of a woman.

From us to you....

Selamat Hari Raya... Mohon Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

Goodbye Office. Hello Home.

So this is it. Today marks the end of my job as a research assistant. Today also marks the beginning of my newly-found status. That of a full-time mother.

As I drove home this evening, boot all full with office paraphernalia, Tayor Hicks crooned me. I let myself drive in a direction I did not want to decide before I touched the highway ('cause usually, I would have in mind destination and route). You see, I had been craving for brownies from Ben & Jerry's (NO I AM NOT PREGNANT AGAIN, PUUUHLEASE NOT YET) Just a mild craving for some brownies because I had left in my bag 2 days back, leftovers from hub's trip to the Night Safari with his colleagues from the US. I had, say about 2 bites and had not had enough. So this evening, I effortlessly filtered into the KJE... and headed to the Night Safari. There, I grabbed three slices of Brownie, and just before I left, made a turn to get a scoop of ice cream. What the heck! It's a celebration, people! I needed something to give myself as a treat and what better way than sinful ice cream. Walked to the car and sat in the carpark... breathed in the evening air with a cone of dripping New York Fudge.

And then I drove home... Again, taking routes I was not too entirely familiar with. I passed a Meng Suan Road or something... before I was on Upper Thomson Road... and onto the SLE towards TPE. As I was driving past Punggol, I saw a rainbow. Hmmm.... contrived as this may sound or look, I felt a sense of assurance. "Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high... there's a place that I heard of once in a lullaby..." (Thoughts racing simultaenously alongside these lines - Katherine McPhee, TKGS Musical in 1988, The Wizard of Oz, and I was... a dancing general!)

My empty-tank indicator flashed orange. Rats! Quick decision to top up at Elias Road. Made a quick trip to a friend closeby and I was headed home. It was past 7 p.m. Strange... I don't usually hang out after work like this. But today was different. Today, I was coming home. And staying there.

I took some time to reflect what this all means to me. You see, I am excited with the time I now have in my hands to be with the girls. That bit I know you working mothers all cry for, yes? However, I am anxious. About so many things. Mainly, the fact that I will no longer have the comforts of a healthy bank account in the middle of each month. How about that? I no longer need to force myself out of bed and drive an hour to work and an hour home, I no longer have to read all that academic literature, I no longer have to express my milk in between breaks and feel all dried up because the canteen is a long walk away and I am running out of milk or juice or water in the office fridge. Best kan? But now, I no longer have off days, I no longer can take MCs, I no longer have an excuse to sleep in and have bibik handle the kids, I no longer get paid every month, I no longer get CPF contributions form my employer. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is SCARY.

Alright... enough of these contemplations. I must start on the right foot. I must be happy. I must stay healthy. I must smile more. I must worry less.

Tomorrow, both my right and left feet will take me to Sentosa.

We are going to a Family Fest at Palawan. See you there?