my cousin is such a passionate writer when it comes to cars. so proud there’s someone in the family who actually writes for a living (unlike rubbish me who only gets to write replies to the public and draft speeches and papers that get chopped into pieces and… oh enough about me.)
thanks for thinking of aniq. and i’ll get him to like the colour yellow.
ps: this one’s still up for grabs, girls… (and i mean the cousin. ok, the car too.)
=*=*=*=*=*
The funky little one
Story & pictures by Azfar Hashim – 28 May 2009
Small and fresh, that’s what the 107 is all about
Peugeot 107
Aniq is my four year-old nephew, and for a boy his age, he’s rather chatty, smart and active. Case in point – I can get breathless just going after him, and his never ending questions can easily numb my mind. But fortunately, he’s a very obedient little boy. You can let him loose – running around like any other child his age – but call him out, reason out with him and he’ll gladly listen. And he never fails to put a smile on my face.
Driving Peugeot’s updated 107 pretty much reminds me of Aniq (you’ll understand why I say so along the way – read on).
I smiled widely at the first sight of the 107. And in this particular shade of yellow, well, is such an attention grabber. Somehow, I swear the car winked and smiled back at me every single time I unlock it. Err…really.
Exterior
The bulk of the update focuses on the face of the car. It gets a slightly reshaped bumper (that gives an additional 15mm length) with wider honeycomb grill, topped off with a chrome strip running horizontally across. There are also additional vents at the sides, but those are merely for aesthetic purposes above anything else.
At 3,445mm long, the car looks rather small and compact when viewed from the side. The upswept A-pillars which ends almost vertically downwards towards the C-pillar definitely gives the car a bulbous stance. Cute, ain’t it?
From the rear, you can easily mistake the 107 for the smart fortwo. However, the 107′s looks more prolific all thanks to your typical French design flair – a glass hatch that opens up wide, flared wheel arches and smoothly-shaped rear bumper.
Pity the factory-fitted tyres though. With 14-inch hubcaps wrapped in 155/65 R-14 Continental tyres, it looks way undersized – not doing any justice to the already lovable exterior.
i don’t think i’ve officially introduced this much-anticipated baby here on our blog, sooo, everybody, please meet baby Natra Ashalina!
she’s a month old now, and her newly-minted parents brought her out for her first post-confinement trip to town. i’ve never seen a baby with such a perfectly-shaped sharp nose, my own babies having come out of my birth canal with flattened, squishy ones. :p
there was some serious shopping to be done, as with most mums after being released from forty days of maternity imprisonment. and some serious catching up to do with the gang.
as a welcome-into-the-world-of-shopping gift, aunty hana got the baby something which made the other aunties want baby girls even more. and now her mummy has something that her idol nicole ritchie has, other than a baby girl and an infinite amount of style, that is – a pair of Heelarious heels.
luckily, we had a ‘model’ baby that evening, baby Elsa (whom we all agreed looks like a combination of lilo and stitch, and is all of 6 months old cuteness), and true to the word, the Heelarious heels were… hilarious.
these Heelarious baby’s first heels are actually very soft (and highly glamourous) satin pumps, and meant for babies about 0-6 months who aren’t able to even stand up yet. i admit i was creeped out at first by the idea but when i saw and felt them for myself, it was just toooo adorable and yes, hilarious, indeed. definitely LOL-worthy!
they’re really great as novelty gifts, especially for fashionista mums, and i know there are plenty of them out there. (and in true fashionista mode, esah’s already planning for natra to wear them for hari raya, with which outfit. hah! mak nenek or what!?)
the heels are totally soft and cushiony, so they’re not for babies to walk in (believe me, i tried to squeeze them on auni but her feet are already too big and she’d have mauled the thing in ten seconds), and because they’re so soft, they won’t impede the babies’ growth in any way. jimmy choo should seriously look into this market. :p
hey you know i love to care and share my finds, right? ;)
well guess what, my friend Mei sells these and other cute baby products at her site, mummylicious AND she’s giving you a 10% discount on ALL products, including these Heelarious baby heels! all you have to do is send her an email with your orders at mummylicious@gmail.com with HANA in the subject title. really. really really. :)
if you’ve read my tweets (again, if you’re not on twitter yet, crawl out of that cyber rock and start @-ing!), am thinking of doing a group buy for threadless tees. extending the deadline and will proceed with the purchase only when we hit say, 20 pieces? i don’t know, will see your response. the last i did this was for the peanut shells and i still get people emailing me to ask if i’m still bringing them in. (i’m not, and i’ve hung up my baby slings for good. sigh.)
meanwhile, if you’re still under that cyber rock, threadless tees are for the quirky and possess a sense of humour. (if you’re not and you don’t, erm, mosey along now…)
come, let me explain a few examples. the tee’s titles are helpful too. :p
There’s No Crying in Breakfast (crying over spilled milk, geddit?)
Runnin’ Rhino (unicorns are the cindy crawfords for rhinos, apparently.)
The Accident (pooping paint. **it happens.)
As Fast As I Can (a good speed gauge. how fast are you going, a tree or a cheetah?)
Fail (poor cow. couldn’t make it over the moon.)
Nothing Rhymes with Orange (come to think of it… yeah.)
i know i said i’ll take orders for babies/kids’ tees, but will take in adult tees’ too, if you like.
a quick one. just a few picks from the mass birthday picnic by the beach last weekend. eastcoast was surprisingly uncrowded, and we even got to perv on j/a/m.i/e y.e/o in short shorts strolling and canoodling with her angmohbf. yum. (no pics of that, though. this is a family-friendly sorta blog, you know.)
my babies…
May babies…
my babes…
it’s been all good.
current mood: zen. :)
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
sometimes they make me mad, most times they make me laugh. the little one is at the stage where she’s a few notches up on the adorable factor. her scrunched up grin whenever she sees me and the way she runs with one arm clutching an invisible rugby ball and one arm swinging – priceless. now that she’s into imitating expressions and understands what we want from her, she’s really fun to play with. the big one, well, at three-and-a-half, is still hovering at the jekyl-and-hyde stage, lol. we have three basic ground rules for him, which he can repeat to you: 1) don’t make mummy angry, 2) don’t make adik cry, 3) don’t make adik fall. needless to say, there have been breaches, which are subsequently rectified. we’ve recently added a new rule that is accompanied with a sharp slap on his hand: 4) don’t bite your nails. his teacher describes him as funny. don’t ask me where he gets that from.
if you’ve been following our tweets (and if you’re not tweeting yet, get with the programme!), you’d have come across how we’d raved over the new star trek movie by jj abrams.
now this, coming from me, a total non-trek fan, is *really* something, ok.
before, if you mentioned ‘star trek’ to me (or ‘star wars’ or anything remotely remotely sci-fi), you’d be met with blank, glazed eyes, my mind already wandering off to rainbows and unicorns. cheesy tv geek cult classics, not exactly my cup of honey red bubble tea.
but when nuffnang offered us a pair of free tickets to watch the preview last thursday, i didn’t think much about the fact that i was going to actually sit through a show that i had little interest in as a child.
all i knew was, it’s free, it’s an excuse for an evening from kids, and it’s jj-freakin’-abrams, yo.
yet, so deeply-seated is star trek in our collective pop psyche that you cannot help but have a basic, fundamental trek knowledge – “beam me up, scotty”, the V-shaped hand greeting, spock’s pointy ears, klingons and vulcans, the starship enterprise, going boldly where no man has gone before, etc.
and nevermind the actual plots throughout the years or who’s who – we discovered that you don’t need to be a true-blue trekkie to enjoy the rollercoaster ride in space that is this movie.
mr abrams himself summed it up in one paragraph:
“Ultimately, though, I wasn’t making this movie just for the dedicated fans. I was making the movie for fans of movies. The final product, I think, doesn’t require any prior knowledge of the show Star Trek. I mean, almost anyone, if you stopped them on the street and asked who Kirk and Spock are, they’d know. I think people will typically have some sense of those two guys. And then there are fans who know every episode and argue about what the Star Trek canon is. This movie does acknowledge a world that has pre-existed off the screen for decades, but when you see it, it’s not going to be quite what you’d expect, and definitely not just a rehash of things you’ve seen before. It’s a very new take on the thing that it’s also beholden to. It’s a very interesting balance.”
some have touted this version as ‘star trek 90210′ for its hot young cast and high school hijinks. well hey, i’m not complaining. i’m sure leonard nimoy and william shatner had their share of teens lusting over them in their times. :p
dr spock and captain kirk – old version. blah!
dr spock and captain kirk – updated version. hot!
sylar from heroes fitted perfectly in the show, and i mean, he even looks uncannily like leonard nimoy, doesn’t he? in fact, i think he was vair sexy here. plus, he got to snog a chick. (oops, spoiler.) oh, and look out for winona ryder looking… old. (did i tell you she’s izad’s idol, circa reality bites? i did? ok.)
anyway, i can’t say anything about the movie without revealing anymore spoilers, but that it’s action-packed, with the right amount of humour and human drama, that even *i* was hooked throughout.
with someone like captain abrams at the helm, this franchise looks like it will indeed live long and prosper.
so thanks, nuffnang, for our movie date…
photo courtesy of raine @ nuffnang. and yes, i know who you guys spotted in here. lol.
oh well, if all mummy had WAS a backrub, we wouldn’t have anyone for abang aniq to torment.
and we wouldn’t have anyone else for daddy to dress up like a boy. (yes, this was all his work.)
she’s turning out to be quite a character, and developing quite a sense of humour too. this is the part i like best, where they discover they can purposefully make us laugh, and laugh along with us.
and just as soon as she’s perfected her nodding, she’s gone on to the next phase – head-shaking. which made me laugh the first few times she started doing it, till i realised that encouraging it probably wasn’t the best idea coz now she’ll start to refuse everything we want her to do.
two kids, outside my bathroom, banging down the door, hurrying me to be done with whatever i’m doing already. they can always sniff me out when i’m in there. internal gps, much? but, it’s mummy’s only sanctuary!
and if you can make out the big brother’s silhouette, he’s bending down to relay to his little sister that mummy is not done yet. (he also heard my camera phone in action and asked “why you taking picture?”. i was too busy giggling to explain.)
the blistering heat didn’t deter us from a bit of sizzling good time at the zoo on a public holiday. if we were on a giant grill, we’d have been pretty well done. auni’s toasted button nose and my broiled bare shoulders are your tender juicy evidence.
it was altogether a pretty good day nonetheless, as mentioned. if the children are happy, i’m happy. of course, happiness doesn’t come without a bit of prior warning. warning which sounded like this:
me: aniq, pls promise me two things today. 1) don’t make adik fall or cry. 2) don’t make mummy angry. promise?
aniq: promise.
they were pretty much kept on this particular day. when his sister fell on her own accord, he was quick to jump to his (self-)defence – “not me! not me! HIM!” (no, he’s not placing the blame on an imaginary assailant. he’s just still a little confused with gender-specific pronouns.)
on the boat ride at the zoo, he volunteered to carry around a snake skin for the rest of the passengers to touch and feel. before that, he was asked the two basic questions from the boat guide.
guide: what’s your name?
him (and by him, i mean the above-mentioned boy, as i am perfectly versed in assigning gender-specific pronouns, except with cross-dressers and transvestites, which are a different thing altogether, and i am meandering so far away from the course of my story now): aniq!
guide: how old are you?
him: 3 year old! (pls pardon his flawed application of plurals as well. he is only 3 years old after all.)
anyway, later on, as we were walking out of the zoo, the daddy and i quizzed him again, oh, for the heck of it.
us: what is your name?
him: aniq.
us: how old are you?
him: 3 year old.
us: where do you stay?
him: i stay inside my house.
me: HAHAHAHAHHAHAAAHAHA!
him: (in all seriousness.) *pause* mummy, not funny. not funny.
me: HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
daddy: aniq, next time say ‘tampines’.
him: pampinis.
kidzworld was crazy with kids running amok amidst the sprays and splashes of water, while the adults pretended to tend to the children but were actually secretly enjoying the cool swirls of water on their feet.
the girl made a bee-line to the water jets and never looked back.
sports illustrated – not!
i’ll keep a look out for the now-baby prawn’s smokin’ tan lines. speaking of which, she received at least 2 bikinis on her birthday. tiny, barely legal triangle pieces that would make even britney spears blush. i was tempted to try them on myself… but i digress. in any case, we’ll definitely have to make more trips to the pool, if only to make full use of her entire range of swimwear.
last but not least, thank you hidaya, who’s been a great ambassador to the zoo! :)
i think i remember ayu once said, in one of our crazy discussions on career choices, that she’d like to work at the zoo, even if it’s just to chop vegetables for the animals. looking at the people who actually work at the zoo, i think that might actually be pretty fun. i’d love to be able to talk to an audience like the animal show presenters there, they’re pretty impressive.
fellow zoolanders
ok, it’s almost 3am and my shoulders are tingly. i really should’ve heeded baz luhrmann’s advice and wear sunscreen.
which brings me now to copy and paste that brilliant song of his, which was, technically, not really sung, more like monotonously delivered, but brilliant nonetheless.
The Sunscreen Song
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97
Wear sunscreen
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering experience… I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked…. You’re not as fat as you
imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you
Sing
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours.
Floss
Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind… the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with
yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life… the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary… whatever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body, use it every way you can… don’t be afraid of it, or what
other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own..
Dance… even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you’re 40, it will
look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
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