Break Away!

(Written on Wednesday, here and there)

A line of leafy trees and a secondary line of coconut trees obscure the view from my hotel's expansive window, enveloping me in safety against the prying eyes of stragglers or field workers below. It is, however, a different scenario altogether during the night and I must draw the heavy curtains together in order to preserve the sanctity of my cocoon, not to mention sparing passersby of an unflattering silhouette!

I have dwelled in this old (classic, if you may) hotel with an extensive golf course for the past four days and it is a welcome respite from the familiarity of home as I am the sort of person who loves a change in scenery once in a while. Though the comforts of a house are uppermost in mind, I am not exclusively a homebody and the wanderlust in me is always ready for an adventure. So when hubby told me of his corporate workshop, I jumped at the opportunity to leave the house. Sadia was also excited at the prospect of staying at a hotel and swimming in the pool. But, I could tell she was not prepared to have her dad away in the bargain.

Time had seemed to pass by quickly on Monday as I ran errands with my mother and Sadia. First, it was the pick-up at the hospital for which I was late since Sadia and I were frolicking in the pool when the incessant buzzing of the phone alerted me to a string of missed calls. She had completed her dialysis earlier than expected and I was nowhere prepared to rush to the hospital when Sadia had yet to be bathed and fed some food. I had only managed to arrive at SJMC at 2 pm, two hours after her session ended. I told my mom to let me know much earlier her estimated completion time lest a similar thing happened again (usually she finishes around 1 pm).

En route to Kota Damansara home, we dropped by the McD drive-thru (again? Bleargh!) on the NKVE highway for my quick bite. As predicted, the previously sleepy-eyed Sadia was wide awake upon seeing her cousins (my two sisters send their kids and maids to my mom's place during the weekday and my eldest sister's family was also there for the school holidays). So you can imagine the pandemonium that ensued in a house full of children.

Around 6 pm, I left the house with my mom and Sadia for Ikano Power Centre to buy some groceries and other essentials for the hotel stay. As Sadia fell asleep on the way there, we took the opportunity to indulge in some 'Rojak Buah' and dinner at Dome. After Sadia woke up from her kip, she demanded that we bought her an ice-cream cone before going home. With the legendary traffic on Persiaran Surian, we only entered the driveway at 9 pm - three hours after we left the house!

By the time I got to the hotel, it was already 9:30 pm and boy, was I knackered! Sadia wanted to see her PlayhouseDisney channel so badly that she asked me to open the website and we briefly played some games before Sadia got agitated with the slow Internet connection. I heaved a huge sigh of relief when hubby came back one hour after we came to the room.

My Monday was also aggravated by a wiggly tooth which moved back and forth whenever my tongue came into contact with it. The tooth - well, a remnant of a tooth, the last remaining wall of a molar on my left side - came loose sometime after we finished swimming. It was such a nuisance that I would find food to be unpalatable once it hit the tooth. When we fell asleep at night, I kept waking up from the tooth pain and decided to wriggle it bit by bit. After twice being awakened from my slumber, the tooth finally came off. Thankfully with only little blood. But a piece is still stuck at the base of the molar and I am contemplating if I should get it pull out. I had called the gynae earlier today for consultation, but he was on leave. Only tomorrow I would know if it is safe to extract.

Tuesday saw me lounging primarily at the hotel and enjoying the amenities (read: room service, bed and internet) to the max. Sadia refused to go swimming after she scraped one side of her leg on my parents' gravel driveway on Monday. We spent the time watching cartoon VCDs on her portable multi-player tv and looking at PlayhouseDisney website. Oh yeah, both Sadia and I were not feeling well on Tuesday, with Sadia being antsy and weepy towards the afternoon. I got some reprieve when she napped earlier AND longer than usual.

Apart from the sniffles, I think she misses her routine back home, having her favourite shows on at all hours and lounging with her OTHER customary toys. On the other hand, I immensely enjoy taking our stroll together after breakfast around the hotel's lush compound, alternately walking hand in hand and carrying her. Sadia became surprisingly quiet and well-behaved during these walks, unlike the rambunctious and hyper kid that she usually is. This was reminiscent of the Holland/Paris days when I lugged her around in the baby carrier while hubby attended classes. Those simpler, uncomplicated days.

I only drove out with Sadia later in the evening to check out what Ara Damansara has to offer and got lost as a result. Luckily, I succeeded in retracing my way back and arrive in the hotel to pick hubby up for a quiet dinner in Subang. We even went grocery shopping again. Since hubby had another session beginning at 9 pm, we were back in the room 15 minutes before. However, as it turned out, everyone else in the group was still busy eating and whiling the time away!

With check-out time at 2 pm on Wednesday, hubby helped put the baggage and other loose items in the car, and Sadia and I whizzed away to Kota Damansara to play (that's Sadia) and rest (that's me) before picking him up at the hotel in the evening. With the exhausted Sadia throwing one of her tantrums again shortly before leaving to get hubby, I had to rely on mini M&Ms to pacify her during the ride. Sadia slept shortly after hubby took rein of the wheel and we stopped at a KFC drive-thru on the highway since hubby had not had lunch. We later got our dinner - my sambal ikan kembung! - at a 'warung' in Bandar Baru Ampang before heading to the apartment.

At long last, we entered the house around 7 pm and were glad to see the familiar sights. Refreshed from her nap, Sadia rushed to the tv with PlayhouseDisney channel on default setting and parked herself there for most of the night. Ahhh, back to your normal programming.

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For a lark, here's my result for the Celebrity Look-Alike, inspired after Kak Teh's own. Please note that it is Roseanne Barr AFTER her multiply surgeries and not BEFORE. Haha. And how come do I get all these obscure Asian personalities, unlike some other people with Hollywood lookalikes? Do I look more Oriental than the average Malaysians? The mind boggles.



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