Weekender Mix

1) This one tops my current list of annoying, overachieving little kids (haha no, no it doesn’t): 9 Year Old Builds Shelters For The Homeless. She’s amazing. More kids should overachieve in such un-annoying ways.

Can you imagine???

(Like, I Can’t Imagine It’s A Glue Gun, Not Rachmaninoff :D)

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2) If you read only one this week: What If Eleanor Hawkins Flashed Her Boobs In St Paul’s Cathedral? <cringe>

pic from article

“…one of those arrested, has been “trolling” the people of Malaysia from his cell… (His) arrogance is extraordinary and suggests that at the heart of all this nudism is the cult of “me first” – a rejection of the local culture…

My primary school education was in Sabah (albeit Sandakan, not Kota Kinabalu) of the Kadazan-Dusun culture who hold Mount Kinabalu sacred as the “revered abode of the dead.” (And my secondary school best friend in Penang is proudly Muslim, alumni of International Islamic University, and not too long ago posted on her own Facebook “As a Muslim I’m not going to apologize on behalf of the moronic man who took hostages in Sydney nor the Taliban who just massacred innocent children ‘coz I don’t see them as fellow Muslim brothers but as blady demons…” (Bahasa Baku spelling for “bloody.”)

Anyway, this is my favourite quote from the article:

“…you don’t have to be religious to despair of … its implied insult to the host culture. It’s a rejection of hospitality, a sign of disrespect that breaks the traveller’s code.”

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3) So, your pet might be right… Animals Who Don’t Let You Travel.

S’Up? Don’t Feel Guilty, Ok?

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4) 25 Foods You Shouldn’t Eat.

Neither here nor there but because it goes to show how many hidden “bad” calories are in “liquid foods” – sauces, sugary frozen yoghurts, blended ice coffees with whipped cream… AND did you know a strawberry smoothie can have as many calories as 2 Big Macs…

Ok, I have a confession – our helper has been struggling with weight issues and I didn’t realise how tough it was until I recently found her spending considerable time looking at the chocolate in Park & Shop (I know this because when I saw the dog left outside, which btw she is not supposed to do, I sat with JD to wait for our helper to come back. When she didn’t come back after some time I went in to look for her and ended up watching her for awhile before she realised I was there.) It was seeing her that way that kept me from scolding her more re leaving JD outside.

Because she likes to eat in her own room probably on her phone, it was much longer before I figured both her previous and current diet habits or I would’ve said something sooner (in the past for a long time I had assumed she was eating what we eat – when I asked, “Can I finish the veg, have you taken some out for yourself?” she would just say “yes.”)

It turns out our helper doesn’t eat “real” food, she’s consuming protein powders and spirulina, but one day I realised she doesn’t eat vegetables or tofu or any other “normal healthy food” either, and I asked her if it was because of her special diet (though I really can’t imagine you can’t eat light stir-fry greens on diet). She said no, that’s because she absolutely loathes vegetables.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about people who were born a little heavier, or have been having a hard time due to work stress or depression. (In the 3 years she’s been with us our helper met and got engaged to someone from her own village who coincidentally also works here, so I think she is quite happy here..) Also, I packed on 25kg for my first pregnancy and 21kg for my second (I’m just under 5ft 7 inches).  I’ve received the “Yeah you’re fat, don’t want you, find replacement in China” comments. It was not like I was totally comfy ballooning into a whale, but I deliberately didn’t lose the weight “too” fast either – maybe the bulk over 5 months – because I thought that might be “healthier”. I altered my clothing with a tailor several times (ma and pa shop ok, and I even saved some of my maternity clothes which I enjoy wearing now) just so I wouldn’t have any body issues, then for a full year after each baby I ate NO fast food and until today rarely drink soft drinks (though I do like an occasional beer in the fridge, which I take several days to finish.) The kind of massive weight gain I’m talking about is the sort purely due to your own eating habits. In other words, completely in your control.

After our helper’s diet came more to light, I then remembered seeing Mc Donald’s chicken nuggets lying around the the place as she did the housework (kids already in school and anyway they are social nugget and cupcake eaters allowed to not finish junk at any time, but must finished the good stuff like veg), and seeing her cooking herself meals of only french fries (no we don’t eat much pork, and if there’s a pork dish I tell her).

This whole long story is here as a caveat – watching our helper’s struggle scared me into keeping to a relatively good diet even more – because I think she’s really, really having a tough time now. She’d let it get to a weight gain of 15kg, maybe more, on her frame of about 5ft 2-3inches. It must be terrible to know something is bad for you yet only feel satiated by having too much of it, and to hate eating healthy (and cheaper) things like vegetables so badly you have to drop any spare cash on specific diet foods. It must be terrible to want what’s bad for you to a point you can’t control it. And it probably started off very innocuously. So I’m so scared I never want to get that hooked (or let the kids get hooked).

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5) The Manul Cat, Most Expressive Cat In The World.

Meh.

6) Miss-Skit this week is simple: Miss Issa Manul Cat. (And no, we didn’t do anything to inspire those faces, she hasn’t even seen the Manul Cat yet. This is her naturally spoiling all our shots :D)

All we said to her was, “Miss, Miss, look here for a picture,” and –

Also, NOT looking here. 

Separated at birth.

Twins!

Sigh.

But wait-

This one’s different. Who does this remind you of…?

Dis is not a Manul Cat. (pic from comicbookandmoviereviews.com)

And with that…

Have a good weekenpfffffffffffff.