Dianara's Reflections...

This morning, a neighbour of mine when I lived in Glenmarie, Datin Shazarina succumbed to liver cancer. This sad news was conveyed to me by my cousin earlier. The shock to me about her death was that for a non-smoker and non-drinker, it seemed preposterous that she died of liver cancer. But then, as how life goes, nothing can be taken for granted and nothing should be left to chance. Expect the unexpected because we may never know what waits for us around the corner. It may be something good, which is what we should be thankful for, or something bad that may leave us stumped for words and reeling in disbelief.Take stock of your life, look after your health. Even loads of money can't redeem a death sentence. Eat healthily, live clean, smoke free, alcohol free...exercise regularly too. After hearing the news, I thought long and hard about life, especially mine... what I had gone through and what I would expect in future. I have not done enough to ensure a good health for myself. Th...

Picture this: A married son, wife does not work, has 4 young sons - 2 at school. Everyday he brings to his parents' house the two younger boys ( cause his 'office' is there), gets his own parents to look after the boys and of course most of the time it's his mother who has to take care of them. Parents are not young anymore and the boys sometimes do not listen to their grandparents. The grandmother will most of the time be reprimanding them and they will listen for a while only....and then start squabbling again. The father of the boys though is taking advantage of his parents in that he does not give a single 'cent' to them. It's his parents who fork out their own money to buy things for his kids. It's his parents who have to sacrifice their time to look after the kids. So what is the wife doing at home then? The other 2 older kids go to school, they don't live in a big house that it'll take her days to clean, she does not cook much either! Whe...

Ever wondered why some kids can be so loud and rude to their elders?...You don't have to look far actually. It can come from your own backyard!...hahaha...yup, and it's such a disturbing sight too. Children, well most of them, emulate the adults within their scope of sight and relations. When they see or hear adults talking, cursing or shouting to each other, unconsciously, the scene embeds itself in their minds. This will later be 'vomitted' from their innocence as something that is not wrong, ok to do and nothing unusual. But it's a shame to see them emulating all the negativities they inherit from the adults....and we the adults are to blame for polluting their minds. Shame on us too! There's a family I know of where a grandson of about 4 yrs old seems to find it ok to shout at his grandparents! Horror of horrors!!!...If I were given the chance, I would smack him silly. But then, you can't blame him either cause he sees his dad doing it, his grandfather d...

Break-ups. I see this as something that some people go through at least once in their adult lives. The end of a relationship does mean it's the end of the world. No way! It's just that they were not meant to be. Why? This is due to so many reasons and differs with each and every couple. If a relationship cannot be salvaged anymore and the best solution is to part ways, then so be it. Don't hold on to something that was never there in the first place. Though the relationship has been forged for years and years, if it's fated to end along the way, accept it with grace and see that as a blessing. You may have unwittingly got yourself into a situation that you could not get out of easily and the break -up sort of did you a favor. Who knows eh? Marriages can end and it's not unusual for married couples to go through divorces. Due to what reason or other, just accept that it was to last that certain length of time only. For the couples involved, move on and start a new l...

I caught a glimpse of the Velfire as it slowly made it's way up the driveway. A lot of things went through my mind and I felt my heart beating a little faster. We had not met since the day we got divorced and this will be the first time we meet face to face again after a year. I have of course seen him in the news and papers, so I sort of knew what to expect. He however, had not seen me at all. We had a court hearing this morning to finalise and to register with the Syariah Court, the terms of the divorce pertaining to the division of assets and the custody of the children. This proceeding had to be postponed twice due to the stroke that my ex suffered at the end of last year. And the day finally arrived...today, the 30th of june, 2010. The Velfire stopped at the porch to 'unload' its' passengers. My ex, our two eldest children and the 'valet of sorts'. He helps my ex with the day to day activities, from helping him dress to accompanying him to the office and ap...

"Good morning, may I be of service to you?", the sales lady asked from behind the counter. I looked over to where she was and she gave me a big smile. I returned the smile and said I was going to browse and if I wanted anything, I'll call her. Now that greeting made a good start to my shopping day. This is the scenario in most outlets that I have ever patronised overseas and maybe in some swanky shops here in KL. The sales personnel are mostly friendly and willing to serve you, with a SMILE! Well, aren't they supposed to serve you that way? With a smile and attentiveness? They don't follow you around suspecting you of trying to pilfer the goods in their shop. It's such a different story here in our own country. I find the sales people in shops here wanting in the service department. They need to be taught how to serve their customers and how to make the customers return the next time. What I have experienced here sometimes have made me leave the shops in annoy...

Felt like I had just gone to bed and closed my eyes to sleep. It's time to wake up already? Oh well, I can catch up on more sleep later. I had an early start today. Had to drive to Glenmarie to make sure my kids had everything ready for their trip to Japan. Lucky for the school holidays, the roads were jam free. Arrived with time to spare. Made sure they had their passports and tickets, suitcases locked and easily identifiable (we tied ribbons to the handles) and made sure nothing was forgotten. Arrived at the airport ahead of time. No long queues today. Surprising but welcomed. Had a fast and smooth check-in too. All that done and boarding passes in hand, we went to have a McDonald's breakfast. Their flight departed at 11am and they went through immigration before 10. Kissing and hugging them goodbye, I steeled myself not to cry. I watched them going down the escalator and walk towards immigration with a heavy heart while waving goodbye. They were flying off for the firs...

What is it with some people that they seem to want to know everything that goes on in your life? They have nothing better to do than to make your life their business!!!...I abhor this type of people and I see them as not having a life of their own and they live a life of lies and deception. I too call them BUSY BODIES. Agreed? I have a Facebook account and I know for sure that so many others here have it too. It's a place for me to make new friends, locate old ones, air my views and to share my thoughts among others. It's a medium of interaction and also a means of business networking for some. But for what reason or other that I cannot fathom, I had spies who were either on my list or in my friends' list that made it his or her business to report on what was being said on my wall!!! Can you believe that? And worse still, this spy told my mother, yes, you read it correctly, MOTHER. And my mother of all people, had to make it her business too, to poke her nose into my affair...

When my marriage disintergrated and I went through a divorce, there were so many things that I had to think about. Top most on my mind was my children. There are 6 of them, ranging in ages 20 to 10 at that time. I was somewhat relieved that my children were to live with their father because I think and know they will be very well taken care of. The children were okay with this and I got to see them anytime I wanted and I could still go up to the house to visit them.( Most of the time, I made sure my ex was not around when I went to see them and if he was, I didn't go into the house but just waited in the car ;this is when I take my kids for an outing. I stayed with a sister of mine before everything was finally over. I didn't feel anything much then because I was surrounded by my sisters' family and household. Thank God for the presence of my 2 nieces and a nephew to cheer me up when I was down. I missed my kids so much then and I would cry whenever I thought of them, espec...

This letter was actually written on the 11th of June,2010 and posted in my FB in my Notes. I have reproduced it here so others who have not read it can relate this to the coming topics that I am going to expound on....and of course relating more to my life and experiences. Dear Mr. Ex, I am not sure if you remember what day today is ,but that's nothing new. You were always terrible with dates, as the case with most men I think. Anyway, it's the date of our marriage 23 years ago and if we are still married, it's our 23rd wedding anniversary. Alas, our dreams of growing old together and seeing our children grow up, get married and have families of their own will never be realised now.Many things have happened in our lives before, the good and the bad too. And as in every marriage, we had our ups and downs. But I think we had more ups than downs and that was good.But as Allah has decreed otherwise, our marriage could only last for nearly 22 years and it was unfortunate that we...

Now where do I begin? To write about oneself is sometimes not easy because it will be written from one perspective only, and that is mine...haha...There might be a bit,yeah just a bit of 'bias' involved here though. But I do hope to paint a picture of who I am and what makes me tick.   Second daughter in a family of 4 girls...My parents had wanted boys too but they were blessed with 4 angels instead. They were happy though and accepted this as God's will. Well, having daughters only does not mean we can't do what boys can do too and of course not everything though and I can safely say, there are some things that boys do that girls can do better!   As I grew older, like say, in my mid teens, my late father would often call on me to help him out on certain stuff, like reading the manuals of electronic gadgets and to help in the setting up of new things. No matter what year it was, I always seemed to be at the 'right age' and the one suitable to do thin...

Aahhh, at last I have a blog to call my own. Musings sounds good doesn't it? It's to tell of what I am thinking at the moment , to tell of my observations of all things that's around me and may I say, it's also to give my opinion on certain things from my point of view. Having this blog too enables me to practise my writing skills. Am thinking of writing a book or penning a memoir or two. So I guess, starting a blog is a good place as any to gauge what you readers think. At the moment, I am sitting here at Starbucks, located at the Empire Gallery in Subang Jaya. Three of my kids are here with me. They wanted to get some stuff before they leave for Japan this Wednesday. Hmmm, what else do I write here eh? Everything is still new to me; slowly but surely, I'll get there in no time at all. What I need is a little bit of practice. If my 11 year old daughter can do it (she has a blog too!) what more me right? But just finding out my lil' daughter has a blog gave me a...