At 6:30am, there are less people driving cars where there are no school-going young people riding in them.
At 7:00am, there is no Police Officer directing traffic at the roundabout that is usually congested at that time.
And… less people filling up at petrol kiosks.
Hmmm…
Apparently, by the time I got a phone call at roundabout 3:30pm today, many people have already been receiving text messages about an impending petrol strike that will see kiosks closing for 3 days.
Called The Hubby and before I was able to put a word in, he asked if there are news of another petrol price increase because the roads were congested and people seemed to be heading towards the nearest petrol kiosks.
Later in the evening at roughly 7:40pm I received a text message from my Mobile Service Provider that there was no truth to the rumors. The public was asked not to panic.
At the same time, local news report that the Petroleum Dealers Association threatened to go on strike by shutting down operations of 3,500 outlets for eight hours on June 26th.
I decided not to drive out to refill my tank because my closest kiosk was 15 minutes away and with all the congestion on the road I figure I would burn more fuel just being stuck in the queue. The Hubby tried to stop at a kiosk nearest to him but couldn’t get in even after an hour. In the end he decided to conserve the fuel and head home, weaving through traffic. It took him another hour or so before reaching our front porch.
Chaos. Panic.
Something is wrong with this picture.
Once again the weekend is here and where would you find us if not at 1Borneo! Apa buleh buat… it’s just wonderfully convenient! 
This weekend the special event at the Centre Atrium was the KK Jazz Festival. The sound quality was all over the place as can be expected in a mall, but there were some pretty good performances that night.
Loved how these guys from (*Edit: a music school at Damai Point) fused traditional chinese sounds with modern beats. The Flute retained the melody and the Band gave the tune just a touch of rythm. Beautiful!
These guys were The Hubby’s former band buddies back in the days of RTM. Veterans. They used to be called Ian Baxter & Friends. Now they’re called by a different name. Can’t remember what they’re called now. Ian is the guy on the Keyboards. Music was smooth, tidy and stayed true to basics. Not many Musicians can deliver such music these days. 
This Guy was the highlight of our evening of song & music! Again, because we were part of the (non-paying) crowd I didn’t get his name. In addition to playing his several-stringed Acoustic Guitar, the guy accompanied his tunes with singing. A one piece act but the music sounded as if he had an entire band accompanying his singing!
We enjoyed this group too. The Hubby liked the percussions.
The Hubby & I like to describe ourselves to others as a little bit of Country and a little bit of Rock & Roll. That night however, as we savored the sounds & song, we looked at each other and know that deep down inside, we were really Jazz at heart.
And where were the Girls when Mommy & Daddy were swinging to the music? Well, the Older two Girls were tapping their feet and bopping their heads to the rythm and the Youngest One slept soundly in her stroller… Nothing like good music to bring a Little One to restful dreamland!
Why do children keep coming at you when you’re trying to check your email, reply them and surf for materials on the Internet?
Then when you pry yourself away from the Computer to do the laundry, the dishes or sweep the floor, they don’t??
In the same way, why do they listen and sing to the music playing in your car while you’re driving but the moment you answer a phone call on your cell phone they start screaming at each other or talk loudly to each other, only to quieten down again once the phone call is over??
Tsk!
Here are some (belated) sights during the Soft Opening of 1 Borneo on Sunday, 8th June. Taken while on our drive home (and away from the crowd!)
Hot Air Balloon Ride – one of the attractions of the day
Other than Giant Supermarket and the Food Court, can’t afford any branded goods here.
Still, it’s just so wonderfully convenient for us to drop by there on our way home. :-p
The lazy and irreverent panda, Po (voiced by Jack Black), must somehow become a kungfu master in order to save the Valley of Peace from a villainous snow leopard, Tai Lung. Set in the legendary world of ancient China, this is the story of Po, our unlikely hero, who enters the rigid world of kungfu and turns it upside down. Po ultimately becomes a hero by learning that if he believes in himself, he can do anything.
Omigosh. We totally enjoyed this show! It’s hilarious!
The Hubby & I were still laughing hard even after the funny scenes were way over. In particular was the scene where *spoiler alert* Master Tigress (Angelina Jolie) was recapping for Po (Jack Black) the history behind Master Shifu’s (Dustin Hoffman) drive to train the next Dragon Warrior and why no one has come close to his training of the original apprentice turned villain Tai Lung. Po was being administered the acupuncture treatment. After all the emotional retelling of a hero turned bad, Po reacted with a distorted face. Tigress was offended and was about to deliver a deathblow at the apparent indifference of Po when Mantis came up from behind and stopped her short, just in time to tell her that the face distortion was a result of him mis-pricking Po! Hilarious!
Have you seen it? Which part did you like? (There were many super funny ones…)
Fuel price has gone ridiculously up, electricity tariff is increased by 15% and just today, we heard that Bank Negara announced an increase of 1% on the BLR. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We need to conserve all utilities in the house, take less unnecessary road routes and grocery shop for only the most essential things in life.
I grew up in hard times. We used to live in a wooden house atop a hill that thankfully was on our own land and which had plenty of land space for growing veges and fruits as well as rearing animals. We had very little materially but at the very least we were food sufficient.
With inflation going as crazily as it is now, I announced to The Hubby that we will grow our own greens! Of course since I now live in an intermediate double storey terrace housing area that needs to comply with City Hall rules, plus my backyard is concrete, I have to be creative.
So to start, I am starting my Veges in pots.
This ‘belongs’ to Middle Sis. While out buying my Vege seeds, my Precious Ones decided to also ‘plant stuff like Mommy’ and some please-Mommys and pretty-please-Daddys later, they each took home a flower seed of their choice. To be honest, I didn’t know whether they would grow here. I thought that it would probably fare better in the highland weather of Kundasang. But what do you know, it sprouted! It’s an Impatien Balsamina or Balsam.
Here’s my ‘dream’ planter that I found on the Net. I just now need to find a carpenter to help me build this…
*dreams*
In the meantime, the Girls occupy themselves with 3D Soccer on Mommy’s cellphone.
Finally the Hubby get to fill up for our car.
From today, what used to be RM80 for a full tank will now cost abt RM120. 
Feels like Recession…
Finally, the largest lifestyle Hypermall in Sabah is opened to public. The Soft Opening is scheduled for this weekend, so we decided to visit it before it becomes jam-packed with visitors come that day. We have to say, we liked it! I felt a sense of pride that a little city like KK could have a huge mall like 1Borneo. The place reminded me very much of 1Utama in KL (is that where the name of this mall is derived from??), the Glorietta Mall in Manila and the Taman Anggerik Mall in Jakarta. All the big named retail brands are there. Tune Hotels is there. Renowned Hotels are there. Giant Supermarket is there. (Although I had hoped it would be a different Supermarket like maybe Carrefour or Tesco…) All the famous eating places. There’s the bigger-sized outlet that carries the Ikea range of home furnishings. Inflatable Playground for the kids. GSC cinema is already packed with people. And there’s even a Hovercraft Terminal! Looking forward to the Bowling Alley and the Oceanarium opening next!
With everything we need all in one mall, who needs to travel out of State?! Hey, for that matter, I don’t think we’ll be shopping in KK city itself now.
Here are some pics of our jalan-jalan there last night. (Place still dusty though. Construction still going on. And in the midst of all that, the clothes store have started operations! Adeh… Berhabuk la tu baju2 designer semua…)
The Food Court. Like the food court at TA, they use the Coupon system.
Preparing the Stage at the Atrium.
Here’s the view looking up.
Looking forward to what lies along this street soon. Sounds yummy!
View from the first floor.
We stopped at Kenny Rogers for Dinner.
Yup. Its all there!
Might get one of these.
Only thing with this place is it’s packed with young people from the neighboring kampungs… loitering. tsk! 
The door behind this sign rolled up for a short while after I took this photo and what do you know, there’s a carousel in there! The Kids were adamant that we return here when it is fully operational!
Just for fun!
Bah. Baik lah. That’s all for now folks. We were in 1Borneo from abt 7pm till 10pm and that was all we could cover for those few hours! Many more sights and sceneries yet to be explored.
Maybe this weekend…
We had two back-to-back wedding invitations this past weekend and so I told Cool Daddy now’s a good time to get that body shaping undergarment to wear under those soft and flowy evening dresses. As always, he graciously agreed and off we went to City Mall to get the item that would be the secret to my looking great at a formal function. When we got there, and what do you know, things were on sale! Yay!
So we got the undergarment that cost me a kidney (discounted nonetheless) and I had visions of me in loveliness at the Receptions.
We got to the events, and of course as can be expected, we mingle, meet friends and chat. And what do you know, a lovely, lovely friend came up to me and whispered, “we were wondering at our table just now, are you pregnant again?”
So I replied, “no.. I’m just.. fat.”
When I related the comment back to Cool Daddy after the event, he ROFL.
Life isn’t fair.
I'm Didi. Housewife and Mom of 3. Desperate sometimes. Most times blessed. 
