It's my 40th birthday today. 40 is indeed a big number nobody can deny. And yet it means nothing to me. I am not mourning; in fact I feel majestic when I say "I'm 40"! I’ve never been one that was affected by birthdays or getting a year older, or anything like that! After all, I’ve always felt “18″ ever since I was, well….”18″!
Forty years.....that's a lot. Come to think of it, I've learned a lot over my 40 years of age. Far more than those who were born in the same year as mine. I've gained loads of experience & learned from my mistakes which makes me wiser as I grow over the years. My goal as I enter the number 40 is to become stronger, leaner, healthier, wiser and more thankful than I ever was anytime in 30!
If you have asked me 15 years ago, what would I be doing when I'm 40, I would most likely said that I would be a very happy & successful housewife to my husband ( that would be Nain since he was the center of my life then.....hehehe ). I doesnt sound ambitious at all at the age of 25, huh? Apparently, that's exactly what kindof person I am - never been an ambitious person, never was and never will be. All I want is to be a good wife to my husband and a good mother to my children.
Of course if you have asked me 10 years ago what would I be doing when I reached 40, I would say that I'd be staying in an expensive condominium, driving an expensive car & going places with my lovely Marsya. 10 years ago, I was at the peak of my career where things were going great in my life. So having all those luxuries in my life is not impossible at all provided that I could sustained the same enthusiasm in my job back then.
Now, if you have asked me three years ago how I planned to celebrate my 40th birthday, well, I’d have scaled down a bit, to be sure. But the scenario would still include something like having my best of friends around me and we'll all have tremendous fun together in a grand & glamorous party.
But then, that's all an "if"........ and what turns out there are nothing close to it. And now, I'm officially 40 and I'm very much okay with it, honestly. You cant help getting older but you dont have to get old. Like what we've always heard people saying, age is just a number - you can be old in your age but at heart, you can always stay at 18 forever & ever. Anyway, I'm kindof excited to touch the digit 4 actually. And what makes me more happier is a few weeks ago when a stranger mistaken me for a 35 year old lady instead.....kembang daaaa.....
It's my birthday today & yes I'm 40 but no I'm not that glamorous housewife to anybody. Nor am I the successful manager in my organisation, let alone owning those luxurious properties or cars. Those are one of my 1001 unfulfilled dreams. Let the gone be bygones. I'm not bitter. Neither do I have any regrets. And I refused to think of the possibilities of woulda, coulda, shouldas.
What's the point of wasting my precious time thinking about those anyway. For all I know, by far my life has been fabulously wonderful. A great daughter any mothers would dying to have, family & frens who are always there to give me the support whenever needed, an excellent health for me to savour life, a good job that not only pays me well but also allows me to spend time on this cool blog of mine and of course the total freedom to do whatever things I want which most women out there are envious of. So, what is there for me to complaint. All I need to do is being gracious to the Almighty for all that blessings. No regrets and the best is yet to be!! Woo hoo!
Anyways when I was born, the TV is still in black & white. Belled bottom pants were so in during that time. Combat was the most popular TV series I could ever remembered. At that time, every boys wanted to be either Sergeant Saunders or Lieutenant Hanley. I myself tho I'm a girl, have my own German's military helmet and was so proud of it. That's how popular Combat was those days.
So, here’s forty absolutely, wonderfully fabulous things I’ve done / achieved so far. Ain’t life great?
1. I managed to walk after 9 months being born. See? I was a go getter.
2. On my first day at school, I was the only student who doesnt have my parents accompanying me. I am all by myself & didnt even shed a single tear.
3. At the age of 10, while other girls are still busy playing "masak-masak", I already doing it for real - masak-masak the real food using the real fire & utensils.
4. By 12, I've already knew all the name of the fishes & vegetables at the market since I started doing the groceries at this age.
5. Got 5As for my Year 5 Assessment Exam.
6. Been in the top class & being the top 10 students throughout my schooling years. Thanks to the mix parentage genes I had in me.
7. Representing my sports house for Netball during primary school - for the Wing Defends position. Though I dont think I contributed that much for the team but it do makes me feel good.
8. Went to Maran alone (approximately 70 km from Kuantan) by bus when I was only 8 years old. That was how safe the world is during those years. Dont think I'll ever arrived Maran in one piece if it was at the present time.
9. Baked my first Hari Raya cake & cookies when I was 15. Though the outcome was not that impressive but it's the effort that counts, right?
10. I was selected as the Sport's Assistant for my sport's house when I was in Form 4 and trust me, not only it amazed my friends, I was as amazed as well. Till today, we're still joking about it. Honestly, it is just to fill out that post - didnt do a single sporty thing the whole year. Not my fault though - what did I know about sports ? Duhhhhh........
11. Another joke on sports - represented my class for hockey during Form 4. All we did is scream our heart loud when the ball start coming to our directions. No other games is as scary as hockey.
12. Had my first oversea holiday when I was 11. Went to Singapore ! Hehehe.....still oversea whatttt !!!
13. Had my first public speaking experience when I had to talk in front of the whole school during the school assembly. It was this thing called Spot-Talked which was introduced by our Principal whereby a student shall be picked at random & was supposed to talk on the stage about a given topic. My topic then was "My Hobby". As expected, I did well....hehehehe.
14. Got 8As for my SRP. Bravo !
15. Was once the best student for Additional Maths during Form 4. My Add Maths teacher then was Mr. Peter Khoo whom I've disappoint for not being able to sustain my grades. I became very lazy & too playful as I stepped into Form 5. Nevertheless, I never regret it coz that year was one of the best moments in my life.
16. Passed my SPM with Grade 1, 19 aggregates - though it doesnt sounds brilliant at all but taking into consideration that no studying ever takes place, I'm considered a genius!
17. Representing my university for the Pekan Teater Selangor in 1989. Anyway, I'm neither the main cast nor the "Pak Pacak". Not that I dont have the look to be one of the actress (.......hehehehe) but my interest was more on the backstage roles such as lighting, props, costumes & make-up. It was indeed one of those fun moments during my years as an undergraduates.
18. I ride..... and mind you, a motorbike since I was 19
19. Still riding...to work everyday....
20. Without a license !
21. I can weave a ketupat when nobody else in my family can.
22. Got my driving licence at the age of 26 - not that impressive to most people but heyyyy, I'm not as lucky as you guys whereby your parents would sponsor the licence while waiting for your SPM result. Anyway unlike certain people, I didnt go & drive an auto car right after.... manual transmission has always been my choice.
23. Driven a manual car where the gear was the old style kind of gear - the one that was located at the side of the steering instead & this was the first car I drove after I got my license.
24. Survived after a week being in coma @ the Intensive Care Unit, HKL during my 1st pregnancy. It was a 50-50 situation for me, between being dead or alive. However I lost my baby, Qistina two months later. May she rest in peace.
25. Got my Degree In Physics (Hons.) minoring Maths, with 2nd Class Upper and 3.3 CGPA. Boy, am I proud of myself !
26. Landed my first job just one week after my final exam. Didnt even graduated yet at that time - just used my results transcripts to apply for the job . Lucky me!
27. Got my Marsya after 3 miscarriages + 1 premature pregnancy. But, it was totally worth it - the waiting & the sufferings !
28. Anuar Zain...yes, the Anuar Zain sat beside me in my flight back to Malaysia from Rome. But then, I decided to ditch him since I found myself a better seats where I could lie down & have a good sleep. Things would be different if it was SRK tho....ghehehe.
29. Been to Italy - Rome, Venice, Pisa, Florence, Milan, Colico (Lake Como), Naples and among all, Venice is by far, my favourite of course. Oh yes.... catch a glimpse of Pope John Paul II when I was visiting the Vatican City.
30. Been to Paris & visited that old infamous metal tower named Eiffel & Mr. Da Vinci's Monalisa at Musée du Louvre. And not forgetting the beautiful Baroque château of Versailles, the river Seine, the Champs Elysées & Notre Dame.
31. Been to Amsterdam, city of the canals......and bicycles. A beautiful city with an extra open minded citizens. Those beautiful tulips at Keukenhof, the obscene exhibits at the Sex Museum & of course those professionally daring girls at the Red Light District are still fresh in this 40 year old mind. And of course, the sex show - who would forget that ? Never!
32. Been to London - going around the city via the tube, meet up the celebs @ Madame Tussaud, hang out at Trafalgar Square & Piccadily Circus, riding the famous red open-topped double decker bus, making fun of the Buckingham Palace's guards and sang London Bridge Is Falling Down on the bridge itself.
33. Been to the states - Avon, Boston & New York. Had fun watching the Boston Celtics during the NBA games, had my 1st experience with the real snow & was brought back to the 80s @ the Cheers Beacon Hill bar where "Everybody Knows Your Name". In New York, besides the vast size of the city & populations of the immigrants, paid a visit to that green lady on Liberty Island.
34. Been to the Land of The Rising Sun - Japan. It was nice since we decided to say hello to Mickey & Minnie @ Tokyo Disneyland.
35. Had a short trip to Korea, but enuff for me to experience their Shabu Shabu & shopping @ Namdaemun market.
36. Been to other countries in Asia as well - Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya and Bandung. My Bandung trip was really the most memorable trip ever - went there with my BFF who all of them are as crazy as me ! Thanks gals for the great experience.
37. I was courted by a Parisian guy while sightseeing in Paris. He even stalked me the whole day which really freaked the shit out of me.
38. In Amsterdam, a Vietnamese guy was mesmerized by my beauty ( ehemm..ehemm) & offered to give me a city tour for free. At the end of the tour, he bought me a gift & gave me his no. and e-mail address. I accepted the gift & promised him I would write to him once I'm back home. I lied & still feeling bad about it.
39. I'm managing to raise an incredibly delightful & loveable daughter. Nature, nurture…either way, I’m taking the credit.
40. I'm the proud owner of this amazingly fabulous blog !
So, there you have it. Forty years well spent. I'm planning to be around still at least another forty more years. Still got a lot of things to do - I wanna perform Hajj in Mecca, wanna visit India, ride the hot air balloon, convoying across Malaysia on superbike and many, many more that will add colours to my life.
It's okay to grow older; in fact it's fabulous!
Forty years.....that's a lot. Come to think of it, I've learned a lot over my 40 years of age. Far more than those who were born in the same year as mine. I've gained loads of experience & learned from my mistakes which makes me wiser as I grow over the years. My goal as I enter the number 40 is to become stronger, leaner, healthier, wiser and more thankful than I ever was anytime in 30!
If you have asked me 15 years ago, what would I be doing when I'm 40, I would most likely said that I would be a very happy & successful housewife to my husband ( that would be Nain since he was the center of my life then.....hehehe ). I doesnt sound ambitious at all at the age of 25, huh? Apparently, that's exactly what kindof person I am - never been an ambitious person, never was and never will be. All I want is to be a good wife to my husband and a good mother to my children.
Of course if you have asked me 10 years ago what would I be doing when I reached 40, I would say that I'd be staying in an expensive condominium, driving an expensive car & going places with my lovely Marsya. 10 years ago, I was at the peak of my career where things were going great in my life. So having all those luxuries in my life is not impossible at all provided that I could sustained the same enthusiasm in my job back then.
Now, if you have asked me three years ago how I planned to celebrate my 40th birthday, well, I’d have scaled down a bit, to be sure. But the scenario would still include something like having my best of friends around me and we'll all have tremendous fun together in a grand & glamorous party.
But then, that's all an "if"........ and what turns out there are nothing close to it. And now, I'm officially 40 and I'm very much okay with it, honestly. You cant help getting older but you dont have to get old. Like what we've always heard people saying, age is just a number - you can be old in your age but at heart, you can always stay at 18 forever & ever. Anyway, I'm kindof excited to touch the digit 4 actually. And what makes me more happier is a few weeks ago when a stranger mistaken me for a 35 year old lady instead.....kembang daaaa.....
It's my birthday today & yes I'm 40 but no I'm not that glamorous housewife to anybody. Nor am I the successful manager in my organisation, let alone owning those luxurious properties or cars. Those are one of my 1001 unfulfilled dreams. Let the gone be bygones. I'm not bitter. Neither do I have any regrets. And I refused to think of the possibilities of woulda, coulda, shouldas.
What's the point of wasting my precious time thinking about those anyway. For all I know, by far my life has been fabulously wonderful. A great daughter any mothers would dying to have, family & frens who are always there to give me the support whenever needed, an excellent health for me to savour life, a good job that not only pays me well but also allows me to spend time on this cool blog of mine and of course the total freedom to do whatever things I want which most women out there are envious of. So, what is there for me to complaint. All I need to do is being gracious to the Almighty for all that blessings. No regrets and the best is yet to be!! Woo hoo!
Anyways when I was born, the TV is still in black & white. Belled bottom pants were so in during that time. Combat was the most popular TV series I could ever remembered. At that time, every boys wanted to be either Sergeant Saunders or Lieutenant Hanley. I myself tho I'm a girl, have my own German's military helmet and was so proud of it. That's how popular Combat was those days.
So, here’s forty absolutely, wonderfully fabulous things I’ve done / achieved so far. Ain’t life great?
1. I managed to walk after 9 months being born. See? I was a go getter.
2. On my first day at school, I was the only student who doesnt have my parents accompanying me. I am all by myself & didnt even shed a single tear.
3. At the age of 10, while other girls are still busy playing "masak-masak", I already doing it for real - masak-masak the real food using the real fire & utensils.
4. By 12, I've already knew all the name of the fishes & vegetables at the market since I started doing the groceries at this age.
5. Got 5As for my Year 5 Assessment Exam.
6. Been in the top class & being the top 10 students throughout my schooling years. Thanks to the mix parentage genes I had in me.
7. Representing my sports house for Netball during primary school - for the Wing Defends position. Though I dont think I contributed that much for the team but it do makes me feel good.
8. Went to Maran alone (approximately 70 km from Kuantan) by bus when I was only 8 years old. That was how safe the world is during those years. Dont think I'll ever arrived Maran in one piece if it was at the present time.
9. Baked my first Hari Raya cake & cookies when I was 15. Though the outcome was not that impressive but it's the effort that counts, right?
10. I was selected as the Sport's Assistant for my sport's house when I was in Form 4 and trust me, not only it amazed my friends, I was as amazed as well. Till today, we're still joking about it. Honestly, it is just to fill out that post - didnt do a single sporty thing the whole year. Not my fault though - what did I know about sports ? Duhhhhh........
11. Another joke on sports - represented my class for hockey during Form 4. All we did is scream our heart loud when the ball start coming to our directions. No other games is as scary as hockey.
12. Had my first oversea holiday when I was 11. Went to Singapore ! Hehehe.....still oversea whatttt !!!
13. Had my first public speaking experience when I had to talk in front of the whole school during the school assembly. It was this thing called Spot-Talked which was introduced by our Principal whereby a student shall be picked at random & was supposed to talk on the stage about a given topic. My topic then was "My Hobby". As expected, I did well....hehehehe.
14. Got 8As for my SRP. Bravo !
15. Was once the best student for Additional Maths during Form 4. My Add Maths teacher then was Mr. Peter Khoo whom I've disappoint for not being able to sustain my grades. I became very lazy & too playful as I stepped into Form 5. Nevertheless, I never regret it coz that year was one of the best moments in my life.
16. Passed my SPM with Grade 1, 19 aggregates - though it doesnt sounds brilliant at all but taking into consideration that no studying ever takes place, I'm considered a genius!
17. Representing my university for the Pekan Teater Selangor in 1989. Anyway, I'm neither the main cast nor the "Pak Pacak". Not that I dont have the look to be one of the actress (.......hehehehe) but my interest was more on the backstage roles such as lighting, props, costumes & make-up. It was indeed one of those fun moments during my years as an undergraduates.
18. I ride..... and mind you, a motorbike since I was 19
19. Still riding...to work everyday....
20. Without a license !
21. I can weave a ketupat when nobody else in my family can.
22. Got my driving licence at the age of 26 - not that impressive to most people but heyyyy, I'm not as lucky as you guys whereby your parents would sponsor the licence while waiting for your SPM result. Anyway unlike certain people, I didnt go & drive an auto car right after.... manual transmission has always been my choice.
23. Driven a manual car where the gear was the old style kind of gear - the one that was located at the side of the steering instead & this was the first car I drove after I got my license.
24. Survived after a week being in coma @ the Intensive Care Unit, HKL during my 1st pregnancy. It was a 50-50 situation for me, between being dead or alive. However I lost my baby, Qistina two months later. May she rest in peace.
25. Got my Degree In Physics (Hons.) minoring Maths, with 2nd Class Upper and 3.3 CGPA. Boy, am I proud of myself !
26. Landed my first job just one week after my final exam. Didnt even graduated yet at that time - just used my results transcripts to apply for the job . Lucky me!
27. Got my Marsya after 3 miscarriages + 1 premature pregnancy. But, it was totally worth it - the waiting & the sufferings !
28. Anuar Zain...yes, the Anuar Zain sat beside me in my flight back to Malaysia from Rome. But then, I decided to ditch him since I found myself a better seats where I could lie down & have a good sleep. Things would be different if it was SRK tho....ghehehe.
29. Been to Italy - Rome, Venice, Pisa, Florence, Milan, Colico (Lake Como), Naples and among all, Venice is by far, my favourite of course. Oh yes.... catch a glimpse of Pope John Paul II when I was visiting the Vatican City.
30. Been to Paris & visited that old infamous metal tower named Eiffel & Mr. Da Vinci's Monalisa at Musée du Louvre. And not forgetting the beautiful Baroque château of Versailles, the river Seine, the Champs Elysées & Notre Dame.
31. Been to Amsterdam, city of the canals......and bicycles. A beautiful city with an extra open minded citizens. Those beautiful tulips at Keukenhof, the obscene exhibits at the Sex Museum & of course those professionally daring girls at the Red Light District are still fresh in this 40 year old mind. And of course, the sex show - who would forget that ? Never!
32. Been to London - going around the city via the tube, meet up the celebs @ Madame Tussaud, hang out at Trafalgar Square & Piccadily Circus, riding the famous red open-topped double decker bus, making fun of the Buckingham Palace's guards and sang London Bridge Is Falling Down on the bridge itself.
33. Been to the states - Avon, Boston & New York. Had fun watching the Boston Celtics during the NBA games, had my 1st experience with the real snow & was brought back to the 80s @ the Cheers Beacon Hill bar where "Everybody Knows Your Name". In New York, besides the vast size of the city & populations of the immigrants, paid a visit to that green lady on Liberty Island.
34. Been to the Land of The Rising Sun - Japan. It was nice since we decided to say hello to Mickey & Minnie @ Tokyo Disneyland.
35. Had a short trip to Korea, but enuff for me to experience their Shabu Shabu & shopping @ Namdaemun market.
36. Been to other countries in Asia as well - Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya and Bandung. My Bandung trip was really the most memorable trip ever - went there with my BFF who all of them are as crazy as me ! Thanks gals for the great experience.
37. I was courted by a Parisian guy while sightseeing in Paris. He even stalked me the whole day which really freaked the shit out of me.
38. In Amsterdam, a Vietnamese guy was mesmerized by my beauty ( ehemm..ehemm) & offered to give me a city tour for free. At the end of the tour, he bought me a gift & gave me his no. and e-mail address. I accepted the gift & promised him I would write to him once I'm back home. I lied & still feeling bad about it.
39. I'm managing to raise an incredibly delightful & loveable daughter. Nature, nurture…either way, I’m taking the credit.
40. I'm the proud owner of this amazingly fabulous blog !
So, there you have it. Forty years well spent. I'm planning to be around still at least another forty more years. Still got a lot of things to do - I wanna perform Hajj in Mecca, wanna visit India, ride the hot air balloon, convoying across Malaysia on superbike and many, many more that will add colours to my life.
It's okay to grow older; in fact it's fabulous!
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