SHINE dinner

Well, last Friday, I joined the rest of SHINE fellowship for dinner somewhere in Woolloongabba (sp? Sorry, I can never remember how many double o’s, l’s and b’s are in that name XD), where a member of SHINE fellowship is a chef there!

I’d RSVP’d earlier that week to Michael, and added that I’d join in the carpool, which was to all meet up at Sunnybank Plaza somewhere before setting off. Only, I never heard back from him! It wasn’t until when I got back home from late night shopping at Garbo with my carer/life coach/support worker/whatever they’re called now :P that mother told me, “Oh, Thomas rang tonight and said he’d pick you up at 6:15pm then drive you to the restaurant.”

Come 6:15pm that Friday night, Thomas’s car pulls into our driveway. Inside is seated also his mother and little baby Karis! (well, she’s not really that little anymore, I think she’s nearing eight months!)

I pile into the car also, and Thomas drives away, but not to the restaurant! Nope, he goes to pick up Alfee, who lives near Pinelands Plaza.

By the time we arrive at the restaurant (which I’ve forgotten the name of, terribly sorry XD), it’s already pitch black. Alfee kindly lends me her arm to hold while we walk up some stairs to the restaurant’s entrance, then Uncle Kelvin Cham grabs me a seat while everyone else waits to be seated inside the restaurant.

Walking up the four steps, I spend the next five minutes leaning against the counter as everyone fills in some forms. When it’s my turn, the bouncer dude hands me the pen and book; I fill out my name, address and get handed a little slip of paper in return. Then, Alfee walks with me to some long table that’s been reserved for us under Michael’s name.

I sit down one seat to the side of the head seat; Michael and Anna sit to either side of me.

Browsing the menu, I note with interest that most meals are over twenty dollars! “I thought Michael said we only needed twenty bucks?” I asked Dr. Dr. Tai. “That’s all I brought.”

“Oh, no, chose whatever you want,” she replied, laughing. “I’m shouting.”

“Umm … why?” I wondered.

“Coz you shouted me dinner over at your place last week!”

Huh, that’s not a good enough reason. I make up my mind to pay whoever’s collecting the money quickly and deny Dr. Dr. Tai the chance to shout me. XD

Michael says the restaurant’s famous for the sticky pork belly, and that’s what both he and Dr. Dr. Tai order. Me, with only my twenty bucks, decide on the chicken schnitzel. But then Dr. Dr. Tai has a suggestion. “Hey, I wanna try some chicken too! How about we share?” Sounds good~

Our food arrives quickly, and after someone prays for us, we dig in! Thanks to Dr. Dr. Tai who cut up my chicken schnitzel for me, and Michael who poured my gravy all over my plate for me.

The food is delicious. I eat all my vegetables first, asking and gaining permission from Dr. Dr. Tai to dump all my cucumber over the plate. Sorry, but it tasted feral. XD

Dr. Dr. Tai passed me three large chunks of her pork belly, and after eating them, I can understand why Michael said they were famous for that dish, coz ‘twas simply scrumptious! Only, noticing that Dr. Dr. Tai had passed me three slices of pork but not taken any of my chicken in return, I spear the largest slice of chicken left on my plate and drop it onto hers. She looks up with surprise, and I order, “Eat. You’ve already given me lots of pork, but you haven’t taken any in return.” She laughs, then is a good girl and complies. XD

Partway through dinner, chef dude (huge apologies, I’ve honestly forgotten his name! ><”) wanders out and asks if we’re all enjoying our meals. I ask him, “What did you cook for us tonight?”

He asks back, “What did you eat?”

‘I had the chicken schnitzel; Michael and Anna here both had the pork belly.”

Chef dude considers for a moment. “Well … I cooked the vegetables on your dish!”

Ah, I had a point to pick with him, then. Pointing to the little green pieces lying on the tablecloth around my plate, I ask, “Is that cucumber? Normally, I like cucumber, but that’s really disgusting, sorry.” Chef dude peers at my vegetables, and then shakes his head. “Uh, nope, sorry, that’s not cucumber. That’s zucchini.’

Thank-you. From now on, I will know to avoid zucchini like the blazes! XD

As we near the end of dinner, Dr. Dr. Tai suddenly declares that she wants wine! Two bottles are promptly ordered, and I try some of each. The white wine’s a fail, coz it’s fizzy and I don’t like fizzy drinks, but the red wine’s a fail too, coz it’s simply REVOLTING! XD

But have you ever burped after you drink alcohol? It’s really weird, even your nose clears! ><”

After dinner, I ask Dr. Dr. Tai please to help me once to the loo. Dunno why the place didn’t have a disabled loo, but I manage fine by myself without a handrail. Dr. Dr. Tai kindly gives me some privacy by turning around and facing the door.

Back outside, one of the Chow sister’s is collecting money. I quickly pay, and then say triumphantly to Dr. Dr. Tai, “Ha, I’ve already paid for myself! You didn’t get to shout me!” She laughs and retorts, “Next time.” XD

Suddenly, a security guard/restaurant employee wanders over and tells Dr. Dr. Tai that all minors must be out of the restaurant by 10pm. I ask Dr. Dr. Tai, “What’s wrong with that? The youngest person here is Bernard, and he turned twenty-five in May!” She laughs, then answers, “You forgot baby Karis.” Whoops, I did too! XD

Dr. Dr. Tai helps me walk out to the entrance, where we wait for Michael (earlier, Thomas had told me that Michael would drive me home tonight. When he arrives, I climb into the front seat and somehow manage to buckle my own seatbelt without sight (the cruel and unfaithful God’s left me with crappy night vision, sorry). After everyone else piles into Michael’s car, I do a head count. “Driver Michael, are you here?” he laughs and replies, “I’m here.” Then I move onto the three backseat passengers. “Big Chow, where are you?’ another laugh, then Smoky replies, “I’m here!” Good. So I move along. “Medium chow, are you here too?’ this time, it’s Kathy who replies, “I’m here too!” Awesome. Last one, then. “And where are you, little Chow?” this time, it’s Vicky’s turn to laugh as she replies, “I’m here too!” so I turn back to Michael. “We’re all present and accounted for, Mr. Driver.” I tell him. “Please drive us home.”

And he does, driving the three Chow sisters home first (they live in Underwood somewhere, methinks) before dropping me back to my place.

And thus ends a great night out. :)

Next post here … should come next Tuesday! See, dad’s taking mother and I to Suncorp Stadium, and we’re all watching the Broncos match on Monday night! If we win, I’ll try manage a post on Tuesday! (If we lose, however, I’ll prolly just sulk and refuse to type up anything. XD)Righteo, until then!~

Cheers,

Em. ^^

origin three 2012

Back at the end of 2010, after the mighty Maroons had won five successive origin series, I said to the smelly Blues, “Well, thanks, that’s a new record, winning five straight years. If you guys really insist, you guys can win next year’s series. We’ve gotta keep some competition running, you know.”

Only when I realised that last year was Darren Lockyer’s final swansong year, I had to take that statement back. I mean, can you imagine winning five straight years, then for your sixth and final year, going out with a loss? That’d be a TERRIBLE way to finish your career! So I said to the  Blues, “Sorry, guys, you gotta let the mighty Maroons win this year too.”

They did, and come 2012, I was fully prepared to let the Blues win the series this year; I mean, six straight losses and their morale must be pretty low.

But the mighty Maroons showed what true champions they are by taking out this series too, taking their dominance to SEVEN consecutive years!

Before the first game, I’d gotten permission from dad to invite Uncle Colbert over for the game. My invitation was more or less the same as last year’s invite: “You are formally invited to the Chan household to watch the opening State of Origin match. Just remember, the same rules as last year apply: wear NOTHING blue. If you come wearing anything blue, I simply won’t let you inside the house, or, if you get inside before I notice you’re wearing something blue, I’ll simply push you back out the door. If you’re too strong for me to accomplish that, I’ll simply call for my dad to toss you out. That won’t be any problem, you see: he’s a bigger build than you.” XD last year, Uncle Colbert had replied, “Message received. Don’t worry; I have a pair of brown pants that I can wear. I just have to do some ironing first.” So this year, I suggested, “Perhaps you should find those brown pants you wore last year and get your iron ready?” but he replied, “Don’t worry, because I went back to Hong Kong at the beginning of this year and bought many pairs of non-blue pants.” XD

Come the afternoon of the first origin, my carer/life coach/support worker/whatever you call them now :P had wizened up after last year’s State of Origin and not gotten me anything blue to wear. Last year, she’d passed me a pair of blue underwear to put on, and I’d demanded, “Carol, please get me a pair of white underwear, or something not blue. I’m not wearing this pair!” She argued back, ‘but Em, it’s not like anyone’s gonna see you wearing the blue knickers. You’ll be fine.” But I insisted, “Carol, if we lose the first game tonight, I’ll KNOW for SURE that it was my fault coz I wore blue underwear! Now hurry up and get me another coloured pair, please.” Laughing, she did so. XD

I’d also brought along a packet of chips to serve as our snack food for the game; they came with a funny story behind them, too! See, one morning, when I was at UQ doing physio, Karen the teacher (actually, I believe they’re called ‘facilitators’) had wandered over and said, “Emily, if you can clasp both hands together, bend down and touch the floor with your hands, I’ll buy you a bag of chips.” I’d done so, and then asked her if she’d keep her promise. She’d laughed, saying, “Sure. But it’ll be a very small bag of chips, and we’ll eat most of them for you.” Lol, that was fine with me, coz I hadn’t been expecting any chips!

Most days, I end my UQ physio session by walking two laps down and back the hallway before leaving. However, that day, karen suddenly had the insane idea of turning me around and sending me walking down the hallway again! I’d complied, but not before grumbling, “You’d better buy me a BLOODY big bag of chips! And I get to eat some, too!” Karen had laughed and agreed, before asking me which kinda chips did I want? I’d answered, “There’s this brand called ‘Red Rock Deli, and they have this flavour called ‘honey soy chicken’. I want that, please.” Laughing, she’d agreed, and then sent me down plodding those extra two laps. XD

When Uncle Colbert had arrived at our place that Wednesday evening, I’d gone and opened the door for him. The moment I saw him, he’d waved his hands around himself, saying, “See? Nothing blue, honestly!” I’d laughed, opened the door and beckoned him inside, saying, “Come inside first, Uncle Colbert. It’s too dark outside, I can’t see what you’re wearing at all!” once he’d entered our hallway and was illuminated by the lights, I’d ordered, “Freeze. Uniform inspection.” He was a sport and obediently stood stock still. My eyes gave him a very thorough inspection, but like last year, I could detect nothing wrong, so I just said, in the end, “Welcome to our house!” (What I actually said was like “Thanks for not wearing anything visibly blue. You could be wearing blue underwear for all I care, but obviously I’m not gonna check that!” XD

The game was awesome, probably because the mighty Maroons prevailed and we won. : P Mother fed me about 1.5 tofu containers of the delicious honey soy chicken chips that I’d won from Karen; dad and Uncle Colbert gobbled the rest up.

The next day, Thursday, I attended writers group. Having won, I of course rewore my Queensland jersey to show off the power of the mighty Maroons!

Fast forward like one month, and the second state of origin loomed. Again, Uncle Colbert was invited and again, he passed my strict uniform inspection. : P Unfortunately, the smelly blues won the second match (it being held in Sydney probably helped) so I didn’t bother wearing my Queenslander jersey the next day nor did I ask mother to buy the paper for me. XD

However, Uncle Colbert didn’t watch the decider with us! See, Aunty Winnie had already organised a short family holiday up to the Sunshine Coast for that. I sent him an e-mail with the subject heading ‘your choice’, explaining to him how I’d bumped into his wife at Warrigal Square that afternoon and how she’d explained that their family was going on holiday somewhere. Near the end of the e-mail, I asked him, “If we lose this match and therefore the series, may I have your permission to send you a very irate e-mail blaming you for Queensland’s loss?” XD

Uncle Colbert replied immediately (he’s got an iphone, which instantly notifies him of any new received e-mail) and said that he was going on holiday ‘in order to show a wider base of support’. XD

I e-mailed him back, saying “Oops, sorry, I forgot! Do you remember Bear Bear, my favourite teddy? Well, he’s turning NINETEEN at the end of this year, and mother says it’s time to retire him, lest he fall apart completely. So he’d just like to say bye to you.” Nice Uncle Colbert immediately responded with “Please wish old ted a peaceful retirement for me.” :)

Anyway, that Sunday, Janice came over to visit me, and when we were discussing the final origin game and I told her about how uncle Colbert couldn’t come watch it with dad and I, she said, “Hey, you should ask my dad along instead! He loves that kinda stuff!” so after asking dad for permission, I invited him through Facebook.

The next day, Uncle Yuk Tai replied, thanking me for the invite but having to decline coz he was spending Wednesday night having dinner with some missionaries.

So the audience for the final origin decider was whittled down to just three: Bear Bear, dad and I. Mother avoids these games, because she gets way too over excited and starts screeching things like “RUN!!!” at the players, even though they’re on the television set and can’t hear her. XD

Because it was the final ever origin series for Bear Bear, we stood along with the rest of the crowd for the national anthem, and I placed Bear Bear’s arm against his heart for him. XD

The game itself was nerve-wracking! When the clock hit sixty-five minutes, I asked mother please to put my dessert in the oven for me. (usually, I get only like 1.5 level spoonfuls of ice-cream for dessert every Wednesday night, but now that it’s Winter, mother has decided that it’s now too cold for ice-cream and instead feeds me this little custard puff pastry thing. It’s quite yummy!)

So it bakes, and the game draws to a tie. It’s nerve-wracking, and all kudos goes to Cooper Cronk for slotting that field goal that eventually won the mighty Maroons the match and their seventh consecutive series, so perfectly!

Only … we were all so engrossed with watching the Origin decider that we all totally forgot about my custard puff that was baking in the oven! That is, until, our fire alarm starts SHRIEKING at us! *BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!!!* It yells. “Eep!” wails mother, as she flies to open all the windows. But hot air rises, yes? And once dad managed to defuse the downstairs smoke alarm, the upstairs one joins in! *BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!!!* XD

Sometime during all that commotion, the phone suddenly rings. “Oh, that’s Uncle Colbert, I bet,” says mother, taking the phone. “Hi, Colbert!” she greets him without even asking who was speaking. “We won!” and she was right! I have a cheer on the phone to him also, and dad tries to have Facetime with him using my ipad, but uncle Colbert calls suddenly over the phone, “Oh, sorry! No wi-fi reception here!” XD

When Darren Lockyer retired last year, he was carried off on the shoulders of his team mates. This year, they did the same for Petero, although, of course, he needed two of the bigger guys in the team to carry him off. Personally, I did the same for Bear Bear. XD

Anyways, when I got inside, I announced to Bluetooth (the blue Ikea nightlight that dearest dad bought for me) “We won!” and the silly light burst into tears! “Thank god!” the silly light sobbed! “I was so afraid the Blues were gonna win! Bear Bear and Daddy Bear already told me that if NSW won, they wouldn’t speak to me for a week!” aww, poor Bluetooth. It’s not his fault that he’s blue coloured. XD

Anyways, I had great fun rubbing it in to my high school buddy Mel and one of my carers, Annette that their beloved Blues had lost. AGAIN. XD

But seriously, isn’t it time NSW won a series again? See, we’ve gotta keep the competition going, you know!

My UQ physio teacher certainly doesn’t agree with me, though! “No way, Em!” jess says. “We should only consider letting them win after we win TEN series in a row!” XD

Anyways, next post here … well, maybe this Thursday, coz our monthly book club’s happening! I haven’t blogged about a book club meeting for ages! Righteo, until then!

Cheers,

Em. ^^

grandma

Lam Sok Ngor was my most beloved grandma. Today marks two years to the day since she went up into heaven to live with God, and I’d just like to tell you about her, about what a wonderful person she was.

Born in 1933 in the Hokkien province of China, she moved down into Hong Kong when my mum was only two years old, or thereabouts, then had two more daughters. When I was a little kid, I’d laugh and ask mother, “Hey mum, you came from the Hokkien province, right? Did you all haveta make Hokkien noodles when you were younger?” mother would scoff then not even deign to answer me. XD

After I was born and mother returned to full-time nursing once her maternity leave was over, grandma became my primary caregiver. Indeed, my earliest living memory was going to sit on her lap when I was a little girl!

In 1990, when the parents decided we’d immigrate over to Brisbane to live, my grandmother actually went over with us for the first six months, while mum and dad went to Logan TAFE to learn English. I was only 3.5 years old then, but by the time she returned to Hong Kong, she had already taught me how to recite the Lord’s Prayer in Canto!

I can’t remember if she ever came back to Brisbane to visit us, but we sure did return to Hong Kong to visit her!

Five years back, when the cruel and unfaithful god totally wrecked my life by smiting me down with the brain tumour, my mother rang my aunty in Hong Kong and told her to carefully break the news to grandma. At first, grandma urged us to come back to Hong Kong for the operation, but mother refused, thinking the quality of care provided in Australia would be better than that provided in Hong Kong.

Then, in 2007, a miracle happened! My mum’s youngest sister fell pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy! ‘Twas a miracle because (1) she was forty-two when she gave birth, (2) the poor woman had suffered two miscarriages and (3) she’d even tried IVF once, but with no luck.

When I talked with grandma over the phone, I asked her, “Umm, grandma … now that you’ve got little baby Mickey now, does that mean you don’t love me anymore?” dearest grandma just laughed and replied, “Of course not, silly! If anything, it means that I love you even more, coz I’ve had you for twenty years before he came along!” hah, take that, Mickey. XD

When we went back to Hong Kong in 2010, to celebrate my paternal grandmother’s 90^th birthday, I tried to spend as much time with my most beloved grandmother as possible. My only regret was that, on the final night, when we were leaving, I’d stood up in Sparkless (my manual wheelchair) to hug dearest grandma. Only, dad must’ve decided that we were running late or sth, coz he roughly shoved me back into the wheelchair and started pushing me away really fast! >< I tried my best to stamp my foot down onto the ground and turn Sparkless back to hug her once more, but hey, he’s a fully-able, grown man while I’m just a disabled, useless young woman. Meaning all I could do was wave to her from the window of the taxi that was driving us to the airport, and hope that I’d see her again. Little did I know, though, that it’d be the last time I’d see her alive. ><

Back in Brisbane, normal life resumed, until one Sunday in June, when mother was supervising my shower, that someone from Hong Kong rang to inform us that dearest grandma was in hospital with pneumonia! ><

Mother immediately flew back to Hong Kong and looked after her for one month; somehow, the pneumonia had developed just like that into fourth-stage lung cancer! ><

I remember writing a letter to mother the afternoon before she left, telling her please to take good care of grandma, and that whatever little cash I had in my bank account was hers for the using, if grandma needed any financial help ever. But mostly, I remember drawing on the letter to mother a poo and the threat that I’d NEVER FORGIVE HER!!! if she let grandma die without giving me the chance to see her and say goodbye to her and tell her that I loved her the most, forever.

The night she’d left for the airport, I’d given her caramel (a little round stuffed toy that could be turned inside out so that he had a light brown coat one way and a dark brown coat the other way) and scrawled in Cantonese on a piece of paper “grandma, I love you the most” and asked her to please give them both to grandma.

While she was overseas looking after grandma, Uncle Slam was awesome and set up a roster of people coming over to have dinner with dad and I nightly.

From memory, mother arrived safely back in Brisbane on Thursday/Friday. In a sense, I only blame my own stupid self that I wasn’t able to see my most beloved grandmother one more time before she left to go live with God up in heaven, because mother had rung her back in Hong Kong and told grandma we’d all come back in a few days time, just not immediately because I was still recovering from the flu.

However, that Saturday morning, about 2am, the phone rings, and shortly afterwards, both parents enter my room. Mother holds out the phone to me. ‘Em, say bye to grandma.” She instructs. “It’s time for her to go and live with God now. She can’t reply you, but she can hear you.” So I take the phone and tell her that while I love her the most, FOREVER, that it’s not good for her to suffer and it’s time that she goes up to live with God and that hopefully, we’ll meet again one day in heaven.

Mother leaves me with dad while she discusses some more things with the nurse that’s rung us from Hong Kong, and dad PINKY-PROMISES me that I’ll see grandma in heaven one day again.

In the morning, mother leaves for work, and dad kindly rings up Vincent the physio and cancels the torture session appointment I’ve got with him in the early arvo. That afternoon, I hop onto Facebook myself and send a message to his wife, explaining our absence.

I honestly can’t remember what food/movies were available on the flight back to Hong Kong; I guess I was just grieving the loss of grandma.

We spend at least another three weeks in Hong Kong. I think mother managed to contact several of her high school friends and arrange to meet them.

For the funeral, mother asks if I would like to sing a song for grandma. I agree and choose ‘Amazing Grace’ coz I know it’s one of grandma’s favourite hymns. At the funeral, when our turn to sing comes up, I walk to the front podium and say to the audience, “Hello. I’m Tsz Yin (that’s my Cantonese name). I’ve lived in Australia for like twenty years, so if you can’t understand my Cantonese, just poke the person beside you and ask them “she’s saying WHAT?!” after the laughter dies down, the pianist starts playing the introduction for Amazing Grace! I was very surprised and impressed, coz I hadn’t given the pianist any music! Anyways, my parents and I all sing the first verse together, dad stops to watch mother and I sing the second verse together, mother stops and allows me to sing the third verse by myself, and then we all sing the last verse together.

Afterwards, we all go and have lunch together, and something amazing thing happens! See, the Cantonese language’s a monosyllabic language; ‘mum’ is one syllable long, ‘dad’ is one syllable long and even ‘elephant’ is one syllable long. Now, when we were back in Hong Kong during the start of the year, little Mickey had learnt to call my dad ‘uncle’ (in Cantonese, ‘cheung cheung’) and my mum ‘aunty’ (in Cantonese, ‘yee mah’. Now, I said to Mickey ‘Look, brat, my name is Emily, but that’s got too many syllables for you to manage, so just called me Em, okay? Em Em Em Em Em.” He looks at me, and then tries? ‘Um?”

‘No, you brat! My name is Em!” but Mickey very proudly calls me again, “Um!” My aunty (his mother) comes over to me and explains, “Oh, Emily, Samuel wants to call you ‘Em’, but it’s just that his vocal chords haven’t quite yet learnt how to produce that sound” Huh, fine. I sigh to my aunty. “Don’t worry, aunty. My mum can be ‘yee mah’, my dad can be ‘cheung cheung’ and I’ll just be ‘um’ for the time being.” However, what I didn’t know was that when we returned to Brisbane sometime around mid-February, my aunty kept teaching him! “Samuel, you cousin’s name is Em. Emily, not Um. Em, Em.”

So here we are all, sharing lunch together after my most beloved grandmother’s funeral. Just as I look up, Mickey looks up also, and our eyes meet. “What’s up, brat?’ I ask him. “You enjoying your food?” he looks at me for quite some time, not saying anything, then, suddenly, he says my whole name, Emily! Not Um, or Umily, but Emily! “OMG!!!” I screech, and you can bet that, for the rest of our trip back in Hong Kong, you can bet I was walking on thin air, I was so happy! XD

One last thing I’d like to tell you about my most beloved grandma: she actually knew lots of English words! See, she could call me ‘Emily’, she knew I loved drinking ‘milk’ (when we used to chat over the phone at night, she’d ask me, “Have you drunk your milk yet?”), I taught her how to say ‘good night’, when Mickey was born, she learnt how to say his whole name ‘Samuel Fung!’ and the most amazing thing, was once when I was talking on the phone to her, the amah was getting little Mickey ready for his shower, and I heard grandma say “have you got his under yet?’ I was amazed! “Grandma!” I said, shocked. “How come you know this word, ‘under’?!” Grandma just laughed. “I don’t think that’s the whole word, but that’s all I can remember!”

Well, in conclusion, my grandmother was an amazing woman, simply the lady I loved the most in this world. I hope she’s happy up in heaven now, and I hope I’m doing her proud, so she can boast to all her friends up in heaven, “You see that girl down there? That’s MY grand daughter!”

So yeah, grandma, today marks two years since you moved up into heaven to live with God. I miss you heaps and I love you even more, and I look forward to meeting you again one day, up in heaven!

Next post here … well, it should come tomorrow, if I find the time! I’ve yet to gloat how the mighty maroons smashed the smelly blues for a SEVENTH CONSECUTIVE SERIES! Well, until then~

Cheers,

Em. ^^