It's been raining for the past 24 hours now and waters have risen in several parts of the state. It's cold and wet and when you don't really want to sleep (because that's what people are wont to do in this sluggish weather), and today being Sunday too, you make excuses and delve into your favourite hobbies.

Up and about as usual by 7.30am, I picked up my sewing again! I've never disclosed this side of me here, but I've been sewing cross-stitch since I was 7 when Mrs. Yeoh made all the girls in Std. 1B sew on pieces of cloths with huge red checks. It had been rows upon rows of simple X's back then. Now I sew more intricate designs, preferring sceneries with birds in them. Birds, or ducks. I do not know why. They add elegance and life to the stillness of a background. If the duck sits on the water, the half cross-stitches beneath it are the shimmering shadows in delicate hues.

I am currently sewing a picture of waterfalls against a background of cool intriguing rainforest, in emerald green, and vines toiling around dark trunks. There is no bird in this one but there are tiny yellow flowers strewn across the cotton forest. There are still 3 panels for me to do before the picture is done, and I cannot sew fast enough. I am simultaneously reading `The God of Small Things' by the Indian writer Ayadh .......It is a `bestseller' but I find it crawling with over-abundance of similes. The writer compares everything with something! Of course it's a very clever thing to do but sometimes the reader just wants to hurry on to the plot and the story.

So how do I juggle between so many things to do?

Time. I time whatever I do...like, ok, today, I will sew for one hour from 08.30 to 09.30, then vacuum the house for like 10 minutes, and mop the floors for 8 minutes (because the twins were coming today and they'd mess it up in seconds again anyway); then have my cuppa hot Milo while I read `The God of Small Things', for 45 minutes. Lunched out with the twins and my kids at a Mall because of the pouring rain, mingling with Chinese New Year shoppers and Iman and Imran saw their first Lion Dance! They were enthralled and how delightful to witness their excitement at the loud drums and cymbals and the graceful leaps and sways of the `lions'. And they have learned to be appreciative because they clapped and laughed with the crowd! Iman has begun to address himself as `Abang' now..so adorable to hear him say in his high young voice, "Abang nak..." ..and Nenek wondered WHEN he had become so `big' whereas she watches him every single day?

Ah. A hodge-podge of ideas in my writing today. I am sitting at my Internet Cafe. There are not that many users tonight because of the rain. I cannot decide whether to listen to Laura Fygi or the Beatles but I think I will start with Marc Anthony. You-tube...you wonderful creation.