200 Posts & Counting, Yo!!

And this is my 200th post. Muy cool. How fast the posts fly.

Johor was EXHAUSTING!! Actually, it was the endless traffic jam that made me bone-weary. But in the end, the whole family got the stuff they wanted & went home very satisfied & very contented with our purchases as well as our new hairdos for the upcoming Hari Raya 'celebrations'.

Mummy Alonso & all my brat sisters each had a decent haircut; even the resilient Adlyn couldn't resist having her waves chopped as it occured to her that she'd be only odd one out if she didn't do something to her hair. Nini & Nuryn both had pixie cuts which made their faces take on a fresh look; especially Nini's since her chubby cheeks overwhelmed her face & made it look like it was the only thing visible with that cut. While Fatin was coerced into going for another session of rebonding by the hairdresser, I took a rain check on hacking my curly locks but opted for a more daring approach in doing something 'dramatic' to them.

I went platinum with them. You know, as in Platinum Blonde.

Holy CRAP, I went PLATINUM BLONDE with my CURLS!!?? No freakin' way!!

But, I did. Well, I couldn't very much go with orange, right?? As musch as I'd like to, I'd look like a looney clown. And Mom would get an on-the-spot cardiac arrest. Actually they're not all that platinum-ish. They're more of a Honey Blonde color, like Nicolas the French Fry's hair. If you've seen Nicolas, you'll know what kind of color I'm referring to. Not that I was all out for that shade of yellow, mind you.

More than anything, I wanted to be a redhead. You know, redheads do have more fun than blondies despite what stereotypes would think. Redheads are feistier, with sassy, smart-assed mouths & an intelligent attitude to boot.

Come to think of it, if I had indeed gotten to be a redhead, it would be similar to orange, wouldn't it?? But in the end, sandy blonde was what I got, at the hairdresser's petulent insistence. Like, hello?? I said red, didn't I?? Red is what I want, lahh!! But noooooooooooooo, her incessant chatter about how the color she pointed to was much nicer & it'd look better with my hair & blah, blah, blah. I really didn't want to hear it. Just give me red, for God's sake!!

In the end, even when I pointed out to a coppery, strawberry-blonde color, what she gave me was way blonder than I would've liked. Fiiiiiiine, whatever. But my sisters said I rocked, though. Mikel proclaimed that I had officially became a good-girl-turned-bad-apple. Well, I gotta say I didn't look as half bad as I thought I did.

As I busied myself by checking my reflection, Adlyn's urgent voice broke my reverie. "Sis Lenny, what about Daddy?" I took me five seconds to realize that my Dad was probably going to kill me for coloring my hair. He was a stickler for these things; he even indirectly forbade Fatin from going for this current rebonding thing.

But when my parents came by just in time that most of them were done, the most Daddy gave me was an amused, none-too-pleased look which I countered by grinning as widely as I could & waved at him. Well hey, if it meant playing Daddy's girl to save my ass, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Daddy could never stay mad at me for long. Anywayz, what was he going to do about it?? Ask the hairdresser to re-color my hair & waste more money?? Might as well let me have my share of fun, right??

Which led to Daddy teasing Nini to dye her hair as well. What was that all about?? He fervently didn't want me to color my hair but instead egged Nini whether or not she wanted to color hers?? Like, color me confused here!! Suddenly Nini was the rebellious teenage daughter?? *double-takes*

Anywayz, we went around trying to find matching traditional Malay clothes to match Mom's gold-colored one for our first day of Raya due to heavy persistence from Mom. And we all knew we were NEVER getting out of Angsana Shopping Mall until EVERYONE got their matching-colored outfits.

It was kinda frustrating but, whatever lahh. Anything for Mummy Alonso. As long as she's happy, that's enough.

Daddy gave me some cash to spent, which I didn't really make use of in the end. But I DID buy myself a soccer magazine from the local bookstore that had mini pics of Xabi & Luis. Well, like yeah. Why do you think I bought it if not for their faces, right?? Duhh.

So, we had broke fast just a little outside the compounds of the mall where Fatin & I ordered from the same stall. She had Fried Rice Thai-Style while I chose to eat Pattaya Fried Rice. When this not-so-bad-looking Mat asked our table number, I couldn't give it to him because our table didn't have a number so I said, "Meje bulat tu kat situ." That round table over there. He peered out as my finger pointed to a vague direction & just as Mummy Alonso raised her arm to wave as an indication, the Mat replied, "Ohh, meje yang ade banyak budak-budak tu, ehh??"

Ohh, you mean the table with many kids, ehh??

Were we THAT obvious in the number of kids present at the table?? Hmpf.

But then when it was time to serve our food, the same Mat who took our orders strode right past our table & missed it completely before turning back, gave me a sort of sheepish, half-embarrased grin & laid the plates on the table.

Slenge!!

But at least the food was good, so I wasn't complaining. And since me & Fatin agreed to swap among ourselves, it made it doubly sweeter.

Mommy wanted to buy Raya cookies for the house & I only wanted one type of cookie. CHEESE COOKIES. Gimme!! I told her we were gonna hunt down those damned cheese cookies or we weren't going home.

And fortunately, a stall selling home-made cookies had those available. To my delight. The stall owner said 5 containers of any choice cookies would be charged for RM100, a little lesser than if you bought less than 5 because one box cost RM22. In the, Mom bought a total of SEVEN boxes of various cookies & even got a small container of sugee as a free gift in addition to the bargaining she did.

Mom should have been a lawyer. She'd make one great shark. Her bargaining & reasoning skills never cease to amaze me. *Applause for Mummy Alonso!!*

We persevered through the torrid traffic jam, which I found time to even purchase 2 packets of Putu Mayam from a road stall on the street while waiting for the stalled traffic to get a move on. Well, Mummy did ask me to check out what that stall was selling & handed me RM10 to see if they sold anything that was edible enough for tomorrow's breakfast. So I did, lahh. And I used up whatever she gave me.

Because, the Mama man sold two kinds of Putu Mayam packaging. One packet had 6 pieces for RM3 & the other had 10 pieces for RM5 so, thinking ahead for my big family, I bought both packages. Like duhh, common sense that each person would get 2 pieces each. I mean, how big was a Putu Mayam, right?? It's just the size of a palm. And like as if that was enough for breakfast??

So the remaining RM2 I used to buy something the Mama man recommended me. Okay lahh, fine. I take lahh. Food, what. Because my thinking is always, it's okay to spend extra on food. As long as nobody gets hungry, why not pig out on food rather than unnecessaries?? And it tasted good, anywayz.

Like duhh, common sense right?? Just because I've gone blonde doesn't mean I've gone dumb.

Going out with the GB Family tomorrow to celebrate Jan's 19th birthday. That is, BEFORE I finish cleaning my room. Or else, I'm trapped inside the house. The Golden Ultimatum of Mummy Alonso. That, topped off with one of her trademark glares that always made me feel like I was 9 instead of 19. Hey, I'm still fearful of her, okay. Which is a good thing. Because it shows that you still respect your elders & are aware of their authority against you.

There. I think that's about it on my little 'adventure' in Johor, Malaysia. I would add in a joke or two by Daddy Alonso but, nahh. I think it's stale already.

Laterz...
Lenny JC