To Write or Not To Write

I confess to you my fellow readers that I have Special Interests. To those who are in the know, this revelation may cause alarm bells to ring but shhh…

I have been brainstorming for ideas to write about in this blog but I keep generating stuff to do with my special interests. So, I have been wondering if I should create an extra blog just for that but my minimal number of posts each month in this blog does not justify the move to maintain two blogs. What should I do?

My special interests are Montessori/Education and Child Development. I am constantly thinking about these topics and spent years finding out about them. While I may seem like a clueless dishpig wasting time and space on Earth, education and child care are actually my fields of expertise. I studied them at University. Despite my knowledge in these areas, I still don’t feel confident to write about it on the web mainly because I am not a Mummy (pronounce it as ‘Mommy’ – the sickly sweet American way…ewww) and I am not currently teaching. I feel like I am out of the league even though I know a thing or two.

Two of my very dear friends recently offered words of encouragement about my writing. They have been reading my blog lately. Doubting me is suspecting that may be they were just being nice. However, I have been checking via the dashboard to see if people have been reading my blog and was glad to see the number going up and up each month. Most readers are from North America or Europe. Surprisingly though people from an unexpected place are also starting to read my blog. I found that out this morning. Don’t know really how I feel about that. I guess the higher the traffic the better.

So, should I write about my special interests? It would be great to read what people think.

Note: I do have another special interest and that is Sewing/Craftwork. Without my trusty sewing machine & overlocker, I haven’t been able to produce anything to show off in this blog. May be I will get back to it again one day.

A Member Again

The X and I visited our library (City Library) at least once or twice per week. We usually order books or DVDs online and pick them up whenever they are available. When the library first opened its doors around 8/9 years ago, there was already a machine available to encourage members to self check on the way out. By the time I left Melbourne (mid 2011), everyone was expected to self check whatever they were borrowing. Friendly librarians were always around to help out if anyone got stuck. The X also used to do ‘research work’ at the State Library of Victoria. I usually tagged along as well. This State Library is a non-lending library but it is full of wonderful books. There was even a playroom for people to play video games for free. After many years, I came to expect libraries to be the same as my Melbourne experience. LOL.

The first library I ever encountered as a child was the one at my primary school. I was already in Primary 2 when I first heard of it. I paid a visit during recess one day but was blocked by a ‘door bitch’. She told me that I was too young to gain entry but even though she was a ‘big kid’ (Primary 5), I didn’t take her word for it. Nothing was going to bar me from browsing the books in there. As I was cruising along, the ‘big kid’ was busy looking in her bag for a piece of paper to take my name and student number down. She was going to dob me in to the authorities. The collection of books wasn’t very exciting and half the room was blocked off to house the instruments of the newly formed school band. So I left before she got back to me. LOL.

Around that time, a cousin of mine took her son and I to the Sabah State Library (near Gaya Street) for a visit. We were shown the children’s section and were not allowed to venture into the grown ups’ areas. As my cousin was organizing a membership for her son, she also filled in an extra form so I too could become a member. I was over the moon. The library card made me feel very important. We borrowed books fortnightly. There were heaps of British children’s titles back then. Unfortunately something horrible happened while I was at the library when I was about 9 and I stopped going. Luckily, the British Council library was an alternative venue available back in those days.

A few months after returning to Kota Kinabalu last year, I paid a visit to the same State Library one day. The air-conditioning was on full blast. The security officer wasn’t very friendly but the first female librarian I saw was smiley. I went to the children’s section to check out their collection of picture books in English. I was quite impressed! The non-fiction collection was good too. What nearly floored me was the collection of Christian books for children. I just got to leave to check out the librarians at the front counter with my own eyes just to be sure that I was still in Malaysia. The women sat around chatting with little to do because the library was virtually empty that morning. After the self confirmation, I returned to browse some more. I even stood at the very spot where something happened to me all those years ago. I didn’t feel scared or hurt. I guess that I was more hurt by the state of my relationship with the X at the time. Eventually I ventured into the grown ups’ areas, including upstairs. I love the desks and chairs upstairs. The chairs reminded me of school chairs in Australia. They were sturdy and quite new.

From visiting libraries once or twice per week in Melbourne to less than a handful of visits in almost 18 months, I recently made the decision to join the library again. The library that I described above has moved to a temporary address inside a fancy looking shopping centre called Suria. My Mum came with me hoping that we could score a Family card so we could borrow up to 20 items. I thought that it would work because we live in the same address but NO. I was allowed a two year membership for RM10 and my Mum, as a Warga Emas (Senior Citizen), was given a membership for free. We were each allowed to borrow two items. I was never charged a library membership fee in Melbourne and we were allowed to borrow as many books as we wished. We could also renew our loans online. Here, the library didn’t even issue us any library cards. Our ID cards (MY KAD) double as library cards. They didn’t issue a docket when I borrowed a book to tell me when to return it. The librarian simply stamped a date on a sheet inside the front cover. That was something I hadn’t seen in a long time. I didn’t think that people still do such things! As for the collection of books on display at this temporary library, it is very small. The amount of books reminded me of a teeny tiny library in Middle Park (Melbourne). There are more books inside a Borders Store than this Library @ Suria. It is quite a shock to the system for someone like me. So far, I have only borrowed one book. I will visit again this weekend. Hopefully, I will come to love it as much as the City Library in Melbourne. One day, the new State Library will be completed and I will have a new venue to visit. I think it is next to the Perdana Park in Tanjung Aru. Yes, that is the park with the Kompan playground. People tend to remember Perdana Park for the musical fountain but I tend to always have to point out its Kompan playground hiding at the back. Let’s hope that the new library will be filled with heaps of books and comfy chairs.

Daydreaming of Toasted Focaccia...

Work was absolutely boring this past week or two. I was told to stay at home today because they didn't need me around. With very few customers and no one to talk to, I past the time daydreaming about toasted focaccia with roasted vegetables. I would like mine to have roasted capsicums (red, yellow & orange), zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, freshly sliced red onions and cap mushrooms with a big slice of Swiss/gruyere cheese (think Jarlsberg) or crumbled bits of Feta. If there's still room afterwards, I would like a couple slices of Potato Cakes. Unfortunately I am here in Kota Kinabalu, I am stuck with Kon Loh Mee. It is a dish that I probably will never eat again after I leave but hey, people make their fortunes selling this noodle here. Nandos may not survive in this town but operating a kopitiam selling Kon Loh Mee may fund the kids' education at Oxford! Wow!