26.2.2026 Thursday - school reunion

 Today is the day of the (last) follow up for my ankles, they have been recovering. Today - the doctor confirms it and tells me to 'go away'. He reminds me that he might visit us in Kuching, and Sam tells him that we will host him and his family. This is only the beginning of the recovery, it comes with rest and rehab in the midst of the sports and the running (soon) - to finally do all this without any pain. 

As a celebration, I go and play pickleball with Selina's friends - it is good to meet new people. The highlight of the trip to Aurora Palace is the eggy cheese sandwich I have for lunch. One of the players, Alvin tells me about Deep Drive which sells pickleball paddles at a reasonable cost, including some discounted demo paddles. Sam and I head there and try some out before buying two for Saturday's game.

In the evening, we have a lovely 'school' reunion at the Bottega PJ with our borrowed children - Yasmin calls our conversation and reminisces - the silliness, Ileana tells me later that if felt like Kuching all over again - I tell her we are very fortunate to have them in our lives; the laughing out loud, the silliness, the care for each other and hope for their future.

 

25.2.2026 Wednesday - breakfast in prison and dinner at the palace

Sam and I stay at the Chow Kit while Marc and G are at the apartment, Sam makes our hotel booking a month ahead, so this means we have to return to KL soon. 

I work whenever there is a gap in the programme, I try to respond to the office's queries and review the work promptly. We take our guests to the ICC Pudu - a name synonymous with the Malaysian Prison System (Pudu Jail). In any case we were only held captive by our lunch time conversation, and the slightly touristy prices of our meals. 

We send them off to KLIA, and headed off to have dinner with the relatives at the (usual) Kingdom Palace. We spend 2 hours in the taxi for a 30 minute drive, due to the heavy rain - we are glad that we do not live in KL/PJ. Life is too short. 

I go straight to the restaurant to have a quiet beer, but Sydney and Co. arrives soon after and join me to drink beers. They would not have done this in the past, but seemed to have warmed up to us after mom's departure. Sam thinks they see her nursing her mom at the hospital, and decide that we are alright, I think it just takes a long time for folks to understand; we express ourselves honestly and do not suffer fools and false people gladly. 

 Dad arrives with sister in law and 3rd Aunty - at 93 he still has plenty to gripe about, he usually keeps it inside (bad for him) though sometimes he expresses himself (bad to see, why can't they age with grace?). And SH is still prattling, she is as dumb as ever, maybe even getting worse. 

Later that night, Sam tells me that SH is not able to book flight tickets for Dad's trip to Kuching - I tell Sam that she is lucky that I am so hopeless in this that she gets extra training. 

life is (mostly) good for Samantha

24.2.2026 Tuesday - site walk and then off to KL

The first time in a long while, I am going to the Corliss site. It is about time to play a more active role; as the architectural works are coming into place. It is a good meeting although some folks were surprised to see me after all this time. I pick up some points for further discussion, not because I am better at project management, but more likely because I have the advantage of seeing things from the outside. 

All good, then across the road to see Lai and Mdm. Lim about improving the stormwater discharge, we have some ideas to propose. All good - then kindly Mr. Yeung drives me back to the office. 

Our flight has been rescheduled to 4pm, so I have time to go through the detail drawing with Sean's team. And then we fly to KL to meet up with Mark and Geraldine. 

We arrive at 731 pm just in time for the vegetarian Indian dinner that Yasmin has kindly organised. We meet Geraldine for the first time; she has many questions about us, and about Sarawak Laksa - I like her immediately. Laila drops by and gives everyone a surprise and pineapples from her farm. 

Sam got them a large selection of laksa paste, Marc tells me later that G is extremely uncomfortable about our hospitality, especially as they did not prepare any gifts for us. 

23.2.2026 Monday - making a list and checking it twice

I start the day with a walk around the 'block' - dark and quiet, no earbuds, no music, just me an my thoughts. Making a list as I cover 4000 steps (to my surprise) - I remember that I used to write down the list of things to do in a short hand pad, ticking them off as each is dealt with or delegated. I learnt this from Johnnie in one of earliest construction project, he had a long list scrawled in a thin slanting cursive hand. He made sure that he did not forget a single work item. 

I return home and start making a list, manually writing down each task to do, detail to sketch, person to call. There are many benefits from writing rather than typing; better memory retention, engages deeper with the brain, etc - but the one which I like most is that writing allows thinking through the fingers; the slower pace allows thoughts to mature, leading to better and more creative solutions. 

22.2.2026 Sunday - we get ang pows

interesting things happen in the shadows

Sam and I get ang pows from Rudy and meet his mom, sister and sister in law when we host them for lunch at No. 40 

21.2.2026 Saturday - Sean is early

 Sean and Judy fly up to KL, to meet Marc and GeSean and Judy fly up to KL, to meet Marc and Geraldine when they arrive from Penang. They will stay at our apartment, and save some money maybe eat nicer things. It is an expensive way to convey a set of keys but it works out; Sean and Judy get a paid holiday and so do we when we collect the keys from Marc before they leave for Melbourne. 

We cannot leave as mom is still with us, making small sacrifices for her. I often wonder what sacrifices she has made for her, I seem to only remember the not-so-nice things that she said or did to me. In hindsight, I have a closer relationship with my father - mostly due to sports and tasks related activities. He mostly confused my quietness with the lack of intellect - saying once to his friends that I wasn't very bright. With earshot of me, at an outing in the Santubong government quarters - I was probably 10. I had failed to solve a coin puzzle moments earlier, perhaps I have remembered it out of context or perhaps he was just embarrassed. raldine when they arrive from Penang. They will stay at our apartment, and save some money maybe eat nicer things. We cannot leave as mom is still with us, making small sacrifices for her. I often wonder what sacrifices she has made for her, I seem to only remember the not-so-nice things that she said or did to me. In hindsight, I have a closer relationship with my father - mostly due to sports and tasks related activities. He mostly confused my quietness with the lack of intellect - saying once to his friends that I wasn't very bright. With earshot of me, at an outing in the Santubong government quarters - I was probably 10. I had failed to solve a coin puzzle moments earlier, perhaps I have remembered it out of context or perhaps he was just embarrassed. 

20.2.2026 Friday -

A quiet day, I wander over to the office to tidy up and do a bit of work but was not very productive. I am very happy this week, as my ankles seem to have completely recovered. I am setting small goals; back to walking first, and gentle games of squash and pickleball. I haven't tried running but I think soon, son I'll be able to run.

Mom is still with us, there is little meaningful interaction these days - gentle reminders to wear her slippers, drink her soup; simple answers to repeated questions. Some of her questions show a serious loss of recall - asking to prepare lunch for dad, saying her mom will pick us up after lunch. Despite these seemingly simple issues, and her relatively good temperament it still takes a toll on Sam - she treats mom like her own, but the added duties of cooking for, and cleaning after mom is taxing.