The Aunty And Her Angry Furniture, Picnic Suitcase and Ukulele
I am finally almost settled in with my new room re-decorated. Two new large cabinets in a newly-painted room can really kill a person.
No.
Serious.
It can.
New furniture is likely to emit something called "formaldehyde", which causes symptoms such as eye, nose and throat irritation, coughing, headaches, dizziness and nausea.
From experience, I would also personally say that formaldehyde is also a good substitute for sleeping pills. We built exactly 4 cabinets of the same type and every single time, Cindy never failed to fall asleep beside them even before they were fully-built.
Immediately after building the cabinets and moving them to my bedroom, I teared every single day; not because I was proud of having constructed two-large cabinets with my own two hands but because whenever I opened the bedroom door, the two, standing side-by-side to each other, would greet me by burning my eyes. I must have hit those plank boards too hard during the DIY session that they bore vengeance against me.
Initially, the chemical did not affect me as much. Confined to a limited space with poor ventilation in my bedroom however (because I did not open the windows), the two furniture started to release tear-gas profusely in revenge for having hammered them too hard earlier. Being exposed to this gas for a long period of time can be hazardous. Scientists have advised consumers to reduce their exposure to this chemical where possible as they now consider formaldehyde a carcinogen (cancer-causing).
Only after more than a week ventilating the room by leaving the windows and door open 24/7 and fan spinning for a few days that their anger seemed to subdue. Oh, and did I mention that I had to wipe the entire cabinets two more times to cool their 'rage'? How was I to get any writing done at all?
As a result of being suffocated with formaldehyde, I developed flu-like symptoms - runny nose, fever, sore throat... and could hardly go anywhere after I returned from Brunei Darussalam until two days ago. There were plenty of errands to run and shopping for groceries was at the top of my list.
I must have looked and sounded like a haggard old lady for the cashier to have greeted me: "Thank you aunty, please come again."
Did I hear that right?
Oh yes!
AUNTY. The verdict is final.
For a moment there, I did not know how to react. Looking at his face, he must be in his early 20s, which makes me only older than him by a few years.
The sore throat had given me a Donald Duck voice and my baggy T-shirt with a pouch hanging over my waist would have all been responsible for me to be categorised as an 'aunty' at this age. I would best be retired at the local market selling vegetables since I already look like one. Or could it perhaps be that in our fast-paced world, even the speed for title-promotions have escalated so much that one, who is in her late 20s, gets called an 'aunty' by her peers who are in their early 20s?
Maybe it would do me good to start practicing playing Bridge to prepare myself in joining the 'aunty' gang.
The mundane grocery-shopping outing two days ago took a different turn when I came across a very old German-looking picnic basket. I was ecstatic. This would be the perfect suitcase for my classic Beetle. It looked like an antique German suitcase.
Only today I discovered that the cutleries are meant to go into the cups. I am most likely to use this suitcase to store my travel items anyways. I think I share a very strong bond with lizards because again, when the suitcase arrived home, there were plenty of lizard-droppings in it. You will understand what I mean if you have read my previous post about my classic Beetle. It took me almost an hour to scrub and clean that thing, and I now declare it FREE from the souvenirs those lizards left me with.
After exiting Tesco's that day, I bumped into a group of young men (note how I used the phrase "young men"; I've already been promoted to be an 'aunty', remember?) who were selling Ukulele. If you do not know what an Ukulele is already, it is an instrument that belongs to the guitar family. Although it looks like a mini version of a guitar, this Hawaiian instrument uses nylon strings.
Out of all the available designs there, I chose this:
There was an even smaller Ukulele up for sale, but I opted for a better one. Since I have decided to play it, why not play a better one instead? Enticed by the "cuteness" (so she said) of the instrument, Cindy decided to purchase the mini one to play along with me.
Imagine this scene. An 'aunty' purchasing and playing the Ukulele. I must be one of the coolest 'aunties' walking the streets of Malaysia.
I was also browsing through some keyboard catalogues. If only my black Yamaha acoustic piano was still around... I missed sliding my fingers across the piano keys as I played a beautiful melody. I stopped playing the piano few years ago while practicing the Fantaisie Impromptu Op. 66. This was one of Chopin's greatest composition and the sample is as below:
It would be nice to have a piano again. I am considering of whether to ship my other Yamaha piano from Brunei or to just buy another one. There is a piano-like keyboard, the Alesis Q88, that can create midi files automatically when synced with the computer. This feature would come in handy when composing new songs. It has the full 88-keys and a piano-like-keys feel to it too. Although it is obviously not a perfect substitute for an acoustic piano to practice Chopin's masterpiece, it is perhaps better than nothing.
This 'aunty' is about to sign-off now. I will resume working on the project tomorrow. Have a lovely week ahead.
Love and light,
Genevieve
Where are you Genevieve? You've gone missing again! I'm waiting to read your next blog post~!!
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