Help, I am married to the mob!

There goes my Newton New Year 25 km bash over the hills of Puchong and Bukit Jalil. As part of my extended family is dismantling from the country (lock, stock and barrel) early next year, I was literally arm-twisted to join in a family excursion up north with convoy of 20 in 4 cars. I would like to call it 'Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan'. We would be stopping at big towns for meals to continue the journey and finally eat and sleep in the hotel for a real unwinding before marching in to the challenges of the new year -2012. The year which is the last year in the Mayan calender and the year where rumour mongers, naysayers and people who are good at creating a mountain out of a molehill predict to be the end of civilization as we know it! Yeah! I have heard that many times before. Like the end of 1999 as in the TV show 'Space 1999' where the Moon loses its gravitational pull from the Earth which goes into mayhem and the news of San Francisco and Venice being underwater like Atlantis due to melting of polar caps and .....
Like Elton John says, "I am still standing!"...however!
On top of the uprooting story, there is another reason to party as in previous years. 2 family members celebrate their birhday on 1st of January - My mother-in-law by default both husband and wife were given 1st January as their birth dates. The last thing on their minds of her parents in the difficult hunger and misery filled times endured in the trying times of colonial India was to remember their child birthday, what more to celebrate it! Surviving to a another new day was a indeed a birth day. My brother-in-law genuinely born on the first day of the first month as a first born child. And just like in any traditional Sicilian family, we would all gather on new year eve to mark attendance, pay respect and usher the new year in unison! So this year was no exception. The following quote from Mafia move make more sense than to anybody else!

"A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." (Don Corleone - The Godfather)

What the heck, another run will come another day. Times spent with family and memories acquired from small seemingly meaningless encounters will last a lifetime, maybe more generations if is imprinted eternally in a digital form! Happy New Year!

In the mean time, Newton 25km race - DNS (Did Not Start)


Relevant quotes to ponder....
Welcome to our big old happy dysfunctional family. You are now in, and whether you like it or not, you can never get out. Hayley Williams (of Paramore, Cyndi Lauper wannabe)


The most important thing in life is your family. There are days you love them, and others you don't. But, in the end, they're the people you always come home to. Sometimes it's the family you're born into and sometimes it's the one you make for yourself. (Sex And The City quotes)


"Fredo, you're my older brother, and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever." (Michael Corleone - The Godfather Part II)