I love Skype. D and I use it to keep our roaming bills down, although with it being free we end up just hearing each other type out emails as we remain connected for ages, while saying nothing. Sash finds it strange that she hears Daddy, but cannot see him. I use it to have quick chats with friends who are awake across the globe. Like last night when I Skyped my fuddy in London. We chatted a bit about my pregnancy, whether I was showing, how I am on a quest for a cute bikini or bathing suit to last me the Summer (His advice: go for the bikini). He is going back to KL this weekend to renew his visa so we went on about my own bureaucratic saga (US, Canadian, no My Kad as I cant bloody pick it up can I?). How much KL has changed and how materialistic everyone is, having no qualms about spending thousands of pounds (lets not even try to convert that to Malaysian Ringgit) on a handbag, throwing huge parties in hotel ballrooms for first birthday parties, making the class distinction in KL very obvious like in Jakarta, and how the culprits are the same people we used to socialize/party with. Did we both do the right thing by jumping off the money making band wagon to lead the simple lives we do now, or did we just fall off to be left behind. Were we that shallow or are we still shallow but jealous? Fuddy and I both joked about how we now mainly live in sweats and have not been shopping for ages. This is not really a deviation for me, but for Fuddy, well, I have been his shopping bag carrier in London, NYC, Milan, and Zurich. He never shopped in KL (too expensive as sales are crap) and he introduced me to the joys of the Armani Outlet just outside Milan. he can't shop because he want sto save his money for his dream, I cant because we are mortgage poor. We talked about his reluctance to go back to KL, to be judged by others who define success and happiness by the number of zeros in their bank accounts (or overdrafts). I told him to just ignore their snide comments as everyone knows that their husbands are out shagging either their secretary or their own fuddies during those business trips, and that any asinine clown can spend their lives successfully spending Daddy's hard-stolen money. Do I sound catty? Is there such a thing as reverse snobbery? Put it down to being hormonal...

We joked about the the upcoming elections and placed bets on being able to vote from abroad. We chatted about his coming out this way to scope out potential restaurant sites. How September would be a great time as PJ will have popped (I hope he does not arrive early like Sash as Aug 8 would be THE WORST TIME to deliver here as the hospital will be PACKED by preggy women of Chinese descent trying to push their babies out)and we can do a Fall appreciation road trip. We talked about the Spice Girls concert in London, and how yes, Sash is a bit too young to attend the SG concert in Toronto tonight. We discussed food. This is a favourite topic as Fuddy left his high powered job in Zurich to train as a chef. He decided that on his deathbed, would he regret not working harder to buy that pair of Prada loafers more or not trying to achieve his dream of opening a restaurant. He left his vast wardrobe, some of which I helped lug around, in KL and abandoned his Prada loafers. I left my work for another reason, mainly my absolute and total loss of trust of the powers that be in Malaysia. I figured if the powers wanted to run the country to the ground, I was not about to become a part of it, and definitely not help, and so I decided to move away and take a break. Anyway, back to food. When I last visited Fuddy in Zurich to give a presentation, he had to fly to London for the day. After a long day, I arrived home to a message taped to the oven. Before he left for his meeting, he had cooked some rice and made stuffed baked fish, Malaysian style, for my dinner. He did not want me to go hungry, and he would be back after dinner with a bottle of Marmalade from Fortnums. I swear, if I were not pregnant with another man's baby and only recently married, I would have proposed to him right there and then. We ended the call with lots of loves and kisses. I asked him if he is happy. He said yes. Me? Very.