No Black Tie

Mother came down and we camped out in my
little room, her on the bed me on a mattress on the floor

My goal was to lift her out of her doldrums so I tossed
her a Timeout as I did work on my laptop late Friday
"Do we have to go out?" asked she
"Yes mom, Its friday, find something to do" I gesture at Timeout

She looks through the listings, mentions jazz and theatre
Then, NoBlackTie.

I jump up, flip through
"Lewis Pragasam!we are so going"
"10.30 wor, so late, somemore 40 ringgit per person"
"I don't care, we are going" I promptly made reservations.

We lolled in bed, reading, listening to music
til half-8, then I forced her to wear flats
so we could wander off to La Terasse
(which was very hit and miss)

Then NBT. We waited, half-11 before they started
Lo and behold not just Lewis but Mr. Piano Maestro
pianist extraordinaire that I admired when covering
Penang Jazz Fest 2?3? years back
Steaaaammmm. But he looked geekier, but oh! when he played!
The passion, the slight flirtatiousness/slight cockiness of his demeanor..

*melts*

Mom discovered she knew some of the regulars.
old friends, throwback from Zainal Abidin days
Manbai and the like , we must have reached home
at 2 am, but not before I made reservations for Saturday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, 6am and mother is snoring like Niagara Falls.
Headphones in my ear keeps my brain active, I give up and
work on my laptop before making my way to work.

Boss and I have a brainstorm,
I go home, we meet URod then, Prego, Spa
Dinner is at Frangipani, through which I rave about
food but not service, then I rave about Lewis Pragasam
and of course, Mr pianist extraordinaire

We go to NBT and after awhile, saturated in Veuve Cliquot
(we all are) (except mom)
Urod begins to pimp me out to Pianist.

No, he's not married.(he asked for me)
"My niece would like to have coffee with you"
later he walks by " This is my niece, Aja"
later yet " This is her card"
later later, someone else introduces me to Pianist
later later even, Urod introduces us again
and Pianist and I exclaim "we've met like 10 times tonight"

Sigh. Don't think he liked me, otherwise he didn't like
my life fort of URod, mother and stepfather
(they stood around me, guarding, like I was 3).

Got home at 4am. Bak Kut Teh. Another sleepless night
with headphones in and not drowning the rumbling.

Sunday.
Mother and stepdad leave.(Mother seems happier)
Me.Brunch. Neroteca.
Go home, crash then dinner in KL's oldest restaurant
with Petes and the old IA boys
Sek Yuen was another Timeout recommendation that
proved well worth it.