Why The Thursday Murder Club Made Ageing Look So Interesting

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I watched The Thursday Murder Club on Netflix the other night. It was star-studded – Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie, David Tennant, and Tom Ellis, to name a few.

It was entertaining too; there were murders to be solved, plenty of amateur sleuthing, a retirement village full of personalities, and a group of older people who were far more capable than anyone around them initially assumed.

The biggest entertaining gem for me was how the movie portrayed ageing. Because it neither portrayed ageing merely as inevitable physical decline nor disguised ageing with inspirational messages about "staying young and not looking your age".

Instead, The Thursday Murder Club showed something I think we do not see often enough on screen: people who have aged, accumulated experience, lost things, lived through things, and are still curious about the world.

Retirement Does Not Mean You Stop Being Useful

The Thursday Murder Club consists of four retirees who spend their Thursdays looking into unsolved crimes. Joyce is a retired nurse. Elizabeth is a former intelligence operative. Ron was a trade union activist. Ibrahim is a psychiatrist.

Elizabeth understands strategy and how people behave when they are hiding something. Ibrahim understands psychology. Ron knows how to confront people and mobilise others. Joyce understands people in a quieter way. She observes, listens and often gets information precisely because people do not see her as threatening.

Their careers may have ended, but their knowledge did not disappear. I really liked that.

We tend to associate usefulness with employment. Once someone retires, there is almost an assumption that the productive part of life has ended and the remaining years are mainly about leisure, healthcare and grandchildren.

But a person who has spent forty years practising medicine, teaching children, running businesses, solving problems, caring for patients, raising families or managing difficult people does not suddenly lose all that knowledge because they no longer have a job title.

Experience does not expire at retirement.

The Characters Are Old, and That Is the Point

Another thing I appreciated was that the movie did not try to make ageing look youthful. The characters are older, and the story allows them to be older.

They talked about health concerns, grief, illness, and how time is no longer unlimited. But none of those things cancel out curiosity, humour, intelligence or purpose.

There is a common way of praising older people that sounds something like, "She is 75 but still behaves like she is 40!" It sounds complimentary, but underneath it is the assumption that being younger is still the ideal.

The Thursday Murder Club offers a much more interesting possibility:

What if seventy years of living actually makes someone more interesting?

Ageing and becoming less relevant are not the same thing.

Joyce Was Probably My Favourite

I also have to mention Joyce, and not only because we share the same name. Hahaha!

When she first joins the group, she seems like the least intimidating member of the club. She is docile, friendly, and very ordinary when compared to Elizabeth, who appears capable of organising an international espionage operation before breakfast.

But Joyce has her own kind of intelligence. As a former nurse, she understands people. She notices small things, she listens, and because she does not immediately look like the smartest or most dangerous person in the room, people underestimate her.

That actually becomes an advantage.

You know what? There is something very satisfying about watching a character whose strength comes not from being loud, dominant or obviously brilliant, but from decades of paying attention to human beings.

Perhaps This Is What Interested Me Most

Perhaps the most obvious reason for why I immensely enjoyed this movie is that I have become increasingly interested in what happens as we move through midlife and eventually into older age.

There is so much conversation about ageing from a medical perspective. We talk about disease prevention, physical decline, healthcare costs, retirement planning and longevity.

All of those things matter.

But there is another question that interests me just as much:

What happens to identity?

Who are we when the titles start disappearing, and when are we no longer the manager, the doctor, the teacher, the business owner or the person everyone calls when something needs to be solved?

The Thursday Murder Club gives a surprisingly simple answer:

You are still the person who spent decades becoming who you are.

The job may end, but the expertise remains.

Stay curious, stay relevant.

My Post-Convocation Lunch Introduced Me to Miao Cuisine

A few days after my convocation, I wanted to celebrate with lunch somewhere different. That search led my sister and I to MIAO at IOI Puchong Mall, a restaurant serving Miao cuisine from Guizhou China. I have heard of Sichuan, Hunan, Cantonese, and Yunnan cuisine, but Miao cuisine was completely new to me.

What Is Miao Cuisine?

I did some Googling and learned that Miao cuisine comes from Guizhou Province in southwest China and is closely associated with the Miao ethnic minority.

One of the defining characteristics of Guizhou cuisine is its use of sour flavours, often created from using fresh herbs, chillies and preserved ingredients, creating dishes that are flavourful without necessarily being overwhelmingly spicy.

Sour Fish Mini Hot Pot

The restaurant's signature dish is its Guizhou Sour Soup Fish Hot Pot, so naturally, that became the centrepiece of our meal.

The soup had a pleasant sourness that was quite different from the tom yum soups or assam-based broths that many Malaysians are familiar with. The flavour was lighter than I expected and became more enjoyable after a few mouthfuls.

The hot pot came with one whole freshwater fish, tofu skin, enoki mushrooms, and Chinese cabbage. Cooking everything at the table made the meal feel more festive, and the ingredients absorbed the flavour of the soup very nicely.

Stir-Fried Deer Mushrooms

Alongside the hot pot, we also ordered the Stir-Fried Deer Mushrooms. Despite the name, this dish contains mushrooms rather than deer meat. Apparently deer mushrooms are named after their appearance and are commonly used in Chinese cooking.

The mushrooms were stir-fried with garlic, leeks, and red and green chillies, giving the dish a savoury flavour with just enough heat. The texture was slightly chewy, making it a nice contrast to the softer ingredients in the hot pot.

The Drinks

We also ordered the Guizhou Specialty Tamarind Juice and the Signature Passion Fruit Drink. The tamarind juice had a pleasant balance of sweetness and tanginess, and the passion fruit drink was equally enjoyable and offered a lighter, fruitier option. But perhaps next time, I will opt for normal sweetness instead of the less sweet version.

Build Your Own Guizhou Ice Jelly Bowl

One of my favourite moments at the restaurant was the complimentary Guizhou Ice Jelly station.

You get to build your own jelly bowl by choosing from a selection of toppings. There were grass jelly, colourful jelly cubes, popping boba, red beans, mung beans, peanuts, crunchy toppings and various sweet syrups.

This was the highlight of the meal as I filled my bowl with a little bit of almost everything. The combination of chilled jelly, beans, crunchy toppings and syrup made for a refreshing dessert after the hot pot.

I thought this was a nice touch because it made the dining experience a little more interesting. Rather than serving everyone the same dessert, each person could customise their own bowl according to their preferences.

If you're feeling adventurous and would like to explore a different side of Chinese cuisine, MIAO is certainly worth considering.

A Master's Degree, A Family Photo, and an Unfinished Dream

On paper, 22 July 2026 was my convocation day. I officially graduated with a Master of Marketing from Sunway Business School, Sunway University, through Sunway University Online, and received the Tan Sri Sir Jeffrey Cheah Scholastic Award for academic excellence.

More Than a Convocation Day

Emotionally, the day was never only about the scroll, the robe or the award. It was also about returning to an unfinished dream from 23 years ago and finally taking the family photo I once did not get to have.

I was not graduating as a fresh graduate in my early 20s but as a working mother in my mid-40s, with a husband, two children, work responsibilities, family commitments, and a very full life outside the classroom.

This was not the kind of academic journey where studying was the main thing I had to do. It was something I had to fit into the spaces between everything else.

So when the day finally came, it felt like more than a ceremony. It felt like visible proof of all the invisible effort that had taken place quietly behind the scenes.

The Photo I Did Not Have 23 Years Ago

One of the most personal reasons I wanted to pursue this postgraduate journey was not only academic; it was also emotional.

I wanted to wear the graduation robe and take a photo with my own family.

That may sound simple, but for me, it carried a memory from 23 years ago. When I completed my undergraduate studies at Universiti Malaya, I did not manage to take that graduation photo with my parents because life and circumstances were different back then. I moved on, as people do, but I think some unfinished things quietly stay with us even when we do not talk about them often.

Over the years, that small missing moment remained somewhere in my heart. It was not a dramatic regret, but it was there. A photo that never happened and a milestone that was completed but not fully captured with the people who mattered.

This time, I was certain I wanted a different ending.

I wanted my husband and children to be there. I wanted that photo not because I needed to prove anything to them, but because they are such a huge part of this season of my life. They are the people who live with the daily version of me, not only the polished version who appears on convocation day.

In a sense, when I finally wore the robe and took photos with them, it felt like I was not only celebrating the Master's degree. I was also gently closing a loop that had been open for more than two decades.

Studying Again as a Working Mother

Completing a Master's as a working mother in my mid-40s was no easy feat. I do not say this to make it sound more heroic than it was, but because it is important to acknowledge the reality behind adult learning.

Studying at this stage of life is different. You no longer have the luxury of being only a student. Your mind is constantly divided between work, family, health, responsibilities, deadlines, bills, meals, school runs, and the many invisible tasks that come with being an adult and a parent.

There were times when I had to switch quickly from work mode to study mode and then back into mother mode or when I had to finish up assignments when what I really wanted was sleep. I sometimes did wonder why I was doing this to myself when life was already busy enough.

But the honest answer is this: I love it.

I love the learning, thinking, analysing ideas, connecting patterns, asking better questions, and challenging myself academically throughout the journey. I love the feeling of stretching my mind and realising that I am still capable of growing in ways that are not limited by age, job title, family stage or life season.

In many ways, this Master's journey reminded me of a part of myself that has always been there, i.e., the part that enjoys studying not because it is easy but because it gives me a sense of meaning, and I love finding satisfaction in understanding something more deeply.

Why Academic Excellence Mattered to Me

Receiving the Tan Sri Sir Jeffrey Cheah Scholastic Award made this journey even more meaningful.

I know awards do not define a person's worth, and achievement is never the full measure of a life. But I would be dishonest if I said this recognition did not matter to me deeply.

There is something powerful about being recognised at this stage of life. In our 40s, many of us are already used to being responsible, capable and practical. We often do what needs to be done without expecting too much applause. We keep the household running, meet work deadlines, show up for our children, and manage the emotional load of many things at once.

So when recognition does come, it can touch a deeper place than we expect.

For me, the award was meaningful not because it made the journey valid, but because it reminded me that effort, discipline and persistence do matter. It reminded me that academic excellence was not something I had left behind in my younger years; I could still return to study, do it seriously, and complete it well.

It was an honour to receive the award on stage from Professor Dato' Elizabeth Lee, Group CEO of Sunway Education. That moment will stay with me for a long time.

More Than a Qualification

Looking back, this Master's journey gave me much more than a qualification.

It gave me confidence and intellectual energy and reminded me that learning is still one of the places where I feel most alive.

It helped me reconnect with a part of myself that enjoys academic challenge, critical thinking and the discipline of doing something properly.

It also made me wonder whether academia may be a path I can one day contribute to meaningfully. I do not know yet how that path will unfold, and I am not rushing to define everything too quickly. But I know that this journey has opened a door in me.

It has reminded me that some interests do not disappear simply because life becomes full. Some dreams do not expire. They simply wait for the right version of us to return.

Done and dusted, for now.

Once a Sunwayian, always a Sunwayian.

First Impressions of GloLab+ Dazzle Bloom and Dazzle Dew: A Malaysian Brand That Caught My Attention

Over the past few weeks, I've somehow fallen into a Korean skincare rabbit hole. It started with writing about my surprisingly simple midlife skincare routine. That led me to researching trending Korean skincare ingredients such as niacinamide, ceramides, peptides, PDRN, EGF, NAD+, and skin longevity.

So when I came across GloLab+, a Malaysian skincare brand founded by three friends, I became curious. Not just because they are my friends, but because I wanted to know whether their formulation philosophy would align with everything I'm currently using.

A Quick Disclosure

Let me begin by saying that I know the founders of GloLab+ personally. However, this is not a paid collaboration. I bought the products on my own and no one asked me to write this article.

If anything, knowing them made me more hesitant to write about the products because I wanted to judge them on their own merits rather than on friendship.

Fortunately, after looking through the formulations and trying both products, I found myself evaluating them the same way I would evaluate any other skincare product that I own.

What Caught My Attention

One thing I've realised recently is that my interest in skincare has changed. These days, when I want to purchase any skincare product, I ask a few crucial questions, which were also the questions I had in mind when I looked at GloLab+.

• Does it support the skin barrier?
• Will I actually enjoy using it every day?
• Does the formulation make sense?
• Is it trying to improve skin health rather than simply promising perfect skin?

Dazzle Bloom All-in-One Skin Solution

Dazzle Bloom All-in-One Skin Solution is the first product launched by GloLab+. On paper, it combines several things that already appeal to me:

• SPF50 PA++++ mineral sun protection
• Ceramides (Ceramide AP, Ceramide AS, Ceramide EOP)
• Hyaluronic acid
• A lightweight, less greasy texture designed for daily wear

I'm a big believer in sunscreen, and I've become very convinced that sunscreen is still the single most important skincare product we use every day. Everything else is secondary.

What I appreciate about Dazzle Bloom is that it doesn't treat sunscreen as a separate afterthought. Instead, it incorporates barrier-supporting ingredients into a product that is already doing the most important job of protecting the skin from UVA and UVB damage.

The use of zinc oxide (a filter used widely in mineral sunscreen) also stood out to me. Usually, mineral sunscreens are often criticised for leaving a white cast or feeling heavy on the face, which is why I only use Korean sunscreens with chemical filters.

But Dazzle Bloom's formula manages to change my perception of mineral sunscreen. It remains comfortable enough for everyday use, without the feeling of excessive greasiness in Malaysia's hot and humid climate. See my testimonial below.

In summary, Dazzle Bloom simplifies your mornings by being a moisturiser + mineral sunscreen + glow primer.

Dazzle Dew Peptide Recovery Cream

The second product, Dazzle Dew Peptide Recovery Cream, interested me for a different reason. Rather than trying to be another "miracle anti-ageing cream", the formulation focuses on recovery, hydration, and skin resilience, which you could describe as 'recovery' instead of 'overcorrection'.

Looking at the ingredient philosophy, several familiar names immediately stood out.

• Copper Tripeptide-1 – the star ingredient that seals the deal for me to use Dazzle Dew. Copper Tripeptide-1 is a widely respected peptide known for skin repair, collagen signalling, and wound healing.
• Panthenol for soothing and hydration.
• Niacinamide for barrier support and uneven skin tone.
• Sodium hyaluronate and multiple humectants for lasting hydration.

Copper Tripeptide-1

Copper Tripeptide-1 is a peptide that has gained attention for its role in supporting skin repair and collagen production. It is often used in skincare products designed to improve skin firmness, elasticity, and overall resilience.

While it's not a miracle ingredient, I like that it aligns with the growing focus on helping the skin recover and function well over time rather than simply masking the visible signs of ageing.

As someone navigating midlife skin, that makes far more sense to me than chasing dramatic overnight transformations.

What I Appreciated Most

Interestingly, it wasn't any single ingredient that impressed me the most; it was the overall formulation philosophy. Neither product tries to overwhelm the user with every trending skincare buzzword. Instead, both products seem to prioritise skin barrier health, hydration, protection, and recovery.

That might not sound particularly exciting compared to products marketed around the latest viral ingredient. But after spending weeks reading about skin longevity, I've come to appreciate that healthy skin is often built on consistently doing the basics well.

The current skincare trend is becoming less about chasing flawless "glass skin" and more about maintaining healthy, resilient skin that functions well over time.

Perhaps that's why GloLab+ caught my attention. Although it is a Malaysian brand, the underlying philosophy feels surprisingly familiar: barrier support, hydration, protection, recovery. These are exactly the principles that have quietly reshaped the way I now think about skincare.

That's ultimately what I found most interesting about GloLab+, not because it's a Malaysian brand or because I know the founders. But because after weeks of exploring Korean skincare philosophies, I discovered something unexpectedly familiar a little closer to home.

GloLab+ Dazzle Bloom & Dazzle Dew Travel Kit

For those who travel frequently, GloLab+ has also put together a Dazzle Travel Kit containing miniature versions of Dazzle Bloom and Dazzle Dew. It follows the same uncomplicated approach that I appreciate: protect your skin during the day, support recovery at night, and keep your routine simple enough that you won't be tempted to skip it just because you're away from home.

Where to Buy Dazzle Bloom and Dazzle Dew

GloLab+ Official Store

GloLab+ Shopee

GloLab+ TikTok Shop