Never Lie to Your Mom... Or to anybody in fact...

This is a story I picked up from one of the emails my friend forwarded to me. I really like the story, so here I am sharing it with all of you…

A lady, who at the same time is a mother, comes to visit a guy, who is still her son Taque, for dinner. Now Taque lives with a girl, who happens to be his housemate, Tequila.

During the course of the meal, his mother, who is still the same lady who visit the guy, could not help but notice how pretty Taque's roommate was and it does not mean that she is a lesbian.

She, the mother of Taque had long been suspicious of a relationship between the two, and this had only made her more curious. Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Taque and his roommate than met the eye.

Reading his mom's thoughts although her son is not a psychic, Taque volunteered,
"I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Tequila and I are just housemates."

About a week later, from the day the mother visited them for dinner, Tequila came to Taque saying,
"Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the silver plate. You don't suppose she took it, do you?"

Taque said,
"Well, I doubt it, but I'll email her, just to be sure."

So he sat down and typed:

Dear Mother,

I'm not saying that you 'did' take the silver plate from my house, I'm not saying that you 'did not' take the silver plate... But the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.

Love,

Taque a.k.a Your Son

Several days later, Taque received an email from his Mother which read,

Dear Son,

I'm not saying that you 'do' sleep with Tequila, and I'm not saying that you 'do not' sleep with Tequila. But the fact remains that if she was sleeping in her OWN bed, she would have found the silver plate by now under the pillow...

Love,

Mom a.k.a Your Mother

Totally busted…

Over the course in my life I had also met people who lived in denial. This story reminds me so much of them. I do hope they are alive somewhere and living good life. I make doa that they will be able to find the true meaning of their life before they get busted like Taque and Tequila. It will be very sad if they still live in denial…

I feel sorry for them…

What do you mean?

There are times when I wish we have only one language in this world… because it annoys me when people go around telling you, do not use certain words for they mean something else in other language.

SO WHAT!?

I grow up with more than one language around me. Every time I get out of the house, it is not 100% I will get to hear the language that I will understand all the time. I grow up with more than one race, one tradition, one thinking and I do not find that annoying…

What annoyed me is when people tell me not to use certain words when speaking in one language. Just because those words meant something else in other languages… So here is the problem… Which languages are trying to speak?

Chicken is Ayam in Malay. In Chinese it is pronounce as Ji. In Sarawak Malay we called it Manoq. In other races, they will have their own way to call that same thing.

Also, the same word for that one thing may mean a different thing in other language. My cousins who are Kenyah does not like to use the word Manoq because it is not a good word in their language but they do not thing it is rude when we speak in the Sarawak Malay language. We know that it mean the chicken.

Thus, to avoid confusion, speak in proper language. If you speak Malay, speak proper Malay so as not toad confusion. Then you will not have wrong words usage and such. Unless you are able to converse very well in different languages and want to crack jokes, please stop pointing out the meaning of words in one language when you are talking in different language.

In Sanskrit, patik means dog. In Malay, patik mean me, in the royal Malay language. Does it mean you are referring to yourself as a dog when you are talking? I do not think so and if people had been very uncomfortable with that, they probably had change it a long time ago… We still use it because we know we are speaking Malay and it means me….

Trust me, if you take any word in your language and cross check with other language you have in this world, for sure one of the other meaning for that word will mean something bad. Relax, and just use one language when you talk. It is what you meant when you talk matter not the words you used. Do not add complication to our already complicated communication…

Ha... Ha... Ha...

We all need to laugh once in a while. You will be dull if you do not laugh at all. Even religion does not say it is a sin to laugh.

Some people are very good in making jokes or cracking jokes. They are the master of tickling your funny bone and are able to use anything or anyone from their surrounding for our amusement… But, there are times when jokes can be cruel and hurtful.

Over the years living in this world with humans, I found that, telling the same joke over and over again will make you a boring, uncreative person. Thus, try not to repeat a joke, no matter how funny it was, for more than three times to the same group of people. ANY jokes…

You can poke fun on one of your friends, about their hair, their clothes, their pets, their habits, their looks, their country, their home, their house, anything… But, every time you see them and you come up with the same stuff, it will not be funny and it will get on their nerve instead. That is when the time bomb starts ticking…

The first you crack that joke; they will be laughing with you. Second time, it will still be laughable. Third time, they will start praying that you will not use that jokes again.

If you cannot take the hint and still crack that same stupid joke, (By now, that cool funny joke will be degraded to stupid joke) be prepared to get polite laughter from your friends, with looks o their face wondering why you can be such an idiot and for some who are not really patient, might erupt and it will not be nice.

True, some of them might be considerate, trying to play along or appear not to be hurt by your joke, but by then, they will not be the same person again. I mean, if today, I told a friend of mine that he was not handsome, he can still take it as a joke. Do that for couple of days more, he might be mad with anger for the joke will now be a hurtful remark. You will be laughing but not him but you will not laugh long…

Use jokes sparingly or even better, try to come up with something new every time. At best, try not to crack jokes at personal appearances, certain habits, families, or other stuff that will lead to unhappiness later. If you have to, do not crack the same joke too often. Just once will be more than good enough. Let it be memorable in a good way…

There are times we learn the hard way that our jokes had scarred and impaired our close friends’ and families’ hearts…

Eye can see...

When you take people to explore, you are in fact exploring too… Although you had seen those places, it is amazing that you can still find something new each time you come back to the same place. There are times we are blind, although we can see very well…

There are times you need to be blind even though you can see very well…

Our eye sight can be very good but we can still be blinded by overlooking stuff and things around us.

It is not to be worry, just a reminder that we are all human after all…

Chicken Curry...

Once a upon a time, there was a boy who was called Monkey. He had three good friends who he often visits at his free time. Good friends they were indeed and they always share their food and do things together.

One day, when he was in the company of his three good friends, his stomach rumbled hungrily and the three friends invited him for dinner.

“We are going to cook.” said Dynamic, one of his good friends.
“Please do stay and join us.” said Fluid, the other good friend.
“We don’t mind having you with us.” said Uranium, the third good friend of his.

So he decided to stay and join them for dinner.

“We have chickens, enough for all of us.” said Dynamic.
“We are going to cook curry, chicken curry for all of us.” said Fluid.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to help us with anything.” said Uranium.

Thus the three good friends cooked up a delicious smell chicken curry. The rice had cooked and they served everything on the table. The table was set in no time and soon everyone was sitting at the table waiting to eat.

Dynamic put the rice on everybody plates. Uranium poured the curry gravy on the rice. Fluid put the chicken pieces on everybody plates… except for Monkey.

So Monkey waited a bit, for somebody to put at least a piece of chicken on his plate. Dynamic had started to eat, Fluid had begun chomping his chicken pieces and Uranium was putting aside his veggies… Still, nobody bother to notice that Monkey had no chicken pieces on his plate.

Monkey poked around the bowl full of curry gravy, hoping he can get a piece of chicken for himself, thinking that he had to serve himself. A little bit later, he was disappointed that all of the chicken pieces were already been distributed among the three good friends of his.

He kept quiet, eating his rice and chicken gravy curry until it finished, nodding politely when one of his good friends asked him to get second helping.

On that dinner, he had known his three friends better. Those chicken pieces that he could not eat told him that in the future; there will be more chicken pieces that he will be offered but not able to eat. His friends, by being too polite had offended him and shown insincerity when the invite him to eat with them.

No matter how good a friend are, when it comes to food, only then you will know whether they are truly a good friend or not.

is my food Hot? or Hot?

After eating almost for 25 years, 6 months and 29 days now… I had just realised that something was really truly missing from the English world of language. One special word that the English speaking human had never really bothers to add when they first encountered it. One special word that have been missing up until now. One special word the English speaking human never ever thought of because they had never came across those type of food before. One special word that makes a huge different when you talk about food, especially food from Asia regions…

In Malay, we use the word “pedas”, pronounce as puh duz, for food that consist of chilli and anything that work as well as chilli when you eat it. You know, the sensation of getting your tongue burning and make you sweaty when you eat it. That is pedas. In Chinese, the word is “la”.

If you ask any English speaking human, the closest they can get to those two words I mentioned will be hot and spicy. Not really correct and accurate. Like I said, they do not have chillies as one of their main ingredients so we have to forgive them for not able to come up with a word specially for “my tongue is burning from eating this stupid chillies and can somebody get water or fire extinguisher to put this invisible fire on my tongue out”.

So why hot is not the correct word? Well, hot can also mean the food is very high in temperature, please use that glove to hold it when you eat it. Spicy mean that the food has a high content of herbs and spices but it does not have to burn your tongue down. When you put chillies in the food and serve it hot, it will start one of the stupidest conversations.

Alpha: “The food is hot, time to eat!”
Beta: “Yes, I know. With all the chillies in that, it is hot for sure.”
Alpha: “I mean, the food is still hot from the stove, let us eat it hot.”
Beta: “It will always be hot, even if you let it cool down.”

That is just one simple example. In Malay’s community, if the food is full of chillies, whether it is hot or cold, the word pedas will give the warning without any confusion. No more questions ask, get your cups and glasses ready, and filled with water to the brim before eating.

I really hope the word pedas or any other word that specifically mean the same thing as pedas without confusing with another meaning will take it place in the English dictionary. If not, the confusion to tell the English speaking human between the hot and the other hot will still rage on…

What is the time now...

Man can never tame an element called Time.

An element so quiet and moves ever so slowly.

Yet the element is so quick when it passes you.

The element never returns when it has gone.

Men rise and fall with it.

With it life walks in, with it death departs.

Heals pain and wound but makes suffering from pain and wound a torture.

Ever reminding you the past, never tells you the future.

Secrets are known and secrets are lost in time.

Brings man from weak to strength and took back the strength from man.

Time is both my friend and my foe…

Same country, yet utterly different... How True!

Thanks to a friend of mine, I get to read this strange yet a true article. It is a strange but a comforting feeling to have someone acknowledging their feeling truthfully and not hiding it behind a stupid friendly smile. A smiling face but with thoughts of awkwardness and weirdness to relate to us, the Sarawakians…

The Star, Sunday September 14, 2008
Same country, yet utterly different
CULTURE CUL DE SACBy JACQUELINE PEREIRA

East is East, West is West and though they be as one together, each is not the other.
Each in his place, By right, not grace, Shall rule his heritage. –Rudyard Kipling

Thus began the introduction to a fashion spread contrasting past and present, modern and traditional, East and West.

Unexpectedly, Kuching emerged as the perfect location for this unique heritage narrative.
That season’s scorching summer clothes and accessories blended seamlessly into the exteriors of magnificent colonial edifices such as the Sarawak Museum, General Post Office, the Court House and the Charles Brooke Memorial.

The result? Spectacular, thought-provoking images.
Sarawak is in some ways an absorbing aberration of the British Empire and the Brooke family’s private realm.

Steeped in an incomparable history that still irrevocably binds the state’s people with their culture and land, it is an entity that others sometimes find unfathomable.
Which is why, whenever I’m there, I feel as if I’m in a foreign land.

I find it hard to relate to Sarawakians (and, by extension, Sabahans) as fellow Malaysians. Though just the other side of the South China Sea and less than two hours by air, the Land of the Hornbill seems a world away.

It is not just the resort-style, laid-back languor or the strident patriotic pride in their lands. Nor is this unfamiliar feeling due to their impossible-to-place accents or their often unusual names.
Even the people’s general behaviour can be quite different, if you know what I mean.

For instance, I found myself in a private club at the end of a rather pleasant late-night dinner. The club had been established so that friends could drink, talk and enjoy an evening together in the company of like-minded people and not complete strangers.

“Come on, have a drink,” someone entreated me shortly after I got there.

Before I could turn around to see who it was, there was a bottle of whisky in front of me. My colleague and I could only look on aghast; we were expected to drink straight out of the bottle. Just like everyone else around the bar that night, merrily swigging from the bottle, with not a mixer in sight.

No standard rules apply here, I thought, as we hastily beat a retreat before the fast-emptying bottle headed in our direction.

Strolling through the dusty streets, peeking into century-old traders’ shops, talking to people, you get an intriguing insight into the culture of this remarkable land.

I found it bizarre that I could not neatly categorise each one of them into the tidy little ticked boxes that we Peninsularites are so used to.

Their names don’t necessarily tally with religion, and their skin colour gives not many clues to their race.

And, with everyone celebrating every cultural and religious festival, it’s a real rojak. You can never tell who worships where by just looking at them or talking to them. This is very disconcerting to the Peninsularite.

Even more galling, their lives do not revolve around Kuala Lumpur and what goes on in West Malaysia. They don’t even attempt to disguise this dismissiveness with polite small-talk enquiries.

They prefer to shop in Hong Kong, visit family in Sydney or bank in Singapore, if I may relate a few tales I’ve heard.

I continuously marvel at these degrees of separation. We are tied together in a federation but that frequently seems to be the only link.

As regards behaviour, their riotous individuality stands out and an independent streak colours every strand of their multi-ethnic lives.

Surely these recalcitrant citizens must be taught to become true Malaysians? Or do they already inherently possess an unquenchable spirit woven into their heritage and patriotic pride, resembling an exquisite piece of ikat?

It can’t be a simple task when Malaysia’s largest state cradles 27 ethnic groups and 45 languages.

Yet they celebrate their diversity with as much equanimity as sheer unadulterated joy.
Heritage naturally draws on the past, but should also make the present meaningful and pave a path for the future. Could that be their secret?

Or could it be that, as Kipling meant, they know their place, their rights and their heritage and revel in them, rather than perpetuating the prejudices that still stultify us in the Peninsula?

People, places and perceptions inspire writer Jacqueline Pereira. In this column, she rummages through cultural differences and revels in discovering similarities.

Like I had mentioned before, it is weird for them to be that way after many years together. We really need to work on that happy peaceful multiracial country thingy if we want a peaceful Malaysia starting with respecting and understanding each other…

Winter when it is getting warmer...

It was a cold cold day in my place and it stayed true even until I took the bus home… Thought I had say good bye to coldness after winter went back to sleep. Once in a while, like today, winter reminds me how cold it is.

It was also a day I wished I had with me a piece of warm clothing, not because I want it for myself but for this poor girl waiting for the bus with me. If I had it with me, at least it will be able to keep her warm enough until the bus arrive…

I do hope, this sort of day does not happen that often for I do not like to stand and watch, thinking of what I can do but instead I cannot do a single thing to help other people…

That is if I am willing to be separated with my warm clothing on this cold day…

Shopping is the best therapy!

I had a visit from my mother youngest brother and his wife. The last of my blood relatives my room had kept under his roof. My uncle and his wife gave their thanks for your kindness and shelter…

Their visit to my place mainly revolves around shopping and doing more shopping… We, my best friend, a girl who is destined to be an English teacher and me even conduct a test to see their level of shoppingness and from that test; they came out with the best score ever. We took them to a seven eleven outlet and if they remain in it for more than 5 minutes, they really love shopping. They spent a total 17 minutes 49 seconds in the outlet, longer than what we had expected nevertheless told us what they really love to do without squeaking a word.

A really good year for me, for I learn to get to know my blood relatives better…

A really good year for me, for this is one of the years in my twenty five years, six months, eight days, eighteen hours and seventeen minutes (stand correct at time this was written) I have been living on this Earth, I bought lots of cloth for myself. That is all thanks to my mother’s youngest brother and his wife, who I found out to be a jeans expert. She knows which jeans are good for you and what sort of colour or style fits you. I know only of this fact about her after five years married to my youngest uncle.

I bought myself shirts and trousers back in Malaysia. A casual batik shirt… Shirts I will wear for working and shirts for casual. Somehow I dislike t-shirt nowadays…

During my shopping here with my youngest uncle and his wife, we bought full suit, vest, t-shirts (I know, I said that I do not like t-shirts but I like dragons, and the t-shirts had dragons on it), shirt and few more t-shirts (Levi’s t-shirts courtesy of my aunty) and jeans (Levi’s jeans also courtesy of my aunty and let us not forget my youngest uncle too)… The first time ever I bought heaps of jeans at one time in the same receipt…

Now my wardrobe door can hardly be closed… I do not know about the other guys but I like shopping…

DARKRAI is mine!

A happy day indeed for me… I had caught or rather given one of the rare Pokemon! I have Darkrai in my game! DARKRAI! You heard me… DARKRAI!

I was happy that I returned here just in time for this special occasion. Now, I just have to catch another two more rare Pokemon, Arceus and Shaymin…

New Pokemon game is coming out soon. Another highlight for next year. Something for me to look forward to. I am lucky now that I do not have to wait for long to get a RARE Pokemon… When I was smaller, when there were only Red/ Blue, Gold/Silver and Ruby/ Sapphire time, I never get to see Mew, Celebi and Deoxys until I played Pearl/ Diamond… At that time, I was happy enough if I could get all the Pokemon starter. That was how sad it was…

Now, when I came here, how easy it was to get hold of those Pokemon with Pokemon events. With helps from all of my new friends… I consider myself lucky to be here. Probably not as good as US or Japan, but still better than nothing, like back where I come from…

My only wish now is for the game developer to make better plot for the game and some more depth in the game play too… Make it even better. Since Red/ Blue, there had not been many changes on the plots and game play… You can make it better Nintendo!






For now, I am content with my DARKRAI!

Driving with Challenge!

The best place for a driver who loves challenge to go is Malaysia… Well, either that or most of the country in Asia.

Just recently I found out that most of the Malaysian drivers do not have a car license but they own at least one car…

Most of Malaysian drivers do not get their driving licence through the proper mean. Meaning, they somehow manage to persuade the driving instructor that they can drive…

These two facts alone shows why driving in Malaysia is such a challenge. On the road, you will have to use not the traffic regulations but your instinct. Most of the driver do not know how signal when they want to change lane or turn. Most of the driver will stop without any warning if there are stalls at the side of the road. Most of the driver does not let you change lane easily. Most of the driver does not know how to queue up, even at the traffic light, so most of the time, there will be cars jumping queue because they are in a great hurry.

I get my driving license in Malaysia and I survived it… The Asia country should be the driving test location for world driving license. There are lots of challenges and possibilities you can encounter there. The wild world of driving is there…

Do visit Malaysia and drive there if you do not believe me…

ps. The Singaporeans and the Bruneians also add more fun on the road…

The Powerful Water...

Take heed and bear this warning…

Of the four old elements of the world, Fire, Wind, Water and Earth, Water is the strongest. That you cannot argue and deny….

The Water crush the Earth, put out the Fire and little can the Wind do but make the Water stronger. Water is the most versatile, able to go many directions, paving its own way, fits and submerge many conditions and situations well. Little can stop it, many falls under its advances….

Beware of Water, for it is the largest element on Earth...

Water can calm you but enraged, the Water will be the most terrible, an element of fear that will engulf and crush you. Navigate your way carefully with Water, for it can be either friend or foe.

One cannot fathom Water, for without notice, it can kill you although it is also the life giver. Water changes and usually you will only notice it when it is all too late. Few and only few can read and notice the changes of Water. Even then, one cannot be too sure for Water can be so unpredictable…

The strongest of the four elements, beware the Water…

Bye bye...

Another point in my life where I will say good bye to one who had sheltered me, keeping me warm when I was cold,
giving me shade when the sun was merciless,
hid me when I need to be alone…

Many sweet and memorable things together, it is painful to let you go too. May my new relationship gives me the same warmth and love like you…

Free! Nooooot!

You can never be free…

When you are small and young, you are chained to weakness and immaturity.
When you get older, you are chained to studies and parents hopes and dreams.
When you finished studying, you are chained to boredom and seeking new paths.
When you are an adult, you are chained to responsibilities and correct judgement.
When you get married, you are chained to your family.
When you get old, you are chained to sickness and frailness.

But human is a free being although he is chained…

Of Mother and Girl...

This entry dedicated to my mother… If she reads that is. It took me quite sometime to realise and understand why you ask me to be careful with girls… What had happen recently proves what you said is right. Just be glad that it did not happen to me and why it took me so long to figure out you are right is because it had never happened to me before… Or maybe it happened to me, just that I did not realise it… Hmmmm…

Anyway, like I said, do not worry, for nothing happen to me. And I must say, your first intuition on girls is quite uncanny and what you had said is true… Just that I do not want to take it because of my heart and ego… But I am still safe, thanks to many people around me, for being my eyes when I am blinded, for being my ears when I am deaf, for being my reason when I cannot think straight…

The only problem now… The feeling in the heart does not go away that easily… I wish you can discard it just like throwing laptops out of the window…

My Greatest Wish...

One of the super powers I really want currently is the ability to read people’s thought… I actually find this one girl interesting, Emma Frost, an X Men of Marvel Comics. She is a telepath and not only she can read mind but by reading their mind, she gets to speak that person mother tongue too…

If she is with me, there will be lots of stuff I want her to tell me from people around me. I know it is wrong, but it is hard to get the whole truth from a person. Sometimes a person might tell you something that sound like truth but then you find out it is not. When a person talks, with their intonation and everything, if they are really good, they can fool you.

There are also people born with honey at the tip of their tongue. Sweet words are woven every time they say something. If they use it properly, it can be soothing and boost your spirit, your morale. Add lies to the speech, something nice to listen to but can be very painful later on when you realise what it really mean… Still it will be nice if I can get to see the whole picture, to really know what is going on behind my back, what people said about you when you are not around, what they really think of you in their mind and do they really mean what they said…

My greatest wish and Allah grants me part of it. Alhamdulillah it makes me stronger but I just wish I know more, just out of my curiosity…

Whatever happened, happen for reason...

No matter what had happened… I still believe it happen for good reason. There are things I cannot see straight away but I was given the chance to rethink my next step and my next course of action before it was too late… I was saved many times over…

Guard your heart well, for if you lose it all then you will lose yourself. I nearly did that many times, over and over again. For friends who didn’t deserve that, for things that didn’t deserve that and for love that didn’t deserve that… I am thankful that I can still walk away without too much damage on both side of the party… I hope… And I think so…

No matter what happen… I still believe it will enrich our experience. Be thankful for what you had felt, there are people who might never had the chance to feel that. There are times that I think that people life and even mine are better than the best movies or dramas… Everyday events are just so exciting and to be part of it, I am just so thankful that I am there and learn to be better. When thing happened, you either linger in the past or move forward. You either be better or worst. Always pray you will have the strength to move forward and become better…

Dodo Dodol!

It is the truth that up until now, whenever I see dodol, hear dodol and eat dodol, I thought it was the same all over the Malaysia. I learn that dodol can be found in Indonesia, Brunei (duh!), Philippines, Singapore (double duh!), Sri Lanka and India. This year Raya, I had uncover the truth about this dodol and how naïve I had been all this while.

The Semenanjung Malaysia only has TWO kinds of dodol, Tepung Pulut (Glutinous Rice) dodol and Durian dodol. There is a commercialise dodol with Pandan flavouring but this is not consider as original dodol. Sarawak has more variety of dodol and all this while I thought it was the same all over the country. The best dodol is made in Brunei and they have even more variety and much more creative in dodol making. Dodol is very similar to the Chinese New Year Nien Kau in term of ingredients except that dodol has coconut milk.

Then it strikes me why all this while, in the television, the dodol shown will all be black but whenever I went for Raya visiting, there will lots of different colours of dodol. Most of Malaysian Raya programs were made in Semenanjung so the main theme, ideology, practices and food will be theirs. Had they been more adventurous and went over to Sarawak and Sabah, they might probably discover new things… The only thing they know different in Sarawak is the Kek Lapis…


I had grown up eating different kind of dodol, durian dodol, papaya dodol, green bean dodol, red bean dodol, black bean dodol, pineapple dodol, potato dodol and cucumber dodol. In Brunei, tembedak dodol, terap dodol and probably few other more dodol will be added to the list. The Brunei dodol is also better in texture and taste. The Borneo island dodol somehow use the local fruits as the main ingredients…

The green dodol: Green bean dodol, the brown dodol: Red bean dodol, the light brown dodol: potato dodol

So, in truth, I had never eaten the Semenanjung dodol because it is totally different from our dodol. I was told, I do not have to look forward eating the Semenanjung dodol anyway because it is not as nice and tasty as the one we have here… Maybe I should just try to satisfy my curiosity and judge the Semenanjung dodol better. Until then, I am enjoying my Raya with the dodols…

Over there or over here?

The end of Ramadhan is near… Very very near in fact. Lots of things I wished I had done. Lots of stuff I wished I had executed. It is a blessing to be able to be here and enjoy here and the time here. I do not know when I will be able to do this again…

As much as I enjoy here, I also wish to be there… A place where I have my own space and the only rules apply are mine… Nearly 8 years away from here make me comfortable with there. Or maybe I had always wanted to be there except that I was not given the key to be there yet.

Still, that inspires me to get a place called my own… Anywhere, over there or over here for my own comfort and my own retreat. Wish me luck and may I get what I wanted with the blessing from Him in the month of Ramadhan…

Odi et amo...

I HATE and I LOVE.
Perhaps you'll ask why?
I don't know.
But I feel IT happening, and IT's crucifying me...
CATULLUS poem 85

I HATE and LOVE,
wouldst thou the reason know?
I know not, but I burn and feel IT so...
RICHARD LOVELACE (1618 - 1657)
English poet (translation of the same poem, from 1659)

I LOVE and I HATE. Ah! Never ask why so!
I HATE and I LOVE - And that is all I know.
I see 'tis folly, but I feel 'tis woe.
WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR(1775 - 1864)
English writer (translation also of the poem above, from 1842)

Touching story for you...

This story I grabbed from one of my good friend’s blog, Ong Sue Hui…

When I first read it, I was so deeply touched that I asked her permission to put it in my blog so I can share it with my blog readers…

~ Brother's Love ~

I was born in a small and remote village in the mountain range. Day by day, my parents plough in the dried yellow field. I have 1 brother, who is 3 years younger than me. One day, I decided to buy a handkerchief which I see all the other girls around me buy and using it. Hence, I stole 50 cents from my father's cupboard. Soon after, my father came to know about it. He made my brother and I kneel in front of the wall with a bamboo stick in his hands. "Who stole the money?" My father asked. He looked at me but I was too afraid to speak. My father didnt hear someone say " I do " so he said, " ok then, both of you deserve to take this strike!" He pick up the bamboo stick and was about ready to hit both of us.

Suddenly my brother held his hands up and said " Father, I did it ! " That long stick hit and beat my brother's back so many times. My father got so angry and hit so many times until he was breathing heavily. After that, He sat on our brick bed and said angrily, " You learn to steal from home right now, what an embarrassing thing that you would do in future? ...... You deserve to be hit until you die! You are a very embarrassing thief !" That night, My mom and I held my brother in our hug. His body was full of wounds but he did not cry. In the middle of that night, I suddenly cried loudly. My brother covered my mouth using his small hands and said, " Sister, do not cry anymore. What has happen has already happen." I am still hating myself cause I did not have the courage to admit I did it. Many years passed by but that incident still seems as if it only happened yesterday. I will never forget my brother's face when he protected me. At that time, my brother was 8 years old and I was 11 years old.

My brother was in his last year at Junior high school, he graduated to Senior high school in the city. At the same time, I was also being enrolled into the university at the downtown. One night my father sit in front of our yard, and took out his tobacco cigarette one by one. I heard him said in a grumpy voice, " Our children give us a very good result....a very good result..." My mother's tears flowed but she took a breather and said, " What is the use? How we can finance both of them at the same time?" Shortly my brother walk towards my father and said, " Father I don't want to go to school again, I have had enough education. " My father hit my brother in his face. "Why are you so weak? You fool! Even if it means I have to become a beggar on the street, I will find whatever ways there is possible to finance both of you until you graduate!"

After that he knock every door in that mountain range village to get a loan. I try to caress my brother puffy face gently and said, " A boy must have an education if not he will never leave being poor." And I had already decided I will not enter into the university. However, who knows in the early morning my brother left the house with some of his worn-out clothes and dried nuts. He walked beside my bed and left a paper on my pillow : " Sister, Getting into the university is not so easy. I will find a job and send you the money" I held that paper on my bed and cried loudly until my voice sounds hoarse. In that year, my brother was 17 years old and I 20 years old.

With the money that my father got from the whole village and what my brother earned from carrying the cement on his back at the construction location, I was able to study the whole 3 years at university. One day, while I was studying in my room, my room mate came in and inform me " there is a village man waiting for you outside!" I wondered who it could be from the village looking for me? I walk out and found my brother standing far away, most of his body dirty and saddled by the dust of cement and sand.

I asked him ' why didn't you tell my room mate that you are my brother?" He smile and said " Look at me, What will they think if they know I am your brother? Will they not be laughing you?" I felt so sad and tears filled my eyes. I clean the dust from my brother and while crying said, " I dont care what they say ! You are my brother the way you are! You are my brother whatever you look...." From his pocket, he took out a hair accessories with a butterfly model. He wore it on me and explain " I saw all the girls in down town use it. so i think you should have one too." I could not control my tears anymore. I hug my brother closely and cried and cried. That year he was 20 years old and I 23 years old.

The first time when I brought my boyfriend home, the broken window glass was already changed and it was so clean every where. After my boyfriend went home, I was dancing like a little girl in front of my mom. "Mom, you dont have to take so many times to clean our home!" But she said with smile " your brother got home early and clean this home. Dont you know the injury on his hand? He injured it while repairing that new window glass.."

I went into my brother's small room, and touch his thick face, I felt a thousand needle touched me. I gave him the medicine and took care of my brother's injuries softly. "Does that hurt you very much? " I asked him " No, it does not hurt me. You know, when I am working at the construction place, the stone would drop on my foot each time but that did not stop me from working and...." In the middle of his sentences he suddenly stop. I knelt down beside him and my tears flowed and I cant stop it. That year my brother was 23 years old and I 26 years old .

After I got married, I lived down town. There were so many times my husband and I invited my parents to come and live with us but they refused. They said if they leave the village, they would not know what to do. My brother also dont agree and said " sister you just need to take care your mother and father in law. I will take care of our mother and father down here" My husband is a director in my brother's factory. We wanted him to accept the managerial position in the maintenance department. But my brother refuse it and still want to continue to work as the reparation employee One day, My brother was at the stairs repairing the cable, He got into a electricity accident and was being hospitalized.

My husband and I hurry down to see him. When I saw the white gips on his leg, I grumbled, "Why did you refuse to become the manager? The manager would not need to do something as dangerous like this. Look at you now, you are so seriously injured. Why didnt you heed us before?" With his determined and serious face, he tried to argue his decision. " Think of Brother in law, he just got promoted to become the director and yet I do not have much education. If I become the manager that way, what kind of gossip would there be?" Then my husband's eyes filled with tears, and the words came out of my mouth one by one: " You had less education because of me!" " Why are you talking about the past?" My brother just held my hand. That year, He was 26 years old and I 29 years old.

When my brother was 30 years old he married one of the farmer girl in that village. During the wedding ceremony, the host ask him, " Who is the one that you care and get your honor?" Without thinking he answer, " My sister Then he told of 1 story which I have no recollection of. " When I went to primary school, which is in a different village. Every day my sister and I have to walk 2 hours to school and to home. One day I lost one of my gloves and my sister gave one of hers to me. She just used one of the gloves and walked so far. When we reach home, her hands trembled because of the cold weather until she was unable to use her chopsticks properly. Since that day, I made a promise to myself. As long as I am alive, I will take care of my sister and will be good to her."
A round of applause filled the entire room. All the guests looked at me. The words have difficulty in coming out of my mouth, " In my life, The one that I really want to say thank you so much is my brother." At that very happy occasion and facing the whole lotof everyone, my tears flew down my face like a river.

~~ Story End ~~

Very very touching that this story brought tears to my eyes… Such a sensitive guy I am… Thanks Sue!

Happy 45th Malaysia Day!

31st August 1957 was the day Peninsular Malaysia gains its freedom from the British. The Malaysia that we know today was formed only few years after that, on the 16th September 1963. Although this has been mentioned many times in the books, in the school and in fact it is a well known fact, it is a sad thing that many people do not seem to know that. It is even weirder that we keep celebrating the Independence Day on the 31st August.

On 31st August should only be the Independence Day for the Peninsular Malaysia and on 16th September is the Malaysia Day. Can you spot the different there? If we, the Malaysian wish to be united, at least get the fact right. Correct fact will create better understanding and when we can understand each other better, we will be united…

It is also a sad fact that the Peninsular Malaysian does not know the East Malaysian side well too…

The fear they have for the East Malaysian, the misinformation they heard and hold to can be very sickening for a country who boasts its technology and information system…. Get the fact right! Know your backyard better! Shame on you people who have high education but still does not know thing in your own country!

It is strange to be told that going to the East Malaysia is very far, very tedious, very hard and very scary but going to other places such as Australia, United Kingdom or United States does not bring up those problems… For us Malaysians who are now well educated, I am very sure you can measure the distance well… You do not even have to be a civil engineer to do that.

Be fair to the East Malaysian too. For we live in the same country. There are some rights which are ours and should be given to us…

Aku by Saleh ben Joned “Sajak sajak Salleh” taken from Mat Som by Lat (1989)

Aku warganegara merdeka:
Kemerdekaan Negara Kemerdekaanku…
Kebebasan kepadaku hanya satu beban:
Apa pemimpin kata
Aku ikut saja;
Akal yang diberi Tuhan
Tak payah digunakan-
Kecuali untuk cari makan…

Keraguan dan kerinduan jiwa(jika ada)
Kubawa berlari,
Berlari dari rumah ke pejabat
dari pejabat ke rumah
hingga hilang segala sangsi
dalam bunyi lantang peti TV
tiap tiap malam hari.

Sambil ternganga tengok TV
Aku menjilat jari
Begitu sedapnya ayam Kentucky
Dan aku akan lebih tidak peduli.
Aku mahu hidup begini seribu tahun lagi…

The translations:

I’m a citizen of an independent land
My land’s independence is my independence…
Freedom for me is a burden:
Whatever the leaders say
I just follow;
The brain God has given
Need not be used-
Except to earn a living…

Doubts and yearnings of the spirit (if any)
I cure by running,
Running from my house to the office
From the office to my house
Till all questioning is drowned
by the noise of the TV
each night.

As I gape at the TV
I’m licking my fingers
That good Kentucky chicken.
And I shall care less and less.
I want to live this way another thousand years…

With all that is happening in our country, wake up Malaysians… With all the turmoil in our country, wake up Malaysians… Wake up and know each other. Know your country and its people. Know the language and its history. Only then you will love your country and only then peace will be among the Malaysians.

Mee Kolok on my first day...

I have been in my home for two weeks now… It may be longer for somebody I know, but officially it is two weeks. It also took me two weeks to realise that I did not say anything about the day before we are not allow to eat for a month during daytime… In short, my first day in my home city was one day before Ramadhan, the fasting month…

Knowing that I will be back and how I always talk about missing mee kolok, my petit sister was kind enough to persuade my uncle for welcoming breakfast at one of the so called best mee kolok café in my home city…

And so, an army of children with few commanding officers marched off to the so called best mee kolok café in my home city… And to my disappointment, the mee kolok was not really the best mee kolok in my home city… And to add to my disappointment, the couple sitting next to our table were eating away mee kolok with chunky meat! And all I was given was stingy, meagre, ungenerous, mean, miserable, small, paltry, derisory, measly portion of blackened meat with my mee kolok… Was that sad or was that sad?



Anyway… I was happy that I could eat mee kolok, washed it down with a cup of the tarik halia kurang manis… Happiness… In the chaos of my cousins at the table… Still a happiness…

Memikul cinta...

For my heart that had felt the pain of love and for my heart that live in love and for my heart that is going to be loved… May the love be true and long…

'Kalau engkau dicintai orang dan mencintai, senangkanlah hatimu. Tandanya hidupmu telah berharga, tandanya engkau telah didaftar anak bumi yang terpilih. Tuhan telah memperlihatkan belas KasihNya kepadamu lantaran pergaduhan hati sesama makhluk. Dan jiwa di seberang masyrik dan maghrib telah terkungkung di bawah satu perasaan di dalam lindungan Tuhan. Di sanalah waktunya engkau mengetahui rahsia perjalanan matahari di dalam falak, ketika fajarnya dan terbenamnya, tandanya Tuhan telah membisikkan ke telingamu nyanyian alam ini. Lantaran yang demikian, dua jiwa berenang di langit khayal, di waktu orang lain terbenam, keduanya berdiam di dalam kesukaan dan ketenteraman, bersenda gurau di waktu bersungguh sungguh.

Dan jika engkau mencintai tetapi cintamu tak terbalas, senangkan jugalah hatimu. Kerana sesungguhnya orang yang mengusir akan jatuh kasihan dan ingin kembali kepada orang diusirnya itu setelah dia jatuh dari matanya: dia akan cinta, cinta yang lebih tinggi darjatnya daripada cinta lantaran hawa. Terpencil jauh membawa keuntungan insaf, kebencian meruncingkan cita cita dan membersihkan perbuatan. Dengan sebab itu, engkau akan beroleh juga kelak tempat merupakan cinta itu, kalau tak ada pada insane, ada pada yang lebih kekal daripada insan. Bersedialah menerima dan menyuburkan cinta, walau bagaimana besarnya tanggunganmu, kerana cinta memberi dan menerima, cinta itu gelisah tetapi membawa tenteram. Cinta mesti lalu di hadapanmu, sayang engkau tak tahu bila lalunya.

Hendaklah engkau jadi orang besar, yang sanggup memikul cinta yang besar. Kalau tak begitu, engkau akan beroleh cinta yang rendah dan murah, engkau menjadi pencium bumi, engkau akan jatuh ke bawah, tak jadi naik ke dalam benteng yang kuat dan teguh, benteng yang gagah perkasa yang sukar tertempuh oleh manusia biasa. Kerana tugu cita cita hidup itu berdiri di seberang kekuasaan dan kemelaratan yang diletakkan oleh kerinduan itu sendiri.’

Excerpt from Memeluk Gerhana, 2007 by Isa Kamari

Frog's eggs are yummy...

The earliest memory I have on fasting brought me back to the time where my grandmother and grandfather were still alive in Kuching. It was the most memorable break of fast or you could just say ‘sungkei’ like how we said it here in Sarawak. Not in Semenanjung though or people over there will give you the weird look…

It was the most memorable because that was my first encounter with the frog’s eggs. At that time, my grandparents’ house was at this village right next to Kuching River. There were lots of open drains around the wooden house.

I used to spend time catching frogs and tadpoles in the drain… There were lots of them back when I was still a child. Few times, I catch a few tadpoles and put them in a jar. It was fun, watching the transformation of the tadpoles into frogs… everyday watching the tail of the tadpoles getting shorter until one day, the tails are gone and there you have frogs!

frog's eggs

Thus, on that one particular sungkei, my usual favourite drink, ai’ sirap had an extra ingredient! I still remember the clear jug full of red water and in the water were clear jellies with black spots in them… Just like small eyes or better still frog’s eggs!

I was horrified! My first thought, a frog somehow jumped into that jug and laid its eggs there! My first reaction was to tell my mum… And to that she said,

“Don’t worry, no frogs jumped into that jug… I put the frog’s eggs there myself…”

I was even more horrified! We were actually going to drink up frog’s eggs!

Probably because I put a face of full horror, my mum decided to tell the truth. The frog’s eggs were actually Biji Selasih… That word never really stays in my mind for I still call it frog’s eggs…

Biji Selasih

Biji Selasih is also known as Basil Seeds in English or another name for it is Tookmaria. To make it looks like frog’s eggs, soak the seeds in the water for a while before dumping it into your favourite drinks… And tell some kids that a frog had laid its eggs there…

HELL... ooooo

Sometimes… You wonder what is the truth…

If you said that living here is hell, yet the hell you said contains big houses to keep you safe and comfortable…

If you said that living here is hell, yet you are given the rights to own properties, make money, use your own name, go to school with your own custom, speak your own language… and actually allowed to act as if you own this place…
So, it really make me wonder, the truth is… where is exactly hell is?

Superlongqueue at Supermarket!

I am now in my home city… For Ramadhan and Eid. After few years spending Ramadhan and Eid so far away from my family and from the festivity of Malaysian Eid style… It does feel good to be back, fasting with my family…

Thus, I went to the supermarket today to buy some stuff with my cousins and my siblings. I missed the feeling of walking in a supermarket, superpacked with people in the weekend. You do not get those feeling at where I studied. When I said, superpacked, it really mean superpacked. It is superpacked that the chance for your body not to be bumped by other customer is nearly 97.69%. Meaning, somebody will bumped into you whether you want it or not. If the supermarket is superpacked with hot Malaysian female supermodels I do not mind at all…

Oh well, the superpacked part is not so bad if you compare to the superwaiting in the superlongqueue… And it really does not help at all when it is also superslow with supermanyworkeratthecashtill…

Back where I studied, the cash till will have only one person behind it. Nobody will help him to put the stuff in the plastic bags. He will also have to weigh any stuff that need to be weigh. Still the wait and the queue are not as long as forever. Make me really wonder…

If the supermarkets in Malaysia are making good money, how much more will they make if the really have good system? They must be superrich too by now… Maybe I should be the Manager and bring the supermarket up to the supermarket standard of the place where I studied… Should I?

Time to frown...

Thus,

The special month for the Muslims is returning. The Muslims will fast for the whole month during day time. Blessing is abundant during this month…

The names of my friends had been written down.
The addresses of those people were hunted down.
The cards are all sitting on the table waiting with a frown.
The names of recipients on the envelopes, one down.
The address nicely written, two down.
The inside of cards is empty, nothing to be shown.
Time is running out, fuse is ready to be blown.
Terribly still no idea to be thrown.
Thinking of nice words and well wishes I have known.
That is the problem I have now, old problem I own.
Thus the cards wait on the table with no sign of going, shown…



With wishes that you all have an easier time to write in a card…

The man who loved a wall

There was an arrogant man…


He was a man who had the unfailing charisma to make anyone in the world fall in love with him, upon seeing him just once.

There were plenty of reasons for his descent into the swamp of arrogance.

Whether they believed in love or not, all women who faced him professed their irrepressible passion and they crumbled to the ground before him.

He was a man who created love.

After some time…
Those who wanted to test his allure began to arrive.
They wanted to confirm it with all types of proposals.

Not a woman, but a man…
Then a child…
Even animals were brought to be his subjects.

He accepted the challenges and created love.
As they witnessed identical results from all the living creatures of the world,
the people around him started to deify him.

And he started to believe that he was a god.
A god who created love.

A challenge that was possible only for a god.
He decided to test the domain of a god himself.

A wall.

He looked upon the wall that took up one side of his room.
Whether he could love the wall, whether the wall would proclaim its love to him…
To him,
this was the final challenge.

He started to gaze warmly upon the wall caressing it at every chance. Pouring on tender kisses… he soliloquized and talked to it. He showered greater devotion on the wall than on that which was alive.

Once he had decided to love… he could not stop. No one could stop him. Not even those who were close to him. Because, this was the final test.

A long time passed.

As he spent time with the wall,
his surroundings were fading away.
The friends who visited him… And even the neighbours
who were concerned for him had disappeared.
All that was left were
the wall and the man…

And the masterless chair that watched all of this.

The man came to love the wall.

The emotion he found was like any other love, but effort was unique.

As he achieved love, time in the world stopped.

While time had stopped, the man steadily gazed upon the wall and waited.

As feelings for the wall became deeper, he sang for the half of success he had, but shed tears for half of failure, which deepened as he waited.

As the sunset faded to black, the frozen time started to move again.

The man became confused.

As the love that he believed should be returned…
As the love that he considered his rightful reward didn’t appear, frustration turned into rage.

At that moment, he gritted his teeth and swung his fists, demanding boldly…

GIVE ME LOVE AS I HAVE GIVEN YOU.

The wall…

Is only a wall…

The man also, he is not a god, but a mere human.

The defeat nurtured by hate and rage… Returned him to his humanity.

And at that moment, though he had been away from the chair for a long time, he noticed it was still warm.

His body heat which the chair had cherished.

An excerpt taken from The Great Catsby volume 5 created by Doha.


Check this out for more information on Doha’s comics.

Where I stay...

Currently, with all the excitement of going home to fast with my family again, I have to look for a new place to stay because I am not a student anymore.

The place where I stay for the past few years is a sad place I can say… One of my wish when I first laid my eyes on it was to help it. So Alhamdulillah, I was given that opportunity. I get to stay here and after that, I was given the full power and authority to do as I please to make the place better.

I was happy that after that, the place looks better. I wish I could do more…

I remember, putting up notices for other tenants… So that they could also help in keeping the place clean and tidy. By doing that I get to know that students who are doing Bachelor degree, Master degree or even PhD cannot read notices… it is very sad and also a surprise. I mean, the students who come here to study should be able to read English, the first main thing. Able to read English also means that they understand English… I mean, how do they go to classes and do their assignments? Amazingly, that did not happen here in my place.

Also, not many people have the same standard of cleanliness… Few housemates of mine showed me that. Probably the upbringing is not the same… Or maybe they just do not care to eat on table that had not been wiped for a week. Or using the stove, spill their cooking on it and let it be for the ants and the cockroaches to clean up later… Or their feet cannot feel the dust piling up on the floor after had not been swept for a week… Or showering in the bathroom full of colourful moss…

I cannot stand it but I had the opportunity to carry out few experiments and most of the time, I can safely say that people just do not care or immune to the mess or unhygienicness…

I do hope this godforsaken place will still be well maintained after I left it. It had been kind to me, providing me shade, keeping out the cold, protecting my stuff and a place where I can rest. Thank you 323 of Hawken Drive in St Lucia. Sorry for stuff that hurts you but I need to do that for me to understand my housemates and the people in it. Thank you very much for helping me to see the people around me better…

I loves to read...

When I was still in Malaysia, the range of comics or you can also call it illustrated novel, is sort of limited. Limited because of my financial and because you can only get the popular titles only…

So I missed quite a lot of other excellent comics until the day I became the member of Brisbane City Council public library.

I was and still very happy with the range of comics that are available. Never had I imagined that a library will do that sort of thing. I Malaysia for sure, the idea of reading comics alone is scoff at. Let alone putting them in the library. I still cannot figure out why drawings are connected with childish. Cartoon is childish. I just pity people with that sort of thinking because they missed out on a lot of things.

Here, I get to read some of the comics that I would never dream of buying. I get to read comics that do not attract me at first but after reading them, made me love them instead. I get to see many ways of styles and methods put forth to reach their readers. So many plots and stories. So many things to ponder. So many things to learn.

I learn a lot of Japanese culture from comics such as Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai and Samurai Executioner by Kazue Koike and Goseki Kojima. A beautiful yet simple drama in The Great Catsby by Doha. I get to know more about DC universe and find that I like Green Lantern very much. The unique and mysterious stories in Sandman by Neil Gaiman. The funny adventures in Bone by Jeff Smith and Liberty Meadow by Frank Cho. So much more comics that change my mind and made me think and see this world more.

It is great to read comics and it is also an art that you will enjoy very much in fact.

Things to fear...

I was once asked what I fear... What was I afraid of…? There are things that I did that make me looks courageous. So what do I fear?

There are many fears that I faced as I grow up. Some of those fears had been overcome and some still linger in my heart. Some fears were left to be forgotten as time goes by. Some fears come as the old fears left but to answer this question truthfully is very hard actually…

I come across these words while I was reading a book written by Tesuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-Chan: TheLittle Girl at the Window.

Having eyes but not seeing beauty.
Having ears but not hearing music.
Having minds but not perceiving truth.
Having hearts that are not moved and therefore never set on fire.
These are the things to fear.

This was quoted from Totto-Chan’s school headmaster, Sosaku Kobayashi.

There are some truths there if not all truth. Without all those things he said, you will not be happy in this world, you cannot appreciate, you cannot love and you cannot even be grateful. You will not be able to be a human…

TMNT! YEAH NECA TMNT!

Just want to say I really like turtles and ninja… thus I really like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are really awesome possum! Now I will be waiting for one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles greatest enemies… The Mousers!



I am really looking forward and hope that NECA will also create the Foot Ninjas, the Shredder, Leatherhead and of course the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles master, Splinter… Keep them coming and keep up the good work NECA!

The search for POPCORN!

Once I had written how unhappy my heart had become because the longing that linger and dwell in my broken heart…

Since the first day I arrived to this country that was unknown to me, I mean, basically I know where Australia is and always envisioned that the country filled to brim with kangaroos jumping around on the ground and koalas hanging on the eucalyptus tree branches but at that time I had no idea how the place is and how the people is…

So, like I said before, since the first day I stepped my foot on this soil that is separated from other continents, since the first time I went into the movie, the first movie I watch here in Brissy was Spiderman 2… Since the first time I ate the popcorn here in Brissy, my heart grow heavy with sorrow and sadness…

My soft pink tongue had never taste popcorn so salty and dry in its life. The saltiness that was comparable to the swallowing boatful saltwater or swallowing the salt water crocodile full… The dryness that was comparable to the dried sand of Sahara that not even cactuses could get a teaspoon of water out of it or as dry as three days socks left in the smelly old shoes…

That is how dry and salty the popcorn here in Brissy… Totally different from the popcorn that I grow up with back in Malaysia. My naïve mind always thought that popcorn will be the same no matter where they are. How naïve and stupid I was! How green and shallow was my knowledge of popcorn! How totally embarrassing it is to find that the same happiness cannot be found in the popcorn here…

All this spark the spirit of finding and discovering the popcorn that I always adore here where I stay now…

The search and the finding never cease. Each passing days become the fuel to empower the spirit of searching for that one true popcorn that my heart beats for…
That was until the last day of Ekka, the day my heart is filled with the sweetness of popcorn love… I was totally dumbstruck and my heart pound so hard that I was actually afraid that my rib bones would be cracked and smashed to pieces… The feeling of despair for the fruitless search gave way for the feeling of rejoices that had blossomed in my heart! How happy was I to find the popcorn that I had long search for was right in front of me…

The humongous jumbo huge popcorn I bought accidently at Ekka.

Now I can say that Brisbane is a good place to live in… You can eat the nice and sweet popcorn here too…

And another visit to dreamworld...

This is one of the theme parks that I always go to… The first time I was here was because I could drive. Then I return again as the tourist guide and again and again…

The recent visit to Dreamworld actually completes my visit there. I had officially sat on every ride in the theme park… Yes, every rides including the rides for children…

The rides are boring but still enjoyable. You can scream if you want but the children will look at you with a weird face…. I do not blame them for that strange expression because if the children are not afraid to go on those rides, why should that young man be?

Basically, I know the theme park well by heart… Unless someone move all the big rides location around, I could easily lead you to any places you want…

The best ride for me will still be The Claw… But was it just me or the ride duration getting shorter… I hardly felt the swinging sensation when it came to full stop… The sadness it left in my heart because it cannot fulfil the sensation in my heart is just like the pouring rain from the blackest cloud in the sky…

That is how sad my heart is…

Burger... Delivery?

I am now busy doing nothing… well, not exactly nothing but I am now on holiday full swing. Not really on holiday as I also have to look for a job… something that can make money…

Thus, one of my usual activities in a day is opening up the job search website. Well, to tell the truth, I spend more time browsing through rather than doing the application… reason why? I will tell soon and soon you all will know why…

So I come upon this one particular job website… Where you will work with this particular company that was founded in 1954 and become the world’s predominant underground fast food delivery service. I would love to tell you more about the company but unfortunately, I do not know much to because if I do, they will kill me…

This company mission is to defend the downtrodden, fight for the honour of the company and to deliver hot and fresh food to their customers. The only drawback about this company is this one thing, fail to do any of the mention above, the employee have to commit seppuku… One mistake and you are fired… So failure is not an option… Talk about work stress…

Other than that, the excitement of joining the elite burger delivery team is just so exhilarating! I will get to learn delivering tasty burgers and fries everywhere and anywhere, bringing honour to the franchise. Like I mentioned earlier, failure is not an option.

I will hone my skills; learn the secrets of stealth, swordsmanship and customer service, fighting for honour, respect, big tips and the coveted promotion… Oh yeah, I will be pitted against my fellow trainees in the burger store but that happen in every work place, so that should be normal…

The customer list is quite impressive they said but they cannot release any names because they respect the privacy of their clientele… However, they said that their customers include many powerful, respectful, influential and important people so no questions asked.

One of the first things that I have to do before I lodge my application is to fill in a simple questionnaire to find the best position in the company for me… The position suitable for me is as shown below:

Just the position that I want and love to do. I might join them until I can get a proper job… This is the motto of the company:

No matter how secure your office,

how deep your bunker,

how dedicated your guards . . .

we deliver your burger in 30 minutes or less.

Just I case you guys will be interested to join and want to check it out, click here.

See you then at NINJA BURGER.

EKKA!

Thus, this will be the fourth year I have been to Ekka. The second year I perform here at Ekka… What I like about performing in Ekka, I get to enter Ekka for free… So hurray for that!

The card that gives me the free access to EKKA!

It is always nice to see the farm animals… And to see so many people around with festivities in the air… And to see spectacular display of Showbags with staggering varieties and prices… Good place to get some gifts for your sisters and cousins… Over the four years I have been to Ekka, there is not much change to the rides… So this year I decided not to go for the rides… Same old same old.

Performing in Ekka is great! It is nice to see all the angmos to gawp at your costume, guessing to their best where I might come from, figuring why I twisted one end of my Kain Songket and tie it into a flower, the different of style to the usual karate and taekwondo style and to be able to show the Malaysian martial art to the angmos…

Last year our performance was pretty much boring… Just some opening ceremonies called the Bunga Tanjong, the basic Silat Gayong movement in Gulungan Anak Harimau and end it with Senam Silat. We showed what Silat is but not very interesting to see…

This year, my Guru adds some spices into the performance. Our new team member also proves to be valuable for he is able to fight with one of our member splendidly in such a short time. Good one Faris! Not to forget Raqim who performe really nicely. All our kicks and punches at him really are worthwhile… A gift from Malaysia for your hard work! Just do not blame me if you become mortally endangered… I felt bad already…

Guru was correct that fighting with Parangs will be great. Thanks for his teachings and I do hope I can be better in the future. People said it was awesome. Wish I could put up the video of us performing… The parangs are dangerous to fool around with but seeing Silat with Parangs is just awesome and you can also said the awesomeness of the Silat is magnified with Parangs. Now Keris will be another story…

From left, Ali, Me and Faris… Raqim was still changing into the Silat outfit…

Another good Ekka day and I do hope the next performance will be as great if not better. Thanks again and hope we will have more performers in the future…

Surgeon loves Engineer...

Another joke on us the engineers… I like it and that is why I am trying my best to date a surgeon… We should be able to get along well…

Five surgeons were taking a coffee break and were discussing their work.

The first surgeon said,
"I think accountants are the easiest to operate on. You open them up and everything inside is numbered."

The second surgeon said,
"I think librarians are the easiest to operate on. You open them up and everything inside is in alphabetical order."

The third surgeon said,
"I like to operate on electricians. You open them up and everything inside is colour-coded."

The fourth surgeon said,
"I like to operate on lawyers. They're heartless, spineless, gutless, and their heads and their butts are interchangeable."

The fifth surgeon said,
"I like Engineers...they always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end..."

I am proud to be an engineer. We make the surgeon life so much easier… No offence to any of my lawyer friends out there and accountants too...

Is Clever, Clever enough?

Once in a while I will stumble upon a story that is funny yet left me with something to ponder on…

Once upon a time, in a kingdom not far from here, a king summoned two of his advisors for a test. He showed them both a shiny metal box with two slots in the top, a control knob, and a lever.

"What do you think this is?"

One advisor, an engineer, answered first.

"It is a toaster," he said.

The king asked, "How would you design an embedded computer for it?"

The engineer replied,
"Using a four-bit microcontroller, I would write a simple program that reads the darkness knob and quantizes its position to one of 16 shades of darkness, from snow white to coal black. The program would use that darkness level as the index to a 16-element table of initial timer values. Then it would turn on the heating elements and start the timer with the initial value selected from the table. At the end of the time delay, it would turn off the heat and pop up the toast. Come back next week, and I'll show you a working prototype."

The second advisor, a computer scientist, immediately recognized the danger of such short-sighted thinking.

He said,
"Toasters don't just turn bread into toast, they are also used to warm frozen waffles. What you see before you is really a breakfast food cooker. As the subjects of your kingdom become more sophisticated, they will demand more capabilities. They will need a breakfast food cooker that can also cook sausage, fry bacon, and make scrambled eggs. A toaster that only makes toast will soon be obsolete.

If we don't look to the future, we will have to completely redesign the toaster in just a few years. With this in mind, we can formulate a more intelligent solution to the problem. First, create a class of breakfast foods. Specialize this class into subclasses: grains, pork, and poultry. The specialization process should be repeated with grains divided into toast, muffins, pancakes, and waffles; pork divided into sausage, links, and bacon; and poultry divided into scrambled eggs, hard-boiled eggs, poached eggs, fried eggs, and various omelet classes.

The ham and cheese omelet class is worth special attention because it must inherit characteristics from the pork, dairy, and poultry classes. Thus, we see that the problem cannot be properly solved without multiple inheritance. At run time, the program must create the proper object and send a message to the object that says, 'Cook yourself.'

The semantics of this message depend, of course, on the kind of object, so they have a different meaning to a piece of toast than to scrambled eggs. Reviewing the process so far, we see that the analysis phase has revealed that the primary requirement is to cook any kind of breakfast food.

In the design phase, we have discovered some derived requirements. Specifically, we need an object-oriented language with multiple inheritance. Of course, users don't want the eggs to get cold while the bacon is frying, so concurrent processing is required, too.

We must not forget the user interface. The lever that lowers the food lacks versatility, and the darkness knob is confusing. Users won't buy the product unless it has a user-friendly, graphical interface. When the breakfast cooker is plugged in, users should see a cowboy boot on the screen. Users click on it, and the message 'Booting UNIX v. 8.3' appears on the screen.

(UNIX 8.3 should be out by the time the product gets to the market.)

Users can pull down a menu and click on the foods they want to cook. Having made the wise decision of specifying the software first in the design phase, all that remains is to pick an adequate hardware platform for the implementation phase. An Intel 80386 with 8MB of memory, a 30MB hard disk, and a VGA monitor should be sufficient. If you select a multitasking, object oriented language that supports multiple inheritance and has a built-in GUI, writing the program will be a snap.

(Imagine the difficulty we would have had if we had foolishly allowed a hardware-first design strategy to lock us into a four-bit microcontroller!)."

The king wisely had the computer scientist beheaded, and they all lived happily ever after.

As you can see, being too clever is not really clever especially in the real world… Live and let live I say…

Boring Looking to Awesome Looking!

Thanks to a friend of mine, I now have another thing to do in my free time. He let me use his Gundam Marker on my Gundams…

Before, I was wondering why the heck the Gundams pictures on the box always look awesome and great. That curiosity leads to the discovery of colouring the Gundams…

The real hardcore fans of the Gundams did not only enjoy putting them together but also enjoy the painful and tedious process of making the Gundams look as beautiful and awesome as possible…


When I had those markers with me, I thought it will be an easy job. Once I hold the markers and try to colour my Gundams, boy, it was not that easy… Trying to draw a thin, a really really thin line was not easy at all… Few googling and trial and errors later helps to make my colouring skills better. Now my Gundam looks better…



I would not go into the details on how to do it but I will just show the Gundam before and after the colouring. I am just too lazy to write the whole thing. My Gundams used to look so plain as plain as Jane… Now they have some depth, the details are better and just plain awesomeness!

Even my Astrea looks even more beautiful… Thanks a lot o’ brothers and sister… Still need more practise before I consider myself good in this stuff…

Memorable Quotes...

Due to the tension of the new Star Wars movies, I find this quote appropriate to the mood:

Duct tapes is like the force,

it has a light side and a dark side

and it holds the universe together.

I don't errrrr... eat BEEF...

One of the things that you will encounter as a Muslim in a place where the Muslims are not the majority is Halal food…

That is not even the real problem actually… The main problem is to get non Muslim people to understand that you can only eat Halal food.

For those who do not understand the word Halal, I give you the meaning taken from this wesite:

http://www.afic.com.au/Halal.htm#HalalConcept

“Naturally Halal animals such as cattle, goats etc., must be slaughtered according to Islamic rites, the rituals specify that the act must be performed by a mentally sound Muslim, to sever the blood and respiratory channels of the animal, using a sharp cutting tool such as knife.”

Here is another point that is taken seriously by most Muslims to ensure the Halality of the food to be consumed:

“All raw materials and ingredients used must be Halal.”

“The Halal ingredients must not be mixed, or come into contact with Haram materials such as products from pig or dog during storage, transport, cooking, serving etc.”

For the benefit of those people who do not understand what Haram is, it is just the opposite of Halal, meaning, a big NO. Most of the non Muslim people find it absurd, weird and to an extent as some people put it an extreme. They questions this way of eating and shake their heads in disbelief that we actually abide by this rules and still survive. Here, where I live and stay now, the point that I do not eat pork is even shocking to some of them and said that how I missed out all the good food in my life…

Some of the Muslims I know of tried to tell them what Halal is. They have good intentions and it is great that they try to make the world understand us Muslims better… but getting mad and angry because they do not understand some of the terms and most importantly the idea of Halal itself is not the way. I mean, you are talking with a people who do not care much about your religion, not brought up with all the understanding you have in your religion and they do not have problem consuming anything edible, of course they cannot understand the words coming out from your mouth unless you use an easier terms for them to grasp the situation.

Now, another good way for the Muslims to avoid all this fuss is to say that they are Vegetarians… Good way to escape all of those stupid questions and stares but you will have lots to answer for if you get caught eating Kebabs the next day…

So, I find that relating my excuse not to eat those meats especially pork and why we do not eat them if they are mixed with other non Halal material is this:

The Vegetarians will stir up a great fuss if they find that the food contains animals be it as fat, oil, emulsifiers, bla bla bla and to an extent even if the utensils used to prepare the food are mixed. Nobody questions them or even ask them why. People will just say this thing would not happen again and we will prepare the food your way. I do find this strange… but it is an easier way to relate to this non Muslims…

If you also have problems with people saying that the pork is delicious… Do remind them to say that the beef is also very delicious to those people who do not eat beef… if you do not have problem with people not eating beef then why you should have problem with people not eating pork…

I hope this will help those people who stammer every time people questions your Halalation action…

Ed... Edjama... Edjamacated!

Today, I had learn a new word: edjamacated

I was not sure what it was at first so I asked my angmo friend what it means. Well, he called me with that word and I went, “errrrrr what is that?” The meaning of that word I wrote it here in my blog slightly altered from the original sentences because the angmo like to put in harsh words which are not nice for my young readers…

Thus,

Edjamacated: to get qualification for whatever crap I know and get paid hell lots of money for that crap. Whatever crap I spit out will be paid handsomely.

You learn something new everyday…