Goodbye my friend

She was still a young kid when I first set my eyes on her. It was during the first raya after I came back for good from the UK and it was love at first sight. Within a few years, she blossomed to become a real beauty, a caring mother and a gracious, ever-so-cool grandmother. We were real buddies before and we shared a common interest too..reading that is. Whenever I read newspapers, she would read (sit on) the exact column I was reading. She were there for me during my dark and teary nights too. Not so much of a talker, but she would just sit on my lap and looked at me with her loving eyes. I would often ended up reaching for cottonbuds to clean her ears and because I would get engrossed in the cleaning process, the tears would stopped naturally.. she had her special way to cheer me up, didn't she?

Sadly, over the years, we drifted apart. She, fully occupied with her kids, grandkids and boyfriends. Me with...well, all the things that happened in my colourful (or sometimes chaotic) life. She even found new comfort from a neighbour and got acquainted with another neighbour's dog that they actually slept and ate together. On the very few occasions that we met, she would greet me with her sharp stares instead of the usual purrs... until about a week ago. Since last week, she stayed at home most of the time, even responded to my calls. She wasn't well I supposed but was still active and eating..But a visit to the hospital to make her better again changed everything. She was injected with only-God-knows-what by one stuck-up yet incompetent MA and her health sharply spiralled down from there on. She finally left us for the eternal afterlife yesterday morning. One private doctor thought she was probably overdosed...sigh...

goodbye xiqgy... gonna miss you..

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I know this song is relatively old already. A number of fellow bloggers already went gaga over it a few weeks ago but I didn't get the chance to really listen to it before, not until yesterday lunchtime when I had to cover for my staff at the private wing. It was (and still is) quiet at work particularly the private wing that I could even listened to the radio! Anyway, the voice, the lyrics and the melody are just...perfect. If a guy comes to me and sing this song, I'll be totally cair! heheh..

To Mr Policeman with love

Dear Mr Policeman,

Only 2 days left before we're going to celebrate Aidilfitri. As excited as we all are about balik kampung, we, particularly in my housewhole, have been talking and worrying about one major issue. Security. Or the lack of it, to be precise.

You see, my sister became the latest victim of a snatch theft just 2 weeks ago and it happened right IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE, in a broad daylight. It was just a day after her birthday too. She was coming out of the car after coming back from work and in split seconds, 2 guys on a motorbike approached and snatched her handbag out of her hand, leaving her speechless and helpless. Thank god she was not injured physically, but emotionally,I am sure she was (and probably still is) a wreck. My youngest sister who at the time was about to sit for PMR saw the whole incident since she was outside playing with our cats, but she too couldn't do anything. The worst part was, the pillion rider looked at her with a warning stare and she is still traumatised until now. When all went to the nearby police station to make a report that night after iftar, they saw the photofit of the pillion rider posted on the wanted wall. They also found out that just earlier that day, a nearby neighbour had also joined the victim statistics.

Apart from snatch thieves, the neighbourhood has in recent months been the target of robbers. The house next to ours have been broken into so many times that we've lost count.. just because they're an elderly couple and all their kids have moved away. Criminals are cowards aren't they? They mainly target kids,women and elderly...

Anyway, back to my family.. because of the increasing crime rate in the area, my dad has decided that he (and my mom) will only spend 2 days in JB for raya. We hardly go back to JB nowadays and now with this security concern, we have even less days to be with our loved ones. Even when we're there, I am sure the concern will still be on my parents' mind. They get cranky when they're worried you know..

Actually, the whole family is abit cranky nowadays..and paranoid. Before coming out of our cars, we would carefully look around (360 degrees) and would only come out once we're 100% sure that there are no approaching vehicles. All bikers passing by the house will be stared at with full suspicions. Even the Pak Aji who regularly pass-by to go to the mosque is not spared. And we're obsessed with locks too.. The front gate is locked all the time now (much to my annoyance!) and there is no way I can come back home late at night alone without receiving wraths from my dad or mom. But the good thing is, I now have my friends or my 1am rescuer ;) fetching and sending me home if I go out at night i.e. I don't have to drive anymore :) but that besides the point, ok.

So Mister Policeman... now that you know at least how one of the snatch thieves looks like and you know the area that they've been targeting...what are you doing about it?? How come we have NEVER seen any of your patrol cars around, even after so many robbery reports coming from the area? What do you do with our reports anyway? Just stashed them away? And how come you have a permanent mini station in Taman TAR and not anywhere else in Ampang Jaya? You're supposed to 'berkhidmat untuk rakyat' not 'berkhidmat untuk orang-orang kaya dan menteri-menteri' only you know.. or have you forgotten?

I know it sucks to be working during festive season when everybody else is enjoying their ketupat and rendang, but you chose your own profession didn't you? So, we're giving you one last chance now.. please honour your profession. Please come over to our area and make your presence felt. If you are not able to catch the b*****ds (puasa!), at least (I hope) your regular presence may deter them from coming back and at the same time, may make us feel safer and definitely will reduce my dad's crankiness. I hope not to hear a single break-ins/snatch incidents in my area during this raya period ok. I may belanja you late-night teh tarik if you perform well (providing that you fetch me from home la). What say you?

Pergi berkelah di Tanjung Bidara
Selamat Hari Raya

Kuih bahulu dah habis setin
Maaf Zahir Batin

* the above pantun are dedicated to all friends and blog readers, not just to Mr Policeman

Tag # 1

NAME 5 FAVOURITE FOOD THAT YOU FEEL LIKE HAVING NOW

1. Mak Ngah's Laksa Johor (she's my aunt in JB). Come to think of it, my own Laksa Johor pun not that bad. Ardy & Coolasais: Would you agree? Hehehe..
2. My mum's Mee Bandung. Emm, she has not cooked that for quite some time already..
3. Lemang from Ampang Indah/Taman Kosas junction.
4. Mak Long's Asam Pedas Ikan Sembilang (she's another aunt in JB)
5. Beriyani Gam Pak Atan. He stays in Muar but was the cook for my sister's wedding. Sedap oooo...



NAME 5 FOOD YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE FOR BREAKFAST IF YOU COULD

1. Apam balik. I love the thin and crispy version, not the thick one
2. Mee rebus tulang Stulang, JB. Was supposed to meet up with the sisters for this (Linda Onn's version) last week but was cancelled at the 11th hour :(
3. Keropok lekor the white (steamed) version from Kuala Terengganu
4. Otak-otak Gelang Patah
5. Red Rubies at Penang Village..very refreshing!



NAME 5 FOOD YOU WOULD MOST LIKELY BUY FOR BERBUKA TODAY

1. Kurma
2. Creampuffs
3. Lamb Shank or
4. Salmon Steak or
5. Pasta... since I'll be going out for dinner tonight :)

The next victims are:
Coolasais
Halwafy
Nong@Kween
Dr Bubbles

Cepat-cepat..you only have 4 days left!

Tragedi Oktober

While walking around at my local Pasar Ramadhan a few days ago, I heard a song which I've not heard in years played by one of the nearby shops, Tragedi Oktober by Awie. Not that I ever liked the song but it brought back some good old memories. When it first came out more than a decade ago, I kept bugging my close friends and asked why the hell did Awie (or whoever the lyrics writer was) chose October as the featured month in the song... why not July? or September? or even January (since it's by birth month!). None gave me a satisfactory answer or one that made any sense.. and that question still bug me till the present day. Why bother? you may ask.. Well, I was curious, that's all.. but as people say, curiosity kills the cat!

Anyway, I thought about the song again on my way home and I suddenly realised (in my own 'perasan' way) that the song might just meant for me! Here's why:

October 2002: I resigned from my job in the UK straight after I completed my Postgrad Clinical Pharmacy Diploma after hitting rock-bottom in the summer. Well, it's hard not to nosedive to the bottom when you suddenly received an infidelity confession coupled with a talaq out of the blue just a few weeks before your exam, isn't it? And all those just through an email too (yeah, he was such a coward). Many of my friends were against my decision to come back to Malaysia to give my marriage another go, but I guess, being a good wife (haha..), I just had to. At least, I know now that I've given my best right?

October 2003: A good friend who helped me set up this blog and who was also one of those who strongly opposed me coming back to KL in the previous year suddenly left us due to heart attack. Sadly, I didn't get to know about it until a few days later from his cousin although coincidentally enough, I passed by the exact cemetery at the exact time of his burial and when I saw people going in, I did wonder whether it was somebody I knew...

October 2004: The inevitable happened. But I was lucky that I have so many good friends here in Malaysia and in the UK who continuously encouraged and supported me throughout the difficult period. It's unfortunate though that I've lost all the comments left in this blog during that period..Although I didn't believe it at the time,what they said did come true... I did come through the 'tragedy' as a stronger and better person. It took time and countless teary nights but it happened anyway. So, to all broken-hearted souls out there (you know who you are), believe me, there's still light at the end of the tunnel. You just need to keep going ok.

October 2005: No real tragedy happened although I 'created' one myself by enrolling into a part-time MSc study since I didn't get the chance to continue with it when I was working in the UK. I thought, since I already have my Postgrad Diploma, all I have to do were a few extra modules, a critical review and a thesis project.... how hard could it be right? How wrong I was! In the past 2 years, most of my weekends were spent in the office to catch up with MSc work and I am so GLAD that it's finally over now!

October 2006: Can't really remember what happened in October last year since there were no entry in this blog at all for the whole month.. I must be really busy then! But I do remember that I was going out with someone who loved me dearly at the time but because of the huge age gap that I couldn't fully accept and due to some other unresolved issues, we decided to part ways mid this year. I hope he will one day meet his 'the one' and she can be the person I couldn't be to him.

October 2007: No tragedy so far... touchwood!

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This is one entry by the late Joe in his blog just a couple of weeks before he passed away. He was one of the early Malaysian bloggers and a creative one too. Al-fatihah.

Orgasmic October
The Erotic University (EU) has declared October, the American National Orgasm Month. According to the EU's website, October was selected as the month to celebrate the pleasure and health benefits of orgasm because it is the only month with a big 'O' in it.

Cliterati reports that one of the events to be held in October will be an attempt to break records for most sequential orgasms and the most simultaneous orgasms ever achieved in one sitting. The first record-breaking attempt will be led by Ken X, who will teach a group of female volunteers his "touchless orgasm" technique. The goal of this technique is to give women the ability to climax on cue.

I propose that the organisers of the Malaysian Book of Records try and outdo this attempt and put Malaysian on the world map. There might be a Datukship in it for anyone who can beat the Americans to the records. I am willing to coordinate this event on behalf of the organisers in Malaysia. Female volunteers (Irene, are you reading this?) should email send me their phone numbers immediately, there are only 3 days left. No qualifications required, just cum as you are.

Malaysia Boleh... err... what's the Malay word for orgasm?

Gosh, it just occurred to me that there is no (proper) Malay word for orgasm. Does that mean sexual fulfillment is not a part of the Malay psyche? Or is it just my poor grasp of Malay showing up?

[Thanks to hazyr for the headsup]

posted @ 6:05 AM | permalink

Taggy business

I owe quite a number of people unanswered tags. Not that I don't want to do them buttt... (ok, won't come up with any lame excuses since we're still in the holy ramadhan month!). Some of those that I can still remember were from:

1. Kak Rose which has unfortunately already expired... thousand apologies kak!
2. Halwafy which I think I will soon do now that I have not one but two exciting holidays planned. Even stayed up with friends at a random restaurant in SJ till 2am on thursday night planning for the first one!
3. Nong@Kween which is fortunately similar to the one from Kak Spena so I think I can merge them together and create a hybrid tag..no? Both are easy tags but what stops me from doing them till now is that it will surely make me realise how much junks I have in my handbag and purse that I will need to do a serious spring cleaning next! So, I will need one good free day to do this :)
4. Pisces Man gave one interesting tag..but let me watch the simpsons movie DVD first to refresh my memory on all the characters. It's been years since I last watched one properly.
5. The latest tag came from Ardy and Ija on ramadhan food although it originated from SeaDemon. Since Ramadhan is ending soon, I definitely have to do it by Friday!

Yippee.. Nayy..

I have been tremendously happy in the last few months. Even when the never-ending data collection followed by the thesis write-up stressed me up or when work was up to the nose, I could still maintained the state of happy-ness. Happy to the extent that I could smile on my own, be it morning or night, just thinking of my source of happiness. But yesterday, it suddenly occurred to me that there is a chance that this happiness may not last that long... How can I expect it to last when all the opposing facts have been laid down in front of me at the very beginning, right?

The thing is, even after the traumatising past experience, I am still a hopeless romantic. I might have on a few occasions especially after the big 'D' shouted out loud that I don't believe in fairy-tale story ending of 'happily ever after' anymore but secretly I did, and sadly, I still do. I still desperately hoping for it.

But that's it really, I can only hope. The reality is, it doesn't matter how much I tried, eternal happiness still seems like a distance away and there are times when I get the odd feelings that it is never really meant for me. Maybe I'm just lucky enough to experience it here and there along my life journey just to know how it really feels like but that's about it. Maybe.

And at this point of time, my hope is slowly weaning off again..and so does the happy-feeling...

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Early morning updates:

Sunday wasn't that bad afterall... my state of happiness was restored a bit after a nice dinner and a good chat. But as I said.. all I have now is hope (and faith) so we'll see..

On a more cheerful note, I will soon be able to check off another of my life to-do list. I have just enrolled myself into a music class and will start this week. It was that or a Mandarin class but since learning Mandarin will require quite a number of my brain cells to function, I thought I will put that on hold first. My brain cells need a rest too right?