RACONTEUR-ESQUE SCRIBBLINGS

And I feel fine... Yeah, 2010 - good bye. I'm doing my annual review of the year a tad bit earlier this year, what with this platform being more of a pressurising chore instead of a hobby that was once well loved. Maybe a few days break of not having that nagging feeling to post a post might help me in this front. We'll see in the next year. If I were to describe 2010 in one word, I'd use the word INCONSEQUENTIAL, because, really - it didn't seem to have any significance at all. It was there, always in the background challenging you to keep up with it. Sometimes you ran to catch up, and sometimes you just threw your hands in the air and went and slept. It was that kind of year. Stuff That Made 2010 (Things that happened, stuff I learned, stuff I did, etc) 1. This was the year of vacations, with friends and family, overseas and local. While the vacation itself was good, coming back and facing the realities of life was tough. 2. Made a total of four (4!) new friends ...

The afternoon was scattered with thunder and lightning and rain - not too heavy, but continuous. Our very trusty weather forecaster, the local satellite TV extraordinaire dotted it's screens with messages of service not available (although I'm sure most Malaysians who subscribe to said satellite TV provider will agree that they should also state that the reason why service is not available is due to the rain) I also switched off the modem, because well, I really couldn't handle another drama fraught incident with my internet provider in case the modem got fried. Therefore, with the afternoon off, and the usual form of entertainment while at home (the internet) being unavailable, I tackled the last bit of organizing my music in an orderly fashion - alphabetically ordered folders, and in cases where there were more than 3 songs for a particular artist, they get their own folder too! I must say it was a task that was strangely calming, and the mild (but annoying!) headache th...

Over a year ago, comic fans all over the world were furious to discover that Disney was buying over Marvel Comics and reacted in a somewhat extreme manner (or so I thought), which I found utterly confusing until a friend explained the reason behind the Marvel Comics fans reactions. Original post here   - and if you were as confused as I was over the reaction of comic fans, pay attention to the explanation in the comments by Cyberfish.  I found myself with perhaps about 10 other people in a cold and darkened room while pursuing my 3D movie quest before the year closes yesterday evening. I had a choice between the latest Narnia movie, Tangled, and Tron, but decided to pick Tangled as it had less risk of being over crowded (which was true as there were only about 10 to 12 people there - awesome, I tell you) First of all, I did dig the 3D effects, although I believe I would have looked like a moron in those 3D glasses, and seriously doubted their cleanliness. I did wipe the...

While replying to an e-mail thread to the last few *surviving old friends I have this evening, I came up with the conclusion that December doesn't really exist in the working world. In fact, it's the month which we use to prepare for the next year - drafting KPIs and whatnots and in some cases, to complete stuff that ends the year - accounts, for instance. Towards the end of last month, I before the "December does not exist" epiphany hit me, I was forced to admit that I might need a list to get some stuff done before the year ends. I do it at work, so I didn't see why I couldn't use a list to get personal things done as well. That particular night, I wanted to call it my **year end resolutions and post it up on Facebook, for two very clear reasons - it's the end of the year as we know it, and if  I don't do the items I listed, I can kick myself as we usher in the new year, but then I procrastinated (nothing new there), and the next thing I know, I hav...

Third time's a charm? Probably not... I spent Sunday night worrying endlessly about a relatively simple procedure that involves the removal of a wayward wisdom tooth which was scheduled for Monday afternoon. I had taken the afternoon off, and spent most of the morning trying my best to cram up as much work as I possibly could. However, something was nagging me to call and reconfirm my appointment with the dentist, which I finally did about 11-ish. A soft voice greets me across the phone, and she says, "Sorry, but the dentist is on emergency leave today. Can you come on Wednesday?"  Seriously? Emergency leave? Noting that this is the third time an attempt to remove the wisdom tooth has failed, I'm beginning to think that the Universe is dead set against me removing my wisdom tooth. Why is it so, I can't explain, but seriously, once or twice is acceptable, but the third time? I'm not sure if I want to go ahead and remove it anymore...

A word of unsolicited advice: If you want to watch a movie based on a book, never ever read the book right before going to the movie. The sister and I decided to spend the morning watching the latest Harry Potter movie, based on the seventh and final book in the series. I usually have an aversion towards movies made from books, especially if I had had my hands on the books first. A total opposite when compared to my view on movies based on books if I had watched the movie first instead. The day started strangely enough, while we were in the line buying our tickets (sadly, e-ticketing is a bit of a pain in the ass for both the sister and I) One of the staff was surveying the line and asked if I was of a certain ethnicity, to which I said yes. He asked me to fill up a customer satisfaction form, and in return, I got a complimentary pass to the movie I wanted to watch! Not bad, eh? PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!! As the books suggest, the plot gets darker as we head towards the end of it all. ...

A few days ago, I received a surprise tag from an old friend on facebook - surprise because I thought tagging on Notes ended when 2009 drew it's last curtain. However, I decided to take on the task of doing the tag, but with a little bit of Secret Agent Woman twist... modified rules! The original Rules are as follows: The Rules - Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors, poets included, who've influenced you and will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag a few friends, including me, because I am interested in seeing what authors you choose. To do so, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note. I ended up taking a little more than 15 minutes to come up with the list, because I thought I'd explain how each author played a role in my life and how they influenced me and such. 1. Enid Blyton 2. Carolyn Keene  3. Fr...

When you add an 'e' as a prefix to a word, it automatically moves up the ladder of 'high-techness'. Take e-mails for instance, where we bid adieu to stamps, long lines, and late deliveries as well as properly constructed sentences in the process. The other day, my workplace announced that we'll be embracing a new technology known as the e-leave application which will be replacing our old tried and tested, environmentally detrimental and often misused green leave cards as we welcome 2011, and wanted to run a company-wide trial run to iron out any issues beforehand. I think the idea is an excellent one, after all, technology should be embraced, but only to the extent of how much it allows you to embrace it (People who know me well enough know that technology and I have some unresolved issues. My laptop is electrocuting me as we speak) However, the way I see it, this new method to apply leave has a few downsides to it, especially to those people who work in the depar...

I gave iTunes on my laptop the liberty to surprise me with it's choice of a playlist, a feature I never knew it had, which it did with as much enthusiasm as a computer application is apt to. The result was pleasantly surprising, as it seems to have picked up songs which I might have picked myself, had I been dilligent enough. I must admit though, that it's enthusiasm in including a large number of Queen,  R.E.M, Oasis and Thin Lizzy songs was as surprising as the fact that it had decided to (almost) completely ignore the female artists in my music folder! On another note, I watched the movie 500 Days of Summer over the weekend and fell in love all over again with Regina Spektor's music... here's one of her songs which was used in the movie. PS: Please excuse the rather lame topics chosen and passed off as blog posts... the mojo has turned rusty due to lack of use!

Or coffee and cartwheels, chronologically. I probably had an overly strong dose of black coffee this morning, and with that, (surprisingly) an unexplainable amount of excess nervous energy which I tried using up by tapping my feet and walking around the factory, all the while imagining myself doing cartwheels, despite the fact that I have never ever pulled off anything even remotely close to cartwheels in my entire life! This went on the whole day that at about 6:15pm I decided that enough is enough and I should head back and then go to the gym. I ended up on the treadmill in the house instead accompanied by an extremely sexist playlist on my iPod. Freshly showered, as I sit here typing this, I feel the energy coming back. I have a presentiment that I'm gonna suffer on the morrow. Oh well!

Again. You learn new stuff every day. Today's lesson is, do not procrastinate, even if the reason for your procrastination is the fact that the receptionist called to cancel your appointment with the dental surgeon at the last minute. That was more than a year ago. The past two weeks saw a strange kind of pain in my right lower jaw, and because my not so big mouth was fully of healthy giant teeth (Take A from mommy, and B from daddy and voila, here's the result - even if part A and B don't necessarily match) I couldn't see what was going on at the back of my mouth. I knew I bit into something hard just before the pain started and dad reckoned I had cracked my tooth! I went to the dentist earlier today, and this time the dentist explained what was going on in my mouth. Apparently, I DO have very big teeth (all the better to eat you with!!) and a not so big jaw, which led to the wisdom tooth being impacted in such a way it had decided to drill a hole in a formerly hea...

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Benjamin: Yes, sir. Mr. McGuire: Are you listening? Benjamin: Yes, I am. Mr. McGuire: Plastics. Benjamin: Just how do you mean that, sir?   The above is one of the many memorable quotes from The Graduate (1967), where plastic was probably the field which promised a promising future, allowing fresh graduates to build castles on orange clouds with dollar bills.  Fast forward to 2010, plastics have been relegated to the status of the evil invention that could possibly spell the end of humans on planet earth for the same reason their existence was celebrated not too long ago - their ability to stay in their form without rotting. For this very reason, the state government of the state I live in started introducing the 'No Plastic Bag Day' campaign since January this year. Every Saturday, shoppers were deprived of their usual plastic bags (degradable or otherwise) and were encouraged to use other means, either in the...

I was around twelve years old when I realised how insanely close the country I live in, Malaysia, has managed to escape the violence displayed by the Pacific Ring of Fire that plagues a few of our neighbouring countries in a lesson known as Alam & Manusia (Nature and (hu)Man, if you will). The picture here includes Malaysia in the ring for some strange reason - but that is not the case... there are no volcanoes to speak of and earthquakes are mostly aftershocks from the nearby earthquakes. Merapi in July Volcanoes have always fascinated me despite their destructive nature and the depressing stories of people having to be evacuated, and so on.. A few years ago, I saw the my very first volcano *up close in the island of Bali. And then in July this year, I saw another two volcanoes in the island of Java, Merapi and Merbabu, and also a documentary of an erupting Merapi in all it's volcanic fury. Merbabu on the other hand is a dormant volcano. Merapi, at that point was standing ...

At least we eat, and sleep - the being merry part is always subjective to what actually being merry consists of. This my friends, is what a festival is to this particular person who types this as she hides behind her online presence of a 1280 x 800 pixels screen. 5th November marked another day on the calender, and for a certain group of people, it marked a festival known as Deepavali or Diwali (depending on where you originated from, I guess) literally translated to be the festival of lights. It is supposed to be the day where some people rejoiced the victory of good over evil (and quoting myself from a similar post from 2008 - "though seeing the world as it is today, I think the good never won at all. They were just in denial over their losing the battle and the evil forces for once left it at that and chose to remain silent. " that's my opinion on the so called good over evil) Original post here: I suppose it is the absence of something interesting to do that m...

The three of us weaved our way through the empty spaces between tables and chairs tied with gold ribbon to a table for eight in a far corner of the restaurant, sat down next to each other and burst out laughing. *Wendy and Kenny decided to have their wedding dinner the very same night a couple of friends and I had decided to have dinner together as we exchanged stories of our lives for the past three months since we were all located in different countries! So there we were, way before the simultaneous laughter, standing outside the restaurant in our tops and jeans, looking a bit out of place among folks who were dressed in nicely pressed shirts or dresses with shawls draped over their shoulders making their way in. Contrary to our initial assumption that all the tables would have been taken, the hostess informed us otherwise and led us to a table among the six that were not booked by Wendy and Kenny. Good food and conversation aside, none of us could really keep our eyes away fro...

* No I don't have the patience to comment on the whole Budget, unfortunately...  I did a very **grown up thing last Friday by attempting to listen to the tabling of the Budget 2011 on a placidly warm afternoon since I had actually taken the afternoon off from work - not for listening to the budget, though. Well, that is if you exclude the fact that I actually slept off on the floor half way through. I wasn't alone, though. While the PM was tabling the budget the camera zoomed across the room, showing certain people in many different states of sleep or attempted sleep. But I digress. The Tourist Friendly Budget The radio station I listen to on the way to work had previously mentioned the country's concern over tourists not shopping enough here, preferring countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong for such activities. It is perhaps for that very reason bags, perfume and (ahem) imported underwear will be tax free? Oh yes, and there was a pause for applause after the meanin...

I write like Cory Doctorow I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software . Analyze your writing!

Bukit Gasing (somewhere in August!) City folk in Malaysia are mostly a deprived lot. Weekends are spent mostly in the air-conditioned comfort of any of the shopping malls, contributing to the economy and the waistline (we love food!), so for those who seek other type of activities, Bukit Gasing seems to be one of the few logical options. The 3 cm high 'anak sungai' We started the hike slightly after the sun had risen (groping with torchlights in the darkness should probably be left to the pros) It had rained the night before and it was slightly slippery, and occasionally raindrops found their way from the treetops to the top of our hatless heads. The thing about Bukit Gasing is that it has quite a number of trails with different levels of difficulty - by chance, I guess. I found a map on another website , which was helpful but didn't exactly prevent us from getting completely confused (both the sister and I have a bad sense of direction - it runs in the family) We t...

You call a hot but dumb girl a bimbo, but what would you call a girl who is not hot but equally dumb? I had an encounter with one of those types yesterday... I don't mind her being not hot, but it was the dumb that I couldn't stand. It all began on Monday morning, starting with an e-mail from my boss regarding a certain problem I was supposed to investigate. With Sherlock Holmes-esque enthusiasm and reasoning (Elementary, my dear Watson), I dove into it, hoping to get some leads before I was imprisoned against my will from 10:00 am till Tuesday afternoon. For that, I had to communicate with a certain person, the person who initiated the chain of e-mails to be exact. To my dismay, I didn't get an immediate response on the office instant messenger. So I went looking for the evidence myself, with hopes of finding some information so that I could proceed with the necessary tests, but the information wasn't where it was supposed to be. Someone must have taken it away. ...

The impulsive shopper who goes by the nom de blog Terra Shield stood in front of the fiction shelf where  authors whose names started with P decorated the spines of the books they once wrote. And for the first time in over two years, the name Pratchett seemed to dominate the shelf. So there went the impulsive shopper, picking out books she wanted to read but couldn't because it was never easy to find Pratchett in the local bookstore she visited. With the help of her sister and a bewildered cousin (said cousin has never seen her in such a frenzied excitement), she grabbed a total of 11 books! That's going to be about four to five months worth of entertainment! The 11 books obtained during the shopping frenzy The whole collection from 2006 till now

I made a wish to the universe the other day, hoping for something funny or odd to happen, if not to me, then perhaps to someone else. (And not in a bad way... like how I had my sneakers stolen at the gym - that was odd, not funny, or how I once dropped a box set of books on a girl (it was an accident!!)  who was sitting under the shelf, sneaking a read in the bookstore) Thirty three hours later, other than an incredibly hilarious story a friend of mine shared with me, nothing funny happened. In fact, nothing happened at all, unless you count the activities that led my work desk to look like a tornado passed right through it within four days of being back at work. It was very neat when I left it two weeks ago. An attempt at chalk outlines using crayons :p The other day, however had a slightly funny moment. See, while the plant shut down for Eid, we had some installation and repair work going on, and one of the things they did was to build a roof over the ASSembly area so that pe...

How many people need to be buried under their respective houses before anyone realises that building houses on hillslopes is a bad, bad idea? Earlier this month, the star online ran an article mentioning that the court has ruled in favour of a housing development in Bukit Gasing, one of the few remaining natural places (a hill for hiking) where city folk get in touch with nature. Actual article here : I had actually highlighted this hillside issue on this blog before, and instead of repeating myself, I figured I'd just reproduce the post here. Originally posted on December 8, 2008 "You'd think that people would learn good lessons from tragedies past and attempt to prevent them from recurring and causing pain and injury all over again. Based on what's going on though, that seems to be not the case at all. About two days ago, a landslide happened near a commercial area near Damansara Heights, where the roads were closed and the buildings evacuated. And ev...

Unrequited love. A term I first got acquainted with in English Literature class, where our teacher, a fan of all things French and romantic introduced us to abridged works of authors such as Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo. At that time, it was just another new term which I unfortunately could not incorporate into any of my essays for school. Now, if you have been *following the Malaysian news for the past one month, you'd probably know that we have had an incident with our less than friendly neighbour, the Indonesians (from a certain group that call themselves BENDERA actually). They seem to have taken a very dramatic stance by burning our flag and throwing crap at the Malaysian Embassy. (Ok, the throwing of crap is just plain gross... I think even with utmost hatred, the most dangerous thing I'd throw at someone is a Rubik's cube) *Actual news link here Anyway, incidences aside, what amuses me the most is the reaction from the Malaysian (ahem!) leadership. I was ...

Day 2 - After an interesting peek into the past and a short lesson on the history of Buddhism, from Borobudur, we checked out another Buddhist temple (I cannot remember the name - although come to think of it, I don't even know if we ever found out the name!) around the vicinity. Here we also saw the Bodhi tree, the tree under which Buddha received enlightenment. We did stand under the tree for a short while, but were probably not exactly in the right frame of mind to be enlightened in any way whatsoever. The Bodhi Tree: No enlightenment found here The second Buddhist temple We later hit the Sultan's Palace, another somewhat popular tourist destination judging from the number of non-local looking people around with cameras and backpacks. The strangest thing here is that the Sultan actually still lives there, in his palace. Of course we didn't go into the palace to say hi or anything, but if I was the Sultan, I'd go berserk if so many people were within...

Am I being evil when the first response that comes to mind when someone 'says' that they have a neck ache is "Serves you right?"

Evil (a song which sometimes serves as an alarm, and has the tendency to cause a certain degree of alarm, no doubt) woke me up at the unearthly hour of 3 in the morning. As I tried to organise my thoughts (where was I?, why is my alarm set at 3 freaking am?, why is it so bloody cold?), it finally hit me... I was going to see the sun rise from Borobudur! We left the hotel premises at about 4 am, with our breakfast boxes and backpacks, Sleep deprived and tired for some reason, we nodded off comfortably as our van took us to our destination, with our poor guide trying to make some conversation with some trivia about Borobudur, where we would occasionally respond with an 'ok'. Yes, we are terrible people, but we live in the region and actually know the general stuff about Borobudur because we all read. A lot. We finally reached our destination and were given a torchlight each to navigate up the 'stairs' to the top of Borobudur right before dawn. It was dark...

The courtroom seemed divided. To one side were a number of young people, most of them nervously biting their fingers as the judge was quietly deliberating the situation. On another side, several old religious looking men sat, looking smugly at each other. It was the first ever case of it's kind to be tried in court. The judge got up and addressed the courtroom. "The defendant is found guilty" The defendant looked up, and then stood, albeit unsteadily, overwrought with emotion. She thought to herself, "I'm going to die because the people who knew better, the people who were supposed to guide me, pretended that sex didn't exist" Two weeks later, early in the morning, she was ushered out, and prepared for her impending hanging. As her head was covered with the thick, black, heavy cloth in the silence, it occurred to her that she and her baby were the cats that curiosity killed. 6 Months Ago She certainly didn't expect it to be so wrinkled, red...

We're slowly making our way to the end of August, and in less than a week, the nation once again celebrates Independence Day for the 53rd time. As usual, I was listening to the radio on the way to work this morning, and to mark the celebrations, they had a new special segment interviewing powerful and influential women of Malaysia (or Malaya) from the days gone by - mostly from the time right after independence. Today, they interviewed the very first woman ambassador. Now, I've always heard this particular radio dj interview people in the mornings, and I'd say she prepares herself quite well, in the sense that she doesn't ask stupid questions, and is able to handle any topics they're discussing about either if it's regarding business, politics or any other current issue. I do find her voice a wee bit annoying, though... just a wee bit. The person interviewed this morning (to be known as PIM hereafter), however, was a totally different kettle of fish. I suppo...

If there was anyone who could admit knowing me well enough, they'd certainly corroborate to the fact of me admitting that I'd try anything once. Naturally, when I say anything , it refers to anything that I wouldn't mind doing, and perhaps the occasional dare like trying to put off fire with my fingers. And that is precisely how I found myself *agreeing to go for a karaoke session with a bunch of friends from work (from a different department from me), most of whom I've only dealt with regarding work matters before this despite my loner-like tendencies. Now, I've always imagined local karaoke sessions to be the type where middle aged Chinamen (mostly businessmen) would sing at the top of their lungs to Chinese songs from the 70's or 80's, while discussing business over food and drinks, a place where a someone of my **demographics would never be caught in, but there I was, among a few early twenty somethings right up to a few early thirty somethings, singing...

...with the sound of people. Over the past half month or so, my sister and I have been unsystematically climbing hills nearby. I suppose these are what you could call baby steps in preparation for the gargantuan task of someday climbing Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak in the country. We have currently covered two hills so far, one called Broga, and another called Bukit Gasing, Broga Hill Situated just a little over an hour away from our home (if you don't lose your way, that is), Broga seems to be a very popular hill among the locals, with people starting to trek up as early as 6 am while it is still dark to catch a glimpse of the sunrise. Good intentions, no doubt, but unless you made a deal with the clouds, there's no guarantee that you're gonna get the sunrise you want. The cousins, sister and I reached the foot of the hills slightly before sunrise, much later than we had planned as I had missed two (2!) turnings on our way (trust me, when the GPS asks you to go s...