RACONTEUR-ESQUE SCRIBBLINGS

I want to be a chemical engineer. Actually, it was never like that. At all. Growing up, I had a long list of things I wanted to do. Believe it or not, being a drummer for a band in a pub was among one of them, although I never told anyone about it at that time. At the same time I also wanted to be a policewoman. However, for some reason, a career in the medical field took over the list and I thought that that was what I wanted to do, until 1996, when my sister met with an accident when we were on our way home from school one day and we spent a good time in the hospital emergency room, seeing people being wheeled around in wheelchairs in various degrees of injuries, the doctors who couldn't care less, missing several wounds and glass shrapnel which were scattered all over my sister's wounds. The whole atmosphere was so depressing that I knew there and then, that it was the end of an almost lifelong ambition. What's really interesting (and somewhat disappointing as well) i...

...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...

Well, here is a video of the chicks. There are supposedly two of them, but one of them is catching up on it's beauty sleep. While the other probably thought I was one of the food suppliers and decided to sleep again when it found out otherwise. Poor thing! That horrible sound in the background is err... my voice (in a mock high-pitch tone people use when talking to cute things)

So, my second favourite 24 year old (who is otherwise known as my sister's boyfriend) is back in Malaysia for his summer holidays after wrestling with bones, tissues and psychiatric patients since September last year. Due to a series of (mostly unexpected) incidents, my sister came back yesterday from her usual weekday abode and was supposed to meet up with him at home somewhere after 7:30 pm to go for dinner. And for the first time ever (according to my sister), he was punctual and had to wait for her instead.. because she assumed he would be late (and I think I should stop saying anything here or she'll have my head when she reads this!!) Anyway, as he was waiting for her, he actually turned to look for me and asked where I was! (Of course I wasn't there at that moment because I worked late yesterday, having filled the whole day with *nasty discussions but I must say I was immensely touched by that gesture) And that, I think... is a very aw worthy moment. He is in fa...

Thursday. It was slightly after 6pm, and due to some urgency, I tried to get through to my parents by calling them at home. The phone rang, but no one picked up. That was odd. Someone's always in, I know... I thought they might have gone somewhere although it seemed unlikely at that time, so I call my dad's mobile, which he doesn't pick up either. Even more odd... I thought they had gone out and forgotten to take the mobile phone (Dad's famous for doing that) Anyway, I spent the next hour and a half intermittently trying to call them to no avail. I even thought something might be wrong with my phone, so I used the office phone as well, and even when no one picked up then, I made the mad assumption that both my parents were dead! The good news is, they're fine. The not so good news is the house phone was dead and they didn't know. We later on found out that the wire outside had snapped. It has since been rectified. Dad's mobile phone was in silent mode (...

There are times when you just don't talk for no apparent reason. It's hard for me to gauge why it's been ages since I last spoke to my sister. Of course we have exchanged words every now and then, but there was something missing unlike the conversations we used to have in the middle of the night not too long ago. Perhaps it's our differing schedules, her insane thesis that leaves her mood something I'd like to move far away from, her full time job and part time job, my full time job that seems to take more of my time than I'd like to imagine, both of our get healthy plans, my battle with insomnia, or our addiction to our respective mp3 players which played a part in this. I don't know really. It was her birthday yesterday, and after that long long time, I actually sat down and spoke to her for a good 30 minutes (using the coffee stained phone, which by the way is still specked with coffee dust that refuses to budge) about things in general from how the Gi...

I was supposed to post this up on Monday, when the story was still relevent but somehow it got delayed... You only turn a certain age once in your lifetime, and once that particular age has gone with the passing of the year, there is no way you can return to it. About a few weeks ago, my aunt had called us and shared the news that she was planning a surprise birthday party for her daughter (who is my cousin, and we'll refer to her as Dav) who would be hitting 21 this year. (I don't know what it is about this age that everyone seems to love it so much... is it the freedom that comes with it? (yeah right - insert bitter snigger in here) or is it that there's the possibility of everything being legal at this age? (Hahahaha!) Or is it some people's insane obsession towards keys? Ok, I've got to stop here) Anyway, on the 26th of January, that is exactly a week after her real birthday, the party was held, after many lies were told (mostly by some of her close frie...

This happened some time back... when I was at home, forcing myself to read a book which I started in December but find it almost impossible to complete... I blame it on all the other distractions! Anyway, my dad was watching football (or soccer depending on which part of the world you're from) on the telly and was rooting for Liverpool, whereas I was not really rooting for any team in particular. Well, except for the team that was playing against Liverpool.... Me: (in a quiet whisper) Man U! Man U! Dad: I thought you quit supporting them after Cantona left. Me: Yeah Dad: Then read your book... Liverpool has to win tonight (day). Anyway, why are you suddenly watching football? Me: I just saw a cute guy Dad: I think I know who you're talking about Me: Really? "It's that one right?" dad asked pointing to a guy in white. "He's Neville." Dad said rather nonchalantly. There are 22 people on the field excluding the referees. 11 of them play fo...

It is eerily quiet in the house on this Sunday evening. The sister has just left the house to get back to the ups and downs of studying life after an uneventful 10 days at home. It wasn't too long ago that she came back to the house for an extended weekend, to get some rest before her final exams... due to the fact that we hardly ever see each other or talk to each other or even sms each other unless there is something totally important, like a great new song or some information about something or other, her coming home is something I always look quite forward to, but she chose a particularly wrong moment to drop by. I was having long nights and long days at work including working through the weekends. Even moments spent in the house was filled with moping around the house with a worried countenance, wondering if the long days and nights will ever end... or wil the commitment pay off (definately not monetarily, the scumbags, but at least the mental anguish will finally be exinguis...

Dedicated to the real sister :) Being an only child for ever so long, (almost 5 years), all I wanted really badly was a sister. Am I to be blamed here? My aunts used to have tonnes of fun with each other, and 2 of my best childhood friends happened to be sisters! And then she was born! I guess I forgot to ask my parents for a walking, talking sister... not a baby.Being someone witha somewhat wild imagination... (I blame it here on the lonely years), one day (after she started talking and walking) when my mom was doing some spring cleaning, I decided to 'entertain' my sister with a story. See, what happened was, mom brought out this bag with a "melbourne" tag on it... (think someone got it for her from there). Being 6+ at that time I obviously could not pronounce the word 'melbourne' but read it as 'malboro' (definately more pronouncable!). And then the wild imagination began... I told my sis, (naive lil' thing) that we once had a sister cal...