RACONTEUR-ESQUE SCRIBBLINGS

Way back in 1998. In the true spirit of upholding the morality (ahem!) of female students, my residential college decided to hold a talk for all female students who lived there. Attendance was compulsory, they said. On top of that, to make matters even worse, there were rumours that the rooms would be checked during the talk to catch truants. There were a few problems with this, seeing that we had a math test the next day. Being the kind of people who saved everything for the last minute, this talk just threw all the studying plans in a disarray. Secondly, the idea of some stranger trying to instill morality in us was just not my cup of tea. My mom did an extremely good job on that many years before. She still doesn't like it when I use unlady-like words even under extreme provocation, but at least I'm honest enough to use the words in front of her ;) Being first year students then, we duly attended the talk and were bored to death, while attempting math questions i...

So, you meet someone in person for the very first time, and instead of going for the tried and tested (but incorrigible) "Nice to meet you", you can now compliment their socks while you shake hands with them. On condition that you can actually see their socks. An excellent ice-breaker if I may say so myself. ;)

Apparently, last-minuteness works quite well with me.  In a sudden deviation from my usual (but mood-dependent and selective) anti-social behaviour, I found myself agreeing to spend last Saturday night playing RISK with a few friends, although on second thought, I could not possibly ever be anti-social with the bunch of people mentioned in here. I pulled up at JV's house around 7:40 pm, and instead of delving straight into attempts at conquering the world, the three of us had decided to go and pick up the board from JV's friend's house, have some dinner and then begin the game. Several minutes later with the board in hand, JV drove around as we wondered where we'd have dinner. In the end, after a rather lengthy discussion we decided to head over to Bangsar for dinner, quite a distance from where we were, actually. By the time dinner was over all thoughts of RISK had been thrown out of the window, albeit a bit forcefully - PJ still thought we could pull off a very shor...

If I were a psychology student, a study on people's inclination towards curiosity might be something I would pick for a research study, because lets face it - everyone is curious up to a certain degree. I occasionally preface questions with a 'just curious' remark before I dive in.  However, since I've long left the days of sitting at a desk with a coffee mug, a thick book and an assortment of pens and pencils, and have doubts about having any use for psychology (I am not exactly what you'd call a people person), I figured I'll just blog about it. On Sunday night, an *old friend (let's call him Pineapple) whom I haven't seen or had a proper conversation with for years and years (probably since 2000) decided to say hi when he saw me online. While this in itself was not all that weird to begin with since most people say hi to each other when they meet them online especially after a long time, what I found strange and a tad bit unnerving is that the questi...

Fellow sufferers of a mild form of Facebook addiction may agree that the famous social network occasionally throws people you might know at your face when you least expect it. Most times, while you might have a friend or two in common, it's quite likely that you may not know who they are. At other times, let's just say that there's a reason (one that you're not exactly willing to divulge) why you're not already friends with that particular person they so excitedly think you may know. Earlier this year, FB decided that it was time to throw *Jimmy L across my path, and since he belongs to neither of the categories above, I approached it with my brand of curiosity and a trip down memory lane - though most of it is a bit hazy, and dusty and (for the lack of a better word), downright strange. This is because Jimmy L happens to be the very first boy I was teased with, at the crazy age of ten -  a very, very long time ago. It was towards the end of the 1990 school year, ...

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...

For some strange reason, kids get drawn to me very easily. They wave at me from the back seat of their parents cars, they stick out their sticky hands to grab my hair or glasses, and occasionally stare me down till I look away before I burst out laughing. Last night, I had gone out after work to catch a movie with a friend from work, which was weird in itself as I don't really watch that many movies to begin with, and especially not on weeknights after a long day at work. But somehow it happened, and at 7:40 pm, a few minutes before we're scheduled to go into the cinema itself I find myself on a bench eating the driest, vilest doughnut I've ever had in my life. (I don't like doughnuts in the first place, but I was hungry) So, we're talking to each other and suddenly this kid shows up, all smiles, trying his best to say something to me in baby talk and some mumbling which I obviously didn't understand. My friend, (who kids are supposedly afraid of) translates t...

As my fingers move in a less than graceful manner over the keyboard, typing out replies to the *gang over some future plans, I ** imagine having my fingers crossed that this year's plans will actually be successful and pan out as we hope. So yeah, if you're reading this... please cross your fingers on my behalf too... after all, April  2006 (when we had our last vacation together) seems like such a long time ago, boasting changed faces, different hairdos, lost baby fat and new wardrobe over the years and a plea for us to update our photo albums. Anyway, this act of replying e-mails made  me take a peek at my sent folder and I had gone down history lane as far as 2007, before I realised that the bunch of us had so many incidences where we had taken fully baked plans and some 3/4 baked ones and poured cold water over them - unintentionally of course, due to leave issues, epidemics and other such crazy stuff life decided to throw at our faces. The plans over the years are as fol...

There comes a time in life where communication between friends dwindle to the once a year wishes of Happy Birthday, or one of those festive greetings via text message. About half of my friends over the ages have fallen into that category, and as terrible as it sounds, we all live with it and are somehow comfortable enough to think that it is sufficient in maintaining what was once known as friendship. So, it was incredibly surprising for me to receive a text message from one of those friends yesterday... the last I heard from her was when she changed her number somewhere earlier this year. She told me that she had been accepted to continue with her postgrad (in Safety, Health and Environment) in UTM , the place where we did our degree, suffering in the process by having to climb to the second highest point in campus (the highest point was of course the place known as Balai Cerap - an observatory of sorts which also served as a place people used to go jogging/dating/break rules, e...

It was hardly expected the first time around that a certain game that goes around by the name Risk could twirl me round it's fingers (if it had any, that is) so easily because I was never one for large group games - once again being a loner of sorts. It took just one game over the bed in one of the rooms during the trip to Kuching to get me and a few other first timers hooked. Now, a game like Risk is the kind of game that gets better the more players there are, and for that very reason, when JV suggested that we reunite to play again, I jumped with joy (not literally, of course) at the idea. Our little game started at JV's house, and there were only 5 of us, including JV's cousin who was playing for the first time. So naturally, she had 1 seasoned veteran teaching her, and 3 other wannabe veterans attempting to teach her the game amidst laughter and chips! She got hooked as well! Of course JV aced the game quietly and stealthily while the rest of us looked on in horror a...

Every year, towards the end of July or early August, about 200 people will be jumping with some excitement over the annual company event which either consists of a casual outing (usually to a water based theme park) or a dinner where people dress their best and eat boring sharks fin soup . I used to wonder what it is about shark fin's soup that leaves people in awe... it tastes pretty normal and each time they bring the dish to the table my thoughts go to the shark that lost it's fin, all bleeding and falling deep into the ocean floor as it can't swim. Then it dies. But I digress... This year, nobody really jumped. The trip to Tambun was looked on as an inconvenience as it involved a 2 to 2.5 hour drive one way, and us needing to stay there. Of course those who work in the company had everything sponsored except for travelling expenses, but parents had to pay for their kids - especially if they're above 90 cm. In the end, not that many people went. (Oh, they decide...

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...

I think I might have just scared someone into never logging in to YM anymore. Ha! Ha! It took me about a year and a half to start using YM again after a few incidents of spam messages from spammers (who else?) as well as the need to avoid certain people and of course the disappearance of the original people whom I used to communicate via YM. The main reason however was because Yahoo! and everything that contained that word was banned at work, and Vista (at home) had the habit of jamming up each time I opened YM (still does, but not as frequently as before) Anyway, I was logged on to YM just awhile ago, chatted for awhile with a friend who logged out soon after to have dinner. As I was staring at the blogger page wondering why I can't seem to write anything properly these days (I must admit, churning out posts is becoming alarmingly difficult... perhaps it is time for a break, which I don't feel like taking) I saw an old 'friend' pop online. Now for a bit of histor...

It was a windy afternoon, and I, donned in the ugliest clothes ever (a school uniform) walked to the bus stop where a solitary figure sat, most probably awaiting the same school bus as me. We got to talking, and found out that we were going to take the same school bus and we were in the same school. That day back in December of 1992 marked the strange but interesting bond between me and Nan. Conversations in the school bus led to discovery that we were sort of kindred spirits, and without any of us openly acknowledging it, we were labelled best buddies. Moreover, we did have a not-so-secret language that we used among ourselves driving everyone else around us crazy. Ah, those were the days. As we grew older, though, we kind of drifted apart for no apparent reason. It reached a point only two years later that we stopped having stuff to talk about. Nevertheless, after school ended and we all went our own ways, we still kept in touch (via snail mail) followed by e-mails after the discov...

"You can see a difference" he said "Their asses are much flatter" The rest of us looked out of window into the street to check out the 'asses' of some of the people standing there in their skimpy outfits, but because of the dark and the slight drizzle nothing was obvious, but we took his word for it. So, that said... how many years does it take for a man to turn into a woman? The recent popularity of a particular networking site here in Malaysia has enabled me to reconnect with people whom I once knew, some I've lost contact with from 17 years ago, and some as recent as 6 years. While it is heartening to know that most of them still remember me, it never fails to surprise you how many things and people have changed. I knew M with a male name since 1998, we were in several classes together, and at that time his soft side was never very obvious. He still dressed in T-shirts tucked into his trousers - something no teenage girl in her right mind wou...

Growing up, death was never a taboo topic in the house. My earliest encounter with death was that of my paternal grandmother when I was about 7, and that was it. I kind of learned that we'll never see her ever again and that was it. Of course later on, death did somehow effect me in a way, especially that of my maternal grandfather, which is most probably not helped by his reccuring appearance in my dreams at times. Even these days, we joke about death a lot at home... like take this conversation I had with my mom about a few weeks ago, where she said that she'd rather go off and die somewhere and I told her that if she died, I'd kill her. Naturally, she laughed at this. Mom thinks I'm very funny sometimes. For that reason, I was a bit surprised at the reaction I received for the Facebook status update I so stupidly put up without thinking (but tell me, who really thinks about what they're putting up, and how it will effect anyone?) I had jokingly predicted a ...

A lot of things we take for granted these days such as the ability to send a short message to anywhere in the world, or use networking sites to relocate old acquaintances were practically non-existent back in 1998. Anyway, I recently remembered an old friend and her wonderful (mis)adventures with us during our very short time together (she had an allergy to chemicals and could not continue studying where we were) Here is one of those stories which I had reproduced from my old blog. There was a conversation last night, which involved a name... a very nice name in fact. Anyways, since the name is particularly nice, I remember a few people who had the same particular name, and one of them was a special friend to an old friend of mine. This old friend, T was a very dramatic person (very important information), whereas, H, her special friend was practically an unknown entity... about 3 years older, tall, good looking and walks around - a lot. So although T and a group of us were pretty ...

When undiagnosed insomnia hits, I turn to the good old ipod on very low volume for entertainment in the hopes that the soft sounds are comfortable enough and can fool my mind into believing it is tired and will eventually go to sleep. It does, sooner or later. Anyway, it was one of those nights a few days ago, and as I was forcing myself to sleep, Friday Night by The Darkness, whereby the very first line is "Hey you, do you remember me... I used to sit next to you in school" started playing (and all thoughts of having to sleep flew out of the window) and an idea hit me. So here I am, a few days later, recalling an incident that is slightly more than a year old. It was early April of 2007, and one of my friends from school had invited us to her wedding dinner. Another friend of mine (whom I've kept in touch with since I left school ten years ago) was going so I went as well, hoping to catch up with some of the girls whom I haven't met since we all parted ways after s...

Despite the fact that you may be quite self sufficient in making life interesting, it's always a good idea to have a backup plan of making it all a bit more interesting, because you never know when you might need it... So here goes Tip no 1: Try to say something outlandish from time to time. It makes good conversation, and even if it doesn't, the baffled expression on your victim(s) is well worth it. Take this case for instance, my friends and I were at a friend's wedding (Indian style) last year, and for some reason (which I shall not reveal here) we found ourselves very near the dais (usually we tend to gather at the back and use it as an excuse to catch up with each other) and I observed that: a) The groom and best man go up the stage, and do whatever the priest asks them to, and then disappear backstage (to change into the proper wedding attire?) b) This is then followed by the bride and her bridesmaid doing whatever the priest asks them to, and then its off to the...