Monday, December 28, 2009

Movie moments...

Jack: Listen, Rose. You're gonna get out of here, you're gonna go on and make lots of babies, and you're gonna watch them grow. You're gonna die an old... an old lady warm in her bed, but not here, not this night. Not like this, do you understand me?

Rose: I can't feel my body.

Jack: Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me... it brought me to you. And I'm thankful for that, Rose. I'm thankful. You must do me this honor, Rose. Promise me you'll survive. That you won't give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless. Promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that promise.

Rose: I promise.

Jack: Never let go.

Rose: I'll never let go. I'll never let go, Jack.


Movie Quote : Titanic (1997)




I am a BIG SUCKER for tear jerkers movie moments. Call it my feminine side or whatever.

In reality men do have a softer side in them. It's like ying and yang. Both sides actually complemented one another instead of being opposing. It's perfectly alright for a feminine side to coexist peacefully within a male mind. Instead of running away, you should embrace it.

Remember, my male friends...I said a feminine side exist in the mind and soul.

I'm not advocating cross dressing..

Hollywood has a knack of making it felt at the movies. The trinity of unison between movie plots, images and kick ass soundtrack...you have a recipe for a perfect tear jerker moment.




Remember the movie Titanic..?? The part when Jack was dying in the freezing waters and when he made Rose promise to live fully...that was a killer moment. I remembered watching it with my fiancee back in 97. She was sobbing throughout. I remembered holding her hands...trying to console her.

I have to admit that it does score points with the chicks or in my case the fiancee. Girls JUST LOVE guys that UNDERSTANDS emotional moments in movies. So even if you are trying hard to contain your laughter...keep it to yourself. Laughing or making stupid comments would only enhance your reputation as a cold hearted sonofabitch. That's a sure way of not scoring points with the girls.

You know what happens if you're short of points right..?

Yes, I am advocating FAKING as a substitute ;-)

If you cannot have the ying and yang balance...with all do respect, IMPROVISE.

I can't remember feeling that way in a malay movie though. I just hate the typical boy meets girl, boy gets rejected because he is poor. Then the girl married a fu**ed up rich playboy man that the parents like and manages to screw up her life. Hollywood at least gives a HAPPY ending...that fact is absent in most malay dramas.

I saw one malay drama during Hari Raya that TOTALLY spoilt the hari raya mood. See, the malay movie goes like this. Boy meets girl, boy and girl fell in love. Unfortunately, for the boy every hari raya, someone in his family dies. His mother is kindda loony so she gets tied up literally at home while boy finds a job. Boy becomes disillusioned and left his girlfriend because of ONE stupid misunderstanding. Girl got engaged with his best friend and boy later becomes a near beggar in the city. Girl saw boy one day, chases after him and GET THIS...accidently reverses her car into boy and boy dies. What kind of crap are they feeding the malays nowadays..??

Don't even get me started at the Nurkasih series on tv.

One movie ending that nearly...nearly made me cry was the scene in the movie, Click (2006).


Damn...Adam Sandler can really make a scene work.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Cute kid..



Have you all seen this cute youtube video..??
The kid barely 4 years old plays Jason Mraz song 'I'm Yours'.
The kiddo practically scat through the lyrics but still maintains the unmistakeable resemblence of the original song. It just shines through his routine. And he can play the 4 string ukelele too. This is talent.





Compare it with the original..

Thursday, December 24, 2009

ABC

-


a b c d e f g h i j k lem men nen oh pe q r s t u v dable u x y z



-

Documentary/Movie review - Collapse




I saw the above documentary/movie a week ago. I normally don't get shaken by documentaries but Collapse moved me on the basis of its seriousness and *no-bullshit* presentation. I really felt chills running up my spine while watching this documentary.

It is in your face facts.

No CGIs, just a few cameras panning, shooting and interviewing the subject, Mr. Michael C. Ruppert and superimposing graphs/visuals for illustration purposes. THAT'S ALL.

Nay sayers might say that facts derived may be interpreted various ways. True, but nobody can deny Mr. Ruppert has a knack of simplifying facts better than others.

Ok, the documentary is basically about PEAK OIL, that is the decline of oil production and its impact to us humans as a species. Mr. Ruppert is giving us his apocalypic views of the economic crises (which he correctly predicted way back in 2005-06), the environment and the oxymoron of the so-called *clean energy*.

Read about the documentary review on imdb, it's here.

Below is the theatrical trailer of the movie...









Michael Ruppert website From the Wilderness, it's here.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Soliquy di pagi Ahad

1) On Tiger jokes

What is the difference between Santa Claus and Tiger Woods ?
Santa stops at 3 Ho’s...

2) Favourite quote

Glenda Jackson said

‘The important thing in acting is to laugh and cry. If I have to cry, I think of my sex life. If I have to laugh, I think of my sex life’

Funny quote. I thought George Burns said it.

Seriously, I hope you don’t cry when you think about your sex life..

3) On songs

The Vatican recently included one of Tupac Shakur's songs called ‘Changes ’ into their official MySpace music playlist.
I wonder does the Vatican listened to some *other* of his songs..? Not exactly church music.



Tupac Shakur's song basically remixes one of my favourite songs ever by Bruce Hornsby and the Range called 'The Way it is'. Listen for yourselves.



Best ‘One hit wonder’ song of the decade was awarded to ‘Bad Day’ by Daniel Powter.



Nice song...I prefer ‘A big big world’ by Emelia though.



4) Does anyone notices that Nicholas Cage hair looks funny..?

5) How many honest, caring and intelligent men does it take to do the dishes at home ? All 3 of them.

6) The last major Hollywood movie to be released on VHS was "A History of Violence" in 2006.

I didn’t see it on VHS though...I downloaded it from the internet....haha

Lastly

A short but true story.

A long time ago lived a woman and her husband in a remote village. She didn’t swear, nag , bitch or whine...nothing but a wonderful wife for one whole day. But it was for just one day.
The end.

Hey....The last one was a joke ok ;-)

Friday, December 11, 2009

Cluttered mind..




Some of my books in my office.

Easily 15 unread books

No wise ass comment....OR the cute teddy gets it..

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Why I am not into internet chatting in the 90s (Part 1)

He's not the Messiah - he's a very naughty boy - Monty Phython quote


On an internet chat room circa 1995...

Reza aka Boy wonder : Hey cutie

Hotgirl : Hi :-)

Boy wonder : Its always hot when youre around

Hotgirl : hehe

Boy wonder : Have a boyfriend?

Hotgirl : No...you?

Boy wonder : I hv lots of boyfriends..lol

Hotgirl : Yr a naughty boy...

Boy wonder : Naughty boys get spanking..

Hotgirl : :-)

Boy wonder : :-)

Hotgirl : asl?

Boy wonder : 27/m....you?

Hotgirl : 14/f

Monday, December 7, 2009

My visitors..

I don't belong on this earth. I always feel out of place...like a visitor - Hattie McDaniel




I put a page counter on my blog page to register page hits...like most bloggers do. I don't understand why the hits got higher AND/BUT almost nobody commented anything.
So I tried running another counter for 3 days to see where my visitors are coming from...

Above is the 3 days result.

Damn..I better mind my language ;-)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

A Conversation..





Reza : I was at yr mom’s house and I saw your old school desk at the store room.

Wife : I thought my father threw it away a long time ago.

Reza : I saw the graffiti you wrote on the desk. Some were interesting..

Wife : Really..?? Like what..?

Reza : Well...I really liked the one you wrote that goes something like...’die before you die’

Wife : Haha..I was in form 5 when I wrote that...

Reza : Didn’t know that you knew ‘Rumi’ . I was ignorant at form 5...just parties for me then..

Wife (bewildered): Rumi who..??

Reza : The Great Persian philosopher, mystic and Sufi. He beautifully explains the saying by our Prophet Mohammad, “To die before you die’. It is actually the destruction of Man’s ego in the quest to go back to God. Most people wait for his body to die the physical death before going back home to God. But Sufis, driven by a constant longing to go back to his beloved or God, wants to experience this consciously while living.


To go towards the journey it is necessary to annihilate the so-called ‘self’ or ego...to surrender oneself totally for the love of The Beloved...' To die before One truly dies '...


Wife : Ohh...I didn’t take it from Rumi..

Reza : Then from where...??

Wife : From a Malaysian rock band, Lefthanded...






AFTERWORD : My wife was correct...Lefthanded really did have tag in their 90s album 'Qabul' but it goes something like 'To live without fighting is to die before you die'. I'm not sure if you can equal the saying to Rumi's BECAUSE I humbly think that what the group was suggesting is that if you do not have a philosophy in life that you would actually be just an empty coccon...without a soul so to speak.

Guy Side of the story...

No, I did not sleep with that woman... but I wanted to! - Robin Williams as Tom Dobbs

(Movie quote - Man of the Year (2006))




Thursday, November 26, 2009

Idle hands...

Idle hands do the Devil's work, Paul - Kurt Vonnegut


I am going to do an experiment.

I am going to change my marital status on facebook from *married* to *its complicated* and see what happens...


I'm a sick F***, I know..

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

My Life is my Sundance

I don’t know how to save the world. I don’t have the answers or The Answer. I hold no secret knowledge as to how to fix the mistakes of generations past and present. I only know that without compassion and respect for all of Earth’s inhabitants, none of us will survive—nor will we deserve to - Leanard Peltier in his book (My life is my Sundance).



I have not posted a thing for over a month. Several reasons are to be blamed, laziness ranked up there as the main factor while procrastination came a very close second.

Other factors that I feel good blaming on are the fact that I am currently reading a colossus of a book by Robert Fisk titled ‘Great war for Civilization’ concurrently with ‘The Story of Edward Sawtelle’ by David Wroblewski. Both books are not exactly an easy read. While I have been a loyal follower of Mr. Fisk writings, I bought the other book because Oprah liked it. It’s about an autistic/deaf child that has a special bonding with his dogs.

Add to the fact that I have a new toy, an Ipod touch...it makes writing even more difficult. My new toy is cool, it currently holds nearly 20 gigs worth of my digital music library ranging from Josh Groban, Eminem, Daughtry, Kanye West to some easy listening jazz, club and classical music. My son likes it because it can double up as a gaming machine. Tell you people about this in another post.

My good friend recently nearly died of a heart attack. He was extremely lucky to get to the hospital on time and had 3 angioplasty done. It was harrowing to get a sms from his wife, you fear the worst. I just had breakfast with him 4 days before the attack and he was just fine. Life was that unpredictable. Thank goodness he is alright now.

Talking about unpredictable, I had an accident that makes walking painful. Instead of walking, I hobble like an old man. Just my first day at the gym for over 3 months and this happens. I hope I will be ok in a week because I am seeing my mom then. She will fuss over it and it is definately not cool.

Here’s a youtube video of a really really cool wedding. It has been replicated a dozen times and was even featured in US news networks. As of today it is viewed over 32 milion times on youtube. The song is called 'Forever' by Chris Brown.


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Gay Test (Aww...hv a bit of humour everyone)

I'd rather be black than gay because when you're black you don't have to tell your mother - Charles Pierce




I didn't even noticed there was a guy in the picture :-)






If you failed the first test and this one...you're gay.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

My Favourite Song..

Everyone must have a fav song. Well one of my favourite song is Last Christmas sung by the british duo Wham. It was a hit back in 1984...and is still a hit with me now.

Press the stop button on the ipod to listen to these songs..





A rule with good songs is that...in time it will be covered by other artists. These are called 'cover' songs.

Last Christmas is covered EASILY by over a dozen singers like Kimberly Locke, Back Street Boys, Jamelia, Manic Street Preachers, Hillary Duff, Taylor Swift, Savage Garden and even by an American Idol finalist Carrie Underwood.

I kindda like a version sung by Cascada. It is an upbeat version.




Taylor Swift's version has a bit of country swing in it.




What about Ashley Tisdale...you know the girl from High School Musical.





Now how to let the younger generation enjoy this song...??

Easy...do a techno version.




What about the music snobs that deplore techno junkies, pesky boy bands and all sizzle but no substance teeny boopers..??

Well, let Coldplay do a cover. Yeah you heard me...COLDPLAY.

Now how cool is that...???




You have to satisfy the vile purist too. You know the type that insist a song to contain written musical notes and have some difficulity in playing it. So here's Kotaro Oshio playing Last Christmas...





But a song to be covered by the infamous Crazy Frog means it has reached the pinacle of popularity and success. Enuff said..




Friday, October 9, 2009

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Bahaya Matlamat Menghalalkan Cara

Nathan Diamond Dog Jones: [getting Poe attention] Yee-haw! Whats on your mind, Hillbilly?

Cameron Poe: What was I thinking about? Oh, yeah, "yee-haw", thats right. I was just wondering what a black militant - that would be you - was doin takin orders from a white boy on a power trip?
Dont you think thats strange?

Nathan Diamond Dog Jones: Its a means to an end, my white friend. A means to an end. See, I can play house nigger tills we get to where were goin. And then, the Day of the Dog begins.

(Movie quote - Con Air 1997)




As much as I hate BN decision to field Tan Sri Isa Samad as a candidate for the Bagan Pinang by-elections, I felt a greater trepidation and distrust towards the PAS candidate.

Simple fact is that PAS has allowed itself to be used as a donkey by PKR and DAP. I don’t blame PKR and DAP though, PAS is governed by non sophisticated and pea brained ustazs. These so-called ulamaks has finally allowed the unthinkable. They have finally given endorsement for non-Muslim politicians to say and quote Quranic verses to forward their political agenda.

For the record, I am not against non Muslim reading and commenting about our sacred book. Hundreds if not tens of thousands non Muslim have read, carefully studied, some even did masters or even a PHD thesis about the Quran. These students would in any given day make me, a Muslim seemed like a non ranking Walter weight going against a ranking heavy weight boxer in Quranic studies.

But, I draw the line at DAP and PKR politicians whose ONLY REASON to quote the Quran is for political mileage. Among those is Gobala Krisnan who gained infamy in the Hindraf protest in Batu Caves. Hindraf among others dishonestly claimed that Malaysia is ethnically cleansing the Hindus and blatantly destroying Hindu temples in their memo to Gordon Brown, the British PM. If PAS without as much as a hoot, allow this to happen without protest and in fact teaching these so-called politician to quote not for understanding BUT to lambast political opponents would clearly mark them too as selling the Quran for profit.


Hari Belated Raya 2009


Only pictures you see of me here is Hari Raya pictures...I'm not so photogenic.


Happy Belated Raya 2009, everyone.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Questionaires...

1- Get the closest book, go to page 18 and write the 4th line down.

The chief Tecum,leading the descendants of Maya, beheaded the...


2- What’s the last thing you’ve watched on TV ?

David blaine what is magic


3- Without checking, guess what time it is ?

5:15pm

4- Check, it is…

6.36pm

5- Outside of the computer noise, what do you hear ?

Strange voices asking me to go to the curve and watch a movie and eat at itallianies.

6- When you got out the last time, what did you do ?

Ate lunch...bought ballons for a promo I’m doing.


7- What are you wearing ?

Tshirt and jeans...oh and a salomon sports shoe.

8- Before answering this questionnaire, what were you watching ?

Al jazeera


9- Did you dream last night ?


Didnt dream



10- When is the last time you laughed ?

During lunch


11- What is on the walls of the room you’re in ?

Built in cabinets and a first aid emergency procedure


12- Did you see something strange today ?

I saw a blonde malay girl in a channel blouse and Gucci handbag ordering beryani rice with honey chicken.


13- What do you think of this questionnaire ?

Wonderful way to waste idle time.


14- What’s the last movie you watched ?

Taking of Pelham 123


15- Should you be multimillionnaire, what’s the first thing you would buy ?

A 6 month vacation



16- Tell us something about you we don’t already know :

I still listen to 80s music.



17- If you could change something in the world outside of culpability and politics, what would you change ?

I would change what kids learn in school.


18- Do you like to dance ?

Yes..not very well

19- Georges Bush ?

The worst US president.


20- What would be your daughter’s name ?


Maisara



21- And your son’s ?

Never thought about this one


22- Did you ever think of living abroad ?

No


23- What would you want God to tell you when you’ll go through heaven’s gates ?

Reza...You the man

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Dilemma UMNO

Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing - Edmund Burke



Sept 15 : Malaysia needs to nurture High Quality Leaders say Najib


Sept 30 : Isa gets BN nod for Bagan Pinang by-election



Thursday, September 24, 2009

Yasmin in the sky with diamonds...



This is my niece, Yasmin. She is 13 years old and plays the guitar. Her older brother, Hariz is in Liverpool studying medicine while older sis Diyana is doing law. The youngest Imran is still in school.

Didn't know she posted a youtube video until I visited my older sister for Raya and saw this.

For a kid playing the guitar under 2 years...she rocks..

Friday, September 18, 2009

Selamat Hari Raya 2009




Nothing like a sappy commercial to boost up your raya mood.

Selamat Raya Everyone..

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

15 Malaysia

15 Malaysia is a project to showcase 15 shortfilms by Malaysian filmakers to deal with the socio-politico issues here.

I give you several of my favourites.




Khairy Jamaluddin as a real taxi driver...HOW I WISH !!




Yasmin Ahmad's parents used to be my neighbour in JB. I remember going to her parents house 3 times a week to mengaji. Her father, En. Ahmad Hashim is our choir teacher in school.




This is cute. The long haired actor is Namewee, a Malaysian studying in Taiwan. He got into trouble posting a youtube video with him rapping the Malaysian anthem in a degrading manner.
He apologised afterwards after calls by politicians to revoke his citizenship.

Wanna see all 15 vids..? Go to the website...it's here. Not all 15 short films are ready...look at the release dates for the videos.




Friday, August 14, 2009

DAP Mudah Lupa

Better to be known as a sinner than a hypocrite - Anon



I am writing in defence of Dr. Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah whose article in Mingguan Malaysia made DAP and their cohorts go berserk. DAPSY (DAP Socialist Youth) National Chairman and MP for Rasah Loke Siew Fook made a media statement shortly afterwards and insisted Dr. Mohd Ridhuan Tee apologise for his writings.

This Loke Siew Fook fellow is the one whom is claimed to be the writer of a high traffic opposition blog “The Mighty Pen” by no other than PKR MP for Kulim Encik Zulkifli Nordin. His article titled "Biadapnya Pemuda DAP" is here.

The seditious article rebutting Dr. Ridhuan Tee contain many vulgar words like bastard, fucking and even claimed that Dr. Ridhuan receives monetary gains through his article. The 4 million hits website is run by opposition COWARDS whom hastily closed it down presumably to hide IP addresses and computer IDs.

To be objective let us read what Dr. Ridhuan actually wrote in his article aptly titled ‘Nasib Melayu di bumi Melayu’,
it’s here. Judge for yourselves.

The arguments that Dr. Ridhuan puts forward is written in simple, non-vulgar and respectful.

He even wrote a follow up article rebutting the big bru haha over his previous article. It is titled ‘Bahaya Matlamat Menghalalkan Cara’,
it’s here.

The amount of publicity generated by DAP strangely drew a whisper when one of THEIR opposition member, MP for Jelutong Jeff Ooi stated that Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) was an extremist organisation. When called to apologise, MP Jeff Ooi dragged his feet and only RETRACTED his statement after being told by his boss, Guan Eng. Key word here is ‘TOLD TO RETRACT’.

DAP on the other had keep insisting others mainly BN to apologise for everything and anything they find wrong. Apologies are only taken and not given, sadly for this upholder of freedom party.

Did DAP ask PKR MP Zulkifli Nordin to retract his claims? No, instead DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang had the audacity to blame Najib for the so-called ‘UMNO inspired hysteria’. DAP’s damage control now blame others for their own deficiency, what else is new?

The funny thing about this whole episode is the laughable statement made by Jeff Ooi in which he said, I quote

“It must also accept the fact that every individual is entitled to his or her basic right to dissent on views and opinions”

What is laughable is why DAP is going after Dr. Ridhuan’s head if what he is writing merely exercising his RIGHTS to dissent on some views? Hypocritical? So DAP can do BUT nobody else can follow.

Let us not forget that, Jeff Ooi made a false claim BUT Dr. Ridhuan merely says that Beng Hock’s child is Illegitimate. No one can disprove this FACT.

I can now see a future when DAP leads our nation, I am sure dissenting views will be *tolerated* more than our present government. It’ll be a swell time I’m sure.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Free hugs part 2


A friend who insist on not being named e-mailed me this, for my blog.
Nice one N****.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Free hugs please..

We invented hugs to say we love you without saying anything - Anon




This is what we actually need..

Thursday, July 30, 2009

The Longest Journey..

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes




I try to eat roti canai maximum twice a week. The reason is that I am trying to stick to a more healthy diet which consist less of harmful LDL fats. Low density lipoproteins are abundant in the extremely unhealthy mutton curry that I usually take with my favourite morning roti canai meal with. Normal people just take dhal....not me unfortunately. I just have to take it a few steps further in the wrong direction.

That however is not the story that I am trying to relate right now. It is about the roti canai person that makes my meal around twice a week.

I am a regular at a mamak stall near my office. The shop is famous for its nasi kandar and the owner owns 4 shops in and around KL.

I am quite close to the owner.

Getting an invitation to his daughter’s wedding kind of close.

I am beginning to get irritated with one of his staffs whom is the principal roti canai maker. See, this guy for ages seemed to be delaying the making of my roti canai to my obvious dismay. I usually gets my order a full 10 minutes after ordering. Some customers who came AFTER me was always served first.

Lately, it seems to be getting worse.

It is bugging me.

So, instead of complaining to his boss and possibly getting the dick-head fired, I take it that he just doesn’t like me. I am not a man whom turns the other cheek BUT life lesson rule number 324 vehemently states that : Never ever ever piss off the person whom is making your meal esp. In a restaurant.

Having worked part time after SPM in a restaurant and knowing what a chef can do to your meal behind your back, I knew the rule that was applicable in 1985 still stands in 2009.

So I suck up my fate like a good little boy does. Quietly.

So this morning, which is my roti canai morning, I sat down and ordered my customary teh tarik, mutton with mutton curry and one roti canai. One of the staffs took an already prepared roti canai and proceeded to walk towards me. The roti canai maker quickly called to the staff and spoke a few sentences in Tamil. The staff stopped, made a u-turn and returned the plate back to him.

He then proceeded to make a new roti for me.

More customers arrived and were served. I am made to wait yet again.

I started to pay close attention to what the roti canai maker is doing. Taking the round fresh dough, he pounds it, spreads the pounded dough and started folding it.

Nothing new there, but wait...

He actually lets my dough sets for a full 4 minutes before spreading it again and putting the dough on the hot plate.

So, by doing that....I figured that my roti canai dough gets a further 4 minutes of aeration for the yeast to do its job. The dough rises more (by expansion of carbon dioxide due to the respiration of the yeast) which translate to a more fluffier and softer roti canai.

Damn it!!!! My roti canai is custom made. No wonder it is always late.

HE WAS DOING ME A FAVOUR and I was the idiot.

He doesn’t hate me...he actually likes me.

So, on 2 eves before my birthday. I have learnt 2 life lessons.

Sometimes, it is better to wait for something and never pre-judged a person. We all heard and knew this before but sometimes, in the course of one’s hectic lives. We soon forget.

We forget that we are conscious beings. Our minds, conscious of itself is eager to experience reality and sometimes comes to the wrong conclusion. Whilst it is easier to just fit in life’s model handed down to us by our parents. It is more prudent to stop and ask ‘Why’.

A conscious mind must question, question and question. It is the beginning for the quest of knowledge. It is not just the destination but the journey itself. Surely, the longest journey one makes in this life is the journey inwards. The journey into one's own heart. The last journey before the ultimate journey.

One of my favourite movie scenes is from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (I actually saw this movie nearly 10 times), in which the lead character played by Matthew Broderick says, ‘Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around, you might miss it’.


I learned that at 41...imagine what I missed the last 40 years?


Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Pill..


My twin sister always told me to grow up...act your age.


My friend Zahir often repeats that too..


I can't..


Why..??


I've taken the RED PILL...that's why.


How deep is the rabbit hole..?


There is no spoon and there is no rabbit hole...

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Transformers 2 - A very jiggly movie



Last saturday while waiting to enter the movie theater to see the latest Transformers movie, I sms my friend.

Reza : Hey, I am queing up to see transformers...is it any good?

Friend : I saw it 3 times, good but JIGGLY

Reza : Whats jiggly???

Friend : YOU"LL SEE!!


Later that night, another friend sms me


Friend 2 : Hows the movie...I'm seeing it tonite

Reza : Cool but jiggly..

Friend 2 : What's jiggly??

Reza : YOU"LL SEE !!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Hey I thought I saw a pussy cat...

My friend from college sent me this yesterday...(thanks Dem !!..)



First thing I felt was somewhat of a deja vue. I remembered there was a Petronas commercial which bore an eerie similarity to the above short film.
So who copied who...??




If any of you wanna make this a big deal...just don't quote this blog ;-)

There is also an uncensored version of the short film. I cannot give the youtube version because it's kindda offensive. But the dialog goes something like this...

Little boy : Apa tuh ayah..?

Father : Itu babi sayang..

Little boy : Apa..Apa tu ayah..??

Father : Itu babi lah, nak

Little boy : Apa tuh ayah..???

Father : Tu BABI le B***...


Ok..ok...I lied :-)

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

PPSMI (Program Pengajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris) Debacle. A solution.

Education is the transmission of civilization - Will Durant


It is not rocket science to understand the need to teach maths and science in English. It is pure good sense to do so. We are not talking about geography, religion, history here...just maths and science. Try entering a good bookstore and try to buy a decent science or maths book in Bahasa. You’d be hard pressed to get 2 books that have writings and explanation interesting enough to entice your child to read them.

Singapore our neighbour studies both subjects in English in school with no consternation about losing their ‘Chinese’ identity. Here, we create ghostly hallucinations about losing touch of our so-called ‘Bahasa Ibunda’.

Malay was the lingua franca ages ago when Tanah Melayu was the epi-centre of trade this part of the region. Chinese, Indian and even Arab traders are converted to speak Malay. When Europe was in the Dark Ages, western scholars have to learn Arabic to master scientific knowledge. These texts are then painstakingly converted into Latin or other languages to help students there understand.

My question is...How many scientific texts/books have been successfully translated into malay?

I studied in Bahasa during form 5. When I entered university, 100% of my books are in English. Sure, that was in 1986. My sis-in law is doing medicine now and still 100% of the books are in English. So what gives, Tan Sri Muhyiddin, our esteemed TPM?

Try goggling ‘sains’, and you will get 9.3 million hits, goggling ‘science’ would have a mind boggling 674 million hits.

According to NST in 2006, 21% of the students failed SPM. 90% of these students failed because they failed Bahasa Malaysia paper. It makes sense to improve the QUALITY of the teaching of normal Bahasa Malaysia instead of barking at the wrong tree.

It also makes sense to make it MANDATORY to have a higher credit passing marks for Bahasa Malaysia to receive a full SPM certificate instead of the current practise of just passing BM to guarantee a SPM cert.

Politics interfering with our National Education policy is bad. Add in stupid politicians and equally stupid opposition parties, maybe we would be better off letting 15 year olds become our Education minister. I bet it will not be worse off than what is happening now.

Birthday comes early this year..

No wise man ever wished to be younger - Jonathan Swift

Seamaster Pro/chronometer 2254.80.00

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Thriller - India Style

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - Anon





Can somebody please put me out from my misery now....make it quick and if possible with as little pain as possible.

Thank you.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Tun Dr. Mahathir - The autograph


Why is that when I defend UMNO or the Malays I am labelled a racist but not when others speak up for Chin Peng? - Tun Mahathir Mohamad



My wife and her students went to Yayasan Perdana yesterday for an audience with Tun Mahathir. The Russian pre-medical students initiated the idea for the visit and was given a positive reply by the Yayasan.

The mostly malay students sang to him in Russian, heard his speech and had a question and answer session. All of them came back teary eyed and aghast with Tun's knowledge, frankness, candour and humour. They came back a believer just like I did when I first met Tun, 15 years ago. I was a blue eyed chemist from Nestle listening to Dato Seri's talk in a symposium. I was a different person from then on.

Now, my wife even asked me to let her read some of Tun's book that I have in my collection.

Before she went, I made her promise to ask Tun to autograph 2 of my books. The Malay Dilemma and The Challenge (which I bought way back in 2001). She told Tun that I was his most ardent admirer and have lots of his books and writings plus my addiction to his blog. He signed The Malay Dilemma first and upon seeing the second book, he wrote my name as per the name he saw on the book.

Thank you, Tun.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Tribute to MJ


And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did

(Candle in the wind lyrics)

Rest in peace MJ

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Guitar Heroes Part 2

Acoustic guitars are more difficult to play than electric ones. The reason is electric guitars can *hold* a note longer and can manipulate a sound easier than acoustic guitar which cannot sustain a note long. (Like a piano compared to an organ).

Fingerstyle guitar playing with an acoustic is several degrees more difficult than playing with a pick because all fingers on both hands need to sync properly for the proper note to sound.

Why not play with a pick only..? Simple...a pick can only pick ONE note at one time...if you fingerstyle (ie..use fingers instead of a pick), you could play 5 notes at one time because you have 5 fingers free at any one time on your right hand.

One of the kings of fingerstyle is Andy McKee, he has a website here if you want to buy his tabs for his songs. (Tabs is like a musical score for a guitar). Below is him playing one of his compositions,Rylynn.




Ok...this the Sungha Jung playing Rylynn. The piece is slightly over 5 minutes...listen at the harmonics at 4:14. The 12 year old kid is a prodigy.




Some of you may think the kid is just a pro at copying guitar scores. Listen to this extremely haunting score. It is his own composition. The kid is gonna get a lot of female attention in college ;-)

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

My Guitar Heroes

How do you choose your fav guitar heroes..? The usual names would always be there like Hendrix, Gary Moore, Eddie Van halen and Slash.




What about a 10 year old korean boy playing U2, with or without you..?





Here's the kid again playing Pachelbel's Canon in D major with a veteran guitarist Trace Bundy. The piece is actually composed in 1680 to be played with 3 violins. Even veteran guitarist fear this song as it is very hard to play well.





This is what happens when 2 lead guitarist play a song...Don Ross and Andy McKee. Don Ross (with glasses) likes to tap his guitar front and sides for a percussion effect.
Ok...ok...so what if they look like nerds...





Nobody plays like Stanley Jordan. He taps guitars like a piano and can even play rhythm guitar and lead guitar at one time. We, normal guitar players play with 2 hands (one to pick and one to hold the notes) and use only one guitar.





A true guitar hero can even make a corny back street boys song into a concerto.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Summer of '83

I was in form 3, JB.

The school was English College or EC now known as Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar or MSAB.

I loathe the new name. Sounds like a teachers training college.

I would until today refuse to called my old school with any other name except EC.

I had a clique of friends whom I always hang around with. Sal*******, Re***, E*** and Zai******.

Sal*, was the musician and also the joker among us. He played the organ since primary school, drove his mom’s car without a license, likes electronics and the only one among us that actually married his girlfriend from school (he actually met his wife in kinder garden). As far as I can tell he was the only one from school that actually listens to smooth jazz. He does not have a curfew hour at home and can come and go at any time to my obvious jealousy and envy. Though he likes music and have a sizeable music collection at home, I have never seen him dance. He once took a picture of a pilot ejecting from a plane that was featured in the Singaporean NST. He bought an expensive camera lens with the money he got for the spread. My twin sister calls him weird because he sometimes wears a motorcycle helmet while riding a racing bicycle which he meant as a joke. He normally picks me up from home during weekends in his mom’s car. Only once we were stopped by police because we made a hasty turn near my house when we spotted the patrol car. We were let off with a stern warning. The after effect was only days, before long we were back driving around JB without a license, this time with no more hick ups. My theory was the police was busy stopping bikes, they don’t stop cars. Next time, you want to ride a vehicle without a licence, choose a car.

Re*, is a son of a prominent government servant. Shy and curious. Since his dad is rich, he normally pays if we hang out and I remember at one time brought me and several friends to dine at a club where we can order anything except the lobsters. I ordered a steak. His house was also the venue for 2 of our dance parties that lasted till 1 am, all expenses paid. I just have to bring the music, my ass and some girls. My mom until today still thinks I was at Sal* house, doing school work.

What she doesn’t know doesn’t hurt her, I guess.

He also likes fishes and has several aquariums at his house. He could name at form 4, Latin names for numerous fishes. Re*, Sal* and me shared the same interest in photography at school. Sal* and me would often skip class and hide in the school’s photography club darkroom. Re* always the law abider stayed behind. We would often make up fake wonderful stories to tell Re* about the adventures we had while skipping class but he never once took our bait. We had several theories about the reasons but later unanimously agreed that Re* was just too chicken shit to skip class. The philosophers were correct, you can bring a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. Re* unfortunately was the obstinate horse.

E***, has several brothers and sisters. It was usually hard for me to tell whether he was joking or serious. He loves Michael Jackson (while I love Rick Springfield) and always clowns around with the crotch pull and other moves. He left our group at form 4 to go to a boarding school. He likes photography too. He owned a Yashica FX-7 while I had the FX-3. Re* and Sal* had bigger budgeted Nikon FA and FM2.

Zai*, was a kampong boy transposed to a city. We called him Zorro because he walks with a limp as a result of childhood polio. He has a good heart and was always on the receiving ends of our cruel jokes. We were pigs, we know. He almost never followed us during weekends or to hangouts because he stayed quite a distance away from school.

I have kept in touch with everyone now except Zai* whom still in JB. Everyone is married and with kids.


Nothing much has changed except for a few grey hairs.

A muse..


Real poetry is to lead a beautiful life,
To live poetry is better than to write it.


- Basho

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Treatise of Human Nature (Part 1)

The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny. Flattery to treachery. Standing armies to arbitrary governments. The glory of God to the temporal interest of the clergy. - David Hume


Fancy title to explain the very basic of human nature. It was written by a philosopher nearly 300 years ago named David Hume. He wrote that ‘ideas’ are just images/words that attaches to certain words that can be recalled when something similar is met. Sounds complicated, right? Not quite, imagine if you see a cat (the body, tail, etc), so if you go to another country where the ‘cat’ species is kind of different (more bigger, hairy, etc), you would still recognise the being as a cat, not a dog. The colours and size could be different but the image or the associated characteristics would be similar, so the mind would not be confused.

Why do I want to write about it?

See, one of my female staff who updates me on regular star gossips and such she reads in the papers told me the story about a well known Ustaz ‘Rock’ and this cute tudung wearing singer so called affair. The Ustaz is married with kids and the lady is single. I told her a few weeks ago that I think the Ustaz is a load of crap and though he can preach about religion and sing a few dakwah songs on an Astro channel does not make him impervious to the temptation of the flesh. My tudung wearing staff took the opposite point of view. She told me that she believes the Ustaz is innocent.

Yesterday, she told me that I was right. The wife of the so called Ustaz had filed for divorce citing that the Ustaz had not come home since February and agreed that there was something going on with the husband and the singer. She told the media that the husband had told her that he wanted to marry the singer, strange as he told the media that all the speculations about him and the singer were untrue. Ohh...he also quote some ayats from the holy scripture condemning those who thought otherwise.

Anyway, I don’t care. None of my business. People often quote scripture to serve their own purpose, tell me something I don’t already know.

But,what I care is the hordes of male and female admirers of the rocker turned ‘pendakwah’ that will be shattered by this latest news.
What would tie this up with what David Hume proposes 3 centuries ago?

I elaborate.

See, people associated these so called ustaz or ‘pendakwah bebas’ as honourable, religious and do what you preach type of person. Heck, if you been on TV, you really must be doing something right. If you can quote the scripture, sing some Arabic songs..it will probably enhance the stature of the person. How many equate male leading prayers as role models? C’mon put up your hands..

Well, not quite.

See, religion is not about the superficial stuff. It’s the inner stuff. Stuff that you cannot see, taste or perceive outside. Read the Quran, how many injunctions about what you wear versus how many injunctions about how you should treat the religion, family, friends and community.

Being 40, I have been privy to some things. I have personally seen a few persons that normally leads doa and prayers turned around completely upon reaching Hatyai, Thailand. I have seen a person that teaches strictness in clothing to his female family members, screwing with a female companion elsewhere. When it comes to this, believe me...I have seen or heard it all.

Grow up, people.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Postman always rings twice...

Look what the postman brought me today..a few books that I ordered online. I usually buy through acmabooks if I don't get the titles from KinoKuniya or MPH.

I don't buy through amazon as it cost a bomb to have the books flown from the US. Acmabooks are from here. They even gave me some bookmarks and an invoice for tax purposes. Shipping cost only around RM18 for books below RM200.

Ahhh...Gilead.Love the smell of new books.
Ok, I bought Gilead, Roots, The Centre Cannot Hold and Open Veins of Latin America.
The last book I bought because it was the book given to President Obama by Venezuelan's PM, Hugo Chavez. It tells the story of exploitation of foreign companies that reaps huge profits at the expense of the poor in Latin America since the past few hundred years.


What book should I read first...? Hands down, Alex Hailey's Roots. I love his writings esp. Malcolm X autobiography. I even have the audio book for it.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Why I hate mondays...




I don't care if Monday's blue
Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too
Thursday I don't care about you

It's Friday, I'm in love

Monday you can fall apart
Tuesday, Wednesday break my heart
Oh, Thursday doesn't even start

It's Friday I'm in love


(Lyrics for Friday I'm in Love - The Cure)

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Malaysian Time

Better never than late - George Bernand Shaw


I was attending a morning function somewhere in KL. It supposed to start at 8 am but until 9.15am the Deputy Minister failed to show up. School children with kompangs have been practicing a familiar tune to be played when he arrives 3 times already. The kids are getting weary and tired. I am not weary but hungry. I could eat a horse type of hungry.


Damn, I should have eaten the sausage bread I bought yesterday.

So along with my friends we proceeded to a small eatery to have breakfast without waiting for the so-called VIP to arrive. According to my friend, ever since Pak Lah, now politicians do not come to functions on time. We laughed. I hope it was a joke but my friend said it earnestly enough so it might be for real.

Yippee...way to go.

I was surprised because this so-called VIP was in the papers previously catching a few government workers relaxing whilst on the job.

Pot calling kettle black.....damn em’ all

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Me, The Anti-Hero





Anti hero...is a protagonist who lacked certain virtues of a traditional hero and uses methods that are antithetical to normal heroism.



Me.



When I was small, everyone wanted to be Superman. I wanted to be Batman. My idol, Bruce Wayne aka the Dark Knight was a genius, rich, flamboyant, handsome but also flawed. Greek tragedy type of flaw. Aristotle coined a term for this kind of flaw, hamartia. He wrote it in Poetics which focuses mainly on tragedy. Not exactly a preppy pick-me-up Oprah book club kind of book.


Who can blame me? I was born during the counter culture revolution in the 1960s where avant-garde stereotype of heroes are replaced with the more street smart ones. There is no knight in shining armour and bullets does not ricochet of the bracelet of sexy wonder woman.


Out Lynda Carter, Enter Angelina Jolie. Yes, the heroine looks cool smoking.


The kid in front of me, couldn’t be more than 11 years old stared at the box I am holding. Yes, it is the limited edition Neil Schon guitar for the PS2 game, Guitar Hero. And yes, it is the last box the store has currently. The manager told me that he has back orders for another 20 units and the one I am holding cost RM150 more on ebay.


Too bad, all his father’s money could not help this kid get what he craves for. And that teary eye trick won’t work on this anti-hero. Maybe in his adolescent, when the girl that he wants or the expensive sneakers that he craves for fail to materialise, he will have a flash-back on this moment and cope with his failure. Maybe it’s true after all..


You must be cruel to be kind.


‘Uncle, uncle’ he calls out ‘Can I buy it from you?’


The audacity of the kid calling me uncle, we are not even related. Heck, the kid is not even malay.


‘No’


Out John Wayne, Enter Clint Eastwood. Yes, the anti hero looks cool with a stubble.




Go ahead, make my day.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Making Cafe Latte at home



Since my maid ran away 4 months ago and I started making my own coffee. The first thing that I noticed was the sub-standard nescafe my indonesian maid made for me for breakfast. Actually I knew it was bad, I was just too lazy to do it myself.

Paying close attention to Starbucks barristas (a fancy term for the person making the coffee for you), I found out that I was able to copy the making of Cafe Latte without the use of the expensive expresso maker, so I can have a Venti Cafe Latte at home minus the bill.

Ok..since almost nobody here grinds their own coffee beans and use instant coffee, I recommend you use Nescafe Gold. Why..? Because the coffee taste smoother and not made here with cheap coffee beans, that why. Alternatively, you can use the many types of grinded coffee beans you can find in the supermarket. And no...you cannot use old town coffee for this, nor kopi cap kapal laut because it will taste different. Why...? Probably because of the way they ferment and roast it.

First step since you do not have the milk steamer, use the microwave to heat your milk. Use normal fresh milk or in my case, the easier Dutch Lady fresh milk in milk cartoon. Starbucks use this too. Since the milk is ultra high temperature treated, you do not have to store the unopened milk in the fridge. Once opened you have to keep it in the fridge for storage. Heat the milk on high temperature in a mug for 2 minutes. In Starbucks they use a steamer to heat the milk till it is froothy and hot. The milk should be near boiling when this is done. Milk cannot be lukewarm for this.


Next, preparation of the diluted coffee or expresso as the mat salleh called them. Put a heap of coffee (2 heaps if you need a double dose) in a glass cup and pour near boiling water into it. Coffee is best diluted in water around 95-98 degrees. Since I have a water pot which I set at 98 degrees, this is easily done by me. Stir it. Do not be stingy with the coffee or else your coffee will taste more milky than coffeeky. Do not add instant coffee directly into the hot milk mug because coffee needs to be dissolve in WATER for it to give out its flavour.

After stirring, quickly pour the expresso into the hot milk and stir vigorously. In Starbucks, the steamer will cause the milk to foam, here we do not get the foam. I tell people that Italians drink cafe latte without foam so this recepi is for italian cafe latte I guess ;-)
They have foam so that they can put some latte designs too...you know for aesthetic purposes.



Your coffee is near completion. Just add sugar and if you have some cream on top of your coffee. Wallaa...you have yourself a wonderful cup of Italian Cafe Latte. It is best served during breakfast to give you your morning dose of caffeine.


Bon Appetite...

Sunday, April 26, 2009

A Vigil

A call late evening, 2 days ago.

‘Tok Chik’ my wife stressed, ‘She is sick...very sick, you better come see her, tell your mom too’.

I called mom and together with my wife went to visit her a day later. I was feeling feverish from a day before but I had to go see my grandfather’s sister whom we affectionately called Tok Chik. We arrived at around 5pm to a semi large gathering of close relatives. My wife drove since she knew Shah Alam better than me. I owe her one.

After the customary handshakes and hand kissing, we proceeded into Tok Chik’s room. It’s downstairs near the living room. She lay with her eyes closed, the pillows and mattress propped up to support her semi upright position. She is sleeping, beside her on a pillow is a dark Hewlett Packard PDA on speakers playing Quranic verses, the sounds emanating from it seems to calm the nerves of the visitors especially me. I looked around her room; on her dresser I can see old pictures from bygone days and news paper clippings featuring her. I was attracted to a larger newspaper print in a DIY frame. It is about her and the Malaysian flag she helped made for our country independence. She was among the many prominent Johoreans whom helped Dato Onn Jaafar form UMNO and rally the Malay folks against Malayan Union. Tok Chik was a strong woman; she raised 5 of her kids almost single handedly after her husband passing. The matriarch before me is still strong at 82, the pain she is now enduring would make a grown up man like me crumble, that I am sure.

‘Tok’ my mom called out, ‘Tok Chik, nih Eton, Tok kenal lagi tak?’

She did not answer. I reached out to rub her hand, ‘Tok Chik’ I called. Her hands are cold probably from the air conditioning.

She opened her eyes briefly, she seems to acknowledge us and she went back to sleep. She is tired, we are told from the many visitors that come and go that day. L****, the second eldest daughter was with us the entire time. At 60 plus, she looks 40 and have the gusto of a 30 year old. All her daughters have that trait. They look younger than their age, outspoken, well educated, well travelled and looked upon themselves as equal if not better than their male counterparts. I have seen them dress down a male relative in a debate, you would want these girls on your side in an argument.

After that we adjourned to the living room for tea. As a normal custom in my family, there is a lot of food on the table, way too much food. I brought along lepat pisang, pisang goreng and a box of carrot cake from Secret Recepi. On the table there is pengat pisang, bread pudding, apom, cakes and fruits. The atmosphere in the room changed considerably. My wife started to serve me the bread pudding along with tea. She can read minds, I thought. The extra cream she put on my bread pudding confirmed the fact that she at least could read mine.

‘Mak dah cakap’ M****, the 3rd oldest daughter spoke in a joking tone ‘Mula-mula je sedih, nanti dah semua sedara mara datang, kecoh lah rumah’. M just came back from Perth where she works in the Malaysian Embassy. She told me that she is 57, but she looks a tad under 40.

None of them wore head coverings, like the many in my family which includes my 2 sisters but that hides the fact that these girls are religious and are competent in religion. They just don’t wear head covering because they don’t think it is necessary. They dress modestly and will tell you point blank that having a head covering does not make you a better Muslim and if you are smart, you better leave it at that. Many male relatives learned the hard way; I have no intention of making the same mistake.

B**, the 4th eldest was the host. She is a Professor and heads a campus for the preparations of students before the government sends them overseas to do medicine, engineering, business and other courses in UK, Germany, Middle East, India and Russia. She is also my wife’s big boss and at 52, she does not seem to be considering retirement. Joke around us is that she is an anak merdeka, she was born in 1957. Her mother was pregnant with her when she was sewing the merdeka flag and she was delivered about 42 days after Independence. These details were in the newspaper clippings in her mom’s room. Loud, boisterous and outspoken, she seems quiet today leaving her sisters to do most of the talking. I am not putting any money for this condition to continue however.

The conversation around the room spiral around plays (Les miserables, Cats), overseas trips, food stalls in Plaza Damas where they serve authentic Johorean mee rebus plus satay to the going ons in the family. It also went around religion.

‘I don’t understand nowadays why people say that it is prohibited to baca Yassin during visits and the practice to do 3 and 7 days of mourning’, one of the girls spoke ‘If cannot baca Yassin, what are we suppose to do then, just look around each other..?’ She continued ‘Anyway, I don’t understand their reasoning in these matters...whatever you call them’

‘Invention’ I spoke out ‘The people called these thing inventions because it was not done during the Prophet era’.

‘Yes’ my mom spoke out ‘but, we are not going against Islamic teachings by reading Yassin which is also from the Quran. People also criticized the kemenyan we burn with setanggi’

Kemenyan, is sort of an incense that Malays usually burn with setanggi which gives a nice smell. It is widely believed that setanggi will hide the smell of a corpse thus not subjecting the visitors to the smell of a dead body. The reason is a valid reason, but through time it has acquired a bad image through the bomoh and voo-doo practises which also uses kemenyan and setanggi. IMO, it is the same with perfumes, we use it to smell nice which is permitted. You can also use it to flaunt wealth, pick up men or other wrong factors which make it haram; it depends on your intention. Not everything is so clear cut. I remembered when I was studying years ago, the Muslim communities were so certain that perfumes are haram because it contains alcohol. Since I was chemistry major, I pointed out that even fruits contain alcohol but we can eat them so the reasoning that perfumes cannot be applied because it contains alcohol does not make sense. Alcohol for intoxification is wrong, not the alcohol itself. Alcohol is used since heydays to disinfect humans thus saving a great many lives, it is a noble substance. Muslim scholars would serve the community better by not commenting on issues they do not specialize in. It creates confusion.

The topic quickly changed to handbags, specifically Coach handbags. It seems that one of the sisters had a huge stash of handbags and purses she brought from the US where she is staying. My wife picked a cute purse and agreed to the price. I will be expected to contribute to the purchase, that I am sure and do willingly.

Conversations free flowed, guest intermingle like they know each other for years and food readily consumed. Everyone is truly relaxed. A few more visitors arrived, more handshakes and more food. My mom was busy taking M phone number in Australia; she planned to go there next October as according to M, it is spring then and the best time to travel. I met some nieces and nephews I have never seen in years. This is D’s daughter, someone said. The beautiful girl bent to kiss my hands, she looks older than 13, I retract before her lips met my hands like my late father usually do. Ohh, this is A, B’s daughter, someone else said, kiss your uncle’s hand. I just smile. Come over here I am told, meet your new nephews. On and on.

Soon it was time to leave. Before leaving, we bid Tok Chik goodbye. L was in the room completing the Asar prayers, M was next. Tok Chik was still sleeping, she looks strong. I am not surprised if she outlived some of her grandchildren. 2 children was playing outside, the younger one named Omar wore a Ben 10 shirt.

‘What do I call you...fire-starter? ‘I asked.

The kid looks perplexed.

‘Heat-Blast lah’ my wife corrected me, referring to many of Ben10 aliases. The kid smiled.

‘4 arms’ the kid said. ‘I wanna be 4 arms’.



Bye Tok, see you soon.

Friday, April 24, 2009

SMS di pagi jumaat

Reza : Yo friend..I got a 2o plus year old girl who wants to become my friend in facebook what do i do?

Friend : Jangan perasan le...she could be your forgotten niece

Reza : Youre right...I add her

Friend : Why do you think I have a family database in my pc for?

Reza : Err....to avoid incestual relationships?