Saturday, August 27, 2005

43 things

Spending a lot of time on 43Things. It chronicles things and goals you want to achieve.
I have added it to my blog. See left.

They even have 43 places, the destinations that you wanna go.

Pretty cool.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Thou shalt not

Today I made up my mind that I would not complain.
Plus I decided that I do not owe the world an explanation for everything I do.

My, it has been a very quiet day.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Claustrophobia

Life is what you make out of it, K says. I think he is fed up with me being so miserable everyday.

Mulling in the office, I swear the walls are closing in. Surrounded by folders, scheming office politicians and paper high risers everywhere, I wonder how the heck am I going to break free from this prison of my own making. It is not as if I know what I want to do with my life anyway.

See how I effortlessly turn into an urban Morticia without even trying? I used to go to school with this girl called Joyce who, like her name is so bright and positive and chirpy, it irritated the hell out of me. Of course I didn’t mean to. It’s the ying and yang of things.
Some people are happy, some people are dead.

Choy choy, 8th month, must be respectful of the departed. The Chinese believe that the 8th month of the Chinese calendar corresponds to the Hungry Ghost Month. It’s when the gates of purgatory are opened and the spirits roam the earth for one month before returning to their prisons for another year.

On another note, I really think a dog will do wonders to my life. How can anyone be glum with a dog? Yet dogs don’t really fancy me. They usually don’t give me the time of day. My brother’s ex dog even buried a chew toy under my butt for safekeeping, that stupid mutt.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Like sands through the hourglass

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.

I met up with a long time friend today. I have not seen her in 5 long years. She is the same bubbly young lady I knew from way back when. Aw man, saying that has just condemned me to acknowledging that I am indeed, old.

Shuck, I am turning 30 soon and I am as ready for that as a trip to a trainee neurosurgeon. Was it really 5 years ago that I was making eyes at my EU tutor and rolling the same ones during Feldman's lectures. I recall a mate doodling a criss-crossed pancake on my notes. Waffling, it was. Seriously, this lecturer can make a rock get up and scream from sheer boredom.

I was a geek extraordinare then. Chunky shoes, second hand jumpers, cold packed toast and quick lunches at the law faculty foyer as we were too poor to have lunch at the cafeteria. I sure have stories of suffering to bestow to my kids/grandkids/pets. Of course it would not serve any purpose in mentioning the plays at the Royal Shakespere Theather and trips to Europe.

With my rose-tinted glasses on, I raise my teacup and say a cheery 'hurrah' to life in Britain. My memories there have mostly been pleasant ones. And meeting Adeline again brought back bright warm memories of hot air baloons and pancake parties and trips around Hull in a Granny-mobile.

Only Nik Aziz

Taken from Berita Minggu, 21 August 2005

KOTA BHARU: Isteri diminta turut memikirkan masalah anak dara lanjut usia dan masih belum berkahwin yang jumlahnya semakin ramai di negara ini dengan tidak menyekat hasrat suami mereka untuk berpoligami.

Menteri Besar Kelantan, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, berkata isteri tidak seharusnya menyekat dan bertindak ganas terhadap suami yang berhasrat berpoligami, asalkan suami berkemampuan berbuat demikian.

"Sekiranya si isteri sendiri tahu suaminya mempunyai bakat untuk berkahwin lebih daripada satu... tiba-tiba dia bertindak ganas, sedangkan mereka berhak.

"Cubalah fikir pula bagaimana keadaan perempuan anak dara tua tak dapat suami sampai mati... sedangkan ada orang nak pada dia dan isteri pula perlu beri ruang selepas dia tahu suaminya mempunyai kebolehan.

"Benda ni benda lama, yang tak selesai sekiranya manusia hanya jaga nafsu dia saja... tapi tak jaga nafsu orang lain sama," katanya kepada pemberita selepas merasmikan majlis Muafakat Bersama Rakyat anjuran Majlis Perbandaran Kota Bharu (MPKB) di Perumahan Jalan Padang Tembak, dekat sini, semalam.

Nik Abdul Aziz diminta mengulas kejadian seorang suami cedera disimbah dengan cuka getah dipercayai isterinya kerana berhasrat ingin berkahwin dua di Tanah Merah, baru-baru ini.

Nik Abdul Aziz berkata, isteri perlu juga memikirkan nasib masa depan lebih ramai wanita yang bakal menjadi anak dara tua, kerana tidak dijadikan isteri oleh lelaki yang berkemampuan.

Katanya, Islam tidak menghalang umatnya daripada berkahwin lebih daripada satu atau berpoligami, asalkan mereka cukup syarat ditetapkan agama.

"Mereka tidak harus menyekat suami mereka berbuat demikian, apatah lagi bertindak ganas terhadap mereka yang berhasrat berpoligami,"

COMMENT: What exactly amounts to 'mempunyai bakat' hm? I am rooting for the woman who simbah-ed the cuka.

Friday, August 19, 2005

Graduation

I have not left my blog for dead yet.
It is not to say that my little universe hasn't been sprialling out of control(again).

For one, my brother has graduated. As his graduation was in Malacca, the family enjoyed a nice long break there. We hardly had a war of words at all, which suprised me to no end. Perhaps it helped that it was my dad who drove and I was the map-brandishing navigator. Any other combination with my brother thrown in would have resulted in somebody walking back to KL.

Food was great. There is this quaint Perakanan restaurant by the name of Nancy's Kitchen which serves lovely food and nyonya kuih. There is this awesome dish that has a layer of pulut tai tai at the bottom and a top consisting of the green pandan jelly of kuih talam, minus the santan. Nice. Must try their mutton and pork curry puffs the next tme I get myself there.

My only regret is not being able to have my roti john in Klebang. It is just a super oily toasted sardine sandwich but I assure you it's food of the gods. I was at Klebang with a group of friends about a year ago and it was there that I got the name of this blog. Just because I had whacked full servings of chicken rice, bread, satay celup, chendol, muah chee, putu piring and still has room to polish off the roti john is no reason to call me monster.
Okay, maybe it is.

My brother was required to be at the Hall by 7.30 am. We were by 6.30. But we weren't the only kiasu people around as there were people there even before us. Made us feel better that.

So while my parents were given the honour to sit in an air-conditioned hall I was stationed under a pink tent in the lawn accompanied by TV screens with live feeds. What made it bad were these people who were sitting next to me who regarded the graduation as a family picnic. In their supermarket plastic bags, they brought a giant tupperware of cake, a big tin of jacob's cream crackers, pickled mango and bottles of water. And worse, they refused to shut up. Criticising every thing from other graduates and their course, to the chancelor, to the how it was different when THEY were graduating, man, this family of newts had to run everything down.
Sometimes education is wasted on the world's biggest idiots.

Anyway, the ceremony went by smoothly and we left feeling very satisfied.
Oh, never stay at Naza Hotel. The service is dismal, the rooms were musty, furnishings were unsightly, the buffet breakfast was sad as here was hardly anything good to eat and most of the time you had to keep running to the staff to tell them that the makan sudah habis. In short, don't go there.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Angels and Demons

I woke up this morning feeling very miserable.
Firstly it was dread. Okay I admit, I am not very happy for having to go back to the slaughterhouse that is the Firm. I resent the lack of free time I need to endure and the intense travelling and being bullied in court. I am banking that the intellectual pursuit will make me a better person and bring me better pay that will in turn get me a house, a car and most importantly, a dog. Yes, I have priorities and a vision. (cue : a beam of sunshine and singing angels)
Free time does not agree with me.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Hushaby

And today I handed my letter of resignation amid a chorus of 'no's from my bosses.

Far from relief, I actually feel dread. My course is set. I will be hurling into the world of lawyers and judges and flying statutes books and rude clerks and court offices that lose your files. A land of long hours and birdseeds for pay.

Am I overacting? Voluntary suffering cannot be pleasant. Yet it's now or never. It is all an investment for a brighter future.
Ah yo I hope so.

Things will change tremendously. I will change entirely, if I throw myself completely into this.

I will miss the people at work most. A nice environment where politics are at most child's play than sword play among buccaneers. Of course at times you would feel like shoving a rake down your client's throat but lunches with friends are always good.

Three months to catch up on what has been going on in law.
I am so screwed.