can you imagine me saying all that in perfect malay? :)
on bunga telurs and kay poh chees
December 18, 2009
celebration of malay weddings begin way way way – and i do mean waaay – before the actual ceremony. SH’s family have been practically crawling up the walls by the time we arrived to kay poh help out with the last minute preparations.
somewhere between boiling eggs and twisting delicate wires of the bunga telur, my cousins and i catch up on colourful family gossip. nothing scandalous to report, unfortunately. just who’s working where and how the kids have been.
aunty BB, the family wedding specialist, busies herself over and takes charge of things. when i say wedding specialist, i am deadly serious. she knows every custom and how it should be. every tradition and their names and roots. makes every bunga telur by hand from scratch and knows exactly which grade of egg would fit the different kinds of nettings.
the cousins and i hover a slight fear for aunty BB. oh you know, the aunty that goes around asking you when you are going to get married. every family has one of these kinda aunties.
today, watching aunty BB in action in the zone and completely in her element, i realise a new respect for here. she spent hours alone, making sure every flower petal was perfect and every crease in every piece of fabric used for the pelamin had not a single crease. she decorates every hantaran item with individual attention.
tribute to michael jackson
December 16, 2009
hey thrillers,
i know a lot of you have been asking for the vids. sorry for the delay. its just been a muy loco tres diaz pasada.
video 1: tribute to MJ smooth criminal
i’m posting the vids here for several reasons. largely, it is because i don’t get on facebook a lot these days and when i do have the chance, i’m too busy tending to my world cafe – which i know, displays bad food most of the time. sigh. but also, because i think these videos are mostly private and this blog allows us to laugh and make fun of each other in private.
video 2: tribute to MJ thriller
to the rest of the world, hey these vids may not be perfect. the vids are not perfect. the dances are not perfect. but that really is not the point. these people, they got heart.
and for michael, that is all that really matters, kan? the love. l.o.v.e.
video 3: tribute to MJ black or white
i think that is how michael would have wanted us to remember him. not by people getting angry and criticizing every single detail in their dance steps. but in people like the thrillers who laugh and help each other and appreciate the moves and establish friendships, in memory of the king.
video 4: tribute to MJ beat it
-michael jackson-
que quowle [stay with me forever] ~ jacob black
December 10, 2009
J surprised me last night with an outing to see the second episode of the twilight saga, new moon.
one of the radio stations was talking the other day about team jacob and team edward.
having see the movie, i am on team edward cullen. absolutely.
*this post contains spoilers for the book veronika decides to die by paulo coelho. consider yourself warned.
just finished this book a few nights ago. the thing is, after the alchemist, one tends just to have too much of a expectation on paulo coelho. including me. which i think is not fair. books should be judged as individuals. but it really is something one cannot help. oh well.
reflecting on the plot, though, it is pretty good. there is an interesting twist at the end, but the kind you don’t really expect coming. and in actuality, i was even a little bit disappointed. i actually would have liked to read a whole beautiful dramatic scene about how veronika dies and how people would reflect on her life, or even something hypothetical about life after death. something spectacular like that la.
sigh. i knew the whole thing about asking eduard to be a painter again was just too short lived.
you know what could have really saved the thing for me? a skitch at the end, something like at the end of movies. something that says how veronika and eduard and mari and the doctor go on to live their life. something like veronika goes home and now takes annual death defying bungee jumping trips or eduard goes on to be a graffiti artiste or mari goes on to be a pole dancer or the doctor becomes a metal patient himself or whatever la. you get the pic.
it is not a bad story. just needs a little more magic, if you ask me. it is suppose to be one of those everyday miracle of life kinda story anyway, right? and i actually like these kinda stories. as a writer, i like to pepper the ends of my stories with things like this. the everyday miracle kinda thing. i once wrote a piece that ended with the forest coming alive with the sparkles of a hundred fireflies. or something like that la. that article went on to be nominated for some kind of award some years back. you ya, people apparently like these kinda things too.
and so, death comes. i have actually resigned to the idea that i will die young quite some time ago. and a large part of me, when i am in that state of consciousness, still believes in it. i mean, at the rate i’m going – climbing trees la, jumping off cliffs la, walking around volcanoes la – it really is just a matter of time before something does the trick. and yes, there are still a bunch of things i want to do before i die – which reminds me, i need to make a list – i try to, in the words of time mcgraw, live like you were dying. because, well, i am.
and well, just in case i don’t go yet, i make plans for the future. a string of places waiting for me to set foot on next year. holidays with the akurians. work stuff – more saving the world. or at least try to. i think trying is important.
and just in case i do go sooner that i thought, i try to happify every grudge i hold. and let me tell you this, if i just like suddenly vanish from this world, i want you to know that there is no bitterness that i would hold against anyone. i ain’t no saint. in fact, i am really as ordinary as the next person. but dude, the whole excess baggage thing is just heavy on the soul, man. and for that long trip to meet my maker, i’d rather pack me some laughing points. i actually think god has a sense of humour. i hope he does.
and so, you know all those things people say about the dead – she was a wonderful human being bla bla bla – i don’t know if i would get any of those. i think i would be happy with, “not-bad.” she was a not-bad person. i think that would do.
and at the end of it all, i’d like that everyday miracle kinda ending. that i have lived, and although i did not do anything special, at least i tried. yes, i definitely think trying is important.
at least i tried :)
and a britney song was on, and a britney song way on! ~ miley cyrus
November 25, 2009
its was just one of those mornings. sigh. the kind of morning that took extra long to just brush teeth. one of those mornings where you just got to change your outfit four times before it feels just right. one of those mornings where you already got into the car, and then had to get out and open the house up again because terlupa bawak something.
the blonde kinda morning. i am hoping this blonde bug is just a morning episode. i got spanish grammar exam malam ni and i need to have my geek head screwed on for that.
intermediate spanish is no joke and i am wondering if it is just getting too complicated. last night, in an attempt to study for the exam, i showed J how a regular spanish verb can be conjugated at least 25 ways, depending on who you are referring to, and tenses. i am quite sure he has no idea what i was talking about, but politely sat and nodded and smiled between pauses. after teaching him the different uses of por y para, his head landed on the cafe table.
J gave me one of those solar powered plastic potted plant that flapped its leaves up and down. he bought it from a wheelchair bound man selling odd stuff near his house. the guy told us that his welfare assistance is just a little over RM300 a month and it is hard for him to find real work. he lives on his own and has no family.
speaking of which, i wonder if not having a hand is considered a disability. i was reading a story last night about dona jemina. in the story, her father, don artal, was kidnapped by don pedro. as ransom, don pedro asked for dona jemina’s hand. in the end, she cuts her hand and sends it to him in a box saying that he may have her hand, but he can never have her heart.
so typical of latin drama, kan?
alien abduction insurance
November 24, 2009
i kid you not, my friends. the thing really exists. wiki it up. apa lagi, got more than one company that offers it.
the basic policy says that if you can prove that you have been abducted by aliens, you get an insurance payout. and there have been people who have filed claims before, and – check it out – there has been payouts before. at least two.
some of the policies even got clauses for alien impregnation, alien examination, and death caused by aliens. the alien impregnation insurance is available for men also, to account for the unknown capabilities of alien technology.
if you ask me, this is genius. think of all the people who can sleep better at night knowing that if they wake up with diamond shaped bruises ke, microchip implants ke, they will be able to pay for medical attention. or if they need to raise an alien baby, they will be able to ensure that the baby will get a comfortable upbringing and access to good education.
and education, is oh so important these days, ain’t it? ;)
cannonball ~ damien rice
November 23, 2009
still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
it’s still a little hard to say what’s going on
still a little bit of your ghost, your witness
still a little bit of your face i haven’t kissed
you step a little closer each day
that i can’t say what’s going on
stones taught me to fly, love taught me to lie
life taught me to die so it’s not hard to fall
when you float like a cannonball
still a little bit of your song in my ear
still a little bit of your words i long to hear
you step a little closer to me
so close that I can’t see what’s going on
stones taught me to fly, love taught me to cry
so come on courage, teach me to be shy
cause its not hard to fall, and i don’t want to scare her
its not hard to fall and i don’t want to lose
its not hard to grow
when you know that you just don’t know
better make a move fast. the end is near. ~ carl anheuser (2012)
November 20, 2009
someone said it is friday. friday night, let’s go party! party? oh. mi. dios. party? after a week like this? i have been on my feet the entire five days straight. wait. make that since last weekend with the house moving – which is, by the way, tak habis lagi nih – so it is more than five days – and you want me to party?!
argh.
the best portion of a good man’s life; his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. ~ william wordsworth
November 17, 2009
J and i went to see 2012 yesterday. no, this is not a review of the movie. but i have been seeing a lot of attention given this issue of apocalypse these past few weeks. about the end of time, the destruction of the earth and finales de la vida. loads of books. analysis in newspapers. great scientists and philosophers pouring their hearts out on the discovery channel, the history channel, animal planet (yea, now you know that i am an education package geek, good for you).
and people start to think about what to do so that they would be able to survive such things when they happen. do we build a ship? a giant ark? habitations on the moon? on mars? or jupiter?
and i have no intention here trying to demotivate the great minds of our generation, but seriously, if one day, the world will be destroyed, then it will be destroyed, and there is nothing we can do about it.
and no, this is not my point. my point is simply to say that instead of pouring resources into a possible response to doomsday, we should focus about the present day. look around in the here and in the now and look at what we can do for each other.
all the war. all the famine. all the environmental destruction. all the people fighting over the most trivial of things. the proliferation of greed and cruelty and disrespect. people call me a conservative. but i think culture is important. and i think that if people took a step back, just one step back towards their roots, back to the values that our forefathers brought us up with, we will see that there is no point fighting over things like borders.
if there really is less than three years left to life on earth as we know it, i would like the great minds of this generation to look into making peace with the world, and by this, i mean each other. look at all the wealth massed and look at all the poor and hungry and sick. i think that if we live with the knowledge of unavoidable death, we would all be more generous and share. and in sharing, we make life a little easier for another human being.
if there really is less that three years left, the last thing i would want is to spend time suffering because of all the drama that is happening in the world. buat apa nak gaduh lagi – kejap lagi semua pun mampus. which part of all this don’t you understand – there will be no winner. we can either choose to end the fights now and try to be happy for the next coupla years with our loved ones, or continue fighting, continue suffering, continue neglecting the very thing that is most important in life – our families – just because we had to be selfish and defend our pride. if we know that the world will end soon, and we had to choose between family and pride, shouldn’t the decision be obvious?
***
one of my suppliers just sent us a box of sugar pastries with red bean stuffing. the carbohydrates are kicking in and as i recline quietly at my workstation, i dream of a world where we would just let each other be happy.
