08 January 2005 9:19 a.m. before i begin, did you know that the Pizza Hut outlet at OU has only 2 songs to play, and does so on endless loop? if you've ever forgotten the words to Beauty and the Beast and The Colours of the Wind, you know where to go. also, there is a woman at the Kim Wah coffeeshop in Damansara Kim who sings as she prepares your food. you forget to worry about spittle in your noodles because you're busyy looking for the radio and wondering why there's a channel that plays songs from chinese operas. dad smugly told me and bro16 that he brgins mum there whenever she's grumpy, teehee; and it works like magic! some people say that tragedies are a sign for us to take stock of our lives and reflect on how lucky we are. you learn from other people's experience basically, so, from this entry, you'll learn why no one should ever get into a car when Igor is driving. we were supposed to go to Pam's house last wednesday for her birthday lunch, which was actually on monday. Olivia was the only one of the three of us who'd been there before, so we set off for Rawang in her battered little car. an aside - the damage to Olivia's car was not her fault, but was inflicted by the hands of the incompetent drivers she's lent it to. she must have more faith in her fellow humans than i do. Igor ended up taking the wheel because Olivia got nervous and uncertain, and he claimed that he knew the way to Rawang; so Olivia played co-driver for about 5 minutes before we were struck dumb by terror (Igor not included, naturally). i consider driving in downtown KL amidst lunch-hour traffic pretty challenging under normal circumstances (but that may be just me), so doing it in a different car would be a baptism of fire for your driving ability; even more so when you yield to vanity and refuse to get glasses for your myopia. we should have insisted he give back the wheel when we discovered that he couldn't read the words of a huge banner strung up across the road from where we were ("why get stuck in a jam when you can enjoy yourself at Jake's Roadhouse Grill?"). he was okay when we were on the highway, but isn't everyone? all you have to do is slow down when you think there might be a police speed-trap up ahead. oh, and don't tail-gate lorries or buses or any other vehicle that's bigger than yours. however, only motorbikes were smaller than the car we were in. things started falling apart when we reached Rawang town, because Igor had taken another exit instead of the one that would have brought us nearly to Pam's door. we drove through the town, all 3 blocks of it, before winding up in a small village that was most definitely not Pam's. Igor got flustered then, and we were in some trouble. it's not funny when you slow down to a crawl, and then make a 3-point turn without signalling, because the motorbike behind you has to perform a moto GP-like swerve around you because its rider had no warning at all. and then it's worrying when the driver stares wide-eyed into the rear-view miror and gasps, "i didn't see him!" did i mention we actually drove into another district before we made it to Pam's house? that was the navigator's (me) fault though. on the way back to Rawang, we were overtaken by an 18-foot lorry that was doing about 60 kph. i mean, come on. Pam's house is really cool. they built it from scratch and there's a mural on one of the walls, of a scene from the Mahabharata depicting Lord Vishnu and a king in a chariot, on their way to the epic battle in the story. the idea is that one must not be afraid of the unknown, which naturally includes the future. i thought it was funny that the artist had included his hand-phone number in the mural. not only that, her parents got Hindu priests to bless the house when it was built, so they're protected by their gods all the time. it gives real meaning to the term "sanctuary", i think. oh, yeah, we ate. and ate and ate and ate and ate. Suze, you would have been proud of me! no one says no to mutton rendang (i think) and briyani rice, do they? i thought so. and then there was chocolate cake and coconut candy! i haven't had coconut candy in ages, and it wasn't dyed those bright fluorescent colours you see in the supermarket. fab. when we left Pam's house, we had to turn out onto the other side of the road. Igor took his time making the turn, so the driver of the car that had been coming up behind us (and therefore would have had the right of way) had to step heavily on the brakes. he was so polite, too, the other driver, i mean; he only tapped on his horn twice. he must have seen the terror in me and Olivia's eyes. we got all shrieky at Igor after that because he was crawling along the road, deciding which turning to take and his response was to glance, thunderstruck, into the rear-view mirror (therefore taking his eyes of the road ahead) and intone, "oh... i didn't see it. sorree!" and then he waved, limp-wristedly at the other car. it wasn't even funny the first time it happened. i told mum when i got home, and she has righteously banned me from ever riding in a car if Igor is the driver. p.s. - if this post is more hysterical than usual, it's because i am :( let's see how long i can fob them off with bits of code cleverly disguised as a post while i deal with this dead fish, heheheh.
an attempt at lucidity
silly readers
In the year 2005 I resolve to: |
a successful attempt at brevity
the coolest testimonial ever to be found on my Friendster account (well, ever since someone cancelled their account, but oh well) - The fishcake & chicken wing mystery remains unsolved. ^_^
cool shit from Wowie -
thanks very much much, i'll do my best!
29 December 2004 10:08 p.m.damned tsunamis
at least there's more room for the rest of us.
at least those people don't have to worry about a future filled with poverty and despair.
at least the useless people are dead
at least
who's to decide this? it's not as if the areas hit by the tsunami will be fit for living, nor is it certain that people will be moved anywhere to balance out the population density. other people's poverty doesn't affect us at all. a third of the dead are children, and we know that they're not really good for much.
Faust's comment did spark this post, but this is not a condemnation. callous as they are, these are the opinions of people who don't relate to the tragedy. i can't relate to it either, so when people extend their condolences, i just wonder what the point is because we will never feel what the survivors do; and all this talk is just another way of coping with the incredulity of it all.
half an hour of news from BBC and CNN leaves me wondering who these analysts talking to when they elaborate about diarrhea and related illnesses. the survivors and relatives of those who are still lost aren't interested in numbers and amateur video footage of the first wave that crashed onto the beaches of Phi Phi island - they only want to leave or find out about their loved ones. there is no such bulletin as far as i know, and all i see is indian mothers mourning their dead or lost children.
i see this as a way of coping for the people who aren't directly involved in the tragedy, as a means of somehow understanding and trying to accept what has happened.
i'm tired of hearing eye-witness accounts. all this coverage doesn't do a thing for the survivors, nor will the hushed tones and downcast expressions bring the dead back.
i guess i'm just jaded from all the talk. sorry, but that's just bollocks.
p.s. - what the hell - "these waves are indiscriminate in their killing." damned anthromorphosizing.
28 December 2004 9:26 a.m.take a break
Mondo Beyondo! step back a little and allow yourself to dream. when the hell did i get so sentimental?
for those who are in the area and would like to help - YAWA has a collection point thing in TTDI.
i found this list at bobjots. get stuck in!
27 December 2004 3:20 p.m.this is a nothing post
the philippines had its landslide episode, and the rest of the region was treated to this. i wish it were as easy as blaming an ancient sleeping evil for it (yes, Graceshu, it occurred to me too) but anything else is just more useless talk. what a way to end the year.
we all need to be somewhere else.
25 December 2004 8:44 p.m.sidewalk hysteria
from the back row during the Thai horror movie Shutter (go watch it!) -
"OH, SWEET JESUS... RUN LAH WEI!!!"
okay, near-ubiquitous Jesus post done.
24 December 2004 8:24 a.m.too posh for you
from Oh la la Paris.
... i wonder what a membership card to the yuppie club looks like. it must be holiday madness.
23 December 2004 9:25 a.m.wankerific
as much as i fancy Fran Healy & Co., the Hawkins brothers and Robbie Williams (okay, Radiohead too); i can't help but detest the Band Aid single. i realise that Mr. Geldof has noble intentions, but are the proceeds from the sale of a Christmas single capable of providing for the needs of the ethiopians until the next single comes out?
i probably have 2 issues here - why do people carry out big-ass, bloated acts of charity only during the holiday/festival seasons? under-privileged people exist every day, whether you realise, or like, it or not. they don't come creeping from the corners of their poverty-stricken countries or communities so that they can watch a bunch of celebrities tell the world what to feel. christmas cheer doesn't fill one's stomach.
if it were me, i'd wonder what the hell they were singing about, but then i couldn't afford a tv if i were stricken by poverty, could i? it's not as if under-privileged people around the world think about the the well-to-do and the charitable efforts being carried out in their name anyway, they'd probably be preoccupied with worrying about their next meal instead of thinking, "gee, that Geldof sure is a nice fella!"
i'm getting carried away. this is not about the Geldof man, i'm just irritated by the sight of 40 or so "singers" (Busted? NEVER) shrilly singing about feeding some kids in a faraway land they wouldn't otherwise think of during the rest of the year. is that sincerity and/or goodwill or a deluded sense of self-righteousness shining out of their eyes? it just feels so hollow and contrived somehow. what a big pair of bollocks. not to mention masturbative.
***
today is shaping up to be a fabulous day - i've just brought in the newspapers, and one of the headlines told of a 9 year old girl who had been raped and murdered, and her body had been dumped in a ditch. this is the cue for concerned citizens and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) to call for harsher penalties for rapists and the like.
personally, i believe that there's nothing better than a good lynching.
on the other hand, the fact that i'm angry means that i can still feel. i'm kinda relieved that way.
