Half an inch

One of the other changes that I noticed about myself apart from personality related ones of late is how the pair of jeans I bought about two years ago can now no longer be worn without a belt. Not even a tucking in can help this time - walking more than 20 metres will require me to pull it up before it starts showing my peachy bum and underwear, which is most inconvenient to say the least.

Feel free to thank me for choosing this image.

I'm not certain about how I lost that half-inch or so worth of waist fat. The most obvious reason might probably have something to do with the bout of digestion problem in the past three weeks or so. It probably reduced my appetite for food that smaller portions of food nowadays are enough to satisfy the stomach.

Some in the office suggested that my mind was distracted by either more interesting things or stressful ones (or both) that causes the same effect in what is usually called 'mind over matter'.

"Nah, I'll just nibble off this bit of cucumber".

Otherwise a change in sleeping habits might just have some minor effect on that - been sleeping a lot more this time, as in getting at least seven hours instead of the usual less than five.

Back home my parents might just ask if I'm all right in their most subtle of manners if I don't seem to be eating like I normally do when the cook is my mother. Every trip home for the holidays is a feast as they know I don't get top quality cooking like this over here in KL, so my annual visits home are one of the few times when I get to indulge.

Including copious amounts of God's gift to mankind.

 The downside of what is supposed to be a positive thing depending on the circumstances - being seriously ill is probably a lot less desirable - is that the clothing my now start to look a lot less fitting. While some of the older t-shirts are no longer wearable without further reduction to the volume of fat, some are now feeling pretty baggy. The trade off of a much healthier body size is the loss of some clothing that might no longer look good.

Still, my trip home in a little more than a month from now might just 'fix' that.

Besides, a lifetime of bamboo diet didn't help this fella with his weight.

Good storytelling

Spend quite a bit of time on Skyrim the past couple of weeks, the fifth installment of the sandbox role playing game (RPG) that allows you to do whatever you want and whatever pace, usually along the lines of becoming a powerful warrior and defeating whatever comes between you and your goal.

Including freaking dragons.

I'm not going to wax lyrical about the game or describe what it's all about as it is already done to death by countless community wikis or game sites,  but instead talk about one part of the game that I find to be most unexpectedly poignant.

Throughout the many journeys all over the game map looking for a fight or things to explore (usually the former), I arrived at a small town and was appointed as the Sherlock Holmes of the game to investigate the case of foul play.

Happy little chicks playing in a box?

A mother and daughter perished in a fire in that town that had everybody talking, not of sympathy or grief but more about the scandalous nature of how the husband switched hearts within a week to another woman.

Long story short, one part of the investigation required that my character visit the burnt down house to find nothing but the apparition of the little girl named Helgi. My character agreed to play 'hide-n-seek' with the spirit of the dead girl but only after dark.

What got me were the few lines that she spoke (paraphrased as I can't remember the exact dialogue):

"It was so hot and I was so afraid. Then it was cold and I am not hurt anymore", all in the tone of innocence (or ignorance of her own state).

Little Helgi was a lot creepier than this, glowing blue et al.

At the end of the quest she then bid goodbye:

"Thank you for helping mother. I'm feeling so tired, I think I will sleep for a while...", as the option to 'talk' to her casket disappeared.

I sat there somewhat numbed, either by how expertly crafted the little bit of dialogue was or by how much I actually felt somewhat moved that her journey for the long rest has come to an end.

This, folks, is good story telling.

Feeling awful

One thing I noticed about being sick is that the magnitude of illness sort of increases the longer you are on a healthy stretch. I'm not talking about the likes of common cold where the only inconvenience is a runny nose or minor diarrhea. Imagine something that really makes it very difficult for you to think straight or function properly or serious illnesses that warrants hospitalization.

I'm normally a pretty healthy person, small niggling common colds and migraines notwithstanding, rarely sick to the point of giving control to the immune system to wage their own war against the offending invaders and losing motivation for all else.

"What's this 'flu' crap you've been talking about, Lieutenant?"

Perhaps it's due large to growing up in an environment where exposure to germs is a daily thing, especially from the activities that I take part in the afternoons such as waging imaginary spy wars by moving from point to point via climbing up and down drains, get cuts and bruisers along the way from climbing trees as well playing football barefooted in the rain.

Despite the environment at home were ultra-clean considering both my parents being clean maniacs - you can't keep a piece of half used paper on the table alone for a while without it ending up in the bin the next time father passes by - it is not unusual to come home in soiled shorts and dirty slippers with caked sand around the body. Strange enough that my parents never complained (much) about coming home looking like I rolled around in a dumpster, only if I stepped into the house without first cleaning up.

That includes pig snot.

There's some sort of line drawn between being 'sick' and being 'a phony' by my parents when it comes to illness - if you brain can function as normal, it's school as usual or have the entire day being viewed as a wuss. That includes the likes of the sniffles, sprained ankles and other physical issues that does not affect the ability to think. I was not allowed to go to school during those infectious disease periods though - mumps and chicken pox, which always results in fever, achy limbs, headache and nausea.

So yesterday as well as today's after effect of food poisoning almost floored me as the last major illness I've had was almost five years ago - viral fever - that got me hospitalized for a couple of days, not before enduring five days of really bad aches all over the body, fever and the overall feeling of Apocalypse.  What followed was around a month of recuperation that had me feeling like a total wreck for weeks.

"Do I look like I give a damn about your sticks?"

One exception to the story was almost four years ago when my father was a passer-by involved in a robbery at a local tuckshop, causing him to lose a great deal of blood and passing out before reaching the hospital. My brother was frantic when he sent him to the hospital, everybody was in panic mode. Mother must have felt like her world was being turned upside down again less than ten years after Denis died - could not imagine how it felt to be cleaning the car porch of blood dripping from the open wounds of my father.

All in all, thank goodness that this is just a bout of mild food poisoning that did not cause any complications - sufficed to say mother won't know about it until later.

That said, no more Singapore meehoon from that shop ever again.

Except in this most awesome of all forms.
khonilious.blogspot.com

Achy breaky

Spent the last two days away from work recuperating from possibly the worst effect of food poisoning that I ever felt. Used to be able to get through slightly undercooked food or a little less hygiene, resulting in the runs lasting no more than a day and slight dehydration. Usually feels somewhat 'OK' after taking in some isotonic drinks and frequent visits to the toilet.

This time though, my body had to raise the white flag as whatever that caused me to feel so ill was of a degree stronger than ever. Woke up twice in the middle of the night at four and six with a stomach that felt like bottles upon bottles of water was pumped into my mouth whilst sleeping, threatening to escape with the slightest of movement. The cramping was so bad that after morning shower, I decided to let it all out in the most horrible feeling of stomach wrenching ever.

Dried well, they make nice healthy snacks.

I did feel better... for a while. Some of the colleagues who saw me in the morning thought I looked really bad, more so after tracking down sixteen stories down from the office staircase for a fire drill. I was sweating profusely whilst standing outside with them, feeling progressively worst as time passes. Drinking bottles of 100 Plus didn't help either as they only kept me feeling bloated. It was after the second time of retching that I decided to call it in and go home.

Ate nothing for the whole day, just bottles of Gatorade and much resting, drifting between resting the eyes and sleeping as well as some weird dreams usually conjured by the brain during times of distress of such. Woke up at one point around 5:30 pm feeling like the body was on fire, except without the sweating as the immune system turns up the heat to try to cook these pathogens alive.

Posh kid - I didn't even have a thermometer.

Didn't notice how time passed as I woke up around 11:00 pm from the countless sleep-wake-sleep-wake period. The earlier plan to have a meal of vegetable soup for dinner had to be scrapped as the body was still as heaty as five hours earlier and my back were aching from the after effect of fever combined with lethargy.

Things improved slightly the next morning, with the wrenching feeling in the stomach now reduced drastically and the vomiting stopped, replaced by achy limbs and a throbbing headache. Again, I felt 'healthy' enough to resume work only to arrive in the office and feel progressively worst as time passes.

"You look really pale", said Darren who sat to my right. I could only shake my head helplessly when one of the ladies in Software Solutions asked if I was feeling better. Gave up after half an hour and left for home again.

Looked like this 68.3% of the 45 minutes I was in the office.

Spent most of my time lying down and keeping half an eye at the laptop monitor in case all hell breaks loose in the office. With John away with the boss to Korea, it's my job to man both the security and network bit of the infrastructure - thankfully nothing major broke down that could not have been followed up with tomorrow.

As of now, 10:20pm, things have improved greatly from the days of great discomfort. Perhaps, the vegetable soup meal helped greatly considering that it was the first solid meal I had in 36 hours.

Boy, did it tasted divine or what.

Good morning

I do vary my routines somewhat during weekends just for the heck of it, usually because I was in bed earlier the night before compared to the usual wee hours of the morning of Saturday. It would come as no surprise that waking up earlier for the weekend would offer less of a challenge than a work day because let's face it, who would bother?

"I'm not sleeping - I'm taking my vacation in 10 minute increments ".

The nice thing about being up earlier on weekends is the lack of need to do anything in a hurry. Dragging myself out of bed can take half an hour or longer, the brushing teeth, shower and ... 'morning business' can all be done at a leisurely pace with little care of the world.

An empty wet area at the kitchen would mean laundry although I'll make it a point to hang them outside directly under the sky. It does feel nice to breath in the 'relatively' cool air of the morning with the warmth of the morning sun touching the cheeks. A welcomed contrast of being embraced by the cool of the night, the cycle of the day beginning again. Very little can rival the beautiful rays of morning light thrusting through the morning mist, the quiet, serene start of the day.

It's either the morning sun or a UFO surveying the 'sample area'.

 Lunch is normally around 11:00 - 12:00 PM, depending on how much in a 'hurry' I am to get filled. Of late it hasn't been too much of a rush, even in the office as the appetite sort of 'normalised'. If anything a super lazy weekend would see me eating only two meals for two days - both dinners - which would be all right as long as it doesn't become a prolonged habit throughout the week.

And music on weekends are usually a lot more varied than normal weekday. DJs hosting radio shows are usually a lot more cheerful and would usually select songs from a bigger pool than usual - one of the best recently was driving my way to the nasi kandar shop to Guns N' Roses' epic November Rain. Not minding that it was a sunny morning, I literally drove slower just to listen to the entire song - all nine minutes of it - willing the traffic lights to turn yellow and red.

"Damn you #@&%^ traffic light, may you blow a bulb!"

After lunch onwards would be a lottery - if anything the one issue I have with waking up earlier during weekends is the problem is staying awake after lunch. It would be one of the reasons why it doesn't happen often because I would probably go back to be bed again for the next couple of hours. This would pretty much negate the hours 'saved' by being up early anyway.

It is not really that hard to awake early back home though - the sun is right in your face at 8:00 am and my room get pretty warm an hour later, so sleeping in really is not an option. Besides, one of my favourite things to do then is to go out with my father or brother (or both) for breakfast after minor grocery shopping or a haircut as I'm wont of doing during Chinese New Year breaks. Sitting with them at the old school coffee shops, either sipping hot laksa broth or slurping the awesome kolomee is one of the few simple pleasures I enjoy for being home.

It was a wrong idea to be searching for this image at three in the morning.
chefmel.blogspot.com

For now, I would probably do more to balance out the days when I'll sleep the morning off or wake up earlier to do whatever that comes to mind just for the heck of it, perhaps seeking things to do just so the motivation to do so would be greater.

Too much of the same routine is boring, so why not?

Happenin' sunday

I mentioned before that I find the raining season enchanting but in every good thing lies a problem of sorts, almost in a no pain no gain kind of manner. In some ways the positives is that I don't need to wash the car as often as Mother Nature is already doing free carwash although the result will not match that of the service at the petrol station.

Won't happen a million years.

 The stretch of kerb along the main street where I live are decorated with trees like all good urban design should be, adding a touch of nature to an otherwise concrete neighbourhood. 

Unfortunately, the flowers that blossom eventually turn into fruits after a while that attract hungry birds. Not that chirping birds are bad, but they have the tendency to poop after meals on whatever is below, causing patches of white or sometimes transparent yellow goo that sticks to the car when it dries. Because of this I've moved a little further down the street to park the car nowadays just to avoid this poop-zone which is not an inconvenience.

Screw you gravity!

The other problem with the rainy season is that it affects how quickly the laundry will dry - with the spinning mechanism of the washing machine screwed, all the clothes will come out soaking wet. This adds hours to the estimated time to dry, which would not be a problem if it were hot and sunny - I could just hang them outside instead of at the wet area; it would dry them twice as fast. Well that can't happen that when it's constantly pouring five afternoons out of seven though, especially when it's possible to have two of those five days on the weekends.

Can't win them all.

Subang Jaya lived up to its violent storm reputation again this afternoon with lightning and thunder interspersing the inconsistent rainfall that ranges from heavy downpour to drizzle. One struck a little too close to home that sounded like it was just next door, causing me to jump from the seat while watching an NBA documentary. It was no big deal - it's pretty common over here.

All lightning bolts should look this good by law.

 What became a common thing though is that it also fried the broadband modem, the second in as many years. The thing failed to start up properly, as well as emitting no signal when connected to a switch. Good news though it was provided by TMNet and cost nothing. Bad news thought we can't quite do much to entertain ourselves without the Internet, so I went out to Carrefour to get a cheap one to replace it.


For some reason the shopping process, though as straightforward as it should be, did not happen any easier than it should be. I had trouble looking for parking as one level of the basement parking was closed for renovation, so I had to circle and eventually exit to search elsewhere. Up I went to the multi-layered parking adjacent to the building and found a lot to park the car after enduring the experience of going round and round up the ramp. For some reason I dislike these corkscrew-like ramps, always driving slower than normal and always extra cautious of how far the car is to the side walls.

Perhaps it was the weekend, shoppers thronged the place which was not at all surprising. However for some reason I found that trying to move about either without getting blocked by slow movers or people standing in the middle of the path was not possible. To make things even better, the one of the ATM machines I was looking for was out of order. Fortunately for me there were more than enough cash in the wallet although the goal was to withdraw a bit of money to pay the rent that I have forgotten about for four freaking months.

After fiddling with the settings on the new Aztech wireless modem-router combo, we're back in cyberspace baby!

Welcome back!

Furry friends

I'm a pretty boring person when it comes to pets.

Given the option, my choice would always be a split between a dog or a cat. Fishes and hamsters are nice except that I'd usually like a pet that has a little more character and independence than repeating what they do as programmed by Mother Nature. No exotic pets for me either such as lizards, snakes or *shudders* spiders.

Is this the pet or the feed?

The family have had cats and dogs as pets in the past, the first that I know of being two tuxedo cats. There is a picture of me at the age of five holding one of them at the car porch, all dressed up in a yellow Hawaiian shirt with the hair all slicked neatly to the side. We have a dog at the same time then who seem to co-exist well with the cats as long as they don't see one another.

One of the crazy things I'd do sometimes back then were to bring the cat to where the dog was and then watch it hiss like a snake. It was a miracle that I never got serious scratches. My brother seems to recall that I once tried cutting one of the cat's tail with a scissor although couldn't remember if I ever did such a sadistic act. I'm still of the idea that he recalled wrongly though.

We moved house in 1986 about two kilometers away from the government quarters, bringing along just the dog as the two cats originally belonged to the neighbour. It died several months later after being poisoned by some joker who didn't like dogs.

Makes Eustace look like a saint by comparison.

We had another dog some 10 or so years later after mom bought a dog from one of our neighbour, a puppy no more than four months old. I remember mother waking me up early in the morning at around... eight. She cradled the white furball that sported an expression that said "Who the hell are you?".

My parents were in Kuching a few months later with my late brother for his medical treatment, so it was just my cousin whom was tasked to look after me during the exam season, me and the dog. Being just a puppy in a new home, it often howled in the morning in what was the saddest sound I've ever heard from an animal. I would usually steam some left overs or just the pieces of hot dog to feed it, calming the poor dog somewhat.

Perhaps that was why it always gets amazingly animated whenever I get around, jumping around like an Energizer bunny or running to and fro like a crazy dog before showering my feet with licks. It would often draw the ire of my father for digging holes in the yard or barking at passing dogs or cats. The funniest bit of memory I have of the dog with my father is when he would occasionally have a rest waiting for dinner by sitting at the low table set to hold pots. The dog would come up and sit in front of him, prompting my dad to sometimes talk to it as well as slapping it lightly for being the dirt kicked onto the pavement during its many hole digging exploits.

"Who is this skeleton in your backyard, Master?"

 It died several years ago, apparently from cardiac arrest because it became too fat from eating the leftovers from dinner - in the fashion of a Chinese saying - with its four legs facing the sky.

Until today I couldn't be sure what breed it was except that it was a pure breed as per our neighbour's  description. Based on what I have seen so far on Animal Planet's Dogs 101 series, it most closely resembles a Samoyed.

RIP, you crazy pooch.

Sample image - less chubby, just as much drool to wipe.

--

Living in the city as I am at the moment makes it hard to own a pet considering that I would be away for most of the day at work. So if I were to adopt one it would have to be an animal that is independent enough to entertain itself, as well as not needing too much grooming. A smaller size would be a bonus as I only have the rented room to myself, so something clean would also be preferred.

That sounds like a cat.

What sort of cat? I happen to like those with rich, thick fur that makes them nice to stroke, but not so long that they become one of those miniature dogs. That would rule out Persians for good as this breed are usually pretty skinny. For some reason I developed a great liking for pure white cats, perhaps due to their rarity that makes them pretty mysterious to me, similar to pure black cats.

"You cat-cist!".

Personality-wise, I would like it to have a mellow temperament and a lot less condescending, something like a smaller dog minus the caffeine or steroids.

Based on Animal Planet's Cats 101, the perfect fit would be a Ragdoll.

If I were to choose a dog, I would probably go for the Golden Retriever - pretty much the top of the list of friendliest and best pet dogs. If anything, I would need to have a yard for it to roam or at least a nearby park for it to run around. One of the favourite things I did with the old dog back then were to run around with it, especially with it chasing me.

Dogs would usually need all that exercise to ensure that they don't get moody and start destroying things. Besides, it's a fun way to get some workout and some fresh air away from the room.

Besides other potential bonuses.

In the mean time it will have to be Youtube videos until I get my own place, I suppose.

English Or Not

The recent decision by the MoE to abolish the Pengajaran & Pembelajaran Sains & Matematik Dalam Bahasa Inggeris or Teaching & Learning Of Mathematics & Science In English - or for the impatient, PPSMI - became the hottest topic of late in the papers with all sides putting their thoughts in support or opposing the move.

Personally, learning and teaching science & mathematics should be done using the most proficient method possible - which would mean using the language that the students are the most comfortable in. That means Chinese or Tamil in vernacular schools and Malay in national schools.

Roti kurang minyak banjir satu!

One of the main reasons why I actually think it's better this way is due to the fact that the entire goal of teaching science and mathematics is to teach students about ... science and mathematics. Forcing students to take up the subject in English does not quite make sense if the goal is get them to learn about calculus and cell structure as the facts does not change with the language, just how they are pronounced and spelt. If anything sodium is actually called 'natrium' in BM, which is a lot closer to its chemical symbol of 'Na' in Latin.

Things are also made harder when it is not even the second language, let alone first, for much of the society in general. Like all languages, English require plenty of practice, something that students don't get much unless it is frequently used in conversations. It is not enough to study the language for one hour daily in school, five times a week and then be of no more use until the next lesson.

Sure, it is also used when watching television and movies but when it comes to entertainment, people usually switch their brains off and would not concentrate on finding out how a sentence in English would be like if translated to the subs.

He had one too many cheeseburgers before filming.

There is a need to change the mindset that views English as a 'foreign' language that will erode the cultural nuances, causing many to zealously guard their heritage, especially when it comes to language. Instead it should be looked at as a skill that makes it possible to communicate 'in default', something like a fallback should no localised channels are available. That's like saying learning the guitar will make you less {enter racial stereotype here} because it's a European musical tool - considering that string instruments are found everywhere all over the world throughout human history.

If the goal is strengthen the command of the language, then the only way to do that is by creating more avenues to have it used more frequently, especially in practical circumstances. Unfortunately there isn't much that is practical that can exclusively be done only in English considering that it is by law that instructions and signboards must contain words or translations in the national language. This creates a problem that makes it possible to not ever use English at all. As long as there are 'alternatives', people would prefer the easier way than one that makes things difficult for themselves.

"Someone is bound to pay for my lackadaisical attitude and it won't be me".

So what's the solution to this conundrum?

Forcing it upon students to prove a point is not one.

Digital memento

Was cleaning up the images folder on the computer and it suddenly came to mind again the photo book that I brought over from Miri almost a decade ago. Flipping through the pages, they contain many images that were arranged in chronological order from the oldest to the newest - Form 1,2,3,4,5,6 class shots, shenanigans in university in Genting Highlands and graduation photos; two of which that got my dad's attention because it was of me and an attractive coursemate together which ended with an anti-climax when I answered 'no' to his question of whether she is going to become Mom's future daughter in-law.

One of the four photos that gave Dad a false dawn.

All of which were taken long before digital photography was the craze due to equipments becoming more and more affordable to the average Joe and Jane. It got me thinking somewhat about digital photography as a whole - was it better that now we have greater freedom of art without the constraints of film or did it somehow made photos look more generic?

On one hand, I concur when some friends mentioned that it is harder to take quality photos using digital cameras because of the knowledge that there is no limit to how many you can take compared to film - snap many, delete the ones you don't like. Back then every shot counts as films cost money and developing them adds to the overall price of taking a memento in graphic form.

This is still used to represent 'Save' on almost all modern applications.

On the other hand it is not always true as well. I know friends with artistic tendencies who took awesome images with their digital cameras whom would probably never been motivated to do so if they had to pay for more than the electricity charging the batteries. I have seen some who did so with only the 5Mbps camera of their phones and took some great pictures worthy of those taken with their more professional brethrens.

I have personally only seriously used digital cameras to take any images of significance during my tenure at the first job as the designated cameraman for events. Even though I was given a Canon Powershot S40 to use back then with memory capacity of up to 800 images, I took each and every one like I was using film. Hence much of the time I had an idea of what I'd like to take, go to the very spot and wait for the right moment to snap it, often times with the finger on the focus button for minutes at a time.

"I waited two weeks for the bear to awaken from hibernation.
Unfortunately it was also very hungry".

One of the best I ever did was the image of a relay race from the corner where every single competitor was in view, unrestricted by the other as the front runners were facing to the right and those tail runners were just turning the arc. It was without motion blur, just perfect. I have always had the nose for thing such as image balance in terms of objects and emptiness. If anything I also had the patience to wait for the right moment to appear instead of going trigger happy with the shutter button.

Of late I only had the phone camera to capture whatever that took my attention, most especially at night where the contrast of darkness and light would usually create some interesting images although the quality was never as good as with an actual camera. Once had a photo of light shafts shining through the branches of a tree at the area near where I parked - there were smoke coming out from the backyard of one of the houses and it created an image that looked somewhat like a horror movie poster.

The only thing missing now is a priest holding a bag and holy water.

On second thought, no.

Getting caught in the jam never looked this artsy.

Perhaps I would in the future pick up the hobby seriously but for now I'm happy to steal them off friend's blogs - after informing them of course.

Joyeux anniversaire

One of the best things in having your birthday known on Facebook is the number of times you have to say thanks to everybody wishing you a good one. I didn't really go and have a count - but it's interesting to see how many lives have I at least poked or scraped on the surface as well as others who has been there for a long time.

Family
This don't count as you'd expect them to remember but it's nice nonetheless.

"No Sis, when is your birthday again?"

Family Friends
Looking through the list of people in there I kinda noticed that a lot the family friends on there are Mark's classmates or acquaintances. We used to live in St John's Wood Quarters which was about five minutes' walk from school - the entire St Columba school system was situated along the entire side of the road - kindergarten, primary and secondary!

The dudes usually hang around for lunch or just the usual lepak (and planning for the next mischief - they make great stories during get-together sessions two decades later). Some I knew from the time I were still sucking Milo from a bottle, all the way until the end of their bachelorhood. I tend to mix around pretty well with them considering the age and generation gap, perhaps because they have been around for a long time either way.

No, I'm not kidding - ask the 'European Guy'.

School
We spend at least some eleven years out of the first seventeen in school, so we make some friendships who last all the way to the adult days, many to the twilight year of our lives. Some names pop up from as far as primary school, others mostly from the days of secondary school. Many married with children now, only shows how times has changed and how everybody have moved on with life. Best thing is to know that social networking sites such as Facebook allows these momentarily severed friendships to be reconnected again, even if just by messages et al.

I do have Madam Sandra on Facebook - YEAH!

Workplace
The next place where we spend all our lives toiling to buy the house that we will leave empty most of the time to ... toil for the money... to... pay for the house that we... will leave empty... most of the time...

This is where we'll meet the biggest variety of people whom we'll see five days a week (at least) - single, married, young, old, friendly, shy, scary, hot, arrogant, powerful etc. You can say that these will be where our first taste of 'real life' will come from as we step onto a stage populated by all sorts of people who play their role in this cinema of life - the hero, anti-hero, the villain, the extra, the prop, the fairy godmother, genie etc.

"소원을 말해봐" never looked this good.

Of course throughout those times we will meet some friends whom you will remember well, even after changing jobs for the umpteenth time - we'd keep in contact by some work-related chats or just (entertaining) rubbish to pass off time.


Acquaintances (who become real life friends)
If anything we all get to know some friends online whom we'd probably never meet, ever - all of which are either hidden behind the facade of game avatars or just guys on forums we got to know after a while. Through just about 99.9% worth of interaction via text, some become comfortable enough let others know the real person.

Introverts thrive on the Internet because they don't have to assume a different person to actually interact with people, partly due to the semi-real time nature that allows people to respond immediately or later. The scope to private message makes it possible for two people whom would probably never talk to one another in life to actually chat.

"Hi, I'm hottie95, the elf - remember me?"

Considering that the Internet could contain up to a gazillion people, it is not very uncommon that some do become real friends that we hang around to meet probably once in life, others who actually become more than just part of the list of acquaintances on the 'Friends' column.

-


To me personally I don't 'advertise' my birthdays simply because I believe that getting wishes people who do know or get the effort to find out is a lot more meaningful because they think it worthy of their time to say a simple happy birthday to you. I've actually had a friend who just wished me three years in a row - his messages were dated a year between each, three in succession including today. One of the best part about responding to Facebook greets are the number of 'thank yous' that I have to keep writing -  never had the urge to just copy and paste but decided not to as that would be insincere - goes to show that even the average Joe like me can connect with so many people in this flicker of a life so far.

As I close the curtain on what is a rather pleasant birthday - allow me to thank you all again for the good wishes.

Don't get any funny ideas for next year now.

Dreams of normal things

We sat at the edge of the pier that bright sunny morning, the air clear and crisp. She wore a white dress with light floral prints, her head covered with a wide brimmed summer hat. Dragonflies buzzed from one bulrush to another, drawing attention from fish gliding under the surface. A lone fisherman sat patiently in his boat at the far end of the lake.

Dipping her toes into the warm water, her giggles filled the air as the ripples stirred the grass. Gently she brushed the strands of hair moved by the breeze into her face across her shoulders. Her eyes closed as she raised her face to the sky, her fair skin made luminous by the warm rays of the sun.

Letting out a gentle smile she opened her eyes to the direction of the swan wading at the other side of the lake. Their white and grey feathers glistened as they floated majestically like princes and princesses of fairy tales.

She turned her head to look my way, catching me looking at her with fascination.

"What are you thinking about?", she asked.

Now this is a little too eerily similar.

I didn't suddenly turn mushy and all romantic - I have just described one of the few series of dreams that I had a month ago. I added some poetic license to describe what was really a 'scene' or a picture of what I saw then.

These are the kinds of dreams that are unusual - they are so normal in which nothing is out of place like they would usually do such as strange people doing strange things that makes little to no sense. Everything was as normal as it would during waking hours. The atmosphere of the entire thing was like a picture perfect painting, everything was bright white - including her dress and summer hat - like a ... dream sequence in the movies.

Had a few of them in the same week, each of it different places and times of the day. One was in the park during sunset:

The light of the day has only begun to fade, the air has cooled down a little. We walked down the stone pavement, watching a kid play with the dog and an elderly couple walking arm in arms ahead of us. We sat down on a bench near the fountain (there might be a musician there) and watched as the sky slowly turned dark, saying nothing to one another.

Not in picture: people cursing the dog turd they just stepped on.

The other one was almost of the same kind, except the location is a little different along an esplanade during the evening. This one was a little more vague except that I remember feeling like it was in a French setting:

Music et al from the nearby street restaurants - along the river dimly lit by lamp posts with intricate carvings. A boat slowly cruised along its dark surface, the lights of the nearby buildings sparkling in the resulting turbulence. We leaned over the railing and looked at the magnificent view across the river, an old world building lit by lights shining upon it. At the very top was the round moon in a dark blue sky. Again, we said nothing to another.

It's a lot harder to find a fitting picture that I thought!

To the romantic it probably meant that there is something about this lady - I know this person - that my mind seem to find so captivating that she even appears in my subconscious.  If I were to be even more poetic, all three were part of a long 'trilogy' of sorts - daytime, sunset, evening.

But I'm probably more inclined to believe in the idea that all these are representations rather than absolute meaning. Like all dreams they usually refer to something in life that the mind is trying to make sense of as the brain rearranges all the memories.

A bit like a defrag that actually finish.

 One of my favourite things to do with dreams of such - vivid, logical dreams - is to recall them either by writing them down (this post) or telling them to another person using as much poetic language as I can muster, something like an artist putting his thoughts onto canvas - atrocious grammar et al. Would have preferred to compose a song if I actually had skills with the piano (or the wallet to buy one) or some art medium of sorts.

So did we do anything?
Yes and no.

"Can you stop freaking talking about football already?!".

Cold, rainy evening

I happen to like rainy days, especially in the evening and throughout the night that brings the ambient temperature down after a hot day. The air is filled with the pitter patter of raindrops falling on rooftops fill the air, splashing as they flow down in columns of liquid from the edges. The atmosphere is generally gloomy with occasional cool breeze of the air causing shudders.

Heavy rains are welcomed usually after long dry spells where the heat becomes unbearable - the air in the room heated, the car air conditioners not strong enough to keep it cool, the humidity causing sweat beads to build up even in the shade.

Something like meeting your girlfriend's father for the first time.

More than five years ago we had a mother of all storms (not the, but one of) when it rained so hard that I couldn't see further than 10 meters and water flying almost horizontally across the windscreen. Moments earlier there were hailstorms before the heavens opened up and literally broke lose. The freaky weather was on the news, many cars were damaged by falling branches or uprooted trees, roofs especially tin were blown off - you'd thought a hurricane passed by Subang Jaya.

During the first year in university I lived in the residential college located somewhere at the outskirts of the campus area (UPM is freaking huge). My room faced what was largely flat terrain with low hills and the highway - the engineering faculty would have covered the view now - one of our favourite things to do during rainy evenings were to sit near the window and watch lightning literally tearing downwards, the bright flash in the gloomy sky followed by the roar of angry thunder. Everybody would just sit back and watched nature's spectacular show without saying a thing.

God showing off.

 People tend to be calmer and less confrontational during slow, rainy days. Perhaps the cooled air or the soothing sounds of water hitting earth, windows, cars, streets, tree canopies, or just the idea of kicking back until the rain stops automatically slows down the mind and body.

Some of the weirdest things I've ever done was to actually walk into the rain with an umbrella,  just watch ripples fill the surface of water puddles, leaves moving as rain droplets hit them as well as drain water flowing furiously. I was warned to never go too near to the drains when they are flowing as so from the many news stories of drowned children who taught it fun or fell in accidentally whilst crossing. Other times I would just sit and watch rain hit the window, throwing patterns of flowing water lit by either the faint sun or the street lightning onto the face and wall.

One year we had the town level National Day Parade going on with each school and certain government agencies taking part, when not even halfway through it rained, subsided and rained again. Fortunately it wasn't heavy, simply drizzle in the evening that pretty much got us who carried the papier mâché robot in the wet. Unfortunately though, mom slipped and sprained her ankle when they came out to watch the last bit of the show and then to fetch me home. Her left feet was swollen bad and couldn't walk properly for the next two weeks. It rained again when I reached home - slept for twelve hours straight.

Must... *choke* ... stay... emo...gah!

Another memory of getting soaked in the rain at school was during the anniversary Sports Day. Organised by the prefectorial board and volunteers - invitation, arrangements, stadium rental, performances, timekeeping, medals and trophies all done by students; teachers just advised and kept tabs on us - it rained during the opening march past. The prefects whom were not participating in the races were in full uniform and blazers, whilst the first aid teams and scout members were all over the place assisting in the event. Fortunately again though, the rain wasn't very strong and has stopped by the time the first race started. Truth to be told nobody complained about it back then - perhaps we were made of sterner stuff - and had a great time out. I could still feel the chill of having the cold wind blowing onto the warm body.

There's a saying that getting wet a little will get you sick whilst getting totally wet would be fine, which is partly true from my point of view. The body heats up when one gets wet, I'd imagine the body does not regulate the temperature evenly when only some parts are wet or cold. I would usually take an either warm or cold shower (the latter resulting in wide eyed shivering) to ensure the headache does not develop later.

The rain has subsided somewhat now although still falling, the sounds of falling water slowing to a quieter splat and splash with the occasional faint crack of thunder.

So excuse me while I retreat to bed and snuggle under the blanket enveloped in the coolness.

Good night, my friends.

Ever wonder why sleeping photos are almost always in the bright daylight?