Cruisin' down the freeway

Statically speaking

For some I've been discharging a lot of static in the past five months. Today was like the sixth time I can remember when I could feel a zap after putting my finger close to a metal surface. The first I time I noticed it was when Alicia tapped my shoulder and a noticeable  'snap' could be heard before a bit static of a stung her finger. Back then I remember wearing a rather thick twirled cotton polo-shirt which might probably have caught static as I moved around on the leather seat of the car.

Me in my past life.

Many of the answers on the Internet point towards the dryness of the air around me, which probably explained why I have rather dry lips at the same time - the prickly feeling when I stretch them seem to have developed of late - applying lip balm only soothed it a little and leaving them pretty oily.

The last time I remember deliberately 'oiling' my lips not from moisture lost was during the 66th secondary school anniversary. I was one of the several stage actors for the compulsory memory lane performance. Because the stage was so brightly lit by spotlights, all of us boys had to put on lipstick to prevent our faces from looking like extras from the mortician office.

Conclusion - that was the last time I had ever fish scale applied to myself willingly.

Suffice to say none of us looked this sexy back then.

Brake-breaking braking

If there's anything that is hard to predict is the traffic on the Federal Highway. There are times when you expect it to be so damn $%&!@ jam, the 20km or so home was a breeze. And then there are times when you expect it to be smoother, people decide to head out in droves.

You can almost expect it to get congested when it rains but there are times - surprisingly frequent - when the road was actually pretty clear when it poured. Most times they just pop out of everywhere as if everybody telepathically decided to go home at the same time.

Car park : Full

Often it was caused by stalled or broken down cars that you can see with flashing hazard lights from a mile away and tow trucks appearing out of nowhere like they have 'Tow Me' sonar somewhere. You have to wonder why cars seem to stall more frequently when it rains compared to when it doesn't?

More frequently than not its due to accidents because the impatient ones drove faster than their worn brakes or tyres could handle in the rain, reckless drivers with hands and eyes on the phone or the pretty girl in the car next to them or whatever shenanigans in the car, even with two people looking ahead on the road.

"Good news honey - the radio is working now".

The whole journey from Mid Valley to PJ8 took an hour and the rest of the trip another thirty minutes. Good thing I have the radio on and some music on the phone to entertain myself. Ah Mei sounded great in the cool of the car interior, the music video of 解脫 reminding me of this drive back home, minus the actual relief of a moving car. At least it wasn't as bad as the experience some six years ago when I had to hold in a full bladder for two hours.

That's one and half hours of my life I'm not getting back.

Calling home

Had been meaning to call home since yesterday and only did so today after dinner when I knew everybody would be watching television and had all the time in the world to talk to me. Not spoken to Mom for quite some time now - I'm quite the bad boy when it comes to calling home - the last time I called home was probably four months ago.

Edit: Unless their visit here two months ago was a figment of my imagination, then it's no more than that.

"OMG, wer r d buttonz? Wer 2 swipe?
Wer iz d add book?!"

Most of the news she got about me came through chats with my brother but he was right when he said it would good to just call home and talk just about nothing at all. The forty or so minutes chatting with her just about anything was pretty refreshing like a sip of cool water during a warm day.

Or a dip in a basin of warm water on a cold day.

Looking back our relationship began close as a little child and his mother to the more distant once entering my teen years, graduating to just the person I call 'Ma', the one cooking the meals, the one washing the clothes, the one sweeping the floor - all the things us siblings won't be doing unless forced to. Even so, I'd probably do it half-hearted and resent being asked ordered.

"How many time do I have to tell you to bury your poop!".

Perhaps the period away from home that made me appreciate how important it is to maintain that relationship with home - not to mention her awesome to goodness home cooking (explains why I am such a fatty). It reminds you of the canopy of a great tree that you can always return to when it rains. These are some of the most important things we take for granted sometimes, which unfortunately for some of my friends, are not realised until its gone.

Can't quite remember if we'd ever had any more honest conversation this evening, ranging from work to me speaking of the future, our next trip to the east coast together as well as some personal things which I had never shared with her before. It never ceases to amaze me how much a person can still change after all these years. If I were to record this and send it back to the young me back in time, he'd be perplexed.


For a family who don't openly express ourselves to one another, I'm potentially the least expressive. In fact I've actually given flowers to a girl before I did my own mother - even that was shared with my brother!

One thing I can be certain is that I believe she understood the actual reason why I called home earlier even if I did not describe them fully. Wise not to feed me with deceptively misleading fantasies, all she did was tell me about the realities of life and that she will support whatever I plan to do as long as it does not lead to suffering of others.

"All your father and I want is for you kids to be happy".

In the mean time I better save up for our trip to Taiwan for 2013's Chinese New Year.

Compulsory cute piggy back pic.

Festivities and headaches

My friend Ricky finally said goodbye to his bachelorhood yesterday with the wedding reception held at the ORNA Golf & Country Club. From what I heard he secured his bride Vickee after his 'brothers' swallowed a wasabi drink mixture earlier at her place in Seremban together with the rest of the stuff that the sisters had planned for as ransom. A bit of traditional fun there, and was glad not to be asked to be one of them. Not that I would say no if ever asked to, if it is a ransom to pay for his happiness, so be it.

Even the rat disapproves.

And I have absolutely no idea what 'ORNA' meant either.

We arrived earlier at about 5:00 pm and decided to mosey around MYDin instead for the next hour or so, having a drink of longan and watching some performance for Deepavali of sorts at the main entrance. There was a display of coloured rice arrangements upstairs, the names of which I could not for my life remember except that it was called 'kollum' by my Indian friends. Is it also called a mandala?

Sneaking an electric fan into this place might prove exciting.

Met up with some old friends from the previous office and boy have things changed in the short year or so. Andrew's wife is on to her second child after the first with others getting asked the question of when would be their own turn. Suffice to say that only one dude had 'definitive' answer to that question whilst the rest are either shrugging their shoulders or shaking their heads.

It was CNY four months too early for some of us.

The food spread was standard of most Chinese banquet dinners, beginning with the usual four seasons cold plate, the sharksfin soup, roasted chicken, steamed fish, brocolli & mushroom and glutinous lotus leaf rice, finished with a nice sago dessert at the end. Unusual for a Malaysian Chinese dinner though, everything was timed to perfection that it ended almost exactly at 10 pm with the tables empty within the next twenty minutes.

"I want the sweet sour fish in and out in 1057.38s - MOVE IT!"

Ricky was as high as heck - his face was flushed red by the time he came over to our table for the post dinner toast - something I have almost never seen before in the two years or so being my boss.

I did my part to fulfill what was one of his wishes, just for him this time - finishing a full glass of beer - something that I am very unlikely to do again (unless the motivations are good). Did it gladly just for him on the biggest night of his life so far.

That was just for you, Ricky.

 The thing is that whilst it didn't quite hit me whilst I sipped the bitter brew bit by bit throughout dinner is that it tasted like water and had no effect whatsoever, until an hour later when the head starts to feel funny and the reaction slowed down. Something like a negative feedback thing, the more you drink, the more your senses are numbed, the 'better' you get at it when you're actually already affected.

I'm getting a headache looking at this picture without alcohol.

During our trip back down to KL I developed quite a bit of headache that become stronger by the time I reached home, showered and collapsed in bed. Woke up at 7:40 am with the head still throbbing, slept through the next FIVE hours before it subsided.

Either way, regardless of what is being said about my limit et al especially on being hungover by just 325ml of 5% alcohol - no more of that stuff except for the most special of circumstances.

Me this morning, except less furry and not as adorable.

Lyrical gangsta

Ever wondered about the little little things in life that goes on daily that you don't seem to notice until later?

Like the song I heard this morning in the car on the way to work , the DJ announced the song that Alicia had posted on Google+ and realised that it had been on the radio all this time. The Band Perry's "If I Die Young" didn't quite catch my attention perhaps due to my ignorance that this band is not one of the those emo 'rock bands' trying to do the compulsory ballad, but rather a counterpart to Lady Antebellum. Once given the more attention it actually sounded a lot better and more meaningful.

Personally, for slower songs I put quite a bit of premium on the lyrics as they have less instruments or beat to distract you, so what the singer is trying to say will be quite important in whether it will get my attention or not.

For that reason I hold a special liking for ballads that are somewhat different from the mainstream 'I love you' types, especially when written from the perspective of a person telling a story or narration.


The Third Person
One good example is 그녀의 남자에게 by Kim Jong Kook, which translates roughly to 'To Her Man/Guy'. Apart from the lovely piano and somewhat unique voice of a big guy, the song speaks about his message to the girl's boyfriend/husband etc to appreciate and cherish her the way that he cannot.

She talks about you about how you're such a great person.
And she smiles all the time when she does.
Just like how I was when I saw her for the first time.
Even if she's always 10 minutes late
Just smile and let it pass.

She doesn't even know how pretty she is so
all day she'll fuss in front of the mirror like a fool.

Don't ever hold in the words I love you.
Be the first one to speak up when she pouts with anger.
And if by chance when she thinks of me and hurts
Just hold her close... even if you feel unhappy.

If sometimes she complains about stupid things
Always soothe her with a smile.
When you drop her off always turn around another time to look.
And if she tries to break up with you, be stubborn and hold onto her.

Don't ever hold in the words I love you.
Be the first one to speak up when she pouts with anger.
And if by chance when she thinks of me and hurts
Just hold her close... even if you feel unhappy.

Why is it now that I've come to realize all these things?
Why is it now that I feel like I've done the best I could?
If, for one day just one day I could trade places with you
I'd show her all the love I couldn't before

It's true I still love her
and it's true that I still wait for her like a .
Everyday I turn it over and over in my heart like an echo
But it's she that's left my side and looks elsewhere.
It's she that will be at your side

TL;DR

Simple Yet Sweet
Recently viewed this on Youtube, a cover of Kiss Me Or Not by Caroline County featuring the very talented Julia Sheer & Matthew McGinn. Begins with the retelling of a 'date' on the roof of the house, looking at the stars and talking about everything under moon, the smell of honeysuckle, her perfume and if he will kiss her or not.

Perhaps a little too saccharine to some but how many of us have had moments like this in life when we all turn into little boys and girls again?

"Arrgh, your song is giving me diabetes!"

You're Different

It always begins with the retelling of the singer's pain, anger or sadness, how things are like a black and white movie with the rain falling nonstop, the air is cold and dank. The singer sings about how perhaps this is how it will always be for them, accepting that some of the lessons of life will be harsh and not everybody wins.

Then as they step out to the heavy rain again to move on the next point of their lives, someone opens up an umbrella asked if they would like some cover. He or she then realises that sometimes a simple thoughtful question from somebody who is also drenched in the same storm would often be the only thing required to crack the coating of stone that had caused the heart to go cold.

Not quite the same, but some part of Paramore's The Only Exception seem to resonate a lot about what I think when it comes to relationships; sometimes it does look like a storm that will never stop, yet there is beauty in the rain if one knows where to look.

It's not the umbrella you're looking at, admit it.

Love/Friendship
One of my most favourite of all songs in this category is one written by Mac Davis, speaking about a lonely old man who found a note written by a lonely orphan child, discovered an unlikeliest of friendships, spending the winter laughing at the rain.

Chyi's version of the song, Whoever Finds This, I Love You! is my favourite.

"How do you spell 'hu eva'?"

All in all, one of the patterns that can be discerned from the example above are how they resonate with the everyday person instead of the fairy tale that we all wish so much to live in. They remind us that the simplest most beautiful things in life are often the very real things you see, hear or feel down the street you walk in daily.

"Ohai der!".

Onion layers

Every person has three hearts:
one that they show in public
one that they show to close friends and family
and one that only they and their God sees.

Try to see through to the heart that is reserved for themselves and their God, for that is the heart most trustworthy.

- Japanese proverb -

The first time I read this proverb was from the excellent Shogun by the late James Clavell. As the description above explains, a person is made of several layers that obscure the other. Every one of it hold different truths about the person. 

Something like this guy, minus the BMI and Fitness First membership.

 Personally, I hold this to be true as from interaction with people down the years you tend to learn different sides to them from the people they know that might sometimes contradict with how they are with you. I suppose the best thing to do is to always be open to the idea that the person you know may not necessarily be who they appear to be.

I have always been fascinated by the third heart of other people. Digging into this very personal space of the person's thoughts had been one of my favourite things to do. Rarely ever as to use it against them, I find understanding the true nature of a person and their thoughts to be some sort of a challenge, like answering some sort of a riddle. Humans are the most complex of riddles as they have the ability to mislead or be dishonest, so the great challenge in sifting through the many things you see and find the little bits of themselves hidden behind the veil.

"I'm not playing peek-a-boo Mister, your fly is open!"

It might backfire at times, especially those whom we accurately read or understand - they tend to shrink away to close themselves for good from you either out of fear of betrayal or shame. Unsurprising considering that this is where the most intimate of secrets are kept, either good or shameful ones - knowing them means you have a hold of their psyche. As the proverb mentioned, the most honest of a person is kept here - nobody would actively betray their true selves.

I have been called very secretive by close friends, which is a good thing considering that many consider me trustworthy enough to talk to about things they won't usually tell another soul, and not to use it against them. It's like a one way street, anything of great importance to these people that they bother to talk about will stay with me.

On a personal level, my thoughts or what I feel about things get shrouded between passively misleading others e.g revealing enough of the truth to make others reach the wrong conclusion - or simple lack of reaction. There are times when I am rocked on the inside but shows just about nothing from expression - coupled with offhand reactions that is the absolute opposite of my actual thoughts.

"No really, I am quite interested to know what the 14th decimal of pi is".

 This is possibly one of the reasons why I am normally slightly morose in terms of my 'default' appearance, the mind always actively thinking whilst the person appears inactive.

Doesn't mean that when people greet or joke with me that my smile or laughter in return are fake - I can compartmentalize what I think or feel to have only a 'local effect' - if that person wasn't the reason why I am moody, he or she will get a favourable reaction from me regardless - they are not why I feel that bad. To let them bear the brunt of my wrath is simply unfair because I would hate to be blamed for something not of my doing either. Often it's pride (good type) that is keeping me from lashing out on the innocent, most of the time is due to not wanting to regret doing something I could have avoided by taking a deep breath and counting to five.

Mother once cautioned me to thinking twice before saying anything, especially when tempers flare. I am not that easily ticked off nowadays especially after learning to empathise but there have been times when I have to bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying anything, most especially when I have to deal with it again later. As they say don't break the glass holding your drinks if you can't deal with the thirst. End result are often quick breaths, pulses in the forehead, the pressure on the chest, the heat in the shoulder and the shake of the jaws. I am pretty poker-faced as one ex-colleague once said, but only a few had managed to see the rage boiling inside - there might not even be a frown.

Kitteh sez it rite.

At the end of the day, the better angel always ask me if it is worth it - usually the answer is a simple no and things fade away. "You'll wake up feeling better tomorrow", I usually tell troubled friends.

And sometimes to myself.

"Zzz... she... izzz..cuuu... zzz...  anyeong.. Liver...pzz....haz zzzz.."

Not another food blog

Is it good? The answer is 'no'. But considering Tastypot is being pitted against the likes of the immortal Yuen, perhaps the expectation is going to be a little overboard - it's either as good or not good enough.

The ringmaster Jerrald had this planned in the office a few days back, so I thought why not considering I've been to Yuen some seven times in the past four years a change might be good. Also had the first ever soya bean soup hotpot which was a bit strange. Tasted quite bland at the start and ended up freaking salty at the end.

The crabs, lala, siput and fishballs stood no
chance against the Mighty Jerrald.

They also had the likes of sesame honey chicken which was quite savoury - kudos to the cook who tried to be different though, otherwise it'll ended up compared to the famous barbecued wings of...  a competitor shop. They have barbecued fish and crabshell egg which would've given it a plus point in compared to... that shop, if they tasted great. Never had to chance to try the barbecued lamb, poor J.

Noticed that the whole area is filled with either seafood or steamboat shops, it has probably eclipsed the coastal towns as the Mecca of hotpots, dab smack in the middle of Subang Jaya. It's like the seafood Tesco or Carrefour of our times - convenient, near and somewhat cheap.

 It pretty much as the epitome of Malaysia's favourite pastime of eating, especially outside with a group of people. Almost every table was filled with at least four people each. It's a Malaysian way of getting people to talk to one another whilst getting filled up with food, which would satisfy both food and socialising requirements at the same time. The whole area was filled with people and more people at tables munching away as they spoke to one another.

None of the other tables have Choi Ji Woo or the Roman Emperor though.

The saving grace is that the ice cream was pretty good though - mint chocolate, cookie and vanilla as well as strawberry. As well as the line of four babes that stood outside the toilet as they waited for the single ladies toilet.

The lady in black in the background was kinda hot.
This is Alex by the way.

Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)

I won't pretend to be a big fan of his but what he has done to revolutionise innovations in the IT industry was if anything, monumental, so the guy deserves my respect.

Died from pancreatic cancer, he was 56.

Exam shazam

A young friend of our MMO guild made a joke about how he had trouble with the first BM paper of PMR, illustrating it with a Reddit-styled comic of a guy feeling confident, only to hide behind the table after seeing the paper.

Brought me back to the time when we were all in school - national exams. Mom would never fail to prepare a bottle of Brand's Essence of Chicken every morning, moderately warmed after being submerged in hot water earlier. Never knew if they were of any good but what the heck - I actually like the taste whilst some of my friends would rather die than take a sip.

"I'd rather vacuum my room than drink your chicken piss!"

If there's anything that throws off your week long (or in most cases, last minute) preparation for an exam is to have a stomach upset right in the middle of a paper so one of my prized rituals before hours of concentration would usually by camping in the toilet as long as possible, emptying as much as I can and not taking anything until lunch.

The tables in the classroom would already been arranged and separated from one another days before, we would all sit in alphabetical order. Once ready, the teacher on duty will distribute the papers to the first person on each row - like a Mexican wave we would then pass the rest of the paper to the back, wait for the signal and start the exams proper.

Something noticeably absent nowadays is the competitive spirit between students due to the emphasis on 'equality' and 'individual brilliance' - by the time the paper is over, the ultra competitive ones in my class would seize our question papers and calculate the expected marks, tallying them up before the full results are revealed a week or so later.

I actually like this environment for some reason as it felt good to have your paper taken away for 'grading' because it signifies that your average  marks can move and shake the positions in class. Due to the nature of my classmates and I being in the top class of potentially the district, the difference between positions are often very small to the point of 0.1 in magnitude. Every little bit counts. Being 1st in class mattered back then.

"Oh, you finished first in class seven times in a row? Awesome".

 My performance in exams are quite predictable in the form of a skewed N-shape. It always starts pretty bad as I'd find myself at the bottom middle of the group of around 35 students, to improve to the tens and back down to the teens before really shining at the end at the top five.

I was never the smartest kid in class but I deliver when it mattered - I don't do very well in individual subject/topic exams during mid terms but would usually do quite good in overall during the actual terms exams.



Languages
If anything, I love open ended essays. You're given a topic which you are free to write about anywhere you want. To score though, you'll have to break from the pack and compose differently - teachers are bored of reading the same kinds of essays over and over; any kind of change in direction is bound to get their attention and shine above the rest.

If I recall correctly the open ended essay of our trial BM paper asked the students to write about a memorable holiday vacation. I'd imagine many of the classmates to began with a description of a trip somewhere with friends or family, what they did and how they felt at the end of it. Instead, I wrote about myself at a resort chalet ahead of my family and strange happenings that happened during the evening, together with the invention of a local urban legend of a loyal housekeeper. To cut short a long story, the old man who told me about the legend was supposed to have died ten years ago...

Even if my grammar is pretty atrocious, I had the flair to pull it off. My essays are often selected as one of the several examples of good ones stapled to the class notice board, red crosses and markings from spelling or structure errors et al.

"Who are you calling atrocious you little... oh.. sorry..".

Science & Mathematics
One of my favourite subjects although I was never very good at them, mostly due to the time needed for me to really understand a concept - an entire academic year would usually be needed, or more depending on how quickly they click into place.

Mathematics is great because once you understand the method, no memorisation is required anymore. A few classmates and I would usually buy many of those question books and do them all together with the help of teachers, labouring through hundreds of examples to get the formula and mechanics correct.

I still remember the time when we didn't have scientific calculators to do our math with, instead we had what are called 'Log(arithm) Books' or Buku Sifir that has pages of calculations for values that imitate what a calculator does but in manual format. The tables that are popular includes square roots of numbers as well as logn values. Good thing our teachers back then weren't sadists whom would prepare questions that will result in values with infinite decimal points, rather they'd usually end up as some form of rational number or fractions e.g 1/√2

Physics was fun but was never very good with it, same goes with chemistry. Biology however, was one of my pet peeves due to the amount of memorisation that needs to be done. Suffice to say my dad's "dream" of me becoming a surgeon remained all but a dream as I simply gave up on that subject... Surprising my scores for Biology was above average even when I just chose on what to read and concentrate in.

I can doctor pictures pretty good with Photoshop though.

Social Studies
History is by far one of my favourite subjects as whilst being one of most hated of all papers for a lot of my friends. I approach Sejarah like reading a novel or story book, so not only was it (mildly) enjoyable, I tend to remember the important points better that way.

Back then the questions were not very date oriented - a lot of it asks about the reasons behind a historical event, what happened and the aftermath or effects it had in the future; rarely where there questions asking specifically when was the first atomic bomb dropped into Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the date when the first Malaya National Elections were held - the cause, effect and consequences had greater emphasis than the chronological data.

Comic book equivalent of Martin Luther King Jr, but bald.

As for Geography, neither liked nor disliked it.

---

The funny thing about exams is that you tend to become really good at it when it's no longer important? I'm pretty certain if given some time to refresh and read through some of the material, I'd score really good compared to back then. I can still solve some Additional Math questions easily when our younger friends show them to us and could explain some of the concepts in Physics with better understanding now than before.


I suppose the exams were a little too early for our immature little brains.

Bukit Gambang

Last Friday I was at a resort in Bukit Gambang, about half an hour from the state of Pahang's capital of Kuantan. It was a trip organised by the company as some sort of team-building practice.

Trees? Check. Pool? Check. Kids? Check.
SiangShing

I made it a point to sit away from my department team mates and lounge with the rest of the people from the office so that I get to know them better, instead of hanging around the same group of people I work with every day. The result was positive as I had quite a awesome time with the jokes flying around the place throughout the four-hour journey eastwards from KL - haven't really laughed this much in a while.

If anything it gave me the chance to know the rest of the people I see everyday in the office but don't interact with beyond the 'zhou san!' or 'yo!' we greet each other every morning. I have always done this in my previous jobs or in school as well, forcing myself to socialise away from the same group of people when the situation literally hands it to you on a platter.

As for my colleague's reaction to me, well, only they'll know I suppose. Perhaps it's a bit too offhand as the guy from IT who is usually sitting at the back quietly is suddenly in the middle of whom I call 'The Fun Group' due to the amount of laughs one can hear from that side of the room daily. Once joked with one of them if I could apply to work at their department as there's always laughter whilst the IT team is almost always so intense in mood.

Perhaps it helps to let them know that I speak that I'm not as banana as I appear - I was easily the 'whitest' chinese guy in the room, dubbed Sir Wilfred of Miri by one of my good friends, even more so than Sir Tony of Ipoh. One guy mentioned that I sounded like an angmoh speaking Hokkien.

Ho chiak!

Getting wet
After lunch and settling down in our respective rooms, we left for field activities as planned by the people of the resort - mostly brain teasers ranging from pictorial quizzes to mathematics to popular science.

The great outdoors is where it's at, son.
Alicia Suah

One of the most common comments that I get when it comes to being good in such things is "how the -beep- do you remember all that?!". To be honest I don't know either - what I do know though is that the brain has unlimited storage so that I don't have to choose what to listen, read or learn; maybe it's more of the ability to recall that amazes some of my friends. Still everything I recall is something we have all learned one time or another in school.

Or I'm a freak of nature.

"Consistent downwards slap with your palm, easy".
Alicia Suah

The final activity was the interesting one. Our task is to hold a PVC pipe about 15cm in diameter upright and fill it with water until the ping pong ball placed inside flows out. Easy right? Yes. We won anyway, both the first round of activities and this challenge called the 'Tsunami'. Dead easy.


Not if you knew that (many) holes had been punctured along the entire length of the pipe at random locations. Ten fingers won't cover them all because you'll have to stretch your hand all over the place, none which would cover ten as well as holding it upright. Once the water is poured in any uncovered holes with have water spewing out fiercely, blinding you that a slip up of the fingers might be permanent as your eyes are closed shut.

John and I were the two at the bottom and according liquid dynamics we'll get sprayed the hardest due to the highest pressure exerted at the lowest point. Add that to the hurried rhythm of our water carrier splashing water into the pipe, we were both totally wet within the first half-minute of the competition.

Sufficed to say not a single part of our body were dry by the time the event ended - my light yellow shorts wet to the point of being transparent. Also imagine that my underwear was brown in colour.

Hi Mom!


Carlsberg & ice
I had my first drink in almost ten years if you don't count Anglia Shandy, albeit just a little bit at the karaoke box on the other block of the resort building. In some ways I was reminded on why I never developed a liking for the brew simply because it was a taste that I never enjoyed - the bitter and slightly tangy taste that doesn't agree with my tongue the same way that a glass of Coke would. Still, the team director poured it personally for me and asked nicely, it's kinda hard to say 'No' four times to a chorus of cheers and glass clinking.

"Finish one full glass and I'll give you half a day leave extra!"
ChuenHaw

Whilst our team manager did his karaoke round of Jacky Cheung's 'Thousand Reasons for Sadness' （一千个伤心的理由），I told the familiar story of why I don't drink to our director, from the Coke or F&N Orange Crush plus whiskey to the Heineken that I experimented with, none of which stroked my fancy. Sufficed to say the two towers of beer finished with nary a problem due to the expertise of my other colleagues.

I'll pass, thank you - but I'll probably learn to tolerate more in the future although it will always end once I turn lightheaded.

Hi Mom!


Hidden in the darkness
A session of night jungle trekking followed a far improved dinner as we made our way into the secondary forest area near the resort. The number of people who went for the trek were less than those who went for the field activity, understandably for various reasons - considering we were all under the hot sun for a few hours and then drenched wet with water, it's inevitable some would not make it. Others though...

We gathered at a clearing near the entrance to the jungle and had a briefing session on what to do and what not to do before we went in, the usual thing about respecting the forest and being aware & looking out for one another.

As the marshals spoke, there was something that I noticed and pointed out to my nearby colleagues - the sky were so dark with very little artificial light that the stars were visible, the first I've seen in a very long time ever since my return home during a short gardening leave before joining this company. There were no building to obscure the surroundings of even darker tree silhouettes, enveloped by the sounds of the night. I could make out Orion's Belt, the line of three stars between two oddly shaped squares. Just brilliant - the best things in life are often free.

We made a beeline into the jungle trail enveloped by darkness lit by only the flutter of candles that threaten to extinguish to the mild breeze of the night. During the whole trip I felt a sense of 'connection' with nature, sort of like experiencing the life of our ancestors when they first walked the earth. There were only sounds of twigs snapping under our feet or shuffle of leaves, blending into the cricks of crickets and other insects. I'd imagine that it wouldn't be any special if this were done during the day - as well as the sweat from the humidity of a hot afternoon - but at night the forest becomes almost mystical in nature, the dark shadows hiding things that we can only imagine.

"Daddy that's such a big kitty, can we keep him?!"

We walked for almost 2 hours and yet I felt little to no fatigue as I enjoyed the trek even if we had to ascend and descend slopes as well as keep a lookout for stumps, low hanging branches, thick roots and creeping vines. For some reason some of us were expecting 'something' to happen along the lines of 'strange', the nearest were the movement in the bushes twice other than which was quite uneventful

If anything we didn't get the wild boar some of us were talking about in the bus on the way to the resort, of which I'm not sure how we'll bring it down with torch lights and twigs.

There's a wild boar in that picture somewhere.

"I heard something"
Because the karaoke box was filled with cigarette and cigar smoke by the time we showered and came out to mosey around, a few of us stayed outside at the table and chairs to do what we planned to do earlier - sharing ghost stories. Too bad we can't start a bonfire toasting marshmallows or it would be just perfect - instead we have amusement park rides such as the merry-go-round and spinning teacups sitting idle as it rained, whilst downing RM2.00 worth of orange cordial diluted by melted ice to the point of tasting like tap water seasoned with lemon.

The marshmallow's are ready for eating.

We took turn sharing a bunch of stories, mine being some from my days at a previous office whilst forgetting about the one in Kelana Jaya which would've been the icing on the cake. Some are a bit hard to take whilst others were quite something. One of the bosses from the RT office joined us and told of his own experience - interspersed with sudden loud shouts to shock us - in Singapore. One of our lady colleagues were on the receiving side of our joke about her visit to Thailand soon and probably won't hear the end of it until she's back.

We're great people, like.


We all went back to our respective rooms at around 2:00 am after a photo session and slept like logs until the morning.

Splash
I didn't join the crowd to the water park because I don't quite enjoy water games as well as feeling the effects of the previous day's hot and wet escapade, so I stayed in bed for most of the morning until lunch trying to catch up on sleep that were of the pattern of sleep-wake-sleep-sleep-wake-sleep-wake for most of the morning before breakfast.

Good for my friends who went as they looked to have enjoyed themselves a lot from the photos they took.

You have to ask the ladies if they had fun, I wasn't there.
ShiangShing

Back to the city
The rest of the journey home to KL was a lot less eventful as most of the people on the bus took the opportunity to catch up on sleep, making us perfect prey for one of our most animated colleagues to snap snap. At least five of the photos were of me, none of which were at all flattering.

I can't hear you! Come on, rasa sayang eh rasa sayang sayang eh!
SiangShing

I also lost a joke of a bet that we'll be back at Mid Valley in 45 minutes after we hit Gombak toll - I'm not sure how we managed to get there in around 20 minutes, heading into the city, at 5:00 pm on a rainy afternoon. The victors got their share of the spoils of a nice meal, after which we dispersed and head home to hear about Dirk Kuyt missing a penalty vs Everton.

Until next time, comrades.

Tranquil in darkness

Glowing ember
Burning hot
Burning slow.

It was late Friday evening when I drove home after the movies with a few friends, the atmosphere was calm and serene, unrushed as the weekend was only an hour away. The traffic still looked ridiculously bad going downtown but the drive back to Subang was of its normal pace with most people already home and there was no traffic jam to slow things down.

I might be driving on the wrong side of the road there...

I enjoy driving home in the quiet of the night with slow music from the radio to unwind after a busy day - there is something calming about the night that gladdens the heart.

I had Sarah McLachlan's  Do What You Have To Do on via the Bluetooth player during a short period of congestion in front of the PJ Hilton. Her voice filled the dark interior of the car, the quietness cocooned within, lit only by the red dashboard displays. The air-conditioner was blowing gently - not too cold, just right.

Just her voice and the piano, singing about the conflict between the heart and the mind to let go of something so dear.

Whilst I'm nowhere there at the moment, sharing the emotions that literally oozes from the song, but she seems to capture the very essence of the dilemma that one faces when they are at the crossroads that we will all come to many times at various stages of our lives.

"Black Arial 16 bold or Tahoma 17 blue?"

 Instead I was mesmerized by the three lines describing ember that is burning, literally seeing it in my mind, the orange-yellow glow, barely lighting up a monochromatic background. Combine that with the slow tempo of the piano and the hypnotic quality of the singer's voice, I was literally at peace.

The week before I had Keiko Matsui's acoustic version of Water Lily, the tinkle of the ivory hitting the strings as her fingers danced over their black and white keys. It seemed to massage the soul like the gentle fingers of a masseuse loosening the knots of tired muscles. I listened to every note and savour them individually and together, creating the wonderful melody that made the piano such a soothing instrument.

Perhaps this is why I like small or one-to-one interaction with people; I can listen to them with my fullest attention, taking in what is being said without the distractions and connect with them, to be on the same wavelength. It's like a duet, two individuals playing the same song.

Not sure how but this came out as one of the results in Google search.

 Maybe because of this I happen to become a person that people are not afraid of confiding to. I have sat in front of many who told me of their innermost secrets, anger and fear, sometimes accompanied by tears that at times would sometimes cut my own heart because I 'feel' their words, not necessarily understanding it the way that only they themselves can. Sometimes all they needed is someone to listen to what their heart is crying out, not necessarily to seek in opinion or solution.

As the car cruised smoothly down the highway, I thanked God the weekend is here again.