Ombak Rindu vs. Bicara Hati

Ini. Sangat. Tidak. Sihat.

SANGAT. TIDAK. SIHAT.

I am reading, of all things, a Malay romance novel.

No, I am not reading the now overrated Ombak Rindu. I am reading Bicara Hati by a writer called Damia Hana. This novel will soon have its TV adaptation broadcasted over Astro.

If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I don't normally read Malay romance novels. I am not a snob, bukan aku cakap aku tak baca novel-novel Melayu sebab low-class ke ape. I do read Malay novels, just not from the romance variety, sebab aku suka baca novel atau buku yang mana ayat-ayat dalam buku tu, adalah ayat-ayat yang ada kemungkinan keluar dari mulut aku, nak-nak kalau ayat tu dialog dalam watak novel tu. Believable stuff. Bukan benda-benda macam, "Aku dah cuba nak melupakan dia, tapi bayangannya tetap terus menghantuiku."

First of all, kalau ada apa-apa benda yang menghantui aku, in any shape or form, aku takkan habiskan masa berprosa pasal apa benda yang menghantui aku tu. Mungkin by that time aku dah tonggeng-tonggeng nangis depan Harun Din or is it Hasan Din (ustaz, tolonglah saya buang benda niiiiii... uwaaaaaaaaaaa *nanes golek-golek <-- ini hiperbola anak-anak!).

And second of all, I am just not like that yo.

So, kenapa aku baca novel Bicara Hati ni?

Well, actually, it has something to do with Ombak Rindu (and btw, I do think Aaron Aziz is rather dashing, kan? kan? kan? ;)). To be exact, it's actually very much related to the soundtrack of Ombak Rindu. Remember this entry? Well, I mentioned Ajek, who captured the attention the Ombak Rindu production team when he did a cover of the theme song of the movie. So aku pun dengarlah lagu tu. Sappy love songs are also not my usual music staple (Malay love songs? Pfffftttt... Pernah dengar Diana Krall nyanyi Billy Joel's Just The Way You Are? No disrespect an' all that, but Bruno's Just the Way You Are ain't got nothin on Billy Joel's yo'. Dan pada aku, ini baru love song). Okay, that was not the point of this entry kan? So anyways, lagu Ombak Rindu tu, Ajek punya pasal, mak layan aje nox. From the related videos there, link-punya-link-punya-link hopping, I came across this piece of news about a tele-series adapted from a novel called Bicara Hati. The director is Osman Ali, the same guy directing Ombak Rindu, so adalah crossline di situ sikit kot? Entah, aku pun tak pasti link apa yang aku click.

Yang buat aku, "Alamak, menariklah pulak," ialah apabila aku nengok gambar-gambar shoot Bicara Hati tu, ada gambar sorang minah yang muka dia familiar sangat-sangat. I was racking my brain tryinna figure out where I've seen this girl before. Then, tiba-tiba it hit me. This is her:



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Minah ini rupanya! Zara iklan raya Diva Universal yang comel nak mampus tu. The Zara character itself is very comel. Redza Minhat pun comel. Iklan tu pun comel. Eh, semua comel lah! SAYA SUKA!

(SIDE NOTE: Her (Zara, Zahlia, Puteri Ape Benda Ntah lam Bicara Hati) name (or at least the name she puts on her Facebook) is Cristina Suzanne Stockstill but apparently she goes with the 'stage' name, Kris Cempaka)

Berikut ialah bukti kecomelan iklan raya tersebut:

So now, because this feel-good, comel advertisement, I am hooked on a Malay romance novel, by the name of Bicara Hati of all things. Let me reiterate. INI. SANGAT. TIDAK. SIHAT. Okaylah, baca novel tu tak semestinya tengok drama tu bila drama bersiri Bicara Hati tersebut ke udara bermula pada Selasa, 9.00 malam, 3 Januari 2012 di Saluran 105, Astro Prima (motip aku tulis cam ni???). TAPI, I also kinda think Sharnaaz Ahmad, who plays the male lead, is very the comel jugak. And this is also TIDAK SIHAT. He is 3 years younger than me. And that makes me kinda feel like a cougar.

HAMAGADDD!!!

-__-"

Do not disturb my Tuesday nights in early 2012, okay?

extra presciption. Sampai la cheq tak pi lagi tengok Ombak Rindu. Tunggu Youtube je laa, bulih ka?

extra, extra prescription. I also don't usually like lelaki-lelaki comel atau jambu, but in Sharnaaz's case, I will make an exception. Redza Minhat comel, tapi dia tak jambu, so clause aku-tak-suka-lelaki-comel-dan-jambu dengan sendirinya terbatal di situ. Eh, berapa umur Redza Minhat wei? Adakah, aku akan jadi cougar lagi! HAMAGAD!!!.

extra, extra, extra prescription. Am I going to hell for this, God?

Kids, Magic and Harry Potter

The best times of my life these days seems to be those that I spent being silly with these two kids who call me Mama. We watch TV most of the time, last night it was Despicable Me. Tonight it's a marathon of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatball, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and now, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

I swear Lil Hero was slightly buzzing calling out for his big sis who left the room for a bit as Harry Potter was starting... And oh yeah, I have introduced Harry Potter to my kids, who are 7 and 3 respectively. Lil Hero, who is 3, can recognise the Harry Potter theme at the first few notes. Lil Miss, who's 7, can name 2/3 of the characters in the movies. I will introduce the book soon to her, I hope. Ah, now back to the magical world of Harry Potter with the kids.

Internet Explorer NOT FTW!

Remember this post? Yeah, it's basically how I'm ranting about having to use IE to blog nowadays, if I happen to blog at work, which in hindsight, rarely happens pun.

TAPI, walaupun sekali-sekala, walaupun kaddang-kaddang (baca nada P.Ramlee dalam Nujum Pak Belalang), aku still rasa tak comfortable pakai IE. Sebab macam terencat aje. Aku pun tak paham macam mana ramai je manusia lain yang aku tengok selamba kodok pakai IE dok surf sana sini.

So now, I've installed yet another browser in my PC, Safari, yang jugak aku tak berapa minat sebenarnya. But thing is, anything is soooo better than IE lah. ANYTHING.

But please don't call me an Apple fanboi. I will cut you if you do.

Okay, itu sahaja update hari ini.

ps. I just realized Flock is now defunct. Heh.

Best of the Web #001 - Ajek Hassan

I LOVE THIS GUY. The voice! OH. MY. GOD. The voice.

Apparently, Ajek has gotten the attention of some Malaysian movie maker (or rather their social media (Facebook) team) when he posted his acoustic version of the movie Ombak Rindu theme song. Personally, I don't really like the song, but other stuff this guy has done is PURE GOLD.

His Bryan Adams' covers are TO DIE FOR. Uhsum! Uhsum! Uhsum!

And he also has a plethora of rock kapak covers like the one embedded above (which happens to be one of my favourite songs ever!) that are just sing-a-long-able.

I don't know an awful lot about him. From random comments on his Facebook page and Youtube channels, I gathered that he's already married and hails from Terengganu. From his Facebook fanpage, his current location is in Australia where he has a cafe of some sort with his brother.

Okay, I am off to enjoy more of Ajek Hassan's songs and voice and uhsumness.

Toodles!

Internet Explorer FTW!

Tahu tak sekarang ni aku berblog menggunakan Internet Explorer? Sadis tak? I'm so two-thousand-eight, you're so two-thousand-late...

Don't be hatin Internet Explorer, y'all. Walaupun, truth be told, aku tak suka guna IE. Guna pun sebab terpaksa. Mengapa terpaksa?

Well, the place where I work uses Gmail accounts as our work email account, so FF aku dah guna untuk satu ID Google, iaitu, work ID.

I have also installed my much beloved Chrome in this PC as well, but that one is used for R&D purposes, whereby I am developing a work-related blog, so I have to use another work-related ID to sign in to Google on my Chrome browser.

So, that leaves me with IE to basically type the odd entry sekali-sekala bila ada waktu senggang time kerja atau bila nak stalk blog orang dan leave comments with this ID. Tapi kat rumah aku pakailah sama ada FF atau Chrome.

Sadis.

Dulu, guna FF boleh guna dua ID. I can log in to my work email account and also log in to iGoogle using my personal account, tapi recently, company tukar structure work Google account membuatkan ia kini jadi all-in-one. And horror of horrors, even Google+ pun boleh diintegrate sama.

LAGI SADIS.

Green Green Grass by the River

Ah! Tacky gila lah! 

Apa yang tacky? Tak la, aku kan dah lama tak post apa-apa, so aku nak buat macam opening, "Ni hao! Hao jiu bu jian!" (Translate: Hai! Lama tak jumpa!). Pastu aku padam. Sebab tacky. Dan corny. And if there's one thing I'm NOT is tacky. Or corny.

Anyways. Yeah, the hiatus. Oh well, shit's been hitting the fan at work lately, and me being my usual procrastinating, malas self, did not prioritize this blog. Sorry.

So what made me come back then? Saja. Been missing the medium, maybe? Or... memang penyakit aku ni ada tenggelam timbul. Sekejap aku tenggelam. Sok lusa aku timbul balik.

Ok, now, I don't want any pointless entry. So let's get to the meat of today's ramblings, shall we?

Lately, a lot of 'questionable' things are happening around me. More so than the usual fair of weirdness I am confronted with. I am talking about questionable on the morality side. A lot of stories of extramarital affairs, backstabbing, badmouthing etc is been going on, and since I am a flawed human being, aku pun join menjoyah (mesti ada yang cakap, yelah, perempuan, tak de kerja lain lettew). Oh well, Wallahualam. I try, actually, I try very, very hard. So maybe next time, I will try harder. Doakan sekali?  

And this thing too has its ups and downs. Sebab if I recall correctly, awal tahun memang rancak cerita itu ini begitu begini. Then it died down. Then recently, these things come cropping up again. This time around tak de la sehebat the earlier rounds of rumours. But jyeah, ada lagi saki-baki cerita-ceriti Kak Joyah, Kak Nam dan yang sewaktu dengannya.

I dunno what's gonna happen. And the speculations of what's gonna happen are far from rosy. Things are getting from bad to worst, and I guess people (myself included) are just reacting to the bad modjo flying around. This is no longer a healthy situation to be in, but sadly, the answer is not as crystal clear as I'd like it to be. Aku rasa nak cari team captain baru (okay, inside term, perhaps in due time, I will explain, tapi memandangkan ini melibatkan kerjaya, I will refrain from getting into too much details just yet), tapi ada banyak benda yang aku sayang kat sini. Job scope. People. Immediate boss. Team. Environment. Tapi adalah dua, tiga ketul tahi yang stinking up the whole place so much so the stench is unbearable!

And yes, I know I am not making sense. Cerita atau entry ni tiada pembukaan, kandungan dan penutup. It sucks to be stuck in this funk, trust me.

An Open Letter to J.K. Rowling

Dear Ms. Rowling, 

First of all, let me tell you that I love you. I know millions of your fan around the globe profess their love for you all the time, in different, more special kind of way, but I still want you to know that I love you. 

I love you for the fact that you created this wonderful, bespectacled, orphaned wizard by the name of Harry Potter and how through your stories about him, you have made him as real as any human walking this earth can be. Harry is not perfect, your books are not perfect, but that's okay. That's part of the appeal, the fact that among all the imperfections, there is still something worth loving, worth looking out for, worth looking forward to.

Ms. Rowling, I understand from stories that the conditions under which you wrote your stories were far from ideal. They were dark times indeed. But you had that story in your head (and perhaps, more importantly, in your heart) and you managed to tell it in spite of all your hardships. Ms. Rowling, please know that a lot of us read your stories under similar, desolate situation. I know a friend who lost her parents when she was still very young, and your stories were probably the only ones there for her when life as she knew it fell apart. And me, Ms. Rowling, I read a few of your books when I was going through some of the darkest times in my life and Harry, Ron and Hermione were always there for me. Please know Ms. Rowling, that those words you string together struck a chord deep in my heart. I hate to be ungrateful to others who there for me during my difficult time and say that Harry alone pulled me out of my depression and suicidal tendencies, but he was there and I can certainly feel his firm grasp on my slipping grip on reality.

Funny, isn't it, how a work of fiction can be so real to so many? Deep inside, we know Harry is a fictional character, but he is one that we can relate to, one representing love, faith, hope and courage and at the end of the day, Ms. Rowling, those are perhaps the single string of commonality that we have among us human. Maybe that's why Harry has managed to transcend the many barriers we have erected among us.

Thank you again, Ms. Rowling. For Harry and his friends and his stories. And thank you for telling them to us.

Much Love,
A fan.

ps. This was tearfully written after I finished reading Hallows ages ago, while pregnant with Lil Hero. The entry has been in my drafts folder for ages, and I kinda dug it up again after watching Hallows Pt. II. I decided to just publish this since even after sometime, the things I wrote still struck a chord deep within me (btw, that's one of the ways I evaluate my writing, does it still stir up the same emotion I felt when writing if I read the piece after some time?) And judging by this entry, you can safely guess how I feel about J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and this entry. 

Framework Konon.... PAH!

Okay, I've thought about this for a bit. I am actually going through a bit of a writer's block (eh, samo plop dengang Meka...) so one of the 'exercises' I did was this association thing, where I come up with one totally random phrase or word, and just come up with things that relate to that phrase or word or whatever. 

So somehow, I kinda diverted my 'association exercise' into blog topics, things that I can talk about in this blog. Originally, I just wrote 'what's in my head' in the middle of an A4 paper, and tried to expand on that, but seeing that my head and all its brilliance is pretty blocked at the mo, my head decided not to cooperate. I am left looking at the A4 paper pretty stupidly with the unfinished mind-map of "What's in My Head" in the center. Sorry Tony. 

Source

So then, I somehow digressed a bit more and thought, since there's nothing in my head (maybe the aliens have sucked out my brains or something), why not just expand "What's in..." haaaaa, that question, I tell you, tiba-tiba banyak idea mencurah-curah. Actually, not that many ideas lah, tapi adalah sampai 10 benda I can list down, as per the following list:

What's in....

1. Your head?
2. Your heart?
3. Your purse/wallet?
4. Your handbag/manbag/backpack?
5. Your office drawers? 
6. Your wardrobe? (lemari baju lah, kang ada plak yang cakap, sejak bila kau  ada wardrobe)
7. Your PC and/or external harddisk and assorted memory flash drive/disk? 
8. Your car?
9. Your memory box?
10. Your blog?

So now, I have somewhat of a framework of things to write when I stumble upon another of this infamous writer's block. Question now is, tajuk dah ada, content? 

Bwahahahaha... bongok. Looks like we're back at square one.

ps. Please forgive the author/blogger. She just came back from a week long vacation, and she still haven't adjusted to the fact that SHE HAS TO WORK, DAMMIT!

Sunday Ritual (No More)

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Aku tak paham.. Tiap-tiap hujung minggu Mak aku mesti beli Berita Mingguan ngan Utusan Mingguan. Dah berapa minggu dah ni, cerita yang sama keluar, cerita cinta tiga segi Mamat Sepah-Fida-Adda. Minggu satu, keluar kenyataan si polan, gitu gini. Minggu depannya, kuar statement si hamba Allah tu pulak, counter yang si polan cakap. Minggu ni keluar statement si polan counter si hamba Allah. My question is, perlu ke?

Okay, so you all can say, if you're this angry about it, why read it at all? Actually aku pun tak pasti kenapa aku baca. Actually bukan baca sangatlah, more like skim the headlines, tapi aku sentap, sebab weekend paper reading ni jadi ritual hidup aku sejak aku kecil lagi. I read page after page, almost each and every word (sometimes ads are even included, I was that sangap), sebab when it comes to newspapers, aku ngan mak aku serupa, kalau dah lambat (around noonish), baik tak payah baca dah paper tu. Hari biasa of course dulu-dulu aku sekolah and nowadays, kerja, celah mana aku nak baca paper pagi-pagi. So weekend je la yang dapat jadi spot aku teruskan ritual aku...

You see where I'm going with this?

Ni belum masuk cerita wedding sponsor tu lagi. Come on lah, perlu ke cover macam tu sekali? I can feel my brain cells dying just by looking at their pictures, belum lagi aku baca cerita-ceriti yang disempilkan.

Okay, dah, dah, tak payah lah baca... Masalahnya, tak baca pun aku still nampak, and remember the ritual I so cherish my whole life? That ritual is now has to be replaced with another one, I guess... Takkan aku nak keep on doing something yang membunuh brain cells aku?

Can anybody suggest an equally fulfilling and mentally-challenging Sunday ritual?

A More Loving Place

Aku ni dah la emo tak tentu hala (mungkin PMS) dua tiga menjak ni, dengan busy tahap dewa dewi langit ketujuh kejar deadline lagi, dengan baju raya anak2 yang tak siap jahit lagi, dengan kuih yang dah buat tapi belum raya dah nak abis lagi, dalam-dalam aku ingat nak gelak2, aku jenguk blog brader Hazrey ni. And guess what's the latest post that he has? It's about three very, very young siblings who were murdered by their father.

I instantly cried.

It is important to note that my cubicle is very much hidden from the rest of the office and I will see people approaching my area long before they are at my area. So memang kegiatan nangis-nangis tengok video sedih, baca cerita sedih (macam story "Mana Mak?" yang dicirculate macam gila akhir-akhir ni) etc, adalah terlindung. In fact, kalau aku makan masa tak puasa pun terselindung lagi. But that's not the point of this entry.

The point is those three kids. They were two, three and five year old.

Little Hero is three, so there's an instant image that I can project in my mind, when imagining the horrifying last breaths of those children. How scared were they. How none of them could've understood what was going on. Apa sangat yang diorang tahu?

I'd like to think that ar-Rahman was there protecting them that day, was there in some form or way to comfort them, to ease their passing, tapi sebagai seorang emak, sebagai seorang manusia, hati aku merintih sedih. Mata aku menangis for those unnamed children. Pada aku, mereka juga anak-anak aku.

But it's okay babies, you are in a much better place, in a much, much more loving place. A place where you deserve to be. I am so sorry that the adults around you failed you. I am so, so sorry that we failed you, angels. Rest in peace, loves.

Next Time

The next time we think, "Ish, aku tak tahu nak buka apa hari ni,", think of them. And be thankful for whatever little that we have, because THERE ARE people who are WITHOUT any.

The next time our children throw away the food they didn't finish, tell them about these children. And tell them that the scraps they throw away is practically a king's lavish dinner (and breakfast and lunch, probably) in those childrens' eyes (and stomachs).

And the next time you think about our brothers and sisters in humanity and in Islam, send a little prayer of hope their way.

We've gone without food 8 to 10 hours a day. Diorang?

Hasbunallah wa ni' mal wakeel.

Hantu Susu

Click image for source (and to download, I think)

Actually, I caught an ad of this show on the TV. It had Erra Fazira in it, and she said something along the lines of, "Itulah, lain kali, kalau nak jadi hantu, jadilah hantu yang popular macam pontianak..." Erra Fazira, btw, played a pontianak in both this telemovie and another one, Pontianak Kampung Batu ke ape ntah. But the ad caught my attention, and I thought it was funny, so much so that I took note of the broadcast date and told myself, "Nak tengoklah..."

Alas, other priorities (like life, kids, family time etc) took me away from the hantus on TV that day.

When I came to work, a few of my co-workers were talking about the show. Akkkk, imagine my dismay. Well, not wanting to be left out, I took to the internet and searched for the show on youtube, managed to find it, finding out I had no time to watch the 90 minutes ++ it ran, downloading it via KeepVid and resolving to watch it some other day.

That was about two weeks ago. Sedih kan? Such is the life of a working mom... (not complainin', just sayin')

Fast forward yesterday evening. I found out that, lo and behold, I do have like, 90 minutes ++ to spare. Hmmm, what should I do? Should I potong kain baju raya kakak orrr... orrr... should I watch the show I have saved on my external harddisk and just have a laugh out loud session?

Love you to bits, Little Princess, but for today, Mama chose to LOL. (Alah, raya lambat lagi lah... esok2 sempat wei potong kain... potong kain semalam pun bukan bleh terus jahit, kan? Kan? Kan???)

So anyways, the telemovie is about this four hantus, Erra Fazira a.k.a Tira the Pontianak, Amy Mastura a.k.a Suri the Penanggal, Zarina AF a.k.a Jamilah the Langsuir and Marsha AF a.k.a Mawar the Hantu Kum Kum. They somehow gravitated towards this kampung and somehow became housemates in this old bungalow.

At the same time, there's a Hantu Susu on the lose in the same kampung, wreaking havoc by killing people (sucking their life out, ala Harry Potter's Dementors) and then feeding the murdered bottled milk.

Tension rise as the kampung people start to suspect that the four new addition to their kampung are the ones committing these crimes, but are they the ones to blame?

Overall, the show was not bad. Funny at times, laugh out loud funny, but there are also times when I went, meh. Amy Mastura was the comic relief, and she carried the task quite well. She was funny and bengong at the same time. Erra Fazira was quite awesome as Tira, I never realized she could do funny. Marsha was also great to watch, she was, by far, the most mysterious of the four. And Zarina totally surprised me. Although kayu at times, I think with the right direction and some extensive acting lessons, she does have the potential to do more.

Funny bits to me were basically when Suri and Tira couldn't resist to change into their hantu self. You see, all the hantus in this show was normal looking humans (prettier, but normal). But when temptation rises, these gals might just transform into their actual looks. So when the gals were taken to a house where a lady was about to give birth, Suri the penanggal (penanggal is said to live on the blood of mothers who just delivered, or something... I wanted to get the whole story from Mak, but was afraid I'll have to attend a full 50 minutes course of Penanggal 101) was the one tempted. Siap tercabut kepala penanggal tu, lepas tu tak boleh nak sambung balik. And her badan was like all over the place cos without a head, the body couldn't see.

There's also the part when Tira was the one tempted. Somehow, they were at this cooking class and a participant cut her finger with a knife. She wiped her blood with some kain or tissue or something, and Tira volunteered to throw it away, because she wanted to hisap the darah of course. But her friends, Mawar and Suri, talked her out of it.

Few things though, the SFX and CGI were horrendous. Like, why did you even bother??? Guna prop aje lagi real kot. And another thing, I dunno if it's just me, but Apek is so passé, please lah, the supporting pak lawak is funnier than him at times. If you wanna have this guy on, please have something meatier for him to bite into. And Didi Alias, haiz, why oh why lah... Half of the time, I'm not sure if she wants to melawak or be serious. I doubt that's the point the director is trying to put through, I think that's the kind of actor Didi is. Miscast, miscast... haiz...

Other than that, it was a fun watch. I'll give it, maybe a 3-star. Okay, now back to sewing and life as we know it...

Quick to Judge

Okay, I admit, if I'm gonna start talking about being quick to judge, about being judgmental, I should at least confess that I am also guilty of the same sin, so there. Here is something that I want to remind myself, as much as I'd like to remind others.

When we see an issue involving two different people, specifically conflicts between the said two, we almost always take sides, as if we know the whole story. "Memang dasar jantan, tak sedar diri, dah popular sikit, lupa kat orang yang sama-sama dengan dia dari bawah." or "Saya sebenarnya tak nak cakap, tapi tak pe lah, cakap jugak, sebab saya tak nak hipokrit (hak ptuih, pesanan penaja <- ha, tengok, tengok, judgmental tak aku?). Padan mukalah kat minah tu, sapa suruh jaja cerita kat semua orang. Skang dah putus, kan malu."

Okay, okay, let's not be coy, you know who I'm talking about. But that's not the point. They're not the point.

The point is people, we should let judging be God's work, and God's alone. I know it's hard, it's like we're hard-wired to judge others or something, but in the spirit of Ramadhan, at the very least, let's try, okay?

And if I'm not convincing enough, let's hear it from this guy.



Try, okay? TRY.

extra prescription. why yes, I was talking about the infamous skinny-fingers and common-nickname-for-a-malay-kid-who-looks-chinese.

Malaysian Drivers and Attack of the Dust Bunnies

Okay, okay, so we've heard stories, discussions, arguments, talk show topic etc etc etc dedicated to Malaysian drivers. We've heard it all ad nauseam. But bear with me with this one, okay?

I don't get some drivers who looooooves the brakes sooo very much that they're foot is practically attached to it. Ada dust bunnies ke di hadapan mereka sampai membuatkan mereka takut untuk mengangkat kaki daripada pedal brek dan menekan pedal minyak? Kenapa? Takut terlanggar dust bunnies yang comel-comel tu ke?

Sometimes, the car in front of the car in front of me is miles ahead, and okay, I do acknowledge that Malaysian road is not complete without their potholes, but seriously pipol, GET A MOVE ON!

I have only been driving since early this year, and I know I make my share of driving faux pas, but by golly these dust-bunnies-phobics are gittin on muh NERVE.

Oh, did I mention that I am fasting today? Potty mouth and all. Yup.

extra prescription. Please, please, please don't get me started on those pipol who DO NOT use their signal/indicator lights. Some days I call them idiots, some days morons, some days they are jerks, most days they are stupid motherf*ckers with pricey cars tapi tak ada or tak tahu guna signal lights. They have a special place in my heart. I hope they die and rot in hell.

Mini Get-Away

I don't very much like to take photos. Of myself. Of others. I know I should have taken more pictures, and although I did take some, they were not that nice for me to publish here. Mostly because the pictures are taken by the wonky camera on my handphone (to which I am still unsure of the shutter setting resulting in blurry pictures because I move the camera too soon after taking a photo) or are supposed abstract/candid shots which upon later inspection made no sense.

Okay, why so elaborate on pictures? On taking photos? On sucking at taking photos? On still not owning that DSLR? Well, for one, hubs and I went to Bukit Merah Laketown Resort early last week for a mini get-away. And guess what? I DID NOT TAKE ANY PICTURES! Not at the hotel, not at the waterpark, not ANYWHERE!

Well, for one, the hotel was so and so, so that was forgettable, but PLUS POINT is there is free WiFI in the lobby, which made the dingy joint somewhat bearable. We stayed at the Suria Service Apartments in one of their studio room, which technically, is okay, nice, clean etc, but definitely not ALL THAT. The TV only had like, the non-paid channels. (No Law & Order SVU!! Waaaaa :"[) The bathroom only had shower, no tub. The breakfast spread was blergh. The pool was nice though, not the Waterpark pools, but the Apartment pools, so that's another plus point. And they have this barbecue pit near the pool, which got me and hubs thinking of family gatherings and barbecuing and all that...

We went on our own for this get-away. The original plan was to haul the kids as well, but Little Miss has exams (boleh tak? Budak darjah satu exam! PAH!). If it was up to me alone, she will be trundled off with us as well, tapi hubs was a bit reluctant to let her miss school, something about not wanting to have her start thinking that exams are okay to miss and all that. She's SEVEN, and I'm loathe to teach her that exams is be-all-end-all sort of thing, but hubs does kinda sorta have a point or maybe he persuaded or bribed me or something, so in the end, I relented. And since Little Miss is not going, then it should only be fair if Little Hero is not going as well *sobs*. So there. The kids were left with Mak, Ayah and two nephews on babysitting duty.

Actually, the whole thing was planned last minute. My sister won the 2D1N stay + Waterpark Entrance fee package, so she sold it to me. Since the voucher expires on the 31st of July, and since hubs' day off is not the most reliable, we just booked on those particular days, long before realizing that oh shi... Little Miss ada exam! Haih!

Was it a good get-away? I dunno. It was kinda sad, I was sad when we were at the waterpark, cos I know the kid would've loved the park! And throughout our time there, I kept on going like, "ooooh, Little Hero would have loved going on THAT slide!" or "Haaaaaa! Kakak mesti suka naik yang ini!" And it DOES NOT help that some other visitors brought along their kids, I was like, KENAPA ANAK DIORANG TAK PERIKSA ANAK AKU KENA PERIKSA NI WEIIIIIIII!!! HAMJADAHHH!

Okay, okay, enough with the drama and rantings and all that. All in all, I must say, it was a nice get-away. Would've been extra nice to have the kids around as well, cos they will probably enjoy it more that we do, but hey, such is the way it was meant to be... This just gives us more reason to go there some day, with EVERYBODY in tow, insyaAllah!

Michael Bay, Bendahari Kehormat Bersih

Click image for source

Apparently, from the above image of Malaysian PM, Najib Razak visiting Queen Elizabeth, it has been deduced that even the BLARDY QUEEN OF ENGLAND is supporting Bersih. 'Cos it's too much to be a coincidence right? Right? Riiiiiiiiight.

Okay, in the same fashion, I now deem mighty Hollywood box office God, Michael Bay as an honorary member of Bersih. Why? Why, because Bumblebee is YELLOW of course!

Click image for source

And oh! Oh!!! What wonderful spokesperson Chris Martin would be, right? Yup yup! Complete with the thespian trophy wife in the form of Gwyneth Paltrow, no less! All because of that song, ummm, what was it... oh yeah! Yellow!

Click image for source

Awww, how sweet!

But of course, the list would not have been complete without the movement's hundreds and thousands supporters, right?

Click image for source

That's the Aedes aegypti. She brings about Yellow fever. You know, the kind of fever that can cause DEATH.

extra prescription. DiGi yellow man, you say? Puhlease. He is soooo passé.

Buang Masa

Click Image for Souce

I just spent part of my morning watching KL Gangster. Partly out of curiousity. Mostly out of wanting to see Aaron Aziz in action. I should’ve just remained an ignorant. Nasib baik aku tengok kat Youtube.

Okay, if I can sum it up as simple as possible, KL Gangster is a so-called gangster, action movie , made by an uninformed (or rather, misinformed) nerd. Yes, I am calling you out, Shamsul Yusuf. KAU SEBENARNYA BUDAK NERD YANG TAK COOL TAPI PERASAN COOL SEBAB TU KAU BUAT FILEM GANGSTER YANG KAU PIKIR GANAS GILA, MACAM BETUL2 GANGSTER2 KL PERANGAI MACAM TU. Berapa sen kau punya research, Shamsul oi!

HAMLAU!

Bagero betul.

kthxbai.

Story of the Day #2 - Well-Behaved Kids

Below is a picture of Reagan Kennedy. She just hit a hole-in-one, something difficult to achieve even as an adult, and Reagen is only 6.

Call it luck, a floozy or whatever, but she did it. It's difficult to do, but this little girl managed to do it.

If it was me, I'd be jumping up and down, running around, bragging to hubs and shouting at the top of my lungs, in that particular order.

Not Reagen. She made the shot and walked calmly to the the golf cart. Why no reaction? Is this some zombie-robot-alien child that is taking over the world? No, she didn't react like I would have, like any sane adult would have, because her parents had asked her to behave herself on the golf course because they don't want to disturb others.

But after Reagen made that shot, and after walking calmly back to that golf cart, her parents did say that if there's ever a time for her to break the rule they set about behaving on the golf course, this is it.

She probably broke into a HUGE GRIN, the zombie-robot-alien child, and that was it... I kid. Actually, I am not sure how she celebrated, because you see, the piece of news here didn't say. And I malas to googew.

Click image for source

I'm a mom. Little Miss is Reagen's age so I am partial to stories like this. I get emotional at stories like this. I love well-behaved kids. I want my kids to be well-behaved.

So Reagen, hon, if you wanna shout and jump around now, you can. Heck, go crazy and do a little jig or something, I dunno.

And then go and beat daddy!

extra prescription. Story of the Day #1 is the 'cured' HIV patient. Tengoklah, kalau rajin adalah SotD seterusnya.

Pondans

Have I ever mentioned that hubs used to work with a bunch of pondans? Not literally, mak bukan nak sentapkan hati uols, noks, tapi pondan yang iols maksudkan di sini bukan secara harfiah, tapi secara indirect, noks. Pondan di sini ialah jantans-jantans yang berperangai tak de telur, boleh gitu? Kelas kau, Maria!

Hubs kerja biasa-biasa sahaja. MNC. Big company. Kalau aku mention, mesti perkara PERTAMA yang korang fikir, kerja situ dapat DISKAUN tak?

Okay, back to my story, the pondans hubs worked with. Once, hubs bought food for him to eat, just some curry puffs, 6 curry puffs to be exact (that's a clue for the astute as to where hubs is working, btw), and he left the 6 curry puffs in a locker. The locker is in public view and its used by all the staff in his unit. Hubs went off and did some work. A while later, he came back to take a break and eat the curry puffs he bought earlier. Her searched for the pack of curry puffs he bought. TAK ADA. Na-da. Yillek. 

Now, apart from working with pondans, he's also working with some guys who are always hungry. Hubs tak de lah kedekut, in fact selalu je dia belanja budak-budak dia makan or kasi pinjam duit, so he kinda expected budak-budak tu makan barang sebijik dua, tapi kalau dah habuk pun tarak, apacer plak kan? Hubs asked who ate the curry puffs. Actually, I don't think he was going to grab the guy who ate the curry puffs by the collar and go, "Engkau luek balik karipap yang kau makan tadi sekarang jugak!" Nor did hubs expect the one yang makan to ganti balik. He was pissed off. There were 6 curry puffs, kot iye pun kau lapar, takkan kau sebat enam-enam bijik? Buruk perut betul. Tinggalkanlah tuan karipap kot iye pun...

When he asked around, none of the guys mengaku. Although hubs knew, a few of the guys, kalau diorang makan, diorang akan own up. Diorang akan cakap, "Abang T, saya makan tadi karipap tu satu tau." Okay kan? Laki aku pun tak de lah nak jadi naga ke singa ke. Kau lapar, kau makan satu, settle cerita, bai. Ini kau lapar, kau makan ENAM bijik karipap yang kau tak tahu pun siapa punya, apa cerita bai? Hubs tak puas hati, was in one of his moods, so he asked around again, one by one, each of the budak in his unit in that particular shift, siapa makan. Once more, nobody owned up.

And then, my logical, methodical, scientific and rational hubs lost it. He said something along the lines of, "Sapa-sapa yang makan tadi, pastu tak mengaku, aku doakan, lepas ni, kau eksiden tiap-tiap bulan. Hmmmmppppffffttttt!" Dan hubs berlalu pergi, makan nasik ke, ngamuk kat tempat lain pulak ke, entahlah, aku tak berapa pasti.

A few days after that, manager unit hubs datang jumpa dia. Si manager ni cakap dengan hubs,"Eh, I heard you sumpah orang the other day, pasal dia tak mengaku makan karipap you. Eh, bro, tak elok lah itu macam. Sumpah-sumpah orang accident and all..." Laki aku tengok bos dia macam bos dia ada shot wayar barang sehelai dua. "I bukan nak suruh diorang pulangkan apa yang diorang makan. I bukan nak suruh diorang ganti apa yang diorang makan. Yang I nak, diorang mengaku. Kalau makan, cakap aje lah makan. Ini tak ada SORANG pun ngaku dia makan. And apa kena-mengena dengan you pun kalau I sumpah macam tu? Kalau tak betul, then they have nothing to worry about," lebih kurang gitulah hubs cakap, ni aku paraphrase dan tambah garam gula secukup rasa. 

Keesokan harinya, dan beberapa kali untuk bulan-bulan yang mendatang, ada sorang hamba Allah unit laki aku asyik-asyik MC. Eksiden motor katanya. Tulah (daulat) laki aku? Oh bukan, yang asyik MC tu memang kaki kencing, sebab tu kaki dia busuk. MC lah, EL lah, leave lah. Adik masuk hospital lah. Motor rosak lah. Eksiden motor lah. Hujan, jadi tak boleh nak keluar rumah lah. Eh, macam-macam lah alasan suka hati tok nenek dia. Lepas tu, ada yang sibuk nak kaitkan statement laki aku ngan keadaan mamat ni. 

Kau tak rasa itu perangai pondan ke? Iols nak mintak maap sangat-sangat kat uols kalau uols rasa, uols lebih currlasst daripada mamat ni, dan sebenarnya iols pun rasa perangai pondans-pondans sekalian memang jauh lebih mulia daripada mamat ni. Tapi bagi jantan-jantan yang mengaku mereka lelaki; yang ada hati ugut laki aku, dia nak bawak turun budak-budak (budak-budak? hak ptuih kau punya budak-budak! kau nak tengok aku punya budak-budak?) nak pukul laki aku; yang gigi bersepah, kulit kelabu asap pastu perasan hot stuff, buat perangai macam ni, memang pada aku pondan. Bacul. Longkang. Salur taik! Kalau ada depan muka aku, dah lama aku tunjal-tunjal dan jotos-jotos dahi dia. 

Ok dah, aku rasa cukuplah aku meluah rasa seadanya hari ini. Simpan untuk esok-esok pula.

There is Hope After All..

Nope, that's not my current celebrity crush. That's Timothy Ray Brown, a man from the US who used to have HIV but now his HIV has disappeared.

Say what?

Yup, apparently, what happened was, Timothy had both leukemia and HIV. To treat his leukemia, his doctors did a bone-marrow transplant from a random donor. Just FYI, the whole transplant thing happened in Berlin, Germany. Anyways, just so happened, the random donor is actually immune to HIV.

Say what?

Yup, apparently, you can be immune to HIV and AIDS. Experts say it's because of some hereditary genetic make-up that those immune receive from their ancestors. Somehow, once upon time, a long, long time ago, these ancestors SURVIVED HIV and/or AIDS or something similar, thus making about 1 percent of Caucasians genetically-wired to be HIV and AIDS-proof.

Amazing.

Okay, back to Tim. After he had the transplant, to the amazement of his doctor(s), his HIV seemed to disappear and the virus is not seemed to be replicating, meaning, there are no new viruses being made.

Do you want to know where I get this piece of news? Why, from Yahoo! of course! And to think I went there to look at who's on omg!'s What Were They Thinking?! list.

The World Wide Web never cease to amaze me.

Hate = Poison

I have two kids. Impressionable kids. Little Miss is at that stage were she haven't decided whether she wants to be stubborn or impress me all the time. Little Hero is more transparent, mainly because he still wears diapers and drinks milk, and he depends on me to help with all that.

And then I went blog-hopping and blog-reviewing that I stumbled upon this thought-provoking entry.

Let me sum it up for you if you don't have the time to read, though I strongly suggest that you do. The author, a one Aries, wrote of how parents or adults basically, can influence whether or not a child love or hate someone.

Now, I have always grappled with this issue. Should I tell my kids if I hate or is angry with someone, or should I just let them be? See, I can't even stand some of my siblings, for really, heinous things they did (barring things like rape and murder). There are cases of drug and domestic abuse in my family. And yes, I know people can change, I don't doubt the human capacity for change. But the thing is, in this case, change is taking up too much time and causing too much pain (emotional mostly) for me to see it a worthy cause (to wait for that particular person to change for the better).

Here's the thing. I want my kids to decide for themselves. But not before I am done with their 'foundation', you know what I'm saying? I'd like to be able to impart and instill the values and ideas and principles first before letting them decide for themselves. That in itself is lifelong learning, not something born in mere days. But 'foundation' you know?

Speaking of which, I am also mindful of the fact that by basically saying that it's okay to hate, which is perfectly okay to someone who is almost 30. But my kids are seven and three. Still think it's okay then?

Breaks my head a little thinking about it. Breaks my heart a little bit more though.

Ignoramus

An ignoramus is an ignorant person. If there's more than one, it probably should be ignorami. But since I am typing this on a notepad, offline and don't have a spellchecker, Imma let it be the singular form.

Ya see, I am supposed to participate in a focus group discussion. I've been to a few of these and here I am again because 1) I actually believe 'they' really2 consider what the participants say; 2) I am an attention-whore who loves the undivided attention of the discussion moderator; and 3) Once you go to a few of these babies, you'll get hooked somehow and you JUST have to go again and again.

Okay, I lied, the 'token' is RM150. And I get to escape the kids for a few hours (pinch of salt, people, pinch of salt).

Okay, so what's so ignorant about that? Well, for one thing, despite passing by the building for a gajillion time, I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to get from my office. I literally broke out in a cold sweat, printing oodles of Google map for direction to the damned place. Yes, I don't have a GPS, because I like to rough it up (yeah right).

Another instance of my ignorance is, despite depleting 1/725th of the tropical rainforest in the form of my printed Google map, I still missed the turn that I was supposed to take, the one I have taken a thousand times before, the turn that takes me straight to Mak Ngah's place. If I were made fun of this fact in the future, I shall blame a big-ass bus that seemed stationery right in front of the UN Building, that made me missed the friggin turn (actually, the bus is trying to make the turn I was supposed to make but the road was so congested, making the bus non-moving for a bit).

So I had to make a U-turn, big deal. A huge-ass U-turn, but at least by then I knew for sure which turn I was supposed to go into.

Anyways, long story short, I made it to the focus group discussion venue in one piece. Upon entering the international ad agency that organized the whole she-bang, I was told dinner is served and was taken to the agency's pantry where three lovely ladies (first impression) were sitting. There were O'Brien's Sandwiches which I never had and wasn't all that impressed with anyways; and some coffee or tea.

Okay, so the three lovely ladies, they were birds of a feather (fill in the blanks yourself). I don't mind this, I could easily be in the same situation if it was reversed (as in, me in the a group of three lovely lady birds of the same feather... umm, yeah... and there's another lady bird who's not of the same feather -- what is it with this post and all the sayings!). But thing is, if it was reversed, AT LEAST, the one left out can understand the conversation...

Thing is, the three ladies were speaking in their mother tongue. Me, most of the time, I speak in OUR mother tongue, the MALAYSIAN mother tongue. Bahasa Melayu or the Malay language (and yes, I write in English, this blog is, after all, a release). The three ladies, were carrying on and on and on in their mother tongue. There were only four of us there. I was like *crickets*. What the hell am I supposed to do here? What am I supposed to say?

On and on and on they conversed, with the minimal English words peppered here and there (I think I caught 'epidural' at one point, so maybe they were talking about childbirth), so naturally, seeing that the focus group discussion was for mothers, I can totally relate, if I knew the language, that is. So I sat there, kinda dumbly, not knowing what to do...

You see, an ignoramus is someone who is perhaps oblivious to the bloody obvious.

These three ladies? You be the judge.

extra prescription. the whole focus group discussion merits another entry on itself, by virtue of being one of the most ridiculous one I've been to... btw, I have quite a high tolerance of ridiculous, so that's saying a lot...

The Promise

I made a promise with myself. When I started this blog.

I made myself promise, that if I find this blog to be too much work, I'd just stop it.

This is supposed to be some sort of sanctuary for me. A literary catharsis of sort.

I write daily for my work. I do freelance writing as well. And if I must write for my release, then it shouldn't be forced, now should it?

I miss writing here. I miss reorganizing my memories of my two kids, the shenanigans they're up to now and then.

Maybe I shouldn't be too averse to work then?

What Did You Share with Your Child Today?

Text reads:
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway
- Mother Theresa

Is It Too Much to Ask?

I am human. I get angry too. I get that.

And I do acknowledge of the times when I am confronted with excellent customer service. I shall endeavor more to document those instances diligently henceforth.

Okay, enough with that. Here's what happened. This afternoon, my friends and I were at the Maxis Centre in KLCC (okay, so I don't the actual name of the place, but you get my drift, right?). One friend has been harping for a while about getting some sort of e-book or pdf reader thingymajiggie, so that she can read her e-books on the go. Of course the suggestions of Samsung Galaxy Tab and iPad came up, but cheapskate that she was, she refused.

Click image for source

Anyways, back at the Maxis Centre. We were there for quite a bit, waiting for a friend who wanted to cancel her broadband account. While waiting, I noticed something that looked like the 'tab' pc on display, but since it was facing another direction, I did not get a clear picture of the said 'tab'. Okay fine. Moving on. I told the other friend who wanted the e-book reader about the 'tab' on display, and she wanted to go and see the display.

We waited for the other friend to finish, and once she does, we made our way out, which meant we will pass the 'tab' on display. We looked at it, tapped the surface and all that, and not much happened. It was neither Samsung Galaxy Tab or iPad, it was some sort of tablet pc from HTC. I myself am using HTC Wildfire, so I thought, okay, so I can figure this out (maybe, I dunno, somehow, I was that confident on my IT abilities, one of those rare moments of nerdy, tech-geek self-confidence, you know...). Nothing much happens as we explore though (pah! So much for confidence).

Along came this salesperson. It was a guy. His name is Fairuz (I am not sure of the actual spelling, the name was something my friend managed to catch from his name tag). I don't remember exactly what transpired, but my friend who was looking for the e-book reader thingy asked this Fairuz 'fler, "Can this 'tab' read pdf files?" Fairuz quickly answered no.

Okay, now that's weird, because little as I know about IT, I think that smartphones nowadays can read pdf files. So I made a very frowny, weirded out face and said, "Really? Cannot read pdf files? You sure?" I wasn't being a bitch, I was honestly trying to find out if that is the case. And you know what Fairuz said, VERY RUDELY the 'fler was like, "You explore lah sendiri. Tap-tap je. Slide kiri kanan," (Translation : You can go and explore yourself. Just tap and slide left and right.)

Now, thing is, I have a very high tolerance for CRAPPY ATTITUDE. I can tolerate people being STUPID. But seriously, dude? WTF??? Kau ingat kau bagus sangat ke nak KOJAQ ngan CUSTOMER?

I don't get people who does customer service, but have poor people skills. Like I said earlier, yes, I get it, maybe we just got him at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Fairuz is just human, he gets angry too. But seriously, none of us were hostile. We were basically looking at something we could potentially BUY, but thanks to one very RUDE Fairuz (muka macam mamak2 sikit, FYI) in Maxis KLCC, that ain't gonna happen.

You happy now, Fairuz?

Differences

Source

That's a painting by Paul Cézanne. Have you ever heard of Picasso? Well, Paul, the fler who drew all of 'em apples and oranges up there, is actually considered the good ol' daddy o' for Picasso's (and some of other painter fogies') style. Says a lot about them apples and oranges now, doesn't it? Okay, enough with the Art History lesson for today..

Today I want to talk about differences. Apples and oranges.

You and me, we're different, right? I'm okay with that, I hope you're okay with that as well.

One thing I am distinctly different from other people is that I think early-childhood education that primarily consists on rote-learning alone is bullshit. For instance, I consider Kumon and other similar classes for children under the age of 10 is child abuse.

Some parents beg to differ.

I don't mind that. Really, I don't. Go ahead, beg and differ all you want.

But what I do mind is when these parents try to impose their beliefs on me. I don't want to beat my chest ala King Kong and say, "I KNOW WHAT'S BEST FOR MY KIDS!!!" I know I am a young parent. I know I am inexperienced and in most cases, I may still be immature. I welcome constructive criticism that can help me develop my parenting skills. I know that that will help me raise my kids better. And if there's only one thing I know about parenting, it's that I want what's best for my kids.

Thing is, what's best for you might not be the best for me.

Some parents equate intelligence with their kids' glowing report card. Me, I am proud when my oldest beat my score at some stupid online game we play together.

My three year old can barely string a coherent sentence Some parents think this is some form of mental retardation because their darling 2 1/2 year old can order from a menu all by themselves (oooo hyperbole!). But you get my drift, right?

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I do willfully acknowledge that some other parents might think my seemingly cavalier, careless attitude when it comes to my kids' 'academic achievement' is a form of child abuse as well.

But remember that thing I said about differences earlier? Yep. I couldn't care less about what you think indeed.

My Kids are PERFECT just the way they are.

To Do or Not To Do

Sorry, I don't have the source. This has been in my Wallpaper folder for ages.

This place, this place I'm starting to dislike, has a lot of great friends in it. We bitch and moan a lot. We criticize and complaint (with good reasons, at least we think they're good reasons, or maybe they're just excuses, I dunno...). We just basically do what human with the XY chromosomes are expected to do, we do next to nothing and we bitch a lot. [Please read that with just the right amount of sarcasm you can muster. Seriously. No, SERIOUSLY]

So anyways, I have a bit of a beef. This beef has an easy solution, I should just (wo)man up and tell this person what's what. In fact, if someone were to tell me that they're in this type of dilemma, that would be my advise to them. But of course, I am very much do-as-I-do-not-as-I-say kind of person. So there.

My beef is with one person who asks me to do this favour. I don't wanna go into details, so stop tricking me INTO TELLING YOU THE FRIGGIN DETAILS!!! *deeeeep breaths* Sorry, my bipolar kicked in just there. So this favour, it's kinda like tricking the system (and we all LOVE to stick it up to the system right?). Thing is, I don't want to trick the system. I don't see the point. If you did something wrong, you did something wrong. Most of the time, I know it's not your fault, so that's that. And sometimes, it is your fault, so shouldn't you just deal with it? I know I will.

Thing is, it's been quite a few times (about 13 times so far, yes, I keep track of these nonsensical trivialities) that I told this person, if it was me, I'll just deal with the consequences. After all, when I say 'doing something wrong', I don't mean killing somebody or stealing or anything bad like that. It's just, sort of, like an unacceptable behaviour. But still, it does not necessarily affect your work performance..

And I'm from the school of thought that maybe, in the future, it might just be me in the other pair of shoes. I'm also apt to say, I'll cross that bridge when I get there, if I get there. At this particular moment in time though, I am pissed. You call yourself my friend and you put me in this compromising situation.

extra prescription. one of my undecipherable post, i know. bear with me, this particular bipolar personality is very fleeting. she'll go away soon enough.

Hate Me Today, Love Me Tomorrow

I have a love-hate relationship with my job. No, actually, I love my job. The pay, not so much, but the job is just the right amount of challenge and chill time for me. The upper-echelons here however, is a different story altogether.

I also happen to like working for my direct boss. Crazy at times, undecipherable mostly, but I like working with him. Most importantly, I like to work for him. However, again, the upper-echelons here is a different story altogether.

Ours is not the most traditional set-up for institutions in our field. Even my particular unit was one of kind until not too long ago. The sub-unit I'm under is an even newer, hybrid creature. We're kinda winging it here, you know? We have no idea if what we're doing is right, so yeah, who's to say what we're doing is wrong, kan?

Anyways, in my previous employment, it took me less than a year to get to this point. This point up to here *forefinger levels horizontally a pinch under the hair/tudungline*. And I started writing fiction. Then it was about some off-tangent storyline derived from Bleach, my favourite manganime of all time (I hate Ichigo, but I love Byakuya and whatshisface the funky redhaired dude).

So guess what I'm doing now? 10 points for guessing "writing fiction with Ryan Reynolds as your source of inspiration"!

I am pathetic. Get me out of here. Pwease?

Desensitization

Source

I am a Facebook addict. Okay, there you go. I admitted it. Can we move on now?

Anyways, part of this particular addiction sees me looking at the random stuff my friends post. Today is like many other days, I clicked on a video a friend posted.

For the first time in my Facebooking years, I regretted that.

Usually, my friends posts funny stuff. Like, who else would post a random, Monty Python Spam skit other than my friend, right? Who else would post random Duran Duran song and tag me as well, right?

And then along comes this particular video that in all honesty, still bothers me until this moment (at about half an hour after watching it). I will not post the link of that video nor embed it in this post. Suffice to say, the video is about this little kid, who was basically being a jerk and bullying this other kid, who was older than him. Okay, little kid was a jerk, total jerk, even punching the other kid in the face and the older kid did not retaliate right until the little kid got right up to his nose. And then the big kid fought back. He slammed the little kid/bully to the ground.

I couldn't fight the *gasp* that came when I saw the victim flung the little kid (the bully) to the ground. The bully couldn't even walk straight after that. I am no medical expert, but can't shake the feeling that something broke due to the slam, maybe the kid's leg, a rib or something.

I am a parent. Of course I don't condone bullying. I don't want to talk about these two kids. They are kids. Most probably, with the right kind of help and guidance, they will be better adults.

What got to me, was how on the Youtube page for this particular video and even in the comments in my friend's wall post of this video, people were making light of that incident. Jokes like, "Don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry" or "The little jerk deserved it" etc, were aplenty. It made me *gasped* once more.

Seriously, have we come to this? I don't care if the little twerp deserved it or not, I don't care if the big victim was provoked to the point of retaliation, it's a SICKENING video, pure and simple. It is not a showcase of a bully-victim's comeuppance, it is a filthy video of violence. It is a video of violence with kids in them, with kids being the perpetrator, with kids being the cameraperson, and most probably with kids uploading the video for adults consumption. Adults whose response include "hahaha true, year 10 should of gotten a parade or something". WTF people?

I truly don't know how this should be handled. Or rather, I know how this should be handled but I doubt that's going to work. This video should not be uploaded at all. It should not have been viewed by so many people for so long. It should not be responded with "man i could watch that little wigger get slammed on the ground a good infintie times" or even "It's a shame the little weed didn't land on his head and die."

It's a video of a young kid, who just didn't know any better, bullying a bigger kid, who has had enough and retaliated. In a normal, day to day circumstance, if any of us adult were confronted with this situation, we would react differently. We would probably be more rational. Why is it then, when we are alone, in front of our computer monitor and with our keyboard, we become desensitized human beings?