Being Free

Malaysia, you love it and yet you hate it. Happy Merdeka!

Voices

Sometimes, I can hear this little voice in my head. Screaming to get out, shouting for attention. Just like the Nike advert, heh!

Finally, I chose to listen to that voice and have decided to heed its demand. I want to change, I really want to. It’s for the better, surely. I’m gonna keep it up. Man, it’s gonna ache like hell, but what the heck…

No pain, no gain.

Who?

Here's an interesting riddle...
This goes out to Ian, Simran and whoever that's from Saints, Graduates of Year 2000.

Who is the only friend that we all don't talk to but only wave at?
Yes, we all know him. Confirm. And it has been going on for years already.

Post up the answers on the "Comment" section.


I'll give you guys the answer a little later.

Have fun.

Vintage, Not

Looky, looky what I found. An old vintage photograph of me grand dad and his hoes. Heh! OK, seriously, that's me. I think it was in 2002 on top of KOMTAR. Its actually a coloured photo. But this version was developed by me manually back in college. Oh, they're not me hoes, but me classmates actually :). And yes, that year I had a Bad Hair Year.

Throw Caution to the Wind

What’s with old dudes with white hair and beer bellies; driving gorgeous exotic cars with the top down? Don’t they realize people wouldn’t give a shit that they have got nice taste or has a lot of money but that they’re in denial with their age? They might call it “A Showcase of Wealth and Success” but I called it “Mid-Life Crisis”.

Do the public a favour and put the top back on or just buy a BMW 7-Series and drive it with the windows down, if you’re not worried about the wind blowing at your flimsy, aging hairs away…or whatever that’s left of it.

Dear Cousin

HEY, WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HOLIDAY IN AUSTRALIA AH? I STILL WANT TO GO, YOU KNOW.

It's My Life

I had lunch with Ryan. As usual, he has a lot to say, all the time. A lot of stories. He's our local action hero. Then at one point, it hit me. I used to live a life like this. Living it to the fullest, as if everyday was gonna be my last day. I've since lost it.

"Wah, missing in action, eh?"
I quote a friend who told me that early last week.

Since then, every phone call I receive. Conversations will start off with that sentence.
Have I lost my sense of adventure? The one thing I was so proud of is no longer in existance.

"Making it big isn't important if you are not happy."
Quote another friend.

Yeah. She has a point.



I want to live, again.

One Hour

I seriously thought today was the day. I woke up this morning, for some reason, the urge was strong. The urge to finally turn my back on it and walk away. It went really well for the best part of it. But being me, eventually...

I found myself standing in front of the mini mart counter
and naturally went...

"One Marlboro Lights small pack, please?"
I thought maybe a Lights would get me to cut down

"Oh, finish already." store lady replies.

"Emm, Dunhill Lights then."
Then I remembered. It's only denial.

If you wanna quit, just quit. Cold turkey. That's the only way to do it
I couldn't even last a day. Not even a day. Truth is, it only lasted for an hour.

Talk to Me

The camera pans…
This time he has to face me and talk to me
So we could superimpose a voice-over
It’s just a video thing, angle variety
Just to keep viewers interested.

The Dato’ says
“Hey, you haven’t been to one of our crazy parties, have you?”
“Emm, I don’t think so.” I replied.
“Come-lah this September. We’re having a thing at Damai Laut.”

Damai Laut? For some reason, the first thing that pops into my head was PJ Development (don’t ask). He went on…

“We throw parties like this quite often, but this time it’s different…”

Different, eh? How different?

“Every time when we throw parties like these, we’ll have other hotel guests complaining that we make too much noise-lah, too much this lah, too much that lah…”

Oh…

“Yeah, so I told myself…what the hell, let’s book the whole god damn place this time.”

*Chokes with water*
@#$%?!

The whole damn place? You kiddin’ me?

*Looks at Mr Kee*
“Are we going?!”

“I didn’t say no…”

*YAY*

And he loves my work…
Heh heh heh…

One more personal achievement in my pocket…

Fountain of Youth

There. I finally did it. After 4 hours of non-stop, back-to-back, visiting shops after shops with mom, I bought an indoor fountain thingy. It was fairly overdue; I just couldn’t bear staring at an empty aquarium anymore, if not dead floating fishes. See, my dad constructed a shelve where on the top; he made a little space to place his aquarium.

“I’m gonna deck out this aquarium with loads of décor and nice exotic fishes.” says dad.

But time and time again, one by one of them fishes died. I can’t even remember how many lohans (flower-horns) we’ve had (including that really fierce somersaulting one that Tuck loves to play with) plus all the other fishes, which includes 5 parrot fish, 2 gold fish, 1 koi and one fresh water turtle. OK, we did not have all of them at one go. We have different phases. But that’s basically the total of fishes that we’ve had and died. Plus the cute little turtle too.

“Haiyah! This aquarium is cursed!” says mom.

I couldn’t agree more. They just keep dying even though my dad washes the tank every week, no kidding. And dad…never quite had it decked out. In fact, he never quite did anything apart from collecting some fancy looking stones and the reef/coral poster I bought for them to stick it at the back of the aquarium. So, enough of empty promises, out the tank goes, in comes the fancy looking indoor water fountain. The salesman calls it a Water Display. OK fine, water display. Then he went on;

"Wah! So tall ah! Must play basketball hor?"
Looky looky, stating the obvious and I HATE BASKETBALL! I play FOOTBALL.
"Oh, why never go national or state level?"

I would if there wasn't so much politics involved in it. Hey! We had Mr. Moey Yoke Ham coaching us. He was like The Man back then. The guy that made Penang FC into a real title-contending team again. But anyway, somethings are never meant to happen. So we hung up our boots (not literally) and went on the pursue a more realistic future with less politics involved in it.

I have to admit though…
*Someone please shoot me*
I got the idea from Lillian Too.
I know, I know…but hey! When it was CNY, every channel you surf thru has her in it. And you can’t help but acquire a tip or two, unintentionally. Apparently, its good feng shui to have water flowing inside the house…with represents something…something good, I can’t remember what was it. And I wanted to replace the aquarium, so might as well get a water fountain display (err, whatever they call it).

Will get a picture up soon :)

The Mafia

It feels weird, I'm having a deja-vu while making this entry. Anyway, check it out. It's on every Tuesday on National Geographic (FYI: it's channel 52 on your Astro). It's an awesome show, really.

One Year

It has been one year. On this date but last year, was my first working day with KLue magazine. Though I left to KL on the 14th, It's hard to think a year has pass. Truth is, it really felt like forever while working there. I thought of staying, but stupid EAA had to bring me back, sigh.

The Cleavage

Walau
Si Koreans
Show me one big massive longkang
There goes my mood to work
All I want was a can of coffee
But I got eye-candy
Via Korean longkang

Walau
It's so damn big
Seeing that longkang
Now I have a better reason
To wear that pink wristband
That contributes to Breast Cancer research

Save the boobies!

Flip Out

Hey
Whatever happened to being normal?
I want to get a flip flop
A simple, single coloured flip flop with no additional design

I do not see a single one in sight
Other than the typical blue and white Bata (buy and throw away)
Which I already have
And I still haven’t thrown it away

Funny enough
The Bata shop is bigger
Than the Nike shop
What the hell is going on?

Since when did all the shopping malls
Started catering metrosexuals?
What about the retrosexuals?
I don’t want to wear something which looks like a spaceship

I just want a god damn flip flop
One colour
Minimal design or none at all
Just a flip flop.

Jackpot

I want to buy a new car.
In less than 10 seconds, reality strikes me down
So I had to re-phrase the sentence.

I want to get a second-hand car.
Hey, wait a minute
What about the degree?

Damn.
I can’t have anything?!
This sucks.

What about the camera?
What about that overdue tattoo?
I think I’m gonna try my luck

With a lottery ticket.

Drink Up

I had a great night last night
Blazed, drank and ate…
Though it was hasty, again
I noticed…

I’ve turned into a party-pooper
I can’t even remember
When was the last time
I stayed till the party ended

I still drink as much as I used to
But I don’t take it as well anymore
I’ll be like
“What? I’m just getting started!”

Next thing I know…
I’m halfway crawling my way back
And set up shop
In front of the toilet bowl

The jello shots was crazy
The beers was awesome
The Guiness gives it a nice swing
Blazing prior to that was a bad idea though

Then the next day
For the first time in a long time
I woke up with the nastiest headache ever
Even though I had a good 8 hour sleep

And the sight of absolute whiteness
The haze has finally arrive
It didn’t help me feel any better
Worst part was, you can actually smell the haze

My phone was flooded with SMSes
I’ve become the official scapegoat
For ‘causing’ the haze
In Penang

I knew I was in no condition to drive
The headache made me puke in the morning
I found two Panadols on the bar
Popped it in, down a glass full of water

Then I said to myself
Just like what most people say to themselves
After a great night of drinking
“I’m never drinking again…”

We’ll see…
We’ll see.

Smog

It’s such an irony…
Every year, we blame Indonesia for choking us
You ask any Malaysian anything about haze
First thing that comes into their minds
“Indonesia”

Then on the papers
I quote The Star
“Plantation and Commodities Minister; Datuk Peter Chin is demanding to know from his Indonesia counterpart, the Malaysian companies responsible for open burning in Sumatra.”

And then our Prime Minister adds…
“By now, they should realize that what they do can affect their own country.”

Even so
I still blame Indonesia
For not doing anything about it.

Say Cheese

There are days when ideas are illusive
Writers have writer's block
We designers have designer's block

Solution?

Go window shopping!

Heh heh heh...
Then I remembered
I need a new shopping list
To have something to look forward to
Something to work towards for the short-term

My mind went...
iPod? Tattoo? Computer upgrades?
Hang on, I don't need all that, yet
A digital camera would be wicked though
I looked into Epinion for some tips

The Sony F-88 looks awesome
It's a upgraded version of the F-77
Which was one of the best camera I've ever sampled

And so...
My mind was made up
A Sony F-88 is it

How long?
2 months, maybe?

Not Quite Baked

I’ve always wanted to eat it
Back then in KL
I wanted to bake one
Or make one
Maybe drink one

Yet, it was illusive when the time comes
It’s been a long time since that devastating draught
I’ve forgotten that I wanted to make one
Then this little girl said

“I don’t care! On Monday, I’m gonna make one!”
And so I waited and waited
The anticipation was unrelenting

Then at the knick of time
The cake was all set
She insisted I ate that entire one slice she gave
And so I did, despite I just had dinner

With high hopes and eagerness to sample the new experience
It was a major anti climax in the end
Nothing happened
But it was a really tasty banana cake though.

Then she said
“I don’t care! I must succeed! I’ll do it on a cheese cake tomorrow!”

Now that’s a super star pastry chef in the making.

The Neighbour

A lot can change in a year
I said, "I'm going to KL."
She said, "I'm going to the US."

I'm like wtf?
I finally get to go KL and live there
She gets to go to US

But since then...
I finish off my internship at KLue
I came back and battled the final year
While working with Apple

I had an exhibition
I graduated
I found a job
And have been working for 3 months since...

And now...

The neighbour's back. On the picture, that's Swen the Woman Warrior, me and stupid is the neighbour, heh. The picture was taken waaaay back in 2001. Back then when digital camera was a luxury and only a fantasy to own. Good old film camera.

Anyway, welcome back jiran! Did you buy me that bottle of Absolut?

A lot can change in a year...




...a lot.

Alive

It’s been 5 days since my last rambling. I still got nothing much to say, despite having quite the eventful weekend that’s uncalled for.

In the recent PC Fair in PISA, I finally got me a brand spanking new Kingston PC3200 512MB DDR RAM that I’ve been eyeing since like forever. Now the PC, formerly known as the “ugly-looking-box-that-is-suppose-to-be-a-PC” is now a PC again! With a 256MB factory fitted RAM already inside, now I got 768MB of RAM baby! It’s not much compared to other computer junkies out there (*winks*) but it’s good enough for me, for now…

The iBook however, can wait. I think. Since I don’t use it as much anymore, I guess it can wait…

My weekend though was ruined spoilt because I had to pickup dad all the way in Nibong Tebal, which is like on the edge of Mainland Penang on Saturday evening. (For heaven’s sake, it’s no longer Penang once you leave the island!). And then send dad back there at 10am the morning after. I made 2 freakin’ trips! It’s like driving to KL already. FYI, dad services his boat there…why there, I will never know.

I have been there several times already, so I know my way pretty darn well. They know you’re not local by just looking at you.

“Oh look, city boy…sure get lost wan…”

Oh yeah? I beg to differ… :)

I took a Bob Jr. with me to blaze, just to ‘see things in a different perspective’ on my way back. And saw, I did. Suddenly, my mouth was wide open with amazement. Despite being so god damn isolated, it’s actually very serene. The padi fields, old-skool kampungs, rivers…oh my…there’s not a single building in sight. Now that’s what I call back-to-basic.

Credits

Credit

I don’t know how else to say it
But rest assure…

Thanks…

to my mom who bought me a cheese cake. My favourite cake.

to everyone who called/messaged to wish me.

for the cake I got, a really small but memorable one.

to my Art Director for that pack of Oreo’s. Since I eat so much of it for breakfast. Hey, it’s the thought that counts!

to the peeps who came to my birthday drinking session.


Thank you! No…you! Yes…you! All of you!


:)

Think Stink

Once, in Form 2
My class was attacked by a stink bomb
A really small but potent stink bomb

That little object
Made the entire class desolated
And half of the next class

And believe me
That was the nastiest stench I’ve ever smelt
No kidding

Then today
The office had their computers beefed up
Then it blue-screened, big time

In came the computer dude
All big and jolly
He took off his shoes…

And all of hell-of-smell broke lose

We weren’t any push-over
We fought back
With a can Detol Spray

The lingering smell
The persistent stench
The unrelenting reek

We fought brave and hard
But the stench kept coming back
We knew we had to down the mothership

Oh my, for hours…
The smell put up a La Resistance
We seek refuge at our boss’ office

Then…
I noticed the clock on my phone…
It reads “6:30PM”


“To hell with it, I’m going home…”

Older & Taller

Finally, I turned 22.
The drinks were great
The company was good

The table behind us
Had a spliff
Which they blazed openly

An act so blatant
Even Bob would be reluctant
We were tempted

Alas, I said
“Ryan, let’s blaze!”
We ain’t settling for second hand smokes

Light up we did
And smoke we puffed
Our spliff was far more superior

Though they had with them
A Grand Canyon
Which our eyes were glued to

It gets bigger
When new buckets are ordered
And the bottles run dry

A special thanks to Annie
For making that banana cake
And not sparing me the embarrassment, of song

It was one weird night
It was one weird experience
It was one hell of a night

Hasty, though.

Approaching The Double Two

A couple more hours remains
"Get it right, at least"
I say.

Resolutions, check.
Money, check.
Location, check.
Personality, check.
Friends, check.
Beers, check.
Bob Marley, check.
Wristwatch...
...uncheck

Sometimes, there's no need to keep track of time
Sometimes, you're better off not knowing

For the first time...
I want to embrace.