Papa Shin-Chan's Birthday

Maybe I should drop you at your door
Or leave tonight and vanish up the shore
Anywhere but here

- Better Than Ezra's "At The Stars" -

Ever since my colleagues in the same batch as I entered this agency, we’ve kept up this tradition of celebrating our birthday together. Nothing elaborate, just a small cake and a card with everyone’s signature on it, and it will usually be sorta a surprise, where everyone will gather in the food court and have lunch, an suddenly, ta-dah! a cake will be brought out, all the candles will be lighted up, and the whole food court usually joins in our birthday song sing-along. Even though we may not hang out with each other much, but when it comes to this, we’ll all be there, and stories will be exchanged over lunch and cake, then everyone will walk back to the office together, in a group of 10 people, solidarity in our small number. I think that the cake and the card may not mean as much as the thought of spending the day with the very bunch of people who were there from Day 1, and prolly have experienced the same things you’ve had in the time you’ve spent working there.

I had my fair share. Although, by the time ot got to my birthday, the surprise over lunch thingy was expected tho’ still anticipated, and I had an extra celebration where they gathered over dinner with me at Chilli’s, all 10 of use squeezed in one booth, sampling each other’s dishes. Twas nice :) Nothing like a bunch of my good friends, getting over good food, and best of all, everyone knew how much I love to read, so I got lotsa books for my birthday present. Thanks you guys, and it was so sweet how they would consult each other on the kind of books I liked to read hehe.

And so, yesterday was a friend’s birthday, and altho’ he’s been transferred to a different division hence enhanced workload, and the fact that he doesn’t spend as much time with us due to a tiny dispute some time back, the celebration preparations were still carried out. Since a few of the original cast members have flocked the nest to greener pastures, our number has dwindled and celebrations have been slightly smaller than the last one. However, we’ve acquired new acquaintances and friends who regards us as part of them, so this helped in maintaining and even increasing our party. Alhamdulillah for very, very, very nice, jovial, friendly and supporting aka gila-gila minded people like us.

Celebration preparations: Well, emails were sent out to everyone we considered bday boy’s friends, informed them of his upcoming birthday, announced that there’s gonna be a small surprise gathering, explained the cake and card scenario, STRESSED that no one is obligated to participate if they don’t want to *silently stating that those who participated has to contribute sincerely lah*, and instructed interested parties to submit their names to the organising committee. Organising committee which initially was headed by Poovs, who had conveniently forgotten he had more important matters to handle in hand on that day so then passed the job to me, comprised of Diva Deen, La Pacina and moiself. And true to my procrastinating nature, yesterday my desk were piled with more files and memos, while yours truly ran around to get a card, acquire all signatures for it, and to buy a cake.
Getting signatures from all 12 floors of friends is no easy feat, I tell you. I salute La Pacina for handling it all this while. People take so long to compose a short note, and us breathing down their necks while looking pointedly at our watch didn’t really help either, hehe. There were times when they were just twirling the pen in their hands, thinking up what to write, when me and the Diva, cannot tahan already, will blurt out, "U have only 2 minutes, that’s our clients’ charter!" Managed to get loads of signatures altho’ the Diva did sniffed and said that I asked too many unnecessary people to sign. Me!

The cake was bought in Baker’s Cottage in Bangsar, after a sumptuous lunch at the Delicious Cafe in Bangsar Village. Celeb spotting la kejap kan hehe. The chocolate cake is TO DIE FOR, btw. Work wasn’t attended to properly either in the afternoon as had long discussion with the boss over some files. Then it was already time to surprise the bday boy, who apparently, thought we had forgotten all about his bday already, given that we didn’t take him out to the customary birthday lunch. He was just prolly moaning about this condition to our friend *who helped in distracting him, thank you Joy!*, when all of us, bounced in yelling " Surprise!!" with the guys bringing up a baritone version of "Happy Birthday" hehehe..Even his boss jumped into the celebrations *cuz we were so loud*, and claimed that the room we were in is going to be known as a party room, cuz many a bday celebrations have been held there, hehehe.

It was worth it to see him so happy. I know this guy’s quite a sensitive dude, so this surprise has perked him up, and it is a welcoming break from his job. The tea lady provided us some drinks, and altho’ the number of people who came were less than those we emailed to, the celebration was just as festive. Hope it was a good one dude! and don’t think that we’ve forgotten or we simply didn’t care, we do! Btw, lyrics above is one of this dude's favourite songs :)

All those preparations made me guilty of the piles of files on the table, so I tended them in the evening. I had very pleasant company for a short while there tho :) However, remind me next time, that it is not productive to be working at night, while hairs on back of neck is practically standing up due to the fact that there’s no one else on the same floor except for you. Especially when overactive imagination also decided to do overtime.

Ooh, can’t wait to meet up with the girls later for lunch!

p/s: Take a look at Ms Read's latest catelogue..its super cute! Yay for super cool plus size women!

Insatiable

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitionsFeel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

- Natasha Bedingfield’s "Unwritten" -

I was listening to this song this morning, and had just finished reading my archives on the last few days before leaving London...I miss London! There, I’ve said it, and altho’ I’m grateful to be back home, but there are times when I wish I had stayed back and I dunno, busked in the tube stations to earn a living or something :p Totally, totally impractical, and totally, totally un-me, so, I guess that thought never crossed my head, up till about a few seconds ago. Hence, the current state of my mind: confused, with no proper agenda.

Confusion is acceptable, when there are tangible situations to handle in hand, but confusion with some things which may or may not materialise, hence have no proper agenda is just..i guess, dumb? There’s too much what-ifs scenarios in my head, so much so that I find myself staring out of the Komuter windows thinking about them more often than burying my nose in between the pages of Sophie’s World *which, btw, like the fluffy floozy I can be, I find really, really dry* on the way home from work. It came to a point when I noticed my forehead, reflected in a consultant’s car’s rear-view mirror, having a seemingly un-erasable tiny but still significant, etch. Yucks. The etch is making its appearance already? I’m way off the semi-big three-oh, and already I have an etch?? This etch has got to go. If left to its own devices, this etch will create its own colony of long, deep crevices, many, many nooks and crannies, and God forbid, its own suicidal cliff.

*sigh* I think I need a break, and I am going to get a break soon. Early next month, there’s a seat on the Air Asia plane bound to Bangkok with my name on it *well, not really, but if I happen to be carrying a pen, I might just...*. However, my parents and relatives are going, "Ru sure u wanna go? Ru sure, ru sure??" all because of the darned riots that’s supposed to contain 50-60,000 participants..that’s a whole lotta people, y’all! Unfortunately, i’ve not been following the news *model citizen I am* so i’m not able to judge the severity of the situation myself. An uncle has suggested that I register myself with Wisma Putra, just in case anything *God forbid* happens, well, then they’ll at least have a record of me. The thing is, I am so not involved in the preparations of this trip, as I thought I’m just going for the ride, but I guess I better get my itinerary properly and plan my journey carefully. I did wonder tho, what happens if they suddenly declared an Emergency, and no one’s allowed to leave? Will we be awarded immunity as we’re all tourists? Should I be setting aside some more moolah just in case I need to purchase last-minute tickets back home?? Not to mention, scenes from the movie Brokedown Palace started to flash before me, what if i’m not careful with my bagages, like those girls?? *see the what-ifs scenarios I come up with? no wonder the etch decided to make an appearance* Shee, even my break needs another break.

Oh, and to add another reason why I left my previous workplace? The demonic drivers operating around that area. Went back to that area to run an errand for my dad during my lunchtime earlier on, and one cabbie drove by and knocked my handbag which I had hanging on my shoulder, so imagine how close he was. And this bright red 4-wheeler drove like less than 5 inches away from my toes. Please! Take away my toes, please! I don’t need them, but apparently you do to notch up the number of toes you’ve lanyak-ed over the years! No, no go ahead, have them! Frogs don’t have them, and they survived!

*Grumble, grumble*

It was a good thing then that I ventured off to look for the famous Bakin’ Boys kiosk in KLCC and had their Milkman Meltdown cookie, then I had a lunch of the spinach and cheese pie at the stall in front of Burger King. Yummy food always calms me down. But, note the choices of food? Millie’s Cookies and those onion and cheese pasties comes to mind.

*sigh* I miss you too.

As good as it can get.

And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

- Goo Goo Dolls’s "Better Days" -

Of what that has happened, and of what could have, I don’t think I would have wish for any better days.

Last weekend, my teensy cousin was engaged to her boyfriend of 8 months. Said cousin was ecstatic, resplendant in her pink outfit, looking quite calm despite the storm that was us other cousins touching up our makeup in front of her mirrors and fussing around her *masa tu jugakla her curtain decided to skydive*, and looking absolutely radiant. I looked at her, and I think, wow, she has already grown up. I think back to those years when we used to play around together, and have long chats during long walks around the kampung, and now, she’s all grown up, taking her first step towards a lifelong committment. *sigh* how they grow. And her fiancé, an actual nasyid singer who doesn’t really look so nasyid-y, seemed to have fit right in with the family, as after the engagement, he hung around, and joined the crowd of fathers who have fallen asleep on the living room floor due to exhaustion.

The weekend before that was my dentist’s daughter’s engagement pulak. Kak Moonie, of the Spanish Escapade tales back in 2004, finally got engaged to her handsome journalist boyfriend. To think that I was actually there went it all started :) I remembered it was during our short walk to the bus stop back in Clapton Pond, when she got the message that changed her life after that. She was stunned, and needless to say, our trip to Oxford St was cut short due to her ‘kegamaman’ and lack of pure concentration while supposedly shopping. cheh. But nevermindla, cuz that was the start of a relationship that’s going to *insya-Allah* end up dijinjang pelamin..yay! Unfortunately, I was such a disgraceful guest cum host at the engagement, as while everyone was fussing around with the food and decor, I fell asleep on the couch underneath the stairs. Que? Killer Jazzercise session that morning! The other guests cum hosts were kind enough not to wake me up, although God, wasn’t that rude of me???

That night, Ainurul and I went off to celebrate Ilsa Imaan bin Ilish Asmin, Safurah’s first offspring *the first of many more to come, I hope!* Comelnya baby boy Safurah, and comelnya parents dia :) Hung around with some of their friends, and had lovely, lovely nasi kerabu and barbequed lamb...and a tiny tour of Safurah’s parents lovely home, courtesy of Ainurul. And, to witness enterprising designers at work..aha! I know who to go to when it comes to designing cute wedding cards at really affordable prices...Allow me to shamelessly plug them :
http://www.pixel-latte.com Go there now!

The day before that was a momentous occasion but with minimal, almost Zen-like feel to it was the engagement of my best friend. You know, that best friend that I’ve had for almost 20 years :) Why Zen? well, prolly because it was really minima;, minimal guests, minimal hantarans, minimal celebration but everything was just nice and just right. What’s important is that they are now engaged :) She looked absolutely beautiful that afternoon and despite the Totz doodling entah apa entah yang actually ended up alright on her face, she remained serene. Even when the Totz terconteng eyeliner on her gorgeous pink kurung. Such drama, okaay, pakai makeup pun boleh ada traumatic incident. Well, traumatic for me la, cuz i’m never gonna have the Totz do my makeup. Imagine us running around with glasses of water, makeup remover and tissue to dab the stain off. And the P.Ramlee-ish comedic scene, when both of us, the Totz and I, listened behind the closed door a bit too closely, and suddenly hearing her mother going, Ok la, panggil dia ke depan, which saw us scampering off, and pretending to be doing something else. Hehehe...*sigh* that’s another one down...congratulations dear, I wish u all the strength during these supposed trying months of being engaged. Like I always said to the Totz, kita kan nak bina masjid, and setan kan tak suka, so, we have to be strong and patient to face all the dugaans...chewaah, spoken like a true veteran..ngeh ngeh ngeh...

Just when I thought I might have a nice, quiet weekend after all, I came back last Friday night to a huge bunch of UITM students shooting some movie scene at home for 2 nights. My brother has this funky friend of his who’s doing a course in Film Making or something in UITM, who likes our place enough to be included in their short movie assignment, so she requested permission from my family to shoot a few scenes in our house. My parents were okay about it, I bet they were even a little excited over it hehe. They prolly only shot like 2 scenes, but the entourage? was HUGE! They had a a huge bas ekspress that transported all this kids to our place *it was parked like a dark, giant beached whale in front of our house*, not to mention all the cars the kids came in with, the vans bringing their props, cameras, lights, picnic tables, costumes, and even that tiny track for the camera to move on and more people. These kids just set up camp right there, claimed ownership of the house for that 2 nights, which relegated us to the our tiny TV room, and did basically anything they want. Which included, setting up huge spotlights in the semak samun next door and in our backyard, taping up our lights, rearranging furnitures, cooking Mee Goreng Mamak and preparing teh tarik in the middle of the night. shushing us when we got too loud, and oh yeah, actually filmed a few scenes. Despite it all, it was very interesting, and its really heartwarming to see this kids hard at work. Plus, they didn’t mess up much of the house, although the makeup and wardrobe people had their stuff all over our dining table at one time, and they held discussions everywhere, in the kitchen, on the porch, in the living, outside the gate. My parents and I, like the jakuns we can be, actually crept downstairs *me in my Pjs, ma in her kaftan, and ayah in his kain pelikat* just to sneak a peek at a scene where this kid in baju sekolah walked up our pathway, kicking some stones, then banging close the front door. Whew, such attitude, boleh menang award ke nie? hehehe...and my mom actually grumbled at how ‘tak handsome’ the hero is...Ma, this is like for their assignment ok, what do u expect? Rosyam Noor?? Not that I think Rosyam Noor is drop dead gorgeous la that is...

So, better days? I do wish for better days, but sometimes, this is as good as it can get. Plus, I have Thursdays to look forward to nowadays :)

Watching and waiting

I hope you’re doing fine out there without me
‘Cause I’m not doing so good without you
The things I thought you’d never know about me
Were the things I guess you always understood

- 3 Doors Down's " Here By Me" -

I feel obliged to present a write-up, albeit very short one, of the much-talked about production of the Puteri Gunung Ledang: The Musical (PGLTM). I was very fortunate to have a friend who has a very bersungguh-sungguh friend, who managed to get us tickets for the last show, which was staged last night. I supposed you can say that I went with a tiny bit of apprehension. I wondered if all the favorable reviews I read were merely to boost the egos of the people behind the production. I wondered if the movie version of PGL could actually be translated into a musical, and how would it be presented to its audience. And, I wondered to what extent can Stephen Rahman-Hughes speak Bahasa Melayu, not of the pasar variety, but the berkias-kias type. Most of all, I wonder if our children will grow up thinking that this love story actually exists, and if this is going to be included as a sub-chapter in my children’s history textbooks, 10 years on.

So, witness the majestic Istana Budaya united with the grace of Enfiniti Production I did last night. And I was pleasantly surprised to find myself absorbed in many of its scenes. Twas a grand production of elegant dances, lovely lyrics and score, massive props, and talented cast. It was also the first musical I went to that has subtitles *i now know how these subtitled theatre productions work*, so at times when I can’t make out what they’re singing about, I just look up at the subtitles. Very convenient :) And Stephen Rahman-Hughes? was not as bad as I thought he’d be, or as the reviews claimed. I thought it was a fine effort, considering he doesn’t speak our mother tongue at all, despite having a Malaysian mother. While others may gush at AC Mizal, I personally adored the Sultan Melaka, if only for the short but very engaging/ sleazy dance number he performed in his garish bright yellow Sultan outfit. Oh, and the extremely comel Tnegku Ahmad. I squealed when he came on. Twice.

All in all, I had a great time. It was very, very entertaining, and obviously has a special place in the hearts of many of the audience. I heard some even went 3 times. Oh, and what better place to rub shoulders with glamorous celebrities and socialites? Yes, dahling, we must make sure these musicals go on. We do need an occasion to meet up and catch up! And of course, dress up in :) Tom Abang Saufi was there with clackety bead necklace and a vibrant striped top. It must have been on of la creme de la creme of her collection *snicker* And many, many other celebrated icons in transparent outfits *this is for u Tina Ninja hehe* But it was a lovely, lovely show. Congratulations to the production team. Maybe its too soon to say Malaysia Boleh, but I can see that given dizzying amounts of funds, research and publicity, this could actually go somewhere.

I caught a low key theatre production last Sunday as well. Toast and Wake Up and Smell The Coffee. Very entertaining. The latter is actually a 45-minutes monologue by a certain Malik Taufiq, who was one of Cleo’s Eligible Bachelors once, my senior in Uni once, and actually a distant relative. He was good! Very energetic and focused. I actually missed about 15 minutes of it, but what I can make out is that its prolly a satire on the characteristics of Americans under a microscope. The former was a production by Aroma Theatre. I actually watched one of their production back in uni days, and was entertained back then. So, it was out of curiousity *and the very cheap tickets, RM10 wey, mana nak dapat, zaman belajar dulu boleh la*, that I decided to watch it. A good effort, entertaining, but with a wickedly disturbing ending. Keep producing more theatre shows at that price guys, and I’ll keep up with my appearances. I personally loved the Big Boss character, and how he pronounced Brazil...hilarious!

And I managed to catch up with friends from the past, and a karaoke sing-along session during last weekend as well. Ellisha is as beautiful as ever, and still as friendly and funny. Note to self: Must do lunch with her soon. The karaoke singalong to celebrate fellow colleague’s birthday was fun, fun, fun! Loads of laughter, bad and good singing, as well as yummy Air Asam Merah, along with wacky colleagues equals to oodles of fun. And a very near sore throat. Got home at 3.30 am, the latest i’ve been home in a VERRRYYYY long time. Thanks Fuzzy Wuzzy for a really great time :)

Pity about the flood the next day tho. My prayers and sympathy goes out to every one of them. And to think that they’ll be greeted by the oil hike prices. I do hope the RM4 plus billion allocated to develop the public transporation system WILL develop it. Maybe this is a good time to go public with my experiences as a seasoned commuter. Bet the consultants will prolly need some statistics, seeing that some of them prolly have not stepped foot into a public transporter, let alone endure a full journey.

By the way, moi? am flat broke this month. Am. So. Flat. Bleedin’. Broke. After settling most of my obligations *debts*, i’m left with basically pasir to feed on for the rest of the month. Therefore, this is Bulan Careful Spending or otherwise know as You Are So Dead Meat By the 3rd Week Month. *sigh* But strangely, I felt a certain nostalgic comfort at gazing at supermarket shelves, whilst carefully choosing any items to purchase. It reminded me of my student days in London where I would zoom around Tesco picking up anything I want while grocery shopping, then at the last aisle, near the desserts, will ponder upon contents of supermarket trolley, and proceeded to slowly put the unnecessary items back onto the shelves. Oh yes, that I did. And now, its time to flex those prudent muscles again. Then again, I can never say no to a good makan-makan session, so we’ll see la how I survive this month.

Now, about that letter to N$T...