I was massaging my neck after staring too long at the screen, and suddenly felt something weird. So I rub it off my skin and realised that it's dried blood. Coming from my neck.

Hmmm. That's new. If you realised that I am drawn to your neck and have longer fangs than usual, please notify me. I may have been bitten by Jasper Hale for all I know (jokes about Edward Cullen are sooo lame nowadays, had to find another vampire example). I'm still not sure where did it came from. My head, my neck or my shoulder. Somewhere 'out there' (meaning the part of my body that are invisible to my own eyes), I must have some weird painless injury.  

I had a meet n greet with my publisher and other writers, the one thing I am unimitigatedly bad at - "MINGLING". Sometimes I feel like, how did I ended up becoming a human being, what's with such extremely bad social interaction? Or... how did I end up being bad at social interaction when it's not forced upon me? I mean, come to think of it, when I was in high school, I was not this painstakingly shy person. I don't talk much, but at least I can go in front of the class and just present without needing too much preparation. Same with being in IIUM. I always pride myself for being the girl who has no qualms talking about foreign aid and investments in Ataul Huq's lecture. I was cocky about it. But now?

Even a question like, "What's the new title for your book?" made me go "Err..." I answer every single question with smile or frown or smirk or any facial expression that can substitute words known to men. Or sometimes no facial expression at all, in which the former employer called "Syahida's poker face".

So, in the MnG session, I spent more time hiding behind Kak Siti's shadow, though come to think of it, in terms of becoming a writer, I would be her senior (in terms of success, she's waaaay more senior than moi). I was more comfortable talking to the editors (and sometimes at bookfairs, with the designers). Heck, I am even more comfy being around our GM. Not that I don't like talking to other writers. They're friendly people. It's not them. It's me. I'm retarded. That's why most of my friends are friendly talkative lot. It's easier to be around talkative people because they talk and ask questions. And I based my conversations on what they ask me. The more they ask, the more I talk. And if the question hits the jackpot, then I will suddenly turn into this talkative monster who can't stop. It's like a gate. There's a key to open it. My bestfriends know how to make me talk. At CO, it would be Wahi (and that's because he talks like there's no tomorrow) and Kak Ani.

And maybe Matthew MacFadyen. But he's married. Ha.

But when it comes to YM/MSN chat, I am good at it. Really. If human being talk through fingers, I can confidently say I'm like the Anwar Ibrahim of chats... ngahahahaha... verbally, I'm like Pink Panther. Have you ever heard the pink panther talks?

I rest my case.   

I don't have any pics from the Meet n Greet session cuz poor people like me have no cameras (nor driving license, nor sense of closure, come to think of it). For more, try find it in Berita Harian or any of Karangkraf magazines later next month or something.

In a shorter note: 

i) I kept seeing Steve Irwin on Animal Planet channel. I mean, how long has he been dead? Can't the channel let us 'miss' him before showing all his shows? From the day he died until now, it didn't feel like the guy's gone.

ii) In the light of PFM's new suggestion to FINAS that all Hollywood movies in cinemas shud be priced at RM20, lemme tell you, I sokong it 110%! You do that... I'm all for it... (sambil mendail nombor telefon pirated dvds sharks).

iii) Mawekins should not be called 'Raja Sehari. 3 wedding receptions! That's "Raja 3 Hari". The amount of ad in ASTRO about their wedding? That would make them "Raja Berhari-hari". I stop watching ASTRO Ria nowadays cuz i'm sick of it. Not their fault, you can't blame people when they're too popular for their own good. But seriously, the filthy business of SMSing Mawekins to say congratulations? And need to pay 50cents per SMS for it? What's the world coming in to? If you ask people to put 50cents into those transparent cases at McD or KFC they'll be like, "Oh you can't trust these people. They won't give the money to orphans like they're saying. They will use it for themselves." Uhuh, ahah. How about the 50cents you give to say "Moga berbahagia ke anak Cucu, Mawi and Ekin!"? Any orphans are fed through that? I mean, yeah, Mawi's half an orphan but that doesn't count.

iv)  I am having one of those claustrophobias. Tim said it's the transition from working life, to working life without an office, nor working hours, nor colleagues (actually I have. It's 9.30pm to 6am... as opposed to the am-pm in ofc). I am thinking of crashing Mun's office so I will have that aura of an office - at least Lan and Mun can pretend that they're Zee and Swee (but then again, they can't possibly make extreme porn jokes like those two), or Marea and Marcel, or Kak Ani and Vinsen. But then again, I need to get used to this. As much as I love to play JAIS around those two, I need to move around a bit. Tim suggested that I follow her to Sabah. Cool. Too poor to do that, but cool.  

v) Do you realise how I don't discuss about the 'Bush got shoe-ed in Iraq' issue? That's because the person that I would like to see get shoe-ed is actually Condoleezza Rice. Come here to Malaysia, and I will throw her killer heels buatan Gombak (no point throwing expensive Pradas at someone you hate). I don't have any, but I sure would buy one just to do that.  

Wow, I spent thirty minutes of my time doing flixter personality quizzes that are bollocks in every sense of the word (I mean how can one be Rhett Butler in one quizz and get Scarlett O'Hara in another?)... I must be reaaally bored.