(tajuk tak ada kena-mengena, saja guna sebab tajuk macam tu selalunya menarik perhatian orang-orang yang kuat bergosip untuk baca entry. Hahaha.)

It's one SMS to another from Swee, obviously the SMS-representative of the editorial team of CO, asking me to attend previews for "Eden Lake". Ugh, that movie is my limit in horror genre. Of all the "Friday the 13th", or "Hostel" or any of those weird torture movie, it ain't the same with this. You can watch psychos doing psycho stuff and you feel horrified. But seeing underaged kids doing psycho stuff, it's just.... wrong.

And then also for the movie "Valkyrie". Now, what is it with Hollywood and their knack for injecting hatred towards Adolf Hitler? I am sick of watching movies in which the short man is shown in such dramatic monstrous manner. Yes, he was a dictator and he was evil. But so was George Bush. Come to think of it, Hitler killed his enemies (under the influence of people like Goering and Himmler), and Semites, and sacrifice lots of his own German army at the same time. Isn't that what Americans are doing now? And ugh, if I heard another "Hitler is evil for killing lots of Jews again" Imma throw up on Tom Cruise's face. It's SEMITES. Not JEWS. Not everything about Holocaust was about Jews. Stop thinking them the victim of everything. And anyway, those Jews were the innocent people who did not want to leave Germany, their home, to start over in Israel. Zions didn't help them. So, it's not just Hitler's evilness. It's also the Zionists' - their own kind. And again, it's not like the guy is evil from the start. He is just a fallen hero, like Caesar. He was the champion of people, who brought Germany back from its destruction. But like what Two-Face said, Hitler WAS that guy who lived long enough to see himself turning into a villain. 

Please click on the titles for reviews.

Then Swee the SMS-rep again sent more SMSes for freelance work that now goes to features and microsites. Then she went "Seems like ur working for us like normal, just only out of ofc... i want ur job!" and I was like, "Yeah, cool rite?" and started to try to make her jealous by emphasising the fact that I was eating while reading the newspaper sambil bersila in my shorts in front of the glass screen as we speak while she is in the office trying to make more MSN Bios and do more contests.

I love the work, you know. I love translating stuff, I love writing features, involved in microsites, and writing contests... contests the most fun. You can just make up lots of weird slogans and ask question and provide weird answers, like:
Siapakah pelakon utama The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?
a) Brad Pitt
b) Brad Sherwood
c) Brad E. Bunch
d) Brad Andbutter

It's fun playing with words. But during my time, it was so hectic - what's with CO and my other career as an author, going out, coming home late - that I just can't take it and sometimes my head just refuse to think. And you know how important the use of the right brain in this line of work. Now, when doing freelance, I think I was able to defragment my thoughts again, and really, doing it all is much easier. That's how I just go "Yup, Ok, Alright" to everything.

Dad opened my mail again. Seriously, I was telling mum if that by any chance somebody is actually sending me anthrax, dad will die first. The thing is he chooses the mails that he wants to snoop at. He would not care about opening my bills, for example. But if it has Buku Prima logo on it, he knows that would be my royalty paper and seeing money (or the statement on how much I will get) makes his day. It makes him feel that, yeah, my stupid second daughter actually got money and is not driving towards utter destruction, something that has been a curse to anybody who chose to take Political Science as their major, with Dad leading the pact.

It's weekend again. My, weekdays seem so short in my world, and I now came to hate weekends. On weekends, tv shows are all suck, hangout places are stacked with youth and their so-called cool lifestyle, and no internet.

Definitely no internet. Every weekend, the internet will go straight to kaklong. From 8.30am until late at night, it would be on her PC. The one sucky thing about this is that her laptop doesn't have MSN, so any time I need to pop up to talk to people... well, I can't. Then the late at night until early morning will be Aying's time since he never has any schedule for weekdays, it would be melampau if he can't get to use the internet on weekends too. It's hard not having the internet because even writing will be a tad difficult. The internet is my source of stuff, you don't go and bulldoze your own version of things no matter if you are writing a fiction. So, sometimes when I came to a part where my characters are people who are lawyers, or architects or engineers, I need the internet for terms and jobscope and stuff.

So usually I use weekends for other stuff. Like, tomorrow would be hectic. I need to bake Nad her chocolate moist cake, then off to Putrajaya to give it t her, deal with the tudung ekin thing, pick up little Sofieya's present and go to Kak Mai's house... all in the course of three hours. Hmmm... why do I have a sense that somehow this might not work. Ah, tomorrow punya cerita...

(You're right, Nad. This is fun.)

For those who ask for my opinion on Perak MB issue thing, well, I'm sorry. This is more or less a legal issue, not much political (the political would be HOW Najib turned these dodos back against their old party). Too many legal terms for the issue and involves constitutional cockups. Not my forte and am not qualified to talk about it, unless for sembang2 kosong kedai kopi, like any other pakcik2 yang think they're politically-correct. So, just find your answers HERE.

(Published it the day before)
This is my new rule in life. Any 'bright' ideas that I've made at 3am in the morning should NEVER be executed. Never. At 3am, one should go to sleep and dream a little dream of a world without problems. That's it. At 3am one should not be wrecking her brain thinking how she could reverse the issue she has created before it escalates.

Sound too serious? (My readers would ask me why, but the people who snoop will make their own conclusions.)

I am having a nervous breakdown coupled with a migraine, waiting for the result of my stupidity.

In a lighter note (why do I always have a lighter note? How will people take me seriously if I always have a lighter note?), let's do compare and contrast, because, gee, I don't know, how about 'my blog, my right to write crap'?

WHICH IS BETTER, THE BOOK OR THE MOVIE? Part 1

Stephen King's "1408"
The book. The movie is too darn annoying and tried so hard to be scary. I mean, it's like watching your most annoying uncle trying to scare you time and time again with the same annoying ghoul mask. It's King's book, therefore, the best way to be scared is to read the book. The imagination is a much scarier domain if you exercise it well, young padawan.

Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice"
Both. PNP is the only book I wake up early every morning to read, and the movie is simply because casting Matthew MacFadyen as Mr Darcy is the most brilliant decision ever. Instead of going for the 'yeah, Mr Darcy is an arrogant asshole', MacFadyen portrays him in a better light - a shy guy who doesn't know the proper way to talk to people just because he was a rich guy raised without a mother.

Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight"
The movie. The book bores me with Bella's POV on stuff and since I think like her, it is like reading your own diary. And since becoming a writer, I know an 'imaginative' and a 'berangan' type of writers from their way of writing. Meyer is no imaginative. The movie is more quick-paced (with the exception of the boring mountain scene) and has that glossy feel to it, like a coffee table book.

Vikas Swarup's "Slumdog Millionaire" (a.k.a "Q&A")
The book. The movie is different as it takes only the concept of the book and 15 minutes to the end is a tad boring. The book has meatier roles (no Latika character and the guy is called Ram Mohammad Thomas, not Jamal, and he got no brother, and even his name has a story on its own), more profound effect and an ending that makes you feel "Damn, Swarup is a GENIUS!"  

Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre"
The movie/4-part drama. The book has certain chapters that makes you do the skip-skip thing.

Cecelia Ahern's "P.S, I Love You"
The book. The movie is changed so much and I hate it when the book tells a story about an Irish lady and the movie has an American vibe about it. It just decreased the 'umph' of the story. Like, you can never measure European wit with American's. Ahern and Kinsella are two most poignant witty chick lit writers in this era, and both came from the same continent.

Habiburrahman El-Shirazy's "Ayat-ayat Cinta"
THE BOOK! The movie annoys me to a point of... making me feel like choking Hanung Bramantyo to death. It just goes to show, some literature work cannot be translated to the silver screen. It just lose its beauty. AAC's strength is in El-Shirazy's poetic words. THAT can't be transferred to film. Besides, the guy who plays Fahri looks like an easy target for bullies.

Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park"
The film. The book would be one of Austen's more preachy work and is not that interesting for a read. But the film made it view-able, and chewable.

Lauren Weisberger's "The Devil Wears Prada"
The movie. Meryl Streep is a one-woman show, who can doubt that? 

Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code"
The book. Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon? Who wanna believe THAT? And where the hell did Brown go? After four books of making fun of the US government, secret service, people's faith and even the Vaticans, he's retired already? Wimp.

Philippa Gregory's "The Other Boleyn Girl"
Both. Although, since the book is a fictionalised version of the Boleyns real history, and the movie is the fictionalised version of the fictionalised version of the history, that would make the film.... historically inaccurate by 70%? Ah, whatever. Casting a Johanssen and a Portman is even more inaccurate but we all can live with it. Not the history of my life, not my problem.

Stephen King's "The Shining"
Both. In the book, King choose to highlight the craziness in one's mind when they're fighting off inner demon while at the same time left off trapped inside an old haunted hotel (something that "A Tale of Two Sisters" tried to create but failed miserably because out of 10 people watching it, only 2 understand). Stanley Kubrick's version is more towards the sinister building and how it affects Jack. Jack's right, you know. "All work and no play makes one a very dull person". Eeeeeeeee..... eeeee....... 

Anwar Ridhwan's "Hari-Hari Terakhir Seorang Seniman"
Both book and tv drama. But that was like yearsssssss ago.

I was watching a THS of Hulk Hogan and then remembered those days when I was a huge WWF fan... and then think, yeah, I got lots of 'fan-of' season. Let's list it down.

Musim Gila tengok WWF (1999-2001)
Gile ah musim ni. I mean, sure. Tudung labuh, the need to be ready all the time just in case there's a gathering and nobody can give tazkirah (if you're a senior, you need to have materials for tazkirah all the time, and if you don't have it, WING IT!). But then again, you also forgot the fact you are a WWF fan. How can one try to be pious and watch tanned muscled guy in spandex wrestling off each other all at the same time? At 16, anything goes, brother. Big fan of The Rock, Mick Foley, Molly Holly and the Hardy Boyz. HUGE crush on Chris Jericho and his "Walls of Jericho" trademark. In those years you can put all pics of WWF wrestlers and I can name each and every one of them and which one held which belt. Love Royal Rumble the most. The Rock kicked Undertaker butt once. That was huge! I know even WCW wrestlers. Hell, Kevin Nash is the man! Yeah! Wrestling is like a soap opera. There's a good guy, a bad guy, the  hot good girl and the slut. Stopped watching? Second year in Matrics IIUM. They've turned WWF to WWE and suddenly things are not entertaining anymore.

Musim Gila tengok telenovela Latin (2002-2003)
I started to watch "La Usurpadora" - good twin evil twin stoyline. Yeah, lame-o. But Gabriella Spanic was huge at that time, though I think "Maria Mercedez" was the one that brough the Latina craze to Malaysia, with Thalia as the lead. But I wasn't very keen cuz they're so long and repetitive. All have same basic idea of 'mencari ibu/anak/bapak/boyfren/sedara/nenek yang hilang' that always turns out to be the rich people (how convenient). But then Colombia's "Yo Soy Betty La Fea" arrives. Man, that was my biggest guilty pleasure. Here's a story about an ugly intelligent girl with sharp wit who finally gets into her playboy boss' head... and pants... whichever comes first. The fact that it has such cool scripts and interesting characters and no bloody 'mencarik sedara terpisah' storyline got me hooked like a dead fish on a fishing rod. All hail the creator Fernando Gaitan! The telenovela got so popular it was remade into LOTS of version, including "Ugly Betty" (but still nobody can do ugly like Ana maria Orozco). I still remember one favourite quote from the boss Armando who said;
"No te escucho, soy de palo, tengo orejas de pescado"
(loosely translated as: "I can't hear you, I'm made of woods, and I got fish ears"). Simply meaning "I'm stubborn". I still use this when I don't wanna listen to an advise.
Stopped watching? After "Betty La Fea". Cuz nothing can compare to that one.


Musim Gila Dengar MandoR&B (2003-2007)
It started when I saw a guy called Jay Chou in a video clip while waiting for a TVB drama on Wah Lai Toi. It was the MV for "Hui Dao Guo Qu" (still my favourite song of his). I told mum that I think if I want to start listening to mandarin, I'll start with him. So kaklong bought me his album for my birthday and I got hooked. Not with the lyrics la of course, mana aku paham time2 tuh... but the arrangement of music and how without understanding the lyrics I can just know what it is trying to convey. Then I started listening to Jolin Tsai (cuz Jay composed songs for her), and Leehom (but I hate him. Show off,), David Tao, Vivian Hsu, A-Mei, etc... I have all Jay's DVDs, and I bought all magazines that has his face on it without really understanding anything on the article. I thought I would make a collection out of this guy. But then suddenly he started acting. Which means, his song started to not be as interesting... "Twilight Chapter Seven" was the last song I ever loved. That's why it stayed as my caller ringtone for so long.

Musim Gila Hindustan (1998-2001)
Of course. You start with "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge". Your friends caught the Shahrukh bug. You didn't, because you don't want to be like anybody else, so you choose to be a Bobby Deol fan. When everybody else love Yash Chopra and Karan Johar movies, you love Ashutosh Gowariker. When people choose music by Jatin Lalit, you love A.R. Rehman and Ismail Darbar (hey, AR Rehman won a Golden Globe okay. what Jatin Lalit won?). Then you go, you know what? I think I like Saif Ali Khan better. He has his mother's spark and you know how Sharmila Tagore was the belle in early 70s. Your mum was a HUGE Hindustan fan during the heyday of the Kapoors, and you chose the less popular Khan. You can almost name everybody from Juhi Chawla to Amrish Puri.
Stopped? With the coming of new actors that got zero talent and whose acting chops are determined via how tanned their bodies are. Then those movies came with lots of sex scenes, and girls like Mallika Sherawat and Neha Dhupia who couldn't wait to show their boobs to the camera. What happen to the olden days where all sex scenes are replaced with an innocent shot of blooming flowers and flowing rivers?

Musim Gila Drama Jepun (2001-2005)
Ugh you tell me. I have a bunch of Japanese Dorama collection I am eager to sell to people. I got "GTO", "Over Time", "Beach Boys", etc etc etc. From the list there you can just guess which Japanese actor I was in love with. TAKESHI SORIMACHI des! You got Yutaka Takenouchi who looks eerily like Farid Kamil in "I'm Not Single", but we were never the KimuTaku fan so we don't have KimuTaku dorama in our collection. But I'm not going to sell "TRICK" series, all three of them. Other than the fact that it's my sister's, it is also because I still love em.
Stopped? After a while you saw a pattern in all Japanese dramas. And they aren't so different from each other (with the exception of "TRICK")

Musim Gila Animes (1999-2008)
I love(d) "CONAN", "Ranma 1/2", and have collections like "BLEACH", "Slamdunk", "Fullmetal Alchemist" (this one is cool), "Kyo".... I always go for shonen rather than shoujo, cuz shoujo is too girly for my liking. I don't like Mecha animes, like "Evangelion" or "Vandread", and I so love Studio Ghibli's products like "Spirited Away" or "Grave of the Fireflies". My favourite seeiyu (voice actor) is Megumi Hayashibara and favourite manga-ka (cartoonist) is Rumiko Takahashi.... because though she's a woman, she has guy's sense of humour, like you can see in "Inuyasha" or "Ranma 1/2"
Stopped? Because the newer animes like to go for loooooong episodes. take "One Piece". From 1997 sampai sekarang tak habis-habis. I've been reading "CONAN" since I was 12. I'm 25 now. Imagine how long is that! That's like watching "Akantare".


Musim Gila TVB Dramas (1990-...)
Nah, I never stopped. I watched it since the day I can read, till this very day. I never stopped, just trying not to watch, because kalau tak, sume keje pon tak siap. 

Here's a thought.

There are two things that bugs me so nowadays. One, the issue of boycotting Israeli products (Imma talk about that later). Two, guys who play double meanings around women to tie them down. If you're a girl, and has a guy who keeps saying saccharine sweet stuff or using words with double meanings and never really quite THERE... yeah.... dump em.

Ugh, since when did I became such a Women's Right-ish person? Oh yeah, since Friday, after a friend - who never once cried or stuttering because she has to talk in between sobs - told me of her misfortune. Now... here's the thing. If you want to get serious with her, BE SERIOUS, dofuss. Stop doing that Katie Pery hot-cold-yes-no thing. If you like someone tell her. If you don't like her, tell her. If you are not sure, still, TELL HER.

Do guys even know how hurtful it is for a person to be in such position? To not know whether there is a relationship or not? Do you want to know how hard it is for me to see my friends trying to cope with the unknown? Do you even know how a woman feels when you go and dance in circles around her? It's like putting a string around you, but never to tie it. it's annoying and hurtful.

At 12am, while listening to her, feeling her crumbling down, I just felt like shooting this guy. Love, is not just A word to such women. They're not some social butterflies that goes from one man to the other. It really means something. To them it's sacrifice. They put their heart and soul into it, swallowing every ounce of pain. Loyal, to the extent that you might think it's ridiculous. Caring, to a point that everything else don't matter. Issit fair for one to ask the woman to understand everything? They're called women, stupid. They don't have that same nonchalant attitude towards relationship like men.  

And all you need to do is to appreciate it. To helm it. And yet, another jerk is born.

If I can just express the amounts of pain one gives to someone who cares for him. If I can just draw them in pictures. If I can just put it in an arranged order.

In her words, it makes the brain freeze. It makes your heart ache. It makes you want to put yourself inside a tiny box, lock it and disappear forever. You can't think, you can't breathe, you can't sleep. Your lips felt numb, cold and dry. It hurts you so bad that you cry. In Dash's words, it makes you feel pathetic. It makes you lose your confidence. And yet you're still there, still waiting in hopes that your patience will breed happiness.

Ugh, I wish I can kill these kind of men. Beating around the bush.... how about I beat you all to a pulp, eyh?

Stop playing around and be straightforward, you fucking idiots! Stop making my friends cry!

"They are my friends. Break their heart and I'll break your face."
(Babe, I wanna kill him. Please give me permission to kill him. You're a Betty. He's an Archie. He doesn't deserve you.)

In a lighter note, teringat Ustaz Khalid punya teori masa kat Matrics dulu,
"Hati manusia ni terbahagi kepada empat bahagian. Untuk perempuan, satu bahagian untuk keluarga, satu bahagian untuk kawan-kawan, satu bahagian untuk anak, dan satu bahagian untuk suami. Untuk lelaki, satu bahagian isteri pertama, satu bahagian isteri kedua, satu bahagian isteri ketiga, satu bahagian isteri keempat."
"Cis betul ustat ni..."
"Apa yang kamu semua nak marah, saya menyatakan kebenaran. Hahaha."
(ye, memang kitorang 'cis' kan guru sendiri, disebabkan teorinya itu. Haha.)

It's official. I got the coolest person in my facebook friends' list! The guy who knows how to express everything in music! Lelaki pujaanku M.Nasir! (I'm sorry Ally Iskandar. Between you and him, of course it would always be him...). Heck, I don't care if you think he's not the coolest guy on the planet, but I think he is and what I say matter!. And as long as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ain't on facebook, I'm satisfied with knowing M.Nasir is in my list!

Can't wait for his IB concert. At last, real music from real people. I bet you can't find a greater composition than Tanya Sama Itu Hud-hud.

But anyways. Me sad that I can't go to Iza's engagement thingy tomorrow. Chaq's working tomorrow (damn you Berita Harian) and since working, nobody in the household wants to move from the couch on weekends. And there's no public transport to her home in Cheras, I mean, not that I know of. This is one friend's happy celebration that I'm gonna miss. Sigh...

Likewise (penggunaan likewise yang salah, but I dun care), Kak Mai asked if I can do freelance for Tupai also, and that includes reviews and translations. Translations I can do, but premieres would be difficult for me as again, for the above reason, I got no transport. I'm gonna take drivers ed this year anyway cuz there's no way I'm gonna find a job without a license. I mean, I love observing people inside the bus, but it seems that me not knowing how to drive is becoming a pain to others. Ahaha. I mean, come on, we all know the reason the Thai hottie didn't offer me the job was because I dun have a license. Or else, I would be cruisin around Ampang with a cool job and a handsome boss. Ngahahahaha. Perasan.
Kak Mai told me the other day she went to FINAS she saw Shazli and he was askin 'bout me. Heh, yeah. If I knew Shazli works in FINAS earlier I wouldn't have resigned.......................
Nah, I would still resign. We weren't that close of a friend anyway.

I got a press preview for a movie called "New in Town". Click HERE for the review. Not that great or anything. Just a filler for Valentine's Day because apparently couples might die if there's no romantic films on Valentine's Day. Pfft. Oh that is soooo cliche, to have romantic movies on VD (which is also a shortform for 'Venereal Disease'... which is what couples would get on 'Valentine's Day' when they think using the dick instead of the head).

I mean, on Valentine's Day I would rather watch a horror movie and observe the crowd. Oh, this is only for people like me - which couples called the "sad and lonely bitter bitches"... and which I call 'Laugh-now-cuz-you-know-in-the-end-you're-GONNA-be-that-bitter-bitchy-me'. Try it. It's fun. You'll have the eager boyfriends hoping that their girl would go on a screamin frenzy, got scared and hold em tight. The girls, with a false dignity would try to fake being afraid in justification on why they hug their boyfriend... oh biasela perempuan, fake orgasm, fake scared, fake everything (did I just wrote that?) 

"Gu du bu ku, bu zai hu..." bak kata Dicky Cheung. (I am voting for him to change his Christian name)

But the movie is everything that is cheesy, corny and lame. Coming from someone like Renee Zellwegger, I am most flabbergasted. Minnesottan accents makes everybody sound like Carol Channing, by the way. And what's with shaving the beard, eyh? Every time there's a romantic movie where the hero was introduced as the brooding rugged guy with unshaved appearance, it would always ends with the guy finally rejoice in romance with clean shaved face.

What's with that, eyh? Keep the beard! Don't shave the beard! The beard is sexy! Harry Connick Jr. in this movie, shaved in the end. Hugh Jackman in "Australia" shaved during the party scene (thank God by the end of the movie he got his jambang back). P.Ramlee in 'Musang Berjanggut', shaved in order to propose to Saadiah half way through the movie. Lost its appeal.

You know why Bush look stupid and Osama bin Laden always look calm and collected? BECAUSE HE KEPT THE BEARD. Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam, greatest guy in folks music, unshaved. Jay Chou, looked most matured in seventh album, with a beard. M.Nasir, yup, still the beard. Every single cool artsy men are all with beard. It gives that extra seni in them. Quigon Jin in "Star Wars", Jackie Cheung in his forties, Jeremy Irons, Gregory House/Hugh Laurie, Leonardo DiCaprio in "Body of Lies".... all beard-tastic! 

In summary, if the guy in the movie is unshaved, LET HIM BE!

I am blabbering about nothing again, am I? 

Next:
-Riding the Bus : "How Mr. Amin Save Syahida's Day Today" (in Sh.ai.lad>En)

"Mak, orang dah buat keputusan dah."
"Keputusan apa?"
"Orang nak kawin dengan Ally Iskandar."
"Hahaahha. Persoalannya sekarang, Ally Iskandar nak ke kawin dengan ko?"

Tulah dia, mak bapak zaman sekarang. Bila aku buat bodoh je asik risau bila anak dia nak kawin, bila aku nak kawin, memperkotak-katikkan pilihan aku. Cuba bagi sokongan sikit. Percaya bahawa satu hari nanti Ally Iskandar akan terbukak hati nak kawin dengan aku.................................................................

(Spokeperson: Maafkanlah Shai. Member-member dia sume hilang sejak Jumaat lepas, dia bosan dan skru otak die mule longgar.)

Weh, budak-budak, bila korang ni nak balik ni? Sambut raya cina mengalahkan orang cina. Aku bosan tahap melampau dah ni, do... sorang kat Terengganu, sorang kat Perlis, sorang busy nak bertunang, sorang busy bercinta, sorang sah2 la terhumban ke Sabah.

I wanna have power like Hiro Nakamura, so I can stop time and stop my friends from moving on, and then I will not be so alone during Chinese New Year...... pfft. Gila selfish.

(spokeperson: Kawan2 Shai, maafkanlah dia. Dia demam tapi takde member nak tanya kabar sebab sume org takde. Kurang kasih sayang bak kata Ema.)

"Eh korang, diorang sume dah keje, kan?"
"Dah, sume dah keje dah."
"Tapi aku dah berenti.........."
"Ko dah berenti. Aku dengan Nad tak ada employer. Kita ni tiga orang kawan yang tak bermajikan."
"Kira orait la tu. Tandanya kita maju setapak dari orang lain. Orang lain baru keje, tapi kita dah berenti. Hahaha"
"We work hard, and we play hard."
"We work hard and we play harder sebenarnya."

Nasib baik ada press preview besok, untuk mengisik masa lapang... (masa lapang apenye, novel tak siap2, saje2 nak lari dari tanggungjawab)
"Ya betollll!"

Just recover from two days migraine. I blame it on Chinese New Year. How dare they show one HongKong movies after another... I had back-to-back movies from "Lucky Guy", "Kungfu Hustle", "CJ7", "Run Papa Run", "Hero", "Rob-B-Hood", "Wushu"... if I keep on until "Sparrow" I think my migraine would go on for another day. I can't wink with my right eye. Every time I'm doin that it feels like my brain is shattering.

I'm openin up the second blog yang selama ni boleh dibaca oleh orang-orang terdekat je. Haha. Why? Cuz I got too many crap I like to put inside, one blog is not enough. Cruise your way into s.Ha.i.laD.en.Ooo... blogspot plak ye? Biasela, blogdrive kena buat banyak coding. Aku malas.

---

Sharing is caring. Why do we always share the good things about our life only? That's boasting. We should share them stupidest moments also. Ha.

1. When I was a kid, like 5, 6, 7 years old like that, I had the knack of putting stuff into my mouth or into my nose. Once I nearly choked to death after accidentally swallowed a 20cents coin. Paklong had to hold me upside down and literally beat my back to get it out.
Oh, come on. It's that 'kid-stupidity' phase. It's cute. And deadly.

2. When I was in primary school, I cried like a brat and told the prefect in charge that I am sick when I was hold up for being tardy. That's like, so uncalled for. Why need to cry, eyh? But it works.

3. When I was in high school, during a gotong-royong day, our class was given the very best task of all - the big mother of all dumpsters : TONG SAMPAH UTAMA. While everybody were going who-should-go-inside-the-big-stinker, I got fed-up (I am easily fed-up with task delegation and who shud do what), and offer myself to do the 'inside job'. Guess who's 'biggest teenage crush' walks by while she smells like a three week old fart?   

4. When I was in form four, I did the best stupidest thing, by agreeing to Teacher Elina to be the ERR President (English Resource Room). I thought it was cool that she thinks I'm worthy of such position. Never in my mind that it also meant that every single thing that is wrong with the room will only be my death sentence. And let me tell you, she is one helluva fussy person. And Tuesdays are English Day. In Shai's book - it's sentence day.

5. When I was in form 5, I ADORE Katarina 'Kat' Stratford, the lead character in '10 Things I Hate About You' played by Julia Stiles. I worshipped that character - her sarcasm, her wit, her POV on things, her ability to go against all norms and all unspoken social rule, and her charming badboy Patrick Verona - played by the late Heath Ledger. I wanted so much to be like her. The stupid part of it all? That now I realised it ain't all that and I'm stuck with it. 
And still no Patrick Verona.
The effect of sayang wayang, eyh? *do the chicken dance*

6. In form two, Masitah and I made the mistake of loafing in Lina's dorm when our floor was called to assembly. We got down quite late, both of us got punished to clean our floor's toilets (bear in mind that we have stupid watering system with lots of jamban tersumbat), and while doing that I accidentally knocked my senior's spectacles and had to pay for the damage. Not to count the amounts of lecture we got from the seniors of our dorm for tainting Dorm 34's reputation.

7. When I was in form 5, I burst into tears because of a guy and everybody thought it has something to do with me being jealous or 'cinta tak kesampaian' or things like that. But I was so upset I didn't even try to explain what happened. I still never explain it until today, because I don't even remember the real cause now. Should have explain it back then, eyh? Haha.

8. I laugh at Fer when he got injured from a bad lompat anak kambing (silat gayong session), and the week after I got the same injury from the same lompat anak kambing. Then I laughed at him for cutting his hand while menggeliat tepi tingkap yang pecah, and an hour later I cut my hand after Zun tried to take the pencil knife I was holding from my hand. God's punishment is REALLY fast when it comes to anything that has to do with Fer Fadzil.

9. In an event at FINAS, I opened my mouth to ask Harun Salim Bachik a question when he was smoking and ended up coughing like mad and not getting my question through. And then he left me to talk to Arash. That was fun. Pfft.

10. At 25 going on 26, guess which stupid thing Syahida Kamarudin repeats? Ha, I know which one you're thinking. Believe me, it's not that.   

---

Sukabumi trekking. Watch this ONLY if you think any of these might interest you:
1. Kaklong huru-hara nak lalu mana
2. Ajik doing a shuffle on top of the big rock
3. Aying celebrating 'the environment' by smoking a Winston
4. Me doing... err... nothing (surprise surprise. another Shai's 'boring' moments)

I'm aching all over.

The family had a very tiring day at Adventure Community Center, Sukabumi yesterday. Cool place. It was one of pakcik and his friends' project, and you can do all sorts of events there - swimming, jungle trekking, summer camp, team building, family day, etc. As a free ad, visit Adventure Community for more details (ingatkan diri sendiri, kena mintak makcik belanja nih, sebab iklankan tempat ni. haha).

See, don't jungle trek when you have not been active for quite a while. Definitely do NOT jungle trek without stretching first. And then do NOT return and go straight to the pool and try to prove to your aunt that you can sing 'Isabella' under water. And do NOT -after that- did a silly rendition of 'Jangan Pisahkan' with wacky dances. My body is now making a point to me that they are not the same body I used during those years in SMKAKS. I have made it 'too manja' for 8 years now.

Of course, while jungle trekking, do NOT be too lazy to find the ground and resort to 'jump off rocks' every single second. Do NOT join paklong's ideas of becoming 'backup singer' or 'backup dancer' to every song and definitely do NOT drink too much F&N. And next time, please go see the guy who sold you your mp3 and ask for refund because nowadays every time you fell asleep you realise that your MP3 kept playing "Pelangi Petang" over and over again and Sudirman is now stuck in your head.

Oh yeah, do NOT stop and eat at Shalala Cafe at RNR. Damn, they're expensive and tak sedap.

Oh well, I had a blast. That place is heaven in itself. It's so windy you don't even care that you are sleeping on the edge of a kolam ikan like a homeless person while everybody kept lalu-lalang. Dan ye, makcik. Sambal ikan bilismu memang sedap. And the sound system for the karaoke session was the best. Just a shame though, that the river is on its dry season... so stream trekking was not as adventurous. (Blahla, nak adventurous. Dah sakit2 badan lagi nak berpura-pura).


Dialogues of the day

kaklong: kaklong pernah pecahkan tabung uji.
shai: orang pun pernah, lantunkan guli dalam tabung uji, lepas pecah, sembunyikan
ajik: ajik pernah pecahkan bunsen burner.
kaklong: kau lagi melampau. aying? ko ade pecahkan ape-ape? ke ko tak pernah masuk pun kelas ko? haha
aying: takde. tak pernah pecahkan apa-apa. atau mungkin tak pernah masuk kelas.

shai: dulu kaklong punya choral speaking team sampai tahap mana?
kaklong: entah, negeri kot. ko? tak lepas daerah? haha...
shai: at least orang jadi captain.
ajik: ajik peringkat kelas.
aying: aying tak pernah masuk choral speaking
shai: orang choral speaking peringkat kelas dengan tak pernah masuk, tak payah masuk campur dalam cerita ni ye.

It's Ajik's birthday. And like any of you who forgets - and this is actually quite normal - I DO have another brother other than Aying. The last one in the family called Ajik. Yes, I seldom talk about Ajik because I seldom see him. From the moment he entered primary school I have been in SMKAKS waaaaay in Kuala Selangor and only return to Shah Alam once a month and this goes on for five years. By the time he's entering teenage years, I've been residing in Matrics UIA, PJ at section..... (gile haru minah ni, Matrics UIA PJ pun leh lupe section berapa... 17? 18?). Then when I entered UIA main camp at Gombak, he started on his high school waaay in Sri Menanti, Negeri Sembilan. Then even when I started working and always at home, Ajik pun blah ke Matrikulasi Melaka.

All of us have this really bad perangai of not remembering much about his life. Haha. I mean, kaklong is older than Ajik by 10 years, me 7, Aying 5... and every time people start asking me "Ajik sambung belajar mana sekarang?" I'll be like, "Uh, somewhere in Melaka, I dunno, doing Chemistry or something."

And really, it's not our fault that he's different. We are all sports-morons and can't run 200metres to save our own life. But Ajik was the district's long distant runner. LONG DISTANT! The first time I saw his medal for that, I was like, "Are you adopted?" Of course he's not... he looks too much like my dad anyway. Ha.

Aying described Ajik perfectly. He said that Ajik is a three dude in one. Because when he's with his friends, he has this kind of persona like Noh from band HUJAN kind of vibe with his stapled-to-head hairdo... kinda indie-like...
Then when he's asked to lead the prayer, he'll be all pious and Taliban-like with his serban and jubah hitam and kain pelekat and reciting the prayer in that sekolah-pondok-ish way.
Then when he's studying, he's wearing a lab coat and holding test tube with chemicals inside.

It's like three diferent person altogether. But, I think it's four, cuz at home, to me he's just the pain-in-the-ass Ajik who always forgot to shut my laptop after using or forget to flush the toilet... or that one time where I had to cover his blunders after he drove recklessly, without bringing his ID nor lesen and hits a car... and I had to do my 'forgive-my-brother-for-he-has-sinned' act with the pakcik whose car is now dented.

One day Imma smack a bit of sense into the boy's head.

But still, he is my brother and he is now 19. Boy, time sure flew by rather quickly...

I woke up late today, although I have a press preview at 10.30 in GSC, Mid Valley. Alllll thanks to a stupid nightmare. And here's a thought, Indonesian horror filmmakers, if you want to make another horror movie, please hire Meriam Bellina as the ghost. Cuz yesterday, i had a nightmare about her. It was first a dream, that I was again wearing the PRESS tag for Cinema Online covering for a horror movie called "Mendam Beradu" (don't blame me for the stupid title. It's not me, it's the dream), and was approaching Meriam Bellina for an interview. But then I was whisked away alone into the cinema hall and then suddenly she turned into a pontianak. Damn scary. Terjaga and it was 5am. Tidor balik pukul 7.

Asked my dad to hantar sampai bus stop section 2, and he looked at me with no words, put down his SAMPOERNA ciggy on top of the wooden table outisde the house and fetch the keys. I was like, "Aren't you going to finish your ciggarette?" and he looked at me with that face that says, "I'll finish it later when I return."
Why do men always leave the ciggy like that and then do something else, then continue? It can trigger fire and burn the house down!

And then, while at the bus stop waiting for U80, I realised that indeed it is near CNY and it's the 'budak-UiTM-bus-hogging' day. The bus is filled with budak2 UiTM with big bags. To top it all off, the driver was in a cheerful mood, like there's the "Myyyyy What a Happy Daaaaay" song on top of his head as he drove around leisurely, while it's already 10am and we're still in friggin Asiajaya. And of course, he HAD to initiate a chat with every single person boarding the bus. Yeah, chat on, driver man, go slower. I am in no rush at all to go to a press preview.

On the way I saw students of SM Projek on a cross-country race. Ah~ innit funny calling it 'merentas desa' when there's no 'desa' to be crossing about... try Kuala Selangor. THAT is a merentas desa. Masuk kawasan kampung, across the bridge, singgah beli aiskrim, pretend that you're not in a race at all and then arrive last all the time... sweet sweet memory...

Saw Inayah in the cinema hall. Aparently she didn't know that I've resigned already. Maybe that's why for the two minutes I was talking about "Only two people left in editorial..." she kept talking about "You and Zee..." Me, being the blur finally realises this and go, "Oh no, I've resigned. Only Zee and Swee in editorial now. Me doin freelance now." (Inayah was one of the ed team too, long before I joined ed)

Balik tu I hopped on the bus and realised that it's pakcik baik who is drivin. Pakcik baik is one of the more familiar faces for all this time I've been using the public transport. I called him that just because he got that innocent face. But he drives like a maniac and from Bangsar to Kompleks PKNS it took him only twenty minutes. But he was not THAT baik when one old nyonya accidentally pressed the alarm button and the bus stopped. After realisin that the old nyonya is not getting off after 5 minutes of stopping he screamed 'Turunlah!!!'... I was like, chill down, old man. She didn't mean to. When you're old you TOO would make that same mistake. But then again, maybe when I am at his age I TOO would get pissed off. Hmmm... Ugh, that's it. Stop trying to understand people's feelings.

Singgah PKNS to meet up with Iza (and her friend Faten), who got stood up by her mak andam. While looking at me closely she finally understand my notion of 'I'm slimmer'. Though, she thinks that I'm as thin as her now, though that would be seriously in the wrong... I said I am 'slimmer', not 'thinner'. They're different. And then keep tellin me "No, don't eat. Keep on with the shape." Hahaha, seriously, Iza. I must eat. I am indeed just a human. Food keeps me going, you know. It's not exercise, it's just my unscheduled waking up-sleeping-eating thing. It's not really healthy to be doin that actually.   

Balik rumah, Iza tumpang sembahyang, then write my review (click CHANGELING HERE), hantar for proofing, kena lecture dengan Zee about horrendous grammar, then makan, and tido.

Anyway, I wanna create an entry about this boycotting thing that has been annoying me for ages now... but I guess I'll do that some other time.