It's Nat King Cole's all over again

Me love to sing. Me love to sing Nat King Cole's song. Me love to sing Nat King Cole's song, Pretend.

So let's sing along!

Pretend you're happy when you're blue
It isn't very hard to do
The world is mine it can be yours, my love
So why don't you pretend?

Or we can try Rambling Rose. Three, four!

Rambling rooooooose...
Rambling rooooooose...
Why I want you?
Heaven knows!

Or another Nat song, Unforgettable.

That's why darling
It's incredible
That someone so unforgettable
Thinks that I am
Unforgettable too
Unforgettable...

OK me better stop now before ol' Nat himself knock me on my head and tell me to finish that film review. Oh btw guys, 30 Days of Night is quite a cool scary movie if you like gory story.

Pretend you're happy when you're blue....

Abang Mus back from space

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha is back from space, and one minister said Malaysians can stand a few inches taller now that we have had a Malaysian travel in space.

Suddenly it all makes sense now. We wasted millions of ringgit to send people to sail around the globe, climb the highest peak and track across north and south pole so we can gain a few inches here and there.

I was wondering what was the main objective of such efforts. The one which was most mind-boggling was the project where 0.1 percent of Malaysia's population of mat rempits were sent to jump onto ice.

I'm not sure I feel taller now that we have had Malaysians been everywhere, but my 164cm is OK with me.

I'm not sure I want to be taller in fact. Be happier, now that's better.

I think the next Malaysia Boleh project should be Zero Poverty, or Zero Illiteracy, or Zero Crime campaign on a humongous, overnight-can-change scale.

If we become a country where everyone can get three meals a day with ease, read the morning press and walk around town without worrying about rapists, snatch thieves and swindlers; I'll be happier.

Not taller, but that's OK.

p/s: I would feel taller if Malaysians are known across the world as well-mannered, peace-loving people who lives in a clean (not necessarily modern) country and do not have too many crazy (berani mati) drivers.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Maaf Zahir Batin

Semuga Bergumbira dalam Kesederhanaan

Gym Bag Girl

Who could muster enough courage to bring his or herself to pick up this morning's New Straits Times?

The picture of the young girl who was brutally abused and murdered is plastered on the front page, and knowing that the perpetrator had done crazy things to her and ended it by stuffing her in a gym bag left in front of a store, that's just too much.

So far, no one's claiming her as kin just yet. The press event ventured a question, "Was she homeless?"

Dubbed by the press as "Girl in the Gym Bag", police suspects the case may be serial and linked to the "Kampung Baru Molester". However I wondered why criminologist Dr Kamal Affendi Hashim refers to the culprit as a "he".

I hope police is not ruling out women in their search list. Remember that case in which a mother had beaten her own child to death and tried to put the blame on her step-son?

The identity of the girl is still unknown, but I think we all know she in a better place now.

Puasa masa kecik-kecik dulu

Masa kita kecik-kecik dulu, bulan puasa memang best sebab:

1] Dalam otak memang 110% confident - hantu syaitan sume takde. Tapi masa Darjah 6 aritu terbaca lak dalam Mastika ade orang jumpa something scary time bulan puasa - hampeh..

2] Kat sekolah memang la cakap puasa full, tapi balik tengahari tu bukak pintu rumah je Kak Zah dah hulur air, siap masak nasi dengan telur goreng. Tinggal taruh kicap pastu bleh makan depan TV.

3] Petang-petang skit pergi beli kueh instead of main galah panjang (kalau main gak kantoi la tak puasa). Time beli kueh tu bleh jumpa budak-budak sekampung yang cun-cun and jarang dapat terserempak tu. Kueh pun tak mahal time tu - model RM2 je, kenyang satu rumah.

4] Pergi terawih buat 8 rakaat je, tapi balik saing dengan orang-orang tua yang buat 20 rakaat - time in between tu lepak dengan kawan-kawan pastu buat panggilan telefon palsu kat kawan-kawan lain, menyamar jadi peminat diorg yang nak ajak diorg kuar tengok wayang raya sok.

5] Dekat nak raya parents bagi keluar malam main lawan bunga api. Kalau join dengan geng galah panjang kat Lorong Pandan, mana bleh menang bebudak rumah lain yang mengharapkan adik beradik diorg je nak tulung.

6] Dah lagi dekat nak raya parents kasik allowance, weekend "pegi pekan" dengan member beli baju raya..

7] Dah lebih lagi dekat nak raya parents tak kisah if nak ronda naik beskal sampai kampung sebelah nak usha panjut fest serata area tu.

8] Even lagi dekat nak raya dah start dapat duit raya dah daripada pokcik2, mokcik2 yang singgah rumah.

9] Tinggal lagi dua-tiga hari nak raya stesen TV dah start air cerita macam-macam. Dulu cerita Melayu best, XX-Ray la, Bintang Malam la, Fenomena la.. start XX-Ray part 2 dah hancus dah.. Paling hancus time satu raya bila tah tu, ade ke TV bagi Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Sabar je la..

I see dead people

Date: 5 September 2007
Time: 6.30PM
Venue: My condo block
Topic: My thoughts and conversations in bubbles

First bubble reads:
Yeah! I'm nearly home. Should check my mails before I go up, wonder if there will be a new Carrefour spamming the box.

Second bubble reads:
Nevermind, don't kecoh. Just check the mail and go up - even if there's a cute one among the men in blue.

Third bubble reads:
Hmm, so many people crowding! Takpe, takpe, just go check mail now.. Oh shit.

Fourth bubble reads:
OMG! Is that a body under that white piece of cloth? OMG, it is. Eh, very small and skinny la the body? Oh shit, I can see the guy's yellow shirt.

Fifth bubble reads:
Aik? What's L doing here?

Conversation bubble right next to the scene:
Me: L, why are you here? What happened?

L: That's my colleague's kid! He fell down from fourth floor.

Me: A kid! How old? How did it happened?

L: 9 years old, only son in the family. Told his grandma he's going down to get mails. His grandma did say wait for her, but he said no need to accompany him. Not sure exactly how it happened, but he must have been playing at the lift's window and toppled over.

Sixth bubble reads:
Alamak! The police is removing the white cloth! Shit! It's just a skinny Chinese kid! He doesn't look badly hurt at all - except for the little patch of blood under his head. Poor kid!

More conversation bubble in lift:
L: He broke his neck, but was still breathing. They immediately called ambulance, but didn't managed to save the boy.

Me: Owno.. Condolences to your colleague. Is the police report done?

L: Yes, they're taking the body to the hospital for post-mortem. Er this is the boy's father.

Me: Uh.. Ah. Er, sorry for your loss.

Boy's father: (Silent, nod once, more silence, nod again. Me and L exchanged helpless looks.)

Fifth bubble reads:
I'm such an idiot! Eh, apa pulak, what else could one say to one who just lost a loved one? Sheesh. Ugh, don't feel so good. Thank goodness I'm home.

More conversation bubble at home:
Me: Tets, did you know about the boy?

Tets: Yeah I know, I came home about 5.30 or so and saw an old woman crying next to the boy, he was already covered with white cloth. She spoke in Cantonese, I'm a bit rusty but I think she said, "Come back to popo..."

Holy union my a.. !

I hate it.
I really do hate it.
With passion.
With conviction.

See, I've been getting wedding invitations from my Malay friends, and several of them were in English instead of the national language.

What usually read as,

"Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Walimatulurus
Haji A bin Haji B & Hjh C binti Haji D
dengan segala hormatnya menjemput
________________________
ke majlis perkahwinan anakanda kami
AE bin Hj A dengan MN binti Hj O
pada x X 2006 bersamaan dengan y Y 1427H
di No Z, Jalan 123, KL
Semoga dengan kehadiran dan doa restu semua majlis ini akan diberkati Allah.
Terima Kasih
Wassalam"

has turned into:

"May light of happiness shine our joyous event
We,
Suki & Dean
cordially request the honour of your presence
_______________________
to witness the holy union of our love
at 666, Jalan 4444, Sijangkang
x X, 2007 at 6.45PM
With warm regards from Hj V and Hjh Q and family.
Love is two hearts merging as one, and as angels ring our wedding chimes I declare my undying passion to you."

Adui mak... what's up with that la? Sure, perhaps such invits are only sent to friends, and possibly Suki (aka Sakiyah) and Dean (Abudin) are one of those people who work with MNCs with lots of Mat Salleh and Minah Foreigners to invite.

Last April I was delighted to receive a wedding card from a friend in Finland, which was written in Finnish and translated to Swedish (just for me she took time to translate it to English with her own handwriting), but I was honoured nonetheless, I figured that's one way I'll learn her culture.

So where's our culture here? Why so not Malay one? Isn't wedding a time to keep things traditional?

I remember when wedding cards featured baby pictures of the bride and groom - OK, cute.

I remember when wedding cards featured the biodata of the bride and groom - er, who cares?

But wedding cards in English with love vows in printed in italics that do not even contain a simple salam? - Nasty! And frankly, plain vomit material. No budi, no bahasa there!

If this is just another new trend, takkan nak trendy sangat sampai no traces of their roots can be seen?

But that's not all, one mate related to me at one wedding she attended, the usual nasi minyak and ayam masak merah are nowhere to be seen. Guests were presented a Mediteraanean infusion instead.

Guess to these weddings we can just show up in jeans, baby-Ts and Crocs huh?

Pantun Mak Itam

Pa's passion for the cute Melaka houses led me to Pak Itam's house, a popular youth hangout in the kampung. Pak Itam married three times, first to a pantun primadona who kids call Mak Itam.

According to Pak Itam, Mak Itam was his only wife who stayed. His jodoh from the second and third unions ended in divorces.

When her husband developed interest in other women and committed to two others, Mak Itam, who gave up her glamourous life, experience a total blow. To her ears her new state of bermadu tiga screams she wasn't loved anymore.

Mak Itam promptly succumbed into a phase of unfathomable depression, reveals her daughter. "First she went mute for years. Years! After eons of silence, she suddenly rediscovered her voice and began to sell pantuns at any chance she gets.. That's when we discovered she's no longer her sane self."

Looking back at her two favourite four-liners I can only guess why after all these years she never managed to recover from her husband's actions. She chants:

"Pasang jerat di hujung tanjung
Dapat seekor landak betina
Panjang ku kerat, pendek ku hubung
Baru dapat menjadi sama."

"Layang-layang terbang melayang
Main layang di panggung wayang
Siapa kata abang tak sayang
Bagaikan bunga jatuh melayang."

The first pantun reeks of her struggle to be an equal and only partner to her husband - whatever the shortcoming, she will do her best to iron things out. The second pantun sounds as if she's trying to convince herself that there's still space for her in her husband's life. Sadly, to equate "bunga jatuh melayang" to her husband's love for her rings bells of insecurity and hopelessness in my head.

Today in her 70s, the bob-haired, sarung-clad Mak Itam paints a picture of an old woman who is chirpy and well cared for. The snarky lady also loves driving her daughther crazy with her kid-like antics, ranging from spitting the food she chewed off everyone's plate to mocking her daughter's nagging.

Her daughter kids her back by telling her that her pantuns are all stale. When this happens she only growls in dissatisfaction.

During our visit Mak Itam asked my older sibling if he has settled down. When he replied "No," she smiled approvingly. "Muda lagi, enjoy dulu. Betul tak?"

Bloggers in headlines for wrong reasons

Let's just be clear about something.

My definition of a blogger is a person who is:
1. .. in love with writing
2. .. have something to say (to him/herself or to the world)
3. .. responsible for everything he/she wrote

My definition of a gobblogger is a person who is:
1. .. basically an idiotic, unthinking coward who thinks he/she's being brazen and brave
2. .. have something to say but it is not worth saying because it is the result of shallow thinking
3. .. not taking responsibility of what he/she posted

Of recent the word blogger has been in the main headlines for all the wrong reasons, so much so the government wants to introduce a new legislation which involves serious, serious penalties as result to irresponsible publishing.

It appears as if some bloggers out there think it is cool to flame others - government, religion, race, royalties not spared! (Er.. not that I think the Kinabatangan MP deserves to be spared.) Even if you have a so-called constructive criticism to air, please, be responsible when going about it, and do it with the utmost respect of the involved party.

If with what you publish your only aim is to sincerely want to make things better, I'm sure there's a way to do it sensitively, tactfully, diplomatically, no?

If more bloggers become gobbloggers sooner or later there's not gonna be any room for casual bloggers like me, your lovely ol' Pastensu gal to write her thoughts out on small items she finds interesting in the newspaper anymore. Now that's a sad thought!

Imagine reading today's Berita Harian Sentral's report then not being able to talk about how weird it is that they chose to change the name of the district of Batang Berjuntai to Bestari Jaya? That's like an itch you can't scratch, argh!

Buzzing off to Pastensu?

In holiday mood? Here's what you can do to fake it at the office on those few last days before you get on that plane and buzz off to Pastensu:

1] Blog. It's been a while since your last update anyway. So type away and try to look busy before ol' boss give you something new to do.

2] If you're gonna do research on the place you're about to visit, don't. Not in the office. Maybe a bit excusable if you're into it during lunchtime, but as your colleagues return, kill the webpage. They'll know about all your trip within minutes and suddenly you have to buy them souvenirs, and you're already broke after plane and dorm bookings.

3] Eat a bit. Not too much. You might as well get slightly bit thinner in order to appreciate the upcoming meals you're gonna be having while you're on your trip. Besides, it will condition your stomach to behave while being fed less than usual, just in case you cannot swallow most of the things you're offered to eat.

4] Clear off all that back log. Yes, we're talking about those assignments you've got hidden under your big butt all these while - yep yep they need to be done. That way no one from office will call you and that'll save yer a lot if you're gonna be roaming.

5] Tidy your desk. Anything you think someone might need while you're gone, put it where they can easily find it without having to call you or snoop around your personal stash.

6] Off your desk, grab a pen, the tiniest notepad you can find, some rubberbands and safety pins - these might come in handy during your trip. See, you can start packing even when you're still at the office! Smart huh. Heheh.

7] Start composing your I'm-out-of-the-office automatic reply on your Inbox. Er, scrape that!

Why do I like my school?

I just had a tall glass of nescafe tarik so I'm a bit hyper this morning. I feel like singing my school song. There's several reasons why I wanna sing it. Reading Encik Ara Payung's comment on my previous entry was the last straw. Heheh!

Last week after updating my Friendster account I bumped into an old school mate of batch '91-'95, N.S.W, but of course now no one calls her by that name anymore - got glam name already. Hey why not! And last month when my drop-jelah-Geography-cause-it's-not-gonna-make-your-SPM-result-any-better classmate, Manja and I reunited in Cherating, we sang the school song on our way back to Legends from Kuantan. Gave goosebumps to our van-mates we did.

My school is cool because:
1] Our school is very much into co-curricular activities. Some of us get to escape a few lessons in the name of SUKMA, debates, hockey matches, pantun, field trips, integration camps, plays and those corny prefects' suaikenal (where prefects of boarding schools come in their blazers and ties, wahahah!). These are considered legal activities, so you're not really fly-ing. (Gals sneaking out at 10:20AM after calling up their boyfriends on their handphones from under the table while the 9:40AM Math class is going on - now that's fly-ing.)

2] Most of my schoolmates, even L.A.L the specky girl who catches katak purus with bare hands in the name of science, are really really nice gals.. Even the pretty-but-ganas W.C.M who gave the class of 4 Kemboja 1994 a taste of what "gertak-saja-lebih public suicide attempt" look like, is actually a very approachable gal, as long as you're not her best friend who stole her boyfriend.. And the Geography '95 classmates (a.k.a. Let's Sing M. Nasir Songs classmates), are the coolest of them all!

3] Teachers are cool too! BM maestro Encik AS who let me nap for 15 mins after he found out I stayed up to watch an international football match.. Puan SR who also let me go to sick bay after I couldn't keep awake during Science lab (again, football or was it GP?).. Cik W for teaching us tai-chi and how to conceal panty-lines.. Encik F who was nice enough to skip the next two History classes after the only other Malay gal in 4 "Bunga Kubur" Kemboja, P.N.R threw him that "Wow, bontot cun..!" comment while he was chalking notes on Malaysian constitution.. Puan FT who let W.S.W off the hook despite the two times she caught her red-handed dancing silly to the beating drums and cymbals of death processions.. Huh, Puan ShA, you're still the meanest Kemahiran Hidup teacher ever for saying I'm not as bright as my sis (true, but I rather not have you point it out to me OK?) and threatening my mate M.C.M that you'll ketuk her kepala with a gandin getah! We rather have Cik M who (apparently still) thinks she's a prophet teach us how to cook, sew and wire up an electronic LED board! Oops!

4] My seniors and juniors are nice - those who let me and J play April's Fool's jokes on them.. Those who lepak-ed with us under the big ketapang trees or the Dataran.. Those who didn't laugh when I did those extra loud announcements via the school's PA system.. Those kind-hearted senior prefects who let me walk in school every morning at 7:40AM instead of 7:20AM..

So for all the cool people in the RPS alumni, let's sing sing song! (C'mon Silverheadbanger I know you still remember it! 3, 4!

Sekolah R P
Jadi banggaan kami
Teruslah maju
Sepanjang zaman
Sebagai sinaran cahya

Dalam mengejar ilmu
Tabah hati selalu
Di bidang sukan persefahaman
Disiplin jangan abaikan

(coda) Kejujuran menghasilkan
Kesempurnaan bakti
Menjadi pedoman kami
Tetap diikuti

Mari penuntut semua
Berusaha hingga jaya
Harumkan nama
Tinggikan cita

Se-ko-lah R P ..

I should really find out who composed this nice little number. It's still one of the most prettiest hauting melodies I've ever heard. Haunted me during schooldays it did. Especially on Sundays cause I know I gotta go to school on Monday and sing it during assembly (it wasn't so beautiful then).

Do I hear calls for encore? Yeah? Return to Coda baby!

Kes bocor

Aw, c'mon, another tiff in the Parliament and we're paying taxes to pay these shitheads to talk c*ck about women's menses? And another a**hole even remarked he personally thinks the two (retarded) MPs need not apologize.

Can't someone talk about why there's still people living way below poverty line in this country and yet they're funding mat rempits to go jump onto an ice block?

Can't they talk about those Puduraya, Subang and Shah Alam cabbies who rip off people like there's no after life? Or maybe why people need to take three buses instead of one/two just to get to work with the new RAPID "strategy"?

Can't they please address the public education and health concerns? Don't they think the As race is getting a bit too nauseating or suggest that old folks above 65 with no family members should get free health treatment at government hospitals?

I'll be a bit happier if they're bickering about where to build the next high-tech government hospital or how to stop young female teachers from getting hitched right before finishing their last KPLI semester so that they won't be sent to kampungs to teach.

I'll be more happy if they're considering of allowing public arrest on errant cabbies. I'm game for this!

I'll be even more happy if they point out all those VIPs, celebrities and companies who donates a big sum of money and make noise about it so that they can escape tax and gain glamour and look good in front of the gullible. Buat amal pun nak kecoh satu kampung, siap nak sakit hati kalau orang tak tau?

Hish, sometimes I wonder why I still read newspapers when there's more items that "make my blood go upstairs" rather than something to feel happy about?

Oh I remember why.

Once in a while, news such as Raja Muda of Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah saying he'll fund his own wedding instead of using the state's money is truly a feel good piece to read.

Flying saucer route

^ I love this pix. Took it using my new Sony on 30/3/2007 8:45AM Malaysian time.

Was aboard UA OHare -> HKG and busy getting mad at a United Airways stewardess to notice that I just caught the sunset with three flying saucers buzzing by.

Either that or I was really tired due to the 6.5 hour delay we had to endure at OHare.

OK la. I was too distracted cause I found out that I'll have to spend a night at HKG and not get back to KL on schedule. Pretending to be totally "preoccupaiyed" with your gadget is way better than bawling your eyes out.

Besides, I sobbed through the last half of that Japanese film Udon on an earlier flight and used up all my credit limits for public show of sorrow.

Don't think they're flying saucers though. But I was still within the US airspace. And we all know all UFOs go to US and all Ultramen live in Japan.

No fulus, no story

A native of Lexington met up with a foreigner from Ipoh recently:

Lexington babe: Whatca want in your omelette, honey?

Ipoh mali: Some mushroom and capsicum please, thank you.

Lexington babe: And what, honey?

Ipoh mali: Capsicum? Er.. that one.

Lexington babe: That's pepper, honey. So what brings you to Kentucky?

Ipoh mali: I'm supposed to find out (tooot!) and send a story back to Kuala Lumpur. But everything's embargoed. Can't shop either, cause I don't have much money and stuff are expensive here.

Lexington babe: Yes, certain things are expensive, but not horse s*** though! Hee hee! So you've got no money and no story, what are ya gonna do, honey?

Ipoh mali: Tangkap gambar la sweetie.

How many KFCs are there in Kentucky?

I dunno. A lot maybe. But I only saw one. A tiny one. The rest are all Wendy's, Arby's, McDonalds, Subway... White Castle even!

Maybe everyone in Kentucky has their own secret recipe so Colonel Sanders didn't think it was worth it to have so many branches there.

And everyone is called "Honey" or "Sweetie" there. So forget names, even though a foreigner there you may be.

If you get lost, just call out, "Hi there honey, do you know how I can get back to Radisson Plaza Hotel from here?" Someone on the street's bound to say, "Right this way, sweetie."

Yep, apart from great but rare fried chicken and friendly people, the Bluegrass state also has lots of horses. Lots. But none will come near you unless they're on duty at the Kentucky Horse Park.

And it is a waste to send a non-drinker to the multiple award-winning bourbon factory Buffalo Trace Distillery. "No, I ain't drinkin even if you shove me a 20-year old bourbon to my nose, Freddie honey." (Freddie's our tour guide at the distillery.)

And Macy's, thanks for the USD27 Levi's 501s. Mates back home really loved it. Wish there was more cash for those nice smellin' Victoria Secret sprays that was on sale for 6 bottles at USD30.

Now, if only it didn't have to be three flights in and three flights out for the return trip from KL to Lexington, Kentucky. That's 41 hours worth of flying, 8 hours of transit and 7 hours of delay plus two sad films!

"What makes bloggers tick?"

Dear fellow bloggers, as I read Silverheadbanger's respond to my earlier post, it struck me that whatever I don't know and want to know, I should just ask. I should just ask the right people.

So here's me asking you all out there who's been blogging for some time already by now, "What makes bloggers tick?"

What's driving you to write?
(Me, it's those little things that kept nagging in my head. I just gotta get it out. Like the issue about fried eggs and ketchup after a tiring school day - the memory kept jutting out amidst my other thots like the millenium bug, so I just gotta blog about it to get it out of my system.)

What's inspiring you all these while?
(Me, it's all the things that I notice day in day out. It's all the things that I should have noticed earlier but didn't until now. It's all the new things I discovered. It's all the things that kept me reading till the last line of the newpaper article.)

In what way does blogging affects you?
(Me, blogging gets me started. It's like I have to practice using the keyboard after a night's sleep cause I could not remember how I did it yesterday. Blogging takes the cloud out of my skull everytime I need to see things a bit more clearly (not necessarily rightly). On days I'm forced to write about topics I don't like, I'll blog first so that my mood gets better by the time I get to the dirty work.)

What do you want to achieve?
(Me, I want to achieve inner peace. Blogging helps me rid of the garbage that's cluttering my nerves and atoms. Told you about those nagging thots, no? Therefore I blog.)

What have you achieve so far?
(Me, a piece inner peace. After all I haven't had time to blog about people who stand so close behind the ATM line, or those chee kuais who kept spitting in public, or those who let their toddlers pee on the shopping mall's flower pots or those who thinks doing charity means investing a bit of time and money so that they become more popular of a personality, or those segelintir jilbab-clad tua-sebelum-waktunya mamas who think they have the right to tell everyone they're right and everyone else are citizens of hell.)

Berbaloi ke blogging ni? (Is blogging worth it?)
(Me, I'll say sure! It kept me sane.)

Anyone else care to share? I appreciate your feedback - maybe with your help I can get that assignment going and do it as a parting gift for my ex-boss. (Erm, but before that I gotta blog first.)

Bloggers aren't created equal

Once my ex-boss asked me to write an article on "What makes bloggers tick?". My oh my. What a big piece that would've been.

But I chickened out immediately.

Yes it is quite sad to report that an enterprising young gal like me, who have all the potential and a golden opportunity to write on a subject as hot and interesting and possibly controversial as this, to say "No, at the moment I'm not the right person for this task." like that.

My reason is simple - For I have been blogging and blogreading for years, I know for a fact that: Bloggers aren't "created" equal.

Some good, some bad, some experienced, some humble, some arrogant, some shy, some shout, some blind, some sees, some important, some worth walking over, some serious, some ridiculous.

And blog-readers are just the same - meaning, just like bloggers, they also aren't created the same.

Some wise, some foolish, some cautious, some naive, some sane, some nay.

As both blogger and blogreader, which I guess it is safe to assume that I am an insider in this independent publishing phenomenon, I hate to say I still can't see the big picture.

There's lots of blogs out there - there are cool ones. Mind my own business types, count calories types, just me thinking types, what I wanna say to the world types, why am I dangerously in love with myself types... go ahead, baby, go ahead.

But some are funny, sad, worrying, prejudiced, grotesque, blatant, optimistic, suicidal... and it scares the shit out of me to think that behind each blog there is a person who could cook up all of these, and even scary it becomes when I realized that there are people out there who actually devour, and sadly, come to believe these stuff.

Until I figure out the big picture...

Farmer leaves the coop

Mayday, mayday!

The farmer has left the coop.

It is a May day indeed.

Suddenly sunny day, like one likely happenning in May.

Farmer dear, thanks for everything.

Even for those times when you were nasty.

Cause those times taught me even nice people can turn ugly.

Best of luck Farmie!

We chickie-chickies are now happy...

Bangkok jam

What makes Bangkok memorable?

1. The taxis They're brightly coloured Toyotas - green, orange, blue, pink you name it they've got it. I didn't get to ride one - yeah, that's what work trips are all about - not much time to do much at all.

2. The bazaars Big wide spaces packed with small outlets selling everything you don't need but want to buy anyway. Try thai silk - 4m sheets at 300 baht ok what? OK lah for Suan Lum Market (accessible via BTS to Lumpini) which is made merrier by expats (also made it pricier than other markets). Now a bit menyesal for not buying more.



3. The tut tuts
Wanna try that Ong Bak scene? No choice - once you're on it, you're in for the ride of your life. For 70 baht you can ride quite far, say KLCC to Dataran Merdeka.

4. The food
For muslims halal stuff may be a challenge, but there's lots to choose from. Even sireh comes in commercial packs. But those home made sausages looks damn inviting man!

The OKs and not OKs

DiGi's Konsert Rentaq Serantau last weekend was..

^ Found you: When Search's onstage, Amy was the only one capitalising on the stage and wireless system.

Good
Great turnout - long lines queuing at both the RM28 and RM38 entrances, and more at the ticket booths too. The venue had previously hosted Alanis Morrissette, SO7, Dewa, etc so most people knew what to expect in terms of seating/standing arrangements.

They did a great job with the stage. Tilted at an angle to address three corners effectively, the setup made everyone feel that they're close enough no matter where they seat/stand. Lights and visual projectors were very well coordinated as well.

Bunches of concert goers yang berhemah shows the rest of the crowd how to have fun, go crazy and be wild, without causing distress to anyone else. It was simple, you wanna sing and dance to the music, choose a spot wee bit away from the starstruckers, and have your ruckus well done with fries on the side!

Bad
Not enough staff/authorities manning the grounds. Some people crowd a certain spots in huge numbers, a couple of times the rowdy ones seems poised to simply trample onto seated audience for a better view.

Sound? Macam haremmmm... Masalah equipment ke? Or adakah Malaysia ni very lacking in terms of experienced sound engineers, or is it the venue/stage setting that's making it impossible for the soundmen to get their act in place? Maybe when I'm part of the backstage crew, I'll understand and appreciate their efforts more.

Class act
Inul - where did all the gelek gerudis go? Frankly she looks a bit off-center as she tries her best to spin and sway uncharacteristicly. Heard she had to sign and pledge best behaviour agreement with the organizers before coming on stage. Sigh. Not much of a fan, but since you're there, give it all out already!

Ella - major gripe: very small repertoire. But being the performer she is, even during that short stint she manages to make an impact. "Sebentar.. Sebentar.." takes a new meaning as Ella impulsively cues her musician. Guess I'll have to catch her next time at her Sunday Nite Live.

Search - gimmicky, gimmicky. Perhaps a mini version salvaged from whatever they've planned for their 25th anniversary gig. Ada lak mic problem tu but as expected Amy carried on ikut suka dia. On the other hand despite being equipped with wireless tools, Hillary and Edrie hardly take advantage of this edge. Don't you just miss Kid and Din!

Radja - too bad the crowd carrying the Sabah flag decides to start you-push-me-we-push-you ponggo right in the middle of their opening sound. But what's most memorable bit about their performance is the vocalist's outfit... Ngapain pakaiannya kayak Achik Spin dalam pilem Diari Romeo?