The end of Euro 2004 as I know it...

I'm wearing black today (no, the All Blacks aren't in town, and I'm not going goth OK) cause it is the end of Euro 2004 - all cause my favourite team, Italy has ungracefully fell out of the tournament!

I'm blaming Vieri for his highly questionable performance during the match against Sweden! I'm blaming Buffon a bit for not having a bigger, more aerodynamic hairdo*!

Had Vieri carefully finish at least one of his headings, Italy would have won the game and comfortably walk through. Had Buffon sport a haircut with better air control it would have sent him flying back into that corner where Bang Berahimovic's "keldai kick" ball went in.

Speaking about Ibrahimovic's goal, I againt would like to blame Vieri for not liking Tarzan when he was a kid. Had he developed a liking for Tarzan he would have jumped and cling onto the goal post and block Ibrahimovic's goal with his chest or face - at least that would smooth over all his pathetic headings.

Speaking about Vieri not liking Tarzan, would it be possible to blame his aunties and uncle for not buying him Tarzan and Jane figurines and videos when he was a kid?

Uh, I better get my nephews Zafri and Zakwan some Tarzan stuff then!

* gotta complement Buffon's hairstylist though, he must have used Brylcream - the "masih tegak lagi?" gel - good staying power demonstrated throughout all of Buffon's outings...

Kisah Seekor Khinzir Gagah Yang Bernama Babe

HBO is showing Babe this month - ooh, I forgot how much I really enjoyed this movie. In fact, this movie totally changed my perspective on this animal called... ze.. pig!

When I first saw Babe, I only captured what the film projected on the surface - an orphan's journey alone in the big, bad, yet sometimes wonderful world and his heart-wrenching adventures on Farmer Haggert's farm, yadda yadda yadda...

Back then, I remember wondering why oh why is the hero a... ekhem... pig, of all animals? Were the film makers tired of Lassies and Beethovens and Garfields and Puss in Boots? Or was it cause the animators were monopolizing the insects category (remember Antz and A Bug's Life)?

Apparently not!

Let it be known that ze domestic pig, aka sus scrofa, is actually among the most intelligent species in the group of domesticated animals - in fact, more so than (gasp!) dogs! We're talking bout jumping through hoops and walking tightropes and opening bolted doors here!

So when George Miller (ze scriptwriter) made a pig - our adorable, "heart of gold" Babe - to play the main character who got them sheep posse doing his bid much better than the shepherd dog Rex (the antagonist character), it's got to be a well-researched decision. Yep.

As far as Babe goes, credits should also be given to the rest of the animal pack - especially the rodent trio for their harmonious, high-pitched rendition of Blue Moon. But personally, it was Babe's Jingle Bells tune that I still could not wash out of my head - ask any 1996 - 2000 batch of MCC Aishahan what they usually hear when I'm occupying the shower booth next to theirs... here I go again!

"La la la.. la la la... la la la... lala.."

Beam me up, Scotty!

I'm not a Trekkie, but I am a Crichton fan. So if you're either a Star Trek fan or have read Timeline or even Sphere (forget the movie versions mate!) I'm sure you at least have some idea what teleportation is all about.

Star Trek and Crichton books are considered fiction (albeit inspired by real science) and even dictionaries like Dictionary.com explains ze term "teleportation" as

"A hypothetical method of transportation in which matter or information is dematerialized, usually instantaneously, at one point and recreated at another."

Teleportation... fiction, hypothetical... get it?

But today in New Straits Times (in print) and BBC (online), some scientists declared that they've actually done it! Moreover, says Professor Rainer Blatt, of the University of Innsbruck, "We've done it for the first time with massive particles, with atoms*. We are able to teleport in a deliberate way - that is, at the push of a button."

I'm waiting till the day Scotty will really get to beam something bigger, maybe a bad cancerous cell out of someone's brain into those formalin tubes, then the famous Rapat Setia mosquitos off the grass on my parents' lawn into President Bush's Oval Office, then Faizal Hussein from Gombak into my bedroom eh! living room in Cheras (I'll pay any price!) then...

So on. So you know how a person like me would use such technology. What would you like to have teleported?


* According to the BBC report, Professor Blatt's team performed the teleportation on calcium ions.

A song for my Precious

This post is dedicated to my Precious aka Presh or P, who last night won a bet, lost a handphone, and graciously let a kiss slip away. Hit it Frank!

I Won't Dance
Frank Sinatra

I won't dance, don't ask me
I won't dance, don't ask me
I won't dance, Madame, with you
My heart won't let my feet do things that they should do

You know what?, you're lovely
You know what?, you're so lovely
And, oh, what you do to me
I'm like an ocean wave that's bumped on the shore
I feel so absolutely stumped on the floor

When you dance, you're charming and you're gentle
'specially when you do the Continental
But this feeling isn't purely mental
For, heaven rest us, I am not asbestos

And that's why
I won't dance, why should I?
I won't dance, how could I?
I won't dance, merci beaucoup
I know that music leads the way to romance,
So if I hold you in my arms I won't dance

I won't dance, don't ask me,
I won't dance, don't ask me
I won't dance, Madame, with you
My heart won't let my feet do things that they want to do

You know what?, you're lovely,
Ring-a-ding-ding, you're lovely
And, oh, what you do to me
I'm like an ocean wave that's bumped on the shore
I feel so absolutely stumped on the floor

When you dance, you're charming and you're gentle
'specially when you do the Continental
But this feeling isn't purely mental
For, heaven rest us, I am not asbestos

and that's why
I won't dance, I won't dance
I won't dance, merci beaucoup
I know that music leads the way to romance
So if I hold you in my arms, I won't dance!

By the way Presh, I'll make it up to you somehow, alright?

"Bye Sitiiiii!"

Hello! Was this morning one of the lousiest or wot!

OK, I was supposed to attend this PeeCee right, so I should expect to see other journalists right? Well, yeah, sure but I wasn't expecting this fella, he's a contributor for some foreign financial times.

Ugh, I still get shivers everytime I recall this incident which took place at this morning! But I gotta tell you guys a bit of history first.

I first bumped into this fella, let's call him Oz, at a PeeCee last year. He introduced himself - picture a gawky, geeky guy (not that I have anything against gawky geeky people), thick-rimmed specs and sport-shirted, complete with a schoolboy knapsack on his shoulder and an earnest grin on his face - and asked for my name.

He wanted to get to know all of us IT journalists, but as he approached our group of four, I seemed to be the only one left - the rest, I didn't think they were directly avoiding the guy, they were timely interested in food - so I had to give out my name.

As my friends returned they caught his ice-breaking remark to me, which goes like this, "You are soooo sweet! You have such a sweeeeet face!"

I knew at that point, there would be no ending to this. My counterpart from Chip mag, let's call him GG, said, "Whoa, even I ain't that brave!"

After that I bumped into him several more times at other PeeCee, but managed to slip in and out of the Q & A sessions unnoticed... till today.

I absolutely wanna blame it on our host company - the producers of Memory Sticks - for having such a weird PeeCee. It is weird cause they made us have tea break at 11AM, then proceed to lunch at 11.30AM till 12.45PM, just so the rest of the two-part PeeCee fits the bigwigs who came all the way from Nippon - actually I really should thank them for a lovely food festival, no?

Anyway, during the long gastronomical fiesta, I was having a good time with the other IT journalists - GG, Lin, Ime etc - talking about Euro 2004 and stuff, till one of them, the Chip writer actually, said "I think I saw your admirer.. hehe.."

I was thinking, oh, there's a big turnout of journalists today, surely ol Oz'll miss me again. But no, he happened to sit on the same table as a BH writer, my pal as well, and as I was saying hi to her on my way to the buffet table, Oz began to wave frantically (though there is really no need to do that!), and I had to smile back!

As I load the wonderful dishes onto my plate, I began to search for an alternative route - bloody hell, there's none! All I could do was wait till the guy was facing down to his food to manage a safe route back to my table.

Back at my table I cursed GG for not telling me the exact coordinate of Oz's location, what he was doing and an alternative plan on how I would get my food, enjoy it and have him not notice me!

By that time the incident about how Oz was picking me up at last year's PeeCee had reemerged. Shit, oh shit - if only he wasn't so weird and seemingly desperate, I would have been flattered.

But Oz is weird! He went to a veteran journalist's table and started talking to the old guy, at the same time pointing and waving at me... and repeated the same process at some other journalist's table as well!!!

I really should not outcast him simply cause he's a bit weird right? I can imagine an old friend of mine, Fathul repeating what he said to me about three years ago, "Korang ni bodoh la. Apa la dengan orang gila pun nak takut. Muka aje lawa tapi bodoh."

For the record Fathul's word sliced my vena kava at the right places - eversince that day, I began to see people with Otak Tak Center in a different light. Well, till Oz showed up again this morning lah!

Anyway, promptly at 12:30PM (the time we were told to get back at the PeeCee room), all the journalists began to wipe their hands on the hotel's nice napkins, collect the press kits and made a move to the PeeCee room (it's actually the hotel's night club). I begged my IT journalists pals to help me out - I just got a bit panic there, right after his fourth Mexican-wave to me.

GG agreed to be my walking wall and we ended up going round the mulberry bush trying to escape the lunch area safely. And safely we arrived in front of the club - only to be told that the hosts needed 5 bloody more minutes before they can let us in.

So we hung around the area, and when I didn't see Oz anywhere, I thought "Hey, safe!". Not.

He arrived, walked straight to me, stood as near as he could, and asked me again my name, just to be have that Man...-your-face-is-so-familiar-and-we've-met-so-many-times-but-for-the-love-of-?-I-just-can't-remember-your-name kind of chat, you know!

GG is already clearing his throat, but Lin's such an angel! She stood right next to me, and we huddled close, she to be my gateway against the malicious blended threat, me the harassed party.

Lin even grabb GG to her side, just to have a better "barrier" effect, and I already huddled towards old B and began a conversation about his health and (please forvige me B!) sort of made him my other "wall". By that time we were huddled so close together even All Black's scrum setting would have been put to shame!

But Oz was more creative than we all thought - hey I give credit where credit's due ok - and he began to shove his neck giraffely (this is not an insult, tis a verb, thank you very much!) in between Lin's and GG's shoulders, peering right into moi. That made even the angel in Lin shivered!

Lin swished-swashed her hair to shake him off, but that did not do much for GG. Oz, having his face swasched by Lin's hair, continued to huddled nearer to GG, pressed himself to GG's back, till GG had to ask with gritted teeth, "Is there anyone behind me?" to drop a hint.

Lin quickly suggested we go to the ladies - bloody hell, why didn't I think of that? Stupid! Stupid! Let's go!

Ime followed us, so we stayed in the ladies loo (I know this is redundant) for about 5 minutes and discussed a strategy for our upcoming entrance in to the PeeCee area. But I guess it could not get any worse, so with a soggy plan we braved it - thankfully the rest of the journalists were already seated by the time we got there, and we were just in time to hear three Nipponese speak about AVIT products...

Did I said I though things could not get worse? I really shouldn't have - cause it did!

Right at the end of the PeeCee, when the emcee had said thanks for coming and hope to see everyone in future events, Oz saw me again, and loudly(!) said "Bye Sitiiiiii!", right in front of everyone and waited dead on his tracks, his face all expectant.

I mustered a lousy half-smile and did a small, short wave-once-back - could not trust my mouth to say anything though, cause trying to recover from the shock of having almost everyone in the room turning to look at Oz and I...

Ode to Bob

Firstly, thanks Bob, for visiting my humble private blog. Tis' nothing compared to yours, ze Drag-Ass.

Actually Intan and I met Bob just a couple of days ago, at my favourite after-work hangout coop, ze Hameeds in Central Market. He eh, I think I've been frequenting Hameeds since my final year at ITM, which is 2000 - which means that it was almost 4 years ago that I first met Bob.

Whoa, that long, eh?

Back in 2000, Hameeds became ze meeting point for me and my mate Wan. She'll be arriving from the greeny UPM, me from the drylands of SS17/18 Shah Alam - both screwed and desperate for distractions and Hameeds became the coop where our teh tarik and maggi goreng accompany our bitch-about-school session.

The first two gentlemen who "adopted" us into the Love-One-Love-All Clan of Hameeds were Fari (who is now attending massage-technique classes is Adelaide) and Kolin (who is still around at CM, manning one of the souvenir stores). Thanks to them, we got to know other gems in the crowd - Bob being of them.

Bob, just like anyone who is part of the Love-One-Love-All Clan, is more than what meets the eye. Beneath his swanky get-up and serious stare, he has an eclectic persona only one who dares talk to him will ever find out.

A sharp observer of people and life, expect his insights and advice to hit the white/yellow/blue/red dot on the squasy ball (what, you all don't know a squasy ball has a tiny coloured dot on its surface?). Yep, he's one of a kind...

The family knows what's good for you

My Dad says, if you were to choose a guy to marry, ideally he should be:
*Melayu/Malay
*Sihat/Healthy
*Beragama/Religious
*Lebih tua/Older than thou
*Lebih tinggi/Taller than thou
*Tidak ada keturunan gila/Do not have mental case genes
*Tidak bermata merah/Do not have reddish eyes
*Tidak berbulu di dada/Do not have chest hair
*Tidak jalan menari-nari/Do not walk like John Travolta

My Mom says, it would be much better if the guy's also:
*Pemurah/Generous
*Dari keluarga sederhana/From an average family
*Hormat orang/Respects people
*Berfikiran terbuka/Open-minded
*Boleh dibawa berbincang/Can discuss and reason

My hippie aunt says, don't settle unless the guy is:
*Kelakar/Funny
*Berpengetahuan/Learned
*Pandai bawa diri/All-rounder
*Tahu menilai hidup/Knows how to live

My practical uncle says, better choose a guy who:
*Rajin baca suratkhabar kuat-kuat/Don't mind reading newspaper out loud... Cause then he would not mind sitting in the kitchen and keeping you company while you cook...

My five year-old nephew's vote goes for any guy:
*Yang berkereta/Who owns a car... Cause any guy with a car can drive and come visit him and let him be the navigator... cause you don't own a car and you don't drive in KL

Saya suka...

... Jikustik's killer song, Tak Ada Yang Abadi, which goes something like this:

Kau pernah menjadi detak dalam nadiku
Dalam hidupku
Dan kau pun pernah menyelamatkan
Seluruh hidupku

Kau pernah menghujaniku
Dengan butiran air matamu
Tapi kau juga pernah
Tertawa dalam dalam pelukku

Perubahan ini meyakinkan aku
Bahwa tak ada yang abadi
Sejak kau putuskan
Untuk melepaskan hidup

Kau pernah menjadi terang dalam gelapku
Saat tersesat
Tapi kau juga pernah menyentuh
Rasa sakitku

Kepergian itu mengajarkan aku
Bahwa tak ada yang abadi
Sejak kau putuskan untuk
Melepaskan hidup....

This song is a composition by Pongki, the band's vocalist, and the arrangement has the magic touch of Erwin Gutawa, if I'm not mistaken - a maestro when it comes to strings. Tak Ada Yang Abadi is not their latest hit, it came with their second album Perjalanan Panjang (they are now promoting their 3rd album already).

Jikustik's bassist, Icha and Sheila On 7's Eros used to play in the same band before they found their own niche. Check this group out at the Jikustik Official Website.

I also could not stop myself from repeating the song Eiffel... I'm In Love, which is the orginal motion picture soundtrack for an Indonesian movie of the same title. Composed by Melly Goeslaw and arranged by Anto Hoed, this track is only 2 minutes and 32 seconds long but if you set your player to repeat only this track, it can stretch to 5 minutes and 4 seconds, or 7 minutes and 36 seconds or.... wow, my math's good!

Actually this clarinet plus harpsicord plus accordian plus piano infested track reminds me of the songs I used to play when I was still studying organ. Other cool songs in the Eiffel... I'm In Love aka Eiffel... Aku Jatuh Cinta OMPS are Bercintalah Denganku, Pujaanku and Bulan Kedua, but I guess Indonesian music avids would be more familiar with Tak Tahan Lagi. I wonder when the movie will be released here?

Siti Ctea

Siti Nurhaliza is now officially a tea seller. Yup, she's branching out she said, so she'll be seeling her own brand of tea, called Ctea, from now on.

Her brand of tea was launched during the recent Pesta Kaamatan. Ctea, you should know this, is a product that does not contain chemicals of any sort - made from leaves plucked from the most suitable-for-tea-growing lands in Sabah, mind you. So if you drink Ctea, you'll be drinking pure tea.

OK lah. The point of this entry is: WHADDAHECK?

Hasn't she learnt from Sudirman that drinks just don't work? I mean, does anyone still remember Sudi? Or for that matter, Senario's drink?

And I think some other boyband/rap group/nashid group tried endorsing some kind of beverage too, some time back right? And where are they now? OK, they're probably still jumping on the stage but where's them drinks?

Anyway, if I were Siti Nurhaliza, I won't try to follow Sudirman to a T/tee/tea. If I were her, I'd probably capitalised on my exposure in the IT field instead (see Siti, there's a "T" in "IT" you know).

After her long contract with TMNet, and some with Minolta and now Samsung - you'd think she'd gotten the drift. After all these IT-based press conferences, surely she can tell the difference between Megahertz and Megabytes (like our darling Lina Teoh) already right?

I remember asking Samsung's PR why Siti Nurhaliza? She said the industry knows her already, that's why.

Siti, takkan no one told you this? Takkan lah main terima je contract and never ask what is it that they like so much about you?

You have to compile your intangible assets and use it, girl! C'mon, you have the opportunity, you just gotta seize it!

Imagine if Siti Nurhaliza were to produce peripheral stuff like mouse, joystick, keyboard, speaker and such. Call the brand CTtech, or something more flashy (and parallel to her image like..) CTbytes.

Put her face on everything (her true-colour image, icon image, whatever man). Then take it with her everytime she holds a concert - let it be her merchandise line.

After all, multimedia should be more relavant to her day-time job right? Well, compare IT gadgets to tea leaves, now do I make sense?

I wonder if all these while she's been eyeing the tea industry and making notes about Sabah tea plantations or if she'd ever done any research on this whole it's-time-I-diversified-from-entertainment-so-I-guess-tea-sounds-good venture.

OK, probably I'm wrong here, but... oh, someone tell me what's going on with Malaysia's rags-to-riches mega pop princess?

I mean, really, tea?

My handphone's battery's weak

I once interviewed a handphone user - just a trendy wendy I pick off the street, and she said that as her handphone's battery goes weak, she would feel her mood plummeting as well.

I became a handphone user in 1996, and back then I don't receive that many calls, except from my parents or sister. So even when the battery indicator starts blinking, it doesn't really bother me.

Today is a different story. My cute little sidekick who tries to wake me up every morning by belting out the tune Minuet is currently blinking its battery indicator, begging me for an electrocution.

I didn't bring my charger. No one else in the office has one that match. I'm beginning to feel desperate...

Happy Birthday to Cik Li and Sue

To Lize, antara orang-orang pertama yang menegur aku kat MCC dulu, Happy Belated 26th Birthday.

To Sue, who is among the coolest person I know, here's an early Happy 26th Birthday wish.

P/S: Got a small gift for you guys, so bila nak jumpa (Cik Li kau punye nanti aku pass kat Sue ekk) and Cik Tin, I finally got you a birthday gift! Sorry lambattt...

Ta Alip Daa!

Tada! My article got in on time!

Today I came into the office a bit late - last night I had a cuppa session with my sis and her gang of funnymen, went back late, slept late, yada yada. I quickly scanned for any story on the free copy of newspaper that has my byline, but I didn't see any at first.

It turned out that I was checking last Thursday's CT, while today's CT has been snatched away from my table by someone who thought I was still outstation. I went to see the Ed and asked him if everything's alright with the story I sent - he said it's alright and went on to flip through today's CT (he was the one who took my copy) and showed me the article.

There it was. On the last page. At the last column. It has my byline on it.

I quickly read it. Yup, it got chopped down to half as usual, but in terms of content, not as much as I thought it would be.

I asked the Ed if the story is alright or what, and he said it's OK. Then he asked if I can come up with another story to make the sponsor of the event happy - sure I can, I said, but I didn't say anything about the lifestyle piece that I'm supposed to hand in as well.

I guess that's the best I can do so far. I'm a bit shwalzermacky cause it was printed on the last page - but that's due to my quite late submission, remember, I only got the story in way after lunch time.

And I'm a bit shwalzermacky cause the long story I wrote got chopped down to half so it became only a quarter page thing - but that's cause most of it were about the CDMA technologies, which happens to be 60 percent of what was showcased during the event; totally irrelevant to the local interest.

I think I still don't have the nose for news. I still think I need some kind of guidance on how to do good live reporting.

I was hoping this live reporting assignment would give me some indication on whether journalism is my thing or not, whether I'm getting better or worse, whether hands-on training and as-you-go-you-get-the-experience kind of thing would be good enough to make me a good enough reporter.

Right now, I don't think I can make much of a conclusion. But right now, I don't think I'm a good enough reporter at all - but that's not to say I don't want to become one, or that I have given up on becoming a good journalist.

All I'm saying is that perhaps on certain assignments, like live reporting on a technology showcase-type of events, I still need some kind of coaching...

Sometimes I wonder, would a career change do me good..?

The real ta alip kot

Right now I'm waiting for a reply from the Ed if my article's received and whether it is good enough for publication or else.. I sent it at about 5PM and it's 5:48PM - no reply yet...

The event was a total havoc for me - there were so many bigshots ready to talk, and I have not evenone question for them - that was how bad the three plenery sessions were this morning. I just froze like a maggot on a split jambu.

There were people talking in different languages - journalists asking questions and sounding really smart and savvy. Me, I tried to record some quotes and scrambled to find an angle for my story.

After lunch (veggie, veggie, veggie) I finally got a bit more courage to approach them and got a little bit of information that would make my story a bit different from others, at least I hoped it would be so. Talked to a couple of good looking executives who treated me like a princess, saying that anything I ask they'll be happy to answer (and by the looks of it they didn't even mind me writing so slowly on my notepad, in fact slowing down as they answer too).

At 3:15 I walked back to my room cause the Internet connection at the conference area was bloody slow (and they call it broadband!). As I walked back my head went spinning for an idea - but I still don't know what's good to report - told myself to calm down and get a grip: I can do this!

In the room I stripped (hey, not all the way la but whatever that's slowing my creativity process... if any went on at all..) and launched my laptop and got on the intranet webmail, desperately skimming through all the materials I've collected and scrutinizing my really bad handwriting, trying my best to come up with a story.

I guess due to the pressure of deadline, I managed to come up with a readable piece. I took Faizal's advice to go easy on the figures, but I could not do away with lots of jargon - hey, it is a telecommunications technology showcase that I am supposed to report about, no?

Anyway, did a check (just spelling lah, no cross-opinion thing or anything intelligent) and mailed it. Switched on the TV and waited...

Still waiting...

Grr... I'm hungry - maybe I should just go to the nearest McDonald's outlet...

 
This photo is taken by a counterpart of mine (Hong - could not thank him enough as he helped me a lot on this assignment) using a Panasonic Lumix camera (my sis') yesterday. 

Ta Alip Kot

I can't sit still today - firstly cause the new fans we got are freezing me to death, secondly cause the press kit on a technology event that I'm supposed to attend tomorrow has not arrived into my mailbox yet.

The press kit issue is the scarier part - no, not like Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam type of scare, it's more like oh-no-I-don't-have-professional-training kind of scare. So I might as well admit it - I'm the reporter who have been spoiled by press kits.

I learnt IT in college and U, I may know the technology, but reporting about it is a different ballgame. Granted, I did study some writing courses in MCC - hey, here's a shoutout: thanks Mr Mustafa for an interesting English 111 class.

Mr Mustafa gave me a B something for a paper I wrote - it was about how cancer spread - yeah, boring topic, but lots of materials available. I may have more interest in topics like Bermuda Triangle mystery or Malaysia-Singapore relationship post-1960's or something more motivating to research about, but I'm not the type that would go do something tough and enjoy it.

I'm the kind of person that likes to wear selipar jepun, you know, the type of shoes that you won't have to bend down and fuss with to wear. If you've been reading teen-mags/chic-mags, you'll know that people who wear slip-on shoes are said to have fear of commitments, hardship, and anything that's remeh (tedious).

And I am that. The worse part is, I went on to become an IT journalist.

Many IT journalists I've met have said this: IT journalists has got to be among the most pampered among the lot - we get invitations to events (99% at hotels, clubs etc), we show up (register at the separate media booth), get press kit (ooh, lovely photos too, no need to get photographers), attend the Q & A (what's new about this product?), eat and be merry (what? Popia itik? Can lah) and even get door gifts (weird, weird, weird stuff)as a motivation to quickly write and submit the stories.

So far writing stories has been like the English 111 class' assignments - betul, or I would not have survived! Formula: the who-what-where-when-how plus some insights (insight could be anything: trends, previous product comparison, lesson learnt, bla bla bla) equals to something you can submit to the Editor.

The hard part would be weaving up the story into a readable piece worth reading. Like a song arrangement, you want the story to have some "feel" in it, you want it to be appreciated and understood.

Another hard part would be the starting sentence - the attention grabber, the one that tells pretty much the whole story, the one that will affect the reader's knowledge, the one that give evidence to whether or not you're a good journalist.

So here's the point to all of my ramblings above: I've never done live reporting before. And I'm supposed to do one tomorrow from a place I've never been to before - sure there's a media centre, but what if it is full and by the time I get to a PC or a cable to connect my laptop time's running out and I end up sending a lousy piece for the Ed?

The PR girl said she'll send me a press kit on the event, but it has not arrived, so I'm a bit at a loss, and I got a feeling I might succumb to panic soon. It's not that I'm hoping to be so spoonfed that my whole story would be based on that press kit (no sir, we IT journalists don't do that!), but at least the press kit would give me some ideas for an angle for the story I'm supposed to submit at lunchtime tomorrow.

Ish suspen betul la...

Oich! It came! It came! Aiya, I must have been blogging too long not to notice the incoming mail icon appearing! OK lah, I got a story template to do, so ciao...

Once you know how to ride a bike...

Highly strung. That's what my sis likes to call me when I get irritated about stuff. Lately (these past three days or so) I've been exactly that.

About a few minutes ago my boss said something that is not supposed to affect me much - just reminding me about something that I forgot to do. You know what, all these while I never forgot to do this one little thing, but yesterday I did for the first time, and today he's making a bit of fuss about it.

He said it's something that many of us forgot to do, so he's just remindin'. I wanted to scream back: Hey wuss, I've been doing it everytime except yesterday so gimme a break!

But the moment I thought of a nicer way to say that, the next thought that entered my bloody fuzzy brain was: It's just not worth it.

So I said thanks for remindin' boss, I'll be sure not to forget it next time.

Then it occured to me that, hey, I managed to stop myself from creating a scene over nothing. I know well enough already that it is not worth my saliva to do such thing. I know well enough that had I screamed the "Hey wuss..." line, it would have gotten me a longer time in the boss' cubic.

I, the self-appoint immbecile, had thought twice.

I guess you know you've grown up if you think twice before you do anything. Judging from how fast my thinking twice took up, I'd say I must have been doing it for some time already - it's like riding a bicycle, once you know how to do it, you'll only do it faster...

Gals that make the world go round..

.. and one of them was Helen of Troy (previous to her fled to Troy she was also known as the Helen of Sparta).

Note: If you've not seen the movie Troy yet, stop reading now, cause this post is a spoiler.

Knowing how I truly despise sad-ending movies, I can't believe I was game enough to go watch Troy, that film with Eric Bana (played the part of Hector, eldest son of Priam - king of Troy), Brad Pitt (Achilles - lord of the Myrmidons, the greatest band of Greek soldiers), Sean Bean (Odysseus - king of Ithaca), Orlando Bloom (Paris - gosh, what a wussy name, what a wussy character - I'll call him Wussy Paris from now on, as far as this posting goes) etc.

Notice that all the big names mentioned above are males, cause that's what the movie is about - males who loved, be it women, be it power, be it glory; and the war that they see as a solution to gain what they love.

What's the name of the actress who played the part of Helen (of Troy, previously Sparta)? You know what, I don't remember. Cause to me Saffron Burrows who played the part of Hector's wife, Andromache, was more memorable (then again, it's could also be so cause I saw Burrows in that almost B-grade ikan yu gone berserk flick called Deep End, which spooked me off seawater for months).

So Wussy Paris's love for Helen got two nations into a war (yeah, I'm gonna follow suit and mention that it is the fault of "Helen, whose beauty launched a thousand ships" too - hey, that's quite a feat, though I'm not sure good or bad). So wussy was Paris that his brother had to finish the challenge he issued to his lover's husband.

Potrayed by Brian Cox, Agamemnon's love (greed, rather) for power led him to sacrifice his great Greek army into battle over "his brother Menelaus's honor". A husband's pride - yep, what a good excuse to go to war - well they did say that Troy is a big whacked tragedy.

Achilles's love for glory got him to go to war for a beastly king - ending up killing the great Trojan warrior Hector over his nephew Patroclus' (Garret Hedlund - I remembered cause he's kinda cute) accidental death. To top it all, because he wanted o save his "love" Briseis (Rose Byrne), he perished under Wussy Paris' arrows to his back and heel!

Man, I just can't get over how wussy Wussy Paris is. In fact, I didn't really mind that Troy is a sad-ended movie. I minded more because the character Paris is so bloody wussy. W-U-S-S-Y.

It's a downward transition for Bloom, who played super-macho-archer-swings-270degrees-up-a-horsie elf in Lord of the Rings trilogy and daredevil son of a pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.

But there's lots of cool scenes aboard Troy: the part when Priam entered the tent of Achilles undercover, the part when Eric Bana and Brad Pitt got into a one-on-one battle, the part when the Myrmidons took over the beach of Troy (really cool!), the part when Agamemnon called for his great warrior but Achilles was still in bed..

The part I hated most also happened to be Bana-Pitt showdown, cause you can't blame any of them for engaging in that battle. They could have conquered the world together, but thanks to Helen they were put into conflict by the ties they served.

Ok, OK - go see the movie, it'll be worth your RM10... Don't cry, it's just a movie... though it was inspired by the Iliad, and there must be some truth in Homer's words..

Moi croissant is getting berried

I was talking to a colleague - just to divert her away from the topic of company restructuring I blurted out something I'm currently not feeling peachy about.

I must have said what I said too quickly, cause when her attention snapped she quickly inquired:

"What? Did you say your croissant is getting berried?"

Wha..?

"No lah! I said, my cousin is getting married. Aiyo.."

"Ooh, sorry, I know you're a fan of Peter Mayle* and all, but to talk about croissants getting berried is a bit too much, I should think."

For your information, Peter Mayle is an English author whose first work I got to read was an entertaining autobiography/travel and restaurant guide/cultural study of the south of France, titled A Year In Provence.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a light reading, but let me warn ye this: anyone on diet, stay away from his books (which also include Chasing Cezanne, Hotel Pastis, and Anything Considered). The way he describes the French cuisine, without fail, will generate your appetite.

To get an idea of his writing style, imagine stuff like murder, theft, romance, adventure, even the French postman being linked to a specific French food item - some literally, at other parts figuratively.

But in case you're looking for new materials to read, do try any of Peter Mayle's novels and have fun reading a reserved Brit man's take on the spontaneous French lifestyle.

Talking in whispers

I'm back at the office so soon! Did I mentioned I was in office on Saturday to work? No? Well I did, and it was a real waste cause not too much got done.

That Saturday after that futile attempt at work, I went for a movie with my sis cause by that time she's up. Then we checked on our cousin who got knocked down by a Kancil a fortnight ago (we've been checking on her regularly since at Damansara Specialist Hosp cause she needed us to make sure none of her three BFs come to visit her at the same time - hey, that's what cousins are for!).

Back at work today - people are still talking in whispers, and I (wasn't eavesdropping, mind you) heard several names being mentioned more than once. Whoa, has anyone been selected for the deployment yet?

Man, I wish the management will just do it! The silence is destructive - it's demotivating a lot of people from doing their job, and some had to suffer more at other people's expense.

For example, throughout last week I've been assigned to a number late eve/night assignments - seems like I've been getting more assignments than usual cause some people have reduced to saying no in order to manifest protest to the upper level. With the special project my team had to do, my schedule's gone awful - like bad cholesterol filling up the arteries - I suffered backlog in terms of the usual workload, and tension rise.

Outside work I don't get to see anyone else much except my sis, cause by now our schedule seems to run parallel - we're nightowls, and we only get see other nightowls. When you only get to relax and unwind during ungodly hours, you can't see the usual crowd like your friends - and you began to realize that they've got a life - and you don't.

On the other hand, I'm beginning to have more sense of belonging with my colleagues (hell, being on the same boat). Many invited me to share the "news" they caught from the current grapevine - realiable or otherwise is besides the point - the point is knowledge sharing is done here, mate.

And I sing, que Sara, Sara...

Till the 17 names be revealed

The buzz word in my office right now is "redeployment". Everyone I talked to (mostly the staff under the sector I'm attached to) is thinking the silver bullet is coming their way.

Some think so because they're new, ala LIFO gitu you know? Some are hoping for VSS to be issued. Some are already thinking about which desk they'd prefer to be moved to.

I was thinking if I get to be one of the 17 people targeted for redeployment, I'd probably ask for sports desk or travel desk or something along that line. I don't think I'd mind being redeployed, despite the recent happenings.

When I said recent happenings, I'm actually referring to the past assignments that came my way these past few weeks. Most of my assignments now are events that has to do with mobile phones or telcos.

In fact there is that one assignment which required "a writer who knows mobile phones" and the Ed said I must go cause I'm the one who fits the bill - so this is what it feels like to be recognized - a specialist writer I'm on my way to be... Wow..

I was walking on cloud nine after receiving the assignment.

For a couple of weeks, at least. But now I feel like a balloon all deflated, like a boat ride that came to an end, macam buaian putus tali err.. izzit buaian or wazzit a kite yang putus tali? Anyway like dat lah.

And I'm not the only one. The rest of the gang in the team and sector can't seem to go about their daily duties properly too. After all, the latest rumour has it that the bulk of the redeployed staff will come from my sector - reputedly the most non-performing sector in the subsidiary.

The thing is, had the management be a bit clearer on how the selection process would be or what the redeployment process will be like once the 17 names-list is released, we would not have wasted our time gossipping about this.

The 17 names-list should have been released yesterday, yet today the notice board is still empty, save for that faxed ad from some Singapore tour agency and the Domino Pizza leaflet...

And I can't finish all these articles...

And my deadline was yesterday...

And the Ed is walking towards this direction...

And the future is... uncertain

So we're going through another restructuring process and gasp! some of us may be transferred to other desks within the group, as in bye-bye to this subsidiary!

Looks like I'll just have to wait and see...