Funny!

ROTFLMAO

Now, everyone in the office thinks I am crazy!

http://www.enzine.cyborgcow.net/exam/

LOL!!

New Fashion

Today during lunch...

Papi : *Sit down, just came back from ordering food*

Mami : Eh, Papi.  Look at that.

Papi : What? Where?

Mami : Behind you, to your left.

Papi : *look over left shoulder*



Papi : Must be a new fashion. He he he...

Mami : I think I just lost my appetite..

 

Arrested!

The two men who tried to sell a handphone belonging to Pok Chua Wen, who was murdered on Wednesday together with her girlfriend, Pui Wan, has been arrested by the police. 

Via The Star:

Two men who tried to sell a handphone belonging to slain teenager Pok Chua Wen have been arrested after a shop assistant became suspicious of the “odd ownership” of the phone. 

What aroused the shop assistant’s suspicion was that while the two men were dark-skinned, the handphone’s directory contained many Chinese characters.  The two men had approached him at his workplace in Jalan Gurney here at about 11.30am and offered to sell the phone for RM300.  [snipped...]

“Then I noticed the two men behaving strangely, but before I could say a word, they left hurriedly, leaving the cellphone behind,” he said. 

“I dialled the house number and a man on the other line answered that the cellphone was stolen,” he said, adding that he told the man how two people had tried to sell him the cellphone moments ago. 

That man was Chong’s uncle, who then contacted Jempol MCA Youth chief Chong Wan Yu. 
Wan Yu said he was having a drink with his deputy, Wong Hien Sei, and two policemen when he received the call. 

“I immediately passed on the information to the police and together we rushed to the shop. 
[snipped...]

"Luck was on our side as a policeman spotted the two and trailed them back to their house,” he said.  A team led by Chief Insp Yong Soun Lian went to the wooden house in Kampung Indah, near here, at about 1.30pm and arrested the suspects, in their 20s, after a brief struggle. 

The same story reported by China Press said that the two denied having anything to do with the double murder.  They claimed that the handphone was given to them by another person for them to sell.

Well, let the police do their job, and we shall find out. 

May Chua Wen and Pui Wan rest in peace.

Updated 4.01 pm:
As reported by Malay Mail Online edition, 3 men went to the cell phone shop to try to sell the phone.  The cell phone shop operator, who is related to the family, became suspicious when he saw the cell phone greeting message "Pui Wan, I love you..." when turning on the phone. 

He then alerted the police who arrived just in time to arrest 2 suspects.  The third one escaped. 

I heard there is another version reported in the chinese press.  However, whichever version is correct, let's hope the police can quickly solve this case and bring the murderer(s) to justice. 

Blur Sotong No. 2

It was my brother (I guess there is one in every home.  Sorry bro..he he he) . 
Yesterday...

Bro : Mom, I'm going to the shops, you want to get something?

Mom : err...can you get a pack of longan? (It's the longan season now)

Bro : OK.

Few hours later...

Bro : Here you go, mom.



Mom : *dumbfounded* Ha! Ha! Ha!  WTF? I asked you get some fresh longan lar! Why you go and buy the dried longan?!



Papi : ROTFLMAO!

Info: Dried longans are normally used in boiling 'tong sui' aka dessert drink aka Air Mata Kuching (Malay loosely translated as Cat's Eye Drink he he he...).  One of my favourite stall is the famous one in Jalan Petaling. 

Blur Sotong No. 1

Blur sotong means someone who is blur/clueless of their surrounding and couldn't get what people says to them.  But why it is associated with the sotong (Malay meaning squid), I have no idea.

A couple of days before Chinese New Year 2004 (true story):

Son : Mom, we just came back from shopping and the 'kam' are damn cheap!

Mom : Really? Since CNY is around the corner, go get some more lar. 

Son : OK, mom.

Next day.....

Son : Look, mom.  Look at all this 'kam' you asked me to buy!  Nice or not?

Mom : What?! What is this? *dumbfounded*

Son : 'Kam' lar.  Look at this necklace.  Look at this chain!

Mom : Aiya!! I asked you to buy kam! Mandarin orange! For CNY lar. Not buy gold!

 
Not me ah, someone I know.

Note: 'Kam' Cantonese meaning gold, normally referring to gold jewellery.  It also has the same pronounciation with mandarin oranges, a must-have for Chinese during the Chinese Lunar New Year. 

B.O.B

A United Airlines plane flying from Sydney to Los Angeles was forced to make an emergency landing 90 minutes into its flight.  The pilot decided to turn the plane back to Sydney after a sick bag with the letters B.O.B on it was found in the toilet. 

Channel News Asia reported:

Transport Minister John Anderson said the pilot feared the letters stood for "bomb on board" but acknowledged it was a common acronym among air crew for "bastardbest on board", used to rate the best looking passenger on a flight.

Oh.  If you are a UOB employee, make sure you don't bring any baggage with your company's name on it when you are taking a flight.  :)

School Magazine

I was cleaning up my room (ex-room to be precised) when I stumbled upon my high school's magazine.  I spent my 2 years of Form 6 here in this school, but I only have one magazine. 

As you all know, the (Malaysian) school magazine, published yearly, normally consists of several sections.  One section with all the photoshots of the activities of the school for the entire year, accompanied with funny and wacky remarks added by the editors.  Another section contains the works of fellow students like essays, poems and cartoons drawn by students. 

But my favourite section is the last section, the society photo and the class group photo.  So first thing I did was to flip to these pages.  Ahh...all the wonderful memories in school came back to me as if it was just yesterday. 

The chess club photo with all the geeky students standing there straight, neat and tidy.  The taekwando club with all the 'kung fu masters' hand crossed on their chest, staring fiercely like want to eat you like that.  And the Gymrama Club with all the chicks standing there cute and nice.....(Mami : Ehem...!). 

Then I flipped to the group photo of my class, almost at the end of the magazine.  There's CCY, there's Sam, WHow, A-Seh, but where was I?

I couldn't believe my eyes.  I scanned the picture again.  Is it possible that I could not recognise myself?  Maybe I was hidden by my x-classmate.  Maybe I was sitting at the end of the first row.  Maybe the last row?  No, I was not in the picture! WTH?

I only spent 2 years in this wonderful school, and I only have one copy of the school magazine and I was not in my class photo! Not to mention I paid around RM10 for this lousy magazine!  (Ya, lousy because I was not in it).

No! Not again!

Mami's boss have done it again! What a moron!

Last week, a new tender came in, and as always, the task was segregated to everyone.  So everyone have been busy finishing their part of work.  Well, everyone except Mami's boss.  He is supposed to complete his task and the deadline is today! 

OK, so what have he done so far?
Nothing!

Where was he yesterday and last week?
MIA!

So what time did he come to the office today?
4.30pm!  He went missing for the whole morning and half of the afternoon. 

So now, everyone has to stay back just because this guy didn't do his job earlier.  *sigh*

Gutsy girl

Last week, a salesgirl foiled a snatch theft by sitting on the thief.  A big-sized Wong Pei Fan gave chase when the suspect snatched a mobile phone from her shop.  She caught up with him and pounced on him, kicked him where-the-sun-don't-shine and held him down to the ground, by putting her weight on him.  And the man was armed at that time.  She was lucky the man couldn't reached for his weapon or it could be a different story. 

In The Star today:

Wong said she had a dislike for people who prey on those weaker than them, especially if the victims were women. 
“I go all out to stop them – with God’s gift to me, my big body,” said Wong, whose bravery was reported in The Star and other newspapers. 

You go, girl! Show 'em who's the boss!

But why do I feel this gutsy lady has become the butt of the joke. 

Our 'yamcha' will never be the same..

Mamak restaurants have been given a week (reported on Utusan July 17) to replace their waiters of Indian nationals with locals. 

Before:
*Kuch Kuch Hota He playing in the background*

Customer 1 : Dei! Aneh! Order.

Waiter : Minum? *wipe table*

Customer 1 : Teh tarik satu

Customer 2 : Macha, kasi milo ais kurang manis ah.

Customer 3 : kopi peng kaw kaw dua ketul ais

Waiter : Wokay, makan?

Customer 1 : Saya mee goreng tah mau pedas, tambah telur mata,

Customer 2 : Roti canai tah mau garing, kasi banjir

Customer 3 : Nasi lemak tambah sambal, kasi ayam goreng peha ah, itu kacang tak mau, ikan bilis banyak sikit.

Waiter : Wokay! *repeating order very fast from his memory* Teh tarik, miloaiskurangmanis, kopipeng, makan meegorengtamaupedastambahtelurmata, rotibanjirtamaugaring,nasilemakayamgorengtamaukacangtambahikanbilis.  Wokay boss.

Shouting at the drink counter...
Waiter : Deh! teh tarik une, milo ais une.....roti banjir une....

Few minutes later...
Waiter : Wokay, Teh tarik, milo ais, kopi peng kaw

Another few minutes later ...
Waiter : Wokay, mee goreng, nasi lemak, roti banjir.

 
After:
*Belaian Jiwa playing in the background*

Customer 1 : Err..abang.  Order ya.

Waiter : Encik nak minum ape? *wipe table*

Customer 1 : Bagi saya teh tarik satu 

Waiter : Nanti ya.  *take out a piece paper and pen to write down orders".  Teh tarik.

Customer 2 : Beri saya milo ais kurang manis.

Waiter : *mumbling and scribble* Milo ais ya

Customer 3 : Kopi ais kaw kaw tapi dua ketul ais sahaja.

Waiter : *scribble scribble* kopi ais.  Makan bang?

Customer 1 : Saya mahu mee goreng tak mahu pedas, tambah telur mata kerbau

Waiter : *scribble scribble* 

Customer 2 : Saya mahu thosai bawang, bagi kari ayam.

Waiter : OK *scribble scribble*

Customer 3 : Saya nak nasi lemak tambah sambal, bagi ayam goreng peha, kacang tak mahu, ikan bilis banyak sikit.

Waiter : OK.

Waiter left.  Few minutes later....

Waiter : Sorry lah bang.  Kitorang tak tau buat thosai.  Jadi boleh order lain tak?

Customer 2 : Hah? Tak tau buat?

Waiter : Ya lah, sebab diorang dah balik India. 

Customer 2: Camtu, bagi puttu, ada?

Waiter : Ah? Kutu? Kutu pun kita tak tau..

Customer 2 : Alamak? Puttu pun takde?  Idli ade?

Waiter : Lidi? Penyapu lidi adalah...*tersengih*

Customer 2 : Kalau cam tu bagi roti canai lar, banjir ah.

Waiter : OK.  Maaf ya bang.

Another few minutes later....
Waiter : Ini teh ais, milo tarik dan kopi ais.

Customer 1 : eh? saya order teh tarik, dia order milo ais.  Silap ni.

Waiter : Eh? *check the piece of paper* A-ah, tersilap pulak. 

Customer 1 : Takpe lah.  Biar je lah.

Customer 2 : Tulis pun boleh silap?

Waiter : Maaf bang, saya baru lagi.

 
Hmmmm....i wonder my favourite restaurant will still serves my favourite thosai made by the aneh?

Dengue

It was confirmed.  My bro-in-law is down with dengue.  Dengue haemorrhagic fever.  Denggi Berdarah. 

He was hospitalised on 19 July and still is today.  But they only confirmed it was dengue last Saturday. 

We went to visit him last Saturday.  His fever came on and off, his body ache, and he is feeling nauseatic.  His gum bled.  He looked very weak, and a few friends who visited him earlier said he was halucinating and speaking nonsence.  The hospital is giving him 4 packs of plasma per day.  And he is advised not to injure or hurt himself that might caused bleeding.  His platelets reading is so low that if he cut himself, he will bleed to death, because his blood will not be able to clot to stop the bleeding.

Red spots are dissapering from his arms and body and appearing on his legs.  The doc said it is infecting his lower body now. 

Hope he will recover real soon. 

Apa lagi, Malaysian Idol lah

"Kalau nak nyanyi lagu Inggeris, kenalah nyanyi macam orang Inggeris, bukan macam orang Jawa".*

I was laughing so hard that Mami stormed out from the kitchen to check it out.  That was the comment given by Roslan Aziz to a contestant, AMANDA, when she sang an English song. 

Although she did sounded horrible, but it was a cruel comment.  I mean, do they normally criticised people, in their every day job, the way they did in Malaysian Idol?  Or are they just trying hard to be Simon Cowell.  And I found that the comments are getting more and more concentrated on fashion.  One guy looked like Elvis, the other one looked like Aunty.

And the contestants, together with the hosts, seems to be teaming up to bash on the judges.  When Paul commented to one contestant: "Malaysian Idol really wasted money by flying you in for this competition." (It was another unnecessary cruel comment), the host was comforting the contestant and fight back with "Don't worry, it was all worth it, it is more worth it than the money they spend on Paul's hair!".

LOLOLOL!

One thing I don't understand though.  Why do they show the big, fat, blue hippo (the mascot of bluehyppo.com) snoring at the end of the show? Is the show that boring?

* Translation: Malay meaning "If you want to sing an English song, make sure you sing it like an English person (loose translation), not like a Jawanese". 

Brain Itch

Have you ever woke up in the morning and suddenly you find a song playing in your mind, and you can't seems to get it off?  Normally, it was a song I have heard the day before, or even days before, but sometime the song just popped out of nowhere. 

This morning, it was FIR's Fly Away.  I think Mami is having her brain itch as well.  She was humming Power Station's song.  I guess I got mine from Astro Talent Quest 2004 on Saturday.  FIR was guest performer that evening, and they performed 2 songs.  The first one "Lydia" and the second one was "Fly Away".  Astro has been playing FIR song as promo as well, so I guess that's how it got into my head.  But I don't know the lyrics, only the tune. 

Speaking about FIR's performance last Saturday on ATQ2004, it was horrible.  The contestants sang better than her.  But later I learnt that she wasn't feeling well.  That's explains it. 

So songs that got stuck in our head is caused by cognitive itch aka brain itch.  So the only way the brain is going to scratch this itch is by playing a tune or a melody over and over again in our mind. 

Normally I would simply hum the tune along with the melody playing in my mind.  After a while, it would dissapears. 

Living too long

I was filling up some forms for an insurance plan, when I came upon a phrase "Living Too Long" with a Malay translation at the bottom "Hidup Terlalu Lama".  Which got me thinking.  Do you really complaint if you "hidup terlalu lama"?  How long is lama?  And if you think that you have already reach a stage where you have been living too long and seen it all, done it all, what would you do? Do you think about dying all the time?

I guess it all depends on how you live your life and how do you perceive life.  Whether you enjoying it, or whether you are suffering.  Whether you are a burden to others, or whether you are still required. 

For me, I think I will be ready to go, when I am assured that my family is being taken care of.  I don't have to worry about their financial status, about their education, about their safety, about their life.  Of course, if possible, I would like to fulfill my dream as well.  ;)

But I guess, it all depends on the Big Boss up there.

Murder Attempt

Read this in The Star Online about an attempt on an assemblyman's life.

State assemblyman for Skudai Teo Kok Chee escaped death when he managed to prevent a gunman from pulling the trigger on him in an attempted assassination at a crowded restaurant. 
Teo, who is also Johor Gerakan chief, was with some party members for dinner last night when the gunman walked in, tapped him on his shoulder and pointed a gun at his chest. 

A scuffle ensued. He fell and ran for cover behind a car while the gunman also took off. 
Narrating the incident, Johor Baru North OCPD Senior Asst Comm Wan Ali Abu Shahmah said Teo had gone to a restaurant at Taman Ungku Tun Aminah with 11 state Gerakan committee members and supporters after a meeting at around 9.30pm yesterday. 
Twenty minutes later, he said the gunman walked in from behind wearing a full-face helmet and tapped Teo on his shoulder and said: 
“You come with me” in Mandarin. 
As Teo turned he saw a gun pointed at his chest and he tried to grab it while trying to pull out his own gun from his pocket. 
A scuffle ensued and the gunman pushed Teo causing him to fall.   [snipped....]

This assemblyman was carrying hiw own gun in his pocket when he was having dinner with other Gerakan members?!  Is he authorised to carry a gun?  Is it licensed?  Why carry a gun? Body got shit?

Whoa! It could have been pretty messy if he managed to use his gun.

Baby's Name - part 2

My cousin brother (father side) becomes a father last week.  Congratulations!  His wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

So yesterday, we got to know the name of the baby.  Being on my father side of the family, they, too, have to follow the middle/generation name.  For the given name, they chose to go see a 'fung shui' master.  One who will calculate the auspicious date for weddings, dinners, special prayers and baby birth date.  Yes, my cousin did see him to get advise for an auspicious date for the baby to be born (which I think it's ridiculous).  So the master told him a certain date, then he went back to tell the obstetrician about the prefered date and all was set.  It was through C-Section of course.

So being superstitious and all (I didn't know he is superstitious, maybe it was family pressure), sure enough, they engaged the same fung shui master to find a name for their baby.  But they were told that the baby somehow 'clash' with the parents.  The baby is Wood and the parent is Fire, blah blah ...their birth dates do not match, all that fung shui mambo jambo.  Finally the master gave them 9 choices of given name for the baby.  Some sounded weird and funny, others are too difficult to write (in chinese).  Together with a pre-determined middle name, it makes it more difficult to ensure the combined name doesn't sound really funny and weird.  In the end, they settled for a name that, in my personal opinion, sounded a bit dull. 

I have always against getting advise from these 'fung shui masters', like choosing auspicious dates or finding a baby's name.  A good date is a date convenient to you and a date you are comfortable with.  Similarly, a good name is a name you are comfortable with, has a beautiful meaning, and a name that you think will be suitable for your baby.  But if you decide to go ahead with a fung shui master, then make sure you follow through.  Ever heard of a story about a king that learnt about the future, where he was told that his son will one day de-throne him?

It is our baby, we should be responsible for our baby, including finding a name for him/her.  It is our duty, it is a privilege. 

Joke

Got this in my mail box today:

A married couple is driving along a highway doing a  steady forty milesper hour. The wife is behind the wheel.  Her husband suddenly looks across at her and speaks in a clear voice. 

"Darling," he says. "I know we've been married for twenty years, but I want a divorce." 

The wife says nothing, keeps looking at the road ahead but slowlyincreases  her speed to 45 mph.  The husband speaks again.

"I don't want you to try and talk me out of  it,"he says, "because I've been having an affair with your best friend,and  she's a far better lover than you are." 

Again the wife stays quiet, but grips the steering wheel more tightlyand  slowly increases the speed to 55.  He pushes his luck.

"I want the house," he says insistently.  Up to 60. "I want the car, too," he continues. 65 mph.  "And," he says, "I'll have the bank accounts, all the credit cards and the boat." 

The car slowly starts veering towards a massive concrete bridge.  This makes him a wee bit nervous, so he asks her: "Isn't there anything you want?"  The wife at last replies - in a quiet and controlled voice. 

"No, I've got everything I need." she says.

"Oh, really?" he inquires,"so  what have you got?" 

Just before they slam into the wall at 75 mph, the wife turns to him and  smiles. 

"The airbag." 

Never underestimate how a woman thinks. 

Moral of the story don't buy Toyota VIOS E as it has only one airbag.  The husband sure die laa and wife got everything.  If WAJA both will jalan (no airbag) unless WAJA premium.

Baby's name

A fellow blogger, James, was trying to find a good name for his soon-to-be-born son.  And I tell you, it is not an easy task.

A chinese name basically consists of 3 parts.  The family name, the middle name and the given name.  Basically we retain the family name and we need to think of a middle name and a given name that will make up the baby's name. 

I can still remember how we named yiyi.  As we didn't know the sex of the baby before she was born (it was meant to be a surprise for us), so we need to come out with both boy's name and a girl's name.  Finding a girl's name was relatively easier than a boy's name.  You see, the middle name also acts as a generation name.  Although this was loosely followed by Malaysian Chinese, some family still follow the generation name list which was penned down by our great great great grandfather hundred of years ago (the list covers hundreds of generation).  And this include my family.  The middle name or the generation name basically tells you which generation you are from.  Although girls are exempted from this generation name, it is compulsory for a boy's name.  So, since the middle name is already pre-determined, it should now be easier to just think of another given name to him, right?  Wrong!  Having a pre-determined middle name doesn't help at all.  Especially if you have a half-bake scholar coming up with funny generation names hundred of years ago.

For example, if your baby's generation name is Ng (Cantonese meaning No), then may god bless you.  A great name like Fatt (Cantonese meaning rich/prosper), when combined with Ng to become Ng Fatt, meaning you will not become rich.  You get the idea.

Luckily, my next generation has a fairly good middle name.  But as I scanned through the list, futher down the generations, it was not so desirable. 

For yiyi, it took us 3-4 months to find her name (before she was born of course).  A lot of research was done, we read books.  There were so many 'pantang larang' (do's and don't).  We have to make sure the middle name and the given name do not clash with each other.  We have to make sure the name sounds right in English, in Mandarin and in Cantonese (my family speaks Cantonese), and doesn't sound funny.  We have to make sure her name doesn't become a joke when she join school.  Like an ex-classmate of mine, we called her Meow Meow as her name is Meau Ling.  Having the thought that the name is going to be with her for her entire life adds pressure to us to ensure it is the right name.  But I guess we will never know...

And yes, the dos and don'ts.  The chinese name can be categorised into Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.  Characters that clash with each other cannot be used as names.  For example, a character of Wood cannot be combined with a character with Fire.  And all that shit.  And to make things more complicated, the chinese characters are further divided into odd number of strokes or even number of strokes when writing the character.  We have to ensure the combination is favourable.  If a family name is even, the middle name is odd and the given name is even, then it is favourable.  Even, Even, Even, OK.  Odd, Even, Odd, no good.

We came up with her given name first, Yi.  Yi as in Yi Tai, Cantonese meaning manner or bearing.  It normally reflect the manner how one carry oneself.  I kinda like yiyi.  Then we find a middle name to match her given name.  Zhi, mainly used in names, is a type of flower.  So her name Zhi Yi, the same pronounciation with the Zhang Zi Yi (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), but different chinese characters.  For her english translation, we chose the Han Yi Pin Yin, a standard way of representing Chinese pronounciation in English. 

And we are glad we named her Zhi Yi.

King of Fruit

Promised Mami that I would get some durian for her.  So last night we drove to a nearby durian stall.  There were about 5-6 stalls set up there, all with their "satu longgok (a pile or a basket of about 3-4 durians) RM10" and "RM1 satu kilo".  But I am not interested at all these.  I went to the last stall, which has a big white board listing the type of durians they have.  D2, D24 (HOLO)??, 101 blah blah...

I would rather pay more for good durians rather than gamble with the longgok.  I was looking for D24.  But D24 HOLO?? WTH?

Papi : Boss, got D24?

Seller : Yes.  D24 Lou Shi (Cantonese meaning old trees)

Papi : Hah? Good ah? How much?

Seller : Good! RM9 per kilo.  Want to try the "tek kar"? (Hokkien for bamboo leg?)

Papi : "Ter Kar"? (Hokkien for pig leg)

Seller : Very nice, RM12 per kilo. 

An aunty nearby nodded in agreement : It's true.  Very good. 
She came with a big tupperware and bought a few fruits.  Another seller was prying the durian and emptying it into the tupperware.

Papi : OK lar, one D24, one "Ter Kar", I mean Tek Kar.

Mami : *saliva come out*

So they pry the durian open a bit so that we can examined it, and also easier for us to pry open when we got home.  It came to RM45 for 2 durians.   Before we left, the boss said "Eat the D24 first, then only eat the "tek kar" ".  Is it really that good?



The one on the left is D24, the right is "tek kar". 

Nowadays, there are so many types out there.  D2, D24, tek kar, XO, golden pillow .... I heard there is a type Benom Beauty that will set you back RM200 per fruit.  Wah Lau!! But it has a certain 'power', that make you "up all night", if you know what I mean *wink wink*.  So now, instead of power root, people will go for power fruit!



The D24 Old Tree was sweet and nice, as always.  Although the seed is medium size, but the flesh was thick and creamy.  4 and a half star, baby!!



The "tek kar' was damn good! Sweet, creamy, the flesh was damn thick and dry.  It was so thick that, when you lift it, your fngers will just sink into it's flesh.  And it has this creamy, milky taste.  Heavenly! 5 out of 5. 

So , is it worth the RM45? Every sen of it.

Mami : Let's go back tonite..

 

The Passion of the Christ

Watched The Passion of the Christ last night with Mami.  Malaysia Boleh DVD.  Can see few heads walking around (late comers) in the beginning, but all-in-all the quality was good. 
 
One word to describe it!
"Go and watch this movie!!"
 
ok, that's 5 words.  Get your hand on this movie, Malaysia Boleh DVD or VCD or even in the cinema, because they are allowing it to be shown on Malaysian cinema.  But 'kulup' only. 
 
It was brilliant! Good job, Mel Gibson!  One of the best movies I have ever seen.  As Josh Sewell put it: "It's so visually gripping, so heart-wrenching and so emotionally draining that writing about it simply can't do it justice.". 
 
Want to know how good it was? Mami, whose normally would fall asleep half way thru any movies (and I mean good movies), she stayed up all through the movies just to watch it! Bravo Mami! 
 
And no, I didn't become a Christian after I watched it. ;)

A big frog jumping on the road

A big frog jumping on the road.  A chinese saying meaning a good deal too good to be true.
 
I was shown by a good friend of mine on this so-and-so multi level marketing plan.  It promised returns in the thousand.   And virtually I can sleep, eat and do nothing for a month, and I will still find thousands of ringgit deposited into my account at the end of the month. 
 
Whoa! This is not a big frog.  This is Godzilla. 
 
So I need to invest so-and-so amount of money, then I need to recruit my 5 people - downline.  Then I will need to help them to recruit their downline.  Blah..blah...blah... Then at the end of the year I wil become a millionaire!!
 
Wah?! Really ah? So, one side of me was thinking:
 
"hmm..it is workable.  I just recruit as many as I can, then I can sit back and enjoy, while my downline work for me.  I can buy cars, houses, jetplanes, a trip to Disneyland Florida, the list goes on and on....."
 
The other side of me was thinking:
 
"Better stay firmly on the ground.  There is no easy money.  You must work hard to earn a living.  You think become so easy become millionaire, like that where got poor people in this world."
 
But personally,  if it is so easy to make money, it will not be our turn (Mami's thinking).  There is no easy money in this world.  For me, I have to earn my money, or the fortune will not last long. 
 
So maybe it is not a big frog that I see, maybe it is a snake.... 

What's wrong with these people?

On Saturday I was reading the newspaper, when I was drawn to two interesting news. 
The ten cars piled up in Sungai Buloh, and the buaya in KL.  No, no, not Hanif Basree.  The 4 crocodiles they spotted in the Klang river. 
 
And both stories were accompanied by a photo. 
 

This was on Page 3.   I couldn't get the other photo on page 4. 
 
If you look closely (and if you remember the photo on page 4), you can see some kay-poh-chees crowding the road just to get a glimpse of what had happen.  In the accident photo, we can see these people standing on the middle of the road.  No, they are not there to help, but just hanging around.  Maybe they are waiting for the ambulance to come so that they can get it's plate number.  Their motorbike were parked near the divider in the middle of the road.  No wonder it was so bloody jam on Friday!
 
Examining the picture, the parked motocycle almost covered the whole road, forcing cars from the other direction to only a single road.  To make matter worst, the left side of the road is flooded too.  With so many people and motorbikes crowding that place, I am sure cars will be forced to slow down. 
 
On the other page 4 photo, it was the same story.  Kay-poh-chees on motorcycle stopped by the the road side to check out what was happening.  There were 3-4 parked motorcycle in the photo, with a mat moron motor who just got down from his bike.  In the background, people already slowing down their vehicles to look.  
 
Now I know why I was stuck in the jam for 3 hours..

Great Swimmers

Datuk Abdul Malik Mydin: First Malaysian to swim across the English Channel
Lennard Lee: Second Malaysian to swim to across the English Channel (EC)

Datuk Abdul Malik Mydin: 28 years old when he swam across the EC
Lennard Lee: 20 years old

Datuk Abdul Malik Mydin: Took 17 hours and 35 minutes
Lennard Lee: Took 9 hours and 45 minutes

Datuk Abdul Malik Mydin: Swam with barriers
Lennard Lee: Swam in the open sea (no barriers)

Datuk Abdul Malik Mydin: Datuk
Lennard Lee: ??

Congratulation, Lennard!

Say, are M Magendran dan N Mohandas (the first Malaysian teams to reach the summit of Mount Everest) Datuks?

Update 18/8/2004:
The government has approved a RM35000 incentive for Lennard who became the second Malaysian to swim across the English Channel. :)

Mami's new toy

Mami's has a new toy.  Motorola C650.
 

 
- Triband
- MP3 and Polyphonic (24 channels) Ringtone
- VGA Camera with 4X Zoom
- MPEG4 Video playback
- Integrated speaker phone
- Display : 128 x 128 65K colors CSTN
- Fun lighting

Insurance salesman

I have been getting a lot of calls from salesman these 2 months.  Everyone is trying to sell me something: insurance, networking, direct selling etc. 
 
But I am pissed off with two of them.  Both are selling insurance, and both have the same modus operandi.  Both of them got my contact from major corporations.  Both of them said I was one of the lucky people that was offered the fantastic plan. 
 
One of them got my contact from Standard Chartered Bank (SC).  I cannot believed that SC actually gave my contact to a third party without my consent.  I have a couple of credit cards with SC.  I am going to write a complaint letter to them and terminate my credit cards. 
 
Another one was from Genting Worldcard.  Again they gave my contact to a  third party without my consent.  They called my mobile phone.
 
Papi : Hello?
 
Agent : Mr Papi, you are one of the lucky person that was chosen from Genting Worldcard members to be eligible for this fantastic insurance PA plan and it's free.
 
Papi : OK. (I got a feeling I m not that lucky)
 
Agent : But you can increase the sum assured to RM500,000, with a fee of RM28 per month.  And you can also extend it to your family at RM40 per month.
 
Papi : If it is free, then it's fine with me, but if I have to pay, no, thanks.
 
Agent : But sir, blah blah blah...good plan....blah blah ....cheap....
 
Papi : No, thanks.
 
Agent : But sir, it is a good bargain.  with only RM28 per month you get half a million ringgit.  I am sure you can afford RM28. 
 
That really got me boiling.  But I kept my cool and rejected him. 
 
That's the problem with these people.  It is not like buying apam balik in pasar malam.  "Whoa! I got 6 apams for Rm1, a good bargain!!".  It is not a good bargain.  You lost a leg, you get half a million.  You lost an eye, you get half a million.  Do you really think that is a good bargain?  What a moron! 
 
Yes, I can afford RM28 a month.  I can still afford it if it is RM2800 but only if I REALLY need it.  It is not whether I can afford it or not.  It is about whether I need it or not. 
 
Insurance is about assurance.  You are assured that when something bad happen to you (touch wood), you and your family will be taken care of (financially).  Something to get you through the difficult time. 
 
Later I found out that the 'free' plan is not free after all.  WTH? Idiot!

Difficult position

Sometime it is difficult to offer help to another person.

If you offer your help to them, then they say you are looking down on them, accusing you that you think they cannot achieve it without your help.

If you do not offer your help, then they say you are selfish and arrogant.

Sometime when we offer our help , we do not expect any return. The only think we asked is not to blame us or accused us anything when the plan failed or if it didn't work out as expected.

Tolong susah, tak tolong pun susah! Manyak susah!! *sigh*
*pat Mami on her back*

Invasion of a different kind

Have you ever walk into a food court in PJ or KL and you suddenly feel you are in Vietnam?

Today, me and Mami went to Ming Tien food court in Taman Megah for lunch. First thing you will notice is the waiter from the beverage stall. "Yam meh?" he greeted in cantonese, wanted to take your order for beverage. He is a foreign worker from a country in Indochina: Vietnam, lia mah Myanmar, Cambodia whatever. They all look the same to me.

Then when we go from stall to stall to check out the food we noticed almost all the stalls are manned by these foreign workers too. Chicken rice, Claypot Chicken, Ipoh Hor Fun, Chee Cheung Fun, Curry Mee, Popiah, Sizzling hotplate, almost all of them. And most of them speaks fluent Cantonese.

Foreign worker 1 : "Kai Fan ngam mou?" ("Chicken rice for you?")

Foreign worker 2 : "Lou sai. Hor fun?" ("Sir/Boss, how about Hor Fun")

Foreign worker 3 : "Yau Ka Li Meen. Yau Cheng Tong" (We have Curry Mee, we have clear soup")

Some of them Cantonese are even better than Mami.

Now, this is the trend. The original owner of the stall trained these foreign workers to cook. Then they will leave the stalls to them to handle, while they go holiday in Vietnam. At the end of the day they will pocket the money and simply pay these workers their salary. Easy money. But the food is lousy. Tasteless.

So sooner or later, they will learn how to cook, master the skills, discover the secret ingredients and become experts. So next time we won't find 'Ah Kau Chicken Rice' or 'Meng Chai Curry Mee' but 'Pratchon Chicken Rice' or 'Phuoc Quang Chee Cheung Fun' or even 'Nguyen Ngau Lam Mee'.

Cantonese Fried

Yesterday, Mami and Papi went to one of our favourite shop in Kelana Jaya, which is near our office. Restoran New Yew Sang, a corner shop opposite a plant nursery, near Giant hypermarket. It is one of those kopitiam with lots of individual stalls selling various kind of hawker food.

One of the best Cantonese Fried in town can be found here. 'Yin Yong' or Bee Hoon only. The Malay called it Mee KungFu. But you won't become Bruce Lee after you eat it. The stall also have fried lice rice, which is equally delicious.


Yin Yong

Yin Yong actually means two different/opposite things in Cantonese. Like yin and yang. In this case, Yin Yong refers to the beehoon (rice vermicelli) and koay tiau (flat rice noodle). The beehoon is fried till crispy, and the koay tiau (white in color) is fried with a bit of dark soy sauce for coloring. The starchy soup/gravy is cooked separately with prawns, pork and vege (choy sum) and egg(beated). I thnk the secret is in the soup. So tasty.

But the different with this stall is that although the gravy looks starchy and thick, it doesn't leave that starchy feeling (oily) after you eat it. I like my beehoon to be crunchy, so normally I would dig it out and leave it on top. The best is to eat with some cili merah potong (sliced red chili) in soy sauce. Yummy!!

Mami tried something new from this restaurant, Curry Chee Cheong Fun. Chee Cheung Fun is a type of flat rice noodle, rolled into a cylinder. 3 pieces of chee cheung fun, with some curry gravy and a couple of chicken bones meat. The taste quite OK, a bit spicy though.


Curry Chee Cheung Fun

Mami was in a eating mood, so we ordered a plate of char siew and roast pork. Lousy, no more next time.

It was supposed to be a great lunch, until we met those idiots in Waja. Cheh!

Another day at work

Came to work 9 am. Surf net, check emails, chit chat.
Lunch time 12.30pm, eat, shop. Back to office 2.30pm.
Surf net, check emails, online games. Answer a few question from customer.
5.30pm leave office, head for home.

That is basically the time I spent in the office for the past 2-3 months. No major work, no new projects, nothing. Except for last week tender work rush. Only the occasional trouble call from customers.

Makan gaji buta, they say. Maybe they are right. But I am not complaining. I am enjoying it. :)

Idiot

Mami and I went to lunch at a restaurant (kopitiam) near our office. It has one of the best Cantonese fried I have ever tasted (but that's another blog). So we were enjoying our meal when suddenly the sky turned dark. Then it rained cats and dogs. So we just hangout at the restaurant, waiting for the rain to stop, before going back to the office. But it just kept on raining.

So we decided to borrow an umbrella from one of the restaurant staff, so I could get to my car and fetch Mami near the restaurant. I got to our car, got our umbrella ready, then drove to the restaurant. At the restaurant, we returned the umbrella and we were ready to go.

But there was a car in front blocking the narrow road, trying to fetch a few friends from the restaurant. No problem, so we would just need to wait for a while for them to get in. So the driver was in the car, three of his friend were in the restaurant, a guy and 2 girls.

At that time, it was only drizzling. So one of the girl just ran to the car, and quickly got into the car. Then the guy walk slowly, and I mean very very slowly, to the car, got an umbrella out and walk back to the other girl. Then both of them walk very very slowly towards the car, under the umbrella. And they know very well there were cars waiting behind them.

Once they reached the car, the girl couldn't decide which side she wanted to sit. They went to the right rear door, open it and then chatted a while , then closed the door. Then they proceeded to the left rear door, open it and then the bitch girl decided again, she didn't want to sit there, and closed the door. Next they proceed to the front passenger door, where finally the girl got in. And all these in super-slow motion.

Then the guy's turn. As if he was under the spell of the witch, he too couldn't decide where he want to sit. He went to the left rear door, think for a while, and then went to the right rear door. And he stood there doing nothing. For a second, I was thinking that this guy was not going to get on the car. Maybe he came by himself. Suddenly he snapped out of it, and open the door. I was furious. WTH was he doing? Can't he see all the cars waiting for them to move. He must have been in a dreamy state after he managed to spy on the girl's boobs while he was accompanying the girl to the car under the umbrella.

I give them a honk. The guy got into the car quickly. The car started to move. OK, let's go....but no, the car was moving like a turtle. And then the driver stopped the car. WTF?! I honked them again, and suddenly the car sped off like an F1 car. What was that all about??! What a bunch of moron!

Visitors from China

It seems like these few months we heard a lot from our friend (or relatives) in China.

3 months ago, a relative from China contacted us. He was my father's uncle's son. His cousin. Actually, they have been in close contact with us for quite some time. The relation is good. The uncle even came to Malaysia in 1994 to visit us.

But everytime they made a long distant call to Malaysia, the first thing that pops into our mind is "Do they want money?". And when they contacted us 3 months back, they asked for money. Money to rebuild the old family house in China. It is not that they are not well off, these people are rich people, that own lands and buildings. But they have a concept that since it is the family house, and we are part of the family, thus we need to contribute to the rebuilding of it.

Well it is not the first time they asked for money. The last time I remember was to build a stone tomb(??), with all our names (for the families in Malaysia and China) carved onto the stone tomb. It is to keep track of our generations, they say. When it was finished, they sent us a photo of the tomb.

Again, 1 month ago, a distant relative of my mother-in-law came here for a holiday. 3 of them. They stayed for almost a week.

Then last night. My mother got a call from a cousin from China she didn't know she has. She met with her uncle before, when she was small, but not his daughter. My mom was a bit kelam-kabut, didn't know what to do. Then she called his brother, my uncle. Arrangement was then made to visit the cousin at a hotel at 9pm. The cousin is here for holiday. So she just try to contact her relatives here in Malaysia and to catch up with things here.

So I guess we will be seeing more of them now.

Sunday Dinner

Promised Mami to bring her to a nice restaurant on Sunday, so we went to a restaurant in Subang Jaya, recommended by a contributor (Patrick) to www.USJ.com.my. Europa - TJ Haus restaurant, 19 SS 18/1B, Subang Jaya .

Mami wanted to bring yiyi along, but because it was her nap time (around 7-8pm), so we decided to leave her with my parent. Maybe, next time, yiyi.

Arrived there around 7.30pm. The restaurant is located on the second floor, with an indoor and outdoor dining area. We opted for indoor, because it looked hazy outside. I forgot my digicam so didn't managed to snap any pictures.

The restaurant is quite small, but with clever arrangement of tables, and a big mirror on the side wall, it doesn't feel crampy. We were seated by the waitress on a small table-for-two. The menu has not much choice. But when we done ordering, we found out that they have actually put up 2 signboards near the entrance to announce some new menu items. The waitress didn't point it out to us also. Aiya, what they should have done is to print on a A4 paper and hand it out together with the menu.

So we ordered 2 mushroom soups, garlic bread, Mami ordered an European style mango chicken with sesame noodle, I ordered the Madagaskar Ribeye Steak. But they got our order wrong, sigh. This is the thing I do not understand. Why can't they take our order properly and write it down properly. They got the steak right, but got the mango chicken wrong. They brought boiled beef instead. They exchanged it nevertheless but Mami couldn't stand the taste of mango chicken, so I ended up eating the chicken. The steak was nice and the mango chicken not bad either. I was feeling quite hungry so we ordered Calamari A La Mediterrance (squid), which was excellent!

We were so full that we didn't go for the dessert. When the bill came, it was cheap. 2 drinks, soups, 3 main course for RM75. And no taxes! No goverment tax and service tax. Excellent!

Papi : *burp*...ah..so how's this place.

Mami : emm...nice, cheap some more, let's come again next month.

Papi : OK. Next month u belanja *rubbing tummy*

Missing PapiMami

Both of us were quite tied up with our work for the past few days, so we didn't get to visit yiyi at my parent house. My parent is looking after her on the weekdays and we will bring her back to our home on weekends.

Normally we would reach my parent's home around 6-7pm after work. We would stay until 9-10pm before returning home. But for the past few days we didn't get to see her. And she missed us.

My parent told me that she cried and refused to sleep. She would look out the window whenever there was a car passed by. She would walk to the door and stared out, as if waiting for Papi and Mami to come back.

But yesterday we went to see her. She was so happy, smiling and giggling, jumping in her walker. And my father said he thought he saw tears swelling up in yiyi's eyes. Aww...

Tonight will be the night yiyi is going to come back with us. So Mami said she will cook a nice fish porridge for yiyi tomorrow.

We miss you too, yiyi.

Diapers

Changing the diaper. One of the thing that men are not equipped to do. Like ironing the shirt, vacuuming the floor, shopping for 5 hours etc. You know, the ladies' thing.

Changing diaper require great skills of balance, strength, concentration, creativity and patience. There are two situations of when a baby requires a change of diaper. The first one, I call it the small change. This is the easiest one. It normally occurs when the disposible diaper is full or the baby needs a bath, so they need to change to a new clean diaper.

The second type is the difficult kind. The Big Change. The baby needs a Big Change because the baby has 'poo-poo'. If the baby decides to output the chocolate type (hard), then it is not so tough. But if the baby decides to have the stick-like-peanut-butter ones, the situation can get pretty messy.

yiyi : *standing still in her walker*

Papi : yiyi, what are you doing?

yiyi : *still standing still, and begining to make a certain body language*

Papi : O-oh. Mami! yiyi poo-poo.

Mami : OK. But can you handle it, I am in the middle of something.

Papi : ah? errr....ok.

yiyi : *giggle giggle, jumping in her walker, crashing her butt on to the seat*

Papi : ok, I can do this...no problem....one thing at a time....no problem.


First lie the baby down on a flat surface. Make sure it is not too windy or cold, because you will need to remove her clothings and she might catch a cold. Ensure that all the things you need are within your reach, but out of reach of the baby:
- clean diaper
- talcum powder
- rash cream
- warm water with a clean towel
- wet tissue paper (with aloe vera or something)
- soft toy (for the baby to play)
- clean baby cloths (just in case she got her hand in the sticky stuff)
- a SARS mask
- panadols (no, not for the baby, for you just in case you have a headache)

Carefully, take off her shorts/long pants. When removing her pants, make sure the poo-poo has not leaked out from her diaper and stained her pants. Flip her shirt up, so that her shirt is not getting in the way.

Put on the mask. This is to prevent the smell from knocking you out. Next is to remove her diapers. This is very important, and your full concentration is necessary. Carefully detach the sticky tapes of the diapers, hold both of her legs with one hand, and lift her butt slightly. Pull the diaper out with other hand, but careful not to get the poo-poo on hand. Continue lifting her butt, get the wet tissue paper, and wipe the poo-poo out from her butt. When done, take a clean tissue paper and wipe the poo-poo from fingers.

Again, lift her butt by holding on to her legs with one hand, wash her with the warm water, then slide a clean diaper under her butt. Put her down. At this point, the baby will tend to roll to the side, trying to grab anything she can, especially the used diaper. Make sure to put the used diaper as far as possible. This is when creativity comes into play. Distract her and try to make her stay put. Talk to her, use her soft toy, rattles whatever you can find to make her keep still. When she is still, apply rash cream and talcum powder on her as necessary. When completed, put on the diaper on the baby and put on her pants. We're done!

Papi : OK, Mami, we're done.

Mami : Good.

yiyi : *giggle*

Mami : Eh? why she look weird ah?? *check check* Aiya! The diaper you wear terbalik* already ah!!

Papi : ooppss!

Oh, ya. Remember, make sure the diaper is the correct side front. The smaller flap is for the front, the bigger flap is for the back.

Tired

For the past few days, there were so much work that we have to work overnight. Yesterday I went home at 5am, and came to work at 8.30am. Just 2 hours sleep, and i felt terrible when I woke up. Finished up the work for submission at 12pm, then headed back home straight away and crashed into my sofa in the living room to sleep (no energy to go to the bedroom). But I couldn't sleep, I always have problem sleeping whenever I am too tired.

Actually, I have no problem working till early morning, or even 24 hours, but I need to have something to do, something to work on. If I have to stay back in the office, and nothing to do, surfing the net aimlessly, waiting for other people to finish their work, then I get even more tired.

I remember back in 2002, there was one project that we were rushing. We sub-contract out one part of the project to a third party vendor. Just 1 week before the testing with the consultant, we found out that our vendor have not started a single work on their part. All that while they have been reporting to us on their progress was false and they lied to us. Their project leader screw-up. We were really mad, nasty letters were shot to their directors. But the damage has been done.

So, we went into contingecy mode, asked our vendor to come over to our office and do their work in our office, so we could monitor them. At the same time, we need to complete our work as well. So for a period of more than a month, we actually worked 7 days a week, and almost 24 hours a day. The only free time we had was to go back and have a quick bath and come back to the office to continue working. We also had quick naps between lunch time. At the end we managed to complete the work, and passed the test with the consultant.

Over Time

Here I am, still in the office. It is already 11pm and I am still sitting on my desk. I am feeling like a stupid idiot. Have you ever feel that people are just using you. We are waiting for some buggers to finish their work so we could go home. And rather than getting the work done, these buggers are chit chatting. WTF?

Come on! I want to go home!

4D - part 2

4D is basically my mom's hobby. No, she is not the kaki-judi type, who goes for 100 big 100 small. She likes to study it. Do her own analysis.

I remember when I was a kid, she used to keep 4D result newspaper clipping. In the old days, there were only 2 draws a week, Saturday and Sunday. And there were only 4D Magnum. No kuda, no TOTO. So every week, she would keep all this newspaper sheet (Page 2 on the chinese newspaper). Then cut it out about 10 cm by 10 cm and keep it together with a big clip. She will clipped them according to years. And every now and then she would take out this clippings and study it. Together with her chinese almanac book, about 10 cm thick, she would cross reference the numbers with her book. So sometime we would hear her conversation with my father that goes something like this:

Mom : Aiya, the pregnant lady come first prize lah.

Dad : Really ah? Aiya, that day got a pregnant lady came to our house mah. Why you never buy?

Mom : Yalor, I didn't thought of it lor. The pregnant lady with the (unborn) baby are two persons. Then add 2 lor.

Dad : Aiya, miss already.

Mom : If buy 3 big 2 small, can get few thousand already.

Kids : *pengsan*

The amazing thing is that she studied and remembers these numbers. She can tell you whether a number was a first prize number, second prize or third prize. And she can tell you what the numbers represent.

But now, she no longer keeps those clippings. There are 3 draws every week, and 3 legal 4D outlet available, Magnum, kuda and toto. So keeping track of all three will be difficult. And her almanac book was gone also. Nevertheless, she still is fascinated with those numbers.

4D

No, not the fourth dimension. 4 digits. Empat Nombor Ekor. To some, it brings happiness, hope and optimism. Others it is sadness, sorrow and despair.

My mother, she is a walking 4D dictionary. Mention any strange happenings, animals, objects and she will decipher for you. One day I saw 2 snakes doing the lambada.

Papi : I saw some snakes today.

Papi's Mom : 506. How many snakes?

Papi : 3.

Papi's Mom : 3506 lor.

She can actually remember the numbers that are associated with animals, any happenings or event.

Papi : I had a nightmare last night.

Papi's Mom : What was it about?

Papi : I dreamt of a vampire jumping out of a coffin (yes, the Mr. Vampire kind, not the Van Helsing kind) and chased after me.

Papi's Mom : Is the lid of the coffin covered or not?

Papi : Huh? eh....Covered.

Papi's Mom : Covered ah? 123 lor.

Papi : Eh...Maybe the lid was not covered.

Papi's Mom : If not covered ah, ...*think think think* then 456 lor.

Papi : The coffin lid covered or not, also got different ah?

Papi's Mom : Yalar.

Papi : What to add ah? (to add a number to make up for 4 numbers)

Papi's Mom : Add 1 lor, so 1456 or 1123.

Papi : Why add 1?

Papi's Mom : The vampire standing straight mah. Looks like 1 lor, some more 1 vampire mah.

Papi : *pengsan*

Photo source: www.kfcccinema.com

Water stuck in ear

I was reading a fellow blogger weblog, Que Sarah Sarah, when I check her profile out *wink wink*.

In her profile, she wrote a tip on how to get the water out when she has water stuck in her ear. "You cock your head to your side and you jump. Works alllll the time, trust me." She wrote. Well, that's exactly what I have been doing to clear my ear.

Some people use cotton bulb, others simply asked people's help to blow into their ears, and still others use toothpick to 'korek' (dig). But I jumped up-and-down in the bathroom to get the water out, with my head tilted one side, my ear touching the shoulder. And i tell you it is not easy. Imagine jumping like a monkey, with your head cocked to one side. Either you will get the water out or you will get a stiff neck.

Papi : *jump jump jump*

Mami : Papi, what are you doing in the bathroom?!

Papi : Nothing, Mami. *jump jump jump*

Mami : Are you exercising in there?

Papi : No. *jump jump jump*

When I told Mami about my method of jumping, she laughed. She has a more advance method. Fight fire with fire. Or in Mami's case, fight water with water.

Mami : You just pour some water into your ear lar.

Papi : Huh??

Mami : Yes, then you just tilt your head so that the water will flow out, clearing the stucked water as well. You try and see...

Papi : eeee.. I am not going to pour water into my ear....*jump jump jump*

Quiz show

I was channel-surfing the pay TV when a quiz show caught my attention. It was called Kunci Khazanah, I think. I don't really know how it works, but there were 6 individual contestants, divided into 2 groups.

In one of the segment, a contestant was answering 10 questions within a time frame. The 10 questions were the same set of questions, so if she could not answer a question, she can move on to the next question, and then return back to the same question another time, all within the time frame. And she could also get help from the other 3 contestants of the other group. She can also give as many answer as she wants, but she has to finish 10 questions within the stipulated time.

She was stucked on one particular question. "What is the most populous city in China?"

She tried to get help from one of the other contestant. The other contestant answered "Hanoi". I was stunned. The host was trying hard not to laugh. You see, she can actually choose whether to use that answer or come up with her own answer. Amazingly she used the answer, which is obviously wrong.

Then she open the question to another contestant, who gave her the answer "Beijing" (I thoughtt it was Beijing also). But the host said it is wrong.

Finally she open the question to the last contestant. He answered "Chieng Mai". This time the host couldn't hold himself and laughed. Amazingly still, she used the answer.

I swithced off the TV.

For those who don't know ;) , Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam. And Chieng Mai is a city in North Thailand, where a lot of Malaysian go to buy themselves a young wife. Shang Hai is the answer to that question.

Work, work, work

There are 3 types of people in the working environment.

The first type. People who completes their work fast. Once they were assigned a job, or has a task to complete, they will dive straight into doing it and complete the job as soon as possible.

The second type. People who sits on their tasks. They will take their own sweet time, no urgency whatsoever, and will rush into things when the deadline is near. Then they start to panic and worry, rushing their work in an unorganised manner.

The third type. First type people with the second type boss/superior. You are working your head off, and trying to get things done as soon as possible, while your boss is just don't care. You finished everything, waiting for him to go through, but he is too busy with cleaning up his office, and configuring the color of his Windows desktop because it doesn't look nice. The boss said we will be missing our deadline (because he has yet to review the documents) so everyone has to come to work on weekend. But when you come on weekend, the boss has yet to review the documents, thus you spend more time surfing the net aimlessly than doing the actual work. Once the boss has reviewed the document, you will have to complete the work by doing overtime for few days, while your boss is attending some 'appointments'.

When it is time to submit the work, your boss will be there in the presentation, dressing nicely and looking good, and said "I completed the work.....".

sigh....Good luck and all the best, Mami.

Dengue

Oh no. My bro-in-law was hospitalised for suspected dengue. We went back to Mami's hometown over the weekend and was staying at his house. We were there when he fell ill. He was having recurring fever and body ache. He went to a GP and the GP found spots on his arm, so the doc suspected dengue.

But I was feeling feverish too, today and still feeling the same now. When Mami broke the news to me, suddenly I feel awful. My eyes were heavy, my body starts to ache and tired. Hmmm...could it's be just psychology?

I think I will goto bed early tonight...

Checkup

Today yiyi had her routine checkup. We woke up early morning, and prepare her for the checkup. Cleaned her up, changed her cloths, diapers, fed her. Around 9.30am, we drove to the paediatrician's clinic about 10 minutes away from our home.

yiyi was a bit 'talkative' today. She was making a lot of noise, baby language we say, even shouting. And since it was quite quiet in the clinic, her voice was booming!

We went in after waited for a short while, as it was less patient in the morning. So the doctor did his routine checkup. Stomach, head, breathing. Check her response, her motor response, took her height, weight and the size of her head. We were a bit concern about the temperature of her head. It always felt hot behind her head. But the doc assures us that she is not having a fever, so nothing to worry about. yiyi's cousin was having the same symptom, hot behind the head, but his paediatrician said it was because he was using his brain (??). I am not sure about this, but as long as she is healthy, i am not worry.

This was the fifth visits to the doc, and this is the first time yiyi cried when handled by the doctor. I guessed she began to recognise people. But the doc looked a bit blur sotong, red eyed. Rough night, doc??

We were done 10 minutes later. We paid, and the nurse gave us samples of cereal and milk powder (6-7 packs). We then decided to pop in to the mamak restaurant next door. Well, we have been to this restaurant twice, and it wasn't a good experience. The food was bad, the service was bad, and still they charged as if it was first class, cheh!! But because it was convenient, so we decided 'what the heck', just give it a go.

And that will be the last time we will eat there. (Mami : Heh? last time u also said like that...). The roti was bad, the kuah was bad, we waited almost 20 minutes for the roti, and there were only 5-6 patrons, some already having their meal. WTH?

We went to my parent house, as Mami is working today, OT. So I am baby sitting yiyi at my parent house. yiyi's taking her nap now, so I guess I will take mine as well.........

A family man...cheh!

I read today's newspaper with the feeling of disgust. On the front page, a photo showing a family reunion, the father was hugging his elder daughter, with his smiling wife at his side, carrying the younger daughter. It was a happy picture. It was a warm picture. It was the picture of Hanif Basree Abdul Rahman reunited with his family. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But there is something very wrong with this picture.

Hanif Basree was charged with the murder of Noritta Samsudin on Dec 5, 2004 and he was acquitted and discharged by the High Court and walked a free man on July 1, 2004.

The case was a high profile case and it was highlighted on the newspaper and tabloids, with details of the sexual life of Noritta as well as Hanif's sexual relationship with her. We read about how they met at Crystal Club at Damansara last year. We read about how they became very close and intimate to each other. We read about how frequent they have sex every week.

I am sure he is not guilty. I am sure the High Court has made a right decision. But when I read the report on today's newspaper, I sensed that the newspaper is trying to paint him as a responsible, and caring father and husband.

Forgive me if I am wrong, but this is the man who had an affair with a GRO. This is the man who lied to his pregnant wife and his two lovely children. This is the same man who sneaked out at night to see his lover and had sex twice a week.

And his wife has this to say:

“Whatever he decides, if it is for the good of the family, it is a good choice. Everybody will follow (his decision) because he is the head of the family.”

And his father, when asked about his son affair with Noritta, has this to say:

“To me, it happens among human beings. Maybe it's a sin, but not a serious sin. As human beings, who does not make mistakes?”

Sad, very sad....

Ghost Story

Everyone has got at least one ghost story to tell. It could be an experience by a friend, your family, your neighbour, even your own self. Some are too afraid to share their experience. Some just keep quiet. While some just move on.

I going to share a true story with you that happened to my father back in the 60s.

My father used to stay in Jalan Ampang with his family (my grandfather and my 2 uncles). They rented a house next to the an open space parking lot which is now occupied by KLCC. Well, not exactly a house but it was a big, single storey hostel-like building with lots of room with a shared kitchen and washrooms. So his family occupied the main portion of the house, with a living room, and 4 bedrooms. While the other tenants occupied the rest of the rooms (around 3-4 rooms).

Life was difficult and they had just started out a business which was picking up slowly. A rental services business, you know, canopies, tables, chairs for functions. They had a small lorry for the business, so when there was no business, they did odd-jobs. Like renting the lorry for house moving, sending stuff to remote areas, getting rid of rubbish, or they will just drove the lorry around to see whether they can pickup some useful garbage (things that can still be used with a minor repair, or a quick wash).

And one day, they found something near a hospital. A dirty dark-green folded bed was thrown out near the hospital dumpster. It has only a very thick cloth (dark-green) to sleep on.


It was still usable, except that it was a bit dirty and stained. So they picked it up, brought it back, washed it and put it behind the house under a big tree for afternoon nap. But no matter how they washed it, the stained (about 2 feet by 2 feet) would not go away. The stained was a bit dark red in color, almost black (combined with the dark green color of the bed). It was as if someone was bleeding profusely on the bed, and because it was so bad that it actually dyed the bed red, thus the stain. But later we found out that this was not the only reason why the hospital throw it away.

The first few days was ok. Then it happened.

Everyone who slept on it often experienced something weird. It was like someone was shaking the bed while you are sleeping. You woke up only to find no one around you. My father tried it before. He said, sometime it was shaking so hard, that it almost make you fall off the bed. But that was not all. He said in a few occasion, he even experienced someone slapping his back through the thick cloth while he was sleeping on the bed. And there was one time where he slept on the bed, and ended up on the floor next to the bed when he woke up.

At that time, they were not afraid, so they continue using the bed. But after a while, they decided to get rid of the bed. So finally they burnt it.

My father said he believed that someone could have died on that bed, and somehow his ghost was haunting that bed. Spooky...

(to be continued....)

Creative pictures

Found a website dedicated to creatively doctored pictures using Photoshop. They have galleries after galleries of user submitted doctored pictures from animals to movies, as well as contests of who submitted the best picture in different categories.

Here's my favourite in the Beastiality category.


This is the best. It doesn't looked doctored at all. See how the hair blend in, and the neck area.


The cigar completes the picture.


Tyra Banks! Purrr.......Grr......


"My son, with great power, comes great responsiblity."

Marriage

Marriage. The most feared word for some people. A friend once said "It is just an agreement. An official agreement.". True. But it is also about security, responsibility and commitment. "But you can have those things even though you are not married." He argued. He was talking about living together.

Yesterday, Mami informed me that a cousin is getting married. First thing I asked her...

Papi : 'buut' already ah?
(papimami language meaning pregnant)

Mami : yalor.

Papi : Hah? For the second time?

Mami : he he he yalor..

Papi : Why? don't know how ah?

Mami : Cannot tahan maybe..he he he

You see, this is the second time this has happened to this Cousin. And it was just 6 months apart. On the first occasion, Cousin came back and told the family that he was going to get married because the girlfriend was pregnant. Preparation were done for the marriage and the family were happy because their boy was getting married and they gonna have a grandchild. A buy-one-free-one deal. A month later, she had a miscarriage. So what Cousin do? Called off the marriage of course.

Then it happen again. He got the girlfriend pregnant again. Talking about learning from your mistake. Haven't this guy heard of condom, pills and withdrawal? So now the marriage is on, again. I don't know how the fiance feels about this. Is he marrying her just because he wants to be responsible, or is it because he is for real?

It seems like a trend nowadays. Boy meets girl. Boy bangs girl. Girl pregnant. Boy marries girl. And we are talking about boys and girls in their early adulthood. Too early to become parents. Too early to have kids.

In the old days, it is consider a disgrace to the family, if such a thing happen. Even to the extent that the family will disowned the son/daughter (daughter, most of the time). But I guess, it is now accetable to today's society.

Mami has her own idea. She said "If a boy marries a girl just because she is pregnant, then it is because he wants to be responsible. He is forced to marry her simply because of pressure from family and the society." When Mami and I was leaving Malaysia to study oversea, I remember my mom and dad told me "Don't you go two person, come back three person.". I am glad I did't.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Yup. That's Harry Potter VI.

Author, J.K.Rowling has finally release the title of the eagerly awaited sixth volume of the Harry Potter series. But no official release date has yet been announced.

Hmmm..I wonder, will Daniel the-boy-who-grew-up-faster-than-they-make-the-film Radcliffe be reprising his role as Harry Potter in the Harry Potter VI film? I guess not...

Kirsten Dunst

Was reading ESPN Page 3 on the net about the 10 Burning Questions they asked Kirsten Dunst.


I extracted some of them here:

ESPN : You've said previously that they should just kill Mary Jane off in a future Spidey film ...

Kirsten Dunst : I don't think they should kill Mary Jane off. That would be typical if they killed the girl at the end. I think they should kill Spider-Man at the end of the third film. It would be a surprise -- a superhero defeated.

Papi : No, maybe they should kill M.J. after all. Maybe they should replace her with some hottie like Kristin Kreuk.

ESPN : What about that rather revealing dress you wear in "Spider-Man 2"?

Kirsten Dunst : I have to do a little bit of that. I have to make the 14-year-old boys happy. Whatever sells tickets, guys.

Papi : Eh? Mami, let's go watch Spiderman 2?

ESPN : What was it like to be held by the villainous Doc Ock's (Alfred Molina) tentacles in the movie?

Kirsten Dunst : God, that's a naughty question. I actually was never really in them. I got grabbed by one once but the harnesses were really on me, not the tentacles. I just don't know the experience. I guess they made me scream a lot (laughs).