tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6347587533498777162024-03-22T04:55:19.977+00:00the intarwebswhere we turn pro in crastinating.Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-21219207998780496902017-06-18T20:13:00.000+01:002017-06-18T20:13:41.151+01:00Marriage Diaries #4: Will I Make the Same Mistakes?<div class="MsoNormal">
My husband hates talking about his past relationships, but
mostly because of his immediate ex whom he’s direly ashamed of.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When prodded for details, he always tries to shut me up with “Being with Iman was the
biggest mistake of my life, I really don’t want to relive it.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I would never let him off that easy, though, and my questions,
barraging torrentially at him, <b>has</b>
to be answered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s unhealthy, I know, but curiousity gets the better of me
every time. My own past relationship I have dissected, analysed and studied to
exhaustion. My neurotransmitters have possibly fried from the frequent synapses
from trying to find the answers to: “What did I see in him? Why did we last as
long as we did? Does my relationship with Faris construe an emotionally abusive
relationship?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My husband has had a few exes, and the details and
chronology of girls have always piqued my interest. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I will tell you why. But first, a relevant preface: My
husband is a particularly introverted person.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His first two exes were intelligent and
sweet-mannered girls, one of whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. They were
from elite schools and graduated as a chemical engineer and a houseman, both
under scholarships.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then came Iman, the third, who was relatively physically
unattractive compared to the two, bimbotic (a mass comm student because of a
limited capacity to dabble within the fields of science, and studies paid privately by her
rich family) and a “party girl” as is often described, with a series of men she’s
slept with.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since my talent has always been in graphical description of
things, I’ll describe her here. I promise to be objective, heh. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Her small eyes sits atop a chubby-ish face that’s covered with
“birthmarks’, or rather, a myriad of differently coloured and shaped splotches. Her face painting skills are notable however, to the extent that she shifts from an unfortunate 4, to a convincing 6.5 (a 7 might be too generous). Her teeth are jagged rocks in
dire need of braces, tinted yellow as a result from a chronic smoking habit. She’s
particularly tall and her body, svelte. Despite her traditionally unfortunate features, her bubbly and fun-loving personality evinces a rather attractive
girl whom would sweep you off your feet from her sheer exuberance alone. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was with Iman that my husband got his exposure to “an
extrovert’s world” and partook in activities that he now loathes to relive. He
partied, drank and immersed himself in the world of TV-worthy dramas; “Omg my
friend had a one-night stand on her boyfriend’s bed and he found out because of
the sex stains and (haphazardly discarded) used condom!”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That was Iman’s world, and it also became his.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When he relayed me these details, my mind couldn’t stop its
cogs from turning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He’s a highly rational person, so what caused his lapse of
judgement? Will I ever experience the same? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He utterly despises social activities of any sort, so how
did he survive the multitude of events and gatherings for almost a year? My
husband would rather gouge his eyeballs out with a rusty nail rather than banter
with a group of more than 2 people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Was it curiousity? Was in insanity? Was in hard-hitting
infatuation?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the here and now, he doesn’t want to do anything that
doesn’t involve intimate moments together at home. We game, cuddle, have 3 hour
talks, and watch movies from my list of favourite classics. If either of us
forces the other to attend a social obligation more than once a month, we’d
start having divorce attorneys on speed dial.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I guess, what really puzzles me is; </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How did he, during that short
one or two-year stint, become such a different person?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It terrifies me to no end, because, you see, him and I are
together because we are so much alike, and that works for us. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If he could become a different person (whom eventually found
himself again) and termed it, regrettably, a “confusing phase of my life”… <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Will my turn ever, god forbid, come?<o:p></o:p></div>
Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-69480846979587329472017-03-22T06:22:00.001+00:002017-03-22T06:22:41.716+00:00Marriage Diaries #3: Shower Thoughts<div class="MsoNormal">
My internal body clock has my eyes wide open by 7am, despite
how lethargic I felt the night before or how hard I crashed the moment my head
hits the pillow.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At 7am today, he was still fast asleep. I made minimal,
barely noticeable movements to extricate myself from the arms that encircled
me. Almost always, and always subconsciously, he would realise than I’m getting
up and he would pull me back, hold me tighter and lock me in place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I would always have to call his name in a whisper until his
eyes, half-lidded and bleary, acknowledges the silent plea in mine to loosen the
iron hold he has on me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I showered the moment I managed to get out of bed, and as
usual, got lost in thought while I lathered and rinsed under the therapeutic,
lukewarm water. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I was done, hair dripping wet and towel completely
soaked, I jumped into bed and as usual, started talking to him despite knowing
that it was too early for <b>his</b>
internal body block.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Baby, I had a shower thought.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Mmm?” He grunted, smiled and extended his arms, beckoning
me to lie with him. He cringed slightly when my wet hair touched his skin.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m still a bit wet sorry.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You don’t say?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Can I share my shower thoughts with you please please
please?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’d love to hear it”. He hugged me with both arms and I found
myself talking to his chest.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You’re aging faster than I am.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He pulled back slightly, looked at me with lucid eyes and
furrowed brows, and said, “What?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You’re aging faster. Because you’re taller, and that makes
you bigger. At least, vertically bigger. And that means you have a bigger
surface area. And you know how our cells regenerate, before the ability to
regenerate slowly degrades, and that is how we scientifically age? Because you
have a wider surface area, you regenerate at a higher magnitude, which also accelerates
the degradation of your ability to regenerate. So technically, you age faster.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“…Okay.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“But then it’s okay because your skin is like, black, which means
you have more melanin, which is the body’s natural mechanism against <b>external</b> aging factors, like the sun. So, it balances things out.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“…Sure.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“So in essence, you and I will age at approximately the same
rate! Isn’t that great?!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Wait. Did you call me black?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-40236324365782152462017-03-19T17:17:00.001+00:002017-05-06T17:36:33.799+01:00Marriages Diaries #2: Are you disturbed?<div dir="ltr">
I find it amusing how people mistake my mother in law as my actual mother on account of how I look more similar to her than her actual son.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
I also find it amusing that I share a lot of my father in law's characteristics such that I find it effortless to bond with that old man. We're also similar in terms of carelessness, values and opinions on the world.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
So basically, my dear husband married someone who looks like his mom but acts like his dad.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Disturbing much.</div>
Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-37649444569307361122017-03-18T11:26:00.004+00:002017-03-18T13:12:54.388+00:00Marriage Diaries: Post #1<div class="MsoNormal">
Honestly, I miss writing. Let’s try again shall we?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Marriage Life – Diary #1</u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve been married for slightly over two months now to this
dude. He’s really, really good looking and if I were to be honest with myself,
I was basically persuaded to tie the nuptial knot thanks to those chiselled features
and that toned body of his (“<b>muskels</b>”).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He could be an asshole for all I cared and treated me like
dirt but just a flash of those pearly whites and some little flexing and I’d be
flying in his arms asking for more domestic abuse.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In all seriousness though, managed to bag a good looking
dude who’s really smart, caring and compassionate. So yeah. Hashtag win.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But again, if I were to be honest with myself, I’m not the
best wife. I’m calculative (it’s the accountant/audit background, I swear),
selfish, only sometimes considerate if I happen to have a brain aneurysm on
that day, and I’m very, very petty on certain things.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I hear even the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice due
to something I did that was legitimately annoying, I’d reciprocate by being
even more annoyed that he got annoyed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If he forgets, even for one minute, to help me with my
office bags, I’d rebel by refusing to give him the bag when he remembers and
saying things like “It’s okay, I’ve managed my expectations” and “Can’t always rely
you for things anymore, can I?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A grade-A bitch, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And how does he react to all this? He apologises, tries to
make me smile and makes sure that on the days I act like this, before we sleep,
he does something that warms my heart and he cuddles me a bit more securely
than usual.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I’m still adamant about being upset over trivial things
that aren’t his fault, he stays awake while I blithely go to bed and kisses my
forehead lightly when I stir in my sleep, hoping I wake up and hear his faint “I’m
sorry”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not sure what I did right to deserve him.</div>
Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-17681293061964572662012-07-22T09:25:00.000+01:002012-07-22T18:39:02.933+01:0050 Shades of GreyA few friends found out I was quite an avid reader and they expressed surprise at a hobby far removed from my "gregarious, loud, attention garnering personality". Seriously though, I'm not like that. I just adapt to social situations.<br />
<br />
A friend joked that the only book that would interest me would be "50 Shades of Grey" (I'm actually reading Great Expectations right now. About time), and I just laughed it off. I didn't know the existence of the book then, but from her insinuations, I just guessed it was an erotica.<br />
<br />
Cue a few days later, I'm reading several reddit posts on it in which it made the front page.<br />
<br />
Interest piqued.<br />
<br />
I googled it and found out how explosively popular it is. So popular, in fact, that the book sold within the 8 digits and Universal Studios won the rights to a film adaptation, following a bid war with the likes of Warner Bros., Sony, Paramount and Mark Wahlberg's production company... and w<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">ith </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Emma-frickin'-Watson </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">rumoured to play the heroine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">When it comes to understanding popular culture, I'm a sucker for it. This led me to read Twilight (I couldn't read past the second book though, it was giving me brain cancer), and now, I'd just finished reading roughly 60% of 50 Shades of Grey.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">And boy, is it pure, white, literary trash. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Initially, I'd read the description on it being "soft porn in which readers explore the world of BDSM and explosive, kinky sex" and thought that E.L James was a male author, set to educate the world on bondage sex for the purpose of mass liberation and exploration of one's inner deviant sexuality or whatever. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">(There's always some sad pervert with a sense of over-entitlement and perceived augmented understanding of the human psyche after all).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Reading it, I was surprised by how much it resembled Twilight. Characters were two-dimensional, plot was cliched... but at least Twilight had some prosaic moments here and there. Bad ones, but it was there.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Comparing the synopses of the two:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b><u>50 Shades of Grey</u></b>: Clumsy, awkward Anastasia who internally downplays her hot bombshell self (evident by two other male suitors clamouring for her attention), unconsciously charms the young, devilishly handsome and rich business magnate Christian Grey... but aha! There's a twist! He's into BDSM. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Twilight</u>: </span><span style="line-height: 19px;">Clumsy, awkward </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><strike>Anastasia</strike> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Bella who internally downplays her <strike>hot bombshell</strike> uniquely beautiful self (evident by two other male </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">suitors</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"> clamouring for her attention), unconsciously charms the <strike>young</strike> old, devilishly handsome and rich <strike>business magnate</strike> mysterious hunk <strike>Christian Grey</strike> Edward Cullen...</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"> but aha! There's a twist! He's <strike>into BDSM</strike> a sparkling fairy that eats animal blood. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Twilight probably upped the ante by having Bella's other love interest, a red indian werewolf (at least Stephanie Myers is not racist?) falling in love with her newborn, homidical freak of nature baby.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I guess the sky's the limit when it comes to some authors' imagination.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Back to 50 Shades of Grey; </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Christian Grey comes off as spectacularly handsome, talented, rich, driven and... </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">...Non-existent. Seriously? A guy that is an accomplished businessman by the age of 27 whom can fly a plane, play the instrument flawlessly, always showering you with expensive gifts and is a magic sex god? </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br />
For someone so accomplished though, he seems to not be at work very often. He has time to give her surprise visits and spends Friday to Sundays indulging in this amoral hobby of his.<br />
<br />
Dude, I'm a 23 year old run-of-the-mill company employee with barely an expandable income to laud about, and here's a fact: Weekends. Don't. Exist. At. All.<br />
<br />
I gave up reading after the sordid sex scenes became too frequent. It was a lot like:<br />
<br />
<b>Somewhere in the middle of the book</b>: He made love to me. He gets ready to leave. I get sad :( . I unintentionally do something that turns him on again and we make love again :)<br />
<br />
<b>Next chapter</b>: We discuss about the BDSM stuff and it got me confused and sad :( Then he drops by unexpectedly and we make love again :)<br />
<br />
<b>Next chapter</b>: Some lame plot-filler thing happened and then we make love :) But then for some excessively retarded reason, I get sad again :(<br />
<br />
I felt stupid reading it. I felt stupid even <i>wanting</i> to read it. I thought it would be something like <i>Lolita</i>, in which I was thoroughly amazed by the beauty of the language used to describe the inner workings of someone irrevocably broken. I thought it would be an insight into the amoral, like how <i>The Psychopath Test </i>bequeathed a whole new understanding into the world of moral leprosy. I didn't expect it to be completely like those two outstanding books, I was just hoping to understand more about why people do the things they do.<br />
<br />
I guess the description of it being "mommy porn" is more than apt. It was purely about sex, and would appeal to those judgmental mommies or any female in general whom think porn is bad but <i>written </i>porn is acceptable.<br />
<br />
Double standards.<br />
<br />
What's worse, I later found out it was originally a Twilight fanfiction.<br />
<br />
That explained a damn lot.<br />
<br />
So this sad, ugly fat author chick whom couldn't get wet enough from Stephanie Myer's book, decided to fantasize graphic details on the sex lives of the two main characters. She later decided that "Vanilla sex" wasn't enough to fulfill her empty life and incorporated BDSM into it.<br />
<br />
And wrote it all out in full description for the whole world to read.<br />
<br />
And everyone enjoyed it.<br />
<br />
Everyone enjoyed reading the sexual fantasies of a lonely and old <b><i>Twilight</i> </b>fan who gets off on having graphic, violent sexual daydreams of a fictional vampire that incidentally sparkles under the sun.<br />
<br />
Seriously?<br />
<br />
<i>Seriously?</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-65196979818789197472012-06-24T19:20:00.001+01:002012-06-24T19:20:12.136+01:00Bedtime Stories: Part I<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone who’s known me long enough is aware of my
love for the supernatural, the ghosts, the <i>other world residents</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don’t get me wrong, these things get me pissing the shit out
of my pants, but I still love listening about them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throughout the years, I’ve amassed quite a few ghost
stories, some famous re-tellings and some personal experiences that usually
creeps the fuck out of me more so than the generic “<i>This happened to a friend of a friend</i>”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think I’ll share them. Here. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So pussies, stop reading if you want to sleep tonight.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ll start with a personal experience:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h2>
<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Story #1: Genting
Apartment</span></u></b></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was about 11, my dad’s Company was hosting a Family
Day up in Genting Highlands.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now you know the stories about Genting Highlands. That place
is littered with restless spirits and demonic presence. One theory is
that because it hosts a grand casino, a lot of people would commit suicide when
they find themselves faced with some serious gambling debts, and they become our residential "spirits that are stuck in this world", with varying degrees of sinister auras.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our family lucked out, we had a huge third-floor apartment to ourselves. The layout was a
huge living room that led to an open kitchen, and several bedrooms scattered
throughout.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even as a young kid, despite being described as “lively and
cheeky”, I still preferred solitary activities and would find any reason to
just stay indoors. It was around 12pm and every other member of the family was
out doing something Family Day-ish. I, somehow, managed to force my younger
sister to stay in the apartment with me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And this was when I had the unfortunate idea to play “Old
Blind Man”. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s like Marco Polo, without the swimming pool/sea, hot babes, nudity
and <i>come hither</i> looks when you sneak
a peek, as Hollywood depicts it. Well, slightly different, since the Blind Man here is supposed to listen attentively to scuffling sounds and stifled laughter to help search for the other players.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that I’m older, I know better than to ever play that
game. Just like Hide-and-Seek, people go missing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are what I’ve heard from friends about the Hide-and-Seek game:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I played it with my siblings once, and my brother was the
last to be found. When we managed to find him, he was trembling in a corner and
his face was pale as a ghost. To this day, he refused to tell us what happened
to him, what he saw. Now, he claims that he never remembers any such incident..”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“A kid in my <i>kampung </i>went
missing once, while he was playing hide-and-seek with his sister. It got pretty
serious, they had a search party led by the <i>Ketua
Kampung</i> that lasted for weeks. Months went by and they never could find
him. Finally, they accepted that he probably died or could never be found
again. On the day of his corpse-less funeral, when everyone was reading the <i>Yaasin</i>, they heard a scream from one of
the bedrooms on the second floor of the house. Everyone ran up, and saw the
little boy’s older sister screaming hysterically. They soon discovered why. In
the room, the lost kid was sitting peacefully on the bed, looking curiously at
everyone. He looked immaculate, not a speck of dirt on him, wearing the exact same shirt he wore when he went missing. It was like the whole
disappearance never happened. When everything finally quieted down, he said to
the room “I didn’t know so many people were playing too!’”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, back to my original story.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before we started playing Old Blind Man, I laid out the
ground rule:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">1.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Our play area was confined to the master
bedroom. Under no circumstances could either of us enter the adjoining bathroom
or the living room.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The purpose of that was to reduce the risk of injury for the
“Blind Man”. Very much necessary, since I imagine face-planting a wall is not a
pleasant experience.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I lost the coin toss, so I became the “Blind Man”, in which
I got a white towel and wrapped it around my eyes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, being a cheater at games, I wrapped it <i>thinly</i> around my eyes so I could see the outline of everything.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I faced the wall and counted to 10
while my sister hid. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The moment I turned around, I immediately saw her. She was
standing in front of the bathroom.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, if I immediately head straight to her, my
deception would be obvious. Instead, I started wobbling around the room,
pretending to turn left and right occasionally while heading to the general
direction of the bathroom. The whole time she stood there immobile, trying to
stay quiet to win the game.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The moment I was so near that I could almost touch her, she
immediately ran into the bathroom.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, this time, rage overtook me (I was a pretty hot-headed
kid). Forgetting my own bad sportsmanship, I was enraged by the fact that she
broke the rule. Quickly, I tore the towel from my face and ran into the bathroom,
screaming;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“HEY I TOLD YOU WE WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO PLAY IN THE B—“</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I stopped short when I noticed something crucial.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was no one in the bathroom.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Except for me, it was empty.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I panicked and started screaming for her, but she didn’t
respond. I looked in the cupboard, I looked in the living room and finally
found her, giggling behind a monstrously sized couch. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basically, she cheated too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had two more days in the apartment, so the remainder of
the days was something I could not possibly forget. It was repeated events of
me screaming:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“DON’T GO INTO THE BATHROOM I’M USING IT DON’T GO INTO THE
BATHROOM I’M USING IT DON’T GO INTO THE BATHROOM I’M USING IT.” <span style="background-color: white;">While using the
bathroom with the door completely open, because if I had to use that bathroom
with the doors closed, seriously…</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fuck. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...The end. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h2>
<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Story #2: The
Bunk-Bed</span></u></b></h2>
<div>
<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a popular story, and I’ve heard many variations of
it, but this one was how I originally heard it from a friend:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was the beginning of the semester, and this college girl
was assigned to a two-person dorm room. She did not have a roommate yet so she
had to sleep alone for the first night.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The room was pretty cramped, and it could fit only two small
desks and a bunk bed. She immediately chose the lower bunk.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being tired from the day’s events, she slept easily enough.
She woke up around midnight however, when she heard slight creaking noises. She
then noticed that the bed was also moving slightly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remembering that she locked the door and thus no one else
could possibly be in the room, she slowly opened one of her eyes to find out
what’s causing it, all the while being scared to her bones.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She froze in horror when she saw a pair of child’s feet
dangling nonchalantly on the upper bunk. She went white from the realization that;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her room was locked, but…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a kid.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the bed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moving his feet back and forth happily.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She was paralysed with fear, unsure of what to do. Finally,
she decided the best course of action was to pretend to be asleep still. Maybe
the kid won’t do anything to her. Maybe the kid will go away. Maybe she was just having a nightmare. Maybe.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not a few seconds letter, she heard a sweet, happy voice,
saying something in a sing-song manner that only made her blood curdle:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Hi Kakaaaaak~ I know you’re awaaaaaake~”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...The end.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Story #3: You’re
Not the First</span></u></b></h2>
<div>
<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This one is quite popular too, and it goes like this;</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A group of about 7 college kids was having a sleepover in
one of the dorm rooms meant for 4 people. They took down all the mattresses and
gathered it in the centre under a huge ceiling fan. Everyone slept huddled
together since the space was pretty cramped.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was late at night when one of them woke up from the
sounds of footsteps slowly encircling the makeshift king bed. Her hair immediately
stood on ends and she felt uncharacteristically scared. Somehow, instinctively,
she just <i>knew </i>it wasn’t human. Her
instincts told her not to look up and to pretend to be asleep.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doing just that, she heard the footsteps slowing down and
finally… the <i>thing</i> stopped in its
tracks. It stopped for a few seconds before continuing its uniform steps, but
not before saying in a low, haunting voice;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<b><i>Now four of them are awake.</i></b>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Story #4: The
Telephone Booth</span></u></b></h2>
<div>
<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I heard this as a young girl, and I’ve never heard it being repeated.
A friend swore this happened to her cousin:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Malays believe that sunset is the scariest time of the day.
It’s when night encroaches into the sun’s territory and minutes later, we are
engulfed by the dark. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the favourite time of the day for those… <i>things</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Malay parents would call their kids in right before sunset
and they’re not allowed to play outside again until about an hour has passed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, this girl, being a rebellious teenager in that phase and all, could
not care less about that “superstition”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She was on the phone, shooting up the telephone bills,
flirting with a guy non-stop. Her mom got angry and disconnected the phone,
telling her;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Unless you pay the bills yourself, you’re not allowed to
use any phones in my house.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This happened in the years before cellphones were a common household item. Peeved, she was not having any of that. She grabbed her purse
full of coins and headed to the telephone booth just across from her house.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She called him up from the booth, giggling flirtatiously and
arranging a future meet-up. She noticed then that someone was right
behind her, queue-ing up to use the phone.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, being quite a bitch, she decided to continue chatting,
completely ignoring the other person, talking about trivial things and feeding
her teenage girl fancy. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Raging hormones and all.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All the while, the stranger stood waiting patiently for his turn,
not a single word uttered from his mouth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She kept feeding coins into the phone while the minutes
continued to run. The guy continued waiting patiently. Finally, as luck would
have it, she dropped one of her coins and bending down to pick it up, she
noticed something that sent chills straight down her spine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The guy had</i> <i>no legs.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She was terrified, almost paralysed, but she remembered one
important rule; <b>Never make <i>them</i> aware
that you’re aware of what they are</b>. Hands violently trembling, she ended her
conversation with the guy in a nervous tone;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I’ve… got to go now. Someone… is waiting to use the phone.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just as she placed the receiver back in its place, the
stranger said;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Young girl… are you really done, or did you just realize...<b> <i>what
I actually am</i></b>?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...The end.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s it for now. Don’t think I’m done though.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is just Part 1.</span></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-59497073640044177542011-11-13T02:03:00.003+00:002011-11-13T02:07:59.018+00:00I'm happyI was just staring at the wall, thinking about how soon my sister will finally get home from Australia after finishing up her 6 years medic studies there. <div><br /></div><div>Cleaning the house thoroughly, picking her up from the airport, hugging her for the first time in several years, bringing her to Sunway to get her expensive graduation gift I've been saving up for...</div><div><br /></div><div>Then a call came and it was her, on a shopping spree to buy a surprise gift for me. Although, in the end, she had to call me up in case I didn't want what she planned to get.</div><div><br /></div><div>December is going to be awesome.</div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-72075456960096256942011-11-07T15:19:00.004+00:002011-11-07T15:49:27.371+00:00Our generation is fucked upI was minding my own business on Facebook, when an old, male acquaintance "<b>friend requested</b>" me.<div><br /></div><div>Yes, this is the 21st century and that is now a verb. Get over it.</div><div><br /></div><div>He sent a friendly message that was meant to be nostalgic, with the usual "Hey, remember years back when..."</div><div><br /></div><div>After I repeatedly punched the backspace key over my original response of "Yes of course I remember insignificant details about things I stopped giving a fuck about please tell me more", I replied with a polite "Haha yes! Those were the days! :-)"</div><div><br /></div><div>Complete with insincere emoticon and all.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since I'm fake and I can't bear the thought of acting rudely to an old acquaintance, I was planning on responding to approximately 2 more of his messages before disappearing into oblivion. I was leaving it to chance that he would think I died in front of my computer rather than deciding that browsing repetitive internet jokes would be infinitely more interesting than his insipid... <i>memories</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Fingers crossed.</div><div><br /></div><div>After I eventually got sucked into the deep hole of "Omg human contact ew" that I love to hide in, I then received his friend request again. Bemused with his reasons behind deleting and re-adding me, I approved him without giving it a second thought.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next thing I knew, he sent me another message;</div><div><br /></div><div>"Proud, aren't you? Just deleting me from your friends list ;-) You really think you're hot stuff, huh?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Uh... sorry what?</div><div><br /></div><div>Afraid of offending anyone, I took the mature course of action...</div><div><br /></div><div>Ignore him completely and watch another episode of Dexter.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next day, I was contacted by a girl. The message was;</div><div><br /></div><div>"Bitch can you leave my boyfriend alone?! You know we're going to get married in two months, why are you flirting with him!? You whore! You home wrecker!"</div><div><br /></div><div>Um... I don't even... what?</div><div><br /></div><div>Long story short, turns out she was one of those typical girlfriends/f<em style="font-style: normal; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: small; ">iancée</em> that would keep a close watch on her significant other's activities. She was the one whom removed my name from his friends list and was interpreting something out of nothing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Really, how did you read "Yeah, I wonder how the teachers are too" as "Let's get it on, sexy muthafuckaaaaa ;-x"?</div><div><br /></div><div>They've probably been at it for some time. Somehow, without any malicious intent whatsoever, I got caught in the crossfire.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which leaves me to wonder. Why in the world would you read anyone's Facebook messages or give your Facebook password to <b>anyone</b> at all?</div><div><br /></div><div>We need to turn down the crazy a notch. Leave people like me to their peaceful inner world. No wonder we hate the outside world so much, people like these are marring it with their drama and stupidity. Man, Idiocracy is seriously a window to the future.</div><div><br /></div><div>World population hit the 7 billion mark as of the 31st October... and the future is looking bleak. Here's to a shitty life ahead.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-57291919141939067112011-11-05T12:31:00.004+00:002011-11-05T13:05:47.704+00:00Strength of genetics... or just influence?I inherited a lot from my late dad. His interests are my interests, his hobbies are my hobbies. Even my manner of speech is similar to his - a proclivity for uncommon words and tendency for being long-winded.<div><br /></div><div>I always though it more from influence than genetics. He was my dad after all, and he somehow molded me into becoming like him. He wouldn't shower me with accessories and dresses, but he would go broke buying the long list of books I wanted. Eventually, I started reading his books by the age of 11. Stephen King, Josh Grisham, Frederick Forsynth... those were his favourite authors and now they're mine.</div><div><br /></div><div>He got me my first laptop at fourteen, my first harddisk in the same year. He would praise me when I showed him how advanced my computer skills as a teenage girl was, and got me my Gameboy and first Pokemon game. He would proudly show off any new headphones and other computer paraphernalias to me and encouraged me to tinker with them. </div><div><br /></div><div>Not to say he didn't try it with the others. I guess they weren't as easily moulded. He bought the eldest one a game console, a PlayStation 2, but she never once played with it (Guess who got the honours instead?). With the youngest sibling, her femininity and personality was already so strongly pronounced at a young age, so for her he tended to her already developed interests - Teddy bears, make-up table toy sets and dresses.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>It wasn't until a revealing talk with my aunt whom knew him well that I discovered that, of all things, I also have his personality. My aunt's uncommonly perceptive so she knew my dad well, and now she knows <b>me</b> well. She told me a week ago that my inclination for isolation and love for self-indulging activities was a classic case of my Dad's. He doesn't have trouble making friends but keeping in contact is where problems start brewing; which is exactly my case.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>I'd always noted that my dad was a bit of a loner despite always having people around him. When he took me along for outings with his friends (there were a few times I would stay alone with my dad in his apartment in Semenanjung while the others were still in Sarawak), he never seemed to be having as much fun as when he was at home, watching movies or reading his book (Which also, for me, is the most enjoyable way to spend time).</div><div><br /></div><div>But because I was able to see these things as a young girl, maybe what I have, my anti-socialness, is from learned behaviour? Or could this really be my innate self?</div><div><br /></div><div>Things to ponder on.</div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-32420881496849763632011-10-23T13:39:00.004+01:002011-10-23T13:59:14.210+01:00I almost blinded a friend.<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>My friend won tickets to a K-pop party, which was basically an Astro-sponsored event masquerading as a "party" by hiring some k-pop influenced dancers and DJ.<div><br /></div><div>Although it's not my scene, I thought I'd take up her offer of being her plus one out of pure curiousity.</div><div><br /></div><div>Turns out, the tickets allowed her two friends, so I was introduced to a colleague of hers that she'd invited as well. Before we stepped into the auditorium packed with a weird mesh of people in headscarves and those with k-pop inspired 'do (this is truly 1Malaysia), we were given glo-sticks.</div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGuSOSOeSNHgqGHV_KHRoJ0msYOpXD5ufu2gHoGKcvF_z3RA3EO1NcqhtIX3OwtaAF2SA_7STcinKQQfxzk7vAwAFZBk5rnqHs-fzfKmFmDjiRohnMPujolnKQG7s07WR1_vGtT_DMU0/s400/Free-Shipping-Light-stick-fluorescent-bracelets-glow-sticks-light-sticks-LED-toys-Fast-Delivery.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 315px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666667807443411330" /></div><div><br /></div><div>Fuck everything about these glo-sticks. </div><div><br /></div><div>They were bendable ones meant to be accessories. I got the glasses as you see above, while my friend's friend (named Anne for now) was given a headband one.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was fiddling with it, trying to bend it into shape while Anne was supervising. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then it broke. </div><div><br /></div><div>In two. </div><div><br /></div><div>And the liquid splattered all over. </div><div><br /></div><div>Into her eyes.</div><div><br /></div><div>My first instinct was to laugh and I knew it was hers too, since I saw her lips twitched upwards into a giggle... before a most horrific scream was released from it.</div><div><br /></div><div>In retrospect, everything that happened was quite funny. Although, there were not much "Hahaha" in between "OH GOD IT BURNS. MY EYE BURNS" while it happened.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, we rushed out to rinse her eyes. Although she spent several minutes splashing water into her eyes, it was getting redder by the second and she was having problems with keeping her lids open. All the while I was thinking "Oh shit, do I have to donate one of my corneas to her? But I love having two corneas."</div><div><br /></div><div>I think in the height of the moment, I actually did say "If anything happens, feel free to have one of my eyeballs..."</div><div><br /></div><div>Awkward much.</div><div><br /></div><div>We were rushed to the doctor's by one of the event manager and after a few eyedrops, the pain and scarlet-ness subsided... in which she later spent the next 3 hours dancing to k-pop music and doing the choreography flawlessly.</div><div><br /></div><div>Seriously? "<i>Oh my god I know the moves to this</i>!" not 10 minutes after "<i><b>OH MY GOD THE SEARING PAIN</b></i>!"?</div><div><br /></div><div>K-pop fans never cease to amuse.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-82330765492377078422011-10-23T13:37:00.002+01:002011-10-23T14:43:19.513+01:00Probably not the best look.Another thing I did today was to actually attend a religious talk (At my elder sister's behest). Of course, two hours in, I realised the topic was centered on family values and the likes. <div><br /></div><div>They basically talked about;</div><div><br /></div><div><b>1. Men's responsibilities towards their families;</b></div><div><b>2. Women's responsibilities towards their husbands and children.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I spent most of it mulling on how I was really wasting my time since;</div><div><br /></div><div>1. I'm not a man and I do not, nor have I entered into any arrangement to own a penis in the near future; and</div><div>2. I have not utilised my uterus for any purpose of siring an offspring. </div><div><br /></div><div>So I slept.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I slept.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I woke up when an obese, bald participant was asking about polygamy during the Q&A session. The speaker emphasized how polygamy, under Malaysian law, would not require the permission from the man's current spouse. <b>But</b>, that's only if he satisfies ALL four of these requirements;</div><div><br /></div><div>1. His wife is not able to produce an offspring, or out of some medical anomaly, they are unable to have intercourse (By 'they' I mean him and his wife, as opposed to him and his right hand).</div><div><br /></div><div>2. He is able to provide for both families without any wants from either parties</div><div><br /></div><div>3. He is able to act fairly and not evoke feelings of neglect (good luck with that)</div><div><br /></div><div>And I forgot the fourth one 'cause I nodded back to sleep.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, the memories seared in me from the talk is definitely not the feeling of inspiration or awe by any divine light or whatever, it was the fact that every woman around me was dressed in oversized headscarves (some even with the hanging mouthpiece thing), loose, long-sleeved shirts and baggy pants. And even socks, to cover up the exposed skin for those wearing slippers instead of shoes. Definitely the more... advanced lot of the Islamic movements in Malaysia.</div><div><br /></div><div>I wasn't wearing a halter top or mini skirt or anything, but the stares that I got throughout was definitely disturbing. I guess being the only one <b>not</b> in a headscarf, plus with short-cropped hair, multiple piercings and absence of even a semblance of Malay features incited a lot of curiousity.</div><div><br /></div><div>More than once (about like a bagazillion times), I'd catch them staring and seeing as Islam has this "<i>Senyuman itu adalah sedekah</i>" thing going on, they'd give the politest and nicest smile. It's hard to tell them to "fuck off" following that. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sneaky, sneaky people. </div><div><div><br /></div><div>One thing I liked about the crowd was that they weren't judgmental stares of disdain or disgust, they were just curious stares from those wanting to know the story of how I decided to embrace Islam and my experiences so far.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yeah, they thought I was a convert. And yeah, I'm still and will always be annoyed by that assumption.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>So I just continued sleeping.</div><div><br /></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-27785041981220089682011-09-10T14:27:00.002+01:002011-09-10T14:35:56.902+01:00We don't joke about this shit.I was booked to audit a charity organisation for two weeks. However, the accounts were not ready yet and the clients seem acrid when pushed, so after a week, my senior is pulling me out and putting me up to audit another client.<div><br /></div><div>That was decided on Friday before I left for home.</div><div><br /></div><div>My senior e-mailed me all the documents relating to the new client, but as a joke, it was titled "<i>In case anything happens to me during the weekend...</i>"</div><div><br /></div><div>It's Saturday, 9.30pm now and I received a text from him 5 minutes ago;</div><div><br /></div><div><b>"<i>Thank goodness... I'm still alive. Accidentally hit a divider. It was a lucky escape. A few inches more and I would be 6 feet under</i>."</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Called him and a few people up to verify the story and he did in fact, barely escaped death.</div><div><br /></div><div>So people...</div><div><br /></div><div>We don't joke about this shit.</div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-16187096049593479532011-08-13T16:49:00.004+01:002011-08-13T17:05:45.518+01:00Me, the fashionista.My aunt and uncle treated me to a Ramadhan buffet tonight and before picking me up, I was given a simple caveat;<div>
<br /></div><div>"Wear something nice."</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Discarding the suspiciously stained shirt and crotch-torn jeans that I somehow suspect my aunt knew I was going to wear (I think she's psychic), I grabbed a shirt and a pair of jeggings that someone else had picked for me during an earlier mandatory shopping spree.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Because that's the universal definition of <i>nice</i> to anyone who knows me;</div><div>
<br /></div><div>"Not something chosen by Aziemah."</div><div>
<br /></div><div>I seriously wish I was just being sarcastic.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>I managed to wear something decent but by the time I got home, I had several foodstains on it. Not because I'm a messy eater, but because food sometimes fly out of my plate whimsically to spatter on any decent shirt I decide to wear. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>Oh food, you silly inanimate object you.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>But my point is, if we go out for dinner, why should we dress up? All you're doing is adding suspicious stains to your decently styled (and priced) attire. If we're going out for movies, why bother dolling up? I doubt people go to dark cinemas to appreciate your expensive shirt they can't see. Maybe when night vision is the next improvement in our evolutionary progress, it makes sense but then you're also competing with the most beautiful women in Hollywood as people focus on the big screen in front of them.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>If we go shopping, why should you wear that stylish new top? Everyone goes shopping to buy clothes off the rack, not your body. Besides, I believe those who go shopping use it as a reason to parade their non-existent fashion sense, so they're too preoccupied with how much attention they're able to get, hardly having enough time to spare attention to you.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>The only suitable time to dress up is when...</div><div>
<br /></div><div>...</div><div>
<br /></div><div>...</div><div>
<br /></div><div>I'm... stumped.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Do you know when?</div><div>
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<br /></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-78685457450901516562011-07-31T06:04:00.002+01:002011-07-31T06:16:26.602+01:00Hey guys, I found the perfect job for anti-social people.Alright, might have been a bit too premature in sharing that I've been way too free at my workplace. But then again, it was sort of the truth. Having the luxury of not having much to do lasted all of...<div><br /></div><div>2 days.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then the dam burst.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now I'm going home at around 9-11pm every day, starting work the moment I touch base in office at 7am and as I reach home sometime before 12am, I would either continue work late into the night or pass out immediately.</div><div><br /></div><div>Work.</div><div><br /></div><div>More effective than Rohypnol.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then again, I'm better off than my cousin who's staying <b>longer</b> in the office and working <b>later</b> into the night, and much better than my senior who arrives to work before I do and getting home much, much later. Even some of my batch mates are already considering 11pm as an "early" time to get off work.</div><div><br /></div><div>...We just <i>started</i> work barely a month ago.</div><div><br /></div><div>Right now, I'm leaving a backlog of shit to do and completing a stupid e-learn for our "Continuing Professional Development".</div><div><br /></div><div>People, heed my warning;</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Never</b> be an auditor and a member of a professional body.</div><div><br /></div><div>Just... No.</div><div><br /></div><div>Alright, going to continue wasting my life away with keeping my head above waters with workload and foregoing social life completely now. But then again, didn't have much of a social life to begin with... I guess this won't be much of a struggle then.</div><div><br /></div><div>Enjoy your non-auditor life.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-29505359644596599472011-07-15T16:32:00.003+01:002011-07-15T16:55:15.951+01:00Today is...I can't talk about work because the project I'm involved in is confidential. <div><br /></div><div>Though, I don't exactly understand how my new mastery of the new "change to landscape" function on the photocopier or using an oversized stapler is considered confidential.</div><div><br /></div><div>Seriously though, I was slotted for a rare slot at doing something out of the normal scope of work, which I was informed made it more complex. Not only is it completely different from what my other fresh colleagues are doing, there's only two other people involved. And the work load is crazy.</div><div><br /></div><div>Only, I'm new and the only thing I can contribute to is my wide-eyed stare and terrified glances at the document pile. Even my superiors couldn't understand how a new employee could be joining them. Thus, with my skill set, I am totally KILLING the world's fastest speed at punching papers and playing Solitaire when no one's looking.</div><div><br /></div><div>My batchmates, however, are doing relevant work-related stuff and going home at 11pm. After just two weeks of joining.</div><div><br /></div><div>And myself? I had enough time to reorganise the Media files in my music player.</div><div><br /></div><div>But hey, if I'm still getting high pay even if I'm continuously clicking on my empty desktop to look busy and typing "BORED" 17,294 times in Notepad, I'm all for it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and I now understand how Nurisya can genuinely like Rebecca Black's Friday song. </div><div><br /></div><div>IT'S FRIDAY, PEOPLE!</div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-80427304790796937132011-07-02T23:55:00.005+01:002011-07-03T00:18:48.785+01:00Google Dabai. "Did you mean Dubai?"<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-uwvH6fs7U0Y/Tg-iKu6Gb2I/AAAAAAAAAZc/-WREzsRYBFA/s400/IMG_0260.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-uwvH6fs7U0Y/Tg-iKu6Gb2I/AAAAAAAAAZc/-WREzsRYBFA/s400/IMG_0260.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.02304330770857632" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“What. In. The. World. Is. That?”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“You’ve never seen it before?”</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“How does ‘Hell-To-The-Naw’ sounds to you?”</span><div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“But you’re Sarawakkian, you should know of it.”</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">This is Nasi Goreng Dabai, or </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Dabai Fried Rice</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. It’s pure awesome and you’ve probably never heard of it. Which I’m going to emphasize, because it makes me feel like less of a loser for not having heard of it as well. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I know, I know, you’re not from Sarawak and your ignorance makes sense. Shut up.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So... Dabai is a fruit.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I googled dabai and there were less than five relevant results for it, which was to be expected. I could plagiarise and sound all smart and shit, but you know, as I usually confess easily;</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Too lazy.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So go have a read </span><a href="http://mysarawak.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/dabai-fruit/" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">here.</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The dabai, having been seasoned with salt, was overpowering in its saltiness, but when I shoved another spoonful of fried rice into my mouth, it tasted just right. The dabai tasted... unique, different. It was full, rich, the texture was smooth and it had a </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">strongly </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">distinct flavour. I don’t think anything else could replicate the taste, neither can I exactly describe it. It’s nothing like any other salted variety of fried rice, like </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Nasi Goreng Ikan Masin </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">or I don’t know, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Nasi Goreng Garam</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> or something.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But I would definitely have it again.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Anyway, as it turns out, I </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">did </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">know of Dabai, it was a fruit I </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">did</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> have as a kid, I just didn’t know its name or that it was native to only Borneo. Ten years later, it’s only natural that I forget. It’s hard to come by, since the other name for it is </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Sibu olive. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It’s not as easy to get in Kuching as hawkers selling it at the weekly market would have to bring it all the way from Sibu, the only place where it’s harvested. Oh, and it’s seasonal.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Sibu, like most of the small cities in Sarawak could hardly be called a city. A few modern buildings, official looking establishments and widely-sparse residential areas restricted within a small circumference hardly fitting to be deemed a “city”. Sometimes there’s a small airport, but most of the time a short drive, meaning several house (like, ten), is the only means to get to places.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Oh, and helicopters.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But that’s how most cities in Sarawak are. Sarawak is huge, mostly underdeveloped, proudly rural, jungles spewing forth everywhere and cities are several miles apart. Roads are not always accessible. I drove </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">three hours</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> to another </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">nearby</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> city from Kuching for a “day-trip”.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">On the way there though, you could find several small creeks, untouched rivers, hot springs or beautiful landscapes of nature where you could literally park by the roadside, take out the picnic basket you packed and have one hell of a breakfast, lunch, or evening tea by the crystal clear waters set in pebbled stones and shaded by wild trees.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It’s breathtaking.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It is definitely fitting to be called “Borneo” or the “Rainforest”. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So travellers, if you visit Sarawak, while you’re having the </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Kolo Mee, Laksa Sarawak</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> and </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Teh C Peng Special</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">don’t </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">forget </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Nasi Goreng Dabai</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> as well. It’s rare and a only few places sell it though, so good luck.</span></div></div></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-44309459303559141542011-07-01T18:54:00.004+01:002011-07-01T19:02:12.651+01:00Three Layers of Pure Awesomeness<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vOiYQrzZi48/Tg4JwzVxk0I/AAAAAAAAAY0/c1uTqnJS6ZQ/s512/IMG_0280.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 384px; height: 512px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vOiYQrzZi48/Tg4JwzVxk0I/AAAAAAAAAY0/c1uTqnJS6ZQ/s512/IMG_0280.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rTsMEFTnQkQ/Tg4JnSmsdvI/AAAAAAAAAYo/hSAxH0rLTJ0/s512/IMG_0279.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 384px; height: 512px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rTsMEFTnQkQ/Tg4JnSmsdvI/AAAAAAAAAYo/hSAxH0rLTJ0/s512/IMG_0279.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-size: medium; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5812144086230546" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The overhead ceiling fan whirred loudly, slowly cooling the sweat off new customers entering the open-styled restaurant.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">If you can even call it a restaurant. </span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The timid waitress scuffles about, order sheet and pen perfunctorily in each hand. Before she even settles on a table, a command booms over the relaxing gusts of artificial wind.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Dik, Teh C Peng </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Special</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> sigek!”</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It’s been awhile since I came home, but for the eight days that I stayed in my hometown, every meal eaten outside was accompanied by this novelty drink.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Before I take a sip, I would note the beads of condensation on the ice cold glass of drink that could only be described as inviting as the sun continues to beat down relentlessly on the Land of the Hornbill. Even the crinkle of ice against each other was music to my ears.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">There’s a trick to taking the first few sips of this local drink, which is what I never fail to look forward to. With the straw held firmly in your fingers, start sipping from the bottom and quickly work your way up. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It comes in stages. The refreshing taste of </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">pandan </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">hits you first</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">then comes the slight hint of brown sugar which would later be overpowered by the sweetness of the condensed milk, before your taste buds settles on the slight bitterness and unique taste of the red tea.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Pure. Ecstasy.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">After the first three or five times though, you get a bit self conscious when you notice the nine year old sitting next to you drinking it exactly the same way. Then, you clear your throat and stir the triple mixture like the adult you try to appear to be, coalescing it into the boring brown colour of a normal </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Teh Tarik</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. Then you remind yourself not to repeat the act of drinking like an idiot again.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But then, at the next stall and with the same order, you conveniently forget to remember.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Teh C Peng is also called Three Layer Tea, and I think the name was given by West Malaysians when the drink was brought over from the East, from Borneo. Try as I may though, I have never, ever found a glass of Teh C Peng as refreshing, inviting and perfect as the ones from Sarawak, where it originated. The best I had for this trip was probably the one at J&J Corner, the one I had on my last day, as pictured above.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I love my hometown.</span></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-14389142651014458492011-06-11T18:03:00.005+01:002011-06-11T19:34:52.280+01:00Oh, I'm just heading to Hell. You?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifi6z8ChdaBEZqLEGbTy_oE2xUJg9VGEjyX3Q5rEoWPizddp_zvIFiv10_2Fl6I0nyGP_LIDOUMVoFpw4eeCOK3hB33JWbvqEyQmmAaEmyxrN2PVWNXkoanz-VJ0pexeyiaShAuNq12LA/s1600/kelloggs.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfaWQSCJmMtDGrwB5LwBdxNyyf0pZqudNbgXyjWIGUbbFNyxi1DvPdfGeO8KLBh5-zyK7M32bjp-QVKeKhZj528MqwRj-Jp73VmjzO5OlRQ5MswmuMLXSwH4IC9u1YohoOM20p99xhEIc/s1600/rat.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfaWQSCJmMtDGrwB5LwBdxNyyf0pZqudNbgXyjWIGUbbFNyxi1DvPdfGeO8KLBh5-zyK7M32bjp-QVKeKhZj528MqwRj-Jp73VmjzO5OlRQ5MswmuMLXSwH4IC9u1YohoOM20p99xhEIc/s400/rat.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617018132145829698" /></a><br /><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5978419224265963" style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5978419224265963" style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5978419224265963" style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">Was talking with my aunt about rodent infestations and she said;</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">“People don’t have the guts to kill the rats they’d just caught by hand. What do you think they do?”</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">“Um... leave it outside until it starves to death?”</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">“Exactly... especially if the sun’s scorching hot outside. Kills them faster.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">That’s when a wave of guilt hit me. Hard. I must have repressed this memory for a while, but it all came back during this conversation.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">When I was in the UK, in my first semester, in the narrow, unkempt and dingy little house I stayed in, we had rodents. No, I’m not talking about my landlord. Well, maybe partly.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">There was a whole family of them, from the size of a grizzly sun bear to a sea plankton. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">We had to hide all our food in little containers, but when they started eating </span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">through</span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "> the containers and even ate our lotion, moisturisers and some of my friends’ make-up, that’s when we got down to business.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">Our home-pest-control aspiring little senior set up traps using the rat glue bought from pound stores, which worked surprisingly well. We’d wake up to the sound of thrashing and squealing, sometimes from two separate sources. One from the bathroom, and one from the kitchen cabinet.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">“So... how do we get rid of them? Release them outside?”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">“Yeah, sure. It’s like this game we play with the rats. Let them find their way back and see how often we would catch the same ones repeatedly. Maybe put a little mark on it to see how many times we caught Whiskers or Jerry.”</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">“Then what? Just leave it to starve outside?”</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">“We can do that too, so it can start calling for help from other rodents. We just have to prepare the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">Welcome to your New Home!</span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "> banner for the newcomers first.”</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">“Then what?”</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">And it was decided. We would just give them a quick death. Well, g</span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">uess who got the honour of giving just that? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 15px; ">That’s right, the person whose nails weren’t just done or who isn’t wearing a new top from Topshop. </span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">Me. </span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">Perpetual guilt from inhuman cruelty is negligible compared to ruining beautiful red acrylic on germs-infested nails and cute purple tops with hearts on it, you know?. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">They suggested drowning them in boiling water (</span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">Jeez, and I’m supposed to be the tough one?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">) but I didn’t have the heart for it. I wanted a quicker, less torturous death for these transporters of the black plague so this is how I killed several of them:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">1. Wrap it in thick newspaper until I’m sure the ickiness wouldn’t seep through the layers, onto my skin and into my blood streams, killing me slowly with icky rat stuff.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">2. Holding the rat firmly with both hands, one hand encircling the belly, fully rotund from ingesting all that coconut-scented hand lotion and No. 5 mascara and another hand wrapped around its head.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">3. Twist.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">4. Twist very hard.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; " ><span class="Apple-style-span" >Of course, such a deprived, vile act came with its own consequence. The rat problem went away after everyone adroitly handled the catching and I handled the killing. Though for weeks after that, I couldn't help but relive the moral agony</span>.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">...The little pleading squeaks as I held it tight.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">...The futile thrashing in my hands. </span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">...The heat from a live creature seeping warmth into my palms as it used up every ounce of its energy to free itself from the captivity of death. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">...The trilling squeak that escalated in volume right before the sudden, cruel twist. </span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">...The minuscule, almost indiscernible crunch as tiny, fragile bones break</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">...The little body going limp as I ended the life of another living creature.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">...</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">...</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">...</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">Ah well. It was either them or my favourite </span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; ">Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Clusters</span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "> (With chocolate curls!)</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; white-space: normal; font-size: 16px; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifi6z8ChdaBEZqLEGbTy_oE2xUJg9VGEjyX3Q5rEoWPizddp_zvIFiv10_2Fl6I0nyGP_LIDOUMVoFpw4eeCOK3hB33JWbvqEyQmmAaEmyxrN2PVWNXkoanz-VJ0pexeyiaShAuNq12LA/s1600/kelloggs.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifi6z8ChdaBEZqLEGbTy_oE2xUJg9VGEjyX3Q5rEoWPizddp_zvIFiv10_2Fl6I0nyGP_LIDOUMVoFpw4eeCOK3hB33JWbvqEyQmmAaEmyxrN2PVWNXkoanz-VJ0pexeyiaShAuNq12LA/s400/kelloggs.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617027959435133426" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 800px; height: 340px; " /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center; "><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfaWQSCJmMtDGrwB5LwBdxNyyf0pZqudNbgXyjWIGUbbFNyxi1DvPdfGeO8KLBh5-zyK7M32bjp-QVKeKhZj528MqwRj-Jp73VmjzO5OlRQ5MswmuMLXSwH4IC9u1YohoOM20p99xhEIc/s1600/rat.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfaWQSCJmMtDGrwB5LwBdxNyyf0pZqudNbgXyjWIGUbbFNyxi1DvPdfGeO8KLBh5-zyK7M32bjp-QVKeKhZj528MqwRj-Jp73VmjzO5OlRQ5MswmuMLXSwH4IC9u1YohoOM20p99xhEIc/s1600/rat.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a></span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; "><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-35894522211643794332011-06-08T18:00:00.008+01:002011-06-08T18:38:37.400+01:00Acid Man's Inspiration<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR_50dxS9aAUPG2sp31t4qlwhFQvBEq0T-EtQ982NZQf6YawEDaPqGtQuLIS6Z4-2tmOHKM9fBwAkLxe28Vjjs9jJebu0dPzIY7aMQsjBH6Yp1hM7LtJaFRmgORCCtSlX6NmOkdUqBVTM/s1600/12.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 274px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR_50dxS9aAUPG2sp31t4qlwhFQvBEq0T-EtQ982NZQf6YawEDaPqGtQuLIS6Z4-2tmOHKM9fBwAkLxe28Vjjs9jJebu0dPzIY7aMQsjBH6Yp1hM7LtJaFRmgORCCtSlX6NmOkdUqBVTM/s400/12.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615901102154693282" /></a><br />Was combing through my backlog of unread Reddit posts, and came upon <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/alleyes/2009/11/terrorism-thats-personal.html">this</a> interesting article.<div><br /></div><div>Anyway, it hints that throughout Asia, mostly where women are still subjugated and expected to be servile, obsequious slaves for men or where misogyny runs rampant, acid attacks are not that out-of-place and most of the time, much like how rape and wife-beatings are turned a blind eye upon (sometimes, even encouraged), the culprits are never hunted, let alone apprehended.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then, it led me to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/opinion/30kristof.html">this</a> article, which then states that wife <i><b>burnings</b></i> is common in certain parts of Asia.</div><div><br /></div><div>...How can I be so ignorant of something like this?</div><div><br /></div><div>Here are some salient parts directly quoted from the article (Click on the link, you lazy sloths):</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; "><p><i>"Since 1994, Ms. Bukhari has documented <b>7,800 cases </b>of women who were deliberately burned, scalded or subjected to acid attacks, just in the Islamabad area. In<b> only 2 percent of those cases was anyone convicted</b>."</i></p></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; "><i>"This month in Afghanistan, <b>men on motorcycles threw acid on a group of girls who dared to attend school</b>. One of the girls, a 17-year-old named Shamsia, told reporters from her hospital bed: “<b>I will go to my school even if they kill me. My message for the enemies is that if they do this 100 times, I am still going to continue my studies</b>.”</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; "><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; font-style: italic; "><b>“I screamed,” Ms. Azar recalled. “The flesh of my cheeks was falling off. The bones on my face were showing, and all of my skin was falling off.”"</b></p><p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; font-style: italic; "><b><br /></b></p><p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; ">We're angry that the police force aren't aggressively hunting down the "Acid Man" (Though I'm not sure how most came to that conclusion), despite the fact that he probably hasn't been exactly eager to indulge in his perverse act when a baton-wielding policeman is traipsing along congested areas. At least we look upon this act as abhorrent and completely appalling, and the media coverage it has gotten thus far shows how unanimous we are in observing its treachery.</span></p><p>These women aren't so lucky;</p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px; ">"Because women usually don’t matter in this part of the world, their attackers are rarely prosecuted and acid sales are usually not controlled. It’s a kind of terrorism that becomes <b>accepted as part of the background noise</b> in the region."</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; ">Here are more pictures but honestly, for greater impact, just visit <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/alleyes/2009/11/terrorism-thats-personal.html">the site itself</a>.</span></span></p></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4be_utasZ08_tZa9ji9OFT9VwFmpZql1LCpTRyST5jPj5xaba-srq5Xkf8KCU4da_QodcfslyLU2eY9GSwnxr_64x7RzhdFJnPTpvgyjC_Kk7EuYzHQ4iJcCZNG5qdsMG9tsZJRHIqCM/s1600/10.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 261px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4be_utasZ08_tZa9ji9OFT9VwFmpZql1LCpTRyST5jPj5xaba-srq5Xkf8KCU4da_QodcfslyLU2eY9GSwnxr_64x7RzhdFJnPTpvgyjC_Kk7EuYzHQ4iJcCZNG5qdsMG9tsZJRHIqCM/s400/10.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615900299671038354" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQRCgyEVuKMvVGJ4GaV37KhhO3ujmHfq2P-ieZ0iusD-_5KxcGJAYb0IQElyDGlPAQMIJ71kAfluQWWI3ubas7xWOvIYAeuP2C4QadhtQCYFY9w5TtNmcILpYO0R9gYMovxk1paZqRHE/s1600/9.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 261px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQRCgyEVuKMvVGJ4GaV37KhhO3ujmHfq2P-ieZ0iusD-_5KxcGJAYb0IQElyDGlPAQMIJ71kAfluQWWI3ubas7xWOvIYAeuP2C4QadhtQCYFY9w5TtNmcILpYO0R9gYMovxk1paZqRHE/s400/9.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615900286576818962" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix2cSqNeHmYsp4EAYpUUfcg-9v7yzsDV81AEPP42MtpOcJNvyQK3if_GZ3TdFBOGmEj9VlrDiRhsGkqTbiSvfgfB0FCBOTeDzMhav1G1csl-3WDaBbFtueiFTNJ5SQxVoLCpWE18E61yM/s1600/8.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix2cSqNeHmYsp4EAYpUUfcg-9v7yzsDV81AEPP42MtpOcJNvyQK3if_GZ3TdFBOGmEj9VlrDiRhsGkqTbiSvfgfB0FCBOTeDzMhav1G1csl-3WDaBbFtueiFTNJ5SQxVoLCpWE18E61yM/s400/8.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615900283651888242" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyfHstzgrmwLJzSOolhxuP1SmYkCyMefDLbXDbAT9tLHQazg3N_leXGzKHnX450ol7MTiUx5PPatC1Ty381LmTwbH8dZgcs8D8iS_3Hl0uTUTgChoNl1ixxElQeC8KrHq9NR_EnMp182M/s1600/7.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyfHstzgrmwLJzSOolhxuP1SmYkCyMefDLbXDbAT9tLHQazg3N_leXGzKHnX450ol7MTiUx5PPatC1Ty381LmTwbH8dZgcs8D8iS_3Hl0uTUTgChoNl1ixxElQeC8KrHq9NR_EnMp182M/s400/7.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615900282615816690" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXrCite2m7UZR37Mqbf4_qugnqXBwQjBaMgMIYqkm78P4qPfSAUvOx022L_sN-kBF6KgatVIIDt4hnXwkT7MPlHh_VXsQjdH1TTadZe-T1a0ogmQPWjDuC77Kr95IqMlZBS1t3O3-3MJw/s1600/6.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXrCite2m7UZR37Mqbf4_qugnqXBwQjBaMgMIYqkm78P4qPfSAUvOx022L_sN-kBF6KgatVIIDt4hnXwkT7MPlHh_VXsQjdH1TTadZe-T1a0ogmQPWjDuC77Kr95IqMlZBS1t3O3-3MJw/s400/6.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615900280468355410" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8L3_K1rxSIYPHRLaoYo7nOR2aVojB-0MxW3bAXjUFBA8bcmu3xwEWNATlPVCAEBZygBApqVk5CCWasxmWJ0Gi0EUNnhKC9amDgDJBJmqrnf3DyHcSj5k-y23IlIWg-86XZ_4eCXnC4M0/s1600/5.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8L3_K1rxSIYPHRLaoYo7nOR2aVojB-0MxW3bAXjUFBA8bcmu3xwEWNATlPVCAEBZygBApqVk5CCWasxmWJ0Gi0EUNnhKC9amDgDJBJmqrnf3DyHcSj5k-y23IlIWg-86XZ_4eCXnC4M0/s400/5.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615900123085176866" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsgETgQpJlac2m7MkhxwG95xaj3B2aR9w1SBseQ6RQudhsH4JdyXjANmONPJtn3fKT5KC9LNiLBcWZ5cry8XJOG2PpHLfBgz-vEcSB4qEuvTUs68By-IuOpYlVC0fkN2qvC6Oc-iC1vfw/s1600/4.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 274px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsgETgQpJlac2m7MkhxwG95xaj3B2aR9w1SBseQ6RQudhsH4JdyXjANmONPJtn3fKT5KC9LNiLBcWZ5cry8XJOG2PpHLfBgz-vEcSB4qEuvTUs68By-IuOpYlVC0fkN2qvC6Oc-iC1vfw/s400/4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615900117449064370" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqTTlWyBEp-AqFQkXAy8C_8IUmXJ6aQuW9f8Rha9SbAoYfflRfgaCqeQQg8ecGkmVmzyGUdh4REX94-aVNIY3uL-n4hl7J-fWW0-K2aT9goPTCQ32Gcf2gXXprcS7PBq9bg1kwZLcD_hw/s1600/3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqTTlWyBEp-AqFQkXAy8C_8IUmXJ6aQuW9f8Rha9SbAoYfflRfgaCqeQQg8ecGkmVmzyGUdh4REX94-aVNIY3uL-n4hl7J-fWW0-K2aT9goPTCQ32Gcf2gXXprcS7PBq9bg1kwZLcD_hw/s400/3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615900104916680978" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig5DsEhwYU1hZ6JzsaXjwdYZn2o0TX173rQPTJnd76yxkv96VkdM3XSs2qPXIzaGOopx8JjUgfdjDz3MkTGmh5s9-bV-DQ7-kaYSPDcMCei9Pk6ej-kbU5qv4JD9i_fpN7O_b3FUWzIOQ/s1600/2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig5DsEhwYU1hZ6JzsaXjwdYZn2o0TX173rQPTJnd76yxkv96VkdM3XSs2qPXIzaGOopx8JjUgfdjDz3MkTGmh5s9-bV-DQ7-kaYSPDcMCei9Pk6ej-kbU5qv4JD9i_fpN7O_b3FUWzIOQ/s400/2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615900101199141490" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzuvB0TyuKTLY4XsbjNtooiIESIJGKQ1GjcNfnJh7vnkXqhGjpHRNjH9b7SiUN4T4oh9Qz5kfHa4vR6bNBa84Hua6bJHrhncay_SowjF2F7XW3JfF8purvdaBTRtX-9TrbQNzgmzxdviU/s1600/1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzuvB0TyuKTLY4XsbjNtooiIESIJGKQ1GjcNfnJh7vnkXqhGjpHRNjH9b7SiUN4T4oh9Qz5kfHa4vR6bNBa84Hua6bJHrhncay_SowjF2F7XW3JfF8purvdaBTRtX-9TrbQNzgmzxdviU/s400/1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615900104019217058" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; ">The backstory is that they got attacked simply for rejecting an offer for marriage, to settle a family dispute, because she tried to divorce her deadbeat husband, because her father didn't want another girl, was raped by three men and was later given an acid bath, etc.</span></p><p>I... don't know how to react to this.</p><p><br /></p></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-81053704588434787152011-05-22T00:04:00.009+01:002011-05-22T00:46:51.089+01:00I cried.<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5150/5744115135_03b2e9fe22_b.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I was having one of my daily BBM chats with my eldest sister the other day.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“What’s up? How’s Australia?”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“It’s fine, winter is cold.”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“‘Kay. So watcha doing?”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Watching Mao’s Last Dancer.”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Any good?”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“I cried.”</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">O...kay. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">One thing you have to learn about my eldest sister and I is that we’re not the crying type. The youngest of us three took all that gene, that cute cry baby. I think she’d even cry if a raven gets left behind in a </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">storytelling of flying ravens</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Yes. You got that right, a </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">storytelling </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">of ravens. We all know a flock of birds but not an </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">exaltation</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> of larks. A </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">wisdom </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">of owls. A </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">lamentation</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> of swans. An</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> ostentation</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> of peacocks.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I only wish I was making this shit up.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Anyway, back to my eldest sister being an emotionless robot with impaired tear ducts. Other than events that would cause even the most hardened war veterans to have an out pour of bodily liquids out of their ocular orifices, I’d never seen her cry.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I myself cried watching a movie once, back when I was about 8 or 9 years old. Of course, the pain from rolling around the bed and falling down really hard on the floor was probably a contributing factor, but if my memory serves me right, the scene in the movie where the 5 Indian kids rode on magical bicycles into the setting sun was especially poignant too. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">(Again, I wish I was making this shit up).</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So a movie that made </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">her</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> cry? </span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Totally.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Worth.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Watching.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But then again, there was the problem of...</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: normal; "><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5104/5744645978_19692947cb_z.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5104/5744645978_19692947cb_z.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 640px; height: 415px; " /></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Malaysian Internet.</span></div></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">So finally, after getting married and having two spoiled cildren, and two mid-life crises later, the downloading was finally done and I sat down to appreciate what I anticipated to be the most epic movie I’ve ever watched.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">It was inspiring, suspenseful in some scenes, part tragic, part hopeful, it solicited the viewer’s empathy yada yada yada, but come on, cry-worthy? Sure it made me realise how we take life for granted at times but... Meh...</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Two thirds into the movie and I was already conjuring up a torrent of insults directed to the person who </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><i>cried</i></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "> at a movie that only made me feel almost enough emotion to not be such a take-everything-for-granted person. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><i>Almost.</i></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Then this happened;</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "></span></div></div><div><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5150/5744115135_03b2e9fe22_b.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5150/5744115135_03b2e9fe22_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 574px; height: 1024px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5104/5744645978_19692947cb_z.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">That </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><b>one</b> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">stupid sad scene totally snuck up on me. Totally. It came out of nowhere. I was hardly prepared.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Stupid movie. Stupid directors. Stupid script writers. Unfair.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">UNFAIR!</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">But yeah, totally a movie worth watching. Was adapted from on an autobiography, written by the person who’s portrayed as the main character.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Tell me what you guys think of it. :D</span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">P/S: </span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Can anyone find out about that movie with the flying Indian kids? I watched it when I was young, so it was probably made after... 1997? I’ll treat whomever that would solve this frustrating puzzle to Chilli’s or Carl’s Jr., I swear.</span></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-65478657213527163342011-05-02T18:32:00.003+01:002011-05-02T18:54:54.647+01:00It's a secret!My eyes severely bloodshot, I continue staring into the relentless glare of the laptop screen. I let out a snicker from time to time, my fingers nimbly typing away almost silently. The air hot and humid, my forehead glistened with a thin layer of sweat. I wiped it off and stared at the digital clock on the taskbar.<div><br /></div><div><i>5.35am.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>I had things to do, but I was willing to sacrifice sleep for what I was doing, for what I <i>had</i> been doing for the last 4 hours. My focus unperturbed, my resolution undeterred. Time warped differently when you're reining all your attention to a single task, and I noticed that when I stole a second glance at the time.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>6.04am.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Like clockwork, I hear my hostess waking up and heading to the bathroom for her daily ablution and prayers. As expected, a few minutes later she was heading into the room I was supposed to be in, intending to stir me awake for my own prayers. She gave a small start as she noticed my sprawling figure on the couch in the upstairs living room instead, laptop close to my chest.</div><div><br /></div><div>'<i>What in the world are you doing there? At this time?'</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>I gave a nonchalant shrug.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>'You've been on your computer? The whole night?'</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>I nodded guiltily.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then, her bleary eyes and groggy expression dimmed, replaced by a sly smile that pounded down the last remnants of her sleep.</div><div><br /></div><div>'<i>With that happy expression, I'm guessing it's a secret boyfriend?'</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>...</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Speechless, my fingers froze over the keyboard and time flashed into a standstill. My eyes stared into hers like a deer in headlights, strongly emphasising the guilt on my face.</div><div><br /></div><div>The guilt that I was staying up the whole night organising my files and folders. </div><div><br /></div><div>The guilt of renaming everything, fixing formats and capitalisation and categorising them methodically, obsessively. </div><div><br /></div><div>The guilt of having a perfectly formatted collection of files an OCD person would be proud of.</div><div><br /></div><div>...And having a shitload of fun doing it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I nodded slowly, awkwardly, an outright lie that seemed appropriate at the time. She flashed an understanding smile and left with a simple message that faltered at the end as she turned to her own room, <i>'Just make sure you don't miss your prayers.'</i></div><div><br /></div><div><i></i>......................HOLY MOTHER OF COW DID I JUST PRETEND TO HAVE A SECRET BOYFRIEND BECAUSE I'M JUST <b>THAT </b>PATHETIC?!</div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-83762026889855432752011-04-24T16:38:00.004+01:002011-04-24T17:36:14.759+01:00Midnight Uses for Tissues<div style="text-align: left;">I would apologise for my lack of photos, but then I have to apologise for my unattractive features, Australia-sized ass and chopping board chest, so you know... would then have to preach about inner beauty and all that self-appreciating hogwash.</div><div><br /></div><div>Too lazy.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs7VKFD7k1aFkfr2ekx7sHBDpTPXyO9viBANWlEZh0MIMrVMtpUMVOKCQMR5gLoG9gkj6tGQVz02jWweUhcasvTdC7MVdrVG36gSAXGIg8kdttDfKwUOKUeMCcB2lkStEI7cPFRzupY9A/s400/Lee+Hyori+1.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 301px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599181636586200562" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Here, enjoy Lee Hyori instead. If you need tissues, I recommend Kleenex. Two-plies and extra absorbent!</i></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" ><u>Things I Miss About Malaysia.</u></span></b></div><div><br /></div><div><b>1. Malaysia. Is. Hot.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>It's just simmering, I can see the heatwaves radiating from the road, my sweat reaches boiling temperature and I start perspiring even as I step out of the bathroom after a fresh shower.</div><div><br /></div><div>If I had gargantuan boobs, I swear it would've pooled into a mini pond between my cleavage. "<i>Thank you, hidden blessings in life</i>" I say, as I pat the upper abdomen area of my body that's missing the two noticeable bumps, struggling to hold back a stubborn tear.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I think back to last year's 6 months of winter, the violent shivering, the occasional broken heaters and showering in ice cold water, the waking up and staying under the duvet for an extra 5 minutes or 3 hours and the winter depression, I cherish each blinding sweat that drips acid-like into my eyes. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>2. Malaysian Food.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Six plates of rice a day... check.</div><div><br /></div><div>Chicken, Fish, Meat, Squid, Prawns and (a skimpy amount of) Greens per meal... check.</div><div><br /></div><div>Artery clogging oily fried food and gravy swimming in fat building coconut milk... BLISFULLY check check check.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mounting health bills... Hahahahahahaha.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hahahahahaha.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hah.</div><div><br /></div><div>The overfeeding thing is getting uncomfortable though. To be honest, I was excited and in trepidation about the onslaught of Malaysian feasts. Excited about finally quitting the milk and oatmeals breakfast, lunch and dinner but terrified of the "<i>What do you mean you're finished? You ate so little... here, have a fifth helping</i>!" thing. Forget about clothes ripping at the seams, I'm worried how my stretched-to-the-max skin is handling it. I doubt my pregnant cousin is sporting more stretch marks than I am. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>3. Malaysian English</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I have a love/hate relationship with our culture's own variant of English. I love it because it's so unique, so stubbornly wrong, so culturally etched, so... <i>us.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>I hate it because the constant usage is again, making it ingrained into my subconscious speech and I doubt if any client or employer would be impressed with it.</div><div><br /></div><div>You see;</div><div><br /></div><div>"<i>The software was corrupted from improper shutting down of the computer, and I suspect a sudden voltage increase tripped the memory portion. How do you propose we go about it</i>?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Sounds better than;</div><div><br /></div><div>"<i>Eh sir, this file ah, broken a bit. Someone on the computer never turn off properly now the harddisk kena shock one. What to do</i>?"</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm quite screwed.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>4. Family and friends</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The past few weeks of hanging with family and friends have been compacted into the best days of my life, rivalling closely with my whole two years experience in London. I won't say more, since I'm still enjoying it and it might be jinxed if I start profusely sharing the glorious moments. </div><div><br /></div><div>What I will say though, is...</div><div><br /></div><div>Anti-social what? Schizoid who? Computer wh---</div><div><br /></div><div>Ok not ready to part with computers just yet. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am looking forward to not being a nomad anymore, getting my own place and building up my home entertainment system, however. Chilling with loved ones is great after a 2 years absence, but I can't turn my back on the maturing relationship with isolation that's been nurtured for the same 2 years. Or 6 years, whichever way you want to see it. I wonder if having a mentally unstable brother and sudden loss of authority figures in life had anything to do with that.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I still have to work on that needing to be alone and lack of attraction to opposite sex thing. It's possible, I know it is. Oh, you first world problems you.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-46815956033728412082011-04-18T12:49:00.003+01:002011-04-18T13:46:03.563+01:00I'm dying here.Hands trembling, I force another morsel of food into my already stuffed mouth. I chew slowly, biding time, prolonging the moment before I swallow and you pile another mounting heap of rice and gravy onto my plate.<div><br /></div><div>With guilt-ridden voice and pleading look, I tell you that I'm full. With full of conviction and confidence, you tell me that I'm on a needless diet, that I've just arrived home and should be enjoying the local dishes without restraint. Conveniently, you refuse to acknowledge the two full plates of rice I've consumed - most of it piled on by you - and the fact that I will be staying in Malaysia for... well... the rest of my life. </div><div><br /></div><div>My breath coming in short, my pants threatening to burst at the seam and my movement languid, I take another spoonful as you insist on just one more plate of rice drowning in three different types of gravy and meat.</div><div><br /></div><div>Politely, I acquiesce. Just one more, you say. Just one more... (I wish). I sigh in frustration and continue to focus on keeping the food down. As I fight another wave of nausea, that's when it hit me. That's when I know, without a doubt, that I am finally home.</div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-50310247000805074942011-04-12T22:55:00.004+01:002011-04-12T23:20:39.945+01:00How I Entertain MyselfI bought a new 1TB 2.5" HDD, and the moment I did, my old 500GB died. I swear, she's throwing a fucking tantrum, the impetuous harlot...<div><br /></div><div>Been spending the past 30 minutes running hdd diagnostics and trying out several fixes, from changing cable length to undergoing command prompts input. I'm on an executable file that's fine combing through USB device diagnostics and at 64% of chkdsk. Been unsuccessful so far, but is it pathetic that I'm enjoying myself?</div><div><br /></div><div>I love Windows Vista, more so than XP and 7, and the sole reason being that it's one fuck up of an OS. It's like the black sheep son who's now a tranvestite living in Harlem and eating the spleen of orphaned toddlers. ...Ok, too much.</div><div><br /></div><div>Whatever it is, whenever the OS fucks up to the point that I sometimes have fix it at the registry key level... fun fun fun. And it doesn't even have to be Friday.</div><div><br /></div><div>Can't wait to get Linux on my new netbook possibly arriving tomorrow. And my netbook's gonna be bitchin', yo. The reason why it's priced similarly with a laptop is because it has the same processing capacity, not to mention a HDMI port. Basically, I was sold at the HDMI part, couldn't care much for the rest of the specs since this isn't going to be my main laptop.</div><div><br /></div><div>Geek talk over. Gotta continue troubleshooting this dead harddisk issue.</div><div><br /></div><div>Insert excited girlish squeal.</div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-634758753349877716.post-1068245008153384152011-04-10T15:57:00.002+01:002011-04-10T16:13:20.012+01:00Fuck it, what was I thinking.Seems like most of my posts are about <i>feelings</i> and unwarranted <i>emotions</i>. I say screw that, time to cut the uterus loose. I don't need you and your monthly screw-ups of my hormones, you sadistic appendage.<div><br /></div><div>Know what's been eating at my curiousity? I think my live-in landlord is having sex with three different guys. Her boyfriend, her colleague and best of all, her cousin. Her minuscule, hairy-chested, armpit-stained cousin. Given her 5' 8" stature, she might break him one day, and I'll be damned if I don't get a video of that happening.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, hidden spy cams are hard to come by. I imagine a store with an overhead "HIDDEN SPYING APPARATUS SHOP" sign might be a tad conspicuous. Maybe I'm not trying hard enough, there should be a few scattered around Central London.</div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking of, staying and festering in East London for so long and milling amidst the Asians - Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indians in particular - have made me forgotten the racial majority in England. On rare Central London visits, you can hear me exclaiming in unrestrained shock;</div><div><br /></div><div>"OMG. WHITE PEOPLE. IN LONDON. I FORGOT ABOUT THAT."</div><div><br /></div><div>I should probably get out more. Or I should probably continue trolling anonymously on internet forums and stalk and judge the people I have no interest in being friends with.</div><div><br /></div><div>Choices.</div>Ariushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17461776811448753221noreply@blogger.com3