I have just finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. (Loved it, ask me if you want to borrow it :)
It tells of the hardship of two Afghan women during the war and political unrest from the 1970s to the current day, and to compound it further, the oppression of women there.
There were spurts of years whereby women could go to school, hold jobs, walk out into town and bazaars openly without scarves or a male relative as a chaperone. Until the extremists took over and made it so that all live in the world of men to serve only men.
I guess reading the book made me feel very, very thankful to have been born in Malaysia in the 1990s. I can’t imagine having to go through what the female characters went through in the book. Born as a harami (a bastard child), living in a shack making ends meet, if at all… Being married off to the first paedophilic pervert who knocks on the door and then be forced to serve his every whim and fancy without a say in anything, just to be beaten when he gets into a fit.
I cannot… cannot… cannot imagine how women continue living under that oppression, only able to hope for the better for their children’s generation.
And then to know that it still happens today in certain parts of the world, I felt this sudden selfish thankfulness that I am here, in Malaysia, free to get an education, a job, use my laptop and say whatever I want to on this virtual space… Free to live as I wish, with my family and friends.
And yes, many Malaysians have been more openly voicing out how bad we have it here. How our ‘administrators’ have been making a fool out of what’s ours and also making a fool out of themselves on the side. How our country pales in comparison to our neighboring countries. How we could be so much better off if someone did something instead of doing something else. It’s so easy to point out faults.
I don’t intend to point out any.
But I’d just like to take a moment of appreciation for the calm and serenity of 2011 in this lovely city of Kuala Lumpur.
Where the only kaboom you hear is from fireworks at KLCC and not artillery.
A belated Happy Merdeka Day, and Happy Malaysia Day!
Have you ever hesitated to do something out of the ordinary while anticipating something major (like your exam results) in fear that by doing that something extraordinary, it might ruin your “luck” and bring you bad results?
I do. I do it allllllllllllllllllll the time.
My friend is getting his exam results in 3 days time, and then he asked me today, “Should I go cut my hair before or after Friday? Could it be bad luck to cut before?”
HahahaHAaaaaa…..
Man, he reminded me of myself.
I guess it’s because I grew up in a Chinese family that practised Taoism and all the other Chinese beliefs that seems a bit silly, but no one dares to go against the family elders la.
No sweeping the floors on the 1st day of the New Year.
No wearing black on “happy occasions” such as New Year, weddings, birthdays… (BUT I LOOK SO GOOD IN BLACK, NOHHHHH)
Don’t bring books in on “happy occasions” as well, because books, in Chinese, is “shu”, which, due to the multi-meanings-per-word in the Chinese vocabulary, sounds like LOSE/LOSING. And you know how Chinese aunties love their mahjong games. Harry Potter and 10-year old me learnt the hard way never to bring books near Chinese aunties.
When Longevity Noodles are served, especially at someone’s birthday dinner, you are supposed to eat the noodles without biting them off, letting the remainder fall back into the bowl. Unless you want to cut birthday boy/girl’s life short… :p
When scooping rice into a bowl for dinner, always scoop more than once, because 1 scoop is when you serve rice for the dead at the altar.
The list can go on and on and on…
Makes me feel kinda dumb, but…
WHAT IF… I decided to go against it and the consequences really happen?
:-o
Oh noh.
The fear of what-ifs may just haunt me forever…
You know what else haunts me forever?
Misfortune in the romance department.
More specifically, I can’t seem to find a nice, unattached fler.
Somehow they either come with weird issues or a girlfriend.
And that’s when you just back off in case they have crazy gfs who will call upon her street gang to beat you up or somethin somethin.
Heh..
Maybe I broke some superstitious stuff that brought me such terrible luck with that department.
Hmm.
*whacks some lime tree leaves around*
BE GONE, EVIL!
Nyeh.
Truth is, I have been neglecting the social side of life a little.
My lovely friends have been coming back to KL from UK/HK/all over the world where the partying studying takes them.
But I have been stuck at work quite a bit :(
So much that I got so sick of the food around the office, that I actually called for the super expensiveTapau Specialists, GoGourmet. These people are so cool, they have almost everything you could think of, so go check them out here!
I called for a Duck Rilette Spaghetti and this was what I got:
Price: RM 22 + RM10 delivery charge, less 5% discount for online ordering.
Delivery time: They said an hour, for the delivery to my office at Jalan Sultan Ismail, and they came in righttttt under an hour :)
Verdict: The chef could’ve put in more effort to shred the duck more, rather than serving up big, chunky duck pieces… It was meant to be cooked in a garlic and chilli confit, and it was, but the flavor was a little flat. Fortunately, there was the duck to cover for the lack of taste. It’s probably because we shouldn’t have pastas delivered anyway, it should be consumed fresh from the kitchen and not over an hour’s ride.
I think I shan’t order pastas from them anymore, but I bet the other cuisines would taste better (their Thai and Indian range look reallllly yummy).
NO MORE McD’s delivery for a longgggg time to come! Yesssss!
Downside is, it’s pricier. But… that’s the premium for having a lazy ass.
Was chatting with my mum and aunts over the weekend right after Valentine’s…
And their words of wisdom to me?
“Aiyo… Don’t choose the guy who buys you one stalk of rose… Go for the guy who bought the whole bouquet!”
AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAAHAHA
Oh aunties.
Well, over the years since I’ve hit puberty and thus, at a marriage-able age, my aunts have been infiltrating my mind with the teachings of the Great Ching…
KA-Ching.
Always find a rich boyfriend.
Marry a wealthy man.
Live happily ever after.
The more distant relatives start by asking if I’m now still in uni or have already started working.
And I tell them, hey I’m doing both at the same time, ain’t life grand?
And they go, “Oh, I see, hard work huh. Faster finish your studies then find a rich husband lo”
WAHLAUUUUUUUHHHH
I STUDY AND WORK SO HARD JUST TO FIND A STUPID RICH MAN MEH???
I might as well stop studying/working, stop the stress factor so I can preserve my youth, sit around, go for facials and all so I can look pretty and fish in the Ka-Chings. RIGHT?
Sigh.
Relatives.
Chinese families.
I know they mean well…
They just want you to be comfortable, as in, financially comfortable.
But…
I think I would like to give a shot at finding someone who can make me happy…
…without the help of constant cash outflow.
Because what’s the point of $$$ if he’s bad in the boudoir?
;)
Speaking of Chinese families and money,
I read an article, quite recently, on the Macau’s casino mogul, Stanley Ho.
His whole family (of 4 wives and dunno how many children) are now contesting for their share over his estate as Mr Ho is now…
Well…
Very old.
He has 4 ‘wives’.
Apparently, before 1971 in Hong Kong, a concubine can claim her share of her man’s assets as much as the wife can.
Then a ruling came in that year, eliminating those rights, making them mere mistresses.
Interrrresting.
Concubines used to be unofficial wives.
Hmmm.
So I don’t know what the status is with his families’ disputes, with some case of one family manipulating their shares over the estate, or one family stating they have been completely left out of the will even though he said he was going to divide it equally in 4…
I have been going on so little sleep these past few days that I just find myself sitting at the office desk wondering how long my mind has been on auto-pilot for.
You know… when you’re sleepy and yet you still fight to stay awake and somehow end up in this state of……..limbo?
Then after 5 or 15 minutes, SNAP – you wake up feeling totally awake and wonder how long you’ve been out for.
Or maybe that only happens to me?
Hahhaa..
Unless this is what they meant by ‘micro-naps‘ in the latest Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) movie.
Hmmm.
And before I forget, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!! :D
Lady Luck was with me for the first 3 days of CNY gambling…
On the 4th day however…
Hehehh.
Tak mau cakap lagi lah. Geram betul.
But you know…
Easy come, easy go.
:(
Which reminds me of the new song by Bruno Mars and it’s called Grenade.
It goes a lil something like this:
Easy come, easy go, that’s just how you live Oh, take, take, take it all but you never give Should’ve known you was trouble from the first kiss Had your eyes wide open, why were they open?
Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash You tossed it in the trash, you did To give me all your love is all I ever asked ‘Cause what you don’t understand is
I’d catch a grenade for ya Throw my hand on a blade for ya I’d jump in front of a train for ya You know I’d do anything for ya
I would go through all this pain Take a bullet straight through my brain Yes, I would die for you, baby But you won’t do the same No, no, no, no
My question is…
WHY a grenade???
WHY would you throw your hand on a blade???
WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT BRING?????
Whaaa..?
Am I the only one who changes the station every time some supposedly-lovesick puppy requests for this song to be played on the radio??
And HOWWW do people kiss with their eyes wide open?????
O O *
Hahaha… Oh Bruno, mdear.
There’s a limit to cheesiness and trying to find words to fill up your song.
Sing about what you’d wanna do to me tonight, why don’t you… like what Enrique’s done.
Lol, okay so it’s a bit lame la. But because he’s Enrique Iglesias…
He can get away with it.
If any other Apek did this song, sorry lah. Gagal.
:D
And now it’s time for some goooooooood schtuff.
This has been one of my favorite songs since… I could listen and remember things…
Jumper – Third Eye Blind
It just makes my day the moment he starts the song :D
It’s just about the perfect song to sing out loud when you’re feeling all…“GRRRRHHHHH”
:D
And a few years ago, while watching Yes Man, Jim Carrey whipped out the guitar and started singing to get the suicidal dude not to jump off the ledge, literally. (And I got sooo excited, I almost wanted to sing along in the cinema)
How do you shower and clean the tricky parts of yourself?? Shower acrobatics???
BODOH punye orang only designed that piece of metal stuck to the wall la. Every time I step into the hotel room, the first thing I look at when I get in the room (after putting my bags down) is to look at the bathroom, and the first place my eyes zoom into is…
A big disappointment. 95% of the time.
WHY do you have stationary shower heads?? Very pretty meh??
GRRRRRR.
Show me just ONE person who appreciates them.
And I will stop being so noisy about it. :P
I mean, are hotels afraid of their customers stealing their shower equipment? Really?
ARRRRHHHHGHGHGHHHGHG.
And the hotel I stayed in when I was in Penang…
It self-claimed its hotel to be a hotel of “refined corporate luxury, where business and pleasure are intertwined to meet the discerning executive’s needs.”
I don’t know how many stars this hotel is rated at, personally, I give it one. Or even a motel status.
There were so many tiny things that made me really geram…
Whoever heard of paying RM10 a night for wi-fi in year 2010??
Don’t know about you, but wi-fi in every kopitiam and in all hotels are free.
In that hotel, it was free, but only for one user.
Secured connection, so every day, you had to go get the password from the lobby.
But I was sharing a room with a colleague, so that makes 2 users.
And the hotel reception guy actually said we will charge RM 10 for wifi.
At first, I’m like, fine. Cos I was staying 10 days so I thought the extra RM10 would last the whole ten days.
But apparently it didn’t and I got so ‘grrrrrrh’ I just called their manager up and asked them what kinda “refined corporate luxury” hotel this is when a simple thing as wifi is charged per night.
WAHLAUUUUUUU.
Lol. Then the management said ok lah ok lah, bagi you je lah.
Well, not in those exact words, but something along those lines la.
And the staff were obviously either not paid enough, or not trained at all.
They were so rude! I would imagine that in the service industry, they would be trained to treat customers as king…but nooo… Maybe they didn’t make enough profits from selling their wi-fi usage to send their staff for training.
Heheh. Customers from hell.
But seriously, yknow? Corporate hotel, mah esss.
Okay, now that the angry rant is done, it’s time for some music re-introduction.
Re-introduction??
I don’t know what word to use.
But I would just like to post up a few songs every time I post here…
For you to listen to, if you like.
I don’t promise that you’ll like it, but I think it’s pretty damn good.
So in my previous post, I posted a duet love song.
This time, it’s a bit noisier, with lotsa riffs and more grit.
The Last Fight by Velvet Revolver
If you see Slash in it, yes, he was here with VR after GNR..
I don’t really listen to them, but when their album Libertad came out in 2007 (I remember the year because it was my SPM year… SPM, the last fight, geddddit?? Haha, oh how mistaken I was :P), I was so blown away by this song.
The opening of the song, the guitar, just made me sit back and listen even more, if that was possible.
I just wanted to absorb alllllllll of it. It felt so good.
And then Scott Weiland’s vocals came on; his deep, rich but smooth voice…and I just knew the song was going to be one of my favorites from then on.
Here’s an acoustic version for a more intimate feel.
Next up, something classic.
U2 – With Or Without You
I was surprised that so many people didn’t know of this song…
It’s U2… helllllohh??
Okay la, forgiven if you watch this video :)
This song is really uplifting, for some reason I can’t put my finger on.
It ‘s the same for most U2 songs actually. Maybe it’s just Bono’s voice?
Mmmm… I can listen to it on repeat all day and karaoke to it :D
It starts off with Bono taking it very tenderly with the first verse… Then the song progresses with an upward swirl of energy (or at least, that’s what I felt :P) and after a few bridges/choruses… then… Bono just bursts into this time and space where the world just stops to him let continue his melodic screaming.
No, for real.
His “ohhhh-ohhh-oh-ohhh….. Ohhhhhh-oh-ohh-ohhhhh” in the song?
I don’t know how to describe it. Melodic screaming was all I could think of. LOL.
And you give yourself awayyyy-eyyy… And you give yourselffff awayyy-ehhh….
Totally transports you into a dream-like state, doesn’t it?
And finally, ladies and sexymen,
Bon Jovi’s Living On A Prayer.
Whenever this song comes on the radio, I just gotta sing scream along… Hahahah… And I can only ever remember the lines of the chorus… So I always scream along when the chorus comes. Lol.
It’s such a nice song to listen to at the end of the day, better when you have someone to teman you in your mini karaoke to Bon Jovi.
