Muzium Negara

Today was a Trip to the Muzium Negara Day with my niece. To the uninitiated (don't lie, I know many of you don't even have any idea where the entrance to the Muzium is), there has been quite a dramatic change from the last time I set foot there. Back then, the highlight would always be the ''sesi mengambil gambar bersama ular sawa albino''. Now they've improved. Now you can, for a certain fee, take a photo with snakes or exotic parrots. Ahah! Now you have the choice. The power is in your hands.

No, seriously, all the galleries have been remodelled, renovated, refurbished and the contents updated. It is a cool place to visit. And hey it only costs you RM2 for entrance fee if you're an adult. So to all my students who always complain dapat duit loan lambat la what la takleh lepak memana la bla bla bla ha jangan cari alasan just go to the Muzium Negara and soak in the culture and history. For RM2 that's even cheaper than a Ramli burger.

Well anyway that was the experiment. To see if I could go on a budget trip with my niece, not spend so much but still manage to have fun and learn something new. And I thought I did it. Entrance fee: RM2. Budak kecik free (maybe midgets as well, OK sorry that was a tasteless joke please don't come and sue me), after that right outside near the old trains my niece saw the ice-cream parlour. We had some ice-cream and corn in the cup and mineral water. Add another RM6.50. Then we went to One Utama to get this Toy Story 3 VCD replaced. Free. Then we walked a bit and when we were passing by Carl's Jr masa tu la anak saudara aku terus buat announcement yang berbunyi ''I think I'm feeling hungry'' sambil menuding jari ke arah restoran itu.

Masa tu lah bajet lari dan eksperimen tak jadi.

Heheheh just joking. We had a blast. Girl bonding!

A day with the kids from the Rukaiyah Orphanage

Last Saturday a girlfriend and I volunteered to spend some time with kids from the Rukaiyah Orphanage. They were sponsored by some wonderful kind-hearted people on that day to a) visit Petrosains KLCC b) have lunch at the Apartment c) spend RM100 to buy anything they fancy at Parkson. So can you imagine the joy and happiness on that day?

This was us goofing around at the Petrosains. This is the infinity mirror. You look down and it's endless. I felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland. With a double chin, of course.

A group photo is a definite must. The kids were smiling ear to ear while posing with their generous sponsors.

This is one of the kids I chaperoned at Parkson while they went about looking for anything they fancy. All within the RM100 budget limit of course. Of all the kids I mingled around with, he was the cheekiest. After spending some time ''scaling'' the departmental store, we felt tired and sat down for a while. Then he looked at me and said, ''Achik ni orang Cina ye?'' I replied that I was Malay just like him. Then he said, ''Oh...putih sangat la Achik ni.'' Then he asked me another question, ''Achik ni tinggi betul kan? Achik makan apa?''. Saya jawab, ''Achik suka makan tempe.'' To which he replied, ''Oh ye ke...tapi kalau tinggi sangat macam Achik ni mesti Achik dah hidup lama kan? Ada tak lebih 300 tahun?''

Adakah itu bermakna saya dilahirkan di zaman Raja Brooke?

Major pet peeve #1

You want to watch a program on TV. You come home from work early. You even have dinner quickly so you won't miss it. Then halfway through the program you doze off and wake up exactly at the ending.

Sakit kepala

For the past two days I've been feeling giddy and light-headed. Kadang-kadang rasa mual. I told a friend about these symptoms. We did a short checklist. Pregnant? Non. Menstruating? No. Panic attack? No. So we didn't come up with a plausible explanation.

At home I told this to my mom and she immediately gave me the answer. ''Itu angin tu. Asyik nak tahan makan je. Diet la konon. Makan malam tak nak. Angin tu semua berkumpul naik kepala.'' I mean, who needs Wikipedia when you have mommy at home?

I was very skeptical with this angin-naik-kepala notion until one day when I was studying in France, I had to go see a doctor because of prolonged head-aches. And believe it or not, the first question that he asked me was if I was suffering from any gastro-intestinal problems. And the second question he asked me was if I had been skipping meals. I asked him back if he had been talking to my mom. The doctor was not amused.

This morning I went to the gym to do a latin dance class. Balik dari gym emak saya ajak saya makan nasi lemak berlaukkan rendang kerang. Kemudian minum nescafe panas dan makan kuih tat.

Malam tadi untuk makan malam ada lauk ayam masak lemak cili api, ada ikan pari masak asam pedas, ada sambal sotong.

Sekarang kepala saya sudah tidak pening lagi.

Kawan lama dan baru

The week that passed has been very interesting because I made a lot of new friends and got reacquainted with very old ones. How I made new ones? I tagged along a girlfriend who got invited for dinner at her friend's house in Bukit Jelutong and me dengan tidak semena-mena dapat empat orang kawan baru dan dapat makan sedap. How I found back the very old ones (When I say old it refers to the time line in my life dan bukannya merujuk kepada umur mereka kerana mereka sebaya dengan saya dan oleh yang demikian masih lagi di peringkat lewat remaja)? One of my SRK Kg Tunku friends created a closed FB group for the class of 82 and included me in and I saw pictures of my sekolah rendah mates and terus saja add dengan harapan they would remember me and accept. No harm in trying right?

There are only a few things that I remember about my primary school days:
1) Di sebelah kanan sekolah ada Pejabat Pos.
2) Di belakang sekolah ada krematorium. It was a wonderful source of urban legends for us kids. Practically everyone swore they have seen at least once a hantu momok cina or india during their school days.
3) Semua budak lelaki nak main bola macam Kenny Dalglish. Semua budak perempuan nak pakai Bee Dees.
4) Until the age of 12, I thought that a girl could get pregnant just by holding hands with a boy.

Yes. Can you imagine that? Sebab itu ke aku masih tak kahwin lagi sampai sekarang? Sebab takut pegang tangan je boleh mengandung? :)))

Parking

This morning after having breakfast with a friend I stopped by the bank to wothdraw some money. As I was just about to swing into the parking lot, a big red car suddenly swerved before me and took the exact parking space that I was aiming. I honked at the driver. Dia buat-buat tak dengar. I gave ''the stare''. Dia buat-buat tak nampak.

I honked and stared again. This time a little bit longer. Lama-kelamaan mahu tak mahu dia terpaksa juga memandang ke arah saya. Lagipun semua orang di dalam bank pun sudah mula menunjukkan minat terhadap kejadian pseudo road rage yang sedang berlaku di hadapan mereka.

I parked my car at the small road beside the bank and walked quickly to enter, wanting to get the business done with as fast as possible before the solat jumaat crowd start to fill up the roads. Tetapi rupa-rupanya jejaka berkereta merah itu menunggu saya dan sesampainya saya di bank tersebut dia terus keluar dan mula menjerit-jerit. Well, menjerit-jerit is not the correct word I'd use to describe his kelakuan actually. The proper word would be ''membebel''.

When he came out of his car I had to bite the insides of my lips so hard to stop myself from laughing out loud. Kereta besar dan cantik. Warna merah. Tapi mamat yang keluar tu a) kecik b) pendek c) pakai kasut macam kasut platform untuk menambahkan beberapa inci kepada ketinggiannya apakebenda orang panggil kasut jenis tu tapi yang itu lah.

And then the verbal diarrhea started.

''Awak kenapa tiba-tiba nak hon kat saya? bla bla bla tak nampak ke? bla bla bla ingat awak bagus ke? bla bla bla saya kenal ramai orang bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla orang pompuan macam ni la bla bla bla bla eleh macam la best sangat bla bla bla tinggi semacam bla bla bla ingat aku takut dengan pompuan tinggi bla bla bla...''

Eh? Aku tinggi pun jadi isu dalam hal ini?

Brader, is it my fault that you have not exceeded your genetic potential like I have? Adakah saya yang harus dipersalahkan bila anda berdiri di sebelah saya bahu anda hanya setakat mencecah pinggang saya? And if I were to be your spouse, I'd buy one whole box of those spectacles, you know the ones that have eyes painted on the two lenses. Agak-agak rasa sesi membebel nak mula je, maka teruslah capai spek mata tersebut dan buat-buat akur mendengar. Padahal tidur. Amacam OK?

Gerun jugak saya nak membebel-bebel tak tentu pasal macam tu. Takut bila tua esok jadi nyanyuk big time.

Kereta Katak

Last night I went for a seafood dinner with a few friends. On the way to Kayu Ara, we stopped at a traffic light, behind a VW Beetle. When the traffic light turned green, we drove off as usual. Then my friend's dad looked at the VW Beetle in front of us and said, "Wah! That car reversing is it?"

Heheh. Cute eh? A car that looks the same depan belakang. Like the Audi TT. Jalan ke depan pun macam gostan.