God Damn the Dutch

Astaghfirullahalazim...

I tak sanggup tengok video Van Geert, the Dutch bastard who posted the anti-Islam video on You Tube. Tengok muka dia pun macam tengok muka setan.

The Dutch have long been known to be a selfish nation. Kalau masuk negeri orang, dia belasah cukup2 harta orang lain. Hence kata pepatah "Belanda dapat tanah". Tengok la apa diorang buat kat Indonesia. Dia sapu licin harta kekayaan kat sana, satu apa pun dia tak contribute. Busuk2 British, ada jugak dia tinggalkan sekolah, hospital kat kita.

Now they are well known to be morally corrupt. Kalau ada orang mati tengah jalan pun, dia tak nak tolong, takut kena sue. Red light district, "coffee shop", sex museum, ditayang2 dengan bangganya. Bagi satu dunia tau how proud they are to be able to F**k with anyone they please.

Now dengan bangganya dia pulas2 the truth, and tayang to the whole world as if it's true. They do not try to understand anything. Pastu setan2 sedunia pulak dok menyokong bapak setan ni..

I sokong cadangan Mahathir, boycott their goods. Shit. Now I can't use Shell. I don't know what else is theirs.... Muslims must unite and be strong. Ya Allah, kuatkanlah iman kami, dan lindungilah kami dari syaitan & iblis ini. Amin.

Once Upon a Lazy Sunday Afternoon...

Am home today, takde janji dengan sesapa, takde nak merayau kemana2. Just me, the PC and an unfinished article I should submit by tomorrow.

But then.. hmm.. malas la.. so instead I golek2 baca buku citer. Nak tengok TV, takde Astro. Kalau nak kira, keja banyak. My books nak kena susun balik kat lemari. Laundry ada satu load lagi. Kitchen nak kemas. Plus, been THINKING of cooking a nice meal with the stuff I bought yesterday. But kitchen berserak, tak best la nak masak. Nak makan roti, dah habis. Semalam lupa beli.

Last2, decided to buat roti. Sambil2 kemas, at the end, ada gak benda nak makan, ya tak? Barang banyak. My sister rajin beli menda2 baking nih. Masaknya tidak. Aku pun start la mencari.

Ingat susah ke nak buat roti? Senang je. Takyah resipi pun. Nenek moyang omputih dulu takde pun pakai resipi. Elok je dia makan. Nak try?

Mula2 ambik air suam dalam segelas. Buh gula dalam satu dua sudu teh. Taruh ragi (yeast) kering sikit. Bancuh & biar dia kembang kejap. Kalau dalam 10 minit takde buih, sah ragi tu dah mati. Cari la yang lain, pakai.

Pastu ambik tepung roti (high protein flour). Tepung biasa boleh gak, tapi tak power sangat. Kalau suka wholemeal, bubuh la sikit tepung wholemeal. Buh garam sikit. Sikit je. Lebih kurang secubit. Then letak la butter sket. lebih kurang sehiris, gaul rata dengan tepung tu (rub in).

Masukkan air ragi tadi, uli sampai tak lekat kat jari. Kalau lekat tambah tepung. Then ambik mangkuk adun, minyakkan sikit supaya tak lekat. Ambik adunan tepung tu, bulat2kan, letak dalam mangkuk, tutup dengan plastik, biar dia naik lebih kurang 1/2 jam. Sambil tu boleh la buat keja lain.

Bila dah naik, kempiskan balik, uli lagi. Lagi best dari main play doh, you. Esp. kalau nak lepaskan geram, boleh la bayangkan tepung tu muka boss anda. ekekeke... Actually uli kali kedua ni nak bagi tepung dia jadi kenyal & rasa dia sedap. Lagi lama uli, lagi best rasa & texture dia.

Pastu ambik tray atau loaf tin, minyakkan sikit. Kalau rajin, pakai butter lagi sedap. Tepung tu boleh buat roti seketul besar macam kat hotel tuh, empat segi (dalam tin) atau bun kecik2. Kalau nak buat bun, golekkan dia jadi panjang, pastu potong dengan pisau, shapekan dia. Nak bubuh inti pun boleh. Takde siapa nak larang. Tutup and biarkan dia kembang lagi sekali dalam 20 minit.

Nak bakar, panaskan oven dalam 200 Celsius. Masukkan roti, bakar. Kalau yang kecik2, 15-20 minit cukup la. Yang besar, kelar dulu atas dia. Bakar dalam 30-40 minit. Kalau nak tau dah masak belum, jentik sikit kulit dia. Kalau ada bunyi macam kosong tu, dah masak la.

Keluarkan & Makan panas panas. Fuyoo.. best giler! Kalau orang skema sikit, boleh la biar dia sejuk & makan macam biasa. But then, what's the point of susah2 buat roti sendiri kalau takleh makan panas2, right? Heh heh. Roti sejuk kat kedai pun ada.

Ahh... baju dah cuci, dapur dah kemas, roti dah makan.. so, article bila nak siap??

3 down, 1 to go...

Eeeps... Already got SMS from IMR people today. My article is late, and I'm still not in that groove yet. Will have to look for materials to get me in the mood, fast. Just finished the NASAM job. See what happens when people pay quickly? Nak buat keja pun seronok ajer. Ini, appointment letter pun lambat, aku pun lembap la.. Pulak tu, hari ni tak cukup vitamin C (caffeine), lepas lunch, terus lemau. Ini dah petang baru sibuk call WWF mintak pakai library. Kalau tak, kena pegi UM la jawabnya. Hrm.. Maybe I should buy some references. I'm sure I can claim the cost. Alaa.. bila I nak balik kampung nih?? I need to go to BP and settle some things. Plus nak gi tengok Mak Ngah. Minggu depan dah gi S'wangsa balik. Hrmmm... Cepat la dapat payment job-job hari tu. Amin...

TEKAD is back!

Finally had a reunion at Aizan's last night, and what fun it turned out to be! Despite the late announcement, a respectable number turned up for the event. Meeting again after so long was great. Even Adita and Hasly were there, since they were back for a short break. It was an amazing night, although the games were limited to Taboo and everyone left well before 2.00.

Nevertheless, it was wonderful to see that the TeKAD spirit is still alive and well :-) I look forward to the next activity. DUNGGA!

3 Invoices in a Day?

Oh wow! I'm chuffed. Of course it doesn't happen every day, and the money won't come in immediately. But it's tons more fun than waiting for the 25th to get yr monthly paycheck... I'm beginning to understand why a lot of bosses seem to have endless piles of energy. The thought of getting a new project to earn that bit more money is actually very stimulating. You don't mind working weekends and rushing to squeeze in just a little more work!

Plus, some people you work with are kind of cute and many of them are really nice people. Makes you less racist too, if you work with all kinds of people. Believe it or not, it can make you a better person, because you understand that all rezeki datang dari Allah, so mind yr Ps and Qs if you don't want to learn a lesson the hard way...


Did the re-shoot for an article last night. I needed to write on recipes for certain kinds of fish found in the Langat river. 11 types, to be exact. I had actually arranged for someone to cook the dishes and shoot the required photos earlier. Unfortunately, the photos were rejected due to insufficient technical detail. I personally liked the shots but then, clients's always right, I guess. So I had to find someone to cook again, and find another photographer. Now I regret not trying harder to get Stephen from the beginning 'coz I was intimidated by his gruff demeanor. Luckily, after asking around, K Ina agreed to cook the dishes all over again and Stephen agreed to do the shoot. Alhamdulillah.. Bless these lovely people. You know that it's no mean feat to cook 11 dishes at one time. Tabik spring kat K Ina... The chef I asked pun tak sanggup nak buat. Especially because some of the fish are really hard to find. We had to substitute one or 2 with lookalikes in the end.

I was quite worried, actually, about the photos. I had Stephen do the shoot twice, because I was a bit unsure about the patterned tablecloth background. But the plain red one was quite overpowering. Thankfully, both text and photos were accepted without much comment. Alhamdulillah. I was so glad when Simon said it was all OK, and that I can submit the invoice. Yeay!

2 down, another 2 to go. :) Never mind. Tomorrow I can have fun at the Tekad Barbie. Yahoo!

Mulut Takde Insurans

Scene 1: PNB Ilham Resort, Tanjung Tuan

Woman bumping into long unseen ex-colleague at Raptor Watch, aka annual gathering of greenies. Ex-c looks her up and down.

Ex-c: Waah.. you lost a lot of weight, ya?

Woman: No lah. I timbang berat samaaa ajer..

Ex-c: Hmm.. berat dosa agaknya tu...

Sabaaa ajelah aku...

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Scene 2: Masjid Jamek LRT station

Long queue at the doors. Train rolls in, also full. A bunch of people struggle to get out, thanks to eejits who like to block the way out. Hello, more people come out, more space for you, right? Duh!

Anyway, time's up, beeper beeps, doors start closing. It bounces. Eejits were trying to squeeze in and being squeezed by doors. Nasib baik ada safety feature. Instead of backing out and waiting for the next train, eejits keep forcing their way in. Door bounces a few more times.

Yours truly: Hampeh. Tunggu la tren belakang. Apa, ingat ni Bangladesh ke?

Girl in front gives me a speaking look.

La. Memang Bangla pun...

Why ah..? (Read in Slow and Blur voice)

I think I lost my panic button. Photos have to be re-shot, I'm short in cash, and I have no idea when my overdue payments are coming in. I need to be in PD by tomorrow, find cook and re-do shots by Sunday. Plus finish 2 articles. Very good. Why the &^%$ am I not panicking?

Necessity or Gluttony?

One of my projects hit a snag today, And I discovered that I had forgotten to pick up something from Subang on Friday. Damn. Went whining to a friend, and got the cepumas question - why did you take on so much work?

Adoi... How to answer?

Well, for starters, they did not all come in at the same time. And they were not all new. One had been languishing on the back burner since November last year. I thought it was kaput oredy until I got that phone call. One just got confirmed recently, but deadline for 1st installment is on the 15th. And the latest one was just too good to resist.

Unfortunately, the deadlines are all a little tight... I can finish one project tonight, and continue the other after work tomorrow. Start on the other afterwards? Eeps. Well, actually the actual deadline is not this week for everything. It's just that they're on top of each other, sort of.

But some other things also kacauing my schedule. There's that Tekad thing to organise, and sister in law wants to go to D'Pengkalan. In the end tai-chied that one back to her. Can layan the Tekad list soon. But Ziad owes me the KL and Selangor list lah... Then I haven't looked at what to do for the kids's session at RWW...

Aahh.. Um.. Oh oh. Methinks I AM in over my head after all.. Shoot. Will need to deal with that problem with editor and maybe schedule a reshoot (God, I hope not!)

But then, I NEED work, don't I? Especially if I want to quit part-time job and concentrate on writing & translation. Isk. There's only one thing to do - buckle up and deal with all this mess. You've done this before, you can do it again. Tarik nafas...

Demam Pilihanraya

Wanted the paper but still in nightie... Side effects of being your own d**ned boss - you wake up and immediately think of your 3 looming deadlines. Checked the Star Online and voila! The Election results. Yay! God bless the guys who invented the internet.

I knew Barisan will win anyway. They always do. Political stability and all that. Surprised to see Opposition won big and got away with 5 states, though. Wow! Last night all I saw on TV was BN winning. But then they were counting Sarawak, and Sarawak won big there.

So now Selangor and Damansara Utama are both DAP zones. I hope to God they hold up their promise to improve public transport. To be fair, it has improved somewhat. I no longer have to wait forever for a ride to the LRT. It's kind of expected really. Tony Pua against Chew Mei Fun. Tony is a hotshot enterpreneur. Chew did well enough, I suppose. But sometimes people want change. And Dr Cheah against Victor Gu - the psychiatrist against some pretty boy... what did you expect? Samy Vellu lost. Bout time, I say. Someone is wondering how BN could have lost against Nurul Izzah. Ha ha. I never liked the pretentious one anyway.

I hope now orang2 yang berkenaan will get the message - no more hanky panky with people's money. Our system is scarily out of whack and I'm so afraid of what will happen to our children if this imbalance is not rectified. You can't have a straightforward business deal without cables, there's kickbacks, blowing up prices, stupid mega projects with dodgy companies, etc. Too many bad stuff going on. I just hope those who won will do what it takes to get things back on track. We need good intercity train service. We need fair employment opportunities. A lot of inter-racial rifts need to be healed. There are a lot of hatred stored deep inside us, despite our veneer of tolerance. How many do we actually trust each other? How much do we really trust politicians and government officers? I know there are many good ones out there, but there is much room for improvement.

I don't think BN equals the government. They are just a bunch of parties that are supposed to serve the people. The Opposition serves people too. They just approach it differently. And frankly, if people stay in power too long, they sometimes fall to the dark side. After all, the people is the boss. Malaysia is my country. I want to be proud of it. I want all Malaysians to love our country. I want change. I hope that happens now.

Of Betina Gatal and Jantan Miang… (Part II)

Warning: D*** long article, fished out of my Article bin

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Can infidelity be justified?

The Chinese society had previously developed a tolerance for infidelity, allowing for mistresses and multiple wives, as do the Muslim religion. Could it be that the desire for multiple partners be something of a predisposition among men? After all, mistresses appear in all cultures across the globe.

Kings in China had many hundreds, even thousands of concubines. Before the ‘four wives only’ rule came up, Arab men had as many as ten wives at a time.

However, bear in mind that at that time, the women in question do not require so much emotional commitment as compared to protection, food and shelter. Men married them to ensure their well being. Some are political alliances between warring neighbours. Feelings such as love was a luxury they could ill afford, what more demands for total faithfulness from their husband. Jealousy was guarded and they kept their peace out of necessity.

What makes a major difference is that now most people marry for love, not convenience or need. And the notion of romantic love has become so widespread that everyone expects ‘true love’ to forever remain among the couple.

Rich and powerful men are commonly known to indulge in mistresses and multiple wives. Perhaps power makes them hungrier for high level entertainment. They also can afford it, and many women purposely hunt them, in order to secure a more comfortable life. Is it very wrong, if they can truly afford the luxury? But at what cost to their family’s happiness and stability?

I have only recently read the term “emotional infidelity” where no physical act was involved, but much of the emotional state was, to the point of ignoring responsibilities to the long-distance wife and son, causing much stress and eventually, death.

There are times when affairs are started for no apparent reason, other than mutual attraction, untempered by morality. Some argue that it’s the ultimate bonding of soulmates, like Annie and Tom in “The Horse Whisperer” and also in “The Bridges of Madison County”.

Often, it is started by an unscrupulous third party, such as the sizzlingly sexy Frenchman in “Unfaithful”. There are men who for no other reason than sheer greed and lust, lie to women in order to gain their sympathy. They will say anything, that they he is divorced, or separated, or even single, so that he can get what he wishes…Even worse, his many wives work to support him instead of the other way round! There are women too, who will do anything for the men they want, be it respectable or no, to fulfil their desires, regardless of other people’s feelings…

Yet I know a few people who were the ‘other woman’, knowingly or not, and they are perfectly normal, very nice, religious people. Of course they did not go for the “forbidden fruit”, but they were, undoubtedly, the third party.

There are cases where a second wife was recruited in cases where wives were unable to bear children, or where they are ill and thus unable to take care of the families’ needs.

The most common problem is that the husband or wife feels that there was a lack of common ground in belief and compatibility, causing them to latch on to someone else that appears to fill the void. Thus, they begin an ‘illegal’ love affair, be it sexual or not, to fill in this unfulfilled need… This appears to be the most popular ‘reason’ put forward. They can be valid, or they can be as lame as (Gubra) Arif’s “You were away so much, I was lonely”. One colleague actually voted for “My wife/ husband doesn’t understand me” as the most popular excuse.

Take the example of a friend who divorced his wife for a younger girl. I can’t say I approve of his actions; neither can I disapprove, as I knew neither the ex-wife, nor the ex-girlfriend. But as a professional and a friend, I find him highly respectable. His reason was that he had long felt unhappy with his wife (apparently the ex-wife didn’t feel the same way.) Yet he tried to keep it going until he got close to a friend who he believed to be his soulmate. Only then did he break up his marriage. Was he wrong to do this? Should he have kept on trying for the sake of his children?

What about the couple who had grown apart and separated for a long time? The man found a new love but is wary about divorcing the wife, knowing that it will be very hard on her. But eventually, it needs to be done if he wants to be together with his love. His justification – better one unhappy person than 3 miserable ones…

Looking at all this, it seems that relationships, even marriages are more fluid than we would like to think. Feelings fade, circumstances change, needs change. Would it be acceptable if everyone got a fair deal at the end of the day? I don’t know. What do YOU think?

Pathetic

.. aren't I always?

Supposed to stay home and work on one of the articles I'm supposed to write. BUT got a call from part-time boss that he needs me in the office to sort out more documents for the CS. Reluctantly agreed to come in for half a day, cursing all the while. Ye la. Korang punya document all tonggang langgang, campak sana, campak sini. Bila CS nak check baru la terhegeh2 nak cari. Invoice ke mana, resit ke mana. Who paid what when pun takleh nak trace. Buang masa aku pulak nak kena tolong carik. Benci. Had no choice pasal they provide me with regular income. Grr... Yuk.

Am dying to pick up repaired laptop, but of course StanChart has to drag its stupid ass clearing my cheque, so kenot la pickup today. Kena tunggu ntah bila la cheque tu nak clear. Silap la tak masukkan kat Maybank hari tu. Can you imagine, bayar credit card by cash or online transfer pun tak updated immediately. Kena tunggu dia punya batching plak - which is not every day. Leceh betul. I rasa better pakai local bank ajer la. Lagi bagus. Support ekonomi negeri sendiri.

One job terlepas 'coz they decided to translate the material to Indon instead of BM. Yeah, 'coz Malaysian paham Indon, but Indons tak paham cakap Melayu. The price of being the smarter of the 2. Damn! I wanted that job 'coz the people bayar cepat. Hrmph. Sabar ajelah. Keja yang ada pun, hampir tak cukup masa nak buat...

Esok based kat ofis sana lagi, and kalau dah masuk ofis sana, susah la nak buat keja ofis sini. Jawabnya, aku takleh nak lepak la malam ni... Urgh. Yuk.