Let's Have More Guy's Guys!

Heh? (For sure u all say this one..)
I mean, we need lots more guys that behave like men. And I mean responsible men, not people who go around fooling around where they're not supposed to. And not men who do girl stuff.

I never used to think about the roles of guys in the social landscape. Guys used to be just there. The other half of the population. Dudes who did the rough stuff while we did the more intricate bits. People who temanned us and made us feel safe traversing a deserted parking lot. But lately I've actually felt comforted by the simple presence of men in my daily existence.

I've never been much of a girly girl, but lately have learnt to enjoy it. We tease each other and send nonsensical messages to each other. We listen to the one who is trying to get over her ex. (Babe, you have one more month to go before ex-bf ancient history gets banned on the girly channel, ok?). So why am I so perturbed by unmanly men? Maybe because they seem to vie with our existence? Because it reduces the number of men we can flirt with? I dunno..

I find it nice to watch guys do guy things - teasing people, horsing around with the boys, make crude guy jokes... You feel comfy giving them a hard time about their guy endeavours. It makes me wonder, do guys find similar comfort in girls doing soft girl stuff? Of course they make fun of our girly nights out and shopping sprees. But deep inside, does it assure them that us girls are real girls for doing ultimately girl things? After all, we don't lose our intelligence by doing what comes naturally. We still do our work and get necessary things done. We pay bills and spend time with our families. We can be tough when we need to be. Then we go and layan babies and small kids because we like to do it.

I'm assuming that guys actually like to see girls doing girl things, and I don't need to be so serious all the time. I don't know where this is going, but I guess I might start to relax and spend more time with the girls after this (as opposed to staying home and playing with the cats). Would like to go shopping too, if I can squeeze a bit of cash to pick up a few necessary items. Darn, need to bug people for my payments soon!

Midnight Marauder

Heard a commotion outside the house a few nights ago. It sounded like something fell through the ceiling onto the porch roof! Peeped outside but couldn't see anything. Shrugged it off as the cats fighting and went back to playing online Scrabble. Sometime past midnight, there was more commotion and heard the cats come inside through the upstairs window. I switched on the staircase lights and what do I see if not a common palm civet! At first it looked like a tabby cat, but the head belied its identity. And such a handsome specimen it was too! I was so chuffed to meet a wild visitor in my home.

By then my sis had also come out of her room and we went to look for it at the back. We tried to let it out but Leo was in the way and of course spooked the visitor. It ran off into the kitchen. We found it frantically trying to escape through the back windows, but the louvres were opened too narrowly. When I came near to open them wider, it went and hid itself behind the storage cabinet. We left him alone and shut the kitchen door so that the cats won't get into a brawl with the bigger animal. Vet bills are expensive, you know. Anyway, it was gone the next day, so I hope he's safely on his way. Good luck, pal. Nice to see you around!

Heartless

One of the most difficult things I find about writing is injecting emotions, something you don't always feel.When my colleague asked why my piece was missing all emotion, I resorted to a glib "Because I'm Meredith Grey. I'm dark and twisty and I want my McDreamy". In a way it's true. I won't say I'm a Goth who wants to die all the time, na'uzubillah. But it's kind of dry to live without hoping to get hooked. I kind of gave up on the idea since all the good men are married anyway, so why bother? But it's turning out to be really boring. Maybe I should just flirt again. Why not, right? Hey, I'm 35. I'm not DEAD yet.

Why I can't live without internet connection

When my internet was cut off following mess-induced non-payment of bills, it spurred me to get my bills in order. I made numerous phone calls and tried all avenues to get re-connected to the world wide web. Reason? I'm just an addict, nuff said.
Felt really disconnected if I can't confirm that I have 11 messages and 110 spams in my email. PLus, desperately needed to download the latest episodes of Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and CSI Vegas. Am having trouble getting CSI, but have the others up to date now. Even got Bride Wars and Slumdog Millionaire. The fact that I haven't got time to watch them yet is irrelevant.
Anyway, how else do I pay my bills when I can't get on Maybank2u? Going to PO/TMPoint? where got time la.. Also too used to googling for any info I might need, from maps to writing research. Kesimpulan: I need it to work!
And play games. I play computer games to wind down. It's a form of relaxation. No games=a very stressed writer=slow output.
Oh well, am back online now. Thank God. Time to put the rest of the house in order...

There's Malay food, and then there's MALAY food...

One of the things I miss most these days is good nasi campur. This is a warehouse/factory area, and food joints are limited to roadside MPPJ stalls, fast food, a few shops in the surrounding area, and expensive stuff in Jaya One & Jaya 33. Section 14 market - food not bad but hygiene sucks. I'm not very particular, but I think ANYONE would draw the line at watching roaches scurry accross tabletops while you're trying to eat. Maybe it's psychological, but I always feel queasy after eating food bought there. The stall where we usually buy from has pretty good local fare, but I always find it too heavy and greasy. Even the soups are ultra salty and a little oily. I needed a change.
After a shoot today, I decided I could afford to go and get better food instead of settling for the usual substandard stuff. So I detoured to Damansara Jaya and am SO glad I did! The open air food court, located outside Atria, (Lotus restaurant side) is simple and clean. Have been there often enough to know which stalls are the best.
My all time favourite stall is Gerai Ramah, a corner unit next to Uncle Ali's shop. The food is simple - sayur kampung and lauk kampung. No funny2 pretentious food here. Just simple things like sulur keladi, gulai lemak pucuk paku, gulai pucuk ubi, ikan pari masak asam pedas, jantung pisang, ikan goreng, ikan bakar, kerabu perut and the like. Their sambals are really good. Price - pretty competitive. Plus the uncle kenal my face oredy. Have been going there since I started work 12 years ago. And the drinks stall next door offers air mata kucing and asam boi. Yum! Was so happy I even tapaued some for dinner. Ha ha.
Another stall I like is on the other side of Atria, near the Post Office. Also a corner shop, the abang makes the best Cantonese kuetiaw in the area. The cook is a Malay guy, but makes good chinese food. Have heard rumours that they're going to tear down Atria and build a high-rise complex in its place. If they do, my favourite stalls may either have to relocate or shut down.. Oh no! With the current economic climate, it seems that the plans have been put on hold. Would be sorry to lose my favourite Malay lunch place if the project takes off... Wish there were more good, cheap eating spots in our area lah.

Keja Orang Takde Keja

Ever since my bag got left behind in NL in 2006, the combination lock hadn't worked. My theory is, the Dutch authorities were worried I'd constructed a bomb out of their stinky cheese and strawberries, so they held back my luggage to check things out. In any case, by the time I got my luggage bag, most of the stuff had deteriorated, berries stained my clothes and everything reeked of spoiled cheese. Plus, as I said, the lock was broken. It didn't open at the combination I set, and there is at least a thousand combinations to choose from.
So one fine day, inspiration struck. Miss Big Boss had told us of the time her combination got screwed. Apparently it often happens if the bag falls on it combo lock, causing the locking mechanism to be 'turned' to an unknown combination. She solved it by methodically trying each and every combination until she struck the 'mystery' combo, somewhere towards the end of the long list.
I knew I could never succeed using this method due to my short attention span. I needed a different strategy. While being bored by a presentation in the morning, my brain wandered to other, more interesting things to do. Like discover a lost combination. And a plan was hatched.
The moment I was back in the office, I quickly did a simple spreadsheet which listed all the possible combinations, neatly lined up on a single piece of paper. That night, while watching TV, I randomly tried combinations and crossed them out from the list. Simple, right? After a while, i discovered that it was quite easy to do 20-30 numbers in sequence at a time. Soon, I was doing a hundred numbers at a go. Not wanting to go through all the numbers before striking it rich, I jumped around instead of following the sequence.
It was a bit frustrating when I didn't get anywhere after trying out 870 combinations. I finally found the unknown combo somewhere near the 900th mark. It came as a bit of a surprise, like doing the impossible, but hey, it worked! It took less time than I thought too. I was prepared to slog it out for half a day. Instead, it took less than two hours.
So now my luggage locks again. Flimsy defence against professional thieves, yes, but at least it can deter less trained petty filchers... Not a very important thing to do, but there's a certain kind of silly satisfaction from actually solving a mystery...

So who are you rooting for?

When my sis asked me to gues who had been wildcarded back into American Idol yesterday, I thought it was Norman Gentle. Little did I suspect that it was actually the amazingly annoying Tatiana... I went "AAARRRGGGHH... NO..NO..NO.. GET HER OUT OF THERE.." Yes, a violent reaction. But not entirely undeserved. she is just SO melodramatic and mengada-ngada, I seriously feel like spanking her every time she opens her mouth. When she's not singing la. Have to admit, she has a good singing voice. I share Simon's annoyance with her.

As for my favourites, have to say I like the roughneck dude, Michael Sarver. and the Indian guy Anoop. The others, I forget. Tak sempat nak tengok AI the past few weeks. Maybe I should just wait until Miss Drama Queen has been eliminated?

Cheers, guys. Have a good weekend ahead..