Post-Holiday

They say a vacation rejuvenates your tired mind and body but why do I feel more tired after a four-day holiday? I guess they mean a 100% selfish retreat because I had a day of selfless acts and though I was happy at the end of the day, it left me feeling battered. 

 

Hubs and I went on a road trip to Johor on Thursday. We had a wonderful time stopping for food and singing in the car. Then we had a great dinner spread on a floating restaurant overlooking Singapore. The next day was spent there where we skipped the touristy Universal Studios and armed with a map and an endless supply of cold water (from most 7-Eleven that we came across), roamed the city to immerse in the local essence.

Organised and sterile, Singapore has little in common with Malaysia compared to my initial perception before the Kuala Lumpur tour. First, the service of the KL hop-on hop-off tour bus is ridiculously slow. The conductor thought we were foreigners and with other tourists around us complaining, we didn't correct him because we were too embarassed to be associated with KL. 

Second, the sellers in Petaling Street are anything but customer-friendly. Rafiee almost got in a fight because one of them forced him to buy the sunglasses that he tried on. 

Third, we saw a foreign couple holding some decomposable fruit seeds trying to find a waste bin as an old Malaysian man just right behind them tossed his big empty plastic bag on the pavement like it's the most natural thing to do. I still don't understand people who litter. Is it lack of education or common sense? I think it's stupid, disgusting and reflects the person's upbringing. The parents most likely do it too so they fail to see how morally wrong it is. 

Hoping that things will gradually improve (unless you want to get beaten up for telling some ignorant strangers off), we concluded that KL can learn a thing or two from Singapore although I still prefer Malaysia in general because we have so much more to offer.

On Saturday we went to a small town in Johor to help out with Rafiee's cousin's wedding so by the time the clock struck midnight, both of us were already snoring like a bear. A kitten that we fell in love with in Johor Bahru was also sleeping in the same bed, a little girl we named Tumas after our two favourite kittens that we lost recently, Dumas and Tamas. It's a Hungarian name so it's pronounced as Tu-mash. We decided to keep her in our apartment when she started licking our fingers as if to say "Thank you for saving me from the street" or so I'd like to believe. 

As I try to motivate myself to keep editing the book (now 70% completed) in my family house right now, I can't help thinking about the pants and shirts I have yet to iron. Thank goodness I love my work so that takes away any post-holiday blues, but I honestly don't mind having more vacations. Ah well, don't we all?

In Too Deep

I have two new obsessions since a few weeks ago, both stemmed from my work.

k.a.k.i p.i.c.n.i.c

s.i.m.p.l.e l.i.f.e d.i.v.e.r.s

Yes, the art of Iban tattoos and diving.

You don't have to remind me how weird I can be at times. Hubs and close friends are doing a great job at that. Nothing much I can do for my first fixation as it's self-mutilation (though if I could I would've started with a dolphin) but after reading up on the tradition and the culture, I grew more interested in the Iban people themselves. There were so many things I didn't know about them even though we're in the same country. Not only that specific ethnic group but also others like Bajau, Kadazan and the like. Going to the museums and doing more reading will help tremendously in understanding them but I'd also love to visit their homes. That calls for a trip to Borneo.

Which brings me ideally to the second fascination - getting PADI certified in Sipadan while I'm there. That also means I have to be a fairly good swimmer so I have about four months to make sure of it. I'm getting more comfortable in water (Rafiee's training me twice a week and one of his techniques is to let me drown or bump my head on the pool wall... lovely husband, isn't he?) and in fact I'm getting addicted to swimming so I predict this will be a long-term pursuit (unlike the tattoo art which will most likely fade after I've exhausted my reading material).

On another topic, hubs and I took a hop-on hop-off tour around Kuala Lumpur today and saw a number of incidents that made us recoil in shame and disgust as fellow Malaysians. Will write about it soon enough.

Love Never Really Dies

Rafiee and I somewhat adopted a little kitten last Sunday. He must be at most three months. He was found in a wet market, looking really frail and I was told that he had a sister / brother but was hit by a car, leaving him all alone. 

He was so clingy, I think he assumed we were his parents. He was always following us, half running and half jumping, biting and licking our feet. We noticed something was not right with his anus and it was really, really red. We started to look for a vet on the same day but they were closed. On the first night he had diarrhoea so I took him in the evening to see a vet but it was a public holiday in Selangor so mission failed again. That night, he had bloody diarrhoea. I knew from my past reading that it's never a good sign and for a motherless kitten, it's almost always fatal. I was worried sick and he was crying endlessly. I was planning of taking a half day off to take him to a vet the very next day.

He couldn't wait. He died in the morning and I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't even look at his lifeless body. I blamed all the vets, the public holiday and I blamed myself for taking him in. Then Ayah reminded me that we had given him probably the only love he ever knew in his short time on Earth. Like a child, I asked him if I will ever see him again. He said yes. Until then, I find comfort in knowing that he's in a better place and it's the same place that my late Smigel is now.

Malaysian Drivers

Some Malaysian drivers can be so mean. You know those people. They swerve with no signal, they tailgate you with such urgency that one usually gets when they need to pee, they refuse to give way when you're obviously stuck, they ignore you when you slow down to give way and don't get me started on those who casually toss their trash out of the car. 

r.a.d.z.i.f.a.s.h.a.

Most of the time it's easy to follow suit. I mean, why should I let that snooty kiddo merge when he doesn't bother to give the signal? Well, it will make you feel wonderful about yourself when you do good deeds without expecting anything in return in spite of those oblivious people. Yesterday I gave way to two cars even though they should've waited and they didn't even have the courtesy to wave. I thought I would be pissed off, but I guess because I didn't hope anything in return, I felt great anyway.

The moral of the story that can be applied to other circumstances as well is that, there will always be that kind of people who have no common sense and sometimes simply unkind. Perhaps they've gone through so many terrible things, who knows? But we have enough of them so don't stoop to their level. Make others happy; you'll see it's contagious and it will only do you good.

Amber

It has been raining a lot these days and I'm going to blame it for my inability to write a long post this time. Also, I've been daydreaming more than I should. I guess I just miss the sea so this video and song right here will have to do until next time.

Beautiful Dreams

I am feeling exhilarating. I was in Port Dickson for another round of diving job expedition for two days and I'm falling more and more in love with ocean. It's such a peaceful feeling being on sea. I've been daydreaming about moving to the beach and dive for a living. Sigh. Don't we all have beautiful dreams that we can't imagine coming true because in reality we don't know if we can handle it if they do? That's one of mine and it makes me smile in my sleep.

Back to Earth, I finally had pumpkin pie after almost two years! An American lady was selling the homemade dessert at the Curve Flea Market while I was thinking of making one. Now that I've had a really good one, that can wait. I'm thinking of a healthy low-fat strawberry yogurt cake instead, hmm. Perhaps in two weeks time. Next week will be a busy weekend with two weddings to attend to and hubs still has his training course.

Last week I thought of a project that I'm passionate about - CNRM (Care-Neuter-Rehome/Return-Manage) stray cats. So what I had in mind was to set up a little cat boarding place in the apartment, catch a stray every two weeks, spay / neuter them, care for them until they're well enough to be released back to their territory. That would be my contribution to society because I adore cats but the emotional attachment that comes with having a pet is something that I don't want to put myself into again, at least for now. Losing a pet is like losing a family member and it's too painful for me. But suddenly mama suggested that I should wait until I have a child so that the act of making another creature barren doesn't put some sort of voodoo spell on my own ability to produce offspring. Now that may sound ridiculous to many people and even though that never crossed my mind until now, it's making me apprehensive. Aiyaya!

Perhaps that will have to be another beautiful dream? Bummer.

Sneak Preview

Alright, my time management went down the drain last week that I didn't get to update the blog but fret not, I've got my rythm this week and with the support of a new reader who's also a close friend (cough, Ayu, cough), I'm feeling optimistic.

Last weekend was spent in Nilai where Rafiee and I attended our first Chinese wedding. The groom was my coursemate in UPM so I got to meet lots of my friends again after three years.

Nothing seemed to change except that they've all been successful in their own way so we exchanged name cards and hoped that we'd see each other again. It's hard to make time due to various commitments but hey, let's try to.

As part of my personal projects, I made a spring onion & spinach quiche and though I certainly shouldn't have put too much milk, I was happy with the taste.

Notice I tried to do some artistic shape on the pie crust end but it wasn't perfect. Well I'll admit it, far from it. But it made me happy and the result looked a little bit like waves.

My book writing is progressing again (it's about time!). I just can't wait to send my draft to the reputable local publisher and see if it's worth showing in public. I'll let you read a snippet of one of my first chapters just because.

We took the plane on 1st September 2009 heading to Paris with a stopover in Sri Lanka for a night. I didn’t think much about it because, this will make me sound ignorant but at least I’m being honest (and honesty is always the best policy right?), I didn’t know much about the country. It was seldom, if ever, featured on local media and I naturally assumed it would be like a smaller version of India (not that I’ve been to India, but it was displayed more on Travel & Living channel so I knew how it was like as much as the next person).

The airport seemed like it had seen generations crying farewell and happy tears with its off-white wall and musty chairs so it came as no surprise to know that it has been standing loyally since 1944 during the Second World War. But that was nothing compared to when we stepped outside to look for our designated coach. It was like entering a portal of time travel, hundreds of steps backwards that landed us right into a war zone.

Soldiers equipped with heavy rifles were scattered and other normal-looking people looked on as if it was another ordinary day. There were two possibilities in my uninformed blank mind, 1) somebody was filming another Black Hawk Down or 2) we were on a wrong plane headed to Afghanistan. But there were no cameras and unless Colombo was also a place in Afghanistan, the likelihoods were odd. And they didn’t look like Afghans.

I was at the time, too oblivious to know that following the civil war between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the soldiers had been deployed to maintain the peace. However, a number of those that the civilians should be able to trust, sometimes were the worst enemy as reports revealed how the battlefront armies killed and raped, and even the children were not spared. The government, however, has denied any involvement with the war crimes.

“Mr. Razak and Ms. Zahidi?” a small dark man approached us while we were still in a daze.

This is really Sri Lanka, I gasped, still in denial that we were not surrounded by firearms. We got what we paid for - extra security.

“Yes?” the husband still had his senses.

“Welcome to Sri Lanka. Come with me.” It sounded so rehearsed and detached, like a deceiving invitation to be shot and buried in an unmarked hole.

There you go, the essence of the book is there - interesting anecdotes, enlightening but not too heavy that it becomes a guidebook or history book. I still can't think of a title so if you have any ideas, I'd love to know!

My reading is on schedule, thanks Better World Books for shipping the books in time for December. It's a different feeling getting a wrapped book in your mailbox than buying it off the rack. I should do this more often. I often frustrate hubs for spending too long in bookstores just like he does to me when he's in the clothing section.

Job wise, I absolutely love my new workplace! Since it's close enough to home, I usually leave at 8.15 am which gives me plenty of time to watch news, go for a run and even have my breakfast with my four kitties (which have gone missing yesterday - hopefully temporarily - after a new neighbour moved in, hmm...). Hubs leaves for work 1.5 hours earlier after preparing breakfast and a flying kiss to his smelly wife who's still in bed. Since he's in-charge of the breakfast, I make his lunch and mine the night before so at least we eat extra healthy for five days a week. I still can't help the food splurge on weekends, Malaysian food is as tempting as Angeline Jolie to Brad Pitt! Well at least we manage to squeeze in badminton almost every weekend with the family so some of the calories are sweat off; I prefer to think positive.

As of right now, our first holiday since Europe may be happening sooner than we thought - Singapore! Some may argue it's quite similar to Malaysia and it's only a short trip, but it's a start and I'm sure I can find something uniquely Singaporean. Next week will be my last full week of the first working month so I'll start sticking to my new financial plan, one more responsility on top of time management. Fuh, life as an adult is surely a serious ride.