HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!;)

happy birthday to me,happy birthday to me,happy birthday to ANUCIA!!!!happy birthday to me.....
i'm old....sob,sob,sob
pictures of my surprise party will be up soon..in the meantime,im heading back to KL for a week..so no blogs till then...maaf zahir dan batin...hehehhe

IQ vs EQ?

PTS,UPSR,PMR,SPM,STPM...exams,exams,exams!it's a miracle that our graduates are still sane after all the ongoing suffering as the youth die young,...(hehe,i love that song).Anyway,pat just got her UPSR results today,4A's and a B.i think its okay(she didnt go for tuition,who does for UPSR?apparently almost all),but everyone expected more from her.oh well,its just penulisan..who cares.who cares?there are ppl out there who actually care about what others got for their SPM moral...so i guess std six penulisan is somewhat important...see the levels i'm comparing...
the phone is gonna ring endlessly today,aunts,uncles n cousins from around the world will call to find out her results n compare it to the rest of the world's.Ita amazing how they can be so muka tebal to call n find out what so-n-so got?B??Penulisan??but she's in sekolah kebangsaan wat??how can like that?haiyo...wasted?she watches too much tv issit?...pat,i think u better unplug the phone....n dont stop the simpsons at 6 EVERYDAY,dont worry,this UPSR hiatus will end soon,its just a phase...
whenever pat sits in front of the TV,my dad will say,"so this is what's coming out for UPSR la?what time is simpsons on monday?what cahnnel is lizzie mcguire on?on the remote control,which button do u press if u wanna change the subtitles?who's the VJ for channel V's rewind?i think u can graduate with a degree in ASTROlogy with top class honours"."hahahah.funny."she'd say.
according to shasha,pats' got TVtitis,whereby one of the symptoms in uncontrollable movement of fingers when in contact with the TV remote control.But for the amount of TV that she watches,its amazing that she hasnt gotten a pair of glasses yet and she did fairly well in her UPSR.
students today are pushed to the limits with endless tuition and homework and co-curricular activities that by the time they wake up,they'll realise that half their lives went by in a flash,in a vicious schedule of never ending piano classes,karate,ballet,holiday camps,tuition(to the power of infinity),swimming lessons and so much more.i guess in a way this is what you could call 'survival of the species'
the smartest and the most talented always finish the race first,right?wrong...they may have finshed the IQ race but the EQ hasnt even been teed off..most of these all rounders portray the most obvious trait...kiasu-ness,(some,in the highest degree)
but then again,maybe they have been thought that this is the only way to live in this dog-eat-dog world.pricks,i'd say.
wait...y m i offering excuses on their behalf?
anyway,everything also must be first...first row in class,first person to get the notes ,first to purchase....
what pisses me off the most is ppl who cant queue,be it in the bus,at the payment counters,even inthe canteens...some even do it nicely..the way they sweetly smile at u,like it makes it ok....my aunt told off this lady at jusco the other day for cutting the line..she just smugly smiled.if i were there,surely i'd hantam her.
then there are also those who are always prying into others' bussiness,whats her CGPA?wat did she get for this paper n that?okay la...i've done it a few times too,but not at point blank... hope i dont succumb to this disease..

The Pimple Years

I managed to catch 'The Pimple Years',a trilingual authentically Malaysian play by Mark D'Silva yesterday with my housemate at the Actors Studio Greenhall.Despite a rather draggy ending,i'll have to say that it was a promising effort on the part of the director and the actors(an all girl cast except for Mark) .Not that i've seen many.
'The Pimple Years' touched on interpersonal relationships with friends,mothers,spouses and the kampung pat poh(this was exceptionally well done) which gets you thinking about your own life and relationships with your surrounding.At least I was reminded of my mum.Especially the part where James' mum nags him from the PC table(she's on IRC,cool eh?) when he's about to use the phone saying,"i'm going to use the phone after i cook,ah?Dont hang so long".my mum says the same thing in the morning;that she wants to use the phone in the evening or that she's expecting a call later at night,god forbid i go near the phone at dawn.like im gonna talk from sunrise to sunset.
The phone has always been an issue at home.and the phone bill.everyone goes glum when mr postman brings the phone bill.of course,my dad justs scolds my mum for letting us yak on the phone for so long.maybe coz she doesnt answer back,like what all of us do.Sometimes i feel bad for mum,she's always the one getting it;when pat doesnt complete her homework,when we're late for school,when we screw up our papers,when either of us are rude and when we watch too much of tv.he accuses her of giving us too much face.suddenly,there's only one parent.
there was once in F5 when i made a hp call to a friend of mine and spoke for an amount of rm8 something,i think.when the bill came,dad blew his top.when he asked me who it was,i almost died coz i knew i'd get thrashed if i told him it was a guy.so i just said "a friend" and guess what mr smarty pants did?called the guy up and asked him who he was n y he was talking to me.i wanted to curl up and die in embarassment.i didnt go to church that week,trying to avoid him.thank goodness he was cool with it.
dad hates seeing us on the phone.basically he thinks all girls have pointless conversations,which i have come to realise, is quite true.but thats what makes it fun.imagine how interesting a conversation about the next election would be?exactly.
He'd be like,"get off the phone".and i'd say "10 mins".and after 10 mins he'd say,"times up" and i'd just stare at him,and go on.he walks off.and the next thing i know,he'd pick up the other phone n just listen,till i get uncomfortable(which is instantaneous) and end the call.Thats precisely how we start our arguments.his points?"u see her in tuition,u see her in church,same cathecism class,same school,same class,hang out together before and after tuition,and yet u havent run out on things to say to each other?"My answer?"no."the Door slams.and behind it,i hear him scolding my mum.
but that was long ago though.havent had major arguments with my parents since i started uni,which is a good thing.just lil frictions.beneath it all,my parents are amazing people.i guess you could say they're kinda cool.well,my mum sure is...but dad can be a lil blurr and conservative sometimes,but he's got a fairly good sense of humour which i would never admit to him.i think he'd get quite perasan.already after his silly jokes(of which my mom is their greatest fan) he says things like,"see my wit".Here's one:ali went to the sundry shop and on the way he met abu.abu asked ali where he was going,and ali said,"pergi kedai".Abu then asked,'kenapa?'to which ali replied,"nak beli ubat nyamuk".Abu then asked,"kenapa,nyamuk kamu sakit ke?"
It isnt that funny,but what naver fails to put a smile on my face is the fact that he thinks his jokes are very amusing,which by itself is quite amusing.there are a few good ones though,but nothing's coming to my head right now.there are also times when he and my uncles would compose their own silly jokes over a few cans of beer during some family gathering or other.
Shasha has taken over my old self now,half her waking hours around the house are full of grimaces and frowns.i hope she grows out of it.soon.then it'll be phillip n then pat.oh,those crazy hormonal teenage years.if i were my parents,i would have kicked us all out a long time ago.no joke.
see where i went with this?it started with the play...anyway,the play is coming to KL and Ipoh after xmas.do go catch it if you can.its rm25,but if u bring a valid ID,the student price is rm15.if u think its rather pricey,then think of the storyline.it wins hands down to the matrix.

Longhouse stay

the next trip was to a long house among the jungles in sarawak.....it was a 3+ hour boat ride from sibu,and we went along with some medical officers who were having a medical camp in the said kampung.it was low tide when we reached and the sun was just beginning to set.
we were greeted by friendly ibans who took us to where we were supposed to put up,the tuai rumah's place.it was a lil more 'posh' than some others.the walk from the warf to the long house was straight path which was a risen plank-way on stilts.
before we saw the long house,we passed a hut-like kitchen where many ladies were busy preparing a feast.the smell that wafted out of that kitchen was absolutely hunger-inducing.
after we placed our bags,we headed out to the kitchen,but not before escorting our toilet queen to her chambers.the toilet was much different than what i had expected...
it was a wooden one on stilts n it didnt have a flushing system,just water to wash whatever down..n if u really wanted to,u could peek into the toilet coz there were slits between the wooden pieces n there were also some missing pieces from the wall,neck up.
we found steaming hot corns in abundance waiting for us at the kitchen.the men made us eat so many corns that i couldnt see my feet.
we took off our footwear n took a walk to the area clinic about 200m from the long house.it was a small clinic,equipped only with the bare necessities.
we met a dr james,a fresh UKM dentistry graduate who's serving with the sibu dental clinic.he seemed a lil proud of his new found title,going around introducing himself as dr james to even the lil kids.like as if they gave 2 hoots.despite being a bit pround,he wasnt stand-offish and mingled well with the locals.mai yin,jo,my mom,aunty devi,dr james and another MO then sat at the warf and watched some little children bath and play in the river...it was the famous rejang river..one of its branches.not too far away,we saw a man anchoring his boat,accompanied by a small monkey.
tired after the walk,we came back to grilled king crabs.im not a big fan of crabs;the main reason being the hassle of cracking the darn shells only to find measly pieces of flesh.even a worm would be left starved if it only fed on that.my mom cracked the shells for us n we dipped the meat with kicap ber-cili padi.magnificent i had to admit.
we were shown to where we were to shower and i was left feeling horrified and amused at the same time.it was literally open air...no,not above.instead of the normal 4 wall...we had 3.there was a half wodden wall which went up to the waist n the rest of you was to be sheilded by a big water tank.anyone who walked past could surely see what u had to offer but no one passed that way,thankfully.to be on the safe side,i decided to wrap myself with a towel n bathe like how the malays do by the river...bit of soap here n there...but the towel just wouldnt stay.i decided to screw it n off came the towel...in my head i was praying hard no one walked by.
at night we were served rice with fish n prawns n clams.the fish was 'ikan darat' according to the lady who served us.i was flabbergasted but i had to be polite n accept.whats ikan darat anyway?mudskippers?i dont wanna know...but it tasted very good,n so did the prawns.after dinner,we drank tuak which had a pretty high percentage of alcohol n it went straight to the head.
the MO's then had their first talk session with the villagers while we gave the hyperactively friendly children the goddies we bought n played games with them.after many 'hushes' from the adults,we took them outside n talked there.they followed us like how the rats followed pied piper.about 20+ of them.there was a small chapel outside n we sat there n talked n talked n talked..asking them their names,who had bf's n who liked who n wat they wanted to become.there was this boy whom katrina fancied,billy who kept running away from us.quite a funny sight.we also saw a gorgeous cluster of stars amidst the clear sky looking down upon us that night.a marvellous sight it was,something that we hadnt seen before.the children said it's there every night.
beat,we promised the children we'd see them the next day, and after much persuasion they agreed to let us retire.the next day was the same,played with the children the whole day.we had a river bath with the children who,btw swam like fishes.i can swim too but i have a phobia of wide waters,be it seas rivers or ponds.the Desa U pool is just fine.mai yin joined the children to jump off the warf platform into the river n swam right to the middle of it.freak.jo,my mom n i sat immersed at the bank(which was kinda deep).at the end of the night,they begged us not to go,to stay longer,since it was our last night there.that was so sweet.they took down our numbers n promised to call.that night,we had to dance the ngajat n drink more tuak as some sorta thank you to the host for letting us stay.it could be a lie on the part of the MO's to get us to shake our booties,but not wanting to spoil the fun,we did.after many pictures n thank yous,we went to bed..dreading rising early to leave at 3am.