Here, there, everywhere

The thing about driving in Kuantan is not that the arrows painted on the lanes at traffic lights are taken as suggestions only eg. 3 lanes in one direction, right most lane says right turn only, middle lane say right and straight, BUT you'll find that traffic in the right most lane does turn right AND also goes straight. If you're in the middle lane wanting to turn right, I suggest that you stay in the right hand lane next time. Well, it's not all that. It's actually the number of motorbikes zipping around you.



It's just that they buzz past you on the left and on the right and through any gap that may be available between you and the next vehicle or wall or whatever. So it's very important you dont do anything unpredictable, like changing lanes.

Admittedly, I used to ride pillion when I was in high school many many years ago. The one prominent memory that sticks out is when I was riding pillion in Penang (the one and only time). It was much like that chase scene in Star Wars #6 where they were on the planet with those annoyingly cute Ewoks. We were zipping and threading in between cars and trucks, through impossible gaps. Truly white knuckle stuff. I was absolutely terrified. I dont remember his name now but I've never ever held another man so closely or tightly before, or since.

Anyway, what I took away from this trip apart from a reminder of the magnitude of dysfunctionality in my family, was finding out about my paternal great-grandfather. I never bothered to ask before and therefore knew nothing prior to this.

Apparently, he was a rice carrier. ie. carried bags of rice, physically and was quite a strong guy. He was a big gambler and successful at it too. From this he bought a fair few properties in Penang. Unfortunately, he also smoked opium and was a womaniser. He supposedly had his own harem. But eventually, he had to sell off the properties one by one to feed his drug addiction, till it was all gone. He eventually ended up living in grandpa's house. Pa remembers great grandfather making the weekly trip to the shophouse only a block away from home, from which the British Government dispensed opium, to collect his weekly 2 vial ration. This wasnt enough and apparently he was shaking from the chills a lot. Pa remembers him scraping the bottom of whatever he used to smoke the opium from, to try to recycle whatever he could. Even worse, he died horribly from some venerial disease. This was pre-penicillin. He was a blind (from the VD) and frightened man when he finally went. Pa remembers GGF urinating but it is a little icky to describe. Good eh? I feel a little sad just describing it, just how he must have suffered. His name, when translated was "Black Boy" (or so my sister says).

I knew my maternal grandfather was a gambler (not successful) but I never knew there were gamblers on my dad's side, until now. My kid likes to play cards. Bummer. Predisposed? I hope not.

Till later.

Pictorial

Freezing my frames

Nerves? Man, from minute number 1, I had knots in my stomach. And then these guys got a freekick within like minutes of starting. I could have smacked Bresciano for doing that. I did consider switching off the telly after about 80 mins cos I couldnt invest anymore. Am so glad I didnt. Well done, boys and hopefully, we wont get thrashed by Brazil.



I also had a gentle reminder why I stopped playing pennant sport. My racquetball team got into the grand final and the NERVES are killing me, even if I am only playing in cretin grade. I pre-played the game many many times in my head. For the curious, I lost my match to a very fit nineteen y.o. GIRL! but my team won, so I get this little piece of granite that says "Premiers" and this in my first season, for which I am pleased, I suppose. Note that I've played > 12 seasons of squash and have nothing for it. Zero.

Anyway, have started packing for the trip. 80% of the luggage are little gifts, chocolates, t-shirts. I'm just bringing a couple of shirts and clean underwear for me. Everything else, not mine.

So why am I not looking forward to the trip? Over the past 18 months, I've had many people leave my orbit (geographically and otherwise) and then some more enter (and some intermittently, long story). I've never really thought about all these movements but on reflection, this has been always happening (for everyone too, right?). It's just that there has been many more people leaving than entering this past period. Sad? I'm not sure how I feel about it all. Maybe in the process of insulating myself from all this 'badness', I take away my ability to be really happy as well. Maybe. Just a theory. Anyway, I may have neglected to tell my parents about some of these exits. There never seemed to be a right moment to bring up the topic. There I said it. Hmmm.... that's strange. I dont feel any better.

Till July. In the meantime, have a listen to The Frames. Has the best aural version of fire that I know.

On my best behaviour

I never realised that it'd be so hard to put up at least 1 blog post per calendar month. This is only here cos tomorrow is June 1. Procrastination, thy name is Chai. I guess it doesnt help that I've a new job, which sucks away the energy.

Let me see, what highlights in May can I write about?
Ahhh... I lost all my credit cards. I was on my daily morning run/sprint and thought I'd expedite the process by removing my train ticket from my wallet while moving at full speed. I suspect it must have fallen out then. I once got fined $150(!) cos I thought I could validate it at the destination. And the guy was a real prick too. A curse on his complexion but I fear I may already be too late. Forced to use cash for everything, I never realised before how much I actually spend. Depressing.

And there is the new job, and the new co-workers. Pretty cool guys. Ugly but cool. Initially, I was put in the nice, clean and modern office. Then they moved all the contractors to the 'other' building, which I dont think is ever vacummed, has drawerless tables and smelt of sour milk. 5 of us in the one room (referred to as 'the box') plus visitors. But we're coping, in our own little ways. Eg. the others wanted all box people to use an Ashley Judd photo as our messenger avatar, which I reluctantly agreed to (they're psychos!). Which they then changed to something else but neglected to tell me. So I was Ashley for a day and a half. Was kind of odd to my other messenger buddies who were not in the know.

Also, for the first time ever, Kim made me lunch! It was the most delicious jam and butter on toast I've ever had. I promptly went out and got her a copy of this recipe book. Admittedly, the motivation was one of selfishness (ie. I want us to progress past toast real quickly). Exciting times beckon.

And I finally got my airline tickets (again, had to return the last set) and booked the hotel rooms. It seems much more real now as it's getting quite close to departure. The last time I was back there was in 2004 for a grand total of 36 hours. Mannn... was that a nightmare. A schoolmate (from wayyyyy back) offered to drive me back to my hometown but I had to make my way from S'pore to M'sia. Easier said than done with peak hour traffic. I had to walk across the causeway with my luggage (long story). It was so friggingly humid. My clothes were soaked, my jeans were clinging on to me from the sweat. It was horrible. Never again. I asked my mum if she wanted anything from here and her answer was Pecans. Huh? What? Weird-O. That's what I'd expect if I was calling from the supermarket. Ah well, lets hope it skips a few generations.



Gawd, this post really sucks. Just like Decoder Ring live sucks. I like their CD a lot though.
And if you have nothing to do, go see these guys. They've got a CD launch at The East Brunswick Club on the 17th June. They dont suck. They're fun. OK, so I work with one of them. Go. Buy some merchandise. CDs, T-shirts (assorted sizes), caps and underwear. Moi? I'm flying that night. Lucky, eh? You can hear them (Des Peres) online here. They're also playing in Canberra and Sydney.

Till later.

Why I Blog

OK, Rowena posed these questions on her blog. Well, it's her homework and I suspect she's using the power of the internet to do it for her. *winks* :-). Or at least, that's what I'd do if I was her, which I may be, or not, this being the internet.
So Ro, this is for you (sort of, I may be veering off topic, a little).

1. Why do you blog?
2. Blogging v journalism – is blogging the "new" journalism, an adjunct to it, absolutely nothing to do with it? (I’m talking about "current affairs" type blogs here obviously)
3. Do you also write for a living? How do the two co-exist for you? Why do both?
4. Positives and negatives of the blogging experience?
5. Does blogging foster connection and dialogue between people or is it all an illusion? Does blogging matter?




A1. I always saw it as a diary/journal. I know it's not, but that's how it started out for me. I thought it'd be cool for my kid to be able to read it when she was older, trying to figure out her dad. I know I could have used pen/paper instead but I'm an online kind of guy. It'd be so cool if my grandad/great-grandad had kept some sort of journal. Maybe they did, but it doesnt exist now.
These are some comments from my vicious real life 'friends'.
"I think your grandchildren will be very comforted to know that their grandfather was a nerdy loner, spending hours cataloguing his existence on an online blog,rather than actually living ;-)
Ahhh, they dont understand, do they.
The content sort of changed when I realised some people read it (my fault, I should have been anonymous). Which means I dont write stuff which is too personal and as hard as I try to ignore it, stuff which I think is not interesting to others. The latter which I didnt care before. Not that I do now, but it's at the back of my mind.

A2. First, define journalism. I think it's one type of journalism. Maybe a hybrid between a journalist and a writer. What makes something journalism? If one writes for a paper, then it is journalism? If said same writer gets sacked from the paper but continues writing the same thing via a blog, has anything changed? Just the medium. So I think the answer is in the content, rather than the medium used. Similarly, just because it gets published in a paper doesnt make it journalism. The medium used is inconsequential.

A3. Is writing software considered writing? If not, then no. I guess I sometimes write documentation for it, as well as requirements, correspond with customers, which may need use of lots of weasel words. Anyways,...

A4. Positives are that I get to communicate with people with whom I would never have been able to in a real world, cos of geography, different social circles. Just like friends of engineers are mostly other engineers. I assume it's similar of other fields. Plus I get to read some wonderful writers. I think Jay is very talented. And I've actually met people (eg. fluffy, bekk, rachy, tim and a few others who I know are bloggers but not what their blogs are called off the top of my head). This should be under 'Negatives', you say? Yeah, very funny.
Negatives - it is so frigging time consuming. It takes a lot of energy, time and creativity to maintain a constant output, which I dont have and I admire those who actually manage to do this. Chicky and Steph comes immediately to mind.
I am quite surprised that some people still visit here cos I would have thought my irregular posts and uncommentable content would repel all, eventually. :-) Do I care if I get zero visitors? Yes and no. I dont want any readers (I think. Wait! Dont leave), but I would be a little upset, initially. I dont understand either.

A5. For sure (fosters communication). It is just another medium. 100 years ago, people were using the poets corner in the market, now it is this. Nothing has changed except the medium. You still get the odd loony spouting whatever. But the internet gives all a global audience.
And I dont think blogging matters in the whole scheme of things. The internet matters, but not so blogging. If blogs disappeared overnight, I'd have a few hours a week of my life back.

Hope this was of help, Ro. I have opinions on many other matters as well, such as the AWB thingy. Poor Mark Vaile. He can either tell the truth, and get into big trouble or pretend he remembers nothing, and come across as an incompetent buffoon.