Excess of sorrow laughs. Excess of joy weeps

I could have sworn I'd already done an October entry. Hmmm. No matter. Lots have happened but somehow, I lack the willpower (amongst other things) to sit down and put it down into words.



I was going to whine about the fact that I've worked a 6 day week (50ish hours) the last 6 weeks out of 8. But then Alex tells me that her contract stipulates a standard 50 hour week and she puts in around 65 hours in general. Ai yai yai... Takes the wind out of my self-pity and I get PAID for my extra day whereas she doesnt.

Anyway, highlights and lowlights of the month.
Played tourist guide though I did nod off on Puffing Billy. No pics of the drool, thankfully.
Kim's 10th(!!) birthday!! It's been 10 years. I still remember that first day, when she started crying that first cry. I was thinking, "It sounds so sweet, almost like music. Maybe babies crying sound different to parents than to outsiders". Fast forward 1 month when her lungs got stronger, I'm cradling her at some ungodly hour, softly going "Shhhhhhhh", fearing the neighbours would knock on the door any minute.
Accidentally sent email to wrong person Major red faces allround. Well, just mine especially since said email contains reference to misdirected recepient.
Won a bottle of wine autographed by Steve Bracks! Yay! It's near worthless to me but have been advised to put it on ebay. Anybody here a politics groupie?
Watched my kid play indoor soccer for the first time Well, it was her first time too. I am glad she's taking up the sport without my prompting cos she is not very receptive to any ideas that originate from me. But apart from this, we have a great relationship.
My current contract expires. Yay. "Why you leave, Chai?", they ask. "Ummmm..., I, ummmm, have to, ummmm, ...., it's hard to get to here from where I live".
I got a new contract starting mid Nov. Yay! The kid can continue her schooling.
A production assistant earns like $7/hour after tax. There goes my alternate career.
Hopefully, my racquetball saga has ended In a nutshell, opposition team argued amongst themselves, walked off in a huff. We got a walkover. There was a tribunal, and they penalised both teams! We replay the round. One of our players not registered correctly. We forfeit all points. Accusations fly. Saga drawn out. Not good.
Got introduced to Aqualung's music. Pretty cool.
Went to see Beauty and the Beast My b'day present for L. It was really good, even more so considering these were amateurs, I think.
Cutting out beef from my diet Cos of this.
Finished a jigsaw. Took me 4 frigging weekends! In the end, it was more of a vendetta than anything.

Hmmm... not much of a life. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

(*) Title is borrowed from William Blake's perception.

20 rats tails and 40 rats eyes

Am late for work.
Just go here and participate.... humour me.

Absynthe Absence

Firstly, I always suspected we I.T. people were special. Now the world knows. Heroic. Who would have thought? I like it.

Anyway, was having trouble as to what to blog about in August. I toyed with the idea of writing about blogging tools, how I've started using Sage, a RSS reader plugin for Firefox. It is soooo cool and makes reading blogs and newspapers so easy. Try it. Really easy to install. Once you install it, you can use a sample OPML file I made up, ie. a file which contains a list of RSS feeds. You need to download the OPML file onto your computer, then from your FF browser, when you enable Sage (Tool->Sage), under Options, there is a OPML Import/Export feature. Import this file which you've just saved. I've added all the current reviewers (active and otherwise) from WDCOF, for lack of anything better. Sorry, no adult material. I think. Let me double check. Yup, none. But thought better of it than to blog about this.

Then I thought of something really really amazing and incredibly funny, at which point I fell asleep and now I cannot remember what it was that was so amazing and funny which I should blog about.

So resorting to that last bastion of the infrequent (but regular, at least monthly) blogger, I'm now doing my second MeMe, courtesy of the tattooed Ukulele, she of the Piadana slowfood review fame.


1. Three things that scare me:
Heights (a newly discovered phenomena)
The melting ice shelves
The PM not giving a shit.



2. Three people that make me laugh.
G.O.B. from Arrested Development.
Seinfeld
My smart-ass kid

3. Three things I hate the most
Ignorance
Stupidity
Greed

4. Three things I don't understand
How some people can get re-employed
How can every single one of Howards ministers lack something, compassion, brains, heart. Sort of like the cast of Wizard of Oz.
Israel (I wasnt even tempted to write down 'Women').


5. Three things I'm doing right now
Lying in bed, noting lateness of night.
Making mental note of things I still need to do.
Procrastinating.



6. Three things I want to do before I die.
See the Barrier Reef (I wonder which one will die first)
Go to Legoland.
See my daughter grow up to be a balanced individual (unlike her mother, ok, joke.)


7. Three things I can do
Play racquet sports well.
Flip a coin and catch it behind my back.
Burn food.


8. Three ways to describe my personality
Modesty will not allow me to complete this one.


9. Three things I can't do
Swim
Look more than 3 moves ahead in chess.
Draw legibly.


10. Three things I think you should listen to
Fiona Apple. I am sure subl will agree with me on this one.
Peter Singer
Me


11. Three things you should never listen to
People/Organisations voicing inciting hate/intolerance (Bolt? Zemanek? Jones?).
Newscorp.
The other voices in your head.


12. Three things I'd like to learn
To speak Mandarin
Meditate (and with that the ability to really concentrate)
To swim.

13. Three favourite foods
Sweet and sour pork (childhood affliction)
Indian Dhal curry.
Iranian chicken kebabs.

14. Three beverages I drink regularly
Water
Fruit Juice
Milo


15. Three shows I watched as a kid
Sapphire and Steel
Banana Splits (Siiiiiiiiize of an elephant)
M.A.S.H.

16. Three people I'm tagging (to do this)
Anyone who sees this. OK. Maybe pomgirl, maybe Camera, maybe Husky, maybe Bekk, maybe Bevis, maybe Steph, maybe CB, maybe Justine, maybe Mel, maybe Susanne, maybe YOU!

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