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Guess da piccie!

2004-12-02T10:04:00.000+08:00

Location: Stuffed inside a bowling ball bag
Mood-of-the-day: For a small, quickie post.

Recently I posted a cropped part of my sis’s baby scan screenshot in an Xfresh forum. I let it run for a week or so, and man, the results were so funny! I knew non had seen anything like this! And I though I just keep their comments, just for old funtime’s sake. This was the pic I cropped up.

Now see if you can find... whatever it is that ‘they’ found...

phenomenal_strike: daun kering (my mom nearly fell laughing), apum balik

Jediparadox: human skin cell (close!), kuih raya

Goredo: Onion skin (*giggle*)

LordRahl: 1 cent coin, pre-historic scribble(?)

Jenifuraliciaooi: Gold (kinna looks like it, doesn't it?)

Fusi0n-X: Doom 3 screenshot (acckk!)

Frogal: Ring/Earring (too cute!)

elberal: Feather (if you screw your eyes a bit), headgear

albnok: E-bay’s Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese (heeheehee...! Didn't see that one coming, LOL)

July~: Dried flower (really too cute!^_^)

Albnok’s answer nearly got me in trouble (I’m typing this at a crowded workstation full of project-paper-people!). I’ve just posted the full pic today. I’ve yet to see what’s their reaction to having a baby on the thread (am I an aunt or am I an Aunt? :D!).

Signed: *Ophie, whose sis’s baby’s gender is still not defined...

Barbeque Weekend

2004-11-25T11:10:00.000+08:00

Location: Being at school just because she had to since extra classes were being made.
Mood-of-the-day: Damn lecturers!

A few days after Hari Raya, parents organized a big barbeque party for the neighbours. Dad’s got the best barbeque machine around and we use it at least once every 3 months. I supposed I should have taken some pictures but really, I had no patience for being the paparazzi in my own house. Besides, most of the people that turned up were old farts anyway (hehehe!).

That’s right. Semi-D people in my area are mostly couples with grown kids, manicured gardens and a spare tyre around their waist (and this wasn’t just my family I’m talking). They come in all shapes, sizes and colours. Personally, I think my dad pulled this off just to show off the new and completed koi n’ guppy pond. I know for a fact that he didn’t feed them lunch so that neighbours can watch them jump savagely later that night. More story on that later.

Mom cooked up a feast all right. She skinned some quarter chickens and marinated them for a few hours in her soy sauce recipe. She got me working on the coleslaw and potato salad. We had planned to invite a relative who lived nearby but the family had other plans. Dang, we made extra coleslaw just for that lil’ cousin (she likes to hoard her veggies. I still say it’s weird for a toddler).

Back to the kitchen, mom also made some Laksa Johor, tribute to her upbringing (and for east-type hungry people). I remember homemade fish stock, fish paste, shrimp paste, coconut milk, ‘cili boh’, usual garlic, salt and pepper, etc, etc... Well, I’ve never quite acquired a taste for any laksa but it’s a family recipe after all (as an apt-observant neighbour pointed that out). Any way, all served with spaghetti.

My bros (all 3 of them) minded the barbeque. They’re men after all. Make fire. Cook meat. Okay that joke is old. Which also explains why some of the chickens had pretty dark features. The keyword here is pretty, not dark. Overcooked food is too often a specialty of big Bro (you should have seen his fried nuggets!). But nobody noticed because they were fascinated with mom’s secret gravy recipe.

Sis’s excuse for not being around to help out is the spending time she had with her other family. And everybody thought that she was only going for a medical check-up. So she took upon the task of washing up a few dishes. Anyway, any sour face (including mine) were quickly sweetened as she presented with a lil’ CD from her check-up. Here’s a screenshot and I urge you to knock yourself out in guessing.

It’s gonna take some time to grow though...

Signed: *Ophie, more stories on this, that and many other of those later. Soon, I promise ;)

In His Story...

2004-11-22T13:02:00.000+08:00

Location: In this time period? Umm... November 22nd.
Mood-of-the-day: It’s more real to remember a person’s life.

It was in the 1920s when a male infant of Javanese parents was born in Pontian Kechil, Johor. He grew up to be a good man but under the old British rule of Malaya, he could only reach the education level of Standard Six. But he never gave up his love for learning. Between being a teacher and tapping rubber trees, he often lend his voice for those who demanded rights for higher learning from the British.

Eventually he was chosen to go for a new learning institute in Perak, part secondary school, part university, all proof of a better chance at living. It was a great honour, for after the imam, teachers were the most respected job in any community at that time. But soon came the Japanese and he had to leave his friends and his last year of school behind. But even his home wasn’t as safe as all the British had left.

Other than behind sent working in the fields, the Japanese gave many teachers an intensive 3-month course for them to teach the new occupier’s culture to students. Even in his old days, the man could still speak the language. But it was when the Japanese had all gone when he returned to his old school to continue his studies, saddened by the very many of his year who did not return.

Eventually, he did return home to his family and continued teaching school kids up to being a headmaster. In the account of his eldest daughter, headmasters also taught in classes and having one with a reputation for strictness was daunting. If you didn’t understand it while at school, get ready to go face it again at home. But he was mostly kind and patient and all who grew up in the community knew him well.

He also taught working folks to read and write and so he was a highly respected even long after he retired. He remained fit and healthy, with a mischievous streak. Bicycles and bull-carts filled the streets when he first drove so he never had patience for those who were slower than him. His manual Perodua Kancil had the window sticker "Cili Padi" and a "P" for inexperienced drivers, though he had been driving for over 50 years.

He was never a man of inactivity, so a time after his wife had passed away, he remarried and continued his work with the local mosque and public communities. Even after he moved to be more accessible to his families, he spent his time growing vegetables, reading the holy book and writing the words to paper and memory. He had very few health problems until tuberculosis struck on October 2004. He passed away and was buried on the day before Aidilfitri.

This is as much as I knew about my grandfather’s history and that I can honestly say that he is a great old man and that he left peacefully, surrounded by his family. He was the pinnacle of the extended family, often telling us jokes about our parents, such as how he would chase my uncles out of the neighbours’ rambutan trees or their making of bamboo cannons so it produced the loudest noise in the village.

He always looked as my earliest memory of him, a skinny but amazingly strong guy in shirt and belted pants with a skullcap and a shovel in hand or full baju Melayu with white turban and Al-Quran in hand. He had lived forever. As I remembered how I watched my second nephew tear across the living room in a tricycle without regard for people whom he expertly nearly collided and they were calling out for him to slow down.

The kid would never knew his great-grandfather, yet he seemed to have inherited Yayi’s driving skills. I guess that’s why despite the hole I had, I kept feeling like Yayi’s still around. I just have to find it in everybody he loved. Then maybe I can find him in me.

Signed: *Ophie, who’s making no bid for the excellently maintained Kancil because she can’t drive a stick.

Al-Fatihah for Yayi

2004-11-22T10:32:00.000+08:00

Location: Neither here nor there, just... trying to get some work done
Mood-of-the-day: Death in the family

It’s just after Hari Raya Aidilfitri and so it’s a bit overdue for a blog entry. I should write about how my blue-grey kebaya was perfect and the food was great (though I had not the tongue for lontong) and that even at my age, I still get Raya money and would soon be eyeing a set of comic books from Singapore that I hadn’t been able to afford since 2002. But that was not I’m writing about.

My Yayi was ill. Very, very ill. I can hardly imagine that it was less than a week when his kids, grandkids and great-grandkids gathering overwhelmingly around the Damansara Specialist room (to the point when the nurses had to be concern) and him sitting up and enjoying some of the shepherd pie I’ve made. And still referring me as anak Yam intead of my first name.

All too quickly he was transferred into intensive care of Universiti Hospital. I was not always so close to Yayi (being he had to divide his attention to over 30 grandkids or so, I lost count again!) but I’ve always admired him. There he was, the Johorian guy covered in breathing aid with an eerily familiar black screen that on TV it gose beep-beep-beep of his heartbeat.

The news came to me on the night before Aidilfitri’s Eve, sitting in front of the Astro on local TV1, waiting for the announcement of Raya’s moon sighting. I surprised myself that my first thought was denial. Yayi was a dude, a healthy, gardening his chillies, driving-his-Kancil dude. He’ll be in nazak and then he’ll get out of it and it won’t be so very much a miracle when it happens. It’ll be just so... Yayi.

I hated the Floor 12 where he was warded. There’s too many old people in the non-ICU rooms, with Deepavali treats. Yayi’s not old, just covered in 80 years worth of wrinkles. And now he’s covered in plastic tubes. Nobody’s allowed to go into that room unless they’re clean and wearing a face mask.

And even so, they least they can do is read the Surah Yassin or try to keep talking to him. That room was too small so I read mine outside. I was never very good at reading Al-Quran so I was way behind while relatives were finished and starting again. I guess a small of piece in me was still in denial, even after seeing him looking so... sleepy.

I was still reciting when Cik Faridah stood at my side and I looked up. Everybody had been ushered out of Yayi’s room by the night-shift nurses and there was that loud, one, lone, continuous beep. No television sound effects could had given me any more sickening feeling. By then the family entourage were filling up the corridor outside Yayi’s room.

A wall, a curtain cover and a team of nurses and one doctor separated Yayi and his bloodlines. How long did that one beep lasted? Ten minutes? Half-an-hour? I keep looking through the tiny slit of a door window and watching that black screen until someone covered it with the curtain. I was just outside the door and nurses kept coming in and going out, bring in mostly oxygen tanks.

I keep a better part of my attention to that big red trolley cabinet parked outside the room. On it was one of those balloon-type breathing tools that you squeeze repeatedly, adrenaline shots, drug cases and everything with child-proof and warning labels on it. No hospital staff touched the cabinet, and all completely ignored it. But it was right there, the only trolley outside an ICU of the whole Floor 12 corridor. If I were to give it a name, I say it’s the Last Aid Kit.

The beep did stopped and one of my aunts stopped crying. Everybody huddled to the doctor who got outside. There was no heart attack, just a dangerous drop in blood pressure and slow breathing. My grandfather was still okay then, but they still can’t do a dialysis to clean his blood until the pressure gets higher. So Yayi’s was only sleeping too deep. That sounds okay... a bit.

The later it got, the family split into those going home and those staying (my mom was staying definitely). It was either 11.35pm or 12.30am. As dad drove home, I dunno why I was feeling almost angry. Maybe because Aidilfitri was in two days and Yayi should have been at Batu Arang, just like last year. And the year before, and all the years back in Pontian.

He should be the guy walking out under the morning sun and welcoming everybody with that toothy smile of his and make everybody try to catch up with him in his Kancil through the pineapple infested country-side. He would lead the maaf-maafan and slip an RM5 in the hand as he tried to remember who’s who and "anak siapa?". After all the prayers and the food feast, he’ll go through the kitchen and reminded my second grandmother (married for a handful of years) to divide the food evenly for everybody to take home. He’ll wave until we couldn’t see each other anymore.

I didn’t sleep that night. And just as well because then I got the news as dad was ready to go back to the hospital again. His cell phone rang. Yayi had a another blood pressure drop. It was 2.35am on 13 November, last day of Ramadan.

Signed: *Ophie, Al-Fatihah for her Yayi...

Private Peace

2004-11-09T13:02:00.000+08:00

Location: On her way to somewhere and trying not to steer too far from the main roads
Mood-of-the-day: Cloudy, with a hint of sudden and quick drizzles.

I did very little writing this week and I fear the same under-the-weather phase is going to continue for a while. Not just blog writing or assignments (which two are overdue btw) but any writing; s’matter of fact, I hardly feel like picking up a pen yesterday (I prefer traditional methods over digital in fiction digest). Unlike when I feel very sad, I don’t let all the moodiness run overdrive for an hour just to get it over with and then go downstairs to set the dinner plates. Rather, I feel tired of feeling tired.

I suppose these are something like a sad moment, not a sudden downpour of depression like I had at secondary school but more like a weeklong overcast that gave only cold drizzle or humidity to the point of head aches. Here I sit before a PC that’s not mine yet I wholly depends on and just watching letters of the alphabet appear in structures on a white sheet of softcopy paper, wondering if words such as these are truly my own, instead of a collection I’ve complied from others’ lethargy.

But would I be offended to the emotions of others who felt similar weariness? That there are others of such introvert nature as to compare with mine? I don’t know. An age such as now scarcely needs more others like me. As the world sped along to the rhythm of production, I was the person who sits in idle, narrowly in between the highways of Time that has no speed limit, lost in her own inner traffic. Surely the barrier is too small to accommodate so many dreamy recluses. Eventually one of us will fall to be crushed road kill, or worse, become the bane of innocents. Would I be the one to fall?

It is not a crime, in my heart, to sit and listen only to your own breathing. Not snatches of available time scattered in a day or one to spend with your workload on your head or an instructed meditation from a self-help video. Only pure, idle, selfish peace. Selfish indeed, more so for one such as I who would have spent such time drugging herself in the addiction of playing games or reading legends. But I did it, for myself to add, a bit of time only to breathe and not even counting the breaths.

And that’s when these moments gave me a sense of new air. An illusion I’ve made for myself to make the dread less dreadful? A time wasted in an hour where time is limited? A simplified form of prayer? An excuse for sluggishness? A private soul healing method? A forced silence after cycles enduring drudgery in the mind? An unexpected thundershower of all these questions at once? There is little reason for me to use metaphors or descriptive language to the something what outsiders would term as ‘being lazy’.

Inhale. Exhale. I was not trapped in on the barrier in between the highways of Time. I was one who had stopped on the side of the road to turn away from the suffocating busyness. I had stopped to see the simple sunlight beyond that wearisome overcast and not judge it for anything. There is a feeling, only good. Yet my place is not here, and while there is still gas in my car, I must follow the rhythm or else splutter and fail to be stuck into the highway barrier. But I do dream sometimes, after those private peaces. I dream of a life after my destination, where I could see the whole world on a bright sunny ending.

Signed: *Ophie, having little to say or do and yet still not feel guilty about it.

Return of the Blogger

2004-11-08T10:58:00.000+08:00

Location: Back to school (AAARRRGGGHHH!!!)
Mood-of-the-day: AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Wow it’s been the longest ever since I’ve last blogged. A lot of things had passed through while I was away and so I’m just going to run them along. For starters, I think I did okay in my mid-terms. The pity is that I dare not to confide as much as I really wanted since one reader of Suvon Reality hadn’t the sense that an open journal maybe open, it’s still a journal.

Well, I’m back at school. I’ve finished reading Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Quest. The story’s cool, something I half-felt like passing it on to my dad, but he had a stereotype against fantasy stories like everyone else in my family (save bro-in-law). There’s a mysterious dark plot into it alright, one that generated from the moment of Fitz’s bastard birth and continues on as he reluctantly attempt to do his fatal servitude against a foreign prince.

Another thing that readers’ might have missed is the grand opening of Dad’s koi pond. Well, the opening isn’t really that grand (more or less, a bit greenish IMHO), but they’re fishes swimming alright. I’ll get a before and after pic ready. It’s not as glamorous as other custom-made landscaping hired geniuses though, but it’s my dad’s small effort at a DIY.

On an unrelated note, my grandfather’s got admitted to the hospital. The old due with a proud Johorian history got a tuberculosis problem (aka batuk kering). This 80-year-old hardly had a sick day in his life (still drives his Kancil like Schumacher, I last remember his good days) so it’s no surprise that the extended family dotted on him to the point were his hospital table looked like a Ramadan buffet. Oh, and he still hadn’t remembered my name :P.

Speaking of Ramadan, I was happy to discover that I had a visible waist as I wore my new kebaya (it’s the one were I got the cloth from my Redang trip). Kak Liza de Tailor showed me only one other kebaya she had sewn that resembles mine (a green one, looked uncannily like the one I’ve first wanted) but I hoped this style would make it okay. Though since the style was uncommon, it took my mom and me a good Nuzul Quran shopping to hunt for a matching headscarf.

Still, I see in the near future that I’ll be making a solo trip back to KL soon. I planned to go back to Low Yat Plaza for a warranty claim on my poor old thumb drive. I suppose the 5-minute panic experience had greatly shorted it’s life-span as now it can’t be formatted. I remember plugging it into Dad’s Compaq to do some blog tinkering (and gaming, I would hide that) before exiting the hardware. But at the same hour I tried to redo the tinkering, a lil’ window popped with a format-your-disk request. I’ll extend that story later.

So I had to redo some 5 blog entries, replay Laxius Power 1 and do that project proposal all over again. A real cautious geek should have made back-ups of those files, but then a real cautious geek shouldn’t have screwed her own PC in the first place. Sis already fixed that problem though, but now the Windows got back to freezing every alternate time I tried to run an MS-DOS based program. It sucks damn bad.

Overall, this is a less than enthusiastic re-entry, I apologize as I was trying to fit in everything that I’ve loss (as you can see that I’m still in thumb drive mourning, almost to the point of pathetic :P). But do look out for more up-lifting ones tomorrow maybe, once I got some snapshots working. But for the record, it looks like I won’t be putting up printed Scenes in my bedroom in time for Hari Raya, but I can still try.

Signed: *Ophie, Getting back into the blogging stream

T'was the day before Ramadan...

2004-10-15T13:15:00.000+08:00

Location: Unitar workstation, pc-with-the-damn-fast-typing-gal
Mood-of-the-day: Hurry, hurry, workstation close early on Fridays!

This was how I spent my last free-eating day before Ramadan. I woke up after a bout of cat snapping at my toes. I dunno how he got into the room last night but I was pushing lil’ guy off when the phone alarm rang echoes in my head. Oh man. It’s a Free Day Thursday (which means that there’s no class to listen lectures to) but laundry ain’t going to wash by themselves.

Okay, I revise that statement. Laundry of people living in this semi-D that aren’t mine or lil’ bro’s or sis’ & bro-in-law’s do wash by themselves. Unfortunately, the laundry doesn’t seem to have a sense of hang out to dry on the clothesline by themselves though. And there was a second clean set too. So what could I do before breakfast. Hang them dry, but I had to be extra careful. The owner of these football shorts and jerseys and pants and shirts have an unhappy face toward mishandling. Heck, no wonder bro’s clothes wash by themselves.

I spent the rest of the morning hunting for limited hangers, thinking thoughtfully about the extra more hangers needed for parents’ laundry. Yup, that’s it. My parents are coming home Thursday night, just in time before fasting month. They’ve SMS-ed me while waiting for their flight in Istanbul airport. Apparently, they’ve SMS-ed each of their offspring with a cell phone because soon after, my bro called on me for two favours.

One was to place the Compaq laptop back in its old place and the other was to put one of dad’s good shirts back into his cupboard. It turns out that my bro had gone for an interview and used one of dad’s super executive shirts to look, well... executive-like! Problem was that he couldn’t remember which good shirt, but that was easy.

Dad’s retired but he still kept his shirts in creepy-clean condition. I say creepy because when I was careful to make it look as if the purple-blue had never left. Dad colour-coordinated all his business shirts from light to dark and all had neat turned collars and front must face to the left. The only mistake I did was hanger head-hook position, but dad didn’t seemed to have noticed that. Phew! Wow, listen to me talking about my dad’s shirts :P...

Parents got home by taxi. Most of what they’re brought were airplane food like buns and butter-jam packets and the After-Eight chocolates. Lil’ bro was in fits for After Eight chocolates ;). Dad also got this small branch cutting of some flower plant native to Turkey and was excited on potting it (have I mentioned he had a green thumb?). He had it wrapped in blue plastic and was going on about plant care and shelter. What went through my mind was that he smuggled a plant in his suitcase. Still, if it grew, we’ll have the only real Turkey flower in the neighbourhood.

Signed: *Ophie, who thanks her sis and her bro-in-law for the KFC dinner thay brought which made Ophie bloated at the last minute before Ramadan :D

Liza-101@Ophie.edu

2004-10-15T11:00:00.000+08:00

1. I was born Norliza Aini, which means Light of Mine/Eyes. Malay translation was cahaya mata, thus I was my parent's kid. Liza was from an actress, Liza Minnelli.

2. But I preferred to be dubbed Bright Eyes, not because of my staring baby photos but because I cried a lot of tears at nights.

3. I was the 3rd kid, born a good 6 years after my parent's first duo batch. Much of my childhood was spent being a spoiled brat.

4. When my lil' baby bro came, I learn to fight for attention, or just learn how to fight. Damn, I guess I owed him an apology for all those troubled years.

5. Once, I threw a metal padlock at lil' bro's head and made him bleed. Come to think of it, that was also the year I noticed my mom's white hairs. And also discovered that bathrooms aren't good hiding places.

6. I wanted to be a guy, like big bro, cos guys are strong. I wanted to keep up with everybody older than me.

7. When I couldn't keep up, I cried. It slowed them down all right. Heck, I was the joke of Crying Baby stories.

8. My earliest memory of food was mashed potatoes from KFC. S'matter of fact, it's still one of my favourites.

9. Bro and sis teased me forever. I tried to apply the same on lil' bro except he was too young to actually get the joke. Thus I was branded a spoiled bully.

10. Most of my earliest memories were about being alone, just lying down at the front grille, looking and breathing in the sun, sky, cement and scrubs, waiting for anybody to come home.

11. I love storybooks. My very first story was the Cat, Mouse and the Pat of Butter told from my dad.

12. I soon progressed to Ladybirds' Stone Soup, which I suppose would account to my current liking for any wholesome fluids.

13. There were so much Ladybird books scattered everywhere that my dad kept them hidden inside his cupboard. Of course, that didn't stop me during his working hours. That's when I learn how to be careful... and sneaky.

14. I learn to read through these Read-Along Books with casseste tapes. My first one was Alf goes Wild.

15. I collected so much of these that Dad would narrate the Crying Baby story and I always tried to stop him. He never did finish that story though.

16. Big, big fan of Enid Blytons. Heck I tried to write to her once before I realize that she's already dead.

17. I was given RM2 every weekday for recess. I starve myself so I could get an Enid Blyton book from Kancilmas (gone now) at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail (KL).

18. Technique was good. S'matter of fact, I still starve myself so I could get a fiction novel from Popular Books Store at Ikano Power Centre.

19. In those younger days, I hadn't thought of reading anything other than Enid Blyton, maybe because I didn't quite notice any other.

20. My last Enid Blyton book was The Faraway Tree. I've never tried Folk of the Faraway Tree. Now I'm starting miss it.

21. I don't ever remember being really scared of school, maybe since growing up with 30+ relatives doesn't seem to make much difference.

22. My first friend there was my neighbour named Amalina. She left for Seremban years ago, but we broke off even sooner than that.

23. My second friend was Tun Sorina Ashikin. She was showing off her long hair. We were good friends despite being in different classes (even more so as we grew older).

24. We were close friends for over 10 years but broke off soon after secondary school. Hadn't contacted each other ever since.

25. I attended religious school in the afternoons. I think I repeated a year but I can't remember how or why.

26. Looking at primary school's class photos through each year, anyone can tell I was becoming more miserable.

27. Woe the day I met my Standard Two teacher. I can't fully recall her name other than Cik Haslinda or Haslina. She was the cause of my introvert nature today.

28. She a new teacher and an aunt to one of my best friends. Wasn't bad as a teacher but she oppresses any spoilt and carefree nature strictly and continues to fault me for mine. I knew only to rebel and fight hard but I was only a kid.

29. Once, a girl named Sazimatini made a mistake with an electric socket and Cik Haslinda pulled on her headscarf. She commented that Sazimatini was stupid and shouldn't be wearing a headscarf for being stupid.

30. Others followed in the teacher's strife and took me out relentlessly. They were just primary school students and Cik Haslinda was a pillar of strength and perfection. I guess I was just sulky in the first days.

31. Cik Haslinda was again my teacher at Standard Three. Our class won Best Class trophy almost every week of that year.

32. 1993 was the year I've learn pain, humiliation and isolation. And I'm not exaggerating. I was convinced that I was lazy and for being lazy, I was stupid. The belief was enforced when I ended up in the poor class the next year.

33. More so, I was alone, for being a teacher's target in the best class, other saw me as beneath them. I convince myself of that too. I stopped making close friends after 1994.

34. Maybe Cik Haslinda did have favourites or maybe she only liked certain carefree students, especially those who liked her. During Standard 4, she sent one boy, Ramli, an Aidilfitri card with a 50 cents coin taped to it.

35. If I were to meet Cik Haslinda today, I won't. It's been over 10 years since but I just can't. I can't. I won't. Please don't make me.

36. It took a teacher to take me down. It also took a teacher to pick me up. She might have not known it, but she was my saving grace. Her name's Pn. Sai... Su... er, Aza Fyreen's mom.

37. Aza Fyreen and me were just acquaintances. I guess she was quite friendly with me though I was sulky with everybody. I met her mom in my last year at primary school.

38. All her mom, that Teacher, did was just being my Malay language teacher. The best was when she taught essay writing. I realized that I liked to write. I also realized that I've still got some of that lost carefree nature I loved best.

39. And she liked what I wrote. She gave me a 23/25 with a Good remark. Any teacher could have done that. Except that I like to do what I did and that Teacher liked what I like to do.

40. I've never stopped writing ever since, though my medium is English now. I still see that Teacher though, she being a member of my mom's Old Ladies Club of Something. Maybe I'll get her name next time.

41. My first burger was McDonald's Double Cheese. I was five years old and had an early favour towards ketchup. Maybe ketchup reminded me of blood that I suck out from my scratches and bruises of playground days.

42. Liking Pizza was easy, not just that it rhymes with Liza. S'matter of fact, Pizza Hut's old TV commercial theme song was second one I've ever memorized (the first was Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star).

43. The first snack I've ever (microwave) cooked for myself was Campbell's Mushroom Soup. Placed into bowl and just add water.

44. I like cheese. I would take one and eat it straight from the plastic wrapping. Still do actually.

45. The first non-milk drink I remember drinking was Ribena. I also remember the extreme sugar rush.

46. I used to have an imaginary friend named Diamond. You know, I think she's still here. Hey Diamond, say hi to everybody.

47. My first piece of personal jewelery was an 'L' shaped pendant with 3 gems. The last time I saw it was in between the very narrow bars of a metal grate on a road drain.

48. I had a soft toy that mom won from Genting Highland. I called it Snow White Cute Puff. I dunno what happened to it now, other than it's no longer white or puffy.

49. My first real outdoorsy sport was rock climbing and kayaking. I planned to return to do both once I earn an income.

50. The first book (which was incredibly ridiculous to think that I ever wrote it) was called Mystery Wilderness Four.

51. The first boy I've ever had a crush on was a primary school prefect named Harith. The last time I had a crush on any guy was a diploma holder in IT named Azrul, back in 2002.

52. Nope, never had either as a boyfriend. S'matter of fact, never had a boyfriend, much less a real guy friend.

53. There are days when I would endlessly wish my school would catch on fire so that everybody would go home early. It came true only twice.

54. I had wanted to be a nurse because they wear white. Then a stewardess because they were pretty. Then a doctor or lawyer because they were rich. Heck, I even wondered on being an astronaut.

55. My sis tried to teach me the guitar but I wasn't interested. I tried to learn the piano, but the teacher wasn't interested. What I really wanted was to be a drummer but my parents wanted none of it. Now I listen to music and write poetry.

56. I'm a writer, but I never really got into poetry before I liked music. So if I want to write poetry, I'll have to hum a tune first.

57. I love scenery pics, but the ones sold were expansive so I collected them from the Internet. They're like windows to a hidden world, frozen in time.

58. Perth, Australia was the furthest place I've ever gone to. Now I hadn't left homeland since 1996 (which accounts for my love of Scenery pics).

59. I'm scared of heights, I really, really am. I can't stand too close to a fourth-storey balcony with thinking of tipping over and falling off.

60. On the other hand, I like the dark, especially under yellow candlelight. I purposely kept my room dark at nights and used only the night lamp.

61. I was never really a stylish gal, a bit blind for fashion. I grew up wearing over-fancy dresses and second-hand/third-hand teen clothing so I still have that 'It's still good' attitude about clothes.

62. I stopped worrying about being overweight when I started worrying about being oversized. Now I hate myself for being big boned.

63. Childhood hairstyle was very, very short, the kind where you put a mixing bowl on my head and cut from there. I looked awful in dresses with that hairstyle. Probably the reason why I prompted into wearing headscraves today.

64. I used to dress up my old Barbie doll in tiny clothes I made myself using scraps of rags. Even in rags, the doll looked better than I ever did.

65. I hate make-up. I look like a clown when I tried to apply some on myself. Nowdays I hardly wear any more make-up than a touch of face powder.

66. I used to draw stylish medieval european gowns during free time on excerise books. I would colour them and pass them along to friends.

67. My first drawing was a square-shaped house with a window to every room and I drew many, many windows. Sis taught me how to draw properly.

68. I got into drawing a lot of art using watercolours. For some reason, I always draw rainbows, waterfalls and winged unicorns.

69. My dad still kept some of my art-works, the last ones where I used magic markers and pencil colours.

70. The last thing I've ever drawn were my own creation of mystic-like symbols and emblems. I used square coloured cards and glitter. I've made five and only two sets.

71. I never really had a strong sense of religion. I've started praying properly two years later than I was supposed to.

72. I do believe in God and a Creator of all Things. I just don't quite get the Heaven and Hell concept of eternal bliss or damnation. Maybe I'm just scared for my sins.

73. The first time I’ve heard the Creation story was also the first time I’ve read Malay storybooks. I still got them, for inspiration needs.

74. I suppose I’ve perceived all religious histories like I do with storybooks, great to read once in a while but never really got in it.

75. My very first great fear was death. I didn’t want to grow up because I didn’t want to die. I dunno how I figured out about death but I do know it’s something I won’t like.

76. There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t think of my own mortality, even when not reading newspaper or watching CNN.

77. During the age of 9 and 14, I couldn’t remember whether I was just moody and sulky or deeply depressed. But I knew that I was depressed around 16 or 17.

78. I’ll be lying if I said I’ve never thought of suicide but I had a few close encounters. Once, I looked up on the Internet on how to cut your wrist effectively. I still remember how.

79. There are many times I was angry but only once that I became really outrage. I retreated for 2 hours in a toilet to get it all out.

80. Looking back, I guess there was just a part of me that still wants to hang on to that carefree and spoiled brat that still had not been oppressed. It’s all the life I’ve ever known and growing up to lose that was just hard.

81. I’m still very thankful that I’ve discovered a love for writing. I’ve wanted to write so that others can read and be happy about it. Now I write so I can be happy for me.

82. I thought about writing a journal for myself as young as ten years old. I’ve tried notebooks, thick writing pads, even cassette tapes.

83. I used codes to write my thoughts down, just in cases. I drew tiny pictures, each to pass for an alphabet. I took it everywhere with me, even with eating dinner. I guess my family thought me as eccentric.

84. I still do write codes, for my fantasy ideas. I plan to create a complete set of some make-up alphabets of languages for Suvon Reality.

85. But all my younger journals don’t last long. I got tired of writing them as soon as my attention wavered elsewhere.

86. I cannot survive without the Internet. The longest time I’ve ever been away from it was two weeks. Any longer I would have gone insane. Two-thirds of what I know and have are on the Internet.

87. I’ve heard about open journals when some websites came out in the newspapers. I was a bit appalled actually, to think of people sharing their most secretive thoughts.

88. I was entirely enthused when my favourite web community hosted a free weblog service (Xfresh Blogs). But I noticed that many were.

89. I started writing my own voices when they started a competition on blogging. I was more motivated by a new idea rather than the prizes (I was unfairly uncounted when the competition ended).

90. It was not the first time I’ve made a website (the first was an Anime fansite) but it was the first about myself. I found that I had a knack for it.

91. I’ve tied in blogging with my dreams of becoming a fantasy novelist. Thus I’ve named my blog Suvon Reality.

92. Enid Blyton started my fantasy streak, but it took Lord of the Rings to finally get me into the seriousness of such an idea.

93. Most of what I’ve learned about fantasy was from serious novels and PC-RPG games like Diablo and Might and Magic. I also have a library where I keep hardcover books about the paranormal and unexplained.

94. Ophiuchus, my current nick, was a reminder of a first story that never took off. I had planned to use a magical advisor of sorts called Ophiuchus to five orphan children, or as they would affectionately termed, Ophie.

95. My current and only project would be a single novel, perhaps as a benchmark for sequels if successful. I hope. It is much more fantasy with its own magic concept.

96. A tiny part of the reason was that I didn’t have enough money since all these fantasy novels I read were from overseas and they’re all expansive. No wonder the fantasy fiction market’s small.

97. One of my biggest fears is plagiarism. I was afraid my life’s work would be counted as somebody else’s. I’ve lost a couple of diskettes that had important plots and sometimes I fear someone might use them.

98. There are times when I do feel really, really alone. There’s this void feeling that gets painful when I’m depressed. I tried to sleep it off but screaming softly works best. I do it most often while driving alone.

99. Sometimes, I would whisper to myself that I wanted to go home, when in reality, I’m already home. I guess for some reason, it just doesn’t feel like home anymore. Maybe it’s just stress.

100. I dunno what’s the future for me and I don’t mean that in a happy, carefree way. My habit was just to hang-on as much of myself as I can, as I grow older. I guess my last foothold is Suvon.

101. Suvon is what I call my imaginative world. I got it from spelling the Latin word Novus backwards.

5-Minutes Panic

2004-10-12T09:39:00.000+08:00

Location: At school, somewhere without soap, laundry or spin-cycles.
Mood-of-the-day: Madness Quickie

I’ll start my journal entry with a worthy tale to tell. Well, actually, it isn’t too worthy but for the first 5 minutes after I woke up, I thought my world was crashing down but hell, I’m a drama queen to the extreme. Well, enough hints :P. Yesterday night I collected laundry so that I’ll just hang them dry instead of leaving for school at 8.15am. Aaah, life without mom. I scooped up every available clothes on the floor and dumped them into the washing machine.

This morning, I woke up before my phone alarm went off. Man, I’m getting too used to waking early (I’m hardly a morning person). First order of business was the laundry, which should have cleaned overnight. Well, I didn’t have to wait for the ‘ding’ to tell the clothes were done. But as I rummaged through the stuff, a lil’ blue plastic fell out. It was my thumb drive. The KingMax 256MB had just popped out from the washing machine, half-dry and speckled paint.

And I thought the horror was enough when my old Proton died last Friday. I had accidentally dropped in one of my most needed items into a combination of two spin cycles and Tesco detergent worth of overflows and left it there to sink overnight. Eeeeekkk!! No panic, no panic. There’s only my blog entries, a Laxius program I hadn’t installed and um, er, two Telecomunications chapters and a B. Ethics mid-term sample, the new CC entry. If anybody even mentions ‘all eggs in one basket’ I’m gonna scream.

I plugged it into my PC as I was trying to remember where I placed the receipt and how I was going to claim the warranty from the Low Yat Plaza guys without sounding too stupid. ‘That’s right. Your thumb drive wasn’t water-proof and it had stated any condition other than UV-light.’ ‘I have the warranty right here, less than a month ago I’ve brought it from you.’ ‘Look, here’s the warranty and I want this replaced, no questions. Got it?’

And oh joy, the tiny red light signalled life! My Windows 2000 confirmed that KingMax was detected and can be accessed. I checked each of my files (even WinZipped ones) and found that miracles do happened. For some strange reason I’ve expected my Texts and Jpegs to be wet and speckled pixels. ‘Mabuk pagi’ must still be in me (it’s a digital for goodness’ sake!). The fact still is that my documents are still accessible.

I’m not paid to advertise KingMax thumb drives but if they do need a real-life product quality tester, I might just apply. But I’ll always keep mine in check since a good lot of my favourites are in it (Haven’t printed and framed my Jpegs Scenes yet!). And if I ever needed a good warning or an old reminder, I can just smell the nice, fresh laundry soap smell every time I wear the rope string around my neck.

Signed: *Ophie, a Near-Madness Experience early in the morning. Works better than Nescafe.

CC Character Sheet #2

2004-10-11T17:47:00.000+08:00

Location: Being part 2 means just right next to part 1.
Mood-of-the-day: Divided attention

Don’t be surprised. I recommend that you check the previous blog entry if you are. This is part 2 of my fiction’s Character Sheet. Again, this one I blanked out the most because these characters are very important. By now, you might have figured out how to un-blank them. If you have any questions about this, there’s always the tag-board and the e-mail.

The King Mages are those who perform duties under the King and for the King. In the past, all certified magic users were trained in Inuqtland during the height of the nation’s power. As nations and kingdoms separated, so too does the magic users divide, to each by their own religion and culture.

1. Chris Anasteq is a lowlander and secretly a descendant of Green Cliffs refugees during the Uvounuq invasion. His rank is not high but he is greatly respected by his juniors for his studies in ‘younger touches’. He seeks the lost art of ‘spiriting’, an extremely powerful magic, if it still exists. He also has a calling name from his old culture, though very seldom used it (Christopher). Bright, sun-gold hair and beard, a healthy built and medium height.

2. Mariel Hivyniqiv’s birth origins are unknown as much as his true age. He formerly held the highest title for a mage in Nauqa-Aro nation before he was impeached and spent his retirement in many secret travels. During Asuqaro’s war for independance, he was called for to build and aid the King’s Mages. Many say that the King and Mariel held quiet discontent for each other. Tall but stooped, paper-pale wrinkled skin but deep black eyes and little hair.

3. Karina Anasteq is Chris’s wife, who grew up around the Skyland provinces. Unlike most mages, she pursued knowledge in worldly secrets and existing orders, thus held the title ‘Sage’. Her maiden name is Irulan Greenstone. She is much sought after in her skills in medicine, though like her husband, she desires to study Chaos at the most basic stages. Dark skinned but unusually blue eyes, shapely face and short curly hair.

4. Gerald Usuquinota is, in fact, a young commanding officer in the military division of the King’s Mages. His blood was a mixed of Onus sea-folk and Uvounuq lost nobility. He prefers working alone and often have secret meetings with the King himself. Fine boned and strong built, very short, almost spiky black hair with striking gold-brown eyes.

Signed: *Ophie, will add more characters when needed. Any ideas accepted.

CC Character Sheet #1

2004-10-11T17:41:00.000+08:00

Location: In over 6 different areas in Petaling Jaya, we move this blog.
Mood-of-the-day: Radiohead-ache

Recently a blogger friend of mine commented on the non-existence of my fiction’s Character Sheet. Well, I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to give too much away unknowingly and then the story would get boring. But through the weekend, I managed to sort out the main characters and their origins. However, I also included some hints that are vital to the story and so I blanked them out.

In Green Cliffs, birth names are the first names in full. Calling names are shortened birth names, possibly an adaptation to country life from their nobility past. Calling names are used until the person is married. A sign of civility, non-clansmen and outsiders are prohibited from addressing using calling names.

1. Jaque Jaymeson is a young lad who yearns for the Outside. He knew little about his mother’s family, the Varns. He believes that the Forest Men might help him. He was Lya’s husband-to-be. His birth name is Garjaquerin. Tall and lanky with pointed face messy dark brown hair he tied back.

2. Lya Samueldottir is a young girl with a curiosity as strong as her magic gift. She did not know anything about her adoption. She knew had stumbled upon her clan’s secret and deciphered all but one manuscript. She was Jaque’s wife-to-be. Her birth name is Aellyanette. Small, elfin-like figure with curly hair on a short braid.

3. Handred Samuelson is the Head Villager of Enatuh and Father of Green Cliffs Valley. This schoolteacher is an old but determined man and had kept a clan secret. He has an old grudge against the King and his Mages. His calling name was Hrad. Medium height with dark wrinkled skin, bearded face and thick white hair.

4. Finnigan Jaymeson is the Head of the Jaymes clan. Opposed to Green Cliff inclusion to neither Asuqaro’s nor Uvounuq’s sovereign, he is strong-willed and tactical as well as arrogant. He suspects Jaque of magic capabilities. His calling name was Finn. Broad and muscular, crooked nose, strong chin and yellow hair.

5. Terrance Jaymeson is Jaque’s father and Finnigan’s younger brother. He was once a cheerful man not only patient. He is the chief farmer and maintains the fields and the sheep of the clan. His first wife and two daughters died in an Uvounuq’s massacre. He believes Jaque and Lya were already married. His calling name was Tren. In appearances, he is similar to Finnigan save his eyes were green instead of blue, his nose straight.

6. Rosa Samueldottir is Lya’s dreamy second aunt who spoke in riddles. She lives as a maid/helper in her cousin’s house after she lost her own family in an Uvounuq’s massacre. She also keeps secrets for Lya, some Lya does not know. Her birth name is Pyrosaette. Her very long hair is dirty grey in colour with freckled skin and bony stature.

7. Channeler Harrietta is Enatuh’s magic user and advisor to the Head Villager. She had often secretly argued with Handred for his clan secrets. She is vigorous and active but took only one apprentice. Her calling name was Riet (Mailotdottir). Thick and broad with sun-bleached freckled face and hair short and straight.

Signed: *Ophie, counting the black spots and making sure that they’re really hidden ;).

I'll Pray Mine with Extra Cheese...

2004-10-11T14:32:00.000+08:00

Location: Oh I dunno really. The sights, the sounds, the smells... the smells...
Mood-of-the-day: Aromatherapy

Today is the first day of October’s second week and it’s time to go on a family gathering! My aunt, Cik Siti, is hosting a doa selamat in her house, about a bike ride away from ours. I won’t amuse you guys with pictures because the extended family have these types of get-together so often that it never felt as if they’ve ever left. Ooo, what a scary thought. My parents had cautioned me about it and must help my aunt in anyway possible just before themselves left for a Turkish Delightment.

Today’s also the day that the old Proton gets a jumpstart. Last Friday I was supposed to get my lil’ bro to his tuition class (and was running late) when I turned on the ignition only to be greeted with a dead click-click instead of the usual vrom-vroom to life. Dead silence on a car is enough to make any driver scream. Before I could do such a useless thing to fruitlessly ease my woe, bro and sis pitched in with a pair of cables and gave it a battery-to-battery resuscitation with the MBenz.

The trick worked and cause of effect found. It turned out that the alarm lights had been blinking the electricity away. Nobody realized it because my mom de-alarmed the old Proton’s voice box years ago, when it got to old to be worth stealing by any crook. But the important part was that the trick worked (thought I had thought of driving the Kenari proudly around the school compound). But just to be sure, sis allowed me to use her Wira to send the carpets to my aunt.

Cik Siti called some time in the morning for a favour to ask. She had hoped that I fetch some pizzas from Atria’s Dominoes. I was a bit blur, because this was a kenduri doa selamat in a Big, Fat, Malay Family. Still, maybe Cik Siti didn’t had enough time to cook extra and so I thought what’s a couple of pizzas? Gives me more reason not to spend time greeting guests. So decked in full blue kebaya, I realized that I was picking up eight pizzas!

She passed me the money and the Dominoes Gold Card (regular customer apparently) and wished me quick delivery. I supposed I can’t keep the change if I arrived longer than 30 minutes. There were a handful of guys (only guys) in red-white-blue uniform at Dominoes DJ and they had expected somebody in for a party. Me in kebaya, I told them they’ll be doa selamat and guests over 40 years of age. I think they’re still laughing after they placed the pizzas in the Wira’s back seat.

It was great seeing cousins again. Shaza’s baby (my second nephew) is a walking dude in khakis and was doing so back and forth between his parents in the middle of the prayers. Most of the little kids are on the second floor watching movies on HBO or pirated VCDs. Shaza’s sister came with a bandage. She was helping another sis to cut something at 2am when she misfired and attacked her own finger. And the doctor was suggesting plastic surgery (for a finger? Puh-lease!).

In between orders of Aidilfitri cookies and munchies, the pizzas were a hit, all commentin how ‘mordern’ my aunt was (Much of the Laksa Johor was hardly touched). And on a side note, my sis’s Wira had smelled like saltwater fish, tandoori chicken, jogging shoes and now Dominoes pizzas in just one week. She aught to park at a circus and charge admission; Aromatherapy of the City. Heck, it might even be a hit :P.

Signed: *Ophie, packed home 3 slices for bro ;)

Saturday Night Musings!

2004-10-11T14:31:00.000+08:00

Location: In the root of all dreamers
Mood-of-the-day: 30 thoughts in a sleepy gal’s head, yo ho ho and a bottle of Sprite!

It’s not New Year’s Eve (indeed, it’s Saturday in the middle of October), but I planned a resolution anyway. I find that it’s better to start a resolution and sticking to it in the middle of the year because then you have little reason to put it off. So my resolution was to download all the Scenes I’ve had and the ones I’ve been contemplating for a Scene to print them all out and post them on my bedroom wall. My room’s walls are pretty blank actually. The only colour on the vertical plane was my yellow curtains.

1. There’s the mystery of my dad’s laptop. Gone every night from the dining room table.
2. And reappeared every morning in the same spot. Hm-mmm...
3. My cats have a spot to nap in every room except the store room.
4. The downstairs ceiling fan cranks noises like hell when turned on.
5. Tomorrow’s family kenduri would be the first I’ve ever gone to without my parents.
6. Apparently, bro-in-law’s family also have a kenduri on the same day.
7. I used the same title for every Saturday Night Musings.
8. I’ve finished reading the Assassin’s Apprentice!
9. And I loved it! :D
10. I can’t wait to buy the second book!

11. I’ve reduced my Musings from 35 to just 30.
12. Fits the pages easier.\ :P.
13. Accckkk, I got pimple!
14. Not really, I just like to muse that on no. 13.
15. Mom cooked and froze at least 5 dishes of chicken before she left.
16. I had a history of starving my lil’ bro.
17. I think the Apprentice reality TV is a bit weird.
18. The old Proton’s still busted.
19. I’ll have to move that wind chime on a different spot sooner or later.
20. Jac won! Jac won! Jac won! Jac won! Jac won!

21. Here’s to hoping that my printer can print all my Scenes.
22. It’s night! I should be playing an RPG :P.
23. I’m playing a Laxius game right now and a level 33.
24. Now will I manage to get across his mountainous region?
25. I dunno wanna go to school! I wanna play games!!
26. Don’t we all? ;)
27. It takes me about 40 minutes to write this easy entry.
28. A regular one would take between an hour or more.
29. Chaos Circles fiction uses 3 page minimum on MSWord.
30. Sex in the City? Not tonight. Must defeat 15-headed Hydras!

Signed: *Ophie, died three times before giving up and decided to do arm-wrestling instead.

N.S. Namelist and other Stuff

2004-10-11T14:29:00.000+08:00

Location: I can’t tell you because the Government won’t let me
Mood-of-the-day: Scrambled thoughts

Recently posted in the New NST were the names of 1987-born guys and gals chosen to serve Malaysians in a ~~torture~~ training program. Lil’ bro was born in 1987 so both him and I checked at every state starting with the letter ‘M’ for his name (me doing it too so I could do my favourite ‘evil sister laugh’). But the odds were slim because only one in four 17-year-olds were picked (or we’ll be paying higher taxes for more facilities and maintenance).

Nope, his name wasn’t in any list. I’ve planned to check the Internet just to be sure (and to use my ‘evil sister laugh’!). Him on the other hand, looked like he was experiencing some sort of moon-walk that M’Jackson would be shamed of. I really, really want him to get into the National Service. There’s a sense of family tradition actually. Bro, sis and myself were former Outward Bound entrees and each had a quite a story made within sight of Pangkor Island.

But lil’bro’s time to pack his jungle trekking shoes and his clean underwear were postponed since Ramadan overlapped the end-of-year special. Fasting sun-up till sun-down while getting lost in a jungle doesn’t sound too appealing to a skinny kid, unless he preferred military camp. So by the time Aidilfitri passed, lil’ bro was too big for the juniors week-long program. Damn, but I made sure he wasn’t slacking his teen-days. Forced him into school’s Red Crescent Society I did, made him do noon-hour foot drills until it kills me (*sigh* missed those old school dayz...).

Now that parents are gallivanting, I’ll have to be the one that waters the plants. Our house is a semi-D, just enough pocket of dirt to do this phenomenon called ‘gardening’. Dad’s a country guy, the kind that what Dato’ Lat’s comics represent (river swimming, stilted homes, roasted grasshoppers... okay, the last one was just Dad). So he’s adding a piece of his old home in the middle of Kt. D’sara. However, long trips require a babysitter but I’m no green thumb. Was never too hard actually, just water, water, water. One plant drowned though (oopsie...).

One of my cats is into a weird phase. For some reason, Patchy does not want to do an attribute what cats are famous for; solitary. Like clockwork, he’ll pounce on anyone at the TV room and meow so loudly and continuously as if Timmy’s stuck in a well. If anyone tried to go downstairs or duck into a room to avoid the meowing in their ear, the source would tag behind closer than a shadow and go on and on mowing. It’s getting pretty annoying.

Didja people check the newspaper? Jac from Kepong won the first Malaysian Idol! Yay! Okay, to the truth, I’ve hardly been a sucker for the reality TV singing sensational show but I’m no steadfast to being frong-in-coconut-shell either. Saw the last half-an-hour. It’s great that she won, and with 3/4 advantage in her favour.

When I saw her Berjaya Times Square audition episode and she mentioned writing her own songs for marketing, I thought, yup that’s her. Now Malaysians are going to kill 8TV if she doesn’t make it through. But I liked best was when one of the 8TV directors mentioned in a newspaper that ‘someone from Kepong might go to World Idol,’ Jac’s mom said it was a sign and encouraged the night club singer to a KL trip. Signs, heck, how about that? :D I’m looking at one now and it says 12.30pm.

Signed: *Ophie, time to pick-up the NS not-so-hopeful-and-didn’t-make-it :P

A Day in A Life...

2004-10-11T14:22:00.000+08:00

Location: Welcome to the Hotel California
Mood-of-the-day: You shouldn’t be reading this until Monday

Looks like Dusty the lil’ grey kitty still loves to on car rides. Wednesday morning I was leaving for school when the idiot jumped right on the hood with 5 kg of metallic landing (just what I need at 7.30am, a bang). Since where I was going was no neighbourhood boulevard, I pulled him off and set him on a higher place on the MBenz. He must have recognized this new power in height for he rewarded my efforts with a swipe of his paw on my hand. The small cut kept bleeding every time I type and it’s gonna leave a scar. Damn fat cat.

Pretty much my daily routine is simple. Get up mornings, get ready my stuff (hadn’t lost any file ever since I got my thumb drive :D), bring the laundry downstairs, grab a bite, drive out, pass through six traffic lights, get stuck in two traffic jams, sign into school lab (stop only for classes), check school/class bulletin, go blogging (an entry or two or add a fiction paragraph), then get to old Proton, in one traffic jam, pass through five traffic lights, get home, watch tv, eat something, play some PC games until I fall asleep.

There’s always 3 PCs I could go to write blogging (the most common would be the place I’m writing this right now :P), but only one which I can post them online (again, the most common place). I seldom write entries in my own PC since its new hard drive was plugged, mainly because MSWord just hadn’t been installed yet. I’m still pretty bad at my grammar (IMHO) and I often needed a spellchecking and a synonym change or two. But if I really need to write, I do a WordPad on my PC and grammar/spelling/synonym would be done at school’s MSWord.

I used to blog at night, summarizing the end of the day. Now nights are reserved for my Laxius and AP and various other RPG I’ve got free from online. I got the RPG Maker but it’d need a good long holiday before I could properly write the Event programming. Go a storyline coming up, somewhat based on my Chaos Circles. Hm-mmm, Chaos Circles the RPG... For reason, it just didn’t sound so right. Maybe I’ll extend the fiction a bit longer before I’ll think about it :P.

My parents had just left for their Turkey holiday. Dad got home from his Perhentian Island trip with a scuba dive participation certificate and had coated my sis’s Wira with a very strong smell of fish. Even the cats came out to the driveway to investigate. At least he’s home, or else Mom would go on with her fits. I got out later that night for a delivery of 3 tandoori chicken sets for dinner. Yummy! But now her car smelled like saltwater fish and tandoori chicken (not too good a mix I tell ya :P).

Signed: *Ophie, with more stories to come after this break ;)

Muse-less Tales

2004-10-06T13:24:00.000+08:00

Location: Unitar workstation, the pc with the password rejected sites.
Mood-of-the-day: Creativity levels low. I need a Muse.

I’ve recently going through some of Will’s blog and found his entry about a stupid mistake that had left him deaf to his favourite music (he’s got a sweet new layout btw). The pic he posted looked like his crowning trophy was beyond physical repair this time. Dude, I feel your pain. But you should have gotten the stronger ones built for pure abuse, even if you do sit in the indoors. Then again, your office had always been a very hazardous place to work in.

I got my fair share of broken possessions but sudden death syndrome was never an option to negotiate. If it’s broken, fix it! This baby right here was one of my prized items and still is. What got me to it was the Carrefour price tag earlier this year. Little did I realize I would be spending almost same amount in transparent sticky tape. Lots and lots of sticky tape wrappings. Cheap plastic and migratory lifestyle between places had forced me to preserve my pretty into a mummy-like state.

My own pair of abused headphones.

My school’s having a new e-mail system upgrade. It’s cute enough to be count as interesting but personally I think it looked like a clash between Yahoo interface and Hotmail attributes. But that wasn’t the problemo of the day. Turns out half-the school hadn’t been informed of this new get-up and many were going huh? upon entering an unfamiliar login site and found their passwords crop a Rejected answer.

So a tutorial was made about an hour ago to overcome the huh?. Great, a class to teach us how to send e-mail. Like the third and fourth paragraph of this entry, it felt a bit long and windy, mostly about preferences and attachments, but had to stick to it because there’s little else to show. We could have just stopped at the how-to-change-password and teach ourselves the rest. But due to the shameful news of 12 credit hours student average or this semester, school officials had been drilling Semangat! messages in everyway possible. Or at least they’re trying to.

It’s Wednesday today, parents would be flying high to the Land of the Christmas dinner tonight. I often wonder why the bird, turkey, is named after the country, Turkey, when the bird, turkey, is clearly from the New World (America :P).

Internet rumour said that an original turkey bird from Turkey was so popular on the man festival table that they probably wiped it all out. Then they find the fat gobble-gobble and decided to name it turkey. You know, with American’s reputation for obesity, that story’s might be crazy enough to be true.

Signed: *Ophie, who suddenly found a craving for turkey-ham sandwich from Giant KJ

The Chaos Circles #12

2004-10-05T15:39:00.000+08:00

In Lya’s memory, the Head Villager had never looked more furious. But it was Finnigan Jaymeson who took a step forward and spoke his anger first. Clearly he was displeased with his nephew.
“Enough, Jaque, or I will deal with you myself!” he cried, shaking his fist.
But the man’s stern gaze quickly darted to the direction of his younger brother as well. Terrence only half-stood from his position, his face was exposed his indecisiveness.

Like many heads of his clan-name, Finnigan Jaymes made a reputation of being a tough and unwavering man, even emotionally. Some who spoke behind his muscular back would and had mouthed arrogance but proof was in his profits and his loyal farm hands. Finnigan’s determination and persistence in success was one of the major influential factors in Enatuh’s recovery from the disaster thirteen years ago. But he was also a traditionalist and a xenophobic to boot, a habit Lya sometime wondered if the Jaymeson had passed to her father or the reverse.

Upon the Jaymeson’s words, the old mage placed a knotty hand on Jaque’s shoulder. Lya thought he was pushing her friend away but then Mariel Hivyniqiv turned to face the Heads again and appeared to give Jaque a tight squeeze. His eyes caught Lya’s and for some reason, he smiled and did not move from his place between the other mages. That was when Lya knew he had a plan. She wondered if it was the right one to do.

The old mage raised his stick to the Hall and spoke loudly to the Heads. Lya could not hear his first few words as the people’s echoes were receding only slowly.
“... you owe us a great favour, don’t you think?” said Mariel.
“What favours? We owe none!” cried the Head of Leigham. His voiced somewhat pitched.
He seemed to have stopped himself at the last word, as if he had wanted to say something stronger.

Her father narrowed his sight and whispered something to the man. The man’s face turned flushed and he fell silent. Lya could not remember the Leighamson’s name but she knew he was young, only five and thirty was his age, the most inexperienced of the Heads. Father controls everyone and everything. That thought came to Lya as suddenly as the other that followed. Even those from outside Green Cliffs.

And the smile of the old mage’s face seemed to grow Handred’s withheld fury.
“Seven Men and Seven Towers, Under the Mark of the Flowers...” began Mariel softly.
He did not spoke those words loudly; more to be speaking of him to himself, but the Hall was quiet enough to hear it all. The old mage raised his head and his tone changed.
“Hear me, oh cousins! It darkens my heart to hear your Father resist our cries but it burns my soul if all of you had lost your Past.”

Lya could not make heads or tales of this strange speech. Jaque looked as if he desired to return to his seat, or that he was growing some second thoughts but the gold-eyed mage, Gerald Usuquinota, held him in his place. All seven Heads were standing, some muttering curses and others only shaking their heads or fists. As the old mage walked small steps to the middle of the ring table, Handred Samuelson snapped his voice.
“Enough, mage! Go back to the lowlands. There is nothing here for you and nothing you can give us. Leave us and away with you!”

The Hall too rose from their seats and cried mixed noises of disapproval and distaste. But for each small step Mariel the Old Mage made, he tapped his staff to the wooden floor. Each tap grew unnaturally louder until he reached the middle; the last tap was almost similar to the bang of his previous handclap.
“I’ll leave, yes! I’ll leave a reminder of your lost past. Think about that when an elder teaches you on what to listen and what not to.”

That was when Finnigan Jaymeson strode from his chair and advanced dangerously upon Mariel, with a determination in demeanour to physically push the old mage out. Handred did not even cry out to stop him. Near the entrance, Chris Anasteq tucked his hand into his coat, as if he was ready to pull something out but the female mage held firm to his arm, unmistakably a warning she had signalled. Lya held her breath as the powerfully built Jaymeson faced the old mage, his hand curled like a claw.

Lya thought the old mage was going to do more magic. A bubble of excitement grew within her. Despite his stooped figure, Mariel Hivyniqiv acted fluidly, without uncertainty to the opposition, neither in words nor in strength. He held his staff tightly. With a flash and one motion, he aimed and struck away the hand that threatened him before the staff’s top end hit the centre of Jaymeson’s chest. The huge man staggered backwards and caught himself before he fell, coughing and gasping as if he was out of breath.

Lya exhaled and it felt as if the rest of the Hall released their breath with her. There was no magic, she was sure of it. When Mariel clapped his deafening burst, his fingers glowed brightly for an instant, like there was lightning in his hands as well as thunder. But the move against Jaque’s uncle was seemingly ordinary, if the sight of a frail elder overcoming one of largest men in Enatuh was ordinary. The Hall did not erupt into noise; rather a shocked spell had fallen upon the people.

For a moment, only Finnigan’s coughing and wheezing were the only sounds of the Hall, until Mariel continued to speak, his staff pointed and his eyes never leaving the Head clansman who had doubled over.
“Over four hundred years ago, your families were master of wars. Great knights and Mages that fought against the tyranny of Inutqland’s Open War. Your seven Head clansmen is a traditional reminder of the seven great friends who made the Esaeni Aqens Order, the Peaks of Green Order,” said Mariel.

He spoke not like a storyteller in front of a festive-day fire but more like a teacher who was lecturing history that would appear in an examination, with the same air of discipline. The old mage shook his staff to the open entrance doors of the Hall, ignorant of the soft but chilly mountain breeze that flickered the candlelights.
“Esaeni Aqens was the name of this great mountain range you made your home in before the Open War, before the Order was disbanded. That was what the Order was made for and what it represents. A long wall of never breaking spirit, against both evils on both sides of the mountain range.”

“How could you, the children of that great order, that one soul-binding clan, had turned blind from one of your forgotten motherland? The pride of your brethren’s triumphs still hung in your hearts, stronger in mind and body than you believe but you did not come to Asuqaro’s aid during our moment of peril. The shame! Instead, you cry that we are ignorant from your massacre. Have you even tried to venture outside your valley home to see others? Had the old oaths been lost that long too?”

Mariel grasped his stick tightly as Finnigian recovered and rose from the floor. Lya thought that it might have been the first time that the Head Jaymeson had ever fallen so quickly. The man did not move, nor did he hold support from the table behind him. Jaque too looked tense but often without turning his head, his eyes would dart to the open entrance behind him. Mariel continued to speak strongly.

“All the nations and kingdoms were broken from Inutqland’s rage. That was when all men were equal under the sun, neither old status nor promised riches can distinguish separately. That was when seven men, all born under the shadows or within sight of Esaeni Aqens found and made their home in a soft fertile pocket between the mountains’ bones. This valley, your valley, your clan’s valley. Those men build their clans away from the Open War for as long as they held their ghosts at bay.”

“Landless were scorned for, but the valley did they lived for as the lands around them exchanged lives without care. Until Inuqtland came knocking on their lowlanders’ door. Asuqaro it was still called, though the capital that shook was dubbed Aqa-Anau, the Heart of a Star in the Light of the Earth. The nation was whole, neither Nauqa-Aro had stained it nor Northern Uvounuq had swallowed it. To have the Kingdom of Destroyers casting its shadow was more terrible than any historians could describe.”

She knew the story, reading the dusty yellow pages under faint candlelight. Years ago, when she found the archives, she had read them excitedly as if they were fairy tales of lost worlds. Perhaps, a part of her still thought her childish views were true, being raised by a man with a steadfast discipline in a village of severe peacefulness. To actually hear the tales from a mage who spent a lifetime to more than just reading the histories was like rediscovery to Lya.

“From a small community in the very same you’ve called your birth-home, your clans did endure and fought to survive and keep it away from the ancestral Inutites. Men and women broken and torn a shudder from the distant places they once called home, they were ready to more than just dies from the land they’ve gained. And so the Battle of Paths was the most unsung and uncelebrated victory of the Open War, yet many heard of it. Sorrow of the lost was too great to sing tales.”

To be continued...

A Bit of Magic...

2004-10-05T11:38:00.000+08:00

Location: I’m flying without wings and I believe I can fly,
Mood-of-the-day: Getting high (no, I’m not on drugs, it just rhymes).

Previously I’ve mentioned in the Crystal Gaze that it’s my mom’s birthday last Friday. We didn’t managed to get to that Turkish restaurant because it’s pretty hard to get the whole family in one spot at any one time. Bro works seven days a week (who knew futsal is everybody’s favourite? Wait, don’t answer that :P) and my dad had a friends’ gathering before his big Perhentian Island trip.

Even with whatever’s left of the family, we’re still as scattered as mice in a hayfield. I took a trip to school lab to download various things (educational downloads. Or else I’ll be at my room playing you-know-what). Got home pretty late since I took the Ikano exit off LDP. I don’t often drive anywhere on weekends so I forgot about the traffic jam (plenty of Singaporean plate numbers) and got stuck in it for half-an-hour *urg*.

An ice-cream B-cake from Baskin Robbins

Hell, it was damn good! Completely covered in a chocolate coating, there’s an original Baskin Robbins caramel-flavoured or something that I just can’t quite describe it, but it looked like a special vanilla (I’m straining my head here). The cake base was pure chocolaty-chocolate brownie (the kind that Death by Chocolate doesn’t sound so bad). Flowers are ice-cream too, a sugary type but I was too busy indulging myself.

Noticed that we’ve just used one candle on the cake for mom’s age privacy reasons (giggle!). But one thing was for sure, if we were to use all the candles on the cake, it’ll melt. Bro managed to have some later than night. I’m not sure about my dad though, will have to ask me on Wednesday when he gets back (something about a crown of thorns project, nasty lil’ needle-ball that eating up fish habitat).

As for the Saray restaurant? Will probably have to wait until sis’s B-day in mid November (once upon a time, I thought my b-day was in November :P). In the meantime, I’ll just have to return to my meditative state. I’ve just acheive a new level in Imagination magic and it’s called Spirit Cloud. It’s hard to do it in my hands so I’ve kept it brimming in a pearl chalice. Don’t believe me?

I’ll tell ya how it’s done, but then I’ll have to kill ya...

Signed: *Ophie, singing a tune ”You can do magic, you can have anything that you desire...”

School While In A Daze...

2004-10-04T15:50:00.000+08:00

Location: Unitar workstation, pc with eyeballs.
Mood-of-the-day: I hate Mondays

At this moment, I’m watching a screensaver someone had downloaded, something about stopping to smell the flowers. If I knew the site I would have given it here and downloaded a piece myself. My new Windows 2000 still have no more personality that the Savinoff Scene. And the download would have killed my thumb drive. It’s only the 4th of October and already I’ve used up 129Mbytes.

Lucky I didn’t brought the cheaper 128Mbytes. Didn’t know I was a freeware fanatic until I got the tools to become one. Let’s see what’s taking so much room. I’ve got 9 zip files (only 2 were Telecommunications chapters), 6 text documents, 3 MSWord documents, 4 Jpegs (2 maps, one Scene, One Garfield comic strip), and that Winamp Media from Multimedia project (20+Mbytes). Wow, I’m so FAT32. Note to self: Trim everything.

Here’s an ode to my ongoing distaste for my school’s firewall building community (aka administrators). I can’t play Runescape. During a free-time escapade during the 7 and a half hours before actual class starts, I did a lazy Google surf by randomly typing in subjects and see what comes up (you try typing in ‘Mooning’ in the Images search and see how many comes up). That’s when I found this cute site.

A Gathering of Players

Apparently no pre-downloaded program needed, just some Java support. I was ready to kick demonic ass with a power nickname to boot (Pattern_Star, and it’s mine!) when a lil’ pop-up message box warns that I’m being monitored and Unitar’s PC-Police are watching me and the next offence would be a termination of my PC usage for one day. What the heck?

Anyway I suppose they have their rights. So far my school’s administrators had banned Yahoo chats, MSN messenger, both IRC and ICQ, a few Java applets, no movie files, no executable software, no MP3s and many others I hadn’t found out what I can’t access. Yes, no porn either. The last bit would have been excusable.

The only chats allowed are the Online Tutorials (OLT). I’m having Telecommunications OLT today so it doesn’t matter if I ever get off this chair. Which is great since I’m downloading the RPG Maker 2000 from RPGInfinity. For um, no particularly true reason that actually results in long hours in front of the PC, which I’m already going through already, that needs even longer amount of time to the point that my thumb drive, as said... oh, just move on! Nothing more to read here :D.

Signed: *Ophie, countdown T-minus 10 to entering OLT class... 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

¤§üvøñ Ré@lîty¤ Updates!

2004-10-04T13:33:00.000+08:00

Location: At work or at play, in the night or in the day.
Mood-of-the-day: Blogging is fun, that’s what we all say!

Woohoo! It’s that time of the month again! No, I’m not having my periods, you curious kitties you. So enough about me, let’s talk about... er, me? No, my blog! Yes, that’s it. Let’s talk about my blog about me! And all the extra stuff I’ve got in it. That time of the month is a lil’ known entry called Suvon Reality Updates and I’m to tell you which means what in my life that I’ve added in here this month.

September was the Month of Many and I mean I’ve placed many things. It’s a little hard to tell about it since the biggest change would be the Suvon’s Blogspot and I’m still maintaining the Suvon’s Xfresh. But I’m gonna describe it as from the Blogspot’s.

I’m still using some of the old Scribe template features and maybe I’ll be sticking with it, just as I’m sticking to Blue Shards in Xfresh. I had thought (many time) of renting one from Blogskins.com but in the words of my sis, “Trying to be original konon.” I’ve sort of cut-n’-paste almost all extras from Xfresh’s since it worked real nicely.

Blogarama, Blog Search Engine, Blogstreet, Blogchalk, Blogmania, Blogshares (Kenny’s fault btw), Globe of Blogs, BolehBlogs and Obscure Logs (the latter the only one without a ‘B’) are all links to many huge webrings in my attempt to make my alternate self more Net-popular. And I’m still looking for more, with the help of Google and other Blogs.

Most evident of all were my Scene and My Worldly Favourites. I’ve chosen this scene from Savinoff.com. Just like all my Scenes, I’ve been a regular visitor to Savinoff during my free-ranging dayz just to look for desktop wallpapers (have I mentioned that I’m wallpaper fanatic?). Got him through a trip to 3dshop.com and followed his link from there. All beautiful scenery pics.

I’ve got Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice way back last month but only started to get the story after completing Robert Jordan’s Crossroads of Twilight (which I did not enjoy too immensely). I won’t peek at the ending, maybe ;). Ahriman’s Prophecy? See Guilty Pleasure #1 entry. That’s right, I’ve dedicated a full entry about Ahriman’s Prophecy that’ll take too much space to repeat them here :P.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes. Mm-mmm! My first tastes of this yellow glob were the KFC versions until I realize the Add-Butter packets in Cold Storage. I still continue to make my own, a technique that uses microwave and stone pestle in one recipe. My family still continues to call me Miss Potato, which I supposed will last until I get married (then I’ll have to be Mrs. Potato).

Blogspotting.com and Blogrank.net are under my Blogspot link but I’ve added in Xfresh’s as well (for cheating purposes). Also originally for Blogspot is the Blogrolling link-set, added to Xfresh also to give it more weight. But some were not in Xfresh’s. Like the Moon Phases theme (got that from Uner’s Bleeding Theory). Just to see what I’m missing for living in Bright-Light-@-Nightland when I enter my subconscious.

Signed: *Ophie, now to ‘update’ her room before mom invades for surprise inspection

Guilty Pleasure #2

2004-10-04T11:37:00.000+08:00

Location: Home, School, Online, Offline, Anywhere to get Connected.
Mood-of-the-day: Onward to Part 2!

So what do you think so far? Oh come on! You like to play games, I know you do, don’t lie. Okay, so maybe there’s some of you who choose First Person Shooters and Real-Time Strategy over Role Playing Games (yes, I do play Splinter Cell, Half-Life and Starcraft! Even without cheating!). Why is this a ‘guilty pleasure’ you ask? Because I’m not suppose to play these games. They’re addictive in their stories in their little walking GIFs and their colourful costumes.

You were strolling along on the 6th cave level and suddenly 2 stone-heads decided that they want to pick a fight with you

Yippee, that tournament trophy is all yours!

Laxius Power: Randon Story is the first of yet another trilogy (curse Lord of the Rings if it’s responsible for this phenomenon). A young lad named Random is looking forward to a Great Tournament along with his girlfriend/best-friend/drunk-friend/cat-friend/blob-friend/all-of-these, and stumbled upon a secret sect intent on breeding an army of (yet again) Evil. Complete with over 20+ sidequests this is a real gigantic RPG.

Aaaah, this is the game I’m still playing. It’s huge, even at my 3rd week (and I’ve dedicated 3-thirds of my waking hours to it!). The only lame part is the very, very lamest and that’s the creator’s original arts that he’s included at different intervals of the story. Draws like a primary school kid using pencil-colours (so cheesy). The best part is the very, very bestest (can I say that and get away with it? :P) is the features, some very original.

Some of these games are virtually similar because they’re made using a Japanese creation: RPG Maker 2000 (which explains why all the characters look very anime). It’s so popular that the Enterbrain company never made an English version because of the unofficial (and illegal) ones circulating online and still are. But we are a cetak-rompak society, right? :D

So what do I do on days when I DON’T spend my time playing these non-educational (except if your Computer Science’s major is Game Design and Development, which is more lucrative than movie production, I may prolong this add) lil’ heebee geebies? I read this list. Just to, um, pass the time, like yeah, you know, um, not trying to ~~make~~ think about a story into, like, er, an RPG or anything. Really.

Signed: *Ophie, working on her next Guilty Pleasure (won’t effect her studies. Really!).

Guilty Pleasure #1

2004-10-04T10:30:00.000+08:00

Location: Amaranthia, Laxius, Village of Xis.
Mood-of-the-day: I’m pumped, I’m all geared-up and ready to kick Evil’s Ass!

It’s official, I am addicted to RPG. There, I’ve said it, and all you readers of this blog please bear witness to one of the Things That Are Too Much A Part Of Me (heck, s’matter of fact, that the title of my next list!). Now there’s no shame in me to reveal it. It’s more than just endless mind-numbing fun, it’s living in a story, and I love stories (reading and writing). It’s the old child’s play of Let’s Pretend right up to the Out-of-Shakespeare Experience.

Across the walkway to enter Animal Village.

This was the starting point, your home hamlet of Elden.

Perilous travels to find the Lost Crystal Caverns.

Ahriman was an emperor demon that was vanquished Ages ago. The Hero you play is Talia. Something happened during Talia’s Naming Ritual and the answers were on the Mainland. Together with a knight/thief/princess/shape-shifter/mercenary/any three of these, Talia used her new-found magic skills to discover the secrets of the Prophecy before Evil rules again.

Okay, you’ve seen this before I know, but this is for the first visitor(s) of Suvon Reality. Can you see the smaller pic at the blog’s side-lines? Yup that’s it, I’ve dedicated Ahriman’s Prophecy as one of my Worldly Favourites of October. It’s not the first RPG I’ve dedicated (more on that later).

Fighting outside the Ancient Ruins.

Neophyte: The Journey Begins is about a boy named Thael who’s coming into his Age of Ascension. Vacmatio the Corrupted Monk has returned and he’s ready to gather all the Artifacts of Gorus, armour set contaminated by (you guessed it) Evil. Your job is to find out what’s going on in the Ancient Ruins that’s a little too close to home.

Just downloaded this shareware two weeks ago. It’s the first of a trilogy so don’t expect to do magic in this one. The graphics are awesome and the controls aren’t bad either, similar to old school RPG. AlienSoft had been out of business for years, which explains why the game play’s only 30+ hours.

Signed: *Ophie, which the entry limit for non-fiction writing had exceeded and will be continued in Guilty Pleasure #2 ;)

Saturday Night Musings!

2004-10-04T09:23:00.000+08:00

Location: In the dark of the night...
Mood-of-the-day: Singing theme songs from the animated Anastasia for no reason

Waaah, slow week! I thought I’ll be perked-up for the weekend but the amount of homework is like having an elephant on your back and a herd of the rest charging behind you. Even with the weekend lazy-daze prospects didn’t metamorphosize me back into a human so I’ve been a snail for the second week running. Aaah, life isn’t going to be fluffy cushions (until I’m 55 at least) but it’s nice to have a piece of me for me to read about me from online.

1. Wish I’ve brought an optical mouse from Low Yat Plaza that day *sigh*
2. Yes, even my own mouse is very reluctant to move with me.
3. My cat, Patchy, is still being very psycho.
4. It’s entering month 4 and I’ve still hadn’t replaced the ceiling light in my bedroom.
5. The oldest thing in my room is the computer table.
6. Me? I’m the 3rd oldest thing in my room :P
7. AXN lied. There is no Amazing Race season 6!
8. I think the time span of the whole Amazing Race is a little over a week
9. I’m a sucker for the Oprah show :P
10. Are kangaroos over-sized rats or over-sized rabbits, or just over-sized?

11. I still hate firewalls.
12. I found an excellent freeware website!
13. I’m going to devote my time to finding more free games! :D
14. Pathetic, isn’t it?
15. I’ve finally finished reading Wheel of Time: Crossroads of Twilight
16. And I didn’t liked it :(
17. Last weekend, my tailor said I’ve lost weight.
18. This weekend, I ate cake.
19. Hm-mmm, does it really rhyme?
20. Maybe I should download one of those free screen savers.

21. I hadn’t chosen a theme, just a background for my desktop (see Scene of the Month).
22. Waaah, still so much work to do!
23. All I’ve been doing in my room is sleeping!
24. Why invent spray-on pantyhose anyway?
25. I’m running out of things to wear... again!
26. Put that dirty pic you’ve imagined out of your head right this minute!
27. I’ve found a pretty blue pen at my workstation table yesterday (Friday).
28. Actually, I’ve always found something at any pc table.
29. Most found foreign item at PC tables: chewing gum wrapper.
30. It pays to look before you sit at my Unitar.

Siogned: *Ophie, making this list since she hardly slept at nights since she always sleeps during the day :P

Fire and Temper

2004-10-01T13:07:00.000+08:00

Location: Fast-as-fast can be, you’ll never even get to see me! (Mainly because of the dust in your eyes :P)
Mood-of-day: Friday Workload Done!

Quite a few things were happening for this past week as I was trying to keep up with all the assignments and quizzes. For starters, it’s fire starter. My mom made tacos beef with all the trimmings (corn chips shell, tomatoes and lettice and 3 different kints of cheese). Mm-mmm! Would kill for one of those. Well, almost. Mom was frying the stuff when all of a sudden; she subconsciously decided that a little bonfire in the kitchen might be ‘interesting’ (Yeah, interesting. That the word).

Evidence: Exhibit A of Nearly Burning Down House

To be fair, it was a real accident. Mom forgot to stir-fry some shitake mushrooms she got good price at Makro and was in a hurry to cook it in the wok before Fee-Fi-Fu-Fum brought out the Temper of an Angry Man. Small bit actually, but I wasn’t going to let a good dirty cloth go to ashes. Yay, me the Hero of the Day. She asked not to make a big deal out of it, which actually mean “Don’t need to write about it in your blog.” (which I did, apparently :P).

Ever since I told them about Suvon Reality, anything miniscully unusual always seemed to include a parental statement quote (“Will you write about this?” “Betcha she’s going to put this in her blog.” “Laa~, you don’t have to write, no need.”). Of course, not to put all guilt on one side (in case somebody’s reading this), the anything-miniscully-unusuals are often followed by my own comments beforehand (“I’m so going to remember this!”).

Speaking of the unusual, I’ve just realized that Unitar got one bad-ass lecturer (and I meant it in a good way). Yesterday (Thursday), out of the blue was this guy the size of Arnold ~~Shuar~~ ~~Shwuaz~~ Susah-nak-eja. Apparently, some 10+ people had signed up for a volunteering team project and only one person turned up that morning.

Something in his head (never figured out the lecturer’s name) might have thought it would be fun and effective to shout out those very names right in the middle of the Workstation at 3pm (one of most crowded hours). Sadly for him, only two of those named people stood, looking like mice caught in between a cat and a dead-end.

But the lecturer wasn’t lacking steam yet. With the demeanor of a drill sergeant, he complained loudly on how ineffective the school students were and that volunteering people should have turned up for volunteering on time.

From what I heard later on, the lecturer was one of those in charge of Student Affairs and Development (Aaahh, no wonder. Must have got tired of our ineffectiveness). Lucky for me, I wasn’t one of those ‘volunteering people’ (plus I was sitting on the far side). But since the tough lecturer’s in Student Affairs, it’ll would a matter of time before I’ll have to complete my Co-Curriculum course.

Signed: *Ophie, felt a bit sorry for the two ‘ineffective’ students being taken into ‘custody.’

I'm Blogging Again!

2004-10-01T09:53:00.000+08:00

Location: Unitar workstation, pc with a thumb drive sticking out on the front that resembles like a blue penis
Mood-of-the-day: Too much imagination at 1000 hours.

Wow, this was the longest amount of time I’ve not blogged! I’m way past my Chaos Circles entry and sorry to say that it won’t be ready in time this week (I can hear lokijuhyhyjukilo crying now). Well, just to assure regular visitors that I HAD NOT been lazing around in my room and playing console-style RPGs to the point that I’ve neglected my obligations to both schoolwork and blogging.

Just busy (and enough said :P).

Well, here’s to tell ya what up with my life recently. My multimedia group have done all homework and got the movie trailer all fixed and ready! We tried to add extra cartoony effects in the Matrix trilogy trailer (Mickey Mouse doing the bullet-time trying to avoid fast-shooting Barbie-doll heads) but being neophytes at Ulead Movie Studio 6 with the deadline looming, aaah, well... (besides, we’re not allowed too overdo it anyway).

I had to go back to school twice today. Do you know how much petrol cost is there in driving along the LDP four times in one day (back and forth from Kt. D’sara to KLJ). Wait, drivers, don’t answer that. It was a whinny question. I hadn’t realized that the member who had volunteered to burn the CD for the assignment was going back to hometown (her mom’s having a b-day tomorrow). So it was either now or 5% gone from class marks.

Speaking of Mother’s Birthdays, it’s the 1st of October today! Yes sirrie, my mom’s B-day. I haven’t updated the October Crystal Gaze records yet (not to mention the Scene of the Month) so you wouldn’t have known about it. But I’ve added music! Yes, excellent! I’ve always wanted music on my blog, ever since Linkin Park rang out Breaking the Habit on one and got me like wow! (you know who you are ;) ). I got this from *ahem-ahem* console RPG, one MIDI for Xfresh’s blog and another for Blogspot :D.

Hold it, hold it! Now you got me wandering again around subjects again (yes, your fault!). I was talking about my Mom’s B-day, that’s right. Well, this ‘ere Libra gal is celebration her *ahem-ahem-cough* birthday this year (sorry, bad throat. Whatever I think/say goes straight into my fingers). We’re going to celebrate at this Turkish restaurant called Saray, if that was still the plan.

Funny thing is, my parents are going on their #Umpteenth Honeymoon to Turkey soon and so they’ll have all the Turkish Delights of Culinary once they get there instead of trying them whilst still on tanah-air. Apparently, they’re trying to get some ideas on what to munch before they get confused once they get there.

Well, at least I got a little bit of something overseas, even if it’s still Made in Malaysia. The last time I got a memorable non-airport-made souvenir was when my sis when on her trip to Europe. She got me a white t-shirt that said in bold blue, “My sister when to Europe and all I got was this Lousy Shirt!” Actually, she didn’t give me the shirt (I found in at the very back of the cupboard), but I’m the only other gal in the family. I wonder what happened to that shirt anyway...

Signed: *Ophie, “My Parent are going to Turkey and I’ll have to be the Suffering Gal to Chauffer my Lil’ Bro!”

2004-09-28T12:38:00.000+08:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Money Me

2004-09-28T11:30:00.000+08:00

Location: Somewhere where a Maybank ATM is nearby.
Mood-of-the-day: Rich Little I-Want-Money Poor Girl

This is my confession: Money. Yeah, it’s not very original but it’s so damn true and such a big part of my life that it pretty much dictates every I do (and planned to do). Not that I’ve done anything illegal or anything. Okay, I did! And my dad was so mad that he told me I should stop going to primary school and might as well steal for a living (growing up with a salesman is forever tough).

Beg:
My current phase. There’s no shame in it, unless you go looking for loan sharks (then you’re just stupid and in big trouble). Currently I depend on everybody for financial reasons. My sis pays for my Maxis, my mom for the Astro, my dad for the Proton and everything else is a quick titbit and snatch here and there. If I needed anything extra, I’ll get down on my knees. I might have gotten a few stares when I did the act once at Ikano Popular Book store but hell, the trick worked!

Sell newspaper:
This is always a big joke in my House. There’s a special place specifically for me to pile together all the used paper to sell (except toilet paper, duh!).
“Liza, take all these at the back room or somebody might throw them away.”
“I got some used papers here, do you want them?”
“Quick, quick! It’s the old newspaper man.”
And when my mom checks and see how high the stack had grown, she’ll ask “Are we there yet?”
Truthfully, I can get RM20 in about 3 month’s worth (enough for a good lunch).

Diet:
Speaking of lunches, that’s the one thing I always not take. It’s the second meal of the day. My parents would give me lunch money just enough for Giant’s food court every week. And every week, I kept the cash in my purse. Okay so there are sometimes, I do enjoy indulging at Chicken Rice Shop or (very rarely) a Burger King. But mostly, I kept it accumulating. And Kak Liza de Tailor said that I’ve lost a good amount of weight (yay!).

Penny stupid:
Lastly is the most unproductive habit of mine. Unproductive, yet not too wasteful, because all it took was a cupboard space the size of a candy jar. I collect 1 cent coins. I have only about 600 of them (it could be 700, but I didn’t bother to count since the family moved house). I planned to go to the National Bank once I’ve collected about 10 jars or so (current number of jars: 1). Question is if the staff would exchange them for bigger cash.

If I’m so obsessed with collecting and spending money (like everybody else in this bling-bling world :P), why didn’t I get a job? Aaah, de moste commone questione. I can hear my dad now (Lazy girl, lazy girl, lazy girl...), which isn’t entirely false. I’m just not capable of juggling school and a job at the same time. Sometimes I regret not looking for work during my 3-month free time before tertiary education and it makes me feel retarded. Here to hoping my current system still works.

Signed: *Ophie, have been contemplating a job ad posted on her school’s general announcement, something about a cyber café.

The Imaginary Friend

2004-09-28T09:50:00.000+08:00

Location: Suvon Imaginary
Mood-of-the-day: Diamond Sparkle

It’s funny once you start to think about it, especially when you’ve got a little older (and wiser, hopefully). There are stories about imaginary friends in many children’s books. Haley Joel Osment and Whoopi Goldberg starred in a movie about an imaginary friend (if you were only born in 1996, the movie’s called Bogus). Still running in the Star newspaper is the infamous Calvin and his tiger, Hobbes.

Being the girl who considers ‘Imagination’ is a verb instead of a noun, I remembered my very first imaginary friend. Yes, I had one of my own. Heck, I even remember how she came by. You might even say that she was my heroine. I called her Diamond because she was tough and she was beautiful and she was my own magical friend.

It was around the time when my age was a single digit. I’ve always wanted to be a boy because they’re stronger and bigger and mostly, I didn’t want to get left behind. Being the sibling born six years after my parent’s last birth batch, I had a lot to catch up if I wanted to stick around the ‘big kids’.

Yet, I hadn’t lost my sensitive side. Despite her name, Diamond was my sensitive side. She was born during a sensitive phase. After a time period of Disney video tapes (you know, tapes. The movie thing before DVDs) where princesses talks to animals and lived happily ever after, I stumbled on a hidden cache titled The Last Unicorn. It was the first non-Disney animation I’ve ever seen and one that didn’t end with the predictable guy + gal.

Looking back, I now see how beautiful the story was. At the first time, I cried for a long while after I watched that, because I felt like it just wasn’t fair if they loved each other (and the theme song added the effect). So I made up an alternate story in my head, the one where there was a happy ending. That’s when I got Diamond. She was the daughter of the guy + gal in The Last Unicorn that I’ve altered slightly.

Diamond is magical, like her mother. Diamond can shape-shift in all sorts of creatures, from a white pigeon to an angel to an ugly monster. But her favourite form (and mine :P) was a black unicorn with white mane and horn and had silver-tipped wings. At night when I get lonely or sad, she would take me to places where only dreams can be made real. We’ll fall into Enid Blyton’s fairylands or fly over the Emerald City and follow rainbows.

I lost Diamond soon after I sat for UPSR exams. She sort of vanished. I can’t hear her call for me at night because I always get too tired to dream. There are times when she did came back, just to sit by me and whisper secrets. Eventually, she was gone, period. I filled the empty void with teen books and Japanese anime. Maybe I’ve pushed her out because I thought I was getting too old.

But one thing was real about my imaginary friend. She got me into fantasy and I had never got out of it since :). I supposed she hadn’t really left. She was an expert shape-shifter after all. Maybe we sort of merged together. I like that idea better.

Signed: *Ophie, now listening about your imaginary pal.

The CC mini Appendix

2004-09-27T16:10:00.000+08:00

Location: Still here, ain’t anywhere else, unless aliens have abducted me, would explain the sudden lost of two hours :P
Mood-of-the-day: Deadline Exceeded.

The Chaos Circles #12 will be a bit late. I kinna got hung up in Real Life (Yes! I do have one. Don’t you? :P). But I can guarantee you that this week’s instalment will be within this week (even if I have to use my toes!). In the meantime, I’ve made a crude jpeg using Paint to visually stimulate you on the Geography of Green Cliffs Valley.

Map of Green Cliffs Valley

This is basically Enatuh Hall’s large picture tapestry that hung on the visible wall at the behind the Head Villager’s chair. The ‘hideous, hairy grassland cat’ should be in the empty space at the bottom right. Pretty much, it’s a lion, a symbol of both leadership and unity. But it’s not in the jpeg because I can’t draw that good.

Also, you’ve might have encountered some foreign words in Chaos Circles. I’ve made up several different languages for this story using a few neat tricks I’ve taught myself.

Ancient Suvonite(still in usage)
Asuqaro: Light of Earth
Aqanau: Heart of Star. Formerly called Aqa-Anau
Uvounuq: Great size, Giants
Isnut inotu Avaasi ina Uqona (King Mages’ motto): Form and Nature holds the Power
Asana: Forest
Usuquinota: Blood Time
Evinau: Sharp sword
Esaeni Aqens: Peaks of Green
Inutq(land): Tranquillity, Peace

Lost Suvonite(unknown origins)
Hivyniqiv: Noble person/man, nobility

The term ‘magic’ in this story is pretty basic; you think it, you make it. Requires concentration and plenty of training. Different cultures get different training. I would put a more detailed description but I’ve haven’t got it completely figured out myself. Trying to get something very original. But basically in this story, all acts of magic are called ‘touching the Chaos’. Lya’s secret archives can properly explain it the most.

I’ve updated the story archives under Great Library. If you have any question/ideas, this entry is open for comments. Hope you enjoy reading it as I crack open my head every week trying to make sure I get an entry in (naah, just kidding, I do like to write this story :P).

Signed: *Ophie, writing the story at the beginnings of a new era, long after an Age of Ages since the Collapse.

Sunday: Morning, Noon and Night

2004-09-27T11:15:00.000+08:00

Location: Unitar Workstation, pc 79
Mood-of-the-day: Feeling slightly better than yesterday.

Sunday began interestingly enough. For starters, mom cooked nasi lemak enough for the Chinese Red Army (or in this case, my family’s breakfast and lunch). She didn’t want to cook during midday because she and I planned to visit our favourite tailor, Kak Liza. Time to get come nice cloths to be turned into clothes. But I think the biggest reasonwas that she’s looking forward to the live telecast of Shanghai’s first Formula 1 race (F1 fanatic. Oooh, if I hear another scream of Coulthard, Coulthard... *grrr*).

Having nasi lemak for breakfast also means peanuts were served. Try as we might, Dad never could get his hands off these titbits despite doctors’ orders (at least he could have used a spoon). But it’s family orders that no cats are allowed on kitchen chairs, least the ones humans were trying to sit on (poor Patchy. Dad’s butt was almost the last thing he’d ever see, which is not a nice way to get squashed to death by IMHO).

Around noon, we set off to Jalan Kuching. Brought along an old, old kebarung for a guide (also made by Kak Liza in 199*). Mom insisted on the Light n’ Easy music all the way (fell in deep stupor, half-dreamed that Celine Dion was dancing with Barbra Streisand on Broadway). She shook me to full consciousness because I was supposed to memorize the roads in case I’ll ever need to get through all these KL roads.

Kak Liza stayed in one of these small new villages ever since her parents started the tailoring business (Dato’s and Datins regularly come a-calling). It’s a handcrafted industry al right, one that’s kept in the family and the half the village’s in it. While she turns beautiful cloths into kurung, kebaya, kebarung, kemeja, etc at a minimum 3 a day (even with beads), her sister across the street does the embroidery on edges and sleeves so good that boutiques rang on her phone.

On the way Home, we stopped by at Shakey’s Pizza to grab a leaflet menu. Yesterday got me buried under piles of old New Straits Times, the Star and Mingguan in a hunt for the delivery number. Damn new developing area! Pizza Hut and Dominoes are too much of an LDP drive away. In my quest for an ad (Internet could have been much easier but you know my problem), an avalanche of musty newspapers slides knocked me down flat.

When it comes to pizzas, I don’t ask, I demand. Liza Pizza, Pizza Liza. I learned what was a pizza before I knew my own name. Okay, maybe that was a fib that it might have been true. We ended up A&W for Saturday dinner (thanx, Kak Emma :P). But no leftover nasi lemak for Sunday dinner! Except for my bro, he hates anything with cheese and tomato sauce with a passion (that guy might never knew what’s he’s missing :P).

So we ate 3 regulars of Hawaiian Chicken, Beef Pepperoni and Mushroom Magick (weekend special offer = RM35.60) as we watched Gywneth Paltrow love her baby Apple (yeah, she named her baby ‘Apple’). And here I’m thinking that baby’s going to be a real forbidden fruit once she’s a teen. And Jude Law can break-dance, imagine that.

I dunno when the movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow but it might be interesting to watch. But can they name that title any longer? The Airborne Travelling Kakis-coloured Wardrobe People with an Army Titled Hero Flying Over Weird Island Before They Crashed and Got Stuck in a Survivor Rip Off with Many Dinosaurs Chasing Them in Full Sci-Fi Drama. Sheesh...

Signed: *Ophie, which pretty much, the story’s in the title itself.

Saturday Night Musings!

2004-09-27T10:01:00.000+08:00

Location: In a place of boredom where I only got out of it 3 times today (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
Mood-of-the-day: What do you expect in a place of B-O-R-E-D-O-M?

It’s that night again! Not that I’m actually jump up and down to eagerly write it (see entry’s mood-of-the-day). So I’m twiddling my fingers when I’m not continuously banging on the keyboard’s Spacebar or Enter key, trying to kill off this stupid mouse. No, not the hardware mouse (not a real rat either! Ewwww...), I mean this enemy character in this freeware consol-RPG game (yes, I’m still addicted :P).

1. It’s ridiculous to have an Enemy mouse with a higher vitality score than your character.
2. I bet my cats can win this game better than me :’(
3. My arms are tired.
4. I’m going to be a crooked old maid when I’m 30 :P
5. Still can’t find that Shakey’s Pizza number.
6. I’m going to download Console-style RPG freeware.
7. I’m too tired to write 7 entries.
8. Okay, actually, I’m too lazy.
9. I’m trying to paste a MIDI music file to my blog. How?
10. First I gotta choose between 2 MIDIs I like :P

11. What are Blogshares?
12. I’m a sucker for anything with the term ‘FREE’ attached to it.
13. Maybe I should take a break...
14. Naah :P
15. I still got too much schoolwork *sigh*
16. "Let it burn, let it burn, gotta let it burn~," *singing Usher’s Burn*
17. Tomorrow is when I’m sending my batik to make a kebarung
18. Damn, it’s raining again.
19. And I’m getting sleepy.
20. Cold and dark places always makes me sleepy.

21. I’m musing on what’s for breakfast tomorrow.
22. I’m always musing about food :P
23. Die, you stupid rat, DIE!!
24. I’ll post a review about this game on Monday :P
25. Freeware is the only games my PC can handle.
26. Gotta be careful on those viruses.
27. Do office sitters make their butts bigger?
28. Damn...
29. Dominoes and Pizza Hut are still not around Kt. D’sara :P
30. Back to the Game! :D

Signed: *Ophie, level 28 and completed 3 relics’ quests ;)

Freeware and a Dream Guy

2004-09-22T09:59:00.000+08:00

Location: Hands on keyboard, feet under desk, eyes forward at monitor, mouth sucking in a Sprite.
Mood-of-the-day: See, I can do minimum multi-tasking :P...

I’m so not in the mood to go to school today. In actual fact, my Wednesday class was not scheduled to have today since we’re supposed to read chapter 4 on our own. Plus, this was supposed to give us extra, extra time to work on the 2-minute movie assignment, which is due in less than two weeks. So project current evaluation: Arrrggghhh!!! And here I was day-dreaming of making a Multimedia major.

So why am I here anyway? Well, to slave away into this blog so you can pry into my story since you’ve got no spice of your own (heh! :P). Nah, that’s not it. I’m having a Last Chance group meeting. Hopefully the others managed to get an idea or so. Confession by me, I haven’t been downloading the Matrix trailer at all (but I am now!). Let’s just say a lil’ RPG was being a very tempting distraction.

Amaranthia: Ahriman's Prophecy

You know when they say you’ll know it when you met the man of your dreams? Okay, so maybe they don’t say it often or even at all (whoever ‘they’ are). No, this isn’t a steamy story of a dreamy new crush (I hadn’t had a crush on any guy since secondary school *sigh*). But there was a dream involved that’s for sure. And I’m wondering if the man of my dreams is just that, in my dreams.

Usually I’ll call upon E. Diot to interpret my dreams despite the lack of any true calculation (my alter ego would read a blue mushroom in a dream as Death by Slurpee). But Im going to be open and let you guys decide (since I’m lacking any real story for this blog entry), here’s how the dream goes...

It was a scene back at my mom’s old Johor community. I presumed it was at the backyard of a distant because there’s lots of coconut trees, the ground was soft and there’s lots of greens and running (living) chickens. It was a very Aidilfitri atmosphere. Everybody’s in his or her Malay clothes, eating finger foods (satay, hot dog and such). I was wearing my pastel pink kebaya, surrounded by aunties (more that I liked to be surrounded by in one place but that might had been the dream making).

Sudden, one of my aunts, mak-yah and cik-sidah said that I was turning into an old maid and that all of them were going to do something about it. Then there was this guy came up to me. Tall, dark and clean-shaven, he’s not exactly a guy who should be seen on TV (IMHO, a bit skinny). He looked like the kind of guy my mom would gossip to all her friends about, which was my first thought as next to this-must-be-a-joke. He smiled and I woke up.

I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed. I swear that I’ve never seen this guy that crept into my subconscious, even if I bothered to compare with all the Unitar guys I pass everyday. But if this was one of those mysterious dreams that you’ll an unexplained sense of déjà vu when you get to it, I hope I wasn’t an old maid when I’ll get it.

Signed: *Ophie, still had to graduate before any serious commitment.

Gas-tronomic and PC Alive!

2004-09-21T11:21:00.000+08:00

Location: In the classroom that smelled like a sloppy joe :P
Mood-of-the-day: *sing-song voice* “Hurry, hurry, hurry! Must be hurry... In a fast track world...”

Last night I felt so weird. As I got up, these was this sudden dizzy sensation in my eyes, you know, spots. And everything below my head seemed drained. It could have been the long sitting position in front of my PC as I tried to juggle some of the graphics drivers, a sudden shock of blood rush. On the other hand, it might even be slow blood rush. I’m notorious for low blood pressure (my mom, an aunt and first cousin got it too), but hadn’t felt that weak since I nearly passed out in secondary school.

Wished I hadn’t blab it out to my mom though. This morning she made the treat of breakfast sloppy joes (see previous September 17th and Unforeseen Tragedy). And she had the gall to make me pack one for lunch today (I’m notorious for skipping meals but I never seem to go under *ahem* kg). Wished she hadn’t talked me into it. Wished I hadn’t chosen to sit under a wall fan either. But I was 3 wishes too late.

My tutorial room isn’t really like those secondary school’s big and roomy, four-doors-open kinna class. It’s like an office, enclosed and air-coned. I didn’t realize my bag was a gas-tronomic bomb until I opened it to pick out a notebook. Suddenly, the whole class was filled with sloppy joe aroma. My imagination don’t extend too far in a few-feet by few-feet cube room so I can honestly say, everybody was trying to find the smell’s source. Even the lecturer (Pn. Noor Lees) stopped in chapter 3 presentation and said “Ooo, sedapnya bau.”

Lucky mom didn’t serve durians for breakfast :P.

PC Restoration Update: “It’s alive, it’s ALIVE!” wheee~eeeeee~! Alive alright, but not in a monster-Frankenstein kinna way (though maybe it might run much faster if it did mutated).

Looks like mom managed to get the hard drive to KLCC just in time, though by the moans of her tired feet, I’m thinking she didn’t just did a drop-off errand (rumours says that dad brought another fiction mystery). Sis and bro-in-law got the CPU guts back together again and the brain received a Windows 2000. Awesome! But I’ll have to re-download my old desktop theme.

Maybe I'll choose something like this...

At this moment, I’m downloading some drivers from the Internet. I managed to locate the sound card software driver in a box under1999 Jelita/Woman’s Weekly magazines (though ‘1999’ might also be the year of the magazines, but there was too many to check). But Nvidia’s Riva 128(TM) is online (it’s amazing the software driver’s still there!) but I got it covered. I tried playing Ahriman’s Prophecy without the sound card driver and it killed itself :P (stupid freeware).

Signed: *Ophie, eating her lunch sandwich outside the school building.

The Chaos Circles #11

2004-09-20T15:53:00.000+08:00

Whatever effect Jaque thought he would gain, only those around his age looked surprised and/or puzzled. Lya could tell that he managed to surprise himself. The elder clansmen and clanswomen just stared solemnly at him, some even cringed their faces. Even less told than the myths and legends of Suvon was the secret history of Green Cliffs valley.

For many years, the tale was told through generations but not spoken of. After the new King did not provide protection or aid, her father openly rebuked anyone who tried to speak of it. To the children, he only taught them that the clans’ people came to a lush land from the Old Realms and made it their homes. Nothing about the magic. Not even the secret archives of Chaos Skills.
Esaeni Aqens. Perhaps no one even remembers what the Suvonite name means anymore, save Lya herself.
“Sit down, Jaque,” said Handred, his tone was sharp but with little displeasure.
Jaque’s face was red but the mage had his attention well focused. “No, Father Villager. Let him speak,” said Mage Chris.
He raised an open palm to Jaque and nodded. But while Jaque looked eager, his father was tugging at his son’s hand to sit down.

But Handred stood as quickly as his frail bones could carry him, his expression filled with growing distaste.
“I do not let any one to speak of the Green Cliff’s old days as long as I am the Father of Green Cliffs.”
“The boy is not of your clan, isn’t he? Let him speak. Let him tell the truth,” countered the mage.
A mutter of interest rose from the younger folk of the Hall only seemed to fuel Handred’s discontent.

“He is a man. More importantly, my son-in-law! And what does he know? He was not even schooling when I passed the rule,” said Handred, his eyes going back and forth between the mage and the half-standing Jaque.
Because I was the one who told him. Lya squeaked instantly at the thought and quickly regretted her bad habit. Half the hall now drew their attention at her.

Jaque quickly broke free from Terrence Jaymeson’s grasp and spoke loudly.
“I do know. More than that, I’ve told many about it! Who we were, how we came here, how we failed the Towers and how the mages...”
But Handred was knocking his the head of his walking stick on the table loudly.
“Stop, stop! I forbid you. Jaymeson, restraint your son!” shouted the Head Villager.
Terrence pulled Jaque forcefully by his arm as Jaque continued to rant.

Lya thought that she should speak too but her mother’s grasp on her own hand was almost begging for her not to start. But the rest of the hall was growing troubled as well; the walls were ringing with the voices of the younger clans of both men and women as the elders tried to hold them.
“Let Jaque speak!”
“What secret?”
“Mages, tell us if you knew!”
“Quiet Boris, or I’ll have your mouth stuffed with dung!”
“Clean out your mouth, father!”

Between the shouts and cries and knocking of Handred’s stick, Lya caught the elder mage standing up. With hands as thin and crooked as her father, the elder mage clapped them together once but the sound emitted was enormous. It was like a crack from an End-Winter thunderstorm that was a lightning-struck tree too close. Lya felt her ears ringing and wondered if others, by their shocked faces, felt the same.

Channeler Harrietta seemed to be the only person unmoved by the sudden noise. Immediately she pointed a fat finger at the elder mage.
“Magic! You touched the Chaos!” she cried, as if the 300 unskilled others had not noticed the unnatural resonance. Lya saw the faint waves of patterns too.

Many times she had watched the channeler performed the common skills on others, healing or cleaning the water or reading the earth for when to plough the fields. Always there was this strange white glow on her fingertips, like the faint edges of candles. When she was a smaller child, she had always wanted to ask Channeler Harrietta about the glow, but the woman’s huge size had always intimidated her.

It was not until after she discovered the archives that her curiosity was quenched. Even then Lya had not mention them to the channeler. Now that she was older and hopefully stronger in the skills, the desire to share her secrets was turned to Jaque instead of the Channeler. But there was a difference between the waves that exude from the elder mage and the channeler.

“Virdie,”
“Please Lya, not so loud,” said Virdie, rubbing the ear that Lya spoke into.
“I’m sorry, but who was that old mage again?” asked Lya, her eyes watched as the elder mage and Mage Chris whispered quietly to each other.
“Oh had I not mentioned? His name is Mariel Hivyniqiv. A foreigner no doubt,” said Virdie.
Hivyniqiv. Lya wondered what language did his name contain a meaning.

Handred’s look was never broken from the two standing mages. If anytime, he was a man ready to gain control of the situation. He turned a hand away at Channeler Harrietta and gestured for her to return to her place. But it was the elder mage, Hivyniqiv, who spoke first.
“Keep your old secrets, Handred Samuelson, and bury your past if you think you know what is right. But tonight we both see that your voice had not been one with the Whole. We can sit here until the Old War-Devil knocks on your door before he blows down this shack. But I am old and my juniors cannot waste their skills with you while the rest of my family break their bones on stones.”

The old mage produced a stick from under the table, long and strong, shaped like a shepherd’s crook. He rapped the other mages with it on their shoulders as if he had turned daft.
“Come, come! We leave. Yes, now. Let their own dead speak to them. When it gets louder, maybe they’ll finally hear something.”
The Mage, Chris Anasteq, raked his hand through his hair, his face suddenly turned dejected. The woman mage, Karina, looked as if she was ready to protest and speak her voice but the rap on her shoulder seemed to have dispirited her. Only the face of the youngest mage did not express his thoughts, his striking gold-brown eyes stared blankly at the clan leaders.

Enatuh did not seem to let them go silently though. Many were standing and shouting with divided opinions. Those who sat by the entrance to see the mages pulled back by others; clearly they wanted the mages to leave.
“Good riddance!”
“Please, wait! What secret?”
“Forget it, they’ve brought more trouble than loose goats!”
“Don’t come back!”
“Quiet, they might curse us!”
“They’ve travelled far. They can protect us!”

Suddenly, a man from the benches pulled free from his father’s grip and nearly fell as he ran down the stairs to the mages, running as his father cried for him. Lya wondered if Jaque insistence for the mages’ support was his plan to escape Enatuh. But to war? She remembered how Jaque froze in fear before an oncoming wild boar. He would never survive any real battle.

Lya watched as Jaque pushed away at the hands that restricted him and stopped dead in front of the mages. He looked surprised at his own courage. Behind him were shouts of disapproval and called for him to move away. The old mage seemed to have thought the same. He said something to Jaque that was drowned from the chaos of noises and used the stick to rap Jaque. Jaque avoided the stick and said something to Chris Anasteq, his voice too Lya could not here.

All eight clan leaders were standing as they faced the backs of the mages, each of them with their own thoughts and mixed expression. Handred held tightly to his walking stick as if it was a sword ready to wield.

To be continued...

Unactive Sunday

2004-09-20T13:36:00.000+08:00

Location: Follow the trail of bread/cookie/pie/biscuit/chocolate crumbs.
Mood-of-the-day: "I’m a little PC in a little house. This is my keyboard, this is my mouse."

Mondays are always the days when I post five entries at once, to make up for the lost of time during the weekends. It’s the Friday, Saturday and Sunday entry as well as Saturday Night Musings and weekly Chaos Circles. I borrowed Dad’s Compaq for that. Using my new thumb drive! Works like a charm. Very plug and play.

The new hard drive will have to wait though. Sis was going to format and upload Windows 200 while at work (yay, thanks!). She almost forgot about it this morning and called home to ask if I could sent the lil’ black box to KLCC. As my policy was ‘any reason to go to a shopping mall is a good reason,’ I said sure. The oxymoron was that I’d call her once I get there. Since she hadn’t got the Maxis bill paid, how on earth am I going to use my phone?

Mom provided the solution as she was going to book a flight for Turkey and would be passing Masjid Jamek (she too has a similar shopping policy. Must be in the genes). Apparently, Uzbekistan Airways wasn’t in the Yellow Pages. Dad was checking on that as he read Sidney Sheldon. I dunno how long his fiction reading going to last but at least it kept this retiree occupied.

Looks like we got a new electric juicer in the kitchen. This baby fires up with all the spinning action of a NASA G-force machine, but hey it’s still new. Once we managed to properly place the orange pieces into the slot without it jumping out into our eyes, it’s juice on one side and pulp on the other (funny enough, I preferred my juiced with pulp).

Okay, in actual reality, nothing exciting happened at Home on Sunday. My sis was so bored that she walked around the house announcing that fact to anybody within hearing range (which means, everybody). Mom and lil’bro was drooling for ice cream on TV (maybe I’ll stop for a Drumstick later) and Dad was neck deep in a book about a gay judge using a half-sister to steal inheritance money from others.

I knew I should have written something in my lil’ notepad. No, not the program, the actual white pieces of paper (you know, paper? Dead tree, grinded and pulp, spread and dried...). Usually I would turn on the PC and type a sentence or paragraph before going downstairs to experience real life. Without it, I used the one I’ve won from Hitz.fm Ford Cruisers. Nice, but I rather waste electricity than dead trees.

Signed: *Ophie, Cutting this entry one paragraph short so that she can work on her fiction ;)

Low Yat Plaza Hunt!

2004-09-20T11:14:00.000+08:00

Location: Where I’m watching the sunset screensaver
Mood-of-the-day: Scared of the Dark

Today’s the Day! I’ll be going back to KL to hunt for the elusive thumb drive. My personal PC maintenance crew had brought out the boot disk and got to work (without pay :P). The end result was that my sweetie’s hard drive is too old and corrupted to continue its work. Alas! Poor Seagate. I knew, Horatio...

At least I’ve saved my most important files inside my 20+ diskettes, that is, if I could ever figure out which contains what. So after an Astro laze-around, watching Whose Line Is It Anyway? (The one where Colin Mochrie grabs everybody’s dick), Dad, me and lil’ bro got ready to a Bintang Walk Part 2. This time, we take the KTM to KL Sentral.

Once we got to Low Yat Plaza, I felt like I was in Digital Heaven. They got everything in here. Motherboards, memory cards, video card, 3D card, pick-a-card-any-card, phone accessory, hard drives, thumb drives (I could continue forever but I’m not paid to advertise Low Yat Plaza :P). That was dedicated to the whole of 2nd floor (which I should mention, isn’t a very big floor).

And the games. All the latest in (pirated possibly) RPG, Simulators, FPS, Warcaft series, whatever all at the mere RM5. I used to cough up my breakfast on the counter before I could reach RM15 for a Myst series. Dad had to pull me kicking and screaming or else we’ll never get the drives search done in time for lunch. Even so, I managed to grab me an Emulator Set in the nick of time (got Pokemon Gold in it! :P).

My first B-day present was a 40GB Maxtor priced RM168. It was the absolute minimum made. When the Dad told them my Seagate was a 6GB, they practically fell over laughing (see how outdated we are?). Well, can’t blame a guy on a budget. We packed our fra~gile as we go on to Phase 2 of drive, which should be the size of, well, a thumb (okay, I know, bad pun :P).

This one was easy as we got it in the same place. A KingMax 256MB. Not I can go download Ahrimas’s Prophecy! And er, um, well, yeah~ some school work too, er well, like that multimedia movie, yeah, that’s right. Chores done, we go eat lunch at the LG food court. Not too bad actually. Lil’ bro had chicken rice and was sporting a soya bean milk moustache and gravy goatee at the same time.

The trip home was less pleasing. For his Turkey trip, Dad was searching for that Uzbekistan Airways office, he thought he saw while on the Monorail. We hiked all around the Bukit Bintang vicinity (and me without my jogging shoes *sigh*). And there it was, right next to the Imbi station! (could have taken the nice, air-con ride, eh?).

But the entire healthy jog was for naught for the office’s closed anyway (bleah!). As we waited at the Imbi station, Dad asked if I even knew where Uzbekistan anyway. Sure, it’s near Afghanistan, Pakistan, Hindustan and Satan. His reply was a ‘fatherly’ pat on the back that knocked the wind outta my lungs for a good 2 minutes.

Signed: *Ophie, who used this sneaky opportunity to play her new Pokemon Red only to find that everything’s in Japanese (Damn! :P)

Birthday Dinner at Outback

2004-09-20T09:50:00.000+08:00

Location: Alternate Box of Digital Utility
Mood-of-the-day: Thanks for the B-day Wished!! :D

Wow, I hardly knew you guys through your own daily ramblings and gave me big B-day Wishes! I supposed now you want to pee-peek on how last Friday went, right? Oh come on, of course you do! Your invited intrusion (and some uninvited) into my personal details is the very survival of this ‘ere bloggie. So tit for a tat, here’s how my 20th B-day goes.

We had planned to go to Outback at Bangsar but the new outlet won’t accept the 30% discount on Maybank credit card. So we had to take the long walk to Bintang Walk’s. And when I say long walk, I mean lo~ooong walk. There was the Lantern Festival and much of the roads were closed. Not that my dad had ever favoured driving around KL anyway. We opted for the familiar KL Monorail (bro’s first ride).

The whole area was (to put it by first sight) noisy. Chinese drummers banging their beat one end of the street and Indians were equipped with cymbals on the other. We didn’t managed to take pictures of them since dad was in a hurry to get in time for the reservation (sis and bro-in-law would be meeting us there). So I didn’t really managed to sink in a lot of Bintang Walk will get to it on Saturday (Low Yat Plaza).

Outback, with its entire Australian theme, was actually started by some American from Florida, just as Delifrance was first in Singapore. We had planned to go to Saray at first but the Outback discount was preferable. We’ll try the turkey restaurant on Mom B-day, so they’ll know what to order in the parents’ Umpteenth Honeymoon (no point for guessing where :P).

The main dish everybody looked forward to was the Typhoon Bloom. The last time any of us had an onions fried appetizer (with dip!) was American Chili’s (until they too it off the menu, damn!). I had this braised sirloin, which pretty much is the cow version of Secret Recipe’s lamb stew (wished I had taken the chicken instead but I was scared of bird flu :P). No B-day dinner was complete without dessert, so we all shared these two tasty white choc/black choc from Strudels (small, but cute! We preferred their cakes anyway).

Outback Dinner for the Birthday of Bro-in-Law’s and Me!

Outback offered some of these bottomless drinks, but the term ‘bottomless’ seemed better applied to Bro-in-Law since he gulped 4 1/2 of ice lemon tea (the other one half was gulped by Sis). Mug after mug, the staff is sure going to remember this guy’s face for quite a while (the ‘Bottomless Guy’). Oh and btw, they don’t have ‘Toilet’ sign on their doors. They have ‘Used-Beer Department’ signs.

After the dinner, we parted ways, as the KL veterans would be going back to their cars while the parents, schooling sibling and one football-head headed for KL Sentral parking lot. Sis stopped at every taxicab to ask if they go to KLCC even as we reached the Monorail. By now the roads of the Lantern Festival were back open (this is KL! They can’t keep the roads closed for more than 4 hours max!).

Signed: *Ophie, taking a minute to go to the ‘Used-Coca-cola Department’.

Saturday Night Musings!

2004-09-20T09:13:00.000+08:00

Location: Downstairs but I preferred in a room equipped with a foot massage
Mood-of-the-day: I would make a list, but a new entry would be due by the time I’m half-way through

It’s Saturday Night Musings again and it’s a definite ‘pm’ mode of the day. 11.30pm to be more exact, but who cares keeping track of time after the end HBO movies finished anyway? So I have exactly half-an-hour to make a 35-To-Muse-About list before this entry turns into a Saturday Night/Sunday Morning Musings. Now why exactly am I doing this? Well, until I get a real date on the infamous Saturday Night, consider this as my singles ad.

1. Young woman seeking 100% man.
2. Anything below 75% is a B average and is unacceptable.
3. I still say fish are friends.
4. There’s an old scenery painting in the back room that I loved.
5. But it’s too dark, a dreary aura.
6. This week’s Amazing Race episode was cool!
7. I’m having a lil’ diskette bonfire.
8. Okay, actually I’m not :P.
9. But I’ll probably have one!
10. Now what am I going to do with this boot disk?

11. I’m still full from yesterday’s Outback dinner.
12. Still wondered if I should have ordered chicken...
13. I miss my old PC already *sigh*
14. My feet are still killing me.
15. Uh-oh, I feel the pangs of sleepiness
16. Living room sure looks different at 11.40pm.
17. What is it with cats and late-night-chases-around-sofas?
18. Anybody Japanese fluent?
19. Mmm... chocolate...
20. Will need to buy bread tomorrow.

21. Oh shit, I think I’m going to break out a zit.
22. Candy Island Marshmallows are halal... right?
23. Winds outside is making haunted noises inside the house.
24. Most creepy at night.
25. Ten more musings to go.
26. Truth or dare: Truth!
27. I used to eat my fingernails.
28. Did I just post that on my blog? :P
29. I had planned to make a map for Chaos Circles.
30. Maybe in future installment.

31. Oh yeah, we got a new juicer.
32. Mom’s got a purple phone accessory with a lil’ bell.
33. She wears the phone (and accessory) around her neck.
34. Now the cats can hear her coming.
35. I’m starting to hallucinate... must get to sleep...

Signed: *Ophie, recently rehabilitated from an extreme case of dark-places-phobia

Dreamy Wishes...

2004-09-17T11:21:00.000+08:00

Location: In a happy place that doesn’t include padded walls and white straitjackets
Mood-of-the-day: Thinking happy thoughts without the need for drugs

Just for today, this post is dedicated to TWENTY of each and every one that is my wishes, needs, wants, whims, childish maybe, happiness, dreaminess, craziness, joys, laughter, and a whole line of events that made me simply being... me :D

1. Well, being me!
2. That I have all my family with me.
3. Well, yeah, Bro-in-Law included *big, big, cheeky grins*
4. That I have a room all to myself.
5. That I have this little animation!

I liked the pretty colours :)

6. That there’s a place for me to act really crazy!
7. And everybody can see me!
8. Of course it’s this Blog! :D
9. That I loved searching for great pics
10. And that I loved being a Virgo

One of my nicks was Starlight Virgo

11. That fantasy is my medium.
12. That fish are friends (that’s why I don’t eat ‘em! :P)
13. That I don’t have to be beautiful to feel beautiful.
14. That it’s just so easy to write this entry!
15. That I have a pic for every five sentence

If only my bedroom window could look this good every morning...

16. Regrets, I have a few~... But then again, too few to mention... Frank Sinatra
17. That I can busybody read the personal lives of diffent people :P (see *Chosen Ones*)
18. Going to KL tomorrow for that elusive thumb drive
19. So I can download free games and try them on my dad’s laptop (my PC’s still dead!)
20. Finding this Baby Card recently

Straight from Assunta Nursery ;)

Signed: *Ophie, wished she knew a printer shop in PJ that could turn these Jpegs into posters...

September 17th Entry and Unforeseen Tragedy

2004-09-17T09:55:00.000+08:00

Location: Suvon Reality
Mood-of-the-day: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

On this day, I was born. And I woke up to start a new day for the rest of my life first by enjoying a healthy first meal...

Gardenia toasted bread under a Kraft Singles cheddar based, topped in dripping Sloppy Joe mince beef and covered in a snow blanket of bold, strong flavourful Parmesan cheese

Well, maybe healthy was not the word for it. My dad caught me taking this photo at my food and being used to my eccentricities (a polite way of saying “You damn crazy woman!”) just gave me a bear hug and wished the proper greeting. If it were my mom though, she’ll be a sour faced since she served oranges and bananas for breakfast (though it might have been the oranges that made her sour :P).

So how did the group meeting on movie making go? Well, other than the fact that neither one of us gals knew how to operate an un-user friendly program as stated in the assignment (which some aren’t even available in the school’s PCs), the stupid firewall dropped on us as we killed some precious time downloading the Matrix trailer only to find an ‘Operation restricted’ warning sign.

So we spend much on brainstorming a storyboard aided by the clean-cut Jpegs and animated Gifs on the Warner Bros website. I purposed a story that Neo and Trinity were on the verge of making out when Hello Kitty came strolling in and screamed that Neo was her boyfriend and that Barbie had ditched ran off with Justin Timberlake since his 24.5th girlfriend is dating the Hangman stick, who was Trinity’s secret lover.

Nope, no story surfaced. I must have scared them. Next meeting is next week after no-class hour. Maybe then I’ll give them a real horror story, if they hadn’t come up with theirs yet. But if you’re really into horror stories, here’s a most terrifying one. What makes this even scarier is that it happened just last night and I’ve still got my heartbeats on adrenaline. What happened to me was...

MY PC DIED!! Oh tragedy, tragedy, tragedy, tragedy! Oh agony, agony, agony, agony! The horror! Oh, why? Why? WHY?!!

Wo~oosh! Even now that I got the melodramatic outta my system (for the umpteenth time since I woke up), my lil’ old Sapura-made Box of Digital Utility still seemed to be exhaling its last binaries. I first noticed a different when there was a funny, short noise repeatedly, like something was stuck again and again. If hard drives could cough, I’m sure mine just did.

Following safety drills, I took out CDs and diskettes before restarting. Just did a scan disk and defrag only two weeks ago too. Then a cheerful lil’ message told me to insert the boot disk. Damn! Of the 20+ diskettes I have on my table, neither one is a boot disk. Must take advanced maneuvers. This old baby is almost 6 years on a Windows 98. It’s been through two house moving, various pirated software, countless checkups and hundred and hundreds of carefully typed word documents. I ain’t letting it go just yet!

Signed: *Ophie, aged 19 years, 11 months, 4 weeks, 2 days, 19 hours and 20 minutes.

Three Stories on One Wednesday

2004-09-16T10:20:00.000+08:00

Location: Unitar workstation, pc no. 100 + 70 + 7 = ?
Mood-of-the-day: You only got a hundred years, to live...

Most of the day was just staring vacantly at the school lab’s PC and musing about all the things I could do with if I had a thumb drive (Yay to ashrufzz! Maybe I will check Low Yat Plaza out). Other than that, it was banging my head on the keyboard because though Blogspot said the new entry was published, checked the main page and saw otherwise. Then was let out of the school compound in a white straitjacket.

I dunno but some of you may be wondering why was there a post on a Thursday, when technically, I don’t go to school on Thursdays (though my mom’s always eager to get outta the house for some reason). I’m having a group-brainstorming day today; need to figure out what 2-minute movie we’re going to make. The rule is that we can use any program as long as some sources must be from all the trailers from The Matrix. Here’s a question for ya, how are we going to download trailers when the firewall won’t let us?

Well, a sure lot of people were born in September (Christmas, New Year, go figure...). Apparently Dark One’s is celebrating the anniversary of his Earthly existence today and so is my Bro-in-Law! They’re ages um, and, er... ooo~oops, I never figured out the years of either one. Well, I don’t suppose they’ll thank me for blabbing it out but IMHO, birthdays comes only once a year and only about 100 years in a lifetime so enjoy all the birthdays you can get!

Well after a school of making new group members for this multimedia movie-making project (Yes, we have to make a MOVIE!), I left school in slightly better spirits than the sleepyhead-ness of the day before. But once I’ve crossed the street to get to my car, I’ve lost the key! Yes, for the first time since I’ve driven my mom old, rickety Proton, the lil’ set of metal lock openers with a dirty old Star Sports tag could not be found anywhere!

It wasn’t until I peeked inside the car that I’ve left the keys in the ignition! There’s a trick for me to lock the car doors without the keys and so I didn’t realized I had left them inside until I actually saw my near-fatal mistake through the window. I was save by two lucks yesterday. One is that my car didn’t run away with another driver (thank God!). The other is that as I have a trick to lock the doors, I have another trick to unlock them and drive home quietly (Kak emma, please don’t tell mak & ayah :P ).

On a lighter note, my cat’s seeing somebody. Morning is usually when both Patchy and Dusty (still no connection to Dustyhawk :P) would fight over who gets to eat breakfast first. But a lone feline was enjoying his first meal when I got downstairs this morning. According to family members, Dusty’s been courting a neighbour’s kitty.

Definitely female cos Dusty’s a big coward in front of rough street cats. He was last seen strolling around the neighbour’s swimming pool when they reported it to us. It’s the one with the expansive materials. Being the son of a Persian kitty, I knew he always had good taste.

Signed: *Ophie, making sure that her Proton keys are definitely with her.

Rebirth Endless

2004-09-16T09:13:00.000+08:00

Unstopping, unfading,
But death still marks the end.
Returning, rewriting,
And life begins again.
Who sets the pathways of my existence?
How will I find the sleep without resistance?

I don't want to believe there's an afterlife
I don't want to go through another death
I don't want to be stuck from the inside
I don't want to endure this endless pattern
I don't want to make and remember new hopes
I don't want to loose them all over again

And again...
And all over again...

I'm the sole master of my Infinity
But it never was or shall ever be me
who turns the phases of my Eternity
To define and assume divinity
I misuse my every mortality
And pretend that I was above humanity.

Yet I never ever reached and touch the truth
Yet I never did open and fill my void
Yet I never proved what's right or wrong
Yet I never found that one clear line
Yet I never went beyond my reflection
Yet I never could start all over again

Once again...
And all over again...

Unstopping, unfading,
I am a wanderer.
Returning, rewriting,
I journey forever.
Who sets the rules and limits of my state?
How will I find the way to complete my fate?

In that place between Phasing
Where nothing is the same as everything

What will I wish to see?
That all chaos to fall in a unity;
Or all equals to dance in a symmetry?

But I just need one sign,
Other than drifting through the flowing of time,
I beckon and hold the lucid soul that's mine.

I am Reborn again...
And all over again...

*-*-*-*-*

Febuary 2004
Inspired by Linkin Park

A Calling, Sleepyhead and the Wish

2004-09-15T13:31:00.000+08:00

Location: Look out for the girl in a white straitjacket in my school.
Mood-of-the-day: 3 days before Birthday!

I was driving on the LDP to school this morning when I turned on the radio to listen to Hitz.fm (don’t I always? *snigger*). That’s when the New New Morning Crew (hey it rhymes!) announced that they’re looking for a beachfront cool spot for a Birthday Bash. Must be the one for Ross, though I had thought it was long gone.

So why am I writing this story for? Well because it’s my birthday! Well, let’s clear things a bit (hee hee~). My big double decade mark (TWO-OUH) won’t actually be here until this Friday (September 17!). I thought of doing something I’ve never don’t before and that is adding extra bills on my sis’s Maxis by calling up Hitz.fm radio! Haha, I never paid for my phone calls, though my sis would probably haunt me about this in the future.

A nice Hitz.fm guy answered my *to~ooot-to~ooot*. I didn’t expect the actual Morning Hyperactive Guys to answer (must all that sponsored Nescafe). Still, I told him that it doesn’t matter where they’re holding the Birthday Bash (Kuantan/Penang but Kuching and Kt. Kinabalu? Sorry...) as long as I’M IN IT!! It’s my Birthday this Friday, I’m running out of my teens and I want to do something different!

The guy went ‘awww’ and said that it’ll be great to have me there. Actually, for all I know, there might have been a good many other Virgos calling up for the Birthday Bash and he’s just reading from a used paper slip (*bleah!*). In truth, there’re no big plans for the weekend actually. A family affair, maybe at this Turkey restaurant my sis had mentioned.

Yesterday had just rendered me to ‘exhausted sleepy person’. I had a two-class day on Tuesdays and absorbed nothing more than a Must-Have-Members-For-Project buzzing in my ear. I thought the extreme tiredness must be effect of the late night game of Pokemon Blue (again!). I’ve just discovered that this game does contain a cheat code, one that involves the Old Man who loves Coffee and the land-ocean border on the right side of Cinnabar Island.

*Ahem* Not that I actually used cheating acts while playing PC Games but let’s get back to the real subject! When the sleepyhead-ness prolonged all the way to the evening (dropped my head a couple of times in both classes), I’ve concluded this theory. Late nights, lunch avoidance and heavy fast food before you go to sleep equals the American Diet. Oops.

But most of all, I’m looking for this!

USB flash memory stick with 128Mbytes

No, it’s not an orgasm stimulator, you pervert, you. It’s a thumb drive. I’m looking for one since I’ve started saving Mangacity’s scanlations from the Internet. Unfortunately, 1.4 Mbytes diskettes could only save so much jpegs. Oh the misery of unable to download free games from Download.com! Umm, and ye~eeah, I need it to save files from projects so that one of my group member can burn it into her CD...

Signed: *Ophie, living in the Penis- I mean, Peninsular Malaysia

My First Crush

2004-09-14T10:17:00.000+08:00

Location: Gone fishing for love
Mood-of-the-day: Fish ain’t biting because I forgot the bait

I was surfing through various blogs that I like to visit (you know who you are *snigger*) and not a few mentioned openly about their love life. There was one whose taking a long trip overseas and how her boyfriend had been so very nice to her on their last day. And a trip to Xfresh articles caught my attention about this one. Shoot, Where did that Prince Charming go?

Until my age had reached the double digit, boys were the other half of human species that you fight a good fight with (even those that weren’t related). But after a holiday trip to Johor, instincts started to get weird (thought it might have been the country side effect). I brought myself a green school bag that I was so sure nobody else at primary school had it. Oh the green-eyed jealousy!

That’s when I saw my first crush. Didja ever think about the first time you looked at a guy differently? I did and it was my new green bag that led me to him. I was an obscure gal who hung around the rough and tumble folks and already a stubbornness to match any teenager twice my 10 years. And he was a good boy, clean record, and potential head prefect with lots of straight-As friends. And he had my green bag.

It was an afternoon session class and kids back then dropped off their heavy book luggage just outside the school hall. When the bell rang, everybody scramble into a riot, as if lives were depended on the race to get in line. When the smoke and brats had cleared, I realized that my bag was dead missing. You know at that age, when you’re afraid and running behind on the race, you feel like crying. Childish yes, but I was a child.

That’s when he came. His name was Harith, as written on his nametag. Being a prefect, he was doing the rounds of clearing the hall’s corridor and to catch any stray student. I thought he was going to report me (I was ready to bludgeon him if he dared). But then I noticed he was carrying two bags, one on each shoulder. Both bags were completely identical, except for the red-blue ribbon weave on one.

He handed my bag without even asking if it was mine. I was surprised because I had for sure there not been any other kid with a bag like mine. Apparently he thought the same thing too and he apologized for taking mine. It was an odd feeling, having a guy who apologized to me for something he did. The boys I was used to would boast how they drop a dead rat into the girls’ bathroom.

Remember, I was 10 and girls can either hang on to their mommies’ apron or break stereotyping. And his curly-haired boy (he was the same age as mine) was breaking my perception of the opposite sex. We parted ways after that encounter, but I always see him as he grows up the popularity. Never talked to him again since we’re both so different. Maybe I was started to get shy. It was long after I last saw him at a goodbye primary school party that I realized that I had my very first crush.

Signed: *Ophie, too bad that she had let that fish get away...

Saturday Night Musings!

2004-09-13T17:32:00.000+08:00

Location: A place where there seemed to be a blog in every other PC
Mood-of-the-day: Pick a mood, any mood :P

Can you imagine? After that entire running back and forth between Mid Valley and Kt. D’sara and I still can’t get online. Now it’s definitely not the laptop’s problem because Telekom never got around to give our driver for this modem! Ooh, I give up! From now on, all browsers I’m using to get online with will come with a firewall. Well, it’s Saturday, 11th September 2004 and I’m on a late night musings.

1. It’s 9/11!
2. I’m looking out but I don’t see any airplanes crashing into any buildings.
3. But I do see an Indon construction worker peeing behind his wooden hut.
4. My sis got Home just so she could watch MTV Music Video Awards.
5. And then she left.
6. Is nudity really an art?
7. Who invented the fig leaf censor cover for men anyway?
8. I’m playing Pokemon again!
9. Because my Tamagotchi pet had just died.
10. Oh Verbatim, why didja have to go?! (Overly dramatic tone)

11. I still haven’t got my batik to the tailor yet.
12. The family decided not to go to Outback at Bintang Walk this Friday
13. There’s this Turkey restaurant my sis had suggested.
14. I wonder if I should include a comic strip in my blog?
15. Question is which comic strip can I use?
16. My mom prefers me in traditional dresses.
17. My dad prefers me in shirt and jeans.
18. I prefer more clothes!
19. For some reason, I just had to eat half a chicken at Megamall today
20. I still love Sloppy Joes!

21. I’m going to Atria DJ for a book/ PC Game/something.
22. I’m just so damn bored!
23. I think Smallville sucks.
24. The cats are bouncing around me room again.
25. Dusty is the name of my littlest kitty (no connection to Dustyhawk)
26. It seems to get harder to write a Musing every week.
27. Same thing goes with the Chaos Circles.
28. Chickens don’t fly because...
29. I wish for one of those small sized, big Megabyte, USB secondary storage
30. But I got no money (Wa~aaaH!!)

31. Now the bathroom light’s started blinking.
32. My mom wants to teach me how to make bubur lambuk
33. I just like to eat them.
34. I sell old newspaper for extra money allowance.
35. I have no class on Monday!!

Signed: *Ophie, going to school anyway... ;)

The Chaos Circles #10

2004-09-13T17:00:00.000+08:00

The hall suddenly fell into a silence at the mage’s last word; broken only by sudden gasps, rough whispers and mutters from the crowds. The mage had paused, either waiting for the information to sink into the Heads or simply to catch his own breath. But if any of the Heads showed some emotions, they looked more solemn than ever. Lya felt someone held on to her right hand and saw that it was her mother. Her eyes had grown very wide.

Handred Samuelson nodded for the mage to continue, his wrinkled face looked hard. Chris inhaled deeply.
“The enemies that held its sword against us are the Skylander provinces. The Nobility had confirmed at least 3 regions had gathered and stationed their armies close to the west border of Onus, which is only a kingdom and a sea-strait away from our homeland.”
The scattered voices grew in size and numbers as Mage Chris spoke.

A stray voice from the benches cried, “The Skylanders have no business with us!”
A number of voices echoed the man’s thought. Mutters and whispers continued, each made by harsh faces. Another man voiced his opinion, one that Lya managed to catch the person who said it.
“We have nothing against the Skylanders. Your message is obscure!” said Finnigan Jaymes, speaking for the first time.

Her father knocked the head of his walking stick loudly on the table, silencing the crowd. He eyes never left any of the Mages, but Lya could not really tell which one he was staring at.
“Please continue, Mage,” said Handred.
Mage Chris’s face looked more forlorn in Lya’s eyes, but his stance was ever so erect.
“It is the truth, the Skylanders have nothing against us. It is still the truth, but what they do have against is Inutqland,” said the mage.

The scattered whispers started to rise again. Lya heard a woman behind her gasped as her mother’s grip tightened. The last mage, the one Virdie thought was the strangest, raised his gaze from the table. His face showed more youth than the other three mages, but it might have been the trick of his very short black hair and his striking gold-brown eyes. It was the man’s eyes that amazed Lya the most because for some reason, it struck a sense of familiarity.

“Inutqland is a dead nation,” said a high-pitched voice.
The statement took Lya’s attention to the person standing behind the head villager’s high-backed chair. Channeler Harrietta looked as if she had her broom handy, she would have swept the Mages out with all the strength of the Mailotdottir within her. As Enatuh’s channeler, her position in any important meeting is always behind Lya’s father, no matter the gender.

And Channeler Harrietta was not finished yet. Her face was taut.
“Five hundred years had the dastardly Inutites kept themselves barricaded inside their own barren country. Their land is nothing but broken down to ashes and the barbaric people forever trying to rebuild with those ashes as their Government only cared bathing in honey-milk. Everyone has a history against Inutqland and it had all been done,” she said.

A cheer rose of a corner where many Mailot clansmen had gathered. Lya recalled the history lesson her father had taught in class. Inuqtland was one of the oldest and strongest civilisations in Evinau realm. But a sudden change of power had led to national deterioration, to a civil war and an opportunity to an open war. Since their great fall, little to no diplomatic Inutites had ventured outside their borders and hardly any traders. And all the other kingdoms and nations kept it that way.

The Head Villager rapped his stick on to the table again and the cheering men dropped their merriment to a minimum. But instead of simply nodding for the mage to continue, he asked a question. Impatience rang in his voice.
“Why does this news concern us, Mage Chris?”
His voice was so serious and monotonous that no one muttered a word when he finished. But Lya subconsciously knew the reason for the sudden silence because it was the one question on everybody’s mind tonight.

The mage turned his face straight to Handred. No longer did he look like a tired traveller but a battle knight filled with passion.
“Why does it concern? Why did you think we have journeyed? Are you not the people of Asuqaro? Have you not felt the pain of loss thirteen years ago? Our land in under threat again and all you ask is to be allowed sit in idle? Wake up Suvonians!”
And they certainly did. Even those in deep stupor and on the edge of snoring were suddenly jerked by magic.

Lya wondered if indeed magic were used in the mage’s words. But so far, Channeler Harrietta had not signalled her father that she felt that connection. Even so, the very name Suvon could entice passion fire of either hate or love, depending on how the story had been told. But hardly anyone ever speak of the great land before the Collapse. Hardly anyone even spoke of the lost past at all. And to her the name from the mouth of a mage...

But Handred Samuelson was not ready to back down yet. He stood with all the majesty Lya had ever seen him possessed, his walking stick looked like a sceptre.
“And I say this to you, Mage. Where were you and your fellows thirteen years ago? Where were even the King’s knights? The last of Uvounuq’s barbarians tore across our hamlet while you only concern is the King’s coronation. And you knew!”

Handred shook his walking stick at Mage Chris, his face twisted in temper.
“You knew our plight but did nothing! All that we’ve received was a parchment of apology and allegiance. The rider would not even stay to take my message of aid to your newly crowned leader. People of Asuqaro? No! We are Green Cliffs!”
He slammed his thick stick to the table to emphasize his word. The men rose and cheered, even the women cried in a mix of approval for her father and distaste for the mages.

But Chris Anasteq the Mage’s own fury had not been expunged. The man banged his fist on the table so hard that Lya jumped. And by the diminishing voices, so others were caught by surprise.
“Honest people! Did you think the blood of others were not as red? You whose children were spared from war, did you think it would never come to your door? Did you think the Nobility had spared you because they ignored you? If you would not answer to the Spirit which is Lost, then answer to your own history! Think, good people and answer me. How were you ever Green Cliffs to begin?”

This time, there were no voices that followed. Only silence as dead as the night that had long since fallen on Enatuh. But then a lone statement spoke without fear, but with clarity as if the man who stood and said the words knew in his heart of the truth what the mage had demanded.
“We were the Defenders Guard, by honour of Esaeni Aqens Order. We were all born to become soldiers.”
The man who spoke was Jaque Jaymeson.

To be continued...

Sloppy Joes!

2004-09-13T16:45:00.000+08:00

Location: Inside the body of a gal with only a few $$$ in her purse.
Mood-of-the-day: HUNGRY!!!

Sloppy joes! Ever heard of them? I do and I love ‘em. And don’t just look at these; really get your mouse (and your teeth) on ‘em!

Basically, it a big burger bun or so...

Smothered with mice beef...

Cooked on a slow heat with spicy sauce...

It can’t be too neat like this!

WARNING: IT HAS TO BE OVERLOAD!

We got some of the little Joes...

A bit on the blurry side...

Temptation, temptation, temptation...

So enjoy your Sloppy Joe!

Cook chopped onions and garlic in a skillet. Brown ground beef over medium high heat. Add Taco Bell beef mix (can buy at any supermarket) and some water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve on toasted hamburger buns.

Signed: *Ophie, a tribute to Liann55 and hopes that she eats well :P

Weekend Blues (and Snooze)

2004-09-13T13:41:00.000+08:00

Location: Follow the black asphalt road...
Mood-of-the-day: To blog, or NOT to blog. That is the question...

The first thing I noticed when I turned on the PC last Sunday morning was the demise of my lil’ Mimitchi. Arrggghhh!! The lil’ fella was just 17 years old (17 days old actually) and already a big spaceship dropped from the sky and took him away for a better(?) place. So what am I going to do? Well I’m not going to have a ghost haunting my desktop and I hatched another one! I’ll screen capture her later.

It still sucks that even after that trip to Megamall offers no success. I pretty much gave up on ever having an Internet connected wirelessly to my House. Last Saturday we got to the IT World shop (me chosen to be the one who get to lug the Compaq laptop) and the Joseph guy told us to wait for at least half an hour for the driver to be installed. Damn. But at least that means we can have lunch at the food courts.

Also while waiting, I took a visit to the shop next door. It sells PC games (Yes! Yes! Yes!). But all the games there seem to require a 3D card (No! No! No!). I looked through the RPG, and even those that could easily run on my old junk required a 3D card. I browsed at every little empty CD case as much as I can while the guy behind the cash counter looked as if he’s never seen a Malay girl in his shop before.

Well, the whole getting-Internet shebang was a downhill run from the start. As compensation, my dad brought some rambutans and mangosteens from one of these roadside stalls. The rambutans were great but the mangosteens were tiny. Either that, I hadn’t had mangosteens for so long that I’ve just outgrew them.And my mom too profited from her Old-Ladies-Gathering with some dessert munchies.

Last night, I watched the Tony awards last night. Not as popular as the Oscars or MTV I know but it was pretty interesting. For months I thought that a show based on the musical my dad had been ranting about was all boast fiction and the play doesn’t exist. Suddenly, there it was on Star World. A group of old Jewish farts in black coats and beards dancing a synchronized beat with beer bottles on their heads.

Though I might have confused Fiddler on the Roof with a reality show from New York. But I loved the way Hugh Jackman swings his golden ass to the music in Not the Boy Next Door musical. He’s sooo not playing that piano! But my favourite had to be the Avenue Q piece. About some down and out people and character rejects from Sesame Street living on a down low. They won the overall award in the end. Sure wasn’t sucks to be them!

Signed: *Ophie, who spend much of her weakness under the bedcovers

A letter from 12-yesr-old Ophie...

2004-09-13T11:13:00.000+08:00

Location: In the Globe Goggling Cobwebs
Mood-of-the-day: Nostalgic, very nostalgic

I was rummaging through some of my old stuff as part of the Sunday’s Cleaning Day and you know what I’ve found? Tucked in between the pages of a business management book thick enough to kill somebody was an envelope full of nostalgia. I had almost forgotten that I’ve even had it. A letter to myself. Yeah, I know some of you would think it’s weird. But it’s like a diary actually.

Hence, at age 11, I was only beginning to like to write but I hated long essays. I got the idea from a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip and thus I wrote something to my 20-year-old self. It’s not a coincidence actually, to find this lost piece of childish POV just 6 days before my big 2-0. There’s always been something about that thick book that bothers me (and I’m not even taking business management).

------------------------

Dear Liza 20 years old,

Hey how are ya? This is yourself at Standard 6. I’m feeling great because my holidays are here. Have you got a boyfriend yet? Is he cute? How did you meet him? Well, I don’t suppose you can tell me since you’re in the future and all (just like Back to the Future) but I suppose I can tell you what I’ve been.

Wamad is being bratty again. He just wants to gaduh. I know I’m very bossy with my little brother and it’s more fun when you know you’re being bossy. I fight with him at mak and ayah’s room and now I forgot what we’re fighting about. Pencil colour maybe, but we fight all the way down the stairs and he bit my hand and now I think I have a scar. Do you have a scar? I hope not. I hate scars.

Didja get to sing at Asia Bagus yet? Was is good? Did you win? I’m still practising my singing. I like the song from Pocahontas, you remember? ‘Colours of the Wind’ I like that song and I know I can sing better. It must be great to be a singer and I hope you’re got to be one. Emma had already got to go to Asia Bagus with her group but I want to win.

Is Tun and Isaida still with you? Do you still have their number? Everyone says that Isaida and I look alike but I don’t think so. Maybe it’s because our second name Aini and Ain is alike. Tun is my best friend since kindergarten. Also Zurina’s dad got something weird in her house. There’s this huge antenna in her house. Mak says it’ll rosak other houses tv signal but I didn’t see any change.

I will take my UPSR soon. I also want to past my Teakwondo blue test soon and so I won’t have to be bullied by Suratkhabar. Is he still around? I hate him, he liked to bully me and so I want to hit him back. My dad says I should always run away but I don’t like to run. I want to fight. Did you managed to kick him? I hope he doesn’t bully you anymore. The other day he wanted 40 cents from me and so I gave him. But he hasn’t paid me back.

----------------------

There’s a lot more but I’ve summarised it. About 2 papers full. It’s amazing how a 2B pencil can last. If I can only answer that dreamy lil’ girl 8 years ago, I’ll say that I do still have that scar, Asia Bagus phenomena had been replaced by the Akedemi Fantasia and Malaysian Idols, I’ve lost contact with Tun and Isaida and had stopped Teakwono a long time ago.

Signed: *Ophie, the ‘Suratkhabar’ still owes her 40 cents from that BP encounter.

Hairball, Megamall and Not Oil

2004-09-10T14:47:00.000+08:00

Location: Using your bathroom for just a minute...
Mood-of-the-day: Do you MIND?

After dumping laundry into the washing machine like I always did, I started my second no-school day of the week by spinning Dusty as he laid on his side n the marble floor. Really cheap amusement, but the other alternative was to eat whatever’s left of breakfast and I was watching my weight better than watching the lil’ furball go round and round.

I spun him until my arm ached but the cat looked a lot worse. It was funny to see him tripped over his own 4 feet so many times. My mom, who treated the cats as if they’re her youngest kids, shooed me out of the kitchen with a broom for nearly causing ‘great distress to Dusty.’ Sheesh, lighten up mom. Dusty was well alright in a couple of minutes, though he may have given himself a few bumps on the head as he tried to walk through the walls.

Today is the day I get to go online without a firewall! Well, at least without the firewall imposed by my school (damn them for blocking out some of the best RPG games online). I’ve mentioned before that we got ourselves one of these new Telekom wireless phones for those who lacked a fixed line (which would be their fault!). But what follows was a string of confusion, double-digit price tags and still no Net.

Finally during the Megamall trip (see KTM to Mid Valley entry) there was a guy named Joseph from IT World who claimed he had customers with this problem all the time. We got ourselves a new 9-pin to USB cable so there’s no need for a converter. But problem still arose when we realized our Compaq’s didn’t have the right modem driver and so our surf ride to Information Superhighway led to a dead end even before we turn the ignition.

We called the guy again and he told us that the correct driver to access into the Internet, we can download the free Windows patch... from the Internet. That’s like asking a blind guy if he can see the painting. The dude corrected himself and gave us a doctor’s appointment on Saturday afternoon (September 11). Hope this time it works!

Speaking of things that works, the Proton’s problem was found and fixed (see Who jinxed me? entry). The mechanic found the petrol tank, brake oil, gear oil and power steering all intact. It turned out that it wasn’t an oil line that got burst, just gas from the air-con’s cooler. It’s not flammable thank goodness, just looks oily. And we just got the Proton’s air-con fixed (I’m demanding a refund!).

So we both drove back home, me tailing my dad because I dunno this part of Subang Jaya. He drove like a grandfather (even my grandfather drives his Kancil better than that) but I rather not out drive him before he had a chance to test the Proton out himself (dad’s a retired Benz/Mazda salesman so he knows what makes a car, a car). IMHO, I think everything’s just right. Of course I’ll say that because I’ll need it to get to school tomorrow :P.

Signed: *Ophie, who found and fixed her Blogspot problem

Who jinxed me?

2004-09-10T08:34:00.000+08:00

Location: Somewhere that doesn't spout steam or smoke or stink
Mood-of-the-day: Fear Experience

Wednesday started off badly enough. I went to school with insomnia in my eyes and maybe even cat-stuff still in between my toes (despite rigorous washing) only to find that my ridiculously early class been cancelled because the premature PhD lecturer decided to sleep in. But was just the beginning.

I posted my entries in Xfresh blog easy enough, but the ones on Blogspot can't be published because the connection kept timed out. I can't even edit the template. Busy line or firewall? Either way, if the irritation's intention was to make me shake the monitor really badly, it almost succeeded. What stopped me were the 200+ potential witnesses if my school were to charge me of damaging private property.

The last straw was when a group of noisy guys with no shame of flatulence or excessive body odour (they stinks, they really, REALLY stinks!) took over the left side of the workstation, and me in the middle of it. Since the IE browser in my pc had suddenly turned useless by hiding the address bar, I thought of a good trip to a place only few second-years ever thought about, the school's library. Bad mistake.

There's only 5 pcs in the tiny lab. The peace and quiet was too good. It was late afternoon and I had sought refuge about an hour before closing time. The Kakak didn't even check to see if the lab had people or person (me!). Just turned off the main ceiling lights and I was engulfed in darkness. When I got to the glass double doors, it was L-O-C-K-E-D. Luckily, her hearing was better than her eyesight, but I think she opened the doors because she thought I might knock the doors down (alone in the dark, I was dead scared).

I was sooo glad that there wasn't any school for the next day (felt like I could sleep till Doomsday). I was eager to get home and watch Fairy Godparents (for obvious reasons). But the jinx wouldn't leave me just yet. At this traffic lights section between Tropicana and Kt. D'sara PLUS toll, something blew out. It sounded like when you blow up a balloon and let it go to fly aimlessly, a hissing noise. There was steam or white smoke or whatever you call it coming out from under the Proton's hood, like a trapped cloud.

The car didn't die immediately (thank goodness!) so I managed to park right on the side of the road. Then a nice old couple in a Benz came to for assistance. The Pakcik opened the hood and thought that an oil line might have overheated and burst. There was definitely oil. I could have caught on fire. The couple, which stayed just close to my habitat area, stayed with me as I waited for my dad to arrive in his Benz.

I was thinking that if this was such a bad day, it seemed to be wearing off. I don't believe in jinx really, just collateral damage. But then across the street from where I was sitting on dry turf, a trio of uniformed policemen were hauling up a cool-looking motorbike in a police van as a young lad in T-shirt stared in disbelief nearby. If there really was such thing as a jinxed day, looks like his night was just starting.

Signed: *Ophie, who missed the day's Fairy Godparents show

Sex: Virgin's POV

2004-09-08T15:24:00.000+08:00

Location: A deep, dark, private place...
Mood-of-the-day: Mysteriously mischievous

-->"... and he breathed into her ear, whispering his secret intentions. She gasped; her eyes grew wide with shock. But still she did not try to struggle from his tight embrace. She could feel ever part of him against every part of her and still she wondered if there could be more. That was went it struck her, a sudden sharp pain somewhere near her loins. She wanted to scream, her lips parted. He covered her mouth with his, and the pain vanished. Then a hot flood engulfed her insides, in a way that could be described as a touch of heaven...<--

I dunno whatchamacallit, really. Mating, making love, sleep together, birds n' bees, or the most common - sex. Well, if you're looking for a how-to guide on sex, you're drooling over the wrong website, bud (and wipe your mouth, you dog!). The best advice I could give you is the one from an old but user-friendly discussion:

*-*-*-*-*

Place plug A to socket B. Prior to connecting, please warm up for a while as sudden shock is expected if proceed too quickly, especially if socket had never been tested. Practice with other areas of interests and be encouraged to explore. For best results, warm-up slowly. If no charge can be passed, cleanse and repeat when appropriate. After charge has passed, continue more slowly and conserve energy. Repeat if desired.

Warning: Please make sure that plug has adequte protection to avoid accidents. If accident does occour, please refer to Chibi's article (link is missing). If accident is intentional, then congratulations!

*-*-*-*-*

Hah! Written like a virgin. This one's been quite a discussion back at the Xfresh Forums. And a started a whole round of plug and socket insertion styles, safety and techniques.

The question is: how do you know when to do 'it'. And with whom? Maybe they teach that in sex education classes, I dunno. Am I supposed to wait for a tall dark handsome stranger who will come to take me away to a magical place where only two lovers can share? Or are we entering a more modern era, where men are like clothes and women have to try them on for size before they find the right one to look and feel good in (Oh joy to the women who shops in the Love Mall).

Common sense (and my mother) told me to wait for the One Man. The way I see it, sex is like the signature on the contract of ever lasting relationship. You do it and commit to it, not committing to doing it. Such acts make us more careful about the ones we're choosing for as a significant other. Many are still under the assumption that nothing's as good as the first time. Or that nothing's special gonna come around cos 'we've done this before'. Maybe they're right.

And what about foreplay? Aye, there's the rub. Betcha that they didn't teach that in sex edu. Both sides of the human species liked to be stimulated through touch. The trick was balance it between the half that rockets like fireworks and the half's like a diesel engine that runs a long, long time. S'matter of fact, I thought all the foreplay in the romance novels was the actual sex, until I found one that was less metaphorical and more literal :D. Plug n' Play. And that book's back at Novel House btw (I was 14).

When I was 7, I thought all singlehoods ends at age 20. Well, I'm going to be 20 in 9 days and still no tall, dark, handsome man in sight. Mainly because once I shone the light on them, they all looked prematurely or misleadingly jaded. Still, it's not like I can't be encouraged to study how evolution make us did it. For all I know, two primitive cells might have walked into a bar and both got drunk together. The next morning, they've invented orgasm and a baby.

Signed: *Ophie, and the 'Foreplay highlighted' entry

Value of Me

2004-09-08T13:56:00.000+08:00

This is no bad dream of mine,

For I can’t wake up,

This is real life,

With too many strife,

It pierces into the walls I’ve built,

Like a knife

But it’s been too long,

Becoming too rife.

For years I endure an endless sequence,

And tolerate in tension and silence,

Until the time I lost my human touch,

The flood of emotions is just too much,

I fall into a place where no one will miss,

In the cold embrace of my black abyss.

Why have I failed myself?

Why did I stay like this?

A self-labelled subject,

Of society’s reject,

Unfeeling void should be better than angst,

Correct?

Can’t I just blame it

In retrospect?

Yet in this muck of self-pity and sorrow,

I yearn for true warmth from any window,

But how can I be sure what is real?

Too long since I had anything to feel,

Burned are all fond and hated memories,

But their ashes did not give me release.

If only I can wake up,

To look in the mirror,

With no worry,

And simply happy,

And doing so for the rest of my life,

Freely

Then there’s no price,

To the value of me.

*-*-*-*-*

June 2004

Written from personal experience

Insomnia Report

2004-09-08T09:59:00.000+08:00

Location: Under the bright, bright, white florescent light...
Mood-of-the-day: Where’s the air-con?!

Tuesday, 7th September 2004.
Begin transmission:

2130 hours: Sitting down at Windows 98, writing an entry. Calls from the male parent from ground floor signify the return of parents and youngest sibling.

2200 hours: Return of parents and youngest sibling with fast food take-outs. Food contains little nutrition value and overload of carbohydrates. Trademarked company: MacDonald’s

2330 hours: Hitting the sack. Constant, irregular noises heard from outside vicinity. Password: Meows. Species: Cat(s). Access granted.

2345 hours: Two feline entities take position on opposite sides of the room, each focused on personal hygiene. Lights off.

0000 hours: Strange impulses from internal body. Feeling: uncomfortable. Advanced cooling system turned off.

0015 hours: Stupor interrupted by two different low growls. Interruption ignored.

0020 hours: Growls persisted and grew in volume. Got up and took one source of irritation on bed to be scratched. Growls reduced and ceased.

0045 hours: Stomach upset persisted. Drank H2O from supply. Junior feline on bed fell asleep.

0130 hours: Still no entry to subconscious. Cerebral centre in minimum activity. Internal discomfort to be blamed.

0200 hours: Soft trailing pressure on bed, followed by sudden sharp stings on heel. Foot under attack!

0205 hours: Pushed junior feline off the bed. Wiped dust and sand grains off bed.

0300 hours: Eyes felt tired. Drank a bit more H2O.

0330 hours: Low growling returned. Covered head with pillows. Advanced cooling system turned on.

0400 hours: Growling reduced. Stomach upset continued. Took a bathroom break.

0445 hours: Mood not content. Constant yawning. Good news: both feline ceased making noise.

0510 hours: Low stupor. Internal discomfort seemed to have reduced. Breathing softly.

0530 hours: Subconscious achieved.

0600 hours: Sudden awakening by loud meowing and high-pitched screeches. Both feline are exercising their fighting skills for territorial rights.

0605 hours: Kicked them both out. Password changed to female parent’s voice only. Returned to bed.

0615 hours: Voice of female parent. Password confirmed. All systems activated despite lack of proper maintenance.

End transmission:
Conclusion: 30 minutes of sleep. If day consists of belt tightening and zipped purses, never go to bed with a full stomach. And wash the cat-mat. ASAP

Signed: *Ophie, taking a 5-minute nap after this.

Here types a Student, a Young Adult and a Blogger Freak...

2004-09-07T11:35:00.000+08:00

Location: Super-crowded unitar workstation, pc-next-to-the-men's-bathroom
Mood-of-the-day: Was there an All-You-Can-Eat-Bean-Buffet-For-Unitar-Guys last night? Ewwww!!

I woke up Monday morning feeling like, well, Monday! Okay, bad pun. Gravity must be pushing hard on my head even as I write this. It took me 5 whole minutes to find my glasses; damn I need an extra new pair.

What glasses you asked? Well, for those of you who have met me at the Xfresh gatherings and saw my Redang pic, I always wear my contacts in public (see my inverted pic above). Except at school, it's a drag to put these tiny fragile lenses on every morning.

I always get delusional when half of my head is still in dreamland, so my mom popped up while I was dumping laundry into the washing machine.
"Eh, are you talking to yourself again?" she asked.
I didn't realized I was saying oh my head, my back, my throat, my etc aloud.

If this were the middle of the day, it would have really been embarrassing, even with my mom. But true to my dizzy-mornings, I did an idiotic dance jig along as I sang (no pics included, sorry).
"Mabuk pagi-lah, mak..." I sang.
My mom just shrugged it off and replied before she left.
"Mabuk pagi is for pregnant ladies-le."
Mak!! I'm soo not. My BM just isn't as good as my English at 7.25am, but I'll work on it!

My school's having an Online Tutorial day (OLT). Unfortunately, My Telecommunications lecturer is a new guy in this OLT thingy. Plus, having one on the second week of school (a Monday class moreover) equals only 7 students attending in a 22-students class. I login, I saw, I was alone, like in an Xfresh chatroom (hehe~).

The lecturer suspected that some might have thought it was a face2face class so he asked if I could hop in there and see. Do I look like a messenger? Apparently, the teach'r wasn't equipped with a Net cam and pretty much students just barely outranked messengers anyway. Yup, found a full house and herded them to the workstation. Take note that I'm not getting any extra credit for this.

I came home pretty late (blame the LDP!) but it looked as if there's more work to be done. True to his words, my dad did go back to Mid Valley Megamall for that 9-pin-to-USB cable. We've been having so much trouble with this little baby. You see we got this Telekom wireless phone but turned out that we don't have the proper cable. When now he finally got the cable, the Windows went, like, 'Hardware cannot be identified.'

What the heck?! After all that, and we still can't go on to the Internet. And that was the first issue my dad placed on me the moment I stepped into the house. Why ask me? I'm in IT, not Computer Science. Ask my sis! She's the graduate one! Unfortunately, my sis wasn't around to be bothered by her blood-related family members (she's with another family to take care of) and my mom's PC skills are like the Binary Code next to MS C++ 6.0.

Sigh. The problem's really simple though, the solution's that's a bummer. We need Telekom's help...

Signed: *Ophie, a pregnant act, a messenger, and a mistaken-for-a-technician all in one day...

The Chaos Circles #9

2004-09-06T16:14:00.000+08:00

Enatuh’s hall, or simply known as the Hall, was the main reason, if not just one of the reasons, why the village became the capital of the Green Cliffs valley. The sparsely populated community area was not small, indeed one of the largest in the kingdom. But the great interlocking of two mountain ranges surrounding the valley made it a difficult terrain to travel in or out to the north, Asuqaro, or south, Uvounuq.

Lya stopped to catch her breath for a moment as she stood at one of the smaller back doors of the Hall. She had run all the way from her house, her body was sweating despite the cool night’s breeze. But before she could knock quietly, the small door opened with a bang.
“Quick, quickly child! I wish not to miss anything and neither should you!” cried Channeler Harrietta. With a jingle of her bracelets on her thick wrist, she pulled Lya roughly up the staircase and closed the door noisily.

A number of hushed shhh! followed. Lya’s eyes tried to see clearly in the almost complete darkness but her feet tripped over someone and she fell to the wooden floor. Another round of shhh..., a little louder.
“Oh, quiet yourself!” said the Channeler in a hoarse whisper.
Still holding a tight grip on her Lya’s wrist, she pulled her up to the front, following more wooden steps, each narrower and more twisted than the other.

Only men were permitted to sit on the stair benches fitted against the left and right walls. Important guests, regardless of gender and when there are any, were seated at the main red mahogany tables that made a ‘C’ on the stone floor. The open-end arrangement of the tables faced the main antechamber and entrance. The women and children stood crowded listening from the antechamber, or if they were lucky, watch the proceedings from the encircling balcony just under the Hall’s roof.

As Channeler Harrietta led her to the balcony, muttering excuses as she goes, Lya could see Jaque and his father sitting somewhere at a corner close to the entrance, just under the light of a rusty iron-wrought candles’ stand. Terrence was rubbing his chin, his face looked solemn. Jaque looked more nervous than she had ever seen him before. He kept turning his head at every noise but most of the time, he looked at those sitting at the main tables.

“There you go girl, just stand here with Faerilla and watch. Look, Gemianna, Lyndie and Virdie are already here.”
Channeler Harrietta pointed to the high back of the only chair in the balcony area. And with a flash, she disappeared, rather quickly for a woman her size. Lya looked nervously over the railing as she made her way to her mother. On her left were a young pregnant woman and a pair of Willingdottir twins. Virdie’s face lit up at the sight of her best friend and gestured excitedly with her hands to bid Lya closer without making a sound.

Lya pushed her way gently between the curious and anxious women to join them. She touched lightly to her mother’s shoulder to show her presence. Faerilla merely nodded and returned to her attention to the meeting below.
“What’s going on?” whispered Lya.
“Nothing much. Your pa had just introduced the Heads to the Mages and they’ve answered back. See, they’re passing the welcome wine now,” said Virdie quickly, as if saying anymore might distract her of something. The men sitting on the benches were not offered the wine.

Virdie Willingdottir was hardly identical to her twin sister. She was fairer than most people with a thick bushy head of gold, like her father. Lyndie looked more like Gemianna’s sister than simply first cousin. Both were shorter and their red hair was straight. Gemianna had a rounder face, which was full of freckles, a trait only Leighamdottir possessed. Having a round belly, either with or without a child also seemed to be a Leighamdottir trait, Lya quietly mused.

She looked over the railing again and this time, she studied the faces of those sitting at the table. Her father was at the main chair, looking as relaxed as a merchant guard in attention. On his right were not two or three but all seven Heads of Green Cliffs; Jeram, Leigham, Walkers, Caygarl, Asana, Frett, and of course, Jaymes. How did the Caygarls and the Fretts managed to arrive so quickly from their distant communities was as baffling to Lya as why the Mages requested the meeting.

On Handred Samuelson’s left, there were four Mages sitting not close but on the far edge of the tables. Anyone could tell they were the ones because of the silvery peacock green coats they wore and the two young boys standing behind. The boys were servants perhaps, or apprentices, or both. They stood in discipline, but their shivering was obvious and their faces flushed red. Apparently, only the Mages were warned of the cold mountain air in Enatuh’s nights.

Like the rest of them, Handred drank deeply into his apple wine; his eyes never wavered from a light-haired Mage closest to him. He looked to be at the height of his manhood, his short beard neat and his brows thick.
“He’s the leader. His name is Chris Anasteq. Or at least, that’s what he said,” said Virdie.
She pointed to each of the Mages and explained their identity to Lya.
“The old man next to him looks as old as your pa, but more vigorous, if you excuse my meaning. Mage Chris said the old man’s his senior but not his superior or his father, how strange.”

The next Mage had a darker skin than any of them; his eyes were an unusual bright blue, and often shivered but with less consistency than the boys behind him. He drank the wine with less consistency too.
“And that one’s Karina, Chris’s wife. Imagine, a mage for a wife! But Chris addressed her as a ‘Sage’, maybe cause she’s a lady. I’m not sure about these things.”
Lya listened in earnest, her eyes focused closely at Karina. Her curly hair was short, like her husband’s, but her face was shapely.

“The last one’s looked most strange to me. Gerald Usuquinota. What a name. Perhaps his clan was barbarians. But he looked more like a knight, don’t you think?” asked Virdie.
Lya could barely register what Virdie said before her father suddenly stood up with his hands held out for attention. The scattered talks, whispers and other noises disappeared almost in an instant. Handred stood for a moment, before he spoke.
“Blood and brethren, I see and accept you! Clans and clansmen, I speak and listen to you! Let no dishonour be done and may no evil harm us. For at this moment and at this hour, we welcome four Outsiders for as long as they come in good graces. What would they say?”

Handred gestured a hand to the light-haired Mage, Chris Anasteq. The man, who had never left his eyes between her father and the Heads, stood up like a solider. He looked more robust standing than sitting. The man gestured a fist to his heart before he bowed his head low in respect. Then the man spoke, his voice was as deep and haunting as the echoes of a stone dropped into a deep well.

“I say this, Father Villager, to you and your blood and your people. I bring no stain; neither do my company, until proven guilty. I bring no danger; neither do my company, until proven guilty. Here are my hands, no whiter than yours. Accept me is to accept us all. What do you say?”
Lya saw that most of the men we impressed. Jaque had stopped looking around and was rubbing the side of his neck.

Apparently, Mage Chris was no stranger to the ethnic customs of Green Cliffs. Although the faces of the clan leaders were blank, once or twice their heads nodded in approval. Handred did not even blink, but his answer said his sanction.
“I answer you, Outsider, that I shall let you speak. Let all who are here become witnesses to your words and actions. You may speak now.”
The Heads stood up a bit straighter.

Mage Chris paused for a moment. Lya could not tell if he looked tired or troubled, or maybe even both. But there was no evident weakness in his eyes.
“Citizens of Green Cliffs. I wish to apologize for the lateness of this hour I’ve called for you to hear. But any moment in luxury here is a moment in peril elsewhere. For you see, good men and women, the whole of Asuqaro is threatened by outside forces once again. We are at war.”

To be continued...

Quotes. 5 of each...

2004-09-06T08:39:00.000+08:00

Location: Yes, I have one. And I'm in that spot right now
Mood-of-the-day: Stoned

Quotes from my Dad:
1. "If I were a rich man..."
2. "You're beginning to behave like your mother."
3. "Kereta ada minyak?"
4. "What's a father used for?"
5. "I did it My~ Wa-aaay...!"

Quotes from my Mom:
1. "Can somebody call my hand phone please?"
2. "My money! My money!"
3. "Kan mak suruh buat apa tadi?"
4. "Yang tu. Eh apa tu, apa tu, la... Tau-lah apa benda tu!"
5. "Bushuk mak, bushuk mak!" (to the cats)

Quotes from my Bro:
1. "Eh Liza, can borrow money?"
2. "See, abang terre' punya..."
3. "Kena jaga nafsu."
4. "Where's mak and ayah?"
5. "Oh I see, okay..."

Quotes from my Lil' Bro:
1. "You have to teach me."
2. "Tak payah-lah."
3. "Hey Liza, have you read this?"
4. "Where's the newspaper?"
5. "I dunno."

Quotes from my Sis:
1. "Tak pe ke-eee..."
2. "I have money, don't worry-le."
3. "I'm going o-uuu-tt!"
4. "Kat KL lagi murah."
5. "You want to see new DVD/VCD/book/tudung/etc?"

And quotes from my new Bro-in-law:
1. "Okay."
2. "Okay."
3. "Okay."
4. "Okay."
5. "I'll go ask her."

Signed: *Ophie, no quotes nor comments needed :P

KTM to Mid Valley

2004-09-06T08:38:00.000+08:00

Location: A genie in a bottle, capable of doing anything.
Mood-of-the-day: Terms and conditions apply.

This was supposed to be one of those lazy Sundays where I can spend the entire daylight hours without ever stepping out of this bedroom. Unfortunately, the post of night-creeping mysterious creature that raids the refrigerator at the stroke of midnight had already been taken by my bro. So instead, I'll be the day-creeping creature that raids the refrigerator AND the cupboard at the height of noon (unless, of course, somebody brought pizza).

As each family member reads quietly of his or her own piece of the New Strait Times or the Star, my dad commented that we've never tried the new KTM Mid Valley (apparently, he was reading about it). I thought, why bother using it if we're not going anywhere for real. In the past, dad's idea of a train trip means once we get there, we get right back on the train. There, now we all can say that we've 'tried' the Mid Valley KTM.

This practise was suspected and sis voted Nay (she probably got other, more exciting plans). My mom was too busy with the story of a Harry Potter character being based on the author's ex-husband that she had become the neutral one. I agreed only if there are more than two people going. And so from inside the window of the storeroom adjoining the kitchen, a voice that was just simply passing through cried 'Aye!'

Four adult tickets and a train full of armpit-smelling people later, a man, his wife, his youngest son and the person who's writing this entry right now as she questions her biological links, hopped off to a brand new station next to the Megamall. The last person who's been here was I (see My Experience @ Mid Valley entry) so I was expected to lead the way to the Food Junction for lunch.

One of the plans of being here was to get lil' bro a new pair of walking shoes from Bata. It's a difficult feat by itself because he has no idea how to decide his own shoes. He dislikes anything too fancy, too simple, too grey, too red, too expensive, too thick, too fat, too heavy, too pretty, too white, too whatever. He didn't even try any on. On the other hand, it was never really planned but I got me a pair of new Powers! :D

Since dad had started reading fiction again, a trip to MPH was a must-must. Finally got me book one of the Farseer's trilogy while da man himself got Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. A mystery-loving guy, now I know what to get for his birthday in December. Not that I actually planned to save money, oh all right! Pretty much it's been written and so shall it be done :P.

We went back exactly the same way we got there, except this one was emptier and got better seats. Now at home, I hadn't really done much reading since I'm right here at this PC working on this entry (but I will soon!). Mom served the biryani rice and fried chicken into our regular bowls and looked as if she cooked them, instead of the Raya Arif Hindus. Cheater... :P

Signed: *Ophie, wants to go to a thousand years of sleep

Saturday Night Musings!

2004-09-06T08:37:00.000+08:00

Location: Gimme a minute, let me check. Yup, still in the mirror.
Mood-of-the-day: Grounded

Musings-Day! Well, actually there's no real one set time for me to number all my musings. Oh damn, that one was supposed to be in the list. Now I'm losing nonsensical sentences one by one. And again! Pretty much, every time I write in this paragraph, I'm losing that sentence's potential to be included in this Saturday, 4th of September, 2004. Oh, look! I've reached the five-line paragraph minimum in MS Word. I doubt you understand a thing what I'm rambling so let's get started.

1. Wait, DO you understand what I've just blab about?
2. Me neither. Move along, nothing to read here.
3. There's a chicken orgy on the other side of my garden wall.
4. Actually, chicken porn around here is too common *bleh*
5. It's rai-ning, it's rai-ning and I'm using the P-C..."
6. This is the third makeshift kite that got stuck on my roof today.
7. Proton car's lights are fixed!
8. But brake's still busted.
9. So before accidental pedestrians got crashed, they see bright white light.
10. I'll be careful, I promise...

11. There's nothing good on TV!
12. There's nothing good on Astro either!
13. I'm feeling so drained right now.
14. Shouldn't have started writing this at nights.
15. My clock can only move backwards.
16. I got Dan Brown's Angels and Demons!!
17. My Mimitchi is so fat.
18. I can see the lights of Genting Highlands from my window.
19. I dunno why there's twelve empty mineral water bottles in my room.
20. Ophie = 19 years, 11 months, 17 days, 20 hours, 19 minutes and 2 seconds.

21. 'Ding dong bell,' nursery rhyme stuck in my head. No idea how it got there.
22. I still got the Xfresh paper bag.
23. I just never used it :P.
25. If shrunken heads were to talk, what would they say?
25. I haven't written a poem for so long.
26. I want to eat pizza...
27. Since Arnold Susah-nak-eja, much of cartoonic tough guys stereotype comes with a Germanic accent.
28. A slight drizzling now, but can't really see because of the dark...
29. A sign! It's the face of Mona Lisa on my window.
30. Sorry, I'm being sleepy again.

Signed: *Ophie, one number in this list is repeated, didja noticed?

Blogspot Extension!

2004-09-06T08:34:00.000+08:00

Location: The pc that keeps getting an Access Denied from workstation's firewall
Mood-of-the-day: Like a new mommy

Guess what? No, I'm not, and had never been pregnant. But I've sure been through one hell of a labour and I've yet to see if it's actually worth it. The answer is that Xfresh's Suvon Reality had just gone through a mitosis phase (go back to your biology textbooks if you don't know what mitosis means). What comes out kicking and screaming is a brand new lil' clone of Suvon Reality called... er, um, Suvon Reality!

Okay, I'll get more specific. I had been concerned that my current blog isn't publicly widespread enough, in other words, I want more outsiders' visits and comments. So I opened up a duplicate of this 'ere lil' bloggy into a spot in, well, Blogspot! Yup, posted all 62 previous posts right down to the Signeds.

Even the sidebar topics and pictures are totally alike. However, it did have it's own counter and tag-board. Now more people can busy body about how I live. Oh, and to the two ppl who voted in the new poll yesterday, could you please vote again? I've accidentally reset the poll due to a bad blog bug.

I gave it the same name because, pretty much, it's the same person who's writing. Different blog names means different stories and I was never able to led double or triple lives (having a hard time to actually get one life going!). Took me the whole morning and afternoon to get it all done (mid-noon didn't count because workstation's closed for Friday prayers). So let's just say, I have only one blog, but with two ways to read it from (Xfresh/Blogspot).

I'm going to turn my title box into a title bar, make it simpler and easier to look at. However, the entire advance editing of the template would have to wait till Monday. I'm feeling so sleepy! After I drove home from school, there was a patient lil' bro ready to be sent to his tuition class. Since I'm already at the front gate, might as well chauffer for the dude. The Proton's brake is being funny again. And now so is one of the front lights. I turned the knob and the car looked like it has an eye patch.

I told my dad about the new Reality at Blogspot (I brag to my family about my blog almost every day now :P). He was still unimpressed though, but he did wonder what the heck do I write about that's worth reading. Well, I told him I wrote just about anything and everything that's been going on, like we're having McDonald's for dinner, or sweet potatoes vs. mashed potatoes, or the tiny frog I almost stepped on as I walked aimlessly in a sleepy-drunken haze (I get drunk when I'm sleepy, really).

On a different story, my Tonmarutchi had just evolved into a Mimitchi, the highest evolution score in the science of alien A.I. in a Box. He doesn't cry out for meaningless attention anymore, just being a nicely well-mannered lil' white bunny alien (wow, he beat me to maturity). Since I got to school for the whole days, I set my pc clock to the opposite of real time so that his Day is my Night.

Signed: *Ophie, Real clock = 11:10PM, PC clock = 12:34PM.

SPM spoof, bro's car and gone is the flu!

2004-09-03T17:18:00.000+08:00

Location: Go to any police station and see if they got a pic of a speeding blue Proton
Mood-of-the-day: Getting out on the Highway!

Okay, actually I'm just on the LDP and there's already full of cars. It's noon right now. I've just spent a morning of the usual boring chores as you would if you're the only offspring capable of handling all the options of a dishrag within screaming range of two old people. But getting the topic back on the LDP, I was driving in and out of roads between every kind of traffic known to man because I'm felling WELL!

That's right, flu's gone! Woke up Thursday morning and all the banging stopped (Yeah, Panadol!). I still got a sore throat and won't be gone till a bit while longer but it'll definitely go. I can eat spicy foods, drink cold water and breathe without whistling through my nose. I can jump out of a plane flying hundreds of feet in the air equipped only with a red polka-dot umbrella while wearing Malaysian flag theme pyjamas and aiming to land in my bunny slippers on the bridge between the Twin Towers.

Okay, maybe not that one. If such a thing were capable, it'll probably be worthy of an SPM subject. Lil' bro's having his trials now, got his schedule paper set. It looked exactly like my SPM schedule 3 years ago. And some of the subjects are still as bizarre, Pengeluaran Ternakan, Kerja Bata and Menservis TV (do you get extra points or lose points if you've hacked into Astro's channels?).

My Form 5 class used to joke all about it, adding all kinds of even more bizarre SPM subjects like Circus Maintenance, Toilet Hygienic, Gossip Knowledge, Crocodile Wrestling, Movie Puppetry and *ahem* Sex Expertise. FYI, the last one was suggested by a guy, not me :P.

Soon after dropping off the lil' bro home, the older bro wanted me to send him to Pencala so that he can get back his car. A few weeks ago, some idiot on a 4x4 rammed his legally parked, perfectly shaped, deep blue Proton and ran off, my bro's. He got a police report done (thanks to his friend armed with a camera phone) but it still won't get the bumper instantly back to it's original size.

When we got there, it turned out that the manual engine bluey wasn't ready until 6.00pm, but bro's gotta be at work by then. So it's my second time on the LDP today, a little farther up a bit, just after Sunway Piramid. The traffic's terrible, but at late afternoon on the Klang Valley, yeah equals predictable. The last time I was alone at Subang Jaya, took me a good-sized run-around (I don't read map and have bad sense of direction).

Got home just ten minutes before the return of the gallivanting parents, who's been gallivanting around Carrefour (Damn! They could have just dropped big bro off along the way). My dad had just finished the Da Vinci Code book and was commenting about almost every chapter. This was unusual because my dad never bothered to try any kind of fiction novel, which he lovingly labelled them as 'cerita mengarut'. Now at least I have one 'cerita mengarut' we can karut together.

Signed: *Ophie, who now knows perfectly how to get to Sunway Piramid by da road!

¤§üvøñ Ré@lîty¤ September Updates!

2004-09-03T15:47:00.000+08:00

Location: Somewhere in a Maxis cell phone book under the letter 'N'.
Mood-of-the-day: Having contagious yawning in front of a mirror.

Yay, you check my blog now! I've given y'all 24 hours to admire it. So, cantik kan? :D I've spent most of my hours yesterday making new updates for September. This was mainly because that I was pleasantly surprised to find a sudden increase of digits at the Footprints section. Mystery was solved when it turned out that I was in Xfresh's Featured Blog. Cool! I totally had forgotten about ye old request of long ago.

So where do I start? How about the brand new Poll I've made about, oh say, only 2 hours ago? Yes, there's a NEW POLL! The last poll had 14 votes overall (3 doesn't really count since I did them myself! :D). There's a lot of people who's dreamy or a bit of bookworms and with a bit of love for football and scenery. Check out September's poll! I'm sure you ask such question sometimes but what DO you think? :P

A new Scene pic and Imood! If you've been reading my blog since the early days, you'll probably notice that I've originally chosen River&Moon as a static title pic. Now here's the full-length picture, but it's really, really huge. Since I always started my entries with a Mood-of-the-day, I figured that the blog needs one of those Imoods. Especially when I can have fun with the smiley faces. A good variety and all so colourful too. Relatively speaking, if I were to be truthful about my daily moods, it'll be Upside-Down Loopy all the time ;)

Also updated is the Worldly Favourites (previously Worldly Possessions). It'll be damn boring to look at the same blog pics so I got me some new ones :P. The Da Vinci Code is a real thriller, a story about an elaborate treasure hunt. I would read it again if my dad weren't currently immersed in it (he hardly EVER reads!). As for Current Fav Game, well, let's just say I'm in the same month were everything reminds me that I'm on my last 'teen' ;)

The longest time for me to look for is Lil' Dee Strak Shyen. I had wanted something animated, like a gif, to put at the most bottom part of the right-hand corner, you know, a Blog Pet! And she was too cute! I found her at a random Google. I dunno from which game she belongs to but she was an avatar at, um, well I kinna forgot where I got her. She's gonna be my forum avatar too, just like to see da pretty colours :P.

Other than a twinkling at the Inner Soul, I've also re-done the Crystal Gaze. It's a bit empty because I dunno what else to put in it! But I'm sure I'll find out as time goes. Since the BLOGathon had ended, they've replaced it with a note saying that winners are known by the next gathering. If I know when, I'll write it up in this 'ere section. But I ain't forgetting my own birth date~!! :D

Signed: *Ophie, making a mirror blog on a more international scale!

Evasive maneuvers

2004-09-03T13:13:00.000+08:00

Location: Completely buried under piles and piles of pillows, comforters and blankets with only one peephole.
Mood-of-the-day: A chicken baked in a pie = Chicken pie.

The weird thing about having a fever is that you always felt very cold, yet you're sweating at the same time. I'm pulling out every available pillow; even spare ones from the unused bedroom. Soft pillows make good skin contact cover while tougher ones acts like a shield. Occasionally I'll make the peephole a little bigger to let more air in or smaller to keep the cold out.

Okay, the fever isn't the reason I'm making a fortress with pillows then draping the comforter and blankets all over myself. I was just being childish (Oooh-yeeeah!). My kidhood had a fine line between fact and fiction, which sometimes disappear entirely. I believed that if I didn't get undercover before midnight, a monster from the bathroom drain hole would creep out from under the door and, well, do whatever horrific nightmares worthy of a Calvin and Hobbes tragic poetry.

Wednesday morning I woke up groggily at 6.10am in a state of subconscious denial (I was having a dream about making a successful move on a certain crush. Now I'll never know how I did it). This semester I took an early morning class because it's the only one available. How early? Look at it this way. I haven't been up this early since getting to secondary school before the first bell rings. Hey, you teens might not think it's a big deal but oooh, just wait for your tertiary education.

The workstations so overflowing with people today. No surprise actually, since it's still e-registering week. These fresh blood had discovered the wonders of a PC lab and but they're treating it like the cyber cafes they gather their Warcraft armies in. Luckily for the strict firewall, there were no armies to gather, only limited course seats. The Registration's busted again and many had to get to the academic affairs to do it manually. Me? I'm not a new student. Go figure.

Before we continue, look at this link! That's right, you guessed it. Xfresh are trying to set a world record on how many bloggers they can kill by extreme suspense. And I'm about to be its first victim. Arrrggghhh!!! I could have shouted at the top of my lungs if my throat wasn't stinging pretty badly even in soft talk. Oh, and surrounded by 200+ people all scratching their heads about their own problems is daunting too.

Lastly, it's countdown! I am so ticking off the days going right up to the anniversary of my existence. No, it's not the moment of my conception (though the idea is intriguing. I'll slip it into the Chaos Circles story). At approximately 5.39pm on Saturday, 17th September 1984, a Normal baby girl weighing 3.27kg, about 48.6cm long and a head circumference of 35.2cm was born into the Abd. Samad family. Yup, that's me and all me. Umm, the last detail is sort of... debatable :P

Signed: *Ophie, approximately 19 years, 11 months, 14 days, 22 hours, 25 minutes and 43 seconds old on the dot.

Xfresh Archive: Merdeka Flu and Verbatim vs. Cats

2004-09-03T10:14:00.000+08:00

Location: Under layers and layers of a giant onion
Mood-of-the-day: Like a new born Tamagochi

Acckk!! I'm down with the flu all over again. This can't be happening to me. This is Merdeka day! I should be out celebrating! I had planned on going back to Giant's Factory Outlet now that I got my allowance. Nik had just called and said she and her lil' sis are already waiting at school (closed for the day obviously). When I answered, she thought my bro was on my cell phone. Stupid deep sore throat voice!! Well, I'm not the only one with the flu today (though the other people in particular possessed a different kind of flu).

Still flushed with Terrengganu batik shopping, my mom and sis went to KL so that the later can prove of cheaper, better and more suitable styled headscarves. Terrengganu's patterns are different because their batik is colour-schemed elaborate and so compensated with simple headscarves. KL women are executives and wear coats, shirts and simple pants/skirts. So shops in KL sold beaded and flowery headscarves, which what my mom was looking for.

Well, that explains why it had been so difficult to call my mom's cell phone. She was happing a damn good time!! Okay, so jealousy isn't going to get this sandpaper out of my voice box (unless you guys could prove the remedy's a clean cure). The married ladies came home with green and purple beaded cloths and silk-like material and headscarves. Now all we need is a trip to Kampung Baru to our tailor of 20 or so years.

So what do I do other than watch TV about flowered floats floating by in their boats? Well, for starters, this blog entry wouldn't be written if I were doing something else. And soin between sentence structuring, I hatched a Merdeka baby. Let me introduce you to Verbatim, who's a species of alien race that lives only up to a month, if I feed and play with him well.

A Tonmarutchi called Verbatim, after the registered name on my diskette.

Yup, I know whatcha thinking. This gal is sooo damn old-school games. I had the PC version of Tamagotchi since 1997 and had hatched over 14 aliens. Back then it was the 'it' thing, now it's lame out, but made it's having a comeback in a year or so, something about teaching your pet to look after a pet (obsessed people needed only apply). It'll be a snap. I mean like, hello? Look at my real pets!

Patchy, Dusty and the Bonsai Kitty Protest.

These guys, they're like the double screenings of Teenage Drama Queen. During the day, one sleeps indoors on a soft cushioned couch while the other took over the foldable Panasonic hammock chair outside. And at night, they fight over who gets to sleep in my room. As quoted in a list posted by none other than ddsaad, they're not bed hogs, they're mattress appreciators. Though that still doesn't answer who made the 'mistake' at the corner of my bed.

Signed: *Ophie, wishing a get-well cure is as easy as two instant injections as demonstrated by Verbatim

The Chaos Circles #8

2004-09-03T09:57:00.000+08:00

The journey from Jaymes' farm to the heart of Enatuh took a good length of three hours and they were in a hurry. Jaque and his father moved only as fast as the Samuel's horse-buggy could take the two women, the later led the way with a lighted lamp on a staff.

Lya gazed at the landscape as the skylight faded from a gold-red sunset to a purple velvet speckled with tiny spots. They passed other farmsteads and a lone cottage or two from a distance. Many of them were dark or glowed faint with small lights.

There were others headed for the same direction but they seldom spoke. Not too soon when a more stable hard packed road replaced the muddy brown path. By the time they could see the silhouette of the largest and only tiled roofed building in the village, the bread and cheese were eaten clean from Dydine's basket and there was enough light from the bright Fire Tower to see with little use of Terrence's lamp. He blew the light out and returned a greeting from a passing Jeramson.

The Fire Tower was the only structure taller than the village hall. It was used to light the village during festival nights or for important visitors from far away to see the village from a distance after dark.

For most of the year, the Fire Tower held a great bell, where Mr. Patrickson the elderly watchman sat in on guard every night. Tonight, a good-sized blaze shone on the very top, lighting high above the earthen streets, thatched dwellings and shop houses everywhere.

It appeared that the King's Mages had just arrived. Two horse drawn coaches drove pass by the Hall. They were deep red of colour, almost black under the firelight.

Lya could barely make out the emblem on their doors, a green peacock with a sweeping tail entwining itself around a lighted staff. The words written in a circle around the peacock-staff were in old Isaqn language, Isnut inotu Avaasi ina Uqona.

She felt out of ease by the sight of the emblem. As they got closer to the Hall, Terrence Jaymes rode a bit back to Faerilla and broke the long silence between them.
"We shall part for now. If you don't mind Mrs. Samuels, your husband approved of me borrowing some room in your stables for my son's mule and my horse. We are already close to the hall and my brother's home is on the other side of the village."

Faerilla seemed to have woken from a trance when Mr. Jaymes spoke. But she nodded to him before turning her attention to Lya.
"Lya sweetheart, would you take the buggy and drive back by yourself back home? Just make sure Rosa scrubbed them down nicely. I'll see you at the back entrance of the Hall later. I must be with your father. He would need a hostess," said Faerilla.

Lya was about to follow obediently before she suddenly saw Jaque turned his head to her. He spoke the soundless language with wide, searching eyes. Nothing's changed, I need to disappear.
"Mother, why don't Jaque take the horses instead? It isn't safe for young ladies to be alone after dark, even with the Fire Tower lit. Rosa can..."

Her voice faltered when she saw Mr. Jaymes shook his head.
"I'm sorry daughter, but my son needs to be punctual in this meeting. Most of the men around his age are already in the Hall. It was requested by the Mages," said Terrence.

He got down from his steed and motioned to Jaque to do the same before handling him the reins. Jaque tied his father's horse and his mule to the back of the buggy. All the while, he looked to Lya and his eyes spoke again, in a way she could not really tell if it was softer or harder. You're the one with the Ability. I'll look after myself.

Lya sighed steadily as she took the reins from her mother and led the buggy away with the two other esquires. The Samuel's residence was little more a house yet much less than one of those fairytale mansions she had read about in her father's library. It was the oldest and one of the few double story buildings in Enatuh, itself enclosed in a large private garden surrounded on all sides with a seven feet high fence wall.

Outside the abode yet adjoined to the wall was the stone stable. Lya got off the buggy and knocked gently on the wooden sliding gate. Predictably, Rosa answered the summons almost immediately, her dark eyes gleaming.

Rosa Samueldottir was her father's first cousin. She lived with them just after the terrible butchery thirteen years past that made her a widow and childless. The woman's face always lit up at the sight of Lya, whom she considered as her closest female companion.

"You are a too early to return here, butterfly," said Rosa. She had never once called Lya by name and often spoke in riddles and metaphors.
"Not tonight, auntie. There are Mages in the village and they don't seem willing to wait for tomorrow to round up the head of clans," said Lya.

But then she thought for a moment.
"Are they staying for the night, Rosa?"
"Not to my knowledge. The only thing on my mind since this morning was if your flower had shared its secret earlier than flowers were supposed to."

Lya ignored the growing heat on her face, either caused by her continuing uncertainty or Rosa's statement. She untied the reins of the Jaymes' steeds as Rosa led the buggy inside.
"Ahh, yes. Mages Dangerous. Dangerous Mages. See how they rhyme! Be quick, butterfly, before you are missed. All flowers shall be bloomed but sweetness is best when tasted twice. So hurry now," said Rosa, smiling as she remove the straps.
Lya's face stiffened but she returned the smile with a wave. Now she wondered how many others who thought she had already a Bonding Night with Jaque.

She was running before she stopped at the front gate of her house. If the Mages were staying at Enatuh for the night, they would definitely stay the head villager's house since there were no inns, her father's house.

Lya felt a sense of presentiment with that thought. Knowing how long it would take for Rosa to take care of 3 animals, Lya opened the gate and walked quickly up the garden pathway to the stone porch to the front door.

There were only five rooms at the ground floor but three of them were very large. A modest hall that had been turned into a classroom, Rosa's bedroom next to the only kitchen anywhere that could cook a boar indoors and a good-sized library.

Quietly entering, she went straight for her father's study. Four generations of Samuels had completely ignored the historical treasure just under the very stone floor they walked upon and ten generations after that, including her father, did not even knew it existed.

Out of habit, Lya knocked gently on the thick door. There was no answer. She had expected it but she was being careful and always armed with an excuse in ready. She had been caught twice before but never while she was in the actual act of taking the set of keys out from a small hidden cache under the grand mahogany desk. After removing them, she gave a sigh of relief. Now she must hurry to get to the Hall.

She left the room as quietly as she came, pressing the set of keys close to her so they won't make a sound. If the Mages were curious as Lya was as a child, all they could only find that was curious enough would be an empty box in the study. Unknowingly, a pair of eyes had watched her every move from the window in the cover of outside's darkness.

To be continued...

Xfresh Archive: Had a bad day again...

2004-09-03T09:56:00.000+08:00

Location: Sickbay of land stationed private residential quarters
Mood-of-the-day: Not too well actually, even rest and recovery system don't seemed to work

I'm feeling not so good on Monday morning yesterday. If my dad was an Xfresh member (which he wistfully wished in what I see as an attempt to embarrass me), though thankfully he never was, he'll reply to this entry with a comment that I was sick because of starving myself to severe malnutrition yesterday which could have resulted in death by a stomach ulcer... as quoted. My dad's so cheerful with me, don't you think?

Unfortunately, the tiredness, dizziness and missing-my-head-ness did not pass as time goes by in my school's workstation. S'matter of fact, it pretty much got worse at around 11am when new students for the August semester invaded, armed with formatted diskettes, blur faces and lil' paper temporary matric cards.

We the busy veterans could have shooed them away and let them take the feeder bus/expensive taxi/parent's car to register for courses elsewhere. Unluckily, these rat groups of softies were led but none other than one of the top deans. They were taking over the workstation for a How-To lesson (as in how-to-not-screw-up-your-own-student-account).

Damn the goose feather pillow treatment. Back at my first day, we were handled by hardened third-years/final-years who made us stand on the dangerous edge of the balcony in blindfolds, drop water paint balloons on passer-bys and all sorts of illegal so-called orientation acts.

As I got kicked out with everybody whose age was 19 and above, my friend Nik and her lil' sis decided to crash out at the Giant. I would have sold my kidney for a good shop-around. But more so, I would have sold my soul to get this bang-bang-banging out of my head. I declined, said sorry and they said they'd look out if that suave chic sleeved shirt were still around at the Factory Outlet.

I took nap in the lecturers' surau on the 4th floor, which was pretty isolated since that it was only early noon. After school, I'm still not in optimum swing. This was bad because I had planned on an Ikano trip, but at my present condition, I should be better planned for a toilet bowl trip.

Mom checked my forehead and, being the best mom in the world, got out the Panadol. Looks like I'm down with a knock-brain fever. Must have been on since that return home car ride. I'm 4 years too old to throw a teen anguish protest but I'm not playing the couch-ridden teen either. Faking a quick, instant recovery and skipped dinner (because if I do eat, it might come back up).

Mom wasn't buying any of it though (she fixed a couple of burgers as we watched Crocodile Hunter Diaries last night). So pretty much this was my Merdeka Eve. At the very least, wished this my pc monitor stopped spinning so much.

Signed: *Ophie, who managed to stay up late enough to watch the Ikano skyrocket fireworks from her front lawn. I'm so regretting not to PARTIEE!!

Xfresh Archive: Monday Afternoon Musings

2004-09-03T09:55:00.000+08:00

Location: School's Library, pc with no specific number and mouse with no ball.
Mood-of-the-day: Basic Annoyed Person 101

At this moment, I'm sticking my finger into this mouse's asshole to make it work since it has no ball. Sorry for being a bit grumpy, but having to direct this pointer with my index finger to the inability to use the workstation with properly working balls equals not a satisfied student. Well, I'm not going to get much foreplay in this entry anyway so might as well get to the climax.

1. Training day for new students so the workstation's off-limits.
2. I took a pic of both my cats, but forgot to bring the camera today.
3. There's a lot of sleeping students in the library.
4. Aaccckk!! I still haven't registered for classes!!
5. I had tandoori chicken last night.
6. I didn't eat lunch again today :P
7. Where's the Holy Grail in Da Vinci's Last Supper?
8. I'm reading my sis's new book even though I haven't even touched my new book.
9. I have RM12 in my purse right now.
10. Actually, I only have RM12... :P

11. There's a hole in this room's ceiling.
12. The new kid with the Nokia next to me is just too loud.
13. Is somebody smoking in here?
14. I still can't stop thinking of chocolates and pies (it's liann55's fault~!! :P)
15. The Library PCs seemed to work unusually well today.
16. Kimi Raikkonen won his second No. 1 win at Belgium!!!
17. The photocopy machine here NEVER works.
18. Damn! I think I left my blue pen back at P. Redang.
19. Time to change the Scene of the Month and Worldly Possessions again.
20. In Haiti, it's against the law to raise people back from the dead.

21. My first class today starts at 4.00pm
22. There're only 6 PCs in this library.
23. What? The new students at the workstation aren't done yet?!
24. Okay, now I'm getting hunger pangs (groan! :P)
25. I'm going to the Ikano Street Party!
26. Oooh, how didja know that already? ;)
27. Why is 1.618 is the most beautiful number in the world?
28. Sorry folk! Chaos Circle #8 still isn't ready yet.
29. Everybody's registering for his or her classes.
30. This school seemed to have a renovation every month or so.

31. Coffee, Coca-Cola, Fresh orange, Teh limau ais, Slurpee...
32. My birthday is next month!!
33. It's going to rain in Kelana Jaya...
34. Has anybody seen my Dreams Interpretation book?
35. Where the ball rolls, the pointer follows.

Signed: *Ophie, tired of all the sex talk from the girls behind her.

Xfresh Archive: Sleepless Sunday

2004-09-03T09:54:00.000+08:00

Location: Somewhere I belong
Mood-of-the-day: Looking for my head. Can you check under your chair for a minute, please? Just in case...

We arrived home early Sunday morning. Neither of us had any dinner since food courts at the Kuantan Highway aren't around yet. I tried my best to sleep soundly but when I woke up, I got such a dizzy feeling in my head that it stings like crazy and was making me sick. Damn, didn't take enough rest after the swimming time. There's a bang in my head every time someone says a word. Thankfully, they turned off the radio and passed me some Panadol.

Even though it was 1.00 am, I didn't sleep! My sis got this brand new book that's a No. 1 bestseller called The Da Vinci Code. It's a mystery thriller about an ancient society with a secret so powerful, it could re-write the whole 2000 years of history if it ever got released. When a prominent curator of a famous museum suddenly... well, let me give you a review after I'm done okay? It's my first non-fantasy book since Sweet Valley High.

The lack of sleep is still affecting me today (thus, I still looking for my head) but work still had to be done. Salty clothes worthy of 5 people to wash (mom wears enough for two), and everything else to do. I could properly define the 'everything else to do' but I didn't stick around long enough other than to dump fish-stink laundry into the washing machine before I escaped to the workstation.

Spend the whole day at the virtually empty workstation (well, duh! What am I doing at school at a SUNDAY?). I can't let you guys not share my island bliss so I posted 3 entries and 12 pics (the most number of pics I've ever posted in a day!). Also, I noticed the BLOGathon countdown is still ticking to a -2. It's gone today though, replaced by a pretty pink Lovey-Dovey link. And my name still isn't on the Top Ten List! Why?!

I got so busy that I didn't eat lunch! Usually this would get me happy (especially since the Barbecue Buffet) but I feel so weak and tired. You know that phase after you don't munch something, you get light-headed and your hands shook on its own? Yeah, got there. No, I swear I'm not anorexic (though dad kept telling me I am). But still, I welcomed the Big Mac. And thanks to sis for the Fasta Pasta Pizzas (see why, with this family, I'm diet conscious?).

Anyway, today is Monday, 30th of August! I'm going to the Ikano Street Party tonight, just for a browsing-looking-seeing. I doubt I'll join in very much but if I'm looking for the usual 'discounts everywhere' theme. Despite already romantically involved with The Da Vinci Code, I'm still pining for Hobb's Farseer's Trilogy and I hoped both relationships would work out nicely ;)

Signed: *Ophie, who found her head floating about under her book cupboard.

Redang Day Three: Back on the Mainland

2004-09-03T09:53:00.000+08:00

Location: Sitting on a pile of funny smelling bags, waiting for the boat to the mainland
Mood-of-the-day: Shopoholic

Today's the end of the trip. I still feel so exhausted and wasn't looking forward to the long car ride back to Kt. D'sara. I just want to lie down in my sand-ridden bed and let gravity push me down and keep me in place. But mom pulled out the blankets and I fell down to the floor real heavy (woke up every body else in all 10 rooms. They thought there was a bomb).

I'm so sluggish this morning because I ate so much food last night. There was an All-You-Can-Stuff-Yourself-Before-You-Blow-Up Barbecue by the beach and I took a generous helping of everything on the table. I knew I should have stopped at the 4th leg of chicken but, oh come on, look at the scene! The sun has gone down, the sea breeze in your hair, the sand in your toes (I had not worn any shoes since Thursday afternoon), the only light is the fluorescent lamp... It's enough to make any carbs conscious person to turn Atkin's (and aim for the 5th chicken :P).

"Chicken, fish or hot dog, miss?"

So after much persuasion and threats (it took the promise of mainland shopping to get me out of subconscious), I joined the family into the getting-all-packed-up-and-ready-to-go mode. But the thing was, it's raining, HEAVILY, and the sea's getting rough. The boat dudes won't get to the Redang jetty in this weather. So to pass the time, my sis taught lil' bro and me how to play congkak. I admit I've never played it before, even with 50+ cousins ready to teach me how.

"This is the boat between Redang jetty and here. We take a ferry to the mainland."

We missed the first ferry because of the rain but there's a second one at around noon so that leave us a satisfied amount of time to do mainland shopping. The boat got back with a healthy number of new and pink-faced passengers (including a couple of Mat Sallehs) all ready to take over our rooms (hope they didn't mind the toilet we broke :P). The sea was still rough though, so we had to be careful as we get on board.

Yay, shopping! Because it's the school holidays and soon there'll be a Merdeka free day, everything seemed to be doubled-the-halved-priced. That means everything is still so expensive! I found this lovely dark green with fair floral designs on light material. Price = $260. Ouch. Yeah, like it's really already been discounted.

As we move on, mom looked for a pair of batik pants for bro (who's stuck at home). She found this lavender + indigo piece that would have got a dude some gays in San Francisco and shot at in Texas. It's funkie and he liked it like sweet (he wanted one since mom got me a pair from her Indonesia trip).

"Original Terrengganu batik! I'm still deciding if I prefered it to be a kurung, kebarung or kebaya... :P"

These shop owners were always on the ready, more than KL's owners. My sis took a quick touch-and-see on this metal belt and the guy suddenly appeared with his price and plastic. Wow, talk about quick service. My dad didn't marry a shopoholic without absorbing some ideas for himself. He got himself a gold-threaded songket while finally found a batik I really, really liked.

We ate lunch at this food court where tables were wooden and stapled with flamboyant floral plastic covers. Mom got herself a headscarf while lil' bro didn't shop for anything (he's probably still in sea sickness). Time was limited since we wanted to get home by midnight. As we took the mainland road to pass through election filled Kuala Berang. I took one last look at the South China Sea horizon and wondered when I'll see it again.

That's me! And see my raggedy Jeans now become really, really raggedy!

Signed: *Ophie, all tanned brown and still swaying with the ocean wave as she walked in the workstation.

Redang Day Two: Finding Nemos

2004-09-03T09:51:00.000+08:00

Location: Exactly at sea-level with many, many, many coral fishies
Mood of the day: Lazy Man's Float

Cheers! I woke up the next morning and all my clothes smell like fish. It's all the fault of the cool salty wind coming through open door and windows that never seemed to stop. My hair's got all stiffed, dried up and smelling like beached seaweed.

With 3 ladies to a bathroom, thank industrial hair product chemistry for Follow Me conditioner but the bottle's empty by the end of this post :P. Luckily, my sis didn't (or haven't) charged us for it.

Took us some time to find a picnic spot and still more people are coming.

We set off for the marine park at 10.Something AM by boat since it's on the other side. Tourism Ministry now charged peopleto get into these waters (lousy money eating, opportunity cheating, oh did I wrote that out aloud?).

There were already a lot of people and the beach was packed with locals and the most Mat Sallehs I've ever seen in one spot. Most of them were under the park's jetty out of the sun and once in the water, everybody's in red life jackets so you really can't tell who's who during snorkelling.

Most of the corals are only skeletons but still very sharp

The first thing I noticed was the lack of the black, sand covered, arm-length, motionless sea cucumbers (ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!!). Probably all shipped to the Perhentian :P. The water's very, very clear. There are the common bony staghorn corals and a flat surface variety here and there.

Mom packed this tough dry bread because they're cheapest. But they break apart in the water so I kept it in my fist as the fish nibbled between the fingers. They do like bread, I mean, where else can they get factory-baked ones in the sea?

The water's very, very clear. Too bad the Konica isn't waterproof...

By far the most common was black and white striped angelfish that were bigger than your palm. There's the tiny blue-black remora that cleans other fish and is about the side of your index finger. I saw a silverpike and a small species group of blue swordfishes. One kept following me as I go look for the famous clownfishes. I called him Long John Silver.

Underneath the jetty were thousands and thousands of slim silvery ikan bilis, swimming in groups and not in your sambal all dried up :P. Rainbow fish and parrotfish needed no extra description other than each of them was huge and could big off the whole of your thumb (I checked each of my fingers after every feeding). My sis became the Pipe Piper of Redang when all the fish followed her as she left a trail of breadcrumbs.

Two different species of baby turtles. They're sooo cute!

After the swim, we took a visit to this sea turtle centre to see the newly hatched before they get released. Lil' bro went back to study Malay Literature while the four of us took to Redang Bay for a late lunch. As I bite into my Ramli burger, sis gasped that she thought she left her purse and dad's money back at the boat. Now we can't pay for our meal. Dad was frantic and waded out to sea at the anchored boat, shouting at the seamen, my sis herself in pursuit (guilty run!).

Mom took another look into the big black bag of snorkels and masks and found the money/purse. She ran off to them herself, waving the missing items like flag signals. I couldn't desert the table of half-eaten food with the Ah Lian watching so I just keep eating as the other got waist deep back in saltwater. This was such a fun day *big wink* ;)

Signed: *Ophie, "I found 4 clownfish Nemos in this tiny patch of purple anemone. Long John Silver dived down and shook them up a bit, they're highly territorial." ;)

Redang Day One: He-eee-llo-ooo-!!

2004-09-03T09:50:00.000+08:00

Location: Room 7, Redang Campsite and Resort, Pulau Redang, Terengganu
Mood of the day: Tough and beefy, like Arnold ~~Schuarzenagger~~ ~~Swuasenagjer~~ Susah-nak-eja :P

Here's the first post of the Redang Report! We set off at 2.30am and hopefully get there by noon. It's an all nighter drive between my mom, dad and sis. On the new Kuantan highway, mom was falling asleep so dad took over. Dad drove so riskily in the dark and misty road that NOBODY slept.

We arrived at Cukai at the crack of dawn and a brief Venus gaze for breakfast at one of these roadside half-city-half-kampung café where we ate chicken as the street-wise live ones boldly joined us under the table (don't worry, they ate rice, not their masak-merah brethren).

The view from our veranda...

Arrived at the jetty early so dad herded everybody to a pasar raya (were corridors and shops are small but their wares can knockout any KL prices). He just wanted an original Terrengganu nasi dagang but mom, sis and me could only see hundreds vibrant coloured batiks in delicate hand-painted Thai silks. But if we stick around to our girl's heart's content, we'll miss the boat. Dad had to drag sis kicking and screaming (but he promised full shopping experience on the last day).

A hermit crab visiting his girlfriend with a gift. Can you see the faint heart-shaped trail marks?

There were other families on the package we took but we're the only ones without primary school kids (school holidays-le). My lil' bro's packed half his school with him because of the SPM trials by Monday (poor dude). The trip to PR was eventless save for this lil' baby gal who's terrified of the rocking boat. PR Resort was only a balcony jump away from the beach (not that we actually jumped off the balcony into the sea) so after checking in, we SWIM!!!

Architect freak. Lil' bro's rebuilding the Great Wall of China grain by grain

There were no fish in our area cos there were no coral reefs for fish to live in. Redang got all sorts of weird names for their area. There's Pulau Tengkorak, P. Yu Kecil and Tg. Cina Terjun (supposedly, where a lot of Chinese can jump and shout "Goodbye, cruel world!"). The catered food's bland and so for flavour, the family brought out the Mister Potato, Mr. Chips and (gender not defined) Double Decker Chicken munchies. There's actually Astro here! They got the electricity turned on in the evenings. Laa~, no holiday seemed to be safe from Astro ;).

A cloudy sunset at an island is better than smog-filled one back home...

The swim was an exercise for tomorrow's marine park extravaganza. The other family also joined into the water. The waves were unusually huge at this time of the year (must be the Taiwan Typhoon). The waves could have been bigger since each comes on twos or threes, broken up by the shore.

I saw one lil' gal went running to her dad with a mask-snorkel set before being knocked off her feet by a mini tsunami. She tried to get back up before the second after-wave went 'Peekaboo' right into her face. She must have gave up and just sat at the shallows to recover before a third water-brother sent her sprawling back on the beach. Reminds me of my first island paradise trip ;).

Signed: *Ophie, falling asleep to the sounds of she thought at first, were the waves on the rocks but in fact, her dad was snoring loudly from the other room.

Xfresh Archive: See you later, Xfreshers!

2004-09-03T09:49:00.001+08:00

Location: Who cares?! We're off to see the Redang. The wonderful Pulau Redang!
Mood-of-the-day: See the pic...

Arrgh~! It's just so déjà vu. I'm feeling totally excited and anxious again, just like the first day of semester holidays. At exactly 24 hours from the time this entry is posted, it'll be all just super sun, sand, sleep, swim and salty sea for the further 96 hours. My last visit to an island paradise was long forgotten but I think it was Pulau Perhentian back then. I got so many things to do, including telling it to the world!

Yeah, that's the other thing, my blog. I wanted to get into the BLOGathon very much, confident that I could have a chance at something but that something's gotta give and I ain't missing this trip! I'm trying to post as much meaningful entries while I'm still above sea level. It's very rare that my family managed to find the right free time that's convenient for everybody for this trip. This was a tight slip since that I started school while my lil' bro had started the holidays (he's skipping his tuition classes).

What I'm most concerned are the 2 cats, Patchy and Dusty. How are they going to survive four days without the required total care and protection? My bro isn't coming with us since he still got to go to work and so he'll be able to feed them at least. But Patchy's senior kitty and gets easily stressed out if something's amiss. He needs his scheduled nightly-scratch-behind-the-neck and only I can do it properly. I mean, well, look at him!

Kitty Mugshot: Patchy, kitten of Catty, second generation feline in da family

Still, arrgh~! What am I going to pack? I lost my yellow-green snorkel ages ago. I searched for it in ever corner. As a last resort, I braved through the dark clutter of the Doom Room (see previous Ophami-lympics entry) and come out only with bruises, a throat full of dust and empty hands. I think I stepped on something dead (eeeeew, gross!). Luckily, the nearest fully equipped bathroom was only a hop, skip and jump away, (literary, all on one foot!).

Still, no snorkel anywhere. I'll have to borrow my dad's or rent one from the hotel. I'm not going to miss feeding coral fishies for the world. Mom mentioned in passing that she's going to pack some mouldy bread for that. What I'm going to bring along is my raggedy old Jeans! Need some fixing up though. I love my hideous blue but I hate to sew. Pricked my finger a few times actually.

My favourite and oldest pair. It's supposed to look ugly.

Yahoo, snorkel was actually found! My dad founded at the last minute in his own jumbled collection of scuba gear. I know it's weird to say that I've lost it at the 4th paragraph and say that it's been found by the 6th, but all the while I was writing this in my room, I stopped at almost every sentence to pack a shirt or to sew up another hole in the raggedy Jeans or check the pencil case for pre-blog equipment or etc...

Signed: *Ophie, free Pulau Redang souvenir to the one who guessed correctly how many times Ophie stopped to do something else half-way through this entry.

Xfresh Archive: The Friend you don't want to Hang Around with

2004-09-03T09:49:00.000+08:00

Location: Executive Suite with glass ceiling skylight and indoor Jacuzzi
Mood-of-the-day: I becoming deaf in one ear but that's not such a bad idea

I'm sure I'm not the inkblot on a white paper when it comes to suddenly coming face to face with the one guy/gal you've abandoned or pretended to have never met or try to hide from. The person whose favorite habit is the one thing that makes them the least desirable person to be around your 5 feet to 5 kilometers of personal space.

It's okay for me to write it here cos the person in particular doesn't know about my blog. Heck, I was careful not to mention it around her. This girl is the Janice reject from the Friend series because the producers can stand her either. I've been avoiding her as much as I can but she doesn't seem to take a hint.

She a dark malay with a beret (hey it rhymes!) and I've hardly see her wearing anything else on her head (I hardly see her at all, thank goodness!). She has a deep voice for a gal and could never seem to control her volume. Example: She once talked about how's her menstrual cycle and asking all about mine in the middle of the crowded workstation during peak lunch hour, LONG and LOUDLY. I wanted so very much to die on the spot at that moment.

That's the thing; the subjects she always talks about seem only to make more sense to her while I try to crank my head or least pretend I understand something. She talks about the organizational infrastructure of the Education Ministry and who's commanding over whom and how she knows them personally. She talks about some hidden conspiracy about the Pengajian Malaysia lecturer over a final exam some 2 years back.

She talks about all these deep, serious discussion that would make any nation-wide debate judges proud to sponsor her to go international (I'll sponsor her too, and double so she stays there!). She doesn't want to talk about anything light-hearted, not books, not clothes (I know where to get her a better beret), not movies *sigh*. Most recently was yesterday, about how she's been trying to graduate quickly and most efficiently.

Why didn't I just tell her I want out? Well, it's because what she is! She's so deep and thoughtful that, if she had expressed it rightly, would have been a great at something among people her genre, like a debating team or school politics, but she isn't interested (I know, I tried to get her attention elsewhere). And she's smart. She helped me get through some of the projects through my foundation days and still do.

So what do you do with a girl like her? Do you put your foot down and tell her that's she's okay but we're not sharing much in common? Do you just let her be and might as well enjoy her company to fake it, fake it until you really do feel it? Or do you just try to ignore her as much as possible, like if she's walking to you but haven't seen you yet, turn around and duck into a bathroom? I don't see her often so I've been using the 'ignore' tactic.

Signed: *Ophie, not desperate, just needed a fly swatter that doesn't kill anybody

Xfresh Archive: Ophami-lympics!

2004-09-03T09:48:00.001+08:00

Location: Bouncing in giant hamster balls all around Ophie's Cerebral Cortex
Mood-of-the-day: Celebrating Insanity

Laaa~dies and gentlemen! Let's forget about the usual mumblings of this 'ere gal's daily timeline events and one-side opinions so we can all join hands in the spirit of competition! What? No! We're not talking about the overly budgeted, superbly bombastic and still in maintenance Greece's Olympics! No fellow bloggers, we at the Suvon Reality crew are talking about Ophami-lympics!

Yes! Don't YOU, have experienced something at home that require so much physical workload and mental Zen that is the envy of health trainers everywhere? Well duh, what am I saying? Of course you do, yes, yes, yes! And at Ophie's House are special events that are held EVERY DAY with everybody having a chance to hold great titles, break records and win!

*-*-*-*-*

Event: Ass-Cake Bake

Current record-holder and participant: My lil' bro! (432751 seconds and counting...)
Previous record-holder: My dad (Bathroom break time limit exceeded)

This event is to test the endurance of keeping your BUTT at ONE PLACE at the LONGEST TIME. You are allowed to do anything within arm's reach, remote control, eat a snack or two and all the Astro you can have but you're not allowed to lift your posterior at all. This event started since the TV was brought upstairs.

Event: Water Box

Current record-holder: My dad (In his Break-the-Box-with-a-Sledgehammer-Freestyle)
Previous record-holder: My dad (In his Building-the-Box-with-Love-Freestyle)

And onto the water sports! This original piece combines all the attributes of weight lifting, shot precision and gymnastics grace to create a one-of-a-kind event! Music added to the effect and shall be counted. As you can see, the previous winner won with a complementary Frank Sinatra's "I did it My Wa~aaay."

Event: Jungle Jim

Current record-holder: Patchy the House Cat (bringing home a twitching half-dead bird)
Previous record-holder: Dusty the Mixed Persian (failed in frog capture)

The 'Jim' in the Jungle Jim sport can be anything and anyone in particular. The trick is that it's a capture and not-sure-if-can-release-it into the home with style and grace and as minimal damage as possible. Points are awarded to the species type of 'Jim'. The closer to a mammal, the higher the score.

Event: Doom Room

Current record-holder: Me (getting lost and surviving 4 days and 4 nights before succumbing to diseases)
Previous record-holder: None (Only 5 had ever dared to compete and all were declared missing)

Lastly is the most terrifying one of all, Doom Room. This perpetually dark interior has been a haunted, hazardous place and was declared unsafe for any category, until recently. This is where no light can ever shine through and once anyone with a soul get to the first left bend, an evil so great can be felt and drives them away. It had been deemed a gateway downstairs to Helldom, which makes it such a cool thing to do it!

*-*-*-*-*

And so come on over to this prestigious, once in an imaginary life span opportunity to cheer for your favorite normal, boring, everyday-you-see-them couch potatoes! Tickets are sold at every major Mouses' Mousehole, open 2 minutes a day at prices ranging from a cheesecake to a CIA bank account.

Signed: *Ophie, this entry is brought to you by the Egos of E. Diot, Balance, Reason, Negligence and Stupidity (whee~eee~eee!)

Xfresh Archive: True Tragic Tale

2004-09-03T09:48:00.000+08:00

Location: You can see where I am. Look at the right-hand corner of the blog.
Mood-of-the-day: Whopper burger with cheese, Spicy KFC, Big Mac set with apple pie, A&W waffle...

Considering that this is the ghost month on the Chinese calendar let me tell you a true tragic story, one that I've experienced first hand. It's still hard for me to recount it, but for this blog and hoping that you'll be careful, I'm going to tell it. If you think that this story is based on anyone you know, please understand that I have no intention of disturbing old memories.

When I was in secondary school, year 2000 or so, I was a member of the Red Crescent Society. Once we took an inter-school camping trip to Bukit Cahaya to compete against other schools during the first year or so of the new badge reward system. We were there for the jungle experience and to keep our school's winning track record and that sort of stuff. Everybody was very excited and for many it's their first time camping away from families.

The first day was tough and yet most fun. On the third day, there was a round of practise foot drill so intense that the phrase 'break a leg' before the actual test tomorrow seems like not a bad idea. Members who did not participate in the foot drill competition, or had already won previously, were left behind to maintaining the camps.

One school had accidentally broken the PVC pipe buried in the earth with a shovel, which, unfortunately, had been supplying water to our campsite. It was my job to fetch water so even after the jelly-legs pain, a fetching-I-will-go-and-obey-my-SC. I took a route to a different tap that was very near to a Sunway school campsite. There was a line there already.

Suddenly, there was this huge crash and yellow smoke covered the Sunway camp. If I can remember correctly, it sounded like a wave colliding into a rock wall at the seaside. The others who were waiting at the tap water pipe with their pails ran off, but I had been looking the other way. When I turned to follow the smoke, I saw flying leaves and a long trunk across the Sunway camp. People were crowding around, running away and the running back, so I couldn't really tell.

Suddenly there were whistles everywhere, the kind that police used. A leader caught me and asked which school I was from and that I go back immediately. I was more blur than scared cos I didn't know what actually happened. I complied anyway, but not before taking the advantage of quickly getting water. Once I got back, the SCs were already doing a head count.

Then an order was issued that everybody was to get to the main area right away. And everybody did. Nobody got in line and no leader bothered to correct us, which I found was very odd. A girl behind me I remembered was from the Sunway camp and she was commenting about some broken glasses and that she couldn't find her friend.

There was supposed to be a performance night but everybody's attention kept going at the two ambulances just on the edge of the main area. Despite the cheering claps and singing, I kept looking at the people going back and forth between the camps and the roads. Then, somebody screamed. I looked and saw a stretcher covered in white cloth, the kind that you see on 911 when somebody had died. One of the leaders had his shirt unnaturally red.

Nobody returned to the camps that night. We all were ushered to these empty wooden houses that God knows who owns them but we're grateful. The girl who was complaining about her glasses had stayed in the same wooden hut as mine. She still couldn't find her friend and was getting anxious. We were sent home the very next day, our bags packed and the competition cancelled. Nobody could tell us anything.

It wasn't until in a tiny section of Star newspaper is an article about the death of 2 Sunway students at Bukit Cahaya. A tree had fallen right on their heads and they were killed instantly. I can't remember if there was a third student involved. But it did happened. A few days later in the Utusan, a parent had written angrily about how inefficient the commanders were. It was heart-breaking, even after so long...

Signed: *Ophie, never wanted to return to Bukit Cahaya since then

Short Story: Abused and Abusive

2004-09-03T09:47:00.001+08:00

Rena remembered how Danny left. He stared at her with accusing eyes, accusing her of betrayal as the police slapped the handcuffs on his wrists. Those eyes grew even more menacing in the flashing blue siren lights but his face looked old, tired, years beyond his twenty-eighth. Rena stood at the doorway with what strength she had left, bruised, battered and bloodied, holding tightly to a red phone receiver.

That was three years ago. Rena had long recovered from the terrible beatings but body shall always be riddled with scars, her mind with the memories. Living was hard without her breadwinner husband but she had to survive, she had to endure now that her only child, six-year-old Darren, will soon begin a life outside his home. She needed more than just the comfort of her neighbours. She needed security.

And was why Danny stood right in front of her house. He looked different now, thinner, and more forlorn, yet he wore a soft smile and his eyes looked at her differently. There he was, the same man she fell in love with. Although Darren was too young to have remembered how she protected him from his father's terrible fists, he pulled hard on Rena's skirt, clearly wanting to get away from this stranger.

Danny touched a long, jagged scar on her right cheek, but Rena did not flinch. He had changed, she knew he could and believed he had. Especially when he suddenly broke down and fell on his knees, clutching her and sobbing on her breast, crying, begging her to let him come back. He said everything she had always wanted him to tell her, how much he loved her. Rena could not help but cry as well.

Indeed, Danny had changed for the better. No longer did he stalk his neighbours for money. He found a respectable job as a bank clerk. No longer did Rena waited late up into the night, fearing he would return with a beer bottle. Danny came home early and sober. Sometimes he brought a rose for her or a toy for Darren. Darren still looked at his father unsmilingly, but no longer does hide behind his mother from him. Rena hoped that one day, Darren would come to love and trust Danny.

However, not all changes were good. Rena's friends, who had helped her willingly before, now stopped speaking to her. When she passed them at the market or at a shop, some pretended that she did not exist. This baffled Rena until Nor, a neighbour who took care of Darren while Rena sold desserts, explained that some were jealous of her new life. Many were still abused by their own husbands and could not truly be happy for her.

Darren too was affected. One day, he came home from kindergarten with uniform dirty, his bag torn and one of his shoes was missing. He did not shed a tear and his face was like stone. He told Rena how no children would be his friends because their parents had told them how his father was an ex-convict. Outnumbered and defenceless, he was bullied and humiliated almost every day. Even the teachers isolated him in class and would only scold him for being a filthy boy.

Rena was very depressed but she did not mention her troubles to Danny. Danny was working harder than ever after his promotion as head clerk. He would bring his paper work home and continue late into the night. He no longer brought home roses or toys for his family. He eats his meals in silence now and sometimes would return home very late. But his eyes and touch were still soft and he continued to smile and never raised a hand in anger.

Then, a well-dressed fat man came to Rena and, with a grin, explained that Danny had owed some money to his bosses. He was there to receive collection. Rena had seen this man many times before, at the gates of her neighbours' houses, but had never spoken to him. Danny had never asked for money from this man, only from the neighbours. The fat man told her how Danny had been very successful at his job and had returned to his old gambling habits.

Rena was shocked. She could not and did not believe the fat man. She asked Danny about the incident. He denied and said that he had been in meetings with his four colleagues. But the fat man continued to appear at her gate, smiling and demanding money. Rena gave him some of her own, hoping to lure that stranger away. But he was persistent and came everyday with descriptions of Danny's so called exploits until she no longer greeted him.

One day, the fat man returned but did not call out. Instead, he threw a package on to the floor and left quickly. Inside, to Rena's horror, were explicit sexual photos of her husband in a bed with many different women. That night, she confronted Danny with the photos. Danny looked grave and denied any wrongdoing. When Rena told him about the fat man, he countered that the stranger was a liar and that the photos were fake and it was not he.

Rena was so angry that she struck her husband on the face. He was stunned, but Rena was even more so. Danny did not strike her back. He touched the long, jagged scar on her right cheek and told her that he would never hurt her again. But he continued to bury himself in his work, even more so since and always stayed up late at his office. And the fat man started to call her on the phone almost every day.

Without a friend, her husband now hardly speaking to her and trouble still plagued Rena and her son, she became more and more agitated. She jumped or shouted at small things, ignored the phone almost every time it rang and was always angry with people, even Darren. One morning, the bank called Rena for Danny's whereabouts, as he was due for an important meeting. Rena did not know but she feared the worst.

Danny did not come home that night, nor by the next morning. Rena waited long at the doorway for him, neglecting a hungry Darren as he cried for attention. It was late that night when Danny finally came back.

He was in a complete disorder, his eyes were teary and bloodshot and there were stains on his shirt. When he saw Rena at the door, he cried and bowed his head low, begging for forgiveness. Rena saw that the stains on his shirt were red lipstick and he smelled like a strong mixture of alcohol and perfume.

Rena was furious. All rational thought left her mind as she struck him with her fists in rage. Danny did not fight back, but cowered before her, still begging and pleading. Rena was not satisfied. Instead, Danny's weakness only made her even angrier. She took her broomstick and began to beat him hard until the wooden handle broke. She continued to beat him with the sharp edge of the broken broom while scratching his eyes with her other hand.

She cried and screamed at him, and still he only lay as low on the floor. She shouted her frustration, asking him why he had done what he did. But Danny still did not answer but allowed her to beat him red raw. Rena struck, slapped and scratched until she had spent all her fury. A great wave of sadness washed over her and she felt a heavy weight on her shoulders. Her hands were blistered and slick with red blood.

Rena called out to her husband, but he did not move. She shook his bruised back gently and spoke soft pleads, but Danny still did not budge. From the outside came loud and familiar sirens that rang like thunder in the cold dark air.

She looked up and the flashing blue lights blinded her sight. She turned face into the house and in the darkness, she saw her son, Darren. He stood quite still like a statue with a thin face that was expressionless. In his hand was the red phone receiver.

Xfresh Archive: BLOGathon and the upcoming Ikano Street Party

2004-09-03T09:47:00.000+08:00

Location: Sorry, GPS out of order. Please reboot and try again.
Mood-of-the-day: ...blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog ...

Of all the things I could have missed during my 2 weeks' of total separation from the Internet (e-mails, message board RPG chats, Net game high scores, waaay behind of a tag story, announcement of a gathering even), but 6 days lost of a chance to competing in something I do almost everyday? Even if it isn't for a blog! It's outrageous! I can't let you guys have so much fun without me! I wanna get into the BLOGathon too :P

And boy was I ever ready. I hope Xblog judges would forgive me for the many entries I've posted up yesterday. It's the biggest amount I've ever written and posted in one day and I do hope each counts, you know, for a good entry lead. The downside is that I'll be leaving for Pulau Redang this coming Thursday and won't be back until Monday. Aah... so many ideas to put into entries, so little time to write it all...

Oh, well! When hungry, the food's not gonna cook by itself, ya know. Well the whole world seem to be starting its usual weird normalcy today. I drove this morning on the road next to Ikano Power Centre and caught the licence plate of a black Volvo titled 'CIA'. Well, I brushed it off amusingly at first, until the ocean-blue Gen. 2 that tailed the Volvo closely behind had the licence plate as 'KGB'. Great, spies... they're everywhere.

Armed with my green 1.44Mb, I was the first old student without lil' paper-type temporary metric card to sign-up for a workstation bum sitting. Actually, I was the first old student of anything at 8.45am considering that new students had yet to register for the semester (but, that's another story :P). And I spend good, long daylight hours with a such a straight back that would have made my dad and any drill sergeant proud (especially when I discovered what all you people had been up to without me!).

Everybody's seem to be getting a good journaling habit during my absence. Wa~aaah, scared-le, banyak competition! :D Looks like nobody had really reported about any bugs but I still found some minor old ones, like when you tried to edit your entries, there's some foreign code text about errors (hey Alby, hope you're reading this! :P). Didn't effect the actual editing of the entries though, I'm just curious about it.

Lastly, didja hear about the Ikano Merdeka Celebration coming soon this 30th August? I first heard about it on the radio before the Star gave out more details about the street party. There gonna be a celebrity concert with Hitz.fm deejays, the usual crowd-mingling entertainment, even hot air balloon ride all the way right up to the midnight fireworks. Anybody here coming? I live just nearby and any reason to go to shopping malls is good reason!

Signed: *Ophie, who also took a visit to the Xfresh Forums only to be greeted by echoes of her own postings... :P (Where is everybody?)

Xfresh Archive: JK Rowling's Secret Door... ;)

2004-09-03T09:46:00.001+08:00

Location: Unitar workstation, pc 196, 165, 200, 24, etc...
Mood-of-the-day: Still looking for good Feng Shui

Any Harry Potter fans out there? Wa~aaah, so good. Erm, no. You at the back left, not you, you're the movie fan. Wait, not you either. Okay, let me try this again. Any Harry Potter fan of the BOOKS out there? In case, you're wondering, I'm not going for the reading-is-power phase, just wondering if there's guys who share similar interests of reading Harry Potter.

So you read the boy-wizard story? Great! If you're reading this then you must have the Internet (well, duh! :P). Do you often visit the author's website, JKRowling's? Oh co~oool, me too! Every time I surf online, I didn't need to remind myself for a JKR peek. It's cute, very visually creative. I got it through sheer accident back in March.

Looks like they got the Secret Door opened again. I've never been able to get through the brick wall previously, after she announced the 'Half-Blood Prince' title for the 6th book of the series. My school's firewall was so strict that they won't allow even the background pics of MuggleNet to appear (so I've been looking blankly at big empty squares with lil' X boxes).

However, the answer to JKR's latest Open Sesame mystery was easier to get this time. If you're an anti-spoiler person, look away right now! Still, if you're curious enough to abandon the fun of figuring it out yourself, here how to get JKR's small not-so-secret-by-now excerpt. Make sure that the 'Do Not Disturb' sign over the door is gone or else, well, you can't disturb!

I've 'borrowed' MuggleNet's pic to exemplify a How-To ;). Just use the window-still-name-tile-above guide to find a lil' light switch in the dark.

Secret Opened!

Good at darts? Me, Ophie, bad, bad dart player. Depth perception so bad, I might as well been born with one eye. But it's okay, cos this is more like code breaking part. You have to take the 3 darts at the bottom right and get the no. 7-1-3 (remember the first book? :P). If you did it right, you'll get a bank vault (sorry, no spoiler picture here :P!).

You have to click in the numbers: 302723. I dunno why but they pointed out that JKR's daughter was born on the 27th of June and her son, on March 23. Maybe JKR's husband, Neil, was born on the 30th of some other month? Anyway, to tell if you've succeeded, well, it'll be pretty obvious, wouldn't it? Enjoy the prize! :P

Signed: *Ophie, can be found in the Fantasy Section of any bookstore in Malaysia. Really...

Xfresh Archive: Questions of Existence

2004-09-03T09:46:00.000+08:00

The purpose of life is a life full of purposes.

This quote was not one of those unexpected inspirational lines that I've accidentally heard or read or seen and made everything I have, been through or felt before, some profound sense. I went looking for it. To be more precise, I went looking for an answer. But answers were either just too hard to find, or I was looking too hard, I missed it. But I have found this as an inspiration until I yearn to search again.

Why was it that there were always more questions than answers? Why was it that we could only find answers only to some limited extend? What am I for? Why am I here? Who am I? Each of us asked such questions from the moment we start to understand a bit of ourselves. Answers we searched for, a purpose for life, a reason for living, an identity of our own and a value for ourselves.

I cannot deny that I do not often ask myself these questions. Too trivial, I said to myself. I was too young, I told myself, to be confused by such rhetorical things. But nor have I ever quietened my inner mutterings. Indeed, sometimes, they were my driving force. Eventually, life and experience, or at least snatches of what I had gone through, gave me some sense of conclusion.

What could I do?

All the other questions I asked before were meant for my benefit, my own definition of the world and my individualism. I stayed with them, hoping that their answers were pieces for that great, confusing picture. But with this question, I realized that there was no picture to begin with. I could not complete me because I have yet to envision me. I was ready to paint myself, outside the shadows of others, and there were many colours to choose from.

What would I do?

I was, and still am, of this given life. While my soul could wait an eternity for life to continue, life waited not a moment. The opportunities were many, some I cannot neglect, some I cannot achieve, some I cannot hope for, and some I cannot hide from. Opportunities lost made the foundations of wisdom stronger, for many others yet to come. There would always be opportunities. But I have only one life to seek my destiny.

What must I do?

There were some things that we cannot, even might never, continue without. These were important to us, placed before us, loved by us. Life can never be without risks, to us and to the part of us that were more than just ourselves. Paths soon fail and there could only be one road, even be it the most treacherous. It was at the moment of truth that by our choices, our decisions, we would shape our meaning, both in the innocents' eyes and in our own souls.

What have I done?

As you take refuge in a firm place on those topless mountains, it was the most clearly to look at the winding trail behind you, marked by your footsteps. The paths you have chosen, the distance and heights you had conquered, the difficulties of the terrain and those who you had brought with you, lost from you, rejoined or new ones found along the way. The pattern you had made in your life, for yourself defines your choice of being.

To do something, many things or nothing. To do something, anything and not do nothing. To do the one thing you placed your hope on without fail. To do look behind you and see all that you had accomplished. Where am I in these steps? How should I begin, and how should it all end? And the cycle that drives us to live continues.

Life, existence, was, and had always been, more about asking questions than finding answers. For in questions there can be held answers, and the trick was to ask the right ones. Then, someday, in a life full of purposes, you would realize what was the true purpose of your life and discover who you are in Time.

The Chaos Circles #7

2004-09-03T09:45:00.002+08:00

Romantic? Jaque? Lya had watched him grew to become a man better than his own family ever did. But romantic? Probably the closest thing to it was how he stopped a green grass snake that had threatened to strike at Gemianna Leighamdottir. And ten years later, how that same girl became his first maiden, would dance only with Jaque and no other men at Enatuh's harvest day or on the Peak Days festivals, and would not let him dance or speak to other girls, including Lya.

Lya scolded herself for letting her mind wander again. Gemianna was already happily married to someone else and would soon be expecting her first child, a Jeramson perhaps, if Channeler Harrietta were right in her guessing. She buttoned the soft woollen brown dress she had chosen while Faerilla dried and brushed her hair. If everything goes just as planned...

A firm knock made by a heavy hand made Lya's heart skipped a beat. The intruder seemed to be in a hurry, for he (if it was a man) knocked a few more, each made louder, before Faerilla even got to the door.
"We are not ready," said Faerilla, through the wooden door.
"Please Mrs. Samuel. The matter I need to speak to you is urgent," answered the deep voice of Terrence Jaymes.

Faerilla looked to Lya with a familiar mix of gaze and nod that said get-dressed-quickly-and-I-will-be-back. Lya brushed her hair a few times before abandoning the brush and walking quickly but soundlessly to eavesdrop from the keyhole. Had Jaque left earlier? Did Mr. Jaymes catch him in the act? The voices of her mother and Mr. Jaymes were low but she could make out snatches of their conversation.

"... will have to be postponed. Even tonight," said Terrence.
"I don't understand," said Faerilla.
"A messenger from Hillway Path had just arrived. His horse had almost fainted with exhaustion and he is no better. Your husband had called for every available clansmen to the Hall."
"Hillway Path? Oh Terrence, you don't think?"
"Hadn't Handred mention it before? There's no time for the Bonding Night. And bring Lya too."

On instinct, Lya tore herself away from the door and tried her best to look as if she had been busy and successful with her hair. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal a grave faced Faerilla. Lya tried her best to look innocent despite the uncomfortable boiling hot pit in her stomach.
"Let me do that darling, before you make yourself go bald," said her mother in a gentle voice.
She took the hairbrush from Lya's hand. Trying to keep her own hands busy, Lya adjusted the buttons and smoothed the creases on her dress.

Faerilla seemed to be worried. The sudden silence between them only made Lya more anxious, especially since her mother hardly ever kept herself quiet about anything worth telling.
"Erm... Mother?" She tried to start something, hoping to receive something important.
As she had been reading her mind, Faerilla's response was in a soft tone but it still held a sharp edge to her tongue.
"We're going to the Hall soon. I'll see if Dydine would let us pack some bread and cheese to supp in case you'd get hungry."

It was still unsatisfactory to Lya, but she kept the thought to herself. A lady should not be disturbing her elder's troubled mind with her own curiosity. She finished quickly, tying a neat braid and both women left the bedroom in wide strides. Faerilla held a strong grip to her daughter's hand as they walked across the empty and quiet corridors. In all the time she visited Jaque during her childhood days, Lya had never felt the house so disturbingly quiet.

The Jaymes's home at the farm was not very large as compared to the fields they owned and all rooms were built on the ground floor. But it still was a grand old home made of good old oak, hickory and other hardwoods added throughout the years. Lya had always liked it better than her father's cold stone manor where she lived. It was once the main Jaymes family home until Finnigan Jaymes, Jaque's eldest uncle, build a stone house of his own closer to the village centre.

Dydine was already at the entrance room with a covered basket at one hand. Behind her was tiny Kennick, holding his fists to his mother's skirts and his face solemn. He stared at Lya with wide eyes behind his golden fringe. Faerilla took the basket from Dydine and muttered a brief thanks.
"Aren't you coming with us, Mother Jaymes?" asked Lya.
Dydine patted her large belly and shook her head.
"I would stay here and take care of my other sons. All of them are too young to attend."

Faerilla passed the basket to Lya's hand as they left the house. A rising cinnamon smell of freshly baked bread with soft cream cheeses rose from the cloth covered. If Lya had not been feeling so nervous, she would have peeked to see if Dydine had included some spiced chicken.

Outside were Terrence and her father Handred, both were saddled on their horses and wore smart dark coats with blank faces. Jaque had just strapped on the ropes on bulky old Ned the mule. Beside them was the horse buggy Lya and her mother had arrived in, its one stallion looked annoyed to be harnessed in so soon. The two grown men were in a deep conversation but ended abruptly when they saw Lya and her mother.

"Jaque, go and help the ladies into the buggy," said Terrence.
Jaque complied obediently. Handred looked away for a moment and then he said to them, "I have to go right now. They'll be expecting me to be the first to greet them."

Terrance only nodded. The old Samuelson kicked his heels to his horse's flanks and he was gone like lightning. If possible Lya felt even more scared. She looked straight at Jaque, trying to catch his eye as he held out his hand to aid her into the buggy.

Jaque could see her questioning look and countered with his own grimmer gaze.
"What it is?" Lya asked before he did. She was careful to keep her voice from her Faerilla, even though her attention was on the sight of her disappearing husband.
"You told me before that the King's Mages are coming? Well, they are almost here," said Jaque.
"So soon? But it is a good long way from Aqanau!" gasped Lya.
Jaque shook his head and returned her the food basket.
"I don't know how, Lya. I just don't know."

Before he turned to his Mother Samuel, Lya leaned over and touched lightly on his shoulder. She stared at him with her own serious, solemn stare.
"This changes everything."
"This changes nothing," said Jaque.

To be continued...

Holiday Archive: T'was the night of de Last Day...

2004-09-03T09:45:00.001+08:00

Location: 1st paragraph = bedroom, 2nd paragraph = kitchen, 3rd paragraph = Proton, 4th...
Mood-of-the-day: Must... find... good... Feng... Shui...

Well, I thought today would be the Photoblog Day, you know, as a compensation for the lack of 3 extra entries that I had failed to do during my school holiday monotone. However, a nice old lady, who shared half my DNA, had abducted the Konika for her Old Ladies's Get-Together Part 2. But hey, I seriously doubt you really wanted me to detail my Day-of-the-Month that much, do you?

Erm... wow, look at the number of digital hands raised here. Man, some are you are sure nosy about my life, aren'tcha? Well as long as any gossip stays online, the whole Family is going on a Pulau Redang vacation next Thursday. As a rule, everybody could only carry waterproof luggage so dad's laptop was outta the question. Although an electronic, my lil' bro's Konika's a mandatory item so expect lots of pictures, but only above sea level, too bad.

Since I'm sitting on my bum in the Proton as I write my 3rd paragraph, my dad gave the ultimatum of scrubbing the dirt and grime off its once-shinny blue surface to make it shiny again before school tomorrow. But heck, I won't be driving the old motor-gal for Monday cos mom sending her to see the service doctor about a brake light. My dad tried to 'fix' it, but like something out of an American sitcom, well; let's just say real Eon experts are welcome. Willing to pay double. Please hurry.

Wow, I got so many things to get done and this is even before school! I'm taking 4 classes for the long semester, 16 credit hours (I think) in 3 full days (that one I'm sure). I almost forgot their titles, just listed down their codes. Erm, Business Values or Something, Discrete Maths, and the, er... um... E-commerce and one other IT related class. Yay, I award myself A+ for almost properly remembering the titles :P.

I'm doing three entries at once at this very moment and so I'm draining the inspiration juices big time. However, the juice is a bit sour cos the inspiration isn't quite ripe yet and so I'm getting lots of words pouring out but not amount of sugary descriptions can present real flavourful entries. Ala... now you see what happened! You made me thirsty. I'm taking a short break for a quick grape-flavoured purple water.

*please pause for 5 minutes...*

Now that I've used 1/12 of this hour to replenish body fluids, I realized something as I was reading the nutrition chart (yes, I do read nutrition charts before I consume. One of my habitual things to do actually). Other than there are no good movies on HBO tonight, I've decided that I'm feeling confident enough to send two entries of mine as articles for Xfresh. I've never sent articles before before, let's see what the CT thinks f them.

Signed: *Ophie, whose creative juices tasted good at this point only because she was getting thirsty :P

Holiday Archive: Saturday Night Musings

2004-09-03T09:45:00.000+08:00

Location: Between MS Word writing and Pokemon Blue playing
Mood-of-the-day: Reason vs. Negligence. Whoever wins, my PC loses ;P

By the end of this sentence, it'll be Saturday 21st, 2004 at 10.17pm and 30 seconds. Okay, actually, I'm not sure about the seconds but I know it's Saturday the 21st cos if I didn't know, I'll miss my first class this coming Monday.

1. Must... resist... Pokemon Blue impulse...
2. Not... resisting... well...
3. The Mat Salleh label on white foreigners started in the old Melaka kingdoms.
4. British sailors got drunk to ease long work-travel-home sickness.
5. 'Mad Sailors' = Mat Salleh, Mat Salleh = 'Mad Sailors'...
6. I think I'll send one of my entry posts as an article to Xfresh.
7. But I'll have to finish it first, though.
8. Once in the 80s, my dad attended a weeklong seminar course.
9. It was so boring in the dark, presentation room that he fell asleep in half of the classes.
10. It was a seminar about motivation.

11. I so want to fall asleep so badly right now.
12. Cik Jah is now staying with my other aunt's family.
13. Now I know where my Indo-patterned shirt had disappeared.
14. I have collected 3 empty bottles in strategic locations around my bedroom.
15. Patchy the Cat is invading my keyboard.
16. He just wants me to stop writing so he can go to sleep in my chair.
17. My room has only bare walls.
18. I will admit, truthfully, that I have an air-con installed in my room.
19. The had been no light in the ceiling light for almost a month now.
20. Too lazy to change the bulb, used delicate lamplight now.

21. Ya-aay, there's Sex in the City tonight!
22. My dad had taped a nice Malaysian flag out to the garden grill wall.
23. I'm thinking of going to Popular Bookstore sometime soon.
24. Wish I had more money right now...
25. I drove through a red light today because two other cars did the same.
26. If that white Proton was an undercover officer with radar gun doing his rounds, he made at least RM150 tonight.
27. I still hadn't open the plastic cover on my new Wheel of Time Book.
28. My parents finally got that indoor TV antenna they always wanted.
29. 8TV's perfect only if there's someone standing in a monkey kung fu position on the northeast side of the TV with the right foot on the TV antenna, the left hand holding a half-filled Sarsi can and right hand scratching the right elbow.
30. Must be a Feng Shui thing.

31. I'm making shadow puppets with my lamplight!
32. Now I'm scared of the dark.
33. I've collected RM7 worth of one-cent coins.
34. My room temperature is 20 degrees Celsius.
35. Yeah, I like it as cool as Cameron Highlands.

Signed: *Ophie, neither Reason nor Negligence won. I'm chunking them both into the Subconscious again.

Xfresh Archive: From my Fantasy Book Cupboard...

2004-09-03T09:44:00.000+08:00

Book Review: The Lightstone - The Ninth Kingdom

David Zindell was known for his sci-fi trilogy A Requiem for Homo Sapiens. The Lightstone is the first book of an epic called the Ea Cycle and his first attempt at fantasy. I got acquitted with the Lightstone as a last minute 'take a book, any book' run around in an MPH book fair. I didn't pay much attention other than the summary and book cover that had attracted me. Still, it was a good deal after all.

Since my first ever fantasy book was Lord of the Rings in 2001, I sought to find an epic that could match up to it. Only the Lightstone had managed to return me into that level of suspense, intrigue and beauty. This book is written in first-person and had a grand and impressive use of words, narration and detail that, to my long search, felt like a good cup of fresh, clear drink after a hot day.

This epic was played on an island continent called Ea. The main character is young Valashu Elahad. He was the seventh prince in the royal family of Mesh and of the race and culture of men called the Valari. He set off on a journey with six others in a search for a living crystal called the Lightstone. His companions were Maram (a free thinker and heavy drinker), Master Juwain (an elderly healer and teacher), Kane (mysterious man with a dark past), Atara (a warrior woman with an oath), Liljana (secretive yet gentle cook) and Alphanderry (an ambitious merry musician).

There was a prophecy that those united with seven stones under the seventh son will be the ones who would find the Lightstone from Morjin the Red Dragon. This guy is the antagonist, a master illusionist who twists the truth as he twists Valashu's dreams into nightmares. This fallen angel sought the Lightstone for his own purposes and rule not just Ea, but break open the prisons of darker worlds for an age of domination.

Valashu himself has a gift of inner empathy to feel the emotions of others and was uncertain of his own fate and role in Ea and the Universe. His desire to stop wars and end suffering, for a Valari knight, took him on a hazardous journey of self-discovery across miles of beautifully detailed descriptions in a magical landscape under angels' stars.

Excerpts:
... But certainly himself was a child of the One, and therefore a spark of the infinite glowed inside him. Who was I to put it out? Who was I to look into his tormented eyes and steal the light? ...

... "Perhaps there is no cure," I told him. Then I said, "The Red Dragon is so evil - how could anyone be this evil?"
"Only out of blindness," Master Juwain said, "so that he can't see the difference between evil or good. Or only out of the delusion that he is doing good when actually bringing about the opposite.'
The Red Dragon, he said, was certainly not evil by his own lights. No one was. But I wasn't as sure of this. Something in Morjin's voice seemed to delight in darkness, and this still haunted me ...

I found the Lightstone to be something very magical fantasy to read. As this was a beginning book, much of the story is dedicated to description, culture and history of Ea, so the plot was not as deep so you won't get lost. The suspense and the thrills were to wake up nights for. David Zindell's best play is his ability to put into perfection the display of powerful emotions and thought-provoking passions into written words.

David Zindell's part one of the Lightstone - Ninth Kingdom can be available in paperback at any MPH and Kinokuniya stores, both at around RM35. Zindell had just completed in 2004 the Book Two of the Ea Cycle, Lord of Lies.

Holiday Archive: One Utama Mall trip

2004-09-03T09:43:00.000+08:00

Location: With a laptop, jumping out of a plane flying hundreds of feet in the air equipped only with a red polka-dot umbrella, wearing Malaysian flag theme pyjamas and aiming to land in her bunny slippers on the bridge between the Twin Towers.
Mood-of-the-day: Time for Hospital Bahagia medical check-up

This Saturday morning, I woke up with a full-fledged idea that I would tryout for a once-a-month Photoblog entry. I planned to take pictures of the main thing happening at that very moment starting at 8am today and do the same every two hours until 10pm tonight so that this entry would have 7 pictures, each with its own short excerpt to properly describe my day.

But I goofed! I only took one picture of Patchy, who was following me around the house for his good-purr-behind-the-neck-massage-scratching hour. I was reluctant to give him one since scratching his neck would take too long and too tedious (he's spoiled, bear with me :P). I had to drive him of with a good shaking of my water bottle, which he hates the sound of it (reminded him of his flea spray).

By the next two hours I completely forgot about the Photoblog since my dad was going to treat my sis, lil' bro and me to an MPH and Kenny Rogers' Day at 1 Utama. I bet anybody reading this RM50 that he wouldn't have given such an offer if my mom weren't out at the Old Ladies kenduri/wedding/gathering/whatever-that-old-ladies-get-together-for. Still, he wanted to get shoes, a travel book and didn't want to do it all by himself.

There was an Adidas streetball competition at the new block of 1 Utama so some of the roads were kinna blocked off. We passed a lot of sweaty guys in sleeves uniform and shorts lunging bags of mineral water in the shop corridors. The finals were at this sun-lit area space within the building itself. Me family didn't stick around to see the thing other than a 4-3 win at the sun-lit indoor arena.

Speaking of Adidas reminds me of shoes. My dad brought himself a good jogging type pair of Powers, not Adidas :P. He tried to make my lil' bro get himself a new pair, at least for the Pulau Redang trip next week. My lil' bro had always been prone to severe boredom syndrome and so we passed him my cell phone and let him out into the shopping mall wilds. But like all captive-born guys who couldn't shop well, he stayed right outside Bata's until we're done.

I couldn't detail much of the MPH store experience since everybody went his or her separate ways in the bookstore (at least, I did, at Fantasy). I couldn't find Hobb's First of the Farseer's Trilogy and so I got me no. 10 of Jordan's Wheel of Time. I'm still full of Zindell's Lord of Lies beautiful tragedy, but everybody's gotta move on, plenty more books in the store. I was tempted by this dual authors' work called Daughter of the Empire though. Does anybody know if the story's any good?

Lastly, there was a 2-1 vote with one neutral party for Kenny Rogers' instead of Dave Deli's. We all stuffed ourselves with 1/4 roast chicken each, all the while, I was thinking of the headless, hairless whole bird being defrosted in the kitchen sink at home that Mak was planning to cook for lunch. We called her to tell her how much we were enjoying ourselves and she countered how she had nasi biryani with all the trimmings surrounded with friends full of lastest gossips.

As for the uncooked chicken? It'll probably 'Die Standing' tomorrow. Man, this entry would have been more excellent if only I hadn't forgotten my camera :P.

Signed: *Ophie, with her PC in a metal cage full of venomous cobras as it bounces on a rotten bungee cord going up and down over a boiling lava pit in an Indonesian island while jugging three freshly laid ostrich eggs and typing out this entry with her toes at the same time.

Holiday Archive: Pokemon Distraction

2004-09-03T09:42:00.001+08:00

Location: In a nutshell
Mood-of-the-day: Like a nut

Aaargh!!!

It's day 13th of my semester holidays and I've only written only 6 & 1/2 entries of my blog (including this one!). I was aiming to get an over 10 as to fill up the Ten Previous Postings as seen in the Xblog main page. I've done none of the Sudden Appearance chapter for Chaos Circles, still to do a Saturday Night Musings, trapped in one article writing and missed a special Photoblog entry.

Okay, I was just being dumb ass lazy :P. It's amazing that the very holidays designed to deteriorate your mind could also deteriorate everything else you got working with your mind (then again, that was the very idea, wasn't it?). Instead of being the blog active gal, ready to commit a round of reader-fun-friendly, I've been sitting my bum on this chair in front of my Windows 98 doing:

Pokemon Blue: Lavender Town

I would have played you a lil' musical tune to go along with the pic but I haven't got a clue what's the music in since my PC lacked a Sound Blaster. In case you have no idea (or you were just born yesterday), this is de ye old Pokemon Blue for the PC by Game Freak. I got it from my cousin after they got tired of this pasar malam pirated copy full of knick-knack games that only few of them actually worked.

I thought it'd be a fun game to go along, you know, just to make the long days just zoom by. And so I played starting with a Bulbasaur, and played, and played... well, I'm addicted! I turn on the PC at 7am and got up to level 51, all before breakfast while pretending to be asleep. It was left it running after my mom did the evil witch act and threatened to throw hot oil than just cold water to get me to wake up and do morning chores.

At every available moment, I played Pokemon, even as I'm doing this blog, though not without difficult restraint. My Stupidity self is making my right leg vibrating up and down so much that I might as well make and enjoy some milkshake, constantly shaken of course. My Reason self, since there's no classes, quizzes or exams papers to bury her 6 feet under, turned the blog entry commitment as the No. 1 in all her To-do, Should-do, Must-do, Do-now and To-Voodoo-Yourself's lists.

Okay, so it's Saturday afternoon and I'm going to have myself a busy last school holiday weekend before I can finally post everything up and ready. Tomorrow is Chaos Circles Fiction Day. As for tonight, I'll be doing the Satuday Night Musing and look back into the previous week so I can pretend that I really did wrote an entry a day (of course, you wouldn't know which is which! :P).

Signed: *Ophie, still playing Pokemon though...

The Chaos Circles #6

2004-09-03T09:42:00.000+08:00

Sudden Appearance

Every morning, Jaque was one of the earliest people to rise before dawn in Enatuh, to bring out the sheep for grazing. He would stay on the grassy hills until late afternoon, before herding them back into their pens and he would continue by chopping wood outside. In the past, it was his stepmother who brought him his meals. Lya took over that duty, mainly because Dydine dottirof Jaymes was now heavy with her fourth child.

The plan was more complicated on Lya's part than Jaque. It would rely heavily on her limited gifts with the Chaos. Her family was to have dinner with the Jaymes that night, to discuss some wedding plans. That way, she could project a perfect image of him, an illusion, to trick others. His illusion would be chopping wood in small area outside the kitchen window. Anybody who looked outside would think that Jaque was busy.

Jaque himself would then take Ned the mule and an axe and go back up the Table Cliff. Once he chopped off one of the oak's roots, the large boulder would fall and rolled away from its place. Supplies such as dry foods, travelling cloaks, the long knife and such things had been smuggled in Lya's basket every time she sent food up the mountains to him. Everything was hidden in that hole under the tree.

"And then what happens next? I wished he would have told me," said Lya sadly.
A surprise, yet gentle knock on her door felt like a bang to her chest in her unexpected state. She accidentally dropped a bucket of hot water into the metal tub, spilling some of the contents out to the side. It was evening time at the Jaymes farm and her family had already arrived and readying themselves for dinner.

"Lya darling, talking to yourself again?" It was her mother's voice.
Lya took a deep breath as she scooped up some water back into the bucket and opened the spare bedroom door slowly.
"No mother, I wasn't. It isn't wise for a lady to mutter secrets on her tongue alone, for ears can be hidden."

Her mother's face beamed. Faerilla Kellingdottir had always been very beautiful, especially when she smiled. She was as very young as her husband was very old when she became a dottirof Samuel, even younger than Lya. The Kellings were famed for producing the best marriage type young women, a tradition that Faerilla intended to incorporate upon the Samuel daughters, starting with her own.

Her mother swept her glossy brown hair behind her. In one hand, she held a cake of herbal soap and some clean cloth while the other is holding on to a large full kettle.
"Come on dear, let us get you cleaned up before dinner starts."
Lya nodded and took the kettle from her mother's hand. Faerilla helped her daughter undress and bathe.

Lya drew in her breath quickly as the hot water was splashed on her bare skin. Faerilla wet the cloth and began scrubbing Lya's back alternately with the soap.
"Lya, you do remember what tonight is, don't you? Fifth day before the wedding? The other reason why we are here?" said Faerilla.
Lya only nodded. Sitting in the hot water with the cold air that creeping between the wooden walls of the bedroom was befuddling her head.
"And that is?" asked Fearilla.
"The Bonding Night."
"That's right, darling."

How could she have forgotten so quickly? In all the while she was helping Jaque for his great escape to freedom, she had given less and less thought about the proper wedding customs she was supposed to be learning. Bonding Night was the first step in the Five Vows, one for each day before she could become a complete wife. She had been going through it all in a daze, while secretly trying to improve her magic at any free moment without her family suspecting anything.

"Lya? I asked if you are nervous."
The memories of Jaque's lips pressing softly upon hers crept up slowly, yet as indistinct as the rising vapours. She pushed it down strongly.
"No mother, I shouldn't be. It is part of the proper rites that each should follow accordingly-"
Faerilla cut her off as she whispered quietly into Lya's ear.
"Imagine Jaque doing his proper rites right now, plunging himself into the cold waters of the river."

The memories in her mind suddenly became too bright. Lya drenched some water to her face a bit too strongly and splashing the drops everywhere.
"Ahh, so you are nervous. Don't worry, I was like you once, dearest." Faerilla chuckled mischievously.

There was no denying, even in Lya's opinion, that some among the Enatuh maidens thought Jaque was too handsome, too thoughtful to simply be a shepherd. There had been rumours that Varns were the direct descendents of the Lost Nobility and Jaque was more Varn than any clansmen to his clan. If the rumours were true, the Jaque would have a chance to go to great heights among Asuqaro's oldest families, just as he once secreted before. If the rumours were true.

Faerilla washed off the soap from Lya's hair with a fresh spurt with the kettle. She had been continuing her babble as though Lya had been listening. But something caught her ear.
"... nervous really, when you've clearly had done it already..."
"Mother!" Lya turned to face Faerilla. She felt her cheeks grew quite warm.
Her mother only grinned wider.
"Well there's no need to turn red about it. I've seen the state how you came back home this morning. A most complete unnatural mess. You and Jaque have at least waited just a bit longer instead of having your own Bonding Day. If you weren't so engaged to that beautiful..."
"Mother!"

If Lya had been fully clothed at that moment, she would have simply walked out of the room as she habitually did every time Faerilla plunged into one of her fanciful chatters, or simply let her continue on with ever listening a word. For some reason, Lya felt like she needed to set her mother straight about what had happened that morning on Table Cliff. If only she could accurately express what she was thinking through her words.

"It didn't... you think, I mean, you don't think... oh, mother, there was nothing... no, really!"
Yet, the brushes of Jaque's fingers down her back, the strong curve of his arm against her waist all felt like it had actually led to the inevitable conclusion. But it was the pressure of his mouth that lingered on her even as Jaque's sheep dogs intervened with their exited barks and hyperactive exercise.

Faerilla pulled Lya up to her feet and rinsed her off with the rest of the water from the spare bucket, which had already cool and drenched her like an icy shock. Even as Lya wrapped herself around a large towel, she still felt very exposed.
"Oh? And so I supposed you gave him his breakfast, then on the way home you untied your hair yourself and disarray your own skirts and lose your shawl so that he'd be the one to return it?" countered Faerilla.

Lya pulled the towel up to her red face. She forgot about her favourite violet-blue shawl, how Jaque slipped it off her shoulders just as Pat the lead dog was pulling a part of it with his teeth.
"No, mother... Jaque, he... He was... just teaching me... how to kiss."
Ooh, how her cheeks burned!
"Tha... that's all."
Faerilla raised a sceptical eyebrow at first, but then her face softened like she was reminiscing something through personal experience.
"I wish your father had just been a tad as romantic before my Bonding Night."

To be continued...

Holiday Archive: With the Down Syndrome

2004-09-03T09:41:00.000+08:00

Location: In the room with a roommate
Mood-of-the-day: "This 'ere space ain't big enough fer de two ef us..."

It's Wednesday on my second week of school holidays. At this moment in writing, my aunt is at her cellphone again, talking to my grandfather or other family members. When I said my aunt in my room, I meant Cik Jah, the one with Down syndrome. Yeah, she's back, had been here since last Friday or so.

Had anybody out there have family members with disabilities? Your aunts and uncles all in good health and form? Lucky you guys. Down syndrome is when a baby is born with an extra chromosome and everything biological gets weird. But enough science (I'm not fit for science at 9.30am), Cik Jah had been Down all her life. Although I had her as an aunt all my life, I'm never completely comfortable around her.

To describe her physically, she's about 4 ft, and with a face shape that has a permanent frown on her mouth and eyes. Her limbs, hands and feet are extra large, even in the old black and white photographs. She's in her fat fifties with a few hairs and hardly any neck and at this age, she's losing her teeth. In a nutshell, she looked like she was pushed down from growing tall and instead everything grew everywhere else.

But what is also a Down syndrome person is the oversized tongue and learning disability. When Cik Jah talks, she sounds like she has tissues in her mouth. Only my mom understands what she's talking, being her sister after all. I think my own sis could understand Cik Jah too sometimes. My dad always left Cik Jah's needs to my mom. But me as the roommate, we sort of stayed on different sides of the room and pretended that the other doesn't exist.

Please don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Cik Jah, but I don't always prefer her around. She's very nosy for one thing, taking my hairbrush, T-shirts, cell phone, books (god forbid!) and put it in the last place I would find it, like downstairs toilet or storeroom drawer or even her own clothes bag. I kept my PC off at all the times when I'm not using it, due to a previous negligence that wiped out an entire persona of Diablo 2.

I've been living my own private space since my last roommate found someone to get married to, and I loved it. Suddenly having to share it with an oversized five-year-old is not feeling like sharing, but like losing half of the freedom you've had. She's scared of the dark and I like complete blackout before I sleep. She easily gets hot at temperatures when I'm freezing. She looks into everything that isn't locked, hidden, or nailed shut.

Back as a kid, I had always been scared of her, seeing that she looked like a bulldog and could never give a real smile. Though when she did smile, showing whatever's left of her teeth, I had run away screaming because I thought she was going to eat me. She can be very stubborn and at meals, she eats until she gets to-the-toilet sick so we all had to baby-sit and make sure she stopped eating when she supposed to.

But there are times when she's so very much human and child-like, despite (or maybe because of) the flashy coloured bouquet baju kurungs, waddling duck-walk and her toy cell phone that she talks to. She would sing alone or play a broken tune on her harmonica, or grab an unused guitar and play something out of Scary Idol.

Most of all, she talks to her toy cell phone and would call up various family members. I know it's a toy because she never recharges it and (when I understood her) ask as if everybody's there in one place, ready to speak to her even at 9.50am on a Wednesday. Right now, Cik Jah is chatting happily to her own mother, my grandmother, who had passed away years ago.

Signed: *Ophie, still looking for one of her T-shirts...

Holiday Archive: Friday Morning Musings

2004-09-03T09:40:00.001+08:00

Location: "Oh, give me a ho-ome. Where the cats like to ro-oam. Where there's Astro and a PC to pla-ay!"
Mood-of-the-day: Return of the Teenage Angst

It's 10.10am at Friday the 13th of August, 2004. This is day 5 of my school holidays semester but you probably won't be reading this until 24th of August.

1. It's Friday the 13th "...boooooooooooo...!!"
2. There's no available cyber cafes that accepts diskette.
3. Okay, I admit that I hadn't been writing an entry a day.
4. I'm working on 2 fictions, an article and scratching Dusty's neck at the same time.
5. I've watched Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can
6. I really liked the ending part but I'm still sad at some.
7. My mom doesn't cook on Fridays.
8. Maybe I'll get myself a McDonald's
9. Thank Goodness It's Fridays!!
10. It's Friday the 13th "...boooooooooooo...!!"

11. I've finished reading Zindell's Lord of Lies two days ago.
12. The ending part was so sad that I still hadn't stop crying.
13. I hadn't cried over fictional story characters since I was nine (the real Little Mermaid story)
14. Seriously, great book. I'll post a review of its prequel, the Lightstone, after this.
15. For some reason, I have a craving for oysters.
16. I'm aiming to post over 10 entries at once!
17. I hope the Xfreshers don't mind so much.
18. I hope the Petaling Street crew don't mind so much.
19. I wondered if Albnok got the pinging track ready...
20. I'm still figuring out how to use the pinging track anyway :P

21. Today is just so hot, I think I'll be cooler if I could just melt.
22. I would get myself a cold drink if I weren't having flu.
23. I need more t-shirts and shorts.
24. No, what I really need is to get myself a pair of snorkelling gear.
25. Pak Yong's family decided not to join us to Pulau Redang after all.
26. Still, everybody's going Dutch.
27. I wonder if anybody had counted the fishies in the 'Coral Fishies and Cream Cheese'.
28. So far, I've spent half an hour for this blog entry.
29. I've been playing the Peeptin Game all week.
30. My best score is in 2 moves ;)

31. My mom's home from her senior ladies meeting.
32. I found an RM10 off Kinokuniya voucher.
33. It says RM10 off only on Social Science and Philosophy books.
34. We called the big white stray cat that comes to steal food as Big White.
35. Two strong and healthy male cats of ours couldn't fight off one white male stray (cowards! :P)

Signed: *Ophie, which four entries out of five days isn't bad.

Holiday Archive: The night we almost got robbed...

2004-09-03T09:40:00.000+08:00

Location: Inside an average security common human habitat
Mood-of-the-day: 'My bones going creak-creak-creeeak!'

Well, I've caught myself a slight flu and I'm down under the weather. I'm sneezing at regular intervals and I can't laugh so much or I'll go into a coughing fit. Also, I'm prevented from eating spicy food and cold drinks. Luckily, I haven't caught any fever so there's no need for a sweater. This is such an evil, evil disease. Yes, evil I say, evil!! I can't laugh, I can't sleep properly, I can't eat my favs and I have to take only hot teas! In this hot, hot weather!

All right, now that the drama queen had passed, here are the top stories. Last night (or rather, this very early morning :P), somebody tried to rob our house. I woke up from a dream where our cats are huge, my sis became my younger sis, we live in an apartment, I sleep under her bed, pillows that bounce, chickens strolling around the kitchen and line up to get into this enormous microwave, (er, sorry, more on that later...).

As our alarm goes wang-wang-waaang, I heard my dad running down the stairs calling out my bro's name. My bro lives downstairs; maybe dad was trying to wake him up. There's a good chance that dad would be swinging his old golf club (definitely a no. 9 iron) to see how far he could whack the intruder's head out of the house. We had a couple of scares before, but mostly it was the cats chasing each other out of a small open window or when my bro gets home from his night shift.

Bu we had to be much more careful now. A little over half of this large, construction filled, semi-D areas are occupied, and 3 houses were robbed clean, two were failed attempts. One of the neighbours locked her family inside the master bedroom but the thieves still tried to break her door down. Residents pooled in to hire a guard service, but some were not very reliable. The other Friday, as I drove out to pick up my lil' bro, I saw one watching Malaysian Idol in his lil' TV.

Pak Fauzi, the neighbour whose teen son I pick up from school 5 times a week, said that two Mondays ago at around 5am, he saw two guys on a motorbike parked right in front of our house (his window had a straight view of our gate). When they started to pull down their ski masks, anybody could tell what's going on. That's when some worker guys from a house being renovated got noisy and scared the ski mask fellas off.

This scare at this time was real. Somebody had tried to break in through the side grill and opened the glass sliding slightly. I couldn't tell what time the alarm went off but since my sis and bro-in-law heard it too, then it must be between 3am-5am (they got home late because of a meeting/class/something). I never left my room because I still thought it was a dream and there'll be chickens lining up to get my autograph.

Signed: *Ophie, sucking down her fourteenth Fisherman's Friend sweet of the day.

Holiday Archive: Onward to KLCC!!

2004-09-03T09:39:00.001+08:00

Location: Outside porch with Ayah's laptop
Mood-of-the-day: Sore butt, sore throat, sore head, sorry... :P

Oh man, I woke up this morning 3 hours earlier than my usual with, well, everything you see in my Mood-of-the-day. I forgot to mention blurry, teary eyed though (I've typed this far with only one hand! The other is massaging my back). I must have slept in a twisted position to wake up from the twisted side of my twisted bed after a twisted dream (and mouth open twisted). Okay, that might be an exaggeration, especially when I'm feeling much better right now.

And you know why I'm feeling better? Because this is the night I rule the House! Yes, no parents, no rules, no servitude. I can take advantage of their bathroom and have a full fluffy bubble bath. I can take the car and go everywhere I want. I can eat a full fat, double layered double cheesy-wheesy burger soaked in pepper sauce with fried onions, sliced pickles, a dash of hot English mustard and no veggies!

Speaking of cars, where my parent's going is exactly what cars are for, cruising down the new highway to Kuantan. My mom just wanted to test out the new highway stretch, just get a good feel to the webwork of roads in case we needed it to get to Pulau Redang. They left for the road this afternoon but I had already taken advantage since this morning by going on an LRT ride to KLCC.

Yes! Barely 24 hours after I sweated over what was the function call to retrieve text files in C++, I was back in KLJ for a train often taken. I loved shopping but I preferably wanted to shop alone on the first day of my school holidays. It's a Zen Shoppingsm thing. So to pass the half-an-hour as I sat in my orange plastic chair, I scored 2874 in my Nokia's Snakes and almost missed my exit.

Ahh, heaven! I went to Esprit and found this cute chic black top that was sweet on the waist, easy on the butt and hard on the price. In Reject, there's this really nice white long sleeved with patterns on the shoulders. But my headscarf killed the effect so I didn't go for it. I tried any available clothes and shoe stores than I could remember but eventually, I headed for the No. 1 - Kinokuniya.

I was looking for a book I desperately wanted to read, but it was never available in neither MPH nor Popular nor the Pay Less Books. It's a drag, I know, to take a trip all the way to KLCC with this one book in mind, but hey, I was desperate. The book had just come out in paperback. It's a sequel to Lightstone: The Silver Sword, as you can see on your right (if you've ever checked it out).

And there it was, the only David Zindell book in all 3 rows of Fantasy Section shelves. It's called the Lord of Lies, Book 2 of the Ea Cycle. I'll write a synopsis of it eventually. But right now, I'm enjoying my evil burger, wiping crumbs off my dad's laptop, alternating between typing out this blog and reading my brand new book (and trying not to get it dirty).

Signed: *Ophie, now at the part where the hero is deciding if he should bring along the slave-girl to the tournament

Holiday Archive: Return of the Cousins

2004-09-03T09:39:00.000+08:00

Location: Liza Aini, South Corner of Smallest 1st floor Bedroom, No. 5 Jln Pekaka...
Mood-of-the-day: Rainbow, but mostly blue

Well, it's that period of time in the year again. Semester holidays. Yup, half a month = a fortnight = two weeks = 14 days and nights = 336 hours = 20160 minutes = 1209600 seconds. Oops, I mean 1209570 seconds. And now it's 1209540 seconds. Aaaah, I can't sit here and watch the countdown to zero. Actually I can, but it'll mean total mental and physical deterioration, which I'm saving for another activity that is almost exactly the same thing, except that it's more fun.

I'm getting mixed feelings about the holidays thingy. Half of me is having a party, food's on the house, everything's going crazy, jumping up, down and all around the cerebral cortex going (you know which ego) wheeeeeee~! Yet, there's some of me that's feeling tired and yet scared. One of the explanations for that scared and tired feeling is probably that half of me just wasn't invited to my party half.

Everything started nice enough. I managed to get home just in time to watch the last season episode of Charmed and found out that two of my fav cousins are coming to visit (I'm not just saying they're my favourite because they might be reading this blog :P). Ihsan had been studying in Michigan, USA, while Unah was the one who's been taking Japanese language.

To prepare for their arrival, my mom cooked up generous portions of fried mihun and fried chicken. To avoid eating it, I was able to persuade my dad and lil' bro to take a trip to Ikano Power Centre to enjoy a simpler, more modest (and damn nicer!) snack of Ikea's famous hot dogs. It was a not-so-bad judgement for I had forgotten that it was a Sunday. The crowded queue was so long that once I got my order of 3 hot dogs, a soft drink and an ice cream, I checked with the calendar to see if 2008 Olympics had started yet.

The cousins and my aunt came at about 8pm, the same time my dad got home from the mosque. They brought along the young member of the extended family with them, lil' Abu. I remember Abu before he even opened his eyes. He had always been a very, very quiet guy, hardly every cried or made any kind of annoying baby noises. Now he's reached the terrible twos, and he just won't stop talking! He could only baby talk, but he mouth never shuts up all throughout the visit, even while eating the mihun.

Ihsan and Unah weren't around for my sis's wedding, so they took lots of peep into the wedding photos. They got lots of thing to catch up locally, like the Malaysian Idols, an actual visit to the Kt. D'sara House, who got married, who got operated, who got access to KLCC everyday and so-so. Unah had a blog too and she was quite active with it for a while. But she confessed that commitment to it just wasn't in her.

So pretty much, this was my Sunday, first of my semester holidays. I have no idea what to do that's really something, other than my writings. I have a lot of writing planned out that's more than just the blog, but even one of my most cherished hobbies can't hold me for long. But it'll be full of activity soon enough. My whole family's going to Pulau Redang. It'll be my first actual travelling holiday since I finished secondary school. I'll be sure to document and picture it!

Signed: *Ophie, who spent 0.1489% of her semester holiday to write this blog entry

Xfresh Archive: Bringing Dad Home...

2004-09-03T09:37:00.000+08:00

Location: The south end of a northbound camel
Mood-of-the-day: Hungry-tired-dizzy-anxious-cold-etc... Not necessarily in that order

I'm at school; imagine that. I'm not supposed to be at school right now. I'm supposed to be lying in a horizontal position on a soft surface, counting imaginary fluffy species of bovine and breathing soft blown cooling oxygen from the building's exterior through a large controllable wall inlet. Instead, I'm stuck at the triatery educational system and writing bombastically descriptive nouns that, without it, could have simplified this paragraph to only 4 lines or less.

Ahh well, yesterday was pretty much the same as to day, save that left home earlier in the morning. My dad finally called to confirm flight number and arrival time. He didn't want to take the overly priced airport taxis and so it would be up to my mom to rescue from from being stranded in Tom Hank's the Terminal movie. I decided that I would like to come along, since there's nothing good on TV to loose attention to.

The three of us (lil' bro included) went out to A&W for dinner since my mom least wanted to wash cooking utensils after a car trip. My sis and bro-in-law didn't join us, mainly because fast foods are not good for his health. To suffer with him (though she's already skinny enough to put Sarah Jessica Parker to shame), my sis only ordered a root beer. Still, as I passed the drink to her room as she watched Malaysian Idol, I got a hunch who would be drinking 88.8% of it.

After dinner, my mom and me went to pick up my dad from KLIA last night. Or rather, we picked him up at about 1.00am today. In actual fact, I really didn't want to follow since it was so late but I was more afraid that my mom would accidently fall asleep on the wheel while driving and wreck the Kenari (it was only a month old! Have mercy on its first kilometers!).

It had almost been too much of a hassle. First, my mom's cellphone (a Siemens so outdated, it can't download ringtones!) kept dying out at every call for no reason other than the possibility of building an annoying attitude. We had to turn back just before the plus tol to pick up mine since I left it for my lil' bro, in case of emergency.

When my dad finally managed to get to us, it turned out that AirAsia had just got into dock earlier than expected. My dad would have to face 45 minutes of total boredom as my mom goes for a record as the most speed limits broken between Kt. D'sara and Sepang. My dad wasn't one of those cool hang-out guys, you know, the kind that knows what to do in an area full of shops but still short of a real shopping mall.

But despite the crazy, zig-zaging nighttime trucks, murderous speed demons and the hawk-eyed policemen with their fancy tow trucks outside the Arrival Gates full of cars, we managed to pick up the man-of-the-house before he turned into a rabid werewolf (seriously, I was trying to avoid 'one-of-those' nights). He smelled salty but thank god he washed the fishiness off him. One time he went to the East, he brough home shellfish and smelled bad sushi for 3 days.

Signed: *Ophie, just glad that her dad had a good time.

The Chaos Circles #5

2004-09-03T09:36:00.000+08:00

No. No, he could not tell her, neither her past nor the one memory of two month's passing. The memory when he overheard a conversation between his uncle and Lya's father. A conversation that was not meant for his, or anyone else's ears.

Evenings of the Third Month were always cold, dark, wet and terrible, as if the Lord of Winter was inflicting the greatest of his fury in his last days. On that stormy day, the river that feed the village was larger and faster than ever. Jaque brought the flock home much earlier than usual as the waters grew. His youngest sheepdog, Gnat, had been saved from drowning only to be facing death by freezing.

As his stepmother tried her best to keep the little hound alive, Jaque was outside his father's private room to ask for the limited fire logs. But not the howling winds, the icy wetness of his own shirt nor the urgency of a beloved friend could counter to the temper of Terrence Jaymeson, when interrupted during a personal meeting.

Jaque knew it was personal because, out of habit, he peeked through the bright keyhole and saw the good brandy on the polished table. But it was what he accidentally heard that shocked him more than any sudden dip in the cold Esaqa River.

"Lya will never be my niece."
That was not his father but Finnigan Jaymeson, his father's elder brother and the head of the Jaymes' clan.
"Nor was she ever my daughter," said the voice of Handred Samuelson calmly. "But she was the only child I've ever raised. And the name she carries is my clan's, though her blood never was."

Jaque saw Samuel's pale and crooked old hand reach out for the glass of brandy.
"I am old, Jaymes. Even if I had finally managed to produce a son, the earth would take me before he understands that I created him. I'm putting my clan's future on your brother's son."
Jaymes slammed his empty glass to the table and it gave Jaque a jump.

"Jaque, ahh him. He is a good boy, a very good boy. But he is too much of his mother," said Jaymes. "Gullible, insecure, too quiet, too lazy I say. He had never captured the full interest of Terrence but only I saw him as soon-to-be-troubled."
Samuel sniggered but then it followed by a choking and coughing sound.
"Which is exactly why I choose him for Lya. It will be his faults I needed."

Jaque heard everything even as the house moaned loudly from the storm knocking outside. He heard how Samuel had promised to put his family fortunes under Jaque's name and none under Lya's. He heard how everything owned by the Jaymes should be divided only among Jaque's half-brothers. That upon Handred's death, the other Samuels' would contest for their treasure. And win by twisting the truth of Lya's birth.

Jaque had heard enough that he understood the deal. The Samuels will keep their heirlooms from the one who was never a Samuel and the Jaymes would keep theirs from the one who had failed to be a Jaymes. The marriage between him and Lya was not a union between two clans. It was to isolate two outcasts, one with a difference of blood and the other, a difference of heart.

But all he told Lya was that he wanted to see the world. Jaque continued to use that excuse as a basis for his reason to leave. Lya's reaction was as predictable as any close friend who valued their friendship. She begged him to stay. Although Lya was an outsider's daughter, she had built her heart in Enatuh. She loved her family, though the love was seldom returned. A plan had to be made.

"We'll only have to be much more careful then," said Jaque.
She loved her family. He did not. It would her love, much more than his sudden disappearance that would save and secure her.
"Do you have the last item?" asked Jaque.

Lya pulled out a long sheathed knife from her basket. It was not a usual, working knife, but rather, a lighter, hunting knife, the kind that the forest gatherers used for long trips during the winter. It was old but well used and had once belonged to a Varn. Jaque took the knife and walked over to a large boulder perched precariously between the roots of the huge, old oak that sat on Table Cliff.

"Some help here, Lya?"
The first time she manipulated the Chaos, Jaque had not noticed it. He had thought the woodblocks he was chopping were more rotten than he had seen, but upon closer inspection, it was the perfect wood for burning. He thought he was only getting stronger, but then realized that this easiness in doing the task happened only while Lya was watching. Too much greater easiness.

Lya nodded at him and placed her hand on the hard surface of the boulder. It was flat and squarish, about the height of a sheepdog, but undeniably quite heavy. Under Lya's touch, it rose up slowly, without any other visible means of support. Eventually, Jaque was able to look under the rock and slip the long knife inside a small hole at the base of the tree.
"Alright, thank you Lya."

Lya carefully lowered the boulder and balanced it carefully back between the old roots, as thick as the tree's branches. There was nothing left to do.
"Goodbye, Aellyanette Samueldottir," said Jaque.
He used his free arm to give her a tight hug. She had barely entered her teens, only as high as his chest, but he could feel all of her, how much she had grown, how different she was from him.

"Farewell, Garjaquerin Jaymeson," said Lya, pulling him tighter. Then, she pulled his head down towards her and kissed him deeply. Suddenly, Jaque could not think of anything else. Thirteen years ago, he chose to save Lya. Now he chose to save her again. But at the moment when their lips finally parted, something struck him. Would he have chosen this?

Next chapter: Sudden Apearence

Xfresh Archive: Coral Fishies and Cream Cheese

2004-09-03T09:35:00.000+08:00

Location: See next entry
Mood-of-the day: See previous entry

I recovered nicely from my mass hysteria of last Wednesday delusion that students' souls are being sucked by the evil heads of department to be feed to the greedy Education Ministry. After the nice Welcome Home! party at Hospital Bahagia, the very nice and very white doctors sat down with me and managed to influence me that my school were not sucking the students' souls and that the Education ministry were only being fed by a healthy diet of demons, beasts and lawyers.

My dad finally called from the East Coast. He said that he's probably going back Home on Thursday or Friday and that he'll informed us when he needs to be picked up. He was on a scuba trip to one of his favorite (indeed, one of the world's most favorite) places to scuba dive for the best-looking corals. Like my bros and sis, I don't scuba dive, though he had been trying to get us interested since we all learned how to swim.

Still I loved snorkeling and sea coral, and I'm not saying this as a Finding Nemo aftermath. I liked watching fish swimming in open ocean (which account for the lack of an aquarium at my House). The National Geographic channel's good enough but there's nothing likethe actual feeding soaked and moldy Gardenia bread to schools of hungry fishes all pecking right up to your fingernails.

Get the right number of fishes and get a Large Cream Cheese Stuffed Crust from Pizza Hut!

The only things I can't stand are sea slugs. Yes, the very common lil' black motionless wormies that look like black poop that's scattered all over the place, under rocks and inside crevices. Every time I look at one I have this sudden urge to squish them or that they all are going to crawl all over me like leeches. My mom once shoved one into my face and I've nearly drowned.

I tried the brand-new Cream Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza from Pizza Hut for lunch. Man, I had been crazing for pizzas since I saw dustyhawk's Dominoes mocking me with a nyeh-nyeh-you-can't-get-me-cos-I'm-just-a-blog-pic insult (okay, so maybe I haven't totally recovered from delusions). It was delicious! I had to savor every bite of the crust since we don't often eat pizzas in the house.

Mmm... see the cream?

The difference between the regular cheesy stuffed crusts is that the cream cheese was much softer and smells great. You can feel it spread around your mouth and melts on your tongue. It gave the fantasy that the crust was chewy and eating the rest of the meat, olives, onions, mushrooms, pepperonis with the cream still in your mouth makes the other tastes and textures more sensitive and convincing. As I licked my fingers, it had left a certain salty-sweet aftertaste.

Signed: *Ophie, who wants another one for her birthday next month!!