Of Meetings and Little Polite Kids

Yesterday was quite hectic for me. Started the morning going through some points with my boss to bring into the meeting in Bangi. Wait, let me start from the beginning. On Monday, I was busy doing some work in the server room, with a few vendors. I was in there almost the whole day. We managed to finish the installation and testing around 4.15 pm. Then I went to my boss' personal assistant's place, can't remember why. Anyway, she looked up at me and said, "You know about the meeting, right, in Bangi? Has the boss mentioned it to you?". Then I said, "What meeting?". She answered, "You are suppose to represent the boss for the meeting, because he has another meeting at the same time". I was like, what?! So, she gave me the minutes for me to go through. Then I went into my boss' room to ask him a bit about the meeting. It was the next morning when I went into my boss' room again to ask him about the things I was to present at the meeting.

So, in the morning, went into my boss' room. After that a vendor came and presented a product to be used with web applications. It was too good to be true. But Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Amazon.com are using it. So, what they said must be true. I was quite impressed. And so was my boss, I think, because he wanted to try out the box for a month. After the brief discussion, I went straight to Bangi. There, met up with an old friend of mine who's currently doing masters in UKM. We updated each other on our mutual friends. It was nice. Then, had to excused myself to go to the meeting.

The meeting was ok. I had to report on the status of my department's latest project. And the feedback was ok. After around 1 1/2 hours later, the meeting was adjourned. Luckily it was a short meeting. I prefer short concise meetings, rather than long irrevelant meetings with no end in sight. The meetings I chair, especially with vendors, would last less than an hour. Which is what I like. Hehehe.

Last night, my mum's friend came to our house to beraya along with her children, their respective spouses, and their respective children. It was really good to see them again after all this while. The last time we saw them was at the youngest daughter's wedding. One of my mum's friend's grandson approached me timidly, pointed to the piano, and said, "Excuse me, abang, can you play that instrument?". When I answered in the positive, he then said, "Can you play something for me?". I was quite taken aback by this polite little boy. I smiled and said, "Sure thing, but let's eat first", because I was setting the table when he approached me. But in my mind I told myself I wasn't going to play anything for him, beacuse I haven't played in ages, and I'm quite shy in front of this crowd.

After dinner, the boy asked me a bit more about piano mechanics. And I explained the best I could. Then suddenly, some of them said they wanted to hear me play. I declined politely saying that I haven't played in ages. But then one of them said something which really broke my defences. The person said, "Please play for someone who's pregnant". She was referring to herself, of course. I don't know why, but I was quite touched by that statement. So in the end, I played. And of course, I was terrible. But that didn't stop them from exclaming who wonderful I played. I just smiled politely. Like the brother of the pregnant person said, "Don't worry if you make a mistake, we wouldn't know the difference".

Of Friends and Breakfasts

Last Friday, after leaving the office, had a craving for Burger King's French Chicken. But in the end, only went to McDonalds in Desa Pandan to eat a double cheese burger. Brought along James Lee Burke's Cadillac Jukebox. So there I was, eating a burger while reading a book. The only reason I did that was to while away the time before my parents got back home from Cameron. I kind of enjoyed myself, actually. I mean, I seldom get the chance to eat and read without being bothered before. Well, rarely, anyway.

Then, on Saturday morning, went for breakfast with a friend living in Pandan Indah. After having a piece of roti canai each, we went straight to Serdang, to our friend's house. From there, we went to Melaka and Johor to beraya. It was fun hanging out with my old uni friends. We left Johor around 5pm, actually almost close to 6pm, and we arrived in KL less than 2 hours later. The road was quite heavy with traffic, but a moving traffic, so it was ok. Before saying goodbye to each other, we went to one more stop, which was in PJ. We stayed there till around 10.30pm. For my friend and I, we had to follow our friend back to Serdang to get my friend's car. So I reached my house close to midnight. And my friend arrived a few minutes later. It was truly a tiring day. But it was fun.

The next morning, while still tired from the other day, my phone, which I placed next to my ear, rang. I was startled awake, and luckily for the guy on the other end, I was awake and alert, well, sort of alert. Anyway, it turned out to be my best buddy. He said he was in the neighbourhood, and asked whether I wanted to have breakfast. 20 minutes later, I was in front of the mirrow, combing my hair, after a shower, and even managed to wash my hair. Though my eyes were still red from sleep. Anyway, went to get yet another helping of roti canai, though this time I had roti sardin. It was filling, to say the least. And yummy of course. My best buddy had roti telur bawang. Or 'eggs and onions bread'. Well, something like that.

Of Doctors and Cousins

7.50am

A cousin of mine came to the office yesterday with his girlfriend. The girlfriend is trying to get a job here. So, we went to the cafe on the seventh floor, and had a chat. She's very talkative. Extremely talkative, actually. But it was fun, hanging out with them. This was during lunch. But none of us ate since they just had their brunch while I still felt bloated by the nasi lemak I had for breakfast. Around 10 minutes to two, they went back home. And immediately after that, well, almost; a vendor phoned me to cancel to appointment we had at two. So, since I had some free time, a few minutes worth of free time anyway, I went to the Emergency ward to look for a friend of mine who's a doctor there. After asking a couple of people there, I found out that the doctor I was looking for was on leave and will be working tonight. So, there I was walking away from the Emergency ward towards my block, when my phone rang, well, it didn't actually rang, it belted out a tune by Evanescence, which means my parents. My mum phoned to say that my auntie asked my parents to join them at Cameron Highlands where they have this really lovely apartment. And my parents was guilty about leaving me alone at home. But after I assured her that it was ok, and that they deserve the rest, she said she'll think about it and would get back to me later. While on the phone, I saw a medical student walking towards me, intending to go the emergency ward. And as the student passed me, the student nodded and said "Doctor," to me. I smiled back. I wonder why people think I'm a doctor. I don't mind that they think I'm a doctor. But still... it makes you wonder, doesn't it.


2.30pm

Went back home for lunch. Since my mum wasn't back from Cameron Highlands yet, I ate whatever there was at home, which was fried egg and beef rendang from the raya open house. Then went for Friday prayers. After that, managed to take a bath. I was extremely hot by then. Changed my office attire, then went back to the office. And straight into the server room with some vendors.

Of Colonies and Fluorescent Pink Socks

Colony - Rob Grant
They're on a century-spanning mission into deep space, a mission to save humankind. Unfortunately, they're idiots.

A GENERATION-SPANNING EPIC SAGA OF TREACHERY, REVENGE, AND FLUORESCENT PINK SOCKS

The human race is facing extinction. Global warming and overpopulation have rendered the Earth virtually uninhabitable. The only hope for the survival of the species is to find a new planet. Crewed by the cream of humanity, the gigantic ship Willflower sets off for the stars on a voyage that will take many lifetimes to complete.

But by the tenth generation, things have gone wrong. Badly wrong. The captain is a spotty adolescent who names planets after disgusting bodily functions, the security team have the mental agility of pond life, and the science officer is a religious nutball, who responds to danger by beating herself naked, with a whip.

And the only man who can save them, the last hope of humankind, is made up of the bits even the most ravenous cannibal would leave on the side of the plate.

And worse yet, someone is trying to kill what's left of him.

Of Raya and Cramps

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, everyone!!! As usual, we had our open house on the first day of Raya. It was fun! Seriously. People started coming around 12.30pm. We went beraya'ing early that morning. And as usual, it was up to me to make sure that food was enough. The plates, the drinks and all those things related to food. Some of my old friends came over. It was really good to see them again, after so long. One of them was shocked to see how big I've become. I'm not that big. Or am I? Oh well, as long as I'm happy, right? Right?! I am trying to lose weight, you know, although the only thing I'm doing to achieve that, is just by willing my tummy to shed some fat. Think it'll work? Heheh? My brother, on the other hand, is thinner than before. He's seriously losing weight. By the end of the month, I bet he can even hide behind a lamp post. But it must be a really really really thick lamp post. Heheheh.

Back to my story about our open house. It was really fun. I said that already, right. Well, anyway, remember my fractured toe, it was getting better. So there I was, running to and fro, getting food from the kitchen, and taking empty plates back to the kitchen, and once in a while, would go down to the guardhouse to allow my sister and brother to park their car in the compound. I didn't mind. Because the raya mood was there. Then, later that night, my left foot hurt. It hurt like crazy. And it was curled up. Seriously! Luckily it didn't affect my fractured toe. I couldn't walk properly for the rest of the night. But it was worth it. We had so much fun entertaining friends and relatives.

The second day of raya, we went to my auntie's house. And as usual, the food was superb. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long because some relatives were coming over to our house that evening. I wanted to meet up with my cousin's friends, since they were my friends as well, but alas, it was not meant to be. Maybe next year, then. Then that night, went to my other auntie's house. We stayed there till midnight. There, we had some turtle's eggs. Fantastic! I love them. The eggs, I mean.

Just finished reading Rob Grant's Colony. It took me I think around two days to finish the book, during raya. So you can imagine how good the book is. I went to Kinokuniya yesterday searching for Mr Grant's other books, but I didn't find any. Have to find his books! Will write more about Colony tomorrow. Am currently reading James Lee Burke's Cadillac Jukebox, courtesy of my brother. Thanks, bro.

Today is my first day of work after the raya holidays. And the streets are still empty. Thank goodness for that. Even the office is kind of quiet. Well, not that quiet, but still...

Of Books and Friends

On Saturday, went to Alamanda in Putrajaya with my parents. We broke fast at Penang Village with my brother, my sister-in-law and their 4-year-old daughter. That was the first time I went to Alamanda. Actually, that was the first time I even heard of the place. So it was quite a suprise to me when it seems like a much bigger version of KLCC. But we didn't have time to actually walk the length of the mall, because it's quite huge, although not as big as MidValley. The food at Penang Village was nice. We had buffet. The selection was quite good actually. I especially like the 'pineapple rice'. Yummy! We arrived there slightly earlier than my brother and his family. And as we were sitting at the table, we asked a waiter about the selection for buffet or ala-carte. He then explained that if we decide that we wanted buffet, then the whole table must have buffet, and vice versa. We said we would rather have buffet. But after that, everytime he came to our table, he would repeat the statement, that we can either have buffet or ala-carte and not both. We were like, yeah boy, we heard you the first time. I mean, either he thought we didn't get it the first time he explained it, or the second time, for that matter, or he's forgotten that he just explained that to us, a couple of times before.

The next day, broke fast with my ex-uni mates. We went to a place called Yankees Hut. It was in Bangi. Immediately after the Kajang toll. The place was nice. We broke fast on top of this platform. Yes, we had to climb a short staircase to reach the platform. And on the platform was a big table with really short legs. We had to take our shoes off in order to get there. It was fun, meeting my old friends. And as usual, if ever we meet up for anything, it would be a fun. Fun and noisy. Hehehe. After that, we went to the surau, which was on a platform higher that the one we were on. After that, we celebrated two of our friend's birthdays. We ate the cake and stayed to chat till around 9-ish. Then, we went back home. It was a fun weekend, to say the least.

I am currently reading Stephen King's Everthing's Eventual-14 Dark Tales and it's a really good book. Obviously, since it's written by the one of the greatest story teller of our time. I mean, seriously. He can write just about anything, and make it a bestseller. But I seldom read his books, because I tend to watch the movie-version. Hehehe. I think this is the second or third book I've read. My first Stephen King book was called The Eye of the Dragon, I think. I read that book when I was in my teens, and even then it was a compelling read. I couldn't put it down. It was about two brothers. Their father, the king was murdered, and the younger brother was declared king when his elder brother was framed for the murder of their father. Fantastic book. This book belongs to my brother, by the way. Once in a while, I would go over to his house, and borrow a couple of books to last me a couple of weeks. Before this, I was reading Lawrence Block's Ticket To The Boneyard. Now he's another good writer, but only in his genre, unlike Mr. King's ability to write a whole range of topic and era. This is the last book I have of my brother's. Have to replenish my stock soon. Hehehe...