Ms L

Lately I have been visitng a policyholder who was willing to come to our company function to give her testimony. Ms L was a very jovial, talkative and alert person. At first I expected her to be the typical Chinese auntie - I only spoke to her on the phone once before visiting her - but life is full of surprises....She was unlike anything I expected.
Ms L apparently has travelled and lived illegally in the US for close to 8 years. After a visit to the states in the 90s, she decided that life suited her fine there and the next thing she knew, she was living and working in an American-Chinese restaurant, keeping the accounts and also occasional day-to-day tasks of the gourmet business.
Looking at her pictures, she was a definite contrast to what she is today.
Proudly showing me her pictures and explaining her experiences in the US, Europe and China, one could see that she greatly cherishes her memories of independent living which seemed like a dream of a distant past. She was quite comfortable in front of the camera and could even speak without me prompting her. You could see she was a woman who knew what she wanted. She is now in a wheelchair and hardly gets out of the house.
One of my colleagues asked if she could get emotional during the testimonial (they wanted people to get touched at the event sadistic la). I told them I doubted it - Ms L didn't seem like the type to get weepy or melodramatic.
However on my last visit ( a few days ago), I only saw the hurt in her when she told me that comparing life now and then, the thought of it was more unbearable than the rheumatic pains of her cartiledgeless joints. I believe the pain to be excruciating. It was the first time I saw her shed tears, but only briefly.
"Life is uncertain, plan your future before it happens!"- ends the video. Learning from Ms L's experiences, I feel that her life easily could have been mine - there were many parallels - working and travelling in a foreign country, making numerous friends, initiating gatherings, living life to the fullest. She didn't plan to be disabled, but she did plan on getting better. Her request (upon asking her what she needed as a gift) was an exercise bicycle to help strengthen her legs. (she rejected the offer of a new wheel chair as she didn't see herself using one in the future) All the best to you Ms L - keep that chin up!

Americanisms

I've been reading this fascinating book for our next meet called "Made in America" by Bill Bryson. Though some parts were draggy and factual, there were some genuinely brilliant moments.

The book started on a hilarious note on how the legendary Maytflower landing at Plymouth never landed at Plymouth.

Like how he describes Benjamin Franklin as a notorious lecher in his day whilst he is immortalized to this day as America's most venerated forefathers.

Or how Edison leeched off his employees' invention and claimed most of the credit for himself.

Or how most American names are a misnomers of indian, dutch, irish, french words- the most hilarious is the State of Idaho which was named by Congress just because it sounded native american.

If you're a fan of Bill Bryson's, travel writing, America, cafe americano's and lattes then why not make it to this Saturday's meeting at 12 noon, November 26th, La Bodega's Lounge.

Solaris

After reading the book I read reviews on IMDB that the movie was equally riveting. The star rating was a 6.3/10 and described as follows:

"truly mesmerized by this film's approach"

"(Steven Soderbergh) finally gets one of his cinematic experiments right"

"With a tremendous cast, beautiful production design, excellent direction, and one of the best film scores in recent years"

Contrary to all the above quotes, I guess I didn't really like Soderberhg's interpretation of the movie. The saving grace is that he (Soderbergh) didn't turn it into a 'deep space nine' remake. It was thoughtful in its own right but the 'spirit of science' which for me, the core of the story, was not emphasized here. Soderbergh chose to focus on the love story bit - moving at the pace of 'In The Mood For Love In Space' - could be torturous to go through. As someone said, it's a "You either love it or hate it" kind of movie.

Excellence

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. "
- Aristotle

Opportunity

"Opportunity has a sly habit slipping in by the back door, and often it comes undisguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is why so many fail to recognize opportunity"
- Napoleon Hill

Attitude

"There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. This little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative."

- Clement W. Stone

The Wild West (Jawa)

I can't believe I hardly blogged a book but I daresay i will blog Lonesome Dove if it kills me (and my LOMA 351 exam tomorrow which I haven't studied for yet). On the road from West to East Java, this was such a fitting read - travelling and roughing it out in the 'wild' country. I was torn to choose either Small Island (which i've yet to finish) to accompany me or pick up Larry McMurtry's 945 page novel. Somehow, the Hat Creek outfit story suited the occasion and I was too darn right. Yee Haw!

The pages flew by and I hardly noticed that the back end of the book was drawing near. I must thank Krishna Kumar for recommending this gripping read - I swear there were two parts of the novel where my tears blurbled (ala cowboy style) - it had of course something to do with Deets and Augustus but I won't say what. Living it in the rough, the lesson learnt was this "The best way to deal with death is to get on with it as fast as you can". Amen to that.

Surabaya November 5 (Saturday)

0930h Last Day. Bus ride to Kamal - Madura is a shanty-town - dust on the roads, dust on the shacks, dust on the laundy hanging on the road sides, dust on the fruits at the market, dust on the man resting in the shade, dust on the children running barefoot.Bengkalan (the town on the way to Kamal) is full of goats - goats in the fields, goats tied to a tree, goats riding the becak. Funnily enough, they're all white in colour.
In the van, my skin gets sticky all over -it's hot. The roads are potted, Indon heads are bobbings, small brown, 'songkoks' sway from side to side as if dancing to the beat of the dangdut playing from the radio.
1530h An Ice Cream - at last! (A&W's not McD's)
1730h Surabaya airport reminds me of the Kota kinabalu airport excluding the airport tax.

Pulau Madura/Sumenep November 4(Friday)

Pulau Madura November 3 (Thursday)

2200h Sticky, hot, finally in an air-cond room after going through a hell-ride from Kamal to Pamekasan. Harrassed by cheating bus drivers, over-friendly Indons. A kind Indon drove us for free to Hotel Putri. Arrived there but they were fully occupied. I remember the stickiness and the flies of Surabaya bus station, the 'pong' of the waiting area, a lady asking me where I was going and then asks me for money, shanty towns along the whole stretch of road and the wind blowing in my face.

Mount Bromo November 1 and 2 (Tues and Wed)

I didn't seem to write any notes in Bromo. The weather was so lovely I must've forgot.
All I remember is the majestic sight of the puffing mountain Bromo, Mount Batok cone and the horses.
I remember too the other backpackers, who had to sit in the barely workable cramped van for 5 hours. Fortunately Philippe and I didn't take this van.
The sleepy dorms of Cemara Indah -and the sleepy town along the road down (which was a challenge to walk up again)

Prambanan Temple November 1(Tuesday)

1955h Breakfast in Bedhot Resto Terrace. Pigeons cooing, water trickling, train hoots and plane rumbles from a distance. Sun shining warm.
0930h Prambanan Temple: Old Buddhist and Hindu mythology on black rocks.
1100h Sitting tired and hot waiting for....
1130 Still waiting...

Dieng Plateau and Borobudur October 31 (Monday)

1200h The Dieng Plateau - Windy, sleepy hills dotted with vegetable terraces among misty volcanic hills
1715h Rain on Borobudur - black volcanic temple. Ancient, old, of days long gone, Boddhisatvas, shapely women, epic tales, look down on the twenty generations past.
1850h Hotel Amonjiwo - most expensive hotel in Jawa. It costs USD900 a nite here. No one amid the marbled walls in the middle of the Javanese jungle. Two little girls in sarong and flowers in their hair greet us with a bowl of frangipanis in their hands at the gate. Calls of the Maghrib amid misty hills.
2200h Indecision!
2230h Broke!

Jogjakarta - October 30th (Sunday)

0745h Yogja is a cleaner, neater town.
0900h Breakfast after a good shower (phew)
1130h Detour of the batik man (can't imagine why I wrote this)
1210h The Kraton - nice Balairungseri (sultan's audience room)
1530h Yogka weather is so nice that everyone sleeps oustide in their 'becaks', under the shade of their mango and jackfruit trees, on the street....
Free Guide: Edi -dancer in the Kraton.
Sleep
2030h The Ramayana Ballet - slim Javanese girls
There's a strange thing called Lesehan appearing on the streets of Yogja past 10 at night. Low tables and place mats appear on the side walks with make shift kitchens and pots providing your evening 'supper' - bebek ayam, sate kambing, soto, bakso etc.

Jakarta - Oct 29th (Saturday)

0725h It started with a lot of waiting. Woke up too early - Malaysian Time 1240pm: Sukarno Hatta Airport - dim.
1935h Jakarta - city of decaying buildings and human bodies -social decay, lepak, living to exist, flaking paint on the walls, rotting rubbish, broken pavements every step of the way.
2050h Kota Bus Station - crowded, huddled, noisy, chaotic, tired, bloated, feel like peeing.
All Night and All Morning- Cacophony of various musical merchants singing their own ditties.

Jawa

These are my jottings exactly as I wrote them

The March of the Penguins

I love this docu-movie. Warner Independent Pictures made a gem for 2005 - it has all the stops; haunting music, loving shots of parental penguin love, cute furry chicks and beautiful underwater shots. But don't be fooled - after this movie one can't help but be awed by the miracle that is the Emperor Penguins.

Aptenodytes forsteri
The largest penguin, the Emperor stands about 1.3 m (4 ft) and weighs between 20 and 45 kg (44 to 99 lb.). These birds live along the coasts and neighbouring seas of Antarctica. They are well adapted to the frigid climate. To further protect themselves against the cold, groups of adults and young huddle close to one another. They eat fish and squid that they catch in their sharp beaks while swimming under water.
When Emperor Penguins are courting they display brilliant orange ear patches. They breed during the long darkness of the Antarctic winter, gathering at rookeries during the months of April and May. They do not build nests or establish territories. Within a few hours after the female lays a single egg, the male positions the egg on top of his feet and covers it with a warm fold of abdominal skin. Shortly thereafter, the female travels over the ice to the open sea to feed, leaving the male to incubate the egg. About two months later she will return to feed and raise the newly-hatched chick.

"In the harshest place on earth, love finds a way". It’s funny – a reviewer groused on Amazon that this movie is ‘pro-life propaganda’. Nature IS pro-life – it is only man who behaves and thinks like an alien on this planet. I would like to come as an Emperor Penguin for the coming Halloween Party and I won’t be surprised if I see other ‘penguins’ too.

The week that was...

Here's a summary of exclamations, utterances, messages that made the week that was for me...:

"You're lazy." This comment hits me like a blow on the head. Maybe its a case of "Siapa yang termakan chili, terasa pedasnya" (Malay proverb literally translated says "Who eats the chilli, will feel the sting")

"Don't make me ineffective!" This comment makes me feel helpless. This is the problem of communication breakdown between two departments -why can't people accept the responsibility given to them? And what makes the person think that they themselves aren't very effective either?

"Have a good day" This exclamation is said every day. The person that said it made me realize that politeness pays (most of the time). It's rare to find well mannered people come to think of it.

"Let me send you to your place" This comment makes me retreasure the person who said it. Old good friends are harder to find.

"I've never felt so dissappointed in my life" I think I said this my self one time this week. But I'd rather think about getting myself together after the dissappointment than dwell on it.

" What is your nice unfair advantage?" A very useful reminder of re-evaluating your strengths and weaknesses.

"Everyone lives as if they'll never die." I mis-interpreted the person the first time I heard it by answering "But that's the way we should live?" What she meant was that people live their lives in a thoughtless manner. If we realized how limited our time were, we would most probably be living it differently.

Books of 2005

Closing post for the week, I just joined the British Council Library in Wisma Selangor Dredging (finally!) They have nice titles and Ms Komathi was really helpful and they close at 9pm - great! And so I make my count of the books I've read. One of these days I have to use Krishna Kumar's Star benchmarking system on rating book utility though. Special thanks also to Sharon, Fiction and Friends and the creative writers(you know who you are) for lending me some of your books.

Read so far:
1) His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman
2) The No. 1 Detective Ladies Agency - Alexander McCall Smith
3) He's Just Not That Into You - Greg Behrendt
4) The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
5) The Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
6) The Two Sisters - Tagore
7) The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
8) Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azhar Nafisi
9) Harmony Silk Factory - Tash Aw
10) The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
11) The Piano Teacher - Elfride Jelinek
12) A Year in The Merde - Stephen Clarke
13) A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami
14) My Uncle Oswald - Roald Dahl
15) Across The Red River (Into the Heart of Darkness -Rwanda, Burundi and Congo) - Christian Jennings
16) No Longer At Ease - Chinua Achebe
17) The Hours - Michael Cunningham
18) Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
19) Dance Dance Dance -Haruki Murakami
20) Lolita - Nabokov

Now Reading:
1) The Lexus and The Olive Tree - Thomas Friedman (Re-read)
2) Solaris - Stanislaw Lem

Have in hand but wanting to read:
1) Small Island - Andrea Levy
2) A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
3) Execution - Bossidy Charan and Burck
4) Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry

Don't have but want to beg/steal/borrow:
1) Arthur and George - Julian Barnes
2) The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell

Occasionally think about and want to read:
1) Underworld - Don Dellilo
2) The Death and Life of Dith Pran - Sydney Schonberg
3) Sightseeing - Rattawup Lapcharoensap

Over the weekend....

It's another weekend gone and once again my financials spike ceiling-wards. I like to think of my expenditures as 'events' to categorize under. Damages are as follows:

Friday Oct 7
Entertainment: RM50.00 (Karaoke at Neway)
Transport: RM4.00 (Parking at Berjaya Times Square)

Saturday Oct 8
Food: RM30.01 (Chilli's at KLCC for friend's farewell, Starbucks in BTS and soya bean at Petaling St)
Transport: RM5.00 (Parking at BTS)
Clothes: RM13.00 (Yoga pants at Petaling St, really needed one and it's really cheap too)
Servicing:RM8.00 (I love this category - it's funny)


Sunday Oct 9
Transport: RM6.00 (Parking at KLCC)
Entertainment: RM10.00 (Watched Saint Ange at KLCC)
Food: RM11.00 (Cappucino and bread at Sun moulin)
Servicing:RM55.00 (Nice)
Books: RM98.23 (There goes my book quota at Kino last Sunday)
Food: RM16.80 (Stuff from the Bangsar Night Market)

Looking at it, averagely I would run around at least 3 places in a day on the weekend. That would make like 6 locations in a weekend. I can't seem to help it. It's in my nature - but of course there's the issue of spending. Would it be better to stay cooped up at home? I don't think so. I'm a retailer's dream come true methinks.