- a lazy cow's diary -

currently listening to - Isayama Mio
mood- slightly anxious

it's the twenty-eighth day of february. approximately thirty-one days to april. and speaking of april, an enormous change is going to happen in my life in that particular month. well, yeah, tomorrow's actually a big day as well, but i merely hope that nothing bizzare or horrible will happen, and that's all. i've had enough commotion going on around me, in both reality and the virtual world. for the time being, i've been doing a couple of things to kill time.

1. borrowed a three-hundred-page long reference book on advanced japanese grammar exactly a week ago. after flipping through, i found myself even more confused about the grammar than before. ahh... how am i supposed to understand it completely within one week... so i decided to extend my rental period for another one week, and see if things would get better by then.

2. started writing another story. english. i thought of writing it simultaneously with chinese as well, since my chinese is heavily deteriorating too... anyway... this story has been in my head for many years (it's a long fiction story, by the way), to tell the truth. the characters have been refined (or ruined) over and over again during the course of absorbing tips from various sources (movies, novels, manga etc...), but somehow i could only figure out a certain chunk of the story at a time. maybe it's 'coz of my limited english vocabulary. *sobs*

3. been analysing on the lyrics of some japanese songs with my parents (huh?). there's one from which we've picked up certain words that sound something like this:-

as i walked pointlessly along this sleepless street,
a girl came folding her arms around me...
mosquito. come walk with me till daybreak.
it's alright if we don't know each other's names...
mosquito. while i was grabbing hold of your cold hands,
i feel that i have nothing important at all...
mosquito. before melting under the morning light,
let us have our kiss of truth...
mosquito. after drawing out my wallet from me,
you disappeared amidst the neon lights...

it was then my dad suddenly suggested that the mosquito's probably a prostitute.
err... no. (=.=) we're just having fun deciphering the lyrics OUR way. i'm sorry if this caused you to have negative views on that song.. anyway, i like it. and for your information, the song's called "Mosquito" (duh...), sung by SHIMAMIYA Eiko (from I've).

that's about what i do everyday since the beginning of february, other than breathing, sleeping, eating, walking, surfing internet, playing piano, talking, doing businesses, singing and the like. oh yeah, and watching fullmetal alchemist on wah lai toi every saturday and sunday with my sister, even though i've watched the entire series.

and... for entertainment purpose, here's the "Hokkien Poem" (took from my yahoo group) for those who understand. as for me, i could only understand part of it, since i know nuts about hokkien dialect. enjoy.

Children is Kina Kia,
Bird is Chiao Kia,
Korean Car is Kia,
Give birth is Seh Kia,
Furniture is Ikea,
Police is Mata Kia,
Small House is Chu Kia,
Country Name is Czechoslovakia,
Puppy is Kao Kia,
Kitten is Ngiao Kia,
Chicken is Kuey Kia,
Pig is Tu Kia,
Handphone is Nokia.

I'm Hokkien Kia,
Malay is Huan Kia,
Hindu is Kit Leng Kia,
Kuai Lou is Ang Mo Kia,
Chinese is T'ng Lang Kia,
Japanese is Jit Pun Kia,
Bad Guy is Phai Kia,
Good Guy is Ho Kia.

Person who read this message is Gong Kia,
If you laugh, you are Siow Kia.

hey, that's me...

- puteri gunung ledang the outing -

on the stuffy evening of the nineteenth day of february saw four would-be undergraduates - including me - in black arriving before istana budaya in a cab. quite a number of visitors could be seen around the place in groups, as the matinee had just ended.

after meeting the rest of our group (there was a total of nine of us altogether), i was quite anxious about whether or not we would be able to watch the show on that day, since we failed to purchase any ticket - they were completely sold out till the official last day of performance (which was originally 26th of feb). thanks to two of the eldest and most mature, we're lucky enough to get stall seats (huh?!) in the end, even though the show had started for 15 minutes when i was fumbling into the hall excitedly.

the show was very captivating. if it hadn't been the lousy sound system and the volume which was gradually getting louder after the intermission (which i find it too loud), it would've been an excellent show. nevertheless, this has slightly changed my pessimistic view on local musicals. ;)

hang tuah's voice was great (many girls were surrounding him enthusiastically after the show for photo taking). adipati was cute but charismatic (much better than the perv mahmud, i'd say). and of course, we're glad that our dear family member could be seen all around the stage throughout the show, acting as both majapahit and melaka's resident. =p

overall, our outing was definitely worth it. athough i had to make my parents wait for my return till 2a.m. the next day, it's great to have watched a performance with best seats and, most important of all, the tickets were FREE. :D

- the road not taken -

currently listening to - newly downloaded anime songs
mood - so so

A traveler was standing at the beginning of a split road, the spot where I had been not long ago. The road diverges into several choices – each having different tasks awaiting us ahead. There was a widest path without many obstacles, which was obviously the commonest choice among travelers. Then, there was a far narrower one, which crept into what seemed like a rather unexplored region of the woods, but, somehow, made me feel that it was better than the former one when I was making my decision back then.

The narrow path beckoned to me, and I was quite sure of where I wanted to go, when, accidentally, I found another option which was as alluring to me. It didn’t actually look like a path, as it was even less traveled as compared to the narrower one. Somehow, it occurred to me that I should take this one instead. So I did.

I strolled along this alien path, in search of another split road. And, I knew it was time to decide again, as I found that slowly, but surely, my destination loomed before me. Was it because I was lucky enough to find my way out? I wondered, as I observed the options lying in front of me. The choices were somewhat similar to the previous one, but I proceeded on the invisible path, as though I have made up my mind to do so since a long time ago. Although I do not deny that my journey was not free of problems and challenges, and I expect more of them to come, I did not turn back to where I was initially, for I was satisfied with gaining so much experiences by traveling this way which I’m sure will play their parts in the future.

Now, the traveler had finally decided. He started walking onto the narrow path which I did not take. I wished him the best of luck, hoping that he would not give up journeying along that path and, one day, arrive at his final destination.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what kind of path we choose. The most important thing is that we have the opportunity to create our own path and continue walking on them even if there are unpleasant events at times, until we finally see the fruits of our labours.


***

to my bosom friend: all the best in ur studies in taiwan!
to my asean family & x-classmates: c u all in 2 wks time.. =p
to my dear: ignore the real noobs.
to myself: what a boring blog. (>.>)
to my sister: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

- lets learn history -

currently listening to - all kinds of noise coming from TV
mood - lazy

once upon a time, there was this sultan & he's the ruler of a peaceful community. one day, a foreigner named sanbao taijian (for those who know chinese, u might hav a hint on who's this guy) visited the sultan. the sultan wanted to know if this foreigner was truly a magnificent man. so he asked, pointing at a sturdy tree nearby...

"sanbao, oh sanbao, can u make that tree bear edible fruits with thorns & wonderful smell by tomorrow?"
"certainly, my lord," answered the visitor.

and so, late at night when everyone had fallen asleep, the foreigner gathered his followers & together, they wrapped their own poop with pandan leaves which they had stuck thorns on them & hanged the new "fruits" on the tree.

that's how asians discovered the king of fruits - durian.

***

this is what dad heard from his history tutor. sounded as if the locals were stupid (discrimination!!). was it april fool that day (when the tree bore poops)? apparently the story was told to show how smart the chinese were. i wonder what kind of things people learnt back in the past... (-"-)

- cny entertainment: part 3 -

currently listening to – even more fma osts
mood – sleepy

dad’s birthday’s coming. jusco sent him a big pile of discount/buy-2-free-1 vouchers. it’s a pity we don’t use the vouchers at all in the previous years. this year, we (my sis & i again) wanted to do something different.

part 3: memoir of 3 siaokia (the call of the wild: take 2)

we invited our good old fren to tag along in the nearby shopping mall. our plan was to try to spend all the vouchers (offered by gsc, baskin 31 robbins, kenny rogers’, starbucks etc) there, since dad didn’t wanna join us. but we went there mainly just to watch movie, though. as usual, the beelines in front of the ticket booths were enormously long.

we were hesitating over a few choices. fearless: but my sis didn’t really liked cantonese fighting movies. oliver twist: hmm.. never heard people commenting about it, what if it turned out lousy? memoirs of a geisha: well.. my friends did recommend this one (the main reason was to support datok yeoh. that’s all.)... king kong: … our friend who’s with us there had already watched it (though she didn’t mind re-watching it in the cinema) & there’re only around 15 seats left when we’re still miles away from the booths. i asked my friend to choose between geisha & king kong…

“ok, should we watch the horny one or the violent one?”
“the violent one? u mean the national geographic.”

finally, the soon-to-be birthday girl (my sis) chose geisha. & i handed over the gsc buy-2-free-1 voucher when the lady said…

“oh this offer’s only available for international movies.”

which means.. geisha’s not? (but king kong & narnia were.)

anyway, we did watch the movie. i shall not comment anything about the storyline cuz i’m not too convinced myself if the reviews i saw were true. however… we spent the first 15 or 20 minutes (exclude the ads) LISTENING to the movie. the bottom half of the screen was totally black & it was obvious that the director didn’t purposely made the movie so unwatchable at the beginning, since most of the audience, i was sure, didn’t understand a single word the japs said (o’, some vere in eeenglish).

after the movie ended, we sat till all the others had left. my sis & friend wondered y couldn’t i get up.

“i’m gonna explode.”
“y, u’re turning savage? u heard the call of the wild during the movie?”
“it’s the call of nature.”

in the end, we didn’t manage to spend a single voucher. we weren’t hungry anymore, after loads of popcorns & cokes, & we’re definitely not going for banana-splits (baskin 31 robbins voucher: free 2.5oz ice cream if u purchase 2 sets of banana splits). none of us drink coffee either.

- cny entertainment: part 2 -

currently listening to – more fma osts
mood – back to normal

after the zau-gau (running dogs) event i became a little bitchy (ooh, such an auntie-thing). don’t ask me y. mayb it’s the call of the wild after playing with dogs. went to the forum & posted loads & loads of bitchy replies for all kinds of threads. =p

by the way they’re both males.

part 2: pirates of klang river (starring: dad + 2 men)

next morning (which was this morn). suddenly we heard our doorbell ringing. when we’re guessing if it’s sonny who’s doing that (mayb he’s gone out of the house again?), we saw a stranger standing beyond the gate. with one look, even the lizards living in our kitchen suspected that he’s not someone who lives around the neighbourhood. probably.

“hello, uncle!”
“cari siapa?”
(who’re u looking for?)
“pungut sampah!”
(collecting garbage!)

oh, right. it’s the garbage men. we saw the “douglas waste” giant stopping in front of some neighbouring house.

“uncle, ada angpau lagi tak?”
(uncle, do u still hav red packs?)

hey hey hey wait a second.. didn’t the garbage men come 2 days ago?

“tapi monday u orang sudah datang, bukan?”
(but didn’t u guys came on monday?)
“ya, monday sekali, wednesday sekali la! kita lain orang!”
(yeah, we come once on monday, once on wednesday! we’re different groups of people!)

then the “douglas waste” driver popped his head out of the window.

“haih, kenapa macam ni ah? bulapa orang?”
(*sigh* y is it like that? how many of u there?)
“6!”
“hari itu 6, hari ini pun 6 ka? tipu la!”
(that day 6, today 6 again? don’t fool me!)

well, in the end he handed them red packs, in case they took out their parangs & started slaughtering us. just cuz he gave the first six who came 2 days ago (monday) each a red pack. dad, sometimes u’re just too kind. we (my sis & i) wouldn’t hav turned out like that if u weren’t so. >.>

it was then when we planned to sneak away early in the morning on friday. we don’t wanna lose anymore angpaus, even though the ones dad gave the second group only had a buck each.

- cny entertainment: part 1 -

currently listening to – fullmetal alchemist osts
mood – a little unsettling

been encountering a series of random events since yesterday.

part 1: running dogs 走狗

was happily clicking around the forum i’ve not visited for quite some time, & next i heard my sis chanting something (she always does that when something unexpected occurs)… “…….~~~~~~…~~~~~…~~..!!!!” apparently she was trying to say “sonny’s pushing the gate open sonny’s pushing the gate open sonny’s pushing the gate open… IT’S OPEN!!!!” then she went screaming at our other dog & both the dogs dashed out of the house in excitement.

one might think that it’s not really a random event, cuz all dogs go for strolls (just that they don’t open the gate themselves. sonny even turned on pipes on his own once.). but the problem’s that we haven’t succeeded in walking them ever since they’re small. imagine a person resisting the pull of a truck. that’s how we felt when we’re being dragged by them. if we’re to walk them without chains.. i doubt that they’ll b coming back without peeing & pooping in front of all the houses of people they despise.

it’s almost impossible to catch big bro (the older dog) since he runs like a bullet, so we decided to trick sonny (the younger idiot) back into the house first. deceiving sonny was like hitting a dizzy giant fly with its legs stuck within my dad’s wrinkles using my mom’s manuscript book, i.e. it’s a piece of cake, with a few injuries (he’s stupid but strong...)… ignore the previous sentence. capturing our dear i-am-5-going-on-6 big bro required team work & tactics. after tying sonny we waited big bro to appear in front of the house. when he did, i rushed towards him face to face (er… like we’re gladiators in the coliseum?) &
AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaaa......
nothing. just grabbed hold of his collar & pulled him back, while sis quickly shut the gate, in case he did a counterstrike.

and so.. our automatic gate spoilt (again, due to similar causes). apparently, sonny tried to force it open with his head. darn, we’ve just fixed the left one not long ago, & now the other side went haywire. to top it all, it’s the third day of chinese new year, which means that nobody’s gonna fix it for u. thanks sonny, that’s a real nice cny present.