Jumbo Hurt

Poor Jumbo met with an accident on Wednesday night. Jumbo, the small car with the big heart - I'm sure many of us have good memories of rides in Jumbo.

Jumbo was involved in a 6 car pile up, so his front and back looks like a coke can thats been stepped on. Thankfully, Jumbo's owner is fine. He got out without a scratch on his body. Huge whole in the wallet, but those are things that can be fixed.
















I know my brother is pretty bummed about the accident, though he tries not to show it. He loves that car. I cant even imagine how he must have felt when it happened. I got a palm-sized dent on my back door from carelessly grazing an SUV and i was so heart pain. Yes, i merely grazed the SUV and i got a dent, goes to say a lot doesn't it. Feel so bad for my brother. The only ways i know how to help is by offering to make him food

Poor Jumbo got hurt...

For reasons like these i wish i could carry a gun.

So there i was, nicely settling into my daily routine of late evening walks, just starting to get really familiar with the route and thinking hey, this is something that could become a permanent fixture.
When an arsehole on a bike drives up from behind me and grabs my butt. M*therf*cker. He gets a good handful of my bottom, speeds off and has the bloody audacity to turn around and look at me as i stood there in shock wondering what the hell just hit me.

I first thought he was after my mobile phone, which i had loosely gripped in my right hand. But then i realised that that wasnt his target at all. And i stood there, my feet etched to the ground wondering what in bloody freezing hell do i do next. By the time i realised what just happened, it was too late to get the bike's number plate or scream for attention. I was so scared, i started running towards home.

Then from feeling scared i started wondering why, why grab my ass, what did i do? Maybe it was the sweat pants i was wearing? Maybe i shouldnt have been walking when it was almost dusk? Maybe i shouldnt have been day dreaming to not notice the sound of the motorbike approaching? Maybe i should wear long baggy unappealing tshirts and 3 quarter shorts everytime i jog again? Maybe i should just inflate a freaking bubble around myself for protection, like the kid in the Invisibles every time i want to leave the house??!?!

Then i got angry, This is like 5 mins from my house. Where i've lived for the past twenty years. Its in a residential area. The road i was at was just behind a school where kids walk to and fro everyday, pre puberty little girls going to tuition, going to the restaurants nearby, going to the grocery store. Its also a road where alot of students from the nearby university rent their houses/rooms. Most of them living on meagre student incomes walk to and fro lectures, to get their meals, to get necessities. I wonder how they're parents would feel if they knew there was a pervert circling that road. I wonder how many others among them have had their asses grabbed and rushed back home and sat in pin drop silence because they didnt know what to do next.

Then part of me wished he was really after my phone. That way, i'd just have to get over a lost item. As much as i feel completely handicapped when i dont have my mobile and am a sap for sentimental value, i can just buy another one. After that, i felt so violated just by an ass grab i dread to think how rape victims would feel. I felt so.. dirty like. I remember telling Tate, who called as i was running home, that all i wanted to do was take a long shower and burn my sweatpants. As melodramatic as it sounds, I'm actually freaking scared of going for a walk again. Looking through my wardrobe this morning i consiously picked out a loose pair of pants and boring button down top. When i was leaving for work, and when i was getting out of my car at the parking bay, I found myself looking left right, behind forward for any strangers or strange activity. And as i was walking to the office, i stiffened when i heard a bike coming up from behind and walked as far in the sidewalk as i could get. Tyra Banks would have been so proud of the straight line i was doing in my heels.

But seroiusly, I honestly wish with every fiber in my body that at the next corner that f*cker takes there is a huge garbage truck parked that he crashed into.

Tiga kossoooooooonnnggg

Pics from left to right: The effects of the happy liquids, Check out Prabs blue steel immitation, The boys, Me and the brother, The girls, Captain Selangor saves damsel lost in stadium!, Captain Selangggoorr!, Cheerleaders, Ah Bill who started it all, Anak Selangor, Makan time

Yes this is a little late in coming, I know. About two weeks late actually, or is that three. First i left the camera at my brother's place, then i forgot to bring it, then he forgot to bring it, then i went to Singapore (where we invented the wonderful VItajing) and then i procrastinated. And as always happens with procrastination, I loose most of what i wanted to write because it happened too long ago and the momentum is lost.

But still...


It was a good night all in all. I innitially only wanted to go because all my friends were going and i thought it would be a good way of catching up. The last memory i have of actually following the football scene was when Maldini was still the in thing and the last football match i watched in a stadium was when Arsenal came to kick Malaysia's butt. So yea, you get the picture.

Right from the ride to the stadium the madness was staring me in the face. It was a sea of yellow and red. If you were not dressed in either of the blessed colors that evening you were automatically the enemy. I made the big mistake of wanting to be fashionable and dressed in brown, which resulted in me getting shoved, pushed, ignored and jumped in queue when it came to buying tickets for the LRT to the staduim. The whole train was filled with Selangor supporter. Filled like a can of sardines. The amount of armpits my face got pushed into was so not funny, damn being a shorty. And the excitement that permiated through was just so infectious. Before i got off i was grinning for right to left, screaming along to their cheers and waving at perfect strangers, as long as they were in red and yellow, they were a friend. Football really did bring people together that night. Dark or fair, short or tall.. if you were a Selangor fan you were a macha. And when they won, it was crazy!!! Pure madness!

We did the works, we bought the blow horns, the flags, the bandanas.. and it was wild. Hi-fying the dude that looked like someone i would have conciously avoided on the street everytime a goal was scored, I guess alot of my reservations were dropped that night too. Reservations can be an alternate word for stereotypes. And hey, I'm acknowledging it.

*yawn*

Tired la... tired tired!

excuses excuses

I originally wanted to run the excuse that i've been busy, therefore ignoring this space. I have been busy, but not all time was filled with must do's. Sometimes when i had a little leisure time i'd be either too lazy to log on, or too sick of staring at a screen after oh..just 11 hours of doing that through the day already.

Have had a whole spectrum of things happening in this past ten days! Different activities of different natures, with different people of different background - but all resulting in a jolly good time. Like the rainbow, different colours but each one in there can be mixed to make another color in the rainbow.

Have this itch to vent about work, But in all honesty, i've had lesser conducive work environments, lesser cooperative work mates, lesser friendly bosses, less exciting workload.. so i'm thinking, the grass will always be greener on the other side. For once, for once.. i will not vent. I will be happy and content.

Attempted my new excercise regime after realising that some of my office tops are starting to pop at the buttons. Did the whole routine, you know, stretch, walk, jog, walk, cool off. Lasted all of one day. I remember however, that one time, as i walked by the houses with dogs as pets, they barked as thought the heavens had fallen. I bet they were seeing like, a huge chuck of roasted meat going by. I am however optimistic that i will resume this. Its hard la, no matter how much i target to be home by 6pm, it almost never happens. By the time i reach home and get into my jogging shoes the suns saying its goodbye for the day. Then the most natural thing to do would be to slump myself in front of the idiot box. Somewhat counter productive to actually dropping the pounds isnt it. Of course i also try reverting to the age old drop the carbs plan, That has a longer shelf live then the excercising. But i have to say, i love my rice. There's a reason why i earned the nick name 'rice pot' as a child. And potatoes. I love potatoes in all shape, size, color and form. But i persist!!!! Until there's sambar and ikan bilis sambal, thats the just best combo to have with rice man.

Okay, its time for me to attempt to pack up and hopefully make it back in time to take a stroll around my little housing area, with the dogs and all.

Simply top drawer

I stuck to my will to try and be not so lazy and actually cleaned my room over the weekend. Its amazing how many years worth of memories just one drawer can hold. I must admit, i went to bed that night very nostalgic and somewhat melancholic. Just shuffling through the items in there brought me back to so many different frames of my life these past few years. I could see a virtual map of what i was and what i have changed to now.

Some of the things i found, which i forgot where in there are

• Letters from my aunt and cousin when they first migrated to Canada. I was 10 and he was 9. The letters spanned across 2 years, by when i guess we drifted apart and there were only so many things to repeat in each letter. As time went by, i suppose the distance made it harder to even fill one sheet on a letter pad... and we let it happen. Reading through the letters made me miss them again. I realised that i had gotten used to them being away, to not having to see them every Christmas.. and that was the saddest part. I cant wait for Christmas 2006, just to sit in mass with them again, and open presents and be stupid.. just like the old times.
  Reading his letters showed how much he has changed too. We both used to collect erasers ( i know how boring) and in almost every letter he would update me with how many more he had and how they were more cooler then mine. Also he would tell me how he loved his Sega cause there was so much blood. Now he's a strapping 23 year old breaking hearts and shaking up cocktails.
• Letters from my BRATs friends from when i was 16. The measly attempts we made at staying in touch regardless of our swears to forever be friends when we left the workshop. It was dissapointing that i could only remember the faces of 3 or 4 of them, and most were names that i had no faces to link to anymore. Laughed silly when i read how we,even then bitched about the one who sucked up most and the one who was the most kiasu and the one who threw herself on the cute guy.
• My Micheal Jackson concert video. Yes i am a fan. I was a crazy fan when i was in highschool. My biggest dissapointment was that my mother wouldn't let me go for his concert in KL because it was the night before my PMR Geography paper. I used to have books on him, pictures, newspaper articles.. you name it, sort of like an amateur stalker. This video was the last of it and i finally decided it was time to move on - i chucked it.
• Lettes from my friend Diana after our Olevels - again, another futile attempt to stay in touch forever.
• A box of a dozen pencils with my name inscribed on each one - the first gift i got from my aunt when she first moved to Canada. Plus my box of many many many erasers - i didnt have the heart to chuck them, but i dont know what in the world i'm going to do with them now.
• My music tapes from the time when i would save and save to buy tapes and when tapes where still the in thing - Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff, Color Me Badd, Ini Kamoze, Bon Jovi and some which labels had faded off.
• A birthday card from the voices gang from my 21st Birthday party that my parents threw me at Modestos. I laughed out loud as i read some of the messages from them. Some of the more memorable ones would be
  - Another year for more sin and debouchery - Garage (ah Garage Garage)
  - Happy bday Annu, Timah Rocks!!!! - Sumi (timah is a whole post by itself)
  - Dear Annu, maintain your great figure - Bill (sorry to dissapoint you there Bill, its just one big blop of fat now)
  - Tubs - Tubs (hahahahha)
• A pencil written letter from a friend at an attempt to salvage a friendship that was going down the drain. I'm glad she took the effort to write that. I cant remember how i reacted to it then, but reading it brought back a lot of memories, bad and good - mostly good.
• Birthday cards from Halina for my 16th, 18th, 21st and 22nd birthdays. I think the years in between were missed out cause she was freezing her arse off in Nottingham.
• A card for our one year anniversary from Aji. He was in Dallas then and i was here in Kl convinced that the relationship was doomed. It was his faith that kept it going, thank goodness for that. You make me walk with a bounce in my step, thats what it said. I was walking on clouds when it came delivered to my office, accompanied by 2 dozen roses. Ahh, the wonders of internet purchasing eh.. :) keeps many a relationship alive. This cards a definate keeper.
• A valentines day card from my brother. When i got into second year of uni and we were both in our respective relationships, i guess we slowly drifted from each other for awhile. We were both spending almost all our time with the significant other that a lot was left unsaid. The card caught me totally by surprise, but i remember feeling very emotional when i got it because i realised that he too missed me, we just weren't very good at expressing it. This one i will not chuck. Handmade, a brown paper with cut offs stuck in the shape of a teddy bear on the front and tiny hearts inside, its not hallmark production but it holds and is worth more then anything you can get off a shelf.

Now thats done, next project is to seive through the wardrobe..