Tuesday, October 30, 2007

from nega-bull to posi-bull

Farouk called me up on Sunday morning and announced that he was at a shop looking at a piece of artwork that immediately reminded him of me!

‘When I saw the vibrant colors – the blues, reds, yellows; the bull and the horns, they are all so you! You gotta come and see this!’  He said over the phone.

‘Which is more “me”?  The bull or the horns?’  I asked.

Anyway, I did meet him at the shop and when I laid eyes on the canvas, I was definitely taken by the colors. The medium was oil and the artwork measured 3’ x 4’. The only hitch was that the bull, despite being artistically rendered (by an Australian artist), looked sinister or demonic! Yet, I could see the piece comfortably resting against my dark green side of the dining room wall. Another good point was that it was going for just RM160.

I took the piece to my new home despite the futile attempt to lower the price further. I wasn’t really aggressive anyway and the old shop owner looked like one of the seven dwarfs – the grumpy one.

I whipped out my acrylics since I couldn’t find my oils, and dappled some whites, yellows, greens and black here and there on the canvas! The result was a friendlier bull and what was originally blood dripping from his mouth was turned into grass OR his shaded goatee! The evil red eyes were turned into cute cheeky ones with the help of the different shades of whites and a new slight grin with little teeth showing over what was origianally a sad mouth. The demonic feel or aura is gone and a new positively playful and cheeky piece of artwork is now waiting for its new wall. I know it is wrong to tamper with an original piece of artwork (unless I am the original artist), but I feel that this piece of work should be in a POSITIVE mode rather than a dark negative one that it was originally.

Ultimately, I like the painting more now and a big MOOO of gratitude to Farouk for thinking of me whenever he sees bulls!!

Booooool! 

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Monday, October 29, 2007

weanin’ and hopin’ ( a cleaned-up version of “substance over time or quantity”)

I was a little emotional when I was putting candles on my Dad’s cake on Saturday when we celebrated his 75th birthday! Since when did my “ageless” parents have suddenly become so old? How I wish I can just turn back time a little bit more so that I can spend more time with them (and to the other people that I care about but haven’t been spending enough time with).

Then, we all know that is not going to happen so it is really up to me to make it a point to make the time for them! They would still occasionally drive me up the KL Towers but I am sure I am just as guilty for the walls that they have scaled on my account (and would still do so from time to time) but these are the experiences that are a part of our lives regardless of anyone or even anything! We either grow or allow ourselves to shatter out of any circumstances or situation simply by choice. For example, we can either look at our mistakes as “mistakes”, or see it as “lessons (to be learned)” making that definition work for us rather than stagnating our growth.

I am definitely making the effort to spend more quality time with the people whom I care about. I am also going through a “weaning” process that would allow even me to let go of some people regardless of those that I have known all my life (including relatives) otherwise, I feel that our aimless on-going relationship would stun our individual growth! People change and that does not necessarily mean bad when we have to go our separate ways or paths in order to progress personally or even spiritually. I used to think any relationships with any old friends were to be kept or maintained religiously even when there were nothing more than tolerance and superficial exchanges in the relationship. That was my own ignorance for having mistakenly taken the concept of time being the exact measurement for friendship. Yes, the definition of friendship comes in many different forms and meanings (where each individual’s expectations varies) but mine is certainly based on the criteria that consists of being honest, loyal, patient, possesses a certain level of selflessness, generosity, a good ear and the gut feeling that tells you when you are NOT being taken advantage of! Sadly, these qualities are scarce but I am blessed with a family and a small handful of unique friends that would go out on a limb for me (as I would for them)! That itself, is the most satisfying gift to me than those who have a million of mostly cardboard friends each!


Image: Dad celebrated his “seven big and 5 small candles” on Saturday. 27 October 2007.

Dad's 75th!

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Friday, October 26, 2007

my painted house

Painting work has completed at my house. I told my niece Tessa about and she wants me to show it to her here. Well, Tessa, this is how the house looks like currently. Wish you were here. Miss and love ya!

Images:

1-2) Kitchen and dining area. 26 October 2007.

3) My living room

4) Staircase (left) from the kitchen/dining level below to my living room. the doorway on the right is to my bedroom. 26 October 2007.

5-6) Staircase view from entrance. 26 October 2007.

7) Then - last August (“Look What They Have Done to My House, Ma!” - The house going through “slight” renovations (mainly rewiring, adding points particularly for additional air-conditionaing). From top: Kitchen, dining, dining and kitchen and ouitside my bedroom. 1 August 2007)!

My Painted HouseMy Painted House IIMy Painted House IIIMy Painted House IVMy Painted House VMy Painted House VI Look what they have done to my house, Ma!

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Thursday, October 25, 2007

home renovation contractors are real pain in my flat butt!

Now I know why most house owners would cringe when they recount their own experiences with their contractors. I am officially one of them now! While my new house is still under renovation and I am in constant communication with my contractor, gaining weight is the least of my worries because I am buring every morsel that goes through my gut by intense frustrations!

Lim, my contractor called me to say that he might need to increase the fee for the painting as there are too many DIFFERENT colors! I told him that we have earlier agreed on BOTH the colors and fee. He naturally defended by an avalanche of reasons of which I am really not interested in. Then again, in this country, I am not surprise of this sort of situation despite having given the quotation to me. I consider it having given a “PO (Purchase Order form)” to him when I gave him the verbal go-ahead (Then again in the corporate world, try doing this to my company and he would be instantly fried). I was definitely affected by it but no, I ain’t gonna give him what he doesn’t deserve!

There are other factors that are involve in this renovation process that drives my BP go sky high such as paint stains all over the floors, paint-laced water splashes on my wooden cabinets despite having told them in a very pleasant manner to be careful, things that went missing, leaving all the windows opened despite telling them not to do so, lights being turned on, not locking the main door at the end of the day, and etc.

Yes, I have always wanted this experience. Even if I emigrate to Timbucktoo tomorrow, I would still want this experience of the process of buying a house! Until I get my sugar Mommy that would allow me to hire a PA, I ain’t gonna get another house. Period!

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Monday, October 22, 2007

jack & karen over will & grace

My oldest sister once asked me during one of our frequent telephone calls if we had the sit-com “Will & Grace” in Malaysia . I told her “No” and asked her what the show was all about. After she had explained to me, I told her that there was no way this series would be shown here in this (conservative) country.

I eventually got a taste of it during my last visit to Perth when they would have 4 episodes back-to-back during weekends and that became an instant hit with me! My niece Laura would accompany me by slipping under the covers next to me and we would both giggle hard over the antics of the characters! My brother-in-law would record any interviews or anything that has to do with the series on television for me. He is, by the way, a fan also.

To me, it is not just “Will” and “Grace”, but the supporting characters of  “Jack” and  (especially)“Karen” that really make the series tick! I just can’t get enough of these two!

Tenny eventually got me the first season when he came with Peter last month. Then, I discovered that they have a full-series (8 seasons on 24 DVDs) plus extras not found anywhere else except on this set from Amazon UK. Like an addition to glue, I just had to “sniff” it! Even though I am ­100 quid poorer, I know I am going to have hours and hours of giggles and enjoyment!

Image: The complete series box set of “Will & Grace”!

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Friday, October 19, 2007

dont mind the moods of our sunny teens! remember where they got their funny genes!

My niece Nicole turned 15 yesterday and as usual we had a dinner for her at our regular seafood restaurant. We ordered her usual favorite crab dishes and I got her a strawberry yogurt cake.

Nicole used to be a chatty little girl until she hits puberty. These days, she is quiet and is normally drawn within herself and into her books. She would constantly carry a book and would read at every opportunity she gets. I am not saying that it is a bad habit and in fact, I encourage it but not when she does it at the dining table! She has to be constantly reminded NOT to read at the dining table while having meals.

It is strange how when most kids hit their teenage years, they would change to a complete opposite of character of what they used to be! I had a major culture shock when my nephew turned unreasonably defensive over the most pettiest of things and being volatile in his moods. His hair became a forbidden zone and he would avoid me like the plaque just because it didn’t make him look “man” enough if that side, the affectionate side of him showed. Then when he hit his twenties, he softened a little bit but the teenage years would already have set the die of what he would eventually become. Therefore those formative teenage years are important and one of the factors is the company that he/she mixes with. I am glad that in way I didn’t lose my nephew entirely to what is considered to him of being hip by embodying that of what the typical (chauvinistic) hardcore male. Anything other than what men are supposed to do (like a hug) is considered sissy and they wouldn’t even want to be caught dead in these activities. Somehow, the Western upbringing has no qualms or taboo on being affectionate to members of the same gender (until one run his hands all the way down to your butt)!

Anyway, everyone would leave their initial nests to build one of their own eventually (like what I am doing myself). Maybe I myself is not getting used to the fact that my once baby nieces and nephews are growing up too fast and are leaving their “nests” one after another. It is definitely not easy letting go when you have been close to them and I know how a parent feels when their offsprings start flying off and leaving them behind. There are parents who embrace the fact that their kids need to leave (to be independant) eventually but those are scarce! I’ll just have to chew on a tree bark and see if the feelings of the “empty nest syndrome” would diminish over time. Thank god they are not my own children otherwise I would have to chew on a jumbo jet instead!

Images:

1) My niece Nicole turned 15 yesterday. Her birthday cake was a strawberry yogurt cake (layered with vanilla butter cake). Not bad. 18 October 2007.

2) Nicole and her brother Bran admiring some old vintage b& w photographs of the family before her birthday cake. 18 October 2007.

Nick's B'day CakeNick's B'day

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Thursday, October 18, 2007

drama class nostalgia

Shazlin (second from left) just sent me this picture that was taken last year when we took time out to attend a guitar recital during our drama class stint at KLPac under the tutelage of Joe Hasham. No, I am still too chicken to even audition for any major productions! I also think that I should revert back to my old (lack of) hairstyle and no more making excuses to skip gym (and end up binging at some food stall instead)! Thanks Shazlin. Circa May 2006.

n657872710_172445_3069[1]

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

another week or two before i call it “home”

As usual, the much-anticipated Hari Raya holidays came and went. Due to my own incredibly busy schedule (and aging that causes physical limitations) with the house, I had to fore go some invitations to Raya dos but I managed to visit one of my colleague’s on the first day with my boss. The rest of the long weekend was spent on cleaning up the house etcetera. On Sunday, Suan and my Mom helped me “hose down” the house (I wouldn’t have done it without them)! The worst was the toilets being incredibly filthy under the hands, or in this case, butts of the workers and I had to clean them! Mega-Yuck due to the sight of soiled toilet bowls but thank god for extra strength toilet bowl cleaners!!

Painting work will start tomorrow. I would likely take Thursday off to keep an eye on them. Though I have marked all the walls with tiny slips of paper indicating the colors to be painted on each wall, they can still make mistakes! Paints are nowhere being cheap and there is no returning when they make a bummer!


Two new massive sized malls opened shortly one after another. Shopping in KL now is almost just as good as anywhere else except fort he prices. These new malls carry designer labels and I wonder if we have that many customers with ‘designer’ money to spend. The economy is not exactly bright but more like cloudy and everyone is embracing rainy weather sometime soon.

Images:

1) A new mall, or shall I say a new extension of the existing Mid-Valley Mega Mall. The Mid-Valley Mega Mall was hailed as the longest mall is South East Asia  (or was it Asia?) when it opened in November 1999. This, The Gardens is owned by the same owners and just as massive! The problem is, do we have enough people to spend high-end money to keep these mega malls going. They are sprouting up around KL faster than rabbits mate! The Gardens is beautiful though!

2) My boss suggested that I should do a (caricature) portrait of the unit to grace the wall next to the entrance to our unit. This is the result - 12 hours of work! It has been matted and framed. 28 September 2007.

3) My colleague Ina invited my Boss and I to her Hari Raya do at her house. The spread might look simple but every single one of the dishes was so good that I naturally overate myself to extreme guilt especially the lemang! 13 October 2007.

4) Left to Right: My colleague Ina, Bee (my boss) and Ina’s younger sister at Ina’s Hari Raya do on 13 October 2007.

5) This unassuming lemang that I had at Ina’s Hari Raya do was so incredibly delicious that I have to take a picture of it! This is usually taken with curry but this one was so good that it can be taken plain as it was. Lots of work and patience are required to prepare lemang. Glutinous rice and coconut milk, with salt added for taste are stuffed into a tube of bamboo before they are roasted over slow fires. 13 October 2007.

The Garden SkylightPU-ansRaya SpreadRaya '07Lemang

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

it’s a (nostril hair) jungle out there!

One of my work colleagues called and asked me about nostril hair trimmers or scissors. I told him that in my whole entire working life, he was the FIRST person who was aware of this essential part of personal grooming that most (particularly) men neglect! Most men (and some women) that I know have allowed it grow so bushy that monkeys could live in them!

I told him that there are some battery-operated ones are both cheap and quite reliable. The scissors versions can hurt if you are not careful! I have been using a nostril hair trimmer for years and I bet that those friends/colleagues that I have not seen a single strand of nostril hair wiggling in slow-mo as they talk are the ones that own a nose-trimmer.

Like when somebody you know has BO and you don’t know how to tell him or her, wild growing nostril hairs have the similar effect. I know this person that complained that he couldn’t find a girlfriend (and is still single by the way). I wanted to tell him but didn’t know how that what girl would fall for someone with two hairy yo-yos dangling from the nostrils? Worse, I have seen him going through bouts of colds and his yo-yos would be slicked with …(Oh! I don’t think I have the stomach to describe it)! When they were dry, they looked like limestone formations in caves!

I just hope people are more conscious with their grooming and think twice why people do not look at their faces when spoken to. Do have a good hard look in the mirror!

Image: My (slightly twisted) version of “Rapunzel” ! This 5-minute sketch was intended to promote proper personal grooming (particularly bushy nostril hairs seen on many menfolk here) at “The Establishment” ! 11 October 2007.

Brien's version of

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Friday, October 5, 2007

one of those days!

While I was driving out of the McD Drive-in for some Big Breakfast take-away this morning, I was suddenly suffused with an unexplainable feeling of joy and love. I was still me, I was still with problems, the weather was not exactly perfect (the haze has hit Penang since yesterday), and the air was just as lethal as usual. It was definitely not the fact that it’s Friday because I have gotten numb to the concept of days. My feelings for Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays don’t differ from Mondays or any day of the week (any day is just as busy, exciting or challenging for me).

I guess it was the fact that I just embraced what was around me, having the faith in being positive and the realization of the beauty of things as they were. Strange as it may sound, thinking positive is not an easy task but I know one person that is totally positive despite having gone through years of extreme adversities. His level of patience and perseverance is one quality that is totally rare that I have not seen in any other individuals that has gone through similar hardships for an incredible long period of time as this particular person has gone through. Others would have ended up bitter and negative to those around them. One would wonder if there was any secret to his attitude.

”It’s no secret. I make it a point to be positive and I take in grace of what I already have. I have a lovely wife and lovely kids. I have a humble home to give me shelter and a simple car that takes me places. The other so-called problems are secondary and would be tackled on one at a time. Besides, life is full of challenges and we have to face them somehow. We would be given two choices; one is taking it as a negative challenge or the positive. I chose the latter and I would be prepared of the consequences that whatever it may turn out to be, we know we have done our best and the what is left out of it comes as a gift! I consider it as a ‘Gift” because what came out of it may have been even worse! My concept of the worst would be the loss of your loved ones or seeing them suffer. Most of our problems derived from the obsession of obtaining (more) material gains than what we already have or need” he told me recently.

That was a profound Buddha moment!

My mood somehow shifted when I set my Big Breakfast down and removed the Styrofoam lid at the pantry in the office. I was shocked how the bun and patty have shrunken! It is totally misleading to call it their “Big Breakfast” when the portions are pathetically the complete opposite! They even have the nerve to serve it on an oversized Styrofoam tray where all the content when pushed aside, has room for a big Mac or Quarter Pounder!  The set comes up to 8 bloody bucks and I was still hungry after that!

The gist of this story? Be positive about life until somebody short-changed you like for example, you have ordered a foot-long hotdog but instead, a get foot-long bun with a cocktail wiener inside! I would say that we know when to be philosophical about life and when we fight for our sausages! Yeah! 

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