Random Solitary Thoughts

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Weekend Brief

Took a trip down to Penang during the Christmas weekend. Had some relaxing fun, watched more movies than I usually do in a month, met up with an old friend and played a borrowed X-box.

Things that I noticed during my trip to Penang. A relaxing time constitutes not thinking about work and knowing that you're not gonna be working the next day. Or you just don't care. I'm not watching enough movies. I need to meet up with old friends more often. No one in my family plays consoles. That sucks.

On boxing day, we took a drive back with a pit stop at Bidor for its famous Duck Noodles.

Things that I noticed on my way back. It's not jammed, as many people predicted it would be. Bidor Duck Noodles took 45 mins to arrive. Wait only when you have a sizeable crowd who happens to be chatty.

Now, what's in for New Year's Day? Hmmm...

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

On being(of) Chinese(descent)

The other day I was at a clinic awaiting my turn to see the doctor. This clinic, is immensely popular, and the waiting time ranges from an hour to two or three hours. The doc is a physio and does a good job with sprained ankles and whatnots.

Anyway, on this particular day not too long ago, I was waiting when a small group of malaysian born chinese came in. This one guy sat next to me and asked me (in mandarin) "what was the current number in line?". Not that I could understand him, but he seems to be anxious to find out, judging by his body language.

So I calmly informed him (in English) that I don't speak mandarin. His reaction was the standard classic one which I have seen way too many times in my lifetime thus far.

"You ar... not chinese ar?" To which I replied, "Erm... I am, but I don't speak mandarin" And the classic reply? "Oooo...", followed by an expression of OHMIGAWDICANTBELIEVETHISISTHEFIRSTTIMEIVESEENACHINESE-WHODOESNTSPEAKCHINESEOHMIGAWDTHISISSUCHADISCOVERY-IMUSTTELLSOMEONEABOUTITNOW!!!!(but preferbly behind his back... hehe, in true chinese style)

Now where in the bejabbers does it state that if you happen to be chinese, you HAVE to speak the language?

The next time this happens, I shall calmly and collectively state that "No, I am not chinese. I am Malaysian." And proud of it. Period.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Solitude is good...

Last weekend was arguably the best weekend that I've had in a long long while. And what was the difference? My relatives were not around.

And I don't mean it in a malicious way. It's not like I dislike them or anything. I mean, they're cool and all, and they leave me alone for most part of the day anyways (not that I'm around the house anyway, with work and all...hehe), but it kinda infringes (lightly) on ones privacy when all one wants to do is spend a nice relaxing rainy saturday morning/afternoon chilling out at home without hearing people moving around getting on with their routine saturday morning/afternoon lives.

I don't feel the obligation of having to wake up early enough to inform them of my avalaibility to attend to their home-cooked meals (which doesn't always (infact, doesn't at all) work well with my seemingly hectic and spontaneous activities).

Technically, my schedule mirrors that of any young working adult in Kay-El... but them being quiet non-working elderly adults from Ee-poh, this of course builds on my guilt when I have to tell them I will be missing 'insert random meal here' because I have so-and-so on, or because I'll be working late, or just plain because I'm hungry right now and do not want to endure another hour of traffic and public transportation before I can stuff my face silly.

Basically, I miss living alone. Having the whole house to yourself on a weekend. The calm, quiet serenity of docility that presents itself on weekends. True, there's the housework and the laundry and gardening and all, but that can be taken care of in a matter of ones' own convenience.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats a quiet weekend with nothing to do... (and no one to bother you about it... yeah, I know, I just had to say it...)

Monday, December 12, 2005

Just for the heck of it...

The music blasts in the cubicle next to mine as I tediously thought of numerous ways to begin my blog entry. Work had piled up to enormous amounts, and not much has been done to reduce it in anyway. Staying back till the later hours of night is always an option.

Yes, it is I, Kalamari Squidocious, back from an apparent absence to haunt the digital pages of the world wide web once again. No doubt, my schedule has not been kind enough to grant me the time and liberty to bullsh#t all I want online, but that has not stopped me from taking an occasional few minutes to blah something at random from the depths of my mundane and monotonous mind, which by the way, has been sedate thanks to the lack of sleep and overdose of coffee.

Therefore, I find it prudent to end this post now, as nothing constructive seems to be coming out from this session in particular. No doubt, I will revisit this space once I have something concrete to write about.