can you keep a secret?

Ok. Another bus ride. Another book I’ve read. By Sophie Kinsella – Can you keep a secret? Emma Corrigan, 25 years old, a junior marketing executive at marketing department of Panther Corporation. She has few secrets, which includes:

1. Sometimes she thinks her boyfriend Connor who works in research department of Panther Cola is too handsome, just like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.
2. She has no idea what NATO stand for or what the hell it is.
3. She weigh 128 but told Connor she is 118
4. She’s uncomfortable with G-String
5. And bla~bla~bla~

On a plane ride she accidentally spills it out to a handsome stranger, an American guy, out of fear of dying when the plane hit turbulence. If ever there was a bare soul, it's hers. She survives the flight, of course, and the next morning the famous founding boss of the whole mega corporation she works for is coming for a look at the UK branch. As he walks around, Emma looks up and realises... It's the man from the plane.

It had been a while since I read a ‘love story’. Overall, this one is a nice reading. Emma’s secret is what all of us has and feel as well. I never lied about my weight though. Hee~ As I read this, I thought this will be a good date-movie... a romantic comedy. When I checked it, it's already in planning. Kate Hudson will play Emma Corrigan. Damn. I was thinking about someone younger-looking like Anne Hathaway. Don't get me wrong, but I'm kind of tired seeing Kate in romantic comedies.

Anyway, put aside the book and movie. Let me share my few secrets with you. (To think that of all those who read this blog, only a two or three knows me in real) so here we go:

1. My friend is having an affair with someone else’s husband, thus spawn havoc in her family. Everyone was against it. When she was pregnant with her then-someone else’s husband-boyfriend and everyone was like ‘eww’ or ‘oh my gosh’ or talking about her sin-on-sole, I thought she was smart. Getting herself pregnant so everyone has no other choice but to let her marry the guy, that one is a brilliant move. Sin is your business with God. As long as you got the man of your dreams, mind nothing else.

2. When everyone was busy with the thought ‘apasal aku tak kahwin lagi ni’, the truth is, I’m pretty happy the way I am now. The thought of having to care for someone else and share almost everything is uncanny. I have no desire to get married, at least not now. But singing the rhythm ‘apa nak jadi, sampai sekarang tak kahwin lagi’ nonetheless along with everyone else, so no one will think I’m out-of-the-league.

3. I had never been properly in love. And just like Emma Corrigan, I also thought that somewhere somehow, something big is waiting for me out there. Nge~~

4. I dump my ex-boyfriend because I was after something else in life then. I regret it much more than I should be now.

5. I hate my father. Not because what he did to us but because I seems to succeed his insecurity, shaky emotion and madness.

6. I have an addiction of patting someone's butt. Recently, I've come to realize, I only did this to friends that I feel really close with. I wish I can grab Beyonce's butt when she come down here. Tee~hee~

Ok, don’t share too much. What’s yours?

p/s : Mie, let's go watch this when it hit the cinema, shall we?

we're not a reading society

I'm sick of seeing TV advert about ‘Budaya Membaca'. Only in Malaysia you have to promote excessively to get people to read. For some unexplained reason, every time the advert was aired, numbness hitting me hard. The most irritating part is watching the 'actors and actresses' of the advert who seems trying harder to act like they're really into 'reading'.

Scene 1: Mom and dad in a car with 3 kids. Dad was curious because he hadn't heard any noise from the back seat and thought the kids were sleeping. Since he cannot turn away from the road ahead, mom twists her head to look at the back seat. *camera followed her * voila! Mom amazed like she had witness something extraordinary and announce the finding to dad. 'No... They’re not sleeping, they're reading!' she exclaimed, like 'reading' is an act of holiness. And when the camera focus to the kid, the one in the middle was reading ‘Ben 10’ coloring book (or was it?).

Scene 2: Teenagers in their huge motorbike which immediately will make you think about the infamous ‘Mat Rempit’ so to assume what they were up to …urmm… Racing in daylight? And they reached their destination, park their fit-for-race motorbike, and headed to the stairway. (at first, I have this thought that maybe they were up to learn some skill like ‘membuat kraftangan’) And oh! Here they are, get some book from the shelf and read it... in the library. Lots of teenagers around sedang membaca. Stupid TV Advert I ever seen. 1st the library looks as dull as ever. Wasn’t the environment that you usually see lots of people sit and were deep in their reading. Nak tunjuk remaja sekarang suka membaca? You think we’re bunch of idiots or what? 2nd, lots of people were reading in what’s clearly looks like a Pusat Sumber Sekolah and for god sake, they were trying so hard to read! Ha~ha~. Kill me.

Hey, whoever made that advert, go take a candid photos of people who takes reading as something naturally as smiling to strangers. Membaca tak semestinya kat library. Kat bustop nak tunggu bus ke, dalam LRT or Komuter or Bus rapidKL. Orang jaga kedai runcit or butik pun membaca… If Yasmin Ahmad still alive, wonder what her idea for ‘kempen mari membaca’ TV advert. Membaca tak semestinya baca buku. Baca majalah, baca newspaper, baca horoscope, baca komik, baca jampi… Ok, that’s really not the case. But seriously, I wouldn’t read my favorite books in library, unless the library provide expensive imported sofa or bed with Getha as mattress.



In this days of the-age-of-internet, you don’t see lots of people reading in library anymore (exception for Public Library with lots of leisure reading material) I mean, with the invention of e-book, you can even read e-novel with your hand phone. And people that are really into reading will bought their own book. Or go to some bookstores where you can read like crazy for free. No need for membership registration.

By 'read' here I mean, teenagers and kids. By 'reading material' I mean, leisure reading material that you usually read for pastime, just like the advert try to convey. By 'library' I mean, Public Library, heaven for leisure reading materials. An exception for researchers or the rest of us who read for life.

Reading is just not in our blood let alone society. Take it or leave it.