one week ~ away from cyber world

Happy Raya to all.
Family, friends and foes.

these are the lovely bones

Today, I finished reading Alice Sebold’s book, The Lovely Bones. (My bus-ride is worthy after all, yay!). What a breathtaking story. The best ever book I’ve read since John Grisham’s, A painted house. The Lovely Bone will turn into a movie directed by Peter Jackson, The one who brought us The Lord of The Rings and King Kong.

The story was set in 70s. The years when your high school crushes can last a lifetime and become your better half. And as Sebold says, it’s the year before kids of all races and genders started appearing on milk cartons or in the daily mail.

The story revolved around Susie Salmon, 14 years old on December, 1973 when she was brutally raped, murderer and dismembered by her seemingly shy neighbour Mr. George Harvey who lives alone and built dollhouse for a living. Over the next few years she watches from a personalized heaven as her family and friends deal with their grief over her death.

Will it turn out better than the book? I really hope so. I want to see how they’re going to visualize susie’s heaven. I’ve checked the list of actors and actresses. My favourite, Rachel Weisz will play Abigail, Susie’s mother who has a short affair with the detective and leave her husband because she’s too weak to accept the fact that her oldest daughter is dead. I’ve loved Weisz since her roles in The Constant Gardener. (She won an Oscar for this). Susan Sarandon plays Grandma Lynn, who moves into their house after her daughter leaves to help her son-in-law care for the remaining children, Susie’s precious sister Lindsey and beloved little brother, Buckley.

My favourite character is Ruth. I pictured her with a gothic sense of dressing. At some point Ruth had break all the rules by exchanging her soul with Susie, so Susie can once again kiss the boy she truly love from her high school years using Ruth’s body. Hal Heckler, the brother of Samuel Heckler, Lindsey’s boyfriend from high school to college and later become her husband, is another character of my favourite. Mark Wahlberg will play Jack Salmon, Susie’s father whom she loved most.

I’m so gonna watch this movie. I even read the movie’s script. Teeheehe. I’ve watched the official trailer and I hope it won’t be as disappointing as Twilight have been. While reading Twilight, I pictured Bella as someone self-reserved, cute and not pretty. I pictured Ellen Page as Bella while anyone can be Edward because no matter what, no human can be as handsome as Stephanie Meyer had described Edward’s look. Haha. Anyone plays Edward will going through long hour of excessive make-up. And Kristen Stewart made Bella looked too awkward.

What’s even more disappointing is too much have been left out in the movie. Summit Entertainment should have spent more on Twilight. The Sequel of the ridiculously popular saga will come into cinema some time in November. But I’m more eager to watch The Lovely Bones than New Moon. After all, Peter Jackson has reputation of turning book into good movie. The Lovely Bones will be release in US on 11 December and UK 29 January 2010. Haven’t seen release date for Malaysia or any part of Asia. Maybe we’ll get to see it some time in February next year. Du’oh.

I will blog about New Moon and The Lovely Bone after I watch it. In the meantime I'm moving to Alice Sebold's 3rd book and Second Novel, Almost Noon. Oh and by the way, her 1st book is a memoir described her experiences of being raped while walking home through an underground tunnel on campus. The book’s title is Lucky. This memoir of her ultimately tells the story of a brutal rape, the emotional trauma, and the aftermath of recovery. Now I know what inspired The Lovely Bones.

the pandemic

Seperti yang diketahui umum, dunia dilanda pandemic yang disebut sebagai H1N1. Sebagai pengguna pengangkutan awam yang tegar, aku melihat a few people telah pun memakai topeng mulut atau medical mask (aku masih menunggu topeng mulut yang diberi secara percuma – adakah?). Mak aku kat kampung tak putus-putus sms dengan nasihat ‘jangan jalan-jalan sangat, nanti dapat penyakit. Ramai dah mati’. I didn’t tell her, I used public transport everyday to get to work and who knows the person infected with this pandemic is in the bus and train as well, coughing and sneezing in the heavily crowded train where you don’t actually have choice.

Anyway, I choose not to panic. H1N1 like all influenza viruses is not airborne. It’s a droplet. Which mean the virus do not stay in the air, floating like some sort of suspended animation. When the infected person cough or sneeze, the virus transferred via the droplets of the sneeze. To be considered an airborne virus, the microorganism would have to survive or remain in the air for long periods of time

Verdict: Not Guilty

Moreover, those died of this pandemic is because they had another chronic disease. Such as high blood pressure, cancer etc. As long as you doesn’t have the other disease, kau akan demam jek. Doktor suntik flu viral dan akan dikuarantin. (Ini mungkin seronok jika ada rakan sekerja atau se-building yang dijangkiti, kerana akan mendapat cuti kecemasan sekurang-kurangnya satu minggu) I’m not saying aku kebal dan tak takut penyakit berbahaya ni. Aku cuma memilih untuk tak gelabah. Kenapa penyakit wujud? Kenapa ada orang yang terkena penyakit? Semuanya sebab nak bagi kau sedar sikit. Masa sihat tak bersyukur dan jaga kesihatan. Bila dah sakit baru ingat Tuhan. Ok, mungkin ada sedikit ‘kuang hajo’ di sini.

Berbalik kepada H1N1 tadi, memandangkan prevention is better than cure, here are some simple tips to avoid the virus (untuk orang yang takde pilihan macam aku, yang naik public transport. Because you never know who’s infected and who’s not). Avoid commonly touched surfaces like escalator railings, poles, etc. Untuk keadaan tertentu dimana it is necesarry to touch a commonly used surface (like elevator buttons and door handle) Try using you elbow, suitcase/handbag, umbrella, or use tissue. OR let other people inside the elevator do it. Just don’t stand near the buttons and don’t forget to say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’. Kalau dah ter-stand near the buttons, ambil tangan orang lain dan gunakan jarinya untuk press the button. (Jangan buat terhadap orang tua dan ibu mengandung) Dan jangan lupa cuci tangan selalu. Silalah rajin-rajin bawa anti bacterial hand sanitizer. Aku bawa jenama Dettol, murah aje kat Tesco. And last but not least, remember to avoid eye, nose and mouth contact with your hands.

Kalau ada orang coughing or sneezing dalam bus atau train dan tak tutup mulut, jangan ragu-ragu memberikan jelingan tajam sebagai amaran. Jika berada di dalam bus, suruh pemandu bus berhenti dan paksa orang tersebut turun walaupun berada di tengah highway. Jika berada di dalam train, selepas jelingan tajam yang tak dipedulikan, sebaik sahaja pintu train terbuka, tolak orang tersebut keluar. Tolak sekuat hati sambil jerit ‘H1N1’! Bagaimanapun, ini memerlukan kiraan masa yang tepat agar orang yang ditolak tak sempat berdiri dan masuk train semula. Baiklah, yang ini hanya dilakukan oleh golongan professional iaitu pengguna Public Transport yang tegar. Don’t try this at home, kid.

Orang kata, Jangan cari penyakit.

night in Bangsar

I was in Bangsar last night. Everyone will normally think ‘what on earth are you doing there’? Well, to accompany a friend from UK and it seems that they wanted to know what it is like the night-life here in Malaysia or Kuala Lumpur to be specific. I planned to drop them at Bukit Bintang but someone apparently was afraid to get lost in the heart of KL in the middle of the night.

And there I was. Heavy retro Indian music. The boss of the bar (Opps!) chatting happily to the friends. I ask for non-alcoholic drink and got some nice fruit Punch drink. While they talking, people start coming as it closed to midnight. The music gets heavier as my heavy-eyed. Everybody instantly knew I didn’t belong there. Someone was nice enough to ask me stand up and watched the professional singer sang a classic Hindi song. I did but I didn’t open my eyes. The boss of the place commented that he was afraid I fall asleep and thanked that person. I hissed at him that I got to work tomorrow.

Night life just isn’t for me. Some will say, ‘ahh... you’ll get used to it’. The truth is, I never. I’ve been there, but never one who will be contented with it. My night is at home. If I should really go, 10.00pm is the limit. Definitely no Shopping Spree at midnight. The only thing I can endure is midnight movie Teehee. I rather stay in front of TV watching some illegal DVD. I just don’t belong anywhere at night except at the comfort of my home, my bed, my pillow. If I’d go out, I’d be a zombie after 10pm and I wasn’t even there.

The male friend said, he’s been warning about not to drink anything illegal to his belief here in Malaysia as recently a model from Singapore has been ‘punished’ by the Religious Department for that. I have no comment for that. What you did is your choice. As I sleepily watched the friends stuff themselves with God-knows-what (haha) he smiles at me and I stared at him with the please-don’t-include-me feeling.

Life is a choice.

uncertainty

I hate this word. But not as much as I hate the meaning.
I hate to get prepare for something unconfirmed.

Scene 1:

Daddy: Hi buddy, daddy’s gonna get the 3 days off this weekend so you better get prepared for some tools, pack a few things and don’t forget the binoculars your mommy bought for you last 2 weeks. We’re going on hiking. Yeah!
Little boy: Really Dad? Oh my god, finally! Wait… are you sure you’ll get the day off?
Daddy: It’s likely I will get it.
Little boy: What do you mean by likely? And you ask me to pack now? What if you didn’t get it?

Scene 2:

Boyfriend: Sweetheart, I’m coming down tomorrow to see you. (Living on the other side of the world)
Girlfriend: Wow…really? I miss you so much. Oh my God. When will you arrive?
Boyfriend: Urmm… not sure about that. I’m still planning.
Girlfriend: Planning? I thought you said you’re coming.
Boyfriend: Yes, but I’m still planning on when to start driving or whether I should just come on Friday considering you’re still working tomorrow.
Girlfriend: Okay. Are you really coming tomorrow or Friday?
Boyfriend: It’s likely tomorrow.
Girlfriend: Ugh.

Don’t tell me if it’s not confirmed.
Tell me only if it’s confirm. Validate. Verify. Whatever the synonym is.
I hate it because my left brain cannot process what possibly the outcome is.
Certain or not certain. And you think I’m an idiot. I don’t give a damn. I don’t care.

Just let me know if you’re sure about it. Teehee.

the day you were born

Sigh. They say, it's just another number. The fact is, it's another year added to your age. Again, sigh.

I hate cakes on birthday, except the one in my Uni years.
I even hate surprise and birthday party. Silly and ridiculous. (well, except the one my friend gave me in my Uni years)

When you were born in my culture as a girl, another number to your age will mean people around you will start whispering. The odd damned thing is, they'll whispering when your parents or any of your family members are around too.

I couldn't care less about this 'moving numbers'. Jeezz.. Haha.
Honestly, I'm angry. I'm sad. Not because of the number start adding his friends but because the day he's expected to come is the day I expected my usually Belligerence and Moodiness self to be at least happy and smile for urmm.. maybe 10 seconds. And most of all able to say Thank you and Smile to the wishers instead of stuck-out my tounge.

I'm sad because the 'happy-ness' did came but didn't last long enough for me to smile the next day. Sigh.

a father and his little daughter

I saw a very exceptional sight today while in the LRT. A father sits next to me with a little girl in his lap. What makes that looks so astonishing is the absence of the little girl’s mother. His outfit looks like he’s going to work (or to office judging by his attire). My mind start thinking about the possibility. Maybe his wife is in hospital somewhere and he’s taking the toddler to her mother before headed to work. Or maybe he’s taking the girl to her grandmother because he and his wife are working parents. Or maybe he’s a serial child kidnapper pretending by wearing nice outfit. erk...

Whatever the reason is, I’m so amazed by the sight. It is a rare occurrence to see a father with little daughter alone without the presence of the mother. Or maybe I was living in a different world before. Is it? Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.