the biggest religion in this world called FOOTBALL

Haish ~ lama sungguh tak update.

Beberapa hari yang lepas, aku nampak iklan World Cup di tv. Dalam hati ‘heh, baru nampak batang hidung’. Years ago in 2006, the World Cup celebration came years before, terasa bahangnya walaupun game belum start. Mungkinkah kerana World Cup kali ini diadakan di suatu tempat yang tak berapa glamour, i.e South Africa? Atau aku je yang rasa tak glamour sebab aku tak minat watching 22 men chasing a black and white ball that if ever an alien invade earth, it will question ‘why must men fighting over one ball’? Don’t they have their own err... balls? Dengar berita, masih ada 500, 000 tiket belum terjual. Yang bangang pegi jual tiket secara online kat negara miskin mcm tu buat apa?

Anyway, bila nampak iklan tu, kawan aku yang turut sama menonton tv pun berkata, ‘wey, aku harap Manchester United menang world cup tahun ni’. Aku pandang dia dengan pandangan yang berkata ‘ko-lebih-ngok-daripada-penganjur-yang-jual-tiket-online’. Walaupun aku bukan lah orangnya yang stay-up until wee hours in the morning just to watch the game held in other part of the world, aku tetap ada rasa ingin tahu siapa menang, siapa kalah, siapa jaring gol… dan World Cup is not about Football Club. Bukan nak tahu David Beckham ada jaringkan gol ke tak (tak kira team mana yg main).

Musim bola tahun 2006, aku tinggal bersama kakak dan abang ipar yang hantu bola. Ketika menjaga kakak yang sedang tunggu hari nak bersalin di PPUM, abang ipar ternampak satu rancangan tv yang mana wartawan akan menemuramah sesiapa sahaja secara rawak. Maka, adalah minah ni... kena tanya, ‘pasukan Negara mana yang anda rasa akan menang match kali ini?’ Minah tu jawab ‘tak kisah lah, yang penting dapat tengok David Beckham’. The match is between Portugal and France. I’m not really a fan of Les Bleus, but surely David Beckham doesn’t sound French to me (ok, takde kaitan).

Anyway, my brother-in-law came home that afternoon and gave me a stack of magazines, all about football. He said ‘if ever a reporter interview you and ask about this World Cup things, don’t embarrass me by knowing only David Beckham. Football is not about him.’ But then, my sister said, it is about David Beckham. Nonetheless, he put a match schedule in front of my room. My duty is to put the score in each box, while he accompanies my sister in labour room. Dutifully, I put the score of every match… which mean, I had to stay-up until late midnight. I did cheat some times. I phone my friends or I just watch the news.

Sebelum World Cup 2006 bermula, berikut adalah perbualan aku dengan Abang Ipar.

Abg Ipar: Which one is your favorite team?
Aku: urmm… it’s between Japan and Korea
Abg Ipar: (look at me dengan hidung berasap) you think this is some sort of Korean Drama with predictable storyline or Japanese animation with a handsome bloke doing kungfu?’
Aku: err… Kungfu kat China kot
Abg Ipar: Whatever… (Put a match schedule in front of my room). Put every score of every match!
Aku: (dalam hati) Mesti cari boyfriend ~

Aku dapat boyfriend yang tak suka tengok bola, tapi suka F1.

Musim bola tiba lagi. Yang kerja kat kedai mamak tambah shift. Mesti bising, susah nak tidur bila jiran atas bawah apartment melalak tiap kali bola ditendang masuk pintu. Nasib baik aku dah ada kereta nak ke office.

battle with angels

I spent my recent weekend with a marathon, from the land of tooth fairies to fighting a legion of angels for the sake of mankind. What an adventure, whew! but skip the tooth fairies land, because I’m going to write about my battle with angels (I thought angels supposed to be a saintly character by which derived the word angelic?). Even though the title is LEGION, don’t expect legions of angels rendered in expensive special effects.

The story follows as a bunch of characters who find themselves thrust together at remote truck stop diner and gas station called, ironically… Paradise Falls. Apparently, God, having lost faith in mankind, has ordered the end of the days – Armageddon, apocalypse, doomsday, whatever. So weak and meek people started getting possessed by angels by which apparently does not make the characters have clear skin and perfect teeth but instead they become almost zombie-like and start to kill all humans. The whole world falls prey to the possessed-by-angels meek and have inherited the earth (this happen off-screen, though).

What happen on-screen is focuses on Paradise Falls. Unaware of the chaos unfolding around the globe, the owner Bob Hanson, and partner, Percy goes about business as usual. The diner very pregnant waitress, Charlie, serves breakfast to Sandra and Howard, a well-heeled suburban couple and their teenage daughter, Audrey as they wait for their car to be repaired by Bob’s son, Jeep. Tyrese Gibson plays Kyle Williams a character with a troubled past, stop by at the diner to look for a phone.

The possessed start coming in as an old woman (Jeannette Miller in a very memorable scene) in a wheeled walker following by a lot more possessed humans, apparently trying to kill Charlie’s unborn child. Things look bleak, until the rogue archangel named Michael shows up without his angel-signature-wings driving a stolen police’s car and some awesome 21st century weapons. 9mm Handguns, assault rifles and wow! a rocket launcher for good measure. With Michael support they became humanity’s last line of defense. Michael gets everyone to hold up in the diner until the birth of Charlie’s baby which according to him should not exist, making it humanity’s last and greatest hope. Why? How? He didn’t explain because Archangel works in mysterious ways. Perhaps the child is the second coming of Christ? Or John Connor?

Ok, enough with the story line. Let’s see the loopholes, shall we?

First of all, God lost faith in mankind? Hey God, if you wiped out mankind, who’s going to live on earth? (Okay, maybe you’ll destroy earth too) Second, God wants to kill an unborn child. Okay... so what does he do? He literally sends a grandma, on wheeled walkers and a creepy ice-cream man to do the job. Seriously? An earthquake would be good. Tornado, hurricane, volcano, meteors, lightning, heart attack, bad fall… whatever. But God just send grandma with bad teeth to kill a baby under protection of a handsome and rogue archangel. And its just took a few slugs to stop the ice-cream man. Oh God...

The big problem I had with the movie is the fact that there are no billions of angles shooting at each other with sub-marine machine guns and hacking at their limbs with big knives or swords like the trailer and poster made of. There are only two of them. And there’s a moment before they start their hacking and shooting, Michael was trying to persuade Gabriel to stop the fight before it started. Okay, so the flashback send us to their moment in a place literally only God-knows-where (heaven, anyone?) when they were fighting side by side as brothers. But back to earth, the brotherly moment was a bit awkward. Or is it just me hoping that at some point the brothers will kiss each other and give us some thought about origin of err… Gay?

Actually, this movie is not that bad. A reminiscent of The Mist by Stephen King and also like the Evil Dead trilogy, just not as funny. But shades of Terminator 2: Judgment Day in the end, making it quite a confused movie, making me blinking with a thought ‘God was just testing His angels’ loyalty and feelings towards mankind or mercy to each other or whatever but seriously, wiping out mankind just for that?, God.. You got better reputation down here on earth and don’t make your attractive-looking angels kicking each others’ ass... please.’

By God here, you know which version of God I’m referring to. So, peace!

a little late celebration

It's New Year. Gosh! It's 2010. Time for new resolution, but I guess mine will be the same as last year and the year before. Last New Year of 2009, I said I wanted to be the best of everything for someone, and it turns out I am indeed the best but that someone isn't the best for me. You see, human problem is, when they gave something away, they expect the same thing or more will be given to them in return.

Can't we just give something unconditionally and still be happy about it? So this year I'll stick to the same resolution and added some ‘sugar’ to it. I'm going to be the best of everything to someone without expecting anything in return, unconditionally. Even if the end doesn't favor me (which I can already see coming with warning), I will still be happy about it. I wanted something to remember for a lifetime, like a memoir collector.

The cellar door and rainbow is celebrating her life.

2 voices

I heard two voices in my heart. When I heard the first one, I feel safe. I have no worries, like everything is in the good hands, even in chaos I feel strangely calm because everything is all right, as long as the voice is here.

When I heard the voice deep within my inner self, it’s calming and serene, like the flow of time stand still for that moment. It feels like you can look into a mirror of the future and it looks bright and you can feel a splash of certainty. The only thing is the voice has control over me, over my shaky emotion. There’s a cut in my heart caused by the sense of self of this voice in the early years and since it has control over me, it keeps wounded me. I was wondering why I keep crawling back. Is it because that splash of certainty or that calming and serene feeling when I heard this voice?

The second voice is the voice I’ve heard since I was 18 years old. I was in the verge of exhaustion hearing the first voice when after 8 long years I heard the second voice again. God only knows, I long for that voice. It feels like coming home. Like a thousand snowflakes flowing in the sky rushing to get back all the years left by. It feels like where I belong, where I supposed to be from the first place. But, there’s another voice coming. It’s an unfamiliar voice that sends me an understandable signal of 3 years. I do feel a sense of guilt but because that something inside me never fade, and it grew stronger every single moment, it wash away all guiltiness that keep coming. And here I am, wondering why life leads me to this particular voice once again if I was meant to forget it. They are memories left untouched by time, ageless, forever 18.

I decide to part ways with the first voice. Not because I grew tired mending my broken heart, or because I give up to love and tears itself, or that everything I put into it has run its course. It is because I found myself trying too hard and deny objection from my own reason. Thankful that I ever been here with it, grateful that it taught me lots of thing and appreciate that it ever happen. Undeniably the best thing ever happens. So long my kiss-of-life, I wish you long and happy life. Life will take it turn on us if destiny is watching us now.

I kept in touch with the second voice with an extreme consciousness of the existence of the unfamiliar voice. I got nothing else to be bothered about, no heart to mind of, and most of all no broken heart to mend. I am a free soul. I am here, sitting on the bench, sipping my afternoon tea, in my three-quarter pants and Langkawi T-shirt, watching the quiet horizon sunset, breathes in the air of freedom making my own decision, not worry if it will upset other.

I have no regret.

~shake hands with choices once again~

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.

one week ~ away from cyber world

Happy Raya to all.
Family, friends and foes.