Tidbits - Mamak

As I sit here falling asleep (and most probably would 'slip' away soon), I thought of sharing 2 short incidents, 'tidbits' in my life. Both of these incidents happened in one of the most popular cultures of Malaysia, the mamak.

Incident 1:

Yesterday, my family and I went for dinner. As we sat down, the boss came to take our order. He asked, "Minum apa?"

My mum replied, "Roti sardin"

Without blinking an eye, the boss continued, "Minum roti sardin, makan apa?"

I looked at my brother, and we both burst out laughing.

Incident 2:

This morning, I had breakfast with my mum. The boss came asking, "Nescafe tarik, teh tarik?"

Mum replied, "Nescafe tarik", then gestured to me, asking me what I wanted to drink.

One of the workers asked, "Teh tarik a?"

The boss, with an imitation of a little girl, "Dia cakap, Saya mau milo..." =P

What I Do in College

I’m supposed to have graduated. Yet I still faithfully go to the college, waking up everyday at 6 a.m. to hitch a ride with my mum who goes to the same place. Then the same routine – arriving before the sun arises (if there is no traffic jam) and buying the Star newspaper at the Caltex petrol station before going for a breakfast of two half-boiled eggs and a ham and cheese sandwich at the coffee shop.

Upon arriving in the familiar institution I call my college, I stumble in to the computer lab, switching on the lights, air-cond and computer, so forth. Oh joy! I’m connected to the Internet. After searching around Google aimlessly for some time, logging into my e-mail and deleting those e-mails I never read yet not reading those I would, listening to some songs, visiting some blogs, it’s almost 9 a.m. Some early birds would have arrived by now, preparing for class while I excuse myself to hide in some isolated studio where I slip into undisturbed dreamland.

Few hours or minutes later, I wake myself, momentarily deciding if I should start my work. Before that idea starts forming into something concrete, I’ve already gone on to slumberland yet again. It’s almost lunch time now, as I greet some familiar faces of those who make the same vigil to college as I do. I open up my pile of butter paper and sketches, looking at my progress and pondering… pondering… pondering. Time for lunch.

My feelings of dread come once or twice in a day. Once, when I turn my head to find the face and eyes of my lecturer staring back at me. Twice, when I turn my head the other way and find the same thing looking back at me at another time in the day. At which point I would usually turn away and run back to the work I’m supposed to be doing so that some degree of guilt would go away. I alternate between CAD and online messaging, or I believe the more flattering would be to say, multi-tasking.

All too soon, it’s almost 6 p.m. Work time is officially over, and mine seems so too. Some more surfing, some downloading, some reading, some listening, before Mum says to call it a day. Probably a dinner if the stomach protests too much, and then the sleeping car ride home.

Few people have asked me what I do everyday in college. I often shrug and give a Even-if-I-told-you,-you-wouldn’t-understand look.

Vortex

Love... a vortex?

love seems like light at the end of the tunnel...

yet within the light, therein lies a deep, dark channel...

*inspired by a post from May's blog

Just Let Me Love You

by Joanne Avanzado

Of all the people in this world, Why is it you that I fell for There could be someone better than you Someone that I can depend on If only I can teach my heart I’ll say I should forget you But even if I tried to My heart still beats for you I know it is wrong And I must learn to be strong Coz your heart is not free It’s with someone all along Let me love you silently Let me hold you in my dreams Just let me feel the way I do To love me back, you don’t have to…

~found from LovePoetry