If Tomorrow Comes.

It's been a week full of spirit of 'sportswomanship' around me. Yeaah, this goes out to especially my own gender. Our species has long been the kind (largely) that builds our time around our man's (this is not me k, surely not) and nothing else matters... which is why I only have very few good girlfriends and more guy friends, haven't us all? Our gender is the kind who can hardly feel comfortable just doing things among our own species other than just having a night out clubbing.

I miss my childhood girlfriends very much, we were all cheerleaders towards one another.... but went our separate ways cum secondary school time.

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After just a few indoor practices, I went for my first outdoor rock climbing experience with Lydia and the guys. The first climb was bloody tough. I asked (begged to my last saliva) to be brought down twice as my feet had started to tremble like hell.

Me: I'm going down nooooow.
Lydia: No!
Me: I'm tiiiiired, heeeeelppp!
Lydia: Just hang there, I got you. When you're ok, continue.
She just stood there with her neck strained and squinted eyes under the scorching sun.
Me: (Got up two more steps and got stuck again). I'm coming down noooow.
Lydia: No! Finish it, I'm not letting you down. Just a liiiiitle bit more!

Me: Dang! Ini kes penderaan.

Francis (trainer): Eh! Remember to breathe! Loosen up, don't glue yourself against the rock, there's no way you can move yourself.... like vertical turtle only! Remember Spiderman? Only his fingers and legs stick to the wall, not the body.

Me: Baaaaaaskit!!! Vertical turtle????? Baaaskit! Baskit! What's his point? (*looking back at my ass)

I tell yah, this thing is so addictive! You'll have the tendency to climb everything!

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Met a friend's girlfriend at a nearby karaoke place who sings so beautifully and effortlessly especially on high notes. But she chose to sing as a backup for the rest instead or waited for cues to sing her part and cheered anyway towards others who sounded as if they're choked out of wearing underwears two sizes smaller to get the best falsetto. That is rare (her I mean, not the underwear).

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Met two black girls and one Pan Asian dancing towards house music as if they own the whole club. They danced unlike many other vain ones who's eyes get all busy like a radar checking out if any blokes are eyeing on them, it's really just to let their hair down. I let my spastic-self slipped into that bunch of cool dancers anyways, and we all ended up trying everyone's steps and exchanged smiles.

A few white blokes intertwined here and there, no attempt to dirty dance or get touchy at all nor asked for numbers or names. Everyone ended up saying 'thank you' to each other before we left the dance floor. That is so rare.

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FG, this is for you although it is nothing much. Thanks for filling me in about PST.
Here're two of his 'falsampahs'.

"Kaya itu bukan sahaja kerana wang... boleh jadi kaya hutang, kaya anak, kaya musuh atau kaya perasaan"

"Bercinta biar seribu, berkawan biar satu... kerana cinta boleh hancur, kawan sampai mati"

Stellar dugged out a one year old email just to expand memories about Lat cartoons. Thank you!

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This one has got nothing to do with spirit of 'sportwomanship'. I just stumbled upon a two feet high all pewter trophy while collecting some stuff for my company. It's of a golfer putting on top of a globe. It didn't impress me much until I saw the caption for the trophy that reads.....

the saleswoman wrote a bill worth RM2,800 for it to someone. Doesn't matter how much it costs, what a lucky father that man is. What lucky children he's got too.

The 'Melayu' in Ponchoman.

'A Long Limerick' will be posted by Ponchoman on Friday the 13th at noon.
'Biodata: Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar AlBukhari' will be posted on Mainetalities at the same time.



I was delighted to receive this list:

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Talking about the ori GG,

Rejabhad (Tan Tin Tun, prebet dabus)
Nan (AAT, Din Teksi)
Don (Auk-Auk the orang utan - was that him?)
Kerengge
Imuda (Yoshimura Hait!)
Long Jaafar (English 122, I like...)
Jaafar Taib
Reggie Lee
Rossem
Zunar (Ofis Corner)
Minahleter the writer (Who I suspect is a male)
The keras tangan series
Mekar di GG column
Lipat - lepat (?) at the last page

And my all time favourite:

Ujang:

Before, he started the aku budak minang and acar series, I remember these:

Siri bercakap dengan bapak jin (remember the jin called 'cikun'?)

SJ - Salah Jolok
It was a satire of then first dynasty like malay drama PJ....but about a guy who silap jolok the squatter folks to leave and was caught by the BPR.

and or course Atuk. I remember till today the classic atuk phrase bila dia marah " Laaaa Isla Bonita budak nie...."

Sapa cakap I baca comik mat salleh aje hah?

Oh before I forget:
Rejabhad - Pewira Mat Gila
Rasyid Asmawi - From Taiping with Love (how can I forget him!)

Aiyaaaa....very the nostalgic....It's all coming back to me now.

p.s - Haaaaa....you ingat tak kalau time raya dulu GG would have a bumper issue called 'Edisi Solid Molid?"

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Yeah the above was sent to me by Poncho. Ok ok pakcik Poncho, aku tabik spring sama lu. Aku baru terperasan betapa lemahnya daya ingatan aku ni. *Garu kepala.. mana nak carik 'Din Teksi' ni?

Tiba-tiba aku rasa happy mengenangkan zaman sekolah dulu dan semua cerita-cerita komik yang membina 'sense of humour' aku hari ni.

Dari karya 'Kerastangan'lah aku dengan cousin-mousin aku sebok buat helikopter dengan biji getah dengan tali getah ngan batang ais krim. Senapang buloh pun kitaorang try jugak, tapi tak jadik buat orang lebam, tangan tak kuat kot. Kitaorang belajar naik upih pinang pun dari karya tu jugak bukan dari kartun Lat. Tapi Creative Enterprise tak cetak koleksi tu..... :(

Sekian.

The 'Melayu' in Me.

"The 'Melayu' in Ponchoman" by Maine will be published 10th May evening.



Engkorang boleh 'imagine' tak, satu lukisan 'water-colour' pun nampak punya lama, punya susah nak buat. Inikan sampai tiga dialog yang mesti dilakar dengan serupa... yang akhirnya masuk komik Gila Gila yang dulu harganya singgit lima posen je.
Dulu aku tak perasan benda benda kreatif ni, mata aku tak reti menghalusi. Aku habiskan baca buku Gila Gila bila balik bulan posa je sebab Mak Su aku kumpul, nak tolong kat dapur takut penat, kang batal posa pulak.

Kartun 'Jungle Joke' Jaafar Taib ni seangkatan 'Lawak Antarabangsa', walaupun dalam Gila Gila, semua orang boleh paham sebab takde dialog, tapi ekspresi karektor semuanya 'simpel' tapi tepat. Aku dapat poskad kartun kat atas tu kat KL International Book Fair baru ni. Nilah 'first time' aku belanja sampai ribu-ribu beli buku. Sebab dah tak payah nak 'mintak derma' dengan mak-bapak lagi dengan muka kesian.

Buku apa yang aku beli tu tak penting sangatla. Yang aku nak cerita sikit ni pasal macamana aku terserempak dengan komik-komik yang buat aku tersenyum puas. Aku rindu dengan komik Gila Gila yang mak aku campak dalam tong sampah dulu dulu masa aku sekolah. Takde sorang pun kawan kawan aku yang sekelakar Gila Gila, sebab tu aku rindu sangat. Aku tak pernah terpikir diaorang nak buat 'collection' macam komik 'superheroes' Mat Mat Salleh.

Tengok la komik komik sekarang. Sapa tu, Din Beramboi? Kalau nak kata dulu Gila Gila memunahkan Bahasa M'sia, aku tak setuju langsung. Kartunis dulu lagi berjiwa seni, dan celik sejarah bangsa. Din Beramboi tu memangla memunahkan Bahasa, 'Tenet' lah, hapalah siap buat kamus tukar semua perkataan yang bunyinya terus lain. Kalau anak aku bercakap pesen tu, memang sah aku campak komik Din Beramboi dalam tong sampah sekali dengan anak aku sekali aku humban.

Segala mesej asyik berbau politiiiiik aje manjang. Padahal komik komik diaorang bukan orang dewasa yang perabih duit membelinya pun. Budak budak sekolah mana paham apa yang depa nak perli.

Aku beli satu komik untuk setiap kawan yang aku rasa perlu kenal dengan kartunis kartunis yang sampai sekarang aku minat dan aku ingat.

Aku hantar satu kat Ponchoman, dia kan anak orang Nogoghi (N. Sembilan). Ntah dia tau ke tidak ada komik yang sekarang dah jadik klasik, penuh dengan sejarah dan cara hidup dan realiti seorang jejaka bernama Ujang. Tapi... aku sayang nak bagi komik 'Aku anak Minang' kat Poncho, yang ada ni last kopek punya hari tu.

Lepas tukar pikiran, aku hantar komik lagi satu kat dia. Punyalah tak sabar nak tengok camana reaksi Mat Salleh London bred (Poncho) tu nanti... mesti dia jadik jakun punya.

(bersambung...)

Homie don't Watch dat!

(On his new job venture)
Him: You know what, they say, I’m just like Homer. Can you tell the similarities?

Maine: Oh my God! You look like him! So mean!

Him: …. (silence) You don’t watch Simpson’s do you?

Maine: Err… sometimes.

Him: ….(silence). He works with the nuclear power plant. That’s why they say that.

Maine: Oooooh! (so embarrassed)

Him: You didn’t know he works with the power plant?

Maine: B…b..but you’re not going to work in a power plant!

Him: Yeaalaaa, I’m still gonna be in a factory.

‘Him’ refers to Poncho. Haiyo Poncho… I disappointed you. I swear I couldn’t tell the similarities between you and Homer in terms of image! Was trying to sound smart.

I am not a fan of The Simpson’s, I guess it doesn’t appeal to me because of its air time (after office hours) and also the scene of a totally dysfunctional family and an ugly ruthless man who acts as Homer’s boss… whatizname? Rather tune me out. I handle enough rude customers, my head is already dysfunctional and cluttered enough. Of course, this is a cartoon for grown ups.

Those were the days when we (those in the thirties) used to have only RTM1, RTM2. We’re forced to watch common programmes. The cartoons I can talk to my friends in school endlessly were Gems and the Hologram, Ewoks, He Man, Carebears, Thundercats, Mobydick, Sinbad, Smurf, and the likes. They take you into a different playground, simple words, lots of love, cheerful colours.

I remember this conversation back then:

My friend: Garfield no more already, got another cartoon next week you know!
Me: What cartoon?
My friend: Gotlah but don’t know why at 7 o’clock lah. I come to your house and watch ok!

(In front of the TV)
Me: Oi, this is ‘rancangan agama’ lah!
My friend: (flipping the newspaper). See! Pedo man!
Me: Oi, that’s PEDOMAN, not Pedo man! It means something like ‘the right path’ in Malay. It’s for Muslim people to learn the right path.
My friend: (so disappointed) oooohhh!.

Thinking of those, I do miss Supergran, The Greatest American Hero, The Misfits of Science, ‘V’ (oh please bring this one back so I can comprehend better), MacGyver, The ‘A’ Team, Giligan’s Island, Airwolf, Knight Rider, The Highway Man etc.

(To be continued)

Better Grip on it this Time?

It's been a month of what's supposedly a break for good. Well, like what a certain blogger said, "One sometimes need to take a break to reassess oneself and his purpose."

It is much more convenient not to have to run a weblog. I don't have to worry if I might've ignored any commentators for too long, or had a long interval between postings, or not visiting commentators weblog to inturn remember their characteristics and 'perjuangan'.

But after just a short while, I realised I missed one thing though, I missed 'hidup bermasyarakat' (being nearer to the society at 'larg-er'). Only through this means that that chances can be stretched or rather maximised. Rock climbing, swimming, reading, watch movies etc are things I do for myself. I don't want to keep worrying if I have contributed towards people around me or have I been lazy.

Perhaps this time I will plan things better so I won't feel as if the blog owns me instead.

I fear if I may have been sleeping too much, if I do things that wasted my time. I fear not getting the chance to know great minds and sorry minds out there. We're here for only awhile, perhaps blogging will give me all that.... at no tangible costs and make it seem as if I've got 30 hours in a day.

So.... this is my third generation weblog. It comes with a sublog called 'Mainetalities'. Most of the time, my (probably uncool) thoughts for my entries are long winded, they are really not suitable for us 5 day/week occupied people. I contemplated putting them up. Heck... now, I don't care if no one reads it. My deepest curiosity are now all stored in Mainetalities, at least, they are. Perhaps people of all spiritual backgrounds could offer their opinions there or enhance those things I have been collecting.

M. Ideas comes with a co-blogger too, he's none other than Ponchorello (phhhewwwiiiiittt!). He said he'd provide entries in a different 'language'. Let's just see what it is later.

M. Ideas also comes with someone I'd like to introduce to y'all, Dr. Omar Chaalal from Algeria, North Africa (clap! clap! clap!). If you have followed my M. Ideas since last year, you may have read 'New Age Noah's Ark' entry which described his thoughtful invention. God is great, half a year after I wrote about it, he found me through YM. I discovered that this eccentric man has a quirky style of writing. Like me, English is not his best language, but gosh..... the humour still works wonders in his environmental write ups.

To those who have been so supportive. My heartfelt thank you. I'm back with you.