The Song Meme Curse Stick.

This is a long impending reply to Izuan, and Misha (on karaoke list and the song I wish I could sing as good as the singer). Izuan's girlfriend is definitely back and that time ticker in his blog counting down her comeback will surely cease from our sights. I think, he will be too busy to blog anymore. Hoping that his Umrah went well. Thank you for passing this to me although I felt a little full of myself answering it. Ok... VERY full of myself, tapi korang punya pasal, amik kau.

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What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
In my hard drive, only 40. That’s because I tend to repeat the same song 5 times a day and look for other types of songs by sharing other’s collections through the network.

The CD you last bought?
Best of Bananarama, I’m so happy to get to listen to ‘I Want you Back’ instead of the always spun ‘Venus’ in the radio. Wish I have the time to use the mixer and mix their songs with Rick Astley’s.

What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
“Running with the Night” by Lionel Ritchie….. over and over and over again in the car. By the way, the CD (M’sian Cottage Industry mari punya) is courtesy of Poncho Returns.

Write down five songs that you often listen to or that means a lot to you.
1. ‘I Wish’ by Gabrielle. This is my national anthem. The first time I stepped into Piccadilly (tea dance place) years ago, this song made me smile for no reason at all.

2. ‘Waiting for a Star to Fall’ by Boy meets Girl. It reminds me of the days spent at a friend’s house practicing my water colour skills (that was never really there). They kept playing the cassette over and over again and it didn’t fail to keep us happy. I found the original CD in a used items shop, I’m a proud owner of this RM15 CD. I could swear no one else in this country has it.

3. ‘I’ll be Over you’ by Toto. I will never be over the memories of a wonderful journey I had with my loved one and another friend from KL to Taiping and back. We had a long great conversation and I still remember the smell of Mee Hailam and the famous Pau at Yik Mun’s restaurant, the taste of home cooked laksa Taiping, and the sound of the rain on the way back home plus the non-stop 80's journeylistic songs.

4. ‘Rivers of Babylon’ by Boney M. I started knowing and loving music because of them. The cassette was passed to me by Papa Anis (my paternal uncle), when I was in Std 1. Me and 4 of Pa’s children would turn off the lights at night and play our toy drums, guitar and organ and danced our heads off 5 days consecutively before they flew back to Sweden.

5. ‘Phat Bass’ from Blade Soundtrack. Remember the song they played for the vampires while they get that bloody shower?

It never failed to activate my brains when I need to come out with creative designs for work or when I desperately need to look fresh and alert although I had a late night the day before.






Top 5 karaoke list:
1. How Do I – Leann Rimes
2. Joget Kelate – Nora
3. Aku Cinta Padamu – Sheila Majid
4. Endless Love
5. Kaulah Segalanya – Ruth Sahanaya

The song I wish I could sing as good as the singer itself.
There’s two actually.
1. Whenever You Call (Mariah Carey) and I wish I could do a duet with someone who can be at par with Brian McKnight.
2. All Coming Back To Me – Celine Dion

Yeah, yeaah… it will never happen in this lifetime! I’ll just settle as a Ratu Bilik Air.

Who are you going to pass this stick to and why?
1. None other than my partner in crime, Poncho. He passed a long list of his 80’s favourite songs and hell he’s got such a good memory – or rather mine is so bad.
2. Fade! Take this stick, I wanna know how many of 4U2C songs you still remember.
3. FG, I hope you haven’t done this yet you mysterious woman!
4. Zainframe, who seem to like songs way before his time… as if he’s reincarnated or something.

5. Ehleena, hope you haven't done this yet too. I have an extra question for you. What is the song you sing to youself the most?

Penang's Supergran.

Fakey, glad that you're outta hospital in one piece. My message to you is, take it easy will ya. And to answer the comment you left in Poncho's entry, I decided to tell you the whole story here okay.
Miss your scenery photos and insightful reflections. Come back!

Oh yeah! This is also because things has turned the other way round. My blog partner (the Persistent Poncho) has been pestering me to post something before anyone thinks he has fully conquered this site. Heck, I don't mind that at all! :)

For those who'd like to learn bout gay sex revelation, go to GaybookWorm in my link.
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It's not like we were still hungry before we made our move back to KL.
Them bosses had two meals each (namely: Cantonese Fried Kuey Teow, Wantan Mee, Nasi Lemak, Hokkien Mee) and two black coffees each for breakfast at 10am.

I just had steamed bread (you know, them thick white bread heavily smothered with butter and kaya which becomes gooey after being steamed on top of boiling water) and a bowl of delishhhh Penang Asam Laksa.

We were supposed to leave at 3pm but them bosses decided that they should spend some time by the beach at Batu Feringhi. We were having coconut water while discussing if we should bring back those cheap prawns sold by the road side when boss 1 said "Wuiiiihh, kalau dapat makan nasik dengan ikan kembung sambal okay jugak." Boss 2 said "Hah? Now? What so good about 'ikan sambal'? Weirdla you."

The coconut drink stall owner told us to visit the shop right after the mosque down the road.

To our surprise, the dishes is still aplenty at 3ish. There's sambal tempoyak, sambal tumis ikan bilis with petai, and yes the ikan kembung sambal tumis was available.


Me and boss 2 had to go to the toilet first. We had to pass its kitchen to get there. To my surprise, there's so many helpers - 10 of them perhaps.
Jovial shouts, colourful cut vegies, mixed aromas of curries and soups... I felt like a tourist.


While waiting for boss 2 to take a leak, I was startled by a voice "Moh le dok sini buaik apa duk tengah panaih tu?" And another voice "Makcik tu ajak duduk tapi baek baek sikit dia dah tua, dia dah tak betui daahh!"

"Hang, pangge mak hang tak betui haaaah!" All of them were laughing .

While I took my time to focus my camera at the old makcik, one of the cooks said "Umur dia dah 87 tahun, dia ada 17 orang anak."


..... that statement humbled me as I saw her diligently skinning big baskets of onions.


I said to her, "Fuiiyooo! Powernya makcik!" which rather cracked them all up and she slowly said, "Haah tau pun hangpa!".

"Kami semua ni anak ngan menantu dia laa", said one of the cooks.





- which makes this simple plate of ulam Berimi and sambal tumis tenggiri at a shop that belongs to Makcik Mariam Bee's family tastes so good.

We drove back tight stomached.. and smiling.

Rafting in the Rain.

long pending continuation from 'Cry me a dam(n) River'.

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Now, 4 years after more exercises with a short stint of rock climbing, I am confident to try Sungai Selangor out again.

Unfortunately, it's not draught season yet, so they don't need to release more water from the dam(n); the level is really really low. We were asked to drive all the way up to Sg Kampar (difficulty level - 3) in Perak instead.

The winding streets along Gopeng village are lined with rubber and durian trees. It is durian season now. I never knew there's a place as serene and as beautiful as Janda Baik. The river water is completely glass clear and as cold as hell heavens!

We were divided to occupy two 6 seater rafts. Our guide this time is the River Goddess, Marjorie. I can't fail this time, I must prove it to myself (got to make the most ROI with my RM150 investment!), and to the Goddess.

Marjie lead the way in her sleek red one seater canoe.

The weather was already moody during our journey there. Then it rained, they kept telling us that this river will prepare us for Sungai Selangor in KKB.

I think it was better than Sungai Selangor, I guess it's the ecstatic look on each an everyone's face, especially after successfully passing through each rapid. Back then, with a different team, we were pretty panicky.

We stopped twice to soak up and slide on the rocks while the rain washes our faces. That's when our guides, Kolok and Akik inspected the immediate route ahead.

The rapids there did make our hearts skip a beat when we were asked to sit in and stop paddling in order to squeeze through the rapids.

The rafting routine alone ended after slightly more than 2 hours. It was still raining and we had to bathe again in cold water to clean ourselves! Brrrrrrrrr!!!!

After another two hours of chinese course lunch (provided in the package) and a good long chat, we learnt that River Goddess does all kinds of outdoor sports services (yyyeayh!), we drove back. The whole activity, including the drive was from 7:30am to 7:30pm!

Sungai Selangor, I am still going for you, I shall redeem myself. Soon baby, soon!

Cry me a Dam(n) River.

Boss: Can you bring that file to me. *the normal 'ABBA' box file you see most accounts department has.
Me: Okay. *Lifted a half filled file with my left hand.

PRAAAPPP!!

The rather thin file slipped from my hand and I quickly tried to pick it up again.

Boss: Didn't take your breakfast ka?

*I had to rearrange the papers which came off the rings.

PHAPP! *again.

I went pale straight away. Even an empty file slipped off my left hand. I couldn't lift anything with it! Am I considered handicapped? Forever? Scchhheaattt!!!

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It was all my idea, some four years back to go rafting. I heard that Selangor dam(n) was to be built soon. But the swimming lesson is supposed to come first. Oh! It can't be that bad. I have never heard of any accidents due to river rafting.


If I did not go for it, it's going to be a farther journey for just a simple adventure. Thanks to Izwan, we gathered enough friends, all them first timers.

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Sungai Selangor's difficulty level is 5. That's the highest you can get in M'sia in its own class. The difficulty is based on what kind of rapids you have to go through along stoney rivers. There are rivers which are not stoney such as Sungai Sigor in Kelantan which is classified by the roughness of its waves.

I didn't know Sungai Selangor in KKB was that challenging. We went through the first few rapids quite well; all thanks to our guides - the 'orang asli'.

The water level was rather low, which made it more difficult as the rafts used on this river are the bigger ones - that can fit 10. The wider it is, the harder it could squeeze through the protruding boulders caused by low water level.

I don't want to tell you what's the most challenging part of rafting here, it will kill the thrill.

We were not fast enough to react to one of its rapids and the instructions given by our guide. Everybody panicked and jumped out of the raft. I was the only one still holding on and saw myself going against a boulder, I stuck out my left hand to save my face from crashing into it. The raft capsized, me, the only non swimmer got trapped underneath. Of course I found my way out.... I think, by just standing up straight.

Least that I knew the swell on my left hand means it's badly fractured. Least that I knew too that it needed two years to recover without seeing the doctor, as in able to lift books normally again. It could go sideways but not up and down, know what I mean?

In case you guys are wondering, I am a right hander.... ok. So I'm not that worried that only my left hand can't move up and down.

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To be continued.

After which, Poncho Returns the 'gila kuasa' blogger... arrr arrrrr arrrrhh! had even a more adventurous weekend. His articlesssss will follow suit.