Tuesday, December 25, 2007

THINGS I DO WHEN I'M BORED ENOUGH, AT HOME

Well, the title kinda says it all, kan? :-)

Read

Actually, I do this all the time, bukan masa boring aje. It's the first thing I'll do when I have some free time, until I get bored of reading lah. OK you brainiacs out there, you probably read intellectual books or medical journals or engineering magazines whatnots. But for me, pleasurable reads are novels. Aiyoh, how else to create escapism from my boring life? haha!

I grew up on a staple diet of story books, works by Enid Blyton, then kids adventure series like Famous Five, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and anything else I could get my hands on. I remember the first adult-level novel I read in Std.5 - Under The Sun by Agatha Christie, and I think I ended up with a whole collection of her books. Progressively, novels by Virginia Andrews, King, Kellerman, Cook, Clancy, Asimov, Grisham, Patterson, Ludlum, Brown dan entah saper-saper lagi. Lately, nudged by a conversation with a dear friend, I started reading works by local authors. Ya, tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, saya baca novel melayu! I'll leave it at that for another post, OK!

Play sudoku

Been playing sudoku for quite some time, have some sudoku books yang dah fully completed pun. In fact, I always keep a small sudoku book and a pen in my handbag, for those bits of boredom macam masa tengah tunggu queue kat bank, or even while waiting for the lembab elevator - I usually wait for this one particular elevator which goes all the way down from my office to the basement carpark.

Ya, ya, sekarang boleh download sudoku terus ke dalam handphone, aku tau. But somehow there's a certain satisfaction in filling up numbers in the puzzle on paper, puas! Tried playing the other game tu - kakuro - tapi kantoi sebab aku tak tera maths hehehe :-)

Blog & surf

Well, that's the answer to the question as to why my blog updates are so irregular, haha! Oh OK, aku blog bukan masa kebosanan aje, but when I'm bored of reading and playing sudoku, it's the next thing I'd do lah.

Watch astro

I don't watch much tv, and sometimes watching astro only makes me even more bored! Balik-balik benda yang sama. Satu exception lah - I watch CSI whenever I can, even repeats, walaupun kekadang bosan gak bila semua kes dalam dunia ni depa dapat solve, tipu betul. Actually watching too much CSI is unhealthy for your tv viewing habits la, you start to think too critically bila tengok cerita lain, selalu dapat cari points yang kantoi. "Eh, kalau dia kena tikam macam tu, sepatutnya blood spatter bentuk gini, dan sepatutnya rigor mortis dah set in, kan?"

Crochet

Huuuhuuuhuuu... macam makcik-makcik! But yes, I do crochet when I'm bored enough, or when I'm very upset. It's an old thingy I picked up from arwah nenek dulu - simple stitches she calls 'tali air', and later I actually took up crochet as a co-curriculum activity one semester in Form 2, can't believe it myself haha! So then I learned to read the crochet diagrams, and later self-taught the techniques and instructions - 8ch, ss into first ch, 6ch (1tr, 3ch) 7 times, ss to 3rd of 6 ch - gibberish, rite? :-) Well, that's the center part of a traditional irish rose pattern, in case you're wondering.

Why crochet when I'm bored or upset? Well, crochet involves a lot of repetition of stitches. When I start a new project, I'd be counting each stitch and looking at my instructions all the time, so this occupies my mind. After I get familiar with the repeated sub-patterns, my hands would be crocheting, but my mind would be free to meander and ponder. It's great as a calm-me-down, kalau tak caya, cubalah! Good for muhasabah time also, at least takdelah termenung aje, and ada la jugak hasil kerjatangan, walaupun sekecik coaster alas gelas aje hehe :-)

Main susun toy cars dengan Haziq

Hmm, I think Haziq's going to outgrow this phase soon la, so I'll have to find some other thing to do. Or maybe, I ajak Danish plak susun toy cars dia heheh :-)

Ketuk piano

Ketuk piano tua yang dah sumbang bunyinya sebab dah lama tak tuning, sebab dah takde siapa minat nak main piano tu pun, so buat haper nak tuning kan?

Actually, my sis yang lama belajar main piano ni. I only learned for about a year or two masa sekolah rendah dulu, lepas tu stop sebab masuk boarding school. Kalau ketuk pun, main lagu bebudak aje le hehe :-) Yang paling glam aku boleh main pun, lagu yang dok putaq kat blog ni sekarang, Ballade Pour Adeline. Hampeh!

Talk to my pet turtles

I have two - Kembang & Kechut. Masa beli, dua-dua about the size of a 50sen coin. Tapi yang sekor tu suka duduk dalam air and he's grown much bigger than the other one, yang suka duduk atas batu. Hence yang berendam tu is Kembang, and yang kering tu is Kechut. I don't know why they are of different sizes now, maybe satu male dan satu female. Or it could be because whenever I drop their food pellets into the water, si Kembang tu terus ngap dulu, so he eats more than Kechut does.

What do I say to my turtles? Haha, macam-macam ada, but rest assured I don't do this often. Hey, I'm no loony!

Zzzzzzzzzzz.............

That's the grand finale to end anyone's boredom, kan? * Yawwnnnnn.... *

:-)



Thursday, December 13, 2007

HUMAN AGAIN

I've just finished reading 'Bunga-Bunga Kemboja', a novel by a local author, Aina Emir. Correction. I finished reading it about a half hour ago. Tears are still running down my cheeks. But somehow, I've got to write this down right now.

Dah lama aku tak menangis sendirian begini. The last time I cried, at least I had a dear friend lending me some counsel, of sorts. Itupun, lebih kepada aku mengeluh dan mengadu nasib, meluah sedikit cuma perasaanku dan kegusaranku.

For some time now, I've always felt jaded inside, emotionally. Tiada sayu, tiada cinta, tiada bahagia. Like my heart had crystallized and remained frozen like that. I know it's just my body's emotional self-defence. If my heart is frozen, it's not easily breakable, kan? Tak ada siapa nak jaga hati aku, jadi hati aku kena membina perisai sendiri untuk protect dirinya.

But I don't know why, reading this novel made my heart go gooey all of a sudden. I can't pinpoint the reason. I just felt so emotional. I suddenly feel human.

Thank you for bringing back some emotions into my jaded heart.

Tears are still running down my cheeks.

Uh-oh. I better stop, before the tears ruin my lappie's keyboard.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

ME & MY MYOPIA

I was blogrolling, and came across this funny post about a guy and his myopia, hehe :-) Reminds me of my own perils of the rabun kind. Although, not as severe la.

How did I get the myopia? Hmm... tak tau la nak kata bagus atau tidak. It's because sedari kecik, aku minat sangat baca buku cerita. Bila mak suruh tido, aku akan masuk tido dan padam lampu bilik, tapi lampu di luar bilik pasang, so aku akan terus membaca dalam kelambu dengan lampu samar-samar tu, dalam keadaan baring terlentang. Bila mak aku perasan dan tutup lampu tu, I found another solution. Torchlight! Tulah, padan la muka aku, cepat rabun hehehe

The first person who noticed my shortsightedness was my piano teacher. She noticed that at the start of a song, I would be sitting ramrod straight (memang diajar macam tu), but as I played on, I'd be leaning more and more forward sampai hidung nak cecah buku. Oh, I was in Standard 4 then. How come my classroom teacher tak perasan ye? Kot sebab I always sit right upfront in class. Nerdy huh? Hahaha :-D

So there I was, pint-size 10 years old girl in dark blue pinafore, hair braided on the sides, and a heavy black-rimmed spectacles perched on my nose. Weh, time tu mana ada frame cermin mata yang stylo, mostly bingkai bulat warna hitam macam specs Cikgu Bedah in the movie Adik Manja. Lens pun kaca tebal, takdak yang high-index punya, kiranya sampai berlekuk la batang hidung sebab specs berat hehehe :-)

Aku taklah careless sangat dengan specs tu, lagi pun girls don't get into fights like boys sampai pecah specs. Yet, I manage to get new specs every year, sometimes twice a year. Kadang-kadang aku terpijak, terhempap, atau terdudukkan (tak careless konon!), kadang-kadang orang lain terpijak. Atau terjatuh berderai. Later on ada lens plastik, tapi masa tu the choice was this - lens kaca yang senang pecah dan berat, tapi nipis sket, atau lens plastik yang tak pecah, ringan tapi tebal dua kali ganda. Well, as I was blind as a bat (still am! exaggerate je tu hehe), aku takmoh le plastik yang tebal giler tu. Sebab bila orang pandang dari depan, nampak mata aku jadik kecik benor.

Bila masuk matric, hmm dah self-conscious la plak. So pakai contact lens. First time nak cuba pakai sendiri, aku tercucuk bijik mata.... adeehhhh..... pedih ya amat, aku nangis sampai bengkak mata. 3-4 hari aku rasa serik, tapi lepas tu sayang plak kalau tak pakai, sebab dah beli mahal kan... duit scholar lagi tu hahaha :-)

Tapi tulahnya, rutin untuk contact lens ni tersangat la menguji kesabaran. Pagi sebelum pakai lens, kena basuh tangan bersih-bersih, tak boleh ada habuk sikit pun, buangkan cecair disinfectant dan tambahkan cecair nuetralizer, biarkan 10 minit. Lepas tu bilas dengan cecair saline, baru boleh pakai. Petang lepas kuliah, kena buka contact lens, rendam sekejap dalam cecair saline, pastu cuci dan gosok dengan jari menggunakan cecair daily cleaner (macam sabun), bilas lagi dengan saline, pastu rendam dalam cecair disinfectant. Macam tu la rutin setiap hari. Fuh! Housemates aku masa tu suka gelakkan aku... "Jie nak keluarkan biji mata dia.... Jie nak cuci mata dia...." Ada gak kengkawan lain yang give-up pakai contact lens ni, sebab tak kuasa nak buat semua tu.

After a few months, mata aku start sakit, merah dan banyak keluar air mata. Doktor ingatkan conjunctivitis, tapi dok tak baik-baik. Last-last sorang optometrist bertemu jawapan yang tepat. Aku allergic dengan salah satu bahan dalam cecair disinfectant tu, ghopernyer. Tapi aku still nak pakai lens, so camno? Hmm... tak boleh guna chemical disinfectant, terpaksalah guna thermal disinfectant plak. So aku still kena cuci lens dengan daily cleaner, tapi lepas tu rendam dalam cecair saline, dan gunakan satu alat elektrik 'heating unit' untuk mengnyahkumankan (is there such a word?) contact lens aku. Lagi le housemates aku gelak, "Jie nak rebus mata dia..." Ah, tak pedulik! Yelah masa tengah meningkat remaja ni kan, tak kisah besusah-payah kalau rasa boleh nampak lawa sket hahaha :-) Hmmm.. I vaguely remember a camping trip that I went on masa student dulu, how the toot did I disinfect my lenses masa tu ye? Kat mana nak cucuk plug untuk heating unit tu?

There were a lot of funny (and painful!) incidents with the contact lens. Kalau lens tu hilang sebelah, no problem, boleh tempah 'sebelah' yang baru. Masaelahnya, ego dan sombong, tak mau nya pakai specs balik... so pakai je la contact lens tu walaupun sebelah je. Of course kena jalan slow-slow sebab lantai nampak tak rata, dan pernah tergolek-dok dekat tangga dorm. Bila time nak membaca, alahai penglihatan out of focus, so kena pekup mata yang tak ber-lens tu, dan baca guna mata yang ada lens je.... might as well wear eye-patch like a pirate, yeeha! Eh, bukan aku sorang je buat tau, kengkawan lain pun camtu gak hehehe

Tertidur masa pakai lens... ini sampai sekarang pun jadik. Akibatnya, lens akan 'lari' dari posisi asal pada mata hitam, dan merayau ke... mana-mana kawasan lain. Adeehhh.... selalunya kalau terjaga dari tidur dan rasa mata tak nampak sebelah, cepat-cepat kena scan tempat tidur, kot-kot lens tu terjatuh. Kalau takde, terus mengadap cermin, tarik kelopak mata atas dan bawah, bagi bijik mata terjegil, gerak-gerakkan biji mata ke atas, bawah dan sisi, pastu carilah lens tu! Pedihhh....pedihhh....

Masalah lens kering pun ada gak. A friend had an embarassing moment, masa tengah cakap dengan lecturer, contact lens dia kering, lalu tertanggal dan terpelanting ke atas buku yang dia pegang di depan lecturer tu. Both of them stared at the errant lens for a moment, pastu lecturer tu gelak giler tergolek-golek, while my friend malu sampai nangis. Haiya...

My most painful experience with contact lens was this one time when I was helping my mom in the kitchen, aku dok potong cili kering untuk dimesin. Lepas tu aku mandi dan basuh tangan bersih-bersih before putting on my lenses. Ok, kan? Wrong. I didn't know that dried chillies had the staying power mengalahkan sabun. Memula tu ok je, but after about half an hour, my eyes started to water, makin lama makin pedih. I tried to take them lenses off, tapi tetiba pedihnya menusuk sampai aku tak boleh bukak mata. Camana? Nak keluarkan contact lens tapi mata pejam takleh bukak. I cried (involuntarily!) for a long time, really cried, and finally the tears washed away whatever that the chillies tainted my lenses with. Sampai sekarang aku beringat, not to touch stuff like that if I'm gonna put on or take off my lenses soon after. Hey, plus point - I never had to do the dried chillies anymore, till now. Ngelat!

Teringin tak, nak pakai contact lens kaler-kaler? Hmm... aku teringin gak, something unique like maybe green or grey. Tapi lupakan sajalah. Sebab power specs aku tinggi dan astigmatism pun tinggi, so as it is pun aku takleh pakai lens biasa, kena pakai toric lenses, much more expensive than regular lens (seribu lebih) and langsung takdak yang fancy kaler-kaler. Cheh!

A few years back, my optometrist recommended hard lenses instead of softlens, because hard lens are, well, hard, so they help to reshape the cornea and halt the astigmatism from getting worse. And it does work. My specs' power (aiyoh, so layman!) has been stable for these few years, and in fact decreased a little. The downturn is that it's not very comfortable (initially), much smaller in size and thus easier to lose, and has a shorter wearing period, as oxygen doesn't travel well through it so you need to take it off to allow your eyes to'breath'.

And so, sampai sekarang aku dok pakai hard lens ni. I did consider doing Lasik, but it's expensive and not without risks, and doesn't guarantee a 20/20 eyesight. Oh come on Jie, alasan! Sebenarnya, aku chicken hahaha :-) Penakut! Specs ni pakai sekali-sekala je, bila dirumah, atau bila emergency. Kalau suatu hari aku ke pejabat dengan memakai specs, you can be sure it is because aku bangun lambat dan tak sempat nak perform aku punya 'daily contact lens ritual' la tu. Or, conjunctivitis, hahaha :-D

950.54

Lucky number?

Hah! I wish :-P

That's how much it costed me to service my car last week. RM950.54. Takdelah banyak pebenda sangat pun, tukar segala macam minyak, tukar parts macam spark plug, battery etc, not like there's any particular damage ke apa ke. Labour costs je dua ratus lebih.

Yeah yeah, major service memanglah mahal sikit. But my car's just a cikai 1.5cc Vios, godamek!

I'm officially broke, for now.

*sigh*