Kaamatan

i'm away for long holiday break in my home state. our family Kaamatan* celebration went well. we went picnic in the morning and dinner in the evening. we really should do that more often. it was quite fun. i'll put on pics soon.

i brought home, Dr. Hidayah's books, with intention to read and write reviews. but, so far, i havent finished reading any. i bought two books in KL a day before i flew home. that too lay dormant in my backpack. the holiday mood seep through me thoroughly, making it hard to concentrate on reading, however light. i spent too much time watching movies on DVD. my sis have quite a collection.

Two days of movie marathon, about 8 movies down, only two worth mentioning: Black Swan and The Blind Side. Black Swan for, Oh! so there seductions (it's a very sexy film) without being too pornographic. The Blind Side for, Oh! glorious tresses and fine outfits. and finally i watched Hikayat Merong Maha Wangsa, which requires a post on its own. the movie was impressive, minus the Chinese princess and her handmaiden and the mirror laser, the fake tiger's skin, and the tattoos and way too white....ya, better create a separate post eh?

A bit late, but better late than never, here's my wish to all Dusuns: Kopiinsanagan do Tadau Kaamatan and to the Dayaks: Selamat Gawai. May we truly understand the spirit of the celebrations.

* Harvest (festival)

when friends come over,

say goodbye to your diet, say hulo to late night gossips and cover your ears when swears criss-cross.

and please, try not to be too overzealous on converting them to your religion (ie: books, sewing, crochet) not everybody love the concept of a quite evening WITHOUT a TV. get real, its not zaman batu.

most of all, let them play with your friend's cats and feed them well. (the human and cats)

you can let them sit on your living room floor if you dont own and sofa. its ok to let them sleep on the floor also. and let them use their backpacks as a pillow. provide enough air abok for this purpose. it'll do the trick. (the JUNK proved to provide stiff cocktails- bring them there). you? keep on sipping shiraz.

Hinakah aku kerana tidak memiliki set TV di zaman moden ini ?

childhood memories

i was teaching 'peraturan standard minimum perumahan dan kemudahan pekerja 1990' this morning and out of that usually boring, somber class (Perundangan Kesihatan), we had a quite stimulating discussion of offly off topic of childhood memories.

it was all started when i came to the minimum specification of bukaan pengudaraan and mentioned that my father's house failed to comply with that specification. our living room in my father's house in Ranau is like a cave. it's surrounded by bedrooms, that the only bukaan are the front entrance and the kitchen entrance. i compared that to my grandpa's house (our old house), which had bukaan tetap along the ridge of the ceiling and wall. i remember the old house being cool and airy even on a hottest day. i remember the smell of the old woods of that old house. To this day, the smell of woods trigger my mind to remember that old house.

so, off handedly i asked the students (128 of them) to write down their best childhood memory and smell that remind them of childhood. all, but 3 gave me heart-warming, funny, silly and down -right owh!- you-too? kind of revealation.

the best response i got :
1. Apakah kenangan paling bagus semasa kita masih kanak-kanak: mencuri buah-buahan kampung sebelah, curi ayam dan memaki hamun om pekerja ketua kampung

2. apa bau yang sampai sekarang kita terkenangkan zaman kanak-kanak: bau ubi kayu bakar, kerana selalu membakar ubi kayu semasa kanak-kanak (kadang-kadang curi orang punya ubi)

Selecting memories and keeping only the good will do me more good than keep on holding to all and trying to right something i simply cant undo.

the shadow

i caught her lurking in my kitchen yesterday, fixing Zapple with load of ice cubes. its hot yesterday and today.