CPR. Now.

One fine beautiful morning about 3 days ago, as I was juggling a file and my overstuffed attaché case at the entrance, I heard a frantic voice calling after me, “Panjang umur haa. Tunggu! Tunggu! Ada surat!”

I stopped dead in my track, smiling simply waiting for the sweet girl skipping towards me. Right after exchanging few hellos and 'have-you-heard's and also some juicy yakkin' on the side (she's our CNN over here..lol), I carried all the stuffs back to my office.

My eyes nearly popped out as I read the letter;

Pelantikan Sebagai Juruacara Seminar Antarabangsa Bahasa Melayu Dalam Komunikasi Era Globalisasi

Dengan segala hormatnya Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Wilayah Timur dengan kerjasama Universiti Malaysia Terengganu akan menganjurkan seminar tersebut di atas pada 1-3 Disember 2008.....

Da hell? Braincheck... Ookay let see, Datuk Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim's going to be there on the 2nd, right. Alright. Take it easy, Suria. Breathe in, breathe out.

This has got to be a joke. Err.. right?

Then I just lost it.

A memento: Of staring at the wall

So much is going on in my life right now that, it’s kind of difficult to choose what to write about. For some, they might know that I've just started a new phase in life. Another chapter in my own memoir.

Another journey.

Once in awhile (like right now, where it's so outlandishly quiet outside my hide-out), I would sit down and start wondering about what life is all about, and what happiness and success mean to different people. Different people, different views. My mom used to say 'Manusia mane kan sama citarasanya. Kalau tak, takkan la ada banyak design kat kedai kain'. Exactly.

The pursuit of happiness. Of course I always come out of such moments of pondering just as clueless as before.

Mind you I do know I am someone who doesn't want to postpone happiness. Maybe I have never uttered that expression out loud but da hell, it's all up here (pointing to the head) and also here (now pointing to the left side of the chest).

You know how some people always say things like 'I'll be happy when I can retire at 45', or 'I'll be happy when I make my first million', or .. or 'I'll be so so happy when I have a grandson'. In my case, 'I'll be so happy if my parents are beyond happy'.

But why wait? If you can just tweak your point of view a little, you can usually see abit more fun and humour in things. Be more alive. If you can just let loose a little, you can usually laugh at yourself. My mom sort of finds it abit bizarre to see me laughing all by myself whenever I watch some funny sitcoms/movies alone. This trait I inherit from my father. You should see him cackling like there's no tomorrow all alone in front of the TV. lol. What's wrong with the whole picture anyway? If it's funny, then it's funny. Then do the laughing. That simple.

If you find it difficult sometimes in life, just deal with it. Brace up, tilt your chin higher up and face the impediments and remember, The Almighty is always right there with 'ya.

If you can just be that bit more understanding, patient and tolerant, you can be happy now. Of course, there will always be things that we want, or events that we look forward to, and those can make us very very happy. But surely that doesn't mean we can't be happy NOW, right?

All I'm saying is, I'm thankful. For everything.

'Ya know what. This is a harmless reminder for myself really.

Be happy, folks!

Ain't too heavy

A quick pitstop. Been running amok for the last couple of days. A pretty smooth case of procrastination of completing my 'by all accounts have done it-all last week' major crisis. Ha ha.

Anyways.

One of the qualities that I want in my dream guy. Look at the picture. Can you guess???

Yeap.

He, by all means, my significant other can carry me (omg yes ME!, my dears) on his back. I could have prolonged this whole post on something deeper and hopefully more consequential and wait.. romantic too, but sadly, I can't at the moment. On a tight schedule over here.

So.

How's that for the thought of 'Seriously. Am not kidding. You really need to lose some weight' ?

*sighs...

Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions. 'Ya think so?

So I came across this online article on the overused of certain words. I'm not fairly sure though the findings are based on 70 percents of the world's English-talking general population or whatnot 'cos it's very brief but this is what some Oxford so-called brains had their minds on.

Researchers at the University of Oxford compiled a list of the Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions in the English language.

Here are the ten awful phrases:

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

It's stated that Oxford scholars maintain a big database of overused words and phrases called the Oxford University Corpus. The list of irritating expressions is from Jeremy Butterfield's book, Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare

So.

Having said that, at this moment in time, I personally think that it's a nightmare that people are sometimes judged from the way they talk or write for that matter. It's not a rocket science when it comes to language and communication and with all due respect to the Oxford researchers, I do find it's fairly unique when a large number of people are using the same overused words or phrases in their daily sentences.

I mean, come on. At the end of the day, we are simply just human beings trying to express our thoughts and feelings 24/7, regardless of using way too many times the same words. Absolutely forgivable.

This shouldn't of got highlighted.

Get it??!

Glad it wasn't me

I was just meddling my own business, still very early in the morning to find that many rustling populace as it was raining quite heavily outside; when I heard a sharp loud shriek.

My antenna worked like magic and quickly in no time at all found out that the sound came from the restroom. So this is what happened then.

A guy whose office just a couple of doors next to mine, had the misfortune of walking in on someone in the toilet. That someone in the toilet happened to be a student, a girl.

Wasn’t sure of the whole picture but the guy, Prof. X (he’s already in the hot seat so spare him) was in a hurry for the cleaners were working in the men’s toilet, so he risked it all in the women’s.

Big mistake.

Thing is, I'm just glad it wasn't me; on either side of the equation.

It's my worst fear being the one on the prone end of things. But it's not much better if you're the one walking into it, right. Geez, I can't really imagine how she felt at the moment when he pushed the freakin' door! And imagine Prof. X's face?



Phew.

So remember, if you aren't careful about locking the door behind you, you’re bound to be found; in a way you least expect it to be a pretty sight.

Like I said, I'm glad it wasn't me.

Wise Man : Part 5 'Theory on Snooping'

Me : Someone has done some nasty-talk bout me behind my back.

WM : How did you know about this fella bitchin' about you?

Me : Yem told me. 'Cos she happened to walk past the pantry when she overheard a conversation between these two morons, buzzing.

WM : What's the scoop?

Me : Apparently they said that they heard from someone telling some wicked rumors about me.

WM : Ookay. Thing is, is it true? You and these rumors?

Me : Of course not.

WM : Da hell. See, I've been there.

(inhaling deeply before he continues..)

Once I fell down and cut my hand. Nasty one, believe me.

So, I went to a doctor. He went on with the normal procedure. He washed the wound and applied antiseptic on it. Then he put a big tape on top.

The doctor’s wife was in other room cooking lunch. She went on with her daily errand. She had a pot to fill and few clothes to wash.

She reached the well.

“Do you know that guy from that big white house?” She spoke. “He has a nasty cut.”
All the woman folks were intently listening to her.

Postman’s wife came back with a bucket of water. The postman was on the bed.

“There has been an accident in the village.” She spoke, “The guy of that white house broke his hand.”

The postman was listening to her.

The postman went to distribute daily mails. He reached my neighbor’s house. Mrs. Verma was in the front lawn.

“Any letters?” She asked. He went through the packets letters and said, “No, none, but there is a news.” She looked up.

“The guy from that white house had a fight. He broke his hand badly.”

Mrs. Verma had finished cooking when Mr. Verma entered the house.

“The guy from that big white house had a fight. He has a big broken hand. He was rushed to the ICU of the city hospital.”

Mr. Verma went for the evening walk. He walked with my uncle.

“Your guy had a fight. His hand was shattered. He is in the critical stage in the ICU of the city hospital.” He informed him.

My uncle rushed to our home.

“Our boy is in trouble, he is breathing his last breaths.”

He informed my aunt.
By the time I reached home, people were mourning.

They were preparing for my funeral.


Me : Whaaa..?

WM : (shrugs) Yeah. Mortals tend to do that. They can't help it. Welcome to the real world, babe.

There you have it. A 'change'!

It's very very disturbing to see that another 'Israel-first' dual-citizen has found his way into the White House. I don't feel good about this. Of all the tough-talkin' guys there, dear Obama chose Rahm Emanuel. Read his bio here.

Haven't heard from my buddy from KS on this one. Can't wait to softly whisper (with much elaborated sigh of course) into the phone for him to listen to; "See? Your trusted, just elected monarch has shown his stripes. At least one for now."

*sighs

Some notes caught my eyes from time.com:

Obama may speak beautifully and inspirationally about hope and change, about bipartisan cooperation and a better America.

But he clearly understands that you just can't sit around talking about all the good things you want to do when you get to the White House and then expect them to happen all by themselves. Which means you can't hire a staff that's going to gather at work every day, hold hands and sing Kumbaya.

Instead, you bring in a guy like Emanuel, the most hard-headed, no-nonsense, foul-mouthed, smart-as-hell, get-it-done-or-get-out-of-my-way Washington insider of his generation. And you put him in charge of a White House staff whose task it is — and this is putting it conservatively — to conceive, propose, promote and somehow push through Congress the most ambitious agenda any President has carried forth at least since Ronald Reagan rode into town with a lopsided grin in January 1981.

"Rahm does not sing Kumbaya," laughs an old friend and colleague. "He barks orders." His hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune, calls Emanuel "a brutally effective taskmaster."


Wish I could scream my 'Tidaaaaaaaaak!!' so loud even the late opera tenor, Pavarotti could die (second time then I guess) of pure envy and admiration.

And mind you, I've read that the concern was due to the fact that Emanuel guy is seen as so pro-Israel that he would not even consider the Palestinian position. Scary.

So Obama, a Jew uh? For your Chief of Staff. In The Oval Office.

Right.

'Well done'.

Trapped.

The Rain

I hear leaves drinking rain;
I hear rich leaves on top
Giving the poor beneath
Drop after drop;
'Tis a sweet noise to hear
These green leaves drinking near.

And when the Sun comes out,
After this Rain shall stop,
A wondrous Light will fill
Each dark, round drop;
I hope the Sun shines bright;
'Twill be a lovely sight.

-by William Henry Davies


I was taken aback by the strong wind blowing outside, dancing in sync with the burly drops of precipitation.

Rain.

It's official. Monsoon season is here, babe!

And here I am, a lost psyche, peeking through the window in the dark, only minutes before midnight, watching the frogs happily jumping up and down; worshipping.

They’re happy. Big time.

Me?

Trapped.

Famished.

And.. yeah, trapped.