flashes of images in my brain can be described in thousands of words but my vocabulary is limited

7 billion people on earth. Everyday you walk, every day people pass by. Each time there isn't but fractions of seconds that two pairs of eyes met and acknowledge it's owner's presence, before their brains forgot them again.

Look at me while I look at you
and then
we go on ahead.

You can look at me as I look at you
and only in those two seconds
will I acknowledge you.

Look at me as I look at you
Now turn back to your partner
She's been trying to talk.

I know
and I know you know
That we are stealing glances.

edit: I saw this on tumblr, but it came from 9gag. -_-!

We checked in at the hotel at I don't know what time. Mula-mula kita book standard room with double bed. We thought of cramming ourselves in a room  - but that morning I couldn't think properly and told the other two to just get inside and rest while we check-in and of course reception asked where would the other two be staying. He was the one who suggested that we upgrade to family room and we agreed, now paying $93 for the room, divided between us four, instead of $45 in the first place. I was glad - room was indeed very small, the family suite makes it possible to breathe comfortably.
Then we went put to see the city. It was after 8am - though it feels like 11, we're too tired! Aaaand the rush hour is not helping. MRTs come every minute (if not every 45s) but we only barely managed to step inside the third train - that's saying how many people are using public transport to work. It's like travelling together with the crowd from Jalan TAR pada weekend lepas gaji masuk. Except this crowd is well-dressed, armed with iPhone 4s, Samsung Notes and their earphones. Oh yeah, Singaporean ladies wore grey eye shadows to work as opposed to soft pink worn by the German.
We got out at Raffles Place and spent 15 minutes watching a very cute German baby being told off by her mother - an excuse to sit after penat gila wrestling with the rush hour. The station's near the UOB Plaza

so effing tall almost cricked my neck standing at the base and looking up: something I never did with KLCC.

And THIS

'Bird' by Fernando Botero, the same person who painted the fat Monalisa. Man I'm so proud I touched this. 

Give you the bird's fat ass. 

BIRD YO ASS SO FAT, it's cute. Kalau bukan gangsa dah gigit dah kaki dia.

In Singapore installations like this are to be seen everywhere, by the way. From the Boat Quay we went by foot along the Singapore River towards the Merlion overlooking Marina Bay Sands and the Esplanade Theathers.

Then naik kat City Hall station belah pegi Bugis (Kampong Glam) sebab nak makan please la kitorang tak makan ape-ape lagi dari semalam okay. Sampai Arab Street makan dulu: Zam-zam Restaurant. I only have the picture of the food and the receipt. Mamak tu yang suggest this: Two plates of briyani and one ayam masala - costs $7.50. Take two sets and split between four people. Including drinks that's $5.10 pro Person. See the teh ais? Besar gila gelas, rase macam orang Arab. Yeah their portions are big. They have a lot more to offer: Murtabak kambing lembu biri-biri rusa goreng-goreng pun ada, but at some points in life you do not think and you do not care what you stuff into your throats as long as you can satisfy your bodily need for replenishment and shut your fears of starvation up.

There's the Sultan Mosque nearby, and Arab Street is where you shop for kain ela. Bargain hard, please. Nearby is also the Haji Lane: a place selling all things vintage and quirky. You will want to shop here, but save some money for the souvenirs, I know a place you can get them cheaper.

This is the ultimate budget trip yaww. Visit Singapore with RM500

So what is a budget trip. A pre-calculated trip, of course, when you try to travel with what little money you have. For this one, I exchanged RM450 to to SGD 184 - rate was 2.435. Flight ticket to SG cost MYR49.00 (no checked-in luggage, no insurance) including taxes, so I spent total RM500 only. I'm really proud of myself.
We arrived at Changi Airport on the night of 16th January at 2315 hrs, 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Since ingatkan sampai lambat, kami takde la book hotel untuk malam tu. Rugi pitih je. Sekali pilot bawak laju gila. We decided to spend the night in the airport anyway. Okay. Now. Changi airport ade tiga terminal. Kitorang sampai kat the newly-upgraded Terminal 1 (bukan Seremban punya). Departure / Arrival Hall dia is joined together, memang awesome. Carpeted - boleh rilek je tido atas lantai. Free foot massages. Watch full-length movies from their flat screen TVs. Macam rumah kan. If you dare, stay inside the arrival hall until you're ready to get your passport stamped / to start melancong. We spent only about half an hour there, pastu baru pegi customs counter. Abang kaunter pun surprised - "Ingatkan dah habis, rupanya ade lagi!" - sebab sume AirAsia passengers yang naik dengan kitorang dah check out pun. Kalau cerdik sikit, check for next flight coming in from your hometown and check out with them to avoid suspicion - 'ape la budak-budak ni buat kat dalam'. Kalau takde pun rilek suda. Takkan nye dia marah. Oh yeah, when we arrived, yang stamp pasport tu semua Melayu siap borak-borak. Orang Singapore peramah sampai pelik dibuatnye.
Kat terminal 1 kedai-kedai dia biasa je. Nak best naik Skytrain free je pegi terminal lain, terminal 2 ade shopping2. Terminal 3 ade Slide. Spend $10 dalam airport dapat satu token bole main gelongsor empat tingkat. Kat basement 2 ade free testing - tapi 1.5 tingkat je la. Jangan lupa amik brochures yang diorang letak-letak tu. Study it, move around and you'll not notice it was morning. Also see this: Free things to do at Changi airport. For in house wireless service, approach Info Counter with your passport and mintak password. Dia bagi free to use with your wireless device for four hours. Dah habis mintalah lagi. Kalau tak mahu buat pape, duduk lepak tido mane-mane diam-diam. Oh yeah, malam pertama kat Singapore, spend $6 untuk Starbucks sebab nak tumpang tido kan.

This trip was thoroughly unplanned. Before pegi cuma beli tiket ke sana and booking bilik hotel satu malam, pastu cari range harga tiket bas balik KL. For me, memang berani mati la kalau pegi overseas trip tak plan. Nanti balik menyesal macam-macam. Kami cuma tahu tempat nak pergi Sentosa and Orchard Road, pastu nak pegi beli kain tapi tak tahu kat mane. Jadinye. Make use of the maps they provided for free. Google places you want to go, things you want to do "beli kain kat singapore, singapore budget trip, makan kat singapore" dan sebagainye. Ah tapi mudah je, jangan risau.
Pagi tu kita naik MRT ke arah City. Mase ni excited la nak start melancong kan. Hotel kitorang kat Geylang. Single trip Changi Airport - Aljunied station cost $1.90. Oh ye, MRT ni kalau takde EzLink (macam TouchNGo), kena beli tiket kat machine. Sediakan small change. Tiket dia macam kad la, lepas guna refund balik dapat $1. So kita bayar $2.90, tapi kira $1.90 la sebab $1 tu bole refund. Ada faham? $1 tu guna untuk rolling je la. Jangan lupa refund sebelum balik kalau xnk jadikan tiket tu souvenir keke. Sampai hotel, simpan barang. Hotel kitorang book kat sini tapi keyword yang guna untuk google dah lupa. Try lah "budget hotel Singapore, cheap hotel" ke apa ke. We split $93 between four people for a family room. Considering its a hotel, it's quite cheap, sebab kalau nak tido Singapore comfortably for the night you really have to spend about 20 bucks even for a backpackers hostel UNLESS you're ready to sleep in a 20-bed mixed gender room - that one is less than $8. Kalau book awal, dapat la kot all-female room ke all-male ke.  I didn't regret our room, but I regretted choosing the hotel - it was in the red light district of Geylang, felt so uneasy walking between the hotel and MRT station. We initially wanted to stay in another hotel, but saw through the Google Street View that this one is situated in a more lively area with a lot more shops and stuff. I have read somewhere that Geylang is a red light district, but failed to make the connection. We arrived at our hotel that morning all satisfied with the area - bustling with people, near to MRT station etc. That afternoon we took a ride in a taxi (that's another story) and the surprised driver told us about it, THEN only we started seeing a whole new world. That evening I almost died (METAPHORIC!) walking back to hotel, drenched in my own paranoic cold sweat. Singapore's crime rate is really low, by the way.
End of part 1, I'll continue, I promise!

I have a friend Gorilla.

1. I should have paid more attention. I should have known that friends is more than dutifully liking Facebook updates and grinning inwardly at Twitter jokes.
2. To make sure I don't forget, I made a mental note. That's apparently a mistake, because it felt like I've accomplished something after that (the note making part). Because after some time I forgot that I had made a mental note AND the thing I don't want to forget altogether.
3. Now I've taken to jotting down reminders on every surface that allows the small sphere at the tip of a ball pen to roll and dispense the viscous ink (credits to Wiki) onto it. The draft for this post is written at the back of a pamphlet for the National Online Quiz 6. 
4. yes i draft my blog posts. well, not actual drafts maybe, just strings of phrases so i wont forget the key idea.
5. Actually the full draft is for another post, but the title to this post is an afterthought I wrote at the very end of the page and it's suits my current mood - so.
6. It's a song from a camping trip in Darjah 2. 

I have a friend Gorilla. Gorilla's name is Toby. Toby's friend is (say somebody's name here). This is how he/she dances. Ooh Ooh Oooh.

Cue to the one whose name was called who must then dance the gorilla dance - just random sumoish foot-stamping and clapping your hands above your head. We sang this during ice-breaking, which is why it's always there like an original soundtrack when I think about friends and the people around me.

Bila orang kejut tidur buat bunyi "Mmm?!" konon-konon dah sedar.

Two years back emak told a story of her officemate who saw our family picture and wanted me as her menantu. Based on the picture only. Heh mak cik I sincerely think you were duped. Anyway today the mak cik held a wedding and right at the door we saw the boy (no he wasn't the one getting married but his older brother) sebab makcik and pakcik tengah amik gambar atas pelamin - kita orang datang lambat, pukul 2 keh keh nasib baik nasi ada lagi. I didn't want to go at first, because we went to the same couple's reception yesterday - bride's family - but since both parents and in-laws are friends of my parents, we were invited to both. My emak knows how I liked going to weddings so when I told her I'm rain-checking today, she fussed a lot and told me "it was just jokes what we told you before", "yesterday was my other friend and she will see that you didn't come to this one" maybe thinking I didn't want to go because of the story. She even waited until I was ready before getting out of the house when she usually got into the car first.

So we arrived at the wedding, and at the door the boy greeted ayah first, asking "oh ni dari Sungai Udang ke?" and there was this total facepalm moment when my ayah said "aah betul, kalau tak kita ni dah berbesan" and tunjuk ke arah aku plak tu adoiyaiiiii nak tutup muka dengan pinggan je rasanya. Tapi since my best ability is pretending not to hear i managed to grin straight-faced at him though embarrassment is like oozing out from our nostrils.

Anyway my parents didn't quite remember if that was the boy but I think it was him, he was there on my aunt's wedding when the story first got round and the lot of my relatives were like pointing me out and pointing him out - helluva lot of facepalm moments, I was totally hiding behind the bunga telur basket I was holding - and I didn't think he was cute at that time but today he was. Could be the effect of the pink baju melayu he wore today, and the fact that he bought his emak a Honda City. :D

But then he walked past our table as we were eating and I heard him dragging his slippers (? shoes? sandals?) on the floor as he walked and straightaway in my head a buzzer sound goes TEEEETTTTTT.

Iklan sekejap dari drama melayu.com bila Cikgu Aspalela (memang nama sebenar) datang ke meja, tegur2 mak and asked me "kenapa awak terlalu langsing?". Cikgu last jumpa saya masa saya darjah enam kan cikgu.

Kemudian sambung balik drama melayu bila nak balik and ayah nak berborak pulak dengan Anuar kot nama dia. Mak biasa la pegi buat collection kuih bakar kek tapai dan door gift. Dengar-dengar ayat pertama macam cakap pasal aku je hah jom belah dok kat luar dengan mak cik mak cik sedara diorang belah Perak ah hentam je lah janji tak dengar cakap apa hahahaha. Masuk dalam kereta ayah cerita si budak tu sampai sekarang belum nak kahwin lagi tunggu apa tak tahu. Mak dia tak jadi besan dengan mak sebab ejatti-chan lambat sangat habis belajar pastu sekarang dah gemok gedempol plak tu. Ok itu tambahan je kehkeh.

Baiklah seterusnya berubah setting sebab heroin picisan drama cliche pegi beli tiket bas nak balik KL kat Masjid Tanah. Bas Maraliner dah abis pastu pergi tanya Jebat, "he he heheeeeiiiiiii Hang Jebat!" eh taklah cakap assalamualaikum la kat pakcik and makcik angker kaunter bas Jebat Ekspres. Aah la pernah tak mereka tersenyum manis kepadaku. Haritu beli tiket Jebat pukul 4.30 konon nak balik awal sekali bas rosak pukul 5.30 baru bas sampai. Maka tadi aku pun dengan mangkuk ayun nye pergi tanya pakcik and makcik bas Jebat tu "Ada possibility bas rosak tak esok?" oh bila lakonan semula baru nampak kedunguannya. Anyway kena sound tiga empat butir kat kaunter tu jugak padan muka aku. Dialog termasuklah "mulut lancang", "beli bas sendiri" dan "mati ni kita tak boleh nak jangka". Walaupun macho rupa paras tapi hati menangis siapa tahu sob sob sroott srooootttt. Touching sorang-sorang dalam kereta selama sepuluh minit lepas kena marah.

Habislah kisah hidup pada 1 Muharam 1433H. By the way semua novel Melayu yang kubaca (kecuali Dear Yayah dan sewaktu dengannya) semuanya menceritakan kisah sepasang lelaki dan wanita yang pada mulanya tidak suka akan satu sama lain, namun berkahwin kerana sebab-sebab yang divariasikan jalan ceritanya. Kemudian lama-lama menjadi suka pastu ada lah drama dia tapi asasnya begitulah. Membuatkanku terfikir kat Malaysia ni memang ramai ke yang kahwin kontrak atau dijodohkan oleh mak ayah / wasiat dan ikut juga walaupun tak suka? Pelik saya.

Do You Eat Poison?

Do you smear super glue onto your fingers and touch things with them?
Do you close your eyes and go cross the street? Or hammer a nail?
Do you attach a knife to a boomerang and play it?
Do you? Do you? Do you?

If you know being friends with a snake or syaiton will sooner or later bring you misfortunes, why would you want to be friends?
Why would you want to stare into the BBQ fire when you're wearing contact lenses?*
Why would you want to walk across the kitchen barefoot when somebody just broke a plate?
Why do you want to do things bad to yourself? Like, if nothing good ever came out from a relationship you once had, or from decisions you made, why would you repeat it? Why would you be friends with somebody who broke you down? Repeating anecdotes of your self-pity does NOT make someone sympathize - it makes them cringe AWAY.

Why would you wait for answers? If it wasn't given, then it isn't meant to be given. Life is not what you hear, read or see - those stories are what happened to others, not you.

Real home, my dream

What's with all the new interfaces at social websites? Blogger opting for an almost translucent one, making me squint and hunch uncomfortably forwards everytime I want to click a button. Hope they can insert some language-correcting features like in word processors, though that may be too much to ask. And with Locations, does everybody really want to know where I am? What if I lied saying I'm somewhere though I'm not? People wanting to give me a surprise party would be so disappointed.

Anyway that wasn't the point.

First-years at UM automatically get to live in the residential colleges and the unlucky rest have to kais-kais around for a place to stay. We, the Dermasiswa Perguruan KPM scholars (just found out the name, cheers Jih) were given places at the IPBA hostel. Though our current staying place requires everyone to go under the squeamish-making stare of the hanturayaic* pakcik guard each time you go in and out, I'm really thankful. Honestly I can't think of other things annoying. (Now I wrote annoying as annyong two times in a row).

The apartment I live in right now is satisfyingly pretty. Bathroom en-suite I tell you - so big can even marathon from this end to another. Shared with another one girl only. Now where am I going with this post. 

Ah yes. Real home, my dream. Uh-huh copy paste that to the title box. It's this - I wanted to install a bookshelf in my bathroom. You know, for some light reading, to take your mind off the hard work. Moreover the toilet seat wasn't given that name for just any reason either. There was also a period when I was busy as to be able to leisure read only in the bathrooms. I miss the good old booky days.

Few pictures/examples. Image credit goes to uploader.

Pretty. Yess you don't need to get up to choose. Then after a few days my books will all go kembang because of, you know, water sploshes. Must resort to toilet papers.

This one is really pretty too. If put at the other side of the room, I can even watch TV.

Hey they actually come in a few sizes.

Last one:

It's at the side, would be hard turning to your right or left if you change your mind about the book halfways.

What would be suitable reading material in there? Nothing academical - I don't want to bring them in bathrooms. Light chicklits, of course. Komik RM6.50 yang sekarang dah naik harga seringgit. Lustiges Taschenbuch (anybody generous enough to add to my measly collection?). And this:

Yalah your body is already hard at work so why tire your mind too. Keke. Ini pun dua minggu baca baru habis. No I don't own any copy. Why is there a need to explain that anyway? Borrowed one from a friend and let it stay in the bathroom. Sorry! ;)

Hey there's actually a lot of words inside. Smallish font, too.

끝~!

*he really works 22 hours a day. We wondered why he is ALWAYS there lurking at the guard post , hence the nickname. There's another pakcik filling in for the remaining two hours.