Salam Merdeka & Salam Ramadhan

Salam Merdeka to all Malaysians.

In a few hours, I'll be away from the net (and I'm not sure about mobile coverage), gonna get myself acquainted to leeches and mosquitoes in the 'Not-yet-Valley' (hehe..).
Have a good Merdeka weekend everyone...
and kalau ada masa, alang-alang cuti tu kan, sedekahlah Al-Fatihah, Yasin dan doa pada mana-mana arwah yang pernah berjasa pada negara, boleh kan?

As we are approaching Ramadhan, I'd like to ask for forgiveness from all readers and friends. Mintak ampun mintak maaf ya.
May you have a blessed Ramadhan.

Simple life 1

Kepada flatmates saya di Chch, tak payah la jeles pasal saya dah balik. Belum lagi sempat nak pegi makan best-best kat Penang nih. Tu, kat atas tu was my lunch on a lazy Sunday afternoon, cream crackers HupSeng cicah kopi 'O' kampung. Eh, Chch ade cream crackers tak?

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Wak is not my only neighbour. I have CikTaks too, and they are so damn noisy, partying after the heavy downpour on Sunday night. They croaked all night last night and the unsoothing rhythm continues tak sudah-sudah.

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It's not fair. When I was in NZ, I could watch programmes on Malaysia TV online but now I can't watch TVNZ-on-demand from outside NZ. Tak aci!

Megi kari & Glen Hansard

I don't have a stove at the moment. I'm not sure if I really need one. Cooking for one doesn't really make sense to me. I miss having the girls around so I could cook and force them to eat whatever I cook (wa rinduuu, ya hear?). Today, since Gu@nEng decided to give Penangites a holiday, I cook my first dish, maggi kari in rice cooker, while watching ONCE online. Don't have a tv, yet. Laptop is enough. At least now I get to watch movies that I've never watched and been wanting to watch for ages. Last week was Pulp Fiction. Last weekend was Dead Poets Society, and today, Once. I missed the screening of Dead Poets Society on film show night back in my secondary school. It definitely was a good one with great message there. Now I know why some of my mates were so crazy about the movie back then, cute boys, aye?



Ubi: love poetry but can't write one, love music but can't sing or play instruments. A good for nothing?

The world outside my window (Malaya version)

Meet my new neighbour, Wak. He (or she?) lives just outside the green wire fence that separates our territories. I skodeng him daily in the evenings when I sit quietly by the window, resting my sore feet from my daily long walk 'home' (I've no wheels at the moment). I only get to snap his photos from inside my room. Wak is a shy man, you see. Once I saw him on my side of the fence when I was out to hang my laundry but he ran away instantly. I must be too ugly that I scared the shit out of him.

Wak's full name is Ruak-ruak or Wak-wak. The omputeh call him white-breasted waterhen while some people who just love to give difficult spellings and hard to pronounce names call him Amaurornis phoenicurus. There, some introduction to local birds for you. Penguin korang kenal, burung wak-wak korang tak kenal??

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Nyiur komeng

I was walking past a lake the other day when I saw that 'nyiur komeng' in the photo. I found myself reciting the first verse of the poem 'Sebutir Nyiur', written by Allahyarham J.M Aziz (please sedekah Al-Fatihah for arwah). I could not remember the rest of the poem.

Back at my flat, I googled for the poem but could not find any. Now, I'm back in KT for the weekend, and after searching for sometime this morning, I found J.M Aziz's 'Kembang Selaut' on our old dusty shelf together with other books that kept me busy during my childhood, whenever I could not sneak out and play in the rok*.

nyiur komeng, not in Pantai Cendering

Here, I'm copying Sebutir Nyiur from Kembang Selaut, a collection of poem by the writer, sangat berjiwa Trengganu.

Sebutir Nyiur

Sebutir nyiur komeng

jatuh berdebak

di birai Pantai Cendering

wajahnya monyok

dalam kesegaran.

Di birai Pantai Cendering

air-air menerajang

nyiur komeng terpelanting

jatuh di tengah alur.

Di birai Pantai Cendering

pasir-pasir menendang

nyiur komeng terhumban

di celah kepah besar.

Di birai Pantai Cendering

kelikir-kelikir menikam

nyiur komeng pengsan

di bawah sampan damar.

Sebutir nyiur komeng

jatuh berdebak

dibirai Pantai Cendering

kisahnya pelik

dalam kebenaran.

J.M Aziz, Kembang Selaut, 1988.

(Berita Minggu, 8 Ogos 1976).

*rok = bushes

Know Your Fruits 101

Sorong papan tarik papan
BUAH KERANJI dalam perahu
Suruh makan dia makan
Suruh mengaji dia tak tahu

Siapa tak kenal buah keranji (Dialium laurinum)? Ni dia. My childhood favourite! I used to keep the seeds to use for 'main jentik' as an alternative to biji saga (Adenanthera pavonina). A small pack of these used to cost me about 30 to 50 cents. Now, they're selling it at RM2 per small pack at Pasar Kedai Payang, RM5 for a bigger one.

Just something from home. I'll be back later.



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