The Ti*ni@s!ng Race Klang Valley

Whew! What a day it has been, running around the valley, trying to accomplish quite a number of things in a single Saturday. Got up early, gave the apartment a cursory scrub and I was out the door by 9:30 am.

Checkpoint 1: Suria KLCC
Task: Purchase a discounted copy of Absolute Sandman Volume IV
Found out that the tome was out, was available in Kinokuniya, and what's more, Kinokuniya's Christmas sale has started! Unfortunately it was not 30% off as I had hoped (could have saved RM100!) but 20% was still a good discount. Got in as they raised the shutters and left with the satisfaction of knowing I wouldn't have to wait anymore to get my grubby hands on the final volume of the whole series. Hooray!

Detour 1: Yulek, Cheras
Task: Service the car
It was time to service the car and I figured I really had to get this done this week in anticipation of maybe needing to do a spot of travelling next week. Decided to pay a trip to the old neighbourhood to see if, by some unlikely chance, the hot young mechanic was still working there. Alas, he was not, unless he had transformed into that fat and ugly AND short guy working there. Damn! On the plus side, I had a chance to have my brunch there, something I haven't done since I moved out of that particular suburb. Not that the food was great, but simply for its nostalgic value.

Bonus Task: At any point in the day, get a Toffee Nut Latte from any Starbucks outlet
Despite having to do all that, I managed to arrive at my next destination at about 12 pm. Plenty of time to stroll around, check out CD's, buy some toiletries, and yes, grab a takeaway coffee. The Toffee Nut Latte is one of the things I look forward to when Christmas swings around. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy, not to mention feeling like a New Yorker when I strode down The Street with that cup in my hand. Got stopped and pestered by a rather desperate credit card salesman (not a cute one though) who wouldn't take no for an answer. I smugly told him he was gonna make me spill my coffee, flipped my hair, and I waltzed off, leaving him gaping like a fish that was not drowning. More or less.

Checkpoint 2: The Curve
Task: Locate buddies and complete one Body Jam class
Toffee Nut Latte in hand, I found Eugene and Kyen easily enough, sitting in a kopitiam. I blatantly sat down with them with my "outside drink" (see, I can walk on the wild side too!). Caught up on the weekly gossip (these two are capable of accomplishing in one week what I might need a month to do), then dragged our butts to gym. Did not actually complete the class but I suppose it's alright cos I only skipped the cool down and I'v always made it a point not to cool down to the strains (literally) of Beautiful Liar, anyway.

Detour 2: Bukit Jalil
Task: Meet up with several people, one of whom will lead everyone to the next destination
Supposedly we were to go to Port Klang for seafood. But the combination of distance and lack of familiarity led us to consider other options. In the end , it was qwazymonkey who led us to...

Checkpoint 3: Kelana Jaya
Task: Eat sea creatures. And some land ones, too.
With WiFi, Saoba, qwazymonkey and assorted hubbies-in-tow, I found myself in a restaurant with a suspiciously red-sounding name, City Star, not too far from Dataran Prima. Service was wanting - it took them forever and then some to put our orders on the table. Thankfully, the food was pretty good, so all was forgiven once our bellies were full and happy.

Final Task: Present cakes and gifts to the birthday boy
After dinner, everyone adjourned to my place so that we could sing off-tune birthday songs, play with the presents, and generally act silly in private. The birthday boy walked in to find a tray of mini cuppacakes and a basket of bitches waiting for him. A fun time was had by all. Well, maybe except for the token straight fella who was missing his football game but we're not the type to understand such things.

Man, I'm now looking forward to spending Sunday doing nothing much altogether.

How The Meat In My Hand Mellowed My Heart

Had a haircut. Had a burger. Burger was more expensive than haircut.

Even before adding the coke and fries.

But at that very first bite, with it's juices slipping along my tongue, it set me to reminiscing as images surfaced unbidden.

The greasy grills of Lygon Street.
The "Love Our Song" commercial.
The weekly Ramly at the Thursday night neighbourhood pasar malam of my childhood.
The JD at TGIF.
The Aussie I had attempted to make at home.

I suppose it's inevitable for someone like me to have memories embedded in my tastebuds. After all, life for me happens one meal at a time.

Portobello Mushroom Cheeseburger @ Carl's Jr

The Eye

Quite a while back, I ventured up into the overglorified ferris wheel called Eye On Malaysia. Never really knew why they called it that since, obviously, you can't see the whole of Malaysia up in that contraption.

Come think of it, I didn't get a good view of KL, either. Just a lot of water. I had a much better look back when I was up in KL Tower, and even up in the oh-so glam KL Hilton.

Still, it did provide a rather nice photo opp :P

The Curse Of The Golden Flower

Everytime I even think about drinking it, I'll think of you.

(...and remember how you once snapped at me for drinking the chrysanthemum tea and leaving you the soya bean, even though I was the one who had bought the drinks back. That was when I learnt a little more about you...)



Curses.

Red Tide

"They say you can see patches of red in the sea," he told me, as we were crossing the water.

We didn't see it then, but I saw it today, and it just took me back. Perhaps this was what he was talking about.

Funny how the smallest of things stay.

I Want You To Know...

You make me happy. You make me sad.

Never Was A Cloudy Day

Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Earth Wind And Fire : September

To be honest, I don't have a very good memory. Facts and figures from my history books just slide off my brain cells like water off a duck's back. I tend to remember concepts better. And the tales of the Ainulindale and the Quenta Silmarillion (even though they're arguably from a history book as well). Oh and song lyrics dating all the way back to the '80s.

This is one of the primary reasons why I blog. I do remember many of the events of my life, though I would hardly be able to say how long ago it happened. Blogging to me is really a way of keeping my own little Book of Records. It does help. At least now I can put a timeline to what I've been through. Or at least what I've gone through since the start of 2005.

Take for example, a year ago. Thanks to blogging, I remember exactly where I was that day, what I did, and what kind of place I had to be winched down into. I remember hitting the gym for a quick shower that evening, and catching an eyeful of, erm, whatever it is people would catch an eyeful of in the showers of one the most notorious gyms in the valley. I even remember the exact condition of my skin that day.

I remember dinner. What I ate, who I ate with. I don't remember what is was we talked about (because I didn't blog about it). But I do remember that we laughed as much as we ate - which was a lot.

And I remember this - it was a fine day. A happy day. A very happy day.