Murder On the 3rd Day of Aidilfitri

My brother (left) and uncle. Notice his dexterity with that very sharp axe as he cut up the evidence of the dastardly deed!!

Head of the poor goat used in the terrible bloody pagan ceremony!!

The Mastermind : My own mother, she's a mafia boss at her best.

The Assassins : My youngest brother (codename Kopet) and uncle.

The Victim : Molly

The Grevious Party : My middle brother (codename Bobo).

The Cheer Squad : The rest of the family, extensions included.

Molly was my brother's nanny goat, one of the huge Jamnapari type, which can weight around 90 to 120 kg. This particular she goat was being a bad mother by not letting her two kids suckling her. By refusing to do so, her udder and stomach became bloated. Molly was already on her way to the Big Paddock in the sky.

So this afternoon, my mother woke her youngest son and told him to sharpen some machetes. "Go and find your uncle. We are going to slaughter that goat." So Kopet drove to the home-village (where the goats are) and we (my mom and me) arrived there an hour later.

The goat was already slaughtered (see the head) and Kopet and my uncle were busy chopping out the meat and bones outside the kampung house. My other brother, Bobo was clearly sulking nearby and Kopet mentioned many times that Bobo cried twice after the goat was killed. He loves his goats that well. (As for me, I feel nothing. Goats are huge and smelly creatures).

So my mum and aunt busied themselves with the crockery and pots. The bones were boiled into soup and the mutton cooked 'masak lemak kuning'. Two of my favourite dishes.

The verdict; The yummiest dish ever! We should kill... er... get more mutton each year.

P.S - This is one QUIET Raya for me. But I like it that way.

I Love Candy!

Watched 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' on dvd last night. Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka is both funny and a bit creepy. When I first saw the film years ago, I thought the chocolatier was going to kill the children one by one, from the way Mr Wonka glanced at them. And then I remembered that the film was based on a popular children book. My hopes of watching little children torn from limb to limb was dashed.

Oh well.

Anyway, my point is, after watching the delicious display of chocolates in the movie (I think a waterfall of chocolate is so posh!) I felt the urge to sink my teeth into a chocolate bar. But it was 10.30 pm! What to do?!! Fortunately a 7-11 is not far away and I drove (yes, adding air and sound pollution in the process) my car even though my bicycle was begging me to use it.

I bought a bar of chocolate milk, mainly because I hate nuts or raisins in any candy I eat. Went back and ate the bar standing in the kitchen. The RICHNESS. The AROMA. The STICKINESS (it was melting in heat of my loving grasp).

But the SWEETNESS got into me. Too bloody sweet. So I put the other uneaten half into the fridge for later consumption. Hope my mom didn't find it. She always take my candy and give it to my younger brother for 'my very own health'.

Of Ice Cream and Brain's Hypothalamus

These past few weeks I've been making a habit of driving to any convenience shop and buy myself an ice-cream on a stick. I used to buy ice-cream cones but lately I found out that the sticks taste better and have more variety. For now, I am in love with anything with vanilla in it. Cherry and mango with vanilla, it might sound strange but surely taste delicious!

As I am losing interest in food (as I expressed in the previous post) my attraction to cold drinks and dessert is as strong as ever. My thirst-centre, somewhere in the brain hypothalamus is somewhat malfunctioned since I was in my younger 20s. So I have this constant thirst and would down a huge jug of water in less the time you would finish a cup of tea.

It's a curse yes, to be thirsty all the time.

I am a person with a higher than normal temperature. Literally a hot person - excuse the pun. So I drink cold and iced beverages to quench the unquenchable thirst most of the time. I am the person with the highest visiting frequency to the refrigerator at any day. I like cold places and love rainy days. (We don't have snow here, but I can still wish).

Back to the ice creams... A comfort food for me, now more than ever. :) I don't buy ice cream in tubs anymore for no apparent reasons. Maybe I am too bad a person to share.

I Rarely Loiter Around

Yes, I am someone who don't do crowd browsing and sitting in a cafe and waste the time away. Whenever I go out alone or with friends, I would go to the places I wanted to go, do my things and then go back home straightaway. 

E.g Go buy movie tickets --> Go to book stores to look for interesting books --> Have lunch while waiting for movie --> Do a bit of window shopping --> Watch movie --> Go home.

But this afternoon was different, for the first time in my life, I SERIALLY (is this correct?) loitered around. Yes, continous loitering in several places, doing nothing but drink and look at people. And I found out that is is great fun with good company. :)

We went to the beach and do nothing but look at people and things for a couple of hours. Then to the bus station and inside an A&W outlet, (root beer paid by friends) for another session of crowd browsing. Then to another mall and another fast food outlet, Mary Brown which had swings for sitting places (I REALLY love swings) and stayed there longer, sipping bad tasting carbonated drinks. 

The three of us talked and made jokes so loudly, yet I didn't care. My big fat friend and I were accomplished imitators of people and we amused our third friend with our antics. I took a picture of  my big friend, who took my silver bangle and put it on his ears for a joke. I told him I'd put his picture in the net and he had to pay me a million dollars to get it off.

Ha ha ha! I think I wanna loiter some more this week.

Feeding Deadly Rose

My Chilean Rose tarantula (Grammastola Rosea) @ Rosy molted four days ago. I must admit to neglect her these past few months, maybe because she is just a very quiet pet! (unlike Kiki and Kaos)

I neglected to feed her crickets for 2 months. Yes, a tarantula can live for weeks, even months without food and water. The crickets supply at the nearest aquaria is so erratic, and I couldn't remember how many times I cursed the closed front door!

Anyhow I got a supply of crickets yesterday and dumped six fat insects into Rosy terrarium. And she murdered 2 of the poor crickets in a minute! Must have been SO hungry.

A Chilean Rose tarantula is said to be docile and a great tarantula for starters. I wish to bury my kitchen knife inside those who said so. My Rosy is so bloody violent and her fangs are almost an inch long!

Well, better a caged tarantula than a biting one on your hands....

Hurm... I bet all of my blog readers never had a pet tarantula.

The itsy-bitsy spider
Climbed up the water spout
Down came the rain 
And washed the spider out
Out came the sun
And dried up all the rain
And the itsy-bitsy spider
Climbed up the spout again

My spider is not small and have huge fangs to bite me if I ever order her to climb up a water spout. :(

The Sunset and The Chick Magnet

Yesterday evening I went to the beach with a friend to watch the sunset. Haven't been to the beach for quite some time and it was rather peaceful there, although a bit crowded.  Many people who attended the beach were actually patrons to the many seafood restaurants nearby. I was not in any mood for a meal,  even though I love fish very much.

And I bought Kaos along, looking very handsome with his leash. :) Many young people, especially girls approached us and vexing me by asking the same question; "Is that an otter?" People! Surely you have seen otters on the tv, though ferrets and otters are indeed cousins. Oh the price of fame to be paid by having a rare pet (I only knew 3 other ferret masters in Malacca).

While letting Kaos dig the sand to his heart content, my friend and I spent the time chatting, while waiting for the sun to set. It was not going to be a spectacular blood red phenomena (I was hoping) because the weather was indeed rather fair that evening. Well, to the sea to watch the sunset I went, and a sunset I will watch.

The sun looked like a huge yellow pearl, or some expensive bead, or even maybe a Dragonball :) See what I mean about the weather? Not even a cloud in the sky! It was an enjoyable and peaceful visit. Kaos was happy to be at the beach for the first time and I was happy to get some photos for my blog, Flickr and forums.

Oh, and we had lai-chee kang ABC after that. Fantastic taste. (Too dark for a picture)

The 2nd Night at The Museum and The Things that Can Make You Puke

How nice it is to be a popular teacher... Erm yesterday a couple of last year students asked me out on a movie-and-dinner-date (ok ok, both are boys) to celebrate the belated Teacher's Day (I still have a few presents on my desk from slow-coaches). We went to watch 'Night at The Museum 2'.

I wanted to watch 'Aliens Vs Monsters' at first but the show was only at midnight and as an (grudgingly) understanding person, I settled for second best - Museum. (I watched X-Men, Star Trek, Push, and Angels & Demons already).

Let's see... the movie was ok. Bigger than ever, with new casts and more action. It would draw chuckles and grins but never out-loud laughs. I fondly remembers the banter between Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) and Ben Stiller regarding hostage exchange - its a classic playground quarrel. :) And what's so terrible about Ivan? He said he was actually Ivan the 'Awesome'. Mwa ha ha ha!

But really. They can do even better than this. I'm not rushing to buy a dvd of this, meaning it's not a memorable movie to share with my grandchildren. Ha!

Anyway after the movie we went to the Chicken Rice Shop for dinner. It was rather cute to see my students excusing themself 'to do something' before entering the eatery. I knew they wanted to go to the ATM and furiously culculating the cost after looking at the menu. *Evil grin*

So we had our dinner with me GRACIOUSLY not ordering extravagantly, even though I obviously not going to pay for anything. And here it comes lads...

I found a very long strand of hair in my fav dish - kailan in oyster sauce. We sent it back for a new plate. Oh and wait.... my student found a rather large ant in his ice-lemon tea drink. We also sent this back with the waiter apologizing profusely. And all bad things must come in threes.... My OTHER student found an eyelash on his plate while he was almost finished.

Wow. I am not a fussy eater but I imagine some people just cannot tolerate these abuses. I remembered being a health-inspector during my practical - and I personally closed several eating shops MERCILESSLY because of their bad hygiene (and maybe I was a brutal bugger). Well, it's something to remember and as a cutting repartee before departing to the cashier - "You guys must have some hairfall disease in the kitchen to serve us such delicacy. Don't do this again. Some people can use this to sue you."

Hope you guys have a swell weekend - free of any hair in your meals.

The 'hairy' meal finished. See? Waste not, want not.

Star Trekking and "15 kg Iam's Premium Cat Food for RM 193!!"

Oh ok I don't need to shout my pet's purchase aloud but it is really a bargain. My cat, Kiki and her distant cousin, Pandemonium (ferret) literally live on kibble, so I say why not buy their food in bulk (ok, a HUGE bulk). And Kiki is copiously shedding her fur and I am afraid she might not be eating right. Anyway, my Pandy has no objection and eat everything I plunk in his bowl. Buying a superior quality food is an investment I can afford. After all, it's for the two lovely furballs who made me happy on a daily basis.

Ok, enough about cat food... I watched Star Trek with a friend today and it wasn't that awesome, just good (meaning you can watch it and do not feel cheated afterwards). I was not a fan of the series but I did watch the previous movies (on Dvds) and this latest film is much much better. Expect a lot of space explosion and warping ships. USS Enterprise is indeed a wonderful ship, eventhough some scenes on the ship were OBVIOUSLY shot in some renovated warehouses. And I never knew the Vulcan, Spock has feelings for women!!

After the movie and a meal of chicken rice broth (because I was still feeling poorly) I visited my friend's home to check on Keru. Yes, Araphone I Kakeru @ Keru, the American Curl cat I gave my friend to take care when Pandemonium (ferret) newly arrived last April. Hope you guys still remember her. And I was mightily surprised to see that former cat of mine.

She was HUGE and BEAUTIFUL!!! I accused my friend for feeding her expensive kibble but my friend said he got not enough money like me (pointedly reminding me about the 15 kg premium cat food in my car boot). "Over my dead body," my friend told me when I expressed the desire to get Keru back. Well, at least I try. And she is even bigger than Kiki now. Look at her.

Glad she found someone who cares for her as well as I do. *sniff*

The Things Girls Leave on Their Plates.

I was having my late breakfast (9.20 am, after a class) when I noticed the many leftovers on the canteen's dining table. Today's morning menu was chicken with fried rice and they were rather good. These abandoned food on the plates in front of me were left by teachers - FEMALE teachers to be exact.

My mom always tell me to finish your food, no matter how bad it taste because it is a gift from God. To waste food is being ungrateful, and there is no sense of wasting good food like these. I was thinking of the children in Africa and Palestine who were starving because food were scarce. Pity.

Erm, I am well versed in the female minds, believe it or not. Girls / women are extremely picky eaters (if they food was shop-bought) and would only eat the parts that they like. Even worse when more than two women sit together for a meal... they have to be careful with what they eat in company! Too much food would brand you as greedy, and small portions are posh. And while they eat... they will condemn on the price and the taste.... I just would like to tell them this; go home and cook your own damn meal!

I am not a bigot. Many of my friends are girls and older ladies. I missed my university years when I brought two or three girls along for lunch or dinner. These friends knew me and they were never afraid to eat with gusto with me at the same table. These girls DID finish their plates, and sometimes asked for seconds. 

Erm...

As I entered the staffroom to get my things after the last period, I saw some older female teachers were animatedly discussing something at the common table. One of them pointed and called me to join them.

"Yes?"

"We would like to know something if you don't mind."

"Ask away."

"What do you use on your face? Any expensive facial scrubs? We know you don't use make up."

"I use nothing but water." From their faces, I didn't think they believe me.

But really; I only use water to clean my face. And eat lots of green vegetables, tomatoes, onions and garlic for general health and skin. I took the picture below on my way home (yes, I was driving). Do I feel vain, or do I really look prettier than you? :)

I still have the surnburn from last week's Sports Day. And lookie, lookie, notice the different colour of the eyes. I wore contact lenses this morning; a mismatch of amethyst and grey. Those who stood near enough would notice the difference.

I don't do green or blue. Too pretentious. :)

Eating Out

I had simply forgotten how many times I had a meal in Seoul Garden, Mahkota Parade. Usually, I was with a friend or two but this evening, for the first time, I had to entertain three. Nani (Amirah Syuhada), Adi (LL) and Khairil (Agent K). At 5.30 pm. 

Personally, I was so ravenous before the meal because I hadn't had breakfast, lunch or even evening tea. And we overstuffed ourselves well with the great many choices of food there. It was great to have a meal with friends... which I rarely did when I was in school, and come to think of it even during my university years. I was a lone wolf then, and preferred to do most activities in solitude. So I guessed, it's my own fault for being an ass.

Adi kept pestering me to watch 'Australia' the movie with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Hell, I hate epic (drama) movies. And so unfortunate for us that Ip-Man was scheduled quite late, 9.30 pm (some of us gotta go back early). So we went to Khairil's handphone booth and I was in love with the new CSL touch screen series (with stupid sissy crystals). Wow! I am in love all over Motorola again with its new E8 ROKR version. It looks like a cool space ship! So many new handphones!!! So much possibilities!!! Arghhhhhhh!!

Greed is good.