the entry that's crystal clear

i have been mulling about it for the longest time and finally, i decided to go ahead with it. so, it's 9:00am and i am sitting around waiting for my name to be called. i am thumbing through some fashion magazine aptly named trends and spot a must-buy item, but the price tag is a hefty one that is meant for the spending power of aristocrats. damn the cursed capitalism!

anyhoos, when it's my turn, i am ushered into a chamber where they help me don on a scrub of sorts, administer anesthetic drops into both my eyes, and shovel me with painkiller and antibiotic capsules. in case you are still clueless as to what's going on, i am going for an eye corrective surgery, a.k.a. lasik.

  

up till now, i have always had perfect vision with the help of contact lenses. however, because of my negligence in eyecare (read the entry about seeing eye to eye), my baby blues have been burdened with a smorgasbord of infections and discomfort.

thus, t'is the season to end all future ocular malaise, to which the solution would be laser-assisted stromal in-situ keratomileusis. it's a mouthful, and i am baffled to what it truly means, so let's stick to just calling it lasik.

at the operating theatre, there is this stick-thin nurse whom, though adorned with a big heart, i feel is a little over-the-top. each time i calm myself down, she will be there holding my hand and wheedling me, "it's ok, just relax, take it easy, just relax." even after establishing that i am no longer panicky, she continues harping on her spiel of reassuring words. it doesn't help either when the doctor tells you that he "like[s] the position you're in. stay that way and don't move." how risque is that?  of course, i am just thinking too much. i jest in a bid to mollify myself...

fast forward to two minutes later, the lasik procedure is complete and i am out of the room, being steered into another quarter to recuperate for half an hour. the entire procedure was quick and painless; the only thing that hurt was my pocket. nevertheless, i now have perfect 10/10 vision, the only drawback being having to tape these grotesque plastic receptacles at night to protect my delicate eyes when snoozing away.

now i know how jason feels donning his hockey mask.

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the entry just north

lo and behold! are you a purveyor of kitschy designer brands but yet unable to afford the real mccoy? welcome to the streets of jalan petaling @ kuala lumpur! here, you will find the grimy streets festooned with imitations of brands fashioned in the likes of louis vuitton, bottega venetta, and what-have-yous. as i was clawing my way through the disarray of thoroughfare to my hovel, i was ushered by street merchants touting their latest counterfeit products, grubby monks begging for alms, and pragmatic cab drivers with their incessant, humdrum shouts of  "taxi taxi??". trippy-psychedelic.

toni & guys cuts their cult sub-brand here in malaysia

my cruddy makeshift of a hovel, the sequel to hotel china town 

a couple of local delights, especially this gem "air mata kucing" (see pic below) that was found at the crossroads of jalan petaling. a concoction of some chinese ingredients together and voila! a suprisingly thirst-quenching, saccharine cocktail that's bound to please most palates, if not all.

more local foodfare...

one of the more popular local night markets of kuala lumpur

vendors in central market love their victory signs

a charming display of how klites (locals of kuala lumpur) dispose their trash

it's been quite a while since i've last visited the peninsula of malaysia that's truly asia. so it was quite surprising to note that after a seven-year hiatus, some things just never change. of course there are the pockets of buildings like the amazonian mall pavilion. it literally takes a day to scour the entire building, and then when you think you're done, there's more to explore. no pictures to proof its cavernous entrails though.

 linguistic transformations of the english counterparts to malay. interesting! (well, to me, at least)

a charming denizen leaving behind morsels of himself in the airport ekspress train.

an exemplification of my inner rebelliousness

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the entry r.o.c-ks!

they say three time's the charm and look-it where it has landed me? welcome to taiwan! it can't get any better than this, i promise you. enjoy a visceral attack on the senses when you step onto the streets of ximen. throngs of youths or youth-wannabes like yours truly encircle their comrades who perform their dance repertoire in a showdown to eliminate their competition. by the end of the day, i was jiggling my bag-of-ol' bones to their funky pop music. rock on!

some teens rehearsing their moves before the face-off.

woman with package: "let's see, it says here that it contains melamine. hmm.. melamine, melamine? where did i read that from before? oh, what the heck, i'm getting it."

if you've heard of pharrell william's billionaire boy's club, then you'd get the picture. no pun intended.

a mini-birthday celebration with some taiwanese friends to mark the dearth of my twenties. bittersweet. 

pink-dom was the theme apparently, so expect nothing short of camp from my taiwanese cronies.

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the entry about a short getaway

i am on my way for a short vacation and i am at the lift lobby of the airport when i see this gentleman jamming the lift button repeatedly. voila, under the veil of false impression, he assumes the elevator would come up to our floor faster than it originally might have. it puzzles me as to why some people, myself included on blonde/brain-comatose days, would actually think such methodology works. it's almost as perplexing as how come some people would make a desolate mad dash to board the aircraft at the earliest possible count, only to attempt squeezing through the rest of the passengers along the constricted aisle upon landing. vexing much?!

anyways, insolvency of banks seem to be the phrase du jour, according to the papers i am thumbing through. well, i didn't really ace in finance studies during my varsity days, but it sure as hell doesn't sound like good news to me. first, bailout plans were rolled out. now, more than half the banks in the u.s. are insolvent. what next? (trying to sound a little quick on the uptake here but guessing i am failing miserably.)

the genteel voice over the public announcement system signals its time for me and my ass-plonked-on-cushy-couch-for-longer-than-necessary to board the plane. till the next entry, which should be in two weeks' time from now!

p.s.: i hate twitter. it's for people with way too much time on their hands and a mere outlet to express verbosity. anyone up in arms with me on that?

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the entry of risque musings

it's a love-hate relationship with porous walls. it's hard trying to snooze when your neighbors are blaring their telly sets at eardrum-bursting, cacophonous decibels. but, on the other hand, it's an aural gratification when they are getting at it. hurray! live porn! 

of course, you get the notion that the male counterpart is easily excitable. after all, the sound of the showerhead getting turned on after a mere five minutes of ceaseless moaning always mark the end of another short-lived romping session.

so much better sharing walls with them than weird-eye-b**** who a. auditions for singing in her showers every night and still doesn't quite make the cut, b. shares her family drama with the rest of the neighborhood through her incessant quarrels.

in the meanwhile, i have been catching up on a past-time favorite sitcom. a particular line from a particular episode: "hi i’m rachel, is my sweater too tight? no? oh, i’d better wash it and shrink it!" guess what i am watching?? the hint's in the line.

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the entry of minute mulling

i am a worry-wart. i worry about getting older. i worry about aging. i worry about the aftermath in the afterlife. what happens to our feelings and memories when we pass on? i worry about insipid issues too, like what next to blog about or what should i do the following day. 

at night, when it's time for bed, all the worries ebb and flow in my mind in a slew of cyclical torment that it disrupts my quality sleep. i need to learn to stop worrying and embrace the whole affair with testosterone-driven nonchalance. i've been to the shrink, and the meds he's prescribed worked, well, at least for the first two weeks. but now, here i am up and awake at 2 in the morning experiencing a case of deja vu. any other remedies out there?

on a side-note: has anyone noticed the strong winds these past two days? or is it me just worrying too much?

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the entry six months down the road

here's a video of my beloved nephew declan, who demonstrates a gamut of emotions, and he's just six months old! brilliant, isn't he? they say geniuses aren't made but born, and it runs in the family. i can't concur more.

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the entry about death by chocolate

sometimes when i feel a little manic-depressive/passive-aggressive/bi-polaric or experience anxiety issues, chocolate is the solution de facto. so meanwhile, when everyone else is chomping on organic foods or exercising the proverbial atkins, i am bueno-ing!



sober reminder to oneself: avoid two-faced people at all costs from now on.

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the entry about a string of unfortunate events

call me a lummox and i have no case of defense against it. within the span of 24 hours, i have successfully managed to cinch the following: 

1. lose $200 cash from my wallet, a guesstimate
2. misplace my cashcard, which i had just topped up, another 50 buckeroos gone down the drain
3. getting a ticket from the parking pontianak for leaving my car unattended
4. dropping my iphone into the doldrums of the toilet bowl

to top that off, the antennae that stuck out the top of my car was carefully unscrewed and pilfered by god-knows-who. well, technically speaking, it might not have been that very day the wiry rod was stolen, but i am just gonna lump it all together to make my day sound even worse. 

this devil-may-care attitude of mine has led me to lose more than a grand worth of cash and items within that very jinxed day. imagine what i could have bought with that! but instead, here i am at the local mobile store reluctantly scouring for a new cell phone. i settled upon what i would dub as minimalist chic:

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the entry i love life

to quote motivational guru anthony robbins, "life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity and responsibility to give something back by becoming more." this couldn't be farther from the truth, yet many of us abandon ships when hopes are dashed, relationships are torn apart or reputability is tarnished. we wallow in self-pity, unwilling to step out of the abyss of downward spiraling, thus clouding our judgement and dipping our spirits.

if only we could stop for a moment and take a closer look at what is occurring around us and not just ourselves, we would then be able to discern that there are many amongst us who have taken a beating worse than us. nobody grasps this better than taiwanese host 陳建州 charles chen a.k.a 黑人. with the help of fellow celebs, he has brought about a campaign about cherishing one's life and embracing it with open arms. aptly titled "i love life", the campaign features a string of videos that poignantly features three young kids struck with terminal cancer, and makes you question yourself if you could possibly have it as bad as they did. 

i hope the videos, which are unfortunately available only in mandarin, strike a chord and inspires, because like so many others out there who have once relegated their hopes for living and thrown themselves into the throes of depression, i now love life too. 

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