Ice Cream

Ice cream is and has always been one of my favorite dessert. When I was in secondary school, I used to walk home from school with a bunch of friends - Zul, Shahidi, Livin etc. And almost daily, we stopped by at a grocery store in Section 2 and bought each of us an ice cream. Not a very healthy lifestyle! But hey, the weather is bloody hot in this country. Surely a bit of indulgence is not too much to ask for. Anyway, I'm not blogging about ice creams today, rather I've here a song called 'Ice Cream' which was featured in the TVB drama Moonlight Resonance. Although it's such a lovely song, I've never heard of it before this show. The singer is such an unknown and it took me some time to find out. Anyone heard of Ciara Newell? All I know is she's an Irish singer from the group Bellefire (some say DNR and some say the Flip).

Here's the lyrics of the song:

ICE CREAM (BY CIARA NEWELL)
You talk to me
You speak with me
Don't sink before you rise baby
Don't fade away
You hesitate
You seem to wait
For all the time we had
Feels like a world away
Who's to say, we'll be ok
We will make it through the night
Don't wanna wake up in this state
I just want us both to smile
Cause we're the same
And i know that we'll never change
Look i bought your favourite ice cream
I dont wanna see it melt away

If you walk out now
I don't know if we could be the same
Baby just talk with me
Cause i want you to stay here with me

The memories
The things we did
I locked inside my heart
Where i know i won't forget
And now, who's to say, we'll be ok
We will make it through the night
Don't wanna wake up in this state
I just want us both to smile
Cause we're the same
And I know that we'll never change
Look I bought your favorite ice cream
I don't want to see it melt away
If you walk out now
I don't know if we could be the same
Baby just talk with me
Cause I want you to stay here with me
I want you to stay here with me



And I know this is totally irrelevant to the topic of 'ice cream' but I suddenly recalled a phrase in MR... "要割禾就要先彎低腰" which literally means you need to bend down to tuai padi, i.e. we need to work hard to get what we want. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Of Cows, Garbage and a Beach

I wrote this crap when I was bored to death in Dungun way back in 2001. Reflecting on those days which were so calm and peaceful, I kinda miss it in a way. Wonder how life would have been if I've stayed on in the east coast. But there are simply too many 'if' in life. So while I ponder this 'if' here's the reproduction of a short bull-crap called 'Of Cows, Garbage and a Beach':

I decided to take a short stroll down the beach near my house. The scene of the road leading to it is that of a typical kampung. Malay cottages and coconut trees are to be found all the way. Coconut husks are strewn all over the compounds of these cottages. Sometimes you will see chickens running about. Some Malay kids were chattering and reading aloud from a book. A makcik was standing at the door looking at the kids. An old pakcik was trying to ply open a coconut. They stared at me with suspicion as I walked pass. I was a stranger to them. This is only the second time I’ve actually walked that path.

Further down the road, not less than 10 mountains of cow dung have been deposited by traveling cows overnight. Its odor was unbearable. It stinks but surprisingly I didn’t find any flies circling around them. Maybe they are too busy tending to dung elsewhere. Dung is such a common sight in rural Terengganu, for that matter the whole of Terengganu is rural. I find the habit of letting cows and goats loose a nuisance. I wonder why the authorities never did anything about it. The problem is when an accident happens the whole kampung comes out and blame the poor driver. Surely the only person to blame is the one who owns the cattle? He didn’t take good care of them, did he? The cows leave their belongings everywhere they go causing so much inconvenience to pedestrians. Once a stray cow entered my house compound and spent an evening there. Thank God no deposit was left though I was startled when I heard it moo. There was another time when I was walking in my neighborhood when I almost knocked down a cow, or rather the other way round. The cow was just as startled as I was but he didn’t seem to care about my presence. He just walked on to God knows where. One evening, a car I was traveling in had to halt a full five minutes to allow a big herd of cows cross our path. For sure in this land they are Lord of Terengganu. Only yesterday after dinner at a restaurant, my housemates and I found our car surrounded by cows. It took us sometime to get our car out of that mess.

When I reached the beach I walked directly to the garbage bin. That was my reason for taking the stroll. No, I am not about to run through the precious contents of it to find a lost diamond. I was there simply to dump my garbage like what a garbage bin is for. It seems that the local council does not collect garbage from house to house. Instead we had to bring them out to designated spots along main roads and dump them there. The council will then carry out the easy task of keeping our households clean.

After finishing off my duty I decided to hang on a moment at the beach. It was a sunny day and the sun was furious. The sea looked calm enough but all will be changed in a month or two when the monsoon rages. Out in the sea, a few trawlers were out fishing. I wonder whether there will be a bountiful catch today. I have been here so many times but never once had I ventured into the sea for a swim. I read in the papers that the Dungun coast is deadly. Many people have drowned there. I remember seeing a notice board somewhere forbidding anyone from swimming in the sea. According to the locals, the beach takes a steep fall at some parts and swimmers caught unaware may drown. Therefore, I’ve only dipped my feet in the water. Might as well take heed of what the experts say.

Out in the horizon, I could see two islands. The bigger one is called Pulau Tenggol. The smaller one, I have no idea. Tenggol is reputedly a diver’s heaven. As a matter of fact that is the only reason anyone would visit the island. There are no resorts, no water sports and not much of a beach there. The water is too deep to swim in because it is only meant for diving. There’s no ferry or shuttle service to the island. To get there one has to rent a speedboat from the fisherman jetty in Kuala Dungun. Maybe one day I’ll make a visit, but then what will I do when I’m there? I can’t dive. I am afraid of depths.

After staring out into the sea for some time I decided that it’s too hot to stay any longer. Thus I began my short journey back home again, retracing the same scene. Then I remembered there is another garbage bin nearer and I need not have taken the long stroll.

By the way, the above story is a true story of myself on Nov 1, 2001. The location was between Jalan Kenanga, Dungun and Jalan Pantai (where the beach is, duh!).

Reading fever

I have been in a reading frenzy for the past few weeks or so. That is ever since I became member of the newly-opened Johor State Library located at Jalan Yahya Awal. The library is not to say very well-stocked up with books but it is quite a good effort on the part of the Johor government. The ambience and atmosphere are superb. It is very comfortable to spend some hours in on my free time. It's not those kinds of libraries where you must shut up. In fact, the whole library is quite relaxed and lively. There is not stupid dress code like most government agencies require. There is also a small cafe to take a cup of coffee while reading a book.

Come to think of it, I have always been a library-person. When I was small, I frequented the Shah Alam library which at that time was the biggest in Malaysia. Those days, I had a family card which allowed me to borrow about 8 books at one time. Later on when I shifted to KL, my visits to libraries dropped dramatically (despite the fact that I was a librarian in school). The KL national library was not so far from my house but the public bus service in that direction was horrible. For that matter of fact, public transportation in KL was and still is shameful. But the KL library really had a huge collection of reading materials. I remembered the days when I had to research old newspaper articles while working on some school projects. Was able to find papers even till pre-war days in KL's library. I also remembered there was a room with a 'Koleksi Bahan-Bahan Haram' or something like that. Would really like to sieve through these bahan-bahan haram! But for that I need to get the Home Ministry's approval! Fat chance of that.

Later on I moved to Dungun which also had a library which to my surprise was sufficiently stocked with good English reading materials. Those days I worked shift and had quite a lof of free time in the day. I did most of my John Grisham and Sidney Sheldon books during that 1 year I was in Dungun. And after a visit to the library on Thursday evenings, I can even visit the biggest Pasar Malam in the east coast, which is virtually next door.

Coming to Pasir Gudang, there was a library runned by the Pasir Gudang municipality. However, I rarely visited it. But somehow, ever since the new JB library opened I had reinvigorated in me a new Library fever. I've been reading 2 books every fortnight, borrowed from this spanking new library. My latest 'reading in progress' are Daniel Goleman's "Working with Emotional Intelligence" and Penn's "Microtrends".

The reading culture in Malaysia is still quite weak. Unlike Singapore which has themed-libraries even in shopping malls, here libraries are sparsely located with lousy collection of books. Well perhaps, that may change for the better in the future. Meanwhile, I really congratulate JB for a nice library which has helped me nourish my brain with new knowledge! For more info on this new state library, visit http://ppaj.johordt.gov.my/.

Paige Chua

A new Singaporean model and actress - Paige Chua (蔡琪慧) has come into the scene lately. I first saw her in the show 一房半厅一水缸 . Somehow she gives me the Chung Kar Yan feel and I kinda like her. Acting still has room for improvement but she has some kind of attractiveness. Someone to look out for in coming Mediacorp shows.

Talking about Singapore dramas which I was introduced to some 6 years back when I arrived in JB - they have really came a long way since they first started off. They have some really good actors and actresses which somehow are little-known outside of their tiny island state. I particularly like those shows that depict olden day Singapore and give a very Nanyang feel. Their God of Gambling type of show or attempted action-packed shows are still craps. No way to compare to TVB's. But their shows on everyday Singapore life is really great. Maybe because there are so much in common between Malaysia and Singapore, there is some connectedness when watching such series.

Another interesting Singapore trademark in their series is the strong element of government propaganda. I remembered when there were lotsa hoo-haa over falling birth rates (who to blame but LKY?) their shows immediately promoted the virtues of giving birth and gave everyone a briefing on all kinds of government incentives for having more kids. One show even went to the extent of educating the public on methods to conceive - something about guinness stout and a warm pillow! Then of course, some shows (in hardly subtle ways) promote their CCCs. And of course the latest drama serials 不凡的爱 is about awareness on HIV/AIDS patients. It is definitely no secret of how even entertainment serials are being used by their PAP government to extend all government propaganda. But then again, there is hardly anything bad to say about the Singaporean government and their propaganda in the end probably is for the better.

Chinese Family Relations

I was never good in identifying the complicated Chinese terms for different relatives. Having gotten used to calling all my elders uncles or aunties and my cousins by name, I'm always clueless when caught in a situation when I need to identify the correct Chinese term to address them.

However, in Moonlight Resonance, the evil-turned-good Susanna Kwan taught us a riddle to learn such things, although I think it only works for the Mum-side of the family. And by the way I'm still clueless. And here goes Ah Sa's riddle:

堂呀大過姑，姑呀大過姨，姨呀大過表叔公，表叔公呀大過表叔婆，表叔婆呀大過表伯，表伯娘呀表叔，表嬸，表姑媽，表姑姐，表姑丈，表舅公，表舅婆呀表姨婆，表舅父呀表舅母，表姨媽，表姨丈！

家好月圆(Moonlight Resonance)

After my last post on "Heart of Greed", I was waiting for the next HOG-genre drama series. Next up was Moonlight Resonance 家好月圆, which is basically HOG2 with most of the cast retained. Another captivating series. Unlike HOG, which basically builds up the momentum slowly, 家好月圆 is basically exciting from the very beginning. Nice watch but most of all I enjoyed 2 particular songs in this show. One is an old number by George Lam - 分分钟需要你. The other one is Lam Fung's 愛不疚.

分分钟需要你
愿我会揸火箭 带你到天空去
在太空中两人住
活到一千岁 都一般心醉
有你在身边多乐趣
共你双双对 好得戚好得意
地冧天崩当闲事
就算翻风雨 只需睇到你
似见阳光千万里
有了你开心啲 乜部都称心满意
咸鱼白菜也好好味
我与你永共聚 分分钟需要你
你似是阳光空气

扮靓啲皆因你 癫癫地皆因你
为你甘心做傻事
扮下猩猩叫 睇到乜都笑
有你在身边多乐趣
若有朝失咗你 花开都不美
愿到荒岛去长住
做个假的你 天天都相对
对木头公仔做戏
有了你开心啲 乜部都称心满意
咸鱼白菜也好好味
我与你永共聚 分分钟需要你
你似是阳光空气

有了你开心啲 乜部都称心满意
咸鱼白菜也好好味
我与你永共聚 分分钟需要你
你似是阳光空气
有了你开心啲 乜部都称心满意
咸鱼白菜也好好味
我与你永共聚 分分钟需要你
你似是阳光空气
有了你开心啲 乜部都称心满意
咸鱼白菜也好好味



愛不疚
收藏在眼眸 常徘徊左右 爱猜到没有
愉快玩笑後 能全然退後 你开心就够
这种感觉太亲厚 讲一千句也不够
假使讲了你听到後 或会走
这种恋爱太罕有 不须真正拥有
成全 衷心祝福然後 就放手
放手 放开所有 彼此更自由
放手 其实我绝非爱得不够
放手 豁出所有 还有这个好友
已经 已经足够

遥远是宇宙 静静在背後 去看守就够
这种感觉太亲厚 讲一千句也不够
即使一刹有过冲动 挽你手
这种恋爱太罕有 不须真正拥有
成全 多舍不得仍然 是放手
放手 放开所有 彼此更自由
放手 其实我绝非爱得不够
放手 豁出所有 还有这个好友
已经 已经足够
放手 我的牵挂 找不到尽头
放手 期望你幸福甚麽都有
也许 爱很深厚 然而我早看得透
放手 至可拥有

Somehow both the above songs bring some reflections.