Note To Self

I have often reminded myself about it but it only took that one time that I was careless for it to happen.

I had my laptop stolen from the boot of a car.

I should have known better.

I have been giving security briefings and reminding people to not leave their computer in their car for years. The one time that I broke that cardinal rule myself, it came back to bite me and it bit me hard. Oh, the irony of it all!

The signs were all there! I already had misgivings about taking the laptop on my recent road trip. I ended up not even using it anyway while we were away. We also had misgivings about going to Carrefour Subang Jaya that evening. On the way up from the parking lot, we received pamphlets about leaving valuables in the car. We even had to go back to the car when we remembered that we had left some cash in plain sight within the car. Never once that I give much thought of the laptop that I left behind. It was Subang Jaya! It was basically my neighbourhood.

I continued to have a bad feeling about something but by the time I acted on it, it was already too late. We came back to the car only to find that the rear side mirror that looked into the boot area of the hatchback has been smashed in and the contents of the boot moved around. The thief was able to get to my laptop bag which was beneath the other bags which was hiding it from plain sight. I'm guessing that they were able to see the bags from the outside and decided to try their luck as they might have figured that we had recently came back from a trip. Given that the parking space was fairly deserted, they might have sufficient time to root around the boot for something valuable to take.

After recovering from the initial shock, we proceeded to report the break in to the Carrefour security department and then to the police at the nearby Subang Jaya Police Station. Thankfully both experience were fairly painless and speedy. I do not have much hope of recovering the items stolen so the reports were more for documentation formalities that would be needed to report the theft to the office since it was a company laptop that I lost.

Once all the formalities completed, we went off for a late dinner and came back home to call it the day. I have to admit to a sense of being violated and a bit fearful after the incident that night. It was enough to get me rattled to the point that I had to lock up the main grill which I normally do only when I leave home on an extended trip. In my mind, I was worried if there was anything that they took that would lead them back to where I lived.

Thankfully that feeling subsided once I had a good night's sleep. The following day was spent dealing with the aftermath of the incident. As I am typing this entry, I have still to get everything that I lost sorted out. I expect that the next few days to be both quite slow and tedious. Not only do I need to get the hardware replacement sorted out but also have to figure out how to recover all the work/documents/items that I stored on the both the laptop and external hard disk that was taken.

It is hard for me not to feel somewhat disconnected knowing that I've lost a lot of things thanks to that moment of carelessness. It does feel like having your legs chopped off from under you especially when a lot of my work and personal life is linked to the items that I had stored on that computer. Recreating them would definitely be a huge task ahead. Like it or not, I have to tackle this face on.

Hopefully this blog entry will stay here as a reminder for myself not to every do somethng this stupid again!

Gone Too Soon But We Will Always Remember You

Yasmin Ahmad, 1958 - 2009

I found out about Yasmin Ahmad quite late compared to the rest of my friends.

Not being one who usually watches Malay movies on TV, I missed “Rabun” when it was first shown on TV. By the time I realize that the person who directed “Rabun” was the same person who made the utterly heartwarming PETRONAS advertisements, “Sepet” was already about to be released. A lot of my friends told me to not miss watching the movie when it comes out which I didn’t. I came in not knowing what to expect and came out a changed person.

In “Sepet”, Yasmin gave us a peek into the idealized world that she must have felt was just out of reach for most of us. Her idealized world had all the ethnic races in Malaysia actually relating to each other on an equal field. She gave us a vision of a world where the “others” had the same problems and struggles that your ethic group had as well as the same hopes and dreams. She showed us a world more accepting of differences and tolerant of possibilities. She showed us a world that many of us long to see and more importantly be able to be a part of.

“Sepet” was a fresh breath of air for me and from that moment onwards I was a fan of Yasmin Ahmad’s work. I remember following her blog to read about her upcoming works as she shared details of them with her readers. Readers of her blog got to share in the process of making her subsequent films including “Gubra”, “Mukhsin”, “Muaalaf” and “Talentime”. She related to a personal level to the comments and feedback left on the blog by readers in response to her blog entries.

Yasmin Ahmad was not without her detractors. Her works were criticized as being unrealistic and out of touch of the Malay community she was a part of. She has been accused of trying to dilute the identity of Malays by mixing it up with the identities of other ethnic groups of the country. The more she was slammed by her detractors, the more determined she was to prove them wrong. The more harsh words were thrown at her, the more support her fans gave to her. In our own way, we wanted to help lessen the blows and give her the strength to go own making her wonderful films.

On July 25th, we lost our beloved film director Yasmin Ahmad to massive bleeding in the brain brought on by a sudden stroke. With her passing, we lost a voice that dared to show us a hopeful vision of what a possible future could be. Many of us are inconsolable with her passing but what we need to be mindful of is that there is a legacy that she left behind for us to continue. A legacy of understanding, tolerance and acceptance that we could incorporate into our daily lives to make the country a better place. She has shown us a possible better state of the community that she felt possible in her films. We, who she left behind, would do her memory justice by striving to make her world come through in our own little way.

Yasmin Ahmad may have passed on but we are still here to celebrate her vision and carry own her legacy. We could do no less by her.

Al-Fatihah, Yasmin Ahmad.

Rest in Peace.

"I Go" by Aizat/Pete Teo from "Talentime" OST

Another Book Worm Alert!

Haven’t really had time to update the blog lately. Other than the shows that I’ve been going to at KLPac and such, there is nothing really blog worthy to update here. There is something currently in the works but I rather wait a bit before putting any details down. Don’t want to jinx it!

I saw a banner at the nearby Dataran Hamodal building about the “Big Bad Book Sale” that would be starting tomorrow and run until the 18th. From their website (http://www.bigbadwolfbooks.com/), it seems that they are saying that the discounts that they are offering would be deeper than the one that they gave during the last MPH Warehouse Book Sales. Then “Big Bad Book Sale” is being organized by a new company by the name of “Big Bad Wolf Books” which I am not familiar with. A cursory internet search found an email address for the company which might be connected to BookXcess which is one of my favorite surplus book stores in town.

I’m thinking of walking down the street to check the sale out tomorrow and see if there is any gems to be found. If their discounts turn out to be really that low, I would definitely be picking the titles that I’ve held back from buying during the last MPH book sale if they have it. Similar minded book lovers should also do the same when you get a chance to come to the sale.

Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=86424504456

(Map to sales venue)

Book Worm Alert!

One of the nicer perks of me moving to the new office in this past month is that I am now close to the area in PJ where several companies usually have their warehouse sales at. One of the warehouse sales that I always look forward to is the one organized by the MPH Distributions which as many would know supply books to the MPH Bookstores in Malaysia. Based on past experience of going to their warehouse sales over the years, they normally would have decent selections and more importantly recently released titles on sale. With that I mind, I’m excited about their warehouse sale that would be starting tomorrow up to the 3rd of May.

(Map to MPH Warehouse Sale location)

For all book lovers, this is a great opportunity for you to stock up on the titles that you have wanted to buy but have delayed the purchase due to the current economic uncertainties. I know I have been postponing my book purchases since I learnt about the book sale in hopes of getting the titles that I want at the sales for a cheaper price. Thanks to my office being just a stone’s throw away from warehouse sale, I would be able to go and browse the books during my lunch break instead of waiting for the weekend when there would indubitably be more people there. Suffice to say, the sale would definitely fall into one of the highlights of my week this week.

I was able to find quite a few treasures for cheap the last time I went to a book sale and will definitely be on the lookout for more of the same this time around. Similar minded book lovers should also do the same when you get a chance to come to the sale.

A Fresh Appearance

It’s about that time of year to inject something new with how this blog looks!

Decided to refresh the color scheme of the blog to better fit the new header image. The new picture was taken in Langkawi during my year end break recently. It was the only time we got a really nice sunset during my stay there thanks to the less than cooperative overcast skies.

The next few entries coming up will be of my Cambodia travelogue which I still in the midst of writing up. Once that gets done, I will still have my notes from the Langkawi trip to put up. Till then, please bear with the outdated entries.

In the meantime, chirp in your comment about the new color scheme if you like to. Appreciate the feedback on the new coat of paint for this blog moving ahead in 2009.

Gong Xi Fa Chai

I would like to wish all my Chinese friends and blog visitor a Happy Chinese New Year and Gong Xi Fa Chai. May the coming year bring you all much luck, fortune and prosperity in yours and your loved one’s lives.

As per standard operating procedure around this time of the year, I would be on standby duty again so that my Chinese colleagues could go on their New Years break in peace. Of course this means that I would need to stay within KL city limits and be able to respond to calls when they come in. Hopefully this year would be the same as pervious years when no calls come in especially instead of just responsible for my own team as I was in pervious years, I have to be responsible for our whole operations in KL for our support account this standby period. This will be big shoes to fill but if I do well then it would surely reflect well when my performance review period comes up in April.

At first I was thinking that I may be spending the holidays at my parents place in Selayang but I guess now I’m keeping that plan open at the moment. I still owe my apartment a sprucing up after months (closed to years for some corners) of neglect. My curtains for example needs to be burned by now! (They’re that bad). I’m thinking of going out idea-shopping at IKEA with my mum tomorrow since I’m also in the market for a new bed to replace the one I currently use.

Any who, do have a great time with the family if you’re attending the reunion dinner with them tonight and have a great celebration with them. For the rest of us who get the 4 day weekend, do enjoy yourselves. Stay safe everyone and make sure if you plan to party, you plan to party responsibly. Don’t be another statistic in the yearly on the road butcher’s bill.

Happy New Year 2008

Last post for 2007!

I would like to wish all readers and visitors a Happy New Year 2008. I hope that everyone will start off the year with bigger and better things in store for the new year. If 2007 was not as much as a success for you, take a moment to reflect and then move on with more determination to make 2008 even better than the year preceding it.

I don’t really know what I would be doing this New Year’s eve. Feeling my age (getting long in the tooth people!), all the hoopla of going somewhere crowded like KLCC, Dataran Merdeka or even the Sunway Lagoon that’s just close by where I’m staying has lost it’s appeal. Especially the thought of having to go by myself … I’m getting an agoraphobic attack just thinking about it.

I wonder if the Starbucks at the Sunway Pyramid new wing would have a good view of the fireworks show at Sunway Lagoon? Of course I think by now, there would already be droves of people thinking of the same thing.

Any who, those planning to go to party the new year in, have a blast guys but do party responsibly. It would be a stupid thing to do to ring in the new year in the emergency room or worse in a coffin. If you’ve been drinking, give the keys to your designated driver so you can get safely home. If you go out drinking without a designated driver then you’re an idiot!

Happy New Year 2008!

Merry Christmas!

Another holiday so closely following the one that we just had!

That’s the beauty of living in a multicultural country like Malaysia where we all get to celebrate each other’s holidays equally. As a kid, growing up in multi-ethnic neighborhood in Kluang, I remember going to my friends houses for their celebrations and they would come to mine for Hari Raya. Christmas was one that we would look forward to most since it meant that Santa would make an appearance at our kindergarten class to give us presents. We would have shows and learn Christmas carols to sing in class just for when Santa came so he knows that we have been nice and not naughty for the year.

For the longest time, I lost that feeling of being like a kid at Christmas until my first winter at Madison. It was my first time seeing real snow in my life. It happened at about 3 am in the morning and my friend, who came in the same flight to US as I did, actually woke me up to tell me that it was actually snowing. We bundled up quickly and went out to see the first snowflakes started drifted down from the sky. It was nothing short of magical to see it really happening for the first time.

Of course, true to my luck, the snow changed to a blizzard for the next 3 days and dumped almost 3 feet of snow on the ground my first year there.

Nevertheless, I had a clear, sunny, white Christmas my first year in the States. We went up to the park by Camp Randall Stadium to build a snowman and sled down hill just like kids. In the evening, we made hot chocolate with marshmallows and sat at the balcony watching the snow fall. It was a wonderful Christmas memory that I know I will cherish for as long as I live.

For all readers and blog visitors celebrating Christmas, I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May you have a smashing and safe celebration wherever you may be.

Something that I wrote sometime back that I usually would dig out to read during the Christmas time. Please accept it as my festive offering to you.

Click here to read : A "Beautiful Thing" Christmas Story

Salam AidilAdha

I'm planning to go back home to my parents place in Selayang right after work today. I’m also taking Friday off which means that I would have a 4 day weekend ahead of me.

Hari Raya Aidil Adha is not really a big thing in our household since none of my relatives have done the Hajj yet. Other than the morning Eid prayers and the family lunch, we normally will spend the rest of the day at home. I may just vegetate in front of my brother’s computer again playing “Neverwinter Night2: Mask of the Betrayer” again like last Aidil Fitri holidays if my bothers have to work on Friday.

If it turns out that they too took holidays on Friday, I think that I might want to get them together for a brothers’ night out. We have not done that in awhile and it would be nice to be able to go out and catch a live band playing somewhere. They have asked me to come and chill out at Heritage Row before but usually in these outings I would end up as banker for the group so I had to wait for when I had more money to burn.

And yes … I did come into some extra money this month thanks to my contractual yearly bonus. And no .. I would not be able to afford to belanja everyone who leaves a comment asking to belanja them even if I want too … I don’t make anywhere close to a certain someone who shall remain nameless with the 5 digit monthly salary (kih 3x *larik*). I’ve earmarked some of that money for a new toy for myself (and it’s not that one for those whose minds are ensconced in the gutter!), my PT sessions that I intended to add after the current one gets used up as well as a little traveling fund for a trip that I’m planning in 2008.

To all readers, a Happy Eid Adha and have a safe celebration (or time off whichever the case maybe) with the family. For those who would be driving to their hometowns, please drive safely. Aidil Adha is the day when people sacrifice animals like cows to distribute their meat to the poor. Don’t be as stupid as a cow to ritually sacrifice yourselves by driving recklessly on the road.

Thankful

Although it is a North American holiday (Canada celebrates it too but on a different date), I’m always partial to the idea of the Thanksgiving holiday. Having a day to stop and reflect on things that you are thankful for sounds such a good idea especially when we now hardly get to count our blessings when we go though our busy day. To me, Thanksgiving is also a day to take a step back and review that no matter how bad we thing our life if there are still things that we can be thankful for.

I still remember the first Thanksgiving dinner I ever attended. It was my first year in Madison and I have just been there for a couple of month. Prior to coming to the States, one of my American professors, who was returning back to the State at the end of the last summer semester I was at KPP, extended an open invitation to all of his students to come and have our first Thanksgiving dinner in the States with him and his family. A bunch of us from his class decided that we would get together once the date came and take up his invitation when we all reached the States.

Out of the 10 of us who attended his class that year, only 5 of us who happened to be at the same university managed to get together and make plans to go to my professor’s house. We had hoped that our other classmates from the other universities would make the journey but it turned out only us 5 who came. A flurry of emails flew between us and Prof as the date came closer to finalized details on how to get to his house in suburbs outside of Chicago. We were all really excited as the day came as it would be our first American roadtrip ever.

It so happened that only one of us had a valid drivers license to drive in the State so he obviously became the designated driver for the whole trip. I was assigned to be the navigator since I was the only one of the remaining people who had a fairly good sense of direction. The rest (who incidentally were all girls) were in charge of making sure we had all the items that we need for the roadtrip and the gifts that we would bring for the Prof. All 5 of us packed all our things into an old station wagon borrowed from one of our seniors and left Madison the day before Thanksgiving.

I don’t remember now how long the journey took but I remembered making quite a few number of stops whenever we saw something different to see during the journey. It was actually our first time ever traveling out of Madison and there was so much that we have never seen before on the journey. We made pit stops for bathroom breaks, meal breaks or just to be silly and take pictures of things we saw along the way. It was quite fun actually and really felt like a roadtrip especially when we didn’t really have a particular timetable to follow on our journey to Chicago.

We reached Chicago just as the sun began to set. Everyone was tired from the extended roadtrip and wanted to get ourselves to where we planned to spend the night. We had called ahead to some friends of ours in town and made plans to stay overnight at their place. We were lucky that the directions that they gave us was easy to follow since Chicago was much larger than we expected. Once we had our sleeping arrangements set, we went out with our Chicago hosts to grab a bite to eat before turning in for the night.

Early the next morning on Thanksgiving Day, we called up the Prof to get directions to his house and to know what time we should be there. Since we were already quite close to where they were, they told us to turn up early so we can pitch in with the dinner preparations. This was even more exciting for me personally as not only did I get to share a traditional Thanksgiving meal with our gracious hosts but we also get to help prepare it. We said good bye to our friends who also graciously allowed us to spend the night and went straight out to the suburbs of Chicago to where our Prof’s house was (unfortunately the exact name of the place where it was has slipped my mind now).

We reached the house just after noon and the preparation for the Thanksgiving dinner was well under way. The girls who came with us took it upon themselves to help out in the kitchen with Prof’s wife while us guys went to setup the dining room area for the dinner. Both the Prof and his wife did not have any other relatives to share Thanksgiving with and their children were still quite young at the time so they have been opening their home to students like us to share in the festivities for years. The year that I went there was actually quite special for the two of them as it was the first time that his Malaysian students from when he was teaching at KPP came to his Thanksgiving dinner.

We were all famished by the time that dinner rolled around. Our hosts really went out of their way to make sure that we had a choice of a variety of traditional American Thanksgiving meal dishes as well as making sure that they only used halal ingredients to cook them with. We had a huge turkey with all the trimmings, candied yams, home made bread, pumpkin pie and other dishes associated with the occasion. The dinning table was full of serving plates piled with food that it was hard to imagine anyone finishing it all. There were just about 10 of us (some of Prof’s other students in his then current university also joined us) but I could swear that there was enough food to feed 30 people.

Before we started our meal, we went around the table to tell everyone what we were thankful for that year up to Thanksgiving Day. For me it was very easy to put into words as the opportunity of being able to share in an American tradition in the United States was something that I would always be thankful for on top of the other things that I have been blessed with. Once everyone had they chance to share what we were thankful for, we shared a moment when our hosts said grace and we recite our doa makan to ask for the blessings of the food that we were about to share.

The meal was exactly how I imagined it to be from what I saw on TV. Prof carved the turkey up for us and we all took portions of the bird from the serving plate that was passed from one person to the other. Same thing does with all the other items on the table. We had good food, good drinks and really good company to share on that Thanksgiving night. For a time, we all felt like it was a big family while not related by blood but was strong nevertheless due to the bonds that we all shared. I remembered not being able to stop smiling at the thought that we all had a really great opportunity to experience a slice of American life that we would have never been able to do so had we not taken up the invitation.

Once the dinner was over, we stayed for a bit to help clear up before we had to make our way back to Madison as some of us had to work the following morning after Thanksgiving. Prof’s wife was really disappointed that we could not stay the night but we didn’t really have much of a choice. We thank our gracious host for opening their house and sharing their Thanksgiving meal with us. The Prof’s wife even made us take some leftover turkey sandwiches, potato salad and pumpkin pie back with us to have a long the way which was quite impossible since we were all filled to the brim with all the food we had before. We left their place feeling really happy that we had the chance to really experience the occasion first hand.

I will always be thankful for that opportuinity as I do with all the blessings that I have in my life. This year especially I have so many things to be thankful about. I continue to have a job that gives me the satisfaction and stability that I need. I have my health and the opportunity to further improve it since I joined the gym. I have old friends that I continue to appreciate as well as made a bunch of new friends that I would have never thought of making had I not made changes on how I accepted myself. I’m thankful that I still have my family around me even when we don’t see eye to eye on things sometimes. I know that they will always be there for me if I need them. I’m also thankful for the chance to know several special individuals that have made a large impact to my life this year. Above all I am thankful to received all the blessings that I have this year as well as being where and who I am.

Take some time out and think about what you are thankful for and keep them in mind so they can keep you warm inside even when you think that you’re down in the dumps.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.

Deepavali Wishes

Wishing all who will be celebrating it a safe and Happy Deepavali (or Diwali) tomorrow.

Raya '07 : Berasak

“Berasak” is a rice dish that is not very well known outside of Johor and pureblood Johoreans. I first rediscovered it about 10 years ago when I spent my Hari Raya holidays with my relatives in Pontian, Johor. It was after a few years after my paternal grandmother’s death when my dad’s side of the family decided to resurrect the tradition of making our own “berasak”. I had it before as a kid but I never remembered it until I was told what it is much later. All the memories that I thought I had forgotten did came back with my first bite of “berasak” 10 years ago. It was a taste that I had long remembered and associated with my late paternal grandmother but never knew what it was.

“Berasak” is basically a rice dish that is popular among the Johoreans of Bugis descent which is usually made during celebrations like Hari Raya. In my father’s family we would either have normal rice ketupat or berasak since none of the people of that side of the family were fans of glutinous rice which make up lemang and ketupat palas. I have not actually seen the process of making the “berasak” since I was always unable to come back early enough to see it made but I was told of the process by my aunt who currently is the only one in the family that makes it for the rest. Much like my dodol, my aunt’s branch of the family is currently the only custodian of the family tradition which she makes to be distributed to everyone else.

The process of making “berasak” starts first with the one main ingredient that differentiate it from other festive rice dishes. Unlike ketupat, the “berasak” is wrapped in the young pisang nipah leaves. It can only be the leaves of this particular banana type as it imparts both flavor and color to the finished product. It is also the only type of banana leave that would held up to the rigors of the cooking process. The leaves had to be the very young ones that you would find still curled in a tube at the top of a banana tree. The leaves that have already unfurled further down the banana tree would not be usable in this instance.

Once the banana leaves are available, the rice would then be prepared. “Berasak” uses normal short grain white rice which is washed and the cooked in coconut milk much like making nasi lemak. It is important that only fresh coconut milk from the first pressing is used in the making of “berasak”. A little salt is added to the coconut milk before it is used to cook the rice with to enhance the richness of the coconut milk. Once the rice has fully absorbed the coconut milk and fully cooked, it is immediately portioned out onto squares cut out of the pisang nipah leaves. While the rice is still steaming hot, it is compressed into a tight rectangular shape which is then wrapped with the pisang nipah leave. The wrapping method is quite similar to how a kuih lepat is wrapped. Throughout the process of wrapping the “berasak”, continuous pressure is applied to it to ensure that the rice in it is compressed well.

The individual parcels of leave wrapped rice would then be grouped into groups of about 10 and wrapped again in a few layers of pisang nipah leaves. Each bundle would then be tied up as tightly as you could with either raffia string or heat resistant plastic raffia string. Tied up bundles would then go into a large pot of boiling water to be boiled for a minimum of 8 to 10 hours to fully cook the “berasak”. At the end of the process, the cooked rice inside the “berasak” parcels would expand more and become denser in texture. Once the cooking time has expired, the “berasak” is taken out and hung out in the kitchen area to dry before it can be opened and the individual wrapped rice parcel served.

Taste-wise, the “berasak” basically tastes like compressed nasi lemak. The pisang nipah leaves imparts a subtle aroma and taste to the rice inside which is quite unique when compared to other festive rice dishes like ketupat and lemang. It is also quite denser compared to the normal rice ketupat since it is cooked with coconut milk before being reboiled for a second time unlike the ketupat which is only boiled once. Unlike ketupat palas or lemang, you should not be able to differentiate the different grains of rice when you bite into a well made “berasak”. A well made “berasak” also travels well since it could last at least 2 weeks without refrigeration and up to a month if you kept it in chiller. The “berasak” however cannot be frozen as the resulting ice crystals would leech out the taste of the coconut milk from the rice.

Any side dish that you can eat with ketupat and lemang can also accompany the “berasak”. My family prefers to eat it with something that has more sauce that the normally dry beef or chicken rendang. My father for instance loves to eat his “berasak” with ikan masak assam pedas. I actually prefer eating it drenched fully in a really hot curry. The other peculiar way how we enjoy our “berasak” is that we only eat it after it has been chilled at least for a day in the fridge. I personally find that the low temperature actually enhanced the taste of the “berasak” and contrast beautifully with the heat from the curry that I put on it when I eat it.

Some pictures of the “berasak” that I brought back from my parents house last week.

(Wrapped bundle of berasak as it would look first taken out of the pot)

(About 10 pieces of individual wrapped berasak tightly tied within the bundle)

(The individually wrapped berasak which is the size of your normal kuih lepat)

(When unwrapped, the compressed rice is feels slick on the touch from the coconut milk, has a unique aroma and a greenish tinge in appearence)

(My favorite Hari Raya dish - Berasak with beef curry)

The “berasak” is another piece of my family heritage that I have begun to discover as I grow older. The rediscovery is somewhat of a bittersweet experience for me. On one hand it meant that it was time for us the younger generation of the family tree to know of our family traditions so we can continue the legacy. On the other hand it meant that the generation before us were getting older in age and would not be around for that much longer. There is a sense of racing against the clock to make sure that legacies are passed down to those who are willing and able to carry it. I personally know that I have a few things that will be coming my way and it would be my future responsibility to ensure that passed on to the next generation.

Legacies are so much larger than the individual. By passing it on, we carve a little bit of immortality for ourselves.

Yikes!

You've Experienced 68% of Life

You have all of the life experience that most adults will ever get. And unless you're already in your 40s, you're probably wise beyond your years.

How Much Life Experience Do You Have?

Raya '07 : The Rest of the Hari Raya Break Days

Day 2 was suppose to start with a visit to some more relatives of ours in Kelang but I had to opt out of the trip. Woke up the second day feeling terribly bloated from all the food that I had the day before. One unfortunate side effect that I’ve seemed to have developed from dieting in the past year is that I keep feeling nauseous if I had too much to eat. I usually would take a cup of tea to keep that feeling in check but it didn’t really work for me that day. Given my predilection of getting motion sickness especially when I feel nauseous, I decided to forgo the drive out to Kelang and decided to stay home to recover.

I stayed in continuing my game of “Neverwinter Nights 2” that I’ve already spent nearly a few month’s worth of weekends on. The game storyline was still quite addictive even after all the time I’ve already spent on it. I was also expecting to have to entertain the neighborhood children who would usually turn up at your front door mainly to ask for their share of duit raya. Strangely enough, I hardly saw any come by this year. In fact, I did not see any children going out to visit the houses unattended like they normally do in previous years. I’m guessing that the recent tragedy of Nurin Jazlin was still fresh in everybody’s mind and would not dare let their children go out unattended like they would normally do.

In a way I was relieved that they did not turn up as I’ve never one to be patient with the greedy money grabbing children whose only reason to come was to get a duit raya packet from you. It’s bad enough that some don’t even sit long enough to eat something but to blatantly ask that you just give them money at the door when you open it was downright rude. But then again, the lost of childhood innocence due to the tragedy would definitely be regrettable. It’s terrible that children cannot feel safe in their own neighborhood and have to relent being cooped up in their own houses. Things have really changed since I was a kid back when dinosaurs walked the earth.

Those who went to Kelang came back at around 4 pm. They had planned to go straight to my uncle’s place in Sunway but it turned out that his whole family would be celebrating Hari Raya at his in laws place in Cheras. Since we didn’t really have any place else to go and visit, we just decided to spend the rest of the evening at home to recover from the past 2 days.

Day 3 was basically the last day of Hari Raya celebrations for us as most of the other members of my family started work on the next day. We had some friends of the family visiting but the highlight of the day had to be when both of my two brothers current girlfriends and my sister’s current boyfriend came to visit the family. It’s almost a rule in the family that if you wanted to bring anyone to meet the parents, a Hari Raya visit would be the best time. Everybody have forgiven everybody else for their past year’s grievances and everyone was in a more receptive mood to be introduced to the person you currently dating. Of course with them visiting, all eyes would fall on to me being the only one this year who had not brought anyone to meet the parents. I don’t know why they put on this act to be surprise that I didn’t since I have never brought anyone home to meet my parents. At least none of my female acquaintance.

Once the visits were done and over with, a few of us decided to spend sometime doing some shopping for my mum’s overseas trip. She wanted to get a new bag to replace the one that had a broken zipper as well as some warm sweaters to being to the trip. Since I had to pick up my monthly stash of comic books at my usual comic book shop, we decide to go out to One Utama to shop after my stop at the nearby Centerpoint mall. One Utama was already packed with shoppers when we go there so I guess that the crowds were already starting to come back to KL after the long weekend. Mum found the sweaters that she liked and I lucked on some t-shirts on sale from the DC Comics merchandise store that I had my eye on before. The original price was way too much for me to consider to be reasonable for a t-short but at a 70% price slash, it was hard to resist. Even my youngest brother got a few for himself even if he was not a comic book fan. We ended the day with a trip to Giant to get some groceries to stock up before mum left on her trip.

Day 4 was a quite day since everyone who had to work was already going back to work. Since we didn’t plan to do any traveling this year, no one, with the exception of me, took an extended leave of absence from work. I actually had to since I would be just wasting my allotted annual leave again if I didn’t clear them by the end of the year. I spend most of the day hooked on the computer playing my computer games. I guess in hindsight I could have done something more active than that but I was just in the mood to do a bit of online dungeon crawling and simulated hack and slash against an army of monsters. I did helped out my sister make a fresh batch of our cookies but baking wasn’t really something that I could get excited with. In the end I decide to do my laundry as I would hate to cart back my dirty clothes back from my parents’ place instead of to like any other sane person.

That night we went to my aunt’s place nearby for dinner as well as my cousin’s birthday celebration. There were quite a few people there when we arrived. The thing with my aunt was that most of the guest who came sounded very familiar even when you have never seen them before. This is because my aunt and her family were involved in voice acting jobs for local TV stations. They have lent their voices to several translated dramas and animated series which was always a hoot for me since I used to watch some of their work when I was younger. As a child I also did some voice work for radio but that stopped after my voice broke and I sounded too old for the parts that I was given up to that point. It was too young to do older parts on the radio so I just stopped doing them which effectively ended my 15 minutes of fame. Seeing some of the faces that I knew from back then and finding out who was doing which character in which cartoon series made for quite an enjoyable time.

Day 5 of Hari Raya was the last day I spent at home in Selayang. It was mainly my packing day as I had a few items that I needed to take back with me to Sunway. Chief among them were the homemade cookies that my sister made and the last bit of the dodol that I made. I’ve always made it a rule to bring back some of my Hari Raya cookies to share with friends ever since I was at boarding school. Nowadays I bring them back for my coworkers and a special batch for my boss. I also brought back some of the homemade berasak (check out what it is in a future entry) and tempeyek kacang that my second sister brought back from her visit to our Johor relatives while she was there visiting her in-laws. My aunt in Pontian would make them only during Hari Raya and the berasak especially was well worth the 1 year wait to get them.

Once mum got home, we started to pack up our things to leave. Mum had to meet up with the other participants of the conference that she was going to at KL Sentral so we made our first stop there. After saying our goodbyes, we went straight to Sunway to drop me off at my apartment. While the time spent at Selayang during the Hari Raya break was an enjoyable one, I was happy to be back at my own place. Guess that while having your family around you can be fulfilling, sometimes you just need your space to sit down and reflect on what you have. Of course for me it also meant that I could start going to the gym again to work off all the food that I’ve eaten during my Hari Raya break.

Whatever the reason was, I was happy to be back on my own.

Raya '07 : 1st Day (Part 2) - Of Family Traditions

After the short visit with the neighbors, we waited for my aunt and her children to rendezvous at our house before we went out to visit my late maternal grandmother’s grave. Being the eldest in her family, my mum’s place has always been the meeting point for my two aunts (I have no uncles on my mother’s side) on Hari Raya morning. This year my Mak Ngah (middle aunt) could not make it as not all her children were around that morning so it was just us and Mak Su (youngest aunt) with her five children. We drove to my late grandmother’s gravesite in Hulu Kelang to pay our respects and to offer our prayers to her. I have already went there a day earlier to clear up the gravesite and surrounding area so this was an extra visit for me personally this year. We also made plans to replace her grave marker next year since it would be the 10th year anniversary of her passing.

After my grandmother’s grave, we had another stop to make at my step mum’s gravesite in Kepong. My father took a second wife when I was about 15 years old and she basically was added to the family as my second mum but not without some amount of drama beforehand. They were married for about 12 years before she died suddenly from heart related complications back in 2000. My dad did not have any children with my second mum so we’re basically were the children who would visit her gravesite on Hari Raya morning. As before, we stopped by to pay our respects and offer our prayers for her before returning home to prepare for lunch with my aunts.

Hari Raya lunch has always been a long-ish affair for the family. With 3 sisters in the family and 5 children of their own for each sister, lunch would almost be always exclusively for my mother’s side of the family. This year we only had Mak Su’s branch of the family for lunch. Mak Ngah did turn up later but with only her eldest daughter and her boyfriend since the rest of my cousins from that branch of the family had to drive down to Melaka to be with their father. We ended up having so call lunch from 2pm up to about 4pm since no one really had any place else to go before then. Some of my father’s friends from his drama productions stopped by as well during the period so in away it became sort of the unofficial open house for the family. I tried to mingle as much as I could be being the eldest among my cousins, I didn’t really had someone my age group to mix around with. I ended up going up to my room after 3pm to take a short nap since I was already tired by that time.

I woke up at about 5 pm to get ready to go to my father’s sister’s place in Sg Besar which is about 2 hours drive from Selayang. Since we did not made plans this year to go back to my father’s kampung in Pontian, we had 2 places that we had to visit from my father’s side of the family which was my uncle in Sunway and my aunt at Sg Besar. Since she was further, we decide to go to her house on the first day and my uncle’s house later in the week. The trip to Sg Besar started good enough for us before it started to rain when we reached Sg Buloh. The sky then proceeded to open up and dumped buckets on us as we traveled slowly to Sg Besar. By the time we reached Tg Karang, we could see some parts of the town was already flooding but we couldn’t really turn back since it was already quite far into the journey. Thankfully we reached my aunt’s house in Sg Besar without any problems even in the heavy downpour.

Most of the family from my father’s side of the family were less well off than we were but that didn’t stop them from piling on the food for us. I’ve always been a bit embarrassed by how much they would go out of their way to accommodate us when we came visiting as if our family have never gone through the same hardship in life that they were going through now. I really do appreciate what they have done for us but I’ve always wished that they didn’t really go thorough all the trouble. My family may have lucked out and came out better then they did but we never forgotten our shared humble beginnings.

Dinner that night was a simple spread of rice with rendang kerang, masak lemak pucuk ubi, ikan kering, ulam and sambal tempoyak. With the exception of the tempoyak, everything else was exactly what I was craving after the day of eating ketupat and rendang. I even had more helping than I should have since it was quite good kampung eating and that my aunt was piling my plate faster than I can decline the next helping. She kept on saying that I’m lost too much weight during the fasting month and would not take no for an answer when she offered me more food. I’m fairly certain that she was trying to make me gain all the weight back in that one sitting. Thankfully for me, everyone eventually stopped eating and cleared all the dishes before having our post meal coffee which was something that my father’s side of the family would never fail to do. My father’s side were all big coffee drinkers and they would always insist on getting home brewed coffee instead of the run of the mill instant coffee. I think they got the habit from my late fraternal grandfather who would always have coffee after his meals.

It was almost 11 pm when we finally said our goodbyes and started our journey back from Sg Besar. Unlike previous years, my youngest brother, who got his driver’s license earlier this year, was driving the car. Me being me, I could not help but be anxious at the way that he was driving especially when it was clear that he had a lead foot when it comes to following the speed limit. There were more than a few occasion that I had to remind him to watch the way he was driving much to his annoyance. I don’t really know why but having a lead foot on the accelerator when driving seems to be a trait that my brothers share with my father. Hopefully I would remember not to be the same when I start driving myself.

We arrived home safely at around 1 am. Fully satiated and tired after the long day, no once really wanted to do much of anything else other than get ready to go to bed. The first day of Hari Raya has been pretty much the same as our previous years namely it being the day that we spend with the family. Most of the time it would be with my mother’s side of the family since they were mostly in KL but sometimes it would be with my father’s side of the family if we traveled down to Johor for the holidays. It was the time for us to renew familial bonds and catch up on each other’s news up to that point. From the time we were kids it has been drummed into us that 1st day of Hari Raya was for family only. Even after we have all grown up, we would not normally have people outside of the family visiting until at least the 2nd day of Hari Raya.

Raya '07 : 1st Day (Part 1) - Of Family Traditions

(My cream colored Baju Melayu for Hari Raya - better known in the family as hopefully "baju nikah" )

My Raya break actually started the day before Hari Raya since I had a whole boatload of unused leave days to clear before the end of the year. Since I’ve already done my part of the Raya preparations by making the dodol the weekend before, I only had a few things left to do on my raya preparation checklist. Highest on that list was to cut up the huge bundle of the pandan leaves into fine slivers to be mixed with flowers and rose water. This is a very common item that Malays would bring when visiting the gravesites of loved one on Hari Raya morning. We would scatter them on top of the graves in somewhat of an offering which is not really one since there is no such requirement in the religion. I guess it is more of a traditional thing we do on top of the offering of prayers to the dead when we visit.

The whole thing nearly took me half a day to complete since my dad bought so much this year. It’s always been a big chore for me to do it since everyone would insist that the slivers of pandan leaves be as fine as possible. Given that I’m all thumbs when it comes to handling knives or any sharp kitchen implements, it took me longer than others to finish it all. While I was doing that, my youngest sister was busy baking the raya cookies in the kitchen. She has taken over the task of making our yearly batch of pineapple tarts and chocolate chip cookies from my mum since she perfected her recipe same years back. The two cookies would be the one visitors would find most every year at our house. Occasionally we would have a few others that would be either homemade or store bought but you could almost be certain that we would have pineapple tarts and chocolate chip cookies on offer.

My youngest brother would be the one tasked to clean up the house from top to bottom. Out of all the siblings, he is the best housekeeper of the bunch unlike me who would actually let dust bunnies breed before putting a broom to them. The funny thing is that he would always be grumbling when he does it so he sounds so much like an old matron when he has to do it even though he always told us that he prefers doing the house work compared of every thing else on the work list. It’s hard not to giggle around him when he starts complaining to himself about how dusty things can get even when they were all in glass cabinets. He usually would have my third brother to help him out but this year my third brother was still dealing with his divorce and was not much in the helping/celebrating mood. We had hoped that he would have snapped out of it by now but it seems that it would take him a while to get back on his feet again. Till then we all agreed to give me the space that he needed.

My second sister came later in the evening with her brood to help my mum with the cooking. This year we had chicken rendang, beef kurma curry, fish in tauchu sauce and the obligatory Javanese sambal goreng. Being a family with varied tastes, mum always made sure that we had something that we loved to eat for Hari Raya so the chicken was for my youngest brother, beef was for everyone else, fish was for my father who would eat nothing else and the sambal goreng was all mine. Another family raya tradition is that would always have both ketupat nasi (made with normal rice wrapped in coconut leaves) and ketupat palas (made with glutinous rice wrapped in palas leaves) . This tradition came about from us being split in the middle when it comes to our preference for the type of ketupat to eat. Of course me being me, I like them both equally and would indulge myself on them more then I should. Fortunately no one in the family particularly crave lemang for Hari Raya or else we would have to get that as well.

Hari Raya morning would be quite a hectic one since everyone would be waiting their turn to bathe before going to the mosque for Aidil Fitri prayers. It could easily be resolved by have everyone wake up earlier but somehow that never works in my family. The men of my family are well known to be heavy sleepers who always needed a bit help to wake up early in the morning. We did manage to get everyone bathed and dressed by 8 am since we had to be at the neighborhood mosque by 8:30 am for Aidil Fitri prayers. This year, I decided to go along with the whole group and wear both my songkok and samping with my baju melayu. I would normally in previous years be the odd one out who would just be wearing baju melayu to go for the Aidil Fitri prayers. I guess I did make the effort to buy a new samping when I was on my Perhentian trip so not wearing it on Hari Raya would just be wasteful.

After Aidil Fitri prayers, we all returned home to start the next must do thing on Aidil Fitri morning. I don’t know if it’s the same with other families but the act of asking forgiveness on the morning of Hari Raya is always been a hilarious one for me since we all grew up. When we were younger, there was always a somewhat formal occasion to it and we would know when to expect it. Nowadays, we would just end up waiting for it to start since it all depends on when my mum gets ready in the morning after Aidil Fitri prayers. The rule in the family was my mum would start the ball rolling by asking for forgiveness from my father then all the children would follow according to age. So after my mum, my turn came to ask forgiveness from my father then my mum then I would take my seat for my next sibling in line and so on till the youngest sibling. The funny thing is that we would all be waiting around for my mum to start the ball rolling which is becoming more later in the morning as the years pass. It something that we had to do before we could get to eat but no one wanted to jump the queue (so to speak) before my mum had her turn.

After all have been forgiven for the past year’s grievances and finally got to sit down for the first of many family meals, we had to prepare to receive our next door neighbors would come and visit us this year. Since all my grandparents have passed away, my parents’ Selayang house has become the de factor kampung for us. We still have relatives in Pontian but officially when we tell people that we were going to ‘balik kampung’, it would definitely be going back to Selayang. Both our neighbors were in the same situation so on alternate years, we would exchange visits to each other houses early on Hari Raya morning. Some years we three would be the only Malay households left in the area since everyone else had their kampungs to go back to. Over the years, the tradition would keep all three families close to each other so much so we consider each other as extended family. Add to the fact that we were the first 3 households to live in the area when it first opened and have shared many births, weddings and deaths, it would be hard to imagine not getting visits from them on Hari Raya morning.

(to be continued)

Call Off The Search Party ….

Still alive folks! Haven’t overdosed on ketupat and rendang or anything of the sort. Will be updating the blog with my raya entry in the next few days.

Till then some snapshots of the homemade kuih raya that I brought back from home. Not really enough to have an open house with but enough to share for those who want a taste *wink*

(Tempeyek Kacang - homemade from Pontian, Johor)

(Dodol - old family recipe)

(Rustically made from down to up - Tat Nenas, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Rice Cripsies)

(Homemade offerings)

(Care package from home)

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri

To all who will be celebrating it, I would like to wish you “Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri”. Stay safe during the holidays and be careful when driving on the road. Bad enough that every festival in Malaysia comes with a now prerequisite total of road accidents and fatalities. There is no need for any one I know to get added on to the daily Ops Sikap statistics.

For those not celebrating Hari Raya, I hope you’ll take time off to enjoy the long weekend. Of course being in Malaysia, it’s hard to think that you guys won’t get to join in the festivities as well. If you do get a chance, don’t look back and just go for it. Experiencing each other’s culture and festivities is part of what being a Malaysian should be.

I am already back at my parents house in Selayang where I would be celebrating Hari Raya at. Most probably spend a few days here but haven’t really decided since no one made any plans yet. I know that my mum would be traveling abroad for a conference on the 18th so if there will be any out of town traveling, it would be before then. If nothing else comes up, I might just came back to Sunway early and chill out though I would most probably be holed up at the gym trying to burn off all the Raya food that would definitely be tempting me.

Still have a few thing to do around the house before Hari Raya. Mostly cleaning up the house and any last minute items that need to be bought tomorrow. I also need to go and clean up my grandmother and stepmum’s gravesites so both would look presentable when we go to visit on Hari Raya day. Last but not least, I still have to dye my gray hairs back to black (well … actually I’ve been using dark brown). Yes … I admit that the color you see on top of my head comes out of a tube. I wouldn’t mind not dyeing it if my grey hairs came out evenly but unfortunate for me, it comes out in patches all around the head.

I’ll continue to blog this week if the mood strikes me but if I don’t, it’s not because I’ve overdosed on ketupat and rendang. It might be due to me enjoying my time with the family.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri & Maaf Zahir dan Batin !

Ramadhan Mubarak

To all who will be fasting in this Ramadhan, I would like to wish all …

Now if I can only wake up at 5am today for my sahur ....

Gong Xi Fa Chai

One of the advantage of living in a multicultural country like Malaysia is that we get to celebrate more public holidays than homogeneous countries like the States. The upcoming Chinese New Year and Awal Muharam holiday stretch is just one of the example. While many would be taking this opportunity to travel out of time to be with their family, I am unfortunately stuck on standby duty so that my Chinese colleagues get the chance to celebrate the festival. I guess that it just fair since they did the same for me the last AidilFitri holidays.

Being on standby means that I cannot go out of the KL city limits and would need to have my mobile active at all times for any calls that might come in. I have not received any calls during the holidays for the past few years and I hope that the same goes for this year. Other than just waiting around for the call, I just have plans to go through my backlog of unwatched DVDs, unread comics and unplayed PS2 games. I may even take in a film or two if I can muster enough energy to move the wide load also known as my arse between bouts of vegetating in front of the TV.

One thing that I can at least look forward to during the holidays is attending a private screening of “Brokeback Mountain” organized by a fellow blogger. I just hope that I don’t embarrass myself by bawling too much while watching the movie everyone is telling me is a big tear-jerker. For someone who still cries at the ending of “E.T” and the “Dawson’s Creek” finale episode, this concern is a valid one indeed.

Gong Xi Fa Chai everyone! Have a happy and safe holidays with your family and friends.