The Lost Codger

I quietly turned thirty-two yesterday. Quietly, because it was, well, pretty much quiet. Not that I was looking for a particularly noisy birthday. There’s something about preferring a quieter one, especially after hitting the big three-oh.

James suggested an early dinner at a very popular Indian restaurant in Bayswater; I very much obliged.

There’s a small area at the King’s Cross Underground Station where you can get a mobile signal. You’d normally get zero bar on your mobile but as you pass this spot, you might just get away with a single bar. As I jumped on the westbound Circle Line train, I received several text messages, much to the other passenger’s surprise. There’s nothing like getting birthday wishes by SMS to put a big smile on your face.

You’ll never guess what James got for me…

I’ve been tagged by Kudo-san.

Here are 6 weird things about me:

1. As you may have read in my previous post, I used to wear glasses when I was still studying. After graduating, my eyesight became normal again and I lost the glasses… amongst other things.

2. I say bismillah each time the toothbrush enters my mouth.

3. I hate oranges/mandarins or any citrus fruits, but i can drink orange juice or anything orange-flavoured. As long as there are no orange bits. Yuck.

4. Speaking of chocolates, they give me bad headaches. I have no idea why. I can have a small chunk, anything more then its migraine-hell for me.

5. I’m right-handed but left-eye-dominant and wear a wristwatch on my right hand.

6. I have the tendency to complicate time-telling. I would say something like, it’s quarter to half-past three, when i could have just said quarter past three or just plain 3:15. I have done this countless times to strangers all over London when they ask for the time. You should have seen the look on their faces.

The deal was to only give 6, but I’m sure nobody minds:

7. I can tell when girls are having their period. I somehow picked up this talent(?) back when I was in uni. Sadly, my powers(?) have subsided over the years, probably due to all the air pollution in London. Amacam, boleh join Heroes tak?

8. Despite being overweight and unfit, I can sprint 100 metres in under 15 seconds. After that you will have to get four people to carry me to the hospital.

I think that’s it for now although I’m pretty sure there’s more. Sadly, I don’t think there’s anybody left to tag. If you think you’re weirder, give it a go and let me know. I’d love to read it.

____

Speaking of university and London, has anyone read this? I wonder what the prices are going to be like. More importantly, the variety.

____

Sapa nak tengok 300 kat IMAX? Besar wooo…

No this is not an entry on Damon Albarn’s former band nor his current one; Gorillaz (although both are equally awesome). Anyway, recently I noticed some blurriness in my left eye. I know what you’re going to say: “You’re getting old”. That is so passe. Ok so it MAY be age-related, but in the past I’ve always blamed it on me sleeping with half my face buried (and heavily squashed) in my pillow. I would get up in the morning with my left eye completely out of focus. It would eventually get better as I shower and have my breakfast. But the last few days, I never really got it to focus properly again.

Despite an illustration of yours truly donning a pair of Miu Miu glasses in the previous entry, I don’t actually wear glasses, at least not now. I used to wear a pair when I was studying for SPM yonks ago and throughout university years. Although I wasn’t aware of it at the time, the frame wasn’t really a very flattering one (cue a snapshot of Tun Mahathir’s glasses back in the 80s). I stopped wearing them after my first year of employment. For some odd reason, my eyesight became much better (after staying off those thick degree books).

The problem now is, you see, I’m left-eye dominant. I aim with my left eye and that means looking through the camera viewfinder with my bad eye. Thanks to modern technology, I don’t really have to worry about my subjects being out of focus since it’s automatically done for me.

It’s still a bit depressing nonetheless…

Did I tell you my birthday is in a few days?

We all know that any good artist; a painter, sculptor, photographer, etc. is very capable of expressing themselves in their work. The problem with being a nerd techhead is that all these “art” mean absolutely squat to me.

I look for practicality, aesthetics and more importantly, it has to be very very shiny. As a bonus, I should be able to afford it. Have you seen the Apple MacBook Pro? Now that is art. How about the Nokia N95 that’s coming out next month? *drools*

However, all is not lost. I do have an appreciation for Bach, if classical music can be classified as art. I’m also very fascinated with black and white photography, especially something that has a lot of contrast and texture. When I cook, I try to make the food presentable; you know, use the fried-rice-in-bowl-turned-upside-down-trick with the telur mata kerbau rested on top, for example. Does that also count as art? Hehe.

And if you think that’s bad, you haven’t seen my choice of clothes yet…

I started this a while back. I almost forgot about it until I saw the lanterns in China Town. You might want to refresh your memory by reading the first part here.

And the story continues…

“Come guys, the food is ready.”

Syimah’s announcement was anticipated, but strangely still managed to startle both James and I. We had just finished watching Sepet on VCD.

“Jom makan wei.”
(Come let’s go eat.)

The smell of freshly-made sambal was like potent incense to us; we were being pulled into the kitchen like a couple of gargantuan salmons being reeled in by a magical fishing rod.

During this act of utter pure shamelessness, I somehow failed to ask James what he thought of the film; after all, there is some connection to him. I must admit, this was a good example of a man’s one track mind. Hehe.

James on the other hand, was still somewhat puzzled that Syimah thought I was Chinese. You should see the disbelief in his face. I told James not to say anything as I wanted to see how long before Syimah realises that I wasn’t Chinese.

Seconds later both James and I found ourselves in Syimah’s kitchen.

Belinda was there.

“Hello”, she said.

This five-foot adorable thing wearing a ultra-bright yellow hijab and matching baju kurung spoke to me. She also had the fairest skin. I felt like I was looking straight at the sun; my eyes were hurting. It’s a good thing I wasn’t a vampire.

“Err.. Hi”, was my brief respond as I squinted slightly.

“Ah Belinda, this is James’ friend…”, Syimah proceeded to introduce us to each other.

“Ijun”, I said with a sheepish grin.

How could I not grin? I could already see the nasi lemak on the dining table. I was already inhaling the aroma of sambal that filled the whole airspace of the kitchen.

“Nice to meet you again, Belinda”, James was still in the picture.

“Nice to see you too. What would you guys like to drink?”

“Ada apa?”
(What’s available?)

“We have Pineapple and Coconut Juice…”

“Errr… sedap ke?”
(Errr… does it taste good?)

I can honestly tell you that it was heavenly, and so was Syimah‚Äôs nasi lemak. The only thing that was slightly out of place was a plate of cherry tomatoes where sliced cucumber should be. You see, Syimah doesn‚Äôt like cucumber (so clich?©) but to add complete-ness to the whole nasi lemak thing, she served cherry tomatoes, which I must admit, albeit slightly unusual, seemed to be a fitting replacement.

Anyway, to keep a long story short, the four of us were sitting down and busy stuffing our faces, with the usual chat about what everybody was doing, for how long, blah blah blah, when suddenly I chomped down on a whole cherry tomato and the juice squirted right into my throat.

*cough* *cough* *cough*

I was choking my brains out.

“Are you ok?”, Syimah sounding a bit concerned.

‚ÄúIt‚Äôs ok.” *cough*

“I just popped my cherry.‚Äù

Syimah, Belinda and James burst into a fit of laughter.

I just realised what I just said.

I wasn’t amused of course.

My eyes were still watery from that incident.

*mumble* *mumble*

In any case, James and I had seconds, and thirds, and.. well you get the general idea.

It was getting late. I had no plans in staying any later than 7pm (yes we had home-cooked nasi lemak at 6pm would you believe it). So after helping out with the dishes, James and I excused ourselves.

After saying our thanks to both Syimah and Belinda, we grabbed our jackets and headed out the door.

Just as Syimah was about to close the door behind us, I managed to squeeze in one final subtle hint,

“Assalamualaikum”

‚ÄúWaalaikumsalam‚Äù, she replied…

…and the door closed shut.

GONG XI FA CAI!!!
ANGPAU NA LAI?