a new drama is unfolding in the household. a new series involving the chef and the house manager. she is caught in the middle of the throes of passion by the maids. they glimpsed a very naked her running in the dark room and waited by the staircase until she emerged from the room. she was very angry, to say the least. what are you all doing here?! to spy on you; that definitely was not the answer spoken. to catch you redhanded, only if any of them wanted to die at the very immediate moment. she was only rubbing oil for the chef, spew forth the excuse. so lame. so very lame.
others held their tongue. one, the one who witnessed it first, couldn't hold it in, knowing that revenge was imminent. she tattle-taled to the highest level of authority that she could access. the boss was informed. but yet no action was taken? there is always wisdom in waiting and seeing.
many months later, another maid tattle-taled. it seems that she didn't do the necessary sucking up and pleasing to keep their mouth shut. they are still very displeased with how they are being treated. you can actually tell, who she has treated especially bad by seeing who walks to the front to tattle-tale. you wonder. those that keep quiet, is it because they are being treated better, or they are so much more of an expert political maneuverist, holding in details and only divulging when it is to their favour. i certainly hope i am reading too much into it.
still no response from the powers that be? they must be really dense. ha! then came the text messages. one to the boss. one to the second lady of the house. why not to me? i also wonder. someone seems very keen for action to be taken against the two leading actor and actress of the drama.
what will happen next? will they be relieved of their jobs? both or either? we will have to catch the next episode to see how the drama continues.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
politically correct answer
after many months of just living next door to him, i finally bumped into tan sri in the lift on the way home, despite our very best effort to go for an earlier lift, but fate will have it that no lift was available until yang bahagia decided to join us. even lifts bow to the politically connected. sigh.
tan sri's bodyguard pressed the floor whilst the rest of us just stood quietly by. after what seemed like the longest time, it finally dawned on him that we didn't press any other floor. that's when it dawned on him. or that's when he started panicking and wonder if we have other hidden agendas. :-p slowly he turned to me and asked, "do you live in the same floor?". cheekily, i was waiting for that, and i replied, "we are your very noisy neighbours". that was a discreet apology for all those early morning door-bangings and children screaming across the hallway. tan sri said, "not so noisy". i turned to my daughter and said, "luckily, not so noisy".
when we enter into the safety of our home, it was all we could do not to burst into laughters on the floor. not so noisy. perhaps meaning that we are noisy indeed but still bearable. people in politics. always with the politically correct answer. *grins*
tan sri's bodyguard pressed the floor whilst the rest of us just stood quietly by. after what seemed like the longest time, it finally dawned on him that we didn't press any other floor. that's when it dawned on him. or that's when he started panicking and wonder if we have other hidden agendas. :-p slowly he turned to me and asked, "do you live in the same floor?". cheekily, i was waiting for that, and i replied, "we are your very noisy neighbours". that was a discreet apology for all those early morning door-bangings and children screaming across the hallway. tan sri said, "not so noisy". i turned to my daughter and said, "luckily, not so noisy".
when we enter into the safety of our home, it was all we could do not to burst into laughters on the floor. not so noisy. perhaps meaning that we are noisy indeed but still bearable. people in politics. always with the politically correct answer. *grins*
Sunday, September 27, 2009
the land of the rising sun
came back from 6 days in the land of the rising sun, the first time that we ventured on our own in that country. there had always been an invisible wall holding us back from going it alone; perhaps it was the language barrier and the intimidating culture. what may seem like natural to us may be taboo to the tradition-filled country. however, what we needed and craved for this time around was some space, a slow-down in pace and a little breathing creche. the relatively safe country with wonderful food and organised transportation was just our ticket for a break.
it was a refreshing change, from the hurried pace of tour itinenaries, the get-down-shoot-go-back-to-the-bus style of group vacations. after so many times of visiting japan, this was the first that we had a more realistic and down-to-earth interaction with the local people. their culture, their people, their tradition emphasises heavily on outward appearance. consumer products are beautifully packaged for marketing, their youth dressed stylishly, even at the price of wearing hot sweaty boots in the dead of a hot spring day and high feet-crunching heels in a vast universal studio theme park. their manners abundant in the face of interaction with others. no one passes another in the hallway without at the very least a greeting for a good day. enter a restaurant, and staffs will be shouting long almost melodious lines of welcome at you, eventhough you cannot catch even one single word of what was uttered. for all i know, they could be saying, 'what? one more customer? we are busy as hell. please come back later'. well, still, they are saying it in a very nice and welcoming manner. women bow to their men when they get the bill for food, salespeople come over the counter to personally deliver your purchase to you and some even walk you to the door. i have yet to see a black sulking face in the land of the arigatos.
looking at the facade of what appears to be a common dwelling, they do not strive to be outlandish or different. they do not hang decorations or what-have-yous in the door of their house so that they will be able to tell their door apart from their neighbours during their drunken stupor. the evil character in ali baba story will have a hard time telling apart whose door is whose door. they are exactly the same. they do not strive to be different, instead they try their best to conform. perhaps when the door is opened, when one walks inside their houses can we see where they express their uniqueness. i did not have such an opportunity this time around but i can remember very vaguely when i did umpteenth years ago. the house that i visited did not appear to be any different from those i have seen in japanese movies. how, i wonder then, do they attempt to express their distinctness?
i love all japanese food, perhaps not so much their sickeningly sweet worcestershire sauce, which can be found on all things ranging from okonomiyaki to takoyaki but after 6 days of ramen, udon, katsu curry and not much else, i am a little tired of it all. perhaps the problem lies in that we do not recognise any other food than that which we already often have. we do not know how to order their more homely normal food. their japanese menus are nothing more than bean sprout wordings to me, and so we always end up ordering what we know, which in this foreign country, isn't much.
still, i like japan. a country that keeps its very best for themselves. a country that appear to be safe and transportation reliable. a country that show their very good side to strangers and is at the very least very polite. but to stay there for an extended period of time, it seems to be a little tiring. i wouldn't say malaysia is best, not even close but japan is a country that is most wonderful - for vacation.
it was a refreshing change, from the hurried pace of tour itinenaries, the get-down-shoot-go-back-to-the-bus style of group vacations. after so many times of visiting japan, this was the first that we had a more realistic and down-to-earth interaction with the local people. their culture, their people, their tradition emphasises heavily on outward appearance. consumer products are beautifully packaged for marketing, their youth dressed stylishly, even at the price of wearing hot sweaty boots in the dead of a hot spring day and high feet-crunching heels in a vast universal studio theme park. their manners abundant in the face of interaction with others. no one passes another in the hallway without at the very least a greeting for a good day. enter a restaurant, and staffs will be shouting long almost melodious lines of welcome at you, eventhough you cannot catch even one single word of what was uttered. for all i know, they could be saying, 'what? one more customer? we are busy as hell. please come back later'. well, still, they are saying it in a very nice and welcoming manner. women bow to their men when they get the bill for food, salespeople come over the counter to personally deliver your purchase to you and some even walk you to the door. i have yet to see a black sulking face in the land of the arigatos.
looking at the facade of what appears to be a common dwelling, they do not strive to be outlandish or different. they do not hang decorations or what-have-yous in the door of their house so that they will be able to tell their door apart from their neighbours during their drunken stupor. the evil character in ali baba story will have a hard time telling apart whose door is whose door. they are exactly the same. they do not strive to be different, instead they try their best to conform. perhaps when the door is opened, when one walks inside their houses can we see where they express their uniqueness. i did not have such an opportunity this time around but i can remember very vaguely when i did umpteenth years ago. the house that i visited did not appear to be any different from those i have seen in japanese movies. how, i wonder then, do they attempt to express their distinctness?
i love all japanese food, perhaps not so much their sickeningly sweet worcestershire sauce, which can be found on all things ranging from okonomiyaki to takoyaki but after 6 days of ramen, udon, katsu curry and not much else, i am a little tired of it all. perhaps the problem lies in that we do not recognise any other food than that which we already often have. we do not know how to order their more homely normal food. their japanese menus are nothing more than bean sprout wordings to me, and so we always end up ordering what we know, which in this foreign country, isn't much.
still, i like japan. a country that keeps its very best for themselves. a country that appear to be safe and transportation reliable. a country that show their very good side to strangers and is at the very least very polite. but to stay there for an extended period of time, it seems to be a little tiring. i wouldn't say malaysia is best, not even close but japan is a country that is most wonderful - for vacation.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
politically correct
after many months of just living next door to him, i finally bumped into tan sri in the lift on the way home, despite our very best effort to go for an earlier lift, but fate will have it that no lift was available until yang bahagia decided to join us. even lifts bow to the politically connected. sigh.
tan sri's bodyguard pressed the floor whilst the rest of us just stood quietly by. after what seemed like the longest time, it finally dawned on him that we didn't press any other floor. that's when it dawned on him. or that's when he started panicking and wonder if we have other hidden agendas. :-p slowly he turned to me and asked, "do you live on the same floor?". cheekily, i was waiting for that, and i replied, "we are your very noisy neighbours". that was a discreet apology for all those early morning door-bangings and children screaming across the hallway. tan sri said, "not so noisy". i turned to my daughter and said, "luckily, not so noisy".
when we enter into the safety of our home, it was all we could do not to burst into laughters and roll on the floor. not so noisy. perhaps meaning that we are noisy indeed but still bearable. people in politics. always with the politically correct answer. *grins*
tan sri's bodyguard pressed the floor whilst the rest of us just stood quietly by. after what seemed like the longest time, it finally dawned on him that we didn't press any other floor. that's when it dawned on him. or that's when he started panicking and wonder if we have other hidden agendas. :-p slowly he turned to me and asked, "do you live on the same floor?". cheekily, i was waiting for that, and i replied, "we are your very noisy neighbours". that was a discreet apology for all those early morning door-bangings and children screaming across the hallway. tan sri said, "not so noisy". i turned to my daughter and said, "luckily, not so noisy".
when we enter into the safety of our home, it was all we could do not to burst into laughters and roll on the floor. not so noisy. perhaps meaning that we are noisy indeed but still bearable. people in politics. always with the politically correct answer. *grins*
Saturday, September 19, 2009
a complicated life we live in
sometimes, i don't get the world.
young master came home one day after school and went straight to my room. his mother wasn't home from work. he needs a batch of cookies for school tomorrow, the home-made type and not those straight from boxes. it was a tad inconvenient perhaps, being the eleventh hour and all but since i have all the necessary ingredients in the fridge, all i had to lose was time.
so, off we went, with all the ingredients piled high in our hands to the kitchen we were a-baking. i'm no professional baker and most attempts end up in failure. still, a batch of cookies i can whip up. edible or not, that is a different question altogether. halfway through the baking session, which he insisted he had to do by himself, i shooed him off for his tuiton and homework.
by dinner time, the mouth-watering aroma filled the kitchen. young master hasn't finished his marathon tuiton session. his mother, who has just returned from work, joined the rest of us at the dinner table. whilst i was still tending to the biscuits, lady of the house was telling the rest how inept i was at baking. hahaha, a fact which i do not deny nor am offended about. young master's mother was bewildered. why was i baking cookies for her son? how come she doesn't know anything about it? she completed dinner faster than you can say abracadabra, and stormed off in the direction of her son's room. nobody could find her. much much later, her son came down and looked moody. apparently his mother had threw a fit and told him never to ask for her help again.
sigh.
so dramatic.
which leaves me very confused. what was the big faux pas here? was he supposed to wait until his mother come back from work, which can sometimes be very late, or was he suppose to give her a call first to get her permission? her permission to seek help from others, a family member nonetheless. what should have been my politically correct response? was i supposed to have rejected her son's plea for help? i may be branded cold and heartless. was i suppose to give her a call first to check if it was alright? i am not one to call for attention to the kind and helpful side of me and to gloat for glory. to do or not to do? something that should have been so straightforward, something that should have been so simple. i really don't understand why things must be so complicated.
young master came home one day after school and went straight to my room. his mother wasn't home from work. he needs a batch of cookies for school tomorrow, the home-made type and not those straight from boxes. it was a tad inconvenient perhaps, being the eleventh hour and all but since i have all the necessary ingredients in the fridge, all i had to lose was time.
so, off we went, with all the ingredients piled high in our hands to the kitchen we were a-baking. i'm no professional baker and most attempts end up in failure. still, a batch of cookies i can whip up. edible or not, that is a different question altogether. halfway through the baking session, which he insisted he had to do by himself, i shooed him off for his tuiton and homework.
by dinner time, the mouth-watering aroma filled the kitchen. young master hasn't finished his marathon tuiton session. his mother, who has just returned from work, joined the rest of us at the dinner table. whilst i was still tending to the biscuits, lady of the house was telling the rest how inept i was at baking. hahaha, a fact which i do not deny nor am offended about. young master's mother was bewildered. why was i baking cookies for her son? how come she doesn't know anything about it? she completed dinner faster than you can say abracadabra, and stormed off in the direction of her son's room. nobody could find her. much much later, her son came down and looked moody. apparently his mother had threw a fit and told him never to ask for her help again.
sigh.
so dramatic.
which leaves me very confused. what was the big faux pas here? was he supposed to wait until his mother come back from work, which can sometimes be very late, or was he suppose to give her a call first to get her permission? her permission to seek help from others, a family member nonetheless. what should have been my politically correct response? was i supposed to have rejected her son's plea for help? i may be branded cold and heartless. was i suppose to give her a call first to check if it was alright? i am not one to call for attention to the kind and helpful side of me and to gloat for glory. to do or not to do? something that should have been so straightforward, something that should have been so simple. i really don't understand why things must be so complicated.
Friday, September 18, 2009
getting on with 38
birthday this year started out on a sour note. sometimes it's better when some people remain complacent and immobile about the day rather than tinge it with their insincerity. i wouldn't mind so much if people forgot about it so much as they expect me to take an active participation in organising the day.
it was a good day nonetheless. had a wonderful lunch with friends, laughing and joking. that's what i think the best birthdays are all about; good friends, laughter and good food. and in the evening, a few glasses of white to wash down the teppanyaki dinner. ahhhhhhh, what else is there to ask for?
it was a good day nonetheless. had a wonderful lunch with friends, laughing and joking. that's what i think the best birthdays are all about; good friends, laughter and good food. and in the evening, a few glasses of white to wash down the teppanyaki dinner. ahhhhhhh, what else is there to ask for?
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
explosion imminent
when your stomach is so full, to the brink of explosion, it severely affects your work performance. hence all those correction tape marks in my work today, boss. honest. nothing to do with my skill or professionalism. you eat too much, leads to your stomach being so uncomfortable, leads to difficulty in concentration with your belly in the way, leads also to sleepiness when the digestion sets in, which finally leads to all types of mistake in your work. *yawn* see? it's not my fault. it's my friend's. for buying me such a wonderful lunch.
haha. how ungrateful. there goes my free lunch from now on. :-p
haha. how ungrateful. there goes my free lunch from now on. :-p
Monday, September 14, 2009
celebratory
an ex-boyfriend offered to buy me lunch in celebration of my birthday.
i don't know what to say to that; i sit here, fingers hovering over the keyboard, not knowing what to type next. inappropriate? i feel not. he is like any other friend now, why can't he offer to buy me lunch? it is harmless at best; it is only treading on dangerous waters if there is even an inkling of anything more. everything that was in the past is in the past. i can't even remember the details of our relationship anymore, be it significant or immaterial. it's like a slate wiped clean. i don't know how i do it, erase everything with such finality and entirety. did i ever like him? how did i like him? i cannot remember. i look into my heart, there is nothing there except a vacant echoing nook.
when i enter into a relationship, i jump in with both feet, totally devoted, totally commited. when things don't work and it ends, i walk out and close that chapter of my life, not looking back, never looking back. i ask myself sometimes, who is he to me but the picture looking back at me is no longer attractive, no more calling my name, like a distant stranger. how i can remove myself with such detachment, i do not know.
sounds cold perhaps. but it feels good. to keep my life so pure and simple.
so, did i accept his invitation? i told him that his intentions are good enough and received, thank you very much.
life should be kept simple. if not for me, then for my partner's peace of mind, eventhough some may argue that he has more faith in me than that, it is the little that i can do for him. what would lunch with a friend bring for me? a gladness that someone remembers. and i already have that.
i don't know what to say to that; i sit here, fingers hovering over the keyboard, not knowing what to type next. inappropriate? i feel not. he is like any other friend now, why can't he offer to buy me lunch? it is harmless at best; it is only treading on dangerous waters if there is even an inkling of anything more. everything that was in the past is in the past. i can't even remember the details of our relationship anymore, be it significant or immaterial. it's like a slate wiped clean. i don't know how i do it, erase everything with such finality and entirety. did i ever like him? how did i like him? i cannot remember. i look into my heart, there is nothing there except a vacant echoing nook.
when i enter into a relationship, i jump in with both feet, totally devoted, totally commited. when things don't work and it ends, i walk out and close that chapter of my life, not looking back, never looking back. i ask myself sometimes, who is he to me but the picture looking back at me is no longer attractive, no more calling my name, like a distant stranger. how i can remove myself with such detachment, i do not know.
sounds cold perhaps. but it feels good. to keep my life so pure and simple.
so, did i accept his invitation? i told him that his intentions are good enough and received, thank you very much.
life should be kept simple. if not for me, then for my partner's peace of mind, eventhough some may argue that he has more faith in me than that, it is the little that i can do for him. what would lunch with a friend bring for me? a gladness that someone remembers. and i already have that.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
the complicated web we weave
sometimes, i don't get the world.
young master came home one day after school and went straight to my room. his mother wasn't home from work. he needs a batch of cookies for school tomorrow, the home-made type and not those straight from boxes. it was a tad inconvenient perhaps, being the eleventh hour and all but since i have all the necessary ingredients in the fridge, all i had to lose was time.
so, off we went, with all the ingredients piled high in our hands to the kitchen we were a-baking. i'm no professional baker and most attempts end up in failure. still, a batch of cookies i can whip up. edible or not, that is a different question altogether. halfway through the baking session, which he insisted he had to do by himself, i shooed him off for his tuiton and homework.
by dinner time, the mouth-watering aroma filled the kitchen. young master hasn't finished his marathon tuiton session. his mother, who has just returned from work, joined the rest of us at the dinner table. whilst i was still tending to the biscuits, lady of the house was telling the rest how inept i was at baking. hahaha, a fact which i do not deny nor am offended about. young master's mother was bewildered. why was i baking cookies for her son? how come she doesn't know anything about it? she completed dinner faster than you can say abracadabra, and stormed off in the direction of her son's room. nobody could find her. much much later, her son came down and looked moody. apparently his mother had threw a fit and told him never to ask for her help again.
sigh.
so dramatic.
which leaves me very confused. what was the big faux pas here? was he supposed to wait until his mother come back from work, which can sometimes be very late, or was he suppose to give her a call first to get her permission? her permission to seek help from others, a family member nonetheless. what should have been my politically correct response? was i supposed to have rejected her son's plea for help? i may be branded cold and heartless. was i suppose to give her a call first to check if it was alright? i am not one to call for attention to the kind and helpful side of me and to gloat for glory. to do or not to do? something that should have been so straightforward, something that should have been so simple. i really don't understand why things must be so complicated.
young master came home one day after school and went straight to my room. his mother wasn't home from work. he needs a batch of cookies for school tomorrow, the home-made type and not those straight from boxes. it was a tad inconvenient perhaps, being the eleventh hour and all but since i have all the necessary ingredients in the fridge, all i had to lose was time.
so, off we went, with all the ingredients piled high in our hands to the kitchen we were a-baking. i'm no professional baker and most attempts end up in failure. still, a batch of cookies i can whip up. edible or not, that is a different question altogether. halfway through the baking session, which he insisted he had to do by himself, i shooed him off for his tuiton and homework.
by dinner time, the mouth-watering aroma filled the kitchen. young master hasn't finished his marathon tuiton session. his mother, who has just returned from work, joined the rest of us at the dinner table. whilst i was still tending to the biscuits, lady of the house was telling the rest how inept i was at baking. hahaha, a fact which i do not deny nor am offended about. young master's mother was bewildered. why was i baking cookies for her son? how come she doesn't know anything about it? she completed dinner faster than you can say abracadabra, and stormed off in the direction of her son's room. nobody could find her. much much later, her son came down and looked moody. apparently his mother had threw a fit and told him never to ask for her help again.
sigh.
so dramatic.
which leaves me very confused. what was the big faux pas here? was he supposed to wait until his mother come back from work, which can sometimes be very late, or was he suppose to give her a call first to get her permission? her permission to seek help from others, a family member nonetheless. what should have been my politically correct response? was i supposed to have rejected her son's plea for help? i may be branded cold and heartless. was i suppose to give her a call first to check if it was alright? i am not one to call for attention to the kind and helpful side of me and to gloat for glory. to do or not to do? something that should have been so straightforward, something that should have been so simple. i really don't understand why things must be so complicated.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
...and they came in pairs.
looking at my facebook's friends list, i know 2 andrews, 2 annies, 2 garys, 2 ivans, 2 jackies, 2 noels and 2 stanleys. i feel like i'm collecting a noah's ark.
time for tea
yesterday, had tea once more with our two budding bosses. it has been a very long time since our last tea session. time has driven an invisible wall between friends. once we could talk about everything, now it takes time to warm up again. once we laughed over anything under the sun, now laughters sounded a little strained.
our tea sessions have never been anything more than just plain gibberish, chatting about anything and everything to let out a little steam in our life. taking a little time off from our daily, hectic yet mundane life to simply talk, listen and connect. the pureness of friendship.
lately, things have been changing. life changes all the time. our tea sessions have been slowly dwindling away. have we run out of topics to talk about? from our yet another gibberish session yesterday, i hardly think so. perhaps the tapering is due to the ackward positions we hold in our lives. no one lives for himself and himself alone. striking a delicate balance between our desire to lighten the hurculean load on the shoulders, even if only for a little while, through harmless pointless banters and the feelings of close and dear is a mighty, and very stressful, task. then again, i speak for myself only. them, they are just plain busy.
so, time and circumstances have driven a cold draft back to my disposition. yet i can't help it. i am not one to open up easily to strangers. i hold back, i protect, i hide. that is me. yet i regard them still as friends. as close as any friends can be. because of all our pointless banters.
our tea sessions have never been anything more than just plain gibberish, chatting about anything and everything to let out a little steam in our life. taking a little time off from our daily, hectic yet mundane life to simply talk, listen and connect. the pureness of friendship.
lately, things have been changing. life changes all the time. our tea sessions have been slowly dwindling away. have we run out of topics to talk about? from our yet another gibberish session yesterday, i hardly think so. perhaps the tapering is due to the ackward positions we hold in our lives. no one lives for himself and himself alone. striking a delicate balance between our desire to lighten the hurculean load on the shoulders, even if only for a little while, through harmless pointless banters and the feelings of close and dear is a mighty, and very stressful, task. then again, i speak for myself only. them, they are just plain busy.
so, time and circumstances have driven a cold draft back to my disposition. yet i can't help it. i am not one to open up easily to strangers. i hold back, i protect, i hide. that is me. yet i regard them still as friends. as close as any friends can be. because of all our pointless banters.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)