That reminds me of….

You cannot live your life without memories. If you have no memories I will assume that you have been living your life stoned. Either with alcohol or drugs, it doesn’t matter… you were stoned during the course of your life if you have no memories. Well of course this theory doesn't apply if you sufferes from amnesia or drugged due to illness or something like that...well... you know what I mean.

I am sure everybody is like me. Certain things will evoke certain memories. Be it by smell, by touch or mostly by sight, some things can trigger memories.

Sometimes when I see a deodorant, especially blue Rexona ones, I will inadvertently think about Abe. He he….

For as long as I could remember, I have been very conscious about my B.O (body odour). Mummy selalu pesan to tempek our ketiak with bedak ketiak… he he…. Malu je kalau orang bau ketiak masam…. Said my mother. Dulu-dulu we used the ones dalam peket warna putih and ada gambar orang angkat ketiak dia kat depan….

Jenuh le aku dok menempek my own armpits with deodorants that promises sweet smelling experience for myself and people surrounding me….ha ha.

Come high school, I kept a bottle of blue Rexona inside my bag for emergencies (I still have an emergency bottle in my drawer at my office). The powdered ones are hard to keep because it kept spilling in my bag so I switched to Rexona for bag devoid of powdery substance experience.

One day, during form 1 when our school was terrorized by the ketua pengawas, I entered my class to receive news that the prefects did a spot check in our class. Fine. As I walked to my place, Abe intercepted me.

“Myra. Kak Asni ambik barang ko lah….” Said he, face all serious.

That didn’t sound too good. My heart quickened.

“Ambik apa ?”

“Alah… dia ambik benda tu….” Said he.

“Benda apa, Be ?” I asked again. His reluctance to mention what was taken from me made me more scared.

“Alah…. Dia ambik barang ketiak ko….” Said he, still serious. What made it terrible was (apart from he is a boy) that he raised his arm and showed how it was done… the applying of the Rexona to the armpit, that is. I immediately could feel my face heated up and I know my face had turned red.

“Itu pun nak ambik ke ?” I hid my shame behind anger.

“Itulah… aku pun tak tahu….” Said the very helpful Abe.

I said my thanks and valiantly tried to appear nonchalant.

Sebab itulah kadng-kadang bila aku nampak deodorant, especially yang brand Rexona and colour biru… aku ternampak si Abe dengan mukanya yang serious itu…

He he…

Movie Review : Speed Racer and Iron Man

Spectacular ! Speed Racer is a fun movie. I was thoroughly entertained even though I did came out of the wayang a bit dizzy because of the high speed racing and the cars going round and round. You won’t feel sleepy watching this movie because of the bright colours. I mean really vivid colours as the sceneries were all computer graphics. Bright blue skies, dizzyingly white puffy clouds, too pink and too yellow flowers… well.. you get my meaning. Therefore the chances of the movie inducing epileptic seizures is there, I think. You have been warned..

Susan Sarandon and that guy from Rosanne were really good and so was that cute doctor from Lost … although you can’t really judge because he wore a mask 90% of the time. Christina Ricci was okay too although her playing a sweet girl needs some getting used too. Apparently I haven’t seen much of her other movies because I keep seeing her as the morbid Wednesday Addams.

That Japanese/Korean/Chinese (he looked like that fella Rain… but I don’t know) was really good. His anger and his shock when Mach 5 entered the Grand Prix (some Grand Prix.. Michael Schumacher wouldn’t set his pedals on that circuit) looked well placed and well timed. And I so love the monkey…

Some review I make since I only know the name of 2 of the actors…

The theme is good. Something that you could watch with your kiddies and explain about cheating and fixing sports results and such. It is also about family sticking together, and fathers’ holding grudges (this is good to discuss with your spouses.. something you can say to him/her if ever your unfortunate turn comes.."Ingat dak cerita Speed Racer kita tengok dulu-dulu tuh ? Bapak dia kata kalau tak ikut cakap dia jangan balik lagi… haa…. Lepas tu anak tu tak balik terus… Ndak jadi macam tu ?…"). So you know.. it is good… he he…

My son thoroughly enjoys it. He was gripping his seat when the races were on and was shouting encoragement to the Mach 5. So, good yeah...

Iron Man is also a good movie even though I feel that Robert Downey Jr doesn’t make a convincing Iron Man/Stark. I dunno… I expected more from him I suppose. Maybe because he doesn’t look the part. Maybe the too blasé attitude ? I just didn’t feel that he was really into playing the part. Dan said Iron Man is like that.. you know very nonchalant, looks bored 24/7… well okaylah I suppose.

Jeff Bridges playing a villain is something that I need to get used to but he was excellent. Gwyneth… well… Okay maybe as a whole the movie is good but… if you scrutinize it, things just don’t gel.

Put it like this lah… I watched it the first time with my family and it was good (although I was already not really convinced with Robert Downey Jr then) but when I watched it for the second time with a colleague, I was watching it critically. Don’t get me wrong, the fighting scenes and the gadgets and the whatnots that make a good action movie is there… but something was missing…..

If you are a comic fan or somebody who loves the idea of superheroes, watch it. But if you want a truly great movie, well…..

But whatever it is, the war scene looked too real for comfort. The scene where they were ambushed and the soldiers died one by one, with explosions and gunfires aplenty was rather scary. Come on America, bring your boys and girls home. Vote for Obama and you can have your young uns back. Nobody likes to be invaded. Nobody….

My mother's cooking

Some weekends, like last weekend, I thought about my mother’s weekend mamak fare. Dulu – dulu, when I was a wee lass my mummy would open her Indian kitchen. Out came the flat pan and we would be whopping in delight.

Roti canai today, murtabak next week and my favourite puris the week after. Let’s not forget her delectable chapattis… Yummm… And her curries… wow… for a Perakian, her curries are really good (especially kari kuting – kuting is udang as per Umar’s dictionary).

Her murtabak mostly contained ground beef instead of onions as per those being sold at mamak restaurants. We could only stomach her red onion chutney as we would always throw those that came with store bought murtabaks.

Her puries ? Soft and crispy at the same time, small and inflated in the middle, just the way I like it. It is hard to find puris on sale here in Malaysia. I could only find them when I attend Indian’s kenduris really and nowhere else. Oh… well… I am quite able making them on my own but it is not the same as my mum’s. In fact, nothing I make could taste like hers…. Why ?

So last weekend, while my children were eating roti canai at Cili Merah, and while I tucked in my assortment of kuihs, I missed my mother’s Indian kitchen and its gastronomical delight.

Hmmm………..

Eeeeuuuuueeewwwwww !!

Oh Tuhan ! Dan and I were attacked yesterday. Well not really Dan.. but me !! I was the one who was actually attacked. Dan was spared 70% of the horror while I experienced it all.

Ya Rabbi !! Tension den.

I was sleeping in the wee hours of this morning, and strangely was dreaming of Jon Favreu ( he is a good actor (and director) and all but he is no hunk. Am wondering about that actually ) when I felt something licked me. It felt cold and was without a doubt a lick that I jumped up. I literally jumped and yelled “Oi !!” and in that process woke my husband up.

“What ?”

“Dan ! Something licked me !” I scanned the bed looking for the culprit, wishing and wishing that it was not a ..*gulp* snake. Dan didn’t bother to get up but he did say, “Itule… you tadi pecahkan remote ….”. What does that got to do with something licking me is beyond me. My heart was beating really fast because it was really weird. I didn't buy Dan's "It was just a dream" crap because I was dreaming about Mr. Favreu and the bloody cold lick was all too real.

I scooted to Dan’s side and tried to sleep. As I was willing my self to slumberland I heard a sound. It sounded like something fell on the floor. I jumped again and alerted my husband. He went to look around the house but found nothing. Since he was awake already, he switched on the light and the telly and that was when I saw it. Two strips of black thingy that looked so horrible and disgusting.

“Dan look !! I told you there was something and there it is. What is it ?”

“Myra you pegi mana ? That is lintah !!”

Lintah ? Immediately my hair stood on its end.

“Are you sure ? Why are they dead ?”

“Itu bukan mati tu. Dia org kenyang.”

I whipped off my clothes and started checking my whole entire body. I was panicky and almost in tears. I felt weird. Repulsed mix with wonder mix with dread mix with 1001 emotions, each one more negative than before.

“But where did they feed ? There is no blood anywhere !!”

Dan took some wipes to throw the …. can I say carcass ?… out. We changed the sheet because of the slime (yuck !!) and went to bed once more. I couldn’t sleep because the situation was just too horrific and incredible.

I kept asking why they were there and whence they came from. Their presence is so illogical that I couldn’t even think properly while I tried to soothe the awfulness that I was feeling. I just had too many unanswered questions and my mind was busy that I couldn’t sleep. Dan kept repeating this is the balasan of orang yang pecahkan his sacred Astro remote control when we heard another bump in the night. I said we because I could feel his eyes flicked open when the sound came.

“You hear that ?”

“It is not outside, it is in the room !!”

I leaped out of the bed and switched on the light. I stood on the doorway and waited for God knows what. I then decided to look into my children to make sure they are okay. From where I was standing I could see our room when my eyes caught the sight of a huge mouse came out from underneath our bed, ran out of our room, shot past the kiddies’ room before disappearing from view.

I was hysterical. I dived on the bed and jumped up and down… ( wow !! The cartoons are not all fictional after all ). I was shouting in no particular order “Dan !! Tikus !! Tikus !! Dan !! Help !!”

My husband ran into the room and jumped on the bed with me. I looked at him incredulously. He looked like he was coming to rescue me from Mighty Mouse but as he jumped on the bed and bounced up and down with me I was confused. Then confusion turned into disbelief.

“What are you doing ? Dan ! What are you doing ? Oh my God Rashdan !! What are you doing ?” I kept shouting at him as we bounced up and down on the kids’ bed. My Superman-William Wallace-Indiana Jones-Hans Solo-James Bond of a husband clutched my hands. Luckily Elsa slept on Umar’s bed or she would have woken up and join in the melee too.

“You should save me !! What are you doing ?”

“I geli ! I hate rats !” Was his answer and we stopped bouncing. He grinned at me and I just looked at him. What can you do but laugh because the situation was ridiculous. It was 4 am, damn it !

When we returned to our room I stupidly asked the connection between the lintah and the tikus. Dan said, “Ermm…I think it makes more sense to say that they were not lintah but poop.”

I blinked and blinked and blinked while I looked at him stupidly.

“He licked me while he pooped ?”

And Dan convulsed into laughter.

“Ini pengajaran untuk you. Semua nak kena bersih. Ini tak boleh itu tak boleh, kotor sikit tak nak makan… Ha… Tuhan dah bagi you something yang paling kotor. Dia bagi you Jerry !!….Haa….” and he emulated how the stupid tikus pooped while licking me.

He looked so ridiculous I forgot to defend myself. Then he added, “And because you pecahkan remote I..”

I vowed to pecahkan the next one he buys too…

Hmmm………… and eee….. geli…. Uwekkk !!