Cheat Work Thursday

Recently, as a result of trying to focus on doing one thing at a time, I found that I can watch Bourne movies. After a number of attempts, I finally managed to watch every minute of The Bourne Identity. Not five minutes watching, another five knitting. Kidding, I don't knit , not yet . My short attention span multitasking habit is often making me miss a movie's plot, including the ending. So when they were showing The Bourne Ultimatum the following week, I waited eagerly in front of the TV like a full-grown adult in front of a candy store. I've also just finished reading Jeffrey Archer's Prison Diary(s). Archer made life in prison sound bearable, although he kept stressing otherwise. Of course, it WASN'T bearable, but by the 89th day he was in prison, he was already making a lot of money times three by writing his third Prison Diary. Fletch, an inmate in the first volume, reminds me of Sleepers , one of my favourite movies till today. I decided to skip th...

It's good that we are all celebrating raya after a month of puasa, visiting friends and relatives, asking for forgiveness, catching up and stuff, but tell me we are not overdoing this. Puasa month (and buka puasa) is already a celebration by itself with preparations for raya may have started even way before puasa. After the public holidays and more, apparently not enough, there comes the open house season resulting in this... ... everywhere we go for the past two weekends so far. It's 45 minutes (10 rounds of We Rock ) to get out of this stretch of the road, 43 more minutes than usual. It's the first day of raya all over again, and it won't be long before Hari Raya Haji arrives. I love my country.

I think Counting-Calories(-Plus-a-lil'-of-Exercise) is the least cruel way to lose weight. It's Mathematics. Calories in, calories out = the balance. No suffocating cigarette, no pills, no creepy-smelling jamu, no starvation, no knife and no personal trainer with a whip yelling at you six hours a day (unless you like whips, of course). I read that the trick with exercise is to split it into at least two sessions in a day to cheat our body into processing calories continuously. With this information, for five seconds, I felt like I knew the way around the system already. So let's say we need 1,500kcal/day to maintain our current weight (depending on gender, age, height, weight, activity level). We may lose one pound in a week if we reduce our intake to 1,000/day. Though I heard with 1,000/day, we may risk not getting enough nutrition. But if we still eat junk at 2,000, don't bother. There are tons of websites that can tell us how many calories a cheeseburger or a...

1. When was the last time you ran? Last Thursday. 2. Do you own jeans with rips, tears and holes on them? I don't anymore . 3. What are you dreading right now? It was a busy three-day weekend. I dread looking at the chaos in my room. 4. When was the last time you saw your significant other? Yes. 5. Do you get the full eight hours of sleep every night? Usually. 6. Have you ever been in your school’s band? Yes, in primary school. 7. Do you eat raw cookie dough? Not anymore. 8. Do you hate it when a radio ruins a song by playing a slow one after it? I don't think a slow song ruins the previous one. I only think the prank calls they now have on many morning shows are not funny. 9. Have you ever stayed on line a long time waiting for someone? On line as in phone? 24 minutes, for a pay TV customer service. Times three. I put the phone on speaker and managed to put on some face mask and clip my nails while waiting. 10. Could you live without a computer? Sur...

Working at home, I know when the postman, garbage truck, mosquito fogging service and old newspaper man make their rounds in my area. The mail is between 11-12, garbage at 2, mosquito at around 5 in the morning, and old newspaper Fridays at noon. And the apartment's janitors push their garbage trolley at 8.30 with the loudest of sound every morning. It's a low-rise apartment. My unit is on the second floor, with my bedroom facing the yard and the under-construction highway. This place is like a noise factory. Besides that, the owner of this car across my block should leave their car keys with me, so I can help switch the alarm off. That thing goes off every couple of hours -- daily. I also have a neighbour with an expanding collection of stray cats. The tricky thing is, the cats live under the staircase. I don't like pets, but I get it if other people do. I agree with the No Pets Allowed rule, but if you really love cats so much, go have them. It isn't my busines...

Also, I heard a new Kinsella book, Twenties Girl, will be out next year too! Update : Just noticed that Luke Brandon is played by Hugh Dancy, who played Buddy in that-movie-which- almost -made-me-cry-recently . And now it's hard for me to picture Buddy transforming into Luke Brandon. Somehow, I'm picturing Hugh Jackman in that role (especially after seeing him in Woody Allen's Scoop with Scarlett Johansson), but Dancy was very good in Evening -- alright, maybe he'll be great as Luke.

So it's a wrap -- the raya break. In summary, it was several raya visits, some chikungunya scare, huge traffic moving to small towns, loads of delicious food, and many card games* till the wee hours of the morning. One BBQ for my mother's birthday and 2kg later, I'm now back in KL and already missing those proper, hot, home-cooked, served-all-day meals. I think my parents look old -- older . Happy as always but old. My father is 70, a little quiet these days but not as strict as he was 10, 15 years back (he can be really funny, but he can be really strict too). My mother is 55, always the humble, practical, most generous woman. I hope my siblings and I won't turn into those overprotective children, even if the intention is to take care of our parents. When we're on family vacation, sometimes my father likes to take a walk in the morning alone, without bringing his phone, for hours, and it makes us worry, which we don't have to. I remind myself now that ...

1) The Best Pineapple Tart in town, made exclusively by The Secret Organization . If I'm not too haunted by the amount of butter/margarine(?) used to make them, I can finish one container in one day. Orders are placed through a secret bidding, six months prior to the shipment date. I'm just lucky to be on the list this year -- happen to know someone who knows someone who knows someone. (Thanks, Jones .) 2) Three books that I've been meaning to read for ages -- Jeffrey Archer's Prison Diary(s) -- Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. 3) Three decks of playing cards. My dear nephews and nieces, time to put away the Barbies and Saidinas, and make way for Casino Royale. Selamat Hari Raya.

I was watching TV. I had a book in one hand, and a notebook and a pencil in the other, scribbling some clearly important stuff. Then I remembered that I needed to return my mother's call. I talked to my mother very quickly because the murderer in the movie was about to kill again. I had already missed the first killing between chapter five and six of my book. I know in your case, multitasking means saving the world while cloning humans, but my point is, maybe we should go a bit easy on multitasking. The impression is, however, we live in a time which multitasking is a must. Not doing at least three things simultaneously sounds like you are doing life wrong. Some blurry number of years ago, when work took up most hours of my week, I could not live without multitasking, and coincidentally, those were not really my favourite times. Several things have changed today, and since I claim it should mean a more flexible schedule -- why do I still have this urge to do many things at a ...

One of the basic rules in sales -- or just speaking to people, really -- is saying the name of the other party right. Sometimes I'd stupidly butcher this and, with that, my first impression -- thanks to my probably coffee-induced tongue, which sometimes works faster than my brain. Way faster, and I'd start mixing up names. For example, if my first appointment for the day is with Haris Sani and my second is with Azlan Haris, I'd proudly call the latter 'En Haris'. I'm lucky if I only slip once in a single meeting. Many times, I do not. In other cultures, especially in formal or unfamiliar settings, it is expected that we go by the last name to address someone. But in Malay culture, calling someone by their surname is simply rude. This would be especially awkward when I'm with clients whom I could eventually do away with 'Encik' or 'Puan'. I'd confidently go talk to Fatimah Abu and say, "Ok Abu, here are the details of..." I...