SPONTANEITY

It was the last day of 2008.

Jeff had his own idea on how to celebrate the New Year. He said, “let us go to Melaka and makan ikan bakar…”

I said, “Good idea…”

And we left the house. Our first stop before Melaka was Citibank as I had to collect my new credit card.

And after that, we made a U-turn.

Instead of Melaka, we went to Genting Highands. Yes, both of us unprepared – clad in shorts and t-shirt.

It was raining all the way and by the time we reached Genting, menggigil beb.


Me & Jeff at Starbucks Genting Highlands

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You must go watch this interesting movie, Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. I went to see it twice. First with Hafez and then Jeff.



Australia is an epic and romantic action adventure, set during the brink of World War II.

Nicole Kidman played an English aristocrat who traveled to Australia and met a rough-hewn local, played by Hugh Jackman and reluctantly agreed to join forces with him to save the land she inherited.

Together, they embarked upon a transforming journey across hundreds of miles of unforgiving terrain and faced the bombing of the city of Darwin by the Japanese forces.

Great cinematic experience -- romance, drama and adventure.


Me & Hafez

GREAT INTERVIEW

Yes, it sure was a great interview. Dato' Sri Tony Fernandes was just so media savvy. And the best part, I got to meet Rozman Omar. We went to school together at Malay College. Rozman is Air Asia's Group Chief Financial Officer.

It was also sort of a reunion with Zaini. Lama betul tak jumpa and we talked about Aziz and Muluk. I have not been in touch with them and I will soon make the call and plan a get together.

BTW the interview with Dato' Sri Tony Fernandes will be featured in Wajah 2008 -- coming soon on Astro AWANI.






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Good news. Din is out of the hospital. Great. We will go makan-makan.

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Oh... I will be working on Christmas eve and on Christmas day and the weekend.

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VAMPIRE, SOCIAL SKILLS & TIES

I think I am somehow related to the vampire.

Ideas just flow around midnight, I look so good around midnight (perasan ni, so what?) and I love shopping at midnight. And good for my wallet, they don’t open Pavilion at midnight. So, I am now a loyal KK customer – the Sri Hartamas outlet.

For the uninitiated, KK is a 24 hour convenience store where you can get almost everything minus the ikan and sayur. KK is a 711 plus more.

And yes, I just came back from KK and it is now 1:15 am.

So do I qualify to be in the vampire clan? But minus the fangs and cape. And I am not thirsty for blood and let me see… hmmm… biting the neck… hmmm… Certain things I will just keep to myself unless you plan to torture me, I will not reveal.

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Moving on, out of 10 (pardon my statistics…), yes, out of 10, I think only 3 people have what I would term as A+ social skill in “making strangers feel included in a members-only conversation”. And my good friend Rahmat is one of them.

Rahmat and I are two people who I would say have wonderful-weird frame of reference. Jung & Freud, would just fail to silo us in any category. Rahmat is a genius and his PR skills = A+.

Rahmat called when I was having dinner with Hafez at KLCC and asked me if I was free for our once a month Rahmat-SS-therapy session.

And I said of course, after my dinner with Hafez. And I did not tell Rahmat, I will bring Hafez along. I thought by knowing Rahmat, Hafez would see a different side of me and that would be good for the book that he is writing – yes, my pre-mature bio… no not premature ejaculation, you dirty minded primates!

And we met at my place at Dorchester, Plaza Damas. And the three of us went in my car for supper at Concorde KL.

On the way to Concorde we laughed and laughed as we talked about a story in one of the tabloids about someone who went for a ‘tanam susuk’ and then ‘cungkil susuk’. And this is ‘susuk diamond at RM150 per cucuk’. We were wondering what diamond would that be -- Zhulian or Swarovski? Or cubic Zirconia? And after the laugh we said, hmmm why not, lets go for a skin treatment, buang bintik-bintk hitam etc – hahaha.

Anyway, I have known Rahmat for about 10 years now – yes masa berlalu amat pantas.

We first met when I was in TV3 and specifically, I was the Marketing & Sales Manager of TV3’s film & animation subsidiary, Grand Brilliance.

We were at a tea party at Sri Pentas – occasion = Thanking all the stakeholders.

Rahmat introduced himself and from that day we have been good friends. Makan-makan, karaoke, play-shrink-session and all, we had fun. Rahmat has a wonderful mom and his family members have been so nice to me. I emceed Rahmat’s wedding, and Rahmat’s cousin’s wedding and macam-macamlah.

Rahmat knows how to include people in a conversation. And he did very well with Hafez. He started by asking Hafez his interests and other things that they have in common. And once Hafez said – Performing Arts, that’s when the magic started.

Rahmat travels at least 3 times a year to major film markets in Europe, US and Asia to buy films/movies. And Rahmat knows the movie business in and out. And both Hafez & Rahmat write scripts – Rahmat for his film (soon I hope…), and Hafez, for his play/drama/theatre assignments.

And from something common, Rahmat would move to other subjects and the flow was just so smooth. Now, that is what I mean by A+ social skill.

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This is the second week in a row that Jef was not around. He was in Alor Setar for another rugby match. Normally we would lepak together either catching up with work/assignments at Starbucks (yes, making use of the internet), or movie or makan-makan untuk menggemokkan badan.

As I was kinda bored, I called Hafez and off we went to Melaka.

Hafez and I had a great time in Melaka makan kupang & ikan bakar. And of course, my favourite gerai is Gerai Ayu No.6 at Umbai/Serkam.

After consuming the gross looking kupang, we went to Jonker Street to experience Melaka’s version of Petaling street + culture.

We met artist Charles Cham, a really interesting guy. He said he used to watch me on Face-to-Face. Gosh… that was millions of years ago. I hosted that programme in mid 90s on TV3.

Charles Cham on the right.

Charles worked as an editorial artist for a few years in KL before he went to France to paint. He became a member of the Association des Artistes Independants in Aix-en-Provence and exhibited in the Salon des Independents in 1990 and 1991. In 1993, he set up his studio in Melaka and named it The Orangutan House. He has exhibited in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bali, Australia, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Portugal and Hungary.

I find him very refreshing, down-to-earth and intriguing.

If you happened to be in Melaka, yes, my kampung, do visit his gallery at 12, Jonker Street (Jalan Hang Jebat), Melaka.

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Both Jef and I berselimut at GSC Signature earlier today when we watched YES MAN. Teramatlah sejuk dalam cinema.

Easy story line. A comedy.

But Jef was not feeling well, so we decided to go home after that movie instead of the normal Sunday extended-makan-lepak session.

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Din has improved. But they will not let him out of the hospital until the fever-graph is almost flat. Now he still has high temperature from time to time.

He was in a jovial mood when I visited him this morning. His mom was there too. Spoke to his mom and like me, she was convinced that Din would be out of the hospital soon. It has been three weeks now. If I were hospitalized for 3 weeks, I would have formed a singing group in the ward and menari poco-poco. Gila beb duduk sepital lelamer.

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Shah Matrock, Danguria, Jef & Me.

TOO MUCH TOO LITTLE TOO LATE...

No, I will not write about that as I am not an expert on the subject.

I decided to put the picture to attract your attention. Gotcha...


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Now, where do I start?

It has been a long time indeed.

I have been so busy with work and now that I am on leave I have some time to juggle between planning for new programmes for AWANI next year, write my book with Hafez & Enaarip, sort out my prorities in life -- being reasonable & all and of course update this blog.

And yes, reward myself silly with objects and more objects that will help me feel good about myself -- oh yes, humans not included because I can't own them!!!

Today after more than 2 weeks, Din is still in the hospital.

He has been transferred from Selangor Medical Centre to UMMC.

And the doctor said, he has a 'strange' illness that originated from Africa, short of just saying 'penyakit apa'. Oh yes, read my previous earlier.

He went through a minor operation. They sucked out some 'liquid' from his body and he should be out of the hospital within 3 days or so.

I hope he will recover really soon.



Met Syafique yesterday with Rozy.

Syafique is a very promising young man who has all the pre-req of an anchor. As a talent 'headhunter' I have been proven right like 75 percent of the time.

But the gruelling part is the training and the talent must be able to survive the very trying environment that he or she has to be in to carve a niche in the industry.

All the best Syafique.



And I am still undecided where I should go for a holiday.

As long as there is pancake it will be fine. French toast will be be fine too. And if the place has a kitchen, I will cook my sambal ikan bilis.

I just need to take a break and think.

And meet people and continue learning by observing.

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And eating burger with 21 packets of Chilli Sauce? You are full of surprises... And I love surprises...

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Is it Chikungunya?

I can't help it and I just had to google 'Chikungunya'.

Din has been warded at the Medical Centre for a couple of days now and they still couldn't figure out what is wrong with him. I went to see him again yesterday and he was so weak.

Name it, from TB to HIV, and X-rays and Scan, every single test came out negative.

The doctor said, Din was given all the medication necessary.

But he still has high fever on and off again.

Din asked the doctor if it is Chikungunya. The doctor said no.

And people are talking about Chikungunya.

So I googled and got the following and Din has the symptoms in red:

The incubation period of Chikungunya disease is from two to four days. Symptoms of the disease include fever, a petechial or maculopapular rash of the trunk and occasionally the limbs, and arthralgia or arthritis affecting multiple joints. Other nonspecific symptoms can include headache, conjunctival infection, and slight photophobia. Typically, the fever lasts for two days and then ends abruptly. However, other symptoms, namely joint pain, intense headache, insomnia and an extreme degree of prostration last for a variable period; usually for about 5 to 7 days. Patients have complained of joint pains for much longer time periods depending on their age. Three months after the viral infection, patients were still suffering from severe joint pain in the morning, dyspepsia, relapsing fever, swelling in the joints. Doctors should also be alert for platelet count abnormalities suggestive of Dengue or Falci. Chikungunya virus is indigenous to tropical Africa and Asia, where it is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected mosquitoes, usually of the genus Aedes.

I hope Din will hang on and fight it.

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