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.