Lazy Holiday Blues (and Nano-ing)

Published by simon on November 3, 2005

Sky is overcast, laundry hanging out on the line,
Old lady across the street is arranging the damp canvas shoes,
Neighbours are sleeping, all the shops are closed,
Everyone is lounging around in the lazy holiday blues.

A little breeze lifts the drying sheets and rustles the leaves,
Baby stirs in the overhanging net coloured blue.
Clock shows 3pm, it could be 11 in the morning for all I know,
It’s the lazy holiday blues, I tell you.

My fan is on at full, the papers are twitching in the breeze,
I’m a little hungry, didn’t have much to eat.
Had a pack salty snacks and some Maggi mee,
And a whole lot of steaming white coffee.

(Simon took a break from his Nanowrimo novel to write three verses. Novel not going so well, as you can tell…)

Working between Deepa and Raya

Published by simon on November 2, 2005

(This is an inane rambling post, not the usual stuff you find here everyday. You have been duly warned)

Today is what I call a sandwich day. It’s a working day sandwiched between two public holiday, or a weekend. The roads were clear today, but not as clear as Bhopal or Chernobyl as I expected. At least I didn’t have to use to first gear on the way here.

***

Yesterday evening we went to Mid-Valley for dinner. We didn’t have a clue where to eat, the shop directory smudged with fingerprints wasn’t much of a help. We walked along the lower ground floor and decided on a Japanese fast food place called Yoshinoya. It wasnt very cheap, and it was really small. Instead of serving teriyaki in the usual black compartmentalized tray, they seved the food in small plastic see-through containers, like those you find in Chinese restaurant take-aways. How unauthentic. Heck, talk about unauthentic, this is pseudo-Japanese food in Malaysia. Geez.

The food was just OK, don’t try the veg salad.

***

We went to Toys R Us after that, my daughter loves it there. I bought this mechanical wind-up sushi for TWO BUCKS! It could go forward, reverse and do circles, for just TWO FREAKING BUCKS!!! (I’ve got to make it clear to my daughter that it’s mine, not hers. She’s got enough wind-up toys from McDonalds.)

***

For some strange reason, I’m reminded of this song today:

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.

Hah! that’s because i used it in my nanowrimo novel yesterday.

***

I remember Raya from yesteryears, my neighbour, this nice makcik would make us a huge tray of Raya delicacies on the night before Syawal. Every year it had the same fare - beef rendang, ketupat, soto, chicken rendang, and my favourite - salty fried chicken. No one makes quite like that makcik.

Too bad she passed on 15 years ago, leaving behind 7 kids, including two pre-school boys.

Lately her eldest daughter Ami has been continuing the tradition, too bad it doesn’t taste the same.

***

Yesterday i stay at home mostly, writing my novel and reading Fortune. The more i write, the more i realise that my style is nothing like Gaiman. Not even Asimov. Damn. There goes my chances of grabbing next year’s booker prize.

***

Monday i had lunch with my friend near Bukit Bintang. We had a long chat about stuff - work, friends, money, insurance, and more gossip about our friends. I’ve come to realize I not making enough money, dammit. Damn this capitalistic society we live in.

***

Anyway to all my Muslim friends and readers, have a good Raya.