after 20 years away, it’s not likely that anything would be recognizable to me here, even if i remembered anything more than my childhood dog—Skippy—from when we lived here.
but Indonesia is a pretty cool place so far, and not so unfamiliar.. the Jakartan landscape from airplane view is definitely much different from Kuala Lumpur’s.. we had some wonderful Indonesian food, and i liked it all even though i’m still not great at eating spicy food—i like to think i’ve really really improved over the past few decades though, and that i’m at the very least a warrior about it.
we ran into issue at the airport.. they didn’t want to let my brother into the country because his American passport expires in less than 6 months. they seriously tried to send him back to Malaysia on the next flight out. i basically went into fight mode and could feel my the stress in my body and heartrate and such, as i stood between my brother and the 7 guys insisting that they had to take him to the airplane immediately. ultimately, mom was able to nice the man in charge into letting Lor through. if no is an unacceptable offer, then do not accept it.
very nice lady my father works with came to fetch us, and took us to lunch and such.. so nice to see the traditional handicrafts around.. i think more accessible and more authentic than stuff you’ll see in Malaysia these days. familiar and comfortable all at once.
internet at this hotel is not guaranteed. in fact, they told us we can’t have it without paying a few hundred thousand rupia, AND changing rooms to pay more, but only have two hours of access per day. oy oy oy. somehow i’m in right now.. but i won’t hold my breath for too too much.
i was told the flight over was going to be about an hour… it didn’t totally sound right to me, but i didn’t have the itinerary and i don’t have a watch and indonesia isn’t that far from KL, so i believed it was possible… thus the taking of my ‘ear pills’ much much much too early, and thus the intense pain upon landing that actually managed to persist a while after we landed. yay.
poor guy at nice restaurant seemed not to understand what i wanted by ordering “lime/lemon juice.” “lemon tea? tea with lemon?” “no… lemon juice.” he eventually got it. it was good juice. Lor has seemingly inherited my taste for starfruit juice, which used to be an Alicson favorite/must-order. it’s still quite good.
we had dragon fruit the past few days. i’ve not had this kind with the red (hot magenta pink) inside before… apparently this is the common kind… but i’d only ever seen the kind with white inside. this magenta kind leaves magenta EVERYwhere—fingers, tongue, teeth…. but it’s still yum, and it apparently doesn’t stain like mangosteen (white, but purpleish stains) does.
though it was very brief (but i’ll see them again in a week, at least, for CNY) was really really really nice to see my three lil cousins (there’s another two lil ones over in KL that i’ll get to see in a week).. really nice to see them, but also really sad—they’re getting bigger! kids get bigger! you go away a year, and you come back, and they’re not as small as they were before! i feel strange and old and very trite to be saying that.. but … well, i adore them as they are and as they continue to grow, but i’ll always miss them as the tiny kids they once were..
i lost my watch today. somewhere amidst the markets, my watch is either lying on some dirty street, or — far more likely — it’s in someone’s hand or on a stand being resold already. who knows. when i realized it was missing from my wrist (unlikely snatched.. it just fell off along the way, during some shuffling of bags on my wrist or something) i felt physically sick. for one thing, i rely on having a watch on my wrist — i always check the time consciously/unconsciously. but i also feel sick at the thought of just buying some whatever watch to put on my wrist now as replacement. i’ve always found it to be perfect, and feel perfect. and now it’s not where it’s been and i won’t see it again. i’ve had it for years, and it’s only ever ever taken off when i shower/immerse in water. i’m terribly unhappy without it.
while i’m in this mood, i’m going to go ahead and note how displeased i am about this unhealthy/unsafe/ungood thing that seems prevalent in Malaysia/Asia/the world these days. I can’t eat the fruits/order fruitjuice/have drinks with ice in it/order coffee, because: they spray pesticides, they put the ice on the dirty floor, they use poisonous coloring, etc.etc. and every few second’s i’m reminded to hold my purse close because it might get snatched from me. but holding my purse close to me doesn’t solve any problem as far as i see — if i act like the purse/contents are so valuable, they’re more likely to eye it.. and if I hold it tight, i’m more likely to get hurt when i hit the pavement from them grabbing it, or have my head smashed in so that i’ll let go.
whatever. none of that is new news. none of that is unique to this country/region.
and i miss my watch.
over in Melaka. never been here before. quite nice. lazy cousins could’ve come, but chose to miss out on enjoying incredible food, beautiful beautiful house, comfy cars, and particularly gracious hospitality of our hosts, extremely happy mangosteens and langsats/dukongs (again found despite out of season! booyah!!), very nice breezy weather, and again incredible food.
anyway, it’s good. and it’s fun talking with aunties and making plans too…..
after a huge steamboat dinner, and a whole happy baby coconut, i’m happily really full….
not getting to see eldeest cousin again tonight.. but was good to see him last night.. maybe get a bit more time later this trip too. never quite enough time..
Lor is happy with his Carlsberg. meh.
got internet to work over here at cousin’s house, where i couldn’t yesterday…
one of my cousins (not in Malaysia) is online, and going to start construction on an an online home (finally!)
had mangosteen and dukong/langsat today! yayyyyy! that was such happiness.
had wontonmee/kwanlomee also, but junhoe’s right—that stall isn’t quite the best. still, no one in the U.S. seems capable of making it, despite many assurances to me that it’s an easy dish to make.
got my new passport. yay Malaysian me.
cousin’s loft up here is very happy.
looking forward to seeing the younglings.. it’s weird to think of the cousins/kids as growing up too fast… but they are. i want them to stay little and pick-up-able and ridiculously adorable. not that i don’t love and cherish them when they’re big and distinguished-looking and stuff… but there’s a cousin i will always remember his tiny-fist-wrapped around one finger tightly, big chipmunk cheeked, pouty cute face, that he was back when he was baby of the famiily. now: off in europe becoming a doctor. i guess i’m okay with that. i don’t see him as a baby or a child anymore at all.. but i won’t forget that that he was so little once.
am i really that old? i am not..
i love my family, i love my cousins.. i’m just really hoping we all stay close over the next many many decades, and that our kids get a chance to be just as close if not more so.
passport stuff dealt with… both ready for pickup tomorrow.
we jumped all the queues.. it’s good to know people in useful places.
afterward, mom set up a new account with Maybank (some hassle there… the had issues with setting her maiden name as her account name, which was necessary to have them do. ...
went to visit place that deals with EPF transfer afterward… basically equivalent of U.S. social security.
now, going to move photos into flickr.
then i think i’d like a nap.
in the yard outside the living room in KL
those little shrew creatures squeak. loudly. at each other.
and that cat… for such a hideous roar, it seems to be a pretty sorry hunter. at least it’s kinda cute. but so are those shrew creatures.
i’m in KL at the moment.
arrived this Wednesday late morning, having begun journey from U.S. on Monday afternoon.
from DC—> New York—> Frankfurt, Germany—> Singapore—> Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
{ 6:26 PM } Having watched Crash: why do people have to be so self-oppressive, and then take out their problems on others, perpetuating the cycle? why are consequences based more on result, rather than intent? how come context is so secret and hidden and under-acknowledged? it’s everything. context is everything. people are not all created equal, they are not all raised and treated equally — and nor should they be. the only thing that should be remotely enforced to be equal, is decency; decency and compassion and respect/interest. butterfly effect. everything matters.
{ 6:46 PM } i stayed home sick today. started as a scratch in my throat a few days ago, and has gotten progressively worse. it’s more uncomfortable than anything else, with varying symptoms and varying intensities thorughout the day. particularly bad on the train rides home, where i guess the dry air closes my throat up and tickles it, inducing a feeling of constriction and necessary large coughing. last night was miserable, as was the waking up several times in the night, and being thoroughly clogged up in the morning. i was advised a cough drop called Cold-eeze, which I am assured will murder my cold in just 3-4 days. but to be safe, i’ve also added a pack of Luden’s assorted berry and a pack of Robitussin Honey/tea-flavored cough drops, and a pack of Day & Night Sinus Therapy from EckeRxd. And stayed in bed much and using many tissues and drinking much water. Drastic improvement from this morning: I can breathe out of both nostrils now.
Brother’s done with exams and classes for this term. Happy him.
Parents visited grandmother these past few days.
I want to eat ice cream, but dun think it’ll make my thorat happy.
Back to Crash: First of all, it was a good movie. Good actors, good segments, good weaving, very good. Second of all, I really shouldn’t watch movies like that by myself. I still want to know what the evolutionary/intelligent reason is for emotional crying. Just don’t make much sense to me. I need a fun, funny, upbeat, cool sci-fi/action/adventure/fantasy movie. Except that pretty much all good, remotely serious/realistic films draw upon humanity and human courage / spirit / cruelty / selfishness / strength / conviction / generosity / simplicity / greatness. I have yet to come up with even a basic explanation for what any of that has to do with tear ducts, but nonetheless..
i haven’t been writing here: partly because i don’t really have time to be writing, mostly because i feel guilty that if i have time to be writing here, then i have time to be tending to at least one or something of the multitude of items currently on my backburner.
so i’ll make this quasi short lest i wreck in my guilt.
tons of stuff has happened/is happening. we moved successfully. more on that later. now a second move is taking place. more on that later. Baby Blue Bytes, the definitely-well-loved but unfortunately-unwarrantied Toshiba Satellite 5205-s703 is dead on the operating table. when i have a bit of money and time, i shall see about resurrecting the dead. meanwhile, please welcome Danium, the Satellite M40. Dani is joined by:
- Sylvia, the 1600×1200 pixel replacement of BBB’s gorgeous 15” UXGA screen,
- Benny the hub and Benny’s identical twin,
- Hallow the 300 GB multimedia-storage unit (to counterpart Casey, the existing Maxtor One-touch),
- and last but not least (however the smallest package) we have Baby Brain, which was surgically removed from BBB and now lives in a very efficient little Bytecc external case and does its job surprisingly happily.
I have discovered Newegg, and I am pleased.
Also thoroughly broke.
okay, the rest pending.
or the current, quickly
or the quick currently…..
my computer, my beautiful 5205-s703, is essentially dead. more on that later.
this comes at a really horrendous time. websites need to be built ASAP, house is being moved and everything is everywhere and a mess and people around are stressed and stressful. and now i need a computer. now.
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