Of Home

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Life can be kind sometimes. I'm on my way home after a near miss. A near miss because I only got the OK from da boss at about 4.45 pm. That is late considering I have to get my bag from the house and the flight is at 7 pm. He's away on leave and he simply prefers that I be there when he is away. Auwww, that is supposed to give me a warm feeling huh? No, it simply means that my leave is very very very limited mah, I usually lose one, he's the boss, ha ha. After a series of unfortunate events which happened when both of us were away, we made sure that at least one of us is here at any one time. I was ready to call Lina and tell her that I won't becoming home this time and gonna miss Kamil's wedding and Andek's family gathering. And I have been looking forward to both. And the children have already informed me of their wish list for this trip home. Would they be disappointed or what?

But not after trying out a new small backpack hotel in Bangkok where their idea of an American breakfast is a plate filled with bacon and sausages plus tiny pieces bread and eggs. Scratch that hotel. Stick to Suvarnabhumi Novotel lah.

Right, gotta get out of this lounge and catch the flight to KUL. I love KUL, don't you?

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When I Come Back....

The view from my bedroom window where I'd be sentimentol, yes, sentimentol, every night before going to bed, smoke that last cigarette and wonder what the he_l am I doing here. The snow is late this year. Only the peaks have a smattering of white here and there, much unlike the photo above.

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….I’ll go away again.

The weather is getting colder by the day here. In the morning it is usually six or seven degrees Celcius below zero and it would probably go up to two or three degrees Celsius in the daytime before plunging back to being negative at night.

Over the weekend I had to stay outdoors the whole day while some folks tried to figure out the generator for the new office. You can’t feel your nose, your ears, your fingers, your toes and your n_ts start to freeze. Later that night I made a beeline for the shop to buy gloves and a cap. I can’t find the ones I had last year. Put on two sweaters, what the heck for the next day. But I always forget my long johns. Used to be that siapa yang pakai long johns tak rugged. Let me tell you, when it is cold, just put on the long johns, to he_l with being rugged. Ain’t that rugged if you get frostbite in some strategic spots. Hopefully this year it won’t be minus seventeen degrees and folks at our supply base (minus twenty degrees) will not be without water for two weeks. Imagine, no water for two weeks. Try minus twenty-five degrees offshore.

How was your Hari Raya Haji? Mine was swell. I went back to sleep after the usual solat and one of guys whose family is here was kind enough to provide me with lunch. We had a six-day holiday, read my lips, enam hari cuti. Hari Raya Haji cuti tiga hari, satu hari tu cuti Neutrality Day, campur weekend, six days of bliss. Well, bliss yang boleh sini lah…. Jangan marah, Hari Raya Haji tempat ni cuti tiga hari, macam dia aja yang Islam, orang lain tak. I slept like I have never slept before. The day after Hari Raya Haji, I woke up at 2 pm. Hey, it was my birthday, OK, and some of the guys were kind enough to celebrate it with me. And the nicest thing was, I got a message at 1.45 pm to come over at a friend’s house for lunch. Watched tons of DVD’s and probably watched Notting Hill three times over the holidays, hahahahahaha. Ain’t life dandy?

My birthday, I’m….. never mind, another year older. From Lina, Nazzim and Sofia, I got my birthday wishes from them. But, uh, a cake at the office the following week from the department – they were literally terrified that they have forgotten my birthday. Wei, tolonglah sikit….. wa tak marah la….. I had a hard time convincing them that it is perfectly alright NOT to remember or NOT to celebrate my birthday. The convincing argument was, “Well, we didn’t celebrate some of your birthdays, didn’t we?" That made sense. Well, over the years, it has been not celebrating at all, almost not celebrating at all, someone might remember it, then that someone might remember it, then Lina would remember it and Nazzim and Sofia would freak out over it, Lina and Nazzim would remember it and Nazzim and Sofia would freak over it and Lina, Nazzim and Sofia would all remember it and Nazzim and Sofia would freak out over it. Nice. But sometimes people do forget. Like Lina’s last birthday. I wished her and both Nazzim and Sofia wished her only after I reminded them and Lina texted me,

“you told the children about my birthday ke?”

“did i? they wished you?”

“yes you did. yeah they did.”

Ah well…..I sure hope that we settle this moving office thing soon, otherwise, I am not going home this Friday. Poor Nazzim and Sofia, the long school holidays and I am not home. Well, nearly, we managed to sneak that trip to Bandung last month, didn’t we? I felt like Santa Claus – “….ambiklah apa nak….” Well, up to a point. I simply had to tell Sofia that she could not buy all the Roxy, Billabong or Quicksilver merchandise that she sees over there. We arrived with one piece of luggage and left with four. And a much thinner wallet. Spending time home always ruin my mood on the way back to work.

I tried the new kuali/wok/kazan that I bought recently and its size allows me to cook fried trice just like the Chinese cooks in the movies. There was a lot of movements and noise and bits of pieces of fried rice flying around (but no fire involved as it was a hot plate stove) and I must say that with the right equipment I do cook a wicked wok of fried rice… ceh, puji diri sendiri nampak? Just don’t scrimp on the cilli, ikan bilis and eggs.

Wei, I’m talking about cooking……..I need a new drug.

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