Adlina's Xanga

So long, farewell

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:51:49 GMT

Time to Say Goodbye

After six long years, seriously, it's been that long, I am bidding farewell to Xanga. I loathed to do so, with everyone moving away, I remained loyal to Xanga despite it's...err...less than nice features.

But, it was seriously starting to suck recently, and a chunk of the times when I don't update, it's not because I don't want to, but it's because I can't. Either my entry disappears or the weblog editor refuses to load.

It's been fun and meeting people on my blog. To all my Xanga mates, I have linked all your blogs on my new site, so I'm not going to quite give up my Xanga connections. But my new updates and new entries will all be posted there.

There being:

http://adschumi.wordpress.com

It's still a bit naked, I'm in the process of moving all my entries there. It'll take a while, but it'll get there soon enough!

SEE YOU THERE!

Back

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:54:25 GMT

Gyahahahaha

Hooray! I can finally access my Xanga. For some reason it had been down for the past few days.

Nonsense will resume shortly.

TO - Peculiar

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:48:11 GMT

Title: Peculiar
Series: Tanjong Ole (Previous chapters can be found here)
Rating: G
Author's note: Been a long time coming for this one, eh? A bit longer than usual but should make up for missing time. Many, many thanks to Eizwan for his ingenious way of re-arranging some of the lines.

Peculiar

“Naked protesters, death by durian,” the Superintendent seated across Inspector Jamal listed out. “Some would think you’re making some of these cases up.”

Inspector Jamal struggled to find the words to defend his turf but he was always so hopeless when it came to the inspections. It was one of the reasons, his friends from the Academy days pointed out, that he would always struggle for promotions.

“It’s just the town,” Inspector Jamal defended lamely as he poured tea for his superior officer. “It’s a little peculiar but I’d like to highlight to you, sir, our modern techniques in managing our staff…”

“Only non-performing police officers would blame the town rather than their own supervision, Inspector Jamal,” the Superintendent interrupted sharply.

“But sir…” Inspector Jamal began and was interrupted again, this time by his leather-jacket-wearing Sergeant who strode into his office with a restrained man in his wake. The man, a usually very calm Mr. Tan, struggled against the police officer. He was shouting at the top of his lungs. Followed behind the two of them was a very meek Doctor Chan.

“I’m going to get you!”Mr. Tan shouted. “I’m going to sue you! This is completely unacceptable!”

Doctor Chan looked on forlornly.

“Hey Guv, I’m going to take these two in. Get them to start talking. Calm them down,” said Sergeant Izwan.

Inspector Jamal nodded and the three of them walked out of the room, presumably into an interrogation room.

“Assault case,” he said lamely.

“Oh?” The superintendent was clearly disinterested, but he continued. “I’m surprised at you, Jamal. I didn’t think you could be that unreasonable in allowing a victim to be so close in proximity to her attacker. The woman was very frightened.”

Inspector Jamal winced. The Superintendent had that effect on him. But as the Superintendent drank his tea, Inspector Jamal felt a sudden, rare spark of rebellion from within.

“But he wasn’t the one doing the assault. The young woman did,” said Inspector Jamal, keeping his voice level. “She’s a doctor. She thought someone was about to get her in her clinic and she gave him one. Uppercut right up the chin.”

The choking noise emanating from the Superintendent was music to his ears.

Inspector Jamal shrugged. “Thought it was her crazy ex.”

The Superintendent continued to cough into his tea. The Inspector struggled to keep a smile from surfacing. But Inspector Jamal was a professional and he would not gloat.

“This town, sir, it’s just a little peculiar,” Inspector Jamal continued. “More tea, sir?”

Brain Hurts

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 06:25:30 GMT

My Malay Still Sucks

I am currently trying to write a letter in Malay, and dammit, my brain is aching because it is so bloody hard to do so. My Malay is as crappy as my brain would have me to believe.

To think I got a 6 in IB Malay SL. If you ever need to believe in miracle, believe in that one. I'm still trying to figure out how I managed to do so.

Meh.

Vote Malaysia

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:00:13 GMT

Undilah Saxon 08

As inspired by the folks at Ihasatardis. Jan asked me why I would vote for an evil alien. YKK and my answer is pretty much a nobrainer. Because he's John Simm, that's why.

Political discussion up ahead, feel free to skip it.

Come elections time, it would be the first time (I hope) that I would be voting. I'm pretty keen on voting this year, not just as a citizen of Malaysia, but it will be my first official vote as I overslept on the day I was supposed to vote in the UK (which was a real shame, since I was proud of the fact that being a non-citizen I was still allowed to vote). I was 20 when Malaysia had its election in 2004, therefore I was ineligible to vote, but now in 2008, I will be 24 and therefore completely ready to vote.

A lot of people asked me on who I would vote for. That question, if I take it seriously, is a difficult question for me. I think the reasons why I vote are slightly different from why other people vote. I take voting very seriously, I take it as a duty as a citizen. Just as we frequently call on our politicians and our ministers to uphold the integrity of their position they fill in, I feel it is just as important that we as citizens uphold our duty to vote. As a citizen of any nation or state we're in, we have responsibilities to fulfill and one of them is to vote.

One thing that fascinated me about voting this year was the question on "Who should you vote for?" If you had asked me that question three years ago, my answer would have been simple. I was going to mark a cross for every candidate on the paper. Why? Because I wanted to record in a spoilt vote, an abstain as a mark of protest on every candidate represented. Since we can't actually say, we abstain, a spoilt vote in my mind, is the same as voting but abstaining.

Which brings back to my original dilemma. In 2000, I was absolutely furious when some left-wingers voted Ralph Nader in the US Presidential Elections, which in my mind, cost Al Gore the elections resulting in 8 years of Bush. I suppose as a non-citizen, it was easier to pontificate. I have my own selfish reasons why I didn't want Bush there (and to be fair, so does most of the world) and because some of stupid, selfish ideal (or so I thought) these people denied the world a fairer leader (of course, this is merely speculation, we hope that Al Gore would have been a better leader, he could be fairly disappointing like say....Gordon Brown)

Now that it is my turn to vote. A lot of discussion have been forced on to me (another issue which I'm fairly bothered about, politics is fine and dandy, just don't force it down my throat) and some of my more vocal friends have been saying, "Deny BN the 2/3 majority, vote opposition."

Fascinating. I'm not about to say who I'm about to vote, it is my right to keep that to myself but I do feel like I am faced with the same dilemma those on the left in the US did. Should I do what I said I would do? If neither candidate stand for what I believe in, I ought to record in a spoilt vote? Should I only vote for a candidate that stands for my ideals and my beliefs?

Should I do what my friend S is thinking of doing. She feels like voting for the incumbent as she believes the incumbent is doing a good job despite if the incumbent is actually, well, part of the Firm? S believes that voting should be based on the qualifications of the individual candidate, as opposed to if the individual belongs to a party who isn't doing such a great job leading the country right now.

Or should I do what a lot of people feel would be a good thing, even if you feel you're dealing with the devil, at least a vote with the opposition is a lesser evil than voting for the incumbent? I'm no fan of the incumbent but to be honest with myself, I'm no fan of the opposition either.

So the question I have to ask myself now, is what is more important to me? Voting in what fits my personal ideals or voting in what I feel would do good for the country? For the individual or for the country? For what is fair to the individual candidate or for the overall country again?

Feel free to contribute to this discussion all three of you reading this blog, hehehe. Any lurkers too, but be nice!Since politics is frequently incendiary, keep it civil and polite

And for the rest of us who just don't care, which I know, there's a bunch of you out there. I feel for ya! It's also your right to not be interested, so whoever shoves politics down your throat, politely tell them to shove it up their arse. That's what democracy is all about.

TV Education

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:42:43 GMT

Ashes to Ashes, Funk to Funky

This means nothing to me! Oooooh Vienna!

I am getting my education on 80s music by downloading the soundtrack to Ashes to Ashes. Now if I come out with poofy hair, big earrings and off the shoulder shirt, you know what I've been watching.

I learnt loads about 70s rock through Life on Mars. It practically introduced me to David Bowie.

Who said TV ain't educational.

I'm happy, hope you're happy too.

Bull speak

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:31:49 GMT

Of Giantess Words in Legal Documents

It is a brand new day, brand new working day and I am trying very hard to stay awake. I've even stopped taking actifed in attempts to stay up. I'm starting to think I've been bitten by the tsetse fly as opposed to nursing a cold.

Anyway, what I am currently doing is, I am currently sitting down in front of my pc trying to decipher some new legal documents that came my way. I've been re-reading some of the sentences almost four, five times without comprehending what exactly they are trying to say.

Thing is, I pride myself with having decent English. After all, I write in English, proudly carry a bilingual IB diploma that certifies my English as a native speaker, I think in English, I speak in English to my parents and to my boyfriend.

So, when I read an official document filled with GIANTESS words and sentences a mile long, it fills me up with unspeakable rage. Like why on earth can't people speak in plain English. I swear, the state of f i n a n c e in our country is in is most probably due to people having no clue what the guidelines and regulations are trying to say. We're f***ing finance practitioners, not effin' lawyers. If you insist on writing in moronspeak, get the lawyers to do finance and see how they fare.

Geez, writing in big ass words with running sentence does not make you look intelligent. It makes you look like you're pulling sh** out of your ass and pasting it all over the paper.

Am Sick

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 03:34:53 GMT

Weekend in Bed

I had plenty planned for the CNY weekend. With KL being virtually empty, I reckoned it would be a good time to explore the city and you know, do the pretentious thing of getting inspiration for writing. That sort of thing.

What I didn't count on was falling sick over the weekend. Come Friday morning, I was a wreck and Eizwan had to drag me a to a clinic where the Doctor took one look at me and piled on a ton of medication. I have drugs up the wazoo and I konk out in a half an hour's time of taking the drugs. I wake up just in time for lunch or dinner, eat whatever is available, take the drugs and konk out again for a good five to six hours. Repeat cycle and that is my weekend.

The good news is that time travels faster when you're sick and all my downloads are over by the time I'm coherent. So whilst I'm eating, I catch up on some Torchwood which I like but not quite adore and of course, the TV show that gives me butterflies just thinking about it: Ashes to Ashes.

After the final, incredible ending to Life on Mars, my life teetered on the edge until Ashes to Ashes. I missed the characters of Life on Mars like old friends. Seeing Gene Hunt on the screen again was like...life was complete again. And is it just me or have they made his character sexy? I'm like phwoar! He's sexy! And Alex Drake is hot and they have a healthy dose of UNRESOLVED SEXUAL TENSION together. And UST is love as they say.

Or I say it. I don't know who else says it.

I really want to get some Tanjong Ole out by tonight. And emails too. Because it's not nice to leave things lying around incomplete. I maybe messy but I have some sort of strange order in my brain that helps me function. That means replying Facebook messages, emails and blogs. That sort of thing.

Okie, I'm going to konk out now. When you re-read the same sentence over and over again, you know it's definitely time to go. Bye bye my loves. Till we meet again!

Rainy Days

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:07:07 GMT

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Am about to leave to my grandmother's when it starts to pour. Silly me for assuming that just because the sun is out it won't rain. I forget. I'm in Malaysia. It'll rain on a sunny day (as in literally here, the sun is out and shining and it's raining cats and dogs at the same time). So, instead, I'll jut sit here and blog till it lets up a bit and then I can run to my car.

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone who celebrate it! Gong Xi Fa Cai! As for me, the day has been spent listening to some Big Finish Productions, laundry, making Spanish tortillas and trying desperately to ward off a sore throat. It's been a good day staying in and not doing anything.

Yesterday was spent meeting up with the Warwick peeps, who despite my snippy remarks about my friends to their faces, secretly, well, not so secretly now, I adore them. Faren had returned *waves* and we bothered him about Australia: "I've never been there. Like do they have cars in Australia?". We had dinner at Italiannies before heading off to Cineleisure to watch CJ7, the new movie by Stephen Chow. Officially, his worst movie I think. It was unfunny, and for a kiddy movie, surprisingly, it lacked more heart than Shaolin Soccer. Hmm.

Writing-wise, honestly, I've been stuck since the end of writing my short story. The story really took the wind out of me and I'm still reeling from the experience. I'm dying to get back to humour or something that doesn't revolve around hopelessness but we'll see how long it takes me to get back there. Anyway, the only cure to writer's block is to keep writing.

Alright, it's stopped raining! I'm off! Will be back later tonight to continue writing. And watch a bit of Torchwood. Now that's the sort of X-Files I would have loved to watch

Sounds like

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:26:48 GMT

Bimbo

The thing is, I frequently getsome of my best ideas whilst I am driving in my car. As skilled a driver I might be *cough cough*, it wouldn't do to actually whip out a pen and paper and jot down ideas whilst I navigate my way through KL.

Yesterday, I had the most brilliant idea of tape recording some of my dialogues using my phone. So I squealed away my dialogue on the phone whilst Eizwan drove to Rasta for a small Warwick gathering *waves to Kelly*. Sometime after midnight, I uploaded my recordings to transcribe what I've said.

And had to turn it off immediately. How terrible it is to figure out that you sound like a bimbo.

***
No Tanjong Ole this evening. I'm aiming for one for tomorrow, as of right now, I'm currently swamped trying to finish my short story for the MPH competition. I am incredibly exhausted. Writing is like a marathon. If I don't get published, I'll probably put the story up online on my FictionPress site, so that you lot could read it.