The Jinns down at Lim Kok Wing

When I used to work for the Bank, Carmel used to tell us to drive according to the speed limit, which was 50 km/h, at the bend by Lim Kok Wing. But I didn't go by that way when I went to work, so I never drove at 50 km/h in Cyberjaya. Even if it's to make a turn... well maybe at corners I do slow down a little bit. When I worked in Cyberjaya, I loved driving with the windows down in the morning, just letting the breeze refresh me. I don't get a chance to drive with the windows down to work anymore since I changed jobs, but on the weekends if I ever wake up early enough, sometimes I go out for a morning drive just so I could do just that.

It was such a pleasure too, working in Cyberjaya, if my day started at 9, I'd leave the house at 8.45 and drive at a leisurely pace. Which is what I loved about my last month working at the Bank. If ever I got offered a position in Cyberjaya again, with the same salary or higher, doing low stress work, I'd definitely take up the offer.

But Carmel, who was one of the Bank's VPs, had a very good reason for asking everyone to drive slowly at that bend by Lim Kok Wing. She posted memos all over the elevator walls to advise us. A lot of car accidents had taken place on that bend, and 3 ppl working for the Bank had even ended up in hospital as a result. But the most striking thing about it was that none of accidents were caused by cars crashing into one another. They didn't crash into buildings or trees either, cos there are no trees or buildings at that bend. All the cars either spun off the road or turned 180 or fell on their side or something like that. Drivers would be speeding down that road at a 120 km/h and suddenly brake (causing their cars to spin violently off the road) because they thought they'd seen someone crossing their path, when in actuality there hadn't been anyone walking there at all.

One of the ladies that I'd worked with that had been with the company since the start told me that in the beginning, local taxi drivers that operated in the neighboring kampung of Dengkil had warned the transport drivers of the Bank not to speed on the Lim Kok Wing road that led up to KL. The story goes that one day, one of the locals that worked in KL was using that particular road to go back home to Dengkil one night. When he got to that particular bend, he was surprised to see an elderly man hailing him by the side of the road. The elderly man was dressed in typical kampung attire of t-shirt and kain sarong pelekat, which was normal for someone to wear when going to a surau, so the driver wondered if this old man was lost and needed some help, as there was no surau nearby.

The driver then stopped the car by the road to inquire. "Pak Cik nak ke mane? Pak Cik perlu bantuan ke?" He asked, uncle, where are you going? do you need any help?

But the Pak Cik simply smiled and said no, he didn't need any help, just that he wanted to tell the young man not to drive so fast because his children often crossed this road to get home and they may get hurt if drivers are not careful.

When hearing that the old man had children, he assumed that they were about somewhere, so he turned his head round to see if he could see them, but when he turned around to face the Pak Cik again, he had vanished! There was no old man, and there were no children there.

The driver was very scared, but heeded the old man's words and drove slowly there, and warned others to do the same. Because obviously that road was used by jinns who lived in that area. Even though jinns reside in that other dimension parallel to where us humans live, we still have to respect one another. It's just the way things are. So those transport drivers that the Bank hired had scoffed at first at the idea of jinns crossing the road at that bend, but when accidents started happening there, they all began to respect the rule and drove more cautiously.

This is a true story. And one of many you'll hear of about jinns or the like when you're in South East Asia.

Harry's concert's tonight!

One of my favorite performers, and I totally forgot that his concert would be tonight, and the show's already sold out! Harry's last concert at the Malaysian Philharmonic is tomorrow night, which I won't be able to go to either since it's sold out. But I wonder if he's staying at the Mandarin... cos that's right next door to the mpo, and maybe I can sneak a peak. But what I really want is to actually see him perform, 'cos he's a great performer you know, even with that new funk jazz that he's got out. I should have bought those tickets even if they do almost cost RM300 a piece! aiyah... a good chance wasted...

One week into my new job, and I still don't think I've got the hang of it. Nor the lady with the stinky breath that's trying to train me. I feel so bad about it. Each time she's leaning in to explain to me something, I find myself automatically leaning away from her. Sometimes I even try to cover my nose with my hands subtly... sometimes I cover my nose and mouth with my pashmina trying to seem playful, but actually trying to inhale that lovely wooly pashmina smell. Poor thing, she doesn't know her breath stinks, and she's a vegetarian somemore... so how did it get to stink so bad I wonder?

Anyway, next week is Chinese New Year, and I'm looking forward to being in the office almost alone. There's only like a few malay ppl in there... the rest of them Chinese, with my boss who's Danish. I'm looking forward to exploring the place in privacy and making myself a cup of milo in the pantry... cos I'm too shy to like ask ppl where the milo is, so at least with no one around I can just open all the cupboards and find it myself... and I even thought of coming in on Saturday to like catch up on updating the invoices... cos that's my job now... hehehe... damn... i still can't believe i'm missing Harry's Connick Jr's show!

Test drive

Don't you wish sometimes you could test drive jobs? Like see how it runs for about a day or two? Or even for a week before you sign any contracts? Ya... I got in the car at around 6pm with a brain overload and was overjoyed at the prospects of listening to Dewa's Laskar Cinta album on the way home. Even if there was a traffic jam at that intersection between Subang and Sunway.

I am so tired that I don't even think I can eat any dinner... I just feel like lying on my bed and sleeping. I only got this tired cos I've been sitting in an un-ergonomic chair. That chair breaks my back man. I think I'll bring a cushion in tomorrow. My head really hurts right now too.

Another day tomorrow....

Belalang Iblis

Last night, for some reason, I felt sleepy at around 9.30 pm and went to bed extra early. Even as I type now I don't exactly remember what it was I did that made me feel so tired yesterday. However, around 1.30 am, I woke up to the noise of a grasshopper jumping across my bed and onto my bedside table... it was rather big-sized for a grasshopper, which some ppl like to call crickets, and was a yellowish-copper color. I was drowsy, and a little disturbed by it's presence, and I messaged my boyfriend about it. After he had comforted me and persuaded me that it was okay to go back to sleep, I dozed off again.

When I got back home from my morning's errands, I called him again and told him that the grasshopper was still in my room.
"What color is it?" he asked.
"Yellowish."
"Yellow? Hah.. itu blalang iblis! Pegi buang." Hah, that's the devil's grasshopper. Throw it out, he said.
"Apsal panggil blalang iblis?" I asked, why is it called devil's grasshopper, "Isn't grasshopper supposed to be lucky? (according to the Chinese)."
"Tak. Kalau dia hijau, then natural. Kalau kuning tu orang kampung panggil blalang iblis." No, if it's green then it's normal, but if it's yellow, then the kampung people call it blalang iblis.
He told me to throw it out and not to ask any more questions.
So using the sea-shell container that Hema and Kiran bought me in Sabah, I scooped the belalang, or grasshopper, from where it clung at my curtains and pushed it out the window. Making sure it was safely on the ground of my driveway, I shut the window. And that was the end of the blalang iblis.

Well, upon further research online, I found that a lot of ppl in this country are in the view that the belalang iblis is green with red eyes, and will watch you. They may even have a hairy back. It seems that these belalang iblis see things the same way a human does, and not like an insect. So now, I am unsure whether or not that grasshopper was this reputed type of belalang iblis.

On a lighter note...

I start work at my new job for this shipping company tomorrow. So in preparation, I got out of bed and showered around 9.30 and left home to go do my hair at this place I know. When I got there a few minutes later, the salon wasn't open yet, so I decided to walk around the street mall. Round the back of the mini-mart, I came across a beauty-facial place that was newly opened. I glanced inside, and I saw a pretty and petite lady tidying up in the back room. I looked at the price list and saw that 'eyebrow design' cost 6 ringgit. So I knocked on the door. The pretty lady smiled and let me in, and I asked for my eyebrows to be shaped.

It's been awhile since I did anything to my brows, and they looked like a bushy mess. And since it only cost 6 bucks, I thought what the hell. The last time a professional did my brows it hurt a lot... so I was keeping my fingers crossed.

And you know, the outcome wasn't bad. Now my brows are nicely shaped and rounded. Although I did like that slight peak that it used to have that made my eyes look garang. After that, I left the place, and seeing that my usual hairdresser was still closed, I went off to do my hair at Jantzen, much to my disappointment! Argh, remind me never to go there ever again! Their service is appalling and the people there can't speak to you properly in either Malay or English, and it's just terrible. When they were finished, my hair was in my face and I said, "Blow it away from my face, away." And the guy was like, "aah, you want to cover your face ah?"
"No, no, AWAY."
And they so overcharge man. I ain't ever going back there again. Ever. Even if my usual hairdresser's closed.

But I really do like my neat eyebrows... now to invest in a good brow pencil...