tornado in the sky

One of my (quite possibly my only) favourite Malay language quote is “Sembahyanglah engkau, sebelum engkau disembahyangkan.” It is such a joyful wordplay, but has such a grim meaning. I love this quote less because I am a religious person (I question my religiosity on a constant basis) but more because it brings me back to the day when I said this quote to my sister to tell her to pick up her telkung because she was squandering time talking to me about everything under the sun like she always does. I quote the quote, and she slapped me on the arm and said, ‘WHAT THE FUCK, MAN!’ and then proceeded to go to the bathroom to perform ablution.

Thanks to a small event like that, this quote makes me giggle now.

Careers I've considered from when I was a child

1. Teacher
2. Computer programmer
3. On-the-ground humanitarian
4. Writer
5. Stand-up comedian
6. Tour with bands by selling their merch
7. Just wait on a street corner somewhere, and bang on things ala Stomp!

Golden conversation

Whilst waiting for an eye check up this morning, an old man rounded the waiting area until he finally decided to sit on the bench I sat on. Within five minutes, an old woman greeted him before she proceeded to continue on her way. Ten minutes later, a fellow male senior citizen sat next to him for a chat. And by god! Can they chat! The first man was dropping five different individual names within fifteen seconds, all of which the second man are (or pretend to be) familiar with. These two are just so chummy!

There’s a bond that senior citizens in Brunei have. It could be due to the lower population of the past. The population isn’t huge now (340, 000+), but even in this population I can’t keep up with who-does-what-and-why! To these old people, the idea of anonymity  is not something they’re familiar with. This is why they complain about kids today. They’re not angry at the technology we possess. They’re angry at the fact that we don’t know who lives two doors away from our house, while they know everyone living in the suburb.

I know this because that’s what the two men talked about eight minutes later.