IT'S A PANDAN LIFE ...!

Jostle and shove, Birds and bees, Be strong my love, In time of adversities. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jingle bell, Jingle all the same, Fare thee well, For I'm not the same :( ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Belly belly, Pow wow, I am happy, In the here and now. *Certain things that my muse does or say affect me. Naturally. Sometimes things that happen to him also affect me, for days at times. Enough said.

Land rover, Land mower, Can't get over, Vacay is over. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stomach crunch, Pot belly, Had lunch, But still hungry... ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hot bun, Pizza pan, Run run, As fast as we can! ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hold up the glass, Cheers to everybody, Last day of class, And I am happy!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rumah urut, Belum bukak, Kenyang perut, Ngantok la pulak... ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Naik beskal ke Kuala Muda, Jarak jauh menguji mental, Hati gembira dapat banyak offer, Masalahnya boleh kah aku handle? ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tigers roam, Preys rally, What is home, If not a sanctuary? ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Weather bad, Hard rain, Neither glad nor sad, Am a student again! * My thoughts, normally crossed my mind when I was in the office.

Silence echoes, Everything's a bore, Putting on kilos, And still wanna have more! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bells clang, Heart racing, Hey Penang, I'm coming! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dancing petunia, Playful bee, Hail Korea, Hail to thee! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stiff gait, Swing and sway, Can't wait, For the vacay! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Give me a kiss, Give me a whisper, Oh what a delight it is, To bask in the glory of Old Melaka! *The excitement of a vacay, or a trip out of town begins as early as the idea is conceived.

Low perk, Heart sinking, Back to work, Tomorrow morning! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I don't like it here, Something about this place A discouraging atmosphere, Like an evil grin on an unfriendly face. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Diamonds bling, And girls glee, This ISO thing, Is killing me! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Buah kuinin, Atas kapal, Hari Isnin, Memang sengal! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An apple a day, Keeps the doc away, What is Tuesday, If not a stressful day? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Love is bliss, War is woe, Whatever it is, I can't wait to go. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Boy and girl meet, Boy and girl vomit, So many forms to submit, Packed with hope and shit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sambal petai ikan bilis, Makan dengan lemak kobis, Asyik baca tulis baca tulis, Bila la kerja aku nak habis? *Nothing beats bitching when it comes to work-related stress. Or boredom.

Long pier, People gather, Weekend is here, I can't be happier! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Barn and hay, Horse and shoe, Lazy Sunday, I welcome you! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Iron rod, Hard clay, Thank God, It's Friday! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hot bod, Makes me sway, Thank God, It's Friday! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Keropok lekor keropok tamban, Masuk perut jadi lumat, Dalam hati ada taman, Berbunga indah di hari Jumaat. *The thought of weekend is always euphoric!

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth. ~ Benjamin Disraeli Recently, I developed an extraordinary liking for pantuns. I think pantun is lingusitically and aesthetically pleasing and challenging. It's not simply a short poem or a stanza of four lines. As we know, pantun has its own structures; based on four lines of cyclically repeating lines based on ABAB rhyming scheme; with the first two lines serving as the foreshadow of the meaning contained in the remaining two lines. This is a Malay heritage, and shall remain such, I hope.I'll see to it :) Recently too, I discovered that pantun was indeed introduced to the West by Victor Hugo in his book Les Orientales (1829). I guess he tried to infuse pantun into the literary culture of Europe then, but he was not that successful. Nevertheless, because of him, The West was introduced to this unique form of poetry, and pantun became pantoum . Lately I've been updating my status in FB using

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? ~Stephen Levine Waiting. Nobody in his or her right mind would want to do this, I’m sure. If it's two or three minutes, it's probably nothing. But 18 years? It's surely exhausting, torturous and nerve-wrecking. Especially if the outcome is a big let-down. But what if it’s the opposite? Is the opposite possible? And if the outcome is positive, is it worth all the heartache and trials and tribulations? These were the questions that I had in mind when I was reading Waiting by Ha Jin. I had seen this book a couple of times in the bookstore but due to other pressing reading engagement, I resisted the urge to buy it. But the blurb really had a brain-itchy effect that eventually I gave in, picked it up from the shelf, went home and straight away started reading it. It was awesome, simply unputdownable! Set in communist China from