Written by lainie at 11:11 PM on October 6, 2008 in Daily Life, Events.

Sigh. I don't mean to announce this every month, but it's quite relevant la. My period is coming.

I'm a ball of emo who's constantly craving food. My mother calls, and it's an instant guilt trip before the conversation even starts. Then we talk, and my guilt trip is piling on like a mini mountain, which makes me snappy, which makes me feel guiltier and therefore snappier.................................

Then I see a picture of seafood paella from what I know is a mediocre Spanish restaurant around town, and the prawns in the picture gleam. I can sense the aroma wafting out, and it smells divine. IwantIwantIwantIwantIwant. My cravings have started.

[ I am lucky this does not extend to other topic matters, only food. ]

I feel like I'm preparing for a battle of determination with my body. 

What I think I'm saying is...

SAVE ME FROM MY HORMOOOOOOOOONES!

I went to Nine Emperor Gods Festival in Ampang last night with Kat. This has a lot of background history, but amongst my friends who do celebrate it, this mostly translates to some joss sticks, vegetarian meals and maybe hanging out at the temple all day / night.

This is my first time at this temple, and the first thing we heard as we got out of the car was an auction going on. Kat told me the festival, especially at this temple, is very commercialised now. True enough, the bazaar there was quite crowded. 

Seriously, with stuff like this on sale next to the stall blasting hip hop music, it was hard not to notice the commercial aspect of the festival.

We were hungry, so the first thing we did was get some vegetarian food. This is a pic of one of the vegetarian stalls there. It was so crowded, and we only arrived at midnight when a lot of the stores were closed (though it'd be nice to return again for some Chinese opera and fire walking performances). 

Where the prayers were held. It was very smokey here, the amount of joss sticks that were lit. My eyes teared, and I had allergy attacks after that. I would have lit some joss sticks as a gesture, but....errr. Well, my hands were occupied with a box of mua chee and a cup of sea coconut drink.

Tortoised-shaped buns on sale, many varieties available. So cute. Used as offerings.

A few Sak Yant (traditional Thai Buddhist tattoo) stalls around - I was quite fascinated, staring so long one of the beggars (and there were many) started laughing at me. 

Very smokey. I liked being there a lot. Left after about an hour, walking by the smelly tofu stall (gag).

Written by lainie at 03:58 AM on October 3, 2008.

Being family means sending Gazel (my sister in Melbourne) a long list of wonderful raya food I've been having, only to have her tell me my efforts are in vain. Our mother beat me to it, having sent a similiar list during Ramadhan.

Gives you some clues about my upbringing, doesn't it?

Random photo yang tak mengena:

At Annexe, for the KAMI booklaunch (where I gave away many plastic bags), some of the cast pimping out the book. I got a free copy of the book, it's a script inside. I actually see the dude on the left in my room everyday, because Zahiril Adzim (Bob) was in Air Con, and I have the poster on my wall . Haven't watched KAMI, but great stuff at Air Con, this Bob.

That's an Amir Muhammad and Liza Manshoor poster print behind them - it's the Wayang Kita-Kita Poster Show, that , so I suppose it's somewhat related to what happened tonight after all, what with all the old film stills they use (there's even a P.Ramlee burger poster).

I just came home from Zal's place. Kat and I were at her place for a movie night. Watched P. Ramlee's film, Ali Baba Bujang Lapok. It's great entertainment, I love the P. Ramlee comedies -at one point, Tei and I used to veg out in front of the tv and watch them back to back.

I have to say, P.Ramlee's bandit-leader character here sometimes looked like a campier precursor to Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow. Even  the 40 thieves he commanded worked like a trade union (Saturday half day, Sunday rest, OT pay and year-end bonuses), very much like the Discworld Ankh-Morpork Guild of Thieves.

[ And I managed to borrow the most recent (am clinging on to hope that this isn't the last) Discworld novel off Zal after our movie night - Making Money ]

I'm not saying the movie was gay.......Really, I'm not.

But some scenes looked like an earlier version of KL's gay night clubbing scene.

This is Leilani, Zal's very, very huge cat. I think she weighs over 5 kilos. Unless I'm mistaken, it's a Maine Coon breed. She's so huge, you don't mess with her. Zal suspects Leilani's learned to slit open bags of snack with just one claw (they found a bag opened, one horizontal slice, and one vertical).

Zal supplied so many chocolates, chips, cookies and caffeinated drinks I couldn't even consider finishing them. The only time I've seen such a huge stash of Halloween chocolates, Godiva and Reese's peanut butter cups nestled together between bags of crisps was.....Okay, never.

I'm actually in the midst of re-encoding a video of Zal's performance (with Zalila Lee and Ywenna) from the night before at A Li Yaa. She usually wags her finger at me when I film her performances (like finger wagging is a good way to ward off lesbians? ) - but I managed to get a few vids anyhow.

There's one of her and Zalila where Nisha is the guest musician on keyboards (hi Nish!), but at 600++MB, tunggu kejap la sebelum video is uploaded. 

Zal does a great cover of Saloma and P.Ramlee's duet, but I don't think I got a video that night. I do, however, have an older performance of it on Youtube. Right before I could request this song, Zal announced they were gonna perform it (slightly kismetic).

I will continue this post tomorrow - the Discworld novel beckons.

Written by lainie at 12:03 PM on October 1, 2008.

To my friends, fellow Malaysians, Muslims and everyone else - Selamat Hari Raya. Here's to the kenduris (yeay good food coming!), the clear traffic in KL, the happy times with the people we love.

Also, happy holidays. Non-fasting people can now snack without sneaking out of the office*, or trying to chew biscuits quietly, and for this year, guiltily digging into our dinner or succumbing to wait with the Muslims till buka as they stare at their food, is over!

*I know la we're not supposed to have to do that, but migawd, pressurenye.

As for me, I can stop calling Zal at lunchtime, then (as she claims) melatah in embarrassment when I realise she puasas. Didn't get to buka with her either cause she prays before it. So now I can call my pancakes buddy anytime! And be told to fuck off for different reasons!

I did see her on the last day of puasa though, went for her gig last night (more on that later).

So, anyhoo...feel free to invite me to your house for Raya