Hello stranger

A strange thing happened to me yesterday evening as I was hanging around in Mid Valley Mega Mall. I was reading a Carrefour catalog while walking, occasionally looked up so I wouldn’t bump into people. Suddenly a guy voiced ‘hey’ loud enough that I was sure it was directed to me. I halted, turned back and saw this guy looking at me.

“Ya..?” I asked, puzzled.

“You look very familiar” he said with a smile.

This made me smile, but I can’t recall ever seeing his face in my life, anywhere, anytime. I gave him my puzzled look, braced with a smile.

“I don’t know. Where have you seen me? I don’t think we’ve met before.” I said.

Strange really.

We both ran our hard disks into overdrive, facial expressions set to brainstroming mode, trying very hard to remember where we met. If there was a bench around, we’d sit.

There was nothing.

“Very familiar, really”, he reassured me.

Before it got awkward I asked “What’s your name?”

“Henry”

“I’m Agus, hi”. . . . . . . and still nothing.

“Where do you work?” Henry asked.

I told him the name and location of the company I work with.

He told me his. At first it sounded like CSE.

“CS what?”

“CSC” he repeated.

“Oh CSC. Were you in Maybank before?”

“Now no more in Maybank” He replied, maybe unclear with my question.

“Oh! Maybe you are friends with my housemate Ron. He used to work with Maybank. Then he was outsourced to CSC. Ya, we might have met during lunch or something.” I said quickly.

I can’t help it. Here is a stranger, saying he remembers my face and I couldn’t recall nuts. It didn’t actually make me look good. In fact, it says that I forget people easily, and that’s bad. So I settled with the first reason I can get; and now I’m trying to make him accept it as well. From his looks, he’s still puzzled though.

As if rushed by my behavior, he quickly nodded in agreement.

“Yup, I’ll tell Ron I met you. Yeah, we might have been introduced through him or his friends” I said. In actual fact, I was not sure myself. Hanging around won't help either.

After one second’s silence I continued “ Hey man, nice to meet you. I’ll see you around okay.”

He indicated mutuality and we both turned around and went opposite ways. That was quick! Yeah, I figured we both had stuff to do besides hanging around and exchange life's updates. Plus, we don't even know each other, I think.

Phew, that was weird.

I quickly took out my phone and text Ron to verify. To my dismay, Ron knew no one by that name. Then it hit me.

Oh no! Was I very rude back there? I mean, I indirectly dismissed a friendly attempt to reconnect. How did he feel then. Did I leave him dangling and curious. I know I am. Extremely curious now. He could be someone important. This could change my life. I need to try harder.

By the time I decided to turn back and look for him we were very far apart. I went on nonetheless. Walking quickly and scanning every outlet vigorously, I could not see any trace of him.

I finally gave up search. Oh what the heck. Consider it another encounter of the third kind.

Besides, what was I supposed to say?

“Hey, I can’t recall meeting you but I have a couple of minutes. You wanna get something to drink? Maybe grab a bite?” Yeah, that’s a pickup line.

“Hey, I can’t remember you, but lets exchange numbers and we’ll talk as soon as either of us remember something.” Do I really want to give my number to a complete stranger? Does he?

“Hey, tell you what, you give me your name card and I’ll call you as soon as I remember you. Sorry I can’s give mine coz I have none.” Huh?

Here, try this;

“Dude, I think you got the wrong person. Repeat after me; I have never seen you before. You look familiar, period.”

Maybe it’s because we’re Asians or something. We don’t normally come up to strangers and say that they look familiar. That is weird here. This is especially true when two men does it. One second you’re straight, the next you’re not really so and the whole world doubts it, if you catch my drift. To most of us, when someone looks familiar, a name should come up after a while. In my case, nothing! And when there’s nothing, insert this line “Nah, maybe I got the wrong person. Sorry to bother you” and click NEXT.

Personally however, I think it’s nice that a stranger tells me I look familiar. It somehow means that I don’t go unnoticed. And I salute the person who does this. Male or female. I know it’s hard for me. So, Henry, thank you for bringing that up. You certainly gave me something interesting to think about yesterday. You don’t care if you got the wrong person, the wrong impression or be dismissed. That’s brave. It was nice of you too. You’ve made me a curious man, but it was nice.

P/s : Henry, if you’re reading this, I apologize if you’ve really met me somewhere and we became friends. Please drop me a line. We could hang out, get a drink or grab a bite.

Comments please

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Untitled

Somewhere in a small rural town in borneo, an elderly man carries his rooster toward the river pier. He was going to a place down river by boat for a weekend cockfight showdown. When it was time to board, he calmly took his seat and placed his rooster underneath his seat. A European tourist also boarded and sat beside him. She looked at the old man, smiled and said hello. The old man who speaks basic English replied ‘Hello’. Along the journey, several boats passed by and the ride got a little rough.

The boat made several stops and soon it was the old man’s. Looking underneath his seat he realized that his box of rooster had shifted underneath the European lady, somewhat between her legs.

“Ah, this I can handle. Just ask the lady to move her feet so I can retrieve it.” thought the old man.

Confident, he politely requested, “Excuse me ma’am. Can you please open your legs. I want to take my cock out”

Offline Browser

If you are not much of a geek like me then you would get as excited as I am right now. I heard about offline browsers (it's probably stale bread by now) some months ago on TechTV and never got the urge to check it out. I am disconnected from the internet after office hours and it is at these times that I feel helpless when I need a shot of info on some specific stuff.Now that I have reasons to save a whole website for its highly useful information, I am a happy person. Enough explaining. I bet you have your very own reason to save a whole site. So click the title or here to view a whole list of available downloads, all for not even a nut! Oh, you might want to learn what they are actually about first. And once you start, bear with the wait coz large sites take a while to download.

No way this is a real dog!

Check this dog out. It looks like a prop from a zombie flick. Warning : Freaky sight!

G4TV to the rescue

If you ever have so much free time and broadband on your hands (boy, do you ever!) go to this site www.g4tv.com or click the link on the right side. There are tons of videos from shows published by G4TV. It is a network dedicated to video gaming and all stuff tech; news, updates, gadgets and solutions. My favourite show is The Screen Savers. The delayed and ever repeated show is on Astro TechTV channel 13. There are loads of materials about everything tech, including ones I don't need to watch. Since I can't select my preferred clip, I normally flip to other channels. However, here at G4TV.com, the choice is mine. Now I can watch tech solutions instead of reading them. Hurrah!

Got life...

It’s 1.45 pm, a lovely Sunday afternoon. Well, not until 1.30 it wasn’t. I was trying to get my satellite TV to work again after several weeks’ downtime. It has been raining everyday this month. So the accumulation of clouds everyday is humongous. This adds insult to injury since my dish is already unreliable and unpredictable even on a clear day. From trials and errors this might be caused by poor dish position or signal reception. Here, have a taste of it.






This problem is normally bearable during weekdays when I only get home by 7 pm. I watch the local news from 8 to 9 pm. When there’s no satellite TV I just retreat to my room and fiddle with my pc. And now I’m on a home improvement project mainly making a cabinet under the sink. Up to now there’s already a sturdy rack under the kitchen sink where I can put saucepans and stir fry pans I recently bought from Ikea. So yesterday, all Saturday afternoon through evening I was busy setting up a frame under the sink where the rack will be. Come night I was off to Ikea and Ikano Power Center to browse for tools and materials for more home improvements. I bought 88 bucks worth of hardware tools and materials to make doors for my kitchen sink cabinet and a few wall cabinets. Wood not included. Yeah, I was pretty occupied all Saturday. No TV at all. Although some music would have been nice.

So today, I woke up at 11 am. The thought of going out somewhere was overpowered by laziness. So I lingered at home. Made myself corn-in-the-cup, well, corn in the bowl’s more like it. Delicious. I hesitated a little while before trying to restore my satellite service. I can’t say it was pleasant. I don’t know how many times I had to plug the signal cable in and out of the unit and hope it would grab an available signal wave at that instant. Nothing came by and it made me really sick! At times I feel like grabbing the unit and throw it out the window. Or better, slam it on the floor, stomp on it violently, take a hammer and smash it to pieces and burn the remains. All this shall be done while my heart is pounding, my face red, my adrenaline oozing from their glands and I’m screaming my lungs out. The more psychotic the better. Boy, that would really be satisfying. But instead I decided to take a deep breath, calm down and try again, and again and again. Besides, as satisfying as it may sound, going psycho on the unit would cost me more, socially, financially and emotionally. Suffice to say that I’m outrageously angry.

I called the people at ASTRO and told them my situation and what did they tell me? Since the warranty period of 1 year has expired, I have to pay 50 bucks for their certified dealers to come fix the problem. Is this 50 bucks like a consultation fee? What if they come, tried to fix the problem but can't and say I need to buy a new dish or a new decoder? Would I still have to pay that 50 bucks? Or what if the solution is just to rotate the dish coz its direction was shifted by strong wind? I could have done that myself! Arghh! What should I do? Duh, go to the roof of the apartment and check it out! OK, in a few days...For now, I'll just do what I've been doing all this while.

Only after hours of trying had I managed to grab a signal. And here I am watching satellite TV again. Just like I normally do during weekends, when no one rings me up to hang out. I just finished watching Desperate housewives. Desperation, tell me about it. Hmm…what’s next? It doesn’t matter what I watch next. As long as I’m on satellite, I’m good. I got life again. I now have my life options back.

The view from my office piazza.

The rainy season...

It rains again this night. Just as I was going back and forth on whether to wash my car or just leave it be. It’s only been two weeks since I last did it. Hasn’t looked dirty to me yet.

Washing cars at night is not really normal to everyone since it is usually done during weekends, in the morning. That’s the only free time they get. Those who have extra cash to spare opt for the carwash any day any time.

Prudence is not exactly my thing though. I just don’t think spending 8 bucks on washing a compact car as small as a Mini is worth it. And don’t think I can’t hear you bark ‘cheapskate!’ Plus washing my own car allows me to feel and touch every inch of it and note every scratch and dents I don’t normally see without close inspection. Yeah, men. Can I see them at night you ask? Yup. The street lights near my apartment is bright enough to do that or to know if it’s properly cleaned after every wash.

Another reason is that I don’t normally see the mornings of Saturdays and Sundays. I sleep through the morning and wake up around noon. I wake up early for work weekday mornings and Saturdays and Sundays is when I make up for the lack of sleep. Or so I believe.

Back to the rain, it’s getting heavier by the minute. I’m just glad I’m nicely tucked at home right now. I would probably be caught by surprise and get considerably wet if I had went on with the washing idea. That would be very embarrassing. Imagine, there I was busily washing my car when suddenly it started raining. That’ll be it. I’d throw everything into the pail, close all doors and windows and run for shelter. Onlookers would say “oh, what a pity, but he should have known it’s the rainy season. It’s been raining every night these days…”.

How are you?

Hi Gus,

Haven't heard from u in a loooong time.
The kids and myself, we're fine.
You're busy i guess?


I'm fine too. Good to know you're doing okay. Yup, been busy and pretty occupied. After gawai had loads to do. Then friends and family came to KL one after the other. And I recently reconnected with my aunts in USJ and Kepong. It's been a while since I got in touch with them coz one moved and the other changed phone number. So yeah, quite tired. Otherwise, I'm just fine.

Work, well, it's all the same. But one good colleague is leaving end of this month. His new place is in Kertih, quite far. Near or far, it will be just as difficult coming to work without ones you've gotten used to. Especially those whom you are close with. Remember our parting days after SPM? Yah, something like that. But, it's all good, we'll meet again and i do go to kertih for work sometimes. We'll hang out then.

All that aside, with work, my boss has managed to keep me occupied with stuff i'm not even designed to do. He's venturing into billboard business and I'm the one who has to draw location map diagrams and insert pictures of the location on the map pages. Not that complicated but very tedious. And up to now all the pictures have to be scanned and edited individually. This all mean less time being a Malaysian Idle. Less time with other personal and entertaining stuff on the internet. You could call it working real-time.

Yah, that's my story.

Leave that pun alone!

How often have you heard someone say ‘no pun intended’? Yeah, seldom. Click the title to dig the meaning. That’s right. It’s a witty remark, usually meant to bring out the more cheerful side of anything. To me, puns are always appreciated, so long as it is not overdone. Funny is always good, I believe. Different people have varying tolerance and recognition toward puns. And all have different pun abilities and most of the times, one’s pun make a big impression on oneself. At least that’s how I get a first impression on people's personalities.

It somehow reflects how smart and sharp a person is at manipulating words which describe issues or subject matters into funny remarks, a one liner or some sort. It may also act as a window to the person’s mind. Again, it works for me. For example, there are times when I just know and feel that a person’s funny remark is bone dry, offensive or delightfully juicy. These automatically register as points for character judgments which subsequently lead to compatibility. The result may not be accurate when used alone and I know I have no right to judge others but give me a break, we all need good peer selection.

This article however does not intend to explore the definition and role of puns. No sir, because I myself have less that a paragraph of words for elaboration. Let’s leave that to Webster. What this entry really does is express how I feel about people who tend to say ‘no pun intended’ when they actually do. I know this may make me very unpopular but who’s polling? Plus, I really don’t care.

If you feel me on this, read on. Otherwise move along and thanks for your time.

This is the issue of the unintentional punster. Take these puns for a ride and see how you like them. They were extracted from www.punoftheday.com under funniest puns.

1. I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

2. Police were called to a daycare where a three-year old was resisting a rest.

3. He drove his expensive car into a tree and found out how the Mercedes bends.

4. A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tired.

And loads more from the site. Go visit won'cha. Of course a pun that we come up with may not be as hillarious but you get the picture. Now imagine a person telling you these puns in the middle of a speech and at the end adds 'no pun intended'. Come freaking on. He must have used up some brain energy to come up with them. Why foolishly deny it? Oh, so we're supposed to think that he's naturally punny? That he's the pun factory? Absolutely not. Instead he now sounds like a person in need of an ego boost.

I can't deny that we accidentally come up with something that turns out to be a good pun. Pun is in fact considered obvious humor. And somehow in life, we learn how to detect and acknowledge an unintentional pun. But, even if you don’t intend it, be a good sport and humor others once in a while. And when others say “That’s a good pun" we should say thank you and be proud of it. And maybe if we really mean it, we can add “Actually it wasn’t intended.”

I'm puzzled that most adults groan when a pun is told. The expression 'pun is the lowest form of wit' and all equivalences should be banned. And why should we be ashamed of telling puns and admitting it. We should really be more like children and love this kind of humor. It is fun.

So, if you hear a good pun, enjoy it. If you accidentally tell a good pun, take the credit, enjoy the moment and leave that pun alone!

Are we screwed?

A few weeks back I was in a flight from Miri to KLIA. It was an early morning flight, 6.50 am to be exact. So you can imagine the sore eyeballs, puffy face and sleepiness. Everyone got on the plane in an orderly manner and we were ready to fly. The flight atendant even gave the strap your seatbelt, reposition your chair and stow your seat table speech. And judging by the safety procedure briefing, we would be in the air within minutes. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, not that it's easy but i did anyway. Minutes passed by and we were still not moving. Probably waiting for some late passengers to board, those bastards. Time passed but no sign of people coming in late. Then the pilot started talking. He greeted everyone especially the Enrich members, priviledged fliers, so they say.

Then he continued, "We appologize for the delay as it will take a few minutes for the engineers to tighten some screws on the aircraft."

Now now, that's not good to know. Of course it's almost a detailed info, an appreciated one, instead of just noting some technical difficulties, but that only means that some screws are not tight enough and that's bad. Especially on a plane. I'm on the plane! We all know what happens to passenger aircrafts with some parts loose, misplaced or mismatched. They crash! Just watch seconds to disaster on Discovery Channel. Any survivors? Yah, but they're well on their way to heaven, or hell! Think about ABC's Lost!

I was becoming restless. At one point I felt that I didn't want to be on this plane. Thats it, I'll just get off and get on the next flight. I'll just say that I don't think this plane should fly coz it doesn't have its continuum transfunctioner or something. Hell, it has lose screws! That's tight man...really tight. The few minutes became 45 minutes. And I'm still in the plane. The only thing left to do then was to ask the flight attendant whether we were ready to fly. Or ask if we should switch plane, not that there was another plane available but just wait for a safer one to arrive. They walked by but I just didn't dare to ask questions even they can't answer. Plus, everyone was getting impatient and I didn't want to create a scene. Everyone else could sit patiently and quietly, so why can't I. So I hanged the idea.

But what if I could make up something amusing that it might bring cheer to the uneasy situation. Maybe ask innocently, "Excuse me miss, is this plane screwed yet, coz I'm kinda late for something. You see, earlier the pilot said the engineers need to tighten some screws on the plane. So, are we screwed and ready to go?"

Yeah , right! It's Sunday morning. What could you possibly be late for? Well, church for one. Wait a minute, I don't go to church, regularly, hardly! I can hear a lady's voice on the other side of the line saying, "I'm sorry, please try again...tuuut...tuuut...."

I find myself with a cheeky smile, amused with what I have made up. Now I'm itching to strike it with the flight attendant. Come on, where are they? I gotta let it out! As one walked by I couldn't get myself to flag her. I might just freeze. She might not get the joke. She might tell me that it is inappropriate to joke about a plane's safety and worse, I'd be apprehended and interrogated. Another passenger might burst into a lenghthy speech on taking safety seriously. Maybe I'm not daring enough. Scared. Worried. Whatever it is, I now know that I think too much. I'm not sponsored by Nike. I won't just do it.

While reasoning and battling with the idea, I could see engineers walk toward and away from the engine. They might as well call themselves engine-nears. A few of them keep on coming and going, sometimes climbing the stairs to the cockpit to update or speak with the pilot. What is going on really. When will they fix the problem. I wished they would not coz then we would change planes. That would be safer and less nerve wrecking.

The hour left and finally the pilot told the cabin crew to be seated for the take off. I started praying. Not a common thing for me to do but it was a Sunday morning so what the hell. We taxied to the runway and before I had time to worry we were in the air. Good, let's just hope the flight is smooth eh...

Writing this makes me feel good because I know I 'm alive and well. There are too many crashes in history and all for very minute overlooked details that I just don't feel 100% safe when flying. Especially on light passenger aircrafts in a bad weather. Of course you could argue that more people die in road accidents compared to air crashes but to me, the events before the crash is ...well ...extremely horrific. Road crashes usually happen in an instant. Before you know it you're in a wrecked vehicle, dead or alive. With plane crashes, oh just watch air crash investigations and movies, you'll know what i mean. Myself on the other hand, have watched more that enough that I don't want to scare myself by watching any more. They are just too horrible.

I'm still here...

A coleague is leaving and will no longer be in after 22 August. Sad? Definitely! Glad? Yah, good for him. Depressed? Nope, we'll meet again.

So, he's leaving for better prospect and dynamic career growth. All this comes back biting at me actually. What about me?

Well, one thing's for sure, I'm still here.

Am I going to stay here? For how much longer? Don't I want to try other places? What it's like out there? How will I do? How much more will I make?

Arghhh, too many questions, too vague are the answers. I guess I'm kinda fine right here. Sure it bites sometimes and the pay is enough to live life barely to the fullest. But I'm happy. Really I am. Stress is minimal. Boss is unpredictable but whose isn't? My ass is not his, yet. I'll go when I've had enough.
Plus, I have a few bright sides I can look on. With one good employee gone, maybe boss will reconsider treatment toward emloyees, namely, me. I do realize that no one is indispensable though. Still, I want to try my luck. Word is that another rather important employee is leaving in a month. We'll see how that one goes. That makes for two bright sides. Kaching!.... Or NOT!

Everything in life is about taking risks. Sizes vary with interest, priority and situation. Of course it all depends on the person taking the risk. Ah, I am me and you are you. My risk and what I do with it needs no explanation.

Having been here for three years, I've seen my share of work attitude and ethics. Of what works and what doesn't. Of who has the real deal and who's full of crap. Of coleagues who make good friends and those who must remain as coleagues. Good and bad things come and go but I'm still here.

Till we meet again...

A coleague resigned yesterday and will be leaving by August 1st. Kinda sad really. We've spent 1 year working together. He sits beside me, an empty table between us. Come August there will be two empty tables to my left. He's a cool dude. Most of the times with his own stuff to do but we do chat and share thoughts. I guess we are kinda close, all of us in the office. Not counting the boss that is. Almost everyday we would buy our lunch from a food court downstairs and eat together in the office. There are four of us most of the times. Pretty soon there will be only three. It's bound to be different for a while after he's gone. We're gonna miss him, as much as we try to conceal it.

This just in. Just yesterday i was watching the last few tenth season of friends on dvd. It was exteremely sad ; Some dumb teardrops escaped my eye socket. Something must have smoked them out or something. All the parting situation and the thought of not watching anymore of friends. It's gonna be hard. And no one says it better that joey. "Too much change! I can't take it all." Hmm, not unlike my situation, what are the odds?

Try watching the end of the Lort Of the Rings - Return of the King with a straight face. You know, the part where frodo leaves the gang. Outrageously sad!

Well, this is not really the same. It's not like we're not gonna see each other again. Oh yeah, we will meet again. We're bound to cross paths. In the meantime, we'll seek him out when we're in his neighborhood. Regardless, it will still be sad. I guess it is always sad when someone you've been around with leaves. Especially one you are fond with. Less than a year ago a female coleague left. It was sad too. Girls make it so hard to say goodbye. They always sob. So I firmly hugged her, say my goodbyes and walked out before smoke got in my eyes.

It's always the same reason. Better offer. It's for the best. Though some might doubt it due to the uncertainty. Are they making the right decision? It might not be a life changing decision but a big one nonetheless. As for my friend, I really wish for the best for him. I tell him, "If you feel strongly about it then you should do it. Of course it invloves jumping into a whole new and different environment. Will it be better, same or worse, there's only one way to find out. And there's nothing worse than not grabbing the oppurtunity to find out for oneself. The feeling of not knowing what lies ahead, just because we don't dare take a shot at something we think might be good, sucks. And don't get me started about regrets...