Written by lainie at 01:05 AM on January 4, 2008 in Friends, Arty stuff.

I've been staying over at friends', coming home to dump things I don't need on my bed, before heading out again with more supplies. As a result - huge mess.

Was informed recently that Rose Rose is being restaged, and asked if I would return as assistant stage manager (I said no). This, on the plus side, allows me the chance to see what Rose Rose looks like onstage.

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New year's eve was great. Deliriously happy and in love with everybody around me - even the people I'd just met (good friends and the many, many, MANY drinks floating in my body helped).

Daph and Rish, are back for a very short period of time, which they alternate between KL and Ipoh. I actually love these two just fine without any help from alcohol, so I've been really happy they're back - though they're leaving so soon it sucks :/

A series of events has led to Risha owing me her firstborn (because I love her), and her second (because some favours add up). She's already saying she'll scream at me (first) if her kids grow up and squirmily admit to being gay to her (we established a year back that my gayity will spread to her children through the air).

I said I'd take them all to gay clubs the moment they hit 13.

---

I've been trying to stop Rish and Daph from using the word "gay" to describe things they dislike. It's working, in stages.

 

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Gazel is getting married soon. The wedding plans are crazy. I'm tired of bridal studios. And shopping. Exhausting.

 

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So much cool stuff / duties have been piling up, I've not had time for writing.

I could, now, but I have some work to do, a house to clean up before I return to Ipoh tomorrow. In two days, I have

1) to travel to Ipoh

2) travel back to KL in time for Sat night clubbing

3) fit in a road trip with Daph.

---

 

I find myself re-reading Francesca Beard's "Monologue" a lot of times, lately. Here's an excerpt (because I am too lazy to type the whole thing out):

 

Francesca Beard - Monologue


My friend Matt doesn't believe that real
        love exists in the real world.
Everlasting romantic, tilldeathdouspart love -
that only happens to fictional characters.
According to Matt.
To say 'I love you',
according to matt,
is just a figure of speech, or a lie, or a burp of the
        imagination.
Matt believes you can only truly love 'out of time'.
Real-time love is just selfish.
Like, if you were to say 'I love oysters'
you would probably pass a lie detector test, right? -
assuming you really did love oysters.
But what kind of relationship would that be
        offering the oyster?
And even if it is unegotistical, selfless, pure love -
not, you know, with the oyster,
but romantic human love,
the trueness of that love only lasts
until you or they or circumstances change.
It's only fictional characters who have any free will,
let alone consistency of being.
The rest of us are subject to natural laws of
        chaos and physical desire.
He says that in any case, you can only truly say
whether you've loved someone,
right at the end,
when there's no longer any possibility of betraying
        them.

---

"Monologue" goes on, in a really great way. It's one of my favourites.

 

---

 

 

SophieMiller shot, edited, and uploaded a video of the Lawyer's March for Freedom that actually makes sense.

Click to Watch Video.

Well, I finally have an idea on what happened. Shit, can more of these people edit their videos instead of giving raw footage? That would be lovely (or, more bluntly, less likely to waste my time / abuse my attention span).    

 

Written by lainie at 08:49 PM on January 5, 2008 in Friends.

In a fantasy world, I'd be a barkeep, and Daph will be a..... (I'm still waiting for her reply - it's been hours). And everytime I pull the lever, some awesome homebrew will come out of the tap.

 

 

Seems to coincide with our other fantasy world, where between Josie, Rach, Risha, Daph and I, we'd have a lil gig going on - performance venue, cafe, backpacker's inn. Basically, our own idyllic tourist trap / getaway.

In reality, we're both doing graphic design on her dining table, in Ipoh, and I am very much reminded of when Daph and I were housemates in Cyberjaya. Stargazing, Scrabble, sitting by the lake, and at home - designing side by side. The difference tonight is, Daph is in full concentration mode, and I'm the distracted wanker.

To be fair, I just popped some meds. I reckon I'm coming down with something. I'm thinking, reality tonight ain't so bad . Actually, it's not so bad because I'm hiding out at Daph's place.

Daph and I took some photographs that had similarities

 

 

(photos of each other).

There was another one in the series that Daph took of me, that she called "the most lesbian photo, ever" . This isn't it

I'd only been back in Ipoh a few minutes before I got my first phone call asking me to go out. Many of my friends are in KL :/. I'm supposed to be here a week, but I'm not sure I can take it. I've already had a tiff with each member of my immediate family. Just being in Ipoh can make me cranky.

Which is why I'm in the warm refuge of adopted family. Soulsister We're now designing and occasionally practicing lacing our French accent with a hint of homocidal tendencies while singin to Soko's song, I'll Kill Her.

Oh, and occasionally taking silly photos. I don't know why I always look like I have some eyeshadow on?

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[designgeekery] I replaced the Claude Sans Italic Plain typeface with ITC Flora LT Medium on a brochure I'm working on, and I've found it! I've found it!

Remember kids, never fuck over typeface studies. Even if you have like a gabillion installed and should really get around to organising them. That piece of extremely obvious advice was brought to you by the delight of finding something that works at 1am. [/designgeekery]

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Lay lady lay,
lay across my big brass bed.

I told Daph that was one of my favoured Bob Dylan songs, even if it seems like he forgot to write the rest of the lyrics.

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Was with Daph and Clone in a mamak just now. There was a dude there from Tamilnadu - he didn't really speak anything but Tamil, but Clone and Daph entertained him very much singing and speaking in Tamil (I can really only say thani and thodi, which I'd like to think is perfunctory, yet necessary).

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Two coffeeshops I've been to:

Ipoh Old Town - where I saw a 60s Cafe filled from wall to wall with memorabilia of the era for sale - P Ramlee posters, old F&N posters, beer trays, portraits. Old furniture too! An entire cafe of retro, and the guy who owns it can tell you about most of the stuff there (it's next to Miner's Arms restaurant).

Kong Heng - a cafe my late grandfather used to bring me to for breakfast. They have awesome satay, chicken noodles, and one of those old drinks dude that can take orders for a table of 15 and not mess up anything.

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I met Dabido and Suanie for tea. First time ever meeting Dabido! He told me I speak with an accent (if I do, I'm unaware of it), and asked if I picked it up when I was in London for my holiday.

Lainie: I was there for 15 days, if I came back with an accent, I'd get smacked.

Then I had to scurry off to meet Rish and Rach for dinner, but not before I asked him for the link to a sex video with some local politician (duly given, in my other blog post). Er. This is the part of the post where I link everything, but it's not loading in my editor, so.....This may take a while. Done.

[ related: Dabido's blog entry ]

 

Written by lainie at 08:29 AM on January 7, 2008 in Music, Friends, Arty stuff.

Well. Daph and Rish are out of Malaysia and on their way back to Australia today. I wish they'd stayed for longer. I wish I could teleport, will someone invent a safe, cheap way to do that already?

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Not usually my thing, but I really like this woman's sound. I suppose it helps that there's a noticeable sample of The Clash in it (and that the gunshots in the song usually lead to signboards):

M.I.A. - Paper Planes.

Oh, and she's pretty easy on the eyes, too

=====

I am noticing a trend that makes me uncomfortable. Why am I being recommended as someone to educate others on what I call "issues"? Look - I thought our prime minister's name was Anwar till very late last year. Reality and I, not great buddies.

1) I am known for my "lainie logic", which basically means my sense of logic defies the conventions of common sense.

[ That being said, I find a lot of things considered common sense to be very very silly, and if you agree with me, then maybe we're off to an okay start. Especially if you like the show The Mighty Boosh. ]

2: Are you sure you want an opinion from someone who refers to "issues" as a monolithic entity within quotation marks? Shouldn't that be just a lil bit questionable?

3: I. Am. Antisocial. On top of that, anyone not used to my socially inept way of talking probably thinks I'm loopy and mean. In my world, I'm very nice - unfortunately these sentiments don't usually carry to the general population, because that involves balancing my opinion with...a lot of others...from those things we call...people.

How are those factors a healthy combination? This isn't science fiction, and I'm not some lesbianYoda to learn from.

May I suggest using the vast resources of Google, Wikipedia, and the one located in your head? The only thing I recommend is, doubt is healthy. Especially if the opinion originated from this blog.

Oh, and I said to Jemufo

Lainie: It'll be deeply disturbing if I ever had to change the world.

The first thing I'd do is make everyone wear rainbow clothes. But hey, at least everyone'll be clothed (in uniform....). Then everyone will have to watch porn. Even babies. Which means the first thing I'd do if I could change the world was to force gay themed outfits on everyone. And sustain a porn industry.

=====

I'm watching a pretty cool video on Youtube. It's by this guy who does pretty cool caricatures, and after a 30 second portfolio, you can see a step by step video of how he sketches / colours one of them:


You can see his other caricatures here (nice colour work)

Pretty cool, ei?

Written by lainie at 05:26 PM on January 7, 2008 in Family, Friends, Arty stuff.

Hah. Joey Sia fashion label is doing a photo album that contributes to the hippie community. The idea is to take a photo of yourself, holding up a placard that says "I love culture, heritage & nature". I'll be doing it too, and I see Daph is already ahead of me.

Daphne Yeo, pimping it out!

Joey is, amongst other things, an ex housemate of Daphne and I when we stayed in Cyberjaya. He's the first person to plop an afro on my head.

 -----

I've been eating way too bloody much since I came back to Ipoh. Every meal's been some foodfest.

Was having lunch with mother and sister in the dining room when they noticed I was watching anime on Astro. It was pointed out to me that afternoon is the maid's tv slot because she has all her Chinese serials on, till 430pm.

Mom: Ei, even I don't watch tv till 430, excuse me.

Veto power. Dammit. Over lunch, my sister remarked that my lunch looked unhealthy (I returned the observation on her curry noodles).

Mom: Mine is the healthiest. But I'm also the oldest. I eat healthy, live longer, give you two the chance to...

[ Pause ]

Mom: Hau sun me (be filial to me).
Lainie: Wah. You're not kidding.
Gazel: I thought you were going to say something about grandchildren.
Mom: No la. Give you two the chance to hau sun me.
Lainie: Cheh.

I've had so much food, I'm about to drop off to sleep. 'Cept I have some stuff to get ready.

 

Written by lainie at 07:40 PM on January 8, 2008 in Links / Email.

Youtube poetry entertainment, from me to you!

I think anyone who's been for those Wayang Kata shows and  Googled the British performance poets who have visited us,  will have encountered Apples and Snakes at one point or other. Well, I just realised Apple and Snakes have a Youtube account.

I played their first video on the loudest my laptop would go. It was a woman shouting "If poetry was a woman...I. I. I. WILL BE A LESBIAN!".  -_-"

Niamafulat...I thought it appropriate at that moment to 

p a u s e  the video, 

s k u l k  out of my mother's room,

and go fix myself a drink. 

Anyhow, onward ho. I have separated videos with commentary from each other by alternating red and green. This Christmas colour combination was brought to you by my laziness.

First up is a poetry video of Patience Agbabi. I've read her work before, and I do like it, so I hope we see her in Kuala Lumpur soon (either her or Sophie Woolley, but I'll rather Agbabi at the moment). This is a video of her performing "Eat me":

Patience Agbabi - Eat Me.

I love Pablo Neruda, and like other prominent poets, he poetry has been made into videos. This poem is where the immensely popular "Tonight I can write the saddest lines" came from:

Neruda Love Poem - Poema 20. Poetry videos are cool.

Def Poetry Jam is awesome, I love it. They've had some of the best performance poetry videos I've seen (it helps that they have a community of ardent uploaders).

This video is Alicia Keys - POW. I think she's alright as a poet Unexpected, certainly.

 

"I am a prisoner of words unsaid just lonely feelings locked away in my head" Def Poetry Jam - Alicia Keys - POW

Personally, I prefer Lauryn Hill's performance:



Lauryn Hill - Motives and Thoughts.

And if you want to see angry, hostile girls bitching about a lot of things race-related:


Yellow Rage - Def Poetry Jam.

And finally, a non-poetry video: Jack Peñate. This dude dances kinda funny, can only imagine him skanking if he wasn't playing the guitar. Or line dancing. It borders on both. I'm more intrigued by his movements than his music / lyrics:

Jack Peñate - Spit At Stars. He looks like he should be in Loft, prancing about in a DIY tshirt and checked shoes / fedora / polka dotted scarf.

Written by lainie at 11:19 PM on January 9, 2008.

The only thing keeping me awake against the tide of sleepiness brought about by a medicated, tired mind and sick body....is that I think it's unnatural to sleep before midnight, so I refuse to. It's just a number, I know.

I've also lost my voice. I've not been this agreeable since...........the last time I lost my voice. Well, except for when I was walking towards Puduraya, and I yelled (squeaked hoarsely) at the cabbie that he's a fucker and that he should fuck off (I don't take to being lied to / ripped off very well), and flipped him off.

What can I say, in my patience-resources are severely limited. Sick, or not.

Written by lainie at 03:17 PM on January 12, 2008 in Friends, Stupid, but fun..

For the Joey Sia fashion label's hippie community.

Written by lainie at 05:06 PM on January 12, 2008 in Family, Friends.

Visited the Lim Courtyard recently. My granduncles and grandaunts (8 of them) got together to build an old-fashioned Chinese style courtyard in Ipoh, with the intention to stay with each other in the future.

They managed to coax some retired craftsmen to build the entire thing the old way - meaning, we had a huge courtyard put together without a single nail. Just big beams of wood interlocked like a jigsaw.

Aunty Regina joked that the craftsman was probably cussing the family as he went along building everything, because the house has a lot of these lattice stuff that was all handmade (apparently, he got bored after a while).

I don't have photos of the place, but if you like looking at newly built old places, my granduncle's blog has some pictures (also filled with cheesy humour and pics of relatives I cannot identify).

Unless I'm mistaken, he's the architect for the courtyard.

-------

 
Daph: He's half Italian! And half...not Italian.

I was just missing Daphne, and the things she says when a message came through my phone, "miss hating friends and family", but I understood what she meant anyway. Made me smile. Not to say the woman cant be so bubbly sometimes it doesn't drive me crazy, but I miss her. Also spent all my phone credit on her because pining for friends over the border ain't cheap.

 -----

3am: Heard some extremely loud noises - bangs, like something was being beaten up by a metal stick. Went on for a while, making me get out of bed (and put on clothes).

I opened the curtains from my darkened room, to see what was happening, and spotted a man walking by outside my house, towards another road. I was worried we had some whackjob banging away at our gate, or that of my childhood friend's, next door. Phoned my mother and woke her up (eventually).

We looked out the windows and in the dim vision from the few working streetlights (why are the lights here so shitely maintained, I'd like to know), a group of men were walking the direction the first guy had gone, carrying metal sticks. They seemed to be walking away, and didn't give a damn who saw them.

Was wondering if a neighbour has loanshark problems. I saw quite a few of my neighbours peeking out from shadowed rooms, behind curtains - the wives always more discernable by the permed hair.

Then my mother distracted me - she had flipped the lights on, opened the balcony door, and walked out to have a proper look. In her loud, floral nightie. -___-". My ma's got style, sometimes. 

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Yknow, I told my doc that my cough was keeping me awake and I don't know what the hell he gave me, but by the time the meds kicked in I was trembling just lifting up a fork. 

Written by lainie at 01:55 AM on January 14, 2008 in Links / Email.

If you have the time and internet connection for it, Youtube is a great geek haven. Here we go!

First up is from a series of animations I love called Tales of Mere Existence:

This is the #2 most popular one - I'm Not Going To Think ABout Her (#1 is the featured video "How To Break Up). You HAVE to check out the rest of AgentXPQ's animations, they're awesome. His tagline is ."..Stuff you think about but don't talk about"

(props to Just for introducing me to the series)

--------

 Stephen WIltshire's Youtube account.

I've been watching videos of savants lately. There have been some pretty awesome ones, but this one really makes me seriously envious. Dude takes a 45 minute helicopter ride over the city one time, and draws out a HUGE panorama of it from memory. And it's crazy, thousands of buildings and he even gets right how many columns of windows they have.

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Erislaughs talks about the retcon in Spiderman, and I like what she had to say.



She has other videos in Youtube but I liked the video I linked the most, probably because she doesn't ramble as much as her other vlogs (I dislike the B&W because I can't check out the COVER ART of the comics she brandishes occasionally).

I was also amused by her rant about badly written characters - especially that of an Amazonian who swoons over a guy she bumps into:


She's an Amazon. She's an Amazon. Why is she acting so retarded? .....Why would she fall over and have hearts in her eyes, thumping out of her face? ...

I want the Amazon girl to act like a fucking Amazon girl, yknow? She doesn't have to be harsh, she doesn't have to hate men, I'm not saying that. But why did she have to be such a vapid, vacuous *very strange sound* when she meets guys?

This remids me I've not visited When Fangirls Attack in a while. That being said: B&W comic vlog = Cover art = NO. NO! NO!

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There are How To Draw STAR WARS tutorials online. Even if you're not gonna end up sketching Star Wars after it, still pretty cool to see the artwork being done.

You can check out other How To Draw STAR WARS episodes here

These tutorials are done by Matt Busch

----

Just a few videos on Youtube. Awful video quality, awesome variety.

Written by lainie at 01:10 PM on January 14, 2008 in Stupid, but fun..

I watched DreamQuest recently. It has a running fantasy theme that you can check out, since I've screencapped (and added captions). I noticed that the film title used Trajan as their font (movie trivia: so did many other films). I decided to use Trajan for the captions too - though mine is a different version of Trajan - because it seemed fun and ungeeky at the time.

Lotsa screencaps below (might have some skin, but nothing hardcore), so you get an idea of the storyline.

It's actually a high budget, award winning porn flick (starring Jenna Jameson, with Asia Carrera and Alexa!). I watched it with a friend, and eventually fell asleep while the video was playing. Nevertheless, it was entertaining before I nodded off, because I usually find porn with storylines filled with so much corny scenes I can't help but laugh.
 

This porn actually comes with a moral - allowing yourself to embrace fantasy. You can read up on DreamQuest (NSFW), if you're so inclined.

I'll watch it again soon, with Itty Bitty Bang Bang, which I suspect is a midget porn movie, though I have not verified this. Porno movie night at my place, anyone?

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I'm out for lunch, though I'm still a bit doped from my medication. It makes me so sloooooow, I don't know if I like it. 

Written by lainie at 06:59 PM on January 15, 2008 in Arty stuff.

I saved up for a Wacom tablet a few years ago - it's one of my favourite tech things. Unfortunately, living with a batty maid at the time meant that she thought my tablet pen was merely any ol' pen out of ink, and it got binned - which is really something, if you have any idea how this woman hoards all the other stuff.

Fast forward to the present, I've borrowed my housemate's tablet pen, and ahhhhhh. I've missed this. Just randomly doodling, getting used to the tablet again. I ended up with a lot of sad looking Japanese-y girls (probably a direct result of reading this comic)

Anyhow. This is the first one I drew (also the strangest looking - hence the upload). Who knows, I might upload some sad looking girls too.

Speaking of Wacom. I want this so bad.

 ------

 And now I'm off to get ready for an Artis Proactiv meet in Annexe. To be honest, I've always associated APA with the older arts-scene crowd, a bit too serious for me. But, one of the things they do work for is a sense of solidarity in the community, helping each other out through the stupidities like censorship. So I'll just go and see what's up.

Written by lainie at 05:39 PM on January 17, 2008 in Friends, Events.

At Rach's suggestion I went to the 5th Lapsap party in Palate Palette last night, a first for me. When we got to the door, I found a lot of friends (many TAG friends out on a week night). Some of them had black plastic stickers on them. "Kiss Me", "FB Whore"....Faces from the arts scene. A lot of camera flashes. Girls wearing duct tape / torn clothing / sheer skirts. Electro music and happy people. Shiny lights. Mei Ling (not her name) met a Mei Ling (like, really her name).

There was a guestlist you had to get on before being let upstairs. Some had been miffed when I asked them earlier if they were going for Lapsap, and they were on the mailing list / Facebook group but snubbed for an invite. I shrugged it off. Thought the crowd control might be needed in such a small venue. Turns out - It was still packed - there were a lot of people. The "right" crowd? Seemed like the "secret"  party was an open one amongst certain circles.

By the last few steps up, you can literally feel the heat envelope you in a separate dimension of bodies, sweat and smoke. Every so often, I'd escape downstairs and join the friends taking a break from the heat and body crush for a drink - I had rum and a very girly looking strawberry margarita.

It was nice. I think I was in a lot of silly lookin photos that night. Made some new friends.

I have a post on the Artis Proactiv thing, but going for little parties such as Lapsap have taken away a lot of my usual weekday blogging hours . Meanwhile, I'll be heading towards theProject Bazooka gig in Laundry, The Curve tonight. Deserters, Seven and Furniture will be playing. A lot of people I met in Lapsap intend to go too, so I went from having no temans tonight, to a whole bunch of friends with coinciding social calendars.

Furniture. Deserters. Se7en.
Project Bazooka @ Laundry Bar.
Free Entry.
9.30pm onwards!

[ Flyer from this blogspot page ] 

 I'm a bit rusty with local band names now, but isn't it Seven? Last I remember, Se7en is a Brad Pitt movie / K-Pop singer.

Written by lainie at 03:08 AM on January 18, 2008 in Music, Friends, Events, Arty stuff.

I just had a good night's fun at Project Bazooka! The music's great - the sound in Laundry is always deplorable, but music and company made up for that .

I showed up on time, which also meant I arrived before all my friends. Bumped into Reza, the organiser for Moonshine - we've not met for quite a while. He asked if I was still blogging (oooh, yeah ). Tried to find some people, and was rescued from my dismal ability for recognising familiar faces by Chee, who invited me to join him and his friend, Jasmine.

Chee's the penciller for The Foundation, a comic that's been getting pretty good reviews online:

"Chee employs a variety of different designs to distinguish among the routine, everyday look of the various characters, and he manages to establish a strong sense of realism despite his simpler style."

from Eye on Comics

I'll be picking up an issue of The Foundation the next time I head to Kino.

Anyhoo, Furniture, Seven and Deserters were the bands for the night. I got really shite videos of Furniture and Seven - as usual, I refused to get off my butt for a better spot to film them in a way that did their performance justice. I did, however, get some much better videos of Deserters. I'll let you guys know when it's up on my Youtube account.

Meanwhile, check out the bands' Myspace profiles - they're worth the time if you ever have the chance to catch their gigs.

=====

Lola joined us just after Furniture's set. She introduced herself to Jasmine, who unfortunately heard her name as "Gay" (which was none of my doing).

Jasmine: You're Gay?
Lainie: *snigger*
Lola:*disapproving look*

It helped that right before, I had dinner with KA, who justified the vegetarian dish she ordered because she was gay (you do know there's a stereotype out there about lesbian vegetarians? And the vagitarian version?).  Lola had shown up in a tshirt with a picture of a cartoon carrot and the word "Vegetarian" underneath.

Look, I can't help noticing connections like that.

Went for a drink with Lola after the gig. I'd meant alcohol, but she translated that in her head into caffeinated drinks, so we ended up in a mamak near my place. Talked about my sister's wedding coming up this Saturday.

She says if I wear a dress (which I probably will) I should show her the photos (which I probably won't).

I did, however, show her some sketches / work from two personal projects I'm working on. One involves a series on a tree (that amongst other things, flies and talks to the moon). We both like working on small projects, and I've agreed to hop on to hers - a postcard project she's started with a friend. I like postcards. And little art projects to work on.

===== 

Speaking of work, I just finished up a design for Talenthub recently (they've started offering pole dancing classes! :D Didn't even know Malaysia had such stuff). I've offered to be the pole, but Fiona (who runs the place) very drily remarked that I wasn't the only volunteer. Basically, the only way I'm going to get my eyeballs on this class will be if I join, and I doubt I want to give her that much entertainment.

 

I asked Fiona if she'd mind me putting up a small preview of the brochure design on my blog, and she complied (actually, her reply was "of course you can" ). How would I know...? -___-"

I've run out of meds for my cough, which I still have. Oh noes... 

Written by lainie at 01:32 AM on January 19, 2008 in Rants, Daily Life, Home.

Well, I was just robbed a few hours ago, at 8pm. Was padlocking the gate when two guys on a motorcycle who had passed by earlier made a U-turn towards me.

The dude riding pillion ran down towards me (shortie too), and there was this moment where I knew what was going to happen - I didn't get a chance to go back in, he was just a few steps away and besides, I'm real slow at running.

He grabbed my slingbag in such a way that it slung around my waist like a hula hoop - I was too distracted by the yanking (which hurt my waist), and it was dark, so I took time to realise that the other arm he was brandishing vigorously actually held a pretty big knife. That was when I stopped struggling back. Not worth it.

Yelled to him, okay okay just stop yanking, I'll give you the bag. It was like he didn't hear me and finally I just held up my hands in resignation that

1) reason wasn't the key (in fact, feeling slightly stupid that I'd even tried), or
2) he didn't understand English, and
3) I didn't want to provoke him into gutting me
4) I couldn't run off with the bag handle around me like that anyway.

There's a lot of insecurity in having to wait and let an armed dude with really bad aim slash the bag off - as he was yanking at the strap around my waist and missing the handle with his knife a few times. I was already suspecting drugs and/or low IQ at this point.

Not that I'm one to judge, but the incompetence was just....I mean, in the midst of it all, even I noticed it. How is this dude not t in jail? It didn't take that long at any rate, his knife slashing eventually cut the strap.
 
My neighbour Mr Yip, who was taking out the trash, saw what was happening and yelled at the men - the guy ran with my bag, and they rode off together. I was relieved I didn't end up with an ugly hilt sticking out of me somewhere.

The moment he started running off with my bag I was already yelling "Snatch thief, snatch thief" - while peering out into the dark of my housing area and realising that it probably wasn't doing any bloody good anyway. I mean, the last time it'd taken me two minutes of shouting at my neighbour in his room upstairs (Har? Har? What? What? What you want? Har?) before he could figure out I wanted back the cat bowl left in his house a few nights back. You can practically smell the sedentary lifestyles in the night.

 
So instead, I just took a good glance at their license plate, even then thinking it'd probably lead nowhere.

I finally noticed then the throb in the back of my right hand. I looked at it, saw lots of blood and the inside bits of flesh. My first thought was SHIT, MY SKETCHING HAND!!?? I tried flexing and my fingers felt really weak, which frightened me (Kat once told me a scary story of someone she knew who couldn't draw as before after a hand injury, and I remember thinking I never want to lose that kinda muscle memory in my hand and have to relearn it with my left).

I wasn't sure if I had antiseptic in my house, and didn't think it would be a good idea to be alone when the snatch thieves went through my bag and discovered they'd just wasted a lot of effort (seriously, I'm not worth the time robbing), so I asked Mr Yip if I could get some first aid stuff from his house.

His wife put four plasters on my hands, which lasted about a minute before my blood soaked through them and they kinda...fell off.

Then they bandaged me strangely in gauze in such a way that I could basically move my wrist a lil bit, and nothing else. That, was actually kinda funny.

Called the police, and a man who didn't speak anything but English and was extremely unfuckinghelpful answered the phone. I told him the license plate number of the snatch thieves, and he asked me what I wanted him to do.

Bit back a lot of smart alecky remarks and told him to send out a patrol car in case the robbers were still around (because I didn't have money in the bag, and they'll still be looking). I was told to make a police report. Hung up with the feeling fuck all was gonna be done, pissed that they knew robberies were a usual occurence but that SINCE i've moved in here, I've NEVER seen a patrol car around. EVER.

Anyone up there wants to send some of the police on the political beat over to actually police the streets? And yknow, crime spots? Stupid government.

Sent my housemates a text each telling them that I was robbed outside the house, be careful. Next thing I knew, Tate called offering to bring me to the doctor - which is an option I'd not considered.

Thank goodness my housemates are nice and have common sense, to make up for the lack of mine. I'd just been thinking of antiseptic and ugly scars. And mourning the loss of my sketchbook - thinking about that makes my heart sink, honestly. 

When Tate hung up I noticed talking about the robbery made my hands shake more - I was not conscious of shock, but my body was giving out plenty of signs that I was shaken .

The Yips were really nice, talking to me for a while as I waited for my housemate (so I didn't have time to think about how exactly I'd like to chicken out of visiting the doctor). They told me about other snatch thief incidents, and the lack of security there. Apparently, it's been happening for years and the police have not succeeded in securing the area (like I said, never seen a patrol car here, I'm not sure if "succeeded" is the word so much as "attempted".

Tate and Ding both came over soon and brought me to a nearby clinic Tate's familiar wtih. Doctor told me I'd need stitches, which was precisely what I'd dreaded - not the stitches, but the accompanying needles. I am so incredibly chickenshit and nancypants about injections.

Tattoos = Love.
Injections = meh. meh. mehhhhh.

Doctor explained to me that no, I had not lost a lot of skin, it was just so swollen (red and pinkish stuff sticking up like a lil volcano) that the gash looked like I was missing skin. Great.

I got my injections in my hand, and four stitches between a doctor and an inexperienced nurse who wasn't sure where everything went -_-". Doc said it was cut in a strange way - like a jagged crescent moon-  so the stitches would be tricky. I watched the stitching being done, which was actually really interesting. If icky. I'm grateful I never took up that med scholarship offer.

Asked doc if anything important was injured - I didn't think so, but I thought I'd better make sure .

After that, had another injection for tetanus. :/ I could hear Ding and Tate continuously talking about whatever through the clinic walls the entire time.

Mr Yip and the doctor both told me that usually the snatchthief victims in the area get a few extra slashes - the doc had just treated another snatch thief victim the other day with gashes on the arm, the robbers apparently usually do this to induce shock, so you don't take any immediate action. Was told again I was lucky someone had been there to frighten off the men before anything worse happened.

My items? A zip bag, my duct tape wallet, a Neil Gaiman book I had borrowed from Rachel, a homemade pencil case Kate gave me years ago, my sketchbook containing work from the two projects I'd shown Lola. Money? None.

Basically, I lost objects with sentimental value, and hours of sketches. It's the part where I lost my pencil case, and the sketchbook, that really gets to me. I resent that I've put off scanning quite a few of the drawings because they "weren't done yet".

I'd casually asked Mr Yip if he knew where they usually dumped the bags - because I'm seriously considering going to search for my sketchbooks. Unfortunately, it's night now, and I won't have time till Sunday. FUCK.

There's a lil party going on in my house, downstairs, but I don't really feel like participating. I'd just gotten robbed, my hand hurts, my body's sore, and I feel tired. Have to be up early tomorrow and can't drink anyway, cause of the meds. I'm sensitive to a lot of chems.

I want to draw (aww, I just realised my favourite mechanical pencil is gone), but ah. I won't be drawing for days.

Now my right hand is starting to throb again through the painkillers, and my left arm is too numb from the injection to use (anyone has any idea how long this sensation will last?).

At least I can still type.

Gazel's wedding tomorrow. I'm not very sure, but I think I'm the emcee. Ah well, what's done is done. Bring it on!

I'm so gonna get nagged by the older folks when they hear about the snatch thieves tomorrow, huh? Sigh.

Written by lainie at 07:55 PM on January 21, 2008 in Rants, Home.

I should get a good luck charm.

I had a wonderful dinner last night - a kind of sending off for my newly wed sister Gazel, and brother in law Tommy, along with his parents. Today, they'll be on the way to Hong Kong so Gazel can meet her new inlaws.

Then I visited a doctor in SS2 (the first clinic we found that was open at the hour), Shalini and Lee. Let's just say the doctor was a rough asshole who started it off by ripping gauze off the back of my hand - which pulled at my stitches quite sharply, causing what I thought was an unnecessary amount of pain. I nearly yelped. It didn't get any better. Towards the end of it, he pressed down on my stitches with his thumb (quite firmly, and therefore quite fucking painfully), to wipe around it.

Since he ignored my protests (again) that he was being unnecessarily rough, I started looking for a cert hanging on the wall that indicated he actually had a license to practice, while wincing and making all kinds of internal observations about being manhandled by quacks. No certs that I noticed. Pisshead, I am so unimpressed. I may not be good with injections, but I'm not very pussy about other types of pain - particularly on my hands.

Trust me, I have high pain tolerance in my hands, and it usually takes a lot before I even notice something injurious might be happening to it. Is this because I have my period and am feeling pissy? Anyone wants to change my mind and tell me the technical details that would require so much strength to change a bandage?

Came home, drank some alcohol and watched some horrible Hungarian midget porn. It was so bad at one point there was a naked Gollum-like man. Serves me right, I know.

Woke up today with a headache, and an extremely sore arm (the tetanus shot is hurting way more than the stitches right now).

Got caught in the rain coming home from lunch. Upon entering I noticed that the electricity was out, and the opening in my bedroom ceiling had been moved several inches. Yknow, that thing that looks like a square manhole in a ceiling, whatever it's called, that allows access from the roof. This noticeable displacement had not been there before I left (was taking a break from reading Spider-man comics to.......stare at my ceiling).

I considered the possibility of small animals peeking into my bedroom, but realised I'd certainly never bloody heard any critters running in the roof. And it looked like there were edges that would require opposable thumbs to lift from the ceiling. I checked - didn't seem like we'd been burgled - my laptop and camera lying in plain view. 

"How bloody unlucky can I be anyway? Can't be a break in so soon after the robbery, cmon. And my stuff's all still here".

Then feeling doubtful, rain-soaked, and not particularly lucky, I called Tate, who was at work, in case I had interrupted a break-in. Grabbed my laptop, camera and the cat and triple locked myself in his room to wait for him.

Tate came over pretty soon to check it out. Ladder, home weapons, torchlight, and him climbing up, getting all dusty. We moved my dodgy work desk and ended up spilling all the contents onto the floor - breaking some wine glasses.

Mohan and Ding came along as back up. Mohan started singing some Spider-Tate song, asking if we really expected a burglar to be sittin in the roof waiting to be found .

Tate didn't find any indication of footprints or misplaced roof shingles in our house. He was the one who'd climbed up and performed most of the grunt / investigative work. The three of them left. I'm wondering if I should duct tape my ceiling. Mohan suggested the wind may have done it (which would have to come from inside the roof because both my room window and door were shut). I've never had any of this in my homes before (bar one time when the roof literally collapsed), so I don't know what to make of it.

That being said, moving the ladder / table around seems to have lessened the hurt on my tetanus shot for a while. It's back now, but not as sore as before.

I spent fifty dollars on hair products I thought I needed, but upon reconsideration, I should have acquired my good luck charm - a bottle of mace.
I'm now charging my stungun of dubious legality. Bloody hell.

Written by lainie at 04:56 AM on January 23, 2008 in Arty stuff.

Thank you so much for the well wishes that have come my way the past few days

Unlike my more salubrious housemates, who have gym memberships (and actually go!), the concept of working for health is foreign to me. I've been eating unhealthily and vegging out in front of the tv. It appears I become rather unimaginative about my spare time without my right hand fully functioning - however wrong that sounds.

I finally watched some episodes of L Word (Season 2), with Ding, who has the DVD box set. Really, what's the big deal about L Word? Bring back Sex and The City!

I live next to some hyper kid who's still awake at 4.30am. I used to be one of them, but now that I'm all grown up with a room of my own and a fear of dark places - it's creepy to hear a kid's laugh bounce off my room walls. Rather than obeying the sleep my eyes are trying to force, I have been....doodling.

I call this one.....Doodle.

i lost patience after a while. Too groggy.

Written by lainie at 03:02 AM on January 24, 2008 in Stupid, but fun..

Happy Thaipuisam, friends, readers, people, spiders and googlebot. A few hours late, but hey! I hope you had a good celebration / holiday

I now offer a photo of my bandage, and myself, looking ubercool. Note that in the background, my equally ubercool baby giraffe stuffed toy also has his nonchalant back-turn pose down pat.

Try to imagine I am going "UHNNN" as the camera clicked.

(yeah. i am so suburban gangsta. and that is a DEMON BABY GIRAFFE! UHNNN!!)

......Sometimes I pull shit like this and I imagine some lesbian out there smacking her forehead and cursing me for tainting the overall Malaysian-lesbian image (I didn't make this up, I've been fired some emails about this). Apparently, not enough out-lesbians have my blog exposure, and I am seriously not considering my role / prominence well enough.

Not a discussion I can't handle, really .

I'm sure you readers won't hold it against me that my bandage can't really be seen in the photo - it looks cleaner and whiter this way .

I made a police report yesterday. An officer saw my pathetic bandage done by the doctor, observed that it was badly done, and bandaged my hand again for me.

He got teased, poor dude.

Say it with me, it's fun: UHN!

Written by lainie at 06:45 PM on January 24, 2008 in Family, Daily Life.

I posted an entry for the KataGender blog, after a meeting we had:
Meeting Results

---

I don't usually talk about my family here (primarily because my family reads this blog), but hey. My sister just got married!

Gazel's wedding was over the weekend, in Saujana hotel. Kept it to a small-sized do, family, some friends.

I suppose if Gazel's been showing her ring to people, I've been showing my bandage. An aunt told me that it works this way: You know someone who's a snatch-thief victim until you are one. There were 5 women at that table who had been robbed before.

I sat at the main table - my contact with the chair and food was minimal, most of the night went to meeting relatives, introductions, and helping Gazel change dresses (she wore 3 different outfits). With all my relatives gathered in one place, I forgot that dad's and mom's family don't really know each other (though given the spread, some overlaps did occur).

 

My aunt emceed and got the people laughing, my uncle did the toast and impressed some hopeful women (too late, he just got married too).

My mother and her family are all good public speakers - a gene I didn't inherit. I suppose I've also had far less experience than they did at speaking extemporaneously. Maybe it's the difference in education systems now. Either way, I'm not fond of it. I'm prattling- I was originally supposed to be micced up too, but they decided since my aunt was doing announcements she should emcee as well.

---

Tommy had to drink with my uncles. His family is much quieter, and I'm sure Gazel's warned him beforehand, but I don't think he's that familiar with my dad's side of the family. My dad's drunk siblings kept coming up to him with all these (probably made up on the spot) "Yeoh initiations". Everything involved alcohol.

After Tommy downed yet another glass of wine, my aunt congratulated him on marrying into the family. My family had been worried Gazel's friends would storm the bridal suite, as per tradition.

Gazel: Don't worry, my friends aren't like that!

Yeah che, you forgot about your relatives.

Uncle: Tonight, we get drunk in the bridal suite!

And so we did. Or rather, they did. I couldn't drink because of my medication - that was the excuse I gave my uncle.

Uncle: I'm on medication too!
Lainie: ......Yeah, but I'd like to keep my liver for a long time.

Some suspected my uncle was trying to get Tommy drunk without really drinking up himself, which seemed like a lack of observation skills to me because everytime I turned to look at him, he was downing a glass of wine (I think he's been drinking since he was 6).

A topic brought up was what I was like as a child. A mini syaitan, apparently. I had the reputation for disciplinary problems - because I was stubborn and had no understanding of authority. I am willin to bet other wiser cousins just agreed , then disobeyed anyway - I disagreed and disobeyed, which is an unwise combination.

Hours after Gazel's wedding night, during the drinking session, my preteen cousin stormed in and..... based on his actions (possibly driven by the wine he had), and how he reacted to the disciplinary actions taken....Let's just say he was psychotic and the punishment was harsh, but also ineffectual. It was like watching a posessed kid.

Nothing worked. Both soft and hard approaches did nothing. I nearly slapped him myself, except someone else was already in the midst of trying to hit him out of it (not in a rage, but more a methodological "let's see how this works" way).

I was never that bad as a kid. Angry, yes. Impertinent, definitely. Occasionally attempted murder, also yes (I viewed it as problem solving). But I wasn't consciously malicious or as stubborn. Even when I looked at the kid I felt wary.

Oh well. We shall see how it goes. My uncle (who's actually a really young bloke, Tommy's age) came back much later, cause he had helped pin my cousin down, and declared he never wanted kids. My mother laughed at me because my only saving grace is that there's a Yeoh kid out there who'll be worse than me.

---

Tommy and uncle Sidney are both the same age, have similiar topographic histories, both do tech security and live in Melbourne, and they both married Yeoh accountant girls. My aunt kept calling them "the two geeks", with what I presume was affection.

I think it'll take a longggggg time for Tommy's family to get used to us.

Well, they were told by my mom's sister that her family only stops talking when we're eating (I come from a very loud family). It's the kind of family that breeds liberal, educated women who have witty conversations and extremely dirty jokes.

I think it's entirely possible my dad's side is crazy. Hedonistic, alcoholic, and slightly off their rocker. It's the kind of family that breeds intelligent, dominant women who besides telling the jokes, tend to have a starring role in such tales.

My mother comes from a family history that treated different sexes (and to a lesser extent, gender) as equal, so when I asked as a kid why she didn't want a son, she retorted that I had some old-fashioned ideas (bloody hell). She asked me what difference would it made, and I was like "Well I don't know, but a lotta people want one". But I liked being the youngest, so screw what other people think.

I think my dad's family history has so many children, that question never really came up in the first place.

Sweeping statements have their weaknesses, but that was my first impression, the first time I consciously compared my parents' families.

Well, in any case, Tommy drank a lot in the bridal suite, and held his own - still standing at the end of the night (if quite drunk). My uncle liked that. When I returned the next day, Tommy was hungover and woozy from alcohol leftover in his system. Mom told him my uncle had been seen up and about early in the morning, and a little surprised that Tommy wasn't.

It was strange to see my sister heading down a path so....yknow. College, Uni, Work, Marriage. I can't imagine being anything like that. I'm happy for her, Tommy's a nice guy, but there was a moment where I wondered if I'll want what they are headed towards - stability, kids, retirement, and all that. It reeks of responsibility, and I'm so uncomfortable with that I don't even know how to deal with it .

I wonder when I'll be an aunt.

if you read this:

Congratulations, Tommy & che.

======

After handling the preparations for my sister's wedding, my mother heaved a sigh and told the make-up artist that when it's my turn to get married, I can choose Gucci, Prada, or whatever brand I like.

She's buying me a suitcase so I can elope.

======

Fip is a doctor in Ipoh now (or something like that, somewhere near Ipoh). She called to see how I was doing after the robbery

Lainie: I have a cough, can I have cough syrup?
Fip: Cough syrup??? That has nothing to do with your hand! You probably don't even have a cough

[ Which makes Fip slightly less blur than when we were dating ]

Lainie: I do! You want me to bloody cough up some phlegm in front of witnesses?????

Lainie: Oh, and painkillers too?

Well, can't blame a girl for trying.

=====

I'm considering painting my bedroom wall a nice, deep blue. The problem is, I suck at judging paint colours.

Written by lainie at 07:29 PM on January 29, 2008 in Daily Life.

Just to let you know - lightning shorted my laptop quite selectively. I can do everything but access the internet.

Boo. 

Written by lainie at 03:15 PM on January 30, 2008 in Family.

It's my mom's birthday today:

Happy birthday maaaaaaaa!

[Yes, my parents, family, extended family, family friends, people I'm kinda related to but don't know about and the tree down the road have been introduced to this very lesbian blog. I try not to think about it - I'm not sure I like everyone from my dad's generation knowing what I'm *really* up to when they ask me "Girl, what are you doing now?"]

====

I found a great video recently. It's a song called OK2BeGay. It gets a bit flamboyant for me at some parts, but that's what makes it so much fun to watch.

I've been forcing my friends to watch it.

====

I've been coming up with digital comps of a comic I'm working on. It's for kicks, but I like where it's going . I'll post up samples the moment my laptop is ready for internet again. Those who have seen the sketches know what it's about....er...those who haven't may be surprised).

Written by lainie at 05:01 PM on January 31, 2008 in Links / Email.

My libido T_____T
RIP

Died in the bushes of Cecilia Cheung (NSFW), whoever she is (and that bush is enough to qualify as plural).

 [ I removed the link cause I just remembered everytime I link someone famous + naked I get stupid comments even years after. I'm sure you can google it, if so inclined. It's basically Edison Chen sex photos ]

I asked my mom who the hell these people (Edison Chen, Bobo something) were. Apparently, film stars whose popularity will suffer from the sex expose, however that makes sense.

I don't get why it can be such a big deal, I'm sure I'd still listen to Cat Power if she had some mutant bush and shagged Edison Chen.

I'm back in Ipoh to accompany my ma.