The Career Talk and Peer Pressure in Marriage

It’s 11.42 pm on a Monday. I turned on the tap of my bathroom sink and the water was chillingly cold. I couldn’t help myself but smile. You see, it has been raining constantly during the weekend. Something that hasn’t happened in more than a few months. That could only mean one thing…the end of the dry season. Usually when I turned on the tap, be it 3 o’clock in the morning even, the water is at best warm. During the day time, well, let’s just say that I would not be surprised if I could boil an egg with it.

So, with the Earth finally beginning to distance itself a bit from the Sun, I must say I couldn’t be happier. Well, it’s more grey and wet nowadays but, hey, I much prefer it this way.

In exactly 7 days my ACCA program will commence. Yes ladies and gentlemen, the wheels are finally turning. In about time too. It’s been about 3 months I have been loitering and doing nothing. Well, not really nothing, just things that I find amusing and fun to do. Sometimes things are not that amusing but still I had to do. In any case, I’m feeling rather excited because lately the sense of boredom and loneliness has been settling in more frequently than I would like. It is an obvious indication that it is time I need something big to put in my life. An agenda. A sense of purpose. In this case financial management and taxation laws. All of previous students and even current ones that I have met has something bad to say about the program. Usually that it is difficult and take a lot of your free time. Erm, make that all of your free time. Still, despite all this, I am undeterred and sort of, dare I say it, motivated by it. I guess it began when Mr. Faiz, a partner at PWC, said these words:

“…after that, there is no end on how far you can go,”

“that” referring to succeeding in becoming a CPA. At that moment I thought, that’s the best damn plan I have ever heard of. Sure it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be stressful. It’s going to be long hours and hard work. Not to mention no social life. Relationships? Only with my colleagues if I’m lucky. But if it means an Aston Martin and an Avenue K apartment in the future, I’d say it’s worth a shot. Some people have doubts. I have ambition.

Now, moving on to other matters, yesterday while I was cruising at 70 km/h along the streets of Kuala Lumpur, one disturbing thought hit me. It concerns the matter pertaining the words ‘peer pressure’. What it means is you are pressured into doing something that you at first were not willing to do but since everybody else around you is doing it, you thought, what the hell, I’ll join in. Usually ignoring the fact whether it’s right or wrong. I have been subjected to numerous types of peer pressures during my teenage years. Fortunately though, I managed to keep myself away from the really bad ones. Meaning sex, drugs and alcohol. Hell I don’t even smoke. Ain’t I a pretty boy then? Tsk. Anyway, some less harmful influences I permit myself into such as going out illegally at night during my time at boarding school and watch Zahid and Co perform every weekend during a certain period last year. But all this is just mincemeat. I never really give them much thought because the matter of fact is, they were never significant issues in my life worth pondering about. That is, until yesterday when a certain word just suddenly popped into my head. It was the dreaded ‘M’ word…..Marriage.

Back then, when it was about a new bicycle, a red New York Yankee cap or SMS-ing your friend 10 times through because is still cheaper than actually calling him or her, those are all phases. Bicycles stored away when you learn to take public transport. Fred Durst suddenly became yesterday’s news and SMS is...well, still going strong I suppose. But marriage? Whoa, that one stays…forever. You see, I can deal if all my friends have IPods. I can deal if all of them had tried this fabulous new restaurant which I haven’t time to go to just yet and had a great time. I can deal if all of them visited Venice one way or another. But if all of them gets married. The only thing I can say is ‘Oh shait…’.

When people get married, they change. It’s a known fact. That’s why it’s called settling down because that’s what it is…settling down. The spouse or family becomes their number one priority. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that when you do get together, it becomes awkward because conversation topics of single people and married people differ too much. It’s like oil and water. If you can’t even agree on a decent conversation, don’t even think of going out together. It will only end in confusion.

But of course, it’s still bearable if only a couple of your friends were in that situation. But then one day you realize, more and more are getting married until someday you are left as the only one. You keep going to these people’s weddings and every time you attend them you get the Bridget Jones treatment. Soon enough you begin to despise weddings. But you can’t hate your friends. Their next steps in life cannot be perceived as poison in yours. So, the question is, when you are in that kind of situation, what do you do? It’s pretty daunting isn’t it? Scary even. Well, for one, you can get married too and have those lovely talks about your latest island vacation or the new schools you plan to enroll you children in. But wouldn’t that be you’re getting married because everyone else is doing it? What happened to the journey of finding true love? What if you’re marriage crumbles after 2 years because of incompatibility? Questions after questions after questions. There is no end you know. So far, I have yet to come to that situation thankfully. But the possibility of it coming one day is not far fetched. The problem is for me now is I’m not even slightly interested in marriage. But I do have friends who are in serious relationships and you would expect them to lead somewhere. Some even put a deadline on their days of being a bachelor. These are signs. Signs which are putting me in discomfort.

…

Well, I can tell you one thing though, I am spending too much time dwelling on this thought. Which makes even more sense for me to go out, meet new people and attract me to different things. Who knows, maybe I’ll meet someone. Someone’s who’s charming and beautiful and knows that the Louvre is not a name of a dessert. And maybe in the end, the one to start this entire peer pressure marriage thing is me. Now wouldn’t that be an interesting turn of events?

Unpoetic and a touch of Black

This is my 3rd attempt on the opening for this blog entry. By this time I have given up on being poetic. This, I’m afraid, would be my least poetic blog.

The last time I updated anything was March 1st. Today is the 19th. For those who don’t know maths, that’s a bloody long time. I just had to put something before I myself go mad looking at the page’s inactiveness.

For starters, I couldn’t find an interesting topic to discuss. That itself is already poor. So, I might just end up describing what I have done today and that is rather dull. Not that I haven’t done anything but I would prefer some zest in my storytelling. That’d be more interesting.

Anyway, I’d like to say that I had sex with Carmen Electra today. 3 times in fact. In the morning, afternoon, dusk and preferably more later tonight. Well, it’s still only 11. But the matter of truth is I couldn’t. The most obvious reason would be that there’s no way in hell Carmen knows me let alone have sex with me.

I did, however, went to Sepang to catch the Formula 1 qualifying session. One embarrassing fact is despite my brother’s involvement with Sauber for the past 2 years or so, I, the younger brother, have yet to catch a live race. This is due to people talking of how Sepang gets insanely hot and you could hardly enjoy the race as trying to breath under the intense heat. So I thought, well then, I’m better off at home sitting in my sofa with a cold beverage in my hand. That’s how it has been for the past few years. Then suddenly yesterday, my brother asked me to come along as he got extra complimentary tickets. What the hell, right? It’s free so might as well go. And you now what? I had no single regrets.

Hearing the V10s live is an unbelievable experience. The TV just doesn’t do justice no matter how big the size is. There are a few things in this world that just couldn’t be described by words and I can honestly say this is one of them. The shrieking sound of the engines as it blasts off is just unforgettable. I was trembling in joy. But sadly, I probably couldn’t make it to the race tomorrow. That would be something. But for next year, I want to make sure that I’ll be there.

Apart from that, the MiGs were equally impressive. I saw Eiwa present too but I find myself restraining from calling out to her. I wonder why. Oh I also met Farhan. Ara’s ex. Turns out she’s my cousin’s boyfriend. Well, at least it confirmed my suspicion. It turns out all this while the talk of the other girl happens to be my cousin. How weird my world is turning into. My mortal fear is whether they’ll decide to get married one day. Now that would be really weird. And what if they don’t? They broke up and my cousin is left broken hearted? Oh hell this is too much for me at the moment. Change of topic…

Still at Sepang, I came across this absolutely beautiful Petronas booth girl. Graceful poise, heavenly smile, sumptuous body, adorable hands and her fragrance is beyond words. I just hope she doesn’t smoke. Or be over 23 for that matter.

In other unrelated news, the Genting trip might still be on. Probably next week after weeks of delay. My ACCA program starts April 4th. My maid is terribly sick and had to be warded at the hospital which means I have to once again don the title of Desperate Housewife. “Housewife” meaning I have to take care of the family laundry, get breakfast/lunch on my own (probably even trying out some of Jamie Oliver’s work while I’m at it), take care of the cats, the plants and everything else that needed attention around the house. If only the title Man of the House brings me the luxury of taking care of 5 cheerleaders like Tommy Lee Jones, that would’ve been sweet. “Desperate” meaning I have to once again neglect all of my daily pleasures to divert my attention to house chores. Just when I’m thinking of getting myself a haircut. You see I usually go to Suria but since Jantzen shut its operation there I have to go all the way to Mid Valley. And I just hate how the traffic is during weekends. And there’s still the question of Hitch and Sepet.

More unrelated news, I just found out Datuk Michelle Yeoh is engaged to Jean Todt. By that, I regard her as the most successful Malaysian that I know.

And some lapuk news, I did get to meet Ity and I DID get to cubit her pipi. Haha I have meant to do that a long time. Sad part is I only get to spend time with her for just about 15 minutes or so. Same thing happened with Jes. She was leaving for Bintulu and I was able to meet her for just about 30 minutes. Not that great I tell you. It’s been about a week already. I wonder how she’s doing.

Oh crap. I think I’ve ran out of ideas. Oh yeah, Chelsea beat Barcelona recently so joy there.

My cousin was blessed with a new born baby 2 days ago which inevitably made everyone in the family notched up a level in terms of seniority. The ‘kakak’ becomes ‘makcik’ and the ‘makcik’ becomes ‘nenek’. Blimey.

That had to be the worst blog entry ever to grace my page. But nevertheless, commendably lengthy. Well, cheerio to all.

The 77th, Keanu and Two Lovely Ladies that I'm about to meet

Now, being down in despair up until the 79th minute, I was getting ready for bed. But when the tables were suddenly turned, adrenaline rushed through my veins and I was fresh immediately. Of course, in an upbeat mood after seeing the Carling Cup aloft above John Terry’s head, I find myself flicking trough Astro at 2 o’clock in the morning. It wasn’t long before I stumbled upon Aliens and Dreamcatcher. Oh and guess what? The Milan derby was on soon after. But of course, when the time shows 4.30 am, I usually couldn’t keep my eyes open. Sure enough, I dozed off, sprawling in front of the TV even before halftime (no big regrets there because Milan won by a marginal 1-0).

When I got up at noon the next day, wait, it was technically the same day, so, erm, 7 hours later, I decided that I got to watch Constantine before the cinemas end its run. So, there I was, cruising along the causeway towards One Utama when a radio DJ of Red started to announce the winners list of the Academy Awards. In a split second I realized that I just slept through a live telecast of the Academy Awards earlier in the morning. I just went, “Oh shit!!”. With my left hand on the steering wheel and my right hand up against my mouth, I just kept wondering how the hell could I have forgotten about this? I saw the Golden Globes, I saw the Grammys, even a few minutes of Bafta but I missed the big one? It was so absurd. Now, sitting there, I did not just realized that I missed the live telecast but now I know who the big winners were. Even if I do catch a repeat later that night (which I did), the surprise element would no longer be there. Haih…

Oh well, at least Constantine was amusing. Lucifer was funny in a devilish way and Gabriel reminded me of Cate Blanchett in the Aviator.

Enough with the grumbling, it is time for some, well, I shall say rather exciting news. If everything goes to plan, I will be entertaining two distinguished guests this week. One will be traveling from the North and the other from the South.

The North gal is of course Jesmin Jamel and it’s always fun when comes down here. ETA should be tomorrow or the day after but nothing is sure yet until she confirms it. And as usual, I have no idea where to take her jalan-jalan except to KLCC where she’ll be reporting for duty. However, one thing’s for sure with Jes is that every time I pick her up at Subang, the moment steps into the car she would declare her state of hunger and demands to be fed A.S.A.P. In Jes’ case, that means immediately. I have seen her in a state of hunger before and it ain’t pretty. So, just better to, you know, feed her…

The lady from the South will be Ity Nadira. This lady has been planning to come to KL since before the supposedly PD trip, which was before the tsunami incident and that means around the end of December. Well, it’s March now and seeing her face again would be much of a pleasure. But, again, I really don’t know where to take her jalan- jalan also since her best entourage, Sasa has to attend an RHB hi-tea thingy and until that party’s over, it is up to me to whisk Ity Nadira. Apart from the main shopping complexes located conveniently around the city, I don’t know what else that could interest her. Well, at least I can on Apau for a few ideas. Unless if it’s BB then I have to count myself out. No bloody hell am I going to bring my ass there.

I guess that’s it for now. Hopefully more will come next time around. If you’ll excuse me, I have loads of O.C., Desperate Housewives and CSIs to watch. They’re suffocating my HD.

Triumphant Chelsea!!

After the defeat at Newcastle and at the Nou Camp, even I, myself, had some doubts going into Sunday’s match at Cardiff. With Riise’s sharp thunderbolt inside 44 seconds, I feared the worst. Nightmares are suddenly becoming a reality. Thankfully, fate had other ideas. When Steven Gerard headed a harmless cross into his own goal, magic was restored. 3-2 it was after extra time and Chelsea have bagged its first silverware of the season. Not really much of a bragging right as Sir Alex and Monsieur Wenger couldn’t care less about the Carling Cup. Nevertheless, a trophy is still a trophy and Jose Mourinho was the toast of the Blue half of London.

Ladies and gentlemen, raise your glasses and pay tribute to Chelsea Football Club. Next will be the Premiership crown, 50 years in the waiting.