The One With The Ranting With A Throbbing Headache

Those of us in the circle
Of the Gomen of MALASia
All know the flip flopness attitude
Of our Gomen Bosses

So
When I was informed some weeks back
That THE big boss of all the bosses
Was due to come to this neck of the woods
I was VERY sceptical

Nevertheless
I did the needful
Even up to coming to the office
At 1am till 3am
Preparing stuff for it
For people (person)
Who demanded something
That could have waited
The next day

And
As I predicted
He decided NOT to come

Saved!

Now
Last night
I was informed that
My office's BIG boss
Will instead
Make a 2-days
Trip here

SIGH!

Will this torture never end?

And it'll clash
With me going back
To
MALASia

Which,
FYI,
For those of you wanting to know
Is scheduled to be
from Tuesday, November 11th
to Wednesday, December 3rd

NEWSFLASH:
Since writing this blog, I have just been informed that with the arrival of the BIG boss of the Umbrella office to Buenos Aires, I will now no longer be able to take that scheduled trip back to MALASia. This will be the third such cancellation. Guess I'm never meant to go back . . .

Then
On December 4th
Is Madonna's concert
(1 out of 4)
In Buenos Aires

Then
On December 5th
Is my field trip
To Peru
(Fingers crossed nothing drastic happens to prevent that)
Otherwise
All hell will break loose!

And
Starting tomorrow for 8 days
I'll be in a "missing you" mood

Coz
You know I will

SIGH . . .

Non-Sequitur by Wiley

Exactly what I've been thinking:

The One With "Asians Prefert Someone Who Knows Where Asia Is"

This is too good to let go unsaid:

Asians prefer someone who knows where Asia is

Nury Vittachi , Bangkok | Sat, 10/11/2008 11:25 AM | Opinion

A Western journalist called me the other day to ask what Asians thought of Sarah Palin.

"Just a minute," I said. "I'll ask them."

I held my hand over phone, counted to 20 and then got back on the line. "They like him," I said. "But they think he should make more episodes of Monty Python."

There was a long pause. I heard the journalist's brain cell click into place. "That's not Sarah Palin," she eventually said. "That's Michael Palin."

"Well, Asians would like her to tell her husband to make more episodes of Monty Python."

"Actually, I don't think Michael Palin is her husband."

I took a sharp intake of breath. "They are not legally married? That's something that Asians definitely do not approve of."

"No, no, no, she's married to someone else, not Michael Palin."

"That makes it worse," I said.

There are few things in life more pleasurable than tormenting American journalists. The only downside is that it is so easy. They are absolutely convinced that the rest of the world watches every detail of what happens in the United States as if it was some sort of wacky global sitcom designed to entertain the rest of the planet. Actually, that is more or less the case. But I still like teasing them.

Anyway, the caller explained in words of one syllable that Sarah Palin could possibly be "the second most powerful person in the world" in a month and she needed a comment from Asia for a feature she was writing.

"I understand," I said. "Well, the first thing that Asians would want to know is does this Palin come from Palin?"

"What do you mean?" she said.

"You do know there's a place called Palin in Asia?" Silence.

"It's 400 kilometers north of Yangon. You do know where Yangon is, don't you?" I asked.

She changed the subject. "Sure, but are Asians concerned that someone with no practical understanding of Asia could soon be in a position of global leadership?"

It was my turn to sound baffled. "George W Bush has been leader of America for eight years already. There's a difference?"

"Ms Palin's level of familiarity with Asia makes George W Bush look like an old China hand," she replied.

"Now you're scaring me," I complained.

"So Asians wouldn't vote for her?"

"Most of us are not even allowed to vote for our own leaders. What's the point of asking us whether we'd vote for yours?"

Her tone was becoming icy, so I decided to strike a more conciliatory note. "What's Ms Palin's position on Jammu and Kashmir? How does she see Taiwan? For late-night takeaways, does she prefer Indian or Chinese?"

The journalist told me that Ms Palin had expressed no opinions on those subjects. But she claimed to have foreign experience, since she lived in Alaska, which was near Russia.

I nodded into the phone. "Alaska is near Russia, and Russia is near Asia, so that make her an Asia expert."

"She might think so," the journalist said.

Reluctantly, I decided I had to give a straight answer. "I think most Asians would rather that Obama's team won."

"Because he has lived in Asia?"

"Because his favourite food is chilli. He says his heart is all-American, but his bowels are definitely Asian."

The writer is a journalist and columnist. He can be reached at www.vittachi.com [1]

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.

The One With So Many Questions

Yesterday, I found myself in Starbucks Buenos Aires
(2nd one to be opened real soon like 2 blocks from my apartment)
And I wrote the following, while I waited out the rain to diminish from the morning:

When two hearts are devastated by the circumstances that have been thrown at them, how do you fix them?

IF you can fix it . . .

Especially when one of the heart has already been destroyed before.

How do you make two hearts - whole as one but incomplete without the other - beat again?

Al Green asked the question: "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?". What if the heart is not really broken? What if it is just badly bruised? Too much pressure. Too much injustice done unto them. Too weak to function as once before.

But, most importantly, how can one heart convince the other that it will be alright? Especially since that heart is now hurting, too? How can you convince one when the other needs reassurance as well?

Some can go through ordeals without feeling anything in the end. Some can pick themselves up after they fall and move on. Others need a helping hand. And some refuse to be helped.

We have all been damaged. In so many ways. Some of us more than others. Some so damaged that the wound has not been healed. And when someone comes along that seemed too good to be true, is it really so?

But what if that person truly is sincere? The one that will help with the healing? What if that is THE one? Will the hurt of the past be so blinding that you will not be able to see what is truly in front of you, with all heart's earnest?

What if there is only one chance to regain your happiness? But you let it pass because the healing has not taken affect? And what if you let it go because you do not want to be hurt again and to reopen all the wounds you have worked so hard to heal?

Would you be letting go of something real because you are afraid of something else that lingers deeply in the back of your mind?

Only you truly know the answer to all these questions. Only you can decide what you want of yourself. Of your future. Of the other . . .

And in the meantime, I shall wait . . .

The One With The Catching Up

It's been quite a while since I last updated the blog.

A lot's happened since then.

Not going to write everything,
Since there's just so much my boundless imagination can tolerate in writing.
Too much writing requires a lot of thinking.
Thinking hurts.
Nuff said.

I went to Washington DC and New York and back.
DC was for a three-day(s) meeting that was, to me, unproductive.
Met only one friend while I was there.

New York, on the other hand, got to be very chaotic.
Oh, lordy!
TOO much to do.
Too few time to do it.
And it rained EVERYDAY, preventing me from doing much.

But a bit of what I did there can be found at the AZRULs' blog and comments entitled:
Weekend Before Raya
Let's just say that I got some need for shopping out of my system.

Got frazzled by La Guardia Airport in NY.
Not going to reminisce on that.
Let's just say, I found out first hand
Why it's among the most hated airports in that part of the world.

Celebrated Eid on the plane en route to Buenos Aires.
Not that I celebrated it any.

My new boss arrived.
And he's a breath of fresh air.
Nice fellow who is willing to listen to what we have to say
Doesn't scream like a loon.
And very knowledgeable.

On a personal note,
I think I pushed someone a little too far too fast
And I realized now I was just getting ahead of myself.
Enjoyed spending time with them
But should not expect things to go to the next level too soon
Decided to back off and provide some space
So that we can think things through
I know my mind's sorta set
So, I'm going to wait patiently while they think things over

You know that people say:
A good thing is worth fighting for.
And I know a good thing when I see it
So, I'm going to fight for it!
Even if it means that I'll have to wait patiently
Despite most people knowing that I'm not the most patient person in the world
I don't want to loose something precious.

Hopefully
By now, I'll be able to update my blogs on a more frequent level.

To Viva TAK Vogue,
Enjoy NYC.
I know I did.

To the Azruls,
Thanks for the shopping and dinner
And I'm sorry to the Littleman that I can't go to "Harith House"

Now, if the plans of mortals
And the devises of greater beings
Fall into place,
I'll be heading to Malaysia for some R&R time
Maybe in November.
Here's to hoping.