boon's log 3906.02: Malaysian Manners Part 2

Since I was in quite a boring meeting this morning, I took some time to draw another incident where IL and I encountered with regards to the ultimate Malaysian manners.

I just saw another ad on the tele last night - it's the one about that kiddo bouncing his football on his grandmother and a "nyonya" sitting next to granny. Mom made him apologize, but Granny said it was okay, saying "He'll grow up later and understand that he was wrong...". But Mom insisted that this is the time to learn and made the kiddo apologize. And the text came out at the end...

"Budi Bahasa, Budaya Kita"

... translated to be something like "Make Coutesy our way of Life"

Anyway, back to my new found hobby (only during boring meetings), cartoon...

Case 3: At the Lift (Part 2)
IL and I were on our way back to our condo, taking the lift (or elevator).


[click on image for larger view]

(1)
So we entered the lift through the carpark floor. (Notice the distance before entering the lift)

(2)
We were happily "riding" the lift.

(3)
Upon reaching our designated floor, we walked nearer to the lift doors and waiting to alight the lift. When the door opened, 3 doofus stood just in front of the elevator doors (A), (E) and (B), while (A) and (B) rushed into the lift disregarding the people who need to exit the lift!

Darn it!

We had to wait for these two clowns (A) and (B) to get into the lift before we can negotiate our way AROUND (E) who just stood there in the middle of the doorway, not budging an inch!

Well, as the Chinese say, "Buddha also got fire" (translated to patience has its limits), I intentionally allowed my bag to bump into (E) and I grunted as I exit-ed the elevator. And guess what I received in return? A "stare" from (E)!!! Err, excuse me?!

[(3a) gives a sideway view of position the doofus-es]

What's the rush? Do they really miss out a lot by allowing people to get out of lift first?! A classic case of Kiasu-ism here...

IL and I were discussing further and said that we should stand directly infront of the door when we want to exit from the lift next time and see what happens!



A couple of things can happen:
(a) it is a lady on the other side of the door and I get a free "kiss" - ha ha
(b) some gangster-looking fellow and I will potentially be knocked over...
(c) some old ahpek or ahchim and I will probably knock them over...

boon out...

boon's log 3906.01: Malaysian Manners

What's with Malaysian's Manners these days? I guess I see the point why there has been a great influx of ads on the tele and the radio about being courteous and all. I have to say that I am really disappointed with the way some of our locals carry themselves these days.

Just today alone, during lunch hour with IL, we've encountered 2 cases of very "ugly manners".

Case 1: At the Lift
Most of you all know that IL is pregnant and trust me, at ~7 months, her tummy is really showing and no one would have mistaken that for beer belly... unless if that person is a real doofus.

I've took some time to provide a little bit of graphic-aid to help explain the situation...


[click on image for larger view]

(1)
So, we were waiting at the lift (or elevator) at Sunshine Square to get down to McDonald's for lunch.

(2)
there were 3 other people later surrounded us while we were waiting (B) and (E) were ladies, while (A) was a guy.

(3) when the lift doors opened, (E) and (B) squeezed and negotiated their way from the left and entered the elevator while (A) later squeezed in from the right as I was allowing IL to enter first (!!!). We figured that (A), (B) and (E) were friends and that (A) was trying to be together with the ladies! What a goof! And for goodness sake, we are talking about a pregnant woman here! Hello?!

IL of course let them go in first, noticing their retarded-ness. I then intentionally mentioned in the lift whether they will cut us from the left and right upon exiting the left (!!!) - since were the last to enter the lift, we were nearer to the door.

Case 2: At the Ketchup Station
So, we were at McDonald's. As usual, IL went to look for a place to sit while I did the ordering. Upon delivering the food, I went to get some ketchup at the Ketchup Station.


[click on image for larger view]

(1)
there were 2 persons infront of me (A) and (B). Now, (A) filled up 5 of the little cuplets with ketchup / chilli. He managed to acrobatically carry the 5 cuplets back to the table.

(2)
Then it was (B)'s turn, who only took 2 cuplets.

(3)
When (B) left, I "thought" it was my turn - or so I thought... From no where, (A) came flying back into the line and conveniently took 2 more cuplets of chilli sauce and left... (D) and I watched in amazement!!! We could have caused a scene right there, but we did not want to...

I think I know what (A) was thinking... while he was happily pumping the sauces, my mind raced forward to a what-if scenario...

Me: "Excuse me Mister, I believe there is a line..."
(A): "Yeah, but I was here just now and was taking some ketchup (or chili). And I did not have enough hands to go around taking all the ketchup (or chili) that I need."
Me: "Oh yeah? I was here 1 week ago and I was in front of you and I did not manage to take enough ketchup for myself too. So why don't you make like a tree and leave, bozo!"

Gosh... a double-dose of poor mannered people is really terrifying. And mind you, these are not little kids that we are talking about - they are well-dressed white-collared executives!

Really need to ask God for patience and also really open their eyes to see how horrible their manners are and how it would reflect the nations's mentality - I believe this sort of attitude affects not only Penang, but nation wide!

boon out...

boon's log 3806.01: Baby's first words...

IL and I were shopping at Tesco's a few nights ago - she needed her 0.5hours of walking, 3 times a week exercise - what better way to do that than shopping right? I mean, to some, the treadmill may be a little boring, know what I mean?

Anyway, along the aisle, Tesco had this baby fair, sort of. And in one of the counters, loads of baby-books were laid out. I decided to investigate 'em and picked one of 'em up. It's actually in Malay, which translates to "Hard Cover Books: First Words"...


First words...

This oughta be interesting. So I flipped to the first page and guess what the first word, in the Book of First Words for Baby is? (hint: it's the one on the left...)


Banana?

My my my... you mean, that's what they're teaching them nowadays?! Banana? Oh by the way, "Pisang" is banana in Malay. Gone are the days of A for Apple, B for Boy, C for Cat...

It's been morphed to become... "Hello anak, Pisang... sebut betul betul, Pisang!"

or perhaps it's "A for Pisang" (!!!)

Cicak-man, help!

boon out...

boon's log 3606.04: Malaysian Super Hero

I was reading the papers on Tuesday and came over this article about our very own Malaysian Silver Screen Super Hero. Malaysians, get ready for Cicakman! Translated simply to Lizard-man.



The producers of Cicakman promise that this would be a Hollywood comparable super hero comedy set in Metrofulus (actually, PutraJaya) and they throw in loads of CGI and green screen backgrounds... sounds interesting. I think I'll be watching it when it comes out. IL on the other hand said that she will NOT... we'll see. Get ready for it, this coming Raya'06.

Then, I thought to myself, "How creative?" I wonder what will they come up with next? After a quick chat with my colleague, YYC, we came to the conclusion that there is a high chance of having Kapten Durian with his faithful sidekick, Budak Rambutan.

The story is set in a peaceful town of Kampong Kepayang. Ali bin AhKau grew up as any other normal kiddo. But one day, he got lost in his Dad's durian farm and in the midst of getting lost and running around trying to find his way out, the heavens seemed to have opened up its gates and it started to rain durians and it traumatized the poor little Ali bin AhKau. He finally stopped running and curled up in a fetal position until his dad came to save him. As a result of his traumatic experience, Ali bin AhKau suffered from serious post-dropping-durian-tramatic syndrome(PDDTs). After talking to the local Kampong Chief / bomoh, the only way to cure and help poor Ali bin AhKau is to fight fear itself. After a series of secret durian-therapy, Ali bin AhKau was cured. Rising to become fitter and stronger than before. Unknowingly to the bomoh, his dad and Ali himself, a super hero was born... And he is known to the world now as Kapten Durian...

First of all, his costume. Because Ali's face has been scarred by the falling durians, he has dried-durian-skin as his helmet which also partially covers the upper portion of this face and he also wears a durian skin on top of his err... spandex tights, yeah man, for super heroes, it's GOTTA BE spandex tights, right?

And as all superheroes have their special super powers, Kapten Durian's super power is undoubtly the Super-duper Durian Fart. In one of the scenes, Kapten Durian was interrogating one of the bad guys for crucial information to save the world. So, they tied the bad guy up and locked him in an elevator, with Kapten Durian. When the bad guy resisted to talk, Kapten Durian let out his Super-duper Durian Fart. Woah! In nearly knocked the living daylights out of the villain, sending him back to see his ancestors. Feeling "high" on Durian Fart, the villain was half conscious and finally relented and told Kapten Durian and Budak Rambutan all they needed to know...

He's other weapon is also throwing durian skins to defeat the bad guys... YYC said that we've gotta have a weapon that can "kill" the enemy... so violent one.

Well, all super heroes also have weak points, for Kapten Durian, it's gotta be mangosteen (as mangosteen is known to relief the "heatiness" after taking too much durians...). And because all "guy" heroes always fall for chicks, the main villain of the movie's gotta be Poison Mangosteen. And Poison Mangosteen's costume? I'll leave it to your imagination... think primitive.

Other villains can include Chrysanthemum-face, Doctor Lo Hon Ko and Mr. Ling-Chee-Kang...

What about Budak Rambutan, you ask? Well, as with all the "ke-le-fe" (supporting actors) he just prances and dances around as Kapten Durian fights off the bad guys.

And when the peaceful citizens of Kampong Kepayang are in trouble and needs the help of Kapten Durian and Budak Rambutan, they just need to light up the candle behind the mesh-filter that has the cut-out shape of a durian, such that when shone against the sky, it will cast the shadow of a durian on the low hanging clouds above Kampong Kepayang - that's the call sign for Kapten Durian...

Stay tune for (possible) follow-ups of this epic saga of Kapten Durian and Budak Rambutan...

boon out...