not forgetting the cup cakes ritual

My blog reaches 3 years old! Fuyyooo!!! Thanks, really to abikal, or zahack or whatever because it was his wordpress that inspired me at that time. And he’s been a good wordpress tutor for me at that time, too.

And this, apparently is the 652th post (since the first one)! HEHE. Thanks to all friends who have been reading, commenting and most of it, putting up with everything I wrote. I love you guys!

And, the best part is, November has been an anniversary date for me and my JIJI. Jiji turns 2 years with me! ) I must have been very busy or senile I forgot that JIJI’s road tax had expired! Deng. However, thanks to all friends who had faith in me, driving around, making new routes, losing our way to find another way together.. I LOVE YOU GUYS! (again!)

Finally, not to forget, kak nana’s birthday! Happy [18th] birthday sis!

Happy weekend dear!

To those who soon be married, such as Usein and Syapiq, selamat u all! HAHA. Kita hilang lagi ahli lepak iaitu Usin, selepas Fahmi, Wak, Tazril… (Tazril? apakah….) Mujur Sani kawin ngan Nolee…

p.s : Bila entah turn kami. HIHI. Galak!

Ye, Kelantan kalah. Tapi, harap-harap masih ada lain kali. InsyaAllah. Apa agaknya perasaan pemain-pemain Kelantan eh? Penyokong takpe, I was one of them.

I rasa sangat frust. Frust dengan pemain yang main main.

Kalau I pemain, I rasa malu. Malu dengan penyokong yang ramai gila. Yang datang jauh-jauh. Yang berharapan tinggi melangit, mahu tengok Piala Malaysia pulang ke Kelantan.

I tak nak cerita apa pun. Nak baca lebih, gi sini. Nak tengok gambar, gi sini.

view dari my seat. I duduk tengah2 stadium, belakang gol. aras 2.

seat penyokong NS

my brothers and I

Tahniah Negeri Sembilan. They deserve to win pun.

To Kelantan, I know we could do better than that!

Kita memang menang bab penyokong.

Till next year!

California’s hottest new math teacher is an animated penguin named JiJi. Yes, it’s true. A mute, waddling, tuxedo-clad cartoon figure has been quietly taking over math programs dotting Silicon Valley, dramatically improving test scores in mostly low-performing schools. Take LeRoy Anderson Elementary School in San Jose, for example. Nine percent of the 4th graders there scored “proficient” in math in 2007, which means they performed at grade-level or higher during the California Standards Test. Then, the kids started using JiJi. The numbers jumped to 39 percent in 2008, and 70 percent in 2009. Of that 70 percent, 45 points fell into the highest category, called “advanced.” “The kids think it’s a computer game,” said Janis Hubbs, principal at Gardner Academy Elementary, another San Jose school in love with the penguin mathematician. “But really, it’s all about higher level thinking skills.” Third-graders at Gardner Academy were 43 percent proficient in math. Last year, their math test scores soared to 60 percent. The only difference in the curriculum? A cartoon penguin who jumps over bridges to show linear equations. “JiJi helps your mind,” said 8-year-old Eduardo Alba, who recently “played” math games with JiJi, while learning multiplication and estimation skills at Gardner. “If you’re below in math, JiJi helps you get more advanced.” JiJi is the brainchild, rather the brainpenguin, of the nonprofit MIND Research Advertisement Institute in Santa Ana. Three University of California scientists came up with a visual math program to teach complicated “spacial temporal” concepts that are underutilized in most schools, said Andrew Coulson, president of MIND’s education division. So 11 years ago, the trio, headed by Matthew Peterson, created a computer software program with animated diagrams. JiJi was born. MIND research shows schools below 50 percent proficiency in math average a 15- to 20-point gain within two years. Today, there are 118,000 students in 22 states who use JiJi. So far, 30 schools in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties are using the program. This summer, a consortium, partially spearheaded by the Santa Clara County Office of Education, called the Silicon Valley Math Initiative, announced it’s funding JiJi at 23 of the schools for five years at a cost of more than $1 million. Some seed money, or 19 percent of the total cost, was donated by Netflix founder Reed Hastings, Stephen Herrick, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Symantec and Cisco. It costs about $50,000 to buy the full math program for students in grades K-5 with an accompanying musical element. Lest critics should worry that kids are being bombarded with too many video games, JiJi is no Nintendo. Think of the math program as a very high-order thinking skills worksheet. But instead of bubbling in circles on paper, students use the mouse to click on the correct answer. Since the program is interactive, students know immediately if they got it right when they hear a happy sounding “ding” and JiJi waddles to the next puzzle. They know they need work when JiJi sounds like she’s fallen to the ground with a soft thump. Also, the computer tallies how many times a child tries the program and shoots the results to the teacher. At Gardner Academy, there were several children who tried and failed more than 15 times. That lets the math teacher know right away that these students need extra help. “This doesn’t replace the math curriculum,” said Jill Fraka, math coach at Gardner. “It’s a supplement.” Coulson said there are instances when JiJi doesn’t work to its fullest potential. Mostly, he said, it’s when schools don’t rigorously follow the twice-a-week recommended program. There were a few naysayers at Gardner Academy at a recent math lab. Jonathan Martinez, 8, said he thought JiJi is much “harder” than math he’s done before — that’s as he was trying to estimate where to drag JiJi to show that he knows where 7,180 is on a number scale. And Maria Fernanda definitely had mixed feelings about the penguin who was silently asking her to multiply 2 times 75. The 7-year-old furrowed her eyebrows and frowned. She counted on her fingers and whispered aloud. Then, something flashed in her head. She clicked on 150, and JiJi’s bell dinged out from the computer screen. Like JiJi, Maria didn’t really say much. But her body said it all. She shot both fists up in the air like she had won a championship, and, obviously proud of her accomplishment, she mouthed, “Yesssssssss!!!!!”

Jiji the waddling 3rd grade math tudor

luv her coz she got her own sense of style,

she’s cool,elegant and stunning ,

The real African woman,caries herself so well,

She is always proud because she does her own stuff,

call her independent,!!!!!i luv her swagga…..

the true Africa image..,

The African mirror.

Poze de colectie cu domnu Gigi in actiune:

P.s: Click pe poze pentru a marii…

A couple of nights ago the hubby and I were setting up for an invigorating game of scrabble (I know, we are the most boring couple on the planet!!) and we had lit a few candles on the dinning room table.  Now, I’m not sure what Jiji thought that I was doing up there, but food (her usual motivator to do anything that requires, you know, moving [Jiji is our personal incarnation of Jaba the Hut {but without the hot, ill-fitting metal bikini clad Carrie Fisher on the end of a chain}]) wasn’t part of the package.  So, she hops up on the table to nose around and, well, not to put to fine of a point on it, sets herself on fire.  Now, something that I learned from watching the fire woosh up her side is that cat fur does not have the same flame retardant/resistant properties as wool!!! She wasn’t hurt at all, just had a bunch of her hairs singed which caused her to clean herself for hours after we brushed the cat fur charcoal off of her so that she wouldn’t ingest it.  Ahhhh, the smell of burning cat fur right before bed….

Tomorrow night is Yarn Therapy here in lovely Ivinghoe Aston.  I know I haven’t mentioned it too much of late but it seems that everyone decided to join a knitting group while I was traipsing around the US and Canada.  So, to that end I will be in the pub two nights in a row as tonight is Quiz Night!  Woo hoo!  On the first Monday of each month we have these down at the Village Swan.  Neither Tech Support nor I are any good at them usually, sort of a cultural relevancy issue mostly.  What I mean is that people who are famous here are quite often not the same famous people as in the US.  That, and we didn’t really learn Prime Ministers in the US:-)  Anyway, it’s a fun night for us as we usually learn a great deal about recent the history of our village from one of our team mates as well as it being a really good time to pump people for information about, well, stuff around here as most everyone in the village without small children tend to attend.

I also want to give a great big shout out to my friend Terri Pike who got a huge mention on Cast-On today!!  Go check out her very cool website with tutorials on how to felt.  Just remember Terri, we were on Cast-On first

I am sending to the pond once again, the gray sock.  Not only does it not fit my feet but while traveling home from the US an entire needle slid out dropping all of the stitches which, pretty bad on it’s own, was then compounded by the motion of the baggage being moved around and such making all of the dropped stitches run like wussies back down the foot of the sock until they came to the heel.  This sock is not only being frog-ponded but it will have the added pleasure of being put into the time-out corner as well!  Since that left me sans a sock to knit on, I got out the Krafty Koala sock yarn that I got at Woolfest this spring.  It’s called Tui Sock and is a Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend in the colorway “Undergrowth”.  To say that I nearly had a yarngasam just balling it (get your mind out of the gutter!) would be an understatement.  This stuff is so soft and smooshy I really would love to knit a pillowcase out of it.  The color is a dark green with just hints of blue-ish in it.  I will post a picture when I find a time that I can stop fondling it.  Until then, I have some yarn to molest

Selalu ku mengharapkan
Kau akan segera pulang
Kau balik seperti dulu
Menghapuskan rindu
Yang sering menghantuiku

Semenjak kau datang
Di hatiku sayang
Semua resahku hilang
Diriku bukanlah
Seorang yang mudah
Menyerahkan cinta semudah kata

Kudambakan cinta
Indah seperti dulu
Kerna cintaku tak pernah rasa jemu
Biar hati bimbang
Aku terus menunggu
Benar ku tahu kau tak pernah jauh
Kau di hatiku

Di hari yang datang
Janganlah kau ulang
Lukai hatiku sayang
Aku pun bukanlah
Seorang yang bisa
Menggantikan cinta sekelip mata

Aku inginkan cinta
Kita seperti dulu
Kerna cintaku tak mudah rasa jemu
Biar hati bimbang
Aku terus menunggu
Dan aku tahu kau tak pernah jauh
Kau di hatiku

1. Tiada banyak benda yang masih seperti dulu.
2. Macam kawan2 yang datang ke open house sabtu lepas, tak ramai macam tahun2 sudah.
3. Rasa mee kari, sedap, seperti dulu juga.
4. Terima kasih kepada kawan2 yang datang, muah!
5. Terima kasih berkali2 kepada kawan2 yang datang dengan buah tangan.
6. Kepada kawan2 yang terlupa/tak dapat nak datang. Takpelah. Berdoalah akan ada majlis sebegini pada tahun tahun hadapan.
7. Kerja saya banyak. Tapi saya buntu.
8. Gambar secara perlahan2 sedang dimuatnaik. Harap bersabar.
9. Waktu yang suram dan sejuk macam ni, sangat sesuai kalau nak dengar lagu ezad (kawan sekolah bos) ni.
10. If you have the chance, why don’t u change? If you got more to lose than to gain, you better stay where you are.
11. Life is about change? is it?
12. I wanna kiss you. But if I do then I might miss you babe. It’s complicated and stupid (Lirik lagu Love Game)
13. Ada banyak benda berlaku. Malas nak cerita.
14. Semalam gi klcc ngn ampang point. Berangan memang best. Saya suka handbag berkilat (glossy) rupanya.  Gila glamer. WAHAHA.
    

    glossy? kan..

15. Kelantan ke final. Saya gembira. Dan teruja.

with the guest. kembar yang cute.

Makcik dari rumah kebajikan Cheras. I suka jaga table ni!

petang lepas rehearsal... selepas majlis semalam ada press pijak ekor ketupat...

Dah lewat, dan sangat lewat untuk sambut raya selepas Syawal. Ada orang kata tak elok. Tapi nak buat macam mana u all, bajet ada. Tarikh je yang tak sempat. U all tau la… Menteri I bizi kan…

Macam biasa, I kena jaga table VIP… tapi disebabkan I turun lambat, sebab ada meeting lain yang lagi penting (I urusetia je) nak kena urus, I jaga table VIP 3 yang guestnya adalah orang2 MOT jua. Senang.

Selepas VIP duduk dan majlis dah start, I pun mengalihkan perhatian kepada meja kanak2 yatim dan warga emas di belakang table VIP I tu. Suka berdiri layan mereka.

Kepada semua yang bekerjasama semalam, thanks banyak2. Dan syabas kepada semua yang menjayakan majlis ni.

p.s : U all, urusetia kan… tak duduk pun takpe… bagilah tetamu duduk. ini apa kes mintak2 meja nak duduk.

Kami da biasa berdiri 2 jam sepanjang majlis, so selepas majlis adalah masa untuk kami makan. Jangan jeles tau.

]]> http://shamo23.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/birthday-gurl-jiji/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:27:12 +0000 shamo23 http://shamo23.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/birthday-gurl-jiji/

anak ubian masak maggie,

selamat hari jadi jiji..

27 oktober 2009..babu jiji msuk umur 20 tahun suda..baru smlm kami singgah makan besar d anjung selera utk meraikan bufday gurls jiji n nde ieza[nde ieza pun skali ba kan??]..ngam timing sbb mmg aku lapar amat..dgn 4 lauk yg lazat-lazat..wahhh barulaa puas hati..kalau kira mmg lama suda x makan2 d anjung selera ni..berbulan-bulan jugalaa..venue wajib sudah smestinya Likas Highway Stall..terbaekkk wokk..malam tadi hanya kami berlapan shj..manakala Kakai d UIA, n bro Azrul d Kinabatangan..tpi x paaa..awal2 lgi kami ada buat in advance bufday party d ruma..jdi each one of us got the chance to eat cakes n minum kordial oren Ria..hehehe..c Kakai siap tapau dlm kontena bwa balik cakes ke UIA..sedap arrr chesse cake blueberry..

Jiji, anak ke-4 dlm The Salims..muka ada cam jipun2 skit[masa kicik2 dlulaaa]..skrg nmpk cam matured suda..besar suda bah c jiji..msuk UMS lgi..ada driving license P..hehe..tpi hanya terer bawa otomatik ja..bab lipat kain mmg dia terer..masak2 serah padanya..cuci kandang angelo pula di pass sma sia..adedeiiii..bule tahan juga dia gunting rambut ni..sgt minat muzik indie [dangdut indie sbnr2nya] mcm abangnya juga..sgt minat dslr mcm abang dia juga..sememangnya anak yg sungguh manja..manja2 pun rajin ni..ntahlaa asal aku tguk ko ji, msti aku ingt tudung si izdiyani..vintage oriented person..suka pada koleksi barang2 lama..lebey2 lgi barang2 kepunyaan ibu terchenta spt koleksi tas tangan etc yg memang vintage dan retro..tpi dia ni tone deaf skitlaa..susa skit mo masuk key yg btul masa kareoke..hehehe..jgn marah babu jiji ..

dan utk sambutan bufday mu hari ni, Oto mu ni n the rest of our family want to wish u gudluck in everything u do..smoga sihat panjang umur murah rezeki dan hepi2 slalu..lepas aku pasang power stering d iswara evo aku ni, ko msti bljr balik drive keta manual..wajib^___^..makan kau buku tue ji..fesbuk tue ksi kurang2laa..FINAL EXAM ji..FINAL EXAM..

marikucuritumpuanmu : bufday nde ieza x lma lgi..hehe..aku ksi hadiah sma cam ko jgalaa ji..amcm?? livaissss ja bah kan??..

我的跳舞歷程嘛…三言兩語便可說完
小學二年級是人生第一次接觸舞蹈， 卡式錄音機播放著我的青春小鳥一去不回來。。。我的青春小鳥一去不回來。。。大伙兒就手牽手圍圈，左腳踏前右腳跳，雙手舉起再放低，然後叉腰拍拍手，在吊扇晃動下,這隻懶理青春小鳥為何一去不回來的小雞只知道跳土風舞很快樂.

中四那年體育課， 女生有兩堂學跳社交舞， 少女們都幻想前面的女同學是白馬王子，在聖誕舞會裡翩翩起舞。。。跳舞總是多優美，讓人多麼令人嚮往.

讀設計的最後一年，體育課老師說學些基本的社交舞， 將來可以會大派用場； 雖然一次也沒有用上， 舞步也通通忘記， 但是那種喜悅仍深深刻在腦海.

大姊常常說我做人有計劃，我想某些事情是正確的；我算過以我的資質, 現在開始學跳舞，二十年後該可牽著老伴的手， 彼此手搖搖腳震震地在彭福公園青草地上跟老ji跳喳喳,在大霧山之巔追風快四步，在北海道層雲峽遇見上銀狐步舞，在仙島白屋懸崖邊拉丁舞罷，在肯亞與獅子跳華爾滋， 在西班牙生果酒醉下森巴狂熱 ,然後在亞根廷街頭跳探戈…

計劃，有時是詳細些好; 所以， 舞鞋都一早買好!

baby aiman....

Semalam lapar gila. I was at my aunt’s, baby sitting the baby (of course) while she’s out. My car’s with my uncle, he insisted to wash and polish jiji. (quite useless since it rained heavily few minutes after that) and since I last cooked in that house, which is 4 years ago, I was not really familiar with the things at the kitchen anymore (and I was lazy too, while my cousin was well fed with some fried eggs and sausages and bread, I want rice!!!).

Though I was attracted to the domino’s brochure but then I realized that it was the last 20 ringgit that I’ve got in my wallet. Well. I was hungry. My aunt was home, at last at 4pm. By that time, I was ready to go home, kind of sulking because I was too hungry. (A hungry man is an angry man, right?) So, I just left after her arrival. They (my aunt and uncle) insisted that I should eat first before going back but being such a stubborn anak sedara, I just left. (After berbasa basi serba sedikit la of course, tak manis tinggal gitu je.)

I guess I was more in anger that I left my bankcard and IC. Yeah, I ve got 20 ringgit only and hungry. WAWA. So childish!!!

Anyway, I went to my usual food shop (kedai makan) beli tomyam, ayam goreng and kailan and texted azy to help me with rice. Azy masak nasi la. HUHU.

Then I ate (like hungry people) la.

It was until I wanted to go to jusco that night that I realized I left the bankcard at my aunt’s. Dem….. But I went to jusco anyway and swiped my credit card for 30ringgit something item. Including durian and mint.

Worse, I left my durian at the counter after paying (perhaps the customer after me took them). In short, I went to jusco again and bought another packet of durian. Nak makan sangat.

My uncle texted me to inform that I left my things at his. HOHO. I guess I’ll go to Ampang after work.

And thanks to Jaja for waiting for me. It was nice to see you once in a while.

bangun pagi2 update fb... rosak...

Vrommmm vrommm…. (bunyi jiji)

Sreet… (Brek) Aiseh, jem la pulak.

Lepas tu I dapat SMS.

IH : Jem dlm 2km sblm bulatan ptrjy. dem!
EC (Echah cute) : Aku tengah stuck la ni. kau da kat mana weh?
IH : aku masih di pngkl jem.
EC : aku kat tempat kete kau stranded ari tu. huhu..
IH : Ye ke? aku kat depan skit. Kejar la kalau berani. haha
EC : cet..aku tgh bkjaran ngn gen2 itam tadi. tp dah kena tinggal jauh dah. kau lane mana, kiri, kanan?
IH : Aku kanan. Da sampai tasik.
EC : oh…kat jmbatn eh? aku 2-3 tiang dari jmbtn tu…
IH : Oh, ini jmbtn, eh? haha…
EC : Ngek. aku rasa jmbatan la kut, ada tasik…

Lepas beberapa minit, I sempat semak FB.

EC : Wawa. aku lupa ada assembly.
IH : Ada orang komen kt status fb kau tadi. Macam badi setiap kamis kau lewat, even tak ujan ari ni. hehe.
EC : Dem. badi katanya!!!!

Asal Khamis je lambat…WUWU.

Ke mana pergi?

I dengan kawan2 telah dijemput oleh jaypiyeah untuk mengikuti satu siri program penilaian. Namakan ia 4P.

Aktiviti adalah penuh, dan hectic. Presentations, discussions, public speaking, meetings, report writings, letters, papers. Itu antara aktiviti yang kami buat.

Namun, paling best ialah I berjaya habiskan larian lebih kurang 2km di tempat ketiga. HAHA. Masih macam dulu, cuma dulu number 1. HEHE. (Koya).

Perjalanan pergi menarik. HMMM. Perjalanan pulang pun menarik. Sabtu selepas habis program, I dan kawan2 (Mid, Sani, Fahmi and Nolee) pergi jalan-jalan ke Perlis, then lepas tu I dan Mid lepak di Alor Setar.

HUHU. Penat. Dah berusaha dan berserah sahaja.

All the best!

p.s : Jiji beraksi cemerlang sepanjang trip ini.

So last night, sometime roughly after 12am, i looked at the calendar for the day I have to go back to school, It said break went Through the 13th.   (Note: I did not realize that day had switched at that point, I thought it was still monday, that happened to be the 13th) So i started freaking out, finishing my clay model for character dev, cooking and painting it.  I finally got to sleep around 2am.  When i woke up this morning, it finally clicked to check what day it was again.  Sure enough, it was still the 13th.   Thus, I was up around 5:30 with nothing to do but click through the rest of Papercraft museum’s archives and find a shit load more papercrafts to share.

Enough talk, more papercraft:

Some of my favorite papercrafts are from Cafeteria, though I haven’t had the chance to build any of them yet

Note:  Will tag in a little while

Also Note:  I do not take credit in any of the works on this blog unless otherwise stated.  The copyrights and whatnot for these models are held by their individual owners, so don’t steal their shit.

I was on the way to toilet when I stumbled upon a creature.

We both shrieked when we look at each other.

The creature : Where are you going?
me : Toilet? Why? Follow?
The creature : WAWA. Nak balik rumah….

NAK TUKAR BAJU!!!!

incident does happen when you least expect it...

Well, I have lots of people asking me this :

Sebelum ni tidur tak lena ke?

(Sebab entri di bawah tu….) HAHA.

Tidur I sentiasa lena you all, with nice people like you guys around me… It was just a catching line for an entry’s title.

Wish me luck as I will be assessed on these coming three days (15-17th Oct 2009). I’ll give you more details when I got back here next week. Till here, cheers!

Liderul Ligii Suporterilor Rapidisti, Gigi Corsicanu’, a lansat un atac fara precedent la adresa finantatorului Stelei, Gigi Becali.

Dupa numeroase jigniri adresate latifundiarului, liderul fanilor giulesteni i-a transmis acestuia ca “ultrasii” il vor cauta si sunt gata sa faca si crima pentru Rapid!

“Gigi Becali e cel mai mare taran basit din Romania. Este un taran, un oier, pute! El judeca dupa cum i se scoala, nici nu pot sa ma mai controlez! Nu se poate asa ceva, eu stau prin afara stadionului de 1 an si jumatate pentru nimic, iar asta face ce vrea si nu il pedepseste nimeni! Daca se intampla lucrul acesta in strainatate, se luau masuri.

Nu avem frica, facem crima pentru Rapid! O sa il cautam si o sa vedem cine-si pierde viata! Sa vedem cine merge la puscarie, pentru ca altfel nu se poate cu Gigi Becali. Crede ca ne sperie ca pe fraierii aia de la Steaua, cand pune 10 bodyguarzi, dar nu este asa!”, a spus Corsicanu’ la Digi Sport.

Seful suporterilor din Giulesti si-a amintit si un lucru inedit. Corsicanu’ a martusisit ca, in timpul sfertului de finala al Cupei UEFA, dintre Steaua si Rapid, Becali l-a rugat sa nu il mai faca homosexual.

“La sfertul de finala din UEFA ma ruga sa nu il mai facem homosexual, sa nu il mai jignim, pentru ca ii este rusine sa se uite cu sotia la meciuri”, a conchis Corsicanu’.

Gigi Becali se afla la cutite cu fanii Rapidului dupa ce i-a numit pe acestia tigani si a anuntat ca va face tot posibilul pentru a nu le permite accesul pe stadion in derbiul cu Steaua.

sursa: www.ziare.com

Itu kata my brother, Faiz bila I had my first major accident (langgar lori) dulu.

Tapi sekarang, dah tak terkira bilangan minor accidents yang jiji and I tempuh. I nak sharelah.

It was on 3rd raya, I dengan my mum and adik-adik pergi beraya ke rumah mak angkat di Kuala Geris, Dabong. Tempat ni agak-agak sejam dari Gua Musang dan sejam lebih dari rumah I di Kuala Krai. It was my first time driving there. Jalan-jalan tu sudah dimaklumkan by my mum bahawa tidaklah indah sepanjang jalan. Berlubang-lubang dan berbukit bukau dan berliku-liku. I took note on that. Tapi ya, malang tak berbau.

On the way balik tu, I drive macam biasa sambil nyanyi lagu Joni Don’t Cry. My mum pula ala-ala layan ngantuk sebab dia dah puasa hari tu. Tetiba I brek emergency bila tersedar ada lubang yang tak dapat dielak. Biasa boleh elak ke lorong sebelah tapi kebetulan ada kereta kancil pulak, so I pun brek emergency. I risau takut skirt depan jiji koyak kalau jiji terjerumus dalam lubang tu. Tetiba, “bump!” jiji disondol dari belakang oleh sebuah kereta yang agak laju yang tak sedar lepas bukit tu ada kereta yang sedang brek. My mum was like “Along! selalu brek emergency!” My mum ingat I brek dua tiga kali tapi masuk jugak dalam lubang. I pun “ma, kita kena langgar la…”

So, I pun rapat la ke tepi jalan. I dah risau takut bumper belakang jiji jatuh ke kemek ke apa ke… Tetiba adik I si Waie kata, “wow… tercabut spotlight” I dah “bila masa pulak jiji ada spotlight kat belakang ni”. Then baru sedar, spotlight keretayang langgar jiji tu yang tercabut. Huhu. I tengok jiji calar je. Tapi kereta mamat tu dah teruk, soptlight tercabut sebelah and bumper depan dia agak jatuh. Kereta bikin rasanya. Mitsubishi Lancer labelnya. I pun dah okay sebab jiji calar jer. Kuat juga jiji ni.

Lepas bicara seminit dua, we decided settle sebab I pun salah brek emergency. It was his first time using that route too. Dia kata nak elak jem dari Tanah Merah and Machang so dia pintas jalan tu dari Kuala Balah (Jeli) then nanti terus keluar ke Gua Musang. He was on the way back to KL. We became friends though. Hopefully.

Then on raya kelima I sent jiji kat bengkel kawan ayah (Cik Din) di kampung. Hantar pagi, petang Cik Din tu dah hantar jiji balik. Macam baru! Dia dah buat balik yang calar2, bumper yang jatuh sikit tu dah dinaik balik. Sayang giler kat jiji masa tu. Sekarang pun sayang juga. Pastu my father asked me to drive Cik Din home. So I pun drive la…

Tetiba nak balik rumah tu, I terlanggar pulak simen kat rumah I sendiri. Kuat gila! Ngok ngek sungguh. Rasa nak nangis tengok skirt tepi jiji dah rabak gila. WUWU. I ni memang senget lah! Baru je keluar bengkel. Dah nak kena hantar balik.

Esok I pun hantar jiji kat Cik Din balik. Dia geleng-geleng kepala “along, along….” huhu. Anak-anak dia gelak jer. Semua pun gelak la. Adik-adik dan my parents too.

By the time nak balik KL, jiji dah comel balik. All in all it costed me RM150 jah. Okaylah tu.

Drive ke KL balik was smooth, takde kena hi beam pun. Until I reached Ampang. Yeah. I sondol lagi batu-batu kat parking kereta depan rumah pakcik I. Koyak sikit lagi skirt jiji. Tapi minor je dan I pun dah tak larat nak sedih lagi.

Anyway, Isnin lepas I dah dapat lesen penuh. Tapi I tak mahu tanggal lagi sticker P, boleh? HUHU.

Super fain filmuletul..merita sa va amuzati

Dear Callers,

I am collecting stories about the Great Plains for a sound installation at the annual Art Harvest here at the Art Farm in Marquette, Nebraska on October 24 and 25. Maybe you’ve lived on the plains for your entire life, maybe you arrived recently, or maybe

you’ve only traveled through in a bus, a train, a car. Maybe your grandparents passed along letters or stories about traveling the plains by choice or force or economic necessity. As a Californian with generations-ago roots on the plains, I experience the landscape here as a pile-up of stories, conflicting versions of similar events. How about you?

I invite you to leave a brief, anonymous phone message on The Hollow Tree Line voice mailbox ( 206-426-5613) about a prairie journey of any kind. You are welcome to talk about something handed down across generations or something all your own, to describe a long voyage or a small transformation or a change in perspective, to record ducks

flying overhead or imitate the sound of a cat giving birth in a barn, to sing-yell the words of a broken treaty—whatever you are moved to contribute.

The Hollow Tree Line got its name from a trip that I took with my family the year after my grandfather died. In Council Grove, Kansas, near where he was born, there is a hollow tree still standing where pioneers in wagon trains used to leave letters for travelers coming along behind them. We talked with hog farming cousins who had stayed

in the area and visited the old family house, and I later learned that Council Grove was the site of a treaty signing between the US Government and the Osage tribe, an important turning point in the often violent history of western expansion. What were we hoping to

find there? Maybe we went to Kansas as a way of trying to connect with Bert, as if the hollow tree might have held one last letter from him, sent across an impossible threshold.

Now I am spending two months away from my California home as an artist-in-residence at a farm on the Nebraska plains—not too far, relative to California, from where my great-great-grandparents homesteaded. There’s a dip in the prairie nearby where the Oregon Trail passed through. We rip out old phone lines and climb the barn roof chasing cell phone signals. In light of this weird confluence, I am interested in the traces we leave of the journeys that we take, and the ways that our efforts to communicate mark the landscape. How do we connect across this space of the prairies, whether we are the ones leaving home, or the ones staying behind?

I thank you so much for reading, and hope that you will call The Hollow Tree Line at 206-426-5613, and that you will ask your grandma and your neighbor and your kids to call as well. I will post the final sound collage on this site at the end of the project.

Sincerely,

Amanda Davidson

http://partedinthemiddle.com/index.html

Excerpt from Jiji, a novel in progress by Lily Robert-Foley

One afternoon, while Jiji and Jel were visiting Jel’s grandparents house in the Great Plains somewhere, a small dusty town with no roads, no stoplights, the houses situated aleatorically like scatter point plots on a graph.  The organization of community.  Jiji sat on top of a picnic bench, her feet on the bench part.  Jiji liked to appear different, sometimes by not using chairs, using other things as chairs, or using chairs in the wrong way.  Jel stood across the “road” from her.  The road here being the accidental space between buildings.

In Chinese Philosophy, the sky gives force, energy, light, whereas the earth makes things grow, gives things shape and being.  Either things explode from these very small obits of light falling out through the sky, or as things are born the sky is pulled down and embues them with motion.  Sky or heaven.  The Great Plains was one of the few places Jiji had ever been where the Sky was larger than the earth, took up more space in comparison with the human body, seemed more important.

Jel stood across this unroad from her, separated only by the negative space between structures.  The bond that held them together was a Sky bond, made from a charged, beingless, surround sound gray, a gray that gleaned like silver, infused with air as breath is, as the lungs are.  Lungs, the organ of mourning, the organ that gives sigh.  They looked at each other, were together, absorbed in this gray light, condensed by love.  They perhaps loved the quiet so much because the quiet enabled them to hear one another better.

And as they stood there staring, seeing the golden animation of heaven emanate out of each others clay bodies, a tumble weed rolled out of nowhere, on a mission, and passed between them.  Dense, hairy, monstruous obstruction, plowing through the molecular tether that held them together through centrifugal force, like a momento mori smeared across the base of a painting.  So absurd, a deChirico, a chair alone in the middle of a room, a dog on a table, something unexpectedly falling from a window, not understanding betrayal, not understanding death.

And their faces like the surface of the soil, erupting with water, laughter, a tumble weed!  And it went off comicly, to another planet.

And later, Jiji watched Jel as he stood on the crest of a plain, at his grandfather’s funeral, as he mourned next to the other grandsons, watcing the Sky colonize the Earth.  And even though he is an alien, he had long assimilated into a family that moved on slow Plains time, the oddly round clock of renewable energy, and Jiji felt too that to be in love is not to own someone, or even to understand them.  She who turned chairs upside down or backwards before she sat on them, made chairs out of mounds of earth, tufts of grass, window sills, washing machines, granite cornerstones or gravestones.  Made chairs up because she had no time, no time to learn to be like others, no time to watch the Sky take over the Earth.

- posted by Lily Robert-Foley