Confessions of a City Slicker

Folks, this is The Dictionary.

Obviously we’re not talking about Oxford here.  You won’t find a comprehensive list of words and their meanings in it.

This is a punter’s dictionary.  What you will find are a list of events from the mundane everyday life or items to the downright unusual with their corresponding numbers.

The picture is the Tua Pek Kong edition.  There is another edition with the Guan Yin but we don’t have that at home.

See how worn out it is?  You get the picture what big punters the family is

Every time a significant event happens or someone has a dream that stays in their heads when they wake up, they will consult the dictionary looking for the numbers to buy.

Yeah, I do that too.  Sometimes, I will wake up in the middle of the night and make a mental note to look up something that I dreamed about.  Unfortunately, most of the time, I would have forgotten all about it come morning

Here’s how it works.  You look for the picture that best describes the event or dream that you had.  However, the numbers in the dictionary only has 3 digits.  You need to add a fourth digit to complete the number.

So for Mom’s case, she dreamt about seeing 5 stars.  So she will look up stars in the dictionary and add the number 5 to the 3 digits that is found in the dictionary, which makes it 5XXX.

If course, it is up to the individual where they want to place the fourth digit.  Some people rearrange the numbers or buy it backwards because most of the time, the winning number is a shuffled up version of the original number.

To maximize their chances to win, some people buy what we call the "Boxed" number, meaning they buy all the possible combination for a number.  However, the earnings for this strategy is very minimal because the amount will be pro-rated between all the different combinations.

Yeah, it’s a numbers game, alright.

Oh, one more thing, the dictionaries were probably published loooooonnnngggg ago.  Although the cover has Chinese characters, the dictionary is actually in Malay.  The spelling is pre-Independance, so you get the idea how long ago the first dictionary probably hits the streets.

I’ve never heard of an updated version being done.

That basically means I had the good fortune to eat delicious food.

A colleague suggested having lunch at Bali-Bali in Sg Dua today.  He practically goes there for lunch on a daily basis, so we all went with him.

The stall to look out for is the economy rice stall.  There are 2 economy rice stalls there and they have an arrangement that they will not both operate at the same time.  The stall we want to patronize only opens for business at 2.30 pm.

Believe me, one will be overwhelmed by the variety of dishes that this stall offers.  Can’t blame my colleague for eating up to 5 dishes every time.

Since I avoid rice, I do what I’ll normally do during a buffet and pick out a few dishes.  Believe me, they usually add up to a hefty amount.

To my delight, I saw something that one rarely sees on an economy rice stall - Hock Jiu Chicken.

From what I understand, this is a traditional Hock Jiu dish that is normally made on special occassions like birthdays.  It is quite similar to drunken chicken only the wine used is made from red rice.  Chinese red wine, perhaps?

The result is red.  Every thing is red from the pieces of chicken to the gravy.

I was introduced to this dish during my days in the factory.  A colleague’s wife will make it for his birthday and he will bring a whole pot of it to work.  We have it for lunch with egg noodles.

The owner of the stall, seeing me happily spooning up the gravy, gave me an additional bowl, kar liu to boot.  He added more wine for me.  The wine definitely enhances the aroma of the soup which was still piping hot since we arrived just when he was opening shop.

I went back to the office a little over stuffed, but happy that I got to eat Hock Jiu chicken today.

The Stranger visits my apartment once in a while.  We have never see him, or is it her?  We don’t know.

The only indication that The Stranger is around is the creaking of my parents’ bed, like someone sitting down very hard on it.

I think The Stranger visits my room too, but that is always the time between waking and sleeping when I feel him bouncing on my bed.  Maybe The Stranger is a kid?  Who knows.

The parents talk to him, mostly asking for 4D.  Sigh….punters!

Personally, I’ve never heard The Stranger before but when I hear a funny noise coming the parents’ room, I’ll grab my camera, yell "Cheese!" from the doorway before snapping a picture.  Hey, it works for those paranormal investigators we see on TV :p

But till today, The Stranger remains camera shy.  He seems to be extremely shy where I’m concerned.

Is The Stranger real or the figment of our imagination?

Baby never had a problem with him when she was around.  Dogs are extremely sensitive to these things but she never made a peep or acted funny.  Perhaps The Stranger only started visiting after Baby went to heaven?

Still, the last time Mom asked for 4D it seemed like The Stranger actually did grant her request. Third price, no less, but she didn’t buy it.

Sigh, Mom, TAKE MASSIVE ACTION to get what you want.  That is the link to success that a lot of people are missing.

Anyway, as usual, the bed creaked so she asked for numbers again, but since The Stranger doesn’t do any direct communication, she asked him to give it to her in a dream.

As soon as her head hits the pillow, she started dreaming of stars.  The next morning she consulted the dictionary.

*I’ll tell you more about the dictionary in another post.

Well, stars wasn’t in our dictionary, so she asked a colleague of hers, also an avid punter, and he said it is actually listed in another edition of the dictionary.  He will look up the number for her.

Unfortunately for Mom, she got caught up with work and forgot all about it until after the time of drawing.  The next day her colleague told her that her number had been drawn as third price.

I consoled her by telling her that the next time The Stranger shows up, she can ask him again.  But he might just think that it is useless to give her any leads because she doesn’t take action on them.  So to prove her sincerity, I suggested that she go get the other edition of the dictionary as well.

The Stranger didn’t come back for a while but when he made his next visit, it seemed like he didn’t only sit down on the bed very hard, he rolled all over it, judging by the sounds Mom heard.

The Stranger is definitely a kid.

I remember quite clearly now when this story happened
The autumn leaves were floating and measured down to the ground
Recovering the lake where we used to swim like children
Under the sun was there to shine

That time we used to be happy
Well, I thought we were
But the truth was that - you had been longing to leave me
Not daring to tell me
On that precious night watching the lake vaguely conscious
You said, our story was ending

There’s more to this song but it’s too long to be posted here.

I used to hear it over the radio long ago.  It will play during the late night hours.

It’s a haunting melody, sad, mysterious, nostalgic, yet beautiful.  I never knew what it was called or who sang it.  When I tried to search for it using what vague memory I had of its lyrics as keywords, the results returned mostly sites with Chinese characters.

I’m very sure it was an English song.

From my research I discovered that the lyrics were mainly from "Lake Of Autumn" by 秋之湖.

Disclaimer: I assume that the Chinese characters are the author’s name.  My apologies if they are not because I have no idea what the Chinese characters say :p

Anyway, I found out that that the song is called "Story" and sang by Chyi Yu.  Found a video of it in YouTube.  Have a listen and fall in love.

Would love to download a copy of the song but unfortunately, it’s not available at Limewire.  Looks like I’m gonna have to dig out where I stored the FLV convertor software so that I can download the video from YouTube then convert the file to MP3.

This is just one of those mornings when I would rather stay cosy and warm under the covers than crawl to the bathroom to get ready for work.

It’s raining and the sky outside is dark.  I swear this rarely ever happens during the weekend when I get to sleep till lunch time.  Come the weekend it will be bright and sunny, I guarantee it!

The alarm went off real early, as usual, and after hitting what I thought was the sleep button, I went back to hide under the covers.  The next thing I know, Dad was banging on my door asking if I’m off today.

He he….looks like I had "accidentally" shut off the alarm.  Oops!

I’m sitting here at my desk now with a hot cup of coffee, my opium, as it continues to rain outside.  If this keeps up, I might have to cancel the few errands I plan to run during lunch time.

Oh well, back to the grind, well, sort of, if I can kick start my engine.

Yawwwwwwnnnnnnn………….

This is just one of those mornings when I would rather stay cosy and warm under the covers than crawl to the bathroom to get ready for work.

It’s raining and the sky outside is dark.  I swear this rarely ever happens during the weekend when I get to sleep till lunch time.  Come the weekend it will be bright and sunny, I guarantee it!

The alarm went off real early, as usual, and after hitting what I thought was the sleep button, I went back to hide under the covers.  The next thing I know, Dad was banging on my door asking if I’m off today.

He he….looks like I had "accidentally" shut off the alarm.  Oops!

I’m sitting here at my desk now with a hot cup of coffee, my opium, as it continues to rain outside.  If this keeps up, I might have to cancel the few errands I plan to run during lunch time.

Oh well, back to the grind, well, sort of, if I can kick start my engine.

Yawwwwwwnnnnnnn………….

Ouch!  I finally went to pump gas in my car after the price hike.  Full tank for my sweet little kancil goes to a whopping RM64.00.

"So you still plan to go to that gym in town?  Why not find somewhere else closer to home?  Then you can save on gas," Mom said when I complained to her.

Yeah, hell, I will love to find a gym close by except they don’t have the classes that I love.  I have to admit, after going to the Les Mills classes, the regular aerobic classes just don’t appeal to me any more.

So I’ll be expected to fork out RM60.00 and above every 10 days from now on to fuel up my car.  Which means I’m gonna have to find other ways to tighten my belt or earn more.

I’m lucky I have my side income, even if I’m only earning peanuts for it, but it’s still something.  I just wish I can devote more time to it so that I can earn more.

Mom was introduced to fermenting with a kind of food enzyme recently and had been happily churning out some very delicious drinks.

It’s really very easy.  Just add your favorite fruits, some rock sugar, water and the food enzyme in a container and let it sit in the fridge for at least 12 hours and you get something like the most delicious wine minus the bitterness of the alcohol.

The left one is my favorite.  It’s grapes and rosebud.  The right one is made of apples and pineapples with red dates.  Mom made another batch using apples and dragon fruit but the liquid turns out red like beet root and not especially appetizing for me.

I hope she makes more soon.  I can’t find where she kept the food enzymes so I don’t know what it’s called.  Hey, the kitchen is her domain, not mine, wokay?

Big brown eyes that look at me with so much adoration.

Long tails that can look as graceful as a feathered boa and yet still hit any surface like a drum when they wag.

A cold, wet nose that gently nudge at me to get my attention.

Soft, warm wet kisses.

The pitter-patter of little paws on the floor.

Their warm, furry bodies that snuggle close to my feet.

Sweet cuddle sessions.

Their enthusiastic greeting that make their little bodies wriggle with happiness.

Best of all, the fact that I can act like an absolutely idiot with them and they don’t care.

Ah dogs…..they sure never fail to make me deliriously giddy with happiness at the drop of a hat.  I love them, I spoil them, they know it and take advantage of it, but I don’t mind.

If they’re happy, I’m happy.

There has not been much updates here for some time because I had been out of commission.  In addition, there was just so much to follow up on since coming back from KL that it just puts a damper on blogging.

But now I’m back and truly on the way to recovery.

Had been battling a fever that just wouldn’t go away all last week.  It took 3 visits to the doctor and gorging myself with antibiotics to finally get rid of it.  It’s a good thing that the boss allowed me to work from home if I don’t feel well enough to come to the office.

I blame it on the weather.  The afternoons are so hot now I can practically hear the asphalt cracking under the sun.  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the sun?

I’m taking it easy for now, going to bed as soon as there are nothing more to watch on TV, even missing out on a few football games.

Boss has another seminar this evening so there will be more things to follow up on after that in addition to my already heavy workload so it wouldn’t do to fall sick again.

I don’t know if it is a residual effect from the KL trip, but nowadays, whenever I get into a car, I start to feel motion sickness creeping in.  It’s a good thing I took my best friend for long distance travel along for the KL trip - Novomin.

Looks like I’m one of those people who will always be the chauffeur and never the chauffeured.