6IX

It has now been six years of channelling my energy, directing my thoughts, and weaving words to express myself on this online graffiti board. It has become my therapeutic outlet, a playground, a place where I can run to and seek to rant and rave whether in long and diatribe detail or short, sweet and concise summaries of what I perceive, see, hear, think, feel and experience. It’s all a jumble of my reflections and opinions of things and reflects the confusing and confused me so what you see is indeed what you get. I also try to write about things I find interesting and indeed there are times when I feel like I have a lot to write and share only to find I can’t quite express it into words; I can only hope that I will improve my writing skills (and my ability to attract and retain readers – despite not advertising my blog).

Reflections turns six today. Thank you for taking the time to read my rants and raves, my puerile thoughts, my angst and joy, my fears and insecurities... and thank you for riding along with me in this journey through life. Long may this journey last (yes, I hope I’ll still find delight in writing because I know a few fellow bloggers who have stopped altogether).

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Arsenal boasted a changed side against Greek champions Olympiacos last night (with three CL debutants), more a Carling Cup side than a Premier League or let alone a CL side. We laboured but two goals from new boys Ox (his second goal in eight days) and Santos gave us a narrow victory in a mid-week which saw Arsenal become the sole English side to record a win. Ox became the youngest Englishman to score in the Champions League at 18 years and 44 days of age. Arsenal were also the only team in Europe with 11 different nationalities. Talk about diversity, eh.

Yes, our defence still needs working on but don’t forget it was an Arsenal side with makeshift defence last night.

Bundle Of Joy

Have you heard of the ‘bundle’ trade? Majalah 3 once covered this trade in one of its segments (I didn’t pay much attention then though as I think it was focussing on the trade in Kelantan or somewhere). Well, apparently it’s a thriving trade in KL (no, I don’t have the figures or stats to back this up). I myself have just ‘stumbled’ upon this trade.

The story is that I am looking for some gear for a trip and asked for suggestions from a colleague. He asked if I would be using the stuff often and I said no. He then suggested I check out the bundle stalls as it does not make economical sense to purchase things brand new for a one-off use. I must admit that he has a point. It’s proving to be difficult for me to find the things I need in KL anyway (it doesn’t help that we don’t have many charity shops here) so I decided to take his advice. Besides, I have nothing to lose. In fact, at least two of my work mates have bought their work shoes at a bundle and I must say they look to be in mint condition: leather, Italian-made men’s shoes from RM30. What a bargain, eh? And I’m not one to refuse bargains.

So last Saturday, I made an impromptu plan to go to Chow Kit. It’s a part of the city I hardly ever go to because of its sleazy unsafe black reputation but hey, at least it was broad daylight. I took the monorail to Chow Kit station and went to the stalls behind Uda Ocean. I had no clue where exactly the stalls were but I was lucky to stumble into a stall and enquired two fellow customers I met there. Looked like I was on the right track, so far so good. I asked where I could find some shoes and another stall-keeper suggested I go behind another building. I found the stall alright: it had men’s work shoes, sport shoes, boots, outdoor hiking/trekking shoes (there were a few Skechers and Timberland pairs)... I even sighted a pair of leather Converse.

Unfortunately, there were not many bundle stalls around the area. Well, maybe there were but I just didn’t know where exactly they were located. The few stalls I found were mainly selling clothes and jeans but I managed to find some stuff so it wasn’t a wasted journey. And mind you, it being Chow Kit in the middle of the day meant it wasn’t long before I was perspiring buckets. I wanted to find more but decided that was enough for the day and besides I was getting hungry. (I read – and once found a bundle store in Pertama – that there are bundle stores in shopping complexes but they are likely to carry filtered stock and have the price hiked up (the shop rent and air-conditioning don’t come free you know)).

Now I know second-hand stuff whether sold at a jumble sale, flea market, car-boot sale or charity shops are not everyone’s cup of tea. Well, to each his own. I myself don’t mind gently-used items if they’re still in good condition. There are items that are lovingly cared and looked after and where the previous owners have no choice but to let go (maybe because of relocation, down-sizing etc) and to me, it’s not a crime to be the next owner. It’s not as if we are stealing them anyway. In fact, I’m of the opinion that it’s much better to own a second-hand item than to wear a new but fake item. At least you’re being genuine. (I’m also of the opinion that it’s better to wear a brand-less thing than to wear a fake thing). Of course there are also items sold especially at jumble sales that rightly should be considered as junk instead but if there’s a demand for them, who are we to control the supply? And besides, there are a lot of thriving flea markets in other major cities (granted, they also sell antiques, collectibles, accessories, craft besides clothes) so if they are good enough for say, Londoners, why not to us as well?

If you do know of any bundle stall/store locations in KL, do share OK. I now go a bundle on bundle shopping!

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Arsenal made it to the next round of the Carling Cup after coming from behind to tame the Shrews (I can’t resist that). The English duo Gibbs and new boy Ox and another ‘new’ boy Yossi scored the third.

Then came Survival Saturday. If Arsenal lost and West Brom and Fulham drew, Arsenal would be bottom of the league come 5 pm last Saturday. It was crucial and nerve-wrecking and I was in a bundle of nerves. And to be honest, I had problems imagining where the goals would come from in the first half.

I was tuned to another channel and switched back just in time to see the Captain score. Ten minutes later, Wheater was sent off for denying a goal-scoring opportunity (I think that’s the term?) and we continued attacking the Bolton defence. I must say I was happy and pleased to see the team working like they did in the second-half. Whatever was said or slipped into drinks at the break clearly helped. RvP scored his second - and his century of goals for the Arsenal – shortly after. I was hoping for a RvP hat-trick but he was subbed – presumably for the match in mid-week. Song wrapped things up with our third goal and it was relief around the Emirates at the final whistle. Imagine how much better we might have been had Song not been suspended for three matches.

But at least we’re (hopefully) getting our act together. Onwards and upwards. Forward Arsenal!!! Give us more joy please!

Fussy Puss

I am fussy pussy. Yes, I admit it. Fussy, choosy, finicky, fastidious, particular – that’s me. I’m fussy about the company my pussy keeps, the food I eat, the clothes I wear, the TV shows I watch, the books I read... I guess that makes me appear difficult to please and I suppose I somewhat am.

I’ve gotten particularly finicky about what I eat: I don’t like greasy or oily food or food that has a lot of oil or fat in it. I’m so fussy I don’t mind spending time picking all the cut/chopped/shredded chillies, pieces of eggs (I don’t mind eggs being part of the ingredient of cake or biscuits or ice-cream but not if they appear on the food like tiny pieces in my fried rice) and certain vegetables from my meal and setting them aside. I try not to eat rice more than once a day (except on weekends where it’s not practical to cook another meal just so I can skip rice during lunch) and this has caused some minor problem whenever I travel with dad: he wants rice for lunch and dinner while I’m fine if I don’t eat rice at all. So we have to find an eatery where he can have his rice and I can have something else. In some places like Sibu, the hawkers don’t much like it if you sit at their table but order food from another stall (guess they’re fussy as well).

I don’t like to eat rice if there is no gravy dish or soup dish i.e. if there’re only ‘dry’ dishes like fried fish and the local salad (or ulam) – I’d feel like I can’t swallow my rice. I don’t mind ordering fried rice than having the headache of choosing the rice dishes that I may not enjoy. Also, guess what? I don’t like a lot of local food like roti canai, curry and nasi kandar and will not order them if I can help it. In other words, I don’t like mamak food and don’t go to mamak.

Funnily enough, I can be the very opposite of fussy when I travel alone. I don’t mind trying out the local fare (unlike some people who still insist on having rice) – though I’m still fussy enough not to want anything that looks strange, I don’t mind skipping meals, and I don’t mind having only bread or snacks for sustenance (on normal days, I dislike bread and hardly eat it). I don’t need to pack chillies or rendang just so I can have some hot and spicy food because I don’t much care for hot and spicy food (I do love a good hot assam dish or asam pedas – nothing too spicy, mind).

I suppose it sounds like I’m difficult to travel with. And speaking of travel, I’d prefer travelling solo than travelling with someone for the sake of the company which I may later not enjoy.

I don’t know I get to be so fussy over time but it’s probably because I was generally an uncomplaining and unfussy person back when I was growing up (you eat what you’re told and what’s served in front of you), at boarding school (if you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it and so I skipped many meals. This has the undesirable effect of messing up my diet and body weight and hormones) and at uni (you don’t have time to cook elaborate fancy meals and I’m not a foodie so I didn’t mind frozen pizzas and instant food). Or maybe I’ve always been a fussy person but I didn’t have much choice back then: it’s either eating or starving and the opportunity cost involved (spending time cooking food that you like or utilising that time to study).

Or maybe it’s only natural to be particular and demanding as we grow up as we are exposed to more choices and improve our standard of living (so tell me it isn’t just me!).

Malaysia Day Weekend

Abah and I were in Sibu over the weekend. My bro-in-law drove us from their place to KLIA seeing as it was a ridiculously early flight (ETD 0720) and landed in Sibu less than two hours later. It was a small airport undergoing expansion and upgrading. We declined an offer of a lift (thank you kind stranger but I don’t like to trouble people) and took a cab to our hotel. The airport is about 26 km away from the town centre and we passed some Iban rice paddy fields, Iban settlement, housing areas before nearing the town centre. We left our luggage at the concierge and set off for the nearby central market for some mid-morning meal (the upper floor of the market is the market’s hawker centre).

After our light meal, we walked to the nearby Rajang River. It’s such a shame that the mighty river is chai-coloured – we were told it was clean about three decades ago but the activities upstream have permanently changed the colour of the river. We sat down for a while at one of the wharfs and watch passengers boarding boats to their respective destination. After a while, I got tired of watching and suggested we headed back.

As we still could not check in, we sat on some benches in the pavilion opposite the hotel. I then wandered off on my own to explore the town centre. Then I joined Abah and we headed off for lunch. It started raining as we were finishing our lunch.

After lunch, we headed to the hotel, got the room cards and went up. We rested before going off after dark to find dinner. Now, Sibu is a predominantly Chinese town and it was a bit difficult to find halal food in town especially after 7 pm as most halal stalls are already closed. The Malay/Melanau village is some distance away (and I wasn’t sure if we could find any eatery there anyway) so we returned the place where we had lunch and had dinner there. We did venture to the night bazaar but they were selling mainly apam and fried noodles which didn’t appeal to me.

On Saturday, we went to the market for breakfast. Then we hired a cab to take us around the town. He brought us to The Swan and some posh housing area (there was a mansion built for the late Agong there) next to the Rajang and around. Our final stop was the market where I bought some local durians (they were very pricey!). Then we went to the hotel to rest before venturing out again for lunch. I also collected some layered cakes which I had ordered on Friday to bring home.

Dinner was takeaway from Sugarbun and I settled down to watch Arsenal play Blackburn at Ewood Park (got my heart broken into pieces yet again. Damn you Arsenal. OK, if I must state some positives: 1) Two of our new boys, Gervinho and Arteta, scored; 2) Chamakh finally managed to score after months; and 3) Apart from the matches against Udinese and ManUre, that was the first time where we managed to score more than 1 goal. But overall, it was a horrid second half and I was so, so annoyed and this lasted well until today. Damn you Arsenal! So much for it being ALANS!).

On Sunday, we left for the airport at 0745 (we had agreed with the cabbie from the day before for him to send us to the airport). It was at the hotel lobby when I saw a work colleague – turned out he was also returning by the same flight! And we even sat in the same row and side of aisle 9he sat next to dad). We landed at 1120 and reached Akak’s at noon. After Zuhor prayers, we left for my aunt’s place in Kepong for Eid celebration. It rained cats and dogs on the way there. We stayed until 3.30 before returning to Akak’s.

Abah and I then left for home. The sun had come out by then and it was very bright all the way home.

ALANS*

* Almost Like A New Season/Song/Signing. In case you don’t already know, the Professor likes to say this whenever someone comes back from a long injury

Arsenal hosted Swansea on Saturday after a couple of defeats. Arteta and Mertesacker made their debut for Arsenal and Benayoun came on in the second half. I don’t know why the lads looked at times hesitant in front of goal. Shava curled in the ball following a howler from the Swansea goalie from an acute angle and it was not an easy finish by any means so credit to the Russian meerkat for that. We survived a second-half Swansea onslaught but managed to stay alive. It’s early days but the Koscielny-PerMer partnership is already looking promising. And yes, it’s almost like a new season.

As you probably already know, the Useless Effing Farcical Assholes has imposed a further two-match ban on Wenger – effectively banning him for three matches for something he did like seven months ago. The match wasn’t shown live so I didn’t set my alarm. Anyway, I needn’t have to for I found myself awake at a quarter past 3. Found out we were leading by a goal against the tide and dozed off again. I was prepared for a draw and while that was exactly what we got no thanks to an 88th minute goal by the host, I can’t help feeling gutted. Had we not conceded the free-kick, we could have won. And that would be enough to silence the critics. Read that Song was immense and Koscielny too. If Song behaves himself, he’ll be a darn good player for us. Almost like a new Song? Let’s hope he stays that way.

Signal Iduna Park coordinates: Seat 63 Row 24 Block 27

I am slightly worried though that we have not been able to slot in as many goals as before. One opportunistic goal on Saturday and one on Tuesday night... unlike the two Manc clubs who are scoring for fun. Sickening. (But guess what, both Manc clubs drew 1-1 in their Champions League matches too. Wonder what the media will say to this. Perhaps that the two Manc clubs were unlucky not to get all three points but Arsenal were lucky to even come away with a point. That won’t surprise me one bit).

And Lansbury has signed a new contract extension with Arsenal. Yes, it’s Almost Like A New Signing. Heh.

Sweet September

What a week it has been so far. It started off very badly with an 8-2 thumping at Old Trafford. I was shocked, stunned, speechless and simmering when I found out (no, I didn’t stay up to watch as I was working the next day. And a good thing too!). The result led me to question: with that kind of result, how could we ever lure anyone to come and play for The Arsenal? How could we have screwed up this summer so badly? First off: you don’t let someone of Cesc’s calibre (our captain and one of the world’s best midfielder) go and not replace him. You don’t let a French international who had some good spells go and not replace him. You don’t let go of a left-back and not replace him, preferring to place faith on a young player who has a bad medical record. You need to hold on to your best players and play them with the best – this way they won’t feel as if they were carrying the burden of the team.

As much as I hate to admit it, ManUre did a lot of things right. They became champions and went out early to secure their new signings. We, on the other hand, let go of players but didn’t do much apart from signing new young players who are inexperienced in the Premier League. I’m not saying they are not good but it’s not fair to throw them into a match against ManUre of all team and expect them to swim or sink. It’s unfair on them and they need time to settle down and learn what a PL match involves anyway. We were so stretched that we had players playing out of their natural position. And let’s not forget the spirit of the ManUre players... I hate to say this but they have the right spirit (and possibly that is one of the reasons why I hate them so much).

I think our scouters (scouts) had done a bad job this summer (and for that matter, so has our marketing people. Seriously, we could do so much better at advertising and marketing than we currently are). We must have been linked to practically everyone from Gary Cahill to Chris Samba and even Titus Bramble.

Then Eid came and I had to face my first Eid without Mummy. Suffice to say I was feeling very fragile indeed. So much so I couldn’t even summon any energy to wish you readers a Happy Eid.

Abah and I travelled to my brother’s place in a small town in Batu Pahat on the first day of Eid and came back yesterday. I found myself awake very early yesterday (after-effects of getting up for pre-dawn meal in Ramadan) and immediately checked twitter-ville to see the comings and goings. And I must say I was very pleased indeed that we managed to get Benayoun (31) on loan and Arteta (29) has agreed to come at a pay cut. They joined Park Chu Young (26), André Santos (28) and Per Mertesacker (26). Personally, I have wanted us to sign Mertesacker since last summer. And now we’ve got him! It will still take time for me though to get used to someone else donning the jersey number 4...

And now we have the Belgian captain, Welsh captain, South Korean captain, Czech captain, Russian captain and Israeli captain in our midst (Herr Mertesacker was captain of Werder Bremen). We wanted quality, we wanted experience, we wanted more leaders and we got them all.

Suffice to say I am a happy Gooner again. Oh I’m not happy that we took this long to finalise the deals (I must say I do feel for Everton because Arteta left late and they had no time to find his replacement. Why did Arsenal wait until deadline to make their move on him?) and the risks associated (what if Arteta didn’t force his move through? Benayoun doesn’t have a good medical history) with this last-minute signings but I’m glad that we have managed to get people in who could help us. Oh sure, we want Eden Hazard and Yann M’Vila but they are not available so we had to seek the next best alternatives. Which isn’t to say that Arteta or Benayoun are second best.

Anyway, all is done now. Goodbye August, goodbye to the heartache that Cesc’s departure brought me (I still miss him but hey, we have to move on. He still has a special spot in my heart) and hello Sweet September. Let’s hope we kick-start our season next weekend.

And hope it’s not too late to wish everyone a blessed Eid Mubarak.

P.S. And please, just because we fast for one month, it doesn’t mean we have to celebrate for a whole month. I think we’ve all got the concept wrong – I grew up with all these saying that that is so which is wrong. It doesn’t help when the media and some Eid songs encourage Malaysian Muslims to think that for one month of fasting, there must be one month of celebrating. Only in Malaysia do Muslims celebrate Eid as long as we do. What a shame. What we should do instead is increase our ibadah in Ramadan and embrace it fully.