Get Things Done

Why cant people get things done? It is an absolute mystery to me. When I say people, I mean me. There are apparently loads of things I need to do. But I am unable to do them. For instance, finishing writing a book. Or getting back into shape. Or start giving back to society. I am just fucking selfish, lazy and totally cheapskate. Sheesh. The exact qualities I look for in an enemy.

I feel that I am not reading enough. So, a bunch of us have started our very own Book Club. I have been watching way too much tv. TV is the bane of urban life. I am so glad that I have no interest in video games. Or else I would just vegetate at home. YouTube could potentially be another source of Life Sucking. I could not believe I spent an entire day watching YouTube 2 weeks ago. OK. I exaggerate. It was only half a day. But I spent the other half a day talking to my friends about the genius of Ellen Degeneres and Russell Peters.

Maybe I need to have a daily Things To Do. Like I used to. Damn. My Life is just wasting away. Oooh. Just thinking about it makes me tired. Sheesh! What is wrong with me? I think I have just topped this previous post.

Opernplatz

The first meeting was to discuss how the book club was to work. We met up at Secret Recipe, Taman Desa. I had cake. Yummy.

The discussion as usually wandered far and wide, including this spoof video of the Great Escape by Gwen Stefani. Among the books that were up for discussion include:
1. God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.
2. Perfume: The Story of a Murder by Patrick Suskind
3. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
4. 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (author) and Gregory Rabassa (Translator)
5. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
6. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
7. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson - which David will borrow from Limmy.
8. Animal Farm by George Orwell
9. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
10. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
11. The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
12. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.


Since there were only 3 of us attending, we have decided to read 2 books from the above. Up for discussion will be Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides sometime in mid-July 2007 at a location to be decided by WaiPing. In the following month, probably in mid August 2007 we will be discussing Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.

Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary

A bunch of us went to see some elephants. Amazing creatures. Very thoughtful beings. Why would anyone want to hunt them down is beyond me.

Check out more stuff at Nellie's Blog. Anyways, for posterity, let me record my version of the journey today.

745am: Pick up H at her house
830am: Reached Nell's house where she and Olynn.
900am: Amir arrives.
1100am: Reach Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary.
1200pm: Drinkies at Saudi Cafe. Which btw do not look anything like an Arabic establishment. Sheesh!
1200pm: Visited the Orang Asli Camp. They are from the Che Wek tribe. According to the guide they are a very shy people who rely on the forest. I felt ambivalent about how the camp who was a teacher and Islamic missionary were trying to modernise their lives. Yet retain their cultural heritage. They put on a dance and played with bamboo percussion instruments. I even tried my hand at the sumpit.
100pm: Watched a video about an elephant relocation/rescue. I accidentally poked a girl in the dark whom I thought was Nellie. Oops. Move over Britney!
200pm: Finally feeding time for the pachyderms. While the mammals enjoyed their fruits, Amir and I feasted our eyes on babes in bikinis who were unclear about the dress code. Oh bless them!
300pm: Then my turn to ride the elephants. Woohoo!
400pm: It was a damn hot day. It was great to take a dip in the river, together with our giant friends.
500pm. Time to go home. Hurrah!

And it was virtually free! We only paid for toll, fuel and gave some donations, including the leftover snacks we never ate.

Packed Weekend

What a long weekend it was. It started on Friday night with our movie having another screening at Zouk, courtesy of Filmmakers Anonymous. Almost everyone showed up and a few were quite pleased with what we have done. I must put on record my appreciation to Zul and FPS. The rest of the gang, actors and helpers proved to be just as committed and I was glad that they did not find it a waste of time.

The next day I went jogging with BD. Then met up with Tiara. FPS and Limmy joined us after. We had lunch and watched Shrek 3. I somewhat enjoyed the movie, though it seemed rather long. I mucked around at the Curve with the gang. After everybody had left, I stayed on to wander around Borders. Later in the evening, I had dinner with Azman, Nelster, Hus, Fish, BD and Naj. Naj went home early, after treating us to nice tea/coffee at his wife's restaurant.

After, Azman drove us around in his new car: a very nice Toyota Camry.

Then the ladies who had a curfew went home. But Fish, Azman, BD and myself reminisced some more at the mamak. It was almost 2am before Azman and BD called it a day. Sheesh!

Fish and me walked to the CineLeisure carpark. I was ready to drive home and hit the hay. But then Fish invited me to meet up with a couple of ladies. We went dancing at the Laundry. But before long, Laundry was closing down so we head off to another restaurant. God, the nice ladies tried to matchmake me. What is up with people? Why can one not be happy by oneself? I am so going to be a hermit and live in the forest. And read and read and read and maybe when I feel like it: write, cook, eat, and tend to the animals. Except I dont like ghosts. I'd rather have a piece of toast.

When I reached home it was almost 330am.

Then on Sunday, I woke up at noon and went shopping with FPS. He bought a bedroom set and I got a new bed for the new house we are moving to. I hope we can move in next month. It was raining heavily. And Limmy gave me a book: East of Eden by John Steinbeck. My goodness, what a masterpiece. I really do not remember the movie with James Dean being quite like it. But then again, it has been a long time and I do have a sieve for a memory.

I fell asleep at one point or another. When I woke up I went to Pusat Bandar Damansara, for dinner and to withdraw money at HSBC. But i forgot to bring the ATM card. Goodness. However, I did manage to write a few lines of my novel. I was so inspired by Ben Hur written by Lew Wallace.

Before I went home, I went to see Tiara to give her a birthday present: The Zahir by Paulo Coelho. Before I dozed off, read East of Eden to escape the thought of Monday's work.

OK. This is probably the most pointless blog I have ever posted. Sheesh!