Is it bad to wish something bad on someone?

Well... readers need not answer this question. Of course it is bad.... but sometimes you cross paths with some senseless jerks who really test your patience.

Two days back, I was on my way to work. I stopped at a four-way traffic junction. Another car was in front of me. When the lights turned green, the car in front moved off and I started to follow. Suddenly, a motorcycle from the road on my right darted between the two cars, barely squeezing past. I had to brake hard to avoid smashing into the bike. What the eff!!!

On impulse, I stepped on my accelerator and chased the bike. A few hundred metres down the road, I caught up and pulled to his side. I wind down the car window and shouted some choice words to the motorcyclist.... I didn't care if he could hear me or not. The biker, a young man in his early 20's, just displayed a nonchalant face with a couldn't-care-less attitude. That was when the nasty thought of wishing ill on him crossed my mind.

I have lost count how many times I see irresponsible motorcyclists cut across road junctions when the light on their side is red. You don't have to take my word for it. Just stand next to any busy junction in Kuala Lumpur for 5 minutes and you'll know what I mean. Being small and nippy doesn't give motorcyclists any right to jump the lights. Why can't they have the patience to wait for the green signal, just like the rest of us?

Ok then... end of post. Just to let off some steam..

Zul and Nurul's Special Day

My brother-in-law, Zulkipli Mohd Amin tied the knot with a young lady from Hutan Melintang in Perak, last month. As usual, I took a lot of photos of the event, both at the bride's and the groom's side. I was too busy with work and other stuff to compile them properly... until the enforced time-off this weekend (see previous post) enabled me to create a simple video of the still pics.

I welcome Nurul-huda Ismail into this large family of ours... may your marriage be blessed and showered with happiness always, insyaAllah.

The related story of the engagement ceremony last year was posted here -> A new addition to the family.

Piroxicam and diclofenac

Another obvious sign of ageing is when the medicines your doctor prescribes you increase in variety. Previously you may just be familiar with paracetamol, ponstan and maybe one or two cough syrups. You wouldn't bother with the names of antibiotics because there are just too many of them. More often than not, you never finish the full antibiotic course as what was prescribed because you have this attitude of : Alaa... dah baik dah. Takyah nak makan ubat tu lagi...

Well... time is catching up on you, my friend. If you don't take care of your health, then be prepared to familiarise yourself with a host of new medications whose names would put you in a tongue-twisting exercise. There are hundreds of thousands of drugs and medicines out there. More are being discovered everyday. Pharmaceuticals is a very huge business.

So why am I talking about drugs today?

I had a severe attack of gout last night. The initial build-up to the pain around my left ankle was felt at about noon time yesterday. I chose to tough it out because there were outstanding items at the work site to attend to and that I would be driving back to Johor Bahru later that night. The plan was for me to see my regular doctor in JB the next day (today).

By the time I left Kuala Lumpur at around 9pm, the pain started to feel worse. Good thing it is the left leg... if it had been the right, then driving would've been impossible. I tried to make it a non-stop trip so as to reach home as fast as possible but my bladder wasn’t co-operating. I chose to make a pit stop at the small Yong Peng rest area where the toilets are not far from where we can park our car. It was a struggle to get out of my car to walk the 10 metres or so to reach the toilet. I couldn’t put any weight on my left leg and had to hobble the distance mostly on one leg. Quite embarrassing, really… Good thing the only other people watching this comical scene were the toilet cleaners.

I reached home in JB at around 1 am. My son acted as a crutch to help me from the car into the house. I downed two tablets of paracetamol, hoping to relieve some pain to last through the night.

No effect. The pain became unbearable and I couldn’t sleep. It was 3 am when I asked my better half to take me to see a doctor. Luckily there is a 24-hour clinic not too far away from where we stay. The last time I went to a clinic outside normal hours was ages ago.

The doctor took one look at my swollen ankle and immediately asked if I wanted a pain-killing jab. Yes, yes… please! She prescribed two medicines for me and her parting advice were two simple words : Jaga makan…

Yeah, doc… I hear you. But stubborn old me always give in to temptations when it comes to food.

Pic borrowed from -> Drug3K.com

Feldene (piroxicam) and Voren 50 (diclofenac sodium) are two medications used to relieve pain, tenderness, swelling and stiffness caused by osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. They are also sometimes used to treat gouty arthritis (attacks of severe joint pain and swelling caused by a build-up of certain substances in the joints). They both fall under a class of medicines known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs)… see, I told you they are going to be a mouthful.

So today shall be a total rest-at-home day with limited mobility. Time to catch up on blogging and blog-hopping. And also to reflect on the problem of how to control my makan…

Something lives in this tree

Around two weeks ago, I accompanied my brother-in-law for his bernikah ceremony at the bride's home in Hutan Melintang, Perak. From Kuala Lumpur, we took the coastal road by way of Kuala Selangor and Sabak Bernam north towards Teluk Intan. The small town of Hutan Melintang is situated in the district of Bagan Datoh, just across the Selangor/Perak border demarcated by Sungai Bernam.

I have travelled this road a few times before and have always been fascinated by the lovely kampung landscape that included paddy fields in the areas of Tanjung Karang and Sekinchan. As we neared Sabak Bernam, we can see many roadside stalls selling mentarang, a type of shellfish that lives in the muddy tidal flats along this particular stretch of coastline. I have not seen this type of shellfish anywhere else in Malaysia.

Also along this road I spotted a number of stalls selling `kekabu'-filled pillows and mattresses. Kekabu is a type of fluffy cotton-like fibre used as the pillow filling. Before the advent of foam or artificial fibres, kekabu was the main material found in pillows and mattresses. The fibre comes from the seed pods of the kekabu tree whose English name is kapok (ceiba pentandra). It is also known as the Java cotton tree. Kapok trees are quite huge... they can grow in excess of 30m height.

I remember as a small boy, there was a big kekabu tree at the back of my grandfather's house. When the family gathered there for hari raya, the older cousins like to frighten us younger ones by telling that a certain pontianak lives on this tree and would come down to suck our blood if we persist in playing outside past maghrib (sunset) time. It was a very good scare tactic... but it also created a problem. Kampung houses those days do not have flush toilets. Latrines were all located outside. You drop your poop through a hole in the outhouse floor into a bucket. A very hardworking gentleman would then come every few days to manually collect your deposits and clean the bucket.

The latrine at my grandfather's house was located next to the kekabu tree... and if there is a need for any of the young ones to do business at night, we dare not do it alone. Therefore one or two of the other cousins are forced to accompany the person doing the business. And because we were chicken-hearted, the business is done with the latrine door full open. If you are the one doing the business, then you'll have to live with the embarassment of having other people watching you crapping your stuff. On the other hand, if you are the one doing guard duty, you have to bear with the aroma from the outhouse while at the same time stealing glances at the imposing kekabu tree for anything that may swoop down from it and grab you by the neck. A classic lose-lose situation...

For the wedding at Perak the other day, we put up at a homestay not far from the bride's house. Next to this homestay is an old abandoned kampung house. In front of this abandoned house is a kekabu tree... and this was what reminded me of today's story.

An abandoned house with a big kekabu tree... brings back scary memories from the past.

Don't want to be around this place after dark...

In a sulking mood...

No, not me... but a young lady tengah merajuk after not getting to do what she wants.

It has been a really busy month. Have been catching up with already delayed work at site with a number of public holidays in between... now that's when you wish there weren't any public holidays. Then there was the wedding of my brother-in-law. First was the nikah ceremony last week at the bride's home in Perak and last night was the reception at the groom's house in Shah Alam. And then I have to think of moving house by the end of the month. Gosh, I'm beat... but overall, better being busy than having nothing to do at all.

So today's post is just simple pic I caught of my grandniece Nurul Aqilah in a moody pose at last night's reception. Maybe I'll write about the wedding event a bit later.

Now why can't they let me do what I want....