Posted in Write On on August 5, 2009| 4 Comments »
Especially for my Nina Bobo who requested to see this 60 year-old-re-upholstered-lime-green-in-its-former-life chair… up-close and personal. This special chair has been my nursing chair, my crying chair and now my blabbing blogging chair tucked in a corner between my living and dining areas. Thank you Nina, for the request. Thank you Mom, for the chair.
Posted in Write On, tagged Answer on August 5, 2009| 3 Comments »
Answers?
Oh yes, she does have answers for every question you ask. Just ask, she’d say. She is equipped. She is loaded. All you have to do is shoot! Yeah, you shoot. She doesn’t do the shooting. Because when she does, she would expect you to be loaded with answers. And her definition of answers is those sentences that don’t end with another question mark. Yes, she is very particular that way. So if you answer her question with another question, she takes it that you are not willing to answer. She might as well just look at herself in the mirror and ask the question to herself. Or better yet, just talk to herself. Or the best yet… not to ask or talk in the first place. You pick, then, if you’re going to answer her question with another.
Angry? No, she is not angry. She is simply telling you what you don’t seem to know about her. Or perhaps she is correcting what you seem to have misperceived about the person you claim to know so well for so long. She can see that being assertive always sounds ‘angry’ to you. She’s changed, you reckoned? Of course she has. Who hasn’t? Look who’s talking now. One year has done a lot to her. Shall she say more about ten years? You remember her one-size-fits-all statement of “It’s one that eventually makes a million.” Don’t you? If you can’t remember that, I don’t think you can remember much of what she has said. And she doesn’t say hacks-a-candy of a lot.
Yes, she has pretty much been tucking herself at her own corner lately – which she hasn’t done since late 2002 or somewhere there. Seven years, four countries, six houses and another kid later, she thought it would be good to re-upholster Mom’s 60 year old chair for her corner and let Mom mum her there. And for the next twelve days, Mom will be there for her.
Posted in Write On on August 3, 2009| Leave a Comment »
You broke my faith in all these years.
So broken the faith and I,
that I wish I never believed.
In you.
For now, I’ll just let it break.
No mending.
No minding.
Posted in Write On, tagged Reason on August 2, 2009| 2 Comments »
Things happen for a reason, they say.
Yeah, yeah. Whatever! (Kids, if you’re reading, I know I’ve said it a gazillion times that the word whatever – if not put in a sentence – is not a good word.) But tonight I finally believed that things do happen for a reason. However it happens without you knowing why. Like… I never understood why the fluorescent lamp cover in my bathroom that was hanging, almost falling off its bracket, had not bothered me. I usually would be the first one to put things back where they belong – be it a hand towel not folded right to its four corners, or a blade on the window blinds not at the right angle, or even my daughter’s hair-parting not on its straight ‘path’. Urrggh! I am so easily bothered beyond reasons at times.
But tonight, as I was doing my bedtime bathroom routine, a fly came zooming from only God knew where, right onto my shower door. I grabbed a wet hand towel to flick at the godforsaken fly as if it had comitted an unforgiveable sin. That a la Zoro flicking act sent it flying frantically and aimlessly at my mercy to finally land on the fluorescent lamp. And like it knew the reason for why I left the cover untouched and hanging for the last few days, the fly went right between the cover itself and the lamp. I wasted no time and put the lamp cover back, clicking it into its place – trapping the fly in between.
Things happen for a reason, they say.
I say, tonight… a fly had gone toward the light.
Postlude:
You say, “Have mercy on her soul.”
Posted in Write On on July 31, 2009| 3 Comments »
Posted in Write On on July 31, 2009| 3 Comments »
My Mom said a lot of things she never thought I would remember. She never looked like she was convinced that I was listening. Well, I never gave her the look that I was listening to a thing she was saying, either. You see, I was supposed to play that stubborn girl role – the daughter from uh… what the hell was it called again? I was given that character. That stubborn daughter character. She said so. So she got one! So?
Little did Mom know that it was all a put up. That stubborn daughter character and role thing. All put up. I was born a good listener. Just like her. Mom went on to raise a good actor she never was. And neither did Mom know that I have spent more than half of my life now trying to be a writer. Now half of what I have written is probably all that she had said; what she had said before she went all quiet on me. These days she says very very little, if any. Especially now that she is back at that bed number 15 ward number 4 on the level number 6. Lucky if she knows what number comes after number 3.
My Mom used to say, “If you have nothing good to say, say nothing.”
Now that I have nothing good to say and lost count on the number of teardrops dripping down my chin, maybe I should just go all quiet on Mom too. And on myself.
Posted in Write On on July 30, 2009| 3 Comments »
I grew up with this. Why would I want to grow old without? I mean, here I am at 2 o’clock in the morning with only pyjamas and bluetooth earphones on, shaking my hips and everything else that want to shake with me voluntarily and non, shoulders shrugging invitingly and hands in the fondling motion one moment, playing the maracas the next, imagining myself in that decollete Kebaya or Baju Potong Kota Bharu, frangipani over one ear, smiles in my eyes, love on my lips… already re-growing fond of memories that came with this song. I don’t grow old. I just age melodically.
Menimbang Rasa
Apakah yang kuberikan
Tanda aku serta memujamu
Padaku lain tiada hanya
Cumalah rasa pemikat cinta
Tiadakah dihatimu
Bertempat sudi menimbang rasa
Menimbang sayang hasrat asmara
Gayamu manis jelita
Andai kata engkau pun tahu
Bagaimana hatiku sekarang
Rindu selalu melandai jiwa
Hinga kasih sayangku terbuang
Tetapi kau tak mengerti
Bagaimanakah jadinya nanti
Merindu sepanjang hari
Tak kekal dan abadi
Posted in Write On, tagged Laundry, Washing Instructions on July 29, 2009| 3 Comments »
I can, if I don’t kill myself first doing it, talk and write about laundry until all the cows and their boys come home. That much, I know about myself, I tell ya. And it’s not like I haven’t talked and written enough about dirty laundry already. But this one particularly laundry-related area is hard to hog all to myself. If you are like me who get nervous when garments do not come with washing instructions tag, this is probably a prized-possession laundry-related blog-post everrrr!
Postlude:
If you would like a pdf or jpeg copy of this Washing Instruction Symbols, please do not hesitate to email me and ask me nicely, okay. I repeat, ask me nicely. *giggle giggle* I’m off for now… wondering how nicely you can be. I shall change my Facebook status to:
Enida Supian-Johnson has gone wondering.
Posted in Nostalgia, Write On, tagged Names, Reminiscence on July 28, 2009| 10 Comments »
Do you look back, recall, reminisce, and remember? I do. Though I don’t look back as often as I should, reminisce as much as I would like to… I do remember a lot of things. I remember songs and lyrics, I remember movies and scenes, I remember events and emotions. And I do remember names and faces. In fact, since my memory capacity has everything to do with my facts, I remember names mostly. Some more vivid than others. And some longer than the rest.
But the name Koo (or is it Khoo?) Chong Teng always brings me back to that chubby smiley face. Everytime he smiled, his eyes would form two straight horizontal lines. I always imagined, with that baby-face he must’ve smelled like Johnson&Johnson baby powder too. He was, by the way, one of the Bintang RTM contestants in the same year with Rohana Jalil if I am not mistaken. Since I don’t particularly like the type of voice that vibrates too much, Koo Chong Teng was never my favorite. (Ruhil Amani’s voice is worse!) But Koo Chong Teng’s Melaka-speak made me sit up straight in front of the TV. Loved it!
And then there was Ferri Anugerah Makmur, of course. I still hum his “Bila Janji Itu Mungkir” number to this day. And that, mind you, has nothing to do with his invitation last month for us to work together on a charity project. Well, like Koo Chong Teng’s, I found Ferri Anugerah Makmur’s smiles to be memorable – for lack of a better word. But the name itself, has been memorable. Oh darn! I forgot to ask him the burning question my friends have been bugging my mind with. That is, if he got teased when he was a boy, especially by people from Penang. With a unique name like his, I am pretty sure patience would be his virtue, or rather his anugerah (gift), if he did get teased. But somehow, I always look at his name as the English fairy rather than the Malay feri.
Budiman Perwira Negara bin Husin. Yes, it is a real name. Not in a short story in the Mastika or Sarina magazines in the 70’s and 80’s, or the likes. This form-four boy was a junior to a form-five me at Abu Bakar School Temerloh Pahang when I did my (equivalent to) grade 10 and 11 back then. A good boy, he was. Always a leader, and always a friendly and an approachable leader.
I first heard of the name Budiman Perwira Negara in my Biology class, mentioned by my Biology teacher whose name was Noor Sinaran Chaya binti Dolkefflee. She believed her father had mispelled the Chaya part and meant it to be Cahaya instead. (I just Googled the name, and what d’ya know… Puan Noor Sinaran Chaya has her own tuition center now.) And uh, Puan Noor Sinaran Chaya was also the one who found a ‘secret admirer’ letter I wrote to Mr. Armia, accidentally slipped into my Biology workbook which I never intended to mail! Auwww I kantoi big time!
Roslan Burok is another name I will never forget. If you (the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s babies) noticed, this name always appeared the longest on the credit roll Drama Minggu Ini slot Sunday evenings. That was because he was the producer of many of those drama episodes. Roslan Burok was the talented culprit who made us down our dinner after the sundown prayers as if the kitchen were closing or tornado were coming! I never understood how it worked back then, but from my observation, whenever ND Lala was on the slot, Roslan Burok’s name never failed to be there. Like the one that featured ND Lala and Haslina Kamsan in Pisang Udang, ND Lala and Marlia Musa in Nasinya Tumpah. I am not sure about ND Lala and Liza Abdullah in Penghujung Rindu, though. Anyway, I remember wondering how Roslan Burok looked like. I never saw any picture. Not then, not ever. Or shall I say with some hope, not yet?
This next name, by now is mentioned back-to-back as it also came up in my previous post for her sunglasses-hair-band. The name is none other than Noorkumalasari. Is it really her given name? It surely isn’t my given name, although I was going to give myself the same name when I was five. I even went to the extent of striking out “Enida” on the back of my portable green blackboard my dad bought me for kindergarten. It was a good thing that no permanent marker pen was left laying around in that ‘745-U-Lorong-Dua-Kampung-Jana-Baru’ house back then. My Mom made me wash off the name Noorkumalasari which I wrote with a yellow chalk, and to add salt to my wound, she had to come up with a spin-off to Noorkumalasari’s name: Noorkumalassekali! I cried my eyeballs out and it felt like Jiman died his 5th death!
I moved on. It took me a while, but I moved on. From kindergarten to primary school. And from Noorkumalasari to other new names like Asmahani Hussein, Gaya Zakry, Marilu Henner, Mia Farrow, Charlie’s Angels (which I first thought was a woman’s name – I wasn’t aware of the apostrophe-‘s’), Marrisa Haque, Lydia Kandou, Sharmila Tagore, and many more before I got to know Parveen Babi… who made me want to keep my name. So, Enida it was. Enida it has been and Enida it is to this day.
I moved on to the name Lawrence. This name always flashes one specific picture of the very first Lawrence I ever got to know in my life. He was a janitor at the school I went to between the age of 6 and 12, that is All Saints’ School in Kamunting, Taiping, Perak. I never understood what his position was. Heck, I didn’t understand much back then. Like why we were given food at school (just bring your empty Tupperware container) and why it never tasted better than my Mom’s cooking. I gave it up to a friend after a month. But all I knew about Lawrence was that he was the man to chase after if we needed balls, hoola hoops, benches, garbage bins, and even a bicycle pump if needs be. And of course you hunt him down all around the school, sent by your class teacher, if kids berak in their pants and left some free fertilizer to be scooped by Lawrence. Lawrence must have saved a lot of school’s money allocated for fertilizers.
And now that I have moved on and am waaaayyyyy away from school years, I have come to realize that the only other Lawrence I got to know after Lawrence the Janitor of All Saints would be the Lawrence of Arabia. I know no other Lawrence’s ever since. I doubt there would be any Lawrence of Siberia waiting for me out here either.
And then, no doubt, there are names that tell their stories for some other days like… (in alphabetical order):
I know you have names that have stuck with you as well over the years. Names that have traveled with you far east, farther east and then west, with or without a compass. Names that have been the ones you keep Googling, wondering if you have soared higher or stooped lower than. And names which have brought smiles to the thoughts of your innocence that you’ve named silliness. You are not that innocent anymore. So don’t be silly! Reminisce today.
Posted in Write On, tagged Tag on July 25, 2009| 7 Comments »
1. Bekas kekasih saya adalah:
A man in the uniform (oooh hemsem!), an actor, a doctor and a contractor. No! No generator had ever become my ex. I got my own power supply, babe! Hehe.
2. Saya sedang mendengar:
Si Volvieras a Mi – Josh Groban. Yes, I confess… no matter how much I do not like Spain or anything Spanish.
3. Mungkin saya patut:
Do dishes or ironing. But I can’t see any piling up yet.
4. Saya suka:
Harum rambut anak-anak saya selepas mandi, I tell them that’s what heaven smells like.
5. Sahabat-sahabat baik saya:
Cik Nan, Cik Rome, Chin, Lisa, Tuan Nor, Londt, Bibik.
6. Saya tak faham:
How English can be taught using Bahasa. It’s like teaching Tamil using Tagalog. Or using Add Maths syllabus to teach Sejarah.
7. Saya kehilangan:
Kata-kata. Not.
8. Ramai yang berkata:
Gigi saya putih se’sangat. (Itulah kelebihan Fab buku baru!)
9. Makna nama saya:
Stubborn (according to my Omani friends). My dad meant for me to be a writer like Enid Blyton. Enid B dah ada. So I am Enid A.
10. Cinta itu adalah:
“Cinta? Huh cinta untuk aku. Tubuh untuk orang lain?” – Ali Setan (1985)
11. Di suatu tempat, seseorang sedang:
Menyesal kerana telah melepaskan peluang untuk mengajak saya bercoffee-coffee dengan beliau semasa saya melawat beliau kali terakhir di Sarang Helang.
12. Saya akan cuba:
To minimize saying, “Could you pleeeeease hurry it up, Kitreena Enida Johnson!”
13. Ayat SELAMANYA membawa maksud:
“Pabila kudengar suaramu nun di kalbu
inginku menanti senyuman manismuuuu
ku pasti dirimu terkenangkan suaraku
usahlah kau menafikan cinta yang terpendam
sesama kitaaa…”
SELAMANYA by Innuendo.
14. Telefon bimbit saya:
Ada dua. Both are RAZR2 V9 Mahogany. Did you just ask why?
15. Bila saya terjaga dari tidur:
There is always a man staring at me by the bedside waiting to say, “The son is up, Mom!” I am pretty sure he means the sun.
16. Saya paling meluat apabila:
A person expresses nothing but his/her negative thoughts. My Mom used to say, “Kata-kata itu satu doa. You say bad things, you get bad things.”
17. Pesta/Parti adalah:
Parti Tupperware lah nang best skali dalam dunia.
18. Haiwan yang paling comel yang saya pernah temui ialah:
My daughter’s bear, Vel. It’s a he.
19. Peringkat umur yang paling menyeronokkan bagi saya ialah:
Bila cukup.
20. Hari ini:
July 25, 2009 dunia kehilangan a rare diamond – Yasmin Ahmad. May she rest in peace. Seperti kata Ebiet: “Kematian hanyalah tidur panjang, maka mimpi indahlah engkau…”
21. Malam ini saya akan:
Tunggu datangnya pagi.
22. Esok pula saya akan:
Go walking with the kids to get some ice-cream at the park. It’s Sunday, their ice-cream day. I don’t do ice-cream. Bad for my teeth.
23. Saya betul-betul inginkan:
That little house on the Prairie where I can take my Mom for a stroll in the morning to see that straight line between heaven and earth. The horizon.
24. Ketika saya lihat wajah saya di hadapan cermin pagi ini:
I knew I have been blessed with a good heart. So what if my words are misinterpreted.
25. Pusat membeli-belah atau arked permainan:
Karrinyup Mall Perth for its Wheel and Barrow. Sahara Center Dubai for its space. Jusco Cheras Selatan for its Green Box. Subang Parade for its memories. And of course, Alamanda for a wrong reason. (Shut up, girls!) Arked permainan? Arked-arked ni tak mainlah!
26. Makanan Barat atau Jepun:
Either. But only if they are authentic. California Sushi Roll is bastardization at its best.
27. Bilik yang terang atau gelap:
Bilik gelap yang hanya diterangi oleh cahaya kasihmu. Woohooo! How’s that for a hopeless romantic?
28. Makanan segera adalah:
When no heating, stirring, cutting, or waiting required. Bananas and grapes lah. Not taik gigi!
29. Ayat terakhir yang anda katakan pada seseorang?
Good night luv.
30. Siapa yang anda mahu tag?
Ahau Dee, Cik Nan, KaCher, Serene Reen and Wiz
Thanks Nina, for wagging tagging.
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Questa è Enida 