SANTAU

So finally, I got to watch Santau with my siblings yesterday.
I've been wanting to watch it ever since it was shown across the causeway, but didn't think it was going to be worth the trip.

For your info, I've a love-hate relationship with Malaysian horror movies. One one hand, I can't stop wishing that they's stop coming up with crappy, sub-standard horror movies that almost all the time managed to elicit cynical laughters when what they actually were hoping for were terrified screams. Think Jangan Pandang Belakang, the part where Pierre Andre asked,"Siapa tu..?" And the ghost replied in an almost pervetic/comedic voice.."Akulah" The movie sort of lost the audience right at that moment. Congkak was fine, but the ending part was anti-climatic and Jangan Tegur is not even worth commenting about.

The problem with these movies is that they have SO MUCH potential to scare the pants out of the audiences, especially local audiences who can relate to the local premise and flavour of the story. I mean, the thought of an old woman with the long, white hair, wrinkled face, sinister smile is way scarier than a dracula(for me, at least). And all of those stories mentioned above had all the necessary ingredients to be, ummm... "BOOOMZ" (for lack of a better word). The young couple with small kid, a dilapidated house somewhere in the kampung area and so on.. But the end products were always so disappointing.

Back to Santau.. It was a movie that I can actually like. Maybe the casts were better and more likeable (put Pierre Andre in, and it just spoils it for me). Esma Daniel has always been likeable, that new actress was very good, I feel. SO, it was ok. Minus some few parts, like, can you guys (DAVID TEO, if you read this somehow) NOT show the face of ghost which are NOT scary at all? They looked like masks which had been torn apart by a guy in his drunken fury. ANd please, stop it with the sound effects which was supposed to scare us, cos it doesnt work when it's there at EVERY scene.

That's my take on Santau. It's better than the rest but definitely not a match for my Kekasih Kuseru.

And talking about Santau, well.. I still can't figure out how black and ugly a human being's heart can be, how much evil a person is capable of. But at the same time, I hope I will never be the kind of person who blindly accepts KENA BUAT ORANG as a convenient explanation for a sickness/misfortune/accidents/diseases. For my family and I have been on the receiving end of this and I saw how silly it could get.
Imagine:

1) "Anak dia gemuk-gemuk eh?"

"Yelah... bapak dia kan ada ilmu hitam"

Eh stoopid fool....! Tarak otak ka? Mak aku pandai masak sebab tu kita gemuk-gemuk. Korang nak babat kita sikit? Amik ah...


2) " Anak dia pandai-pandai, masuk University bukan sebab apa.. sebab dorang kan bomoh"

Itulah pasal, orang dulu suruh belajar, korang lari... sebab tu jawapan semua macam orang tak berpendidikan. Buat malu kompeni jer.

3) "Eh eh... dia accident? "Mesti kena buat.
" Eh eh... dia gaduh laki bini?" Mesti kena buat.
"Eh eh... dia kena berenti keje?" Mesti kena buat.

Eh eh..... korang ni tak percaya dengan qada' & qadar ke? Kalau aku ada ilmu pun, nak buat korang apa ke hal? Tak ada hasil..

Well, melalut pulak aku ni eh. Mende ni macam dah tak ada lagi. Macam dah ok. Tapi kata orang putih, forgiven but not forgotten.

;-P

H.a.n.t.o.o.o

I've just finished cleaning/vacuuming and mopping the house.
There are a few more stuffs that I want to do before I feel as though I've totally cleaned the house, but I've got to get ready for my movie date with the 7 favouritest persons in my life. (Ryan is way up there that he's in another league altogether, ok!)
But, I decided to not sweat it too much. Must learn to let go of certain stuffs. Not too anal about stuffs cos I'll just get stressed and what do I get for that? More wrinkles.

And I SHOULD be getting ready by now cos my normal getting-ready time is 45mins-1hr. But ever since the boy entered my life, I can make do with 15 mins! Terrer eh? ;-)
ANd I figure, I should take this time to blog a little before I get caught up in the manic weekdays, as I usually do ever since the year started.

I had a wonderful time last night with Shahreil and friends last night.
I finally got my PRINTS wrapping paper for my record book @Citylink after 4 weeks of school term! I NEED to wrap my record book, so that I will feel more motivated to record my lessons for the week and dutifully submit it to my HOD every Monday morning. (ok! I lied, I always give it to her before I go home in the afternoon!)
Have I told you before that I LOVE PRINTS. I can stay there for hours just ogling and molesting those beautiful papers and books! I'd love it if for my birthday I get nothing but papers after papers after papers from PRINTS! (hint hint)
Both Shahreil and Shahrul said that it's ridiculous that I'm paying so much (it's just $4!) for a wrapping paper. But it was so pretty! And pretty makes me happy. And happy is good, right?
;-)

Then we decided that instead of wasting money on movie tixs, we'd just have some old-fashioned fun. Friends, junk food, dvds @ home. Halem, Hairul and Ros met us at the void deck and our horror-filled night started. We watched Skrip 7707, which was a pretty decent scary movie and then Fobia. And we exchanged some ghost stories while we had the toilet break in between. I was already dozing off on the sofa halfway through Fobia and when it ended at 3am, we went to send Shahrul home.

And now, we'd have another go at another Malay ghost story.
See you there, Ikin, Diyana, Aini, Mimi, Abg and Man.
Jangan lambat.
Nanti aku pulak yang naik hantu for I simply can't stand people who are not punctual.

I am still struggling with the whole work-life balance thingy.
It gets harder everyday. But well, since life is pretty unpredictable and short (evident it the going-ons around the world), I'll try to just enjoy the ride no matter how bumpy it is.
But I do wish that:

1) I have more than 24hrs in a day to do everything that I need to do daily
2) a miracle energy pill that I can pop into my mouth and get the much needed energy level to keep up with everything that I have going on

Argh. Sometimes I don't even know if I'm doing things right.
The word cost-price keeps emerging in my head. It's one term from my JC-days econs lectures that I remember. Something like, you choose something but you have to let go of another thing.
And that's how it's been like in my life.. never-ending choices I have to make.
If I do not do that housework now, I will have a scary pile of housework to do on the weekends.
If I DO choose to do the housework, I will miss out on some family bonding time.
If I stay back to do work in school, I will be late in fetching Ryan.
If I fetch Ryan earlier, I'm way behind in marking/admin work.
If I enjoy myself on weekends and not bring work home, I will be unprepared for the coming week and that's like shortchanging my kids.
But if I do bring work home, it just means I practically work 24/7.
If I bring work home on a daily basis, I'm shortchanging my family.
If I DON'T bring them home, Im shortchanging my kids.

HOW?!
Bloody hell. I'm getting breathless just thinking about it.
I want to be a great mom, a great wife, a great teacher.
But it seems so hard!