微妙な幸せ。

Prologue: Half through September and only the first post *blah blah blah ad nauseam*...this is how "motivated" I am these day about writing anything.

微妙な幸せって言うのは。。。

久々に自宅の料理を食べた時。

Kolo mee from home that my younger brother Tat(e) tapau-ed for me when he came back for  his second years of university life (while I extended one more lifeline). Unlike the other kolo mee that we usually tapau-ed that is from some other proprietor, this one is definitely home-cooked ever since my dad has went back to small-time kopitiam business for his retirement life opening up a backyard (literally at my home's backyard. Good bye for our little vegetables allotment though) kopitiam selling a selection of hawker fares featuring my dad's signature chicken curry mee.

昔によく行った食べ物屋を再訪した時。

Gil Cafe at Ivory Plaza with Paul. (though I have a feeling that the portion seems to be slightly reduced or something.)

Plus 2's Wantan Mee with younger bro Ah Tat(e).

新しい料理を食べてみた時。

There's has been a proliferation of independently owned international cuisines outlet over Ivory Plaza catering to the growing international student population in USM as well as occasional expats/immigrants community and Pak(istan) Asian Cafe is one of them serving homely Pakistani fares. With servings of either biryani rice or Naan (top left) or in my case, Khulka (naan with sesame seeds), you can order an assortment of sides for it such as qeema (beef) ) (top right), chicken tikka (lower left) and hummus (lower right) that we (Wilson, Esther and me) had the other day.

王昭君餐馆 over Rangoon Lane off Macalister Road/Burmah Road with their specialty being sour and spicy fish head beehoon (酸辣鱼头米粉). They also serve variety of dishes to go along with whatever main course you ordered like what we ordered the other day (right) such as (clockwise from left) bitter gourd fried with deep fried fish skin (炸鱼皮炒苦瓜), signature tofu (招牌豆腐) and steamed hor fun (flat rice noodles) with fish fillet (鱼片蒸河粉).  As for "we" that I mentioned earlier, talked about that a bit later.

一人で旅に行った時。

Ever since 2008 when Penang is declared World Heritage Site, there has been a flurry of urban revival (gentrification even) projects going on around the old quarter of George Town with boutique guesthouses and backpackers lodge, chic food & beverage establishments as well trendy museums and art galleries popping up here and there. Penang Camera Museum is one of the latest addition of such development. Housed at a finely refurbished old shophouse over Muntri Lane, it houses (as the name suggest) a collection of vintage cameras through the history of photography since its inception as well as interactive exhibits such as Camera Obscura Room and Pinhole Room. Since it's a private initiative, a entrance fee of RM20 (half-price if you have a student card which is what I did) is required to enter the museum section but it comes with a guided tour so that makes it worthwhile. Besides the museum section on the 2nd floor, the first floor also hosts a photography gallery area featuring rotating exhibits of different theme, a souvenir store selling all camera related trappings as well as a small cafe if you wanna have a cuppa after the visits. For more photos, here's my take of my visit to Penang Camera Museum.

小動物を触るとき！

I have been eager to try out the pet/animal scene setting in my camera but sometimes it can be difficult to find animal stationary and/or docile enough to let me approach it let alone pet it. In general, cats are more responsive to invitation to pet (and USM seems to have a high population of cats) than dogs which tend to be weary against human (especially when they're living in hostile environment such as USM or West Malaysia in general because moslems see them as Haraam.) which ran away or turn hostile at the sight of unfamiliar human being. This discount pet shop of course but it's not like we can simply pet the animals in pet shop without attracting unwanted weariness from the pet shop owners. Just as one last social service annoucement: there are plenty of strays around so instead of buying expensive (and technically, genetically defective) pedigree species from profiteering pet shops, why not adopt a stray from shelters such as SPCA? Even inclusive of the fee of spaying the animal, it's still a tiny fraction when compared to the amount of money you pay for a hard-to-manage pedigree.

久々に友達に会える時。

A birthday surprise in which the surprisee (me) inadvertently gave a no show forcing the surpriser to pull a last minute maneuver to save the surprise...by appearing at my place directly! I wonder who pulled of a bigger surprise on that day. The story is that I was under the impression of having a routine lunch with Tailou Lawrence (right) so when I genuinely forgot about the lunch date with him (so much so I already cooked my own meal at home!), I asked for a reschedule with Lawrence since that's the easiest thing to do and it's only two of us anyway. What I didn't know however (of course I don't know. Otherwise it's not a surprise but a planned event) that it was part of Esther and Wilson's (middle two) plan of hatching a surprise with Lawrence as decoy and in order to savage the soon to be foiled surprise, Lawrence actually indirectly asked for my address by fabricating a story about his aunt living around my block...and I actually naively answered back the message with my full address (perhaps I do silently hope people to visit me or something.). In the end, they pop up in front of my house with a small slice of cheesecake with candle and a beef burger from Marshall's. Thanks for the surprise and sorry for the no show, Lawrence which you have to be dragged along for their surprise plan during your lunch time. Next time I will defo remember lunch date!

大学時代の親友と一緒に過ごした昼間。It's summer holiday in Japan and ShuLi (together with her mom) had a quick trip to Penang and decided to pay a trip to USM to reminiscence with a few of her favourite lecturers...and me (who still refuse to leave USM after all these years) and I was invited to have lunch with them over 王昭君餐馆 for the sour and spicy fish head noodle. (Yeah, that's the "we" up there.) before they head down south again later in the evening on express bus. そして帰る前に、公共バスで記念写真を撮った. 一緒に頑張ろうね僕たち、マレーシアでも日本でも。

...how fleeting it is, the feeling of subtle happiness. I wonder will there be more moment of such feeling as time goes.

Epilogue: This post sounds awfully positive, innit? Unfortunately, the reality of my life seems to be much dire than what I seems to portray on my internet presence anyway. Still, it's quite amusing to experiment by adding in doses of other language (in this case, Japanese. It's the only other languages I know anyway besides the usual Malaysian selections). in writing with the vocabulary aid of the Internet and anime. Meanwhile it's a long weekend this week because of a particular public holiday tomorrow. Should I cover it I wonder as the blog obligatory posts go? I am running dry on content and motivation to write these days.