Sick in GSC 1 Utama

Last Friday, we went to One Utama to catch the War of the Worlds. Initially our plan was to put Rahil to sleep and then sneak out and catch the midnight show. Fortunately, my mother-in-law volunteered to look after her, which was a big relief as we could catch the earlier show. Also we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the movie - worrying about Rahil as the baby monitor was rosak (out of order) and sometimes the maid didn’t hear Rahil crying.

I parked at the ground level parking at the old wing and went up to theTGV cineplex. Discovered that the movie was due to start 10 minutes later. My wife suddenly insisted we go to the recenty opened GSC multiplex at the new wing. We walked all the way and after exploring a bit, finally reached GSC. For those who didn’t know, it is situated at the Entertainment level (fourth floor), next to the snooker center + bowling alley. They didn’t have good seats either and so we decided on the 11:50 pm show. Since we had a lot of time before the movie started, we went back to the car, took the tunnel and parked at the basement of the new wing. The elevator took us right up to the multiplex.

We still had more time and we decided to kill time at the Starbucks 1 level down. I had hot Café Latte and my wife had the same but with ice. We left with 5 minutes to go. I am not sure why but I was feeling a bit dizzy and my mouth felt bitter. I wanted to get a drink but looking at the queue decided against it.

The theater was really cool and had the smell of a new car. The sound system was great too. We also had nice seats, second row from the back.

After the movie started, the aliens had just started zapping people when the first wave of nausea hit me. I tired to pull myself together taking deep breaths and stretching but it was no use. I realized I was going to vomit. In my disorganized state I couldn’t even open the door. I thought that they had locked it from outside but it opened up when my wife tried it. I had been trying to push it the wrong way.

I rushed to the toilet, which thankfully was nearby and let go. After vomiting out most of the costly Starbucks coffee, I went and washed my mouth and face. I felt slightly better and went back into the theatre.

I was wrong, I had to make two more trips to the toilet and emptied the entire contents of my stomach. It felt like the time when I used to drink and had way too much. Fortunately I could still walk (and without the hangover).

My wife asked me whether I wanted to go back home and as I didn’t want to ruin our night out, decided against it. In the end, I kept my eyes closed for most of the movie and heard it rather that watched it. On the way back home, my wife drove me back reminding me of Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight. And I ruined two small towels, which happened to be in the glove compartment.

I am not sure whether it was the coffee or something I had eaten earlier or the cigarette smoke at Starbucks. It may have been an effect of the anti-inflammatory drug I had taken for my tooth swelling (I had just removed another wisdom tooth on Wednesday). I may have been because of the smell of the theatre. Maybe it was due to the fact that I was tired and way past my bedtime or a combination of all of the above. Whatever it was that caused the nausea, it totally ruined my night out with my wife and we don’t get that chance often now-a-days. One of my worst experiences ever. And I have to buy the DVD of the movie now.

7/7

Woke up on the 8th morning slightly drowsy, with a throbbing ache in my left side of my mouth - where my wisdom tooth used to be. Went down to get a cup of tea and picked up the copy of the NST.

The headlines woke me up - "Terror attack in London". I couldn't believe it.

I quickly switched on the TV and switched to BBC. Yes, it was true. Terrorists (suspected Al-Qaeda) had struck in London.

The targeting of innocent people at public areas at the peak hour when everyone was rushing to work shows that these people do not discriminate between sexes, age, race or even religion.

According to a BBC report, those caught in the blast included people from Sierra Leone, Australia, Portugal, Poland and China as well as the UK.

This was yet another blow to the image of Islam. I also fear that innocent Muslims may be targeted in a backlash. Already in the northwest England city of Birkenhead, Merseyside, suspected arsonists have attacked a mosque - the Wirral Islamic Cultural Centre, Shahjalal Mosque this Saturday. Read the reports here and here.

Now, we are reconsidering our plans to further our studies in UK.

Malaysian Idol and Akademi Fantasia

It seems like whenever I go out, some guy or the the other will start talking about either Malaysian Idol or Akademi Fantasia. I then realise that most Malaysians are born critics.

Just the other day, one of our friends stated this discussion about Mawi's concept of a perfect 'Gadis Melayu'or Malay Girl. The issue was his first condition that the girl must wear a 'Tudung' (head covering). My friend was of the opinion that it was not a good PR on his part as that might put non-tudung Malay girls against him. However, I disagreed. My rationale was that tudung clad girls greatly outnumber the non-tudung clad Malay girls. Moreover, look at the voting demography - teenage schoolgirls and housewives (most of whom who wear tudung). If you don't believe me, just look at the screaming members of the Mawi fan club at all the shows - most of them are tudung clad Malay girls.

Anyway, 3 guys have already gone into the finals of Malaysian Idol. Atilia, Faizull and Xerra are the first ones to go in after the 1st workshop. I just came across Viewtru's Malaysian Idol blog. What's really funny are the names Viewtru has given to Faizull and Xerra - Fat Kampung Rocker and Anorexic Red haired Girl respectively.

I am really beginning to like Faizull. He's the guy we never expected to see through the prelims but now he's there - one of the finalists. However, I wonder whether Perniagaan Orang Kampung Sdn. Bhd. put him in to promote their products secretly. He kept on shouting "Orang Kampung" everytime he got through (but not anymore it seems).

Testing Blogger Images

Testing out the Blogger Images feature.

It's a scanned picture of my sister Diana (when she was still cute). HaaaHaaaHaaaa
She is going to kill me for posting up this pic.

Kelantan Pics

Some old and new pics taken in Kelantan:

The famous Siti Khadijah wet market.

Rahil at the brand new Kota Bharu airport.

The best halal Chinese restaurant in Kota Bharu.

The railway station at Wakaf Baru.

The sitting Buddha.

Alone With Rahil

As some of my old visitors and friends know, I have been travelling back and forth between KL and Kedah for quite sometime now, more than 2 years and 8 months to be more precise. The government's move to implement a 5 day work week for goverment employees is a real boon for us guys. Now I can get to be with my family more often.

Anyway, yesterday I got a lift from my friend who commutes to work everyday from Sungai Patani. I then caught a bus from the Sungai Patani station. The tickets for the delux buses (24 seater) costs only RM28 and I reach KL almost an hour early. Besides, I get to chat with the guys (3 of them car pool).

My wife has to go to some kind of camp organised by Biro Tatanegara (BTN) somewhere in Negari Sembilan. She left yesterday morning and will be away till the 5th of July.

So it was me and Rahil yesterday. I really had a hard time trying to make her sleep. I guess she was waiting for her mum to come back from work. Tomorrow I have to go back to Kedah and she will have to sleep with her grandmother.

One Out

Kota Bharu has changed quite a bit. A lot of construction work was going on. I also noticed a lot of big new bungalow houses on previously paddy fields.

My mother-in-law wanted to buy some stuff and I took them to the place I knew had the best choice, the Central Market (also known as the Siti Kadhijah market). Most of the traders are still women, most of them wearing a lot of gold. It is no surprise as the Ketantanese women are known to be very enterprising. In fact the region was once ruled by a Queen (one and only in Malaysia) called Cik Siti Wan Kembang (17th century roughly at the end of the 14th century). However, I don’t know much about her other than that she was famous for her legendary beauty and wisdom.

Anyway, we were able to get some great bargains on batik stuff - shirts, kaftans, baju kurung (much, much cheaper than in KL).

Will post up pics later.

I also paid a long overdue visit to the dentist at the Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kubang Kerian, where my dad works. He had already fixed an appointment for me and my wife. It's always nice to have links at the right places.

A visit to the dentist is always scary and this was no exception, more so as I needed minor surgery to remove 2 misaligned Wisdom teeth. My condition was a bit serious, as the teeth were partially horizontal and entrapped within the gums – a condition termed "impacted."

The doctor decided that it would be better if I removed one tooth at a time. We decided on the one on the right side, which looked more serious on the X-ray as it was pushing into the neighbouring teeth. To remove it required an incision into the gums and then removal of the portion of jaw bone that lies over the tooth.

The entire process started with injections to the gums to desensitize the entire right jaw. The tooth was extracted in small sections but I couldn’t see anything as my eyes were covered all the time but I could still hear the drill and what ever stuff he was using to cut the teeth (going wirrrrrr) and pulling. The doctor was quite skilled as I didn’t feel much pain. I was quite relived when it was finally over. It took around 15 minutes but seemed like an hour. The doctor stitched up the wound and then gave me some cotton to bite on. I was given paracetamol, a medicine for swelling and a mouthwash.

The left side was numb for quite some time but not for long as the pain came back in waves. The paracetamol helped. The first day, I didn’t take the swelling medicine. Big mistake. I woke up the next day looking as if I had stuffed an entire Big Mac on the right side of my face. I still have some swelling now but its much beter and I can feel the hollow portion where my tooth used to be with my toungue.

My wife also had her teeth checked and 2 fillings done. She was unhappy that the fillings were not white but grey (amalgam) coloured.

Anyway, the great part is that we saved several hundred ringitt. A procedure like mine that would cost about RM1000 at a private clinic in KL.

I will be going back again for the next one on the 6th of next month. Ouch.