Charlie Arglist, played by John Cusack and Pete Van Heuten, played by Oliver Platt

Charlie Arglist: Did I ever tell you my father was a twin?
Pete Van Heuten: Identical?
Charlie Arglist: Fraternal. Looked a lot alike, though, him and my uncle. Different temperaments completely. My father, he’s a cop. By-the-book guy. Believed in the law, wanted his only son to be a lawyer. Drank in moderation, didn’t smoke. Kept up his life insurance premiums. Voted in every election, not just for president.
Pete Van Heuten: Lemme guess, uncle didn’t vote?
Charlie Arglist: He said he didn’t want to encourage the bastards. In and out of jail from the time he was 16… drunk all the time, fucked everything that walked. Won a fortune playing poker, lost it all the same way. Lost and eye in a fight. My father was 54 when he died of a massive embolism, right here in Wichita. My uncle died the very next day in a car wreck in California. So the point is… it is futile to regret. You do one thing, you do another… I mean, so what? What’s the difference? Same result.

The Ice Harvest (2005)

(C): did u know apple released safari on windows?
(C): u can try out that browser
dreymer: i thought u were referring to gwyneth paltrow’s daughter
(C): hahah she named her dotter SAFARI?
dreymer: no.. WINDOWS
dreymer: hahahaha

One night I asked myself, “what do you fear Audrey?” And I sat down and thought… and I couldn’t find an answer straight away. It had to be a quirky fear, incomprehendible to the masses.

“Was it cockroaches? Especially the ones that fly around the ceiling and when it hits the rotating ceiling fan you fear that it would smack it’s soft brown body and hairy legs on your face?”

“Well… yeah.. I fear that but it wouldn’t stop me if the best charcoal fire hokkien mee in Petaling Street is in a lorong with roaches…”

“How about other creepy crawlies… I’m sure you are afraid of ants!”

“I hate them but I wouldn’t stop myself from entering the kitchen or garden if there were ants.”

I bring this up because I wish I had  a quirky fear. I fear relationships. Does that count? (OK I admit, I have issues. Change topic.) And I know people with strange fears that I try to bring myself to understand. Maybe it is unfair to label them as “strange or quirky” but I have to because I will NEVER understand. Just like a friend who is afraid of fish scales, feathers and wings. I didn’t know to what extent on how fearful she is but we decided to test her reaction.

“Babes, since that place we wanted to go is closed… we’ve decided to go the bird sanctuary park. OK?”

In less than 2 miliseconds and more than 110 decibles

“Are you mad????” as her voice echos a thousand times

Ok. Got ya. That’s fear.

Then there’s this other friend of mine who doesn’t karaoke. Was it her pitch? Was it her monotonous voice? Was it that she was tone deaf? Or most shocking…. was she illiterate? She just doesn’t want to sing!

“Why won’t you go karaoke with us?”

“NEVER!”

“Why?!”

“I was traumatized as a teenager. I sat for my Grade 6 practical piano exam and I was asked to sing along the tune the examiner was playing. I thought I did well until I got my results. The examiner stated that I was out of tune and I did very badly. I will do anything BUT I WILL NOT KARAOKE!”

I decided to stop probing when I noticed how hard she was clenching her glass of wine. I sure didn’t want her to make a mess.

So, do you have a strange/quirky fear that would stop you from doing something? Or did you have one that you overcame?

I have a couple of words to translate from English to BM and got stuck at the word ‘Bowling’. Yes, the game where you roll that heavy three-holed ball to knock down a few pins… that is if it doesn’t enter the longkang (drain) before it reaches the end. I’ve asked friends and even had my MSN display name titled ‘What is bowling in BM’. And these are the responses I got so far.

The word ‘Bowling’ in BM is…

1. Baling bola
2. Bermangkuk (from the verb ‘Bowl’)
3. Bolaling

Anyone with better ideas??

I don’t like small talks with strangers while travelling in a lift/elevator. You can’t ignore or you can’t escape unless you step off to another floor. So, sometimes you have no choice but to acknowledge their presence in that confined box.

For instance, just the other day I met a guy who I believe was colour-blind.

I was heading down from the 19th when this guy enters at 17th. Usually, I would mind my own business and switch on the dreymer elevator mode i.e.

Step1:  Look up at the digital number screen as it moves from one floor to the other (3 seconds)

Step 2: Then stare blankly at the numbered buttons (5 seconds)

Step 3: Repeat step 1 and 2 until you reach your floor

Ok.. ok but that’s besides the point.

So this guy comes in and I sense he was looking at my direction (could be curious as to how I’ve timed myself to do Step 1 & 2 in such an accurate manner).

Colour blind guy: That’s a very nice combination (commenting on my office attire)

Dreymer: Oh. (got curious and started to look at what I pulled out this morning)

Colour blind guy: You know black top, black skirt…

Dreymer: But the skirt is grey (black and grey and this guy says thinks it’s good colour combination??? Isn’t that ORDINARY, MUNDANE and BORING?)

Colour blind guy: Yah but black skirt (still insists it’s BLACK), black top and gold hair…

Dreymer: 

OK… that’s it dude!!! You can comment that my skirt is BLACK when in fact it’s grey but saying that my hair is GOLD!?!??! Wahlauuuuuu that’s too much!!! Hahahaha!

This is what happens when you are using a mouse and have got your touchpad enabled as well. Sometimes your cursor repositions itself without you realizing it and there you go; jumbled up sentences. Maybe this is how it all started for Yoda. (Haha, my desperate attempt for instant fame.)

[15:17] (C): u like that?
[15:19] dreymer: yes
[15:20] dreymer: it’s so song sad the
[15:20] dreymer: oops
[15:20] dreymer: sad song
[15:20] (C): heheh
[15:20] (C): yeahh
[15:20] (C): i tot u speaking to me in Yodalish
[15:20] dreymer: shuddap! hah

HH has been pestering me for the longest time to join the cult aka play WoW (World of Warcraft). I told him that I will only start if he gets me a new laptop, if other people I know joins in as well etc etc. Basically, I was being difficult. It’s just really fun declining and he would come up with ways to lure me to the dark side. He even tried to entice me with graphics, but failed pitifully:

[17:23] EiRick: check my portrait
[17:23] EiRick: that’s how i look like in World of Warcraft
[17:23] dreymer: i can’t see la
[17:24] dreymer: they block me from seeing anything ugly
[17:24] dreymer: hahahaha
[17:24] EiRick: sheeesssssh
[17:24] dreymer: fua hua hua