Said dictionary is the Malay dictionary; Kamus Dewan, third edition. The current edition, if I’m not mistaken, is the fourth. So some words might have changed meaning or got deleted; I don’t know.

Still, among others that I found fascinating was the fact that there’s an entry on “ngaum” (Malaysian tigers make those kind of sounds) and “ngiau” (the sound that Malaysian cats make. English-speaking country cats go “meow” while Japanese cats go “nya”; fascinating, isn’t it? Even animals can sound different in different countries). Too lazy to check other animal sounds after that. There’s a part of me that feels that I can’t remember what sounds animals make anymore.

Continued flipping… and going on wikipedia and surfed the net. For the life of me I can’t remember what made me google “Konserto Terakhir“, the Malay literature novel I had to read when I was in Secondary 5 (I didn’t even finish the first chapter of Bukit Kepong which I was supposed to read in Secondary 4. Haha). It is a book in which the characters almost unknowingly committed incest if not for the fact they were “good children” that followed their parents stupidly and married their parents’ choice. Oh, typical guy forced into marriage by family but still wanted to shag the girl even though he knew full well he’s going to leave her the next day and did not check on whether the girl got pregnant or not. Typical Malay guy’s thinking, you know, that the child/pregnancy/contraceptives will always be the girl’s responsibility (and the girl thinking it should be the guy, so in the end neither uses any, hence why Malays almost always have bigger families than the other race).

Anyway, that is besides the point. The point of my mentioning the book is that… the main character ends up being a musician, and one of the instruments he plays is called a “biola“. Curious as to which of the violin family instrument it refers to, I opened my “trusty” Kamus Dewan.

The entry says: alat muzik yang dimainkan dengan penggesek, rupanya seperti violin, tetapi lebih besar sedikit dan mengeluarkan bunyi yang lebih rendah (musical instrument played with a bow, looks like a violin but a little bit bigger and makes a lower sound).

Flip to V… and I couldn’t find an entry on “violin”. Alright then. So it should be the English viola then.

But wait!! There’s an entry for “viola”, which says: alat muzik bertali empat yang bentuknya seperti biola tetapi lebih besar (four-stringed musical instrument shaped like a “biola” but bigger).

Wait, what?

Does that mean, in Malay, they call cello (or violoncello) “viola“????

So I flipped to C to find if there’s an entry for “cello”. Looked at all the possible spelling, and couldn’t find any. Flip through and wondered maybe there’ll be an entry for contrabass/bass… No entry on the instrument though; just the sound.

The entry on “biola” does imply that there’s such thing as violins in Malay which is different from the rest of the world’s viola, right? That biola=viola.

So, does the Malay language call cello, which does look like a viola somewhat and is bigger (quite a lot bigger), “viola“???

After all, biola is described to be only “a little bigger” (lebih [more] besar [big] sedikit [a little]) whereas viola is described to just bigger (lebih besar).

Bizarre, init?

Or, it’s just another example of Malaysia boleh! attitude, didn’t double check every entry, eh?

I thought that only happened with Acts of Parliament. Today, I realize I was wrong. Our MPs are not the only busy bunch of people here.

Thus, from analyzing those entries, I can only come to the conclusion that…

Violin is also called violin in Malay.

Biola is viola, as in like the rest of the world’s.

And when it is spelled with a “V”, i.e. viola, it is probably, by implication, what the rest of the world called cello, or its full name, violoncello.

Ahh… pelik pelik!!

Oh well, we need to be unique, after all. Why not in what we call our musical instruments, eh?

But, I assume, to be on the safe side, musicians in Malaysia just ignore how Kamus Dewan defines things and just call them musical instruments following what they are called in English, eh? After all–theoretically and the Government strongly hopes–everyone should be able to speak at least a bit of English properly here… so it should be fine, right? To be using English words? Or just, to the new guy/ student, show the instrument, and tell the name to him/her in whatever language that the teacher/ senior is more comfortable in. Easier, eh? And if there’s any miscommunication, just, show the instrument or a picture of the instrument. After all, nowadays, it’s like everyone has a smart phone that you could google from, right?

Oh yeah, this is such a worthless entry. Hahahahaha.

Good to rant though!! More like, thinking it through somewhat. XD

*scratch head*

*opens link to blog*

*thinks to self* “It really has been a long time, eh? The copyright year is two years ago; i.e. 2008-2009 only.”

*click to dashboard*

*stares*

*scratch chin* *wonder where should she click to change that widget thing (very surprised at self to remember it is called a “widget”)*

*click random links*

*realize have a comment to moderate* *read comment* *decided it is an awesome one; approve*

*continue clicking random links on the left side of screen*

*finally found it (but for the life of me, I don’t think I can do it again; have forgotten)*

*edits “2009″ to “2011″*

*goes to blog*

*gets amused with Human Calendar (this is still awesome!! XD )*

*stares at weird categories* *thinks* “what the hell was I thinking then??? I don’t get it already!! Do recognize quite a number of them are songs though…”

*tries links*

*realize most of them are no longer good links*

*wonder if should bother deleting them*

*stares at title of blog*

*realize she still very much want to hang clothes on a winter’s day in Glasgow Green*

*wonders when can I go to Glasgow next*

*realize it’s been too long since I last blog*

*wonder if it is worth continuing with this… thing*

*realize why came back to wordpress.com and decides to get cracking!!*

PS: Reason being, twitter is just too short for me to rant on this thing on Kamus Dewan and musical instruments.

*off to click publish and then click add new for the “actual” post*

*realize did a bit too much staring on the screen. But it is fine since the staring was done into a MacBook Pro screen instead of a PC, regardless what brand =P*

(yes!! I finally announced on my blog that I finally got a Mac… More than a year after I got it!! Hahahaha)

“Hanani,” she said, “Mommy’s worried about you.”

I continued eating, and asked her why, and wondered, why the hell is she addressing herself as “Mommy”; it’s been forever since she did that.

“Don’t you think it is rather disturbing when someone eats their spaghetti bolognese garnished with seaweed instead of cheese?”

I paused for a moment. “Yeah, I think it will be,” and takes another forkful and put it in my mouth.

“What is even more disturbing is when the person don’t even realize that she’s doing it,” my mother continued.

Huh? I thought. Where was she going on to.

“Please look at your plate, and what is in the bottle next to your plate.”

Sure enough, there was seaweed in my pasta. Goodness. What is wrong with me? No wonder my mother’s worried.

“Maybe you should go see your psychiatrist again?”

Whyyy??? Because I combined Italian and Japanese food? Some people might LIKE what I was eating, alright!! Though when I realized, I did wonder what in the world was I thinking. Goodness!!

Was prescribed isotretinoin to control my oil production.

The same drug a friend was prescribed when she studied in Glasgow (prescription under NHS Scotland is free).  She complained how fed up she was with her doctor making her take pregnancy tests; why she absolutely refused to believe that she wasn’t sexually active.

My experience?

“Oh, you’re Malay-Muslim. So, are you married? Okay, then this is the best time to start on the medication. If you’re engaged, you would need to reschedule your wedding. Maybe one year later?”

Typical that they would assume Malays would get pregnant almost immediately. However, I gave a slightly different respond to her question. Oh, she didn’t even pause for a breath when she said that; she can run for the position of “Malaysian bullet train”. Somehow, I prefer Irish bullet train’s breathlessness. At least sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiightly slower for me to be able to catch what she’s saying. Good thing Malaysian bullet train decided not to be a lecturer; wonder if her students will be able to catch anything.

My respond? “I could be sexually active either way, you know. I studied in an ang moh country.” (Yeah, like if I studied in, say, Japan or Singapore, or even at home, my local classmates would be prim and proper and not sleep around. Ah well. More likely, I suppose?)

She stopped her scribbling. “But but but… you’re Malay, right? Muslim???”

It made me wonder, doesn’t she read the newspapers? Being Muslim somehow never stopped quite a number of Malays engaging pre-marital sex. And, what is worse, is that Malays just can’t be bothered to use contraceptives. Or are too embarrassed to get them. Though doesn’t embarrass them that God see them throwing the unwanted baby away. Makes me wonder, if you’re that embarrassed to walk into a pharmacy and get a box of condoms, how could you even engage in sexual activity? And so irresponsible, to not use contraceptives, whether you’re married or not, when you don’t want kids. I am not saying you need to abstain, but, practice safe sex, will ya?

That is along the lines of my rant to the doctor. She was quite amused, and said, “ah, well, if you are sexually active, I have no problems as well. From the sound of it, you will be responsible about it. I generally ask my Chinese patients to abstain while on this treatment instead of depending on contraceptives.”

For some reason, I find that quite cruel. I mean, really? I know it is horrible if you get pregnant while on the medication for the baby… But, I don’t know. It is a bit weird for a skin specialist to be telling someone, “no, you can’t have sex for one year, or until you stop taking this medication.”

Ah well. She said I might have to get a stronger moisturizer while I’m on the meds. Damn. I’ve no idea what to use though. Hmmmm…

Seems that using Maxis Broadband didn’t make me “hardworking” enough to update my blog.

Hahaha.

I guess, the novelty has worn off? I don’t know… I am still very much addicted to twitter. Hahaha

Hmmmm… Updates. Well, I am now eying an iMac instead of a MacBook Pro. Bigger screen, higher specs… And I wasn’t planning to bring the MacBook around anyway… So what the hey; might as well get a bigger screen, eh?

Ahhh. Don’t know what to blog about. Kinda sleepy, actually. Didn’t sleep in the end yesterday. Was supposed to sleep for an hour but didn’t. Started reading a book when I was feeling sleepy… and in the end I continued reading.

Reading EH Gombrich’s A Little History of the World.

It is unbelievable that I find history fascinating nowadays. My 16 year old self would be shocked.

Ahhh… maybe I’ll go disturb those at the API office again. And finish all the food there. And have coffee. Too bad they don’t have green tea. I wouldn’t want to drink the tea the Japs bring tho. The high class ones just taste like drinking leaves to me.

Yawn.

Ahhh… gonna continue bertapa dalam API.

It’s been FOREVER since I last blogged!!

Hahahahaha.

4 months!!

Hahaha. Mainly because the internet connection was HORRENDOUS!! Gahh!! Now it is not so bad. Also, we decided to get Maxis Broadband, which would *hopefully* be better than P1. Hopefully. It’s behaving still. Who knows, once it gets used to my lappie, it might start throwing tantrums.

I hope not.

So, now, the only thing stopping me from blogging like I used to would be my laziness.

And my addiction to twitter.

There are times I feel silly blogging about something I’ve tweeted. I mean, kinda repetitive, right? Especially since I decided to put my tweet updates at the side bar. And it is so instantaneous; I don’t have to hit “new entry” or whatever. There is a space where I could type and click “tweet” and I’m done. A click less than WordPress, assuming I am using my favorites bar and that I am already logged in.

Dum dee dum. Who knows. We’ll see…

Why am I being a driver? Because my mother’s orthopedic has told her not to drive. Well, she hasn’t been driving apart from going to work anyway. However, since she twisted her knee one day, she totally hasn’t. And going to the orthopedic… Someone else’s doctor telling me not to work just yet. Huh.

There hasn’t been much. The internet has been wonky, so I haven’t even putting up the pictures from Syria and Jordan. I have been addicted to downloading stuff, and it is mostly for the sake of downloading instead of wanting the files already. Sigh. And for the past few days, there hasn’t been any successful download of a file. Yesterday, it was less than 1MB left to be downloaded when it stopped. Urgh!! So bloody annoying!!

Nonetheless, now I am at my mother’s office, and I might be the only joker who’s using the wireless… So the internet connection is awesome!! Download time babeh!!

When will I be cured from this, seriously? Sigh…

Off to read Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. No mood to finish Memoirs of a Geisha.