Thursday, October 16, 2008

ELVIZA'S TAG - MY TAKE

WRITER'S WRITUAL
It was the full moon last night. So you can guess how many days ago that we celebrated the first day of Raya. Thus I may have to defer forever the posting of my blog for Hari Raya Idulfitri. My problem with the post is I can't access my external hard disk via this personal computer due to it's antiquity. So I have no pictures to illustrate my Raya post. No pictures means no post.
Meantime I would like to tackle this tag by Elviza which out of fatherly love for her, I promised to do it after Raya. It is important that I take care of this eloquent lawyer lest I get sued for something due to my blogging activities and I may need the services of a lawyer. Who knows she may just defend me for free or allow me a hefty discount or at least a deferred payment hahahaha.
I have read the pieces done by the others that Elviza had tagged except for Mat Salo. My guess is Mat Salo may find the convenience not to do the tag due to his lack of internet access on the marshy land of Kalimantan. Of all of them, it was Mat Cendana's piece that made me chicken out from doing this tag. It was so good that I begged to be excused from doing the tag in my comment on Mat Cendana's blog. The minute I read his masterpiece I alerted Elviza of the post by Mat Cendana and Elviza shot back with this SMS:
"Morning Pak. Thanks. And no, you are not excused from doing the tag
:-p". So here I am doing the tag for fear that someday I may need the services of a lawyer. With her in good favour I can always fall upon to come to my defence. I wonder if Elviza is a lawyer who defend people or a lawyer who specializes in Sales and Purchase Agreements?
Now let us get serious and let me start working on the tag itself so that I can get it done before my grand daughter wakes up.

While looking for some ideas to write I copied these questions from Theta's Writers Writual.

(1) Where are you?
In front of my PC which is in my house doing my Writer's Writual. Should your mind be wondering where on earth I am located, it is at the following coordinates:
6 degrees 02 minutes 55.42 seconds North
102 degrees 10 minutes 10.55 seconds East.
Just set your GPS to that reading and you will be able to reach my house in Mekasar, Pasir Mas, Kelantan.

(2) What are you writing with?
I am not writing but I am tapping with my two fingers on my keyboard. Should I ever need to write I will just grab anything that will leave an impression on any surface. A ball point pen will do to write on my palms. Usually it will be washed off after some sweating or after washing my hands before I manage to copy the thing to a more permanent surface.

I can't use expensive pens be it fountain pens or ball point pens due to my forgetful nature. Some people borrowed my pens and conveniently forget to return them.
Anyway I do jot down notes in five notebooks. Yes there are five of them because I keep forgetting where I left them all the time. I bought a new notebook when I went to see Dr. Bates for my blog about The Last Great Doctors of Kota Bharu. I definitely won't let him see me with my Buku Latihan which my grand daughter gave me with the numerous stickers on it.
Moleskin? Just heard about it for the first time in my life in Elviza's blog.

(3) What is the oddest object in front of you?
It would be easier to answer if you have asked me the question of what is the oldest object in front of the object opposite me. My 58th birthday came by two days ago. No other object is older than that.
Anyway the PC is the oldest object. I presume the NEC MultiSync 75 CRT monitor is an even older component as it was bought second hand and it has been with me for the last 6 years. The setting for its brightness is at its highest so I can't be making further adjustment on that score.

(4) What are you listening to?
The sound of the fan keeping my head cool is the only sound around. The sound of the traffic from the road is insulated by the many rows of houses so I can't hear them.

(5) Is there anyone else in the room?
Yes, my grand daughter Balqis is sleeping on the floor beside me. She seems comfortable there though I wish she had slept in the bedroom. Lifting her to place her in the bedroom is out of the question as any slight movement will wake her up and I won't be able to finish this tag.

(6) What time of the day is it?
It is 12.30 PM now. I have been working on this tag since Balqis fell asleep at 10.30 AM. She is bound to wake up anytime soon.

(7) What do you look at when you are looking for inspiration?
I look at nothing as I tend to close my eyes when searching for inspiration. So I can't say I am looking for inspirations.

(8) What is guaranteed to remove your concentration?
The sound of glass or china objects falling on the tiled floor in the kitchen when Balqis is not sleeping and she will be exploring the kitchen on her own while I am deeply intoxicated with writing a blog. If that happens, another fury will occur when the owner of the kitchen returns home from school to find an item missing. By then I would have thrown the broken object away but she will still notice the missing item.
Another distraction will be Balqis insistence that she gets her turn to use the keyboard.

Ah what a relief to have this tag done. I will do my Raya post next if Balqis is going to sleep the way she did today in the days to come. That is if anybody is still interested in reading about my Raya do.

32 comments:

Unknown said...

Salam Pak Zawi,
Tertunggu-tunggu saya untuk melihat meriah nya ber-Hari Raya bersama Pak Zawi(melihat gambar cukup lah).

Fauziah Ismail said...

Salam Pak Zawi
I see Balqis as a blogger. You starting her young by letting her play the keyboard.

Pi Bani said...

Happy belated birthday. Ada beli hadiah apa untuk diri sendiri? :)

Pak Zawi said...

Uncleawang,
I need abit more time to post my Raya blog. Soon.

Pak Zawi said...

fauziah,
At 14 months she is already competing with me for the keyboards. Infact it was even earlier when I was in Labuan with her. She will be a blogger.

Pak Zawi said...

Pi,
Thank you for the greetings.
Kan itu hari dah beli camer DSLR. Kira birthday gift la tu. Bayar pun baru 2 X.

Kak Teh said...

Salam, after reading yours and others tagged, I dont think I qualify...so i beg to be excused too.

Am ilhamless in London at the moment.

Pak Zawi said...

Kak Teh,
Wait till Elviza sees your comment. I think she will send you a SMS of the same effect too.
Take your time and you will definitely come up with something cute.

Unknown said...

pak zawi...:-)

"semoga terus sihat walafiat dan segar sokmo dalam meneruskan perjalanan kehidupan"

dah 58?? nampak memang seperti ada diskaun 20 tahun!!!

cucu kesayangan - comel - MasyAAllah.

Pak Zawi said...

PP,
Terima kasih atas doa saudara.
Nampak je diskaun 20 tu tapi dalaman lebih teruk dari orang yang plus 20. Kalau berjalan kaki bersama Pak Idrus saya selalu ketinggalan. Itu kenyataan.
Cucu itu lah penawar hati sekarang.

kbguy said...

Is that Balqis sitting with the pc ? How did you manage to get her do the posting for you ? So cute..

Unknown said...

Salaam Pak,
Comel balqis main keyboard tu ;)
Haha we're quite the same alright. Need some quite time to start. That's the hardest part though, because after that we usually write up what our hands lead us to. Of course the trimming up here and there after that prolong the whole process hehehe :)

Pak Zawi said...

KBGuy,
Balqis wasn't posing. She loves to play with the keyboards. She just presses the keys and see if anything happens to the screen. I switched the screen off so that she will give up after a short while.

Pak Zawi said...

Akmal,
Salam kembali.
I never write drafts in notebooks anymore since when retyping them on the keyboards, it will be something really different. I think you do the same right? I will do the editing after the post is published because I rarely see the wrong things until they are published.

Anonymous said...

Zawi,
One of these days I won't be surprised to read Balqis's entry in your blog :).She looks so comfy at the keyboard.

Unknown said...

Salam Pak Zawi...
You are such a sport la...Okay ni boleh buat tag Michelle...

Happy belated Birthday Pak. Semoga lebih dirahmati Allah dan dilindungi dgn EhsanNya...amiin.

Everytime ada gambar cucu Pak tu saya mesti tatap puas2...comelnya...subhanAllah.... tak puas tatap actually, rasa macam nak kelek dia wehhh...

U take care ya..

Pak Zawi said...

Ana,
You will be the first to know when Balqis starts blogging.

Pak Zawi said...

D,
Kekadang kita perlu memenuhi harapan kawan untuk memberi kawan kita sedikit kebahagiaan.
Thanks for the birthday greetings.
Balqis dah 14 bulan sekarang, makin cute and adorable. She will be with me for another month befor we send her back to Labuan to be with her parents. Meantime my blogging activities will be much curtailed but it is a small sacrifice to be able to be with her.
Hope you get better soon.

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon, Pak Zawi.

A Happy Belated Birthday to you !!! :)

May you be healthy, happy and wealthy .. and may all your birthday wishes come true.. :)

mrs.lim :)

Pak Zawi said...

Mrs. Lim,
Thank you for the greetings.
You want me to be wealthy? Just healthy will do la hahahahaha. I would trade health for wealth anytime.

Clarisse Teagen said...

Hahaha. Insightful!
I like the part where you said the pens are not to be expensive!
It happens to everyone :P

Pak Zawi said...

clarisse,
Thank you for commenting. Its a fact of life that people like me can't look after our things however expensive or dear they are to us. So after some experiences, prevention is the best cure for us.

svllee said...

hi Pak Zawi, nice to see your work station! It adds a personal touch to your blogging activity..!

Anonymous said...

Salam Pak,

Are you well already?

Thanks for doing the tag! :-)

Eh, eh, eh, Kak Teh mengelat.

Actually, I am the one not qualified, but who the heck cares? LOL

Anonymous said...

Pak Zawi, "wealth" and "health" rhymes.. hahaha..

So when i wish you "good health", I must add in " plenty of wealth" too... ;D

A hug for little Balqis from this nenek.. :)

mrs.lim

Pak Zawi said...

Mrs Lim,
Health and Wealth does rhyme but they rarely come together hehehehe. Happy is a man who has both.
Sad to tell you due to my poor health I have to send Balqis to the paternal grandparents to give myself some rest. Will be getting her back after Sunday. The other grandparents want to enjoy Balqis' company too.

Anonymous said...

Good morning, Pak Zawi.

Yea, money can't really buy health nor happiness. Nevertheless somehow there are people who have different perception... well... i have been pestered to buy health food... lol...

Anyway, take care and hope that you have a good rest.. looking after a fiddling, wriggling, moving and never tiring tiny fellow is not an easy task, though enjoyable.. :)

Best regards.

mrs.lim

Pak Zawi said...

Mrs. Lim,
You said it all. Money isn't everything but the more of it helps.
Yes having a 14 months old baby around is really fun though quite tedious. She is able to walk around and has her own mind on what to play and what not to play with.

Anonymous said...

ya, the what to play and what not to play in her own mind indeed.. hahahah.. and i suppose that her decision would make us wonder what actually is in her mind,right? lol..

mrs.lim :)

Pak Zawi said...

Mrs. Lim,
You are definitely right about the mind of a child her age. I often wonder how she learns up so fast about the functions of the remotes for TV and fands when she lay her hands on them.

Mat Cendana said...

You are 58! I had thought it was 52. And even then, I was thinking "Zawi is in a lot better shape than I am".

Actually, I should be 58, and you at my age, honestly. Had lost a lot of weight since coming back from Gambang, and I was shocked to see how thin and gaunt I am from the pictures you had taken. Nazmi and Sherry in Kuantan want to see them, but I'm not going to let them - yet. Not in this condition.

That is a wake up call to do something. I had neglected very basic things lately - like food (people will find this unbelievable, but it's true).

There have been times when I didn't take rice for two or three days straight; living on just bread with peanut butter or margerine and "teh O" ... so absorbed with the laptop and books. This has to be checked!

And "exercise and physical activities"... What are these?? Have to start *something*. Can't cycle like you do right now yet - I might get a heart attack. Someone had advised me to just go slow from the beginning - I'll start with sweeping the leaves around the house and pulling out the weeds. Have to start somewhere...

Pak Zawi said...

Mat,
Looking young isn't everything. What is important is being healthy. Frankly I fail miserably on that score. I have allowed my health to deteriorate that much that it is difficult regaining it again. Do whatever you can to be healthy again. Let us cycle together and help each other to go the extra mile to be healthy. Just get started.