just minishorts.

Just yesterday at breakfast I took out my tissue pack, which had a huge Tweety Bird printed on it and said to the boyfriend, 'Isn't this cute? I love Tweety Bird. He's like the CUTEST character evar.'

Eric went, 'Oh you mean, that "I tawt I taw a puddy cat" thing? I'm sure you like birds my dear.'

And then we burst out laughing. Because, oh my, the similarities of the entire cartoon series with what's real to knowing adults, are so uncanny, you'd start to wonder what our kids are being exposed to these days.

Behold: An entire series, dedicated to showcasing the obscene obsession of an oversized pussy cat chasing a miniature, yellow-feathered bird. Who is kept behind bars by an old woman called Granny. Sylvester is obsessed with the bird. I mean, in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE, this pussy has only ONE motive, to catch hold of Tweety Bird, and to swallow the bird whole.

But he hardly succeeds. That's the other problem with this cartoon series. The stage for the story to unfold is hardly realistic. Here you have a 'smart' bird, who always manages to outwit his adversary, which hardly happens in the real world. Birds aren't supposed to be smart, that's why we have the phrase 'bird-brain'. Pussy cats aren't supposed to be pwned by tiny, feathered, birds who can't even pronounce the 's' sound properly. They're supposed to catch birds, and eat them. Or play around with them, tease them. It's not THE OTHER WAY AROUND, as implied in the cartoon.

Instead, the whole protocol is reversed, and confused. The fact that it's politically incorrect doesn't matter, the bird is hardly appetizing enough for the pussy cat to want to chase after. IT'S SO SMALL! It's yellow for fuck's sake. And it's, it's CUTE. So cute you wanna squeeze it and stroke it, and place it against your cheek. Hardly EDIBLE material. Definitely NOT for swallowing.

Oh and apparently, Bob Clampett who created Tweety Bird, got his inspiration from the cute baby birds in nature films that he used to watch as a kid. IMAGINE! IMAGINE! Say you have a great talent in drawing. And say you watch nature films every week, okay, make that every day. Would you be inspired to draw a yellow, big-headed bird that lives in a cage in a busy city apartment, one that spends almost all day trying to escape being swallowed by an oversized black, furry pussy cat? Hello?

I also forgot to add that Clampett also based the character, Tweety, on baby pictures of himself and his own young son. Well, I have a feeling his birdie is also… a little… bit… tweety.

Suddenly even the promotion excerpt for the series looks out:

Throughout their rivalry, Sylvester's quest for Tweety is relentless, but the little bird's innocence triumphs and leaves Sylvester looking for his next meal elsewhere. Tweety typically relies on allies to outwit Sylvester, like his lovable owner, Granny, or her menacing bulldog (who wants the pesky cat for himself). But, don't underestimate the little bird's ability to fend for himself. He's a tough li'l guy, isn't he?

Innocent eh? Birds can never be innocent.

Rest assured though, Tweety always ends up safe at Home Tweet Home, as one episode is called. Nobody wants that old "puddy tat" having our adorable little Tweety for dinner…then the fun would be over!

Well, I'm sure no pussy wants a bird for dinner either. Especially if the feathers are unplucked and when the bird is so tiny, like Tweety.

Obscene cartoon, that one.

On Tuesday we went to Seremban for Hakka Mee. Eric wanted to impress my mother, I think. He'd been raving about the yummy noodles for months, and finally he managed to persuade Mum to tag along with us.

It was a holiday and I had to drag myself out of bed at 7 am just so we'll be able to reach Seremban early enough to avoid the crowd.

We arrived at the biggest market in Seremban at around 8.20 am. I bloody hate markets, especially wet ones. You walk in fresh and clean, go past the fish and chicken stalls, and you end up smelling like you haven't taken a bath for ages.

The Tow Kee Hakka Mee stall was on the second floor. The Hakka Mee looks COMPLETELY different from the ones we have in KL.

Eric had TWO bowls of the thing! That oughta tell you how nice the hakka mee is. See I don't really like Hakka Mee, but this one calls for 1 hour journeys all the way from KL beginning 7.30 am in the morning. It's not really spectacular, but it's different, and tastes quite 'cheng-tim' (Cantonese for light and sweet).

Then we noticed that besides a bowl of Hakka Mee on every table there, the patrons were also tucking into a bowl of Lai Fan. Mum decided to test it out.

Mixing up the noodles in the soya sauce.

Done, and ready for the eating.

It was great! Tasted a bit like Lou Shu Fan, but I think this is less oily.

Both the Hakka Mee and the Lai Fan are non-halal.

On her birthday April downed half a cake within 30 seconds, in one go. My camera is a-bit-the-old fashioned, so videos taken with it won't have any sound to accompany them. HOWEVER, that doesn't take the shock factor out of this video.

This woman is menakjubkan. Imagine the other things she could do with that mouth!

Some months back I wrote an angsty complaint on this blog about the problem with pharmacies not having pharmacists on duty when we need the most. You might want to read this for context.

Yesterday, Kristy, a pharmacist who works with Guardian left a comment to the August 2005 complaint. I would like to thank her for speaking up and noticing my grievances (along with other people who share my sentiments). Here is her response, reproduced, for the benefit of other readers who feel that Guardian pharmacies (and other companies) whose employees' customer service standards leave much to be desired.

Kristy says:

I am a pharmacist from Guardian. I understand your sentiments exactly. But let me clarify a few things.

1) Guardian tries to keep their bigger outlets (ie KLCC, MV, 1UTM) stocked with pharmacists from morning til night. As for smaller outlets (like the one I’m manning), there isn’t enough budget to hire more than one pharmacist at one time.

2)People who do not have children, or are not married, like me, often work afternoon shifts because I know that’s when people get off work and come in for medication. I also work every weekend and take my off day on a weekday. Other pharmacists, however, may have a family, a husband, children, whom they want to go home to. This is why they choose to work normal shifts (from 9-6), mainly because their spouses work normal shifts as well. Are they to be blamed for wanting to spend time with their families?

3)The myth that working from 9-6pm is a company policy for Guardian pharmacists is just that - a myth. We are encouraged to work afternoon shifts but we respect those who cannot, because they have their own reasons.

4) Independent pharmacies (whereby the owner is the pharmacist; or employs pharmacists) normally have a pharmacist from morning til night because these pharmacists are only required to work 4 days a week. The number of hours they work is 48. The owner hires someone else to take over for the remaining three days. This is not the case in Guardian, where we are supposed to work 5 and 1/2 days a week and therefore our 48 hours of work are scattered into shifts throughout.

5) Please do not generalize. There will always be good staff and bad staff, but human nature will ensure that bad service is always highlighted but not good service. The pharmacist in Sunway Guardian is a very, very nice Singaporean lady and she will surely be appalled to hear how her supervisor has been acting. Contrary to popular belief, handling staff and training them isn’t all that easy.

6) I try to tell most of my customers my weekly working hours, as well as giving them my name cards to ensure that I will be there when they come. But it is disconcerting to find out that many of them still complain they cannot find me. Like me, many Guardian pharmacists take less than an hour’s break, and come back to be scolded for eating lunch. And no, our lunch time isn’t your lunch time. Most of us go out around 3 or 4pm, and not the standard 12-2pm.
7) Do give Guardian another few tries. You might just change your mind. We do try our best to meet our commitments and principles. Thank you!

Writing names and addresses when buying medicine is part of the law. We have enforcement officers coming in to check on a regular basis. Independent pharmacies take the time to make up names and addresses but we don’t. Likewise, we do not sell prescription only medicine without prescriptions because it is against the law. We risk losing our dispensing licence, more so because Guardian is a big company and the authorities tend to check upon us more. They even pose as customers and beg you to sell prescription only medicine to them, and if you do - there goes your career. Which is why people tend to compare us to independent pharmacies because they sell most medication without prescriptions.

9) It is not wrong to ask whether you want Tussils 6’s or 24’s, because if we give your the 24’s automatically you might think we’re after your money. Some customers would prefer to try it out first and see whether it works for them. We recommend the medicine, you decide which packaging you prefer.

Cheers!

It seems like forever since I last did a photo post.

It was April's birthday on Sunday. We went to Wong Kok Char Chan Teng to celebrate the occasion. We: Nick and fiancee, April and boyfriend, minishorts and boyfriend.

Photos of the food first. Well some of them. I didn't manage to take a photo of every dish. We were mostly, too busy gawking at the size of the iced-tea. But wait.

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