Man. What a year.
I'll start with Today. I left the office at 4pm today for a 5pm dental appointment. Two fillings on each side of my rows of teeth have fallen out, and I need some patches.
These cavities were problematic, and I had to scour the entire city to find three dentists who could fill them in rather than do a root canal.
My regular dentists were fully-booked, so I went to a dentist in Sri Petaling.
He took one look and said, "RM2,000."
Me: What?
Dentist: Root canal and crowning. These teeth can't be saved.
Me: I just came for fillings.
Dentist: No. Root canal and crowning.
Me: How much is it? RM2,000? I don't have money.
Dentist: No lah. It won't be RM2,000. RM350 for the root canal, and RM600 for the crowning.
Me: For one tooth? Two, that's 2000 lah! I just need fillings. Fillings came off, fillings go back again?
Dentist: No lah. Haiya, I will only fill up one of your teeth.
Me: How about this?
I gave him a 9mm handgun and a ski mask.
Dentist: What's this for?
Me: So you can rob me. Or, maybe this.
I stood up and took off my pants.
Dentist: Wow! Great! Eh, why?
Me: So you can rape me.
Goddamn dentist.
Ah well.
I left in a really, really bad mood.
Then, while having an early dinner, one of the directors of one of the movies I wrote sent me an SMS.
It was a nice SMS, and though I no longer need appreciation to survive, it is still nice to be appreciated. At the very least, kind words work. That's the very base level, and yet it still did wonders.
I watched the pregnant rainclouds, while enjoying the best chicken rice in KL, and thought, "man, what a year."
There are so many things to be grateful about.
I am back with The Malay Mail. Always been a crazy place to work in. Always had crazy people there. One of these days, maybe I'll write a book based on those characters.
Magika - my second movie - previewed a few days ago, and I couldn't go, because I decided to spend 16 hours at the office. By choice. I am going off for a week, so there were things that needed preparing. So when I get emails while I'm off, all I would need to do would be to forward emails from my Blackberry. Hopefully.
I am grateful that I actually made movies. I actually wrote scripts, and those scripts got turned into movies. What a feeling, man. I feel like a father.
I got to work with many people, with different styles. It is really kind of cool, I have to admit that. Cause one day, when I'm older, I want to produce and direct my own movies. For now, though, I am just happy that I have something to show for.
There are still many things to learn, and when I am ready, I will direct and produce my own work. There is no rush. Things will come, in time, when you are ready for it. Sometimes, much earlier than you or I ever expected.
I decided to stop smoking a few weeks ago. It has been a roller-coaster ride. I feel anger threatening to well up every time. It took a superhuman effort not to punch people in the face... the first few days. After that, it was just sporadic.
I am going to Kuantan for a week, with a VERY limited supply of cigarettes, covered by a person who would not give me more than two sticks a day. I will see if I can't just kick the habit then and there.
My father has been sick, and I have spent most of my resources on his well-being. The one thing I couldn't do was to spend more time with him. I hope to do that when I'm back in Kuantan.
The year of the Ox has been a year of beginnings. Not the year of the Rat, which was supposed to be a year of new beginnings. The zodiac got it wrong. WRONG!
It was also a year of hard work. I will see if I can decrease the amount of work I do while making myelf more effective, and accomplish more things. I have nothing to prove in the area of hard work. Let's see if I can do more, with less.
It's the Year of the Metal Tiger, starting Sunday.
I was born on the Year of the Metal Monkey. The hour of the rooster, the day of the white metal dragon, month of the rabbit and year of the white metal dragon.
Directions I need to be aware of: Southeast, East, Southwest.
Oh well.
Am looking forward to a break and coming back refreshed. If I can get my tank just around 40% full, there will be wonders to be done later.
Cheers!
