Hari Raya

Selamat Hari Raya!

I was an un-raya as could be yesterday. I had called home a couple days before, and hearing my family talk about raya preparations and such was like a sucker-punch of homesickness to the stomach, one-two, POW-POW!

There wasn't anything going on for raya here on the day itself, what with it being a weekday, with the kids at uni having classes, and things going as per usual. I decided to drag myself to the gym, so I got changed and headed off, swinging the shoe bag holding my sneakers. I was walking along the alley in front of the gymnasium when suddenly a guy turned into the alley from another lane up ahead and he was wearing a pink baju melayu, sampin and all. BAM! I suddenly realized it was raya after all. I couldn't stopped grinning, and I think at some point I was actually hastening my steps in order to keep up with the guy(he was walking rather briskly) and making sure I had him in my sights for as long as feasible. As if I were a kid, and he was Father Raya himself. Like I was Alice(Alia?) in Wonderland following a sampin-clad rabbit. A pink rabbit.

My sister's birthday was the day before raya in Malaysia, that's when I called home and wished I could be there, even if it meant fielding unnecessary questions and striking up awkward conversations with relatives. I had wanted to do my Annual Tribute in the Form of Poetry for her, but inspiration ran dry this year, and the only thing I ended up with was one verse plagiarized from 50 Cent, cross-sectioned with the fact that her birthday intersperses with raya this year.

Go Kakak
It's your birthday
It's almost raya but it's your birthday
You sibuk kemas rumah but it's your birthday
So jangan sedih sangat because it's your birthday!

For shame, for shame.

I had met up with a friend for dinner a couple nights back, and she introduced me to a classmate of hers, they were taking a cigarette break before we headed out to makan. And this classmate was as laid-back and as nice as could be, utterly mellow, and all I could think about while making her acquaintance was how stiff I was, I could almost see the awkwardness radiating from me in waves, vague but persistent waves that pulsated off me and bumped into this person in its path, I bet she could tangibly feel it. Jeez, ayang. Tak reti-reti lagi.

Have you see the new Wong Fu Productions short film? I thought it was romantic,the colours beautiful. I have a crush on Chris Dinh. But I especially loved the soundtrack, a song by Jesse Chui.


Selamat Hari Raya! :)