Hong's Little Diary

Yet another movie review.. but this time it is about a Japanese dog movie, "10 promises to my dog" or "Inu to Watashi no 10 no Yakusoku" in Japenese which is also a sad and emotional movie. I cried watching it. I didn't shed a tear watching "Sepi" or "One Litre of Tears" but I cried watching this movie. There is seriously something wrong about me. Simon.. Don't watch it.. later you cry one Sungai Perak.. ^.^

Short Synopsis from the internet :
Akari is a 14-year-old schoolgirl living in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. One day, a puppy wanders into her yard, looking lost and frightened. She is a Golden Retriever with white paw markings. (Look at the picture. Her right hand is white) Akari names her Socks. (Coz Akari's mum said that the dog is like wearing a sock at her paw). Her mum consents her to her keeping the dog but only after she agrees to keep 10 promises to Socks. (the promises is below) Akari enthusiastically agrees and the two begin their journey of growing together. Akari finds herself haivng to overcome many changes and challenges : the tragedy of her mother's death, father's sudden resignation. coming of age, first romantic feelings, career ambitions and her independence. But at every step, Socks is there to provide unquestioning love and support.

The 10 Commandments of Dog Ownership
1. My life is likely to last 10 - 15 years. Any separation from you will be very painful.
2. Give me time to understand what you want of me.
3. Place your trust in me. It is crucial for my well being.
4. Don't be angry with me for long and don't lock me up as punishment. You have your work, your friends, your entertainment. I have only you.
5. Talk to me. Even if I don't understand your words, I understand your voice when it's speaking to me. 6. Be aware that however you treat me, I'll never forget it.
7. Before you hit me, remember that I have teeth that could easily crush the bones in your hand, but i choose not to bite you.
8. Before you scold me for being lazy or uncooperative, ask yourself if something might be bothering me. Perhaps I'm not getting the right food, I've been out in the sun too long, or I am getting old and weak.
9. Take care of me when I get old. You, too, will grow old.
10. Go with me on difficult journeys. Never say "I can't bear to watch it" or "Let it happen in my absence". Everything is easier for me if you are there. Remember, I love you.

When I read those commandments, it did gave me an impact. Whatever is said there is so true. That is why I decided to share the commandments with you all. As you know, my dog is 11 years now. So there is not much left to her remaining years.

Watching the movie, I can feel like I am the protagonist (main character) of the movie. Girlie came to my house when I was Standard 4. (10 years old) Then Girlie & me grew up together, just like Akari and Socks. We played together, eat together and have a lot of sweet memories together. Towards the end of the movie, (the saddest part of all) Akari went to a zoo to work. So she didn't come back home often and thus less time spent with Socks and her dad. So only Akari's dad is accompanying Socks. Or should I say Socks accompanying her dad?

Well, that is exactly like my situation. Now that I am studying in MMU, my time at home is getting lesser and lesser. All my siblings are now working, so there left only my parents and Girlie at home. Mum is always taking care of Girlie and playing with her. Girlie is always keeping my mum company. The poor dog is always alone at home. It really make me sad thinking of such situation sometimes..

I know Girlie's time will come someday.. but God.. I do pray hard that it will not be in the near future.. Let Girlie bring laughter and happiness to our home. Watching the last scene where Socks is about to pass away, (that is where I cried T.T) it did hit me as I had experience such situation before. That was my first dog, Blackie. He passed away on 31.08.1997. Everyone in my family including my maid cried that very morning. All of us send him go.. We accompany him until the very last breath.. He died of heart worm disease..

Anyway the movie is really a nice movie to watch. Only GSC Midvalley and GSC Pavillion is showing the movie now. If you can't go, just download it from the internet.. Or transfer from me. ^.^

Aku sepi.. Tiada kawan menenamiku.. Tiada kekasih untuk meluahkan perasaan.. Tiada orang pedulikan aku.. Hatiku rasa kosong.. Hidupku tidak bermakna.. Aku.. Bagaikan tidak wujud di dunia ini..

Terkejut? Emotional kan? Hehe.. Cuti sebegini memang membuat saya berasa sepi.. Hal ini kerana kebanyakan masa saya seorang diri di rumah ketika cuti. Saya taip syok sahaja... Tidak rasa kesepian pun. Maafkan saya kalau anda tension tak tentu pasal tadi.. Namun topik utama kita pada hari ini bukanlah rasa sepi saya sekarang, (by the way 'sepi' means lonely) tetapi sebuah filem Melayu yang berjudul Sepi. Filem ini merupakan sebuah filem cinta yang menyayat hati para penonton. Dijamin anda akan berasa pilu dan terharu selepas menontonnya.

Cerita ini merupakan cerita yang berkisah tentang 3 orang yang tidak berkaitan ataupun kenal semasa lain. Namun kesemuanya dihubungkan atau dipertemukan oleh suatu kemalangan jalan raya yang tragik. Filem ini dibahagikan kepada 3 cerita kecil. Setiap cerita berdasarkan seorang watak. Watak pertama yang diperkenalkan ialah Adam. Seorang watak yang gemuk gempal tetapi kelakar dan comel (Sebijik macam Simon lah.. Haha) Adam telah kesepian (tiada girlfriend la..) semenjak saya pun tak tahu bila. Dia kenal gadis idamannya, Ilyana, seorang "Wedding Planner" melalui rakan terbaiknya yang hendak berkahwin. Semenjak hari tersebut mereka seringlah bersama (flirting la tu..) sehinggalah perkahwinan kawannya. Pada saat Adam meluahkan perasaannya, Ilyana memberikan kad jemputan perkahwinannya kepada Adam! Mak oi sedih giler!!! Nak buat apa? Orang dah nak kahwin dengan orang lain.. Wish her all the best je la.. Kesian Adam.. Beberapa bulan kemudian, adik Adam berkahwin. Dalam perkahwinan itu, Adam diberitahu oleh Ilyana bahawa perkahwinannya tidak menjadi. Hal ini kerana.. Hati Ilayana ada pada Adam.. Ilyana sedar bahawa Adamlah yang dia harus kahwin. (Amboi.. sweetnya.. bilalah sampai giliran saya ini??) Tetapi sebelum sempat membuat apa - apa, kek perkahwinan adiknya dirosakkan oleh seorang budak (rasanya anak "yee ma ku ceh" Adam) Tiada pilihan lain, Adam terpaksa membuat kek baru dan dalam perjalanannya balik, keretanya diletakkan kertas iklan mencari jodoh. Selepas dia membaca iklan tersebut, kertas itu terbang ditiup angin. Sebaik Adam hendak membuka pintu kereta, kedengaran suara kemalangan. Seorang gadis berlumuran darah terlantar di jalan raya.

Baik. Sudah cukup saya taip "spoiler"nya. Hendak mengetahui siapa gadis itu? Apakah dia akan meninggal dunia? Apakah dua cerita lagi? Tontonilah filem tersebut. Tiada di pawagam lagi.. So kalau nak pindahlah daripada saya. Ataupun muat turun (download) dari internet. Saya jamin filem ini akan "worth" semua peluh dan air mata anda.

(bisikan) Sebenarnya saya dah malas nak cerita lagi.. hehe.

Yumcha with my UPM vet friends on Sat night.. Nothing special about the yumcha.. It was just an outing to "chui sui" or blow water with my friends..

What special is the-after-yumcha-stuff.. Because Michiyo was not local (she is from Sarawak and followed Evonne back here), so I brought her to "gai - gai" around Teluk Intan. Brought her to many places around town.. Then while going around town.. many sweet memories started to come back to me..

Brought her to my secondary school, SMK Horley Methodist. It had been more than a year since I last drive past the road. Then it was like going down memory lane.. That's the place that I spent for the pass 7 years before studying in MMU. Ahhh.. The good old days.. Remembered all my "cikgu".. Studies.. St John.. Friends.. Do miss them now.. I only get to see my friends 3 times a year (Raya, CNY and during June break)

Then it was SMK St Anthony and SMK Convert. All these three schools are neighbouring schools within the same area. Oh ya. With Chinese, Malay and Christian graveyards (kubur) nearby as well. The Christian cemetery is in between my school and St Anthony school. How's that for a school? Cool huh? Eh.. now that I remember.. Alex's class was next to the cemetery during his 2 years in Form 6. Should we ask him if he hear anything weird? (I don't dare to ask!)

I don't know if it is because it was night time but me and Evonne started to share our school famous ghost story after that. My school's bengkel (workshop) was rumoured to have weird machinery sound at night. Also there are reports of weird green lights around the area. There is also a story of the teacher who committed suicide in the toilet it night.(It has since been locked and closed). Also there will be sound of a piano playing at the dewan. My school don't even have a piano! Oh ya. That was my classroom during Form 5. +.+ Don't you think that my school need Ghostbusters?

Now to our neighbouring schools. Well St Anthony is popular for its "marching" sounds at night. (bunyi orang kawad kaki) Students having camp in the school often heard of the marching sound at night. It was rumoured that it was a Japenese army camp during World War 2. Then SMK Convert is popular for its half body ghost. Yes!! Hantu Setengah Badan.. Evonne said many of her friends had seen the ghost "floating" when they held camps there. Scary huh? Thank god I never camped in the school before. Then there is also the story of her school's toilet. But she was stopped before she could finish talking. Michiyo was scared to death at that time. (Actually I am wondering if she can finish reading until this part. HAHA)

So next stop is "Shanghai Beach". It was actually a playground beside the river. That's how it got it nickname. That is the place where me and my friends used to hang out and chat at night. There was once two policemen knocked on our car window and then asked for our IC. It was dark there and there is only one girl in our group. The rest is 4 boys. So.. use your imagination what can happen in such circumstances.. Hehe. But seriously.. NOTHING bad you imagined happened. ;p

Then we just drove and drove.. explaining what is this.. what is that.. (I am practicing my skills of tourguiding ^.^) until we reached two famous brigde of Teluk Intan. One crossing the Sungai Bidor and another crossing over the railway.. Took a turn into the bridge crossing over the river. That's the place where you get to see firefly if you are lucky. (Who says you need to go to Kuala Selangor to see them?) It was also the place where me and my friends used to hang out at night after yum cha. I don't know if it is because I am old or what.. Being in such dark place really scares me. There is no light and no one nearby to help you if anything happened. I wonder how can I be so brave when I was young..

Then when we were about to reach Evonne's house, I took turn to the padang (in front of PBHP) which is a popular place to jog. That is also a place where we used to walk and talk. We didn't sit there because of the mosquitoes. So you have to keep moving to avoid them. Then I came to one conclusion.. GOD!!! When I was small.. All I know is to yumcha and chat with them. It seem like we don't have much to play. But those moments (especially after my SPM until before Form 6) were one of the best of my life.. Sweet memories.. That's why I am blogging them now.. So that I won't forget them..

Well readers, Raya is not only a holiday for you, it is also a time for you to meet up and catch up with your friends. But be wise.. Finals is next week.. ^.^

Got a "date" with my grandma today.. Parents went to a wedding dinner so Grandma asked me out for dinner. Initially.. she wanted to eat KFC. Yes.. NOT me.. But my grandma WANTED KFC.. She said she didn't eat that for a long time already. But I think it was supposed to be 3 months ago la.. Because the last time I brought her there was during my 3rd sem holiday..

Anyway we didn't had KFC for dinner.. Because when we arrive there (730pm - "buka puasa" time) it was so packed with people that there was no place to sit. So we got no choice but to change our dinner place. Went to Hoover Coffee House. Once a very popular Western restaurant back in my father's days.. Still remember Grandpa always bring me there when I was young. That was almost fifteen years ago.. That's also how long he had left us..

The restaurant is famous for its Chicken Chop. So whenever my family and I went there, we will only order Chicken Chop. So me and Granny ordered 2 Chicken Chops and 1 fried noodle. Yup.. TWO people eating THREE people food.. My granny can eat more than you can imagine. Hehe. The chicken chop is not small.. Bigger than what you get at HB3 Western Stall. For non-MMU readers, just imagine that it is BIG la.. Hehe. Paiseh a..

The great thing about this dinner is that you seldom see a young guy (21 years) and an old lady (80 years) eating together. Just the two of them. Also, my granny can still eat so much consider she is so old already. For your info, she can still talk louder than me! Up until she was 76 years old.. She can still drive around town to go play mahjong at her friend's house. She is indeed.. KUAT I should say..

During dinner we had small talks about.. Virtually everything.. Gossip about her friends.. Our family news update.. My study.. Even my up-coming Penang trip as well.. ^.^ It was nice to have dinner with your granny and chat with her. Spent some quality time together. Considering that I don't have much time and chance now that I am studying in MMU.

After the dinner.. as we were walking to the car.. she asked me to hold her hand as she walked. She said she is now old.. Felt weak to walk.. Need someone to support her while walking. Then I realised that she is getting weaker as the years go by.. She is my only grandma left.. 2 grandpas and 1 granny is already in heaven.. Got some kind of special feeling during the 4 minutes slow walk.. So readers.. When you are in hometown.. pay your grandparents a visit to remind her that you care for her!

Oh ya.. while I was walking my granny.. suddenly Jay Chou's song, 外婆 popped into my head..

Love your family! (This message is brought to you by Hong's Little Diary Community Service)