{"@attributes":{"version":"2.0"},"channel":{"title":"The Cat's Ramble","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/","description":"The Cat's Ramble - LiveJournal.com","lastBuildDate":"Wed, 26 Apr 2006 07:32:36 GMT","generator":"LiveJournal \/ LiveJournal.com","image":{"url":"https:\/\/l-userpic.livejournal.com\/46115288\/4230732","title":"The Cat's Ramble","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/","width":"72","height":"100"},"item":[{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/6840.html","pubDate":"Wed, 26 Apr 2006 07:32:36 GMT","title":"Storm","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/6840.html","description":"There's the mother of all storms brewing out there and I'd give a whole lot to be out in the rain and not in here in the office in front of a computer editing business\/financial news. It's just 3.30pm and the sky is as dark as it usually is at night. There's been thunder rumbling across the sky and long, long violent streaks of lightning for about an hour now and I've just come away from the window. It's nice being way up on the 8th floor of a building that's built on a hill to start with. You feel that much closer to the storm somehow.

But still, nothing beats actually being out in the storm. The cats just don't seem to get it though. They sit all prim and proper in a row under the patio and watch me in disbelieve and if my mother is at home, I swear they tell on me, because she always, always finds out and comes along outside to haul me in. Mind you none of the cats are mine per se though they seem to spend a lot of time at my parents place, where I happen to be living for now. They belong to assorted neighbours. Must have something to do with the fact that I might just have the word 'sucker' stamped across my foreheads for cats to see.

Back to the storm then. It's started raining properly now. Nothing so simple as fat warm raindrops or a gentle drizzle. It's coming down in solid sheets all tossed about by the wind. There's going to be flash floods tonight and no doubt trees and power lines will come down.

The storm however, makes the best dancing partner a girl could ever have. If I'm lucky he'll still be out there when I get done with work.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/6840.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/6421.html","pubDate":"Mon, 24 Apr 2006 05:09:43 GMT","title":"Eastercon","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/6421.html","description":"Have just got to Malaysia with several bags of books (lots of thanks to the lovely people at Heathrow who didn't ask me to pay for the extra weight) and a flu (caught somewhere between Scotland and Kuala Lumpur). Am at work and wishing I were drinking cider in a pub in Glasgow and eating haggis, neeps and tatties. Have finally found out that the neeps are Swedes and not turnips which would explain them being orange in colour. Was quite puzzling for a while there.

Thank you to the people who organised Concussion and who put Lovecraft on the programme. It was a wonderful con and I'm very much looking forward to Eastercon and the Adelphi next year since the first ever Eastercon I attended was at the Adelphi. Am therefore, planning to rob the nearest available bank as soon as I come up with a good plan.

I'd come to the con with a friend who'd never been to one before and I'm glad to say that she's now hooked and already planning for her next con. It was also very good to finally catch up with Munquie and spend some time exploring both Glasgow and Edinburgh with her. One of the highlights of the trip was meeting up with Tara Glover again after about a decade. It's always amazing what a space of time manages to do to people. I know you're meant to change and grow and all but it's amazing nevertheless.

It was also good to see Pat McMurray again and Andrew Adams (love the hat) and Edgar Held (I swear he's getting taller) and everyone else I'd not seen for ages and ages and the Worldcon last year didn't really count because it was insane and I think I spent most of it on the run from one place to the next.

Here I am at work and what I'd really like to do is be back in the house in bed, with a huge bowl of soup and those books I brought back with me. Am sitting here watching the clock and it's not moving at all. Am wondering if I could help it along somehow.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/6421.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/6211.html","pubDate":"Fri, 07 Apr 2006 01:28:03 GMT","title":"HELP","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/6211.html","description":"I really don't know who to ask so am posting this here. My editor's wife just had their first child. He's deliriously happy of course and as her favourite autthor is Terry Pratchett he'd like to give her a signed copy of Truth (they are both journalists). As far as I know Terry Pratchett is not going to be at Eastercon and I won't be able to walk well enough yet to make it to the Discworld Con.

Could anyone help with getting the book and getting it signed and posting it to me? I'll pay for the book and all the postage costs.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/6211.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5932.html","pubDate":"Wed, 05 Apr 2006 01:24:56 GMT","title":"Mid Week","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5932.html","description":"It's Wednesday. Am quite fond of Wednesdays aside from having been born on one and thereby being doomed to be full of woe. If the work week is like a hill, then Wednesday's the peak and after this it's all downhill and there's the weekend and Eastercon next week. It'll be good to have a weekend since last week ended up being a seven day work week and I'm feeling quite disoriented now as a result. It's usually quite muddly enough due to working at a newspaper and always working on something for tomorrow but weekends tend to break things up quite nicely and give them a shape.

The plus side of having a job with odd hours is that it offers lots of reading time. Okay ... so they also give us a monthly book allowance and insane amounts of free food. Science Fiction and Fantasy is beginning to make it's presence felt here finally. It used to be tucked away in one corner of bookstores and people who browsed that section would be viewed with a great deal of suspicion but now you have nice big sections properly shelved except Neil Gaiman keeps ending up in the horror section for some reason I have yet to work out though Lovecraft always makes it into Fantasy.

And the icing on the cake is the fact that Borders has opened a store right near where I live so there's no longer the need to get in my car and brave the horrors of downtown traffic snarls. Not so very good as far finances go though but then again it's books. Oh, it's good to see Munquie here again (waves happily).","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5932.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5682.html","pubDate":"Mon, 27 Feb 2006 05:24:27 GMT","title":"Muddy headed","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5682.html","description":"It's Monday and this Monday at least did not start very well at all. The weekend was pretty alright. I spent Saturday at Silverfish books where one of my best friends works and Sunday wandering around a craft fair and the weekly night market putting together Julie's birthday present.

Then, being a night cat and working on the assumption that I was only to start working at 2pm Monday, I stayed up all night reading Norman Mailer's The Gospel According to the Son, finishing it and then starting on John Berendt's The City of Falling Angels. At about 9.30am I stick myself in the shower and get into my oversized t-shirt all ready for bed when the phone rings. It's my colleagu Chan who was meant to be working at 9am and who had stayed up watching footbal and had overslept. Could I please take over because he lives about an hour away and I'm round the corner.

I tumble out of bed, spash cold water on my face and climb into office clothes and get to work and here I am, several cups of coffee later, all muddy headed and very much wanting to be anyplace else but here in the very cold office watching the stock market do it's usual up and down thing. Well, the upside almost has to be that the week simple has to get better from now on.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5682.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5607.html","pubDate":"Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:47:45 GMT","title":"Whine, rant, whinge, rave","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5607.html","description":"It's 1am. Just got back from work where I've been since 1pm. There's got to be something criminally wrong with suddenly deciding to hold meetings in the middle of the night for crying out loud. What do these people have between their ears for goodness sake. There's obviously an urban myth out there about newspaper people not needing to eat, sleep or have any sort of life and it's not even as if a bank calling for an EGM to remove directors is remotely sexy or alluring in any shape, form or manner.

And I have a nast, icky flu to boot. Two weeks wandering all over India largely barefoot in all sorts of weather and I came back just fine. One week back at work surrounded by sniffly people and I have a flu and a sore nose and the sneezes and a fever and an achy chest and a sore throat.

And the icing on the cake is the fact that one of my reporters got not one or two but every single figure wrong in a story and it took forever and a day to straighten out. Someday they will all figure out that there is a huge difference between million and billion and it's quite impossible in this space time continuum at least to make a profit of RM652 million on a turnover of RM365 million.

The teeny, tiny upside was the pot of spicy Indian crab curry and 'puttu' waiting on the table when I got back and now I am here sitting on my bed with my toys and books and the night is out there and there's a breeze playing with the curtains and I have 'I am a cat' to read.

Selamat malam.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5607.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5197.html","pubDate":"Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:42:28 GMT","title":"Stormy Night","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5197.html","description":"It's close on 10pm and I'm at work and wanting to be out there in the storm even if it is only to drive back home. The first edition of the paper has been put to bed and the online version has been updated and we are almost done with the second edition. Hopefully the storm will stay and not blow over. There's nothing quite like standing out in the garden in a storm. Thunder and lightning and all that water pouring down. And there is a moon as well. It starts out cold, cold and then you actually feel very warm standing in the storm. And everything looks different in the storm. I walk around the neighbourhood sometimes in the storm, barefoot, splashing through all the puddles after everyone has gone to bed. Mothers don't see to quite understand this being out in the storm thing. I wonder if I'll be the same if I and when I have children. I hope I'll be out there in the storm with them. Of course I also now have a flu. Clogged nose, a fever, a sore throat ... the works. But I am going to play in the storm tonight. He makes the best dance partner ever.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/5197.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4931.html","pubDate":"Tue, 14 Feb 2006 08:59:52 GMT","title":"That time of year","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4931.html","description":"It's that time of the year again - Valentine's Day - and you can't find anyplace not filled with hearts and lace and flowers and chocolate and astonishingly expensive dinners for two. Now that I've paid service to cynicism I need to admit that being quite a hopeless romantic at heart I'd be right out there in front of the queue sending flowers - not roses - and buying gifts and cards too if there was someone to do so for. Maybe next year. We'll see what the Year of the Dog has in store for the Rooster\/Phoenix.

It's storming here. 5pm and it's all dark and stormy. It was a dark and stormy evening and in the office ...

Happy Valentine's Day.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4931.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4648.html","pubDate":"Mon, 13 Feb 2006 02:31:59 GMT","title":"The rain","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4648.html","description":"The first 15 days of the Chinese new Year of the Dog ended yesterday and it has started raining with a vengeance. It's odd how it's always blazing hot during the first 15 days and then it pretty much rains non-stop and causes flash floods in several states the day after. Am glad for the rain nevertheless being a storm and night sort of person and not at all partial to the very, glaringly bright sunshine. Everyone sems to have caught a flu bug though and is sniffling round. Probably due to eating all those mandarin oranges. In my case it was probably the difference between the weather in India and here in Malaysia. What is Scotland going to be like in April?","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4648.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4545.html","pubDate":"Fri, 10 Feb 2006 07:15:37 GMT","title":"Cold, cold office","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4545.html","description":"After about two weeks of unrelenting really hot sunshine (missed about 10 days of it being in India where the sun was hot but the wind was cold and the food was divine) it's started to look like rain again. It's always blazing hot for the Chinese New Year and the rains will come at the end of the celebrations which is this Sunday - Chap Goh Mei. This is when women wishing for a partner go throw oranges in rivers, the sea. Am contemplating throwing an orange this Sunday. The last time I did this I ended up getting married within a year and divorced within two years. Maybe this time will be the charm that will bring home and pets and kids. I can hope.

It's good though to have storm clouds again after all that bright, hot sunshine. Cloudy, stormy days and the night always seem so much kinder and friendlier than blazing hot days. It's looks seriously dark and stormy right now and it's just 3pm. Am keeping my fingers crossed for a proper storm to break.

The new year has started in a muddled fashion and life is pretty broken right now. Maybe everything does happen for a good reason even if I cannot see that right now and maybe life does manage to fall in place somehow in the end.

And there is the Eastercon to look forward to and pints of cider (does not exist here) and a place to fit into. In the meantime, the stock market has opened for the afternoon session and I need to go and earn my keep. It's definitely time to change jobs, change the way things have been drifting the past couple of years.

Namaste.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4545.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4221.html","pubDate":"Thu, 09 Feb 2006 06:47:50 GMT","title":"New Year","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4221.html","description":"The year has turned, again, and is set to turn twice more by April. Four whole chances to start the year anew. It's been a long time since I wrote anything here and a whole lot of water has flowed under many bridges, some good, some sad. Life happened basically. It's the Year of the Dog now and I hope it brings some measure of peace. Shall try and keep up with the journal this time. Am very much looking forward to the Eastercon in Glasgow and to seeing everyone again. Just got back from India and am fighting off a flu bug I managed to bring back with me and am also very much missing real Indian food.

India always manages to spring surprises no matter how many times I visit and am planning to head back there at the end of the year during the Indian month of Karthigai for the festival of light. For as long as people of my grandfather's generation can remember there has always been a drought in South India. Huge rivers have dried up and slum dwellers have built shacks on riverbeds. Ever year people pray for enough rain to fall during the annual monsoon and in the past few years there has been a huge migration to the city since there has not been enough water to plant. This year it seems that the gods finally heard and decided to backdate the requests. South India got rain like it has never seen rain before. The skies literally opened and it poured for days and days. Water filled the rivers, burst banks, ripped out bridges and railway tracks and roads and washed away entire villages. Much of the south is still flooded. The plus side is that people have moved back into the countryside and all the fields have been planted with grains and vegetables. It was good to see so much green and water again.

I guess there is always hope no matter how bleak things may seem and how heavy one's heart is. Maybe it is true that everything happens for a reason even if we don't understand at the time.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/4221.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3851.html","pubDate":"Tue, 12 Apr 2005 11:46:51 GMT","title":"Rainy Days","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3851.html","description":"Namaste,

It's been raining, raining, raining every day now for about a week or so. That along with earthquakes and tremors and volcanoes has made living in this part of Asia quite 'interesting' to say the least. It's funny that despite living in an area with quakes, most everyone I know and myself never think it's a quake. We always think there's something wrong with us. The last quake on the day after Easter happened after midnight and I was in the shower when everything started swaying. You think it'd be a jerky sort of jagged motion but it's not. Everything sways and I thought I was dizzy from the hot water and not having eaten. So I turned off the water and got out and then noticed things moving on my dressing table. Got dressed and went down and all the neighbours were out. My dad and uncle thought they might be having heart attacks. Several colleagues thought they'd maybe drunk too much wine with dinner and others thought they were woozy for one reason or another. Absolutely no one thought it was a quake.

They evacuated all the high rise buildings in the city. Roads cracked apart and many buildings were damaged but at least this time there were no tsunamis. There still are tremors though several times a week. They say there will be a third quake as bad as the first two. It's all quite frightening right now.

On the fun side, I have almost the whole of May off from work thanks to having fallen while climbing a mountain and breaking several bones in my ankle last year. Since I could not use my days off last year, they got carried into this year and the bosses decided that all carried over leave had to be cleared by May. Since it's now April, I have been given the whole chunk off in May. Hooray. Am going to stick myself on a plane for two days and see what all the fuss about the USA is about. I don't usually manage to get this much time off work so I figured I might as well use it and go visit. See the place and see a friend I've been very much wanting to meet in real life.

All in all live is up to all sorts of things right now.

Take care.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3851.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3740.html","pubDate":"Wed, 16 Mar 2005 17:41:27 GMT","title":"Heat and Nights","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3740.html","description":"Namaste,

There's something to be said for living upside down days. I get to drive home on largely deserted streets and see a face of the city many people don't. The street cleaners are out in huge trucks with whirling brushes. The city hall gardeners are out as well watering plants and pruning the huge trees that line many of the roads between home and work. The biker gangs are there using the empty streets as a race track, which can be very frightening sometimes, though I must admit that I love some of the bikes. There's people spilling out of clubs and pubs in the most amazing array of clothing imaginable.

And best of all there is the night itself. It's almost as if the city is trying to tell you some great secret. Everything is hushed and cloaked in this soft dark and in my case at least I see much better in the dark since the details don't matter so much.

From the top of the hill near home I can see the city spread out below me. It looks like wonderland, filled with chains of glittering lights. I often pull over and get out and sit and watch for a while. It's so very different during the night. It's almost as if there were really two different cities.

At home, the jasmine creeper will be in bloom and the house will be filled with it's scent. It blooms after sunset and since the nights lately have been hot and still, the scent lingers and fills the house. It's good to come home and at the table next to the window and have a pot of Earl grey tea and either work and chat or read and chat.

It's good talking at night. It's so quite ... just the gurgle of the fountain and the sound of the fan going round and round. I seem to get more work done here at home in the night, drinking tea and talking to Oscar than during the day.

There's something glaring and intrusive about the day somehow. It's not conducive to long rambling conversations with Oscar or laughing, breathless ones with Julie. Funny how it always seems as if Julie and me had seen each other just yesterday. Ummm ... there is also this tendency to ramble endlessly at night so shall just quit now.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3740.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3502.html","pubDate":"Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:06:37 GMT","title":"Late, late nights","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3502.html","description":"Namaste,

It's going on 3am and I've got a ways to go yet before I am done with editing and can go to bed. Am very grateful at times like this to friends in different time zones who are in and who chat with me. I wonder what I did before the advent of broadband and te ability to speal to someone across the world using my laptop, headphones and a microphone. Thank goodness for broadband connections and the existence of the Google search engine. It seems nowadays that everyone has broadband services or at least dial-up services. And most everyone has one or even two or three mobile phones. Makes you wonder how we all managed to stay in touch and organise appointments and meetings without them.

But I must admit that the Internet has truly made the world a smaller place and it has certainly helped bring people closer in ways that snail mail and outrageously expensive phone calls could not. For instance, I work nights and it's a good time to talk to friends in Europe, primarily in the Netherlands and if I am very lucky, in London as well.

Having someone who fills the hours with intriguing conversation makes editing articles a whole lot less stressful and the nights a lot more alluring.

Bon Nuit","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3502.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3313.html","pubDate":"Sun, 13 Mar 2005 15:07:39 GMT","title":"Boogeyman","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3313.html","description":"Namaste,

All self-respecting bogeymen should register a formal protest against the movie 'Boogeyman'. Why did it suddenly become Boogeyman anyway ... sounds like a rip-off of Saturday Night Fever or Grease or something. And has to be the worst movie I have seen this year. I don't think anyone in the cinema liked it and since it was a media preview I guess there are going to be some awful reviews in the newspapers and magazines this week. I know my review is not going do the movie any favours. It started of alright and then proceeded to fall about spectacularly. The holes in the plot were so big you could have driven an entire convoy of trucks through them and had space to spare. It was wierd seeing a Bogeyman running round a house and coming out of taps into tubs of water in the image of a child's action figure and killing people in the most un-bogeyman-like way. It took a lot away from the mystery and fear of having something lying in wait under the bed or in closets.

Sigh ... I am sorry for that rant ... I love the fact that I get to attend free media previews and I really love the movies but this year seems so have produced some ghastly ones. There was Elektra and that very odd Bride & Prejudice and now there is this Boogeyman. Alright shall stop moaning about the movies now. I did like Constantine and Series of Unfortunate Events and Robots so ought not complain. Oh yes I quite liked Blade Trinity as well .... it's the sword ... I like swords.

Take care.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/3313.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2873.html","pubDate":"Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:45:30 GMT","title":"Cold Cat","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2873.html","description":"Salam

It is a dark and stormy night and nothing stirred in the newsroom but for a cold grumpy cat and several disgruntled reporters. So much for a high-tech, automated job environment. The servers have all gone wonky and have been crashing intermittently all of today, thereby making it very aggravating as we have to keep switching from one system to the next. It's now 8.36pm and offstone time for the first edition is 9pm. This would be a good time to maybe pack a bag and run away from home or at least the news room.

It's funny how we work. I've been editing with one newspaper or another for more than a decade now and I know that there is a deadline every night. But we all still behave as if there were no deadline. We come in and goof around and watch movies and at about 8pm everything gets very frantic. It never ceases to amaze me that we manage to get a newspaper out on time evey single day. But then again, if there were not that tension and chaos I don't think I would love the job as much. Life on the edge is intriguing.

It also turns your days inside out. I sleep days and work nights and I guess that works for some people. have always been a night cat and I still remember actually jumping up and doing a little dance when the editor-in-cheif at my first newspaper told me that I would start my workday after 6pm. Life managed to fall into place quite neatly. Fall asleep at dawn after watching the sun rise with the cats and then wake up in the evening, watch the sun set and head to work.

The city is an interesting place at night. It's actually beautiful. All strung with lights and the darkness hides all the sharp edges and turns the concrete, glass and stell jungle into a thing of beauty. And driving is a pleasure. The roads are empty which is good since I only just got my license a year ago and am probably the most timid driver in the universe. Am just not good with machines or masheens as I call them.

Ummm ... maybe it's the cold and maybe it's not but I seem to be rambling all over the place in here tonight so am going to quit now and go back to work.

Take care all.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2873.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2668.html","pubDate":"Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:14:22 GMT","title":"Singapore","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2668.html","description":"Namaste,

It's been a long while since I have been in here and a whole bunch of stuff has been happening; mostly at work. It's that time of the year again when companies pay bonuses and everyone who wants to shift jobs does so. That leaves us short-staffed until we can get more people in. So it's been minimum 12-hour days for this year thus far. I think I spend more time with people at work than I do with my family and I realised today that I'd not seen my dad for several weeks now though we live in the same house. I'm asleep days and when he gets home in the evening I am at work. Strange living with someone and never seeing them.

Was in Singapore this week and it was like being on a different planet. The whole country is like a well run military camp. There's rules for everything and you get fined for breaking the rules. Cab drivers are unnervingly polite and will take you wherever you wish to go even if it's just round the block. People form queues automatically and give up seats to pregnant women and the elderly. It's very different from the chaos of Malaysian cities. I'd like to go back again and spend some more time exploring the city.

Am also looking forward to the Worldcon in August an wish very much that I could make it there for the Eastercon. Maybe next year.

Shall go now and get some work done.

Take care all,
Nesa","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2668.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2338.html","pubDate":"Mon, 08 Nov 2004 23:45:28 GMT","title":"Feet on the ground","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2338.html","description":"It's good to have my feet back on the ground again and I do hope to keep them on the ground for the rest of November. The past few months have been a whirl of travelling to work. I love travelling but it is not the same when there is work involved.

First there was Munich and launch of a new Merceded Benz. I like cars as much as the next person and I love the freedom that owning a car gives you but I am not in love with the things. Zipping round Munich in a car that spoke in a sexy female voice was a bit odd. Munich was lovely though and so was Vatican City.

Then it was Bangalore in India and that was a joy. Was there to do a story on outsourcing but India is also a haven for book people. There's bookstores round every corner and books are ridiculously cheap. I came home with two boxes of books and was a very happy cat indeed.

Cambodia came next and Angkor Wat was an absolute pleasure. The food and back-rubs were an added bonus. It was almost like going back in time. There was not so many cars or huge buildings. People rose bicycles and Angkor was out of this world. It is huge, cradled by trees and vines. Like a lost world almost.

Finally came Bangkok with Nokia launching new phones that can pretty much do everything aside from make you a cuppa tea and translocate you. Was probably one of very few people there whose phone did nothing but make phone calls, receive phone as well as send and receive sms messages. Bangkok has not changed very much though. It's still filled with conflicting images. The traffic zips by at an insane pace but people drift along languidly with not a care in the world.

It is good to be back home again in a bed filled with cats and books.

Take care, all.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2338.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2066.html","pubDate":"Sun, 12 Sep 2004 23:57:27 GMT","title":"Severing Ties","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2066.html","description":"It's Monday again and it's also been a while since I said anything in here. The last week was spent moving out of one home and moving in with my parents until my condo is ready.

In the big scheme of things I guess two years worth of being married is not much at all although it did seem like forever and a day.

Well, the marriage did not work. I discovered that there is a limit to how much I was willing to change to accommodate another person. I woke up one morning and found that I didn't quite know and didn't really like what I was turning into.

I am sure there is a lesson in here somewhere to be learnt and after the hurt has has time to settle down into a dull throb I shall look for it. I also now understand what people mean when they say that a great weight has been lifted from their shoulders. When the decision was finally made to end the marriage it feel as if a weight had been lifted.

Now there is are legal matters to be dealt with and the more mundane chore of moving and storing furniture and most of all growing into my own self and walking in my own shoes again. It does feel good to be back.

Take care.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/2066.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1813.html","pubDate":"Mon, 06 Sep 2004 01:10:45 GMT","title":"The Rain, The Rain","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1813.html","description":"Selamat Tengahari.

It's started raining again. It's been several weeks since it last rained and the city was beginning to stifle. Alright ... so the city is always stifling but without rain, it is even worse.

It started raining Friday evening and it poured and poured for hours. Thunder and lightning and tonnes of water. Was awesome. I went out and danced with the storm. He's an amazing dance partner. Then I sat on the garden wall until the rain stopped. The cats sat in a row on the porch and watched in a disapproving fashion.

Since then it has rained everyday and yes, I was out playing in the rain and it probably explains the flu I have now. Never mind, tis a small price to pay for so much pleasure.

Take care.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1813.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1543.html","pubDate":"Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:38:58 GMT","title":"Terimakasih","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1543.html","description":"It's August 31 - independence day here in Malaysia and I just got into work. The country turned 47 today and the morning was filled with a huge parade held in the northern state of Kelantan.

It still has not rained and the days are getting hotter and hotter. You can see the heat rise in waves off the roads and cats and dogs and people sitting in whatever bits of shade are available, just not wanting to move. And yes, an egg does cook on the sidewalk. I tried just before coming in to work. The cats were most fascinated.

I would like to thank all the people in anonymousclair for allowing me, an absolute stranger to most, to become a part of the group. Terimakasih.

Take care.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1543.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1443.html","pubDate":"Sun, 22 Aug 2004 18:06:15 GMT","title":"It's Monday again ...","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1443.html","description":"It's Monday morning and I am actually awake and at work ... someone with a very sadistic mind came up with the idea of beginning work at 9am when all half-way quirky people would still be in bed; having only got to said piece of furniture at about 6am after having gone for a supper of dim sum at round about 4am.

This after spending Sunday evening wandering through a night market and eating too much fish head curry. But I thought I deserved that after having to come into work on Sunday (my day off) as a colleague was in hospital with food-poisoning and I happen to live just round the corner. This is probably a good time to contemplate moving to maybe the next state.

And now it's time not to talk to cabbages and kings but to take a peek at what the Dow Jones did when it closed on Friday and then play a little with the Malaysian bourse when it opens at 9.30am. Wonder what the oil prices are doing today?

Take care","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1443.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1100.html","pubDate":"Fri, 20 Aug 2004 04:26:15 GMT","title":"Words","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1100.html","description":"

It is 7.16pm and there's still a long way to go before we finally put the paper to bed and get to go home. I quite like writing in colours and they have given me so very many to play with.<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

It's hazy outside ... there has been no rain for close to a week and they are burning the fields after the harvests in Indonesia. The air smells of burning and there is a fine ash which settles on everything. The plants and grass look all sad and worn out even after being watered twice a day. Even the cats don't want to go out and play. They sit in a row on the porch and look at the sky disapprovingly. The air feels heavy and the sky is overcast but there is no rain. It almost has to rain soon. It's as if everything is holding it's breath and waiting.<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tonight I shall start reading Inkheart and I shall hope for rain.<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/strong> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/1100.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/789.html","pubDate":"Fri, 20 Aug 2004 00:46:23 GMT","title":"Cold Hands .... Colder Feet","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/789.html","description":"

This could become quite addictive. <\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

But then again I am sure there's a good reason why I have Internet access at work.<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

 This might just be the reason why along with e-mail and online bookstores. <\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

It's Friday and the end of the work week. No newspaper tomorrow which means I get to play on Saturday and Sunday. <\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

That is two whole days. Such an embarassment of riches.<\/strong> <\/font><\/p>","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/789.html?view=comments#comments"},{"guid":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/736.html","pubDate":"Thu, 19 Aug 2004 01:38:02 GMT","title":"Curious Cats","author":"nesacat","link":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/736.html","description":"This is an interesting new toy to play with and since the gods saw fit to give cats nine lives; tis only fair that cats return the favour by being curious.

Thanks Munquie for introducing me to this curious new toy.","comments":"https:\/\/nesacat.livejournal.com\/736.html?view=comments#comments"}]}}