Getting Twisted

Something's been bothering me lately. I find myself getting twisted over the littlest things. It makes me feel like a really unpleasant person to be around.

I left the office yesterday to head to the airport. Two hours later, we finally arrived at said airport. The traffic nearly made me crazy. So the twisting began. Keep in mind that I think I spent more time in traffic than I did in training, so this had been building all week. And luckily, Friday was Indonesia's Indepedence Day. Have you tried to get out of Houston on Fourth of July weekend? Take that times 1,000.

Then, I got to the airport check in line. There were two parties in front of me. Fifteen minutes later, I'm in the same place. I check the desks. Yes, all the desks have a customer service rep. Yet, we are not moving. They are all just sitting there. Maybe it's a computer problem. And here's where I know that I'm become a total bitch. See, at this point in time, I couldn't give a rat's ass about the computer problem. Maybe if you caught me at another time, I don't know. Sometimes this stuff doesn't bug me at all. But other times it's all I can do to not cause a scene and end up in airport security. I imagine it's not a pleasant place to me. All I know is that I'm in work clothes in an airport that has virtually no air conditioning. Move the fucking line. It's all about efficiency, folks. And the twisting continues.

So, I finally make it through the line and got to customs. Short line I observe, thankfully. Until the customs officer in the line that I chose to stand in seems to want to read through the couple in front of me's entire passports, and then discuss the next Harry Potter book's plotlines. MOVE. So I switch lines, which is never a good idea, but I just can't help myself. I have an uncanny knack for picking the slowest moving grocery/immigration/entry/check in line. As I move, another line becomes open next to me, so I try to get the guy's attention who is in that line. He finally he looks at me and I utter the only words I can politely say at this time. I motion to the empty line and say:

"Go."

For the love of God, just go so that I have a chance to get through the line before midnight. Karma is busily chowing down on my ass.

I finally get through customs and breathe a sigh of relief.

See, I get twisted lately. The smallest things will, in my mind, build up to the point where I will, for example, exclaim "Well, for fucks sake!" to the poor Continental Airlines counter clerk when my flight is delayed (as is what happened in Austin a few weeks ago).

This is not healthy. Nor polite, which kills me more than you would know.

I could say that this is because we are living overseas. But we've been here damn near a year. I could say that this is because I've lowered my Lexapro to a pitiful 5mg a day. It's the stress. It's being a newlywed. It's work. There are lots of excuses for the fact that I get twisted over the tiniest things.

But the thing that scares me the most is that, maybe it's not the living situation. Maybe it's not the travel. Maybe it's not.......fill in the blank here.

Maybe I've just become a total bitch.

I'm well versed in the ways of chronic mild depression (which in my mind, is simply the result being too self reflective for my own good, coupled with the genetic predisposition to depression, which makes me truly unpleasant at times). I'm also very familiar with GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) which plagues all the women in my family. I think it's a result of good ole' genetic Catholic guilt gone awry when combined with the white-bread Methodist background of my father.

I've suffered from GAD and depression since I hit my teens. It's easy when you are plagued with these particular ailments to blame everything on them. But I've finally gotten to the point where I think I know myself well enough to, well, know myself. And so because of my supposed self-awareness, I think I should be able to rise above this. As I've always said "The first step is understanding the root cause. The issue. Only then can you take the necessary steps to correct them."

Only, the problem is, I know my issues. But I can't seem to change my reactions.

I just feel that I'm spending a lot of my time here pissed off about one thing or another. And I just despise that. It makes me feel terribly ungrateful. But I can't help my reactions. Logically, I know that we have an unbelievable opportunity. Plus, I get to keep working, even though M's job is really the one that moved us here. So, ungrateful = guilty. Plus, the one person who understands my frustrations is M, but I worry about sharing my frustrations with him, because then he feels guilty. Like it's his fault, or rather his job's fault. But I encouraged him to take this job. So it's an endless cycle of me reassuring him, and him reassuring me.

So I'm going to assume that this is just work travel hangover. There are so many things we enjoy here.

If I could only get over myself and appreciate them.

Hi, I'm a Stereotype!

Before we moved to KL, I felt like I was fairly culturally sensitive. I may not have been the most worldly person, but I was sensitive to other cultures and somewhat aware of how my "Americanism" was perceived by many people outside the U.S. Therefore, I've always strived to combat the perception of the obnoxious, rude American expat at every turn.

That's why it drives me nuts when I act like one.

See, ever since we moved to KL, my number one stress trigger has been shifty cab drivers. Specifically:

1) KL cab drivers essentially get to interview you and decide whether or not they want to take you where you want to go.
2) The meter rate is a foreign concept to them. Some of them "forget" to turn it on, and then some just outright refuse to when you ask them.
3) The reasons for not using the meter vary - "It's raining" is a popular one. In fact, forget getting a cab at all if it's raining, but if you are lucky, you can get one and only be charged double or triple. Other reasons include, "Bad traffic" or "It's Tuesday" (or fill in the blank with whatever day of the week it is).
4) Back to being interviewed...some cabs will drive by the cab stands and ask people where they are going and then pick the one that is going where they want to go or who they think they can charge the most to. It doesn't matter where you are in the queue. Still others will queue up in front of restaurants and smoke while calling out "You need a cab?". Then the negotiation starts and he decides what to charge you. If you say no, then that's fine, he will choose to continue to sit by the side of the road and make no money rather than agree to what we consider to be a reasonable rate (and still more than the meter).
5) Most of them drive like a bat out of hell and some don't even have seat belts, so you are paying a premium price for one crazy ass ride.

This happens to locals as well as expats, however, I feel that it happens to expats more often. In fact, when we are with one of our local friends, she will usually hail the cab for us, just so we can get the meter rate.

Let me say, there are some cab drivers who don't do any of these things. Some of them are very nice people and we keep their cards and try to use them whenever possible. So no hate mail, okay? If someone gives us the meter rate, we usually tip extra because we are so grateful not to be cheated. So if your husband, brother, cousin, etc. is a KL cab driver who goes by the meter, don't yell at me. Send me their number and we'll gladly use them at every turn.

So...we were walking up the street after our spa afternoon and managed to hail a cab. This was good, because it looked like it was about to rain, I had on a white T-shirt and we had no umbrellas. Good so far. He turns on the meter. Good again. We needed him to take us by the grocery store, wait for about 5-10 minutes and then take us home.

Now, cabs have two meter rates, a "driving" rate and a "waiting" rate. The waiting rate is less. We got to the store, and the driver said "Five extra to wait", to which Matt said okay. I love these arbitrary negotiations. I was surprised that Matt said yes, because it would have been less than half that had he gone by the meter rate. We figured that he meant a flat fee of five to wait, RATHER than the waiting meter rate. We got back in the cab, and he had kept the meter going, so he was going to charge us five extra PLUS the meter waiting rate.

Okay, please let me say - This is not about the money. I repeat, this is soooo not about the money. This is about our frustration with the treatment we have gotten from most cab drivers ever since we moved here. This is about the principle of the matter.

So Matt told him (nicely, I might add) that we could go by meter rate or the flat five to wait, but not both. So pick one or the other. I'll spare you the gory details, but this pissed the driver off and things escalated pretty quickly. Much yelling was done by all three of us while we are driving down the road. At one point, he pulled over and we were just going to walk. He told us that we needed to read the taxi laws and that it was just one or two ringgit and did we think they they are all just shit, he always uses the meter (hello?) and on and on it went.

We finally struck a deal, which I think ended up being more than if we had just kept our mouths shut. Yes, I will cut off my nose to spite my face for the principle of a matter almost every time. Not about the money. About the principle. But we finally made it home.

Matt and I realized when we got home that it was really probably a misunderstanding. He thought we agreed to five ringgit PLUS meter waiting rate, and we thought that it was five ringgit instead of the meter waiting rate. So of course we felt like giant American turds who raised hell over two ringgit. But it's the principle!!! I would gladly support an increase of taxi rates throughout KL. I have no problem paying more. As long as everyone pays the same amount for the same journey.

So even though the misunderstanding was due, in part, to the lack of clarity about exactly HOW he was going to screw us over, the fact remain that he was going to screw us over. Still, I can't help but feel like a total obnoxious American expat stereotype. Like America needs any help with being unpopular right now...

We Survived our first road trip!

We are back from the Cameron Highlands, and I'm happy to say we survived our first road trip in Malaysia! Since we had never driven on the left side of the road, we were more than a little curious how we would fare. Matt did the driving, and what was interesting to him is that all the things that he thought would be troublesome, weren't. For example, the fact that we were on the left hand side of the road wasn't a problem. What threw him for a loop was the layout of the car - specifically, he would always reach for the seat belt to his right (it's on the left) and every time he wanted to use his blinkers, he switched on the windshield wipers (they are switched). So not only is the driving direction the reverse of what we are used to, all the bells and whistles in the car are switched as well, which we had not even considered. For me, riding as a passenger on the left hand side of the car was pretty weird too. But we got the hang of it, and now we are mobile!

Cameron Highlands was nice and cool, which was exactly what we were after. We stayed at Cameron Highlands Resort, which was nice but totally overpriced. However, we had a chance to drive around and found a couple other less expensive places to stay next time, like Bala's Chalet. We will definitely go back - the weather was fantastic, the scenery was beautiful and it had a nice mix of the types of things we like to do.

The one low point of our weekend was when, on the way back, about an hour or so outside of KL, our rental car just....stopped working. We were crusing down the North-South Highway at about 120 km/hour when, the engine just stopped. No sputtering, no warning, but at least we were able to make it across three or so lanes of traffic to get to the side of the road. And thus began our adventure titled "What the Hell do you do when stranded on the side of a road in a foreign country?"

I will try to make this explanation short, although it seemed the experience was neverending. We called the rental guy, and shortly thereafter a mechanic showed up on the side of the road. We asked, "Did Hawk send you?" he said yes, and that was about all the English we got out of him. That and "Looks like the timing belt." He told us to wait there and left. We called the rental guy back and turns out, no one had called a mechanic. So we aren't sure what that was all about. The rental guy said, "Someone is on his way." Now, this is at 4pm on a sunny day in Malaysia, so it's not exactly pleasant sitting in a car on the side of the freeway in the baking sun. After several more calls to the rental guy (some of which he answered, some went to voicemail), we thought someone was coming to get us. After getting the guy's voicemail, we called the agency number on the sticker inside the car. Guess what? Disconnected. WTF?

Anyway, it seemed like the rental car company didn't really have a standard procedure for this, so it took about 5 or 6 calls before we finally got it straightened out and the rental guy came to get us. Luckily we had a bit of water left from our hike that morning, because by the time he got there, we had been sitting in the sun on the side of the road for two hours. Matt and I talked about it, and we honestly don't know if, had this happened in the US, if the response would have been any better. However, while we were waiting, several people stopped and asked if we needed help, which I thought was very nice. And we saw a full rainbow on the way home :)

So, lessons learned:
1) Take water on future road trips. You never know when you will need it!
2) Find out what the procedure is for car trouble. I was all worried about the insurance, but it didn't even cross my mind that the car would break down.
3) Get a car that was serviced in a timely manner. Turns out, ours was overdue when we got it. I don't know if it would have made a difference, but we were less than pleased when we did the math on the side of the road and discovered that ours was overdue.

Can't wait to hit the road again (with a serviced car, of course)!

Maintenance Woes

Our bedroom air conditioner is leaking. Again. Okay, a bit of background here...

We have had numerous maintenance issues since we moved in last October. The one that is probably most bothersome are the aircon leaks. I mean, who wants a big water spot on their ceiling? They service the aircon once a month here. I don't know what they do, but they come in with their ladder and do something to it. Last month, after they serviced it, we had a leak. This involved me calling the management office repeatedly until I could get someone to answer, explaining the problem, and then at some random point within a few days the maintenance folks come up and look at it. Now, they usually can't fix it, they have to call the aircon people to fix it, so I don't know if they just come up here to verify that I'm not crazy or what, but anyway. So then, a few days later the aircon people will show up to fix it.

So, we had the leak. They fixed it. Then about a week after they fixed it, the aircon stopped cooling in the bedroom. We had it on 16 celsius continuously and it never got cool. I hate being hot when I sleep. So my husband, who has some background in HVAC, said it needed a charge. So I call and explain this to maintenance, telling them to go ahead and call the aircon people, there was no need to come check it out first. Let's cut out the middle man here. But of course that didn't happen so about 10 days later the aircon was fixed. Ah, sweet air conditioning!

That's just about the time that it was time for the aircon to be serviced again. Once again, after they serviced it, there was a leak. A big leak. So again I call. Again they come and look at it. They said that the drip pan (I'm assuming) was tilted so the water was dripping, which made sense to me. So they fixed it and left. Then I went back there and while they may have fixed the leak, now the damn thing is making this rattling, whirring noise that it did NOT make prior to their little visit.

So I again call the management office repeatedly, finally getting someone, and they send maintenance back upstairs. What a shocker! They are going to have to call the aircon people! So apparently they fixed the leak, broke the damn thing and now can't fix what they broke.

So hopefully in a week or two we will have fully functioning aircon. Not a bad thing to have in a tropical environment, huh?

Ahhh..just another fun filled day in Malaysia :)

Why Do I Torture Myself?

Masochism = shopping for jeans in size sub zero land.

The women in Asia need to eat a burger. Or maybe I need to stop eating so many. One of those. I vote for feeding the tiny Asian women.

My calves will barely fit into some of these jeans. It's just plain wrong.

More on Censorship

I'm becoming more aware of the censorship that happens in Malaysia, not only in television and movies, but also books. I recently came across a list of recently "banned" books as well as "restricted" books.

For some interesting reading on how book banning works in Malaysia, please read:

http://freethebooks.blogspot.com/2006/11/banned-books-malaysia-101_05.html

The following books have recently been banned in Malaysia (meaning they have been officially banned by the Internal SecurityMinistry of Malaysia for disrupting peace and harmony) :

1. The Bargaining for Israel: In the Shadow of Armageddon authored by Mona Johulan and published by Bridge-Logos Publishers, United States (USA).
2. Islam (Mathew S Gordon, Oxford University Press)
3. Lifting the Veil (Trudie Crawford, Apple of Gold, United States)
4. A Fundamental Fear of Eurocentrism and the Emergence of Islamism (Bobby S Sayyid, Z
ed Books Ltd, United Kingdom)
5. Islam Revealed - A Christian Arab's View of Islam (Dr Anis A Shorrosh, Thomas Nelson Publishers, USA)
6. What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam (John L Esposito, OUP)
7. Mini Skirts Mothers & Muslims (Christine Mallouhi, publisher not available)
8. The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Karen Armstrong, Harper Collins, UK)
9. Kundalini For Beginners (Ravindra Kumar, Health Harmony, B Jain Publishers (P) Ltd, India)10. Sacred Books of the East (Epiphanius Wilson, J-Jeiley Asian Educational Services, India)
11. Sharing Your Faith with A Muslim (Akbidayah Akbar Abdul-Haqq, Bethany House Publishers, USA)
12. Cults, World Religions and The Occult (Kenneth Bon, Chariot Victor Publishings, UK)
13. Petua dan Doa Pendinding, Penawar, Penyembuh Penyakit (Awang Mohd Yahya, Unsie Publisher, Kuala Lumpur)
14. Hakikat & Hikmah 7 Hari Dalam Seminggu (Abu Nashr Al-Hamdanly, Pustaka Ilmi, Batu Caves, Selangor)
15. Pemuda Bani Tamim Perintis Jalan Imam Mahdi (Abu Muhammad, Penerbit Giliran Timor)16. Kontroversi Hukum Hudud (Kassim Ahmad, Forum Iqra Berhad, Penang)
17. Risalah No.2 Dilema Umat Islam-Antara Hadis dan Quran (Kassim Ahmad, Forum Iqra Berhad, Penang)
18. Siri 7 Amalan-Amalan Bid'ah Pada Bulan Syaban (Ustaz Rasul bin Dahri, Percetakan Putrajaya Sdn Bhd)

Also, the Home Ministry or Kementarian Dalam Negeri (KDN) has the power to ban books that it feels are "detrimental to public order" or may "contribute to immorality". These are the "restricted" books. My understanding is that these can be arbitrarily confiscated by a customs agent if they feel that the book is not suitable for Malaysian readers. This happens on the spot when book shipments pass through customs.

Books Restricted by KND Johor Bahru - List 1 ISBN
1 1840282509 Well Woman's Sourcebook (Hardcover)
2 9812320822 Beauty of Yixing Teapots (Hardcover)
3 1903816378 The Heart of Tantric Sex (Paperback)
4 9813056223 The missing page (Paperback)
5 9813056703 No Money, No Honey! A Candid Look at Sex-for-Sale in Singapore
6 9813056096 The SPG Rides Again
7 0375756469 Women (Paperback)
8 0811845737 Fashion Illustration Next (Paperback)
9 981305655x "Ransom" by Douglas Chua
10 0312873077 Knife of Dreams (Wheel of Time (Hardcover)) - Robert Jordan
11 1853755605 Things a Woman Should Know About Seduction (Paperback)
12 9813056606 Revenge of the Sarong Party Girl by Jim Aitchison
13 0099648814 The Private Life of Chairman Mao (Paperback)
14 0521609763 Company to Company Teacher's Book (Paperback)
15 0785378103 Poems & Prayers for Children (Hardcover)
16 0785368760 Read-Aloud Children's Classics
17 1840189096 1001 Nights Without Sex: The Curse of the Single Girl (Paperback)
18 1843401703 Composition (The Photographer's Guide To...) (Paperback)
19 1840725222 Seduce: 100 Tips to Arouse (Hardcover)
20 0749325003 Taking Chances (Paperback)
21 1844425762 "Vogue" Make-up (Paperback)
22 1844422968 Sexual Intelligence (Hardcover)
23 0099591111 Filth (Paperback) - Irwing Welsh
24 1850436665 Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror (Paperback)
25 0716757230 Practice of Business Statistics (Hardcover)
26 0099273675 A History of God (Paperback)
27 0304357278 E-tales: The Best (and Worst) of Internet Humour (Hardcover)
28 1844422968 Sexual Intelligence (Hardcover)
29 9813056363 The Official Guide to the Sarong Party Girl
30 0224077643 Memories of My Melancholy Whores (Hardcover)
31 1412735467 Sea Sale: SpongeBob Squarepants
32 1412733820 Counting Adventures Sound Activity Book, by Disney
33 1412731755 Dora's Fiesta Adventure ActivePoint Book Set! [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover) 34 1412735297 MUSIC FOR SLEEPY BABIES
35 1412731747 Count On Me (Spongebob Square Pants)
36 1412735610 The Wiggles Shop Wiggly Jukebox
37 0719566762 Mao: A Life
38 0572028806 Anatomy for the Artist: They Dynamics of Human Form (Paperback)
39 009189753X Feel: Robbie Williams (Hardcover)
40 0744586828 Bits, Boobs and Blobs (Paperback)
41 0679463356 Shalimar the Clown (Hardcover)
42 0099283360 Atomised (Paperback)
43 0224060066 Clubland (Paperback)
44 0091795346 The Dirty Girls Social Club (Paperback)
45 0099437880 Platform (Paperback)
46 0749932155 Carolina Moon (Paperback)
47 1844541320 Being Jordan (Paperback)
48 0521539064 An Introduction to Islam (Introduction to Religion) (Paperback)
49 1853755540 Sex Lives of the Famous Gays (Paperback)
50 1844425703 The Dirty Girl's Joke Book 2: Provocative Puns and Laugh-a-minute Gags: Bk.2 (Paperback)
51 0285635549 10 Commandments of Pleasure: Erotic Keys to a Healthy Sexual Life (Paperback)
52 1582380570 How to Talk to Your Child About Sex: It's Best to Start Early, But It's Never Too Late : a Step-by-Step Guide for Every Age (Paperback)
53 1844425991 "FHM" True Stories 2 (Paperback)
54 1841612146 Men ... the Insufferable Sex (Paperback) 55 0091878438 The New Book of Massage (Paperback)
56 0330411500 Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood (Paperback)
57 0752845985 Lip Kisses (Paperback)
58 0749931671 Lip Service (Paperback)
59 0091880688 Little Book of the Kama Sutra (Paperback)
60 0099648814 The Private Life of Chairman Mao (Paperback)
61 1400054788 The Probability of God: A Simple Calculation That Proves the Ultimate Truth (Paperback)
62 0521425387 Life on Earth: And Other Pieces (New Cambridge English Course) (Paperback) 63 1853755540 Sex Lives of the Famous Gays (Paperback)
64 0091815290 Mars and Venus in the Bedroom: A Guide to Lasting Romance and Passion (Paperback)
65 0744586836 Snogs, Sex and Soulmates (Paperback)
66 0749395923 The Malayan Trilogy: "Time for a Tiger", "Enemy in the Blanket", "Beds in the East" (Vintage Classics) (Paperback)
67 1896597777 Scrapbook (Paperback)
68 0969670117 Playboy (Paperback)
69 0340752114 Sex Etiquette (Paperback)
70 0969670141 The Best of "Drawn and Quarterly" (Paperback)
71 1896597440 The Poor Bastard (Paperback)
72 189659770X It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken: A Picture Novella (Paperback)
73 1896597416 Vernacular Drawings (Hardcover)
74 1896597831 My New York Diary (Paperback)
75 189659784X Clyde Fans: Bk.1 (Hardcover)
76 071532067X Bra: A Thousand Years of Style, Support and Seduction (Hardcover)
77 0099429780 Peoplewatching: The Desmond Morris Guide to Body Language (Paperback)
78 0679463348 Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002 (Hardcover)
79 1844424065 "Vogue" Beauty (Paperback)
80 1843308940 Sex,Lies and Stereotypes: Challenging Views of Women, Men, and Relationships (Paperback)
81 0375701958 Breastfeeding Your Baby: Revised Edition (Paperback)
82 1846091586 Addicted to Love: The Kate Moss Story (Paperback)
83 0812577566 Knife of Dreams (Wheel of Time (Paperback)) (Mass Market Paperback)
84 0761535810 Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War On America (Paperback)
85 0330433059 Dining with Terrorists (Paperback)
86 0375756981 The Vagina Monologues (Paperback)
87 0812976533 Midnight's Children (Paperback)
88 0805053115 The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey (Paperback)
89 1857152174 Midnight's Children (Everyman's Library Classics) (Hardcover)
90 0099421860 Fury (Paperback)
91 0224061593 Fury (Hardcover)
92 0099443384 Fury (Paperback)
93 0679783504 Fury (Modern Library) (Paperback)
94 0375759603 Fury. (Paperback)
95 0312422784 The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey (Paperback)
96 0812969030 Midnight's Children (Modern Library (Paperback)) (Paperback)
97 0099578611 Shame (Paperback)
98 0312270933 Shame (Paperback)
99 0099421879 Step Across This Line (Paperback)
100 0333490207 Salman Rushdie and the Third World: Myths of the Nation (Hardcover)
101 0224061615 Shalimar the Clown (Hardcover)
102 0224061607 Step Across This Line: Collected Non-fiction 1992-2002 (Hardcover)
103 0679783490 Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002 (Modern Library (Paperback)) (Paperback)
104 0099578514 Midnight's Children (Paperback)
105 0099268132 The Swimming-pool Library (Paperback) 106 1844421791 The Best Sex Positions Ever (Hardcover)
107 1843171961 Sex in Every City: How to Talk Dirty in Every Language (Paperback)
108 9812040978 Bali Style (Hardcover)
109 0393061221 Making Globalization Work (Hardcover)

First let me say, I am completely against censorship in any form. However, aside from that, I guess I can sort of see why some of the more obviously sexually graphic novels make the list. But other than that, I figure it's pointless to try to figure out the logic here. Far be it from me to want to learn the latest makeup styles, how to breastfeed my baby, or what Michael Jordan's childhood was like. Furthermore, I guess wanting to teach my child about sex education (horror!), put music on to help my baby sleep and then dig into a nice business statistics book is detrimental to public order.

But alas! - Not all books are banned in Malaysia. Next time you are in the KL airport, you can pick up an English edition of Hitler's "Mein Kampf", right at the front of the store. Now, I don't think this book should be banned either. But given the list above, can someone tell me why this one didn't make the cut when SpongeBob is such an obvious threat?

So, read on, America! Maybe you can tell me how Dora's Fiesta Adventure ends!

Street Harassment Rant

I just got back from a quick jaunt to the office and once again, I was harassed on the way to work and then on the way to home. About 80% of the time, something happens when I walk by myself on the streets of KL. Many times, it's construction workers whistling and catcalling from the buildings that they are working on, but a lot of the time it's also from passing cars, trucks and scooters. I am so disgusted by it! Usually, the f*ckers that do it from a car or a scooter just either whistle or go "hellooo", but I would actually be less offended if they just grabbed their crotch or at least just said what was on their minds, because they ain't just saying hello when they are saying hello - they know it and I know it. Snively little perverts "pretend" to be nice by saying hello, but how many people just randomly say "hello" from a car to a stranger on the street? And it's not "hello" as in "hello, how are you?" but "heellloooo", all singsong-like. What do they think, that I will give them a big smile, a big wave and say, "Hi! How y'all doin'? Sure, I'd love to take a ride on the back of your scooter!! You know, I'm not from around here..." A woman just knows what they are getting at, you know? The least they could do is have the balls to just say it.

Today it was even better. On the way to work, I had a guy intentionally scare me from a truck parked on the side of the road. He made a loud noise when I walked by, and it made me think someone had snuck up behind me on the sidewalk. I was between a construction and a line of trucks on the road, so I was spooked, not because I thought I would be hurt, but I'm usually more worried about someone snatching my bag. He wasn't sneezing, or coughing, or talking on his mobile phone, he just grunted REALLY loud when I walked by. Fucker.

Then on the way home, I was coming up against a couple of construction workers on the sidewalk who were coming back from lunch. I was so preoccupied with the fact that they were going to say something to me (which they didn't, by the way) , that I didn't even notice, at first, the guy leaning out of his van window going "Heelloooo? Hellloooo? How are youuuu?"

Now, let me just say that this is not all men KL, not by any means. I have met countless nice, polite, chivalrous men here. But it's these few that are on my last nerve.

Now, I never really feel threatened or in harm's way when these things happen, I'm just totally disgusted and insulted with their insidious ways. Do they think I am such an idiot that I am fooled by their false politeness? It's just creepy to me. I hope they don't pull that one day when I am in the wrong mood, or else I will beat them about the head with my umbrella.