30.11.10

The Lady

In The Ladies, continued.

I went closer to
Zoky.

Grabbed some tissues as I moved away from her. While I'm wiping my hands, I wiped my thoughts, whatever that is. I am still breathing as deep. My heart is still pounding as hard. I quickly grabbed the door handle, and held it open to wait for her. I catch a glimpse of air as soon as we left the toilet.

We parted with a goodnight after I sent her home.

Conscience 1: What the fuck!?
You are most stupidest man alive! You go talk to him!
Conscience 2: I'm not asking you to... sigh... forget it.






She is a very good friend that I've known for a while.

Over the time, we have built friendship and
respects. A bond that only we know. It's just a fine line of crossing over to the wrong side. It confuses me at times. I can't deny I am fond of her. But I don't want it to start this way. And definitely don't want it to end like this.

Not in this situation.

Not in this place.

Not now.

24.11.10

In The Ladies

Sneaking in The Ladies, continued.

Not so much of a difference, besides there is no standing urinal for man. It's clear of ciggy smell too. Since I'm already here, might as well I relieve myself. There are two cubicles. She went into one, I went in the other.

We started talking through the wall.



"You pee so loud!"

"(Chuckle) Yeah! Even my friends said I pee like a guy."

"High pressure..."



We emptied our bladder, and got out.

She washes her hands on the left, I stood on the right. I then looked up through her reflection on the mirror. Tracing her contour from the belly up. To her cleavage, then her collarbones. The shadow fell just at the right place on her neck from the yellow lights above. Oh, that lips of hers...

Zoky then looked up.

I met her eyes, and gave her a smile. She smiled back. She seems to be blushing. But for sure I am. Why is my heart pounding so violently? Why are my ears burning? My head is spinning. Oh, no. Please don't black out
now.

I took a deeper
breath.

Conscience 1: Chances like these don't always
happen. Do it!
Conscience
2: No! Don't! Please, no!

Please forgive me...

21.11.10

Sneaking in The Ladies

Sneaked in The Ladies yesterday, continued.

Zoky
recalled the stories that Diam-Diam told her of the weird happenings and unknown entities lingering around on our floor. She was afraid to go in the ladies, even I told her it was okay. Even said I
will be around.

She asked me to accompany her.
Inside.

I didn't want to. Instead, told her I will stand outside the door. Not budging a move. Wait for her. And keep talking through the wall. I must have the worst persuasion skill when it comes to this. She still refused to.

Seeing her not
feeling comfortable, I gave in.

Though everyone had left the office, I still looked around before my entry. I don't want to make it so grand lah.

And we went in...

14.11.10

The Spirits

We were at Fun Size's place playing Siam Blackjack.

She wasn't playing. Just flipping through the channels on Astro. She then stopped at Animal Planet. It was airing a program that showcased an animal testing lab back in the early 20th century. Particularly on primates.

The lab is haunted.
Wait... (it got us to stop playing). What is a haunted place doing in Animal Planet? Salah slot kah? It was haunted not by human spirit, but monkeys'. Seriously? Monkeys?

Since Primary Two then wondered:



"When human have encounters with ghosts, they call the psychics. If animal spirits, who do they call?"

"The zoo keeper lor..."



Yeah, I know. It was so random.
We were all in tears. Almost cramped ourselves laughing.

There were human spirits. Now, animal spirits. Human. The weirdest living creature that has all the things going on in his mind. I won't be surprise hearing what's next.

Insect spirits bugging you. Pun intended.

10.11.10

Many, many Sundaes ago

What is so special about this sundae?

It was my winning bet...




Strawberry for me, chocolate for Diam-Diam



... back when everyone was having the World Cup fever!

It was that many Sundaes ago.

I'm not a football fan. I don't really know who's who, and which team is playing. Diam-Diam came to me one day, ajak to bet lah. She already chose hers, left me with no other choice. But since everyone was betting, and ours does not involve money, so why not.

I didn't watch the match. Only to find out the next morning. And best of all, I can't even remember which team I bet on. I even asked her to remind me! But a bet is still a bet. I understand her jeling-ing at me. For a person who know nothing about football to win a bet even without watching is demoralizing, right?

Beginner's luck.

After months of bugging her, from "I feels like strawberry today." to "Don't you think my shirt look like a strawberry?", from randomly pointing a deco on her desk blurting "Strawberry!" to "They should garnish this with strawberries" to my meal, and other similar variance posted in our Facebook walls, and my MSN statuses, I finally got it.

But it comes with a catch. She don't do deliveries.

The title was my MSN status.

7.11.10

Twice a fool

In Since Primary Two's car.

At an open road. Ten odd street lamps to the traffic light. It was green.

He clutched in, dropped gear, and floored the accel. Boost kicked in. Needles jumped.
The car torque steered. We were glued to the seats, as the wastegate screamed. Adrenaline started pumping. Orgasmic!

The light turned yellow! He braked hard... *potong steam*

At the red, we had a small talk.



"Even a Ferrari or Lambo can't beat that..."

"Yea lah wei..."

"Unless we can teleport in front lah."

"...(Stared at me, short pause)... If we can teleport, we teleport home lah! Still wanna teleport in front the traffic light meh!?"



Why didn't I think of that!? We had this exact conversation twice! At the exact same spot! On different occasions!



"Two bloody times you said that wei!"

"I know lah!... You don't let the teleport not enough power ar!?
(cover malu)... You still layan the first part what!"

"HAhAhAhAHAHHAAHAH!"

"Let's make it 3. Third time's a charm. Or lucky number 7!"

"HAhAhAhAhAHHAA! (Long pause)... Don't wei!"



We cried all the way home.

5.11.10

Whose idea was that?

Came a brief for The Shower Foam.

The message was simple - to own a category where other brands have not. But what the client wanted to own, is too similar to 89,168,605,321.73 brands out there in the market. Did I mention it was for a capped TV spot? A budget so low that any production house would pretend they didn't know us.

We were working on it for 3 nights. Nothing solid. Shades came to me one night. We spoke a little about the brand essence itself. He gave the green light to look away from the brief. Take whatever that was in it as secondaries. Try a different angle. Look at a bigger picture.

The big idea, that is.

Had a chat with More Than a Cycle the next day. He was more than glad that we can ignore the brief. A
t least for now. One thing led to another. One idea sparked the other. We quickly gathered as much when we're satisfied with what we have after hours of bouncing off.

Showed them to Shades. "Almost there." It is still lack of that idea. Rethink. Well, the rejection wasn't brutal, really. But damn. Thought we have nailed it. Back to the drawing board. So, we decided to split. And work on it separately. I came up with 3 different scripts based on that one strong idea. A la Yasmin Ahmad style.

Shades compiled everything for the internal review day to the suits. Towards the end, one of my script was mentioned. It was selected among a couple more for the client presentation.

The thing about advertising is, you
rarely work alone during the ideation stage. You will be working in a team. The initial first thought will eventually evolve. An idea will overlap another. A thought will generate newer, better thoughts. Up to a point, no one knows who is doing what anymore.

Up to this day, I still hear creatives ask why named an art director in a copy-based ad. Or why is the copywriter in a visual driven ad.

We are not in the golden age of advertising in the 60s anymore.
Though your tools of trade weighs more to either side, art directors are not layout artist, and copywriters don't just write. Learn to accept this fact... no, changing trend of the industry.

If you insist, "What triggers that idea?", may sound more appropriate.


• • • • •


On an extra note...

We got the news that all 3 storyboards got shot down. All. Three. Boards. Triple sighs. Client decided to go for their own idea.

They should have just liaise with the production house of their choice directly in the first place. Call us in to supervise the shoot. Rather than asking for a solution when they already had something in mind.

Well, at least I can face myself and loudly say I tried my best.

2.11.10

The "should have" moment

Just as I about to swerve in the entrance ramp to the parking today, a black mini MPV in front of me stopped. A well-dressed woman in lilac got down. What? Wait. You planning to dock just right here?

I gave her a polite honk. She then walked towards me. She gave me that disgusted look you only see in certain kind/type of people.



"Awak block parking... (before I could continue)"

"Lah, sabar lah, aduh!"



Then her car moved!

Oh! Okay... the passenger switched place from the inside. The fuck I know ar!? Your car was almost illegally tinted. You got down from the driver's side. There was about 20 feet to my car. The time it took you to come over to blurted out the "sabar" thingy, would have taken you enough time to indicate someone is in there, and was about to leave. Signal lights don't come optional with the purchase of the car.

I understand that sabar is separuh dari iman. Or whatever you wanna put it. The look on your pathetic face isn't sabar as well.

I should have screw the fuck out of her then.

Yeah. That moment.



Good start of the day.

1.11.10

This is what we go through everyday


Dubbed in Cantonese. Couldn't find one with English subtitle. Sorry.



Sad, but true.