leaving for malaysia to have a really bad holiday in a few hours.

my 15 year old, 178cm cousins who call me shortie, despite the fact that i am the tallest female cousin they have, eventhough i am one of the youngest.

my biased grandparents. who still believe that all girls should do is look after the house, and are horribly worried that i am unable to cook, clean or take care of anyone, apart from myself.

[i can operate the washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, microwave oven, gas stove, steamer, (this is thanks to gwen who gave me instructions on how to steam siewmai at home through the phone) blender, computer, handphone, printer, scanner, camera, television vcr and the phone.. so basically, in this milenium, i can easily qualify as being self sufficient.]

but they are far from contented as they feel that the washboard, wooden stove and knives should be the acumen of all women.

and i, being myself, would rather just ignore their nagging every visit rather than pick up a broom. or a mop. or the chopping board.

and shall pretend that i don't know the fact that they are angry at me for being born female. [since according to some form of their warped numerology, if i had been born a male, all the world's joy and prosperity would fall upon the both of them.]

well, now they are stuck with a sulky, monosyllabic teenager, who usually glares at them when they throw me an insult.

when i was still a young and fiesty kid, i would yell back. which is probably the reason why they think i am such a stuck up kid now.

my father would be in kuala lumpur for business. so naturally, he has his own hotel room. he could have turned it down, but..

dad: give up my hotel room? give up the chance to let your mother stay with her parents and be happy with me, and still be able to maintain my composure, by being away from them? no way.
me: WHAT ABOUT ME?! I HATE MY GRANDPARENTS.
dad: no, no. you cannot say that you hate them. they are your family, anyway.
me: they are yours too.
dad: no. they are only my in-laws because i married your mother. you, are the one who is related to them.
me: fine. then why are they so mean to me?
dad: oh. they are old. old people are like that.
me: mean and surly to me?
dad: ..no.
me: then explain why they are nice to all the others. they are nice to geetha since she is their oldest grandchild. and they are nice to all the boys. and the babies. why are they so mean to me? me, specifically. why just me?
dad: (knows what i am saying is true, but knows that if he agrees, i would use this as an excuse to avoid them forever.) they are old. you have to see them as much as you can.
me: this coming from the man whose parents i have seen twice in my life.
mom: (overhearing the conversation) so go live with your other grandmother then!

this is the time where my sister and i have learnt how to shut up.

my mother hates her mother-in-law.
she hated her father-in-law too. but he died.
any mention of her, meant that she was really angry.

my dad does not particularly like his in laws either.
but he learns to live with them.
something that i desperately need to master.

but i was suprised my mother was angry, since she was basically the one who confirmed that her parents did not particularly like me.

oh well.
both of our parents hate their in laws.
yet always seem to pretend that they find them all right when they meet them.
and then come back home and become all grumpy.

like germany and russia.
they both hate each other but pretend to be friends.

this might have a detrimental affect on gee and myself.

all the relatives we have keep pressuring her to get married. because when they were 26, they were already married.

they come and interrogate me too.

but i, being the protective younger sister, am usually the one who politely tells them to lay off, pointing out the fact that she has an extremely demanding job, and besides, our mother got married at 26 too, so they cannot exactly call gee old.

but we both know the real reason.

"you marry the family."

this was something our mother drilled into our heads since we were born.
her motto, of sorts, when it comes to discussing relationships.

after all, according to her, "i could have married the minister's son. but i chose your father. your father is a wonderful man, but it was a horrible mistake since i ended up with the bitch as my mother-in-law."

that's how she refers to her.
the bitch.

and that is why, neither of us is ever going to get married.

well, gee can speak for herself,
but *i* am never going to get married.

unless i find a husband who would agree with me that we would live far away from the in-laws. and never have to visit them unless absolutely neccessary.

back to the main point.

my mom would be staying with her parents in their house.
so i am obliged to too. since they are my grandparents.

but my lucky dad gets his own hotel room.

so i plan to strike a deal with them in the car on the way there.

if i get insulted 3 times in the first hour there, dad can scoot over and make way for me in his room.

which seems reasonable.
and likely to work.

since these are the grandparents who gave me RM5 for deepavali and RM 200 to my cousin, because he was a boy, and i had "no need for money."

yeah. right.

my then 14 year old cousin needed money to buy more action figures.

i, however, "do not need money". because i am a girl, after all, and perhaps in their warped logic, there is no need for girls to have money as they should spend all their time looking after the house, learning how to be a good wife. which is free.

so in the mean time, you, my dear reader get to look at a new template.
and this rather disgruntled post.

yes, i know, the old one lasted 4 days.

i just have slight add.

and besides, people were saying that i am unable to do a simple layout.

so here it is.

a nice simple layout.

3 font colours. [blue, brown and black.]

and just one image.

and in white. a minimalist colour.

so have fun staring at fragment. version 13.1
until i return.

which would be on thursday night. or maybe friday night, since next friday i will be at the alliance, acting in some almost zero budget short french movie.

or maybe earlier if i can bribe one of my cousins to let me use his computer.

whatever it is, i need to brush up on my pronunciation.