Today I ain't wishing anywan Happy Merdeka!

I don't feel it -- the APiness. No, not that AP that Rafiday Azis is famnous for -- getting RM20,000 just wit' wan!

I don't feel the past year in Malaysia is something good on the balancing scale of GOoD versus Bad. Good is spelt thus with a GOD within it, as in accordance with Rukunegara's first tenet: Belief in God.

Malaysian leaders in general, spearheaded by UMNO on the decline, and the mainstream media spearheaded by Utusan Malaysia, forever stirring out shit often encouraged by PERKOSA -- oops, Perkasa! -- leaders. I am no supporter of the ISA, but if it was used to detain some journalists for their own safety, and some Immigration/Customs officers to help them realise and repent their wrongs to be relaesed after a few months after being suspected for "human trafficking" offences!, then I think there is a case to detain Awang Selamat of Utusan for the shit stirring in regular fashion. Even the ISA has some undefined mission like a religious centre, then I believe Home Minister himself Hishamuddin Hussein Onn should also spend a few months in Kamunting. I don't need to elaborate.

So today I send out no 54th Merdeka GreAtings...

BUT I PLUCKED from BUM2011 Co-chair Maverick DR SM Yeoh's blog a relevant, revealing post jest for FUNd:)

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Tale of a Kulai Student

It was the first day of a school in Kulai, Johor and a new Chinese student named Chong Shan entered Standard four.

The teacher said, "Let's begin by reviewing some Malaysian History. Who said 'Merdeka, Merdeka"

She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Chong Shan who had his hand up: 'Tengku Abdul Rahman, 31 August 1957'.

'Very good! Who said 'China’s communist-authoritarian rule is more effective than the ‘democracy’ practiced in Malaysia?''

Again, no response except from Chong Shan. 'Mamakkutty from Kerala,
2010'.

The teacher snapped at the class, 'Boys, you should be ashamed. Chong Shan, who is classified as a pendatang to our country, knows more about our history than you do.' She heard a loud whisper: '@#$** ___ the Chinese.'

'Who said that?' she demanded. Chong Shan put his hand up. 'Perkasa Chief, Ibrahim Ali.'

Now furious, another student yells, 'yeah, I am Malay first, Malaysian second!'

Chong Shan jumps out of his chair waving his hand and shouts to the teacher, 'Muhyideen Mohd Yassin, 2010'.

At that point, a student in the back said, 'Correct, correct, correct!'

The teacher glares around and asks 'All right! Now, who said that?'

Again, Chong Shan says, 'Lawyer VK Lingam in a telephone conversation brokering the appointment of top judges with the former Chief Justice.'

Now with almost mob hysteria someone said, 'I am not ashamed to admit that I cannot compete with the Chinese and Indian students.'

Chong Shan frantically yells at the top of his voice, 'Mamakkutty from
Kerala in Medical College.'

The teacher fainted.

And as the class gathered around her on the floor, someone said, 'Oh shit, we're screwed!'

And Chong Shan said softly, 'I think it was Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 2008'.

***
Article from: BayiSingh

***

Posted by Maverick SM

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

GREaTings to all my MUslim fRiends -- you know you are one if you desipher my odd writHings! -- and my EsteemedReaders who chance upon this funDny cyber home:)

Seremban -- famous for its SE7EN STONES -- and Lingam's BestA Kambing. Wanna try it? Kambing-lah!:) ~~ YL. Desi

Two of my BUM buds have written on MAS and MAS/SIA...

and we can learn/unlearn some corporate and private citizens' viewpoint and concerns of two contrasting airlings' operations... Oh, coming into the picture is also Tony Fernandez' AirAsia.

From A Little Tafler's Room at melvin-mah.blogspot.com:

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

MAS' Red Marks

Half-billion ringgit loss for second quarter. That's what the results from the MAS earnings was like, with such result shows the roller-coaster effect that the main Malaysian airline is facing in the last few years like. I can see that if there's one reason, it's because of the popularity and the better alternative of Air Asia that sales for MAS dropped - that would be my first inference and talk about it.

Unless of course other airlines don't have the destinations that MAS gives, then of course you would go for the current ailing airline. I once remembered that the staff and crew were complaining that their salaries were the lowest of the region, if I am not mistaken that is.

If I look at the diagram above, SIA has always been very consistent in its sales and services, and multiply the net profits by 2.4, even theirs have surpassed our lines. One of my relatives who is in service there told me that their annual bonuses is 1/4 of the yearly salary (for one of the years there).

I can only say that the why MAS got red margins not just only this year, but in previous years is simply because of how it was badly handled in the beginning. The bailout in 2001 to this day never restored the company back to its prime moments. Though Idris Jala did manage a turnaround, it was partially finished, never to the full restoration until he got roped in to be in Pemandu lab head. Then comes the hedging oil strategy and positioning, it looks like at the wrong end. It should have been placed around a 5-10% lower than the estimate because the fuel prices will eventually go down somehow. People realized in 2008 that going to 147 and up was totally impossible because there is a bubble limit before it gets burst.

If MAS says that the fuel costs was the main problem behind the half-a billion dollar lost, then the problem is the ringgit is weak and still at an unacceptable levels. It has to go up some more. Why does SIA still remains successful? You look at how SGD vs USD - 1.2 to 1, easy to buy fuel, and what about us? 3 to 1, so how much money did we lose due to exchange rates?

It's a false footing for the so call Najib's ETP. The ETP's progress and funding assumes that the yearly GDP is no less than 6% or more but with world markets taken a beating in the last few weeks, it is virtually impossible to reach the 6%, so it's likely a setback and at least a six month delay in the roadmap. Frankly, I don't really believe in the "our economics are strong" statement. That sounds like McCain's and a right-wing statement, a statement that cost McCain in his presidency against Obama.

To travel by air at this point of time, for the poor, will be hard...very very hard.

From DonPrayPuks @ :) 12/08/2011 MANA ADA SISTEM AIRLINES - MY 2007 NOSTRADAMNIC PREDICTION COME TRUE! by Earheart Lindhberg, Donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for aviation industrious crashing affairs Malaysian newspapers, online news portals and blogs are awash with breaking news that a certain share swap deal between Tony F of AA and major shareholder of Mana Ada Sistem Airlines (MASA), the Great Khazi, is just a precursor to the eventual complete takeover of MASA by TF who will finally be appointed the Managing Director and become the public face of MASA. Many suspect, and not without considerable justification, that the current situation where TF is a non-independent non-executive director of MASA is just an interim face-saving Ali-Baba arrangement to quell rebellion in the ranks and the natives in the "Malay heartland" (wherever that may, er, east of Kuala Selangor?) getting restless and rioting and looting (in Malaysia, no, never!) a la London and the Arab Spring Movement. In any event, the deal would make no sense unless TF has been given assurances that for the moment at least, he will be calling and firing the shots from behind the scene regardless of whom the Great Khazi says is the Chairman and the CEO. Many are against this share swap deal mainly because of the monopoly it will create and the hammering consumers will get from its price fixing. Nevertheless TF's management and entrepreneurial flair may just be what MASA needs to shake off over 30 years of social welfare-type management style, Government interference and mismanagement and crony and management led plundering and looting that has brought MASA to its knees. A prime example is the allegation that outsourcing of MASA's catering requirements to a relative of a former sleeping prime minister resulted in $2 nasi lemak packets being procured for $20!! More shocking are allegtaions that Indian vegetarian meals cost MASA $200 per set!!?? Forget me not too that Perterjunan Malaysia Berhad (PMB, 100% owned by the Great Khazi/Taxpayer) is said to be saddled with some estimated $10 billion over of re-structuring losses and irrecoverable aircraft leasing charges. Expect nothing less now than total staff shakeout and management re-structuring and VSS at MASA.TF and the Bina Fcukir boys will be fools if they don't start pruning, chopping, cleaning and clearing. An opportunity like this may not present itself more than once in 50 years! But, the Taxpayer is entitled to demand the Prime Minister and Government immediately provide clear cut answers to some very vexing questions: 1. How much in total has it costs us to re-structure MASA since a certain TR took over in the '90's? 2. How much irrecoverable loss is PMB carrying and how much are MASA's unpaid debts to PMB? 3. Why is foot-in-mouth Minister for Outlaws, Nazi, championing the case for various government agencies dropping their law suits against TR in favour of a secret settlement for an undisclosed sum (what, OSA classification again?) when there are several police reports by ex-MASA staff accusing TR of fraud, CBT and embezzlement. The fact that TR, as part of an "attack is the best form of defence" stragedy, has counter sued for $13 billion is irrelevant. The average Ali, Muthu and Chong out there will tell you TR has no case and to call his bluff! And "mengarah" does not mean "direct" or "order" but "advise"??!! My foot! No one must be allowed to get away with murder! (How many people remember or know that our former Finance Minister and billonaire Tun Daim Zainuddin and Tajuddin Ramli were once business partners in Raleigh Cycle Berhad in the '80's - refer pg.186 of 'Daim - The Man Behind The Enigma' by Cheong Mei Sui & Adibah Amin). I had predicted that something like this deal between MASA and Tony F/AA would happen, way back in 2007! Click Here Donplaypuks® with our airlines, man!

Sodomy II -- For the record from MI (5)

Pristine’ DNA profiles inconsistent with degradation, foreign expert tells Sodomy II

UPDATED @ 03:23:33 PM 26-08-2011

By Boo Su-Lyn

August 26, 2011

Dr Brian McDonald (L) said today the pristine condition of DNA profiles was inconsistent with degradation of sperm samples. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — The DNA profiles found in Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s anus were “pristine” despite the fact they were extracted more than 65 hours after a sex act is alleged to have taken place, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II trial heard today.

Australian DNA expert Dr Brian McDonald said the DNA profiles in three sperm samples taken from the complainant’s rectum showed “no evidence of degradation”.

Dr McDonald told the High Court here today that the DNA profile in one high rectal sample was pre-dominantly from “Male Y”, another was pre-dominantly Saiful’s, and the third — from the low rectal area — was inconclusive.

Government chemist Nor Aidora Saedon testified last February that the “Male Y” DNA profile matched those found on a “Good Morning” towel given to Anwar during his overnight detention in lock-up three years ago, when he was arrested for sodomising Saiful.

Anwar had refused to provide DNA samples in his first sodomy trial in 1998 for fear they could be manipulated.

Former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim also claimed last January that DNA evidence was fabricated in the Opposition Leader’s first sodomy trial.

Augustine Paul, the presiding judge then, expunged the entire DNA evidence to protect the integrity of the prosecution’s case.

The 64-year-old former deputy prime minister has dismissed his current sodomy trial as a political conspiracy to end his career.

He faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted under section 377B of the Penal Code for sodomising his former aide Saiful in 2008.

The defence has previously highlighted the fact that the samples swabbed from Saiful’s anus were also stored in an airtight receptacle and kept in a locker at room temperature, which Dr McDonald has said violated fundamental laboratory practices.

The bespectacled scientist said yesterday that the samples should have been smeared onto a glass slide, air-dried and immediately frozen at -20 degrees Centrigrade, to stop the growth of bacteria from destroying the sperm cells.

Australian forensic pathologist Dr David Wells also admitted recently the possibility of finding sperm heads inside a person’s rectum up to 65 hours after sex, but pointed out that a scientific finding could not be based on such a rare occurrence.

The defence expert witness was responding to a point raised by the prosecution of a separate case where sperm heads were discovered up to 65 hours after sex, shower and defecation.

Doctors from Hospital Kuala Lumpur who examined Saiful two days after the alleged sodomy have said they managed to obtain DNA specimens from the complainant’s rectum despite a lapse of 56 hours, which has been a key issue disputed by Anwar’s defence team.

Defence lawyer Sankara Nair, however, pointed out last Wednesday that the integrity of the sperm samples were even more questionable because a total of 90 hours had passed before the specimens were sent to the laboratory for analysis.

The trial resumes on September 19. ~~ MI

Belated Thanks from Desi, the knotty Chair of BUM2011:)

August 25, 2011

Acknowledgments

As Chairman of the BUM2011 Organising Committee, it is my pleasant duty to place on record our deepest appreciation to the following for their moral and financial support to enable us to succesfully =organise the fifth in our annual outings in the Bloggers Universe Malaysia series — this fifth and I believe could be swansong time — at an entirely different venua on July 24, 2011 at the Maju Palace Resutaurant in Kuala Lumpur, a move away from familiar LVC, Subang Jaya where we had nestled with Warren Buffet and Mary and her little lamb/s for four affairs.

Firstly, a word of thanks to the Selangor Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, for delivering the Keynote Address (second time in two consecutive years’ picnics…:) and financial support;

To the chief execitives of the following Companies/Corporations for supporting the luncheon in both moral and financial terms:

1. MAJU HOLDINGS
2. PAG
3. PETER KH TING
4. PERUNDING ATOZ
5. SUNBES SPECIALIST
6. YL YAP SPECIALIST

and, last but not least, to the Management and Staff of MAJU PALACE RESTAURANT for putting up with the ever-changiung demands and fancies put on them by the 4ever-in-a-flux-BUM Org Comm.

Wishing all/awe good luck, good health, and God bless; “Adieu, and not GOoDbye”

~~ YL Chong, Desiderata

Sodomy II -- For the record from MI (4)

‘Male Y’ DNA profile tainted, Sodomy II trial told

By Debra Chong

August 25, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — A local scientist had flubbed a crucial DNA profiling test that the prosecution had used to link Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to a charge of sodomising his former aide, an Australian DNA expert told the High Court today.

The defence team’s fourth witness, Dr Brian McDonald, said government chemist Nor Aidora Saedon had made a major miscalculation in her test that had led to Anwar being wrongly marked as “Male Y” whose DNA profile was allegedly found in complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s anus.

“What you have is evidence of a mixture of profiles. She reported them as a single profile,” Dr McDonald told the court.

He said she had messed up a fundamental guideline on how to perform the DNA profiling test, which gave her the wrong reading.

The opposition leader’s sodomy trial was given an indepth review of DNA analysis, including a deeply detailed explanation of how to mark and read the results.

“If these were tests done in school, she’d have failed them,” he told an amused court.

Anwar’s defence team had back in February this year, argued there were multiple DNA profiles on a “Good Morning” towel — a key evidence exhibit in the Sodomy II trial — given to the 64-year-old grandfather during his overnight lock-up three years ago, when he was arrested for sodomising Saiful.

Defence lawyer Ramkarpal Singh Deo had then said that based on an electropharogram test done by Nor Aidora on the towel, graph results showed that there were two DNA profiles — that of “Male Y” and that of an unknown DNA profile.

She had already testified on February 23 that the DNA profiles found on the said items matched that of an unknown “Male Y”, whose sperm extracts had been found in Saiful’s anus.

Ramkarpal said the “mixture” would have pointed out to another person’s DNA which would have contaminated the profile.

She appeared visibly annoyed when Ramkarpal accused her and her work mates in the Chemistry Department of possibly contaminating the evidence samples.

“There is no contamination by my staff or anyone else. It’s a single profile as reported,” Nor Aidora had said then.

She also maintained that despite not following standard guidelines in conducting the tests, protocol had been observed based on methods adopted by her department.

The trial will resume tomorrow with the Australian back in the witness box. ~~ MI

Sodomy II -- For the record from MI (3)

Sex not only reason for sperm in rectum, says forensic expert

UPDATED @ 04:28:28 PM 24-08-2011

By Debra Chong

August 24, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — Foreign sperm detected in the rectum can be inserted by means other than sexual activity, an Australian forensic pathologist told Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial today.

Dr David Wells, who was testifying for the defence, said penile penetration was not the only method to explain the presence of sperm in that area as there were other ways to leave a residue.

He named a few examples, such as through a surgical procedure or inserting an instrument called a proctoscope into the rectum, by pushing traces of sperm found outside the anal region into the cavity.

Dr Wells, who has written some 10 books on forensic medicine, said the use of a proctoscope could complicate matters more because one would not be able to discount the chance that sperm was pushed inside the rectum.

A proctoscope was also used by doctors to examine Anwar’s complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan when the latter sought medical aide two days after alleging he had been sodomised three years ago.

When defence lawyer Sankara Nair questioned if a plastic object, which had been raised in yesterday’s court hearing, could have the same effect, Dr Wells agreed.

He also said that not all victims of sodomy would necessarily display signs of anal injury.

Under questioning from Anwar’s defence team, Dr Wells clarified that such trauma from violent sexual activity would depend on the amount of force used and need not necessarily cause the anal tissues to tear or bruise.

The forensic expert had earlier told the prosecution the same thing.

Datuk Yusof Zainal Abiden had referred Dr Wells to his own book on the topic, and pointed out that the use of lubricant on the anus was among several ways that would not leave trauma scars.

The sexual assault specialist had been stumped earlier when Yusof asked, “If someone had tampered or planted sperm on the [rectal] swabs, that person must have had that particular sperm in his possession?”

Dr Wells replied that sperm and DNA were different things and added that the question would be better dealt with by a DNA expert.

Australian chemist Dr Brian McDonald who specialises in DNA is to testify tomorrow for the defence.

Anwar is charged with sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan at a condominium in Bukit Damansara here between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

He faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted under section 377B of the Penal Code, but will escape the whipping sentence due to his age. -- MI

Sodomy II -- For the record from MI (2)

Sodomy II: Forensic expert says HKL report ‘deficient’, flawed

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

August 23, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 — A forensic pathologist has challenged the results and findings of the Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) medical examination done on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s accuser Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, claiming that the medical report itself was “deficient.”

The defence’s second witness, forensic pathologist Dr David Wells told the High Court that parts of the report prepared by then-HKL doctors Dr Mohd Razali Ibrahim, Dr Siew Sheue Feng and Dr Khairul Nizam Hassan were inaccurate.

All three were the Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) doctors examining Saiful on June 28, 2008 when he complained that he had been sodomised by a “high-profile” politician.

“I didn’t get a sense of confidence that the authors (of the report) knew exactly what they were talking about...The report is significantly deficient,” Dr Wells told the court today.

Dr Wells disagreed with the conclusion of the report- that it stated that there were no “conclusive” findings suggestive of penetration to the anus/rectum nor any significant defensive wounds on the body of the patient.

“The report should have just read ‘no clinical findings’. The word ‘conclusive’ leaves a doubt as to whether there was penetration,” he said, adding that the rest of the report showed that there was no form of penetration.

Another point of contention for the forensic expert was the contradiction between Saiful’s proforma report and medical examination report.

Dr Wells noted that while Saiful’s proforma form said there was bleeding in the anus, the medical examination results showed otherwise.

He also argued that the proforma form was not filled in properly.

“It must be filled in to show all of the examination was done accordingly. I am puzzled by the crucial missing parts,” added Dr Wells.

The trial will continue at 2.30pm today.

Anwar is charged with sodomising former aide Saiful at a condominium in Bukit Damansara here between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26.

He faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted under section 377B of the Penal Code, but will escape the whipping sentence due to his age. ~~ MI

Sodomy II -- I believe DS Anwar's defence

he mad from the dock this morning, as reported by MI, to whom I record my appreciation in reproducing the following report just FOR THE RECORD! ~~ Desi

Sodomy charge is conspiracy by Najib, says Anwar

UPDATED @ 02:19:51 PM 22-08-2011

By Debra Chong

August 22, 2011

Anwar leaves the Jalan Duta court complex in Kuala Lumpur after giving his statement from the dock on August 22, 2011. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — In the dock for sodomy for the second time in his life, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim charged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today with following in Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s footsteps to end his political career so the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) can remain in power.

The former deputy prime minister-turned-opposition leader made the accusation in an unsworn statement from the dock this morning when told to enter his defence.

He explained he was opting to testify from the dock, where the prosecution has no recourse under law to cross-examine his statement, because he had no confidence he would be tried fairly, and declared the entire court process “is nothing but a conspiracy by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to send me into political oblivion by attempting once again to put me behind bars”.

“As I have said at the outset, this is not a criminal trial. It is a charade staged by the powers that be to put me out of action in order that they remain in power,” he said, noting that his ex-boss and prime minister from 1981 to 2003, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had done the same thing in the 1998 Sodomy I trial.

The grandfather, who turned 64 just a few weeks ago, described Dr Mahathir as Machiavellian in turning to all the powers of the state to get him jailed 15 years for offences he insists he did not commit.

The Federal Court overturned Anwar’s sodomy conviction in 2004, after finding contradictions in the prosecution’s case.

“Such was the tyranny and injustice done to me then. And such is the tyranny and injustice being perpetuated today.

“Najib Razak is doing the same thing as his mentor did, which is to employ all means within his power through the media, the police, the Attorney-General and the judiciary in order to subvert the course of justice and to take me out of the political equation,” said Anwar who was sacked from government in 1998.

He noted the second sodomy charge came on the heels of the Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) victories — the three-party opposition pact wrested four states from the BN while managing to keep Kelantan — in the March 2008 general election and once he qualified to contest in elections again, which he did and won in the Permatang Pauh by-election later that same year, ramping up the zeal to put him back in prison.

“Najib seems to think that by destroying my political future, it would also destroy the prospects of Pakatan Rakyat ever coming to power.

“Hence, nothing is spared to ensure that I will be convicted in order that the Umno-led led Barisan government continues to rule,” he said.

Anwar said he believes he has been condemned to jail not for anything he has done but for “my political beliefs and convictions”.

He told trial judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah to his face that the court’s integrity has been completely compromised as the latter had failed to demonstrate that he was neutral in his decisions.

Anwar is charged with sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan at a condominium in Bukit Damansara here between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26.

He faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted under section 377B of the Penal Code, but will escape the whipping sentence due to his age. -- MI

Back to Creativityville...

Desi has gone MIA for almost a month post BUM2011.

One of the foreign cyberhomes I find time for to pass time at leisure is at clarityofnight.blogspot.com, run by American attorney Jason Evans, who attracts with his short fiction wiriting CONtests (challenge is write o story of less than 250words using a photo prompt provided by the host:).

Because of BUM2011 which ended on July 24 with some housekeeping still unifnished, I had missed Jason's latest SS outing titled "Ememental" though I had composed a science fiction plot during uncomfortable sleepless in Furong nights.

These few days I randomly crusied the gOod American but of universal appeal BUMmer's site and I reproduced the first para of his entry "Six Years".

"So here I am, arriving at my sixth anniversary of The Clarity of Night. That's something like 42 in blog years. "

How true, Mr Evans, a BUMer half way rround the glode in tiny, weeny and peytonplacesque Seremban -- Seven Stones was my last entry at thy place, remember?-- Desi feels te same too. That is after blogging for six years plus, it is translating into some four decades in the physiacl world because in blogosphere, the air is intense, intoxicating, and it takes lots of energy to expend words into lines, then into paragraphs, then into a whole piece:) -- or partially hanging not at peace!:(

I'm next "stealing"Jason's beautiful piece wqith which I have a particular close connection in my prest phase of cyber-writing...Thanks Americano matey, I'wl also poffer ye endless rounds of tehtarik should you happen by Temiang Corner One Fine Day, K!

So my dear ER, please ENJOY Mr Evans' thoughts which I cherish:):):)

Monday, August 08, 2011

Interlude

In those August weeks, he shed the worries of work and disappeared to where the roads were long and the only color, green. He put away the phone without messages and ignored the dwindling email streams. His friends would not think to miss him. They figured he'd be back soon enough, but part of him wondered if that would be true. The heat enveloped him, and farmland rolled over sharp hills. He thought of what it was like to be a teenager, without plans and without somewhere else to be, and found that part of himself still surprisingly close, despite the pile of years. In the sky, the crows flew too high to be heard. They would not roost until the red and yellow Earth faltered and the sun lost the strength to fight away the cold.

He walked the fences during those days. The ones that brushed the woods while horses grazed out in bright pastures. Their tails swished at invisible flies as high summer buzzed loudly in the trees. He forgot to care about the counting of days. He forgot their names. He also forgot to think in the words, and plans, and lists where one thing led to another. Now, a thing was there, or not there. Each expansive experience hit him all at once. Nothing more was needed to do or say.

It was on one nameless afternoon, after he had dived deep, when he was walking a forest trail. He turned a bend in the underbrush and stopped at the sight of shimmery black fur. A horse nipped at a patch of blackberries. Its muscled shoulders turned and flexed as it regarded him with large, dark eyes. It wasn't until a footstep drew his attention over to the woman nearby. Leather riding boots brushed the ferns as she returned to the horse, which nuzzled for a scratch between its ears.

He'd apologized for the interruption, and she smiled. He was taken with her long hair and how, like him, she looked both aged and young at the same time. Her eyes didn't drift from him very often as they spoke. A few polite words grew into more. Even when the horse stomped impatiently, and her firm hands steadied it, she watch him. She moved with the same fluid, animal strength that the horse did. She could have stepped out of a painting, he thought. She was that beautiful. But something else fueled the ease of his conversation. She told him her name and the history of the nearby farm. She told him how much she enjoyed the forest paths they were standing on. He asked her about what she saw and how much time she chose to spend there. Something about the way she moved drew him. He had strange thoughts, like laying a hand on her shoulder just to feel the workings of everything happening within.

She told him that he should visit the barn, and he accepted. He watched her mount and command the horse. He saw her pause in the field and look back. That night, he felt no need to the watch the fireflies. He slept because he was eager to be part of the rising sun.

The next day he met her under the shade of the barn eaves. She introduced him to the horses, and he touched each one. She watched his hands when he did. He found himself close to her, just as he wished, just as gravity wanted to move him. They talked, and she touched him when she laughed. She didn't seem to mind when he glimpsed at the feminine lines of her neck. He wanted so much to breathe in the skin where it disappeared beneath her shirt. If she read these thoughts too, she didn't seem to mind. Sometimes she stared at his mouth when he talked, and when they sat side by side and looked out over the fields, she pressed against him, from her shoulders down to where her ankles met his hiking shoes.

They didn't need to talk about how they would cross the last boundary between them. That is one important difference between adults and teenagers. The days evolved, as did the things they spoke to one another. Never did they need to stumble and test. It was midday when they finally made love. The loft in the barn hung rich with the fragrance of hay and large presence of the animals below. She shed that shirt, and he buried his face while her arms encircled him. Their joining was not obscured or tentative. It wasn't hidden under the veil of night. He kissed her nakedness in full light, and his hands touched earth and heat and the pounding pulse of life. Every movement she made since that first meeting, every turn and stride alongside him seemed now to circle toward the darkness between her legs. She drew the length of him against her animal heat, and she sighed, lips parting with a whispered groan. But their artistry was no abstraction. Not some academic composition of metaphor and forgotten geometry. When his muscles clenched with hers and their bodies undulated, the horses neighed and thumped into the sides of the stalls. The cicadas throbbed with their building motion, until their pace grew wild and mindless, to a final, panting gallop.

When she laid on his chest and cast a shadow in the slanting sun, his fingers trailed through her hair, and the day also took its own repose.

They remembered what it was like to be teenagers without plans, but unlike then, they knew there was no other place they would choose to be.

Posted by jason evans

Post BUM2011: Desi went MIA, here's intimate sharing:)

Dear buddies, esp some new found "friends" meeting for the first time at BUM2011 on July 24 -- esp one Bayi, from Ipoh, yes? -- and a bunch of youngsters of whom I remember one name -- Jason, how art thou? -- I have to share some intimations a byte.

Normally, BUMmers -- those who commit themselves to what Bloggers Universe Malaysia (BUM) is all about -- are warm,back-patting and sometimes more than a little loud, but Desi was a little too laid back, sometimes appearing smug (as captured by melvin-mah.blogspot.com...), even "arrogant" to those who know me not wellA, on July 24, the culmination of three heart months of slaving by the BUM2011 Organising Committee.

I hope I can make amends if I can invite ye for G7 or G8 BUM meetings in KL or PJ in future?

I mus fess up three weaks later my only "excuse" was that I was not in the pink of health for one-1/2months preceding, even at the kick-off evening forum on June 11 at the KLSCAH!

Can I impose on my readers to berar with Desi in carrying on in Verse that I am notorious for -- some of my ER think I am femail and aged 30s! -- as I spice my Midnight Voices abode with some poems, ye, even love ones,:) and hate wans:(.

God sometimes shuts down our systems
so we can do a pause, longer than a pause, Linger

To check the parts at random to see if they still fit
and play their part

In the overall scheme of things

I checked into the Seremban General a day after BUM2011 on July 24
The docs found several parts out of sync

A whole unit quite out of function

Your human body is not like a poet's lines and words and stanzas
Can be ordered

Re-ordered if any doesn't please the eye, the ear or even your voice when you shout the lines at midnight...

The anatomy of your body must be in perfect harmony
to the swing of the whole body

for you to perform at the peak

Off bed and in bed -- Dr Chua SoiLek would be able to reinforce Desi on this particular POV!

Or you are headed --single or double --for trouble

Like Desi did pre and post-BUM2011


Second time in three years the Seremban General played host to this

recalcitrant wordsmith

Who thought looking at that vain mirror he is still 36-going-on-37 -- but it was merely lateral inversion or illusiion

Second time the Seremban General helped Desi
To postpone my goodbyes...

Ah, I'm thankful, especially to the guardian angels watching over me

To all the doctors at ward 7A, accompanied by the para-medics, I say a special "xie xie, terima kasin, thank you!"

You opened up my eyes and I saw, still see
The need to be ever vigilant against certain parts going out of sync


(meanwhile, Londonerry streets have gone somewhat out of sync, but that's another unrelated prob...)

May the goOd lord repair the worn out parts

so more adieus are said

than

GOoDbyes.

COMposed by Desi, Seremban, just past midnight of
13 August 2011

DC

Desiderata without wordplay for two solid weAks
in like Don Juan without traversing the contours of the femail form

But I don't know Don personally so why this comparision you dare aRsEk?

Because I am a writer, and a writer thrives onwordsmithry and imagination
Jest as Don thrives on conquering hills, mountains after riding out the plateaus and valleys

I seek out that single word like "exhilaration"
On my release from Seremban general after eights days that seem'd like eternity
And the first place I headed for was nasi lemak in a 70sen packet rounded up by a 1ringgit tehtarik

I understand then if Don headed for the harem;s tent on arrival at an oasis after being LOST in the wild Sahara
Even if he had to part with the only ten USD10bills in his worn out pocket, and he had only downed
two glasses of H2O and not byten off the sirloin steak hangin' like his burning loins on a satay stick...


Ah, it's gOod to be back to have some funD wit' wordplay
Fore, mid and back
Even asides

If thou be a prude, please go get an eduaction from my firend Don...wan and vain...

11.58AM Saturdae, 24 b4 that holeydae ahead!