TrailBlazers Hunt—Bollywood

My step-mother is a big fan of Bollywood productions. Sometimes it annoys me when she'd concentrate on the TV instead of the mahjong table. For a short while, I was also infected with some of those movies. In particular I enjoyed Kuch-Kuch-Ho-Ta-Hai (although I'm not sure about the spelling); and Mann.

But what is the meaning of the word "Bollywood"?

Q9) Little Kareena, Shilpa and Kajol.

A9) Bollywood Baby

Let's analyse the question. First of all, the word "Little" can be taken literally. In such a case, it means small or kecil (Malay). However, in the lateral way, it can mean an abbreviation or shortform for a longer word. In this particular question, however, the CoC had intended the literal meaning for "Little", and indirectly equated it to the word "Baby". Fine, I can live with that.

But now we come to a stumbling block. How do we deal with "Kareena, Shilpa and Kajol"? They are of course some of the Bollywood actresses—and they're very successful ones too. However, I can't agree equating "Bollywood" with "Kareena, Shilpa and Kajol".

As you can see from this link, "Bollywood" is the informal term popularly used for Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry in India. It is not a reference to a particular person or actress.

Notwithstanding the above, however, there is one possible way out for the CoC in this case, and that is to treat the answer in a slang way. We all know that a girl—in fact even a matured woman—is commonly referred to as a "baby" in a slang way, especially if that woman is a beautiful one. Considered from this point of view, Kareena, for example, qualifies as a "Bollywood Baby".

Unfortunately, the question still fails on grammatical grounds. In the question, it says "Kareena, Shilpa and Kajol". Three women together. Even if we are to take the answer in the slang way, that answer can only qualify if it were plural, i.e. Bollywood Babies.

TrailBlazers Hunt—Delicacy

To my fellow Sabahan hunters, I'm glad to report that I have finally obtained a set of Questions & Answers for the TrailBlazers KL Motor Hunt which took place last Saturday. A friend sent it to me this evening. I find that many of the questions are newbie-friendly, but in my opinion some of them could use a bit of fine-tuning.

Since we don't have many hunts here in KK, I hope my Sabahan friends can benefit from the discussions of some of the questions in the above hunt. I propose to discuss those questions independently in separate threads. I will publish those questions and answers as provided by the Clerk-of-Course (CoC); then give my comments and/or criticisms; and where appropriate, follow them up with suggestions on how I think they might be improved.

Let's start with a dubious seafood delicacy.

Q6) The first of limpet introduced to form this seafood delicacy.

A6) Musse

Before we go into deep analysis of this question, I am sure that many of you who've hunted in my hunts before would know that I am a big fan of this so-called "jigsaw-puzzle" type of clue. What happens is that the clue tells the solver that he needs to find a missing piece to fit into, or atttach to, an existing word to form a new word. Take this example from one of my past hunts:

Q) Will start this to become the main star of Mork & Mindy.

A) IAMS @ Pinnacle Pet Supply

The solver needs to combine the letters W-I-L-L with "this" to form another word. The solver must first determine what does the word "this" in the question mean. Looking at the question as a clue or riddle, that word "this" must necessarily be referring to the intended answer which is found on the signboard.

The letters WILL start the word IAMS (found on the signboard) to become (Robin) WILLIAMS, who's the main star of the TV series, Mork & Mindy.

A simpler example is like this:

Q) This is the answer to 2 x 3.

Again, that word "this" must necessarily be referring to the intended answer which is found on the signboard. Therefore, the solver should be keeping an eye open for, say SIX or ENAM or VI.

Now let's go back to Q6 of the TrailBlazers:

"The first limpet" tells the solver to take the first letter of the word "limpet", i.e. the letter "L". That L is then introduced, meaning added to, something (found on the signboard). As a result of that addition (to form) "this seafood delicacy".

I would have been happy with the question but for that word "this". To repeat, looking at the question as a clue or riddle, the logical interpretation of the word "this" in that clue must necessarily be referring to the answer which is found on the board.

In other words, the word "this" must be referring to the intended answer, MUSSE. However, MUSSE is not a "seafood delicacy". Therefore, "this seafood delicacy" can't agree with MUSSE. In the end, MUSSE can't be the answer!

In my opinion, if the CoC must include the word "this" in the question, a possible improvement is like this:

Q) The first limpet behind this forms a seafood delicacy.

Now in this modified question, that word "this" is really referring to the intended answer, MUSSE, which if added with the L will become MUSSEL, which in turn agrees with "seafood delicacy" (although I would have preferred "shellfish" instead of "seafood delicacy").

Hunt Postponement

I have sent out emails to the local hunters I know in KK, informing them about the postponement of the Sutera Harbour-Angkatan Hebat Treasure Hunt 2008 about a week ago. This is to follow up with the latest news—that the hunt is now tentatively set for the 29 June 2008 as per this link.

The date of the hunt had been changed several times already. Therefore I can't say for certain that the new date will not be changed yet again. At any rate, I shall regularly keep in touch with the organisers so that I can inform you all of further changes, if any, in the date of the hunt.

In this connection, and in response to the popular request for me to clerk the Sutera this year, I wish to thank you all for your confidence in me—especially Hunters "R" Us, the "Breakfast" hunters, and Anne and her friends—but perhaps for the moment I shall work on my field exposure for a change. If there is still an opportunity to clerk the hunt next year—and I can't see why not—I shall be pleased to torture you people again! Be assured that I still have lots of interesting tricks up my sleeve!

Obviously next year is still a long way from now. That is good, because I will have even more time to come up with more ideas. By the time I do my KK Challenge 4 in July/August later this year, I would be ready to unleash some of those new ideas. But only some! After all, KK Challenge 4 is also intended to attract new hunters in KK. The rest of my new ideas I shall keep for later, just in case I really get to clerk the CNY Hunt in the west next year. I have this pathetic wish to give those masters a good time, you see. Alas, that depends very much on whether I am able to find the time. I shall try to make it...

In the mean time, we're quite dry of hunts in KK between now to the end of June. Of course with my over-flowing question bank right now, I can easily organise a hunt anytime. However, I feel that our local hunters deserve a different taste and style in the questions or format. May I therefore suggest that Team Main Tembak throw in an unofficial hunt to keep the fire going. I'd like to mention here that several new teams which joined my KK Challenge 3 in January are already calling me to ask for more hunts. It would be quite a shame if these people lose interest in the end.

Well, Main Tembak, what say you? Shall the hunters prepare for an April hunt, hmmm?

Still Alive

Calm down, folks, it's only been a few days without any post from me; I am still very much alive.

Oh what a week this has been. Mia is away again to KL for this whole week. Then a mountain of files on my desk in the office. Not to mention the ISM seminar I had to attend to collect my CPD hours. By the way, seminars are really fattening, aren't they? First, there's "coffee" in the morning. Then there's the "coffee break" around mid-morning. That is followed by lunch. Then another "coffee break" around mid-afternoon. Those "coffee breaks" usually mean more than just a cup of coffee; there're some snacks—spring rolls, cakes etc.

In the evenings, of course I've been playing the role of a mommy to JJ. And I didn't get very sound sleeps over the last few nights because JJ kept moving around under my armpit. I still have to think of a bed-time story for JJ for tonight before the real story-teller comes home tomorrow afternoon.

I'm amused by some of the emails and text messages I've received from some of the regular visitors to this blog. Hang in there, folks, this blog is not dying off so soon!

A Different Stroke

THREE frail old ladies were sitting on a bench in a park. Suddenly a flasher came around. Standing in front of the old ladies, he opened his robe to flash himself.

The first old lady had a stroke.

Then the second old lady also had a stroke.

But the third old lady did not have a stroke... because her hands were just too short...

About a month ago, my step-mother had a stroke too. But she didn't get the stroke in the park. It was a different kind of stroke from the ones mentioned above. The trauma led to the loss of control of her right limbs. Luckily, she was able to get to the hospital quickly; and doctors were able to administer a kind of medicine that could somehow dissolve the blockage in one of her arteries. However, it would still require a long time to regain control of her limbs.

After she was discharged from the hospital, she was able to move her right arm, albeit it was still very weak. During the weeks that followed, we arranged for a foot reflexologist to come to the house for a daily session of foot massage. That and physiotherapy.

Today my step-mother has regained almost full control and strength of her right arm. But she's still unable to control her right leg. She's only able to move her toes. However, she's able to get up from the wheelchair, and with some help from the maid we've hired, she's able to walk by dragging her right leg. It is obviously not an ideal situation, but the doctors are confident that she will sooner or later regain full use of her right leg too.

Unfortunately, as she regained back the use of her arm and leg, she has also regained her big appetite. So now we might have to watch her like a hawk. Otherwise she will eat like there is no tomorrow. At the time she was hospitalised a month ago, her blood glucose level was at 23 mmol/L—which was about threefold that of a healthy level.

If my step-mother is not careful with her health, she might just get another stroke. And this is not the kind of stroke that one gets while sitting on a bench in the park while facing a flasher!

One Night Stand

I received an interesting email from a lady friend this morning. It's forwarded from some kind of group known as the "FanBox".

The email was accompanied by a question: Have you ever had a one night stand? There were 2 boxes with a "Yes" and "No" respectively, and I had to choose one of them as my answer. I didn't take very long to think—I chose "No". That was my truthful answer, and it was not only because my legs were too weak to stand the whole night through. It would have been very exhausting to stand the whole night, but I would have been able to withstand the punishment if it were entirely necessary.

Anyway, after I submitted my answer, I was presented with the statistic of the answers given by millions other people. An astonishing—at least astonishing to me—65% of the respondents answered "Yes" to that question, and that included my lady friend too.

I might be a little old-fashioned, but I think our culture has not reached that extent as far as sex is concerned. To be fair, however, it is possible that a major portion of those 65% were those people from the western world where freedom of sex is perceived to be more readily acceptable.

I don't mean to paint a beautiful picture of our people; in some cases I am convinced that we can challenge the adventurous nature of the people of the western world.

And this gives me an excuse to tell another one of my grandfather stories...

Years ago, when I was working in Brunei, there was a time when I had to travel regularly to Limbang in Sarawak. Limbang was a small town where one was able to see many, many motorbikes. It accommodated several rows of shophouses. On the upper floors of those shophouses, there were many beauty saloons; and of course many girls.

Many men would go to those saloons during the weekends, and let's just say that they didn't go there only for hair-grooming purposes. They offered massage services, and more often than not, they massaged the whole body—I mean literally the whole body.

I must have been in my mid-twenties then, and one weekend, I joined some friends for the adventure of a lifetime to Limbang. I was still single back then; so, y'know, go break a neck while you still can!

To cut the long story short, I found myself in one of those beauty parlours. The first thing that caught my attention was the amazing perfumes (those girls probably used up the entire bottle each day!). Then the make-ups on the girls; not to mention the little outfits they had on them which made me wonder why bother having them on anyway.

It didn't take very long for my friends to disappear into tiny rooms with their partners. I went into one tiny room with my partner too. And then suddenly I panicked. The girl was very, very persuasive. Very soon, she was all over me. I kept pushing her away, and eventually she became annoyed. I ended up paying her for playing cat and mouse in that tiny room. I just couldn't bear the thoughts of doing it with a girl like that. It was very tempting though! It was truly a case of fear vs sexual arousal! But I can't get over the thought of getting sick because of a momentary pleasure. Maybe if it's a different girl it would have been a different story. But I've never had that kind of opportunity—at least not yet!

The funny thing was that after that we all went back to Brunei, and all my friends thought I've had the experience of a lifetime that afternoon. It wasn't until weeks later when I told them that nothing happened, but I had to pay the full amount anyway. And they kept laughing at me for a long time after that. I don't know what's so damn funny anyway.

And so, I say again: I have never had a one night stand; not even a one afternoon stand. I am curious to know; to those of you who have had the experience, what was it like? Was there fear? Guilt? Or just plain enjoyment?

Piercer (18SX)

A young Canadian man suffered the misfortune of getting involved in a car accident which resulted in a serious injury to his spine. Although he survived the accident, he bacame paralysed from neck down. The doctors couldn't tell if he's ever gonna regain any control of his body. Only time could tell.

The next couple of weeks saw the young man spending his time in the hospital bed. Each day nurses would take turns to feed and bathe him. One day, an old lady nurse was bathing him when she noticed that the guy had a tattoo on his penis. Although the nurse pretended not to focus her attention on the tattoo, she was able to see the word "SWAN" on the penis.

Later on, during the break, the nurses gathered in the cafeteria; and as usual they started relating to each other their stories of the day. The old nurse told them about the paralysed young man and the strange tattoo on the penis—SWAN.

Then a young, beautiful and sexy nurse joined in the conversation.

"Oh! That's strange," she said, "yesterday, when it was my turn to bathe that man, I noticed that tattoo too. But what I saw was not SWAN. Instead, it was SASKATCHEWAN!"

Y'know, folks, it takes all sorts to make the world. Why would anyone put a tattoo on the penis anyway? Or why would anyone have tattoos anywhere on the body at all? I find it strange that this thing about tattoos is becoming fashionable again in KK. I am aware that within Gaya Street alone, we have 2 tattoo saloons.

Recently, during the Rotarian International Night dinner, there was this pretty teenage girl who sat beside me. She was an interactor from one of the schools in KK. While waiting for the progamme to start, I created small talks with her. She said she had an older brother—I believe about 21 years old. I asked her what's her brother doing. She said her brother was a Piercer.

A Piercer? What is a Piercer anyway!? Upon reaching home that night, I looked up for the word in my Oxford Dictionary. And as I had expected, it was no where to be found! Perhaps it's time that I buy myself the latest version of the Oxford.

As it turned out, a Piercer is the name given to a person whose profession is—well—to pierce people's bodies. Piercing bodies is actually a profession! So what else does a Piercer do? Well, they also do tattoos. It is an art, really. Who knows, one of these days, if I lose my job, I might be able to use my imagination and creativity in doing tattoos.

But I sure as hell am not gonna do any LIVELY CHAMP on my penis—even if all those letters can fit there! I can't bear the thought of when and if I end up paralysed in a hospital bed, an old nurse is gonna see the word LIMP on my penis.