Lazy Weekday Vacation Night

"A classic is a book which people praise and don't read."

Mark Twain

When I first conceived this weblog, I was decidedly inclined to focus exclusively on reviewing the books I've read - sort of like a reflection pond to dump my opinions in after the completion of a novel. But I realise that if I did so, I'd have nil readership (as opposed to the trickle I'm enjoying at the moment) and I would only be updating twice monthly at most.

Still, one needs to stay true to oneself;

A little less than an hour ago, I completed Dame Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced - possibly the most well-known title from the Miss Marple collection which many considered a classic of the genre. It didn't disappoint (unlike Sleeping Murder, which was utter tripe).

Cheap Indian paperback.

Firstly, I commend Christie's excellent setting of the story. It all started with an advertisement in the local village newspaper that reads;

"A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m. Friends accept this, the only intimation."

Of course, being the nosy village people they are, a bunch of neighbours (thinking that it's just a murder game) all congregated at Little Paddocks at the appointed time - where a senseless death occurred. I won't say whose because that would only spoil it for you. Honestly, I was terribly surprised as well at what happened.

Agatha Christie masterfully roped readers in by baiting their inner 'kay-poh-chis'. She knew very well that every reader would want to know how a murder would be committed after its public declaration. Plus, there's also a sense of vague mystery about who the victim might be. Devilishly clever plot, this is.

This type of small village murders are what Agatha Christie did best - with her gossipy sort of narrative style. In fact, I enjoyed the final twist in this book so much that I rank it up there along with her best work; Murder of Roger Ackroyd (which incidentally was also a small village murder affair).

If anything, this is worth a look-into even if you're not a whodunit fan.

And since I'm on the subject of reading, let me show you my favourite reading place in Malacca;

The 24-hours McDonald's Drive-thru in Ayer Keroh.

What more can I possibly ask for? It's isolated, air-conditioned and has good food an arm's length away. After the opening of the 24-hours McDonald's Drive-thru beside Pahlawan Mall, practically nobody visits this out-of-town place anymore. It's a veritable haven for solitude. Best thing of all, the McD crew here doesn't like playing the nauseating McD.fm every second of the day. Peace, oh glorious peace!

In fact, I love this place so much that I often stayed overnight to read. By 8 am, I'd be just in time to be their first McD Breakfast customer of the day.

Seriously, nothing beats a warm Sausage McMuffin with Egg Sandwich, a steaming hash brown, and a strong, piping cup of coffee in the morning.

Absolutely nothing.

The 24-hours McDonald's Drive-thru beside Pahlawan Mall.

But for A Murder is Announced, I camped at the Pahlawan Mall Drive-thru instead - y'know, in the spirit of trying out the new place and things.

I found out that they do play the infernal McD.fm - so I'm treated to butt-loads after butt-loads of crappy clichés about how cool McDonald's is. That's one marketing strategy that irks me royally. I mean, the shortening of McDonalds to McD (like Jennifer Lopez to JLo), those lame rubber wristbands they had awhile back; these guys are really trying to make cheeseburgers and fries da sh!t cool. Only impressionable immature idiots would fall for such ploys (and fortunately for McDonald's Corporation, we have that in inexhaustible supply here in Malaysia)

Another thing about the Pahlawan Mall Drive-thru is that it is always semi-crowded (yes, even on a weekday's night). Not the best place in the world to read, if you ask me. Besides, I find the service here to be poorer. Half the time I ordered, the crew member serving me did not even greet me with the customary "Good evening, sir." Bloody minimum-waged losers.

Random picture in My Documents that I'm using as a text divider here.

Since I can't think of anything else that I want to do, I guess better get to doing michelleg's tag. Here are the rules;

"Each player of this game starts off by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. After you do that, leave them each a comment letting them know you tagged them and to read your blog."

This is precisely the kind of thing teenagers and post-teens love to do. Everybody is so desperate to validate their unique one-of-a-kind-ness that there had been a steady rise in self-diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome/Autism and ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) in recent times.

Though I'm pretty sure that nobody gives a flying turtle about how speshul I really am, I'll go on ahead anyway. You'd notice by now that I absolutely adore the sound of my own voice;

1. I have no hard-and-fast rules about my sleeping time. I'm convinced that my internal clock is absolutely shot. I slept at 10 pm last night and 12pm the day before that. Right now, I'm still awake at 4 am. Med School and the internet did this to me.
2. I never drank any coffee prior to attending Med School. I only learned how to down alcohol a week ago.
3. I've never worn a pair of jeans in my entire life. They look bloody uncomfortable.
4. I love to read, which automatically put me amongst the 1% of Malaysians that do. I actually finish 2 books a month on the average despite being told countless times that medical students have absolutely no time for novels.
   
5. I think girls in sport-shoes are sexy. Don't ask.
6. My blood cholesterol level is higher than my 60 years old Dad.

I'm not going to bother listing 6 other bloggers. Anyone who thinks that he/she is as speshul as me can do this if he/she wants to.


Speshul like everyone else is,
k0k s3n w4i