Sleepless in Kembangan

It's 8:45 AM now as I'm sitting here in front of my Vaio. Just got out of the shower, heavy-lidded and slightly damp. I've been away for about five hours now.

I didn't wake up before four in the morning to study, or to catch something on TV. I just woke up. After sleeping for all of two hours after failing to get to sleep the night before.

While I'm writing this, I'm trying to sign in on MSN, maybe some other poor soul is around, equally bored. Heck, I might even agree to a game of Minesweeper Flags! But no, error after error means that I won't be appearing Busy on MSN today, in the hope that it might deter some pesky individuals who chitter on and on about how long they haven't seen me.

Ah, backache. Nothing quite like the exquisite soreness that mysteriously materialises one fine day. It's like a long-lost and unwanted relative, come visiting from somewhere far and away. You don't really know how it got there, and as long as it's there, you suffer. And you don't quite know how to get rid of it either.

When I opened my eyes at 3:45 this morning, I thought it was maybe about seven in the morning. The dull hazy light seeping through my curtains attested to that. Of course, I didn't realise, in the groggy state that I was, that that light was probably the excessive lamps lining the apartment blocks nearby that are lit during the less naturally-bright hours.

So I switched my TV on. Flatscreen, you see. And was treated to some random documentary about Elephants, I think it was. Maybe asteroids. Anyway, flipping through the channels, I managed to catch a glimpse of Vince McMahon being pushed over by Donald Trump, and lacking any suitable sports programming at the time, I turned to HBO. Because Star Movies was broadcasting Creep and there is only so many times you can watch a deformed psychopathic killer with cores and boils plunge a large serrated cutting utensil into a helpless woman's privates. But back to HBO.

The Legend of Zorro. Aha! That should be entertaining, right? I mean, it's Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones. Can't go wrong with the man that starred in Desperado and Original Sin. Then I realised that those two movies were fun for the guns and Angelina Jolie, respectively. And that Entrapment was really sucky.

Only then I fumbled for my Nokia and saw, to my amazement, it wasn't actually seven, but four. It brings back memories of a young Naz, waking up by himself and thinking he'll be late for school. Rushing to shower, pack his things and head for school. Only his father, his ride, was still snoring happily away. So young Naz nudges him awake.

"Baba, wake up. I need to go to school..."

"Huh? What? School? *&^% It's only 3 O'clock!"

Yeah. Not so fun. So I sat in bed for about two-and-a-half hours waiting for the minutes to pass, since I didn't want to wrinkle my uniform. And back then all I had to entertain me was a Sega Megadrive. And you can only play FIFA International so many times before it gets dreary, even for a kid.

Well, it's light now. Maybe I'll go grab breakfast. But if memory serves me correctly, there isn't much save for some bread and cheese. A simple breakfast then. No croissants and juice today. I just need to remember not to step on the dead lizard plastered on the floor of facing my brother's room. It's already been a long day.