when i first stepped into this office i thought everyone was different. everyone was not like me. they were just so
typical, and i , on the other hand was
cool. or i thought so.
after i while, i found out that i was the office weirdo. i certainly was different. different, being a nice word for weirdo.
i didnt fit in with any particular group. or any particular person for that matter. the ladies are way in another league. they come to work looking perfect. perfect little tudungs with matching baju kurungs, tiny cute handbags and matching shoes. perfect makeup and perfect smiles.
moi, on the other hand wake-up late every morning. only enough time to grab whatever is hanging in the closet and poof! im ready for work. my clothes always looks half un-ironed, my handbag usually dont go with the outfit and my pointed heels seem to make me look evil among the cute dainty multi-coloured shoes the ladies here wear. i once used a gold bag to work on a monday cos i used it for my date with D the day before and i woke up late so i didnt have time to change bags. one kakak remarked "ish ape la bag u ni? macam nak pergi disco". duh. fine. not everyone has pink, yellow and green handbags y'know.
make-up? i use a lot of eye-liner for that scarlett johansson look. my room unfortunately has dim yellow lights which makes everything looks good at 7.30 in the morning. but once i step out of the house judging from the stares i dont think i mastered scarlett's looks.
i remember one day after smacking eye-liner my 15 year old brother took one look at me and said
"wow. kak long ni gothic la. macam my chemical romance".
oh god. i was late that day for work. scrubbing off the eyeliner. not only i was late, i also appeared at work as though someone had punched my eyes.
the fact that i refuse to get excited over anything being sold at the office also probably made them ladies think i was a freak.
tudung bawal, kain ela, selimut, gelang kristal, dadih (!), periuk, tupperware and some even buy handbags and shoes out of a catalog. i remember once the CEO's secretary tried to sell me dazzling, sparkling brooches.
"S, tengok ni. cantik-cantik kan? nak yang mane?"
"huh? wah. kilatnya" seriously i had to squint. those things were the most
blingiest things i ever set eyes on. P Diddy would be put to shame.
"pilih la. cantik ni. u ni muda lagi elok pakai benda-benda macam ni" poking a gold bling under my nose.
"err..Kak M, i dont really wear these things. bergaya sangat la."
"lerr..u ni kan.." she walks away quickly to the next room where her brooches are sold in matter of seconds.
i'm so not cool, huh?
and they also find it weird that i pack food from home everyday. how to go lunch with them? they spend lunch hour browsing curtain fabrics, going to the tailor, buying beaded blouses, searching for lace and teak furniture. i would be so lost. even mummy doesnt put me through that kind of pain.
i spend lunch hour eating reheated food while watching ugly betty on the office server.
(okay. now that i actually typed it out, i realized what a loser i must sound like) 
the ladies spend, like thirty minutes applying make-up after prayers at the surau. everything has to be perfect. i once got distracted from my prayers watching this chick applying layers and layer of foundation on her face. i swore if she smiled her face would crack. no wonder she never smiles. or probably not at me. i just cant be bothered. i walk out of the surau without a single touch-up. sometimes my face still has drops of water. i mean, i already walk out of the house everyday looking like my chemical romance so i don't think there's much more that i can do to repair how i look.
well. i do have friends though. two to be exact.
one is DN. DN and me have the same passion for Prison Break. it is with him i have looong serious, intellectual conversation over the conspiracies of the US Government against Micheal Scofield and Lincoln Burrows. Whether justice will be served. Whether the truth will be out there. We share the same level of excitement over the latest episode released on Torrent as the ladies would feel over Kak M's bling collection. He's such a sweetheart. I look forward to work every Thursdays cos he'd have a copy of the latest episode copied in a DVD for me. the ladies in his office look at us as though we share some sort of secret torrid affair. alaa.. kak, jangan la marah sebab saya tak beli gelang akak. kilat sangat la gelang akak tu. saya beli gelang kat flea market je.
another friend is K. to be perfectly honest, i dont know what kind of friendship we share. he works in the other wing and we have never met each other during office hours. the only time we meet is during our evening run. we would meet up after work at the track, he'll always nag at me for being late. he'd run and i'll scurry after him. he'd complete 15 rounds and i'd sit on the bleachers after 5 rounds. then we spend, like ten minutes talking about our day which mainly consists of him bitching about his boss and me whining about how my leg hurts.
those are my friends.
then last week i made a new friend. i've always noticed this chick because of her quirkiness. lets call her Markonah. Markonah has huge toad-like eyes which can be frightening at times. she doesn't have any friends either. not that i noticed la. and she doesn't walk. she runs. from one point to another she's always running. and she doesn't wear dainty multi-colored shoes either. she wears some-sort like orthopedic shoes which helps her running i guess and carries a 'the store' plastic bag to work everyday. i tried smiling at her sometimes. or at least whenever we're trapped in a situation together. she swears a lot too. her favorite swear word is 'puaka'. i don't know what the blipping 'eck puaka means. but it sounds bad. she'll go like "puaka betoi la orang finance ni. puaka! puaka sungguh!" scary kan?
i guess she must have noticed my attempt for small talk cos she whizzed into my office and demanded that i add her name into my skype list. okay, okay. "nanti bosan, kita bagi awak lagu nak?". boleh je.
[3/20/2007 4:59:33 PM] S says: nak lagu. kata nak share lagu.
[3/20/2007 4:59:35 PM] M says: awak suka lagu amy mastura?
[3/20/2007 4:59:38 PM] M says: lagu siti?
[3/20/2007 5:00:09 PM] S says: emm tak
[3/20/2007 5:00:12 PM] S says: dua2 tak suka
M sent file "Amy_Mastura_-_Lebih_Baik_-_10_-_Cinta.rm" to members of this chat
[3/20/2007 5:01:10 PM] M says: ermm camtu
[3/20/2007 5:01:15 PM] M says: lagu indon?
[3/20/2007 5:01:19 PM] S says: boleh la kot
[3/20/2007 5:01:25 PM] S says: taknak irwansyah eh
[3/20/2007 5:01:29 PM] M says: nape?
[3/20/2007 5:01:29 PM] S says: nnt kite pening
[3/20/2007 5:01:33 PM] M says: sabar
[3/20/2007 5:02:21 PM] S says: kalau kite dgar lagu irwansyah kite rase nak bunuh diri
[3/20/2007 5:02:51 PM] M says: kenapa?
[3/20/2007 5:03:06 PM] S says: tak suke la melarat2 la lagu die
[3/20/2007 5:03:16 PM] M says: HAH?
[3/20/2007 5:03:22 PM] S says: dahlah suara die macam kena kepit hidung
she got pissed. apparently i hit the wrong button. im just thankful she didnt call me 'puaka'. she never sent me anymore songs after that.
she probably figured that i was another weirdo she could befriend. apparently i was weirder than her.