Dabai in little big town Sibu ...

Guess what people?

This would be the best time of the year to go visit SIBU! No no no ... not for the night life or the clubbing scene as recently reported in one of the local dailies. Although for the life of me I couldn't understand nor accept why some people would be so ridiculously shallow to actually be judgmental of other people who were only out in town for some unwinding sessions with friends or acquaintances without bothering anybody nor spending other people's money but their own. I say... that article would potentially pissed a lot of people, if it didn't already. It's not about drinking or having a rowdy good time or showing bad examples to future gens that's the issue now, isn't it? The editor probably overlooked that report, otherwise it never would've made it to print, or at least rewritten, like what my ex-boss would've done in those days. Unless you're a blogger or a columnist with your own dedicated space or an established well-known journalist or writer, you don't get to write news piece like that and injecting your own opinions, worst when it's biased opinions, which is why you weren't supposed to do so in the first place. You think easy meh being a reporter? You have to be a responsible uneasily-swayed writer, otherwise you would downgrade the very paper that pays your bills. Become a blogger also people would condemn us for simply opine on something.

Tsk tsk tsk. BUT... My. How I could digress! See what you made me do? 

Anyway... I was going to say that this would be the best time to visit SIBU because dabai season is here again!

A little 411 on this fruit: Dabai can only be found in Sarawak. There, special exotic native fruit, Sarawakians, don't you just love yourself now? And it grows best along the Batang Rajang river, which explains why it is found abundantly in Sibu because its feeder areas are Kapit, Song, and Belaga, and sometimes in Kanowit. Which also explains its distinctive taste compared to dabai grown in other places in Sarawak, like Kuching. My friend who's a so-called dabai expert, said that it would be lucky indeed if dabai can grow elsewhere other than along that river, and even if you take the seeds from Song for example, when grown elsewhere, it wouldn't have the same taste. How would I know? I listen, take note, eat, make comparison, take note, eat, make comparison, eat... and by the time I'm done comparing, I'd be too full to be hey -- word of the day! -- JUDGMENTAL!

So last week I went to Sibu on official business, made my way to the wet market after work concluded, and bought myself a RM24 per kg worth of freshly picked dabai. Expensive? Ho yeah! But who cares. It would go down as cheap as RM8 per kg once the season is in full blown in another month or so, but hey, I'm in Sibu already. Why not right? It's not like I come to Sibu all the time to spend money having a good time and get harassed for it.

Price differ depending on grades, level of freshness, and size...

For the untutored, dabai is purplish black in colour when ripe, before that it was white. You need to soak them in hot water (or lukewarm water, for some) for a few minutes until tender. Drain the water, sprinkle with salt (if you prefer), then voila! Ready to be served! 

Best taken on its own while watching CSI, or with a proper meal. I like mine dunked in a dose of soy sauce with chilli and sugar. The hotter it is, the more action your morning after will get. :p

And you thought you could give Sibu a bad name? Shame on you.

That stuff about blogging ...

So there I was half-way to the buffet table holding my huge empty heavy dinner plate, and got waylaid by a familiar face who's more interested in what I was doing there than who I was with. Sometimes familiarity and history tend to make people think that they have every right to shoot all kinds of questions at you and you're obligated to answer. And sometimes you answer anyway because you tend to think that you owe them some sort of explanations and all that we-go-way-back crap.

Actually, I was a little irked and annoyed that someone with that level of work experience, field expertise, education, and so-called openmindedness could be both sarcastic and cynical when it comes to technology and social media. I mean, the world is revolving, and if we don't catch up, or at least follow the progress from a safe distance, we'll forever be backward and stuck in the dark ages of our own mind.

Oh I was talking about blogging actually. Getting there now. Everytime I think about that few minutes of bothering to explain myself to the man, I just get riled up all over again. He knew I had been blogging for a few years already, and admittedly when I first started, the content were a little immature, personal, sometimes too dark and depressing, and without any focus. But now the content is more guided and focused and has grown up with me.

Still... I think that's the beauty of a blog. You can be random, you can be focused, and you can be you the best (or the worst) that you can be, or even grow up with it, like I did.

So, his questions? Bits and pieces of them sounded like this...

"I remember some of you were in the group with the media when we were doing this development coverage. I mean, bloggers? Come on. Have you seen any of the stuffs they write?"

To myself: Oh yes I have, they're good stuffs too. Good job. Nice. Knowing you even read them makes me proud of them bloggers yo...

"Why are you  telling the world what your room looks like, what toothpaste you use, what you eat, how you hold your chopstick, bla bla bla ... as if anyone would be interested? And then mixing with the press as if you're a reporter, I'm sorry to say, but your reports are not even newspaper stuff. Some of them are not even qualified to be called a writer... If you can call yourself that. A blogger.. come on. I don't  know why you guys even get invited. Free stuff?"

Ok I have to stop myself right here before I make myself upset again. Oh yeah, it was that hostile, stemming from, I suspected, the threat of a mere blogger standing right in front of him who gets invited to the same event as he was, treated with the same respect, and probably gets more hits and readership than he does. But then again, he wasn't talking about me, he was merely generally expressing his opinions (although I don't remember asking for them) about blogging and those closely or directly associated with it.

I let him finish before I politely answered. Was even getting a little defensive already because oh that did touch a nerve. At best, blogging is something I do in my free time, I write about stuffs that caught my fancy, I defended issues that are close to my heart, I expressed myself freely but always within the bounds of proprietary and the law, I tried not to offend any parties or groups or race or culture, I vent about life in general, and I read all other blogs that are worth reading. But then, anything worth writing is always worth reading.

That's the best part about blogging. It's not the same as writing for the press, sir, as if you don't already know. It's not even pure journalism stuff. In fact we didn't learn this in MassComm classes in my days. True, we're reporting on something sometimes, but you can't compare lil known us with you reporters from the press. We never even claim to be one. Those that do, they probably earned it. I'm humbled that I could even be invited to the same events as you are, to do a little coverage on the same stuff we attended, to write my piece in my own words, and to construct a complete entry that will never get through the editor's desk before I hit the 'post' button.

So what if we write day to day accounts of our journeys? So what if we take pictures and share them? So what if we have grammar mistakes sometimes, or that we repeat ourselves, or that we write not according to your set of rules? So what if we state our views and even be vain sometimes? We don't have an editor that checks our drafts nor do we need one, because we are each responsible for whatever we put up in the Internet. Don't you think we know that? Those who don't or ignore that bit, well, that's up to them.

You see, when writers are not being edited or corrected or rewritten, that's when the real opinion comes out, as honest as it gets. You don't have to like it all the time, you only need to evaluate it and decide whether to believe it, accept it, challenge it, or push it aside and discard it. Or if you want to drag some of them to jail, that's up to you too, since we have all been warned and so do you.

If you worry about why I'm here, ask the organisers, they're the ones doing the invitations. Don't be threaten by me or my peers, Sir, we're merely journal writers. Half of what we write will never even make it to the press. We are all aware that the medium is evolving very fast ... But that's another enty.

What I don't get is he is being paid for his job. I'm doing it for free. So, what is the problem again? I won't stop blogging just because you call my writing worthless. You should try it sometimes too, it's really therapeutic.

P/s: If any of my reporter/journalist friends is reading this, please don't be offended. Merely having a moment. And I claim the above as my own sole opinion on blogging/bloggers and not influenced or have anything to do with anyone/anything. And yes despite this difference in opinions, I am still friends with the man.

Writing does pay ...

Oh hey!

And so, yours truly was debuted in today's New Sarawak Tribune under the column "Blogger Says", a weekly publication of articles written by members of the Sarawak Bloggers.

Thank you Sarawak Bloggers for being so encouraging, supportive, and supercool about this project. And for a little promo: If you're a Sarawakian, and you happened to blog, join the Sarawak Bloggers group, it's a non-profit club. They have a lot of great activities for members, and if you haven't noticed, Sarawak Bloggers is everywhere now and getting famous by the minute! Thanks to Cyril and the gang who co-founded it! Proud to be one of them! If you want to know more about how you can be a part of the project between the New Sarawak Tribune and Sarawak Bloggers, go check out the site.

So it seems like I don't need caffeine today because being picked to start the ball rolling for all other talented bloggers out there is apparently enough to get me superexcited. Hahaha.


Anyway....

YEAY! GOOD JOB COFFEE GIRL! What a way to start the year!

P/s: I think people I know including my siblings, and some others, will be heading this way, so self-censorship is going to be implemented, and it will hurt me more than you. Sigh.