Yesterday was a definite first for the sons and daughters of the Sheikh Ghazali lot. We had a sibling’s day out on the occasion of my sister’s birthday, and when I say day out, I mean from morning to near midnight which probably wouldn’t have tongues wagging and eyebrows raising from those used to the night life, but when your parents are the curfew-imposing type, well there you go. I have no complaints though.
I really have little care to give much details, I feel a headache coming and classes begin first thing tomorrow.
Summing things up, Sunway Pyramid is probably the best place if you’re feeling a little adventurous and would like to try your hand at something different for a change. Owing to the myriad of activities being offered, we let Widad make the choices, and ended up ice-skating and later giving archery a try. Both were fun, although I seriously need to learn how to brake on the rink or find a less painful way to stop instead of crashing into other skaters or slamming into the barricades. Archery isn’t as easy as it looks, and the first arrow I shot hit the camera which was placed about 15-20 metres away to show our score from the target board. Laugh away, I thought it was hilarious.
Later that night, we caught The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe which Widad and myself enjoyed considerably. I’d give it an A-, if only because the magic wasn’t altogether there. My brothers thought it was alright, perhaps a little mediocre. The character who plays Susan, Anna Popplewell, is a splitting image of Aisya S. No spoilers here, but critics are lambasting the movie as being too Christian. I honestly didn’t see anything Christian about it, and if Aslan is supposed to represent Jesus Christ, well, interpretations differ with people. Symbols and mythology aside, he’s still just a lion to me. There isn’t any need to kick up a fuss about it.
If there’s one thing that bothered me a little about the movie, its the fact that I felt wistful. It brought this certain longing for the days of childhood again when things were much simpler and there was wonder in everything, despite the reality of the world. I’m reminded of Evanescence’s song, Fields of Innocence:
"I still remember the world from the eyes of a child,
Slowly those feelings are clouded by what I know now.
Where has my heart gone?
An uneven trade for the real world,
I want to go back to,
Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all."
But then again, what is reality anyway? What is normal? In one scene, Peter shouts at Edmund to grow up. I just found that unbearably sad. Sigh. I miss Durham. Coincidentally that’s where I first read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I think I’m going to read it again.
I finally finished Veronika Decides To Die over dinner at Pizza Hut. I’ve been putting it off for far too long and decided to reread it. Fantastic book, that one. As for the ending, surprisingly I saw that one coming too.
So yesterday ended on a high note. My sister was evidently happy, meaning mission accomplished. There were plenty of Chinese guys to catch her attention at the rink, which she unashamedly stared at with interest. I’d be the one pointing them out to her, as I know my sister well, hence her tastes too. She didn’t take archery too seriously, which was a good thing. I bought her a handbag which she had kept on fingering and later a movie where the character Peter, had caught her eye. Ah, Widad. Boys and bags. Typical of a girl of 14, I guess.
Happy birthday, kiddo!
Enough said here.
