I Peed Peas

Me and Appley went to Fou de Fafa for lunch yesterday and we both agreed it was the most miserable lunch we've had in a long while.

Appley ordered the brown rice salad and it turned out to feel like she was eating rice seasoned with curry powder from Maggie instant noodles. I had the couscous salad with some fancy Mediterranean Vacation name which was an equal disappointment. It came with a thin layer of veg on top, and 3 years' supply of chick peas underneath, sprinkled with a measly amount of couscous.

It was the looooongest lunch I ever had. And I couldn't finish my peas! The only saving grace was the banana yoghurt drink I ordered but then again I think anything taste good with banana.

We'll give the oil-soaked smelling place another try, but not anytime soon.


Green and thin.


Attack of the peas.


Chickpea overload.


Getting tired, even by just looking at it.

Caramel in Penang?

Last night I dreamt of setting up Caramel at my grandfather's shop house in Penang. Very vivid with details of where I'd have planters and how the partition glass doors would open up the living room to passersby. And how we can still live upstairs. CK would now have a full and complete kitchen. I've also thought of how to separate the kitchen from the toilet for public use.

Then I dreamt of how my obnoxious cousin came to reclaim her share of the shop house and we had to go to court over this.

I woke up at six and couldn't get back to sleep.

I think I'll ask my grandpa to give me a 100-year lease on that shop house.


If Singapore can do it, I can do it.

Penang: Wanna Come Cannot Come

Penangites are quite blunt. I went for a body massage the other day and there was another customer who was having a foot massage when I checked in. The male foot masseur asked the customer if he wanted a body massage after the foot massage. The customer replied, in Hokkien: "No lah, better not. Pressed (massaged) already at night cannot sleep because wanna out (cum) cannot out."

He was talking about when having a body massage, certain sensitive body parts will inevitably be aroused but there won't be any release because the massage parlour is a proper joint without the "happy ending".

That I assumed... maybe other people don't get aroused like that, maybe I'm just super excited about being kneaded. Anyways after my oil massage I was given a thorough rub with very very hot towels to remove the oil, followed by very generous amount of talcum powder all over to make me dry. Lola said this process seemed uncannily like tenderizing a piece of meat and flouring it before cooking.

Shih Chung Branch School: "I Don’t Wanna Friend You Anymore!"

The class was devided into three clans: Lee Kok Hoe Clan, Chan Lay Peng Clan and Ah Eng Clan. Most girls were under the Chan Clan. Some boys were under the Lee Clan, some under Eng Clan and some were clanless.

On some days the clan system has no function at all in our daily activities but most of the time it served one purpose: to hit someone from a different clan with ruler as soon as any part of his/her body crossed the invisible boundaries created by the table's edges. This happened when Lee Kok Hoe was not friend with Chan Lay Peng or Ah Eng was not friend with Lee Kok Hoe and so on...

It started with one ruler, but of course it's never enough. So it went on to become two, three, four rulers stacked together to give a fatal blow to the unsuspecting elbows or pinkies. I think the record was 10 rulers bound together by rubber band. And they were of different materials such as wood, steel and plastic. Plastic has good bounce but would sometimes crack; steel would accidentally cut so wood was the best assault device of choice.

Things: Don’t Forget to Bring Along Your Sensibility And Cardigan When Flying Budget Airline

Apart from farter anonymous, marathonian crying babies and elbow crushing F&B carts, having someone else's loose-fitting sleeves constantly invading what's left of your personal space in a budget flight would definitely be on the top of the most annoyed experience list of the cheapskate (but anal) flyer.

Thank goodness for the cardigan!

Shih Chung Branch School: Grand Old Dame

Some beautiful shots by Arwen O'Connor, taken in May 2008.

Shih Chung Branch School: Knock Knock

Loh Eng Keat was one of my BFFs but the thing I remember about him was his house. It's one of those typical two storey shop house where there's a five-foot-way (walk-way) in front of the entrance. Directly above the five-foot-way would be one of the bedrooms on the 2nd storey.

As the floor on the 2nd floor was made of wood, they drilled a tiny peephole on the floor and covered it with PVC mat. They can pretend nobody's home if loan sharks came knocking (example only, it's not like Eng Keat gambled all his school pocket money at Genting during Primary Three and had to outsource his finances) or pesky classmates kept bugging them.

Shih Chung Branch School: 小小商店

There was a section at the back of the classroom we called 小小商店 or "Little Store". It's mainly set up to get little kids interested in maths, business and commodity trading in years to come. The store is actually made up of six desks, where we'd place empty boxes, cans and bottles of daily items such as toothpaste, Milo, beer, cigarettes, etc.

The teacher would set the cost and price for each item and two or three students would be appointed shopkeepers and the rest are customers. We'd buy the items and the shopkeepers would record the sales and calculate the net profit when the shop was closed.

We abandoned this concept very soon. Firstly, no physical money was involved – imagine playing Monopoly without the fake notes. And we had to return the merchandise (even though they were just empty containers) at the end of each role-playing session, boo!

Me, on the other hand, was the 小小商人, or Budding Entrepreneur. I used to have lots of children's comic books, mainly 儿童乐园. I remember bringing stacks of them to school in my bag and during recess I'd rent them out at 10 cents per read (strictly no sharing). I even made library cards for overnight loans (20 cents each). But I couldn't keep up with demand and soon ran out of comics to rent. It was good business while it lasted.

This is not the actual comic I had but from the same series. This was published in 1954, way before I was born. I think my mum threw away all my 儿童乐园 *sobs*.

Source: swift

Shih Chung Branch School: The Canteen

Ah the canteen, a place we most looked forward to between classes. The canteen was split into two sections, on the right it has all sorts of savouries and on the left, snacks. The savoury food was fully subsidised by the government so each student was entitled to a free portion of whatever that was prepared by the canteen auntie that day.

Of the snacks, aside from the wildly popular Mamee and Ding Dang, my favourite was dried olives which came in a pack of three. The savoury food I liked most was the mee rebus with tomato gravy. The canteen auntie didn't cook it very often so whenever it's available I'd have it twice (we had two recesses).

The canteen was also the place I had my worst meals: I've had curled-up millipede on my fried bee hoon (most likely fallen from the beam) and get this – half way through my bee hoon (at another occasion), I pulled out a cockroach leg from my mouth!

Shih Chung Branch School: I’m Also A Princess

So I was a boy scout during Primary Four to Six. The Scout Master was Mr Yao, also the Disciplinary Head of the school. All those secret handshakes, knot-tying and commands are long forgotten but one incident:

There was a two-day Scouts' Camp we participated, held at a camp site which looked more like a jungle. I think all the boy scouts in Penang were there as I'd never seen so many scouts before. So it started pretty well with all sorts of activities, marching and games. Before long, we found out we had to take showers with a whole bunch of other kids in this open shower where you could see each other's XXX. I began to worry even though I haven't heard of the prisoner-and-soap-bar-on-the-shower-floor joke, but because I was generally quite shy.

During lunch, each of us was given a box of rice containing dishes cooked on site. When I got mine, as hungry as I was, I totally lost my appetite: within the box was some meat, veg, and a cooked giant centipede, with the rice dyed BLUE by the exotic dish. It must have gone into the pot or pan during preparation. I was given another box but the thought of contaminated dishes really wasn't appetizing.

Towards the evening, hunger and dreadfulness grew as it got closer to mass showing of XXX in the shower. And right on cue, I developed a fever. Not wanting to risk my condition worsening overnight, Mr Yao checked my body temperature and personally sent me home.

And guess what? As soon as I got home, my fever was gone! Maybe I was given a Panadol before that but I can't remember. I remembered having a nice dinner, a warm shower by myself and I slept like a princess.

Shih Chung Branch School: April 2008

You'd notice the height of the 1st storey is only half of that of the 2nd storey. You are right: half of the 1st storey is actually underground. I don't know why it's built that way but it's definitely built as a basement because there's a grand staircase at the facade which leads you straight to the 2nd storey.

Maybe it's for some fengshui reasons or more likely, geographic reasons: the building (originally a house) is quite near the sea so if there's ever a flood water would go into the basement instead of the living quarters on the 2nd storey.

Photo by ~horeb on deviantART

Shih Chung Branch School: The Dentist

He came to our school about twice yearly. The atmosphere in the whole school would be the exact opposite of what one experienced during Children's Day. The Dentist's room is shut all year round except when he visited. It's almost like a dark dungeon that welcomed you twice a year.

Once (or many times but I remember this one because the demo was so unconvincing) I had to have dental filling so he was going to use a dental drill on me. Perhaps sensing my dreadfulness of an impending disaster, or it was his usual way of calming students before a death sentence, he confidently showed me how harmless the dental drill was by placing the drill horizontally across the surface of his finger.

"See? It won't hurt! Just relax OK?"

No, the pseudo-drilling of his finger didn't help.

Shih Chung Branch School: 1st, 2nd & 3rd

The most memorable thing about me and Lee Kok Hoe's relationship was our rivalry. It started off towards the end of Primary One when the overall class result was announced and we've been rivals since (through Primary Six). The top two positions of the class had always alternated between him and me. Chan Lay Peng took the 3rd place every year.

Kok Hoe's mum was pretty hard on him: once after reviewing his exam result outside the classroom, she hit him on the head with a whole big bunch of keys! My mum, on the other hand, was easy on us (including my younger brother who's just not keen on academics) and let us be.

The rivalry stopped as we entered high school: he got into business stream and I, science stream. We were competing not against each other or a class of 35 students but a whole grade of at least 350 students!

Kok Hoe is now a successful businessman, married with children and Lay Peng is a happy mother and homemaker.

Things: “Are They on Vacation?”

This is slightly more expensive than the made-in-China version but at least it stays sharp even after a long while and won't rust if you leave it in the bathroom. It also has a safety rounded edge. I use this once a week so my nostril hair won't suddenly decide to come out for a vacation.

Quite many years ago I met up with an acquaintance whom I haven't seen in a while for lunch. I don't remember where, what we had for lunch, what he wore or even how he looked like now because I can only remember one thing:

It was so long it already reached the other nostril! And apparently it was ticklish because he kept rubbing his nose every now and then. I don't know if he realised it or he was actually keeping it for a reason. Or maybe it was a candid camera joke of some sort to see my reaction. I wished I had my nostril hair scissors with me then.

Shih Chung Branch School: As Best As I Can Remember

Not shown here is the attic. The photo below shows the unknown room under the headmaster's office (based on the main building it's attached to and the hotel building on the right).


Photo by grafikwarna at photokaki.com

Shih Chung Branch School: La La Li La Tampung

School finished around 1pm daily. We'd go home and have lunch, do some homework and most of the time we'd meet again at school around 3pm. We played a lot of games: from jumping rope (made of rubber bands), police & thieves, hide-and-seek to marble balls and rollerskating, when we were older.

The game I enjoyed the most was hide-and-seek (when not being the seeker). It's fun because the school was HUGE. But we made an agreement to hide only at ground level.

To determine who would be the seeker, we played "Flip of Hands". You start with palm facing down (only one hand is needed), then chant a 4-line Hokkien rhyme while swaying your hand and at the end of each line, decide whether you want your palm facing up or down.

"La la li la tampung, (opening chant, meaningless)
Ah pek beh ah pong, (an old man sells ah pong - a kind of dessert)
Ah pong teem lo hai, (ah pong falls into the sea)
Ah pek jiak kao sai!" (old man eats dog poo)

The majority with the same sides of hands will be excluded from going into the second round. This will go on until one person becomes the minority and he or she will be the seeker. If the minority consists of two person, a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors (we call it One-Two-Tali-Som) will be carried out.

This hide-and-seek is a variant called "Kick the Can". As the name implies, a can is placed at the home base. When the seeker finds someone, he has to bring him or her back to the home base. The person has to wait there until everyone is found. However if at one point the seeker wanders too far off the home base and someone decides to come out from hiding, he or she can kick the can as far away as possible and the seeker has to return to can to home base. When the seeker is doing so, those who's already been found can go into hiding again!

Now come to think of it, what if the person who kicked the can was actually the person who'd been found when the seeker was not looking? Anyways I can't remember being the seeker (I'm sure I've had my fair share) but it sure was a thrill to kick the can real hard and watch the seeker cursing and swearing while everyone went hiding once more.

Shih Chung Branch School: Is Every School Haunted?

Yes.

As the student population declined, the third storey (mainly classrooms) was no longer in use when I enrolled. One day during Primary Four or Five, after class, we decided to do a little exploration. We went all the way up to the attic, which was surprisingly small, with barely enough room for three (it was me, Chew Lick Horn and another classmate). Nothing much there except a few pigeons which came in through the broken tiles.

On our way down, we passed by the third storey (I'm getting tremendous goosebumps as I'm writing this). In the middle of that floor was a wide corridor with classrooms on both sides, they were all shut. We tried the doors but they were locked (another wave of goosebumps!). Out of curiosity, I took a peep through the key hole (G~O~O~S~E~B~U~M~P~Y) of the first classroom on the left (such vivid details because it scared the daylight out of me) and guess what I saw?

No, not an eye staring back at me or little headless kids running around (will your skin age faster if you get too many goosebumps because the reflexes are overworking?). I saw a rocking chair (EPIC-GOOSE-BUMP-SSSS) and it was rocking...

The windows were all shut and what the hell was a rocking chair doing in an abandoned classroom? Even with the window opened and wind gushing in it shouldn't have rocked because it's made of metal!

I didn't scream or run, I just walked back down through the way I came up. I never went up to the third storey again.

Shih Chung Branch School: There’s A Party In My Tummy

I've always had problems with my tummy. People sometimes get butterflies in their tummies, I get rhinoceros in mine – meaning when they want to come out, they won't wait. One fine morning I was on my way to school and I felt this weird sensation in my tummy while half way there. Sensing something disastrous was about to be unleashed, I quickened my steps.

I managed to get into a cubicle but alas, not in time to take off my pants and they were soiled, a little. I knew I was the first to reach school (my house was 10 minutes away) so no point calling for help. I washed my pants with the tap in the cubicle while waited for the next person to arrive, which I know whom. Soon after, I heard footsteps outside the little boy's and sure enough it was Hoh Kok Hoe and his mum.

After sending Kok Hoe into the classroom she walked back towards the school gate, passing by the little boy's. This was how I went to her for help:

I had no idea why I went for help like that but she was kind enough to ask me to wait in the cubicle while she went to fetch my mum. She was also the nice lady who asked me to hide from Lim Lee Chin's father. Thank you, auntie.

She passed away many years ago from cancer.

Shih Chung Branch School: A Brief History of A Bragging Loser

To give you an idea of how small the school population was: I won almost every competition there was: from sports to singing (people who knows me know I can't sing for shit) and from general knowledge to Chinese calligraphy (gasp!). I was either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd. And I've been awarded the role model student trophy, twice. And since Primary One, I've been in the top two of my class.

Bragging loser! I might as well have changed the first sentence to "to give you an idea of how smart I was..." or more aptly, "to give you an idea of how not smart I was..." because after Primary school, I didn't win a single thing while in high school! Zilch.

The school population was small: our class, consisted of approximately 35 students, was the largest. By the time we were Primary Six and ready to leave the school, Primary One has FOUR students. Those lucky kids had all the undivided attention from their teachers haha.

Anyways I think the enrollment rate declined due to the school's waning popularity (according to my mum at its peak the school had about 500 students and they had to limit new intakes), locality (there were many other schools nearby and people were moving into new towns) and funding (note the dilapidated ceilings and walls in some of the photos I post later).

In 1994 the land was sold and Shih Chung Branch School moved back to its main school at Love Lane. Total student population from the branch school in 1995 was 24.

In 1999 Shih Chung Branch School moved to its current location at Sungai Nibong and was give a new lease of life. As at January 2007 it has 1293 students in 22 classes.

Source: sjkcshihchung.blogspot.com

Shih Chung Branch School: The Swing of Death

I'm sure almost everyone's been on a swing before and I dare say it's one of the most thrilling playground structures ever built when operated without adult supervision.

The goal was always the same: to swing as high as you can and to land without the swing coming to a full stop.


OK we never achieved that but we sure had big dreams.

Shih Chung Branch School: The Revolving Cone of Death

One of our favourite playground structures was the Revolving Cone of Death. It's like a half-opened gargantuan parasol, minus the canopy, with wooden planks connected into a hexagon (or maybe 8-sided) at the tip for you to step on. I think it was originally intended as a merry-go-round of sorts where you sit on the planks and some idiot would spin the cone for you while you enjoy the ride (yawn).

But not for us. We had to make it more fun and deadly, considering studying already took away half of our lives, we needed to make playtime worthwhile! So the game was the traditional "Police & Thieves", played on the revolving cone. Normally only three persons get to play on the cone at any one time because more than that it'd become too crowded. So the person assigned as "Police" will try to catch the two "Thieves" by running round and round the cone. If the police touched one of the thieves, that thief would become the police and the chase went on until someone puked their brains out or slipped into the cone or fell off the plank and died.


For the record, no one was killed by the revolving cone during my time but I'm sure it's lurking in the dark waiting for its victims.

Shih Chung Branch School: A Boy's Gotta Do What A Boy's Gotta Do

As I mentioned in the prologue my relationship with Shih Chung started earlier, before Primary One. I was enrolled into Shih Chung Kindergarten two years before, in 1981, when I was five. I don't remember any of the classmates or teachers (hey it's three decades ago!) but I do remember one of my proudest moments:

It was during one of the lessons that I felt a strong urge to pee. I asked for permission but was denied as the evil teacher wanted me to wait until class is over. I held it for a while but images of waterfalls and fountains kept flashing in and out of my mind (OK I exaggerated). No longer able to hold it and not wanting to defy the vile teacher, I did the most sensible thing a five-year-old could without disrupting the class:

I flipped my XX out of my shorts, sat very near to the edge of my chair without tipping over, spread my legs slightly wider part, and relieved myself. I was able to do so because I sat at the very last table in the middle of the classroom, facing the blackboard, with a few desks in front of mine. And there were rows of desks on both my left and right. So my slippery endeavour pretty much happened under the table without a hitch.

It was the last class of the day so I went home when the lesson was over and the next day the floor was dry and clean. The janitor most probably thought someone spilled water from his or her tumbler.


Warning: Please do not try this at the office.

Shih Chung Branch School: Aerial View: After & Before

This is quite accurate. Gotta love Google Maps. More on some of the features later.

Shih Chung Branch School: “Five cents as big as a cow-drawn cart’s wheel.”

This is the Hokkien saying which means very little money means a lot to some people (Gasp! Two "means" in one sentence! How mean is that? Who cares? I'm not a copywriter). And when I was a kid, it was as big as the Singapore Flyer. Actually not five cents but five ringgit instead.

A Vitagen truck used to come to our school about twice a year to sell those cultured drink at discounted price. My mum would always give me five ringgit for the treat. I can't remember how many you can get with five ringgit in those days, 200 bottles? Anyways one day it was announced to us that the Vitagen truck would be coming tomorrow so happily I asked five ringgit from my mum the next morning and off to school I went.

I normally only have 50 cents a day for snacks (canteen food was subsidised and free) so I'd kept the coins in my left shorts pocket and the five ringgit note in my right. When I got to school, five ringgit, checked. After the first lesson, five ringgit, checked. Another two more lessons gone by, five ringgit, checked. Right before recess, five ringgit, GONE!

I searched high and low, inside my pockets and out, top and bottom of desk, chair, school bag, corridors. If there was a ladder I'd have searched the ceiling. I ran home during recess to tell my mum hoping I'd get another five ringgit for my much anticipated elixir of life but I guess you know her answer: NO. "Do you know how much is five ringgit?? It's as big as the Singapore Flyer AND London Eye combined!!" (OK those were not her exact words but she meant the same thing...)

NO VITAGEN ON THAT FATEFUL DAY.

[Ethnic Joke Alert]
"What's the difference between an Australian and a Vitagen?"
"Vitagen has culture."

Shih Chung Branch School: Softball Played Hard

Our favourite sport was softball instead of the wildly popular soccer in other schools. I think mainly because it's less exhausting, less violent and both boys and girls can play in the same team and everyone got three chances at hitting the ball and participating in the game.

We used hula hoops as our bases and our balls and bats were made of plastic. Softball was never a competitive sport for us because it was not listed as an official sport in any inter-school championship. We'd really look forward to each PE lesson because it's pure fun when you take the competitive element out of it. We also had soccer (mainly for boys) and badminton but those were more of extra-curricular activities.


Lee Kok Hoe was the first to use the fancy overhand throw (for baseball) but I was too shy to mimic his moves so I stuck to the underhand pitch.

We'd also tried dodge ball but it never caught on. What a bunch of fun and peace loving kids we were.

Source: throwmax.com

Shih Chung Branch School: Class of ’88

This is a rather lousy reproduction taken using my cellphone. I'll replace it as soon as I find a good scanner.

This was actually the whole school, minus the guy with his back facing the camera on the left. Our class was made up of 32 students, roughly 35% of the entire school's population of 93, including teachers and the caretaker.

Top row, left to right:
1. 林(坤)良 注：坤，取其音。实字为上双方下土。
2. 杨文光
3. 王其洲 Ong Kee Chew
4. 张臣荣 Ah Eng
5. Totally slipped my mind
6. 林廷义
7. 郑伯贤
8. 骆永杰 Loh Eng Keat
9. 李国豪 Lee Kok Hoe

Second row, left to right:
10. 莫锦荣
11. 吴伟国
00. I'm pretty sure
00. they were our juniors
00. positioned there for
00. arrangement aesthetics
12. 赵烈康 Chew Lick Horn
13. 杨胜越
14. 赖耀达 Lai Yeow Tatt
00. junior
00. junior
15. 陈子庆 Ching Chee Heng
16. 郑伟强 to confirm

Bottom row, left to right:
17. 周天福 to confirm
18. 陈宝山 to confirm
19. 林李真 Lim Lee Chin
20. 李雪清
21. 陈惠玲
22. 陈秀容
23. 伍慧敏
24. 王小燕 to confirm
25. 黄丽妃 Ooi Lay Hooi
26. 刘盈廷 Liu Ying Ting
27. 吕加美 Loo Kar Bee
28. 曾丽萍 Chan Lay Peng
29. 郑熙凤 Teh Hee Hong

Absent:
30. 何国豪
31. 罗(倚)美 注：倚，取其音。部首为丝。
32. 郭士妃

The only teachers who taught us from Primary One through Primary Six are Mr Wong (first male teacher on the left) and Mr Boey (third male teacher from left). In between them is Mr Yao, the disciplinary head and the scout master. The headmaster is the teacher who wore a tie.

Shih Chung Branch School: Excuses Excuses...

Around September 2008 me and a few friends started planning for Hairloom & Caramel, a hair saloon and café all rolled into one. It's been a fun ride working full time at the café for the first nine months of 2009. And now we are struggling to keep it afloat.

So back to circa 1986 when I was in Primary Four I was fooling around with Lee Kok Hoe (my then arch rival, but more about him later) during recess with these 12-inch metal rulers as our swords. No I didn't kill him or anything but this poor guy, Lim Lee Chin, got in the way of our epic sword fight. We tried to move away from him but he kept wanting to be part of the action. Annoyed, I hit him with the metal ruler flat on his face. He got a shock and finally backed away.

Shortly after recess I got called to the teachers' office. Standing next to the disciplinary head was Lee Chin, bruised and blood-red skin outlining a long rectangular shape on his right side burn area. I made a lame excuse of saying he ran into our sword practice but of course the disciplinary teacher see right through it. I don't remember what punishment was handed down to me because I was more fearful of Lee Chin's words: "I'm going to tell my dad you did this to me!"

The next day a classmate's mum actually asked me to hide behind the classroom when Lee Chin's dad sent him to school. You can run but you can't hide. During recess, thinking everything was over, I was playing with some classmates when Lee Chin's dad rode up to me in his bike and asked to challenge his son. I was shocked and scared speechless so he rode away.

Later my classmate's mum (the same one who asked me to hide) said Lee Chin's dad had actually given Lee Chin a pen knife before he went looking for me. I didn't know how much of this was true but I was glad I didn't fight with Lee Chin afterwards.

Some 20 years later one of the classmates saw Lee Chin on the street as a very buff bodybuilder.

Things: Make Your Own Dental Floss

Mum is a frugal woman. She comes from a family where she often had to scrap the bottom of the rice cooker to get the scorched layer of rice, dipped with soy sauce, as her dinner. When she was younger (1960s) she saved enough five cents (MYR) to buy a gold bracelet worth RM50.

Once she saw me using dental floss (1995) and she was curious what it does. I told her it's for removing those food bits that toothbrush missed. I gave her my dental floss dispenser and asked her to try it out. When I returned to Penang during my next semester break I saw this thin nylon string hawkers used to tie takeaway food packets hanging on a hook next to her toothbrush.

Apparently she's finished using the dental floss I gave her and found it rather expensive to buy.

Note: I have since stopped her from being so environmental-conscious.