I REMEMBER when I was 16 (yes, a long time ago!), I attended to a lost American tourist who somehow ended up in my neighbourhood - a highly unlikely tourist spot.
As I was talking to the man, my mother was shouting in Hokkien from inside the house, asking me to be careful of the stranger.
I had to shout back to explain the situation in Hokkien, and kept referring to the guy as "ang moh" (white man).
I'm sure the man knew we were talking about him. He looked embarrassed.
Fast forward to a few days ago, I felt a sense of deja vu when I saw the short Malaysian-made short film Chocolate, which has been receiving rave reviews.
In the clip, the mother of the Chinese boy was shouting at him in Mandarin when he attended to a Malay girl in the grocery shop.
But I'm sure many viewers who had seen Chocolate felt the same way too - listening to shouting by one's mom while keeping your eyes on another matter.
It's such a common situation that almost everyone had experienced.
The film is part of short films made in conjuction with Malaysia's National Day at the end of this month.
That's what makes Chocolate and 14 other short films in 15Malaysia special. They explore local themes that touch on socio-political issues, which everyone can relate to.
The project is a compilation of 15 short films by 15 independent filmmakers and produced by award-winning producer Pete Teo.
The films are in various languages, mostly in local dialect if the story was based on a particular ethnic group. All the videos have subtitles.
Mr Teo is releasing one video every two or three days on www.15malaysia.com.
When the first film Potong Saga was released on Aug 17, there were 15,000 downloads by the next day.
Two more videos - Chocolate and The Tree - have been released after that. As of now, 72,096 videos have been downloaded so far.
As I am writing this, the number keeps increasing. About 200 videos were downloaded just minutes ago.
Those who are impatient have logged on to YouTube to watch the trailers of all the films.
The project is also popular because the films feature prominent personalities such as Parti Islam SeMalaysia spiritual leader Nik
Aziz Nik Mat, former law minister Zaid Ibrahim and famous Malaysian model Amber Chia - the face of Guess model search.
Some of the funny ones are Meter - where Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin acted as a taxi driver - and Potong Saga, where controversial rapper Wee Meng Chee was told to "potong" (circumcise) before he could open a savings account in an Islamic bank.
The next video, House, will be released on Aug 24.
So go on, see it for yourself.
Log on to the website and download some of the videos. Or visit youtube.
I'm sure you'll be able to relate to some of the stories too.
Enjoy!