I wonder when the Malaysian (non-sociopolitical) blogosphere started thinking using baby talk was the in thing. As in, "nao" for now, "nais" for nice, "nom" for chewing... I don't know why they all start with "n", and I'm equally confounded by the stupidity of it. It is very annoying when 20-somethings-and-above act cute in this way - well, acting cute in general irritates the hell out of me.
Oh yeah some time ago some people thought it was cute to spell cute "kiut". I imagine myself buying a set of wooden letter blocks from Toys-R-Us, selecting "K", "I", "U" and "T" and shoving them up their butts. I don't suppose Toys-R-Us would grant me a refund after I'm finished with the blocks.
And you know what else annoys me? "Wtf" and "fml" behind every sentence. I think it's some kind of verbal safety blanket. It's also an in-line trigger to signal "you should laugh now", much like the percussion behind comedians.
"What is the national bird of Singapore?"
"The crane."
*drum*
In some blogs it would come out as: What is the national bird of Singapore? The crane wtf.
You get what I mean. Except that this joke is actually funny. Try putting it behind a totally commonplace sentence: I had oats today for breakfast wtf. The reader has been conditioned to think - haha, oats for breakfast! That's so funny! Having discovered that it actually works, some bloggers have tried to milk the full effects of this useful tool.
Today I broke my nail wtf. And then I went to the mall to get some dishwashing liquid wtf. After that I went home to watch TV wtf. Michael Jackson died wtf.
Now we can try to replace "wtf" with "fml" (for the uninitiated, fml means fuck my life - translated to mean "I live a pathetic existence please kill me now". It's supposed to convey self-deprecating humour. The operative word is "supposed to".) .
Today I broke my nail fml. And then I went to the mall to get some dishwashing liquid fml. After that I went home to watch TV fml. Michael Jackson died fhl.
As you can see, "fhl" is another variation of fml, which obviously means fuck his life. Also, you can say fmdl for fuck my dog's life, fel for fuck Einstein's life, you get the drift. It doesn't have to mean anything. It just has to convey the message that I'm cool, and my jokes are funny and if it doesn't appeal to you, fyl.
What was supposed to be a two-paragraph rant has morphed into a full-fledged post. I need to go back to my academic reading now, where people write 100-word sentences and pepper sentences with "post-modernism", "obdurate reality", "idiographic accounts" and such.
fml.
Showing posts with label other blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label other blogs. Show all posts
Jason Mraz is wise.
Quoted from Jason Mraz's blog,
"To you, my fun-employed friend, I encourage you to sit for only a few minutes and listen to the voice inside of you. It knows exactly what it wants to do. YOU just have to stop getting in its way. Forget how difficult your dreams may seem to achieve. Ignore the idea that your family and friends will think you’re weird. Drop all your doubts about financial concerns and just start living your life according to your purpose. The only thing that has to be in place for you to BE IT now is your attitude. Your life is your movie. Be your own hero and make it your favorite film to watch."
---
I've got Robert's CD! He's such a sweet thing - as a gift for me being vegetarian he sent me a self-compiled music CD titled "Vegetable Junkie", and I've just got it from Skinny David who got it from the person who stays in my previous dorm room which address Robert sent it to. Complicated process yes, but I've finally got it. Happy-happy belaka.
---
Small breakthroughs in research - not enough to be groundbreaking but enough to keep me going and asking questions. And asking questions about my questions, such as - is this question a stupid question? My dialogues with myself are recorded in my research journal. I have also developed a habit of articulating my thoughts when I am walking alone. I've found out that people do stare at people who talk to themselves.
---
Tonight I am going night cycling at East Coast with Yuen, Tony Twentytwo and Skinny David. I can do it, I will not fall, I can do it, I will not fall. I refuse to fail! Hooaarrrghhhh!! (Val and Marten argue that Asians sound like this, which we totally don't. We don't! Hoaarrrgghh!!!)
---
How does courtship work in this modern age?
---
Looking forward to my new mattress. I went to Ikea with Jia Ling yesterday and she couldn't believe that I have bought a single bed. She is strangely obsessed with me getting a double bed. I bought a laundry bag, a rubbish bin and a thing to put my gadgets in. No double beds, sorry.
---
Gypsy Kings is the shiznit.
---
OK break over. Back to being productive.
"To you, my fun-employed friend, I encourage you to sit for only a few minutes and listen to the voice inside of you. It knows exactly what it wants to do. YOU just have to stop getting in its way. Forget how difficult your dreams may seem to achieve. Ignore the idea that your family and friends will think you’re weird. Drop all your doubts about financial concerns and just start living your life according to your purpose. The only thing that has to be in place for you to BE IT now is your attitude. Your life is your movie. Be your own hero and make it your favorite film to watch."
---
I've got Robert's CD! He's such a sweet thing - as a gift for me being vegetarian he sent me a self-compiled music CD titled "Vegetable Junkie", and I've just got it from Skinny David who got it from the person who stays in my previous dorm room which address Robert sent it to. Complicated process yes, but I've finally got it. Happy-happy belaka.
---
Small breakthroughs in research - not enough to be groundbreaking but enough to keep me going and asking questions. And asking questions about my questions, such as - is this question a stupid question? My dialogues with myself are recorded in my research journal. I have also developed a habit of articulating my thoughts when I am walking alone. I've found out that people do stare at people who talk to themselves.
---
Tonight I am going night cycling at East Coast with Yuen, Tony Twentytwo and Skinny David. I can do it, I will not fall, I can do it, I will not fall. I refuse to fail! Hooaarrrghhhh!! (Val and Marten argue that Asians sound like this, which we totally don't. We don't! Hoaarrrgghh!!!)
---
How does courtship work in this modern age?
---
Looking forward to my new mattress. I went to Ikea with Jia Ling yesterday and she couldn't believe that I have bought a single bed. She is strangely obsessed with me getting a double bed. I bought a laundry bag, a rubbish bin and a thing to put my gadgets in. No double beds, sorry.
---
Gypsy Kings is the shiznit.
---
OK break over. Back to being productive.
Why oh why.
Why do people write such long, rambling passages? The point is hidden in there somewhere underneath all the words, the entire field of words filled with potential. Somewhere among the lalangs, there is what I need, there is the missing element that I want, but I can't see it for all the words, damn it!
Academic writing should be simple and straight to the point. Deciphering the ideas and concepts takes up most of my energy without having to wade through verbose and flowery text, it is like going through double the interpreting process. But I have to. My breakthrough might be in here. I need this breakthrough. I need to write this confirmation report and I need to write this fast. Someone save my drowning ass!
In other news, I am replacing my pathetic 10cm thick mattress with something more substantial. Here's to better sleep, less crankiness and no more knocking my ankles on the bed frame. On Saturday it will come! I got it online. Feeling adventurous. And poor. It's 35 bucks cheaper than the other one that I saw at a brick and mortar shop, free delivery too.
Back to complaining about people's writing. In a fit of protest over academic reading I went blog hopping - and I have to say, some of these so-called popular bloggers seriously can't write to save their own lives. Self-glorifying pictures galore, no substance, grammatical and spelling errors all over, where are the emotions? Where is the wit? Where is the person behind the blog, amidst all the advertorials and endorsements?
I seriously need to change my mattress.
Academic writing should be simple and straight to the point. Deciphering the ideas and concepts takes up most of my energy without having to wade through verbose and flowery text, it is like going through double the interpreting process. But I have to. My breakthrough might be in here. I need this breakthrough. I need to write this confirmation report and I need to write this fast. Someone save my drowning ass!
In other news, I am replacing my pathetic 10cm thick mattress with something more substantial. Here's to better sleep, less crankiness and no more knocking my ankles on the bed frame. On Saturday it will come! I got it online. Feeling adventurous. And poor. It's 35 bucks cheaper than the other one that I saw at a brick and mortar shop, free delivery too.
Back to complaining about people's writing. In a fit of protest over academic reading I went blog hopping - and I have to say, some of these so-called popular bloggers seriously can't write to save their own lives. Self-glorifying pictures galore, no substance, grammatical and spelling errors all over, where are the emotions? Where is the wit? Where is the person behind the blog, amidst all the advertorials and endorsements?
I seriously need to change my mattress.
Curses! The Honest Scrap Awards!
Chindi my old time buddy in the blogging world has given me this unenviable task of putting down 8 things previously unknown to any soul in the world on my blog. About me. And me, being the open book that I am, it is extremely difficult to think of anything that I have never told anyone before. Stuff I can't tell the general public, I tell to my best friends. Stuff I don't tell my best friends, I tell random strangers that I meet. And stuff that I don't tell anyone at all - well, don't expect me to put it here, because they're secret for a reason.
Cue intense soul-searching for the most difficult blogging assignment ever.
Anyway, since I have family reading this blog, the content remains [my] family friendly, I have devised a clever scheme to stick to the rules of the award yet not divulge any secrets worth knowing, muahaha! So here's a list of things so trivial about me that I've never thought about telling anyone:
Shall not be updating the blog too often recently until I get my life back into order, namely getting a place to stay and sorting out all the work-related clutter. Have to work really hard for the following few months to complete my confirmation report to get it out of the way from any travelling opportunities, and to impress my World's Coolest Supervisor.
Cue intense soul-searching for the most difficult blogging assignment ever.
Anyway, since I have family reading this blog, the content remains [my] family friendly, I have devised a clever scheme to stick to the rules of the award yet not divulge any secrets worth knowing, muahaha! So here's a list of things so trivial about me that I've never thought about telling anyone:
- I have a habit of compulsively rereading the newest post on my blog until I do a new post, then I'll read that new post instead.
- I had a great idea for a personal ad last week and posted my first ad ever online... and the replies have been coming in like averagely five emails a day =_= My semangat died approximately two hours after I posted the ad, and now I am faced with the prospect of answering the pile of emails by strangers whom I don't want to disappoint but don't really care about either. On top of that I have to answer emails from people that I do care about, and I have to start doing my research, but now I am blogging.
- I need a personal assistant who will stop me from doing stupid random things that eat up my time such as posting personal ads at whim and answering blog tags.
- I just got an email from my co-supervisor giving me an assignment for his class which I'm sitting in. And you heard it first, from June x 2. Damn, more work on top of the pile of emails I have to reply!
- Sometimes I think I put too many dashes into my writing - like that - but I like to articulate my pauses without using too many commas.
- Someone washed my feet at the Burning Man.
- I'm struggling here - oh yeah occasionally I have vain spells which result in me staring at the mirror for extended periods of time. After I cut six inches off my desert-fried hair I used the household webcam to take self-portraits (see right, behold, the thinker pose!).
- I have only visited Yasmin Ahmad (my favourite Malaysian film director)'s blog once after she died, and till now I still have the unconscious habit of typing her blog address into the address bar, hesitating and not clicking enter. Whenever I do that I am slightly sad.
Shall not be updating the blog too often recently until I get my life back into order, namely getting a place to stay and sorting out all the work-related clutter. Have to work really hard for the following few months to complete my confirmation report to get it out of the way from any travelling opportunities, and to impress my World's Coolest Supervisor.
This is sick.
Prompted by Elviza's kind email regarding relief efforts by Mercy Malaysia offered to Palestine, I took some time off this evening from my readings and read up a little more on the situation in Gaza. I'm sure most of you would have kept yourself more informed than I have, so I'm just going to show some pictures ripped from NYTimes. Because many of us are quite insensitive to human suffering unless it is shoved in our faces.
The funeral for 14 of around 40 people killed on Tuesday when Israeli mortar fire struck near a United Nations school in Gaza where many people were taking refuge. Picture and caption taken from NYTimes.com
Women grieved during another funeral, for ten family members killed in a missile strike. Picture and caption taken from NYTimes.com
The aftermath of an airstrike in the Rafah refugee camp on Wednesday. The rising civilian death toll in crowded Gaza heightened international urgency to end the combat. Israel has said repeatedly that it will not end the operation in Gaza until it is certain that Hamas will no longer fire rockets into its civilian areas. Picture and caption taken from NYTimes.com
From Yasmin Ahmad's blog, I read SMSes from Dr. Jemilah from Mercy Malaysia who is currently delivering aid on the ground at Gaza.
I think, witnessing all the efforts that Mercy Malaysia is putting into helping all the innocent lives taken and injured (according to Elviza's blog, Al-Jazeera has the figures that 700 Palestinians have been killed, 219 of whom are children; more than 3000 are wounded), supporting them is the least that we can do.
How you can help? Monetarily, Mercy Malaysia needs more contributions to buy surgical kits, medicines and hospital equipments to help the hospitals in Gaza.
***
And then I watched two videos, also from Yasmin Ahmad's blog, on the American media portrayal of the Israel-Palestine conflict. As a media student I am fascinated, but as a layperson I am overwhelmingly disgusted by the underhanded tactics used to virtually mask the events from the rest of the world. Each clip takes 30 minutes, but I assure you it's worth it, to learn from media activists, scholars and journalists what's really the situation, and how the media twisted the facts.
Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land - U.S. Media & The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Part 1)
Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land - U.S. Media & The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Part 2)
To sum things up, these videos will show you how Israel is obsessed with its PR image, how the media content goes through some 4 major filters, i.e. 1) the owners of the US media and their business interests, 2) the political elites, 3) the PR efforts of Israel and 4) Pro-Israel media watchdogs. Then they show you, in six clear points, the PR strategies of Israel. Interesting bits include how the journalists are being forced to use language such as "neighbourhood" instead of "settlement" to mask the (very much illegal) occupation of Palestine; and how they give uneven portrayal (empathy on Israel side and nonchalance on the Palestine side); and how they use words like "retaliation" to imply that the Israelis were acting out of self-defense... it is really fascinating.
It's too long to summarize here and I'm quite eager to get this post out, so for you weirdos who want to read the transcript of the videos instead of watching them, here's the link to the transcript. The videos are produced by the Media Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization which produces documentaries looking at media critically.
The funeral for 14 of around 40 people killed on Tuesday when Israeli mortar fire struck near a United Nations school in Gaza where many people were taking refuge. Picture and caption taken from NYTimes.com
Women grieved during another funeral, for ten family members killed in a missile strike. Picture and caption taken from NYTimes.com
The aftermath of an airstrike in the Rafah refugee camp on Wednesday. The rising civilian death toll in crowded Gaza heightened international urgency to end the combat. Israel has said repeatedly that it will not end the operation in Gaza until it is certain that Hamas will no longer fire rockets into its civilian areas. Picture and caption taken from NYTimes.comFrom Yasmin Ahmad's blog, I read SMSes from Dr. Jemilah from Mercy Malaysia who is currently delivering aid on the ground at Gaza.
"Salaam. I am leaving tonight for Egypt and onto Rafah, to set up a pipeline for aid into Gaza. Don't worry, it is safe there. Pray for us and the people who are suffering there. Happy new year, I love all of you." (Dec 31)
"Salaam, Min. As I write this, in the last 15 minutes more than 20 bombs have fallen on Gaza, within the distance I can hear them. We are about 2 km from Palestine, and it is a case of so near and yet so far. Our five trucks are loaded with USD100,000 worth of valuable medicine, surgical sets, and disposable items, including syringes, intravenous infusions and bandages. We will wait till the bombings stop, and once the gate opens, we will try to push the goods through. While the Egyptian border has thankfully allowed aid to go through, the challenge is to wait for trucks from the Palestine side to come and collect the goods. For the past day, they have not been able to collect even life saving goods as Israel continues with land and air assaults. We will try our best and stay till we can assure our aid goes through. Many people have been kind to us here and we ask for your continued support and prayers." (4 Jan)
"Alhamdulillah (Praise the Lord). Nothing short of a miracle and Allah's love and mercy for us. We managed to transfer 50 tons of supplies. Many people waited for days, but we sailed through. Alhamdulillah. How was your TV thing? To be honest, it's been very slow on the fund-raising side from HQ." (5 Jan)
"Alhamdulillah. I am fine. Spent some time with Palestinian kids transferred to Cairo for treatment. They were crying and wanting to go home! They don't realise their homes have been blown apart. So very sad. Getting the second consignment ready to go again. Take care. Salaam to all and thank everyone for their generosity and doas." (7 Jan)
I think, witnessing all the efforts that Mercy Malaysia is putting into helping all the innocent lives taken and injured (according to Elviza's blog, Al-Jazeera has the figures that 700 Palestinians have been killed, 219 of whom are children; more than 3000 are wounded), supporting them is the least that we can do.
How you can help? Monetarily, Mercy Malaysia needs more contributions to buy surgical kits, medicines and hospital equipments to help the hospitals in Gaza.
- Cheque is to be made payable to “MERCY MALAYSIA” and addressed to Mercy Malaysia, Level 2, Podium Block, City Point, Kompleks Dayabumi, Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin, 50050 Kuala Lumpur.
- Cash donations can be made via on-line transmission or deposit at CIMB Bank Account No: 1424-000-6561053.
- Donation form can be downloaded from here.
- Further enquiries are to be directed to +603-22733999 or info@mercy.org.my
***
And then I watched two videos, also from Yasmin Ahmad's blog, on the American media portrayal of the Israel-Palestine conflict. As a media student I am fascinated, but as a layperson I am overwhelmingly disgusted by the underhanded tactics used to virtually mask the events from the rest of the world. Each clip takes 30 minutes, but I assure you it's worth it, to learn from media activists, scholars and journalists what's really the situation, and how the media twisted the facts.
Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land - U.S. Media & The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Part 1)
Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land - U.S. Media & The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Part 2)
To sum things up, these videos will show you how Israel is obsessed with its PR image, how the media content goes through some 4 major filters, i.e. 1) the owners of the US media and their business interests, 2) the political elites, 3) the PR efforts of Israel and 4) Pro-Israel media watchdogs. Then they show you, in six clear points, the PR strategies of Israel. Interesting bits include how the journalists are being forced to use language such as "neighbourhood" instead of "settlement" to mask the (very much illegal) occupation of Palestine; and how they give uneven portrayal (empathy on Israel side and nonchalance on the Palestine side); and how they use words like "retaliation" to imply that the Israelis were acting out of self-defense... it is really fascinating.
It's too long to summarize here and I'm quite eager to get this post out, so for you weirdos who want to read the transcript of the videos instead of watching them, here's the link to the transcript. The videos are produced by the Media Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization which produces documentaries looking at media critically.
Choppy.
Aisehman has stopped blogging. I am dispirited. Whyyyy. Why do you have to leave us. Sob. Sigh.
I am tremendously tired. Still trudging on. Finals coming soon. Term papers due soon. Macam mana. Do loh. Read loh. Maybe coffee will increase my spirits artificially. But I'm not in a coffee mood now.
Imeem is wonderful. Listening to soundtrack of Amelie through it now. Good stuff.
Isn't it sad when you realize that your life boils down to a packet of maggi curry for lunch in the office on a Sunday. Or when you walk home at 1:30am getting scared of moving shadows at an empty corridor.
Why is the lady next door laughing hysterically. Why. Why is it not raining yet. Why.
If life were a movie I'd be in a montage now. I wonder what movie I'm in. Some low budget art film or a huge production with loads of scenes and explosions and damsels in distress. Yesterday someone told me that she was afraid of Westerners because they hug and kiss people as a culture. I said if you're not comfortable with it, just say so. She said she didn't want to make them angry. I said they wouldn't be angry if you just told them nicely. She ignored my input and said she felt taken advantage of when they do it. There you go, a self-made airhead in distress. The oh-so-victimized. The someone-come-save-me-I'm-so-dainty-and-helpless. She doesn't want to be saved. She just wants her helplessness to be reinforced. The bastards! How dare they take advantage of a sweet young thing like you. You know I really feel for you. I wonder why noone has taken advantage of me. Maybe 'coz I'm not as sweet and young and I'm not a thing. Moron.
But anyway. I'm watching movies of other people. Real life drama, of turbulent and forbidden passion, of meeting the man of your dreams on an island vacation, of he-likes-me-he-likes-me-not. Eh why all love stories huh. I'm a bystander, like I always am. The all-seeing oracle, the agony aunt, the shoulder people like to cry on. I mean I can't help it. People just flock to my shoulder like bees to honey.
I guess when there's nothing much in your life, seeing what's happening to other people is the next best thing.
Yeah. When will this montage end so that I can be in some real action.
Hmm. This post was initially just going to be whining about Aisehman leaving. Why you don't want us anymore. Why.
I am tremendously tired. Still trudging on. Finals coming soon. Term papers due soon. Macam mana. Do loh. Read loh. Maybe coffee will increase my spirits artificially. But I'm not in a coffee mood now.
Imeem is wonderful. Listening to soundtrack of Amelie through it now. Good stuff.
Isn't it sad when you realize that your life boils down to a packet of maggi curry for lunch in the office on a Sunday. Or when you walk home at 1:30am getting scared of moving shadows at an empty corridor.
Why is the lady next door laughing hysterically. Why. Why is it not raining yet. Why.
If life were a movie I'd be in a montage now. I wonder what movie I'm in. Some low budget art film or a huge production with loads of scenes and explosions and damsels in distress. Yesterday someone told me that she was afraid of Westerners because they hug and kiss people as a culture. I said if you're not comfortable with it, just say so. She said she didn't want to make them angry. I said they wouldn't be angry if you just told them nicely. She ignored my input and said she felt taken advantage of when they do it. There you go, a self-made airhead in distress. The oh-so-victimized. The someone-come-save-me-I'm-so-dainty-and-helpless. She doesn't want to be saved. She just wants her helplessness to be reinforced. The bastards! How dare they take advantage of a sweet young thing like you. You know I really feel for you. I wonder why noone has taken advantage of me. Maybe 'coz I'm not as sweet and young and I'm not a thing. Moron.
But anyway. I'm watching movies of other people. Real life drama, of turbulent and forbidden passion, of meeting the man of your dreams on an island vacation, of he-likes-me-he-likes-me-not. Eh why all love stories huh. I'm a bystander, like I always am. The all-seeing oracle, the agony aunt, the shoulder people like to cry on. I mean I can't help it. People just flock to my shoulder like bees to honey.
I guess when there's nothing much in your life, seeing what's happening to other people is the next best thing.
Yeah. When will this montage end so that I can be in some real action.
Hmm. This post was initially just going to be whining about Aisehman leaving. Why you don't want us anymore. Why.
Some new friends.
So I stayed in the hostel today and didn't go anywhere. In the morning I had an insightful chat with the cleaner lady who happened to be in the pantry while I was making oats for breakfast with the hot water dispenser. She started telling me horror stories about how some girls throw their soiled sanitary napkins into the dustbins just like that. Very inconsiderate to the people who are doing the cleaning up.
"Last time there was an auntie, who took the sanitary napkins, and burnt them." What happens when you burn them? I asked, wide-eyed. "It's not good. Not good for the girl," she said solemnly and impressively, and refused to elaborate. So here you are, girls. Do yourselves and others a favour, wrap your monthly blood up before you dispose of them. Unless if you want to get yourself cursed. Then by all means.
Being friendly with the resident cleaner lady also has other benefits. For instance I now have the intelligence that a certain microwave oven in Lobby 2 was once used by a girl to microwave her underwear. She decided to microwave not one, not two, but four of her panties because they weren't dry. Using an iron did not occur to her. No, she would microwave them instead, in a bowl.
The cleaner ladies noticed the unorthodox objects spinning merrily in the lighted oven, ambushed the girl and told her off. The kind lady never used any of the ovens ever again. I think that's a wise decision. I shall do the same, and continue to smile widely at cleaner ladies who come my way.
I stink. I shall go shower first and continue blogging when I get back.
Back.
The whole day I spent alternating my position from on the bed (sleeping and reading) to in front of my laptop (reading this really funny blog of a Guatemalan (El Guapo in DC), it has been discontinued since a year ago but the archives are priceless!). Thus passed a pretty uneventful day until I kicked my ass out of the room at 9pm to go jogging. The things boredom make you do!
So I jogged a bit, and brisk-walked most of the way because I'm really no jogger, and passed by the NIE (Nanyang Institute of Education) basketball courts. Yesterday when I was depressed I thought I would join in some games the next time. Well, no time better than now, nowhere better than here, noone better than me! So I approached two guys at the court and asked them nicely if I could join. So I did. Then I shot some hoops with the guys, both Singaporeans, for about half an hour. I have forgotten how nice it feels to hold a basketball. It's been such a long while! They weren't playing in teams though because there were only two of them. So endurance wasn't an issue and I just enjoyed shooting.
They were having an inter-block basketball tournament tomorrow and they weren't sure if anyone would turn up... naturally I asked why. Apparently everyone's busy studying. And it's like, one week into the semester. And naturally I pointed that out. "It's only 12 weeks till the exams! We're Singaporeans!" was the answer. You're joking right? "No, there really are people who have started to study." Then what are you guys doing here playing basketball? "Oh we've finished studying. We're the most kiasu ones." I hope they were joking. I really do.
Basketball back into my life! Even the customary casualty of my specs as a result of ball on face. Ah the nostalgia.
At the end I exchanged numbers with one of the guys. And One Of The Guys is kinda cute too. I should've let him walk me back to my hostel. Maybe next time. When I feel less like a cradle robber. Both guys are undergrad freshmen. Ah to be young and carefree and cramming for an exam which happens 12 weeks later!
One last thing. I think I may get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from using my Sony Ericsson w910i to text. The keys are infuriatingly shallow. Otherwise I've got no complaints, only that I need to somehow transfer my coo-coo ringtone from my old phone to my new. My phone won't be my phone till I do that. But so far trying to send an MMS has not worked, I don't have a cable, there's no bluetooth and the new phone does not have infrared for me to transfer. Any ideas?
"Last time there was an auntie, who took the sanitary napkins, and burnt them." What happens when you burn them? I asked, wide-eyed. "It's not good. Not good for the girl," she said solemnly and impressively, and refused to elaborate. So here you are, girls. Do yourselves and others a favour, wrap your monthly blood up before you dispose of them. Unless if you want to get yourself cursed. Then by all means.
Being friendly with the resident cleaner lady also has other benefits. For instance I now have the intelligence that a certain microwave oven in Lobby 2 was once used by a girl to microwave her underwear. She decided to microwave not one, not two, but four of her panties because they weren't dry. Using an iron did not occur to her. No, she would microwave them instead, in a bowl.
The cleaner ladies noticed the unorthodox objects spinning merrily in the lighted oven, ambushed the girl and told her off. The kind lady never used any of the ovens ever again. I think that's a wise decision. I shall do the same, and continue to smile widely at cleaner ladies who come my way.
I stink. I shall go shower first and continue blogging when I get back.
Back.
The whole day I spent alternating my position from on the bed (sleeping and reading) to in front of my laptop (reading this really funny blog of a Guatemalan (El Guapo in DC), it has been discontinued since a year ago but the archives are priceless!). Thus passed a pretty uneventful day until I kicked my ass out of the room at 9pm to go jogging. The things boredom make you do!
So I jogged a bit, and brisk-walked most of the way because I'm really no jogger, and passed by the NIE (Nanyang Institute of Education) basketball courts. Yesterday when I was depressed I thought I would join in some games the next time. Well, no time better than now, nowhere better than here, noone better than me! So I approached two guys at the court and asked them nicely if I could join. So I did. Then I shot some hoops with the guys, both Singaporeans, for about half an hour. I have forgotten how nice it feels to hold a basketball. It's been such a long while! They weren't playing in teams though because there were only two of them. So endurance wasn't an issue and I just enjoyed shooting.
They were having an inter-block basketball tournament tomorrow and they weren't sure if anyone would turn up... naturally I asked why. Apparently everyone's busy studying. And it's like, one week into the semester. And naturally I pointed that out. "It's only 12 weeks till the exams! We're Singaporeans!" was the answer. You're joking right? "No, there really are people who have started to study." Then what are you guys doing here playing basketball? "Oh we've finished studying. We're the most kiasu ones." I hope they were joking. I really do.
Basketball back into my life! Even the customary casualty of my specs as a result of ball on face. Ah the nostalgia.
At the end I exchanged numbers with one of the guys. And One Of The Guys is kinda cute too. I should've let him walk me back to my hostel. Maybe next time. When I feel less like a cradle robber. Both guys are undergrad freshmen. Ah to be young and carefree and cramming for an exam which happens 12 weeks later!
One last thing. I think I may get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from using my Sony Ericsson w910i to text. The keys are infuriatingly shallow. Otherwise I've got no complaints, only that I need to somehow transfer my coo-coo ringtone from my old phone to my new. My phone won't be my phone till I do that. But so far trying to send an MMS has not worked, I don't have a cable, there's no bluetooth and the new phone does not have infrared for me to transfer. Any ideas?
Bye bye blogs
I wonder how it is to be familiar with most concepts in a field, that you can immediately link what you want to study to Theory A, B or C, and get down to business. I've never had that. Every piece of research that I've done, is from scratch - with no theoretical grounding. I have to grope around in the dark all the time. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out noone is born with the knowledge of Giddens and the concept of agency, for example, and with the rate that I'm jumping across different fields this is purely a case of self-induced misery.
Actually it's not that bad la. Not misery. But a bit scary when I don't know what the hell I am doing. I hope the 3-inch thick stack of reading that I have has some answers within.
I am boycotting popular frivolous Malaysian blogs for the time being. I am tired of being bombarded with advertorials of Oreos, Levi's, blah blah blah. It's all about the money aye. And some people don't even have the courtesy of putting it down as an "advertorial", which is something that irritates me a lot. So, no more going to those blogs. In fact I have also ceased to read Malaysian sociopolitical blogs. I check out Malaysiakini's headlines occasionally to see what's on, and that's it. All the sandiwara going on sickens me. Just tell me when the show's over and who won. It doesn't matter anyway. Unless the rakyat wins, then we're talking.
By the looks of things, it seems that I have grown out of blogs and the blogosphere. I don't think I could study something that I'm not interested in anymore. There are many researchers who are doing a good job of following what's going on, in the Malaysian blogosphere, kudos to them. For me it's probably time to move on to something else.
But nothing's definite of course. I might be struck by inspiration tomorrow and tell an entirely different story.
No this is not declaring a close down of this blog. Sometimes I'm tempted, but it's still open for now.
Have a good weekend, it's a public holiday on Monday as a replacement for Singapore's National Day which is tomorrow. I'm staying back to do my readings and to try integrating myself into my life here, which is the real life at the moment. It's real because I'm still hurting all over my frail body after the workout the other day. Good kind of pain. Shall go for more.
Actually it's not that bad la. Not misery. But a bit scary when I don't know what the hell I am doing. I hope the 3-inch thick stack of reading that I have has some answers within.
I am boycotting popular frivolous Malaysian blogs for the time being. I am tired of being bombarded with advertorials of Oreos, Levi's, blah blah blah. It's all about the money aye. And some people don't even have the courtesy of putting it down as an "advertorial", which is something that irritates me a lot. So, no more going to those blogs. In fact I have also ceased to read Malaysian sociopolitical blogs. I check out Malaysiakini's headlines occasionally to see what's on, and that's it. All the sandiwara going on sickens me. Just tell me when the show's over and who won. It doesn't matter anyway. Unless the rakyat wins, then we're talking.
By the looks of things, it seems that I have grown out of blogs and the blogosphere. I don't think I could study something that I'm not interested in anymore. There are many researchers who are doing a good job of following what's going on, in the Malaysian blogosphere, kudos to them. For me it's probably time to move on to something else.
But nothing's definite of course. I might be struck by inspiration tomorrow and tell an entirely different story.
No this is not declaring a close down of this blog. Sometimes I'm tempted, but it's still open for now.
Have a good weekend, it's a public holiday on Monday as a replacement for Singapore's National Day which is tomorrow. I'm staying back to do my readings and to try integrating myself into my life here, which is the real life at the moment. It's real because I'm still hurting all over my frail body after the workout the other day. Good kind of pain. Shall go for more.
Cameron Highlands, and on to Malacca!
Val and I are back from Cameron Highlands. Since he spent most of last night puking his guts out and having diarrhea, we decided to stay in KL for one night for him to recuperate, and move on to Malacca only tomorrow.
It really is unfortunate that food poisoning had to mar the brilliant trip we have had so far. I am having so much fun pointing stuff out and pretending to be streetwise in front of him, haha! (No thanks to my mum blowing my cover when I introduced the hockey stadium at Jalan Duta as a football stadium *cringe* - Han Solo, this is my bimbo moment for you)
And food wise Val has enjoyed everything we've fed him ("We" as in Malaysia =D), so it really is too bad that we might have to be a little bit more careful now on what we order, though we didn't have hawker stuff and the suspected culprit is the Indian food served at one of the restaurants in Tanah Rata. Since Val's vegan, Indian food's convenient because they always have vegetarian options with no eggs or dairy products.
This trip has been so laid back that I've taken like five pictures, which I somehow can't copy into this machine! I don't know why =_= but it's just as well that I didn't take shitloads of pictures and can't use them at the end. I didn't even take the Boh Tea plantation because it was raining and I didn't bring my camera along for the half day tour we had in Cameron.
We were on the tour with a French couple, Laura and Fabien. The first stop was the Butterfly Farm, where I held a live scorpion on my palm for a while, just for the heck of it (since we had no camera and couldn't take pictures). Initially I thought that they had removed the venom from the scorpion, but when it was on my palm (it was as long as my palm actually, the scorpion) the guide said that it was still poisonous. o_O But it wouldn't sting you if you didn't attack him at the abdomen. And the sting wouldn't kill you, it would just hurt a bit like if a bee stung you.
Having held the scorpion I had the bragging rights for the day, such as when we were climbing the Gunung Brinchang watch tower and I was concerned about the rungs being slippery, and Val was like "don't be a wuss", I went, "Oh well, I held a live scorpion today, so who's Da Man now??" Damn right. I am. The Frenchman, Fabien, was so afraid of snakes and scorpions and the like, that he and Laura skipped the Butterfly Farm altogether, waiting outside. I was of the opinion that Europeans are wimps (no offense - I do think it's only wise to be wary about creatures you don't know - they could potentially kill, infect or tickle you) and Val concurs.
We also visited the Mossy Forest, quite an interesting experience trekking through a wet mess of moss and mud and dead leaves. But since it was raining we didn't see much, not as much as I would've wanted to anyway. Val and I were dressed in mere t-shirts and shorts, as opposed to Fabien and Laura's heavy pants and raincoats, but we turned out alright. I'm glad I didn't wear my long pants since I'd get mud all over them and the cold wasn't that unbearable, even though Gunung Brinchang is 6,666ft high and it was raining all afternoon.
I wanted to post a picture of a bonfire they had in Kang Traveller's Lodge (will do a review after the entire trip), but you'd have to use your imagination instead - that Val and I sat in front of, chatting at length about life during NZ, life beyond NZ and evil people who didn't bother to text.
In fact, for the four days that Val's been here, we've just been talking our heads off. In front of the bonfire, while enjoying 100% fresh mango juice, while taking a walk to Parit Falls, while stalking a kid who was quite agitated at two strangers tailing him. Sharing our different culture, learning new words (I now know how to say "You can touch my feet" in German) and cringing over downright disgusting dirty jokes involving glass eyes, eughh.
Oh yeah. Our bus crashed into another bus while on the way to Tapah from Cameron today. We didn't fall into a ravine or anything. I also have a picture of that, so you can use your imagination again.
Annnnd, this subject would come up somehow - I have to pack now. For one night in Malacca, and we're going to do couchsurfing. I'm really curious about how it's like in Malaysia. We're going to visit D'Paradise Tropical Fruit World and will buy some fruits for Mr. Yee in Malacca who has kindly agreed to host us.
Here's Val's post on what's happened so far, and he has even got a label "I-Love-Malaysia", how sweet is that =D
It really is unfortunate that food poisoning had to mar the brilliant trip we have had so far. I am having so much fun pointing stuff out and pretending to be streetwise in front of him, haha! (No thanks to my mum blowing my cover when I introduced the hockey stadium at Jalan Duta as a football stadium *cringe* - Han Solo, this is my bimbo moment for you)
And food wise Val has enjoyed everything we've fed him ("We" as in Malaysia =D), so it really is too bad that we might have to be a little bit more careful now on what we order, though we didn't have hawker stuff and the suspected culprit is the Indian food served at one of the restaurants in Tanah Rata. Since Val's vegan, Indian food's convenient because they always have vegetarian options with no eggs or dairy products.
This trip has been so laid back that I've taken like five pictures, which I somehow can't copy into this machine! I don't know why =_= but it's just as well that I didn't take shitloads of pictures and can't use them at the end. I didn't even take the Boh Tea plantation because it was raining and I didn't bring my camera along for the half day tour we had in Cameron.
We were on the tour with a French couple, Laura and Fabien. The first stop was the Butterfly Farm, where I held a live scorpion on my palm for a while, just for the heck of it (since we had no camera and couldn't take pictures). Initially I thought that they had removed the venom from the scorpion, but when it was on my palm (it was as long as my palm actually, the scorpion) the guide said that it was still poisonous. o_O But it wouldn't sting you if you didn't attack him at the abdomen. And the sting wouldn't kill you, it would just hurt a bit like if a bee stung you.
Having held the scorpion I had the bragging rights for the day, such as when we were climbing the Gunung Brinchang watch tower and I was concerned about the rungs being slippery, and Val was like "don't be a wuss", I went, "Oh well, I held a live scorpion today, so who's Da Man now??" Damn right. I am. The Frenchman, Fabien, was so afraid of snakes and scorpions and the like, that he and Laura skipped the Butterfly Farm altogether, waiting outside. I was of the opinion that Europeans are wimps (no offense - I do think it's only wise to be wary about creatures you don't know - they could potentially kill, infect or tickle you) and Val concurs.
We also visited the Mossy Forest, quite an interesting experience trekking through a wet mess of moss and mud and dead leaves. But since it was raining we didn't see much, not as much as I would've wanted to anyway. Val and I were dressed in mere t-shirts and shorts, as opposed to Fabien and Laura's heavy pants and raincoats, but we turned out alright. I'm glad I didn't wear my long pants since I'd get mud all over them and the cold wasn't that unbearable, even though Gunung Brinchang is 6,666ft high and it was raining all afternoon.
I wanted to post a picture of a bonfire they had in Kang Traveller's Lodge (will do a review after the entire trip), but you'd have to use your imagination instead - that Val and I sat in front of, chatting at length about life during NZ, life beyond NZ and evil people who didn't bother to text.
In fact, for the four days that Val's been here, we've just been talking our heads off. In front of the bonfire, while enjoying 100% fresh mango juice, while taking a walk to Parit Falls, while stalking a kid who was quite agitated at two strangers tailing him. Sharing our different culture, learning new words (I now know how to say "You can touch my feet" in German) and cringing over downright disgusting dirty jokes involving glass eyes, eughh.
Oh yeah. Our bus crashed into another bus while on the way to Tapah from Cameron today. We didn't fall into a ravine or anything. I also have a picture of that, so you can use your imagination again.
Annnnd, this subject would come up somehow - I have to pack now. For one night in Malacca, and we're going to do couchsurfing. I'm really curious about how it's like in Malaysia. We're going to visit D'Paradise Tropical Fruit World and will buy some fruits for Mr. Yee in Malacca who has kindly agreed to host us.
Here's Val's post on what's happened so far, and he has even got a label "I-Love-Malaysia", how sweet is that =D
Evil Stepmother
That's what BN is, to the opposition states (or more specifically, the "Pakatan Rakyat-led states"). Never mind the blatant discrimination on tourism funds from the federal government, that is another story (click for people's opinions in Malaysiakini).
This is the latest piece of news that has made me very, very mad.
Firstly, why do we need two village chiefs for one village?? Perform the same tasks under the same jurisdictions? And for this arrogant and childish Mat Taib I only have the urge to lock him in a room and gas him with seal farts. What does he mean by "They wanted it this way"? And why do we need village chiefs who work under the federal government instead of under the state, by the people, for the people?
Secondly, I have no idea how many so-called village chiefs or JKKK members there are. Just for calculation's sake, let's take the largest number provided by this report, i.e. 11,438 from Perak. Give each of them RM500, i.e. "monthly allowances of RM400 and other miscellaneous allowances due to them".
11,438 x RM500 = RM5,719,000.
Eh. Damn lot of money okay. And that's only PART of it. For doing nothing. OUR money. If I may borrow the tagline of a crap movie which I never bothered to see: "Whoever wins... we lose."
GERAM.
Aisehman also blogged about it before I did (and that is why he's my favourite political blogger *waveswaveswaves*). *click*
This is the latest piece of news that has made me very, very mad.
Allowances to be continued [The Star]What. The. Hell.
SERI ISKANDAR: All village chiefs and village development and security committee members (JKKK) in Pakatan Rakyat-led states who have resigned from their posts will continue to get their allowances from the Federal Government.
Rural and Regional Development Minister Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib said the over 2,000 chiefs in Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Penang would be absorbed into a newly-formed committee under the ministry.
“Once they resign, they will be absorbed into the new committee with immediate effect and will continue to get their monthly allowances of RM400 and other miscellaneous allowances that are due to them.
“Their duties will be the same as usual and they will take care of the same villages, but they will now be working under the Federal Government,” he said yesterday after meeting Perak’s 817 village chiefs at the Kemas building here yesterday.
The proposal for the new committee, tipped to be named the Federal Development Coordinating Committee, would be submitted to the Cabinet for approval as soon as possible, he added.
Muhammad said federal projects in Pakatan Rakyat-ruled states would be handled directly through the Barisan Nasional-appointed village chiefs.
Asked about the state’s plan to let the villagers elect their new village chiefs, he said: “Let them (the state governments) have their own and we will have our own.”
On the possibility of the separate chiefs having overlapping duties, he said: “They wanted it this way.”
So far, he said the village chiefs of Selangor and Perak have resigned en bloc to show their support for the Barisan.
In Perak, a total of 817 village chiefs and 11,438 JKKK members have been absorbed into the ministry’s new committee.
Firstly, why do we need two village chiefs for one village?? Perform the same tasks under the same jurisdictions? And for this arrogant and childish Mat Taib I only have the urge to lock him in a room and gas him with seal farts. What does he mean by "They wanted it this way"? And why do we need village chiefs who work under the federal government instead of under the state, by the people, for the people?
Secondly, I have no idea how many so-called village chiefs or JKKK members there are. Just for calculation's sake, let's take the largest number provided by this report, i.e. 11,438 from Perak. Give each of them RM500, i.e. "monthly allowances of RM400 and other miscellaneous allowances due to them".
11,438 x RM500 = RM5,719,000.
Eh. Damn lot of money okay. And that's only PART of it. For doing nothing. OUR money. If I may borrow the tagline of a crap movie which I never bothered to see: "Whoever wins... we lose."
GERAM.
Aisehman also blogged about it before I did (and that is why he's my favourite political blogger *waveswaveswaves*). *click*
Bungyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!
Yo. Bungying in four hours. Bungying in four hours. Bungying in four hours.
The fear hasn't kicked in yet and I am trying to hype myself into it. That's kinda funny because on some level I feel that I should be scared, but I am not right now. Or maybe I am, since I woke up at 6:30am and couldn't go back to bed. Hyper hyper hyper.
I finally took the first step to learn cooking yesterday. After work, I tagged along with my co-workers to Foodtown, which is a supermarket nearby where we live. I loitered around the snack section as my three strapping male counterparts walked around to choose their veges for dinner. That felt faintly embarrassing, so when I met Robert, my Dutch colleague at the wine aisle, I made him teach me how to cook.
I was not scalded with hot oil. I did not blow up the kitchen. Flowers did not wilt at the smell of my terrible cooking.
It turned out that the wildly exaggerated notions that I had on culinary mishaps were, well, wildly exaggerated. After the unfortunate episode of almost burning the building down by putting a frozen fish fillet into overheated oil, the cooking yesterday went smoothly and was almost disappointingly uneventful. I did okay and under the gentle supervision of Robert, learnt that stir frying vegetables does not mean squashing them with a spatula. (I thought doing that would help conduct the heat to cook the broccoli better. Ahem. In hindsight that sounds stupid.)
Should I die a terrible bungy death, to Asa I leave my entire collection of manga.
Oh yeah! Valentin has his own blog now, so I return his good name to him and announce that he is no longer The Boy Too Stupid to Open A Blog. Here's his blog, The Curious Incident of Me Being in New Zealand. Good stuff, mate! Awesome! Keep it up! ;)
Got the offer letter from Nanyang Technological University, so I am now officially on a research scholarship to Singapore for PhD next August. More details later.
Ah gotta rush! Bungy awaits!
The fear hasn't kicked in yet and I am trying to hype myself into it. That's kinda funny because on some level I feel that I should be scared, but I am not right now. Or maybe I am, since I woke up at 6:30am and couldn't go back to bed. Hyper hyper hyper.
I finally took the first step to learn cooking yesterday. After work, I tagged along with my co-workers to Foodtown, which is a supermarket nearby where we live. I loitered around the snack section as my three strapping male counterparts walked around to choose their veges for dinner. That felt faintly embarrassing, so when I met Robert, my Dutch colleague at the wine aisle, I made him teach me how to cook.
I was not scalded with hot oil. I did not blow up the kitchen. Flowers did not wilt at the smell of my terrible cooking.
It turned out that the wildly exaggerated notions that I had on culinary mishaps were, well, wildly exaggerated. After the unfortunate episode of almost burning the building down by putting a frozen fish fillet into overheated oil, the cooking yesterday went smoothly and was almost disappointingly uneventful. I did okay and under the gentle supervision of Robert, learnt that stir frying vegetables does not mean squashing them with a spatula. (I thought doing that would help conduct the heat to cook the broccoli better. Ahem. In hindsight that sounds stupid.)
Should I die a terrible bungy death, to Asa I leave my entire collection of manga.
Oh yeah! Valentin has his own blog now, so I return his good name to him and announce that he is no longer The Boy Too Stupid to Open A Blog. Here's his blog, The Curious Incident of Me Being in New Zealand. Good stuff, mate! Awesome! Keep it up! ;)
Got the offer letter from Nanyang Technological University, so I am now officially on a research scholarship to Singapore for PhD next August. More details later.
Ah gotta rush! Bungy awaits!
Some Yellow Links
I am copying this entire post from my travel blog to post it here, because it took me the whole morning to write it and I'm not going to put a link here so that you can not click on it and waste my effort. And I have to double post it because the travel blog is read mostly by my friends and family which I try to keep away from this blog.
(Hence you may observe that the writing style is more muted, but there have been multiple times when the F word was right at my fingertips. Oh what was I thinking, I can say it here. Fuck the F-word. And Fuck Zam.)
----
I have struck a deal with the German guy next door who lives here semi-permanently, to use the wireless Internet password for two weeks. It costs me $7.50 which I have shared with Melissa (so $3.75 each) and needless to say we've both been very busy from yesterday till today immersed in the virtual online world.
So. No more beeps. No more excuses to close my blog posts. Interestingly I don't feel like blogging once I've got unlimited access, there are so many other things I have to do, like plan out what to do during my travel trip, or chat with people, or read blogs that I haven't read for ages. I've been reading up on the November 10 peaceful rally in KL, which has been grossly downplayed and skewed by the mainstream media, so here are some links to the eyewitness accounts by bloggers who were there.
Quaintly.net - We Know What We Want - A beautiful account of what happened by one of my favourite bloggers - an 18 year old girl who went there. Read the heartwarming scenarios from here.
Dan-yel - When We Painted KL with Yellow - More descriptions of the event, from another perspective by Su Ann's friend.
In Fantasyland - The BERSIH March - An eyewitness account on how agent provocateurs were planted in the crowd by the police!
Kakiblog.com - My Report from the Bersih Rally - A guy who got sprayed with the teargas, you have to read this to know what it's like.
Josh Incorrigible - It was All Yellow - Some lyrics and pictures.
Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur - Metblogs Reporting on Bersih Rally - Great post with pictures telling the stories.
Reduced and Recycled - BERSIH Rally: A Report of Events - A guy who came from JB just for the day. Also has some links at the bottom to more blog posts.
By the time I finished reading the blog posts - I am in tears, with goosebumps on my arms. Because of the people power demonstrated - people actually cared. Because of the cruelty unleashed onto civilians by our police. Because of the solidarity of all Malaysians who were there, from all walks of life. Do read them, and have a different perspective of what actually happened, by ordinary people who were actually there instead of reading the mainstream crap or even Malaysiakini. There are more, but I decided these would suffice for your short attention spans.
Yeah this is not exactly a travel post. So there. And please do not forget why the demonstration was held in the first place - it was held to campaign for electoral reforms, to pave the path - nay, to correct the path of Malaysia's democracy. Our dear PM keeps saying that it is opposition politics, but there are 40,000 people (official sources say 4,000, but everyone else says it is much more than that, and you can see through pictures of the sheer numbers of the people), concerned enough about the state of this country to brave tear gas, water cannons, getting arrested, the rain, possible bodily injuries, etc. to go into KL on that day, all because they love the country enough.
And, on that day, it was the police, civil servants who were supposed to protect us, who turned on the protesters with tear gas and water cannons. The opposition, Unit Amal PAS, directed traffic and cleaned the streets after the demonstration. The incumbents sure gave the opposition a lot of brownie points aye. And just look at Zam embarrassing the whole country in the Al-Jazeera interview. (Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1_GQ-K7P_w; or if you want to spare the noise pollution you can read the transcript here, by Rachel Leow ) Someone just sack him already!
Yeah don't worry I'll revert back to my horror stories on door-knocking and gangster neighbourhoods in following posts. I just had to blog about one of the most historical moments in Malaysia's democracy which I unfortunately missed. Gotta love the Internet for all the documentation though.
(Hence you may observe that the writing style is more muted, but there have been multiple times when the F word was right at my fingertips. Oh what was I thinking, I can say it here. Fuck the F-word. And Fuck Zam.)
----
I have struck a deal with the German guy next door who lives here semi-permanently, to use the wireless Internet password for two weeks. It costs me $7.50 which I have shared with Melissa (so $3.75 each) and needless to say we've both been very busy from yesterday till today immersed in the virtual online world.
So. No more beeps. No more excuses to close my blog posts. Interestingly I don't feel like blogging once I've got unlimited access, there are so many other things I have to do, like plan out what to do during my travel trip, or chat with people, or read blogs that I haven't read for ages. I've been reading up on the November 10 peaceful rally in KL, which has been grossly downplayed and skewed by the mainstream media, so here are some links to the eyewitness accounts by bloggers who were there.
Quaintly.net - We Know What We Want - A beautiful account of what happened by one of my favourite bloggers - an 18 year old girl who went there. Read the heartwarming scenarios from here.
Dan-yel - When We Painted KL with Yellow - More descriptions of the event, from another perspective by Su Ann's friend.
In Fantasyland - The BERSIH March - An eyewitness account on how agent provocateurs were planted in the crowd by the police!
Kakiblog.com - My Report from the Bersih Rally - A guy who got sprayed with the teargas, you have to read this to know what it's like.
Josh Incorrigible - It was All Yellow - Some lyrics and pictures.
Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur - Metblogs Reporting on Bersih Rally - Great post with pictures telling the stories.
Reduced and Recycled - BERSIH Rally: A Report of Events - A guy who came from JB just for the day. Also has some links at the bottom to more blog posts.
By the time I finished reading the blog posts - I am in tears, with goosebumps on my arms. Because of the people power demonstrated - people actually cared. Because of the cruelty unleashed onto civilians by our police. Because of the solidarity of all Malaysians who were there, from all walks of life. Do read them, and have a different perspective of what actually happened, by ordinary people who were actually there instead of reading the mainstream crap or even Malaysiakini. There are more, but I decided these would suffice for your short attention spans.
Yeah this is not exactly a travel post. So there. And please do not forget why the demonstration was held in the first place - it was held to campaign for electoral reforms, to pave the path - nay, to correct the path of Malaysia's democracy. Our dear PM keeps saying that it is opposition politics, but there are 40,000 people (official sources say 4,000, but everyone else says it is much more than that, and you can see through pictures of the sheer numbers of the people), concerned enough about the state of this country to brave tear gas, water cannons, getting arrested, the rain, possible bodily injuries, etc. to go into KL on that day, all because they love the country enough.
And, on that day, it was the police, civil servants who were supposed to protect us, who turned on the protesters with tear gas and water cannons. The opposition, Unit Amal PAS, directed traffic and cleaned the streets after the demonstration. The incumbents sure gave the opposition a lot of brownie points aye. And just look at Zam embarrassing the whole country in the Al-Jazeera interview. (Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1_GQ-K7P_w; or if you want to spare the noise pollution you can read the transcript here, by Rachel Leow ) Someone just sack him already!
Yeah don't worry I'll revert back to my horror stories on door-knocking and gangster neighbourhoods in following posts. I just had to blog about one of the most historical moments in Malaysia's democracy which I unfortunately missed. Gotta love the Internet for all the documentation though.
Two.
Just got back from the Press Club. Took my parents there for the first time, where they met up with Zorro and co., and took stock of where I had been getting my innocent brains adulterated for the past few months.
Had fun talking about their kids, New Zealand, various escapades (keeping the code of honour of blogging - not blogging about things expressedly off record but keeping them for further blackmailing purposes), current issues.
My dad asked me with feigned nonchalance if I was really going to bungy-jump. Hell yeah I am. According to dubious web sources, the chance of death is one to 2 million. I've never struck lottery nor has lightning struck me so I'm taking my chances. Oh yeah and some people (off record again) peed their pants while they jumped. Wahahahahhaa. Note to self: Empty Bladder Before Going Up. Plan B: Wear Adult Diapers.
Quite tired now. I'm downloading a Japanese drama of a bunch of agricultural students interning at a farm, as preparatory entertainment of roughing it in New Zealand. Hope it will finish before I leave. Also, if anyone of you are going to backpack, here's a good page of what to pack.
Before I go, let me just plug this for Cheryl, who had to endure hours of listening to shit just to come up with the transcript of the much-talked-about interview of Syed Albar with BBC. I put off watching it for the longest time because I knew it was going to be depressing, and thanks to Cheryl I don't have to. Click here for the transcript.
Going to read the backpacking page to have a rough idea of what to pack now.
Had fun talking about their kids, New Zealand, various escapades (keeping the code of honour of blogging - not blogging about things expressedly off record but keeping them for further blackmailing purposes), current issues.
My dad asked me with feigned nonchalance if I was really going to bungy-jump. Hell yeah I am. According to dubious web sources, the chance of death is one to 2 million. I've never struck lottery nor has lightning struck me so I'm taking my chances. Oh yeah and some people (off record again) peed their pants while they jumped. Wahahahahhaa. Note to self: Empty Bladder Before Going Up. Plan B: Wear Adult Diapers.
Quite tired now. I'm downloading a Japanese drama of a bunch of agricultural students interning at a farm, as preparatory entertainment of roughing it in New Zealand. Hope it will finish before I leave. Also, if anyone of you are going to backpack, here's a good page of what to pack.
Before I go, let me just plug this for Cheryl, who had to endure hours of listening to shit just to come up with the transcript of the much-talked-about interview of Syed Albar with BBC. I put off watching it for the longest time because I knew it was going to be depressing, and thanks to Cheryl I don't have to. Click here for the transcript.
Going to read the backpacking page to have a rough idea of what to pack now.
Friday Morning Ramblings
So I reread the little piece of travelogue that I wrote, and being the fastidious editor that I am, I decided that it was fully crap and little else. I may post it up when I am in a less fussy mood. I have this horrible habit of announcing future posts, effectually jinxing them into draft oblivion later.
I was reading some lovelorn barely-post-preteen's blog pining for her boyfriend, short of being in cyber hysterics, when I realized that I actually envied her slightly for her raw, in-your-face type of emotions. Me, on the other hand, have an energy-saving emotions dispenser, which squeezes out small rations of "yay", "wtf", "gaaahhhh" etc. as you press corresponding buttons. Other times it malfunctions and dribbles quantities of substances like "crippling shyness".
It's simply too tiring to harbour strong feelings. Perhaps I am aging prematurely. I saw four strands of silver hair in the mirror the other day. Sian. Speaking of that, I am recommending to you this Singaporean blog named The Misadventures of Sibeh Sian*. "Sibeh Sian" translates to "extreme mental fatigue". Loses a lot of its punch after translation though. I found it some days ago and wasted no time in going through the archives chronologically. Good stuff. And the proper way to read it it is from starting from the archives, chronologically.
I only took one interesting picture while I was at Bandung. Behold:
I was reading some lovelorn barely-post-preteen's blog pining for her boyfriend, short of being in cyber hysterics, when I realized that I actually envied her slightly for her raw, in-your-face type of emotions. Me, on the other hand, have an energy-saving emotions dispenser, which squeezes out small rations of "yay", "wtf", "gaaahhhh" etc. as you press corresponding buttons. Other times it malfunctions and dribbles quantities of substances like "crippling shyness".
It's simply too tiring to harbour strong feelings. Perhaps I am aging prematurely. I saw four strands of silver hair in the mirror the other day. Sian. Speaking of that, I am recommending to you this Singaporean blog named The Misadventures of Sibeh Sian*. "Sibeh Sian" translates to "extreme mental fatigue". Loses a lot of its punch after translation though. I found it some days ago and wasted no time in going through the archives chronologically. Good stuff. And the proper way to read it it is from starting from the archives, chronologically.
I only took one interesting picture while I was at Bandung. Behold:
Nat's out.
Nat's freed today. That means that he'll be there for the forum "In Solidarity with Nat Tan":
The panel of Distinguished Speakers include:
Nat will be invited to speak about his ordeal. More details here at Tony Pua's.
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Date: 19th July 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 7.30 pm
Admission is Free; Bring Friends
The panel of Distinguished Speakers include:
- Nathaniel Tan, Blogger & Aide to PKR Advisor*
- Jeff Ooi, Protem Vice-President, All Blogs Malaysia
- Harris Ibrahim, Lawyer & Founder of The People's Parliament
- Nurul Izzah Anwar, Special Assistant to PKR Advisor
- Lim Guan Eng, Secretary-General of DAP
- Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General
Nat will be invited to speak about his ordeal. More details here at Tony Pua's.
Profanities ahead.
I'm bloody angry now. Just did my morning rounds around the blogosphere and read Nat's sister's blog where she talks about Nat as a brother, and gives some details on the candlelight vigil held yesterday night.
Then dropped by Eli's where she highlights that SPR flushed out 24k registered voters because they don't have a MyKAD.
What for I go around and ask people to register as voters when at one sweep they can kick 24k people out??? Crime rates going up and they go and arrest innocent citizens. Good citizens.
And people, stop telling me that it happens in Malaysia. Malaysia boleh (with a sneer). Things like that. It really hurts. And it makes me so freaking MAD that people are more interested in resigning to "reality", AND bring down the rest of the people around them to think the same. Fuck you. And those who are even thinking of leaving a message that is of the above nature, FUCK you again.
Sign Nat's petition. It's the least anyone can do. A little bit more that you can do is to spread the message on the petition.
Pardon the language but I'm really too fed up now. Book's going full speed ahead.
Then dropped by Eli's where she highlights that SPR flushed out 24k registered voters because they don't have a MyKAD.
What for I go around and ask people to register as voters when at one sweep they can kick 24k people out??? Crime rates going up and they go and arrest innocent citizens. Good citizens.
And people, stop telling me that it happens in Malaysia. Malaysia boleh (with a sneer). Things like that. It really hurts. And it makes me so freaking MAD that people are more interested in resigning to "reality", AND bring down the rest of the people around them to think the same. Fuck you. And those who are even thinking of leaving a message that is of the above nature, FUCK you again.
Sign Nat's petition. It's the least anyone can do. A little bit more that you can do is to spread the message on the petition.
Pardon the language but I'm really too fed up now. Book's going full speed ahead.
Continuing sokong of Nat
Nat's being remanded for 4 days. Under the OSA over allegation of possession of documents pertaining to Johari Baharum's alleged involvement in corruption. Jeff has the story.
I looked it up and remand means: A prisoner who is remanded into custody is sent back to prison subsequent to a preliminary hearing before a tribunal or magistrate until the hearing is resumed, or the trial is commenced.
My Internet connection's merajuking. I've moved the modem into my parents' room where it's working now. Awfully tired due to lack of sleep. I'm going to the workshop for electoral reporting tomorrow. Have to turn in early tonight.
I looked it up and remand means: A prisoner who is remanded into custody is sent back to prison subsequent to a preliminary hearing before a tribunal or magistrate until the hearing is resumed, or the trial is commenced.
My Internet connection's merajuking. I've moved the modem into my parents' room where it's working now. Awfully tired due to lack of sleep. I'm going to the workshop for electoral reporting tomorrow. Have to turn in early tonight.
FreeNatNow
I'm up already at 7:30am, although I slept at almost 5. And of course my plan to de-dehydrate my skin is out of the window.
Updates on Nat's case: Here's Eli's furious account of what happened in the Police Station and all, and some questions that she raised. A chronological description of what happened yesterday and pictures from the gathering of solidarity outside Bukit Aman, by Bob K.
The police will either free him by 4.30 pm or, a magistrate will be brought in / or he will be brought to a magistrate where Nat could be remanded up to 10 days.Here's what you can do to help.
Nat was arrested at 4:45pm but the police only confirmed that they had him at 10pm. That's like five hours of Nat being missing. He was whisked away by the cops, those who are supposed to protect us instead of abduct us. You arrest mar arrest lah, but why the secretiveness?
Nat was arrested due to "a comment left on one of his blog posts, which put the link pointing to a website which reported on the deputy minister for Internal Security".
I hate it when my dad tells me that I should work towards a PR elsewhere. I hate it more when I am unable to refute him, which is increasingly the case lately.
Previous posting of Nat's case here.
*Update* Sinchew says that the arrest is connected to the doctored photo of "French dinner for 3", first seen in Tian Chua's blog. Looks like some people are determined to blow the photo up. Big time. For Propaganda.
Nat detained at Bukit Aman
Nathaniel Tan who blogs at jelas.info and who is the founder of Bangkit.net, a civil society blog that gives exposure to NGOs for their statements and events, is being detained in Bukit Aman, with matters pertaining to OSA.
I have known Nat through the Net for a few months (through my research and some volunteering through Bangkit.net) and I have met him in person once. He's a really nice guy, very passionate about what he does. Not only in politics but in civil society movements as well. I hope no harm befalls him.
More info:
(For stingies who don't subscribe to Malaysiakini, here's the report:
From his sister Cheryl's blog with constant updates: *Click*
From his girlfriend Soon Li Tsin: *Click*
From John Lee, his colleague: *Click*
From Rocky: *Click*
From Jed Yoong, at FreeLunch2020: *Click*
From Susan Loone: *Click*
An email thread is going around and Nat's case is being circulated to Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders and possibly other NGOs.
I'm actually quite disturbed about this. Hope that Nat will be ok.
I have known Nat through the Net for a few months (through my research and some volunteering through Bangkit.net) and I have met him in person once. He's a really nice guy, very passionate about what he does. Not only in politics but in civil society movements as well. I hope no harm befalls him.
More info:
(For stingies who don't subscribe to Malaysiakini, here's the report:
OSA probe: Police detains PKR webmasterA PKR information bureau staff, who helps maintain the opposition party website, was taken for questioning by three plainclothes police officers this afternoon.
Nathaniel Tan, 26, was picked up from the office of a non-governmental organisation Yayasan Aman in Petaling Jaya.
According to witnesses, the policemen did not provide any reasons as to why Tan was asked to go with them.
They said the policemen entered the office at about 4.45pm and requested for Tan to follow them to the Bukit Aman police headquarters for questioning.
The policemen also requested that Tan bring his notebook computer with him. It is believed that he is being questioned on matters relating to certain postings on the Internet.
Tan, a Harvard University graduate, has been involved in the maintenance of the opposition party’s website and is also a prominent blogger.
According to a press statement by PKR, Tan also works in the Foundation for the Future as the secretary to PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim who chairs the foundation.
'Intimidation tactics'His lawyer Latheefa Koya told malaysiakini that according to a special branch officer known only as inspector William, there were no records of Tan being brought to Bukit Aman.
“We have also checked with Malaysian Control Centre (MCC) which is under the Bukit Aman to no avail. Instead, they advised us to make a police report,” she said.
In an immediate response, PKR information chief Tian Chua said the incident was an attempt to intimidate party workers.
“This is very shocking and incredible that they are using this sort of intimidation tactics. We are extremely outraged,” said Tian Chua, who is Tan's boss.
Tian Chua is currently being investigated for a blog posting, which was claimed to have violated the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
The posting contained a photo montage purportedly depicting Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak dining with his political advisor Abdul Razak Baginda and slain Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.
A police report has been filed on Tan's "kidnapping" this evening.
Police confirm Tan's detentionAt 10pm, more than six hours after Tan's disappearance, the police finally confirmed that he was indeed being held at Bukit Aman.
His family and a group of 20 supporters have gathered outside the police headquarters to press for his release. A number of them were seen holding 'Free Nathaniel' placards.
According to the police, Tan will be held for 24 hours by the Cyber Crime Unit in Jalan Dato Onn to facilite investigation under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
Tan was later transferred to Kuala Lumpur's Dang Wangi police station and is expected to be brought before a magistrate for further remand at 4.30pm tomorrow.
His supporters are holding a vigil outside the police station. Tian Chua, who was present tonight, lambasted the government of abusing its powers to curb freedom of speech.
It is not known exactly what OSA offence Tan is being investigated for. The police have also earlier gone to Tan's house to seize his desktop computer.
Anyone found guilty of committing an offence under the Act is punished with a mandatory jail sentence of least one year to a maximum of seven years. imprisonment.According to international rights group Amnesty International, the OSA provides "vaguely worded definitions" of what constitutes an official secret.
"It gives the authorities wide powers to curb and impose penalties on the unauthorised publication of any information in the hands of the government, no matter how insignificant or whether such information is already in the public domain."
From his sister Cheryl's blog with constant updates: *Click*
From his girlfriend Soon Li Tsin: *Click*
From John Lee, his colleague: *Click*
From Rocky: *Click*
From Jed Yoong, at FreeLunch2020: *Click*
From Susan Loone: *Click*
An email thread is going around and Nat's case is being circulated to Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders and possibly other NGOs.
I'm actually quite disturbed about this. Hope that Nat will be ok.
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