James Cameron's Avatar Review

It’s been a long night… but a very happy night!

First off, I’m feeling in the mood to blog again.

Second off, Avatar Rocks.

(THANK you thambi, and your generous friend!)

Third Off, I met Danny, A Jovial Taxi Driver who makes me realize a lot of things.


Uh… Now I’m reading the above lines… and the “….off” do sound weird, LOL!

I’ve been away from blogging for quite some time.
Paeds was hectic, and I didn’t quite put much effort into writing.
Ortho was less so, but I was caught up with the Environmental Carnival.. and since my Blog is about pushing for change, about opening eyes and minds, and I’m doing that much better by etching the Carnival out than writing here… I let resonating-ripple rest a bit :p

What made me blog? Avatar Did!

I really have to say, It’s the prettiest movie I’ve ever seen.
Especially those biolumisnescent Jelly Fish- Dandelion chimeras… They are so… dazzlingly beautiful…
And despite their size and short on-screen time, I’m made to believe they’ve each got their own personality.

The 3D rendering of the world,
- the waterfall that dropped off into misty sprays
- the tubeworm like plants
- the “TOUCH-ME-PLEASE because I glow pretty” plants (touch me nots, you’re a shame!)

-the communion dance around the tree, pulsating waves of light and energy going to the heart of Eywa…..

Ever felt like going to a place you’ve seen in a movie?
This movie is so SAD because It’s a place you can’t go to! I so Wanna Go there!

James Cameron,


I give you credit for
-Out Lucas-ing George Lucas! You’ve achieved your dream.
And as Sam Worthington Said “ It feels like that’s real, and this world is a dream”
-Sending a message so subtle yet so clear
-Doing all That in Style.

15 years was worth the wait. Salute, Salute.


Why?
Jimmy had his own fantasy movie in his head since he was 17.
He grew up drawing fantasy characters in his notebook with his Maths textbook shield-up in front during lessons.
He pictured his planets, his characters, his heroes, their powers….

Then he saw Star Wars… he went home.. and punched the wall.

He felt that he should have been the one to make that movie. Lucas Stole his limelight!


Fast forward his teenage and young adult years…
Now He’s in the Director’s chair of Titanic..
Building half a cruise liner on solid land only to blast it away…

But the time, 1994 I believe, was a sad time for America…
the mood of country at that time was sombre .. for economic and other reasons..

His movie went over budget by twice the original amount

Titanic’s Screening date arrived and went and they needed more time for post-processing so they had to make the Cinemas worldwide wait and change their release dates

If that wasn’t bad enough, He made a movie that in which Everyone Died!

“OH GOD!” He said to himself… “WHAT WAS I THINKING!”
He was given the ultimatum by the powers that be to wrap it up …but he persisted and relinquished his pay as a statement, a guarantee that he would see it through…

And Titanic Rose above the waves of doubt and became the best selling movie of the decade.



His reputation intact… and confidence building… he set out to film his dream movie…
ONLY to discover that technology couldn’t catch up with his imagination.

He had to wait, and he had to push
-push SONY Japan to Come up with a camera the world had not seen
-push Silver Screen conglomerates to accept Modifications in their cinemas worldwide to be 3D ready..
-Push Directors, Companies, Disney to come up with movies that sell so that the Conglomerate bosses would see that People want 3D movies..
(and that’s why we have Spy Kids 3D, Bolt 3D, Journey to the centre of the eath 3D, and yes, a Christmas Carol 3D…but of course, these were just appetizers.. coz he was cooking up a hell of a main course )

Through many trials and tribulations…

working with Weta Digital NZ (the company that made LOTR’s spectacles possible)

with Oxford Linguists- he made them craft out an entirely new language..

with biologists and scientists- Who thought up Common names, Scientific Latin names as well as Navi’ Names for each and every plant, animal and rock you see on screen, and catalogued all of that into an encyclopedia many times larger than Star Wars’.

He came up with this! And what a ride that was!

Back to the movie, It’s… groundbreaking, it’s Awe-inspiring.. it’s……. drool-inducing LOL….. and heart-breaking

Love it.

I mean, to come up with a technologically advanced movie is no mean feat…
But to add on to that a meaningful story, romance, action, adventure, all in beautifully rendered 3D…counts for much.

It certainly will be the movie of this Decade.

there are many messages woven into the storyline,
but the one I elaborate here resonates with the conservationist in me.

Human greed knows no bounds.
what you see happening on screen, is but a miniscule part of what is happening on our world.

In Malaysia,
Palm Oil plantations, Timber Merchants, Government Officials with pockets waiting to be lined up with Bakun dam overspending are all rubbing their grubby hands in glee while Malaysian Forests disappear off the Google Earth map that you see, hundreds of acres each day.

The Natives , the real bumiputras.. as I have so often said before
are the ones who suffer. Their lands get bulldozed over, their food, their home, their livelihood destroyed, their ancestral graves desecrated, their young women raped…their culture lost…

Nothing is left when $$ is allowed to rule.

Money is the root of all evil. Before you entertain the notion that I’m about to spew crap,
hear me out.

Humans started out like all other beings on earth, only taking what they need: food, and shelter.
Overtime, they traded through barter exchange what they didn’t produce…but because there is only so much leftover that you can swap…all is well.

After the invention of currency. EVERYTHING CHANGED.

With money you could buy a lot more that you need,
You end up with a lot of items non-essential for survival… take the mobile phone in your pocket, the Ipod your kid listens to while he ignores you, the multiple shoes your daughter keeps in her museum…

with the invention of money, people start to amass wealth, to indulge in frivolities,
and in the process, take away what once belonged to others.

Our tribesman drink from streams, from leaves
The healthy American drinks only bottled mineral water, but having dried up their own aquifers long ago, they are now globe trotting to Africa to pump away the land’s underground water supply, to be transported back home.

How much damage does that make, you ask? TOO MUCH.
The ground water having run dry, Africa’s Saharas threaten to evolve into more and more deserts and the land can no longer support vegetation. People have had to migrate from their homeland, and hman-animal conflicts become commonplace when food becomes scarce.

Is it fair? It is not. For someone to enjoy something on the expense of the suffering of another is unjust, and is not right.

For the rest of us using paper, timber, fuel, electricity,
remember that what you are enjoying isn’t guilt free.

I know these luxuries are now essentials and we really can’t live without them..
but the keyword here is moderation, and sustainability.

With each piece of paper that you use both sides, you are aiding the welfare of your countrymen by slowing down the destruction of their home.

With each kilometer travelled replaced by cycling or walking, you are reducing the need for petrol, the need for bio-fuel which comes from palm oil, the amount of green house gases and you exercise for your health at the same time.. Is that not a fair bargain?

With Each Kilowatt of energy saved by not putting the television on standby or leaving your computer on to download illegally, you are reducing the need for a new hydroelectric dam, or even worse, a coal plant to be built.

That is what you can do... for the sake of your people, for your children and grandchildren and it really is very easy to do.

I'll be writing on Mr Danny in the next post, considering it is 4am now.

If you've read this far, please do come to our See Green, See Life! carnival,
details at http://seegreenseelife.weebly.com

Event Website is Up!

See Green, See Life!
For a link to the Environmental CArnival @ HUKM @ 9/1/2010

See Green, See Life Environmental Campaign!

The event can be followed @ this facebook link
The official Website for the event

An environmental Campaign Organized by Medical Students of the National University of Malaysia (UKM) will be held in Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM), Cheras
come January the 9th, 2010

Wtih the theme: See Green, See life!
Alternate theme : Alam Ceria, Warisan Kita



Below are the details of the programme, To be Finalized soon
there will be a better looking Poster version of the Event to be uploaded soon!

Here are some of the details of the programme.
Please feel free to comment or suggest on ways to improve upon our programme!

GENERAL INFORMATION

OFFICIAL SPONSORS : Tentatively CIMB bank, Digi Communications,
The Body Shop.

1. Exhibition themes :
• The Carbon Footprint –Global Warming
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Conservation

2. Workshops - Fabric Bags Painting/ Bookmarks/

3. Officiation ceremony :
Tentatively by the Vice Chancellor of the National University of Malaysia, Prof Dato Sharifah Habsah Syed Syahabuddin

4. Keynote Address Speech by
The Director Of The Department of Environment, Cik Asmah Ibrahim
Topic: Gentle Footsteps, Concrete action

5. Forum : Between Halal and Vegetarian Food
• A speaker from JAKIM - Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia ( to be finalized)
• Dr Pang CK, a practicing buddhist who currently is attached to General Hospital Kuala Lumpur. He is known for his books- {Don't worry be happy} as well as a frequent guest speaker for interfaith events
• Associate Professor Dr Poh Bee Koon.the honorary secretary of the Nutrition Society of Malaysia, A Nutritionist as well as a Lecturer with National University of Malaysia, UKM.
• A moderator for the forum, tentatively, Associate Prof Dr Harlina Halizah Hj Siraj.


6. Undergraduate Presentations:
• Introduction to E=MC2 UM and UM Cares
• Premiere of “When I was Young” Environmental Competition Video Entries

7. Environmentally Themed Competitions

8. Invited Speaker __________ Topic: Crisis of Our times


9. Free Movie Screening: An Inconvenient Truth

10. Tentatively- A Green Artiste will be invited to perform.
11. Booths :

• Clinical Booths by UKM Medical Students

• NGOs- Malaysian Nature Society, World wildlife fund for Nature, Wildasia, Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Save Our Seahorses, Turtle Conservation Centre etc

• Companies- Ecopak, Melsom, other companies selling recycled
products/ environmentally friendly products, Companies
offering Ecotourism packages

• Smaller SOHO companies selling environmentally friendly products:

• Governmental Organisations- Jabatan Alam sekitar, Ministry of
Environment and Resources

TARGET AUDIENCE
1) The General Public
2) UKM Medical Faculty Students
3) Staff of UKM Medical Centre
4) Undergraduates of UKM, Bangi
5) Undergraduates of Universities such as UM, UPM, MMU, UTAR, KTAR
6) Secondary school students from the area (Cheras.)


INFORMATION FOR GUESTS/ INVITED NGOS/ COMPANIES :

Location : UKM Medical Centre
(Pusat Perubatan UKM)
Jalan Yaacob Latif Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras 56000 Kuala Lumpur

Meaning of Life? Examplified 人生意义

This was seen in an email.... Didn't expect the moral of the story to be in such a different direction! ;-)

有一對兄弟，他們的家住在80層樓。
>
> 有一天他們出去爬山，回家的時候，卻發現大樓停電了！雖然他們揹著一大 包的行李，但看來沒什麼選擇，於是哥哥對弟弟說：「我們爬樓梯上去吧！」
>
> 於是，他們就揹著一大包行李開始往上爬。
>
> 到了20樓的時候，他們開始累了！
> 哥哥告訴弟弟說：「包包太重了，這樣吧！我們把它放在20樓，先爬上去，等電來了再坐電梯下來拿。」，
> 弟弟說：「好！你真聰明！」，於是他們就把包包放在20樓，繼續往上爬。
>
> 卸下了沈重的包袱，輕鬆多了！他們一路有說有笑地往上爬。
>
> 但好景不常，到了40樓，兩人實在累了，想到只爬了一半，往前看，竟還有40樓要爬，兩人開始互相抱怨，指責對方不注意停電公告，才會落得如此下場。他們邊吵邊爬，就這樣一路到了60樓。
>
> 到了60樓，也許是累得連吵架的力氣都沒有了，哥哥對弟弟說：「只剩20層樓了，我們就不要吵了，默默地爬著 樓梯 ！」。
>
> 於是他們安靜地繼續走，終於，80樓到了！到了家門口，哥哥擺出了一個很帥的姿勢：「弟弟，開門！」，弟弟說 「別鬧了！鑰匙不是在你那兒嗎？」......，
>
> 結果，如你所想的，他們把鑰匙放在20樓的包包裡了！......
>
> ********************************************
>
> 有人說，這個故事其實在反映我們的人生。
>
> 20歲之前，我們活在家人、老師的期望和期許之下，背負著很多的壓力、包袱在走，自己也不夠成熟有能力，因此步履難免不穩。
>
> 20歲之後，離開了眾人的壓力，卸下包袱，開始全力追求自己的夢想，就這樣過了愉快的二十年。
>
> 可是到了40歲，發現青春早已過去，不免有許多的遺憾追悔，於是開始遺憾這個、惋惜那個、抱怨公司、抱怨社會、抱怨政府。。。。，就這樣在抱怨遺憾中度過了二十年。
>
> 到了60歲，發現人生已所剩不多，於是告訴自己，不要再抱怨了，就珍惜剩下的日子吧！於是默默地走完自己的餘年。
>
> 到了生命的盡頭，才想起自己好像有什麼事還沒完成。。。。，
> 原來，我的夢想還留在20歲，沒有完成。你也是如此嗎？
>
> 想想: 您的夢想是什麼？最在意的是什麼？不要到了40年後才來追悔。
>
> 想一想希望將來的自己和現在有何不同，就去做吧！。。。把握現在，記得，今天就是禮物。

Let's lend a....errr.. flipper to our country's Chelonians!

We will be running a 24 hour turtle blogathon starting 25th October 2009 (9pm Malaysian time) to raise funds for the newly-established Turtle Conservation Centre based in Terengganu, Malaysia www.turtleconservationcentre.org

In the event, we will be writing and publishing a blog post every hour for 24-hours non-stop. The blog posts will be answers to questions on freshwater and marine turtles submitted to cp@turtleconservationcentre.org or this email. Everyone is invited to submit questions from now till 25th October 2009.. So if there are things that you'd like to know about marine and freshwater turtles but never knew who to ask, THIS is your chance :)

Please join us anytime from 9am, 25 October to 9 pm, 26 October 2009 and send us messages to egg us on, or to pledge a donation. No amount is too little or too much. The funds raised will be channeled to the turtle research and conservation projects that we carry out.

For more information about the Turtle Blogathon and how you can participate, please visit: Here

Thank you for your support and we really hope you will join us in our event.

Sincerely,

E.H. Chan
CEO
Turtle Conservation Centre
www.turtleconservationcentre.org

This is just so beautiful .. Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia :-)

After what transpired some time ago at Section 23 left a sour taste in our mouths...

I feel so glad to see damage control is actually underway... in the form of visiting the hindu temple in question by Haris Ibrahim and gang...

http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/the-beautiful-malay/

It just touches me that such a simple move in such a time can mean so much...

remember that the UMNO goons who orchestrated the protest that day... they never apologized. Not one bit. And no remedial action were done by them to ease the tension.. if fact they brought the tension up a notch by the uncivilised behaviour shown at the problem solving session held by the Selangor government to find a solution...

Let's leave that episode behind, and move on...

There are many beautiful Malays in our Midst... Haris Foremost, Zaid Ibrahim, hat's off to him...Marina Mahathir; a bow to her.....

and the many well mannered muslim folk who themselves divulged that...

"who are we to complain about the relocation of the temple?
We have our Azan five times a day and our neighbours take it in their stride while we protest over the chiming of the bells of the temple?
Do they not have rights too?"

This is the kind of attitude we need.. understanding, empathy and sharing... only then can there be hope for our beloved country... And that is the spirit behind the Saya Anak bangsa Initiative by Haris...

I can't say the same for the 1Malaysia thingy by Najib... its too frought with contradiction and irony...

Either way.. let us feel grateful that there will always be clear minded people in the midst of the confused crowd... let us follow their lead and make Malaysia a better place!

Happy Hari Malaysia come 16th of September!

Musings... Let's waste time...

Ah... today I really feel no oomph at all for studying... probably due to the triad paper this morning that is really quite taxing... Oh maybe as Oncogene puts it... "I'm too old to study liao... why can't medicine be a three year course"?
LOL

Wanted to hear this song again... very much.. dunno why...

I rediscovered this song while in UK... listening to Fleur's and Caryn's handphones... Was hooked on it for days...

I say Rediscover because I liked it before but didn't try to find the song after hearing it on the waves....

Glad to have found it again... It's called Chasing cars... by a group called...Snow Patrol...
What connection has it got to do with Taylor Hicks (the american Idol runner up) you ask?

I wondered about that too... Go find out yourself... as most lecs would say... "I'm not gonna spoon feed you" haha.. in a weird mood today...


Why do I love it? Coz its lyrics resonate with me... my outlook on life,... my thoughts and feelings... the rebel-with-a-cause feel to it...

The simple lyrics that are absolutely open to interpretation makes me feel that it can be meaningful in so many ways...je ne sais quoi....

In a way its kind of a sad song but I don't think that's what the songwriter meant for it to be.... I think its more of an expression of a feeling... a gentle wish that you hope could be heard by that special someone... without you telling....

Here are the lyrics... :-)

We'll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don't need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden
That's bursting into life

Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden
That's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes
They're all I can see

I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things
Will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?

To everyone... Good luck in your respective orthopaedic and psychiatry papers tomorrow! Good luck to RURU!!! =B (rubbit rubbit)

The Greatest Roller Coaster?

The following pictures are taken from an email I received... I can't help but to post them here because of the the following sentence

THE LAST PICTURE SAYS IT ALL













By the way, this ride can be attempted at New Ohio, US.

Real Life Sharingan (Sasuke's) 写轮眼

Which one of these does this look like?










Oh FYI (why spoil the fun by knowing the truth?)

its a type of cataract termed as Sutural Cataract.

The World is just AMAZING. Ain't it? Oh and if you prefer to say that God is amazing, well your god reads Manga!

1 Malaysia, My foot

No I'm not making a mockery of this supposedly (yes, supposedly) Noble Cause.

Not when the people pushing for it are making a mockery of it themselves!

Espousing Racial Unity while encouraging Ethnic Divide..

Is Hypocrisy part and parcel of BN's existence?

this plunging of the knife, deepening the gorge that exist between Malaysians has been the only thing they know ever since the 1990's. Its their only reflex, their only defense mechanism, their only strategy.

So blatant is this that traces of it are everyday in UTUSAN and BERITA HARIAN, lesser in the Star, but also in quite a few chinese dailies.

Everything political event will be given a spin, every white cloth given a dye.

and worst of all... this 1malaysia thingy, is a stolen Idea from Haris Ibrahim's Anak Bangsa Malaysia Initiative... the first movement to push the bangsa Malaysia concept along..

This hypocrisy is getting on my nerves.


This article is by Ktemoc

Malay language mainstream media's racist game - will Najib ever speak up?

Sim Kwang Yang wrote a fine article in Malaysiakini titled The Umno dilemma.

He talked about PM Najib being aware of the new mood of the electorate, and of the Pakatan offering the rakyat the Ketuanan Rakyat as a far more attractive and inclusive alternative to UMNO’s Ketuanan Melayu.

Najib, as Sim observed, attempted to meet the new mood by making and managing the required change to his advantage, in offering a new political ideology to win back the middle ground.

As Sim said: Najib immediately announced plans for Umno's reform. The top party leadership was to be elected directly by the grass-root members in future, to eradicate money politics during party election, a measure that was first mooted by Ku Li.

He then proposed a series of 'liberalisations', and created the new old 1Malaysia slogan. Sloganeering is part and parcel of Malaysian politics, and gullible middle-ground Malaysians with a tendency for wishful-thinking are particularly susceptible to it.

For a while, it looked like the new Najib administration did have a fresh new mask to change the public perception of Umno.

But alas, as Sim noticed: Usually, when the Umno ... boss comes up with a new slogan, you hear it being echoed ad infinitum down the line by leaders at various levels like loyal parrots.
This time though, the various proposals by the new PM were welcome by a deafening silence from his own people.
The only voice was the stinging remark by the former PM Dr Mahathir Mohaham, reiterating Umno's communal ideology, as if to rebuke Najib's 1Malaysia policy.

This is significant. Utusan Malaysia, the bastion of Umno propaganda machinery and official organ of Umno ideology, was seen soon after to make every political issue into racial one, from Teoh Beng Hock's death, to the anti-ISA mass rally on Aug 8.

So, it shouldn’t be surprising to see provocative pieces coming out from the UMNO (perhaps no longer Najib's) controlled media, such as the recent sh*t-stirring invocation to Malays to have a bit of balls and stand up to those arrogant rapacious ‘nons’.

That such seditious incitement of the 'Malays are cowards' article was permitted to be published without a peep from Najib would point to either his complicity in or his helplessness against the insidious untuk bangsa clarion call, the latter case notwithstanding his claim to be a warlord of UMNO.

UMNO die-hards believe that the ethno-centric clarion call could re-marshal the faithful and perhaps more back its keris-ed banner. The by-election results in both Bukit Gantang and Manek Urai seem to support this belief.

Today, another of those seditious incitements published in Berita Harian, was picked up by The Malaysian Insider, titled Kaitan demonstrasi, kempen hentam Melayu — Abdul Rahman Sulaiman

It said: Sesiapa saja yang mengikuti gelagat politik DAP akhir-akhir ini akan dapat mengesan satu pola yang lebih mirip atau menjurus ke arah satu kempen atau gerakan terancang memburukkan kepemimpinan atau institusi Melayu.
Quick tranlation: Observers of DAP would have seen in its politics a pattern of campaigning to belittle Malay leaders and institutions.
Yes, we've heard that one before when the demands for MACC to account for a death in custody.

I need only paste here the article's last three paragraphs for you to see what the article has inflammatorily argued as the DAP's Malay bashing campaign, a swift escalation of the earlier ‘Malays are cowards’ instigation:

Adalah dipercayai bahawa pembabitan dalam demonstrasi menentang ISA pada Sabtu lalu juga sebahagian daripada kempen menghentam Melayu itu dalam erti kata kerajaan yang dijadikan sasaran dianggap sebagai kerajaan Melayu.

Malangnya, strategi berkenaan nyata meleset apabila sebahagian besar pembabitan terdiri daripada orang Melayu sehingga ada di kalangan mereka berasa diperbodohkan penganjur.

Sampai bila kempen menghentam Melayu ini akan diteruskan? Apakah Melayu sanggup membiarkan persepsi bahawa yang malas itu Melayu, yang rasuah itu Melayu dan yang bodoh itu Melayu berterusan tanpa penyudah?

Expect Najib to remain silent on this racist incitement.
Obviously UMNO believes in pursuing its untuk bangsa strategy, which has been why DPM Muhyiddin had described Anwar Ibrahim as a traitor to the Malay race, while the UMNO mouthpieces like Utusan has termed PAS as a tool of the DAP to divide and rule the Malays.

But alas, despite that insult to PAS, people like Dr Hassan Ali and the Kulim Wonder have one way or another convinced UMNO it’s on the right (racist) path.

Sim termed his article The UMNO Dilemma because (as he wrote):

... the racial tirade is also revealing. It shows the inability of Umno to create a new narrative to meet the changing reality of Malaysia. When provoked into action, their reflex reaction is to revert back to the tired, archaic, irrelevant, fossilised and outdated, discourse of their past.

In effect, their racial discourse can only please the believers, but will do nothing to win over converts from the non-believers. It will alienate the Chinese and the Indians even more, thereby negating all BN effort to win back the middle ground.

It all goes to show how hard it is for an old political party that is used to enjoying political hegemony to reform itself when it is on the decline. Simply put, Umno is full of too many warlords with too much political baggage and too much vested interests. It has become like a dinosaur with a small head and a huge body, that finds it simply too sluggish to move anywhere, metaphorically.

Well fine, but where’s the dilemma?

Sim also wrote:

They see the various races as monolithic entities going at one another's throat. Apparently, they are stuck in the time capsule of the 1960s. In reality, there are no such monolithic racial entities. The social economic changes in the country in the past decades have allowed the various ethnic entities to evolve into very complex, diverse, and multi-layered organisms.

I looked at dramatic images of the mostly Malay police force beating down on the mostly Malay anti-ISA protestors, and I see the deep wound inflicted by Umno on the Malay soul. Such a scene was unthinkable mere decades ago!

malaysiakini photo

In short, political propaganda must fit some of the reality of lived experience. The chief worry of the Malay men and women, especially those in the urban centres of Malaysia, is the task of keeping or seeking a good job, rising price hikes in all things necessary for basic daily living, avoiding criminals, and the children's education.

In this struggle for survival, many see the government as the culprit of their sufferings, and not the Chinese or the Indians, who suffer alongside them.

I'll be kind to Najib and give him the benefit of the doubt and say, maybe he sees what Sim has said, that in this struggle for survival, many see the government as the culprit of their sufferings, and not the Chinese or the Indians, who suffer alongside them, but alas, obviously not Muhyiddin Yassin and many other top UMNO leaders.

And what do those mutes stung by hornets, namely MCA, Gerakan, MIC, and PPP, have to say?

end of article

http://ktemoc.blogspot.com/2009/08/malay-language-mainstream-medias-racist.html

A Must Read. Period.

Reading articles like these always make me feel justified for recommending the Sun newspaper to everyone. (www.sun2surf.com)

the articles are neutral, and the comments by the like of Citizen Nades, Nuri Vittachi are all constructive, sensible and pack a punch. And this article, by Yeo Yang Poh published on Monday, 3rd August 09.. is another stellar piece that makes you think and concur.

______________________________________________________________________________

WHY march, when the government has said that it will review the Internal Security Act? Why march, when there are other very cosy ways of giving your views and feedback?

One would understand if these were questions posed by nine-year-olds. But they are not. They are questions posed by the prime minister of this nation we call our home. Answer we must. So, why?

Because thousands who died while in detention cannot march or speak any more. That is why others have to do it for them. Because persons in the corridors of power, persons who have amassed tremendous wealth and live in mansions, and persons who are in the position to right wrongs but won’t, continue to rule our nation with suffocating might. And they certainly would not march. They would prevent others from marching.

Because the have-nots, the sidelined, the oppressed, the discriminated and the persecuted have no effective line to the powerful. Because the nice ways have been tried ad nauseam for decades, but have fallen on deaf ears. Because none of the major recommendations of Suhakam (including on peaceful assembly), or of the commissions of inquiry, has been implemented.

Because the proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) is not in sight, while corruption and insecurity live in every neighbourhood; and (despite reasoned views expressed ever so nicely in opposition) Rela (people’s volunteer corps) is being brought in to make matters even worse. The proponents in “Su Qiu” (remember them?) were not marchers. In fact it is hard to find nicer ways than “su qiu”, because the term means “present and request” or “inform and request”. In terms of putting forward a view or a request, it is the height of politeness.

Yet they were labelled “extremists” – they who did not march. And now you ask, why march? Because you gave non-marchers a false name! You called them the “silent majority”, who by virtue of their silence (so you proudly argued with twisted logic) were supporters of government policies since they were not vocal in raising objections.

You claimed to be protecting the interest of the “silent majority”. Now some of them do not want to be silent anymore, and you are asking why? Yes, because double standards and hypocrisy cannot be covered up or explained away forever; and incompetence cannot be indefinitely propped up by depleting resources.

Because cronyism can only take care of a few people, and the rest will eventually wake up to realise the repeated lies that things were done in certain ways purportedly “for their benefit”. Because the race card, cleverly played for such a long time, is beginning to be seen for what it really is – a despicable tool to divide the rakyat for easier political manipulation.

Because it does not take much to figure out that there is no good reason why Malaysia, a country with abundant human resources and rich natural resources, does not have a standard of living many times higher than that of Singapore, an island state with no natural resources and that has to import human resources from Malaysia and elsewhere. Because, in general, countries that do not persecute marchers are prosperous or are improving from their previous state of affairs, and those that do are declining.

Because Gandhi marched, Mandela marched, Martin Luther King marched, and Tunku Abdul Rahman marched. Because more and more people realise that peaceful assemblies are no threat at all to the security of the nation, although they are a threat to the security of tenure of the ruling elite.

Because politicians do not mean it when they say with a straight face or a smile that they are the servants and that the people are the masters. No servant would treat his master with tear gas, batons and handcuffs. Because if the marchers in history had been stopped in their tracks, places like India, Malaysia and many others would still be colonies today, apartheid would still be thriving in South Africa, Nelson Mandela would still be scribbling on the walls of Cell 5, and Obama would probably be a slave somewhere in Mississippi plotting to make his next midnight dash for the river.

And because liberty, freedom and dignity are not free vouchers posted out to each household. They do not come to those who just sit and wait. They have to be fought for, and gained. And if you still want to ask: why march; I can go on and on until the last tree is felled. But I shall obviously not. I will end with the following lines from one of the songs sung in the 1960s by civil rights marchers in the US, without whom Obama would not be able to even sit with the whites in a bus, let alone reside in the White House:

“It isn’t nice to block the doorway It isn’t nice to go to jail There are nicer ways to do it But the nice ways have all failed It isn’t nice; it isn’t nice You’ve told us once, you’ve told us twice But if that’s freedom’s price We don’t mind ...”

(Yeo Yang Poh is a former Bar Council president.)
_____________________________________________________

Hmmmm..

PM also annouce that 100 unit of AS1M will be given to all university 1st year students, this is something very fishy, why not given to all students including secondary & primary school students to encourage saving habit? (if the motive of the government is to encourage saving then it shd be start in primary school as this habit shd start young). Is that because the university students are mostly above 21 years old and they can vote in the next General Election. Sound like next GE is around the corner......

Like what others mentioned in this portal, there are too many funds raised from PNB for this year. 2bil of ASW, then 3.3 bil of ASM, and then 10bil of AS1M, all happened within a year, and this never happened b4.

but the thing is there is no transparency on how and why the government need to raise the fund??? and where the fund will use for? to promote unity and 1 Malaysia? then why impose quota like what we have in our local university education systems nowadays?

somemore this is not capital guaranteed, more risks than any previous bonds/funds.


I'm seriously thinking about this one....

Time of our life!

At 12hr 34 minutes and 56 seconds on the 7th of August
this year, the time and date will be


12:34:56 07/08/09


Will this ever happen in our life again??!!!!

ENT posting- University of Nottingham Musings 1

Its been a week since I left Malaysia..

Let's see what's changed..
Well... My hair has grown a wee bit longer... my skin a lil dryer... my intestines have gotten used to not having rice and I've given up converting the money I spent to M'sian ringgit..

Here's some perspective...
I bought this sandwich 2 pieces of bread with bacon, tomato and lettuce
It comes up to 2.50£...
Bought this Milkshake for 3.95£
went into a toilet for 30p (0.3£)

1£=RM5.87 (from my local Exchanger in Muar)

So technically a toilet trip costs your RM1.60 :-(
A simple meal can cost up to RM25
While an elaborate one can cost RM70... shucks...

The train from London to Nottingham costs 29 pounds...
= RM170!!!

The taxi we took from The rail station to Nottinham campus..
cost us 6.60£....= RM36!... -.-""

Just heard the Faculty would be slashing our RM10000 down to RM8000..
Which translates into 1361£ only! Shucksssss...GERBYYYYYY

Saving money... selling blood...

Oh well... It is crazy when you convert you see..
but if you earn your wages here... you're fine...

The median Wage is around 36,000£ per year..
which is what malaysians get as well... 3000 per month...

Difference is you can get a bottle of Pantene shampoo fro 1.6 pounds..
And you get Nikes here for 19 pounds onwards...
Oh.. and you can get a CAr here for 1491£... and I'm not sure whether that's first or second hand!~yup RM7000

that is inflation for you. Malaysia's inflation rate is off the charts... and Najib says its all fine.

To buy a decent compact car, peugeot, ford,... may just cost 4000£= 2 months wages...
To buy a not so decent car in MAlaysia you'd need 40000= a year of wages...

To earn what an average briton earns per year...
You need to work 6 years!

I'm not saying I'm looking forward to settling here though...

Home is still home And I love my Lil Muar town as well as our Malaysian food!!!! Miss Chinese food.... yum yum...
Petrol is 1.31 pounds at someplaces...

hmmmm... I'm in The Queen Medical Campus for the 2nd day..
So far its pretty good!
Got a lot to talk about.. the systems and everything... but let me just clue you in on this one..

Currently I'm attending the Clinic with 4 people...

the Doctor,
the patient,
the nurse and
me...


Teaching and learning is on a ONE on ONE basis!
That... is the best thing!
They only have 8 ENT students per posting! Gracias! oh well wrong language... as they say .....
"LOVELY!"

cheers

Tentative: Environmental Carnival

Please Have a read through and give me your comments!

Thank you, and forward the message to people who you think may be interested in implementing this!
A copy of this document is available in Word format, downloadable at
http://www.4shared.com/file/114393696/5e664d21/Proposal_Environmental_Carnival.html

Potential committee Candidates!

Sinchee
Wen Ying
Chai peng
Huan Yan (Ming wei)
Rachel
Hui Fang
Jane
Bin hoo
Wu hui
Jia Ying
Hui Fang
Yan Chin
Ru hui
Zhi yi
Ying Quan
Siew Khing
Su yan
Soon Hooi
Thomson

please suggest additional candidates, especially our Malay and Indian friends who you think maybe interested! Also any 3rd Year or 5th Year Students that are active in Tzuchi Association
Repost this note if you can. :-)

Details of the programme

Proposal Of Environmental Carnival

1) Environmental Movie Screening
Entrance ticket = recycle items e/g 2kg of newspapers etc
(Get tickets and a badge in exchange)

Choice of movies
An inconvenient truth by Al gore
11th Hour by Leonardo Dicaprio
“Home” by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

- A research on the respective movies should be made with a summary
- it should be included with a Q&A session

(consider including Subtitles in Malay and Chinese )

2) What each of us can do (a multimedia presentation after the movie)

Title: A drop in the Ocean?
- hand outs will be given during the presentation
- detailing small lifestyle changes that students can make living in the hostels.


3) 2nd Multimedia presentation
- Recorded Video- “When I was small”
- detailing what has changed from the 1980’s till now in terms of the weather, the
environment and human relations etc
eg- when I was small our childhood was filled with kite-flying, hide and seek, now everyone has their hearing plugged up with earphones

When I was small we had tadpoles and guppies in drains and rain puddles… now we only have mud and sludge

We will collect video/ Audio/ Blog recordings of these memories
This effort is a joint effort between UM, USM and UKMMC (organized by E=MC2)
If it is successful, we have journalists in our ranks that can help publish our effort to the Mainstream Media
if that doesn't work out, we will always have YOUTUBE :-)

4)Exhibition of Environmental Products
- What are the products that are relevant to us students or doctors
- What can attract the companies/ societies to come
- Research on the exhibition during the Eco Film Festival organized by the Eco Knights
http://www.ecoknights.com/content/blogcategory/29/66/
- Bazaar? What should be sold?

Exhibition of Environmental NGOs and groups

5)Contests? Research on the feasibility of a contest.
- any interest?
- theme
- Sponsorship of prizes?



6) Changes in KTDI (cooperate with JAKSA Ktdi)
- polystyrene and plastic bad use
: Information : The danger of Polystyrene.. contact with heat become styrene, a
Carcinogen
: Encourage students to bring their own Tupperware to buy food from café’s or dine in
to enjoy discounts
: If opt for polystyrene must pay 20 cents extra (implemented in USM)
: Consider alternatives to Polystyrene ( a biodegradable type made from Palm oil waste)
- Introduction of Vegetarian food to other Ethics
(You are What you Eat)
Incorporate Ethnic Relations, as in a Forum ala Interfaith Forum held in Dk1 KCKL
when we were in 2st Year :
Title : What is Halal food, what is Vegetarian food?

Successful implementation in Wahid, move on to Kazema and Besta


Installing a recycling centre in KTDI itself, (area behind Kafe/ Underneath Surau)
- Funds
- Sponsorship
- Collection servuces
- Cooperate with Rhea Corp

7) Additional programmes (recommendation from Prof Harlina)
A visit to Radicare Waste disposal facility for Medical Students
include visits to other centres/ places on the one day trip


Selection of the Date of the event
- Away from Exams and holidays,
- Ensure no clash with other programmes.
-maybe as a complementary programme in a mega programme such as Warisan Mesra?

Publisiti- PERSIAP (facebook and blog)
- KTDI (JAKSA)

Can incorporate Merit in this programme?
I will try to discuss with Fadhli

(Incorporate this the Racial Harmony theme ?)


Download the word file to Email to your friends at
http://www.4shared.com/file/114393696/5e664d21/Proposal_Environmental_Carnival.html

Thank you very much,

sincerely Kuan Yew

Can't get enough of Transformers? Get Screensavers!

Fanatics of Robotics .. here you go!!
Not forgetting the legions of the fans of the vixen out there (who should be by now much relieved to know that she IS NOT a transexual)
--scroll to the end of that page--



BUMBLEBEE Screensaver

I don't know why... but the Bumblebee one is WAYYYYY cooler than Optimus Prime!
They are only 8Mb per file :-)


OPTIMUS PRIME Screensaver

Or.... Drool Over this one!



click to enlarge and save! Its for a desktop 1680 X 1050 pixels in size!

USB drive Malware Removal (even before you use it!)

People Hate me.

They Claim I am Troublesome, picky and a worry-wart!

Well I am not wrong to protect my "virgin" at all costs!

Won't you protect your sweet daughter from cold clammy (and hairy) fingers?


Well this virgin in question is my Desktop computer.
Its a virgin because I refuse removable drive entry into any of its 8 USB interfaces!

So any files they want from me /want to give me will need to come in the form of a CD/DVD!

Now, the problem with Pen/Thumb/USB/Flash
*pant pant*
drives are that some viruses are autoexecuted the moment you plug the memory device into your PC/MAC/Laptop/Netbook
*pant pant pant*

What it means is it may not be safe even to plug it into your Computer system even if you do not execute files within!


--intoducing the scary USB drive of death!--

The modus Operandi of Malware is that it contains an Autorun.inf file that automatically runs a file/program without you the user having any control over it.

I stumbled accross an Anti-Malware application for this purpose at this website

However I decided to scout around for alternatives from more trustworthy sites..
such as CNet's Download.com

and presto you have Autorun Eater at a measly 1.6MB for download, Here.

I guess I am fussy afterall.. Even after installing it.. I'm still having a moral dilemma whether to allow my PC to be Violated.

Condoms for USB drives maybe?

Mozzies! Shoo Shoo

We ... students of KTDI are in danger...
because the area is a Dengue Hot-spot...

and a few of the medical students have fallen victim to the black and white portable syringes... poor Yong Kang

-Hypodermic Needle Included!-

In the tiny room of mine...
I have the dual problem of extreme heat...
and extreme Mozzie mania...
Mosquitoes are attracted to UV light, Carbon dioxide and Heat
Ah.. I have the latter two in abundance...
Small wonder why my room is Mosquito central..

Ah even got a name for my room
MOZZIE SAUNA

Well... I don't like killing anything uneccessarily..
but the mozzies are an exception...sigh
(Karma dun get me... I don't kill them when I'm in their territory-jungles etc
Oh well I try not to)
So I was passively swatting...
then came the electric racquet..

tried playing Mosquito repelling frequencies downloaded from the internet in MP3 format..
didn't work.
Reason given by 'experts'- MP3s are stripped down versions of audio files.. where inaudible (to humans) noises are filtered out to make the file tiny.
the ultrasonic waves are of course lost in translation...

Played the file on my PC thruout the night.. My housemate SH tried it too..
No workie..

K.. so A file doesn't work..
so I go for the plugged in version...





It claims to cover an area of 25m square..

Sadly... Plugged in 30cm away.. it failed to deter the mozzie pleasantly feasting on my arm!
Shucks..
wasted RM13 on this thing.

Oh well.. the real deal that is supposed to work cost RM169 in ace hardware...

Well... next up...
carbon dioxide traps
from the fermentation of sugar by Yeasts...

Wish me luck!

Photo Of Mosquito taken by Nikon D60 kit lens, in Redang.

Cheating in contest? Wawasan open University postcard

Yeah, I entered this photography contest and got the 5th place!
Exhausting all my resources from Facebook ,Friendster, MSN and friends in University
I think that's perfectly alright...

What is not alright is the lack of screening of votes by the contest organizers

The major loophole in this contest is that the winner is selected purely based on public votes!
All you have to do is give a name and email address then later verify the email sent to you.

So technically you can create 1000 email addresses then vote for yourself if you have the tenacity to do it. well, (and the thick skin too)

I think that's what this contestant did.
http://contest.wou.edu.my/finalists_details.asp?rc=236&st=7

Scroll down the page about halfway through the voters and you start to see a pattern emerge. Click on the thumbnails to Enlarge



Oh..no not this... this is my vote for her/Him hehe


Scroll down further...




err... cousins?


Errrrr.. Step cousins perhaps?

If you go the page itself...
You'll see how you can save lotsa time from having to think up a Christian name for your newborn . (^.^)

I don't know about you.. but to me this appears to be a blatant use of the loophole.

I don't know about the other contestants, but maybe they have a better disguise..LOL

What can the organizers at this point you ask?
Well... I don't really know actually.

If only it were possible to contact Yahoo/ Gmail etc and enquire the age of the email addresses... then filter out the votes from emails with an age of less than 10 days (during the vote tallying time)

Maybe that would work? Alas its my wishful thinking..

The purpose of this post is to ensure that future contest organizers can make it a point to screen the votes... or better.. change to another method of voting.

Oh well.. that said.. I guess Huiyu deserved to win based on the photo. But I only hope he/she did it in a fair way.

The future of GAMING is WILD

This is just awesome!

We thought Nintendo Wii broke the glass ceiling of Gaming...

Well... If this come through... XBOX will be touching the sky...




Oh well... if youre awed...
get ready for this!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=112827416787&ref=share

Courtesy of Rooney! LOL

p.s. The cute girl in the video above looks like a fresher version of Megan fox! Duncha think?

Voting for WOU Postacrd contest is up and running!

The voting page has been activated!

If you like my photo, please spare me a vote!
http://contest.wou.edu.my/finalists_details.asp?rc=604&st=24

Photography Contest Finals! Please vote :-)

Phew!!! I got shortlisted... I'm so happy!!!!

Yay!

Thank you all for your constructive comments in my previous post at

http://resonating-ripple.blogspot.com/2009/03/photography-composition.html

despite my shortcoming, I manage to scrape thru...nearing the finish line...

Currently, all the runners are abreast...
now the one with the crowd behind his back....
the one with the loudest cheer from the audience...
will be the one to dash to the finish!

Therefore I need your help!!! The winners shall be determined by public voting!

Winning this competition will give me much encouragement
That said.. I will be glad to win just about anything...
我需要的是一个肯定!

No matter what, I promise to try harder Next time!! :-)

thanks for your time! the voting start tomorrow 1/6/2009 and ends 7/6/2009 *edit*

Kuan Yew

p.s.- a big thank you to ru hui for being my model
and a big big thank you to her parents for waiting in the car for an hour and
a half while I tried to get the elusive shot!

A meeting of young environmentalists! :-)

Dear all,

One of the climate cool member from Japan is going to come to Malaysia. Her name is Yasuyo. She wishes to meet with youths/students/environmentalist from Malaysia to discuss some environmental issues.

But, no worries, this is not a "serious" meeting but rather is a platform for networking kinda meeting/gathering. It is good if some of you may join us.


Date: 6th of June
Time: 1500-1800
Venue: Yet to announce and finalize


Tentative program
15:00-15:30 Introduction and ice-breaking
15:30-16:00 Yasuyo-san sharing about her Japan training of 2009
15 min break ( Yasuyo-san will bring some Japanese sweets)
16:15-16:45 Malaysian youth leaders' project (Share about project(s) involved or involving)
16:45-17;30 Discuss about the present condition of enviromental youth activities in Malaysia
17:30-18:00 Discuss about making Climate cool platform in Malaysia and how to join Climate Cool in 2010
18:00- dinner/fellowship

Hope you guys can join us in the meeting :) Please confirm your attendance as early as possible for further arrangement of the meeting.


Best regards,
yeong yze shiuan

p.s.- She's an Undergraduate from UM. If you're interested in the event... please RSVP thru me :-)

MC-ing round 2.

This is the second time I've placed myself behind the rostrum...

Can't say I enjoyed it as much this time round...

I guess many factors come into play

Including my uncertainty till yesterday evening whether I'd be able to make it... so sorta mentally unprepared to enjoy the experience..

Jia ying told me at 6pm that she couldn't replace me to go to Tanjong Rambutan anymore as she suddenly had a SGD today... boy It felt as If I got my room Hijacked again!

Lucky a Message to Poh Jeann lighted my bulb!
two groups consisting 15 ppl are going together in a 40 person bus to Hospital Bahagia....
Add me in and no one will noe the difference!
So the issue is settled!

Didn't have much banter with my Co-MC this time too...
Maybe I'm too lazy to think up lines when its not assured that the audience would get it...

I didn't dare go to far as the event was semi formal in nature.. with Prof Adeeb and AP Dr Azian (Anatomy) being in the judging panel at separate times...

This time too.. there were a few mistakes in terms of the flow of the event... resulting in Beng Siong's group not having a Q&A session... I feel so sorry for him but I tried...

that dampened my joy somewhat
Coz I know how dejected I would be If I prepared for the Q & A session thoroughly, brainstormed with friends all the possible questions that could be asked, rehearsed the answer over and over but never got a chance to do it for real.

This would result in a lower score for his group... and its not his fault!
indirectly this would probably dash his hopes of going to Jakarta!

To think they prepared for the whole year then something like this happened.

Must have felt like preparing the ingredients of a ten course meal before realizing someone left the gas stove on the whole week... drained the tank!

Oh well.. gained a few insights on how to prepare for my SSM... :-)


And a silly photo of my big silly buddy... Crayon shin chan----扮死尸!
cheering me up!

Invasion of the body Snatchers??!!

One of the most notorious invasive species known is the Cane toad in Australia,
If not mistaken cats on the Island of Tasmania

Cane toads were originally imported to Aus in the 1980s to control the cane beetles... which are decimating the budding sugarcane industry.

Much to their horror, the toads do not prey selectively upon the beetles, despite their name!




Due to their size, they consume pretty much anything and everything... especially the native Australian frogs which are outcompeted and displaced! The wreak havoc on the Australian Native system and cause a number of species of animals to be threatened.

If that isn't the end of their problem, the toads secrete a noxious substance that cover their bodies... killing anything that tries to eat them! This of course leads to a population explosion and pretty much all of Australia has been colonized...



--G'day Mate! They Call me Toadzilla--


This ecological disaster has not yet been adequately rectified... conservationists are resorting to the last strategy...fencing up un-invaded ponds to protect the native froggies... this time its the size that plays to the toads disadvantage.



and in Malaysia itself....
The red ear terrapins!

Those terrapins or sliders or tortoises.. whatever you call them.. can be found in almost all petshops in Malaysia.

Cute while they are tiny... many outgrow the space in the house and in the hearts of their owners and get abandoned Throughout Malaysia

All the Rivers, Streams, ponds, Lakes are infested with these alien species...
causing native species like the Malayan Box Turtle to be outcompeted and threatened.



PLease educate your friends, relatives and monyet-hood to not buy these little critters if they do not plan to keep them for life.

you are indirectly destroying Malaysian wildlife... Based on limited data.. we known our own turtle is threatened... but how much more impact is undetected?

Stop the invasion of Alien Species...

IN the same vein... Protest against Malaysian Government's repeated attempts to replant all the highways roadsides with ACACIA trees! (as if the Palm Oil plantations are not ENOugh!!

Musings.... Megan Fox?

Today was a rather moody day...

This time I'll be breaking convention by writing a post on my medical-related life... dunno why I just didn't want my blog to revolve around something that I have to face everyday... but Raoul says go.

I was late for my prof's clinic Which Started at 8!!!
Never knew it would start so early!

then my group mate reminded me to ask about my SSM meeting..
which I kept at the far back of my head...
so half-way thru the clinic I sneaked out to arrange the meeting with our supervisor... Had a merry go round at the basement looking for the office of Dr Azlin... while feeling very stupid for neglecting my duties... heck I don't even know the name of my doctor before they told me..

anyway, got her number so I sorta jubilantly skipped back to the clinic...
and informed them of a 2.00pm meet.

Zahra our ever resourceful mate went one step further to call our supervisor.. this time confirming the time of the meeting to be 2.30p.m. While wanting to forward the message, I discovered I did not the numbers of 3 of my group mates.. Damn I suck.
I left their numbers on a sheet of paper from a week back and never made the effort to key it into my hp... sad.. Neglect no2.

Then I remembered my rather embarassing behaviour last night.. attempting to squirm out of a 3 hour meeting.... only 15 minutes concerned me actually so I felt so stuck with nothing to do... I was fidgety and made a show of leaving quite a few times.. that was rather unbecoming... in front of 3rd year juniors and all. Dunno why I acted the way I did but frankly I'm absolutely not proud of it. But I guess I needed more mental prep for it.. haha...

seems the official record of the longest meeting was 5 hours straight during AGM.
phewwwww.... was lucky that wasn't my first exposure.. :-)

and oh... I had to buy a batik shirt costing RM65!... I didn't know only MTs were required to wear it.... At first I tot it was sponsored.... oh well... Its cooling and... er... It makes a very nice...but rather expensive Pyjamas



Neways... had a gym session later and the endorphin rush brought back my vibe~
was feeling good afters... until I was pestered by the thought of Megan fox being a transexual...



*Argggghhh...who wouldn't remember how this relative unknown sent our hearts galloping the first time she appeared on the silver screen?****




Seems to be the case when she gave an interview...

Megan fox a man?

but lucky it turns out that it just isn't true... heh heh .. lotsa guys are spared the agony of fantasizing over a male all this while... Shhheeeesshhh

Megan fox is a girl after all...Phewww!

Well.... we can sleep easy tonight!!! :-p

Random Rantings.. Rambut Sakit..

I know I know.. I should really blog about my Redang and Kuala Terengganu 11 day trip.. or maybe even my crystal hill climb... but wo3 ti2 bu4 qi3 jing4 ziiii

So let me digress a bit from the usual yeah


" I am so sick.... that even my hair is painful"

That is one of my favourite hyperboyles ... and I think quite a few people too LOL..

So imagine my suprise when I hear this advertisement in both English and Chinese radio stations by
Follow Me Hair shampoo that promises to give you more beautiful hair

By giving your hair

...wait for it.....

endorphins

to make it happy!

Endorphins are actually (postulated) hormones like serotonin and the like that makes you feel good.. typically released after a guilt ridden trip halfway down a Cadbury Bar



Well.. the advertisement also claims that it's the first shampoo to incorporate endorphins into the long list of shampoo ingredients.. including

"ammonium laueth sulfate, Dimethicone, glycol distearate, guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, ammonium xylenesulfonate, trimethypropane tricaprylate, Methychloroisothiazolinone"
(List taken from PANTENE pro-V)

Well.. we all know about the evils of widely publicized sodium lauryl sulfate...

According to data from the Hazardous Materials Information Resource System, sodium lauryl sulfate, in 90 percent of shampoos and conditioners, corrodes hair follicles and can cause a burning sensation, coughing, wheezing, nausea, headaches and laryngitis. This same ingredient is found in car wash soap, engine degreasers and garage floor cleaners.

ah well that's not too disconcerting....

But this endorphin in a shampoo thing is kinda far-fetched.. no matter how you see it... So what do the individuals hair do when they are happy?

I think They stand up and boogie!


into a Frizz-tangle!



And since they can put happy hormones into your shampoo.. when are they going to make it into an Instant PICK-ME-UP drink;

4 in one Coffee- Coffee, Sugar, Creamer and Happy hormones!

guaranteed to lift your moods.. Chilled or not!

That would certainly make Befrienders go out of business..

They are the first to incorp that into shampoo... and I think they will be the last.

Haiyo

So sorry..
I just noticed that my photos uploaded to Blogger via picasa doesn't work when my fren's computer couldn't load the pics in my last two posts..

I'm not sure whats wrong but I'll try to remedy it soon.

My Kuala terengganu trip is posted in in reverse.. hope you won;t find it weird.

Due to an unforseen hike to Crystal hill on Saturday morning plus being busy with Moving house... I was too caught up and thus couldn't update the blog.
Hopefully I'll be free soon.

Cheerios! (=^.6=) Have a nice day!

Kuala Terengganu Trip Day 4 (21/4/2008) part 1

Up early this morn... My destination is the Pasar Kedai Payang.. in search of T'ganu delicacies... as directed by the motorcycle peddler! (2nd stop, the State Museum!)

 

his specific directions were to find Cik Ibrahim Jual kuih
and look for
1)Cik Abah Demang
2)Kek Ang
3)Peruk ayam (not to be confused with Perut ayam LOL!)

Well I did find him alright,

 

But he says those are the real traditional cakes... which he does not make...
I Hope he makes it during the Hari Raya, the Malay New Year...

Oh well I will have to be satisfied with my catch of the day

 

Clockwise from Centre:

1)tepung pelita- mildly fragrant white stuff on top... sugar water jelly mix at the bottom
2)ropah - fried kuih-- something like fried popiah.. yum yum
3)kepah - a glutinous rice tough skin that's grainy in texture with coconut shreds in the centre... too sweet for my liking.. and rather rough on the palate..
4) ??? (but something you can easily find elsewhere so nvm-lah :-p ) top white stuff smells of pandan.. could be the fragrance from the green jelly underneath embedded with small pieces of water chestnut
5)Tepung Pasong - as you can see from the picture below.. the bottom layer is paste mixed with gula melaka.. there's no filling within.

 

 

 

And these other two bites!

 

1) the golden yellow one is a type of unfried keropok with Kaya in the middle. But the kaya hor... not sweet and the texture in different from the ones we have in southern states... hmmm

2) the other one is called Paung Goreng. its fried in batches of 6-10 and the man snaps them off if you want say, 4 of them only. the middle is made up of coconut shreds and serunding ikan, or shredded fish meat (bak song) Quite nice but really too much for 1 person to handle haha

oh and one more....

 

Guess the name?
Tip... Web..... and the colour...

Yup!!! you're absolutely correct... It's called jala emas..
It's actually pure egg yolk fried in sugar water... quite unique but I guess it's an acquired taste.

Now for a little suprise...
The price of this Jala Mas equals to the price of all the other Kuihs above!!!

Literally as expensive as emas!!!

-The names of the kuih were provided by a lady I met while taking snapshots of the kuih-

The rest of terengganu kuihs like

satar, puteri mandi, bengkang, asam gumpal, nekbat etc will have to wait...

~~~~~~~~~~~


My bicycle pedal was wobbly since the day before.. with slight squeaky noises which I ignored.. what do you expect from a Bike worth about RM130? Well that little problem will plague me today... to no end...

 

Yup... the nut on the pedal fell off... sigh.. and I couldn't screw it back on...

 

Until this friendly newspaper uncle rushed to my rescue out of nowhere.. bringing out a spanner from the deep depths of his bicycle basket but alas... it wasn't the right fit.. but its once again proven to me that people from small towns are just so warm and friendly! He even went to extent of finding a penarik beca to borrow a spanner for me... well... no right fit there too....

 

so while waiting for the bike shop to open, I went to a Motorcycle shop indicated by the penarik beca to ask for help.. but they weren't too enthusiastic.. simply saying that there's no spanner size fitting my bike. Everyone knows theres such a things as a adjustable spanner... well wat to do when ppl say no?



Oh well.. that lead me to find this place!

 

Yup i think this is one of the famous stalls selling Nasi Dagang.. but his version only has beef or fish.. That didn't deter the folks from crowding up his small stall lot though... too bad I didn't stop for a try.. the morning breakfast was still filling my tummy...

Whaddayouknow? when I reached the bike shop ( which was still closed) I discovered I lost the nut and the metal washer!!!!

so the frantic me went back to where I last spoke to the Penarik beca and started combing the area... it was around 5 min of treasure hunting before I stumbled on the nut... the washer was nowhere to be found... sigh...

this time... the Trishaw man told me to try my luck at the row of shops just below the bridge to Pulau duyung... that's halfway of my journey to the State Museum.. oh well what the heck.. with 45 minutes before the bike shop opens I'll run the risk of the pedal dropping off instead of wasting my time... off I go!


turns out there are no Bike shops beneath the bridge but a row of hardware shops would do... The washer was given to me for free while I borrowed the adjustable spanner.. DONE! Off we go to the museum!