Archive for the ‘Personal Life’ Category

Do Something EPIC — VOTE

Posted on March 1st, 2010 • Filed under Inspirations, KL • No Comments

Did you know that if you register for voting ONE month, TWO months or even THREE months before the General Elections, you’re still not eligible?

What are you waiting for? What’s all the procrastination about?

My dear fellow Malaysian,

4.39 million Malaysians over the age of 21 have yet to register as voters.

That’s roughly 28% of our population.

If you’re complaining about…

• the government,
• the roads,
• the slow service,
• corruption,
• petrol,
• the Perak fiasco,
• the current political drama going on in both sides of the fence…

…. what are you waiting for?

VOTE.

If you’ve already registered, good on you. But for those of you who haven’t, and don’t know how, I’ve got the perfect solution for you.

Have you heard of Project Epic?

They’re a bunch of young people, like you and me, dedicated to studying how they can apply leadership and value-based principles in their lives and the lives of our youth.

One of their principles is to be externally-focused — to always give back to society / the community.

They originally started Project Epic with a predominant focus on the plight of the Malaysian Orang Asli (natives) and how we, as young Malaysians, can help to raise their standard of living in the long term.

Their first step?

Building the Orang Asli toilets.

You may ridicule it, laugh, or scoff at it, but there are countless people out there who do not have access to basic facilities that you and I take for granted. Like toilets.

But Project EPIC doesn’t stop there. Toilet-building is only step ONE. In light of that crazy, scary statistic out there, they’ve recently taken their “giving back” one step further.

They’ve realized that, you know what, people that surround us daily need to start having faith and hope in this nation. Yes, while it’s been a challenging journey and developing positive feelings for a nation that displays blatant disregard for ethics is tough, there is still hope.

While Malaysia is disillusioned, and is caught in this sordid, sad wave of helplessness, Malaysians have stopped striving for its YOUTH.

• We want to believe that the power of ‘one’ is not simply overrated, just rarely challenged
• We want Positive Action not Negative ReactionsWe want to integrate not tolerate
• We want to stop complaining, and start acting
• We want our friends to stop migrating overseas and our parents to stop telling us to do so
• We want to be colour blind to our neighbours
• We want to stand up to be responsible for our collective future and believe that others want to as well

And with that, they launched….

EPIC for UNITY

Come this April 3rd & 4th, Project EPIC is launching a year-long campaign at all major, high-traffic shopping malls in the Klang Valley.

No, they’re not politically affiliated.
No, they do not gain an ounce of monetary benefit from this.

All they gain is knowing that, they have taken the FIRST STEP in helping you create a better place to live.

If you don’t know where to register, or how to register, or what to do even.

Just be there.

There aren’t that many high-traffic malls in the Klang Valley, so you know what to do.

Take the next step today.

EXERCISE YOUR BASIC RIGHT AS A CITIZEN IN A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY.
VOTE YOUR CHOICE.

If you’d like to contribute, don’t hesitate.

WEBSITE: http://dosomethingepictoday.blogspot.com/
EMAIL: dosomethingepic@gmail.com
CALL: 016 3177788 (Jasmine)

 

Lessons Learned From Love And Loss

Posted on February 25th, 2010 • Filed under My Thoughts, Personal Life • 2 Comments

On the first day of Chinese New Year, I scrambled downstairs (in jammies and all) to my Dad’s pretty excited calls. I found my mum’s cousin, Aunty Juju, at the gate.

No she didn’t come bearing ang pow.

It was better than that.

She came bearing this.

A beautiful, two-colored, 3-month-old female Beagle!

I instantly fell in love.

My aunt found her wandering in the middle of a busy intersection, lost and afraid. She stopped the car (yes, right in the middle of the road much to the chagrin of honking drivers) and opened her arms. This little baby instantly ran to her.

She asked around at a nearby petrol station and found out that the attendants had been watching her for some time. They saw her jump out of a moving truck (yes, a moving truck) and the owner never came back to retrieve her.

So my aunt brought her over to my place.

She’s the most lovable creature in the world, always up for fun, and loves snuggling up to you. Needless to say, my animal-loving brother was instantly hooked.

Actually, my entire family is completely in love with her!

Dad, who previously was a dog-elitist and only would consider rearing German Shepards, St. Bernards or Golden Retrievers was very keen on keeping her.
Mum, who’s been pretty much anti-dog-attachment since my German Shepard passed away some 10+ years ago (with the exception of my current mongrel, Hero, who she really grew very accustomed to keeping), was totally in love.
Aunty Helen was totally into her, playing with her, setting up a mini bed for her, cleaning her

We named her Brandy (after the drink, not the singer).

Let’s just say in 2 days my entire family was super attached to her, even her tantrum throwing which involved dragging our shoes and laundry all over the house in fear of abandonment whenever we leave for a few hours.

In typical anal-ness, on the 4th day, right before I had to set for KL, I demanded we take her to the vet just in case she was sick as my older dog succumbed to a mild fever the day before. And since she was a missing dog, I figured we’d want to know more about her (e.g. age, vaccinations, etc.).

So off my mum and I went to the vet.

It was a difficult trip as Brandy was reluctant to get into the car, get out of the car, go into the clinic and even peed on me in a wave of nervousness. She hid under a ledge the entire way and refused to come out even when I coaxed her to.

Then the vet came out.

That was when he dropped the bombshell.

He’d received an email from the SPCA the day before about a lost beagle pup.. and he was quite certain it was her. He could tell from those two patches at the top of her puppy head. Instantly, he notified SPCA and when we got home, the owner called.

My aunt gave him a mini-thrashing on the phone for ultimate irresponsibility (how can anyone let a puppy loose in a car without holding it down / caging it up? or even without an identification collar? and not even noticing it was gone until he reached his destination..)

I called to ask if we could keep her and buy her off him..

But he said no, can do. She belonged to his 5-year-old son.

My first impulse was to cart her off to KL with me and dog nap her. After all, who would know any better?

When he came to pick her up at 5pm. I kind of let her go with a very, very heavy heart. And she looked so confused when we handed her over.

Honestly, I was kind of stumped, stunned, and tons sad. Sometimes I still am.

When I spoke to Khailee that night, he reminded me of how impermanent everything is. And it’s kind of true. Nothing is permanent.

Not our parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, boyfriends, husbands, wives, girlfriends, friends, acquaintances.

None of them are permanent.

Permanence is an illusion of security that we allow ourselves to feel. We’d rather believe that the people we know will be that way forever, be there forever.. and will never change or leave. We delude ourselves into thinking that, things will always be this way. Why? Because it feels safe. It feels like we’re in control of the situation.

It’s why the overprotective mother smothers her child with love. It’s why she has endless rules and regulations that she cloaks with discipline — to maintain an illusion of permanence.
It’s why the insecure girlfriend clings to her boyfriend. It’s why she prohibits him from doing anything — to maintain an illusion of permanence.
It’s why governments scramble to enforce martial law, cheat at elections and lie to their constituents — to maintain an illusion of permanence.

It’s why so many people fear death. It takes away permanence.

But… one day people will leave. YOU will leave. Be it purposefully, forcefully, unwillingly, be it stolen, taken or given. One day we will all leave.

That being said, I realized one important thing from that. God is permanent. But people, things, are never permanent. But love is constant. And it can be permanent.

I loved my grandfather when he was alive. I love him now that he’s gone. And I will love him for every day of my life.
I love my parents right now. I will love them long after they’re gone. And I will love them for every day of my life.

Same goes for my grandmother, aunt, uncles, brother, cousins and for my friends.

They will not be permanent. But my love for them, is.

In this case, it’s the same with that little puppy.

Even though we only had her for 4 days, we had her for 4 pretty amazing days. And we all loved her, and still love her. We all cherish those 4 days and while it would hurt a lot less if we’d never met her, it’s really better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

Because at the end of the day, we have to accept this one truth: Nothing is permanent.

And I don’t say that with bitterness either. It’s with acceptance and a wistful smile.

Your parents aren’t always going to be around. So be spiritually, emotionally present with them when they are.
Your friends aren’t always going to be around. Give it all you have. Be the best friend that you can be. So when either one of you has to leave, you both know you were the best.
Someone you love isn’t always going to be around. So live each moment with them, not against them. Appreciate each other, and take a pause in your busy life to say, “I’m here. Right now. With you. And right now, that is all that matters”.
A child will not always be a child. Cultivate that bond, that feeling and enjoy his/her young years.

Really, my lesson is this: Cherish every moment you have. Because it is ALL you have. Live for the moment and enjoy each moment. The next may not be the same. And when you look back on those moments, you know that you lived it fully, you cherished it fully, and you were there fully.

 

Things Bee Sim Says That Crack Me Up

Posted on February 25th, 2010 • Filed under Inspirations, KL, Musings • 3 Comments

If you know Bee Sim like I do, she’s full of critical nonsense.

She just sent me the video of “We Are The World 25″ for Haiti

It’s a really good song, mind you, and I love that Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie placed all the strong vocalists in the beginning, where I feel more emotion and power is needed to convey the message of the song – Jennifer Hudson, Josh Groban, Pink, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion.. you know what I mean.

But Bee Sim has beef with the fact that Miley Cyrus has a few lines among the greats.

Here’s an excerpt of our conversation:

 

Malaysian Politicians Down With Chronic, and HIGHLY Contagious Cases of Verbal Diarrhea

Posted on January 24th, 2010 • Filed under My Thoughts, Personal Life • 1 Comment

I don’t think it’s just contagious. I think it’s hereditary too.

This is what I mean:

Take #1 — Rais Yatim’s urge for a “wider use of the National language in the private sector” to further dignify it.

The ministry — with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) — would carry out continuous campaigns to “enculture Bahasa Malaysia usage” as well as make it an appealing language.

Don’t know bout you, but that sounds pretty communistic to me.

Among them was that the leaders should communicate well and more often in the national language, including at official meetings, while it was also suggested that forums and conventions held in the country not be conducted in English.

Right. And I’m assuming you want all expats working in Malaysia to sit for a 1 year course on BM as well.Oh. And while we’re at it, the rest of the world. Since, I don’t know, the private firms in Malaysia generally deal with international corporations?

Check out his verbal diarrhea here >>

Oh.. and watch him changing “mode” here :

Take #2 — #yorais, time to take your eyes (and mouth really) outta your ass and face the 21st century

He added that facilities like internet (Facebook, Twitter and… I don’t know, L-Band? -_- )could not be accepted wholly because it was a form of business introduced by the West and “Malaysians were just users.”

“They are just selling Facebook, Twitter, L-Band and various other services, even through space, as a product but we do not do such business. We accept all this in a state of cultural shock,” he said.

Perhaps it’s his old, ancient mouth speaking from where the sun don’t shine… so, I’m not even going to dignify this with a response.

Check out his verbal diarrhea here >>

Take #3 — Nazri Aziz says, “But THEY started it!” *points finger at The Herald*

“It’s not the fault of the government. Let it be known that it was Tan Sri Pakiam, not the government, who brought the matter to court,” Nazri stressed.

If there was to be any out-of-court settlement over the “Allah” row, Pakiam, as the official publisher of Herald — the Catholic Weekly, must make the first move, the government minister added.

“I got no choice as the minister in charge of law. Because of Tan Sri Pakiam, I must be the person to advise the government that we must use the courts-lah,” Nazri, who is also Padang Renggas MP said.

Honestly? What is this… kindergarten? Of course, he neglects to add that the Home Ministry banned it first.

Instead, he noted that the judge is not a Muslim, and had ruled over a matter that concerned the “akidah” (faith) of the Muslim community.

I thought neutrality is upheld in the judiciary. If the judge is not christian / catholic, and not Muslim, I’m assuming he/she makes the best decision for both parties from an on the fence perspective.

The Umno man said in the Borneo states the people had embraced the “1 Malaysia” concept a long time ago, unlike in the west where racial lines are still very apparent.

Dude. They’ve been using Allah for 300 years. So have we. So mengapa pula cari pasal skarang?

“I’m very liberal, I’m very confident, but if I try to explain to them… no way,” Nazri disclosed, referring to his contituents when asked how real the worry was that Christians would try and convert Muslims if the High Court ruling was upheld.

“Those people not in politics, they can say anything. But people like me, I depend on my voters,” the federal lawmaker said.

“I may look liberal but my constituents are not,” he added.

So… genius. You’re openly admitting that this public charade and cat-mouse-chase is all for… political gain?

“If everyone prays to Allah, they’ll all be Muslim. It’s a good ploy for Muslims to convert non-Muslims,” he quipped.

Pot calling kettle black. Your earlier fear was Christians would try to convert Muslims by calling God “Allah”.

Check out his verbal diarrhea here >>

This whole church / Allah / Internet nonsense is getting out of hand. So dudes in our Cabinet / Parliament, hear me out here.

Message to Malaysian Politicians:

Instead of bickering over all this shit and not respecting the court’s decision, why don’t you just do your job and govern our country right.

Instead of worrying about Bahasa Malaysia, whether we’re being “brainwashed” by Twitter and Facebook and fearing that the Christians are on the move to convert all Muslims by declaring that God and Allah are the same, allow me to suggest far more urgent things you should be dedicating your attention to:

• Investigating the MACC’s involvement in Teoh Beng Hock’s death.
• The whole Port Klang Free Zone joke
• The VK Lingam case.. and properly investigating it instead of sweeping it under the carpet
• The hilarity that was our stolen jet engines
• The brainwashing Biro Tata Negara nonsense
• The rape of the Penans
• and Khir Toyo’s misues of Selangor State funds (I mean, that huge ass mansion? Pfft, guys. Seriously, how stupid do you think Malaysians are?

(Taken, and slightly adapted from RibutKL)

Your thoughts?

….

Facebook guys, just in case the videos don’t load, you can read the full post here if anything is missing: http://www.xinch.com.my

 

2009 In A Series of Pictures

Posted on January 2nd, 2010 • Filed under Awesome Things, Personal Life, Triggerhappy • No Comments

Just because.

2010 is gonna be spectacular!

Happy New Decade, y’all!

 

Day #1: Youth Engagement Summit 2009

Posted on November 25th, 2009 • Filed under Inspirations, KL • 5 Comments

If you guys don’t already know (or follow my Twitter-feed), I spent Nov 16 & 17 at the Youth Engagement Summit 2009 all the way at PICC which is situated in a God forsaken place Putrajaya.

And let me tell you… it was an awesome event.

Read the rest of this entry »

 

Breaking The Silence With Costumes

Posted on November 2nd, 2009 • Filed under KL, Personal Life • 2 Comments

Hey guys

It’s been eons since I’ve written anything (yes, I know). But when you blog and write for a living (and those blogs isn’t your own), seeing another Wordpress interface when you get home becomes one of your lowest priorities. Not to mention the fact that since I’ve started Tweeting, my blogging frequency has suffered a major blow.

Nonetheless, I’m breaking my silence (finally) now with…. Halloween pictures!

After much consideration, I decided to go as Medusa. After all, I only needed snakes on my head.. and that’s really about it! I didn’t even going to go the whole nine yards and get colored contacts (I suffer from both myopia and astigmatism. It wasn’t possible) or even powder my face white.

On the left is Nguyen, the visiting developer from Vietnam currently putting up at the YouthAsia office & Khailee’s place. This year’s Halloween was his first and we (or I) dressed him up as a Jedi! Yes, my friends. You can’t see his light saber here but he’s a full-blown Jedi. I think going as a Jedi is actually pretty easy. We just got 3meters of brown cloth from Kamdar and cut + sewed it into his robe.

The tough part was that weird orange guy next to me.

Yes. That one. Here’s a close-up of him with the Cowboy Sheriff (and photographer of the night) Yew Jin.

Are you wondering what he is?

His mum asked him, “Are you a parrot?” (which really cracked me up so much I almost chucked my dinner).

He’s actually… Simba. Yes. Simba the Lion. From The Lion King.

I know right? The secret to his “head dress”? 5 orange bathroom rugs from Jusco worth RM7.90, yellow socks worth RM5.00, a curtain tie-tassel thing worth RMgodknowswhat, an old disposable cap, a really shitty seamstress and her make up.

Guess who was the shitty seamstress?

Anyway, there were a bunch of weird characters that night. Take ghost / corpse bride for example:

I can’t tell if her costume is scarier or her freaking long eyelashes are. Oh. And if you’re wondering what Joel is… he’s a fallen-arch-angel… or something like that. I really couldn’t decide (and I suspect, neither could he). I don’t think he knows this scary female as well.. Hmm…

Of course, you have the few non-dress-uppers for any costume party. This time it came in the form of Jeff (after his mummy experience last year, I actually understand why ;P), Jean and Winnie (Jean’s highschool mate).

Over all, it was an OK night — nothing to shout about because of the fact that Zouk was just so congested that we could barely move. But as usual, who doesn’t love just taking LOTS of photos?

 

Pimp My Room – Part 1

Posted on September 24th, 2009 • Filed under KL, Triggerhappy • 2 Comments

If you don’t already know, I recently moved into a very pretty new condo in Kelana Jaya. Yes, after months of staying in my Dad’s place in the faraway Sunway, I’m back in action right in the heart of PJ. Many bouts of indecision have led me to so many color schemes for my room that I’ve lost count. I love red, but the stark whiteness and zenness of my condo doesn’t seem to SUIT red… so I thought of moving to white. But then, everything in white is just so boring.. and IKEA furniture is extremely generic! You get the drift.

So this long Raya weekend (Selamat Hari Raya to my Muslim friends =]!) I enlisted the artiest and most DIY person I know, Esther Lau, to pimp my room. I have to say, 3 days, loads of paint, turpentine and mosaic tiles later, my generic, boring IKEA furniture is MOST DEFINITELY — pimped.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves — checkidout!

BEFORE

AFTER

Check out my chest-of-drawers-cum-dresser:

Read the rest of this entry »

 

Project 365

Posted on April 29th, 2009 • Filed under Personal Life • No Comments

Do you know what unemployed, bored as hell fresh grads do in their spare time?

[click here]

 

The Last Lap

Posted on April 14th, 2009 • Filed under Personal Life • 2 Comments

Finally, after 3.5 years, I’m in the last leg of my degree. I’ve handed up all my assignments, presented in my last colloquium, and today at noon handed in my completed undergraduate thesis paper. The final lap of my Bachelor’s degree lasts for approximately 10 days and will be filled with 4 final papers and a thesis defense session. On April 22nd, 2009, at 2pm, I can call myself an unofficial graduate.

You’re probably wondering why I’m not poring over textbooks right now, considering the fact that my first paper is on Friday. Well, after only 4 plus hours of sleep (not to mention the stress that came with completing my thesis), I’ve decided to take a breather and tuck in early for the night… before I resume the final lap tomorrow morning.

But before I do that, I thought I’d give some thanks some people who went out on a limb to help me complete my thesis (either by helping me recruit participants, distributing my surveys for me, helping with data analysis, lab report etc. etc). I know I should be studying but, better now than never. After all, once I start procrastinating, I might never stop.

I want to give loads of thanks and IOUs to:

Matthew Lim, (Jason’s younger brother) to whom I owe lunch for rounding up as many teenage friends as possible on MSN before introducing me to…

Dianne Chan, who also recruited as many of her friends, who met the criteria of my target sample, as possible via MSN and who I later discovered was actually the daughter of a family friend.

Erik, who is so lucky to have a cousin like me who makes use of the fact that he and his friends meet the criteria of my target sample… and is so willing to drive to Subang and back multiple times for the responses. IOU in the form of… advice and guidance from an older cousin

Elvira, Kingsley, Kevin S., Priscilla Lim, Puveshni, Jasbir, Betsy & Angelreena who responded to my Facebook and real-life requests and helped me distribute my questionnaires to their teenage friends, students, church members and family members.

Kok Wui, who endured calls at all hours of the day (rush hours in particular) about statistics and SPSS questions… and demands, in addition to distributing questionnaires on my behalf.

Ivy and Konrad, who helped me review the discussion section of my lab report (even though it was actually Konrad who did it, Ivy was the one who sent it to him).

Wei Zhi, whose university database I owe 80% of the past research I used in my literature review in the first place. I still owe you lunch in Penang. I’ll probably do it in Perth then

Bee Sim, who answered my million questions, endured my million speculations and complaints about my thesis… and who printed it for me too. =]

May Leng, who owns the tuition center I obtained most of my participants from and who kindly went completely out of her way to collect them from me, distribute them for me, and return them to me.

Khai Lee who (spontaneously) gave me May Leng’s contact in the first place… and to whom I owe so many lobster thermidores I’ve lost count =P.

Dr. Liau, my supervisor, who has been extremely helpful and has provided me with constructive advice and unlike some supervisors, has not misled me or left me to fend for myself.

Most importantly, I owe immense gratitude to God for all his blessings in leading me to these people.

Thanks y’all.

Note: A friend of mine recently shared this blog post with me. I thought you guys would appreciate it too. =]