WARNING: ANOTHER PHOTO-FILLED POST

I spent a large amount of time with Wei Zhi, Ghee, June, Jason and Chuan Wei during my December trip back so here are some pictures

Trek to Monkey Beach Participants: Wei Zhi, Li Jia, June, Ghee, Ghee’s friend Bill and Jason

Penang National Park entrance and office

When I look at this picture, I wonder if it was really taken in Penang

Going through the wilderness!

Pretty flowers were sprinkled along our trek

We had gray skies at first

thankfully it very quickly turned blue

we had sandy beaches

and quiet little lakes

until jason decided to test the waters

and in here, lives a hermit crab

I don't know bout this one, but it sure is pretty

and another pretty picture

June was obsessed with crabbies

Jason being super relaxed

Lydia cartwheeling

and Ghee failing

Zhi posed like nobody's business

and again

...and again.

he would like to think he's the Hulk

and she thought she was a mermaid

and a chio one at that...

engineering students constructing a dam to please king Jason

the completed dam.... until I stood up, of course

We took a boat back and guess how much it cost us?

RM50 for as many as 10 people! We had 7 so we split that by 7 instead. Imagine if we had 10!

Ghee enjoying the ride

my fav picture of Zhi and I -if only it weren't so dark

Docking at Teluk Bahang

The day was an absolute blast

That night, Pei Shan, Ade, Sim and I celebrated NYE.

pic courtesy of Pei Shan's FB

Sim, Shan and I - pic courtesy of Pei Shan's FB

Lots more but I’m too lazy to upload, so there

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My holidays usually consist of a lot of lazing, a lot of pigging out, a lot of tv, and a lot of napping. This time however, I spent most of my time rushing from here to there and there to here – total insanity! I’ve decided to scrap text (most of it anyway) and just display my holidays in a series of pictures.

Met up with June, Chuan Wei, Wei Zhi, Jason, VincentJason’sFriend, MatthewJason’sLittleBrother and Matthew’s friends for some kayaking at PSC.

While we kayaked, June and CWei played chess

After kayaking we headed to Sri Ananda Bahwan in Hillside for lunchies!

Then, it was off to June’s beautiful condo for a round of Taboo!

When I said beautiful, I wasn’t kidding. Check out the views!

Infinity pool!

Of course, I also met up with the exMGSians for drinks.

See that little blue ball? Ms. Autumn”NowNotSoAerosmith”Tan uhm stole took permanently borrowed it from a buffet dinner to attach to her cell. Completely into the Christmas spirit she was!

Her super cute-super cool Fujifilm polaroid camera!

I also met up with my bestest friend during MGS days. We used to want to sit next to each other but knew fully well that we would talk so much that teachers would separate us! So we’d do the next best thing – sit in the same row, or same column either in front of (or behind of) each other or by the side with Di”Didi”yana and Hasmi”Mimi” dar! Those were the days =] Miss you girlie

Christmas was a blast and I attended a series of Christmas dinners and lunches. One of it was at Jason’s place – a scrumptious Asian Christmas dinner =]

“]”]

Vince, Chuan Wei, Jun and I at Jason's waiting for dinner =

Christmas dinner at Jason's

Jun and I with Simba, the "rug"

Of course, what’s Christmas without the obligatory family luncheon? I must say though, I miss having the Hartsuikers around each Christmas. Sin KP, Uncle Frits, Nic and Chris make each Christmas more enjoyable than the last! Without them around, you don’t see Shang and Chris running round Chee Seng like the overgrown monkeys that they are setting up firecrackers purchased from the every-Tuesday-night pasar malam in Tanjung Bungah (that also means that I don’t get to eat my fried chicken skin purchased from the said pasar malam!).

Christmas lunch at Chee Seng Gardens - the usual hoardes of people I call family

Christmas lunch at Chee Seng Gardens - Su Yin, Auntie Cheryl and I

This year (meaning 2008) there was an additional Christmas dinner with the family at Auntie Mandy’s and Uncle Lennie’s. Boy did we live up to the saying “eat, drink and be merry!”

“]”]

Aunty Mandy and Mum scavenging for food and wine =

Mei Yuiet Ee Ee

My aunts and my uncle having a chat outside

Su Yin and I

Shang and Su Yin

JiShern and I

Boys all grown up!

Chern and Shang (my brother who shaved his head and now looks like a monk!) with Uncle Pat

No complaints here!”]

The adorable Tan Ji Shern who seems to be fixated with my camera. =

Andddd one more shot of JiShern and I.

Late December saw Sim’s sister getting married after months of preparation.

Sim's sister preparing for the tea ceremony

Sim looking very pretty that night

All of us with the bride and her family

and one more group shot with Datin Lim XD

May in one of her usual bouts of vulgarity

Well, she returned the favour of my advertising by posting this picture of my reaction to being propositioned by Sim's relatives that night - not fun. ----Picture courtesy of May

OMGLOOKATMYKELOIDS! *gasp*

OkayI’mtoastI’llcontinuethissomeothertime.

x

Unfortunately for us Malaysians, a majority of our politicians fall in the second category.

To use some PSY311 Assessment and Profiling terms, one contributing factor to the success of your political career is the politician’s ‘face validity’. Basically, it means “does your politician look like he/she’s doing what he/she’s supposed to be doing?” But our politicians forget the importance of ‘content validity’ – whether they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing.

It’s sad to see that our politicians are ‘either or’. You’ve got hypocrites who make a fuss over the smallest of things just because they’re the opposition, not realizing that they’re going about obtaining face validity the wrong way.

The greatest example I can give you is the fact that some people in the ruling party seem to be making an unnecessary fuss over the fact that Penang road signs will now be multilingual – adding English, Arabic, Jawi, Tamil and Chinese to the already existing B.M. signs. I will not comment on this due to the sheer hypocrisy of it all, especially since several road signs in the capital of this country are translated to Arabic and Jawi. This is a perfect example of low face validity and even lower content validity.

And then, you have the overwhelming criticism by the Opposition (and I mean the state opposition) over Lim Guan Eng’s latest South Korean trip. Let’s not forget that highly controversial trip to Taiwan our MPs took to elude the Sept. 16 threat. I mean, really. Sheer hypocrisy. So there you have it – high face validity (I mean, as the opposition, they have to protest over everything right? *rolls eyes*), low content validity. Why low? Because next thing you know, Lim Guan Eng signs a MoU with a large SKorean firm for investment in Penang. Yes, so everyone questions if we need a golfcourse in Batu Kawan… but you’re missing the point. We need the investment especially since Penang has fallen out of the ruling party’s radar when it comes to funding. What’s more, there’s actually proof that his trip there has amounted to something. Unlike the ridiculous Taiwanese trip, or the one taken by the ex Selangor MB/Sel. State Development to the UK to look at kindergartens.

And in this case, Lim Guan Eng – high face validity, high content validity.

Then suddenly, you have some parties coming out to say “PENANG IS DIRTY! BAD FOR TOURISM!” Well, well, well, my dear tourism minister. I’ve lived in Penang all my life and it has been steadily getting worse and worse. The state Penang is in right now when it comes to the lack of cleanliness, doesn’t happen overnight and it sure as hell doesn’t happen in 8 months. The accumulation of dirt in Penang started long before DAP took over. So to be passing judgment now and say that “I don’t know if Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is aware of it. He seems busy travelling to and fro Kuala Lumpur and Penang since he has two jobs, as an MP and an assemblyman,”? Not smart. Anyone who lives in Penang or has been to Penang in the past few years can testify to that. Medium face validity, absolutely no content validity.

High face validity and low content validity has also been evident in the MCA. Recently the new Wanita MCA chief made a comment that the Selangor MB should have looked into the appointment of non-Bumis to fill the Selangor State Dev. GM post instead of limiting it to Bumis only. Practice, what you preach. MCA is, at the end of the day, a part of BN. I don’t see you preaching the choir to your BN counterparts and I haven’t heard any preaching or advocating of the rights of non-Bumis while Selangor was under BN for all those years? You’ve never questioned the appointment of Bumiputera GMs, why start now?

However, the last thing I am, is biased towards the Pakatan Rakyat crowd. Their recent stunt staging a walkout in the middle of in Parliament? Low face validity and no content validity. What’s your point? What is the point of us electing you as our representatives when you cannot even be bothered to sit through one sitting? You’re not doing your job. Complain as much as you want about the ruling party, this is outrageous. It’s something teenagers do while mommy/daddy’s nagging. Don’t you know? Tantrums get you nowhere. You want to lead this country? Act like leaders first and not sore losers.

While both parties suck when it comes to content validity, I have to say – it is most unfortunate that the ruling party has not learned much from the recent general elections. Going around criticizing the Opposition’s every move is not going to make us vote for you next time. It’s going to make us realize how sore you guys are. Unfortunately for them, Penang seems to be thriving under DAP and while Selangor’s development has not been immediate, its future seems to be looking pretty bright.

Who cares if Anwar succeeds as the PM. Who cares who leads UMNO youth or Wanita MCA. Who cares what language the roadsigns are in? The world is sliding into an economy crisis and the sooner they focus on what’s important to bolster our economy, the better.

And they wonder why the citizens have suddenly decided to give the Opposition parties a fighting chance.

Like true Penangites, Bee Sim, Jo, Lyn and myself headed out to eat the morning after we (the KL students) returned to the motherland.

The food….

The people

We were later joined by

Mamasan of Chulia Street, Chow Kit and Lrg Gharu

Aerosmith Tan

Every outing with the ex-MGSians have similar recurring themes

1.  A hideous Ops Ayam photo of MamasanMel

2. Pictures of some people looking damn tam chiak (greedy)

*from Sim’s FBook album*

3. AerosmithTan with funny new paraphernalia. In this case, a Fish Eye Lomo! No more bling for AerosmithTan!

*from Lyn’s FBook album*

4. Embarrassing moments with Aerosmith and Mamasan around laughing like hyenas and witches

With those two around, it’s impossible not to attract stares…. -_-’

5. And of recent developments, a very vain and camwhore-y Chao Wei-Lyn

Combination of all that makes (almost) every outing a blast… except maybe the lethally embarrassing combination of AerosmithTan and MamasanMel… that’s just a little too much to take! More of Penang soon

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