Friday, December 22, 2006

Beyond Ridiculous!

I have just gotten very disturbing news.

As you all know, our Home Ministry has decided to ban certain books depending on whatever they deem should or should not be censored. First of all, I believe in freedom of choice, and I don't believe in censorship whatsoever. For goodness sake, we are not children who don't know the difference between right or wrong, we are adults with *brains*! And moreover, we are people who *read*, obviously. So whatever we choose to read, we can decide for ourselves the extent to which the book effect us!

The act of censorship itself, especially in books, suggest that we Malaysians are stupid children who don't know better, who need others to think for us, who need the Home Ministry to spoon-feed us. And the worst thing is, the people who are supposedly appointing themselves our 'personal thinkers' don't really think all that well.

You know why I say that?

Ok, assuming that I'm alright with the act of banning books itself, assuming that I believe that there are certain books that should be banned... They should be banned based on their content and not the titles!!! For goodness sake!! What the hell is wrong with giving your book an interesting and eye-catching title? It's just a title! Should we now fine everybody who has the misfortune to be named Dick or whatever other dubious name? Just because the guy's name is Dick doesn't mean that he's a dick!

Ok, let's assume further that it's ok to ban books based on their titles, let me ask you, what titles do you think should be banned? The Vagina Monologues? Maybe. A book with something vulgar on the title, well, I could probably understand that. But banning a book because it has the word Kiss on the title? This is beyond ridiculous!

But this was exactly what they did! They confiscated a book because of the word Kiss in the title!

Sighz... Everytime I think that Malaysia is making progress, some people just have to prove me wrong and show me that we're going backwards. Please, I love Malaysia, and I love it here, but everytime I see something like this, I just feel... disappointed. Honestly. *shakes head sadly*

I am against censorship and bookbanning, and I believe in freedom of choice! Free the books! Don't let them ban those books! Let us choose what we should and shouldn't read! Let us build our knowledge and our minds without interference! Support the Freedom of Books! FreeTheBooks.blogspot.com!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Lips Of An Angel

I'm currently obsessed with this song by Hinder, Lips of an Angel. It's the first song I've heard from them, and at first I thought it was by Creed or Nickleback or something, coz the voices all sound similar. You know those types which seems to be a trend nowadays, the low, sexy, deep voice types. It's getting really boring.

But the difference between Hinder and all those other bands...I don't know, maybe it's just this song, but you can *feel* the emotions. You know most of the time you like a song because it speaks to you, there's something in the song that you can relate to? Well, there's nothing in the lyrics that relates to me. I've never had an experience like that. But the song moves me to the deep deep deep core of my soul.

The pain, the love, the hurt, the anguish!! I can feel it all in his voice! If you took away all the lyrics and just listened to his voice, oh, I could cry.

This is true music!

Maybe the song is just something simple, it doesn't show off your amazing vocal skills, it doesn't show off your amazing finger work on the guitar, it doesn't show your amazing composition skills. But it moves people.

And that's really all you need to be a musician.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Mostly about Health

I know I haven't been blogging much lately. Sorry! You know la... holiday season and all... =P

Right now I feel too lazy to post up pictures, so I'll just ramble and see if anyone wants to read my long-winded post ok?

Ok, firstly...I got a rash after fishing last week! Arghh! It's my mother's fault, she got me to wear this sunblock thing on my face, and I (forgetting that my skin's sensitive to particular sunblocks) put it on, thinking that I must protect my skin from the oh so damaging sun. I ended up getting a rash on my face! On my face!! Ugh!

Luckily, it wasn't very visible, my skin felt really raspy, like sandpaper... Yuck! but no one would've known I was having a rash unless they touched my face and felt the sandpaper. =P I don't know why it wasn't visible, but I'm glad for that at least. I couldn't wear makeup though, so I went around looking like a zombie, and the most uncomfortable part was my lips. Yeah, terkena my lips too, very uncomfortable and dry and raspy and irritating feeling. =(

It's almost all gone now. =) Yayy! But please, remind me never to just put any old sunblock lotion on again! The last time I did it was in 2000, six years ago! No wonder I forgot!

It was while I was in The One Academy, and as you know, One Academy students get privileges when it comes to Sunway Lagoon (I don't know if that's still true, but it was at the time). So my classmates and I went to Sunway Lagoon, and I put on sunblock! And honestly I don't remember anything about that day, except that I got rashes all over my body the next day.

And my parents being what they are...into holistic healing and all... *sigh*...

I wasn't allowed to go to the doctor for jabs to suppress the allergy. I had to let it naturally run its course, so that my body could build immunity to it. (Yeah, right, how come I'm still allergic now. But then again, six years ago it was the body which got rashes, not the face. Maybe the face hasn't got the immunity built in until now. LOL! I don't know how it works.) So...I had to live with the rashes for *two* whole weeks!!

So I missed two whole weeks of classes! At my parents' insistance, mind you! And when I went back to class, my lecturer(Valentina, to those of you who know her, you'd know I went through hell!) sounded me for being absent for two weeks, although I gave her a letter from my parents. She wanted an MC, not a letter. But hey, come on, this is something I strongly oppose! Must I go see the doctor for every little malady that befalls me? Sometimes all we need is a little bit of rest, and our body will heal itself. Going to the doctor for medicines and antibiotics sometimes aggravates your problems more! And of course, it keeps you going back to the doctor again and again and again, because your problems are never really solved, they are just suppressed. So they keep cropping back up again and again and again!

I am very proud to say, that except for my yearly regular checkups (which everyone should go for), I haven't been to a doctor in.... Oh gosh! I have no idea how long, it's been *really* long! I find it a total waste of money to go to a doctor everytime you have a mild cough, or a cold, or a fever. Come on, don't be a baby, these things will go away on their own. Unless of course, they get really really bad. Then by all means, go see a doctor!! LOL!

Hey, I'm not saying that I'm one of those completely healthy health freaks. LOL! I am absolutely not a health freak, but I wish I was! And I'm not completely healthy, I have unhealthy predisposition. But if you think going to the doctor for every little boo-boo you have helps, think again. You have no idea how ignorant most doctors are about health. They might be experts on diseases, but they know nothing about health.

Which is the whole point.

My personal motto: Prevention is better than cure. You don't need medicines if you're healthy. And if you keep yourself healthy, you have nothing to worry about.

Don't forget that it's not in the best interest of the doctor to help you prevent illnesses, coz if nobody got sick ever, every doctor would lose their livelihood. LOL!

Personally, I'd rather pay a nutritionist to help me keep healthy, than a doctor to help me cure a problem that I could've easily prevented. Luckily, I already have the best nutritionist *and* doctor looking out for my best interest. I've got the best of both worlds. =) And I'm always interested in learning more about healthy living.

I recently came across this guy's blog: BetterThanYourBoyfriend and I am *intrigued* by his posts. He's such a strong advocate for eating well and healthy living, and all because he read a couple of books which changed his whole complete outlook! I'm getting those books, I want to know what's in them that could've effected him so much that he decided to be a vegan just like that. Who knows? I might convert too! =) He's a very intelligent guy, and his posts are highly entertaining. If you visit his site, you must read his 'advices', they're really good!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Went Fishing!

I woke up really early on Sunday to go fishing! I was up by 6am, and we reached the place by 8am. It was a beautiful place, completely natural and untouched by commercialism. That's the way I like it.

It's a private pond which belonged to a friend of my dad's, so it was just us there and no one else. It's the true fisherman's experience, unlike all those man-made ponds with a million other fishermen sitting around you and getting their lines all tangled up with yours. And which you could sit and wait for 5 hours without a single bite.

Yeap, this place was great! And I caught my first fish all on my own! And it was the biggest I had ever landed! Ok, this deserves an explanation... you see, I'd been fishing with my dad ever since I was a little Betty, and all this while, he was always the one who caught the fish and let me just play with it, and land the fish. This time, I got the fish completely on my own from the beginning til the end! And it was the biggest I had ever gotten too! Ok....let me show you the pix!

Btw, just a warning to whoever's reading this post, I have bragging rights! So if you've never caught a fish, or you're a terrible fisherman, don't be bitter that I think I'm such a big shot ok! =P And if you're a better fisherman than me, then just tolerate little girl acting big la! LOL!

All in all I caught 5 fishes! And I got the first catch of the day too! Out of 7 of us! And I got the biggest fish too! Muahhahahah! I was the fisherman of the day! *smug* =D

Here I am, reeling in the first fish I caught, I took at least 5 minutes to get this one in, it kept pulling the reel out after I reeled it in. But it was sooooo fun!

Finally landed him though! He's the biggest catch of the day, at a whooping 5kg! Woohoo! *smug* He was so heavy that I couldn't hold him up to take the picture. LOL!


This is my second catch! It was only 2.2kg though. They kept biting, one after another, and they kept getting smaller. =P

My third one was only 1.7kg. But it still wasn't the smallest.

My fourth got bigger, at 2.1kg, but I was getting kinda tired by then, because they were biting non-stop! I was catching them, taking pix of them, unhooking them, letting them go, baiting my hooks again, casting my rods, getting bites, and reeling them in again and again in succession!

My fifth catch was the smallest of them all, a mere 1.5kg! LOL! And I was so tired out by the endless fish that kept getting attracted to my line, and the heat of the sun was getting to me too, so I decided to 'retire' after my fifth fish! *grin*

But the fish didn't stop biting! They kept coming in, the other fishermen got their share too! Lone got one, it was bigger than my last four at 2.4kg!

Mum got a few, but this was her biggest one, it was 3.1kg and the second biggest catch of the day! After mine, of course...*smug* =P

Dad got one too! He would've gotten more, but he was too busy helping out the rest of us with our fishing. Mum and me because we wouldn't unhook the fish ourselves, Lone because it was his first time fishing. So in actuality, *all* the fish caught that day was my dad's! LOL! But of course, my 5kg fish was all mine. Seriously... =D


It was great fun! And I can't wait to go back again and spend the whole day catching more than my share! Lone and I had a lunch appointment that day, so we had to rush off by 11.30am, else we could've stayed longer and caught a whole lot more fishes! Well, we'll go back soon, I think Lone's addicted! *grin*

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Happy Birthday Lone!!



To the funnest colleague!!

To the most talented bandleader and guitarist!!

To the most patient guitar teacher!!

To the best friend!!

Thank you for making my life more colorful! I love you lots! Muaks! Hugs! Smooches! Kisses! etc! LOL! =)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Christmas and all that

Yes I know the countdown doesn't match my layout but what can I do? Malaysia had never had a white christmas anyway, but there's always sun and sand here! =P

So anyway, 17 days til Christmas, another beautiful, fun, loving, happy, family holiday over-commercialized and turned into a tacky day for no other reason than to get people to spend their hard-earned money on useless ornamental things and presents that no one cares about just for the sake of letting them feel gratified that they received a present.

Hmm...sounds cynical, doesn't it?

Look, I love Christmas just as much as any other person, in fact, I love it more for it's true meaning and purpose, not for the meaningless, cheap gift-giving. We can't all afford to get good presents to everyone, so we end up buying cheap, useless stuff just so everyone we know will have some small trinket from us. That's not the point!!

It's not about how expensive the present is, nor it is about everyone receiving a small little useless something from you that you probably bought in bulk, because it was a christmassy thing. Whatever.

It used to be about love, about effort. How about just giving presents to your close loved ones? Hand-made stuff? Knit a sweater, crochet a bag, make a personalized bookmark. It doesn't have to be expensive. Or if you're a klutz when it comes to handmade stuff, how about buying something you know the person wants or needs? A book for a bookworm, yarn for a knitter, tools for a gardener, etc. I'm sure you know your loved ones better. Now we're giving presents to every Tom, Dick, and Harry, and we are in effect, spending a lot more money on presents that these people will open, ooh and ahh over in your presence, thank you for, and chuck in a corner once they reach home, because it's basically useless. What is the point?!

You know, if everyone who was going to spend RM10-20 on useless presents for me gave me the money instead, I could go and buy something useful. In fact, if they saved the money for themselves, and allowed me to save my money for myself, we could just get ourselves good presents, and just pretend that everyone else contributed to our wonderful, useful items. Blek...

I used to really love Christmas...now if it wasn't for all the Christmas trees infesting all the places I go to, the Christmas songs, and lights, and the fact that all the prices are marked up, I'd hardly remember that Christmas was here. Who took the fun out of Christmas?

Monday, December 04, 2006

Bored and Sleepy

I am soooooo bored and sleepy right now!

Here I am, in the office, trying to be busy and productive, but with nothing to do. Not at this moment anyway. So I'm waiting for some good samaritan leng chai colleague of mine to fetch me home so I could at least spend this unproductive time productively by sleeping so I'd get some beauty sleep out of it. But instead, I'm spending it rambling on and on about god knows what because my brain isn't even working properly right now and I'm just typing whatever comes to mind, which honestly isn't much.

Unfortunately, there's no good samaritan leng chai colleague to be found. What?! *shocked* No leng chai colleagues?! Time for me to find a job somewhere else where there are more leng chais. LOL! Just joking. I really am rambling with no idea what on earth my point is.

Or rather, my point is that I'm bored and sleepy and my brain has already flown back to the comforts of my bed back home and my body is still here. Duuhhh.... I think if I spent anymore time staring at the screen doing nothing, I'm going to end up with drool running down my chin. Ugh...yuck!

If this continues any longer I'm going to start doing some blog surveys! Yayyy! =) Or maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to do it anyway. *grin*

Friday, December 01, 2006

An overview

1 day since NaNoWriMo is over...

Well, at least I got 20K out of the 50K. It's less than half the amount, but I'm glad I tried and it's a great lesson for finding out my limitations too.

November is over, it's December now, and things are back to being busy at work. I wonder how that works. LOL! October was the end of our financial year, so November was mostly a month where all the Waltonians went for holidays and company trips, hence the slow work days and the very busy social days. Now that the holidaying is done, we're all back to working full swing again.

It's not easy getting the ball rolling once it has stopped, but I'm building up the momentum. It's especially hard when December is another holidaying month for everyone else. Everyone is rushing to finish up their end year projects, especially since everyone wants to be free by the time Christmas and New Year's come around.

But it's a new beginning, and I'm hopeful for the future. Everything seems to be looking brighter, there have been changes in the office, procedures and stuff, and in-house activities and all. Changes in my life, I've been taking up a lot of time last month for reading, and I've learnt many new things I'm eager to try out. I'm taking up two informal courses, and I'm looking for any tai chi classes I can join. Why tai chi? I know most people think it's an old man's activity, but I've always been intrigued by holistic healing, and the movement of energy within your body. I decided to take up tai chi and not the more popular yoga, because tai chi would allow me the peace of mind to meditate/concentrate on the energy flow of my body, which in turns help the healing of the body, and at the same time, it gives me a sense of safety because it's a type of martial art, one of the most powerful in fact. Of course, I wouldn't know how to use it until I've reached a certain level, but take up yoga for ten years and then see if you can defend yourself with it after that. =P

Oh well, I've been talking about taking up tai chi for a while and I still haven't done it, so who knows, I might be all talk. Or I might take a few lessons and then drop it because it's too boring? LOL! I'd love to at least try it though.

On another note, I got 2nd place for Walton Idol. Aww... =( The first place winner was a new colleague who sand Westlife's Flying Without Wings. He sang it *really* well though, so I'm happy losing to him. I sang Kelly Clarkson's Because of You, and the third place winner was one of our PA's who sang Alicia Key's If I Ain't Got You. She was really good too. Lots of competitions this year! And the finals is coming soon too... Any suggestions on what I should sing? I need to win back my title! LOL!

On yet another note, Wing Fei's wedding was wonderful, I finally met his wife for the first time since they got together. The place was beautiful and almost everyone was there, like what all of us were saying, it was like a high school reunion. =) I'll post up more pix later, but unfortunately my battery ran out halfway through the night. I still have so many pix to post up. The pix from our Bkt Tinggi trip, and then our Walton Idol, and then PD, and then Lone's friend's wedding, and then Fei's wedding.

Lalala... I feel like a 'professional socialite'! =D

Anyways, tomorrow is another big day. Walton is holding a hotel seminar at Crowne, and I have to be there from 9am til 6pm. Sighz... I really need to get more comfortable shoes to stand in. Blek.

So good night! =)