Merdeka?

Today is Merdeka, supposedly when Malaysia gained its independence from the British.



It's quite sad that my patriotism for Malysia is deteriorating as the years pass.

This year, we've witnessed so many things that show how messed up the systems that's governing us is.

The Teoh Beng Hock incident, anti-isa demonstration, Cow head incident,the PKFZ scandal, the current turmoil in MCA

As Raja Petra calls it Moodeka! Read it, and you'll be shocked as to what a sorry state our country is in.

And the incident that happened last Friday, I just pity all those people who were involved in the protest, how illiterate they must be. Hopefully such foolishness does not pass on. And that cow, it didn't deserve such humiliation after it's tragic death.

It's really quite sad. I could actually feel such a pain in my heart to know that this is the country I was born in.

I know, and I hope that my generation of Malaysian will be more compassionate amongst each other.

To me the true meaning of Merdeka is when the various races of our country can get together and have fun, like my friends and myself.


We respect each others religion, yea we may mock each other as well, but we also forgive and forget. And that is the most important thing to do.

Yes, easier said then done, but I'm sure if we out out hearts and minds to it, we can achieve peace and harmony in our beloved Malaysia.

And to all my friends and family overseas, I hope you will not forget your country and eventually come back!

Lunch with Su !

Today I went out for lunch with a dear friend of mine, coincidentally where we were, there was a vegetarian restaurant nearby. So I suggested eating there instead. I a veg, she a non, naturally the conversation steered towards the comparison between meat and mock meat and vege's. Hence this piece is mainly dedicated to her.
<3

Eating out with me is really simple. If there's food fit for me to eat, I eat, otherwise, I order a drink and continue conversations with my friends. I don't feel left out or anything and neither should you feel guilty on having a meal without me.

When I have meals with my friends, without fail, there will be a few of them, and usually the same ones, who'd tell me how much it is I'm missing out by abstaining from meat. This really doesn't bother me, so go ahead, do it again, and again, and again, it ain't gonna change me. ( You know exactly who you are =P)

Truthfully speaking, instead of having meals with friends I'd much rather do some other activity like shop, hang around, play games or just have drinks. This is not because I'm deterred by my meat-eating friends, it's only cause I don't want to be packing in any calories.

The primary reason I'm a vegetarian is because I was born into a vegetarian family and proud of it. My family were vegetarians for religious purposes. But now as I have grown older, I've come to realize it's not just for religious purposes but a whole spectrum of other reasons. But I'm nevertheless most thankful to God for getting me born into a vegetarian family.


My personal belief would be that no animal should die for my own satisfaction. No cow, chicken, sheep, goat, fish, not any animal should be killed, just to satisfy my hunger.

Plus, animals are one of the most gentle creatures around, it is us humans who go around terrorizing others. You don't hear of animal terrorists now do you?
And they're so cuteeeeee! How can you cut them up and eat them!

Don't you think so?



So cuteeeee!

I'm not trying to blackmail you or anything. But just look at them! Oh I'm gonna burst into http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=807798827880180175tears any minute!

You really don't have to eat meat, you can be perfectly healthy and not thing you might end up underweight or something. (I am l.i.v.i.n.g proof)

Anyways, here are more reasons I came across google on why you should consider being a vegetarian.

1. Why be a vegetarian?

2. Lose the blubber hehehehe

3. Some of the sexiest vegetarians around...

4. Why being a vegetarian could be a good cause

Hopefully after reading all these sites, you may be a little more inclined to go vege!

Come on people, lets do our part in saving the environment and humanity it self!

Go Vege!

PS: Even after watching "Finding Nemo" would you really want to eat fishes too?

Hmm, maybe Pixar and Disney could collaborate on making an animated movie on vegetarianism...

Why to such extent?

Today, I was appalled to read the headlines on BBC, why women are being mistreated in Afghanistan, I just don't get.

1. Afghan women fight on for rights

2. Row over Afghan wife-starving law

What is it that's in the heads of those men, that makes them act in such a perverse and sadistic nature.

I was shocked when I read it. Shocked but I also expected it. I had prior introduction to such behaviour when I read the book "the Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. Initially I thought it was a mere exaggeration, but after having read these 2 articles, I'm just appalled.

How can any man with a sane mind treat any woman be it sister, wife, daughter or mother as such.
I hope President Sarkozy get his way with the Burqa ban. I think these women have been oppresed over many many generations and the men have taken advantage of that, and have made it a tradition.

No woman should ever be ashamed of her face and should not be made to hind behind a veil. Hiding your body I can understand, but modesty does not mean covering your face as well.

To the burqa clad women out there. Know your rights. Why should your partner ask you to hide under a veil after marriage? Is there no trust between the two of you. Does he not have faith in you? If so, you shouldn't even be getting married in the first place.

Ps: i'd like to apologize if I offend any parties. But these are strongly my views and I have a right to express them.

Rain or shine, you gotta be there!

I recently signed up for a boot camp wherein I was to go through some vigorous exercise. There have so far been only 2 lessons. In the first, we were to record our stamina levels. In which, I managed to clock in 17 minutes, which I was told, was pretty impressive for a first timer of my build! *pat on the head*

Today was the second day of the camp. It started at 5.45, which meant I had to be up and about by 4.50 in the MORNING!!

It rained, and we were forced to run, jog, do sit ups, squats, push ups, and the likes, in the RAIN!

While doing sit ups, I had drops of rain falling into my eyes =( It was crazy, miserable, wet, cold, sweaty. And every time we slowed down, the sargeants would add in another half a minute, and f.y.i, half a minute in boot camp time is like FOREVER!

After boot camp I quickly rushed home to beat the KL traffic and to be able to clock in a bit more sleep before my interview with my prospective employer.

At the office, before being given the offer letter to take me under their wing, I was to have a medical check up done.

For some reason I get creeped out by medical check ups, I mean what if something is detected that I might not want my parents to know about. WHAT IF?!?!

So I walked all the way to the clinic from my office only to be made to wait for an agonizing 20 minutes only to have my name called to be registered! Not even seen by the doctor. After the registration process I had to wait another half hour, and finally when my name got called, I had to get an X-ray and a pee test done.

I took my cup to pee in, but then I hahha, dropped it into the toilet bowl by accident, and had no more pee left. So the nurse got me to to do the X-ray first, while making me drink 3 large cups of water.

Then I managed to collect some pee in the cup and bring it back safely to the nurse. (these are the times that I feel, it's way easier to be a man)

After I had given her the cup of my precious, I exited, while exiting, I noticed that drug tests were to be done. This is when I start freaking out majorly! Not that I do drugs or anything, it's just I've had potheads blow smoke to my face. After about another 20 minutes of freaking out and panic attacks, the doctor calls me to do a physical examination.

I try peeking into her desk to see if the reports were ready, unfortunately they weren't. Then she proceeded to examine my *ahem* chest. After "careful" examination, she claims there to be a slight lump. Although she said it was nothing to worry about, she said to get it checked by a surgeon.
At this point of time I'm still worried about the pee test. =S I peeked into her desk again, and whoa, thanks God! I was negative for anything. Phewww what a relief!

Next stop, possibility of breast cancer. Sighh

Immediately I called my dad, who happens to be a doctor, and I meet up with him and my mom to go the National Cancer Centre.

However before that I did manage to meet up with Jann-Lim to eat at the Pink Sage. The food took forever to come, we were both starving, I had a vege burger and it was DELICIOUS! While Jann had a beef burger, poor cow =(

My yummy Vege burger!
This burger was huuge! To big to bite into, but remarkably delicious.

After paying our bill, we opted to sign off on their mirrored panel! I left my trademark sign!


And then of course....


I managed t get my words right to the top! Yay! for being tall!

And my brother who later joined us, could only manage to give his 2 cents worth...


And Jann who looks up to me for everything, followed suit and wrote his two cents worth as well. Didn't manage to capture that though.

Well after having lunch together, I proceeded to meeting my parents to go to NCSM where in there were more trained specialists to have a look at me, and the ultrasound validated the fact that I did NOT have any lump or cancer. Phewww Second big relief for the day!

This little incident also got me to realize how much my parents will do anything for me. My mom completely freaked out, while my dad called his network of doctors to figure out a solution to my problem. It made me appreciate them more, but at the same time, I will stand my ground in saying that I am old enough to make certain decisions in my life.

Another thing I would have to add, is that it is pretty hard to find a reliable doctor. This doctor actually put my family through a lot of distress. I would stay away from Chong dispensaries on Jalan Ampang from now on. When she looked into my ear, she put in my ear those cones, and they definitely didn't look like they had been sterilized before.
I've come across statistics that say that almost 95% of private sector clinics do NOT sterilize their equipments before using them on their patients!


While at NCSM I also managed to get a HPV vaccine, this is to prevent cervical cancer in women. It came in 3 doses for RM 850. Girls, please go get yours today! (again, why it's easier being a man)

Well the day has not ended, I'm just waiting for my sister and Brother to come back from shopping so we can all go for his surprise farewell with his friends! (don't worry, I know for a fact he doesn't read my blog)

Meanwhile, I shall doze a little in order to recuperate from my very stressful day. I think I'm breaking out with a fever =S

Thean Li's Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated a very "special" friend of mine's birthday! I've known her not just for her eccentricity but as well as her very good, kind hearted and forgiving nature. Thean Li.

It was not just any birthday, but her 21st! So??

I decided that I would bake her a cake!!!

After my Yoga class, I rushed to Ampang Park and bought all the necessary ingredients, and got all the ingredients ready to be mixed!

Started with this
Blended it to
Then the best past of any cake,
and then you get

Put it in there for about an hour...

And Voila!
Yea yea yea, so it had a couple of holes in it, but it was still delicious! Too bad blogger doesn't provide scratch and sniff, the smell was orgasmic I tell you.
And Fyi, this cake is eggless, making it vegetarian!

I flipped the cake over on to another tray, to take to Thean Li's house, unfortunately, there, the cake wasn't well appreciated, the people, Thean Li included, and my other friends there, were deceived by the yummy looking Secret Recipe cake. Hmph! It's the inside that matters people! Not the outside.

The only reason I couldn't get the time to decorate the cake was I had procrastinated and I got lost on the way to Thean Li's house. Sigh...

At the party, there were many of her friends, all excited in celebrating her birthday! I met up with Sally, Fadza and Jatin there, took a couple of pictures, talked around, ate, played games, ate some more!

When it was time to cut the cake, my poor little baby was ignored =(

They cut the one from Secret Recipe instead...Oh well.


One person I know who appreciated the cake the most was my me ever loyal fan! He was there by me the entire time while I was making it!


My Butlerrrrr.But he could only get very teeny amounts of cake as chocolate is not good for dogs... Instead, I ate and blew in his face, so that he could smell the cake and drool.


For her birthday, I managed to get Charlene to make a slideshow of Thean Li and her most memorable moments

And her reaction to it?!?!

This!

Enjoyyy!

Love you Lij!
xoxox

Sun Salutation

The Sun Salutation a.k.a Surya Namaskar
This is a yoga pose, that according to my yoga teacher is an excellent form of cardiovascular exercise. The benefits of the sun salutation is that, it gives you a wholesome workout.




Not only does it tone your muscles, it uses your own body weight to exercise. After about 4 or 5 sun salutations, you'll feel like you've jogged for five minutes.

Apparently the average healthy person should be able to do 108 sun salutations in 20 minutes.
I managed 20 in 20 minutes.
The first ten salutations were okay, but after that, oh gawd, the pain started creeping in, the muscles were beginning to sore from fatigue. But my Yoga teacher, he looks really scary and this was my first lesson with him, so I had to make my self look good, so I managed 20. Pheww! But I tell you, my first time at it, I didn't even get past 6. Tsk tsk tsk...

Anyways, today I thought my sister sun salutations. It dawned upon me to do so, as I pitied seeing her struggle on the treadmill.

The sun salutation is really an ideal for of exercise because, if done correctly it does not hurt your joints unlike most other vigorous activities.

Have a go at it, and you'll see how beneficial the sun salutation can be!

Oh, according to the website I've linked here, it gives you step-by-step instructions on the sun salutation. You will also notice that at each step you're either inhaling or exhaling. You're basically inhaling at every alternate step.

It would be better to firstly start with normal breathing and to then master the breathing with each step.

Once you have mastered the steps, for a more vigorous workout, you can chose to do an Entire sun salutation in one breath!

Begin with 5-10 sun salutations a day, to be done in less than 15 minutes, then progressively increase the number of salutations by 5 each day, and in no time will you be able to do a 108 in 20 minutes with a breeze. Good luck!

Also, don't worry, just because it's called the sun salutation need not mean it be done in front of the sun, or at particular times, do it at any time, any where, as you wish!

I guess, now that I've blogged about it, I should start too... when my sister gets back. It's only nice that I wait for her rigghttt??

Salut!

End of SAP

As I finished life in University, I was not quite yet ready to work. So unwilling to waste my time, I decided to enroll my self in to an Internship program and at least getting a feel of what was ahead =S.

Lucky for me, I came across the Short Attachment Program (SAP) organized by Alliance Bank.

It was a good eye opening experience for me, although I hated waking up early, getting the train, getting to work. I seriously don't understand why working hours can't be later. But I guess this will never change considering the fact that it's a bank, and people need money and financial information from banks so that they can start their day to day activities. Sigh

The SAP also gave me a chance to meet 8 very different but amazing people.

Jann Lim- It was quite a pleasant surprise to see him there, as we studied in school together and he used to car pool with one of my besties. Jann lim and I ended up spending a lot of time together, like A LOT! Not to forget the fact that we were in the same cubicle doing nothing together! We explored KL during lunch time, walked through Heritage, and found a really yummy Pizza place called Yellow Cab
We managed to get our Host Buddies to take us there for lunch *snickers*. In addition I must say I definitely enjoyed his company, making sense of things,and him perving on my friends ( okay not really but yea..)

Jann at work (00oo00 he's soo gonna kill me for putting this up)

Roy and Yi Ling turned out to be from Nottingham too! Sadly I had never met them there before, strange but true, but what a small world right?!? During this 4 weeks, we got to celebrate Yi Ling's birthday. Roy I found to be such a sweet funny guy actually overcame his fears of Presenting in this 4 weeks, so YAY! for him!

Yi Ting: We were all jealous of her when we found out that she didn't have to pay for her lunches for the past 4 weeks!

Eric a.k.a Alex a.k.a Ipoh Mali, hahaha, this sometimes serious guy was such pleasant company, really loved his insights to things.

Kenneth, this "boyish" fella, had the ability to relate any mundane thing to women, sex, boobs and the likes. *rolls eyes* but damn, his unavailable at the moment!

Shobita, the tiniest in the group, so darn tiny I feel gigantic next to her!

Aiman! Man, this guy would creep up silently into our office, and give us a pleasant surprise!

It was amazing how the bunch of us managed to play Bingo via email! On our last day of the SAP, we opted to spend the rest of the day together. Had dinner at Pavillion, to which we walked, and then went to Jann's house for a game of Monopoly and UNO Stacko. The conversation during dinner, OMG is one I'll never forget! considering the fact that it was Kenneth who started it, it was definitely related to Women, boobs and sex... *Sigh*

Oh, and Bi Bim Bap at Pavillion food court is pretty decent for only Rm 10, I really did enjoy it, or maybe it's just been a long time since I had proper Korean Food, now there's an idea!

Monopoly was awesome! Only because I was winning and they actually conspired against me and ended it before the game even ended to stop me from winning. Hmph!


Our Powerpuff Monopoly Game! It was seriously awesome! Almost as Awesome as Me!!

My winnings and my star representative, I've forgotten her name, well the Red Powerpuff Rocks !

Then we moved on to UNO Stacko, I opted out of this one cos my fingers are just too graceful for it....

but leave it to Kenneth to change this

To this...


Sighhh...

It was really strange that we were a bunch of people who barely knew each other that much, and here we were having such a ball of a time! It was definitely a good ending to a grueling 4 weeks!
Hopefully we will be in touch!

Kaki Blue!

Seriously, they should have more prominent sign boards for KLPAC, I got lost, but found my way again thanks to Vinod, Phewwww.

The play was scheduled for 8 pm, however by the time everybody settled down from the excitement of Kaki Blue's premiere, the play began at 8.30 pm. Just about when I got there as well. ( yes I know, how irresponsible of me!) But it was great to walk into an auditorium that was brimming with people!

The Set

Kaki Blue began with Form % students gushing out of everywhere after completing their final SPM paper, the 3 main characters of the play, Lin, Nee, and Ah Shan excitedly talk about their plans of nothing-ness (oh how I long for that) after SPM.

Nee has been seduced by the idea of running away with her boyfriend Ah Ong (0o0o he's soo handsome) to KL where she will supposedly win Akademi Fantasia or Malaysian Idol and become really famous. Oh and all this while she has been tolerating abuse from her father.

Hey, do remember, you're not allowed to be physically or mentally assaulted by ANYBODY! Not even your father or husband!

Lin's the "got it all planned out" kinda person. Her main aim is to please her dead mother's spirit. However, she doesn't feel as happy as she should be.

Ah Shan with a single mum is not the average guy, confused over his sexuality,he plans to hide away from his neighbours gossips by staying indoors and watching the Astro Mini Series for the next 3 months.

Like all schools, there is the B****h, who goes by the name Saw Bee Chee, this girl, has tormented Nee since their primary school days.

Even though they do not have solid plans of their future, they are tormented by the SMS that informs them that they have been chosen for National Service (NS). In their eyes, being chosen for NS has destroyed all their "plans".

At camp they are met by Major Sabar, played by Tria Aziz, who seriously did such an amaazing performance, that I applauded non stop! Anyways, Major Sabar is a person who goes by the manual.

At camp, all the students are referred to as "wira's" and "Wirawati's" (Heroes and Heroines), however, they are still treated like little school kids. And even though they were asked to mingle with each other (without touchingg of course) they were still segregated based on sex as well as religion.

Kaki Blue also made an attempt in reminding Malaysians about the 5 not 4 major religions in Malaysia, i.e Hinduism, Budhism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism.

The bits that caught my attention were when announcements to NS trainees were made in English, Malay, Tamil, Mandarin and even FRENCH and yet none of them listened until Major Sabar screamed! The jokes were also well written, funny, depicted current happenings as well as very well blended into the play.

The cast was made up by a team of obviously very talented people, their performance was not just convincing but persistent throughout the play. However Lin's high pitch wasn't too appealing for me. Nee's role reminded me of an old school friend in primary school, so it was a little nostalgic for me.

Joel Wong who played Jurulatih Tong had an amazing voice and played an understanding NS trainer. It was quite funny when he got everybody's attention towards the end of the play by blowing his shrill whistle only to announce that he too wants to quit NS and sing!

The play also depicted how NS could also bring out the best in people, with Bee Chee standing up for Nee when she was abused, yet again at NS. Lin was also able to speak out, Shan able to figure out his sexuality, Major Sabar realizing that there is more to these students than just drilling and grilling and they should not be treated in such a manner.

The music director,Nick Davis of Kaki Blue (the handsome guy!0.o) and his band did a delightful job with the selection of music, audiences (me) were kept entertained with the upbeat music from start to end. Nick also played the role of Nee's boyfriend in the beginning of the play till he was seduced by Bee Chee *sigh... men*

Okay, yes this picture doesn't do him justice, but on stage, he was WHOA! okayyyy

Owh, my sincere apologies for the lack of pictures, I wasn't too comfortable with taking pictures during the play as we were instructed against it.

The Audience after the play waiting for the cast to come out.

Owh! I even got a picture with Saw Bee Chee, who goes by Denise Yap in real life. She's actually from the same school as myself! See that's what Sayfol brings out! Talented and amazing people like herself and my self of course!

So people, hope after reading this you'll be more inclined towards watching Kaki Blue, you should because you'll definitely enjoy it as much as I did!

Owh, and a Sincere THANKS to Jann-Lim and Family for offering me the extra ticket. And to that other little boy who couldn't make it.