Mom to me: Your Bitch Ain’t Eatin’

Yep. That’s what mom told me. Your bitch ain’t eatin’.

It’s been a rough week. It happened about a week and a half ago, when mom expressed her concerns over Mickie’s lack of appetite. My pet mutt Mickie has always been an overweight poochie, so I reassured that she was gonna be just fine. I overlooked one vital fact though: it didn’t stop there.

A few days later mom called again. This time I was a bit worried. She practically begged me to go back on Thursday night so I could bring poochie to the clinic the next morning (state-run vet clinic, operation hrs? Weekdays from 9am to 4pm…) I told her we could only make it on Friday night and tried our luck on Saturday morning .

Much to my dismay, the clinic wasn’t open that Saturday morning. Mom almost used the 4-letter word to describe those ‘lazy government scumbags’. I didn’t dare to utter a word, she’s right when she thinks she is. No point arguing.

Mickster hadn’t had any solid food for 4 days. We couldn’t do anything to help her. Christy was whispering (out pretty loud though…), “Is it time yet?” and discussed possible feline companion ‘after’ Mickie. We joked about it. I think I even mentioned something about a pair of eagles :-) That certainly lightened up the mood a little…

But then miracle happened. Mom, as usual, prepared her food and she nibbled it. The process was painfully slow, but an improvement nevertheless. We were all overjoyed. But she didn’t eat anything at all after that. Mom was like, “At least she drank a whole lot of water…” That WAS a blessing. Sunday morning, she was eating slices of pancakes off my hand. That same afternoon, she ate some chicken shreds off my palm, and was licking my fingers. I noticed that she didn’t wanna eat off the bowl, I wonder why…

Anyhow, she started nibbling food since Saturday, bits by bits, but still, an improvement. Mom called last night, she’s eating just a tad bit every day, but drinking heck lotta water. That was quite a relief. I just hope that the chubby Mickie we have in pix won’t be a distant memory…

A Mother & Her ‘Very Special’ Child

This is an incident that happened about a year ago, way, way before I started this blog. It wasn’t constantly on my mind, in fact, this is the first time it pops to my head in months. Thinking back, I don’t know what sorta lesson it serves, probably nothing much.

I was in the mall waiting for my sister to pick me up. After picking up some groceries, I headed straight to the pickup/drop-off section of mall, saw a chair full of people, so I just stood still and waited.

Suddenly I felt a pinch on my butt. My heart was pumping fast and having guessed the worst, I turned around and saw a smiley-face grinning, almost nonchalantly. Immediately I snapped out loud, “Hey, what the hell did you just do?” The teenager was still smiling, but my blood pressure was already up a few thousand times. Boiling inside(coupled with the fact that he was still smiling ‘innocently’), I was ready to confront him again, this time, his mother (who was standing nearby) dashed over, apologized and explained that her child was “a special kid”. I remember I reacted by screaming at the top of my lungs, “HE GRABBED ME!!!” She kept on apologizing without making any eye contacts , which was pretty odd to me because SHE was the one apologizing, instead of the boy. Why did his mother have to come to his defense? I thought to myself. I stared back at the teenager, my heart almost sank. He didn’t have any remorse at all. He still didn’t wipe that almost-innocent smirk off his face. I could kill him now, I thought then.

Still seething but nothing much to do, I went over to sit on a vacant spot. Already 10+ people in the nearby crowd witnessed my ‘Mad Day’. If that wasn’t enough, the kid was still smiling. I wasn’t sane enough to think, so I had plenty of time to hatch imaginary murder plots to ‘take care’ of all the perverts in the world. When I was snapped out of it, I took a good look at the kid who grabbed my butt. I noticed something. He was still smiling innocently. Why oh why? I thought to myself. Is he a retard?

OMG, that’s what his mother meant by ‘special’… I didn’t notice she almost choked when she used that word, and I lost my head (& lungs…) the moment he grabbed me. The mother—obviously embarrassed—was just holding the boy’s hand and staring down the floor. I saw the sadness (and helplessness) in her eyes, she was just holding the boy’s hand, waiting for someone to pick them up, and hoping for the day to be over, fast. Meanwhile I was on the other end of the bench, having simmered down a little, but still agitated. I could be forgiving sometimes, with ample reasons provided f’ course…

The boy was with someone around his age, probably a brother. The brother looked frightened and anxious when I confronted the perpetrator. When I told my sister the whole incident, Christy quickly dismissed the fact that the boy might have done this on his own will (because, according to Smarty-pants, ‘he’s not that bright’), and someone else might have been pulling the strings. Someone with brains and someone with remorse and fear when caught. Her bet was on the brother.

Anyhow, all I could only make out of this incident was, indeed, nothing much. Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled, but even the child was ‘special’, he or she, in my opinion, should be taught what’s right and what’s wrong. The mother wasn’t all to blame, she’s probably had a million people shunning her and her son all these years. And I admit I know next-to-nothing about special education, so to give a one-sided argument is pure crap. All in all, I feel for the mother.

The Shoplifter Who Inspired Me :-)

This morning I dragged my sister Christy out to have breakfast (by the time she was done, it was lunch time), and we had ‘lunch’ at a Chinese hawkers center. Before we’re done, one of my sisters, Polly, was already scheming what to do after we’re done. Her plan? To go ‘long kai’ (Chinese for ‘loafing around’), but, as usual, the plan was shot down by Christy almost immediately.

So instead we went to the supermarket to buy some grocery items. When we were there looking for a car park, there was this police vehicle parked right outside the entrance. Cops car? Who cares? We thought. Must be harassing some poor cashier to get his ‘rightful’ FOC cigarettes or so, I thought.

Seconds later, Polly “Oh-My-God”-ed us and we turned around, two cops were escorting a handcuffed male into the car. The shoplifter had a blank look on his face, motioned slowly into the car and they drove off. I spotted a disdained look on my sisters’ faces. But before they left, we managed to catch a glimpse what he’d almost bagged—milk powder for baby.

Poor thing, Polly said. I had this sting in my heart for a while. And then Polly murmured, “It was for his child…” Indeed it was. Then sea of thoughts started to pour in. Poverty in the country…Is it that bad? Is there no end to the regime’s corruption that poor people didn’t benefit from the affirmative action that has been implemented since decades back? Wasn’t the policy supposed to help poor people? (For more on this policy, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_New_Economic_Policy)

Society WILL condemn someone like the chap who stole something from a store, because the society MIGHT NOT have seen what he stole. We’re taught to condemn people like these, attuned to the customs and norms of the society and yet we always forget there’re 2 sides to every story. Had we had witnessed what and why he stole, we’d be more inclined to forgive and forget. Lack of education, unemployment and the rising costs of living (and inflation that comes along with it…) have made poverty seems like something harder to eradicate now than a decade ago during Asian Economic Crisis. Lacking in democracy, fair trade, free market practices and transparency make a nation lag behind its competitors, discourage foreign investment and thus perpetuate poverty. High levels of corruption undermine efforts to make a sustainable impact on poverty (capital not evenly distributed).

I do not know how will the properly-uniformed law enforcers work this out with the shoplifting chap. I’m guessing that the outlet management wanted to press charges, I just do not know how his fate will turn out, but I hope it won’t be his worst. No matter what, I’ll keep him in my prayers tonight.

How Monopoly is ruining Malaysia…

Imagine having no alternatives for the bad service you receive at any state-own post office, government departments (Immigration dept., Civic Center, TNB, etc.), or even—right now, in our case—from the very government that halted the whole nation’s economy since half a century back? In our case, Barisan National, that is.

Had the police force in this country be run by 2 separate entities—or bodies—we wouldn’t have lost so much confidence in the uniformed enforcers every time we got pulled over. A mere “20 Ringgit Boleh Lah!” could easily erase an offender’s name off the list/record he was supposed to be in…

Had the Immigration Department had another aptly-named Doppelgänger ‘Department of Customs & Immigration’ (or something better…), we wouldn’t have to wait in line for another 3 hours due to ‘some technical problem’…

Had the management in the national courier be a tad more efficient, I wouldn’t have had paid the insurance for something that couldn’t be insured. 3 returned parcels a week later (because it couldn’t be covered) and a simple ‘We didn’t get the memo’ (the staff didn’t know parcels can no longer be insured, claimed that they didn’t ‘receive the memo’ from head office based in KLIA) had ruined my reputation. For RM1.50 (US$ 0.45) a parcel, I now have a tainted relationship with 3 very important customers because I didn’t meet my deadlines. For RM 4.50… WOW…

When I approached the manager for possible ‘damage recovery’ (compensation…), he shrugged off any claims that he and his branch was responsible. I further pressed for his superior’s contact details—who is based in KLIA—and he didn’t look too happy. After minutes of hesitation he finally got someone to ‘call me’… the whole fiasco had taken up a full working day of mine :-( The result, the KLIA-based guy was willing to ‘look into it’…

Imagine we have only one shampoo brand to use, or one single oil company that sells what is now the world’s most precious organic compound. A company can always jack up the price of a product when it has the only presence in a market & that people can’t live without it. Do you really think diamonds are synonymous with wealth, riches and social status? DeBeers used to controlled 90% of the world’s diamond production, and f’ course, used that to fill its own insatiable appetite—they marked up the price to a thousand times higher and made the diamonds ‘stones the riches breathe and live’.

Now imagine a world that is run by one single entity. A country, more like. After decades of economy stumble we still carry the false hope that the faces we used to know could change the world & the place we live in. Neighboring countries have already risen from the ashes, and stupid local politicians still dared to compare us to ‘Myanmar’ (“we’re much better than Myanmar…”)—an ill-fated country since decades back—and got booed on stage (“Why compare us to Myanmar? Why not Singapore?”) Ha, some poor souls might not realize it, but stupidity is—at times—inborn.

Are there no alternatives to the already-vast BN ruling? Will there be a future for our country, the ‘Fifth Dragon’ in the 60s and 70s? When have we started to slack off, trail behind Thailand and even Indonesia, only to find ourselves mirroring—and proudly yelling that we’re much better than—Myanmar. What a sad truth. This is the result of, allowing monopoly to take over humanity.

Peace.

Bug's Paradise?!?!

‘Bug’s Paradise’…ahhh….what an aptly-named natural farm, which, according to the organic shop teller, Bugs, no surprising there! Also she said matter-of-factly, “There are bugs in most organic produce, because they’re pesticide- and fertilizer-free, hence the cozy setting for bugsies” Ah, how reassuring…

‘Organic’ pretty much means original, natural, untreated and also wholesome. Consuming organic and fresh produce to ‘eliminate body waste slowly but surely’, and to bring down our acidic compound buildup in our bodies. Organic produce contain natural mineral contents a thousand times higher than those we could find in wet markets and also supermarkets. Being someone who’s on ‘organic diet’ for the last few months, I can say this from the bottom of my heart, it works indeed. I weighed 125 lbs late last year, and with my self-prescribed Au Natural diet I’ve shed an amazing 15 lbs ~~

Now back to my original intention of writing this in the very beginning. Well I bought this pack of fresh lettuce from Bug’s Paradise (think it’s an organic farm of some sort in Cameron Highland…), and voila!, there was, not surprisingly, an earthworm attached to it. Or some kinda slimey species of unknown origins. I was freaked out at first, but that sloth-like creature motioned so slow I was running outta patience, and decided to chop it into half and drown it inside the sewer… From what I’ve heard slimey earthworms or anything alike will be able to survive even after they’re cut into two…gross, like alien of some sort. But it never came back up…well, neither of ‘them’ did…

The Asian Shepherd Dog (ASD)

The inter-bred Asian Shepherd Dog (or ASD) is believed to be originated from Southeast Asia. Bearing remarkably similar physical characteristics of that of the German Shepherd dog, the ASD is believed to be one of the direct descendents of the German Shepherd dog. While presence of other breeds may vary, the name ‘Asian Shepherd’ itself was derived from its noteworthy resemblance to the German Shepherd family.

Though bearing remarkable resemblance with the German Shepherd breed, the ASD’s fur however—unlike the GSD’s—is a single coat. The ASD is shy and can sometimes be slothful, but has amazing agility when all fired up. A typical ASD spends approximately 20-22 hours a day sleeping or resting. Disinterested in almost everything, an ASD is very independent and is safe to be left at home alone for no longer than half a day the most, with food and drink provided. Because of their even-tempered nature, the ASD doesn’t feel threatened when placed along with other smaller animals like the domesticated felines or when faced with fellow canines of the same sex, so this makes them excellent companions to not only human, but also other pets too.

Cat's Nuptials - A Kittie's Tale

Cathy is an old friend of mine. Married on June 7, she’s the first of many of my childhood friends who walks down the aisle this soon. She’s 23 by the way.

Beautiful Christian wedding, wish I’d catch my break before 30. Teehee…

Cat has been through so much. She went through tornadoes in her home with a family falling apart, and being the only odd half-sibling among 9 other otherwise close-knit family members. Her mother is the second wife of a chauvinistic Chinese immigrant (who still spoke some heavy Chinese accent only understood by his children until his very last breath), and what she went through for her only flesh and blood was beyond words. Cat misbehaved a lot when she was in her teen years, but drastically changed when she converted to Christianity—a fact her mother loved but was somewhat unacceptable by the rest of her half-siblings. They love her, but not her mother. What happened to Cat all her life prior to her and her mother moving out of this place made the rest of our family issues paled in comparison ~

Just look at her. How beautiful she is. May God bless her in this matrimony of hers. After so much ups and downs in her life, she truly deserves it. Cat, just so you know, God loves you and so do we.

Ice Age 3????????????????????????

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My favorite animation is back, this time, with an inaptly-named Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (???) Just when I was weeping the other day watching Ice Age 2 (thinking that they might not ‘cross over’ to the ‘boat’…) I wondered if they ever came up with a third installment, what storyline was left…(c’mon, The Meltdown spells pretty much The End to me) :-( Ice Age 2, the 3^RD BEST animated movie there is since Justin Timberlake single-handedly ruined Shrek The Third.

I was in the public bus this morning, then I saw the ever-optimistic & always-comical Scrat on the bus’ interactive TV. Scrat oh Scrat, my favorite prehistoric, saber-toothed, acorn-obsessed rodent is back…this time, again, looking for…what else? His acorn. I always wondered which genius created this character…

The teaser trailer lasted about 2 -3 minutes. End of the trailer, Scrat landed on ‘something’ after yet another series of attempts to get his acorn, and it was revealed subsequently that he landed on a T-rex (not sure about the name, sorry they all look the same…), and Rexster roared at him…

Anyway, canNOT wait to see this one!!! Just take a look at what the producers are cooking up this time. Dawn of the Dinos? Could they have possibly survived on (or under, as the teaser trailer suggests) the ice sheets? Now that’s something I’d like to see…

36 Hours of Freedom :-)

How does that feel like? 1 12/ day of complete freedom?

F'course it feels good. According to one of (my) favorite and reliable sources, 'Freedom' is...

"(the idea of being free) is a very broad concept that has been given numerous different interpretations by different philosophies and schools of thought. The protection of interpersonal freedom can be the object of a social and political investigation, while the metaphysical foundation of inner freedom is a philosophical and psychological question. Both forms of freedom come together in each individual as the internal and external values mesh together in a dynamic compromise and power struggle; the society fighting for power in defining the values of individuals and the individual fighting for societal acceptance and respect in establishing one's own values in it.

Freedom as the absence of restraint means unwilling to subjugate, lacking submission, or without forceful inequality. The achievement of this form of freedom depends upon a combination of the resistance of the individual (or group) and one's (their) environment; if one is in jail or even limited by a lack of resources, this person is free within their power and environment, but not free to defy reality. Natural laws restrict this form of freedom; for instance, no one is free to fly (though we may or may not be free to attempt to do so). Isaiah Berlin appears to call this kind of freedom "negative freedom" - an absence of obstacles put in the way of my action (especially by other people). He distinguishes this from "positive freedom", which refers to one's power to make choices leading to action."

But to me, freedom means no Christine. No Christine. Yes, the quiet/tranquil/serene 36 hrs without that loud/noisy and sometimes-delusional sister of mine. Another sister of mine, Pauline, checked out early as well, since her darling is in town today...

My sister's on her working trip to the east coast (Kelantan, Terengganu). These hours of freedom are rare gems, baby!!! Usually at this time of the day she'd be roaring at the top of her lungs at the smallest possible things (???) or seeking solace in front of the mirror for hours (esp. since she did a new 'do a few days back) admiring whatever that's (left???) there... :-)

Hmmm...less than a day to go...wonder when will her next assignment be? Is that why Pauline always pray that Chris gets an overseas posting??? Ouch~

Incapacitated + Liquid Diet for 3 Days = Happiness & Dropped 2 lbs…and counting…

After a few hours of excruciating pain I finally decided to pack loads’a stuff & go back home. Hometown, that is. My parents’ place where I grew up, had my sweet childhood and where my dog is at. It’s a good thing too, since I didn’t have to get my butt up and cook (mom’d do ALL that~~) & listen to that mildly sociopathic Christine whine, brag, boast, and scream just about anything that comes by.

When I reached home mom was already visualizing my would-be clinic etiquettes. Oh boy, maybe u should stay in bed for a few days, she said sympathetically (???) I could still talk with limited speech ability, plus my gum was slightly swollen, and I was taking antibiotics. So I guess I didn’t appreciate it when she treated me like a baby~

The second day…Boy oh boy, mom was probably right. My swollen right cheek was like the face of a roughed-up Sumo wrestler. I have pix of that but I wouldn’t put them up for a million yrs for Pete’s sake!!! Mom shrieked and dad was also surprised (not many things surprise him…) then I asked Christine whether this was normal, her hesitant Yeses cast some clouds of doubts but I decided to wait for another day…

The 3^rd day…Thank God the swell slowly soothed. I had liquid diet these few days and was dying for something solid, preferably something savory, something rich & aromatic, something like…French toasts & coffee. But mom said no coffee :-( My liquid diet consisted much of juice, powdery organic drinks and porridge…God I miss my homemade salad so darn much…

The 4^th day…Ok my swollen cheek was much better but I still looked like someone who just got creamed by some high school bully…2 word, NOT GOOD. But I’m glad that I’ve shed some lbs while I was still ‘incapacitated’ and recuperating at home. 2 lbs…and counting…haha…hAhA…HAHAHA :-) Guess I’ll have to make do when mom decides to boil porridge again~

Removal of my wisdom tooth & the horror that follows

I had a dental appointment on Monday (May 5) supposedly to remove 2 of my wisdom teeth. This is my first time to have my tooth extracted so naturally I didn’t feel quite in place. Yes, my very first toothie…at the age of 23 ½…

Removal of the wisdom teeth on our upper set of gum is considered normal extraction, the ones below is considered surgery, but the one below was giving me problems so I guess I’d be incapacitated for a few days :-(

When my name was called I felt a sting inside me, and numbness to a certain extent. I lied on the recliner (???) and an assistant gave me enough anesthetics so I couldn’t feel a thing in the next bone-crushing hour…

So I didn’t feel a thing the next hour. But the pressure and bone-cracking (my toothie…) sounds made me wanted to scream but I couldn’t :-( The dentist pulled and kneaded my facial muscles like she was making dough…Thank you Lord for inventing anesthetics…

When it was done I told them not to extract another one. I had planned to have both teeth on my right sets removed…but heck no!!! I’d pass out~

And then, voila! There it was, the little rascal (or so my mom calls it) came out and was right in front of me. I almost couldn’t believe what a tooth-in-the-flesh could bring about such world misery. I suffered a good full week of gum ache because of It. Well, one of the speculations about King Tut’s mysterious death was because of his wisdom tooth …

----- But that’s nothing compared to what I’d have to go through the next 4 days -----

The story is on my next post, of course… Meanwhile, u can check out pix of my toothie…teehee…still very ‘bloody’…

Ridiculous menu pricing…

DucKing Restaurant along Jln Persatuan (opposite Section 17 PJ) in a newly-built business square called Jaya One. My hands are pictured holding up the menu, a sign that incongruously reads: PRICE FOR THIS MENU, RM 1,500 +++ (US$ 450) I was like, WTF???????????? C’mon, there must be some sorta explanation for this??? Maybe there’s just a market out there I never knew existed…

Car smashed into fencing of a government building (near Taman Jaya LRT Station, PJ, Malaysia)

A Proton Wira ran over the fencing of a government building in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. No sign of anything, it looked like an abandoned car when I took the pictures—it was really odd, considering it was midday when I found this ‘picturesque’ site… only a handful of passers-by…

The Kuala Lumpur Olympics Torch Relay (April 21, 2008)

I reached KLCC around 1pm today. Just for the Olympics torch relay. The Chinese Olympics Committee people arrived from Bangkok to KL late Saturday night, bearing the historical torch with them. It was said that the flame of the Olympics torch has never been put out. I find that hard to believe…

The 10-mile route (16km) started from Dataran Merdeka at 2:30pm. Reached at 6pm. I don’t know what on earth would take them so long. Rain started pouring in at 4pm and sea of people started to gather under sheltered covers, but splashes of rain didn’t deter thousand of Chinese students and nationals screaming “中国加油！奥运加油！北京加油！”…

Tens of thousands of spectators and onlookers gathered at the majestic KLCC park under sun and ultimately, rain just to catch a glimpse of the torch and the bearers. Luckily for some, they did. I’m one of the thousands of unlucky ones :-(

Snapped hundreds of pictures and some videos. Here are some of the pix I took. Will try to upload videos to Youtube~~ Also, found out later a Japanese family-of-3 and a monk were among the few who got arrested…When in KLCC, there were people thinking out aloud why there were no pro-Tibet protests…I wondered the same thing but am so glad there were no complications.

Finally, speech from the vice chairman of the Chinese Olympics committee (I think…) I really wanted to take pictures with some of the big shots but the security was beefed up and areas were barricaded. At around 7:00pm I sandwiched through sea of crowds and headed straight to the LRT station, too much Co2 almost suffocated me… (or according to CSI, a fancy term call asphyxiation)

Here’s an article from Cable News Network… (or according to some of the Chinese students, Certified Nonsense Natter) :

Chinese students cheer Malaysian torch relay

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (CNN) -- Hundreds of flag-waving Chinese students gathered at the starting and ending points of the Olympic torch relay in Kuala Lumpur Monday, far outnumbering the handful of people who carried pro-Tibet signs.

Heavy security was in place to protect the 80 runners carrying the Olympic torch along a 10-mile (16 km) route through the Malaysian capital, ending at the Petronas Twin Towers.

About 500 Chinese students attended the relay, carrying pro-China signs and heckling the few people taking a pro-Tibet stand.

The Chinese students wore identical shirts with the slogan "One Dream, One Nation," and many of them had Chinese flags painted on their faces, according to witnesses.

An Olympics organizer said the Chinese Embassy arranged for the students to be there. Several of the students told CNN that the Chinese government provided their transportation to the event and gave them the flags and shirts.

Witnesses said the Chinese students overwhelmed a woman wearing a "Free Tibet" shirt and holding a pro-Tibet sign, hitting her with small Chinese flags before she was carried away unhurt by a photographer.

"As soon as spectators saw what she was doing, they immediately mobbed her, hitting her with flags," said Brad Kesler, an American tourist who was there to watch the start of the relay.

Kesler said the woman was holding the sign and not yelling.

At least two other people carrying pro-Tibet signs were carried away by police. It was not clear if they were detained because of a disruption or if they were removed for their own safety.

About 1,500 people attended the relay's start in Independence Square, according to witness estimates. Few of them appeared to be local residents -- a member of the Malaysian Olympics council explained it was a work day.

Malaysian actress Marina Mahathir, one of the 80 torchbearers, said she was "very excited and very proud to be carrying the torch." She said she did not expect any of the violence that disrupted the relay in several other cities.

Earlier torch relay stops in London, England; Paris, France; and San Francisco, California attracted tens of thousands of demonstrators. Some protesters in those cities tried to disrupt the relay, and police made dozens of arrests.

The flame will arrive in Jakarta, Indonesia late Monday for a torch relay there on Tuesday.

A dash of Color :-)

Pictures snapped after a huge downpour back home… And what do they say about rainbows and sunshine? The 7-shade layered arch is a sign of renewal of some sort or the beginning of a new journey? Or in my case, damn rain disrupted my satellite television signal for hours? :-(

On the other hand, I still enjoyed the colorful sight. I kinda wish there was Aurora in a place like mine. The bow is nowhere close but it’s the closest we get here in a tropical region… Now Aurora Borealis, that W-I-L-L be a phenomenal occurrence…

The car that was too close to the call…

An Avanza parked right in front f my neighbor’s steep concrete walkway. The Toyota MPV was inches away from running over the pavement and smashing straight into their windows. Mom almost had a crippling panic attack and I was already expecting some action (plus I took my camera :-) Too bad for me and a relief for my mom, the car took off before I could videotape any disaster-in-making :-(

PARADISE ON EARTH: Road to Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

Though I don’t travel a lot, and I certainly don’t mean to brag, but the road back to my hometown and my hometown itself (Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia) is one sweet ride. Untapped vast rainforest, breath-taking varieties of flora & fauna (we’ve encountered a few!!!!!), and the hardworking Orang Asli tribes (aborigines), not to mention the out-of-this-world’s cloudscaping. ~The almost-infinite bamboo plantation adds a little oriental flavor to the sight, too! ~

*PS* The 1st pic is a shot of the grand KLCC tower & Kuala Lumpur tower from far, probably 15-20 miles away. Awesome, ain't it?

The TREASURE that arrived

EBay is a great place to hunt for cheap and ‘semi-authentic’ goods. Semi-authentic, you ask? Well, it was a pair plastic earrings and an authentic gem pendant. So it’s half-half…

The pair of earrings was quite a rip-off. The so-called Amber-clad earrings arrived in plastic…as plastic… :-(

The crystal pendant was such a great bargain, only US$ 1.99 for the asking price and I was the only bidder. A stone like that would’ve cost around RM 60-80 (US$ 25-30) in Malaysia. Or worse, RM 100-150 in some swanky gem outlet…

I still remember my very first item sold December last year. It was a set-of-6 audiotapes by Pope John Paul. Buyer’s an American. I promised an extra token from Ikea coz he was my first customer. The Floridian left an excellent remark…

Anyway, kudos to eBay, it made buying/selling stuff from/ to international customers so much easier than it was before :-) They charge way too much for the listings though…that’s the only drawback everytime I think of selling something online~

Do UFOs contribute to Global Warming?

When I woke up this morning, I could smell nothing but my bad breath. It’s not even considered ‘morning breath’, it’s more a mixture of rotten eggs and decomposed veggies. When I brushed my teeth I swept through the pocket of my wisdom tooth, it smelled like…well…the closest I could describe would be just like the mucus coming out of my throat once in a while :-( Believe me, you’d think a skunk smell better than mucus coming out of ur throat…

Then I was in the bus. It was a sea of UFOs. Body odor (I think the underarm areas), smelly feet (called ‘Hong Kong feet’ in the Chinese communities), B*A*D breath, constant perspiration…God this place smelled worse than my dog’s Mickie’s breath…

Killer B.O. strikes at noon every day. Today it was 10 in the morning. I don’t have the habit of using deodorants and I don’t shave often. And according to Wikipedia, sweat itself doesn’t release odor. It’s the bacteria that are breeding inside chase all the boyfriend-potentials away…

Then I talked to one of my supervisors. Lovely lady. Friendly too. Only thing she smokes. And one heck of a heavy smoker she is…when she opened her mouth I wondered how many guys she actually went out for a second date…She’s one of the many of my supervisors and her superior who smoke. I sometimes wonder why people, especially ladies, smoke. I guess stress is a huge problem, and cigarettes & alcohol became synonymous with emancipating from one’s problem… Then again, they’re also tantamount to the increasing numbers of cancers, organ dysfunctions and ultimately, tragedies. I hate to see my father waste away…

Back to UFOs. According to Wikipedia, body odor is ‘associated with the hair, feet, groin, anus, skin in general, underarms, genitals, pubic hair and mouth’. God you'd think that covers EVERYTHING~ You know how our furry four-legged friends be introduced to strangers? Or even you yourself when that cute little thing saw you the very first time you picked it up at a pet shop? Or in my case, roadside? They first smell your groin, then when you start pooch-smooching they smell your breath until their doggie breath become so unbearable (to us).

The Canis lupus familiaris have developed a smell sense far greater than all 6 billion of us put together, especially the Bloodhound breed. Now imagine this, how would a Bloodhound feel in a cramped public bus? No pun intended, but that, my friend, would be his very last breath.

Now back to my original question. Do UFOs contribute to global warming? My body emits sweat, bad breath, killer b.o. underarms, foul smell around the groin area (don’t deny it girls!!!), and ‘Hong Kong feet’. Are the 6 billion of us, our organic bodies, biologically responsible for the increase in the greenhouse gas emissions? Or maybe, the increase in our body temperature, slowly but surely destroying Mother Earth?

So much for my piece on B.O… until then, UFO: Unknown Foul Odor. So long and good night~

A rendezvous with Kiyosaki , Buzan & de Bono

I came across (more like ‘stumbled upon’…) some books in MPH book store, written by renowned authors like Robert Kiyosaki, Tony Buzan and Edward de Bono. Didn’t even have the time to speed-read everything, so I just flipped through the pages I find interesting.

Heard of these authors before, sure I did. The lecturers back in my college days tirelessly introduced a ‘mind-mapping’ learning method by this guy called Tony Buzan, plus it was a huge help then, so f’course I remember this ‘dude’. And Kiyosaki, on the other hand, wrote this piece called Rich Dad Poor Dad, and co-wrote a book with status-conscious womanizer Donald ‘You’re Fired’ Trump. And What’s-His-Hair fired James Sun… :-( God I love James, he’s one the smartest I’ve seen so far…

Not sure about de Bono, but God did everyone say he’s a genius! His piece on some 6-hat or 7-hat theory did grab my interest, but it only lasted a few minutes before I realized I needed to read some of his earlier piece in order to fully comprehend what he was trying to say…I remember how he boasted some of the Fortune 500 companies are putting his colorful hats theory into practice~ kinda reminds me of how sometimes The Donald boasts that his hair IS real… ouch… He fired James … %$#!#@<#*

There’s another book by this unknown (or so to me…Gosh I really *NEED* to read more…) Jeffrey Gitomer called Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude. With all those cutesy layouts and big, colorful words and some satirical cartoon strips I was almost convinced that the word No is a big No-No. My God this Gitomer guy is one all-fired-up go-getter!!! Though I’m not sure if he’s a motivational speaker or a multi-level marketer… I’m sure either way, he’ll do fine.

JAMES! JAMES!! JAMES!!! JAMES!!!! JAMES!!!!!

The Malaysia Career & Training Fair (MCTF) in Mid Valley Exhibition Center (April 5, 2008)

MCTF is an annual career fair organized by Jobstreet. Sea of people turned out today and I managed to sandwich through the crowd and voila! I saw my sister, Pauline the Meanie. Meanie was working for the organizers.

Man was there a sea of job seekers!!! I bet Meanie managed to scoop some exclusives herself… So anyway, like other job seekers, I submitted my résumés to several potential employers. Major corporations like British American Tobacco, Sime Darby, Intel, Sony, Hilton, etc., were all out for the brain-hunt event (yes, B-R-A-I-N…) this year :-) Also present was the Ministry of Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs representing major retailers like Tesco and Carrefour ~