西崎崇子 - 3650 夜

Thursday, April 24, 2008

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…

Monday, April 21, 2008

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.


Sunday, April 20, 2008

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 :-(

Friday, April 18, 2008

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~

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

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~

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

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!!!!!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

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 ~

Friday, April 4, 2008

Glossophobia and its cure!? Toastmasters VS. Old Me


- The Damansara Utama Toastmasters Club in Mid Valley (March 23, 2008) -

Toastmasters is an educational organization that helps members worldwide to improve their public speaking skills. Originated in the US, it has been in operation for more than 50 years (or so according to one of them!!!)


Just 2 weeks before this I attended my very first Toastmasters club as a guest :-) Didn’t join though…I don’t really think I have stage fright issues…ok maybe I DO have a leeeeetle…


Then there I was. In MPH Mid Valley reading some volume by this brainiac Tony Buzan. Then I heard rolls of laughter and some of the staff were talking to some big shot-lookalikes. People were gathering in the center course and I saw my sister, the always-comical Christine—who was making funny eye contacts and waving impatiently at me gesturing that someone has taken my seat :-)—and went over only to find myself sandwiched in between Christine and a 180-lbs. Just my luck…


When the session started (which I mistakenly thought it was an autograph-signing session by some unknown author) there were five speakers. They went on and on and on and on I thought I’d never see the light of day again~ The emcee was probably the liveliest of them all…plus she was cute too (that was why the guys stayed back) Some of them were so good they didn’t strike me as former introverts…


One of the speakers even mentioned something as far as imagining all the audience naked. Gross…


When I was in primary and secondary school I had plenty of practices. I was also in the school’s debate team, and emceed English week for a few times a year (which was really fun I’d say!!!) I wouldn’t say I don’t have stage fright, but if any glossophobics out there who [HAPPEN] to read this, here’s my advice: DON’T imagine everyone naked…for God’s sake!!! But try to imagine they’re all low lives, pond scums and losers, people who want to see you fail so bad so that you’d stoop AS LOW as them…hahaha…yes, that’s WHAT I was thinking when I did my part in secondary school…and it WORKED!!! Looking down on others make me feel superior about myself (!?) My confidence/courage was oozing as I imagined that everyone out there was looking up to me…Haha, haha…