You are first Roman before anything else

Many of the laws in Malaysia are very much underpinned by the idea of race. That is no secret. That’s the way how things have always been. It’s something that most of us have come to accept. Back in school, when we had to fill up administrative forms, we had to fill up categories of race and religion. We tick the boxes without questioning why we did so – it’s as natural as ticking the box indicating your gender. Coming to Australia, I realise that Australia along with most countries do not do that. In fact, it is discriminatory to categorise citizens based on race and religion.

The embedded concept of race is very much part of our colonisation history. When the British ruled Malaya (the old name of Malaysia), they imported the Chinese people to work in the tin mines and the Indians to work in the rubber plantations. The Malays had to work in the paddy fields to feed the nation. Tin mining was big business back then. Of course, the Malays wanted in but licences were not given out to Malays as they were needed to stick to working in the paddy fields. So it was from then that Malaya was categorised by race.


When the British left Malaya and Malaya gained independence, Malays were left at the bottom of the poverty line. Paddy sector did not provide much money. As we all know, special rights were then given to the Malays to minimise the economic disparity between the races.

Imagine if the nation was not segregated by race from the beginning. Imagine the concept of race never embedded our laws. What a different nation Malaysia would be today.

Side-note: In one of my law classes in first year of uni, we had a discussion on why we were categorised by our gender. Some argued that there are no two genders but a spectrum of genders such as fully male, dominant male/recessive female, half male/half female, recessive male/dominant female, fully female. To me, that was absolutely absurd: You are male because you have a penis and female because you have a vagina. Full stop. Your anatomy tells you what gender you are. Maybe I’m a little naïve but I think there are more important issues to devote your energy to. Hm, I guess if I were a transvestite that would be an important issue to me.


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Okay here are some random pictures because a certain someone (hint hint: cheryl =P) might soon complain that my blog is getting boring.

This is what I want do after my assignment



A self-portrait after my make-up day out. I think I should go for a make-up course. Professionally done make-up looks so much better.



Much better without flash



My dear Ann graduated on Sat. A combination of beauty and brains. Whoever said you gotta be ugly to be smart.



Ann with her gorgeous sisters plus cousin.



Here is what i miss doing - by that I mean driving rather than posing.



Jus, Tim, Cheryl and I went to watch a play based on the book 'The importance of being earnest'. It was produced by our friend, Eugene. It was so professionally done. The amazing part is that everyone involved are volunteers and some are not even from an acting background. Two thumbs up for that.



I heart my point and shoot camera. It takes good shots.



I miss Cheryl. She is now back in Malaysia from her 3 month stay in Hong Kong. I told Cheryl that I feel closer to her now although technically, it really doesnt make a difference whether she is in HK or Malaysia. Its the same time zone.




We always forget to take pictures when we go out. We only remember when we are in the car, driving to a destination. Hence the multiple car shots.



Here's why I miss her. Who else would take such silly shots with me.

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly
Nor stands in the path of sinners
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful
But his delight is in the law of the Lord
And in His law he meditates day and night
He shall be ike a tree
Planted by the rivers of water
THat brings forth its fruit in its season
Whose leaf also shall not wither
And whatever he does shall prosper

Mt buller Aug 2007

THe eager beavers started their journey at 4.30 am. I slept for only 30 mins that night but the adreline rush got me out of bed at 4 am. We were all pretty excited.

Our journey was not without glitches. In fact, it was off to a rough start. Somewhere near the Yarra Valley, we made a wrong turn and had to U-turn back onto the right path. So Jus made a u-turn onto the grass and guess what happened? Our car got bogged - big time.



5.30 am saw us on our knees digging mud out behind the wheels, using the jack hammer to lift up the car and running around looking for pieces of wood to stick behind the wheels. It was a pretty funny sight.



Guess what did we used as pieces of wood?



Finally, Jus called RACV.



Phew. We resumed our journey to Mt Buller and we finally arrived at 11 am. It was my longest journey ever to Mt Buller.

Happy me!



Ern's first chairlift ride.



Our crew (minus Jus and I)



Jus and I stopped by this tiny cafe at the bottom of Lt Buller Spur for some hot jam donuts plus dim sims. The donuts were absolutely delicious. The dims sims were really yuck but anything hot at that moment was heaven.



The little cafe we dined at. Notice that sign circled in red? Jus, who is a pretty good skier, managed to crash into that sign after eating a couple of donuts. The cafe owner looked at him and said cheekily, "had too many jam donuts have you?"



David, Jiah and Jus on the chairlift





After a snowball fight



The picturesque scenery



David posing




Here are some videos. David is an awesome skier. He is the best skier i know. He has been skiing since he was 2~!



Jiah, Jus and I played this game. I lost. The penalty was that they could throw snowballs at me.



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Instead of becoming harmonious healers of the world we have become individual worried warriors, fighting to stay alive as long as possible in an increasingly uncivilized society.

Paul Pearsall, The Pleasure Prescription

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Nonsensical ramblings on life

I'm starting to despise the word 'if' because it breeds ill-contentment and thoughts of 'the grass is greener on the other side'. Cheryl mentioned earlier that its one of my most used quotes. Not good at all. It boils down to the choices I make. The path i choose to carve is my own doing - no one else is to blame. Its high time to stop playing the blame game and to swallow the bitter pill without complains. Choices - we make them everyday - should i lie in bed for another half hour or stop procrastination to should i choose this career path or this one. I dont quite like the stage of life I am in. Its challenging. There are constant questions that I'm constantly searching answers to. I know challenges stretches us but sometimes, I do want a break from it all. I think im beginning to realise the importance of every single choice we make - that's scary. I'm breaking out of my nestled shell. I'm beginning to question and critique everything. In a way, its making me cynical. I'm fully conscience of its effects on me. It produces either good or bad results - another choice i need to make. I regret certain decisions I made. I can either choose to wallow in self-pity or learn from it. I'm learning to not blame my early misfortunes - because point a finger doesn't change anything. I'm learning to stand on my two feet. I'm learning to swallow my pride and humble myself. I'm learning to bite my tongue. I'm learning that I am still so fragile - I can crumble like a child-made sandcastle by the sea. I'm learning that I have so much more to learn. I'm learning to find hope again. I'm learning that there's something to learn from everybody. I'm learning that friendships with certain people are unhealthy and certain activities are temptations to sin. Im learning to say no. I'm learning to seek my validation from the right source. I'm learning to write and to express. I'm learning that I have so much more to learn.

Face the book and not the screen

Is facebook overrated?

At any one time in a law class, there is at least one person using facebook. Is this facebook that addictive? Perhaps I'm not really into it yet as I have just learnt how to update my status and added an aquarium today. Hooray for me. It took me one week to figure out how to put up a profile picture (cheryl had to teach me) I havent figured out how to send gifts etc. Facebook confuses me. haha.

Anyway, im kinda glad that im not that IT savvy or else Ill be more addicted to the net than i already am.

Below is an article from The Age

Facebook labelled a $5b waste of time
Andrew West
August 20, 2007 - 9:58AM

Employees are more likely to be whiling away the hours on the social networking site Facebook, a report says.

Richard Cullen of SurfControl, an internet filtering company, estimates the site may be costing Australian businesses $5 billion a year. "Our analysis shows that Facebook is the new, and costly, time-waster," he said.

The report calculates that if an employee spends an hour each day on Facebook, it costs the company more than $6200 a year. There are about 800,000 workplaces in Australia.

"There are Facebook groups dedicated to slacking off at work," Dr Cullen said.

"Some of them are specific to employees of a single company."

Facebook - the name is lifted from the term used in American universities for student directories that list names and photographs - has exploded as an online recreation in the past six months. Australians had taken up the trend with a frenzy, said Dr Cullen, and the country now ranked fifth in the world, behind the US, Canada, Britain and Norway.

On July 29, 195,000 people had registered for Facebook's Australian network. Ten days later the figure had jumped to 224,000.

One anonymous enthusiast, quoted in the SurfControl study, said: "Of course everyone checks Facebook at work, duh! I don't have neither internet nor a TV at home because I like doing more useful things with my time when I'm off work."

Another user was even more candid. "I work full time as a tax accountant," she said. "For the past two weeks I'd say I have averaged about 15 minutes of work per day."

The site has even replaced internal messaging systems and emails, themselves legendary guzzlers of work time, for communicating within offices.

Some employers were restricting employees' internet use or blocking the sites, Dr Cullen said. But others are establishing protocols for using social websites.

One fear is that Facebook users can make company systems vulnerable to hackers.

"It's only a matter of time before a security loophole is discovered and exploited." Dr Cullen said.

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Btw, last weekend was a-w-e-s-o-m-e. Snow trip update soon.

Off to the snow

In 12 hours, Ill be doing this =)



Because we are leaving for the snow at an ungodly hour (4.30 am), I've decided to sleep in my thermals so that i can just jump out of bed and into the car.


Heh.

Her story

She fiddled with her jacket and tugged at her right sleeve using left thumb and index finger. She did small circling motions on the sleeve unconsciously. Her eyes were looking glassily at the moving scenery – it was a blur of trees, residential houses and streetlights. She rolled her eyes to the clock. 10 pm. They have been driving for over half an hour. Another 15 minutes to home.

Jen always liked the sound of the highway underneath the rolling wheels. It gave her a sense of comfort and security – the sound was always constant aside from the occasional porthole or uneven bump.

“Take a left turn after 2 km,” the robotic GPS system dictated. She normally despised the GPS because the tiny machine seemed to take away the little control that humans had. Besides, she didn’t like the robotic voice that pronounced certain street names in a funny way. It was slightly Canadian yet it had that slight twang to it. However, tonight she welcomed anything that would break the uncomfortable silence in the car.

“It’s a quick drive isn’t it? Using this route is a good idea. Did you enjoy the party?” Sam asked as he cleared his throat.

“Yeah, it’s okay. Though, the music was a little too loud,” she replied. She appreciated the fact that he initiated casual talk to clear the heaviness in the air. However, she wasn’t in a mood for small chat. She hasn’t been for a while.

“But the food was great wasn’t it? I especially liked the soup with truffle oil and escargot with butter and garlic sauce”

“It’s alright,” she replied.

“Jen, what is your problem? I try initiating small chats, accompanied you to your friend’s party, bought you that dress you wanted and even complimented you on the dress but you still give me the cold shoulder. At least, pretend that you are interested in what I have to say. It makes me feel insignificant. I don’t understand you” Sam snapped in an agitated tone.

Jen replied by turning away. She peered out the window again. She didn’t expect Sam to understand because she couldn’t understand herself either. She couldn’t even bother mustering the effort to conjure up a smile. What more, make small chat? But Sam should be sympathetic right? After all, he should realise that she was going through a rough time. Even though she hasn’t exactly told him that she was feeling the way she feels, her actions and facial expressions should be enough to signal her feelings, isn’t it?

She knew that it wasn’t fair on him. But, it wasn’t fair on her either.

It was probably one or two months ago when felt that she started losing the plot. It was like carrying a bag of rice with a hole ripped at the side. It started with a small hole with one grain pouring out at a time. Not long after, the hole ripped and grains of rice poured out like an overflowing river. She started losing hope, one grain at a time. Now, it just seems impossible to pick up every single grain of hope again.

She doesn’t really know how she spiralled into this place. She doesn’t really want to know. Not today anyway. Rationality has no room in her head for now. Right now, all she wanted was to throw herself a self-pity party.

“You know, your acts are ruining our relationship. You better shape yourself up or I will not be able to handle this any longer” Sam said as he put the gear brake on and turned off the ignition. They have arrived home.

She despised him for saying that because it shot arrows at the bull’s eye. Yet, she didn’t want to believe it was true. She didn’t want to believe that she was the one that was ruining the relationship. She held back her tears and climbed out of the car seat. It was bedtime for now. Perhaps tomorrow would be a better day.

To be continued. It's fictional

It's my day

"Hi"

I looked up to see who it was. My heart sank a little when i saw who the person was. It wasn't because I didn't like the person. I think he is genuinely nice. We just didn't have too much to say to each other. Situations always get too awkward too quickly.

We exchanged the usual formalities of "how is studies, how is uni and how are you?" I replied with the typical asuperficial answers, "I'm doing well. Uni is okay." When we ran out of the usual topics, he casually asked me when my birthday was. I told him, 'sept 3rd' and asked him when his birthday was. He told me '2 weeks ago' Naturally, i asked him how did the day go.

He replied, 'my birthday was a bad day. Usually, a person receives a lot of affection and attention on your birthday. Affection and attention was something i never received in my life." He said this in a slightly sad tone yet he seemed to have accepted the situation he was in.

I didn't quite know what to say. I'm not much of a liar when it comes to things like this. I nodded my head and looked away. I can't pretend to be emphathatic because I've not been in his position before.

After a few more minutes of casual talk, he said "sorry to have taken up your time. You should get back to your lunch. It's getting cold". He seemed apologetic for taking up a few minutes of my time.

I told him that its not a problem and was glad to have chatted with him.

He took his bag and scurried off.

I breathed a sigh of guilt and relief. Relief because I didnt have to think up of more conversations. Guilt because I wish I could be more of a friend.

Lunch, political ads.

Just had lunch with James Foo at Nasi Lemak House.

Never order a plate of nasi lemak kelantan (with seafood) plus an extra fried chicken drumstick plus a barley drink.

James followed me on my greedy adventure.

I think we are both regretting now. Ouch...

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Check this out

Back in the 60s and 70s, political jingle ads were the in thing.



Now such jingle ads are things of the past. Check this ad out. Obama and his people had nothing to do with it, mind you. Someone paid this actress to act as this fanatic obama fan. She calls herself the 'Obama girl'. The newest craze on Youtube.