RACONTEUR-ESQUE SCRIBBLINGS

The only way we can describe the case is that one of the birds in the nest, helpless as it is has mysteriously disappeared without any sign of struggle. Chances are, it never got to spread it's wings and fly away like what it's remaining sibling might do in the near future. I am immensely saddened by this. It's like having your one and only sibling being kidnapped or dead. This is from the other bird's point of view. From my point of view it's like losing a niece or nephew (because I once jokingly said my parents looked out for the birds like they were their grandkids) :(

There is a question that no doubt crosses our mind from time to time, sometimes just fleetingly and occasionally, when the mind is allowed to wander while idle in a more serious manner. Why are we here? That was one of the first few things that crossed my mind while reading this particular book - Childhood's End. When I finished the book the first time though, it made me feel a tad bit sad... I can't seem to be able to explain it well, so I shall not try. Now, the book mainly touches the issue of humans and the changes they undergo under the care of the Overlords - who had landed on Earth from a distant sun. It traces the chronology, from the beginning of the invasion (for the lack of a better word) to people's general reaction in the beginning, how their lives are affected after about 50 years and right up till the end when the Overlords take leave because it their time to do so, leaving the last human on Earth behind to witness the destruction (or is it deconstruction?)...

Growing up, I embraced feminism for awhile - not the bra burning type of feminism, but more of the 'why aren't women being treated the same way as men are?' kind. This kind of stemmed from my father's unfair statements of 'It's too dangerous because you're a girl' or 'I'd let you go to (insert name of place) if you were a boy' Nevertheless, as I grew older, I decided to toss my so-called feminism into the bin because it was pointless. Plus I work in an environment filled with men, so feminism is not a very good trait unless I want to get offended every single day. This evening, for some reason (because he had nothing better to do, probably) Joseph decided to hang around where A (one of the other process engineers) and I sit and bug our lives with his conversation. As usual he had an array of complaints about how the company trip this weekend was arranged, to the position of the cutter plotter and a whole lot of other things that I half li...

Well, here is a video of the chicks. There are supposedly two of them, but one of them is catching up on it's beauty sleep. While the other probably thought I was one of the food suppliers and decided to sleep again when it found out otherwise. Poor thing! That horrible sound in the background is err... my voice (in a mock high-pitch tone people use when talking to cute things)

Yesterday was one of those days where my mind jumped from idea to idea like a train on rocket fuel despite my attempts to calm it down by reading a book. Obviously that didn't work, because the book revived thoughts about the world and civilisations and people in general. More ideas jumping around like synapses. Maybe I think too much. In the end, I decided to look up some interesting places on the net and get the maps on how to get there for the much delayed road trip I was supposed to do a few weeks ago. Plus I will also be soon encountering my first ever long distance solo drive to this place called The Lost World of Tambun . Although I did sign up for the convoy based drive, it would be better if I knew how to get there myself. People say it's easy getting there, but I've been known to get lost in my own town, so it's best to be safe. My current mood however protests against going, predicting a boring day filled with water based games (I'm mildly hydrophobi...

Nothing special, really. I took the day off today (planned since last week, no doubt) to have a day to myself to do whatever I wanted, which basically consisted of attempting to watch a movie during the day, cancel an old Internet account, read and probably other things that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. Instead, after spending a bit of the morning reading, I went to sleep at about noon only to be brutally woken up at about 4:30 by a call from a colleague (who was kind enough to apologise for waking me up - how embarrassing !) who needed to know my computer password because one of the trainees wanted to use my PC at work. Although it was a good and long sleep, I was very disoriented for a bit... just goes to prove my theory that I sleep better in the day. At least now I know that if I ever had to work shifts, sleeping would never be a problem ;) It is now about 10:30 pm, and I was just browsing around and decided to check out my (ahem) horoscope on Yahoo! I can't hel...

It must be a sorry state my body is in right now. Even after 3 weeks since the declaration of the attack of the flu bug, I have not recovered. Fully. It is without doubt the sniffles have long seen their day, but the cough remains and as the days go by it seems to get only worse despite the packets of Fisherman's Friends I finished as well as my attempts to take my weekend medicine (the medication is unfortunately too strong to be taken on weekdays - read workdays because I'm left in a state of delirium which can cause nasty accidents involving staircases) And to combat this I should have done what any normal sick person would have done... take a few days off, take medication and lie quietly in bed until they totally recover. But not me. Not 'macho' Terra. She had to go to work. Let the flu fight itself.... like it always does without considering for one single moment that her workplace could be the one with potential hazard. It's swarming with chemical molecule...

The only information they would give was that it is about "an unlikely friendship (that) blossoms between two misfits". Seeing that I had nothing better to do, I sat down to watch the movie they played on TV last night till the point of delaying my shower and dinner till much later (for some reason, I wanted to shower first, then only eat). It's called Dream with the Fishes . With a slight comedic twist, the story is about life and death in general, and about dreams and fantasies we all have while we go through our daily lives. Through the movie, we get to see how one character, Terry, while alive, is intent on dying by suicide, and another, Nick, who has only *three weeks left of his life. They cross paths one night in Terry's attempt at suicide, strike a deal and the rest they say is history. Now, I'm not exactly going to review or summarise the movie. Suffice to say that if you do get the chance, watch it by all means... at least for the excellent dialogue ...

After months of weighing the idea in their grubby hands amidst support and protests, they have finally decided to revert to the usage of Bahasa Malaysia (from now henceforth to be known as BM in this post) in the teaching of science and maths to school students after an experimental period of about 6 years of teaching those subjects in English. Apparently the experiment failed big time. One of the issues highlighted was a difficulty for the students to move effortlessly from basic science and maths in BM to English when they go to varsity which was one of the reasons why English in science and maths was introduced in the first place. That and also a plan for making us more competitive outside Malaysia, especially in English speaking nations. Now, national type school students in Malaysia have been learning science and maths (and a whole lot of other subjects except English) in BM (Although I must admit that there have been strange rumours of English being taught in BM circulating ...

It's beyond control Slipping right through my fingers Could all be lost now?

It was towards the end of March... I was nursing a particularly unexpected headache while holidaying in Sarawak where I was introduced to the wonderful world of Risk. It was the most intriguing board game ever, and although I was attacked left, right and center throughout the game as certain people made it a point to eliminate all my little red troops off the map, I had tonnes of fun. Now for those not in the know, Risk is a game that involves strategy, and some cold, calculated moves. Sympathy and feeling bad for destroying someone's troops may only come back to haunt you someday. Nevertheless, I was hooked and planned to get my own set (let's just forget for a moment that getting 3 or more players to play with me will be a whole challenge in itself!) Anyway, last Saturday saw me, my sister and my cousin having an 'under 30's day out' which consisted of a very late and long lunch which then extended to a drive to a different town as none of us wanted to go home. ...

Otherwise known as "how I stupidly make myself depressed". Monday and I have had a very understanding relationship thus far, in which I ignore the stigma associated with it (by resenting Sunday nights), while Monday leaves me in peace. It has been a successful formula to date, with Monday being a very acceptable day as far as days go. No doubt things move in a whirr on Mondays and I always suddenly realise a million things that I had in conveniently forgotten about. So, when I heard the song "I don't like Mondays" this morning (I first heard it on Saturday evening with my sister and we both laughed when we heard it) I couldn't help but smile at the idea of shooting the whole day down. However, a little keyboard hitting and a little research and reading in my 'procrastination time' led me to this site: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=698. Definitely not something to smile about, though...

People die. It is now a week since the sudden death of Micheal Jackson, the king of pop. I was watching the tribute shows on TV with a mild interest. People were devastated at the sudden loss of a musical icon, they were worried for the fate of his children, they were sad that he will not be making any more new music. What bugged me most was the fact that where were these people when he was accused of being over-friendly with little boys? Where were they when he was accused of endangering his child by dangling him on a balcony in front of thousands of people? Anyway, we shall leave the present day for the moment. My earliest memory of Michael Jackson involved me seeing him in a music video - Thriller to be exact and watching an interesting conversation (friendly argument) between my aunt and *potato uncle, whereby he declared that MJ was a lady and not a man as we all thought he was. My aunt was adamant that he was indeed a man, but I was too young (probably 3 yrs old) to recall...