RACONTEUR-ESQUE SCRIBBLINGS

We celebrate 51 years of independence today. 50 years ago on this very day, our Father of Independence, Tunku Abdul Rahman proclaimed the words Merdeka! (Independence) and we have been celebrating the day each year with enthusiasm ever since. However, this post is not about the history of our independence (because it's too heavy and I need to do some studying to get the facts right) but instead it's about the things that make Malaysians, well Malaysians as observed from my point of view :) 1. The excessive usage of the suffix 'lah' When you speak to Malaysians, be prepared to hear 'lah' at the end of every possible sentence. "it's far away, lah..."they will say. I'm not exactly sure how this suffix got into our sentences but it surely has made it's presence felt in spoken language be it Malay, English, Tamil or Mandarin. 2. Food The most amazing thing about being in Malaysia is the wonderful array of food you have in front of you than...

Wiki answers says that a human uses 10% of their brains in a lifetime. Now, I can't say for sure (because I can't really think, and I'm sleepy as well as in need of coffee), but I've heard in other places where people only use 3% or less and oh, whatever! Anyway, today, I feel as though I might have used up all the 10% allocated in about 6 hours, and believe me, the way I'm feeling now is even worse than the time when I had 27 chapters to study in less than 24 hours! It was one of the most exhausting processes in the world (today, and not the day with 27 chapters) The worst part is that I will have to go through the whole process once again tomorrow and I'm dreading it. And somewhere at the back, my left kidney is protesting against the local drought.

I bumped into PT around 11 this morning and she rattled on about how she plans to take half day off today as she fears being stuck in a massive traffic jam in case anything happens in the PP by elections today. Although PP is in a state that is a few hours away by car, and I can brush her off as being paranoid (she is, really ;p ), it can't be denied that this by-election in PP is going to be one hell of a memorable one regardless if ends on a positive note or a negative one. (However, we never will know if it's positive or negative until we look back on this day in a year's time or so) Forget the GEs held in March, this one here in PP may be the deciding factor, the proof that people do really want some change, and the proof that people are willing to discard all allegations of buggery, swearing and past history from 10 years ago among other things. For the EC and perhaps neighbouring countries, it may just be another by-election, the kind that is held to replace the o...

Note: I originally wrote this to be posted at one of the blogs where I'm a guest blogger , and I thought that it would be nice to put it up here as well since it deals with opinions. It may be a strange analogy, but I feel that blogging is similar to gardening in the sense that they both kind of grow when nurtured. And when it comes to gardening, if neglected weeds will grow, and for blogging, when neglected, spam will collect or someone might take over your url. I've seen it happen before. Anyway, analogies aside, I've been spending some time thinking about the blog and how it has changed over time and how it has changed me. When I first started on a blog back in April 2005 (it was on a different platform in a networking site) I only had a very vague idea about what a blog was. At that time, I had quite a lot of stories to tell but no one who would listen. So I used to sit down and write all the funny and tragic (in our eyes) incidents that happened to my friends and...

I just realised with horror that both my previous posts were exceptionally long. I must have been carried away by my new found enthusiasm. Another thing I noticed is that I'm only 3 posts away from surpassing the number of posts on this blog last year, so as a way to keep up the momentum, and the small promise I made to myself earlier this year to blog more, as well as to reach more than 12 posts this month (my highest no of posts was in May with a staggering 12 posts and I don't see why I should not attempt to beat that), I have decided to do one of the memes that I was tagged with some time ago. This one's from Anita as well. 1) What is the most important thing in your life? I think the freedom of making choices 2) What is the last thing that you bought with your own money? A Yamaha C40 I think... and loads of TP in a moment of madness 3) Where do you wish to get married? Somewhere quiet. 4) How old do you think you will be permanently owned by your love?...

You never know how much you're capable of doing until you're chucked in the middle of nowhere with nothing to depend on other than your gumption and your team mates. Our journey into the jungle started easy enough with breakfast first and another journey by bus to a camp by the name Kem Bina Semangat (can't think of a proper translation right now) in a small town called Kuala Kubu Baru (KKB). There we lodged our other bags in an empty dormitory, took our respective heavy camping bags by the handles and trudged on to the assembly point with nervous anticipation. Our first task started at about 11 am after a short briefing. Not much information was given (because the journey is supposedly a secret of some sort!) except for the target time we needed to achieve. Putting on brave faces, we marched along the path with the following thoughts - 23 in, 23 must come out. From dry land we were suddenly face to face with a ferocious river that reached chest level (for someone of 5...

I don't know how many muscles we exactly have, but I can safely say that every single muscle in my body aches as I'm typing this out. Anyway, pain aside (which I hope will disappear in a day or two), here's a rundown on my so-called torture camp. I woke up Thursday morning with a deep sinking feeling. Due to the late hours spent working in the previous days, I hadn't had the time to pack nor prepare myself mentally for what I was about to face. Nevertheless, I took half day off that day, went back, got packed and drove back to work in the evening to board the bus that was to take us to our destination which was a golf club amidst green trees and fresh mountain air in a place known as Templer's Park. The pathway we used to get to the seminar hall from our apartments. I thought the arch made by the trees were cool Top: The view outside the apartment balcony, Bottom: The hall in our apartment for the 2 days The classroom session began at almost 9pm that night a...