A leader or a jester

A book on one of the ministers of this country was recently published. I have nothing against it at all, none whatsoever. I even applaud the writer who actually took the time and effort in managing to get the book published. But it got me thinking, why of all people did she choose him?? If you are not a Malaysian reading this, you must be wondering who am I talking about. This book is about the life and achievements of the leader of MIC. That is all I can say. I will not elaborate on who this person is but I am shocked that she actually find him worth writing about.

I’ve seen many a leaders out there, whether be it a minister or a commoner that are much more worthy to be written about. Why do I loathe this guy?? For many reasons. I believe he has his good qualities, I believe that he has done many wonderful things for his own community but almost each and every year, he has some particular reason to increase the toll charges. I wonder how many times will he or whoever it is that cites the reason that they have yet to cover back the $$ spent on building the highways. That’s an old excuse. Come up with something much better will ya? Yes, I do see the highways get “upgraded”, have new layers of tar on them, swept clean of rubbish by the conscientious highway sweepers, the grass and the flowers along the highway, being kept in order. But, do these “purveyors” that supply the workers for all these arduous task hike up the price, hence we bear the brunt of it? If yes, do say so and we’ll understand. But for the past couple of years, there’s always a toll increase thanks to this particular gomen and I’m not that ecstatic about it. I’ve no idea whether it is his call for the increase of the toll but each time he opens his mouth, something comes up.

He also recently commented on the fact that he wants to ban those bigger bikes on the highway? What in the world?! Because of what? Tell me? What did they do to him, I’ve no freaking idea but sometimes it feels like his brain doesn’t really register what he’s trying to say and it all comes out wrong. And we have him for a minister as well. How great is that?

Sometimes I do understand why some of my blogger friends have the wish to leave this country. When I see people like these that we have to call our leaders, they make me want to leave the country too.

Wake up before it's too late!

How many of you have actually taken into consideration your health as a whole? Do you just simply eat what you feel like eating, satisfying those cravings for potato chips or even a greasy burger and wash it down with a light coke (just to make yourself less guilty for bingeing)? Or maybe after the enormous meal that you’ve enjoyed over the weekend do you go to the gym and sweat it out, just to burn the calories or because you really want to or even maybe because you think that since I’ve paid for it, might as well utilise it?

I’m guilty for all of the above from time to time. Today, we got shocking news that a sales officer at one of the branch passed away due to a heart attack and he was only 36 year old. But I guess, it can’t be that surprising since we’ve all seen the email circulated around where this employee that died at the desk without the colleagues knowing it. Also, I happened to receive an email on Great Philosophy of Life from a colleague, talking about how much we slave and toil, all that hard work just so that we can have a better future, or so that our future generation can have a better future. But we always forget to look at the present.

The future is always before our eyes. We forget to live for today, to enjoy what is before us, to experience the elation of friends and people we care about around us. We work so hard and in the end, we lose a lot of things along the way. We neglect our friends and you might wonder how. How many of you get a call from your friends sometimes, asking you out for a drink maybe during the weekday, but you turn them down, citing being too tired after work, or you had to work late? What about your family? How many of you as parents, manage to spend time with your children before they go to bed? You work till 9 or 10, and by the time you get home, your children will be in bed or just about to go to bed. What about your parents or your siblings? Let us take a simple daily life scenario. Do you have time to have proper dinner with them or do you tell them ok I’ll heat up the food once I get back. But when you do get back you heat up the food, maybe watch a little television without saying a word to them and then go to bed due to sheer exhaustion from work. Is this all worth it? Are you seriously happy with all that or you just take it in stride because it’s how the rest do it since generations before us because they drill this into you and me and they tell you that, without any hard work, you won’t get a good life.

All this, it’s like a wake up call for me, one after another. I do not think that it’s coincidences but it’s a message or a caution from God, wanting me to be aware before it’s too late.

That time of the year

It just that time of the year again where I've got to get my teeth checked. I used to dread going to the dentist, it's not the fear of the high pitch sound of the drilling but more of fearing that the dentist is going to announce that he's going to have to do an extraction.

When I was younger my mum made me wear braces and I was known as terminator in school, not because I'm a machine but due to the braces in my teeth. Only God knows why the name came up. I had no problem with all these name callings, probably cos I had a free spirit and I'm not really bothered of what people thought about me. Back to the topic of visiting the dentist, when I had to get my braces done, no one told me that I had to have some of my teeth extracted, and perfectly fine teeth, not those rotten, decaying ones and not those baby teeth. Perfectly cute, ivory looking teeth mind you. I practically had 4 teeth extracted out!! Just to have my braces put in. But luckily that's all the pain that I had to endure. I didn't go through any sort of pulling pain or whatsoever related to braces wearing, that some might tell me over and over again. So, I'm at loss why some feel the pain. Probably different people have different threshold of pain. But definitely having braces that time was a nuisance. Getting vegetables stuck in between your braces is not one pretty sight. Therefore chewing gums are definitely out of the question then. Maybe that's why until now I don't have a penchant for chewing gums or even bubble gums.

So when I went for my scaling and checks I was pleasantly surprised that I had a pretty good experience with the Dr. Not only was he a pleasant and easy to talk to, he was pretty gentle while doing it. So no pain or any discomfort and I came out with sparkling white teeth. Ok, not sparkling but it felt like it was. Hahahah!!! One thing I noted during my visit was while he was doing the scaling, the nurse actually put on headphones for me and instead of listening to the high pitch sound, I was almost lulled to sleep with the music. So, a total remarkable experience, for a dental visit.

A country's loss

A great loss to the country. I think this is the appropriate topic that should be splashed out on all the front papers today. Ok. I mean different papers have different topics to catch one’s attention but as long as the intention’s the same, it’s still fine.

Lim Goh Tong has been the legendary name that has brushed our lips countless of times. Any Malaysian, young or old would have spoken his name, let along knowing who he is. He can be well known among Malaysians with the name Uncle Lim. I believe we all know him that way. And he is definitely one true Malaysian that I truly respect, fully. Ok, it says in the paper he came from China so he’s not an actual Malaysian born fellow but putting that aside, he shows true colours of being a Malaysian. It was stated in the Star papers by his Deputy Chairman, that he conducted his board meetings in a smattering of Bahasa Malaysia even though he wasn’t educated in Malay. That’s a real respect for the people and the country. A salute to him.

It has been said he’s a philanthropist as well. I know many of you would say, what is the big deal being a philanthropist when he’s one of the listed billionaires in the Forbes richest category? Yes, it is no big deal that many famous people out there do charity as well. But I believe that coming from a poor family, it’s much easier for him to understand the poverty stricken life and from hand to mouth lives that people lead out there to make him want to give back what he has been blessed with. How many of you out there can actually say that if you were to win the lottery, will give it to charity first? I bet most would say I would pay my debts, buy my dream car and house first before thinking of actually donating to charity. I’m not saying that I know Uncle Lim that well but I somehow believe that he gives from his heart with the intention to.

He has countless of achievements to speak of and it wouldn’t do him justice for me to speak of it here as I would not know the full story but one thing I do know for sure is that he has been a tremendous influence to the country.

My deepest condolence to his family and relatives and to ourselves as well for his passing is a great loss to us whether we realise it or not.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;...they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Guess this

Ok guys. This blog is going to be a simple one but an interesting picture is seen here. Can you take a wild guess what it is? I took it during my visit over the weekend. Pretty interesting.

P.S. No prizes if you guess correctly. Heheheh!! But just for the fun sake. Enjoy.

Money vs Sympathy

Spanish mosque design for institute. This is the topic that I glanced at in the Star paper this morning. Again it never ceases to amaze me how our Malaysians are spending their money. I’m not objecting to the building of the institute nor am I condoning it but at least have a little compassion towards the other poor people out there. I mean if you have the means of building such a magnificent building why not build something less flashy and expensive and use the remaining money to do charity.



Each morning I open up the papers I’ll see people of Malaysia asking, seeking for medical help, in terms of a lung, or a heart transplant or even $ for operation. Why can’t these money be used to be donated to them rather than spending RM50 million on one institute? I thought we are supposed to be a caring society? Or is that just a saying to make ourselves feel better. I’m happy to see during the tsunami a few years back, most Malaysians actually worked together to help these poor souls whether in Malaysia or even in Indonesia or India that side. So why do we have to wait till a disaster strike only then we show our caring side? Why can’t we do it before anything bad happens?



It’s something to think about. A sad little Friday to see news like these where money is just squandered away and a few pages away you see people asking for help because of sickness.

Weekend

A long weekend has just passed and the bones have got to get cranking but usually to no avail. Let alone cranking it up to get up in the morning for work. It's called lazy bones.

I wonder where did the origins of the term lazy bones came from? Anyone knows about this? But this is definitely the feeling for each human being after a long weekend, especially when many have gone back home for the holidays or outstation. This Raya is the first I had spent staying in KL. No joining the mad rush of the raya jam to go anywhere for a holiday. It's a first and I've enjoyed most of the time lazing away, going for leisurely walks, doing the house chores at my own pace, rather than rushing through it over the weekend. Somehow the urgency did not materialise at all. Of course I took the chance to check out the new comers in town. Which new comers you say? Read on and you'll know what I'm talking about.

I guess most of you guys have somehow visited the spanking new Pavillion or The Gardens that was recently opened in September. I again, decided not to join the mad rush to see what was all the fuss about for these 2 until the Raya weekend. I assumed that most KL folks would have either gone home for the holiday or gone for a little hiatus somewhere so I decided to go take a look at both places.

Golly! The Gardens's really impressive. All branded outlets, lining the mall, squeaky, shiny floors, the smell of fresh paint and glue. It's an eye-opener. For one, the number of new boutiques are staggering. Some I've not heard of (probably cos I don't get to see other parts of the world where these brands reside), but one sad thing was most of the shops were closed since I went on Saturday which was the first day of Raya. This basically means that I get to have another excuse to check out this place again with my fiancee again one of these days. One thing I find odd was the toilet. There were signs of the toilet but all it did was to point you to a series of lifts. At first I thought that I had mis-read the signs wrongly so I went up another floor but it was the same thing. Then managed to tracked down a security guard who explained to us that the toilet's entrance IS actually nearby the lifts just that it's still under construction therefore the only way in was via the side door. No plus points there. Robinsons's housed here at The Gardens and it's real classy, black glass acting as a mirror, so many brands to choose from inside Robinsons alone, not counting the boutiques outside, and their home section, Wow is all I can say. Countless to choose from. Overall, shopping at the Gardens actually made me feel that I was shopping in S'pore instead. The vibe, the crowd, the boutiques all made it feel that way. One word for it all, Impressive!

Pavillion. This one needs a little guidance in terms of getting to the right floor from the car park. We had to try at least 3 buttons before we actually arrived at the exact floor where there were shops. The past few opened up to more car parks but there wasn't any indication for that as well. So no extra points for that. But when I arrived, one thing I noticed was the air-conditioning. One word. COLD! Many of the shops were branded but at least at different levels they sort of had different type of stores to cater for different income range community. The food court there was pretty impressive. Again it reminded me of the Takashimaya food court concept where all the food was located at the lowest GF and there were so many to choose from. This I gotta give them credit. At least we just had to walk one floor and see it all rather than having some restaurants together with other shops as well. Imagine you're hungry enough to eat a horse while walking you suddenly de-toured to another shop just because your friend saw something captivating in that shop. No such chance here at the Pavillion. At least your ultimate aim to find food won't be thwarted by something other than food. This place needs getting used to, as there's many levels for one, as well as different parts to each floor. So if you're in for a shopping spree cum hide n seek with your partner this is a good place to go to.

These 2 places are a rare gem for the KLites for now. So, happy shopping and happy exploring.

** No pix uploaded. Dun ask me why. Ask blogspot on this. Sigh.

Selamat Hari Raya

This is going to be my shortest blog of all. To my other readers out there who celebrate Hari Raya, Selamat Hari Raya in advance and Maaf Zahir Batin.

I'm not too sure whether I'll be coming online during the weekend so I'd like to wish you guys in advance. :)

To the rest, have a great holiday and happy weekend.

Of movies and puking

Have any of you seen this movie yet?? I’ve not seen the previous 2 but got free tickets to watch this movie, sponsored by Volkswagen Malaysia . I’m no big fan of Matt Damon. I mean he can act of course but not a fan of such kind of action movies where one too many times all these villains try their best to kill this guy but he just seem not able to die. Talk about a cat having 9 lives, the main hero of the movie has more than 9 lives.

Overall the movie had a pretty good story line. Simple enough to understand for a person who’s never watched the previous 2 sequels before this, let alone being so tired that I can simply doze off anytime. This shows that it has a pretty good rating in terms of how the whole things goes but when it comes to how the movie was shot, my goodness, it’s a total catastrophe. Not a single time was there for the camera to have a still shot, meaning that even when there wasn’t scenes of fleeing the scene from the villains or nerve-racking driving scenes, the person who was shooting the movie still had a possibility of shaking the camera. Haven’t they heard of a tripod at least?? I mean there were good cars in the scene, from a Toureg to a Golf both from Volkswagen so at least have some sense to shoot the movie properly.

By the time I came out of the movie, I felt worse than a sick pregnant lady (not that I’ve felt those symptoms before) but I’ve never felt like puking for 2 hours straight. So half of the time I was watching the movie through slits of my eyes cos I can’t stand to watch the shaking even though the actions were superb. Sigh. To go through the sheer torture of watching a good movie made into a debacle of a movie just because it was free was not worth the pain and effort.

Would you have gone through all that??

What a weekend

Sunday. Sunday. Sunday. My least favourite day of the week and you’ll definitely know why. To wake up for Sunday morning church is not a chore but to wake up for an early Sunday rally organized by the office is definitely a total waste of my time.

Sundays is about time to rest, to spend time with your loved ones and friends as well. Talk about being up to par with the youngsters who partied their night away on a Saturday nite, gone were those days for me. But I have to take it in stride, waking up in the wee hours of the morning to get ready for a rally. Ok, I’ll admit not wee hours but still, waking up at 7am on a Sunday is torturous.

I’ve had less sleep in my college days, I can still function without sleep for 2 or 3 days in a row, but the caffeine level in my body would be above the limit if there is one for it. I would land myself in jail far more times than I know it. But, ever since I’ve join the modern slavery forces, my fitness level as well as my functioning body and brain has deteriorated tremendously. The question as to why this happens still eludes me. Is it because of the job scope that’s weighing me down or I just don’t get the motivation from it. I won’t say that I’m a fan of exams or assignments at college to have the motivation but it just seems different from the hey days of college. Even with the arduous task of last minute assignments to do, or last minute cramming for exams did not land me in fatigue as I now am constantly in. Probably age has been catching up as well.

So, there goes my weekend. Given to the organisation. Hopefully the bonus will be equally “demanding” as they have been on us.

Another long week ahead. Happy working everyone.

P.S No pix today cos there's some problem with blogger today I think.

What a life

I wonder why when you reach a certain age, you spend more than when you are younger or older.

I've just utilise a quarter of my card limist within 2 days. Firstly was for my kitchen gadgets; hob, hood and oven. The next was a handphone. No this was not a splurge. Fiancee's hp decided to die on him last week and after much cajoling, he went it to the service centre but it could not be "resuscitated". He has yet to bring the hp back so that we can do a "burial". You must think I'm nuts but this was the 1st generation 3G hp that arrived on Malaysian shores and it has served us well for the past 3 years or more.

So back to the topic, spending more at a certain age range. Yes, I do believe that when we were younger, we had no commitments, less worry as well as less money to use but heck we had a pretty enjoyable life during secondary and college days didn't we?? I sure did. But once you reach a certain age, even when your salary doesn't go up the ranking as fast as you want it to, you still can't run away from the normal events in life. Marriage, getting your own pad, having kids or friends having kids, friends getting married, etc. It all comes with the age range.

Once you have passed that, you slowly spend less on these events, then when you reach your 50s or 60s when maybe it's your own kids turn to go through what we went through ourselves. That will be the time to take the $$ out of the FDs, or sell your bonds or unit trusts, etc. Either to help your son on the dowry or childern having grandkids you know the drill. So the whole cycle starts over again.

This 1 month, past few weeks has been really exhausting. So I really wanna apologise in advance for not updating my blog as often as I would like to. I'll admit to being what Zewt mentioned, a modern slave. I'm guilty as charged. Anyway, nowadays life's not getting better even with a change in job. No $, no time for myself or my friends, going broke all for the sake of having a happier, better life. Sometimes I wonder is it worth it??!!

Monday Blues

It’s a cold Monday morning and the feeling of Monday blues is not I would wish for anyone to feel. It’s sheer torture.

Firstly, dragging yourself up on a rainy Monday morning is such and arduous task altogether, adding to that the slow motion of getting prepared for work and getting caught in a jam does not bring tears to my eyes but a sense of gloom on a Monday morning. Thank God I did not turn up late for work.

Even my email seems to be slow in starting up this morning. Another sign of Monday Blues perhaps?? I slaved over the weekend to precipitate the project paper I was supposed to submit for some branch improvement thingy but as usual, Monday will be full or surprises. The other project manager did not show up so no getting on with the rest of the project. If I would have known I would have chosen to enjoy my weekend and not end up looking and feeling like an old, grumpy and haggard witch. Damn! Could have finished it up this morning instead.

So now at 11.30 in the AM, I’m writing the draft for this entry instead. Talk about ironic. Sigh.

I hate Mondays; Monday Blues!