Muse

VG: alex, i got 2 free tickets to go to Muse's concert. do you want to go? i am not going.
Me: huh? wow...nola...dont take ppls things...
VG: its FREE...go!
Me: (checks with other friend..yep she is going..ok so i wont be going alone..) OK la..thanks.

huh who is this Muse? I only know Starlight. so i ask a friend who hangs his hat on his 'updateness'.

so this hopeless friend told me 2 things:

1) muse = rock band
2) download super massive black hole.

so armed with my newfound extreme wealth of muse knowledge, the big evening rolled along and i got dressed. wasnt sure what to wear, and settled on something conservative - rolled up sleeved button up shirt and jeans. (shit, getting old).

this reminded me of those times (not that many unfortunately) when i was in melb, and i'd get a call 'ah-liks, get ready NOW!!!' and then my friend would rock up, and we'd hop in his car and head 
to another friend's place, where the whole bunch would be decking each other out in fancy gear.
this includes the requisite makeup, super hard spikey gelled hair in multi color, leather jackets n
tight black polyester/faux leather pants with studs/loops/metal/chain, etc. the most far out i ever had the balls to go was eyeliner and either a borrowed leather jacket or my glow in the dark raver shirts. we'd listen to loud music to psyche ourselves up.

then we'd drive over, imbibe alcohol, go to some suburb, down some dingy back alley laden with graffiti, into some neatly tucked away in the corner building that looks like some small abandoned warehouse (some still got stuff there like tyres hahaha) and the music b blasting man. a short while later (very short, if u take Absolut neat), with the strong smell of prohibited happy happy substances in the air, we'd be banging along happily and hugging equally intoxicated friendly strangers. ahh...guess 
none of em bands ever made it to the big time.

anyway muse concert was good! [THIS is my concert companion's better account of the night. Mind you she is a bit weird so please forgive her] .the music was ULTRA F#$#$ good! i guess being live, and kudos to stadium negara's (which isnt bad rock concert venue actually) sound system. i expected the fans to be teeny boppers but no, the crowd wasnt. the fact 
i was sitting was a bit restrictive coz the music was so good i jus wanted to hurdle the barriers n rush over to the pits, unveil my smuggled in Absolut (i wish!), whip out my Dunhills, and make happy happy with friendly strangers ... [wistful look].

instead, i couldnt take it near the end n ran up to join a bunch of Mat Rocks wearing Muse T shirts at the above railings and we swayed, smoked, headbanged a bit, and gave each other the thumbs up.

ah...I'm a Muse fan already.

All together again...almost..

For the first time in a very long time, I can't remember when the last time was, I have more
than 1 other sibling here in KL with me simultaneously.

Its a great feeling. Its also weird. We are all grown up now. Anyway sisters being sisters, and me being the (as usual) thorn among the roses, I'm left out but im happy to just tag along and smile
at their animated conversation.

Its also with some sadness I register some signs of auntieness in my eldest sister now that she has had a baby, who is absolutely adorable, I swear, with no hint of bias (proof).

Anyway so we went to the airport to pick up my mum who was arriving from Perth after returning from the youngest sister's graduation. That sister remained in Perth to do her postgrad.

So I happily chaffeured everyone around last night and when we saw my Mum, it was a slightly emotional moment
as it has literally been years since we have been this complete. 

Funny how we'd bicker back then, and how we are like so chum chum now. I tried not to allow them to drink coffee but as usual I was ignored. But I bought em Chicken Fingers from BK. =)

A moment for nostalgia..(thank u Petronas)

And to start off this post, let me please pay homage to some of Petronas' ads. Their ads are great. I love them. Made me reassess my goals in life. Please prepare tissues, and, you will end up suddenly calling home to express your love. You have been warned.



This CNY made me realize some things.

1) My family is all moving further apart geographically which makes it much tougher to all meet up
2) Most of the younger generations are girls, means less people attend CNY gatherings, coz the guys all dont want to get married
3) The older generation who used to provide much of the atmosphere are now older and lazier n just want to laze about after a big dinner
4) What happened to the gambling n going to each other's houses?
5) Why are there no more fireworks, even those we normally let off illegally?
6) How come we don't do liondances anymore? Speaking of which I didnt see a single lion dance this year, and no lorries on the roads.
7) We are adhering to less and less traditions. Only the wear red/pink and giving angpow is strictly followed.
8) No good CNY songs, and no good snacks.



Tradition is dying folks. Rituals are underestimated. This holiday I got to spend a lot of time with my family and it hurt to see everyone growing older. People are not what they used to be.
It made me realize I must treasure and appreciate everyone more, and try to spend more time with them. When I say family I dont mean nuclear family, it includes uncles aunts, grandmum and cousins. As an extended family, we are super close.



And now when I think of my nuclear family, 1 sister married and got posted to China, one works as an airstewardess for SIA and so is never around, and 1 is in Perth. When I was in Melb, I missed the CNY gathering. And now, only me and 1 other sister is back for this year's.



I really miss the old CNY.

I love my mum and I resolve to treat her better.

Cutest Ever

* Addendum - just realized I never change/wash my shorts. Oh well.

It's only natural that everyone thinks babies are cute. Most babies.
And its only natural that the babies of friends tend to be cuter than the babies of strangers.
And that the babies of relatives are cuter than the babies of friends.
And that the babies of close relatives, such as cousins, are even cuter.

Ignore that pudgy forearmed boy in the yellow shorts (its me if you haven't already guessed by now)...focus on the small tiny bundle of Korean
baby lookalike in his arms though...darned cute. The 2 on the ground are my baby cousins...the one in my arms is my cousin's baby. 

So it follows that babies of your immediate family will be even cuter. A point proven surely by the below.

I conned my niece into taking this pic by letting her watch Barney and putting the camera on timer mode. Heh evil sneaky ass uncle. She loves
that ball. "Ball Ball!"

She is .. more than a year old but exactly how old I have no idea. Probably two. Her name is Sze Ern. She is my niece and she is super cute. And I am also super biased. Sometimes cute is cute, not cute is not cute, whether or not they are strangers' babies or relatives babies. But my sister's baby is super duper cute. When she was younger she was even cuter. I've got tonnes of her pics but I won't make you guys see it.

This makes me think, I also want kids. I want 2 boys, and 1 girl, in any order. As long as they are healthy. I used to
think I want the eldest to be a boy coz I'm quite the MCP and I want to feel manly knowing I have a son and I want to force him to play sports with me and go camping with me. But now I realize, I would prefer the eldest to be a girl, because looking at myself and how my sisters disciplined me (manipulative tactics work) and seeing I turned out fine (except that I like to boast but I can't help it, girls arent perrrrfect either) I want my kids to turn out that way too. Girls have a gentler warmer more humane touch and I want my sons to be like that. Girls are more attached to family, more stable, less risk taking, more filial, all the good stuff that I'm not but haha want my kids to be. Don't want them growing up all insensitive coarse brutes with pudgy arms like me.

OK, enough revelations about my sudden paternal instincts that were aroused from hugging my niece. Ok, not quite, 1 last bit. Have you ever tried hugging this soft warm round ball of ... cuteness? And she looks up at you with big trusting eyes? Or when she sees you and runsss to you and throws her arms around ur leg n clutches tightly while calling "Goo! Goo!" (thats how she calls me).

Sweetest feeling in the world, better than any sweet ass sugar laden Chinese tongsui or Indian diabetes inducing dessert. Go get yourself a baby and try it.

- - - -

I think I would make a good dad. I don't REALLY KNOW but I guess I would. Never really knew what having a dad is like..its the most natural feeling to come from a single parent family. He died when I was 5, and I think I only became conscious of being alive and having memories when I was quite a lot older than 5. I was a bit retarded (still am, some might say) hahaha. When people talk about their dads, or father's day, things that seem perfectly natural to them, they seem alien to me. And when people talk about single parent families as some sort of anomaly, it sounds totally the opposite to me. Theres lots of things I would have loved to do with a dad...and I'm gonna jolly well make sure my kids get to try that.

I worry about my sisters. Growing up without that father figure...how will it affect their love lives? What kind of partner would they choose? Would this choice be adversely influenced? Would they go for significantly older guys? Would they crave an unreasonable sense of security? Would they want a guy who can give them constant affectations of love? And I'm worried people might take advantage of them if they can figure this stuff out. 

When I was younger I wanted to build up my size and strength so that I could deter people from bullying them. As people around me continued to grow and I didn't I realized this was a futile dream - I couldn't strike cold fear into the heart of a lizard. So I decided to become rich and powerful so nobody would bully them and if they tried, they'd have to worry about retribution from a rich and powerful me. Then I decided wait! Why wait until they are bullied?

So now I've got a new strategy. Its called prevention better than cure. If I don't like some guy, before he goes steady with the sister, he has to go through me. This is my filtration system. When he isnt around I will constantly get in her ear until she dumps him. Haha unbeknownst to all the idiots out there chasing my sisters, little do they realize that that small pudgy forearmed boy sitting there stoning n reading is the one holding the power key into her heart. Bribe me, I'm cheap.

Well, 1 sister is married. 1 is still young. The one who is approaching her late 20s is the one I am worried for. Everyone needs to find love, someone to love you and worthy enough of ur love in return. She doesnt have a steady bf at the moment. I hope she finds one. Then I can go to another sister's wedding and feel like a VIP, and before long, I'd have another small soft round warm bundle throwing herself at my leg and wrapping her arms around me tightly not letting go and shouting GOO GOO GOO with unbridled innocent childlike enthusiasm fuelled entirely by her love towards her evil scheming uncle.


= = =

OK,ok, here you go. I'm nice.

Well, not to say I've exactly been flooded with fanmail.
But I have received a couple of requests for the X Japan videos and all that...I guess my links on my prev (very emotional) post weren't obvious enough. You could partly blame my IE for that (I had earlier mistakenly attributed the problem to YouTube). 
Now that I have switched back to my other browser (Opera, which is fanfuckingtastic), I can embed videos again! OK. 

So, I've got a couple here...some of which are the same as before. Unfortunately, among the good ones I have on MPEG, these are the ones I can find on YouTube.

If you are a Hide fan, you can't miss it. Part of Hide's tribute video.



The following was the performance by Yoshiki (piano) & Toshi (vocals, albeit in an imperfect voice due to crying perhaps) of Forever Love at Hide's funeral. 




And this one is the actual performance in concert of Forever Love by X Japan. It is self evident from here why X Japan is so well received. Toshi's tortured singing really carries the song, and its obvious from here what he meant when he said he needed to be very sad and emotional in order to sing X Japan's songs.




A photoalbum accompanied by Tears. Written by Yoshiki for his father, he later rededicated it to Hide, and added some lines to the end. This video shows why we love Hide.



Endless Rain. The song is brilliant, but the video is worthy because of Toshi's Chinese-Opera-Man-Pretend-To-Be-Woman looks.




This is the news report in Japan of Hide's funeral, and was also shown over CNN




OK...I promise, no more X Japan self indulgent posts for some time.
Yoshiki.  Hide.

Ba De Ya!!!

= = = = = = = = = = =

Do you remember the 21st night of september?

Love was changing the minds of pretenders

While chasing the clouds away

Our hearts were ringing

In the key that our souls were singing.

As we danced in the night,

Remember how the stars stole the night away

Ba de ya - say do you remember

Ba de ya - dancing in september

Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day

= = = = = = = = = =

Ba De Ya!!! Ooh...this song has to be played LOUD, real LOUD. Earth Wind Fire - September. Can't get it out of my system...you know how you might know a track, and know it well? And then, maybe you are suddenly in a scenario and this track is playing? And because of the extremely fun/emotional/sad/romantic/whatever environment, suddenly the song ceases to be what it used to be for you, and it becomes a whole new something else, carrying with it all the associated emotions? Yea...something like that happened to me over the last couple of days..and now I can't wipe this track off me mind.

Well, in a nutshell, when you are drunk stoned high, driving fast, windows down, with some dear friends beside you, all clutching more drinks and cigarettes, it is 2am, you had a great night, and you're off for more...and then the track comes on and the music's blasting and everyones screaming (some with wrong lyrics) and its been ages since yall did that or felt this .. young..and it rings up memories of a lifestyle of decadence, missed classes, friends, music, alternative clothes (I'm wearing my bandanna/headband again and I know it's KL but I couldnt give a rats ass).

Went back to work today, but couldnt concentrate - kept going BA DE YA!! - , and obtained the boss' blessing to gallivant off. Well, technically, I got things to do, but, since everyones surprised I am back and asking me to go off, I decided to be obedient and do so. I actually don't MIND staying - hells, theres always work to do, and I actually feel GUILTY for not being back at work, and that i SHOULD be - BUT, I won't go back. After going to lunch at Jarrod & Rawlins at D'sara Heights (on a colleague's recommendation), I dropped em off, and came home for a while.

Feel like its a great day for Club Med, just chillin on the beach shirtless with my flowery Bermudas and sipping a Pina Collada, visually appreciating hot members of the opposite gender behind aviator sunnies, maybe wearing a white hat, maybe not.

And now, I'm off! Its a gloriousss day! It's hot and sunny! It feels like a Saturday! I've got the boss' permission to not show up until Monday! Life's great! I'm a gonna throw on my fav army camouflage shorts (or maybe just jeans..the beauty of freedom), green sneakers (ankle length, no anklet socks please, I don't cheat), a comfortable shirt, and hop off to Starbucks, enjoy the aircond, read my latest purchase, Tony Parson's "Stories We Could Tell", order a cool drink, and ... enjoy the day away. This is how life should be lived. And then I can hit the gym, lalala, and its off for dinner.

Fantastic.

And all this while blasting:

Ba de ya - say do you remember

Ba de ya - dancing in september

Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day

- - - - - -

KL: RM800 & and Hi, my name is Tash

[ Listening to... X - Japan: Forever Love ]

I always knew that I would not be working in Malaysia for long given a particular circumstance that I am in. But I thought I had X amount of time here before I had to move away - again. Then, a painful, painful event occurred that removed the urgency and the need to make this decision. However, recently, some events have unfolded completely unexpectedly which are forcing my hand, and I have to make the painful decision to either retain this painful status quo, OR, move - very very soon. But I am reluctant to leave KL so soon, for another land.

Why am I so reluctant to leave? Part of it is the lifestyle I have here. All my friends and family are here. They afford me a certain lifestyle that no matter how much it deviates from what I want, still gives me a great great deal of happiness. If I go to another land, there is no way I can build up such relationships, because we just do not have a sufficiently strong shared history/experiences & time to nurture rships. Theres too many other commitments.

And now, after this weekend, I am reminded with no punches pulled what I will be giving up. P'haps, if I weigh what I am giving it up for, it might be worth it, and I am just being childish. But childish though I might be, I don't care - I like this life.

Take for example last night (Sun night). I was happily doing my stuff at home, when a dear friend who had recently returned from working in S'pore for CNY called me up for a drink. So, he came to my place and out I went into his car, in kampung boy shorts, my Army motif slippers and some T shirt, thinking we are going mamak. As we pulled away from my place, he suddenly told me that our other dear and mutual friend had somehow gotten his hands on some fireworks and was arranging for us all to let it off. So we detoured to Bangsar, and met up with our hero. He opened his car boot and we saw this BIG box in there. We wanted to cut open the box to remove the fireworks which must be stored inside. And our hero said no no, cannot take out wan. The box is sealed - gotta wholesale remove it, plant it on the ground, and light the fuse (2 long strings sticking out the side of the box).

So we thought OK no big deal. So we tried to remove the box from the boot but it was super heavy. It took 3 of us to move the box and even so we couldnt carry it far so we kinda just tossed it over the fence and pulled it to the grass area and waited for our other friends to arrive. Now this playground is where we grew up and spent A SHITLOAD of time playing basketball from 10am to 6pm, back in our high school days. And in the dim yellow lights of the playground, late and quiet at 11pm, it was a nostalgic moment, coming back as grown ups. So we kicked around a fallen coconut and reminisced about old times. 1 of the guys then got very upset because as we were illegally climbing the fence, his expensive (very) shirt that his gf gave him and that he loved v v much got ripped and left a big hole at the back hahaha. Then the crew showed up. We all hid in our hero's car, and the hero lit the fuse. As he was rushing back to the car we heard WHOOOSHH WHOOOOSH WHOOOOSH, the sky turned super bright like some alien invasion, and loud banging sounds and bright vibrant colors rent the still night air. Our hero friend, not particularly athletic, ran like a madman and cleared the 5 feet high fence and the drain like some Olympic hero and raced into the car. Admittedly, the RM800 worth of fireworks, that my friend obtained from the Customs police, was well worth it. It could easily rival any 1 Jan celebrations. Absolutely thrilling.

Then tonight we all went clubbing, and, just like old times, some of us (not me of course, no doubts about it) tried our hands at picking up chicks. Some of us had GUYS approaching us saying that THEIR female friends wanted to get to know us better and so these guys were trying to pull strings. Later we found out that the girls were from Singapore and were down here on hols. So, most of us got lucky...so it was thrilling I guess to share in the whole thing. Add to that the retro songs they were playing, it really felt like high school and college all over again. We were there to celebrate the fact that our friend just graduated from his ACCA today, finally passing everything. He started his ACCA in 1999!!! So its a major cause for a major celebration. We smoked and drank ourselves silly, joked, laughed, sang, danced, and when the club closed, and we headed a fair distance away for some supper, we shouted ourselves hoarse along with the radio, and it was just fucking fantastic. Windows rolled down, fags between fingers, belting out Living on a prayer (Bon Jovi), Tears (X Japan), Endless Rain (X Japan), Hoobastank & even Backstreet Boys and some unknown 80s hits that we miraculously knew the lyrics to etc while speeding and breaking red lights while semi drunk and shouting out windows to random passers by and singing while smiling and looking at our neighbours at traffic lights who responded by staring straight ahead not daring to acknowledge the carload of rowdy drunk noisy music blasting idiots...thats what immature life is all about! Reminded me of the time we got drunk celebrating NY at Bangsar (m.a.n.y. years ago) and were pissing on the main street in front of all the cars [including girls], throwing n smashing beer bottles and even had ppl trying to climb lampposts believing his bed was up there. Hahaha. We felt young and carefree again.

And after dropping off my friends, in the middle of the night, at 4am, I received an SMS and off I went to meet another friend who couldn't sleep and guessed I might be awake (she guessed right) and off we gallivanted again.

Its now 6am, and I don't think I will sleep coz at 6 30am I am fetching mummy to the airport coz she is flying to Perth for my youngest sister's grad.

This is life. This is how I want to spend every single wkend. This is what I will miss when I leave KL. I miss basketball with my team. I miss going for midday drinks at pubs (like today at The Sanctuary, The Curve). I miss fetching friends and friends fetching me. I miss the impromptu and late nights SMS+suppers, I miss going for banana leaf wkend lunches, I miss everything. Youth is wasted on the young, a wise man once said. Elvis said the young ones...shouldn't be afraid to live...coz when tomorrow comes we wont be the young ones anymore...Youth can never be re-obtained no matter what we exchange for it. Once it is gone it is gone. I don't want to live a life of regrets. I want to live a concrete life, with fulfilling memories.

Maybe these overly dramarama emo-ness is caused by this Forever Love song. Gawd, I love this song so bad...after not listening to it for some time...now hearing it again.. I'm more in love with it than ever.

OK, hastalavista baby...laters.

Oshiete ikiru imi o

Oshiete ikiru imi o ... [Translations below]

Is this really the life you want? If you could live the life you wanted, is this it? I made a major momentous life altering decision recently. One of the many I have made and will continue needing to make throughout my life, no doubt. In doing so, I effectively killed a major part of me, a part which I have suppressed for the longest time, and upon reflection, has manifested itself occasionally in ways that I should keep private. Bear in mind though its nothing illegal/perverted!

In saying bye to this major part of me, I decided to dedicate these few days to indulge in as much as I reasonably can to that lifestyle I will be leaving behind by and by. I have to leave behind my university days. But for now, I will re-live those times wherever possible n come my re-entry into civilization n work, I will move with a clearer sense of purpose, where slightly more clarity in my life direction will be obtained.

[ I will try to live with love, with dreams, and forever, with tears. - Yoshiki, Tears, X - Japan ]

Stumbling upon my stash of X Japan memorabilia, I was suddenly struck by a sudden revival of my crazy for X Japan phase in university. Since I am saying goodbye to the dreams I held then, and only hold onto the memories, I shall indulge in the whole sensation, to recapture the feelings. Goodbye dreams...

YouTube seems to be giving problems..can't embed the videos. No problem, check this one out...Forever Love. I promise you won't be disappointed. I remember sitting street side one evening somewhere along Nicholson St. with HK and FL and the sun about to set, as we sipped our soy lattes in silence, dreaming of the endless tomorrows, with the slight drizzle coming down, and FL's portable speakers playing this song as accompaniment to our thoughts...and when it ended how we got up in silence, toasted with our lattes, and swore never to betray ourselves.

And how can we forget Tears, the song that literally moves you to tears...it was written by Yoshiki for his dad (who committed suicide when Yoshiki was just 10) and it totally resonated with me, who lost my dad at 5. It inspired me to grab my guitar, sit down, figure out the chords, and, guitar in hand, cycle down to the park in the night, playing and feeling the cold sting from the wind whipping against the few drops of tears running down my cheeks..please check out the link..I can't post MPEG files here. Its the best video ever, even if you aren't an X Japan fan. You can really FEEL the spirit of being in a band, of being an X fan.

No mention of X Japan is complete without the third of their most famous and commercialized triumvirate of hits..Endless Rain. Ahh...the Sundays spent waking up, with the rain pattering against the window panes, the cold sneaking up on your toes, and waking up to the sound of Endless Rain playing softly on the laptop..somehow the playlist timing is always such. And, humming along to .."madoromi dakishimete..[hold me warmly in your arms] " as I stretch and ponder the gloriously long day stretched ahead of me, full of possibilities. And then I kick off the doona, and hop off the bed as Toshi goes "Endless rain, fall on my heart kokoro no kizu ni (in this wounded soul)".

Toshi, the legendary genius singer, who can go up to 4 octaves. His voice and style of singing infuses X Japan's ballads with a haunting, mesmerising and inspiring quality.

Our beloved Hide...the flamboyant guitar genius..though he was technically sound, his strength was in using simple notes to convey across emotions at the right moment. HIDE! When you took your life, you took more than your own. Hide was the glue who held the band together. Upon his demise in 1998, Yoshiki disbanded the group.

Yoshiki..the genius behind it all. How many times he has inspired me to live my life according to my heart, his words, his music, tears the deepest part of you that you have buried inside, and pulls it right out into the open for a face to face confrontation.

X Japan...the band who touched a generation..you will forever live on in us.

- - - - -

Omae wa motomete irun darou

What do YOU want from life? What lifestyle choice will you make? It is not going to be easy. Accept that there are prices to pay. And when it its time to move on, move on.

- - - - - -

Translations:

Oshiete ikiru imi o = Teach me how to live (Yoshiko, Forever Love, X Japan)

Omae wa motomete irun darou = What do you want (Yoshiki, Orgasm, X Japan)

The perfect b'day gift

If you've never heard of Abyss Creations or Matt McMullen, you might have heard of RealDoll.

If you have, ciao.

If you haven't, pray allow my humble self to enlighten you.

Apparently, every sick minded man (and woman's) prayers are now answered. They finally managed to make a synthetic very life like human. From the triumvirate of a latex silicon PVC combination.

Apparently this doll, is proportioned like a woman, feels like a woman, and has the added (to some, but not me) bonus of being mute deaf dumb and thus is good for nothing else except a good hump. Add to that, this doll's clothes can be put on and taken off, so sickos can now legitimately say they are buying lingerie (or coconut husked grass skirts..watever turns u on baby) for their playmates. Yea...and the female doll, it actually can rip and tear in certain places (read: genitalia) so you gotta handle with care.

Well I don't want to go on anymore. The whole thing is just twisted. See for yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RealDoll

Disturbing thing is, I know people (both sexes) who WOULD invest in this. Can't decide whats more disturbing.

However, if they can make this thing cheap...I can think of a few things that can happen:

1) Less straying/adultery unless no/bad sex was the culprit and catalyst for divorce
2) Maybe if we sell it at mamak stalls and 7 11 where ppl can easily buy it, it might reduce sexual assault n rape cases.
3) Prostitution industry would be affected. We would have WhoreDolls. Yuck. Oh, yuck.

Endless...

Chastity belt = 200 years ago.

OK something to get off my chest.

No, its not my fake tits.

I know I said I would be blogging about CNY superstitions but haha f that for the moment..we can get back to it later...right now I have one very burning issue.

In today's The Star, some woman politician commented that Kelantanese women "were historically gifted with the ability to succeed in business when given the opportunities and equipped with the necessary skills."

Firstly, let me state that I have nothing against Kelantanese women. But ANYBODY male or female can succeed in anything when given the opportunities and equipped with the necessary skills.

This is the kind of damn half arsed remarks made by people we elect into positions which determine the policies which govern n dictate our daily lives. This brings me to another point. That guy I don't even want to state his name, talking about chastity belts on our women?

HELL NO.

Whats the matter with these people? They come up with the stupidest ideas. Stop imposing chastity belts on our women and saying that since they already use leather n whips n watnot in SM they mights well wear chastity belts out. Thats the kind of mentality our politicians have. You. Are. Solving. The. Wrong. Problem!!!

Address the perps! Settle the idiots who commit crimes against women. Don't make our women wear chastity belts. Thats like taking 200 years backwards. A typical example of how this govt is running us BACKwards. Why punish the women, the victims? I am against this for selfish reasons. Mainly, it reduces my chances of getting laid (with consent, of course), and its just aesthetically unappealing to go clubbing and see well dressed ladies with a chastity shaped bulge under her pants/skirt. At least I am honest.

God knows what other stupid policies they do ... including the upcoming US FTA. May God Bless Us.

Superstitions...or something more?

Happy CNY!!!

Wahaha…

We had our reunion dinner a few hours ago.

A few observations.

1) My family (includes extended, such as uncles, aunts and cousins) seems to be observing less and less tradition every year, including this. And I noticed it’s a general trend even among my friends. Some of these include skipping reunion dinner, doing it beforehand, doing reunion lunches, etc.

2) Less and less people are attending these things as the younger generation becomes older. The regulars are the older generation. My female cousins who are married WILL come back, but later, after the actual dinner. My sister, who I miss, also. I attribute this to the fact that the previous generation has more males, and the current, more females. 2 of my 3 sisters are also overseas.

3) Atmospheres at CNY have been undergoing a slow, steady decline the last decade or so. It is too simple to merely blame hectic lifestyles and lazy to travel. I guess the trends of people working overseas, unable to get leave, and just general the fabric of society/family that holds families together are weakening. Ties are less binding. Traditions and rituals are observed less. I blame a lot of this on the Govt. Why can’t you have better roads? Tolls? The jam is just too terribly offputting for the balik kampong folks. For me, its cool coz I’m a born and bred KL-lite. With the banning of firecrackers, 50% of the atmosphere is gone. And where are the lions!?

After the reunion and the obligatory socializing, I decided to go to the temple. Now. This is interesting.

Ok, firstly, I am not particularly religious. I believe rigorously in science, facts and the natural physical laws of cause and effect. I am not given much to faith, though there are (several) moments of exception. However, last year, I did go to the temple to “seek blessings” for a good year ahead. I don’t really know why I do this, or how seeking blessings from a porcelain deity at the temple enables this blessed good year to occur.

A few observations.

1) OK, sorry, I have to start with this. Now, I am Chinese. I like Chinese girls. Where can I find a large congregation of Chinese girls? Ah. Many Chinese girls go temples on CNY. Ok, this really wasn’t my original aim. But since they really did happen to be there, I couldn’t help but look right? So I looked. And I saw, just like last year, a high number of pretty girls. Goodness. People, the best places to find pretty Chinese girls are temples and churches. I know I know, it is terrible to have sinful thoughts and intentions at such holy places. I cant help it. I console myself with that fact that I can’t NOT look. That’s weird. What I CAN do, is, I go, I pray. When there is a pretty girl, I can look, BUT once she is out of normal vision range, I must stop looking. Meaning I cannot go out of my way to continue to look. No head turning, no body turning, definitely NO tailing. And when I am looking, I look only in admiration and appreciation. The way I see it, especially if you are Christian, is that we are all God’s products, God’s creations. Just like beautiful hills and rivers. So, when we see beautiful hills and rivers, God’s creations, we stop to admire and appreciate. So, when we see beautiful girls, God’s creations, we also can stop to admire and appreciate.

2) Last year, some aberration from my normal behavior occurred, and I went to some temples to seek blessings. Now, it so happens that the year turned out pretty well by all accounts. Perhaps a few areas could have been better but hey that’s being greedy. Now, psychologically, what effect does this have on me? I have 2 options. Option A – Believe that offering jossticks and burnt paper to porcelain deities and muttering a few “Bless Me” phrases have absolutely no effect on my life. How can paying RM50, signing my name on a piece of registration “Auspicious Prayers” paper and handing both over to some temple woman miraculously conspire to make my life great, by making the girl I like like me in return, by making my projects at work arrive at stunning successes? I fail to see any link, unless metaphysical. So, I revert to my cynical 1+1=2 self, and forgo this entire temple visit thingie this year and wing it. Option B – Well. Maybe what I did at the temples had an effect. Maybe not. But do I want to risk it? See. This is screwed. Had I done nothing last year, I can now say ok lets try it this year. It cannot go worse. It can only get better. But after doing so last year, and now, not being sure whether it helped or not, greedy me is reluctant to risk it. Dammit. If I don’t do it, if I have a bad year I will be kicking myself. If I do it, then it means every year from now on the stakes become higher as I have more to lose and I even more need to do it.

Hmm. OK. Well. Tomorrow I want to blog about our rituals and beliefs and superstitions. Mine’s pretty simple – cannot wash hair on first day, must wear auspicious colors i.e. red (recently this has been relaxed to allow yellow and pink), no swearing and cussing (this rule was invented for me I swear), no meat until dinnertime, no sweeping the house on the first day. I think that’s about it – until my mother added a couple more new ones which I will mention tomorrow. At any rate I better write this down and keep it in a time capsule somewhere so that in 300 years when some kid questions his parents about the bizarre rituals they are forcefully subjecting upon him, he can point to the source being some silly superstitious lady 300 years ago (my mum), and not some glorified deity who descended from the clouds to issue a decree among the local god fearing water margin population.

EVERYONE…have a great CNY!

I AM BACK!

*The boy plugs in his phone line and starts up the computer...the modem's lights blink...all 3...and just like that he has been replugged into the virtual world, a familar netizen reentering a familar world*

Its been...over 1 long month, since I last came online. Thanks to the great service of our streamyx n Tmnet, i was without internet access for the last month. boy it sure feels great to check emails, revisit old (virtual) haunts, and indulge in frivolous activities.

so much has happened!

- i drove to singapore, spent a few days there, and drove back
- i received a performance rating at work
- i got in a car accident that totalled my car (thankfully im alive)
- i got thrown into a crossroads where whatever decision i make will affect my career/love life
- i rediscovered some great movies and songs.

ok..this is just a warm up to get me rolling again...adios, over and out!