Music for Numbskulls

Warning: contains strong language.

As a Malaysian, I am utterly and unequivocally infuriated at these ignorant imbeciles. What to they think they’re doing supporting a musical that bashes the LGBT community? I mean come on, how stupid can you be?? And you plan on stuffing these beliefs down the throat of every student in the country?

You bash the LGBTs because you don’t understand them. They ‘go against your beliefs’, you say. You think they’re disgusting and you honestly believe that every LGBT “throws loud parties, takes drugs and has casual sex”? Man, you have gone way past dumb and entered the realm of complete absurdity.

A person’s sexual orientation does not dictate whether or not they’re good people. A homosexual and heterosexual are equally as likely to  “throw loud parties, take drugs and have casual sex”. It’s got nothing to do with sexual orientation and everything to do with your personal morals and principles. 

For the first time in my life, I am going to say that I am appalled and embarrassed at my fellow countrymen. They are staining my beautiful home with their dimwitted nonsense and I want nothing more than to stick every single person involved with this “musical” into a correctional facility. Though I do not hold much hope; some of them are just too far gone.

God bless Malaysia.

p.s: I am also very much annoyed at the fact that they’re using something as beautiful and precious as a musical to spread this disease.

p.p.s: I've had it with LGBTs who poke a stick at straight people who are supportive of them. We don’t support you to show that we’re not homophobic. We do it because we support human rights and we want you to have everything we do. We support the eradication of crippling stigma towards the LGBT community and marriage is just one part of it. So kindly remove that stick from up your behind.

End song.

DLCW: Hero.

I just have to get this out.

Almost every Malaysian was hanging on the edge of their seat yesterday, watching our very own Dato' Lee Chong Wei battle his long-time on-court rival Lin Dan for the Olympic Gold. We all saw him claim the first set with incredible gusto. We saw him fight and keep fighting right to the end. Alas, he lost the next 2 sets and settled for silver.

However, no one can claim that he did not fight till the end. No one can say that he didn't do his best or that he lost his will. LCW fought his way through. It was such a close finish. He made us all very proud. Every Malaysian watching had our hearts broken, not because LCW got silver but because we saw him fall to the ground at the end. He, the only one to win a medal for Malaysia (so far), was upset that it wasn't good enough.

Let me tell you this, it's perfect. He brought his best on that court and he played amazingly. He single-handedly rallied every Malaysian. He speared right through out hearts and found a place among those we call our heroes.

LCW apologised, more than once, to us all for not being able to get the Negaraku played at Wembley. To see him shed tears at the end, it tugged at my heart strings. He fought valiantly and to that I think we all owe him. He won us our first medal, he put us on the map. He is an inspiration to us all.

I gotta say, I just feel like giving him a huge hug and telling him that we all love him so, so much and that we appreciate every bead of sweat he shed (that would be about a litre or two, judging by how many times they had to mop the court during that final match).

I found this video on Facebook. Student from UTAR made this video for Dato' Lee Chong Wei. Their salute to him.

Take that and multiply it by the number of every single proud Malaysian (28 million, I think would be a safe bet). This is for you, DLCW.

I hope he sees it and realises just how proud we are of him.

Mish-Mash of Malaysianism.

Ok, there are a few things I wanted to talk about here but as usual, my poor memory is such a tool. I knew I should have written it down.

First up, I want to talk about being Malaysian. I've been getting a lot of slack lately for not being able to speak Tamil. Yes, I am and Indian who DOES NOT speak Tamil. I grew up in a household that spoke English. On rare occasions, I heard some Tamil conversations, really shorts one. Hence, I can understand a little, but once you go more than 5km per hour, you lose me.

Some people have said that I should be embarrassed for not being able to speak Tamil. Some even laughed at me. Well, you know what, I'm offended. Yes, I'm Indian and yes, I wish I understood the language better. However, I am a Malaysian first and foremost. My great grand parents were from India (I'm guessing, I'm not sure. I have to check that out) but I was born in Malaysia. Being Indian is my heritage. But being Malaysian is me, and it will be my children's heritage.

I'm proud to say that I can read, write and speak BM very well, as I should be able too seeing as I'm a Malaysian. I'm proud of my country. I'm not embarrassed whatsoever when people say, "You can't even speak your mother tongue?" because to me, Malay is my mother tongue. This is where I was born, where I grew up and where I live. This is my origin, and I see nothing wrong with that.

I'm not disowning my Indian heritage. I'm acknowledging that it's part of my history but it's not completely me. I  am a Malaysian, and darn proud of it. So, back off. Please and thank you. :)

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Next up, I cannot wait for my STPM results!! When are they going to release it?? AHHHHHH!!!

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I can't wait for EUROPE! :)

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I'm really happy because I've made a lot of new friends this year, not only at work but all over as well. I've made quite a few friends through the common love we have for Simple Plan. Seriously, they're really nice, normal people who just happen to adore SP as much as I do.

I think it's awesome.

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Ok, this will be longer.

I always talk about living outside the box. Leading a creative life, unhindered by societal norms. It's easier said than done.

There was this window of opportunity for me to do exactly that. I had a chance to do something fun and totally out of my comfort zone. I really wanted to do it, but I let fear get in my way. I think the window of opportunity has shut tight but I might be able to open it up just a crack. Just go for it right??

On the same topic, but not so: Though I'm all for colouring outside the lines, I also happen to be a stickler for rules. I think rules are there for a reason and though sometimes, they are meant to be bent, we should still keep to them.

This might sound completely insane, but I feel that it's entirely possible to lead a creative, fulfilling, let's-colour-outside-the-lines life while still following the rules. Don't you?

ASTRONAUTS LOVE SIMPLE PLAN!

I met Simple Plan last night! It was a surreal experience! All this while, they've been there for me in song, in posters, in their tweets and videos; they were there but so far away that they seemed almost unreal. But last night, I experienced them live. Now I know for sure that THEY ARE REAL!!

I couldn't believe my eyes when I entered the venue for the sound-check party. They were on stage! They played two songs for us; old school stuff. So old school, in fact, that Pierre forgot the lyrics on the second song :)

I was just drinking it all in. After the two songs, the boys had us stand against the railing in one line so that they could see everyone! Everyone got to meet them!! I saw them, talked to them, got their autographs, took pictures with them and I EVEN GOT TO HUG CHUCK!

That was the most awesome night of my life!! After last night, everything else seems so flat! My heart is still pumping from the experience. I wish it could have lasted longer. I want more!

David threw his guitar pick my way about 3 times! I didn't get any but my glasses fell off twice in the rush to grab the pick. At the end of the show, Seb came to our side of the stage and threw his last pick into the crowd. It flew right over my head and Nadiah managed to snag it!

The energy throughout the entire show was electrifying. Seb's dance moves were epic and David was so crazy! Jeff rocked it on the guitar, especially during the Summer Paradise solo. Chuck was sweating barely 5 minutes into the show! And Pierre, everyone was going gaga over him!

We stood right in front, squashed against the railings. We were SO CLOSE! Seb even looked right at me at one point! He pointed at me! (I'm pretty sure he did. It was me he was looking at!) I hope they come back again! I asked Pierre if they were going to come back soon and he said that they would, next week! Haha:) If only that were true!

The boys were so nice! All of them were. Seb was so sweet and polite. He could see how nervous we were so he made sure he signed everything and that we got a picture with him. Jeff was awesome! He moved in the first picture so he asked that we take another one. I mean, who would care that much? Jeff would! Pierre let me take a picture of his tattoo and David was kind of quite but he was flirting a lot with some of the girls. And Chuck, oh Chuck. He was so good to us. He told the security people to make sure we (the fans in the meet and greet) didn't get sent to the back of the line. So they put us right in front. Thanks to Chuck, we got the best seats in the house!

Anyway, here are some pictures:

PIERRE!!!!

OMG! So close to SEBASTIEN!!

CHUCK hugged me!

I could see JEFF's lip ring so clearly! 

That's DAVID!!

Last night wasn't a crazy night just in K.L Live but on Twitter too! Astronauts (Simple Plan fans) all over the world joined forces and managed to get each band member to trend worldwide! It started off with Pierre, then Chuck, followed by David Jeff and Seb. Also, we managed to get "Astronauts Love Simple Plan" and "Simple Plan Saved My Life" trending world wide too! All in all, there were 15 different topics on Simple Plan trending worldwide on Twitter. The power of Simple Plan fans!

In Malaysia, all the band members trended at the same time! AHHH!

I had a blast! I'm so glad I had the chance to see them live and meet them and take pictures with them too. It was a dream come true. Thank You Lord! And Mama and Bro too :)

ASTRONAUTS LOVE SIMPLE PLAN!

unSMART

It's been days, I know. It's not like I don't have the time, because I do. It's just that everytime I get to Blogger, I feel lazy. To be honest I'm feeling quite lazy now too but since I lack stuff to do, I've decided to write.

I GOT MY FISH BACK!!! Finally, after almost two months, I got my precious fish back. I made it with my own two hands (and the abang's hands too) of clay and water. I have yet to name it (or even paint it for that matter), but I still love it. It's a cute little fish, with sharp teeth, funny looking fins and an off center tail. After two months, it's finally home. Now, I just have to paint it:) In due time.

Next? Hmm... I had a lot of things to write about but I can't seem to remember any of it right now. I guess I should have written it all down when it was fresh in my mind. Laziness overcame me and now I have nothing.

Oh, I know! I've been trying to decide what to study after STPM (well, what's new?). Counseling psychology sounds good. It's something that interests me and I think I might really like doing it. But then, there's also journalism (which I don't think I'm very keen on) and of course, this just popped into my mind: house restoration! Now that is interesting. I love old things and I love working with my hands. I think it's a job I would love to do. Problem is, what should I study? What course should I take? Should even study at all? I mean, it's mostly physical work, right? So, on the job training would be better, no? Then, where should I go for that? Oh, so many questions! Where to I even begin answering?? (Oops, another question!)

Oi.

Moving on, I think I should get into gear with school. I've been cruising along, playing Mafia at every free period, reading oh so many books (all of which aren't in my Literature Syllabus) and neglecting my well kept school files. It's not that I don't pay attention in class, I do (except for PA). I just think I should start some off-school-hours studying. Hit the books, as they say. It's now August. Trials are next month and STPM two months after that. Time for me to get worried about my exams (it's seems like that's what everyone is doing and I'm getting weird looks for being so blase about it).

I can't wait till it's all over!

SMART! No, not me. I mean Storm water Management and Road Tunnel (S.M.A.R.T). I've always been so amazed with the ingenuity of the tunnel. The engineering involved, and technique and ideas and putting it all together. It was a massive effort, bringing to life the 9.7km long storm drainage and road tunnel. It's the longest storm water tunnel in South East Asia, you now? And the second longest in Asia.

Basically, there's two levels. The top is for cars and the bottom is for water. There are 3 modes.The first is when the whole tunnel is opened to traffic and the flood water tunnel is not operational (all is bright and sunny in KL!). So, the second mode is when the top level is opened to traffic and the lower level is pumped with flood water (that's how it  works during most storms). The third mode is when the whole tunnel is closed and both levels are used to pump flood water (big, big storms!).

Anyway, I drove through SMART yesterday! It was awesome!

Gotta go now, will be back later!

Matters of the Tummy

So, the holidays are almost upon us. Only 2 weeks, sure, but definitely worth it! The exams have been a little stressful (for others more than me) and I think all of us, teachers included, are in need of a good, long break.

Speaking of the holidays. I've never been this organised before. I put all my plans into my phone planner and I realised that I'm definitely fully utilising this holidays. No moping around at home, constantly whining about boredom. My schedule is filling up fast and I'm stoked! I've got some really great stuff lined up like pottery, window shopping, sunway-ing, probably pool and not to mention the camp.

Moving on, I was talking to my father today and he got me thinking about the whole recess situation here in Malaysia. It's appalling. School starts at 7.30am which means students have their breakfast before that, if they have any at all. Then comes recess at 10.30am (or 11am, depending on the age. The younger half 10.30am-10.50am, the older half 10.50am-11am). That's 20 minutes to gobble down whatever horrid food the canteen offers. After that, it's studying time, right up till 1.50pm or 2.30pm (again, depending on the schools). Now, tell me that's not screwed up?

Sure, the government is sticking to the whole four-hours-between-each-meal thing but is this even healthy? Breakfast at the crack of dawn, morning tea (which is usually heavy) at 11am and lunch much later at 2.30pm or sometimes at 3pm+ when the students get home. Isn't breakfast supposed to be around 8am and lunch at around 1pm? It seems to me we're raising a whole generation of children who are prone to gastric. The whole meal system has been turned upside down.

Something should really be done about this. One person alone cannot affect change. We need a whole school or maybe the teachers union to stand up to the government and say "Enough is enough." We cannot continue to let our children be victims to this plan. Change is needed for the betterment of our children's health. Part of the reason children are obese in this country is because we have to wait a good long while for lunch. On top of that, recess is a pitiful 20 minutes. What kind of balanced meal can we eat in 20 minutes, even if the canteens do offer proper food? Students resort to fried foods like nuggets and junk food like various packaged cakes and cookies laden with sugar because we are pressed for time.

So, where do we go from here?

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Anyways, my friend directed me (indirectly) to this blog. I really enjoyed reading it so here's the link. Enjoy!

Failed Escapade (Malu lah!)

Saturday, oh Saturday! Why for art thou incredibly soporific? Might not I be blessed with adventures, how ever small?

And so, I took it upon myself to explore.

I am proudly Malaysian. However, I have never seen the Tugu Negara. I don't even know where it is (as I've undoubtedly proven to myself today). Therefore, mama and myself decided to take a trip to Lake Gardens to see the Tugu Negara (and the Chocolate Factory/Farm thingy nearby there).

And so we set off in our orange car towards Lake Gardens. It was beautiful! Lake Gardens, I mean. The trees were old and graceful. The sky was blue and happy. On the down side, we never found the monument. We drove three times in and around Lake Gardens but the monument remained elusive. Malu la! A Malaysian, driving around aimless, looking for the National Monument. What a shame.

And so, we decided to head towards the Way of the Sun to get me a new pair of shoes. I tell you, the number of shoes I saw today was enough to put me off shoes for a while. There were strap-py shoes, beaded shoes, boring shoes, old lady shoes, hooker shoes, flats, heels, stilettos, wedges, leather, canvas, pumps and even a combination of one or more. You'd think I would be able to find a pair I liked in that mass. But alas, it was not to be. We walked into 4-5 different shoe stores, saw countless pairs of shoes and I found nothing, NOTHING at all that caught my eye. I am still stuck with my black n green flip flops and heels that are begging for retirement.

Where might I find some shoes that are suited to the taste buds of my foot?

Anyway, mama managed to find something she liked. A beautiful, flowing, black blouse. It suits her. Once again, we've managed to not accomplish what we planned and yet accomplished something anyway, totally unplanned. Something I should get used to.

Worry not, though. I have Googled the map to the Tugu Negara and intend on pursuing it once more. :) Hopefully I'll have some new shoes by then.

On a more emotional note, I feel kinda hopeless. My crush ends up with my friend. Never fails to happen. Whats up with me? Heading nowhere perhaps? My farm house, garden, old VW and a steady job in social service seems ever so solid. My love life, however, is a whole different story. Never to be told beforehand?

Being Completely Malaysian!

Well, it's been a while since my last blog. There's just been so many things going on that I was too lazy to blog. Even now I'm feeling kind of brain-dead but I need to get these thoughts out of my head no matter what it takes so forgive me if this post isn't as normal as it usually is.

Since it's PMR week, we've been moved to different classes to accommodate the comfort of the PMR students. L6E1 was moved to one of the classes in the canteen block which is nearer to the examination hall (apparently, the teachers trust us to keep silent throughout the day. Yea right!). Honestly, I was so excited! Since my fist day in LaSalle, I was intrigued by the staircase found right in the canteen and even more so of the boys walking straight into the canteen from their classes. Finally, I can experience that for myself. I'm sure you'll be wondering why I'm so excited about such a trivial thing. I'm a huge fan of food and the fact that I have to walk through the canteen to get to my class is just awesome! On top of that, we get the smell of food so early in the day that we space out much sooner that we normally would. These past few days have been great! The class is square and two wall are completely covered with windows. There's so much more light and air coming in. I love it there!

Dinesh, Visha and Mina have been really nice too. I'm glad I decided to move to LaSalle. We (Visha, Dinesh and I) had breakfast today. I was late :P Still on food, Dinesh brought Thai spring rolls today (homemade!). It was delicious. We came up with a food plan for ourselves. Three days each week, we'd bring some food from home. We planned out a schedule and tomorrow, it Visha's turn! I wonder what she'll bring?

Anyway, ma and I went to the flea market in Jaya 33 today. Ma was right, I loved it there! They had this beautiful purple knee-length dress. I bought that for Christmas. Then there was this white long tank top, very comfortable to wear. Another thing I bought was this (rejected) Ralph Lauren shirt-blouse. I just wanted it even when I first saw it. Unfortunately for me, it's a tad too big for my petite body so I gave it to ma. She looks awesome in it. All in all, it was a good day out. (No homework either which was like icing on the cake!)

I've been checking out some of the blogs on "Blogs of Note" and I have to say, they're spectacular. I really like the 'Beta Dad'. Original, to say the least. Anyone who hasn't read it yet, should check it out.

Bringing this back to the topic of clothes. I've re-designed some of my old clothes to my current personal style and needless to say, I'm very excited about the sewing part of it. The only problem is, I have yet to get myself a sewing machine. I can always hand sew everything but it'll last longer and look nicer if I do it with a machine. The thing is, sewing machine's aren't cheap. I'd love to get the traditional kind but they're more expensive than the motorised ones. Hopefully I can get my hand on a good second-hand machine. I just need it for some light sewing, nothing heavy duty so I'll manage with a used one. I want it soon! I'm getting a little bored with my clothes so I need to get this machine to jazz everything up a little bit.

Oh! I'm watching the Commonwealth Games right now! Women's Weightlifting. The Malaysian did very well on her first attempt - 85kg. The commentator was telling us about his interview with the Malaysia Weightlifter, Farhana. He asked her about what she likes to do in her free time and she said, "I hang out with my boyfriend." That's so Malaysian! :)