Archive for March, 2008

30
Mar

Indian Barber Shop

By Adrian 3 Comments
Categories: about me and life

When I was a kid, my dad used to bring me to an indian barber shop for haircut. The spinning light outside the shop, the standard chair, the white wall, the basic setup, the blades, etc, it was all so familiar after spending years at the barber shop with my dad.

Then, one day, I took the opportunity to follow my mom to her hair saloon. The reason was that I had been going to the barber shop for years and it was always the same freaking hair style. You tell them you want to style it differently, like how you want to look like John Trovolta (just an example) in Saturday Night Fever or Grease, viola! Still the same old shit.

Another reason (very valid reason, I should add) was the fact that the hair saloon that my mom went to were filled with young saloon girls. Now, call it hormone or just young, I prefer to have all those young pretty hot chicks touching me my hair, like washing it, trimming it, and blow dry it. After the first time, I hardly wanted to follow my dad to the indian barber shop anymore.

Anyway, when I grew older only I found out that my dad didn’t really want to go to the Indian barber shop as well. Sometimes he would go to a hair saloon near his work place to get his hair washed and trimmed.

Okay, back to topic….

After I went to the States to further my studies, I refused to go to any saloon or barber shop, and I kept my hair long. After years of avoiding those saloons and barber shops, I managed to keep my hair waist-length. Yup, it was a feat that not a lot of guys can beat. But before I came back, I decided to cut my hair short.

And I have been keeping my hair short. But I always go to hair saloon instead of those barber shops.

Now, years had gone by, and those Indian barber shops were closing down and gave way to hair saloon. You can say that people are more picky and they want standards, professional personal grooming and all that, but we cannot deny that it is not easy to find an Indian barber shop nowadays.

Until yesterday. When I was at Kota Damansara, I saw an Indian barber shop, and only RM10 per hair cut! Wooohooo!

I was contemplating to go near and find out more, but from far away I could see that the setup is still the same as 20 odd years ago. Then I saw a brand new BMW 525i stopped near me, and a middle age guy came outLike Phua Chu Kang says, “Don’t play play ah.”

Anyway, I didn’t get my haircut there, but I do plan on getting my haircut at that India barber shop (Oi! Only RM10 per haircut OK???) before weekend so that if anything goes wrong, at least I still have the weekend to salvage my hair and do some damage control.

I believe that it will be good to visit that shop, because those were the kind of place I used to grow up. Right now, a sense of security and familiarity is good for me.

28
Mar

Brand New Honda Accord

By Adrian 3 Comments
Categories: Uncategorized

Ever since the time I saw the brand new Honda Accord, I had fallen in love again with Honda.

Don’t be mistaken. I had have a long relationship with Hondas. My first ever car was a 1992 Honda Civic Hatchback, and I had loved the Honda design, the motto, the handling, and especially the sweet VTEC engine.

Honda Accord 3

You can say that I have the racing boy blood in me. I do admit that when I was much younger, I used to drive recklessly fast, zig-zagging through traffic, passing and squeezing my way whenever there was someone blocking my way. I even tried squeezing in-between 2 cars on a 2 lane highway, and successfully overtook that two cars, and most importantly, preventing the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 (or commonly known as Evo8) from chasing me.

Honda Accord 1

Anyway, I am getting older (not sure about the wiser part), so nowadays my taste are leaning towards sedan. Don’t get me wrong, when I see the sports cars my blood will circulate faster and I still get excited. But for my own ride, I prefer something more luxury and comfortable with plenty of handling and power on tap. That’ts why Toyota is out of question, at least for me.

Honda Accord 2

According to some inside source, the Honda Accord will be officially launched in April / May period in Malaysia, and the first car will be delivered in June. Why the delay?


Apparently the higher management are still deciding on the accessories and pricing of the new Honda Accord. There might be a small chance that we will get the SatNav (or commonly called Satelite Navigation, or GPS) and the price is still slightly (very slightly) lower than the biggest competitor (if you don’t know which carmaker or model, ask).

The biggest competitor has captured a big share in the market for this segment of cars, so Honda Malaysia will do their best to recapture the lost market.

Honda Accord Interior 1

So this is definitely a good news for all of us. For me, my wish list is for the same money, I can get the following:

(1) Satelite Navigation,
(2) High Intensity Discharge Light (or known as HID),
(3) Keyless Entry

Honda Accord Interior 2

I hope Honda Malaysia will hear my voice and give us all that for the same money that can buy the competitor’s car. If you happen to work in Honda, forward the URL to the management or something. If you know someone high-up in the hierarchy ranking in Honda Malaysia, forward them the URL as well.

So why am I writing about the brand new Honda Accord?

Honda Accord Interior 3

Well, hopefully early next year I will be driving one. That is my planning, my wish, and my dream. Hopefully I will be able to achieve it, and once I do, I will keep you guys posted!

Wish me luck!

Disclaimer:
All the pictures above are from Honda USA website.

27
Mar

The City Maze

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: about me, observation and rants and raves

Honestly, I have been staying in Kuala Lumpur / Petaling Jaya vicinity for years, but I can say it loud and clear that I am not familiar with Cheras. I do have a few friends staying in Cheras, but I don’t usually go there for meet. The time when I went to Cheras the most was when I was with my very-short-time-ex-girlfriend, but that was only limited to her housing area.

Lately I had to go to Cheras very often, and there was this one time that I had to deliver something at night, and I had the very bad experience.

I called him on the phone, “Yo! I’m in Cheras now. So how do I go to your place?”

“Just wait for me at the Petronas station. I will lead you, okay?”

“Okay.”

So I waited for about 30 minutes, and he finally came. He took the lead, and I followed him in my car. He zig-zag across the many roads, and we finally reached the place. We chit-chat for a while, and after dropping the stuff, I drove off, wanted to go back to Petaling Jaya to meet my friends for drinking session.

Now, here is the problem. I was lost!

Only then I knew why it took him 30 minutes to go to the Petronas station to meet up with me because it was such a big housing area that it is impossible to reach there in less than 30 minutes. Amazing, isn’t it?

I tried to look up the signboards, and it wasn’t helpful at all. In one signboard, it listed no less than 12 housing estates. I was like, “What the…” and some is even better. It just stated “To the housing areas” because there were simply too many housing estates in one area, and many of them are within the housing estates.

So I turned, and turned, and thinking to myself, that it looked as if I had been there before, or maybe not. Because at night, all the houses looked the same, and there wasn’t too much of a landmark to speak of. So I turned and turned, and finally I saw one signboard that says “Kuala Lumpur”.

Wooohoo!

I was so delighted, and I almost screamed in joy after being stuck in the maze for more than an hour.

Now, I am not trying to insult the people staying in Cheras, because I would understand that people living in Cheras would say Petaling Jaya is a mess. But it is really a freaking maze and it is one big ass housing estate! I mean, how could anyone not getting lost in Cheras? So if even someone is giving me a house in Cheras, I certainly won’t want to move there. I would quickly sell off the house and use the money to purchase a house in Damansara area.

A few friends whom are staying in Cheras are encouraging me to move to Cheras. Unfortunately, I am used to staying in Petaling Jaya, especially Damansara area, so I won’t be interested to start off to that new area and getting lost on daily basis. Of course, those who are used to staying in Cheras will love that place and not moving to other places.

But one good thing that I noticed about this city maze; there are plenty of Petronas station around these housing areas, so you don’t have to worry that you will run out of petrol and being lost in the big maze.

So next time if you go to Cheras (only applicable to those who are not staying in Cheras), good luck in finding your way out without a guide. So please, be prepared to bring the extra cash just in case you need to refill your petrol.

24
Mar

The Trip To The City State

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: heart break and work

Over the weekend, I went to Singapore for business trip. Nothing fancy, just a one day trip (went in the morning and came back in the evening) and I was taking the coach.

When the coach was about to leave the station, my mind was racing about the discussion that I was about to have that afternoon, and I was running scenes on how things would go wrong so that I could prepare some answers for whatever questions that might come up during the discussion. I was also digging into my bag to ensure that I brought the supporting documents and whatever that is needed to be done.

All was well, so I finally relaxed, and tried to take a nap. I haven’t been sleeping much lately. On average, I slept for 2 hours maximum for the past few days, and I really needed the rest. I closed my eyes, my mind drifted to a land far far away, and I was sound asleep soon. I didn’t dream. I haven’t had a dream for months because most of the dreams and hopes were shattered into million pieces and at the end, all I got were disappointments. I had enough of that, so for months I had refused to dream, or even acknowledge that I had one.

Then, out of sudden, I woke up. I was dizzy, and I thought we had reached the custom check point or something, but the scenery outside the window was still moving. I thought there was an accident or something. I looked around, and all was quiet except the coach engine humming softly at the back, and the driver was chatting quietly with the assistant at the front. I fished out my mobile phone, thinking that maybe it vibrated or something so it woke me up. Nope, no messages, no missed calls. No nothing.

I relaxed, sat back into the reclined seat, and looked out the window.

At first I didn’t realize it, but a sense of sorrow hit me hard. I thought I was just giddy from lack of sleep or something like that and I hated it when I woke up from my sleep by surprised. So I just looked out the window and enjoy the scenery.

The trees, road markers, and everything else passed by in a blurry image. It is just like time, flying pass us at extreme speed, and sometimes it is so fast that the things around us will become a blurred image, except that the scene outside can be created again if I were to travel the same road at the same direction, but time cannot be reversed. How I wished, for many nights, that I could turn back the clock. If I could, a lot of things would be different right now.

Anyway, while I was looking outside the window and watched those blurred images flew by me, I suddenly realized why I was in sorrow…

Almost exactly one year ago, I was on the same coach (Nice++, just in case you are wondering) with Maria on the way to Singapore also. It was almost the same weather (it was cloudy in the morning), and we were holding hands, cuddling under the very chilling air-conditioner vents, and talking while watching the sceneries flying by us. She was going to Singapore for a meeting while I was companying her down and did a market survey on Singapore (which is related to my company), but my intention is more so on companying her down.

If you follow this blog for some time now, I am sure you read about how we started, so sometimes we would go back to Singapore to re-visit and stuff like that. We used to stay at the Robinson Quay Hotel, Marriott Hotel, Copthorne Orchid Hotel, and etc. Last year, at around the same time, we were staying at the Copthorne Orchid Hotel, and this trip, the final destination for the coach was also Copthorne Orchid Hotel.

One year ago, it was a nice trip. Both of us were happy, chatting all the time, and on the way back at night, we were hugging each other to fall asleep.

But how things had changed drastically in less than a year.

That day, I was going down to Singapore, on the same road, on the same bus, all alone, and single.

When I reached Singapore, I saw the familiar buildings, like Siemens, and saw the familiar names like Bukit Timah, Toh Guan Road, and the happy moments we had at the French Village. The memory came back to me, and I was trying my very best to recall if the scene I saw during the weekend was any different than almost a year ago. Nope, nothing has changed at all. The material doesn’t change, but human does.

It’s amazing, isn’t it?

One moment, when the memory is still fresh, things are forever changed.

One moment, people can change drastically and turn their backs on you.

One moment, you remember the place as it was, exactly like how it was when you left. But this time, the emotion and feelings towards that place is just so different.

In the evening, when I was done with my stuff, I climbed up to the Nice++ coach again at Copthorne Orchid Hotel. I wished that I got time to spend just one night there, but I was in a hurry. So finally, I climbed up to the coach, and I turned and looked out. It used to be two shadows merging into one, but that weekend, all I saw was my shadow reflecting on the road under the bright orange-yellow street lamp. I passed the single ticket to the bus operator, and started my journey back to Malaysia, alone, and single.

Related Post:
The First Encounter

20
Mar

Do Not Use G-Archiver

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: Short Stories

Lately there is a program called G-Archiver lingering on the web that will help Gmail users to back up all the mails and contacts into the users’ local hard drive.

DO NOT USE THIS PROGRAM

Apparently, this program requires you to key in your Gmail login username and password. What it does is not backing up your mails and contacts into your hard drive, but the program will email your Gmail login username and password to the author of the G-Archiver [source here]

Maybe you think its only an email account. But how many other login information you keep in your Gmail account? Do you use the Doc feature in Gmail to store some sensitive documents and share it with your colleague? How about the author of this software use your account to spam the world, and you will end up in legal problem? So please do not underestimate this issue.

Now, be a good friend and good person and spread this to your friends. You don’t want their Gmail account to fall into the wrong hand.

19
Mar

Trekking in a Man Made Jungle

By Adrian 5 Comments
Categories: about me and rants and raves

During college time, I worked part-time and saved all the money I could after all expenses, and after more than a year of working and saving, I backpacked to Europe, alone, and spent almost 2 months there, exploring the culture, arts, people, and sightseeing.

A lot of friends thought that was romantic. But it wasn’t always easy. I was just a student and the amount of money I saved wasn’t much. Furthermore, I don’t come from rich family, so I was a starving students traveling aboard. I stayed at YMCA buildings if I could find one. If I have friends in the city, I would bunk at their place for days while I explored the city. But a lot of time, due to the lack of knowledge about the country or city, I would end up on the street, sometimes at the train station, spending the night on the bench.

And then, sometimes I would work part-time in some Chinese restaurant to earn some quick cash and get the free meal (which sucks by our real Asian standards), but that was the way to continue my journey as cash was depleting rather quickly.

Most time than not, I was on foot, exploring around, the backpack strapped on my shoulder and back tightly. Public transportation was a luxury that I couldn’t afford most of the time, so I avoided them until it was really necessary to take one. I hitchhike once in a while when I was exhausted, and the people were friendly. My backpack and hiking boots had seen many places. They had seen Paris, Venice, Berlin, Madrid, London, Manchester, Birmingham, and many other places that some people don’t even get to see. I walked so much that the boots were imprinted with my foot and the backpack was etched to my back.

After I came back to Malaysia quite a number of years ago, I hung my boots and backpack into a closet, and they were retired after they had seen many glory days. My hope was that one day they will see daylight again and we will be partners again, exploring the world. Of course, if there is a companion during these journey, that will be great. If not, at least I have my trusted partners such as the boots and backpack.

Yesterday I decided to walk. At first I estimated that the place I wanted to go was about 30 minutes away, and so I decided to walk instead of driving. Driving is such a city stuff, and I had been driving around for so long that hiking was a distant memory. And truth to be told, it has been years since I stay in Petaling Jaya but I had never explore the city by foot. So I looked up into the sky, and it was bright and shinny. Great, very low possibility of rain.

I put on my shoes, a normal working shoes, and started out my journey. I didn’t bring my hiking boots so I got to make do of what I have.

I walked and walked, and suddenly the temperature rose a few degrees. I could feel the heat building up on the road, but I didn’t want to give up. I set out to explore the city on foot, so I must finish this task of mine. Unfortunately, an expected 30 minutes hike became a 2 hours and 2 minutes journey. Due to lack of regular exercise, I was extremely exhausted before I reach my destination. My foot was in pain and the leg muscle was cramping up. My back, an old injury of mine, was killing me. I didn’t bring water along so I was very dehydrated under a hot weather (it was around 38oC yesterday). I walked into the Post Office, took a number, sat down to enjoy the air-conditioning. The security guard was standing nearby, and when my number came, I pretended that I had a phone call and walked out from the premise to continue my journey. I was worried that I would get a heatstroke or something. But still, I didn’t want to give up.

You can say I was trying to taste the freedom and joy I had during college days, especially during the Europe backpacking days. You can call me stubborn. You can call me sentimental. You can call me romantic. But all I was thinking was that I didn’t want to give up. There were so many things that had happened to me over the past few months, and most often than not, I didn’t want to give up on something but I didn’t have control over the matter. At least this hiking was something I could control, so I didn’t want to give up and I just wanted to complete my journey. Maybe it would be a good training session for my future backpacking. Who knows, right?


At the end of the journey, after 4 hours and 32 minutes, I can draw a following conclusions to share with my reader:-

(a) The road condition in Malaysia is not suitable for backpackers. There are not enough pedestrian walkway , especially the inner-city highway. For example, LDP has such a narrow walkway that it is impossible not to tip and fall.
(b) Malaysian drivers are not pedestrian friendly. When they see you crossing the street, instead of slowing down, they will accelerate, trying to chase you off the road like a rat.
(c) Malaysian drivers are not pedestrian friendly. During my journey, I had 3 near death experiences. On an open road, they would drive so near to me that I was inches away from their bumper. And what pissed me off the most is the fact that it was a wide road and it was totally unnecessary for him/her to drive so close to me.
(c) Petaling Jaya don’t really have much to explore. I would say Kuala Lumpur is a better choice to explore on foot.
(d) It’s better to fucking drive than walk.
(e) My legs are aching and I have blisters. So its important to wear the proper gear before you decide to do something stupid like me.
(f) I am not young anymore, and trekking like this will hurt me more than doing me much good. So its best to start regular exercise to keep up my shape.
(g) Most time than not, what you expected and estimated is not necessarily same as the outcome. An expected 30 minutes walk turned out to be a 2 hours and 2 minutes journey. So its better to prepare more.

The trekking in the man made jungle wasn’t easy. It put a lot of strain on my body and health, but I think it is worth it. The muscle pain I am experiencing now is not something to enjoy, but that’s the result of some kind of achievement. The pain reminds me that I am still alive, and that, actually, make me feel good.

Anyway, in the near future, I will write a guide on what you need to know for backpacking.

15
Mar

OMFG!!!!!

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: Complaints and rants and raves

There are many kinds of liars. But the best ones are those who will make themselves believes in what they said. They will look into the mirror in the morning and bluff themselves to believe what they are telling people. Do you want to get the best examples? Look at the top guns in BN and alliances. They are screaming that they will investigate why they lost so many seats in the 12th General Election.

Before the election, the BN people kept telling the media how the country has developed and how happy the people were to BN and such. Then after the election, the results were speaking otherwise and they said they wanted to investigate the reason. Oh come on! As the governing body representing the people, are you telling us that you didn’t know how the people feel? You kept telling yourself that the people are feeling good and you just made yourself believe in it. So when the results are speaking otherwise, you want to launch an investigation? So you suspect that there is a foul play? How about the numerous rumored foul plays that we heard about unfair election by the governing bodies? Will you investigate that as well?

And you still can say that you want to find out the reasons? You should know better than that. If you still don’t know why we, the people of the country, are not happy and wanted a change, then you should step down and quit all your positions in politics.

Be an adult. Admit the defeat, take the responsibilities and do the necessary things to change. Taking responsibilities means that you admit your own wrong doings, and correct what you have done wrong, and start to acknowledge the people that you are representing. You should know why we, the people of the country, are not happy, and you still have few years to do the right things. If you continue to blame the us, the people of the country, and God, then good luck in the next General Election.

Before the election, there was this one representative (whom lost, luckily) came to me to shake my hand while I was taking dinner. I had never seen this guy before, and while we shook hands, he didn’t smile. He appeared reluctant to be there, and he was looking elsewhere. Dude, do you think I will cast my fucking vote to you? What had you done to the people? Appear once in a while in some shop opening ceremonies, is that it? Before election, you come out from your mansion and shake the peasants hands, and you feel disgusted but it is mandatory for all politicians, is that it? Now do you know why you lost your seat?


As I had mentioned before, I hardly write any political subjects in my blog. But when I see something that will set me boiling, I just can’t resist to write about it.

In The Star Friday (March 14th) news Call to scrap mega projects, it was reported that,

PENANG: The state Umno will “persuade” the Federal Government to scrap all the mega projects in the state in view of the people’s clear rejection of Barisan Nasional.

Since Penangites do not want development, the Federal Government should not force it on them, said state Umno liaison committee secretary Datuk Azhar Ibrahim.

He said that this was not Penang Umno taking revenge “but we are actually giving the people what they want”.

“They voted for change, so let us see what the DAP can do,” he said after the party’s emergency meeting at Menara Umno yesterday.

Azhar, who is Penaga assemblyman, was appointed the state Opposition Leader at the meeting.

Meanwhile, Umno liaison committee deputy chief Datuk Abdul Rashid Abdullah hit out at the new administration for its decision not to practise the New Economic Policy (NEP)

I am not the kind of person who will mutter “Oh my God!” all the time, but this time, OMFG! Can we just sack this Azhar Ibrahim dude? Can we please make it mandatory for all politicians to take IQ tests before they can participate in politics? I mean, is this only solution they can think of after the “emergency meeting”? Why didn’t they say that they will persuade the government to blow up the Penang bridge? Oh how about persuading the government to blow up the LDP, Kerinchi Link, Penchala Link, close down Federal Highway and dismantle Middle Ring Road (MRR2) as well? That sounds like a “logical” solution since BN lost Selangor to the opposition, so might as well, right?

And for everyone’s information, this sounds exactly like a revenge. Can you please be an adult, and take the defeat like an adult. You said this is what Penang people want. Did you talk to them? So a closed door meeting to discuss on what you think they want is the only solution? That’s what you think they want, but did you even bother to keep a pulse on your own people? Can I even trust people like these to run the country? Either you are an idiot or you just lied to yourself and made belief on what you wanted to believe.

Another piece of news, again on The Star Friday news, PKR “no” to 8 slots for DAP, it was reported that,

PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali said in a statement that the composition of the state exco must reflect the composition of Perak’s population.

OMFG!!!!!

Harlo! PKR, which stands for Parti KeADILan Rakyat (and I emphasize ADIL, which means fair), didn’t you pledge for one nation, one race, one unity or something like that? That statement sounds exactly the opposite of what you pledged. Does it mean that you are pledging one thing before the election, just to get the votes, and then practice another set of mantra after it? Can you please walk the talk? If you don’t, then how different are you to the politicians that we didn’t want to vote? So you are still not learning from other peoples’ mistakes? If you don’t practice what you pledge, how can people have the trust in you and vote for you in the next election?

Anyway, I rest my case.

14
Mar

After the 12th General Election

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: observation

Let me declare that I am not a political blogger so that there will be no confusion on this blog entry. I do not support any particular political parties, be it Barisan Nasional (BN), Democratic Action Party (DAP), PKR and PAS or anything. My support is to have a clean government that emphasize on the benefits of the country, the people, and empathy towards the people, instead of those who are in for personal gain.

For all these years that I have been blogging, I have pretty much refrained myself from posting any politic-related blog entry is because I cannot say I am knowledgeable in this topic, even sometimes when I see a politician screaming racist statements, I refrained myself from writing about it. For me, I am a Malaysian, and this is a ONE NATION. I do not understand the need or the necessity to separate us into multiracial group such as Malays, Chinese and Indians, whereas there are so many constitutions stated that only Malays can hold certain positions and all that.

You can call it Winds of Change or Shift in Power. But I would call it Balance of Power. BN do not gather a two third majority but still able to form a government based on simply majority. This is a stark contrast to the 2004 General Election where BN won 92% of the seats. So why the stark contrast?

In 2004, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi promised many things, such as clean government, transparency, and etc. The people wanted a change from the Mahathir era, so they gave their precious vote to BN because they wanted change. Change it did, under the leadership of Abdullah Badawi, but not for the better. This year, a large amount of votes swung towards Opposition parties, namely DAP, PKR and PAS. Look at the voting results. BN 140 vs Opposition 82.

Now, we have to keep an open mind and not be too radical (or extreme), so let’s just assume that it is true that there were 1million phantom votes (as reported here), and without these 1million phantom votes, it is pretty safe to assume that the Oppositions would have won more seats than what they had won now. If without these phantom votes, then BN would have lost more than just Selangor, Penang, Perak, and Kelantan, and that would mean that for the first time in Malaysia 50 years history since independence, BN would not be able to form the government.

So what does that mean? The people are sending a message to these political parties, a very loud and clear message; we are tired of what had happened. So please do something about it and help make the country a better place to be.

Will this create social instability? I don’t know but I think most probably not. The other day I went to Tesco and realized that the shelf for rice, instant noodle, sugar and oil were all empty because people were buying those items fanatically, afraid that there would be a social instability and result in another May 13 event. For me, I see this as a good thing and the reason is very simple.

The message that the rakyat (people) is sending to BN, UMNO, government and Opposition parties during the 12th General Election is crystal clear. So now, the government will tiptoe and really put in their effort to do a good job, if not, more voters will swing their votes to Opposition in the next General Election, provided that the Opposition can do a better job. The Opposition will have to put down their political differences and start to look at the big picture, meaning that they will have to perform well and be the public servant that they are supposed to be, make the country to be a better place and help the people to have a better life. There is no point of announcing multi-billion mega corridors projects if it is just a waste of money. Remove all those time-and-money wasting projects and spend those money to improve the facilities, transportation and education, and provide a business friendly environment to groom local businesses and attract oversea investments. Most importantly, be transparent and don’t be a corrupted politician. Don’t try to get the people’s vote by removing everything, like the toll or parking (just an example) just to get the votes because that might bankrupt the state and government. What we want is that you do a study, review and investigate existing contracts and remove the necessary burdens of the people on this country.

Yes, I understand that for the first time, the Opposition won so many seats. You can bask in champagne for celebration, but right now the most important thing to do is to sit down and really work for the people. For 50 years, the people had given BN the chances and opportunities to do things right. Now the people are giving you 5 years to make a difference, and you know what we really want. We want transparency. We want a clean government. We want a fair system. We want to curb corruption. We want to put a stop to award government contracts based on relationships instead of abilities and capabilities (and for some reasons that no one can understand, when those projects are canceled, these “companies” will be compensated with hundred of millions. They did do shit so why should they be compensated?). We want you to develop the country to be a better place. We want a safer place to live. We want a better education system. We want you to put a stop to all the wastage in money for projects that are deemed unnecessary. We want you to make a difference.

And if you can a good job, people can see the results with their own eyes and more votes will swing your way in the next General Election and you can win more seats, and maybe, just maybe, for the first time in Malaysia history that Opposition can form the government based on simple majority, or better, garnered two third majority seats. This is not impossible, but it depends on if you can perform during this probation period of 5 years. Remember, you asked for chances, and now you are given one. Take this precious opportunity and do something significant. Don’t screw up.

As for BN, stop disappointing the people. Yes, you can control the media and only let the people read what you want us to read in main stream media, but this is the age of Internet, so please stop treating the people like an idiot. Respect us, and be honest to us, and most importantly, to yourself. Start doing something that can make a difference because if the Opposition is doing a better job, the people will abandon you in the next General Election. Don’t try to play dirty tricks like limiting the fund to the States or whatsoever so that the Opposition parties will have difficult time to perform. People know as we all can see. So be fair, and make it a fair competition. A fair competition will only benefit the country and the people. You do want to leave a legend of yourself instead of being booted out in shame. So buckle up and start doing your job.

Last but not least, I hope that Mr. Lim Kit Siang will put down the differences and accept other political parties and race with open arms. You gave rosy speeches about an united Malaysia with no racial differences, then please act like you mean it. At this moment, the most important task is to sit down and discuss, formulate and strategize to improve the government, the country and the life of the people. Don’t create too much troubles and allow other people to have an opportunity to destroy your effort and image.

On a final note, let me declare that I am not a registered voter. I didn’t find a compelling reason for me to vote. Now, this is different, and a lot of the people that I know are not registered voters as well. If anyone can make a difference this time round, I don’t see why we won’t become a registered voter and exercise our rights.

13
Mar

contended life

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: about me, observation and people

During the Chinese New Year, I had visited many friends to catch up for old time sake. Life has been busy for me for the past few years and I didn’t really have to the time to chat too much. Whenever I was home after work, I was normally beaten and just wanted to rest, so I didn’t really have the motivation to go out.

But during Chinese New Year, it is a holiday break for me, so I decided to catch up with old friends and see how they are doing. And after spending time with them, I noticed a few things. I have pretty good observation capabilities and a lot of times, if I want to, I can see a lot of things that is so subtle that it will require a microscopic magnifying glass just to see them.

Some of my friends were married and they were doing really well financially. I mean, for example, one of them is having a great business that creates a lot of positive cash flow for him. Another one is a senior manager in some international banks. Another one is some senior sales manager that is making 5 digits income per month.

They upgraded to a bigger house, bigger car, bigger dogs, and the interior design of the house are basically impeccable, for them at least. I mean, on the surface, everything was well. Then I noticed something odd. First of all, the feeling of the houses were really cold. It’s not like those warm and fuzzy feelings a real home should emit. Okay, there were a great number of good paintings, decorative items from Bali or somewhere exotic, and the furniture were carefully selected. But somehow it just feel cold.

And then, I also noticed that my friends, with their wives or husbands, always appear happily married in front of the guests, but when they were in the kitchen to prepare some drinks, behind the curtain from the guests and away from earshot from the guests, I noticed that they were not talking to each other, and treating each other like some invisible people.

And then, another few friends that I visited, they have normal paying jobs, they live in small houses, like those single-story terrace house, and when I arrived, standing next to my car, I saw that the couple were doing gardening together, both of them laughing and talking happily. When they invited me to go in, the house, with however less fancy furniture and decorations, emitted those really warm and fuzzy feeling, a feeling that a real home should have. When they sat down to talk, I noticed that they were holding hands and kept looking at each other. They are not newly wed, mind you.

So how important it is for all of us to have a big house, huge car, and a good paying job? What’s the meaning of all these material luxury that we are enjoying but if our live is just so shallow and there is no real happiness? Or should we be contended with our life, and be happy with whatever we have? Does that mean we are not looking forward? Does that mean we are not advancing in our life?

Of course, for me at least, I would hope that I have big house, big car, big dogs, great career that makes me millions every year, and still have a loving wife, adorable kids, and a very happy life where we can just do pottery together in the garden, feed the Koi fish in the pond, take a leisure walk around the area, and love each other very much. And then we can take our 2nd, 3rd, or the Nth honeymoon everywhere around the world.

But if let’s say you can only choose one, either being rich but not happy, or being happy but normal (not enough to spend lavishly but enough to survive). What is your call?

Feel free to rip the comment page apart.

11
Mar

Visiting Fluffy

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: heart break and life

Over the weekend, Maria went back to Singapore for work-related stuff, and she asked me if I wanted to take Fluffy in during the weekend. I wanted to, I really wanted to. But my living condition is not suitable for him. I would say that Fluffy will definitely not feel comfortable living with me. So I agreed to her suggestion that she shall put Fluffy at the groomer’s place for boarding. Furthermore, the groomer has 8 dogs so Fluffy could play with them.

There was a General Election during the weekend, so I took it as an opportunity not to show up. The groomer has became a close friend over all these years and only one of them knew that Maria and I broke up. I didn’t tell anyone because I don’t think it is necessary but most importantly, I wanted to keep it alive. Alive in the sense that in the future, we might be able to patch things up and be back together. But if things really don’t work out, I still don’t see the necessity to inform them. They will find out themselves.

Anyway, on Sunday, I couldn’t stand it anymore so I went to the groomer’s place to visit Fluffy. It has been a long time since I saw him and I really miss that little fluffy furkid.

When I reached the groomer’s house, all 8 dogs plus Fluffy came out to greet me. He stood on his hind legs and scratched my leg. I was so happy and touch, so I scooped him up and hugged him, kissed him, and talked to him. It has been a while, even one week seems like a year to me, so I took the opportunity to hug him and talk to him. But after less than 2 minutes, he grew impatient and wanted to go down to the floor. I let him.

He ran towards the other dogs and started humping another Shih Tzu. For the next one hour, he didn’t come to me again and he was busy playing with other dogs. Even sometimes when I called him, he didn’t acknowledge me until I used a very fierce tone.

Then the groomer invited me for dinner, so I stayed. After taking the dinner, I went to play with Fluffy while he was playing with other dogs. Well, I am not sure if it was accident or what, but he bite me. Well, it was partly my fault because while he was playing, I pulled his hind leg and he just turned and attacked. Of course I wasn’t blaming him. I couldn’t even bring myself to scold him.

It was nothing serious. It was only a small tiny cut on my hand, and it wasn’t painful at all. But on my heart, it was a deep cut and it was really painful like someone just squeezed my heart with all his/her might. I didn’t say a thing. I just smiled at all the watching eyes and continued to play with him (actually its more like I was sitting there watching him play with other furkids in the house).

Not long after that, I went back. I wanted to stay longer to play with him but I was really tired from lack of sleep and I felt bad for disturbing them for so long. So I took my belongings and walked to the gate. I turned and saw that Fluffy was still busy playing with the dogs. I opened the gate, looked again, and he didn’t even come out from the door to take a look.

I can’t blame him. It has been 5 months now and the most I get to see him is only once a week. I have been out of his life for 5 months, so it is normal that the distance between us had grown further and further. But it still sadden me greatly.

If I had a choice, I would wish that I could turn back the clock so all these will be just a bad dream. Unfortunately, I can’t change the facts and I must admit the defeat. My beloved Fluffy is growing further and further away from me.

« Previous Entries

 

March 2008
M T W T F S S
« Feb   Apr »
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  



Archives

Categories