Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Rawang's historical moment

Last Friday may have been a "historical" moment in the political scene in Rawang. My father's Chinese association had invited the newly-appointed wakil rakyat and the former wakil rakyat to its 75th anniversary. And all the VIPs sat in the same table. I had actually taken photos of them but the photos are in my other computer.

So anyway, everyone seated at the VIP table were feeling a little awkward, I suppose. But like all dinner functions, everyone just put on a smile and pretend as though they were long-lost friends. And then came the time for speeches. As the president, my father started the speech session with a speech that I think(I wasn't listening to the entire speech :P) is telling the two political party to work together for the good of the rakyat. And then it was the Organizing chairman's speech. He is a stauch supporter of MCA but he didn't touch any political issues, merely reporting the figures and support that he received for the celebration etc. (Ooh...I didn't know that some people are seriously thick-skinned and would actually pull a Rudy-JJ stunt of inviting themselves to functions!!)

After that, it was time for the politicians' speech. Why did my father invite the former wakil rakyat, you might ask. Well, I think it's because the former wakil rakyat had been quite helpful to my father's association and anyway, my father's association is not a political one. So,inviting him is a gesture of appreciation for his generosity for helping the association and the people for so many years. And it is only right to invite the new wakil rakyat.

So anyway, the former wakil rakyat started his speech well, telling of his party's defeat and that he is no longer a YB but an ordinary citizen like us with a lot of free time on his hands. And then he turned the SPEECH podium into a debate podium and bombarded the new wakil with a lot of questions about his former mega projects that have stalled and the allocation of funds that he procured from the federal government during his time. And you could see the shaking of heads and smiles of disbelief in many of the audience's faces. And when I turned to the new wakil rakyat, her head was down as she was busy eating her bowl of shark's fin soup. SIGH~~~

After the former wakil rakyat's speech, the new wakil rakyat, a young woman of 27 years, was invited to give a speech. She had a piece of paper with her as well (oh, the former wakil rakyat's speech was written by a reporter but I don't think the list of questions was included because the reporter was very quiet and kept looking down and shake his head when the former wakil rakyat came to that part). I think she must have been an active member of the debate team in her school or speech. She hardly looked at the piece of paper that she brought on stage and she humbly accepted the former's "words of wisdom" that because she is still young, she has much to learn. And then, she calmly retorted the questions asked by the former by saying that she has already asked for a meeting of some sort with the former in the newspaper and personally to discuss all these issues because she knows that she is new to the place and does not know the place and people as well as the former. Whoa...TABIK, girl! For the time being, she's my new political idol, other than RPK (But RPK is not IN politics, is he?).

After her speech, her "superior", the representative of Selayang, was asked to give a speech. Ok, so I wasn't paying attention to the announcement because a fresh dish was served then. Anyway, I didn't hear his name and when I turned to isten to the speech, I saw a man with a very red face, swishing his hand from right to left and speaking in monosyllables. My first thought was "what the...why is the drunk on stage??" and then I turned to mom with a scowl and asked who he was. My aunt turned and told me that he is English educated while my mom told me his name. And I was like...O.M.G! This man is THE man whose poems and articles are published all over his party's website? I looked again and he was still standing there swishing his hand from right to left and speaking in monosyllables. After a few times of swishing his hand but no words came out, he spoke in Cantonese and apologized for his lack of Mandarin knowledge and that he had tried to learn the language over the past month but that he is still unable to speak much. I felt so sorry for him! He seemed a little relieved after his apology and he continued his speech in English. I was trying hard to listen to his speech because I have read his articles and poems and I thought he would be a very eloquent speaker. Hmm...with the rising noise in the restaurant because many of the uncles and aunties couldn't be bothered with this English speaking alien, he was almost speaking to a handful of audience and as I turned 180 degrees to listen to him, he would focus on my table (and maybe me) when he turns to his left. After a few repetitions about inflation and dunno-what, I decided to go explore a gimmick from a bank with my aunt. I feel guilty for not listening to his entire speech, but the noise level was so high that you can't really hear his speech anyway.

Hmm...so anyway, the whole point of this blog post is that, Malaysia's political scene is getting more interesting these days. I still hope that my aspirations of being a political spokesperson for animals and plants would be fulfilled - it's just which party to join when the time comes that is the question. Oh, and of course, that learning more languages is always a good idea (better than swishing your hand in an unknown sign language :D).

Friday, April 25, 2008

The story of a toilet (and maybe children)

The story of a toilet (and maybe children)

What's with guys and toilets? I don't get it. No, I am not talking about leaving the seat up. That is not an issue for me. The seat's up? Put it down before use lor...what's so difficult? I don't understand why girls like to nag about that though when there are MORE serious issues than that.

See, I share a toilet with three guys. Ok, so I can understand if they don't wash the toilet because I have the most free time. I can understand that they don't flush after peeing because they are trying to save water. I can understand that they smoke in the toilet, the smell will go away. I can understand that they throw the cigarette butts into the toilet because they don't want to burn the house down. I can even understand how they forget to turn off the water heater but turn off the water source that the heating element of the water heater (that Brian got for me, mind you) melted part of the plastic inside.

So, having tolerated all these nonsense, what am I fumed about?

Spraying everywhere.

Like, serious. For a few weeks I thought it was Woon's dog, Pluto who made the toilet stink. Can't blame me la, he did shh shh in the toilet a couple of times because he couldn't get out of the house. And once he shh shhed outside the toilet because someone was inside and then the floor mat outside the toilet was soaked in it. And I understand that no one bothered because their noses was stuffed that they couldn't smell the stench.

But hey, come on la...haven't these guys been toilet trained yet? It isn't enough that I wash the toilet every week or two weeks. I had to spray lots of water everywhere around the toilet and scrub it every time I go to the toilet now because someone couldn't aim properly? Damn it! Do they move around or dance while spraying?

Aim for the light, you idiot!
And you thought leaving the seat up is such a serious offense?

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Bad Hair Day

I did a stupid thing over the weekend...I permed my hair. Yeah...I got talked into it by my sister who wanted to perm her hair and I got excited because HwaCheat's hairstyle looked so cute on her. And not to mention, I felt like experimenting/rebelling with my hair, like how Woon did with hers. But you know what's the stupid-est thing with my hairstyle? Not many who knew me before I straightened my hair noticed it. Hahaha...why? Because my natural hair is curly. And in those days when the straight hair-style was In, I straightened it. And now that the straight hairstyle is Out, I spent 200 bucks to perm my hair so that I look like my old self. Stupid right?

HwaCheat looking cute with her new hairstyle...kawaii neh

Woon a.k.a Storm or any anime character...wild and cute at the same time

My hairstylist reassured me that I will get used to my look after a few days. But I turned to my mother and said, I don't feel weird about my "new" hairstyle because that's how I used to look after coming out of the shower! Of course, my curls weren't that aunty-ish and were a little flatter compared to the one that my hairstylist styled for me. Coming back to Cheras, my best friend Woon and her boyfriend noticed a change in me but could not point it out. And my aunty thought I did not dry my hair before meeting her that day. Hahahaha...



Sigh...the pursuit of fashion and beauty is truly a waste of time and money! I bet you would remember the times when big hair was in in the 1980s. Or the scary, over the top make up of the 1980s through 1990s. And some of you may remember the hiphop clothings...big top, skinny jeans or miniskirt. Urgh...thinking back and looking at old photos make me laugh til I faint. :)

Well, I don't have photos of my old self with long-hair untied. But here, look at this photo and imagine it on a slightly slimmer face and you'll see me 5 or 6 years ago. :P

Same hairstyle! That's me on the left and Vilo on the right. Hehehe..

Friday, April 18, 2008

Friend - - - ship

Yes, we will soon be graduating (finally)! We can almost smell the bouquets of flowers and Ferrerro Rochers *hint, hint* and see the flashes of camera before our eyes. Haha...ok, so there is still the matter of a small, little itsy bitsy, tiny Future Studies examination between us and that figment of my imagination. But then, no harm in imagining and practising for the smiles of triumph on our graduation day, right?


Ahh...so much has happened in the last six years. The tears, the joys, the busy days, the bored til we grow mould days...It is truly hard to believe that we are all going to go our own ways soon! What's with the Vilo-Linesh-Melwin, SiawHui-SinYuan-MeiJu trios, and the Sophia-Dasha, Apai-Rina, Swing-Julia duos and the MeiLee, Zali, Luqman monos, and of course all our random cliques, we are finally going to have other people to gossip about and criticize! Hehehe...


It is sad in a way that I have not spoken to some of them for more than twenty sentences over the past 6 years. Not that I think they care coz many of them are not bothered about attending the graduation dinner or supporting any of our functions anyway. But then, you think about it again, the sad cases are these people. I understand why these people are not bothered to attend the functions and stuff - coz they have nothing to celebrate, nothing and no one to bid goodbye to - they've always been alone in their 6 years journey. I'm sure that they are more than glad that their lonely journey has finally ended.


But I digress, what I had in mind when I started writing this blog was to celebrate the friendships that I've gained in this journey. I was some sort of a loner when I was in secondary school. You know, the normal teenage angst thing and thinking that everything would be better if you died. The people who stuck by me all through the secondary years (and still is) is this fler and in those days this pretty lady:


Willie
Yoke Thing

Hmm..I went out of topic again. In my 6 years of Maktab-sation, my pillars of strength and hope have been these 3 clowns (haha..pretty girls la) and these bunch of maniacs (no, really - maniacs with a capital M). :P

The three clowns (pretty gals) - Vilo, Linesh and Melwin

The MANIACS - Woon, MeiJu, SiawHui, SinYuan and HwaCheat

Not to mention, I also found a slave sometime in my 4th year in Maktab, who would slog over my assignments too when my pressure is too great or would worry about me endlessly:

Brian when he's doing my assignments for me or worrying about me.




Brian when he's not worrying about me.

And of course there are the others whom I have had great joy being friends with:




TEYL Cohort One. Graduating class of 2008
6 years is not so easy to wipe out from one's minds. Despite the occasional "name-nesia", I bet many of you would be able to remember all those who were in your primary school class, your secondary school class even after all these years, right? What more of us in the Maktab. How can one forget another so easily? Hmm...I'm starting to miss bitching about someone from our cohort already...

Thursday, April 17, 2008

O mother...my mother

Yup...it's almost to the end of our journey and we have lots to plan these days. Plan for a trip to Woon's hometown this time, plan for the graduation dinner, plan for the not-too-distant future when we are going to be posted to God-knows-where...When there is so much planning to do, my mom, whom I know is very worried about me, kept nagging me to "don't care about the dinner la, what for?", "don't worry about the posting la, come home la" and "don't need to go for trips la, dangerous"; I doubt you will blame me for being a little angry. That is adding on to the fact that I've had nothing to eat since I woke up at 8 this morning and the grumpiness after the "graduation dinner meeting" that it was not a meeting at all!
*sigh* Mothers. You love and hate them at the same time. Well, maybe hate is too strong a word, but the feeling is indescribable. I love my mther, no doubt about that, but what she does and says infuriates me sometimes too. Take for example at times when I was talking about some serious issues that I have with her, she'd be half-listening and then talk about some errands that she wants you to run for her. But then again, she was a very good secret-keeper when I was young because she never listened to me, really.
Of all these times when I can barely stand her, I think again about how lucky I am to have a wonderful (although at times, funny and silly) mother. Hehe...she makes the darnest jokes sometimes with her "blur-ness". Aiyo....a jumble of thoughts. Too weary to think and analyse them at this point. Maybe I'll call my mother up and cheer her up a bit after raising my voice to her just now. Hmmm...

Saturday, April 05, 2008

I'm BACK!!!

Hey people,
I'm BACK!! Sorry for the MIA status for over 2 months. Life has never been busier! I don't know why I longed for university life again while I was undergoing my teaching practice! Life has been so crazy over the past couple of months that I hardly have time to do anything else but to sit in front of the computer to type out the assignments!

So anyway, much has happened since Chinese New Year. As Rats are not having the best of luck this year, it started a bit rough but all is well now (Fingers crossed). But then again, it did start out pretty well... As many of you would have known, my dad got me a Satria Neo for my 24th birthday! Yay!! I'd never thought that he'd get a Satria for me!! I had bugged him for a Satria ever since I first saw the Satria GTI when I was in secondary school, but he had always said that Satria is not a good choice because it only has two doors. And Oh-My-God, he got me a Satria Neo for my birthday!!!!! How cool a dad is that?? He also kept it a secret from my mom and family until the final few days coz he needed them to take me to the showroom and get the car because he was busy. =)

So, what happened on my birthday eve was that my mom, sis, bro-in-law, Brian and I were supposed to go and have a birthday lunch at The Curve. But before that, my bro-in-law claimed that he wanted to go to the Proton showroom to take a look at the new Proton Saga and maybe go for a test drive. The funny thing was my sister who is hopeless with directions was asked if she knew how to go to the Proton showroom near The Curve. I didn't think much about it coz she is always hanging out at the area anyway. So off we went to the showroom and the salesperson shook hands with my sis and my bro-in-law. Weird. Then, while we were looking at the new Proton Saga, the fella signalled my sis and bro-in-law to the back of the showroom. My bro-in-law covered up and said, "Oh, can test drive the car ar?" and we tagged along to the back of the showroom. Then, the fella signalled to the Satria Neo sitting there, and I was like, didn't my bro-in-law say he wanted to test drive the new Proton Saga? And then my mom was like telling the fella, "should put a ribbon on top la", and my sis was laughing away...hmm...me - blur. Then the fella was complaining that he had to rush to get the car delivered that day and put on the car plate number and then my mom was asking if I liked it. I was still blur, as usual, and I was about to say that I liked the Satria GTI better when my bro-in-law noticed my blur-ness and said "it's yours la". And then I was too overcome with emotion to say much. Haha... So, here are the photos...my new car from my daddy-kins!

Me and my new car!!

Me crying tears of joy after finding out that that car was mine! =)
Yup, my dad got me the car like months ago and forced the salesperson to deliver it before my birthday. Hehehe...I knew my dad was planning to get me a car but he kept quiet after a while, so I just figured that he changed his mind. But...I was wrong about my dad again. Hehe...
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So, my car is 1.6, full specs, AUTO of course... Er... Willie, I don't know what other specs you want to know. Hehehe...
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Happily, we left the new car at the showroom and went for lunch after that at Sakae Sushi. My dad joined us shortly after that. After makan-makan, we went back to get the new car. Brian and I were sitting in my new car and I drove. Less than 2 minutes of reversing the car from its parking lot at the showroom, I was crying. Coz I hit a curb while turning from the showroom and the whole front bumper was cracked into two and had partially come off. Hahaha... Good thing Brian was there to calm me down and my sis and bro-in-law were there to laugh it off. =)
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So anyway, Brian and his dad had to take a whole afternoon under the hot sun to help me glue the crack back together. =) And Brian's dad was complaining that Brian was so worried about how it looked that he was grumpy. Hehehe...thanks sweetheart!!
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Don't you just feel that you are so loved by the whole world sometimes? \^O^/