Spankin' Asses

This is the latest spoil of another group presentation. I see a trend here. Week by week, each group just wanna outdone the other, without caring if their methods actually benefit our education. This is mostly credited to the first group who started this madness. Now I'm being crushed by mounting expectations. Theirs was a simple gift. A mini pen. Maybe I'll show it later.

Anyway, I've been frantically spanking asses this week. I had two essays due back-to-back. But I have decided not to settle for the mediocre and not to lose sleep over assignments, so I went ahead and wrote them down. After that would I re-type them. This way I could go through them again to see what works and what doesn't. Mostly I just ended up doing minor reshuffling and rephrasing because my brain scatters info on default hehehe.

Still, work never ends. I have two presentations next week. The big presentation with lotsa frills would be on Wednesday and I could feel the mounting expectations of the lecturer burning a hole in my back. It's only after the two essays are done that I am able to concentrate on this presentation. Focus is important you know. When designing activities and games for this presentation I do not want to do it just for the sake of entertainment. It should be fun and educational. Like something you'd do to kindie kids. But it's a formula that works, so why not stick by it? I just felt that in the actvities that we did, the education part is being sorely neglected, focusing instead on just to impress people.

sighs.

But I've got some ideas now, which is good. We've been obsessing over it all week, panicked that we would not be able to come up with anything creative. We have even suggested brainstorming emergency meetings for the weekends to settle it. But now that I've come to it, I realized that we are more creative when working independently. We never could accomplish anything much when we sit down together for a discussion. Most of our creative works are done outside the discussions. The longest our discussion had been was 10 minutes. And sometimes our "discussion" is standing around outside of class, panicking over the impending assignment.

The sight of other groups sitting together for a discussion still unnerved me, as if a sign that my group work will not be as good as theirs. But time and time again, we managed to turn out better work than them, so we must be doing something right. It's just that we are not a sit-down group. Sitting down together does not make us a creative team. It makes us a panicked lot.

I have come to terms with this fact recently.

Now I am brimming with energy for our upcoming asses. I'm gonna go and spank it again now. Ta'ra! And wish me luck! XD

I'm Too Proud You See

I am stomped. I have two essays and a presentation to complete by the end of the week. This sucks. I have started on one essay but not the other and the latter is due the day before the former. Not that it's that hard, but our teacher gave such a generic topic and told us to link it to the concept of Total Quality Management. Like WTF! This is just as an excuse for you for not preparing a better question for our assignments!

Lazy lecturers!

I would really like to do this essay with someone's help and even asked a friend to do our homework together. Like it's not like I'm going to cheat and steal all your ideas you know. I am too proud to do that. The last thing I want is to have my answers the same as everyone else's. Why else do you think I refused to make copies of all the lecturer's notes? Because everyone have them of course!

Rant as I want, I am still stuck with these homeworks.

Yesterday I bought the complete Slam Dunk DVD. I never thought of buying it before because the DVD set was way too expensive. For 101 episodes I bought mine for RM136 (later I found out I could it get for RM101 at Times Square but grrr no matter, I always buy things at a premium,). Previously that was the price you get for half a set. Which meant the full set is well above RM200. And you can forget about buying the VCD set because there was too many boxsets you have to get to complete the series. So like, never mind.

But I've fallen in love with the series when it aired on AXN and when it re-aired on Animax I could finally afford the DVD you see. Funny thing was, even before I bought them, people were already lining up to borrow it :P. Mitsui is mine!

Anyway, I should consider thrashing some boybands in here, like KAT-TUN, and hope that some rabid fangirls would come and give me death threats for insulting their idols. Such was the drama at Totchi's blog. Oh how enviable.

I mean, check out the comments. I honestly do not mind some entertainment myself. Fangirls are amusing.

My life has become so boring and monotonous lately it's excruciating. I have too much life in me. But then again, I am too lazy to do extra trips after or and especially before class. It's so mafan. I just wanna go straight home and leave the glitz of BB behind.

Oh...I am becoming boring...

Ta'ra.

Ponderings

I get to get together with Totchi and diss Gary the Sponge with Glass tonight and we had an interesting conversation. Don't we always? XD

Anyway. I thought I should further explore it, since it was interesting and all. After a while, the abuse and dissing of Gary got cold and he went away for cheese. During his absence we started to talk about politics. I started by asking if Totchi would mind Anwar Ibrahim as Prime Minister. She said she doesn't care because she doesn't quite line the next two in line either because they bring keris to parliament and swore to drench it in Chinese blood.

Of course, I laugh at this. But then I noticed it was quite an issue for them, although most of us Malays would just laught at it. Still, put yourself in their shoes. Would you have wanted someone like that to be leader of your country? I certainly wouldn't.

Honestly speaking, I didn't have a rat's tail of a clue how it is supposed to be in a multi-racial country and how a 'harmonious' inter-racial relation is supposed to be. From kindergarten to high school, I went to an all-Muslim school, so all my friends are 99% Malays with the occasional other races, which is rare. But I bought all the pitches on TV how we are a multi-racial country and we respect other races and bla bla bla. I didn't know it was all just political propaganda since my real situation is far from it: my two best friends are not a Chinese and an Indian, I do not go to mamak stalls and have teh tarik with them or go ride bicycles around the village with my Chinese and Indian friends and we end up falling into the river and have a hearty laugh.

But I sincerely believed that was probably how some people live. At least in kampongs where all three races were around. I mean, how many Indians can you see in Sarawak anyway?

So I was optimistic. During high school I joined a lot of activities outside school and sometimes I have to hold out on my own as the sole representative of my school like one PBSM camp. There was only ONE Indian in the lot, despite it being an all-Sarawak gathering. The rest are Chinese and Bumiputras. On that note, I really hate the word bumiputera. A lot of people just shorten it to 'bumi' and pluralize it to become 'bumis'. It sounds degrading. As if we are a bunch of people who are incapable of helping ourselves, always looking up to the government for help. Unfortunately, some people wear the label proudly while I openly shrink away from it. I do not want my race to be the definition of me.

Anyway, my first true race interaction was a success. I was clueless on how to mingle with people of other races at first, so I took the neutral approach: we are all students who are new to this place and to each other, so treat everyone like you want to be treated. I have to be honest. Chinese intimidate me XD. They all have this reputation that all Chinese are intelligent and hard working. Boy was I unprepared for the Ah Lian lot!

But after a while you realize that behind the race labels we are all humans. We make mistakes. I was thinking that since I am Malay I was carrying the big bad Malay label that says 'lazyness'. I didn't want to be known as that. I had to show that I earned my place here. I worked hard the first day, and fell sick.

How very typical of me isn't it? Work hard and fall sick. But my fear of that label was even bigger, so I took advantage of my exclusion from the morning marching exercise and study instead. At the same time I was keeper of everyone's stuff who went for the march. I looked after handphones and books and whatnot. We were given study times at night because we are to sit for a first-aid exam at the end of camp and gain our certificate. When I saw all those people studying I became even more engrossed in studying. Funny enough, many of the Malay girls seem to gravitate towards me...

Maybe I'm just charismatic XD.

I have to be honest again. When I saw all the Chinese, hunched back over their books, studying (I should guess) I became even more nervous and decided that I should hold out in the study session at least as long as those people. The Chinese are hardworking and intelligent remember? I should emulate them.

I can just imagine Totchi's face when she reads this XD. But I was young and innocent and came from an all-Muslim school. From my observation of the Malays, they are...not that great and I've only heard things about Chinese but never seen one in action before. So I was eager to see the real deal.

When the results were announced, I was shocked out of my wits to know I was in the top 5! I mean, how could it be, right? I was sick and all that. But then again, because of that I had extra study times. Just didn't realize that that was actually to my advantage. I was pleased, and so did my team members.

However, the pen that I got for my achievement was nothing compared to the experience. I learned that yes, we can get along with each other. Yes, we carry too much label and we don't have to carry them and don't have to think that others see it in you. Those labels are just for the prejudice and nobody really cared for it unless you make them a reality. Make your own labels, and own up to it.

After that I was quite happy to report that I had had some quality mingling time with fellow Sarawakians and Malaysians, and was quite pleased to find that I got along with some of them even better than friends my own race. If you treat people nicely, they will treat you kindly back. There was a girl. She was big and had a really tough looking face. I nervously approached her because I was bored, she was alone and all of us were currently locked out of our rooms (mind you, I spoke real English and these people spoke Manglish, so I was off to shaky start since I didnt know how to speak Manglish convincingly). The first thing she mentioned was how she missed her father.

That really threw me off guard.

All this interaction taught me more of other races, but most importantly, it taught me one very crucial thing: what's in a race?

A race is just another label. People should be proud of their race, but nobody wants to be judged based on race. People want to be judged as individuals.

So, after such a rich experience, the following year I was sent to another camp, a Bina Negara Camp, organized by the Jabatan Ketua Menteri itself - people from Mr. White Hair's office! Four schools participated in this camp. I was quite surprised to find that all of the participants were Malays. Even at the outset, I was already prepared for some sort of racist sentiments and I was right.

Everything smelled of racial politics. They showed charts after charts at how the Malays and Bumiputeras were left behind in science, technology and engineering and how more of us going to jail instead of contributing to society. They even went as far as saying we are letting the other races grab our opportunity from us. How soon they will take over the country and leave us desolate in our own motherland.

Other, small minded people soaked up on their presentation. I, fuming with fury, promptly fall asleep. Malaysia is not a country for Malays only, I thought. The other races need opportunities as well. It is their country too. We all have the same I.C. so fuck off, I'm going to sleep.

As I pulled down my cap and went to slumber in my seat, I imagine how betrayed their Chinese colleagues way in the back must felt during such a speech. I hope they seeth in anger enough to stab these guys to death. God knows they deserve it. One for betraying the country and two for insulting their own race.

From then on I decided that I will not succumb to their reality, and realized that these speeches must be common in rural places like this. I wasn't sure how life would be without the Malay rights and privileges, but then again I wasn't exactly enjoying those privileges as I am. The PM was preaching about racial-harmony while these lackeys are preaching about Malay/Bumiputera supremacy. It's like the head is saying one thing but the hand is doing other things.

I was asked today if I am for the cancelling of the NEP.

Would you be offended if I were to say yes? I say this because I am confident of my own abilities to excel in business without government help. Because we all know those things don't last. After all, government contracts are all monopolized by cronies anyway, so that's your wealth distribution right there. People defend the NEP under the illusion that the Malays are poor and marginalised. Now this is what makes me want to cry for blood. We are not marginalized!!! That kind of thinking should have gone the way of the dodos a long time ago.

And as for poor, poverty is the fairest thing in the world. It doesn't descriminate. It visits people regardless of race. Sure, there are poor Malays but there are poverty in the other races as well. Who ever thinks about them? Are they not Malaysians? Do we have to be race specific when distributing wealth? What happens to justice and equality?

And I was also asked if I am fine without the special rights and privileges.

Except for the fast processing of my PTPTN loan, I see no other privileges that's been useful for me. Even so, my loan was mass-processed along with others and this happened because we have a coordinator overseeing all this process with the Ministry of Education, so everyone got equal rights, Malay or not.

Besides, going to a private institution instead of the government-owned one is already a show of defiance on my 'right and privilege' as a Malay I supposed. Yes, it is because I can afford it. Not everyone can, but I have no intention of going to any government unis just because I can because I never want to go there in the first place. There are more deserving people. This quota system and 'rights and privileges' is one of the reasons why our local universities are clogged with so many people who don't deserve to be there.

Then again, I am lucky to be in Sarawak. In Sarawak we no longer refer to our friends according to race. And we no longer need to impress people of other races at how multi-racial our group of friends are. But here they make a point of it. One guy, he is a mixed Indian-Chinese but looked like a Malay. Weird. He is a typical West. He said people always assumed he was Malay and sometimes he just lets them because he said people respect him more that way.

I wasn't sure if it was meant as a compliment or an insult. Still, I bypassed his race and still find that I don't like him anyway, so this issue is not a race thing at all. After all, what's in a race?

A bastard is a bastard.

I have been in an all-Malay environment and then put into an environment where I was a minority and still survived. But it was only when I was put in the same minority situation but outside of Sarawak that I truly felt what it meant to be descriminated against.

This should reinforce my stand that I truly believe that all Malays are capable to stand on their own without aid (mostly). Malays are not marginalized. Those who dare claim we are shall have their blood drenched with my katana. Because in Sarawak we do not use kerises. That's for the West. Keris is too short and awkward anyway. Katana is longer and deadlier and it can kick a keris' ass anytime. I for one, do not need the NEP or the Malays 'special rights and privileges'. I do not claim to speak for everyone. Just speaking on behalf of myself, who cringe everytime one of those 'Malay evangelists' open their mouths and claim they speak for the Malays.

These people should have their tongues cut out and their fingers maimed so they can't speak and write.

Stupid West.

Ta'ra.

Grow Up Of Your Major

This couldn't have come at a better timing.

I saw this article on msn; Does Your Major Matter?

It explains that to most graduates, their earning power or employment is totally unrelated to their major. In fact, most people probably will not be employed within their selected major. Honestly, I have realised this truth a long time ago, but most of my friends were, are, still frantic that they will not find a job with their chosen major. Excuse me, but I find it stupid. These people missed the very basic idea of getting an education.

What really matters is that you go to university, and get a degree. What's even more important than the attainment is the whole journey that gets you there. In uni you learn to write and communicate up to business standard. You learn problem-solving and critical thinking, skills that will get you through whatever work situations you may find yourself in.

Of course, like the article said, you can't get employed in the line of chemical engineering if you are not educated in chemical engineering, but the universal skills of interpresonal skills, corporate communication, and report writing you learned during your studies should be applicable and sought after everywhere!

And what's even more important is to keep learning on the job. After all, each job and position is unique. You have the whole corporate culture to soak up and the faster you do it the better. Most people like to think that once they are employed in their chosen field and position, they can relax. Only to have a rude awakening two days down the line.

I am normally unconcerned about going to uni dramas with people frantically choosing the "right" course with employment being their first order of things. It doesn't matter if they love a certain course to death. If they think it's not going to get them employed, they would drop it like a hot coal. What's worse is when they don't think ahead on how they are going to suffer for four straight years enduring a course they dislike.

The reason why I am compelled to say something this time is because I have been approached by a junior from high school. For some reason this junior is still quite attached to me. I must be an awesome senior XD.

Anyway.

He asked me for advice. Since I like giving advises, the first thing I told him, since SPM results had JUST come out, is to RELAX. Young kids have a tendency to jump the gun you see. He's just finished with high school and college won't start until June. Or July. So I told him to just stay down and enjoy his time off. But this kid in particular is your typical student leader who cannot help but think too further ahead. Next I told him that his journey is still long and winding, to take his time and most importantly, to not let anybody but him make the decision after this. Of course, I specifically meant that on his decisions on what to study and where, though I didn't say it.

Too many people had fallen into a trap, letting other people, usually their parents, to decide what they should study for. Only ending up regretting it later. I don't want the same to happen to him. But he is head strong and bloody innocent.

When I chose this course, which is simple business management and not finance or accounting or marketing, a lot of brows were raised and trained on me. I simply did not want a specific major because I don't know what business I will ultimately do. And at the rate of how easily I get bored with ideas, I am contented to not be tied to any certain major. But I do realize to some people it is suicide. That is, until they realize they have been living in their own paranoid world.

Anyway, go read the article if you are having doubts about your course. Me, I have had my sights on something even bigger from the start.

Ta'ra!

Territory

Enough is said on what a territorial creature I am. And whenever people intrude on my territory, I bare my fangs and chase them out. That is why I like a big house. I don't care what people say about this vanity streak, but some people do have to live like this you know. Big houses allow you unperturbed privacy and I like my privacy very much. Trust me. I'm a much better creature to deal with when my territory is not over-stepped.

What I hate even more is when people nonchalantly say that I am "rich". Yes, I do aspire to be rich. A billionaire, in fact, because just about anyone can become a millionaire nowadays. And because of inflation too, I suppose. Anyway.

These people, join some dodgy MLM and asked me about my opinion. Of course, I get pissed. One is because I hate MLM to start with, and with that I do not need to say a second reason. Whenever these people tell me how much benefit and 'group love' they are getting from their MLM peers, I would drop a line that says "Cool, so tell me when you get rich okay?"

And these poeple have the nerve to get pissed!

I mean WTF! I already said that I hate MLM why the hell are you still talking about it to me!? After all, aren't you and your "peers" rivals? You're basically salespeople and salespeople generally compete with each other. Of course, "only in sales" you say, but what's more important than sales!??

Geez. I hope they forever get stuck in the rat race. After all, you can't get richer than the CEO right? Oh yeah, she had a comeback for that too. There is one woman but "she respects her upline". Maybe I should just tell her that you guys are just rats in other people's down(pipe)line!!

And I don't fucking care how loving or how supportive those "peers" are to you! I find all direct-seller MLM people ANNOYING!

Aaaargghhh this is giving me a headache!

And on that note, I am surprised at how frequently I get sick! Yaaarghh!! These last couple of days I've noticed that I've come down with a slight fever. Slight fever but with terrible headache and terrible electric currents going through my limbs!

Apparently it's not a real fever until you have an increase in temperature. If I were to go to a doctor with my condition, he'd just brush me away and give me a couple of panadols but I still have to pay the consultation fee.

One of thse days, if I happen to die because the doctors brushed me aside like that, my ghost is going to sue the living daylights out of them.

And tomorrow will not be a good day. Because tomorrow I will have this class with a tight-ass lecturer. For some reason, he will segregate me from the rest of the class. He will find whatever faults he could find to humiliate me and "invite to step outside" to do whatever it is I was "caught" doing.

But no, when someone else's phone went off in class, blaring an annoying Indian number, twice, he just looked at her. But if it was me he'd launch into one of his "do you want to go outside and answer your phone? bla bla bla and don't come back to class bla bla bla I don't care if you don't like me bla bla bla."

Damn racist.

And trust me, it wasn't on purpose that my eyes caught the headlines of the newspaper on my desk. And besides, I just needed a break from concentration. IS THAT WRONG?!

I wasn't even TOUCHING the damn newspaper!

Seriously, if he does something to me again tomorrow, I will break down and rock myself to sleep like a total schizophrenic under the desk. I will look like a perfectionist who is bursting at the seams. But really, whatever it takes to put the blame on him.

And you wanna know what I really think of all my extra classmates?

FAKE HAIR!

Indians naturally have wavy or curly hair. So the only reason you see so much straight hair is because they all spend hundreds of ringgits on hair products and salon trips. I know Africans are proud of their kinky hair and dark skin, but this certain race of South-Asian origin seemed to think differently.

Well guess what?? I don't like you either. You suck-up.

My ranting may be due to my fever. And I am always in a bad mood whenever I am sick. So pardon me.

Ta'ra.

Toast

Aaahh I need toast or something. Midnight and I'm freaking hungry. I woke up at 2 pm today and went for a nap at 6 something, woke up 7:30 and here I am, wide awake at 2:30 am, 12 hours after I woke up. Sleeping now would be equivalent of waking up at 6 am and going to bed at 6pm.


Anyway, on to my daily anecdotes because we all know how exciting those are. Lately I seemed to have establish an "image", not that it's weird, being me. This "image" dictates that unless I am talking and conveying my uncensored thoughts which would make most people cringe just thinking about saying it, I am not 'myself'. So whenever I am silent, writing stuff that has no relation whatsoever to the lecture, I am up to something. Something interesting and worth to note, even though nothing like that ever transpired. If I am not up to something then it means I am mad and there is a need for me to clarify the reason why I am mad. So I basically have only two choices: be talkative or be mad. Great to be me isn't it?

Sighs.

Should I really disclose to people everything that goes through my mind? Am I not allowed a moment to stare off blankly into the distance for no reason? Do I have to spell it out that I am what I am, and I don't always have a motive for doing whatever it is I do?

I find clarifying people very exhausting. Really. Whatever it is that is emotionally or mentally taxing gets me tired very quickly.

If you want an insight into my head, just watch my expressions. I am very honest with them, especially when I'm watching TV. But when in a social setting I am very guardful of them too (mostly driven by motives, sorry). I believe you should honestly convey your feelings to people. So if I don't like you, but I don't say, it's easy to tell by my face. Like I said, I found pretending to be exhausting and I prefer to reserve my energy for more productive stuff.

Yes, I am always plotting, planning and delibarating. All these go on in my head and they are driven by many motives. Sorry to say most of these motives come through self-interest, but everyone is allowed to be selfish right? And since I have a rich inner life (psychological term for you), I dwell on them a lot, and when it gets too much, I write them down, to free up space. Now you see why I need three blogs?

I thought I should clear it up. Since whenever I'm approached by this "are you mad?" question I get annoyed and get mad for real. But when I do disclose the matter, they would pretend to listen only to hit me back saying 'how much worse' they are off than I am. *muttersmutters*

On to happier matters.

I downloaded Abingdon Boys School last night after I fell in love with their song Nephilim.

This rock band was named after some school in Europe. It is a trend now to look west-ward when looking for a band name in Japan. Like The GazettE for example.

They are actually wearing similar checkered pants under those kilts. I haven't found a favourite yet though the vocalist has a hot voice. But I am shallow and judge them by looks and nobody stood out. My interest on them may therefore be limited to just their songs. I noticed that their songs all carry the same style, which is rare in an album. They found their niche and stayed true to them the whole way.

Their songs are all very emo and I am uh...emo, remember?

Also, while looking for recent updates on the post-election news, I stumbled upon an ad that says 'get paid to write!'. Being the curious George that I am, I clicked on it.

It then led me to Shvoong.com, a place where you can actually get paid for writing reviews on whatever; books, newspaper articles, journals etc.

Since I had nothing to lose, I decided to write a review on Artemis Fowl. So if you guys would help me, please go to the site and rate my review XD. I find it a little long though, but it did say the shortest summary is 300 words, though I see other reviews which are less than even 200 words hmmm. I am planning to write more, especially on books that I have and loved. And yeah, I have a lot of books. What I loved about it is that you can write first, register later. So I did.

If you are interested in writing a review or summary, I suggest you check out other summaries that have been written about the book you want to write about. Lucky for me, the others whom had written the summary for Artemis Fowl seemed to have overlooked grammar and punctuations XD.

Oh and give me some good ratings! Thank you and good night!

Ta'ra!

Crisis over Crisis Core: FFVII

I played through the story battle of Tekken Dark Resurrection last night and guess what!? The character's ending movie wouldn't load!!

Waaaarkkhhh!!!! I am sooo pissedd!!!!!

And this wasn't the first time this happened too. The same happened with my copy of Tales of Eternia. The movie sequence wouldn't load. Now I'm so glad I bought an original UMD for FFT. And for this reason, I shall buy UMD for Crisis Core too. I don't care how much it costs. If the Malaysian vendors don't have it, I will cross the border to Singapore if I have to!

Yes, I am that determined!

Anyway.

Last Sunday Me and Nadja went PSP a-shopping!

Two PSPs joined our ranks that day!

A purple, and a white one. Mull should have joined this 'reunion' but I accidentally left him at home. To compensate I bought a new 2GB memory stick with some games stuffed in. Intended to buy a 4GB at first, but the 2GB was cheaper.

The pink one has a name, Vyers. A full review is available in his mistress's blog XD.

It's amusing to take pictures of people taking pictures of each other.

On to a more recent event - yesterday, one group did a presentation during class and awarded people who could answer their questions with prizes. The previous group only gave a mini pen away, which I got one. But this group's prize was quite big.

Behold.

Yes, I was impressed at how big it was, especially for a classroom quiz. Since it seemed quite soft, we thought it was something like a teddy bear, since all the remaining classmates were girls, and the presentating group comprised of all the guys in class.

And then, our team won it. Overwhelmed with curiosity, I excitedly tore it open.

And guess what's inside.A Gardenia bread!

Sighs.

Just too bad I don't eat white bread though.

Ta'ra!

Crisis Core

I am super excited. Crisis Core is going to be in English and will be released March 25th. XD

It is moments like this that made me fall madly in love with Mull again. It is a good time to own a PSP. In fact, I would even buy a PSP just to play Crisis Core. However, FFT beat Crisis Core to it. Still, I am happy. I've previously lost hope on it because I thought it was only going to be in Japanese. But no, I shall get it. And stuff it into my first memory stick. XD

WAAAAAAAHHHH SOOO HAPPPPYYYY!!!!!

I am seriously is not a fan of multiplayer RPG. I believe RPGs are a one-player personal experience. And to just share it with others is just...wrong.

Anyway, am sooo looking forward to this game!

Sighs. If only they would have Genso Suikoden I and II would also be in English.

Ta'ra! XD XD XD

A Field Trip

Last Friday I went on a field trip to the MATRADE Tower Exhibition Center. I went there mostly to find some research materials for this International Business project we're doing. My part is to find out about Malaysia's exports. And Malaysia it seems, exports just about anything under the sun. This is also a chance for me to take Camus out on a full field trial. And he did not disappoint. I am happy XD.
One of the great thing about the exhibits there is that, you can sit on all the couches, and even roll over on the beds! There is not a single 'Do Not Touch' or 'Do Not Sit' sign everywhere! I went with Khaye and Mary and we took a lot of pictures between ourselves. Though I do remember to take pictures of the exhibits as well. I saw some Malay Tea, apparently a locally grown tea. I know Cameron Highlands has tea, but I never thought we'd have a tea unique to this region.
Still, their packaging looks nice XD.

The purpose of this exhibition is to expose locally made products to potential international buyers who want to import them to their countries. There were small trolley wheels...

To big wheels....
To candy wheels.
All can be found at MATRADE. Just that, when we went there, they are currently renovation the place, apparently in preparation for a big exhibition to come. Wonder if I'll go to that one too. But one thing for sure, that place sure is HUGE.

After about an hour of toiling around MATRADE, we decided to end the day at Pavilion because someone has a hankering for doughnuts. So off we went.
And to the toilets where they have mirrors the lenght of the walls to indulge in endless vanity.

It was a job well done for Camus!

It was raining quite heavily when it was time to go home. I didn't bring an umbrella so I had to buy one. And that umbrella turned out faulty just after a couple of uses. *mutters angrily*

sighs.

Fun day. Next I'm going to talk about the play I went to on Sunday. Had quite an eventful weekend indeed!

Election Fever

Tonight I stumbled upon, for the first time ever, on a political ceramah. A PAS+PKR ceramah no less, with our ever so popular deposed ex-DPM Anwar Ibrahim present to give moral support!

It all happened when my dad and I decided to go to Kampung Baru for dinner since it's been a while since we had their nasi lemak antarabangsa. As we arrived at the area, a van with speakers was going around, announcing about a PAS ceramah with Anwar Ibrahim present, will be held at 9pm. The time then was 8:45, so we were in luck.

We ate at the stall, which was so conveniently near the PAS HQ where they are holding the ceramah. We could hear everything pretty clearly. I was excited. This is the first time I saw a real ceramah, and in the throng of such strong anti-government sentiments! XD

After finishing our meal, we decided to go closer and stood by the road that was half crowded with people already, looking up at the screen hanging over the road. Several PAS party members were giving away their candidate's manifesto to the crowd. They were also selling a self-made VCD showing how 'zalim' Dr. M was, and how he admitted to throwing Anwar into jail despite him not doing anything wrong. Intrigued, my dad bought a copy, just for the heck of it.

As soon as we reached home, we watched the VCD. It was poorly made, the fonts and captions extremely amatuerish and Dr. M's speech video was obviously a cut and paste. And when he did mention about how he 'abused his power and threw Anwar into jail even though he was innocent', he was obviously being sarcastic. Anybody who couldn't see past his sarcasm is either an idiot or is warped in some way.

I may say this because I am a big fan of Dr. M, but admittedly, no matter how one may disdain him, there is no denying that he was the best Prime Minister Malaysia ever had. But still there was almost a parade as Anwar arrived to the scene, an hour late than his supposed arrival. The PAS leaders were touting how Anwar deserves to be PM and hailed him as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia. God Forbid. He would quickly sell our country out and then save his own hide in some sinkhole in the U.S.A.

With all the hype going on about the elections, I can't help but give my dua kupang too.

First and foremost, I hereby admit that I believe the BN will win regardless of the outcome. But I also would like to see more Opposition in Parliament, just to keep the government in check. Although I am not fond of Pak Lah, due to his slowness, I have better faith in BN running the government than the coalition of oppositions. Why? Let me tell you why.

1) The coalition has no track record of running a government. All they do during their campaign is point out the wrongs in the BN government and made unrealistic promises to the people. I mean come on! Buying back all the toll booths on the highways? Don't make me laugh! It would take billions of the people's money and will be impossible to be achieved within their ruling term of 5 years. Free education? Education is already free. All the way up to IPTA you say? Okay, go ahead and use more of the people's money to subsidize the universities too. While you're at it, why not lower the fuel prices too so the government can lose even more in revenues and continue pampering the people with an easy, carefree life, further shielding them from the effects of globalization.

But for how long?

How is this different than spoon-feeding the people and make them more dependent on the government to take care of them instead of venturing out to take control of their destiny. Pffft!

2) It has been proven that the opposition cannot cooperate with each other. You see it all the time. They say they are together, but they are actually fighting for vastly different reasons, all clearly divided between the lines of race and religion.

Well I suppose those two reasons are sufficient. The campaigning here in the West is very race-based. DAP is vying for Chinese and Indians, while BN is vying for the Malays. You can tell by the language on their campaign posters.

And of course, this in turn, affects the sentiments of the people. People here are less tolerant than they appear of other races than we do in the East. For example, whenever I talk about some friends back home in Kuching I would be asked the specific race of my friends. Once is okay, but if I have to clarify each time that I was hanging out with a Chinese friend and another time a Malay friend and no, I don't know any Ibans personally though I think their language is amusing. Like, WTF, back home I don't even feel any need to clarify races, but here, whenever I mention the specific race of a friend, I feel like I'm being carefully scrutinized, as if being checked if I harbour any racist sentiments towards them.

Nobody seemed to believe me when I said I judge people based on their attitudes, not race. Because here, people judge you on your race. Openly.

I'm Malay and the others would look at me as if saying "Oh she covers up, but she's actually a bitch inside. They are all pretenders." And it has become an open secret what we think fo each other, thus hindering productive inter-racial communication because we are all clouded by our own prejudices.

I mean, who cares if Padungan is infested with Chinese and Petra Jaya is dominated by Malays. I mean, you're already comfortable living where you are. We Kuching-ites could live with that no problem because a lot of Malays are not comfortable living next to a neighbour with a pet dog. Perhaps because we live in different locations that we are more tolerant of each other. I live in peace, you live in peace, we don't disturb each other's homes, so no reason to hate each other either. Why can't the West think like that?

But no, the racial sentiments here are so strong that political parties are fighting to get more of 'their' people into certain locations. Like, if there are no Malays living in Seputeh (Mid Valley area), then build low cost homes so they can afford to live there and garner them more votes in the coming elections.

Gaaah!!

So now they are deciding where you should live too! Thanks to this election, a lot of people of other races are looking at me all weirdly. Hello! I'm from Sarawak! The only Sarawakian in the whole college! Did you know that Kuching urban seats are all won by the Oppositions yet we could all still live in harmony without going on a rally?

I am so fucking tired of people being so politically correct, always making a point that they are not racist by clearly mentioning the name of their Chinese/Malay/Indian best friend.

...Right.

If I had based my close friends in terms of race, God knows how many lamers I'd have in my Lamer List. If you are friends, you are friends. Don't have to point out their race you know. When you do that, you're treating your friend like some kind of novelty item, befriending them just because they are Chinese/Malay/Indian/Iban to show off what a multi-racial embracing citizen you are.

Less is more. When you try too hard, it backfires. What's so wrong in keeping an open mind and just take things as they are, for once?