So her crib is set, her items are all washed and prepared for use, all her aunts and uncles have been given promises that they will be the first to receive photos of her and news of her mother, and basically we're good to go. In the meantime, I still have 15 hours of freedom to my husband and I, after which, we will be relinquishing to Eva... for the rest of our lives. hehe..
Having kids is not for the weak-hearted, the reluctant, the fickle-minded and the free. There is a lot to do, to sacrifice, to give up, to go through but it is a learning experience for us all. I mean, of all the work or jobs in the world, being parents require no prerequisites or qualifications and you don't really have to go through a screening to be well on the way to be the guardians of your own flesh and blood. Just about anyone can be a parent, biologically speaking. But to be good parents, that's very subjective.
It is a life-long test that most of us are put through on a daily basis, cause once you start, you never get hand in a resignation.
Apr 27, 2009
Apr 26, 2009
Book Review: Trouble
I finally finished Trouble by Jesse Kellerman.
Summarised, I would say it felt like a chore instead of a leisurely read. It was an improvement from Sunstroke but there were just a few things that really got in the way of me liking the book, like how Kellerman drags his writings out for miles before getting to the staccato-like points. Then, there is the repetition through every chapter to show the characteristics of the antagonist.
I sped through like a bullet train after I arrived at the midpoint of the book.
I should have known to keep away when the blurb compared it to Fatal Attraction [dead giveaway there] but yeah, I was too entranced by his third book that I bought the book on faith instead of basing it on common sense. But don't take my word for it, check this link out for an avid reader's review of the same book.
Really enhanced my formula for locating good books to read: don't buy American. I do make a few exceptions but many a time, real life experiences enhances the strength of the formula.
Currently starting on a Nicola Upson's book: An expert in murder. She was born in Suffolk and read English in Cambridge, and the word Murder is on the title. What more could you ask for?
It's relatively thin. May have to bring this one to the hospital to finish it. If I can finish it. Dammit, hungry again. Food~~~
Summarised, I would say it felt like a chore instead of a leisurely read. It was an improvement from Sunstroke but there were just a few things that really got in the way of me liking the book, like how Kellerman drags his writings out for miles before getting to the staccato-like points. Then, there is the repetition through every chapter to show the characteristics of the antagonist.
I sped through like a bullet train after I arrived at the midpoint of the book.
I should have known to keep away when the blurb compared it to Fatal Attraction [dead giveaway there] but yeah, I was too entranced by his third book that I bought the book on faith instead of basing it on common sense. But don't take my word for it, check this link out for an avid reader's review of the same book.
Really enhanced my formula for locating good books to read: don't buy American. I do make a few exceptions but many a time, real life experiences enhances the strength of the formula.
Currently starting on a Nicola Upson's book: An expert in murder. She was born in Suffolk and read English in Cambridge, and the word Murder is on the title. What more could you ask for?
It's relatively thin. May have to bring this one to the hospital to finish it. If I can finish it. Dammit, hungry again. Food~~~
Mama's Big Day
Okay, maybe it is still a bit too early to be sending reminders to everyone but, MOTHER'S DAY is coming soon. It's just too weeks away, 10th of May to be exact.
And it's my first one being both a daughter and a mother at the same time. Kewl...
Anyways, just to share something interesting with you, the official flower for Mother's Day is the red carnation because according to a Christian legend (and Wikipedia) it sprung up [from the ground, I assume] when Jesus' mother shed tears of distress when seeing her son suffer at the cross.
Although now, it is more of a commercialized kind of thing, like how Christmas is about presents and giving and last minute shopping. But women just love receiving flowers, it's in their nature, so get some for your mama this Mother's Day.
Look at me, I'm purty.
And it's my first one being both a daughter and a mother at the same time. Kewl...
Anyways, just to share something interesting with you, the official flower for Mother's Day is the red carnation because according to a Christian legend (and Wikipedia) it sprung up [from the ground, I assume] when Jesus' mother shed tears of distress when seeing her son suffer at the cross.
Although now, it is more of a commercialized kind of thing, like how Christmas is about presents and giving and last minute shopping. But women just love receiving flowers, it's in their nature, so get some for your mama this Mother's Day.
Look at me, I'm purty.But if you can't or you live too far away, just give them a call. I think they would love to have a chat with their son or daughter on such a special Sunday.
I mean it, call them!
I mean it, call them!
Apr 25, 2009
To whack or not to whack
Russell Peters was right. Asian people whack their kids. They whack their kids hard. But what are the repercussions of this century-old way of Asian upbringing?
My mother told me a story that popped into my head whilst I was writing this:
With that ending, my mother also left a cautionary note, that it is sometimes more practical to question how some things had been done all this while, than to just take it at face value. Of course, this particular story sounds more like an anecdote and no harm ever came from having to cut off the edges of sausages before they are cooked, but what about the other traditions that we are to follow, based on what our great-grandmothers tell us?
Being beaten for some Asians can be construed as a symbolic gesture of being loved (and I say this loosely) because it is not uncommon in Asian countries that children are beaten as they grew up. It's not as bad as it sounds: parents use clothes hangers, belts, wooden spoons, the back of their hands and rattan canes they call rotan.
Aahh.. the rotan. That was a huge hit in schools back in the days when teachers are still allowed to cane students for disciplinary problems. After awhile, some smart alec went overseas then came back and figured out it was 'inhumane' to put children through this form of capital punishment and banned rotans from school. And that's when everything went haywire and crime skyrocketed among students. But that's another story.
Like all of my peers, I grew up with beatings and with a lot of medicated oil for relief afterwards; my husband was beaten by a teacher in school for not doing his homework. Til this day, he remembers the name of the teacher who gave him bruises on his backside. I think that that was the reason the teacher did it... to be remembered.
Anyways, my husband's parents never lifted a finger at him, although his older brother did. The mother of a friend of mine broke a wooden spoon when she was disciplining her. She bought another spoon the next day. Then, there was another boy classmate who takes the beatings in the form of a hose. I'm not sure if that works. But my parents chose leather belts as their prime arsenal. They had four daughters and we turned out okay. In fact, my mother said that we were easier to handle than her grandkids, and I believe her.
Speaking of the third generation, kids nowadays don't get beaten for anything. You have globalization to thank for that. Now, to be safe and to prevent heart attacks in some of those reading this, we have to define the word: beat. The beating I'm talking about here isn't the Rihanna type. It ranges from a slap on the palm, a tick behind the ear, the twisting of the earlobes to a full-out whack on a diaper-padded bottom. The kids were never in any harm's way, and yet this low-level form of violence (if you can call it that) were not even extended to them.
And the no.1 reason I hear as the main excuse is: They don't know better. They're too young.
Lady, in the wise words of Russell Peters: beat your kids.
If they know how to play with fire, knives or power sockets, they know enough to be given a whack. Similarly, if they know how to cause harm to another human being, leading to the death of that human being... I don't care if you are 10, you are going to hang for that. The more civilised society has become, the more understanding we are, the more threat we put ourselves into... and we tend to not own up to what are supposed to be our responsibilities.
You see this in many developed countries. One shoots up a whole community because he loses a job. Another, because he couldn't speak English or communicate with another person. Kids who couldn't take the bullying in school takes his father's gun to school and to his classmates and teacher, then to themselves. In Japan a few years back a guy storms a kindergarden, killing innocent children who can barely pronounce their a i u e o, whilst illegal immigrants here rob, kidnap and kill locals because they are out of work and they have family members to feed.
None of these people are actually sorry. They were pressed, they were influenced by the need to counterattack when provoked but none of them actually took responsibility for their actions. And that is very worrying. But to most of them, it is acceptable because they had been pushed to a corner and they are just retaliating. It's like how they say, things that were criminal in normal society are not necessarily criminal in times of war.
But I digressed.
Children need to be taught the idea and concept of responsibility at a very young age. They have to understand that everything they do have consequences and perhaps by teaching them young, we might actually help save the future generation from self-annihilation.
The future seems so grim, suddenly. Or maybe it's just the coffee talking.
My mother told me a story that popped into my head whilst I was writing this:
A household of four generations of women lived together in which one day the youngest, a child of 8, asked her mother why she always cut the edges off the sausages before putting them into the frying pan.
The mother said that she didn't know, but that was how her mother had been making the sausages since she was a little girl.
After the little girl pressed on, and out of curiousity, the mother asked the grandmother the reason behind this suddenly weird and senseless practice... only to find that the grandmother had no idea why either.
So off the three went to the great-grandmother, who was reading her newspaper through her fishing bowl glasses. She looked at them with her 80-year- old squinty eyes, smacked her lips and said:
"Why, our frying pan was too small to house the sausages, so we had to cut the tip of the sausages off to make the damn sausages fit! Now go away and leave me in peace!"
With that ending, my mother also left a cautionary note, that it is sometimes more practical to question how some things had been done all this while, than to just take it at face value. Of course, this particular story sounds more like an anecdote and no harm ever came from having to cut off the edges of sausages before they are cooked, but what about the other traditions that we are to follow, based on what our great-grandmothers tell us?
Being beaten for some Asians can be construed as a symbolic gesture of being loved (and I say this loosely) because it is not uncommon in Asian countries that children are beaten as they grew up. It's not as bad as it sounds: parents use clothes hangers, belts, wooden spoons, the back of their hands and rattan canes they call rotan.
Aahh.. the rotan. That was a huge hit in schools back in the days when teachers are still allowed to cane students for disciplinary problems. After awhile, some smart alec went overseas then came back and figured out it was 'inhumane' to put children through this form of capital punishment and banned rotans from school. And that's when everything went haywire and crime skyrocketed among students. But that's another story.
Like all of my peers, I grew up with beatings and with a lot of medicated oil for relief afterwards; my husband was beaten by a teacher in school for not doing his homework. Til this day, he remembers the name of the teacher who gave him bruises on his backside. I think that that was the reason the teacher did it... to be remembered.
Anyways, my husband's parents never lifted a finger at him, although his older brother did. The mother of a friend of mine broke a wooden spoon when she was disciplining her. She bought another spoon the next day. Then, there was another boy classmate who takes the beatings in the form of a hose. I'm not sure if that works. But my parents chose leather belts as their prime arsenal. They had four daughters and we turned out okay. In fact, my mother said that we were easier to handle than her grandkids, and I believe her.
Speaking of the third generation, kids nowadays don't get beaten for anything. You have globalization to thank for that. Now, to be safe and to prevent heart attacks in some of those reading this, we have to define the word: beat. The beating I'm talking about here isn't the Rihanna type. It ranges from a slap on the palm, a tick behind the ear, the twisting of the earlobes to a full-out whack on a diaper-padded bottom. The kids were never in any harm's way, and yet this low-level form of violence (if you can call it that) were not even extended to them.
And the no.1 reason I hear as the main excuse is: They don't know better. They're too young.
Lady, in the wise words of Russell Peters: beat your kids.
If they know how to play with fire, knives or power sockets, they know enough to be given a whack. Similarly, if they know how to cause harm to another human being, leading to the death of that human being... I don't care if you are 10, you are going to hang for that. The more civilised society has become, the more understanding we are, the more threat we put ourselves into... and we tend to not own up to what are supposed to be our responsibilities.
You see this in many developed countries. One shoots up a whole community because he loses a job. Another, because he couldn't speak English or communicate with another person. Kids who couldn't take the bullying in school takes his father's gun to school and to his classmates and teacher, then to themselves. In Japan a few years back a guy storms a kindergarden, killing innocent children who can barely pronounce their a i u e o, whilst illegal immigrants here rob, kidnap and kill locals because they are out of work and they have family members to feed.
None of these people are actually sorry. They were pressed, they were influenced by the need to counterattack when provoked but none of them actually took responsibility for their actions. And that is very worrying. But to most of them, it is acceptable because they had been pushed to a corner and they are just retaliating. It's like how they say, things that were criminal in normal society are not necessarily criminal in times of war.
But I digressed.
Children need to be taught the idea and concept of responsibility at a very young age. They have to understand that everything they do have consequences and perhaps by teaching them young, we might actually help save the future generation from self-annihilation.
The future seems so grim, suddenly. Or maybe it's just the coffee talking.
Good Girl Gone Bad
I was never much of a fan of Rihanna's music until her Good Girl Gone Bad album and the various remakes of her hit Umbrella by Youtube sensation Marie Digby (and others) hit the billboards. Then, I started paying attention.
When news of her being beaten up by Chris Brown prior to the 2009 Grammy Awards show surfaced, I paid attention again.
Like many women out there, I was deeply disturbia... I mean disturbed, when I found out the extent of her injuries. There were bruises, bite marks, her lips were swollen and the photo that was circulated in the Internet do not resemble the beautiful Rihanna that everyone knew.
In fact, the injuries were so bad that she had to cancel her concert tour to Malaysia which was scheduled about a week after that incident. So far, there were no news on her returning to Malaysia but everyone is still holding on to their tickets, hoping to be able to still see her perform.
That is how much faith people (or her fans) put on her. The young generation here are so into her that everytime she has a hit, all male radio DJs shamelessly salivate over her, over the radio, in the morning rush to work and the evening rush back home. They play her songs 3000 times a day.
Schoolgirls have her song as their ringtone, caller ringtone, message tone, MMS tone, their personal album, in their iPods, in their PCs and would play them in the toilet if they had the technology to do so, I think. People look up to her to be an inspiration of how far you can go if you work hard, and that it doesn't matter if you came from a small island or from obscurity.
And so it was so regretful to find out that after all the suffering and pain her boyfriend (I don't think they're in the 'ex' stage yet) put her through, she took him back, spent a getaway together with him, tried to bail the very court that was supposed to charge him for domestic violence, tried not to testify against him; all in all, tried to forget everything that has happened as thought it was not important.
I am aware of and can understand why some battered women remained in households where domestic violence is a daily occurrence. Some of these women barely have an education, and if they do have one, they are not earning enough in their jobs to be able to fend for themselves or for their children (in most cases, children are the main reason they put up with the beatings).
But Rihanna is a superstar who tours in all over the world making millions by swaying hips and belting love songs. She should know better than to act as though it was okay for women to endure domestic violence as part of their life, or their love life.
Maybe she needs a little time to grow up before she becomes a role model for young girls, cause she is seriously sending the wrong message to them right now. And I wouldn't think that it was appropriate or necessary for me to be commenting on a superstar's way of life if it wasn't for the fact that one day, my daughter will be putting up posters of a beautiful superstar all over her bedroom wall, looking up and admiring the way of life that star is leading, and if imitation is the best form of flattery, I really hope she will be imitating a person who has more common sense in that pretty head of hers. For her own sake.
When news of her being beaten up by Chris Brown prior to the 2009 Grammy Awards show surfaced, I paid attention again.
Like many women out there, I was deeply disturbia... I mean disturbed, when I found out the extent of her injuries. There were bruises, bite marks, her lips were swollen and the photo that was circulated in the Internet do not resemble the beautiful Rihanna that everyone knew.
In fact, the injuries were so bad that she had to cancel her concert tour to Malaysia which was scheduled about a week after that incident. So far, there were no news on her returning to Malaysia but everyone is still holding on to their tickets, hoping to be able to still see her perform.
That is how much faith people (or her fans) put on her. The young generation here are so into her that everytime she has a hit, all male radio DJs shamelessly salivate over her, over the radio, in the morning rush to work and the evening rush back home. They play her songs 3000 times a day.
Schoolgirls have her song as their ringtone, caller ringtone, message tone, MMS tone, their personal album, in their iPods, in their PCs and would play them in the toilet if they had the technology to do so, I think. People look up to her to be an inspiration of how far you can go if you work hard, and that it doesn't matter if you came from a small island or from obscurity.
And so it was so regretful to find out that after all the suffering and pain her boyfriend (I don't think they're in the 'ex' stage yet) put her through, she took him back, spent a getaway together with him, tried to bail the very court that was supposed to charge him for domestic violence, tried not to testify against him; all in all, tried to forget everything that has happened as thought it was not important.
I am aware of and can understand why some battered women remained in households where domestic violence is a daily occurrence. Some of these women barely have an education, and if they do have one, they are not earning enough in their jobs to be able to fend for themselves or for their children (in most cases, children are the main reason they put up with the beatings).
But Rihanna is a superstar who tours in all over the world making millions by swaying hips and belting love songs. She should know better than to act as though it was okay for women to endure domestic violence as part of their life, or their love life.
Maybe she needs a little time to grow up before she becomes a role model for young girls, cause she is seriously sending the wrong message to them right now. And I wouldn't think that it was appropriate or necessary for me to be commenting on a superstar's way of life if it wasn't for the fact that one day, my daughter will be putting up posters of a beautiful superstar all over her bedroom wall, looking up and admiring the way of life that star is leading, and if imitation is the best form of flattery, I really hope she will be imitating a person who has more common sense in that pretty head of hers. For her own sake.
Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol
Long before Robert Langdon aka Tom Hanks hit the screen running with the Da VInci Code, I was already entranced with the book and the controversies linked to it. Before they had all those second-rate Breaking the Code or Unravelling the secrets behind the phenomena types, I had gone through all four of Dan Brown's books: Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Digital Fortress and Deception Point.
Only the front two books made a mark. Oh, and may I add, Da Vinci Code was his fourth book, Angels and Demons his first. The other two books in between... well, you can go without because I don't see them as a movie-makeable novels. And honestly, they kinda drifted from his symbiologist idea. But if you are a true blue fan, go for it.
Anyways, the reason I'm bringing this up is cause Dan Brown has a new book coming in mid-Sept of this year. Due for release on 15th of Sept is his latest: The Lost Symbol. Okay, maybe he should get a little more creative on the title but at least we know he is reverting to his symbolic days with this. Robert Langdon is in it.
Check out all four novels at his website here. And this is the cover of his latest book. I hope they work up the hardcover version because this looks like a who moved my cheese kind of cover. Cheesy.
I'm the latest from Dan Brown!
Only the front two books made a mark. Oh, and may I add, Da Vinci Code was his fourth book, Angels and Demons his first. The other two books in between... well, you can go without because I don't see them as a movie-makeable novels. And honestly, they kinda drifted from his symbiologist idea. But if you are a true blue fan, go for it.
Anyways, the reason I'm bringing this up is cause Dan Brown has a new book coming in mid-Sept of this year. Due for release on 15th of Sept is his latest: The Lost Symbol. Okay, maybe he should get a little more creative on the title but at least we know he is reverting to his symbolic days with this. Robert Langdon is in it.
Check out all four novels at his website here. And this is the cover of his latest book. I hope they work up the hardcover version because this looks like a who moved my cheese kind of cover. Cheesy.
I'm the latest from Dan Brown!I am saving up for this one.
Apr 24, 2009
Hmm.. this doesn't make sense.
The Star Online> Friday April 24, 2009 MYT 5:26:00 PM
POOR PREGNANT MUM JAILED A DAY AND FINED RM1000
JOHOR BARU: A pregnant woman was sentenced to one day in jail and fined RM1,000 after she told a Magistrates court she stole baby clothes worth over RM150 because she was too poor to pay for it.
Housewife Chai Suk Yee, 26, from Taman Daya, was charged with committing the offence at Level 2 of Jusco Tebrau City at around 3.30pm on April 23.
She was accused of stealing a list of 10 items of baby clothes and accessories worth RM158.70.
Chai, who pleaded guilty, told Magistrate Hafizah Johor Ariff Johor that she took the clothes for her unborn child because she could not afford to buy the clothes.
She also said that she was unemployed and her husband did not have a stable job.
Hafizah then sentenced her to one day jail and an RM1,000 fine or one month jail if the fine was not paid. Chai paid the fine.
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There has to be more to this than meets the eye. First, how can 10 baby items and accessories be worth only Rm158.70? A cute dress would cost about RM40 in a normal supermarket. Okay, I'm kidding. There are items or baby clothes that cost around RM10 per piece, but if I'm shoplifting, I might as well take expensive ones right?
Next, I get all my baby stuff from friends, sister in law and colleagues: hand-me-downs save you a lot. Seriously. Why buy? or steal? Just tell people you're pregnant. It's like a green light for people to dump used stuff on you.
Up next, let me get this straight: she is unemployed, the husband doesn't have a steady job and so she goes shoplifting... but she is able to pay the RM1000 fine?
And one last thing, the lady shoplifted less than RM200 worth of items and she is jailed and fined RM1000. For a person who distributes lewd photos, they will only be charged in court and fined a measly RM100. Now that is really the most mind-boggling part of this whole affair. Someone in the law-making department should take a look at this. But then again, it would take forever to get anyone to do anything since no one has died from anything related to this.
It's about time that this be taken seriously.
The Star Online> Friday April 24, 2009
KARPAL FALLS OUT OF WHEELCHAIR IN COURT COMPLEX
KUANTAN: Karpal Singh fell from his wheelchair when he was about to attend a High Court hearing involving Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob and logging company Seruan Gemilang Makmur Sdn Bhd here Friday.
The Bukit Gelugor member of Parliament who was also an attorney for Seruan Gemilang, was initially carried by several aides up the stairs at the court complex with him remaining in the wheelchair.
But they lost balance and Karpal was tipped onto the five-foot way.
"It's time for us to have a good system with facilities for the disabled.
“Fortunately nothing happened to me. If something had, there'd be another by-election," he told reporters after the court proceedings.
He said this was the first time that he had fallen from the wheelchair.
He said his back hurt and he found difficulty in moving his hands, initially, after the incident, he said. Karpal, 69, became wheelchair-bound after a road accident on the way home from the Bayan Lepas International Airport in Penang on Jan 29, 2005.
Friday's court proceedings wa to hear the mentri besar's application for a stay of execution of a RM63 million judgement in favour of Seruan Gemilang following a suit for a breach of agreement allegedly committed by the Pahang government.
In court, Karpal and co-counsel Rajoo D. Moothy asked Justice Datuk V.T. Singham for more time to reply to an affidavit filed by Adnan who was represented by lawyer Datuk Shafie Abdullah and State Legal Adviser Datuk Mat Zara'Ai Alias on Wednesday.
Following this, the court postponed the hearing to next Thursday. - Bernama
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You can bullshit all you want about Malaysia being a country with first world infrastructure, her own National Car, having one of the toughest education systems in the world (STPM) or being able to send a man into space, but we are still far behind many countries in care-giving and having disabled-friendly transportation systems as well as friendlier access to commercial and government buildings.
For those who don't know him, Karpal Singh is a prominent lawyer who handles high-profile cases, is a member of Parliament and the Opposition party, very outspoken and wheelchair-bound. Plus, as seen on the newsclip on tv just now, after he settled all his matter at the court complex, they had to carry him down the same flights of steps.
It was during my pregnancy that I was made to realize how difficult it is to go up and down flights of staircases, especially when you are in your third trimester. I live on the third floor of an apartment/flat complex. There are no lifts in the building. You can imagine how out of breath I am when I reach the top or the bottom, how many stops I took in between each staircase... and I don't even want to think how I'm going to make it back to the house after I deliver next Tuesday. Sigh...
Apr 23, 2009
Book review: Sunstroke
By Jesse Kellerman, writer of The Brutal Art. Was his first book I think. Neeehhhh, I don't really like it. It drags, I was expecting more of a twistier twist ending and I don't get the humour (one of the selling points of the book, according to the blurb).
Gonna start on Trouble, his second book. Crossing my fingers
Gonna start on Trouble, his second book. Crossing my fingers
Modern Age Proverbs
There is a Chinese saying that is spoken with a reprimanding tone towards one who hasn't thought out his plan well, or who just basically does not plan. Goes something like this.
Why do you "look for a toilet when your poo is on its way out"?
I know. It is disgusting. But honestly, it is pretty much self-explanatory, and I have to say the original doesn't sound half as bad as the translation. *lol*
Why do you "look for a toilet when your poo is on its way out"?
I know. It is disgusting. But honestly, it is pretty much self-explanatory, and I have to say the original doesn't sound half as bad as the translation. *lol*
Apr 22, 2009
HIV and AIDS
Life and the study of it: Biology, fascinates me.
What is fascinating is that every living thing on this Earth will do its best to survive... except maybe for humans. Some commit suicide for reasons of such insignificance that it boggles the mind. Rather than trying to use their complex brains to figure a way around the problem, or solving the problem, they take the 'easy way out' ( I never thought looking down the barrel of a gun is something easy) and shoot themselves and sometimes others, to smithereens, just to get a point across.
To explain how ridiculous some people are in thinking that ending their lives is a better alternative than to fight for the opportunity to prolong it, today's class will be about the HIV virus, the cause of the disease we know as AIDS.
Pay attention.
I'm kidding. It is just a very interesting topic, a sentiment you will probably share with me at the end of this post.
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HIV and AIDS
HIV, due to the lack of creativity amongst the scientists who first found it, stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. You can easily google it to find out that it is the most widely accepted cause for the the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS.
How it is transmitted
Back when I was still in school, the level of understanding of the virus and the disease was relatively minimal. It was the scariest disease of the decade. Textbooks I was made to study listed three main reasons for the transmission of the disease:
1. the sharing of tainted hypodermic needles or syringes amongst drug addicts
2. the promiscuous lifestyles of people who change partners faster than their mobile phones
3. from the infected mother to the foetus in the womb
How they die from it
Those who are HIV-positive die from secondary diseases such as pneumonia, tumours or skin cancer known as Sarcoma. It was not specified how long it takes for HIV+ patients to succumb to the disease.
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And that was it. Very simplistic way of looking at it but... it is enough information for 15-year-olds to take in in the 90s.
This is one of the reasons you should not take education for granted. What they tell you in school may not be the total truth, or may not be the updated version information that may help save your life.
The stigma of being HIV+
Based on the transmission methods listed above for the HIV virus, HIV can be depicted as a quite selective virus or biological being. People with questionable backgrounds like drug addicts, homosexuals (back in the day) or promiscuous mothers were regularly viewed as the few main groups of likely victims of the virus. This is one of the reasons AIDS is viewed as a taboo disease in Asia, or at least in South East Asia. If you are infected with it, chances are you are a person from either of the three groups. People look at you strange, even when you have done no wrong.
Not a very picky virus, it is...
So it's good to know that people are beginning to understand that the HIV virus is colourblind, race-blind and religion-blind. Not in a good sense, but at least people are understanding that school teachers, patients waiting for organ transfers or even blood donors can easily be infected by the HIV virus when partners are not faithful in marriages, and when medical personnel become lackadaisical with hygiene and sterilization, in which tainted blood may be transmitted to blood donors who were expecting to do a good deed, only to return home infected with the deadly virus. In my country, there had already been a reported case regarding this incident.
In fact, if you take the word of Wikipedian writers, there is a much higher rate of contracting the disease through blood transfusion and childbirth than to get it through any form of intercourse or from needle sharing for drug use. See Prevention section.
New information regarding the virus and the disease shows that it could take up to 10 years for the virus to click into action. During the 10 years leading up to the big day, the virus self-replicates through host cells taken from the host's body. Am I losing you? Okay, let's tone this down a bit.
Falling sick and the human immune system
As the name suggests, the virus attacks the immune system of the body. Your immune system is what keeps you alive after you have become sick with a disease or an illness. Coughing, fevers, a leaky nose, rashes, phlegm, wounds and blisters, amongst others are symptoms, shows your body working against pathogens: bad bacteria which make you fall sick.
So a bacteria enters your body in many imaginable ways (you may have ingested it, you may have breathed it in, you may have been in contact with bodily fluids (sneezes) that contain the bacteria) and start causing havoc to your internal systems. Every bacteria attacks a particular part or system of the body.
This is when your body sends out its soldiers or white blood cells to protect your body whilst attacking and disintegrating the bacteria where they stand. Then, you heal and you go out into the Sun and play again until the next bacteria or virus strikes.
How HIV works
Nature is so creative.
At least the HIV virus (actually the V in HIV stands for virus, and since this is an oversight by the original scientists who thought of it, hadn't thought of, let's stick to calling it HIV virus to make the explanation easier to get through) is, in this sense.
In the normal sense the usual bacteria are recognized by the immune system (soldiers) through markers on the surface of the bacteria; it's something like putting yourself under the spotlight for wearing your uniform while entering the enemy's fortress. You're bound to get shot.
So how do you work around this problem?
You put on the enemy's uniform. You make yourself indiscernable (it's something like blending in, camouflaged, disappearing into the crowd). And while you're at it, you poison the minds of the enemy soldiers, brainwashing them into producing ammunition for you and crossing over to your side. This is what the HIV virus does. Over the course of 10 years. Until the very last moment when something (we don't know what yet) triggers it and it is released, full blown, in the form of AIDS.
I repeat, Nature is damn creative.
How HIV works in more technical terms (I'm not really good at this)
Technically, the HIV virus attaches itself to a T-cell, a white blood cell (aka a soldier), injects its DNA into the cell, tricks the cell into using its own manufacturing system to produce more of the virus' DNA and producing capsules for the DNA to be encapsulated in before destroying itself to release the new baby viruses into the bloodstream to infect other T cells.
Go, my little pretties, go infect the other T cells. Sigh, they grow up so fast.
Last but not least, how one dies from AIDS
Putting it in simple terms, you don't really die from AIDS, you actually die from secondary diseases (such as pneumonia, TB, Kaposi Sarcoma (cancer)) and the lack of a fully operating immune system to help you fight against it. Yes, your fortress goes down because all your brainwashed soldiers are not doing their part protecting the fortress so when your enemies storm the castle, cross the bridge, and climb your walls and your soldiers are helpless to fight back, the kingdom is thus, taken.
And to think that this attack strategy is derived and pictured in nature through a virus, the smallest living (loosely termed) thing on Earth, you can't but help marvel at Darwin's survival of the fittest theory.
I may be small, but I'm one of the deadliest things on Earth. Fear me.
Now as your homework: Look up how the HIV is transmitted, the efforts taken to reduce the transmission rate of the disease and as a side project, read up this very interesting link on misconceptions about HIV and AIDS.
Note: Despite the way this article is written, I resent anyone who thinks that I speak of HIV and AIDS as a joke or in a tone too light to be taken seriously. I believe that it is important to educate the public on issues that affect society and the community as a whole. None of us are safe from any forms of disease, including AIDS. We do not get Survivor-style immunity from another of Mother Nature's creations and so we must arm ourselves with the knowledge to steer clear of these creations' pursuit to survive another day. Survival of the fittest, right? Now, go get fit.
What is fascinating is that every living thing on this Earth will do its best to survive... except maybe for humans. Some commit suicide for reasons of such insignificance that it boggles the mind. Rather than trying to use their complex brains to figure a way around the problem, or solving the problem, they take the 'easy way out' ( I never thought looking down the barrel of a gun is something easy) and shoot themselves and sometimes others, to smithereens, just to get a point across.
To explain how ridiculous some people are in thinking that ending their lives is a better alternative than to fight for the opportunity to prolong it, today's class will be about the HIV virus, the cause of the disease we know as AIDS.
Pay attention.
I'm kidding. It is just a very interesting topic, a sentiment you will probably share with me at the end of this post.
----
HIV and AIDSHIV, due to the lack of creativity amongst the scientists who first found it, stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. You can easily google it to find out that it is the most widely accepted cause for the the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS.
How it is transmittedBack when I was still in school, the level of understanding of the virus and the disease was relatively minimal. It was the scariest disease of the decade. Textbooks I was made to study listed three main reasons for the transmission of the disease:
1. the sharing of tainted hypodermic needles or syringes amongst drug addicts
2. the promiscuous lifestyles of people who change partners faster than their mobile phones
3. from the infected mother to the foetus in the womb
How they die from itThose who are HIV-positive die from secondary diseases such as pneumonia, tumours or skin cancer known as Sarcoma. It was not specified how long it takes for HIV+ patients to succumb to the disease.
---
And that was it. Very simplistic way of looking at it but... it is enough information for 15-year-olds to take in in the 90s.
This is one of the reasons you should not take education for granted. What they tell you in school may not be the total truth, or may not be the updated version information that may help save your life.
The stigma of being HIV+Based on the transmission methods listed above for the HIV virus, HIV can be depicted as a quite selective virus or biological being. People with questionable backgrounds like drug addicts, homosexuals (back in the day) or promiscuous mothers were regularly viewed as the few main groups of likely victims of the virus. This is one of the reasons AIDS is viewed as a taboo disease in Asia, or at least in South East Asia. If you are infected with it, chances are you are a person from either of the three groups. People look at you strange, even when you have done no wrong.
Not a very picky virus, it is...So it's good to know that people are beginning to understand that the HIV virus is colourblind, race-blind and religion-blind. Not in a good sense, but at least people are understanding that school teachers, patients waiting for organ transfers or even blood donors can easily be infected by the HIV virus when partners are not faithful in marriages, and when medical personnel become lackadaisical with hygiene and sterilization, in which tainted blood may be transmitted to blood donors who were expecting to do a good deed, only to return home infected with the deadly virus. In my country, there had already been a reported case regarding this incident.
In fact, if you take the word of Wikipedian writers, there is a much higher rate of contracting the disease through blood transfusion and childbirth than to get it through any form of intercourse or from needle sharing for drug use. See Prevention section.
New information regarding the virus and the disease shows that it could take up to 10 years for the virus to click into action. During the 10 years leading up to the big day, the virus self-replicates through host cells taken from the host's body. Am I losing you? Okay, let's tone this down a bit.
Falling sick and the human immune systemAs the name suggests, the virus attacks the immune system of the body. Your immune system is what keeps you alive after you have become sick with a disease or an illness. Coughing, fevers, a leaky nose, rashes, phlegm, wounds and blisters, amongst others are symptoms, shows your body working against pathogens: bad bacteria which make you fall sick.
So a bacteria enters your body in many imaginable ways (you may have ingested it, you may have breathed it in, you may have been in contact with bodily fluids (sneezes) that contain the bacteria) and start causing havoc to your internal systems. Every bacteria attacks a particular part or system of the body.
This is when your body sends out its soldiers or white blood cells to protect your body whilst attacking and disintegrating the bacteria where they stand. Then, you heal and you go out into the Sun and play again until the next bacteria or virus strikes.
How HIV worksNature is so creative.
At least the HIV virus (actually the V in HIV stands for virus, and since this is an oversight by the original scientists who thought of it, hadn't thought of, let's stick to calling it HIV virus to make the explanation easier to get through) is, in this sense.
In the normal sense the usual bacteria are recognized by the immune system (soldiers) through markers on the surface of the bacteria; it's something like putting yourself under the spotlight for wearing your uniform while entering the enemy's fortress. You're bound to get shot.
So how do you work around this problem?
You put on the enemy's uniform. You make yourself indiscernable (it's something like blending in, camouflaged, disappearing into the crowd). And while you're at it, you poison the minds of the enemy soldiers, brainwashing them into producing ammunition for you and crossing over to your side. This is what the HIV virus does. Over the course of 10 years. Until the very last moment when something (we don't know what yet) triggers it and it is released, full blown, in the form of AIDS.
I repeat, Nature is damn creative.
How HIV works in more technical terms (I'm not really good at this)Technically, the HIV virus attaches itself to a T-cell, a white blood cell (aka a soldier), injects its DNA into the cell, tricks the cell into using its own manufacturing system to produce more of the virus' DNA and producing capsules for the DNA to be encapsulated in before destroying itself to release the new baby viruses into the bloodstream to infect other T cells.
Go, my little pretties, go infect the other T cells. Sigh, they grow up so fast.
Last but not least, how one dies from AIDSPutting it in simple terms, you don't really die from AIDS, you actually die from secondary diseases (such as pneumonia, TB, Kaposi Sarcoma (cancer)) and the lack of a fully operating immune system to help you fight against it. Yes, your fortress goes down because all your brainwashed soldiers are not doing their part protecting the fortress so when your enemies storm the castle, cross the bridge, and climb your walls and your soldiers are helpless to fight back, the kingdom is thus, taken.
And to think that this attack strategy is derived and pictured in nature through a virus, the smallest living (loosely termed) thing on Earth, you can't but help marvel at Darwin's survival of the fittest theory.
I may be small, but I'm one of the deadliest things on Earth. Fear me.
Now as your homework: Look up how the HIV is transmitted, the efforts taken to reduce the transmission rate of the disease and as a side project, read up this very interesting link on misconceptions about HIV and AIDS.
Note: Despite the way this article is written, I resent anyone who thinks that I speak of HIV and AIDS as a joke or in a tone too light to be taken seriously. I believe that it is important to educate the public on issues that affect society and the community as a whole. None of us are safe from any forms of disease, including AIDS. We do not get Survivor-style immunity from another of Mother Nature's creations and so we must arm ourselves with the knowledge to steer clear of these creations' pursuit to survive another day. Survival of the fittest, right? Now, go get fit.Biggest Loser (in the nicest sense possible)
My husband got me Astro so that I won't be so bored during my confinement, and so I can keep track of how uncle is doing with this singing competition. One of my favouritest channel has to be AXN because of CSI, Vegas, NY and Miami. Hallmark also got my attention through Without a Trace and also a reality show called The Biggest Loser.
Now, I am not one who follows reality shows. I don't even watch American Idol no more. There's only so much of the same thing that you can take, if you know what I mean.
But The Biggest Loser, it's probably the only reality TV show that I cry to. Okay, maybe hormones had a bit of an influence here but the show is seriously inspirational. The one I watched today was Season 3.
Contestants from 50 states all over the United States were brought together, had some of them eliminated, the remaining ones stay together in a ranch to lose weight in a 3-month plus competition. So the more you lose (in pounds) the bigger the loser you are and the richer you will be; $250k richer to be exact.
What is amazing about this show is the reality of it. You can see the change in the people who are in the competition and you see how well they have adapted themselves with their new body, their new thinking, how they are bettering themselves as a new person. Most importantly, you can see the reason behind them wanting to shed off those pounds from their bodies.
And I don't mean 10-20 pounds kind of shedding. The winner for the season I watched today, Erik Chopin, started out at 407 lbs, looking like this:
Before: 407 lbs
At the end of the show, he looked like ... this:
After: 193 lbs
Now tell me that that is not amazing!
He is a father of two and it was on his doctor's advice that he started losing weight because he was having health problems. His motivation to win this was so he could [live long enough to] "walk his girls down the aisle". You can't help but to feel proud of him for this achievement. I'm not sure if I myself could do what he had done, and that makes him the biggest loser (in the nicest sense possible).
Now, I am not one who follows reality shows. I don't even watch American Idol no more. There's only so much of the same thing that you can take, if you know what I mean.
But The Biggest Loser, it's probably the only reality TV show that I cry to. Okay, maybe hormones had a bit of an influence here but the show is seriously inspirational. The one I watched today was Season 3.
Contestants from 50 states all over the United States were brought together, had some of them eliminated, the remaining ones stay together in a ranch to lose weight in a 3-month plus competition. So the more you lose (in pounds) the bigger the loser you are and the richer you will be; $250k richer to be exact.
What is amazing about this show is the reality of it. You can see the change in the people who are in the competition and you see how well they have adapted themselves with their new body, their new thinking, how they are bettering themselves as a new person. Most importantly, you can see the reason behind them wanting to shed off those pounds from their bodies.
And I don't mean 10-20 pounds kind of shedding. The winner for the season I watched today, Erik Chopin, started out at 407 lbs, looking like this:
Before: 407 lbsAt the end of the show, he looked like ... this:
After: 193 lbsNow tell me that that is not amazing!
He is a father of two and it was on his doctor's advice that he started losing weight because he was having health problems. His motivation to win this was so he could [live long enough to] "walk his girls down the aisle". You can't help but to feel proud of him for this achievement. I'm not sure if I myself could do what he had done, and that makes him the biggest loser (in the nicest sense possible).
Phone ransoms
Criminals are either getting smarter or the Internet is doing more damage than it good for the rest of us.
A while back, I received an email about a scam that is occurring in the Phillipines where a mother receives a phone call demanding a ransom of a disclosed amount of money for the safe return of her son that is being held for ransom.
She tries calling the son but she couldn't get him and so she paid the money, only to find out that her son had been safe, in school, the whole time.
Prior to the call she received, the son had been receiving several crank calls that made him switch off his mobile so he could concentrate in class. Hence, the reason why the mother could not get through to her son to make sure he was okay.
Apparently, this thing is making its way to Malaysia, or perhaps, have been around for sometime now. And, it is evolving.
---
NST Online> Local News
BIGGER MENACE OF PHONE RANSOMS
It is now operating in Sabah, Penang and Johor, where several cases have been detected.
It is believed the syndicate had moved its operations due to the "heat" from police in the Klang Valley.
The syndicate is also said to be using local phone numbers instead of relying on those issued by international telecommunication companies.
Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Da- tuk Seri Bakri Zinin said the modus operandi was to gather background information on the victim and family through random phone calls.
Bakri said in some cases, syndicate members would use the sound of children crying in the background to "authenticate" their claim.
"Although it is a scary experience, I ask the public to stay calm and think rationally about the demand.
"Please try to find ways to check on the location of your loved ones before believing what the syndicate members are claiming."
Bakri said there were cases where the syndicate was exposed when the families found the "victims" were safe.
"Some families just shrug off the experience and do not bother to lodge a police report."
Bakri said that the police were compiling data on such cases to help in investigations
---
Scary, isn't it?
The worst part about this is that if the scammers were to be caught in the act, they will only be trialed on the basis of scamming people; not kidnapping, not endangering the lives of civillians, not even for extortion because they practically lied about having kidnapped a particular victim.
We aren't big on punishing scammers, heck, we aren't even big on punishing people who distribute questionable contents as in the case of Eli Wong's private photos... which reminds me, haven't they found that jerk boyfriend of hers yet? I mean, he isn't a terrorist or an international smuggler. How hard is it to find an average Joe like that? You know what, as a passing thought, maybe we should get help from that MACC fella who closed the case against Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim's lembu case.
What? He works fast what.
A while back, I received an email about a scam that is occurring in the Phillipines where a mother receives a phone call demanding a ransom of a disclosed amount of money for the safe return of her son that is being held for ransom.
She tries calling the son but she couldn't get him and so she paid the money, only to find out that her son had been safe, in school, the whole time.
Prior to the call she received, the son had been receiving several crank calls that made him switch off his mobile so he could concentrate in class. Hence, the reason why the mother could not get through to her son to make sure he was okay.
Apparently, this thing is making its way to Malaysia, or perhaps, have been around for sometime now. And, it is evolving.
---
NST Online> Local News
BIGGER MENACE OF PHONE RANSOMS
KUALA LUMPUR: The phone ransom menace has spread from the Klang Valley as the syndicate behind it has expanded operations nationwide.
It is believed the syndicate had moved its operations due to the "heat" from police in the Klang Valley.
The syndicate is also said to be using local phone numbers instead of relying on those issued by international telecommunication companies.
Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Da- tuk Seri Bakri Zinin said the modus operandi was to gather background information on the victim and family through random phone calls.
Bakri said in some cases, syndicate members would use the sound of children crying in the background to "authenticate" their claim.
"Although it is a scary experience, I ask the public to stay calm and think rationally about the demand.
"Please try to find ways to check on the location of your loved ones before believing what the syndicate members are claiming."
Bakri said there were cases where the syndicate was exposed when the families found the "victims" were safe.
"Some families just shrug off the experience and do not bother to lodge a police report."
Bakri said that the police were compiling data on such cases to help in investigations
---
Scary, isn't it?
The worst part about this is that if the scammers were to be caught in the act, they will only be trialed on the basis of scamming people; not kidnapping, not endangering the lives of civillians, not even for extortion because they practically lied about having kidnapped a particular victim.
We aren't big on punishing scammers, heck, we aren't even big on punishing people who distribute questionable contents as in the case of Eli Wong's private photos... which reminds me, haven't they found that jerk boyfriend of hers yet? I mean, he isn't a terrorist or an international smuggler. How hard is it to find an average Joe like that? You know what, as a passing thought, maybe we should get help from that MACC fella who closed the case against Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim's lembu case.
What? He works fast what.
Apr 21, 2009
It's in the papers.
Now, isn't this interesting.
----
Tuesday April 21, 2009
This was lifted from TheStar Online newspaper from the Opinion pages.
See! Malaysians do want to read, it's just that we have to pay through our noses just to be able to do so. And then be made to take the blame, when we succumb to financial constraints.
----
Tuesday April 21, 2009
CULTIVATE READING HABIT BY CUTTING DOWN ON PRICES OF BOOKS
REFERRING to the article “Malaysians still not reading enough, says Muhyiddin” (Sunday Star, April 19), I would like to stress that books are too costly in Malaysia, something book lovers in the country would agree with me wholeheartedly.
A hardbound bestseller would set one back almost a hundred ringgit. Paperbacks are not cheap either. Depending on prints, those of higher quality papers are almost double the price of conventional paperbacks.
If one checks out the recommended retail price of these books in their country of origin, they cost much less. For an average earner here, buying books is something of a burden.
Public libraries here are not that accessible either. Taking a leaf from our neighouring country down south, there public libraries are good enough and easily accessible via public transportations.
Books can be loaned from one branch and returned to another while reservations can also be made online. Their collection is also up-to-date.
I am sure parents would love to buy as many books for their children as possible. But RM1,000 tax exemption for reading materials annually isn’t enough.
So, instead of making a sweeping statement like “Malaysians do not read enough”, perhaps the authority should look into why this is so. Why are the prices of books rising and where are the libraries?
Books provide knowledge and information and we cannot do without them if we want to cultivate a well-read generation.
SAY-PIAU,
Seremban.
This was lifted from TheStar Online newspaper from the Opinion pages.
See! Malaysians do want to read, it's just that we have to pay through our noses just to be able to do so. And then be made to take the blame, when we succumb to financial constraints.
Apr 20, 2009
This is a problem in Malaysia
What problem, I hear you ask?
Apparently, we is not reading enough. And it's our fault.
-----
Sunday April 19, 2009
Ok, to cut long story pendek: it's a common notion that Malaysians do not read enough books that they are not made to read, and by Malaysians here, they mean students and young adults. Students are preoccupied with school books and textbooks whereas young adults are preoccupied with the Internet, pubs and work.
But if you live here, you would realize that books are so expensive that you would really think twice about buying them.
How would you expect Malaysians to regularly buy RM35-books to read all the time? I mean I believe that a lot of people would love to, if they can afford it. I would. But, frankly, there are bills to pay, and I won't be able to read anything if the lights go off like an extended Earth-hour moment.
As a yardstick, for one to watch a movie at the cinema, it costs RM9 to RM11 (premier week), RM6 to RM7 for students, ladies night, seniors and early birds here... whereas the last Harry Potter book was sold for close to RM110 here. If it wasn't for the controversy regarding local hypermarkets selling the books at RM69.90, a 37% loss at their expense for each book, many of us would have opted to wait for someone to put up the whole plot on good old Wikipedia.
Keep the prices of books down to below RM15.00, then we'll talk.
I do try to read a book every month but my husband always nags me whenever he sees the price tags at the back of the books I buy. Psychological torture really. But, it's my fault la.
Apparently, we is not reading enough. And it's our fault.
-----
Sunday April 19, 2009
MALAYSIANS STILL NOT READING ENOUGH, SAYS MUHYIDDING
KUALA LUMPUR: Although Malaysia has among the highest literacy rates in South-East Asia, Malaysians prefer light reading material like newspapers and magazines to books.
According to literacy statistics, out of 85% of Malaysians who read regularly, 77% of them prefer newspapers, 3% read magazines, 3% read books and 1.6% read comics.
“If we were to compare with American citizens, 53% of them read fiction and 43% of them read non-fiction books.
“Malaysians are more inclined to read light material while citizens from developed countries read books,” Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said at the launch of the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair 2009 at the Putra World Trade Centre yesterday.
The text of his speech was read out by Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong.
The UN Development Programme’s 2007/2008 report said the literacy rate of Malaysians, at 93.2%, was behind developed countries like Japan, Britain, the United States, Australia and Germany, which have literacy rates of 99%.
“We still have room for improvement in terms of increasing the literacy rate to 99% by 2020 and the quality of material that we read. Parents play an important role in nurturing the reading habit among their children.
“Students should read more books, not just revision books or textbooks for examinations,” he said.
The organiser of the book fair has targeted 2.5 million visitors this year. Last year, 2.2 million people visited the book fair compared with 700,000 in 2006.
Muyhiddin also said that more bookstores should be opened in the country. Currently, 45% of bookstores are in the Klang Valley, 20% in Penang and Perak, while Johor has 10%.
Book fair organiser Datuk Ivan Hoe said Malaysians thought twice about spending money on books but not on food.
“They forget that books are intellectual food,” he said.
-----Ok, to cut long story pendek: it's a common notion that Malaysians do not read enough books that they are not made to read, and by Malaysians here, they mean students and young adults. Students are preoccupied with school books and textbooks whereas young adults are preoccupied with the Internet, pubs and work.
But if you live here, you would realize that books are so expensive that you would really think twice about buying them.
"Book fair organiser Datuk Ivan Hoe said Malaysians thought twice about spending money on books but not on food." (Honestly, I think they should have printed "... said Malaysians think twice..." but hey, wha-do-I-know?)It isn't explained explicitly that a paperback here costs RM33.90 to RM43.90 whereas lunch will cost what... RM4.50 for the average working adult. Ask any Malaysian just how often can they spend 40 bucks on a single meal? Well, they don't. So the statement isn't really fair and is actually very misleading. As though it is our fault that we do not read as often as they do in the West.
How would you expect Malaysians to regularly buy RM35-books to read all the time? I mean I believe that a lot of people would love to, if they can afford it. I would. But, frankly, there are bills to pay, and I won't be able to read anything if the lights go off like an extended Earth-hour moment.
As a yardstick, for one to watch a movie at the cinema, it costs RM9 to RM11 (premier week), RM6 to RM7 for students, ladies night, seniors and early birds here... whereas the last Harry Potter book was sold for close to RM110 here. If it wasn't for the controversy regarding local hypermarkets selling the books at RM69.90, a 37% loss at their expense for each book, many of us would have opted to wait for someone to put up the whole plot on good old Wikipedia.
Keep the prices of books down to below RM15.00, then we'll talk.
I do try to read a book every month but my husband always nags me whenever he sees the price tags at the back of the books I buy. Psychological torture really. But, it's my fault la.
Smart books
I read The Interpretation of Murder, written by Jed Rubenfeld over a year or two ago. I liked it the very the much.
Read me: The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
There are plot twists, murders, analyses of dreams, logical reasoning of psychological symptoms and a main plot that can hold water. You can tell from the book that the writer has done research on it and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he actually did a thesis about the subject before he wrote the book.
Perhaps that's why he wrote the book. Looking forward to his next project. If there is any. More people prefer to read chick-lit books apparently. Writers like Jed Rubenfeld are quite obscured by their choice of writing genres.
But that doesn't stop Jesse Kellerman from popping up with his genius work: The Brutal Art.
Read me: The Brutal Art by Jesse Kellerman
Apparently, the book also goes by another name, The Genius. Over here in Malaysia it is sold as The Brutal Art.
Yes, it deals with art and also with genius! (Speak it with oomph, people!) Okay maybe not so much on the genius, unless you count the writer. But the plot plays out well and he is the product of two crime writers of a previous generation: Faye and Johnathan Kellerman (confession: I don't know who they are, I will try to read their books if I can afford them - books are expensive in Malaysia, horrendously expensive. It's no wonder we don't read!).
I will not bore you or ruin the books for you by giving you synopses to what goes on inside the books. Read the blurbs (that's the short introduction at the back of the book for those of you who don't know the jargon of books) to be acquainted. I bought them based on the blurbs alone. I trust that you will use your judgements to read the books on your own accord.
Happy Reading!
Note this: Readers' discretion is advised as there may be disturbing elements in both books. I do not condone the acts that are depicted in the books stated, and you have been given fair warning.
Read me: The Interpretation of Murder by Jed RubenfeldThere are plot twists, murders, analyses of dreams, logical reasoning of psychological symptoms and a main plot that can hold water. You can tell from the book that the writer has done research on it and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he actually did a thesis about the subject before he wrote the book.
Perhaps that's why he wrote the book. Looking forward to his next project. If there is any. More people prefer to read chick-lit books apparently. Writers like Jed Rubenfeld are quite obscured by their choice of writing genres.
But that doesn't stop Jesse Kellerman from popping up with his genius work: The Brutal Art.
Read me: The Brutal Art by Jesse KellermanApparently, the book also goes by another name, The Genius. Over here in Malaysia it is sold as The Brutal Art.
Yes, it deals with art and also with genius! (Speak it with oomph, people!) Okay maybe not so much on the genius, unless you count the writer. But the plot plays out well and he is the product of two crime writers of a previous generation: Faye and Johnathan Kellerman (confession: I don't know who they are, I will try to read their books if I can afford them - books are expensive in Malaysia, horrendously expensive. It's no wonder we don't read!).
I will not bore you or ruin the books for you by giving you synopses to what goes on inside the books. Read the blurbs (that's the short introduction at the back of the book for those of you who don't know the jargon of books) to be acquainted. I bought them based on the blurbs alone. I trust that you will use your judgements to read the books on your own accord.
Happy Reading!
Note this: Readers' discretion is advised as there may be disturbing elements in both books. I do not condone the acts that are depicted in the books stated, and you have been given fair warning.
Apr 19, 2009
Squirming
Eva is squirming around in my belly.
She's squirming a lot.
She squirms when I'm watching the telly.
She squirms even when I'm not.
Eva turns in the middle of the night,
She also turns in the day,
But she turns a whole lot more,
When hunger strikes or is at bay.
It took 9 months to get here,
And I'm waiting a few days more,
To get her from inside my belly,
To the baby cot I placed next to the bedroom door.
She takes after her daddy,
and I don't just mean as in her surname,
She annoys and irritates me with her squirming,
As though this is all a game.
But all is fair in love and war,
She'll be my rival for her father's affection and more,
But something else tells me deep inside,
We're going to have a blast, Eva and I, that's for sure.
I'm just kidding. Gonna love the brat to bits. You can tell I'm getting irritated with the waiting. And she is squirming inside me while I'm writing this. Settle down!
She's squirming a lot.
She squirms when I'm watching the telly.
She squirms even when I'm not.
Eva turns in the middle of the night,
She also turns in the day,
But she turns a whole lot more,
When hunger strikes or is at bay.
It took 9 months to get here,
And I'm waiting a few days more,
To get her from inside my belly,
To the baby cot I placed next to the bedroom door.
She takes after her daddy,
and I don't just mean as in her surname,
She annoys and irritates me with her squirming,
As though this is all a game.
But all is fair in love and war,
She'll be my rival for her father's affection and more,
But something else tells me deep inside,
We're going to have a blast, Eva and I, that's for sure.
I'm just kidding. Gonna love the brat to bits. You can tell I'm getting irritated with the waiting. And she is squirming inside me while I'm writing this. Settle down!
We should be worried about this. Part 2
On the 16th of April, I wrote a post about a lecturer being forced to resign because she passed only 4 out of 157 of her law students. Ya, Nor (not her real name). That one.
Apparently she has penned a letter to The Star newspaper which has yet to be published (sometimes they need a few days to sort through the letters) and so she used another outlet to 'highlight her plight'.
Follow the link and see Comment 17 for what she has to say about the issue.
Apparently she has penned a letter to The Star newspaper which has yet to be published (sometimes they need a few days to sort through the letters) and so she used another outlet to 'highlight her plight'.
Follow the link and see Comment 17 for what she has to say about the issue.
Dying hours apart
Stumbled into this when I was going through Yahoo News.
----
Kansas couple married for 67 years die hours apart
I wonder if it is possible to actually die from a broken heart. Or at least from the loss of your life companion. You would believe that if you just fell in love; you feel like as if you are floating all the time, everything cheers you up, you feel so full of life that nothing can cause you pain, or make you feel awful or sad or mad... Then you get married and suddenly your new motto is 'love is overrated' since many other things fall into the equation: kids, career, different wants and goals, responsibilities to other family members, in laws, differences in upbringing, even the way you squeeze your toothpaste tube may be different and may become a source of irritation. After 67 years, do you think that you will still feel the same way you did as when you found out he loves you?
Heck, the bigger question for me is if my husband and I will be able to live past 80..
----
Kansas couple married for 67 years die hours apart
TROY, Kan. – Residents of a northeast Kansas town are mourning the deaths just hours apart of an elderly couple who were married 67 years. Arnita Yingling died in her sleep early Saturday at the family's home in Troy. She was 93. Six hours later her 95-year-old husband, Lyle, died at a nursing home in the nearby town of Wathena.
At their funeral Wednesday, friends and relatives described the two as inseparable. Some found comfort knowing neither would have to live without the other.
The Yinglings were married in 1941. Both were born on northeast Kansas farms and were active in Troy as members of their church and civic organizations.
----I wonder if it is possible to actually die from a broken heart. Or at least from the loss of your life companion. You would believe that if you just fell in love; you feel like as if you are floating all the time, everything cheers you up, you feel so full of life that nothing can cause you pain, or make you feel awful or sad or mad... Then you get married and suddenly your new motto is 'love is overrated' since many other things fall into the equation: kids, career, different wants and goals, responsibilities to other family members, in laws, differences in upbringing, even the way you squeeze your toothpaste tube may be different and may become a source of irritation. After 67 years, do you think that you will still feel the same way you did as when you found out he loves you?
Heck, the bigger question for me is if my husband and I will be able to live past 80..
Movies: Pitch Black
Watching Vin Diesel in FF4 reminds me of the first movie that had introduced him to this movie lover: Pitch Black.
Poster from Wikipedia
Some of you may or may not know this to be the prequel to the movie The Chronicles of Riddick which isn't really fair since you can tell that more money was pumped into the second movie than in Pitch Black although the plot to the first movie holds more water and was far less confusing than The Chronicles of Riddick.
Ladies, meet Riddick (Vin Diesel ala year 2000).
See me in Wikipedia
Poster from WikipediaSome of you may or may not know this to be the prequel to the movie The Chronicles of Riddick which isn't really fair since you can tell that more money was pumped into the second movie than in Pitch Black although the plot to the first movie holds more water and was far less confusing than The Chronicles of Riddick.
Ladies, meet Riddick (Vin Diesel ala year 2000).
See me in WikipediaHe was already well built then but it was his charisma as the anti-hero character that really kept me glued to the screen. That and the idea that the character was a wanted criminal being transported by a spaceship to receive his punishment only to have the spaceship crash land on a planet with vicious monsters that attack anything in their path when it is pitch black. He is armed with night vision. No, not with equipment.. his eyes were capable of that. Which makes it cool. And he doesn't really have the heart of gold, nor is he a hero of any sort. Which makes the plot cooler.
The movie was pure suspense and very entertaining; in a league of its own. More importantly, it is a movie that you should add to your List of movies to watch before you die.
Happy watching! Oh ya, he had already started his trademark mumbling back then.
The movie was pure suspense and very entertaining; in a league of its own. More importantly, it is a movie that you should add to your List of movies to watch before you die.
Happy watching! Oh ya, he had already started his trademark mumbling back then.
Apr 18, 2009
Start early
I went back to work last Friday despite being on MC to tie up all the loose ends. On my way out, after informing my two bosses that I'm taking leave starting Monday, I bumped into my Accounts manager who was asking about how I am and when I am expected to deliver.
I then brought up denephew and the fact that he is getting cuter and his vocabulary is improving.
"He would bump his little motorcar onto the side of my leg when I am putting the clothes out to dry, look up at a confused me, who would ask him "whatchu doing, brat?" only to receive two words - zou kai (move aside)."
It gave her a laugh first before she blinked twice at me and ask, "How old is he? Ei? He is about my daughter's age and he knows how to say zou kai? My daughter could barely manage papa and mommy." I neglected to tell her the full extent of his vocabulary.
But secretly, I'm glad we started out early, rather than when adults decide when kids actually start learning and when they should start teaching them words. I'm teaching Eva words the moment she can coo or make me feel guilty for letting her cry longer than 2 minutes for her milk. It's only fair. haha..
I then brought up denephew and the fact that he is getting cuter and his vocabulary is improving.
"He would bump his little motorcar onto the side of my leg when I am putting the clothes out to dry, look up at a confused me, who would ask him "whatchu doing, brat?" only to receive two words - zou kai (move aside)."
It gave her a laugh first before she blinked twice at me and ask, "How old is he? Ei? He is about my daughter's age and he knows how to say zou kai? My daughter could barely manage papa and mommy." I neglected to tell her the full extent of his vocabulary.
But secretly, I'm glad we started out early, rather than when adults decide when kids actually start learning and when they should start teaching them words. I'm teaching Eva words the moment she can coo or make me feel guilty for letting her cry longer than 2 minutes for her milk. It's only fair. haha..
When you have to choose...
As introduced in my last post, Denephew, there is a little tyke in the household prior to Eva's arrival. He himself will be welcoming his little sister in mid-June.
In the meantime, since birth, he has always been close to his uncle (jiu jiu - brother to the mother) because jiu jiu has always been accommodating to his pleas for a playmate, one to carry him around or just one to manja with.
He would nuzzle up to his uncle who will be typing away on his linux-based laptop and calling him 'jiu jiu' repeatedly so his uncle will pick him up, put him on his lap and play dolphin clips from Youtube for him to scream in delight to. Yes, they are that close. The boy doesn't do that much with this own father. I never ask why. Some people are just better with kids, I guess.
The mother tends to all his needs, new diapers, food, milk, someone to put him to sleep... whereas I am the disciplinarian aka educator. He picks up words from me like xi shou (wash hands), zou kai (move aside) - actually I didn't teach him that, he just sorta picked it up after we say it to him... a lot of times - fei ji (airplane), fei gao gao (fly high high - the airplane flies high high), oh oh or shui jiao (sleep), tong tong (painful), etc.
To be fair, I'm not the only one who teaches him, but he takes it that words that are coming out of my mouth are those that he should be imitating and learning. And I am practically the only one who disciplines him since I'm more worried about him bleeding than about him resenting me. Thus, he doesn't come to me when he is in trouble or when he wants something because he knows I wouldn't tend to his pleas.
He goes to his jiu jiu who gives him the world.
So what happens when his jiu jiu has his own daughter to tend to? Sigh, the thought of breaking the two up is actually heartbreaking. It isn't because there isn't enough of the jiu jiu to go around. It's just that all this while, denephew has jiu jiu all to himself. So when jiu jiu is busy tending to a crying Eva, and denephew wants him to carry him to the balcony to look at the cars below, what would jiu jiu do?
I'm just glad I am not the one who has to do the choosing.
Signing off: Like Eva, waiting for the big day.
In the meantime, since birth, he has always been close to his uncle (jiu jiu - brother to the mother) because jiu jiu has always been accommodating to his pleas for a playmate, one to carry him around or just one to manja with.
He would nuzzle up to his uncle who will be typing away on his linux-based laptop and calling him 'jiu jiu' repeatedly so his uncle will pick him up, put him on his lap and play dolphin clips from Youtube for him to scream in delight to. Yes, they are that close. The boy doesn't do that much with this own father. I never ask why. Some people are just better with kids, I guess.
The mother tends to all his needs, new diapers, food, milk, someone to put him to sleep... whereas I am the disciplinarian aka educator. He picks up words from me like xi shou (wash hands), zou kai (move aside) - actually I didn't teach him that, he just sorta picked it up after we say it to him... a lot of times - fei ji (airplane), fei gao gao (fly high high - the airplane flies high high), oh oh or shui jiao (sleep), tong tong (painful), etc.
To be fair, I'm not the only one who teaches him, but he takes it that words that are coming out of my mouth are those that he should be imitating and learning. And I am practically the only one who disciplines him since I'm more worried about him bleeding than about him resenting me. Thus, he doesn't come to me when he is in trouble or when he wants something because he knows I wouldn't tend to his pleas.
He goes to his jiu jiu who gives him the world.
So what happens when his jiu jiu has his own daughter to tend to? Sigh, the thought of breaking the two up is actually heartbreaking. It isn't because there isn't enough of the jiu jiu to go around. It's just that all this while, denephew has jiu jiu all to himself. So when jiu jiu is busy tending to a crying Eva, and denephew wants him to carry him to the balcony to look at the cars below, what would jiu jiu do?
I'm just glad I am not the one who has to do the choosing.
Signing off: Like Eva, waiting for the big day.
Astro Singing Competition for Seniors
The Astro CGM Singing Compeittion 2009Me uncle's in it. Me dad's youngest brother.
I'm number M13. Appreciate your support, ladies.Lee Soo Wei, 46, from Penang. Single and available. The guy with the ridiculous white hat that surprisingly is turning out to be his trademark signature. They call him the White Hat Prince, according to mom. No comments on that.
I'm not one to brag but he's good. Don't believe me? We got video. I really hope you enjoy his singing. The finals will be on May 23rd, whilst I am in confinement but I will be supporting him from home, via Astro.
To think that he sang at my wedding. hehe.. how cool is that?
Updates:
To see some of the clips of the performances click Videos.
To see the end, click Finale.
To see aftershow photos, Click Photos.
Denephew
This is my nephew. Well, actually my husband's nephew. He will be the bigger brother to Eva when she comes out. Check out his little hairdo (or the lack of it).
Breezy... whoo...
Breezy... whoo...
My first coconut. It came with a straw !He had his first coconut + coconut juice this morning. I'm not sure if he enjoyed the taste of it. He wasn't really asking or throwing tantrums for more, but he didn't say no when we offered him more juice. We just like seeing him hold the coconut. Everybody now, awww.
Apr 17, 2009
Pleasant surprise
The thing about the Internet that still dazzles me is the speed at which information travels. As long as you are there to navigate through the crevices, you're bound to bump into something awesome.
Yesterday I posted about this interesting Malaysian TV show called Mr Siao's Mandarin Class. If you haven't been paying attention, check out the comments.
And this is for Amir (refer Malay guy: his mother is his neibe!) aka Baki Zainal. He looks a lot better in person. But he is sure as hell darn funny in the show.
Yesterday I posted about this interesting Malaysian TV show called Mr Siao's Mandarin Class. If you haven't been paying attention, check out the comments.
And this is for Amir (refer Malay guy: his mother is his neibe!) aka Baki Zainal. He looks a lot better in person. But he is sure as hell darn funny in the show.
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