The Professional...

The thing about jobs which are categorized under the "professional" sector is, they are overrated. If you think about it, people who work in professional sectors have the least variations in their jobs. Yes of course there's deviation and something new to learn about everyday in every job you do, but they venture least into other areas because they are only trained in one field. But because they are classified as "professionals", they have self-claimed to be know it all. I'm not saying that anyone can be a doctor, lawyer or an engineer because besides having the knack for the job, there's a certain level of intelligence which is required off before you can proudly be an effective "professional". But what i am saying is being a "professional" doesn't necessarily means you know how everything or how everyone else functions in the world.

The person who came up with the word Professional is a narcissistic bastard. He is a person who has self-claimed that he is superior above the rest and only people who are of his magnitude of intelligence is deserving to be in his league. Why can't a laborer be a professional? How many of us know how to lay bricks, operate machineries, work long hours in harsh weather conditions without dying, or demolish a building. Just what is so great about having a specialty. Having a specialty is a death sentence to creativity. It means someone has chosen to believe that he/she has reached the optimum of knowledge and rest as that..Having a specialty narrows the magnitude of knowledge there is to learn out there.

To all the "professionals" out there.. You are like an estate of linked-houses where you have the same layout but you can change them to some extent by renovating your space or furnishing it individually according to your taste.. To all non-professionals out there, you are like an empty plot of land with endless possibilities, and each unique to one's self.

7 Wonders of the World

"What are the new 7 wonders of the world" - Bubu

" Oh thats easy.. its...(rattling on)" - FayFay

" OH apparently that's no longer in.. Now it is ...." - Bubu

" Let's google it" - FayFay

Did you know that the 7 wonders of the world that you and i grew up to know has changed? I had a conversation with a friend a few days ago. And she were perplexed that we didn't even know what were the current 7 wonders of the world. I was even more perplexed because i NEVER knew that a place can be stripped off its title of being one the wonders of the world.

As far as i knew, the 7 wonders of the world were the Pyramids of Giza, the Colosseum, The Grand Canyon, The Leaning tower of Pisa, The Eiffel Tower, Angkor Wat and the Taj Mahal.

Apparently, over the years, wonders are voted off and voted in to replace each another. Besides the The Taj Mahal and the Colosseum who maintained in this list. The other 5 are apparently no longer "wonderful" and have been replaced by others in the world wide vote in 2007. The 5 new wonders as of now are Machu Picchu, Petra, Chichen Itza ,the Great wall of China and Christ the Redeemer at Rio.

This just got me thinking. How do you make something a "wonder" and then take it away? And why 7? The world is full of amazing places which are not only historical but also mystical! Why limit to 7?

Just a thought...

When you do say "I Love You"

It is said that the phrase " i love you" is one of the most common phase people use in the English language. However, research also shows that "ilove you" is more commonly used among friends and strangers rather than among family, spouses, or partners.. Why is such an intimate profession of feeling uttered more often to people whom you don't really have that sort of emotional attachment to rather than to people who you truly care, appreciate and Love?

Saying "i love you" to someone dear to your heart is a moment of weakening. It is a moment where you are informing the person that your life has been changed by the latter and that you need him/her for your emotional well being. It is also a moment of caving in to emotions and weakening of your indepedence of self. When people say i love you to people who matter to them, it's a moment where their most fragile self shows.

The most feared part of saying "i love you" to someone special is when there is no recipocration of the phrase or a delayed reaction of the phrase. It is no wonder that when the other person does not say " i love you too", tension and frustration can occur.

So when do we say "i love you" and mean it? Through some chats with my girlfriends yesterday, i realised that this question is harder than it looks. There are so many aspects and different stands on when and where to say "i love you", especially for the first time. I used to think that there is a clear cut answer, but i realised, it really depends on the person's personality and principles. There is no answer to when you should say "i love you" to a person. It is more abou the moment, the timing, the place you are in your relationship, and the future you see or do not see. It is hardly fair to tell someone " now is the right time tosay it" because each person is different, and what works for me, may not work for others.

For my relationship, saying " i love you " for the very first time was awkward too. I was the one to drop the bomb and 4 months later, i received back my recipocration. When i said " i love you" for the first time, i felt stupid, vulnerable, and i wished i could turn back that bloody 3 seconds. It wasn't a rehearsed " i love you" on top of it. It was a blurt out which my vocal chords had betrayed me before my mind could process the consequences of saying that three deadly words. I never uttered that three words again until my response and recipocration came along.

So bubu, i may have been wrong when i was trying to figure out the perfect time for you to say those words. You will know when it comes for sure. :)

The Inconvenient Truth

How do Malaysians get our power supply? Electricity in Malaysia is powered by hydro power plants. Due to our yearly supply of heavy rainfall and the availability of vast undeveloped areas, hydro dams have been our choice to source power.

There are many arguments that hydro power plants are one of the purest forms of sourcing energy. After all, what is more pure than water itself?

Truth is, the reality is contrary to the popular belief that hydropower is one of the cleanest forms of electricity generation, but the research carried out across South East Asia agrees with previous research carried out in Brazil and other locations. Large scale hydro-electricity generation depends on the building of dams and creation of reservoirs. Water trapped in a reservoir has only one means of escape to continue its journey downstream - passing through a generator at high pressure and making electricity. Unfortunately while the water all gets through eventually, organic matter (plants and plankton etc) often does not and sinks to the bottom of the reservoir where it is trapped in silt and mud in the dark.

The result of this is the release of vast amounts of harmful methane and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. The hotter the climate at the location of the dam, the worse the effect. One hydroelectric plant in Brazil in 1990 had more effect on global warming than the sum of 54 natural gas power stations generating the same amount of power.

While releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is believed to lead to climate change - i.e. global warming - methane and nitrous oxide are far worse. Methane is 20 times more harmful, and nitrous oxide 200 times more harmful than CO2. Every ton of nitrous oxide released into the atmosphere is as bad as 200 tons of carbon dioxide. Basically speaking hydro-electric reservoirs convert CO2 from the atmosphere into dissolved methane and nitrous oxide which is released back into the atmosphere as the water passes through the generator.

The only way hydro power plants can yield clean energy generation is if we use existing rivers and alter the landscape. However, most dams in Malaysia are built dams. Meaning that we clear out forests and ALL its life forms to create space to flood these dams with rainfall and build concrete walls to create pressure.

So why do we still insist in building more dams? Is it because we need to cater for the increasing need of energy due to globalization and the rise of population here in Malaysia? Both reasons do not even come close.

Malaysia happens to be one of the most blessed countries in South East Asia in terms of natural resources. There are many other alternatives of sourcing power from other sources which can generate the same amount of supply for our needs. Why not use the Sun? Since we have abundance of sunlight!

I recently found out that the reason Malaysia turns to hydro power as its sole power generator is because of a very simple reason. The same reason many other unexplainable occurences happen in this country. Corruption.

If you have seen solar panels on houses, you must know that it is only legal in Malaysia to use solar panels to generate energy for heating purposes. Heating of water that is. Should we use solar panels to convert sunlight into electric energy, we can be fined by TNB. This is because TNB will be losing out money should we generate our own electricity since it will not be chargable. Amazing isn't it? With our current dams, Malaysia is already generating more than 40 percent of excess renewable energy. We don't need more dams. But we keep doing it anyway. Because building a dam involved millions of Ringgit. And where does this Millions of ringgit go to? Pockets of tenders being passed on from one company to another.

In Malaysia's obsession of building the biggest, largest, longest items, the reason why the Bakun dam was built is for the very same reason. Should the Bakun dam be up and running, Malaysia would have built the second tallest Concrete faced rock-filled dam in the world. The catch here is, Peninsular Malaysia already has sufficient energy generation, so why destroy millions of acres of forests, wildlife and villages to build a dam all the way in Sarawak ( which do not need the energy generated from this dam) and build a underwater tunnel all the way to peninsular energy for no reason?

So while we ease our conscience of using lesser plastic bags to be a part of going green. Be assured that we are hardly doing our bit in saving the planet. Turning the blind eye and pretending that we can do nothing about the bigger picture is killing our planet.

There is a price to pay for everything.. Question is, are we willing to compromise the life of mother nature for our oblivion?

Rock On!

So last week, me and my mates indulged ourselves with the celebration of Arthur's Day. I had an awesome time, tho my arms, legs, and throat was hurting like no man's business the following morning.

Prior to that "awesome" feeling, i must say it was quite an ordeal. With a confirmed amount of 15,000 pre-sale tickets, as expected, it was packed everywhere, from the roads to the carpark to the mall. Lucky for us, we left a tad bit early, so what we experience wasn't all the bad.

The second ordeal was the dressing up part. See kathy and me have previously gone to events at Sunway Theme Park, and during then, we went through the same pickle as we did this time. Goes to show that we never did learn our lessons. While i wore a nice sequined shift dress to pay tribute to one of the greatest man alive, i had to wear something other than slippers!! So i decided to adorn my super killer heels in a pit which i knew was going to be covered with sand...Oh boy.. Yes, one might call me silly.. I prefer to call myself a complete imbecile!

Sunway is a mighty huge place, Sunway Pyramid itself of course. Which is probably one of the many reasons why i would never choose to go this particular mall for shopping. Its crowded, badly planned routes and lacking of signboards. For example, In order to go to the surf beach or Sunway Hotel if you parked at Pyramid, we had to go through "ONE" particular elevator in Sunway Pyramid, and there was no signage anywhere which pointed us in the correct direction. So after a ton of asking around, walking in circles and stopping to buy bandages for my feet, we finally found the exit.

When we got into the gates of the concert, my feet and toes were already ready to bleed me to death. Then again, else to i have to blame but myself? Serves me right for being a bird brain. So i took off my shoes and trotted around the sand, squeezing my way through the massive crowd and hidding behind bernard to make sure some other girl with stilletoes do not murder my toes...

We managed to get hold of a space which was decent distance from the stage. For the first 2 hours, I almost regretted going for the concert. I was hot and sweaty and the Malaysian acts made me sick to my gut.

The problem with Malaysian artists is not that they can't sing or rap or perform as well as international acts. Its more of a problem that they perform for themselves and not the crowd. Malaysian artists are very self-absorbed. They do what they like, and not what people might like to hear. For two fregging hours, i heard rap on stage with the same monotonous beat and rhythm. I nearly died. Granted i am not a rap fan so i might not have been able to appreciate it, but my point is, you don't even know when is the transition from one song to another because they seem to have to same bloody tune. When i looked up, the artists were clearly into it and pouring their heart and soul to the rap. I'm sure if i could make out the words they were saying, it might have improved my mood. But instead what i saw was a "syiok sendiri" performance. No regards for the crowd. Thank God Malaysians are quite civilized and we did not boo them off the stage. It was really hard to endure, especially since "WE" the NON-VIP TICKET PAYING CROWD, were not allowed to numb ourselves with alcohol simply because there was no damn alcohol served on Arthur Guinness's day.. How stupid...

When the Black Eye Peas came on stage, thats when the party started.. It was exhilarating, pumping, wild and awesome!! I jumped and screamed like a teenager. It was worth it after all. Truly an experience and BEP, they rock!