Where the Hell is Matt?

I came across this video of a guy who travelled to 42 countries in 14 months in the making of a video. To me, this video portrayed that people across continents and culture can be united under a single element. Fact is, you can find many other messages in this video as you deem fit!

THIS is probably the most awesome video i've watched. take a look. It's amazing!

where the hell is matt

My best friend's wedding

Next Sunday is my best friend's wedding. A friend i journeyed through since we were 5. It was not always merry and play for us. We used to pinch hit and scream at each another, but she is the one person i found myself stuck to till now. She is undoubtedly, my best friend. 

While she is going through a rough time now preparing for her wedding and trying hard to endure all the trials and obstacles, and while i am not there physically to comfort her and help her through, i can only wish her my very best and be there for her through the phone. 

Interracial marriages are very common these days. In fact, it is so common that majority of Malaysians come from a stock of mixtures. It is hard to find many families who have had a mono-linage of one race. Well, interracial marriages are sa

id to produce some of the better looking generations in Malaysia! Haha.. 

However, when two strong racial groups come along to agree on ONE big day, there's where the headache comes in. For My bestfriend's case, her husband to be is a chinese from a traditional chinese family and she, herself is from a traditional Indian family. Not only does she have to go through religious issues, but also tradition and culture issues. Her dad wanted to put a "Lord Ganesh Statue" in front of the stage of her chinese wedding. Her mother-in-law-to-be wanted to put up a "Guanyin Statue". Buffet was opted for a Chinese wedding instead of the usual 10 course dinner because of the extensive menu requested by both sides of the folks. There will be a chinese tea ceremony, an Hindu blessing ceremony, "laddus"(indian ghee ball sweets), champagne, Sarees, cheongsams, and many other mixed and match

 traditional practices to soothe the egos of both sides of the folks. What does the bride and groom really want? A simple garden wedding with a small crowd of guests consisting of people who really mattered. Thats the one thing that WILL BE absent from the wedding. 

When a couple decides to take those holy vows, who's really merging? The two individuals or the marriage between two families. As much as parents are extremely excited and happy when their children get married, most of them get carried away being involved in the preparations of the big day. Wedding is suppose to be a joyous occasion, yet research shows that Couples fight more during wedding preparations compared to the whole duration of the dating period. Parents want to impress their friends and family, and many forget to remember the fact that it is NOT their big day, but the big day of their children. 

Sure, they have sacrificed their whole lives for their children, but in my opinion, it does not cut them any slack of making unreasonable demands of the "must-haves" during their children's once in a lifetime biggest moment, especially when it's at the expense of their children's convenience. 

Good luck Rahtee, I will be there on your Big day to celebrate the biggest day of both your lives and i hope i don't end up crying! =)

Early Christmas Spirit

It is November and my Christmas tree is already up! Some say its too early but i guess it's never too early to bask in Christmas joy.

Two days ago, Kathy and me did some major spring Cleaning. Since we decided to foster a kitten Eddy found on the street before we found a good home for it, the house has been in a bigger mess than ever! On top of that, my clothes are perpetually lying on the two seater couch because i just could never find the time to fold them up neatly in my cupboard. Bless my housemates for putting up with me!

Anyhoos, we decided to put up the christmas tree. As we took out the tree box, trimmings and lights, we treated ourselves to some cream liquor, while christmas carols were joyously blasting from the speaker in the hall.

Here are some pictures of our two additional helpers in putting up the christmas tree!

The Final Product!

Mistletoe piggy

Kitty in action

Perfect Family

Piggy's way of showing love

Kathy the human christmas tree

It is always great fun to relinquish on early Christmas cheers! Hope you guys are in the midst of putting up your trees too!

It took them over Two centuries

The change the world had anticipated all year has finally happened. America, has finally earned the right of calling herself the land of all possibilities. 

A black + white, muslim named president. Something, the world had not anticipated, and in secret, neither did Americans. But somehow, it just happened. And the world has never been more proud of Americans than they have been today!

I'm sure they'll be thousands of blogs up today on their views of the biggest American elections in history. So i will not waste time to try to even sound as if i've been an ardent follower and pretend to know bollocks bout it. 

 All i know is, it took Americans 232 years to realise it is not a national threat to have a black president. It took them that long to realise that preserving white sovereignity is of secondary importance compared to equal rights. Americans have finally realised that it is not whether or not Obama will do a better job than McCain, but it is important sometimes to just have faith, and embrace changes that may or may not happen. 

Question is, if it took 232 years for America to embrace a change, how long will it take us? What more especially when we have three, and not two majority races which makes up Malaysia?

We are not even talking about a Chinese or Indian prime minister. We can't even accept a new party for pete's sake. We have a long long way to go and we well deserve to be a third world country still in any given situation. 

YOU ROCK OBAMA!!!

Kejap ini.. Kejap itu...Make up your mind!

On a beautiful sunday morning where most people laze in bed and wake up only during noon, i woke up at 7.30am to get ready for a VCT training i had to attend! (VCT stands for voluntary counseling and testing for HIV) 

As usual, i went down to the cafe below my apartment and started off my day in the most normal fashion with a cup of coffee and my daily dose of Malaysian humor via the Sunday times. As I browsed through the first ten pages of the newspaper, i couldn't decide if i wanted to laugh, cry, or rage at what i was reading.

A couple of stories caught my attention.

story 1

The National Fatwa council is deciding on ruling to ban yoga for all muslims because it can deviate them from the teachings of Islam. Wan Mohamed, director jeneral of Jakim says that he is dissapointed with the attitudes of Muslims in the country who are easily influenced by foreign cultures to a point of affecting their faiths. 

Yoga practices may have derived from hinduism, however yoga has many forms. Many of which offered at health clubs are altered yoga to promote healthier living and a form of non strenous exercise which is helpful for preserving the body's agility as well as reduce asthma and heart related diseases. In other words, it is just another form of exercise!

I find it ridiculous to dig so deep in shit because there are bigger issues which should be addressed when it comes to muslim's health and practises. In the workshop i attended this weekend, there were statistics of HIV positive reported cases for year 2007. Out of 80,947 new reported cases, 34,000 were Malays, 19 thousand chinese, 11 thousand indian and the rest were marked no data ( due to the clients discretion of keeping their race anonymous). Surely the prevalence of contracting HIV is more of a bigger issue compared to practising Yoga. Yet we focus on redundant issues and make a big hoo hah about something which is ridiculously insignificant. 

Story 2

New fuel rebate system next year shows an increase in subsidy. For cars which are up to 2500cc, a rebate of RM650 will be awarded per year. Motorcycles with the capacity of up to 250cc will be awarded rm150 per year. A barrel of crude fuel is now priced at USD 65 compared to a few months ago, during our fuel price surge where a barrel costed USD76.44. Even so, Malaysian Fuel prices will see a decrease by next year only and it will not drop below RM1.92 because it is considered a reasonable price.

A rebate system should be able to subsidise efficiently for the poorer group, rather than make the rich richer. If a person can afford a 2500cc private vehicle, i dare say he or she is NOT making ends meet. What is the point of a rebate system if it cannot efficiently reduce the lower income group's needs?

We focus so much on how much is the appropriate amount to charge for fuel price. What about the fact that Malaysia is an Oil producing nation. When the price for fuel rose globally, we did not waste time and raise our prices by an alarming 41 percent. Now that the price has dropped back to what if was, we take our own sweet time to decrease the price. 

Story 3

The price of Avgas ( aviation fuel) has raise by 54% and is higher than in Singapore or Thailand. Flying students and owners of private jets are aghast by the raise of price. For an Aviation student, they will have to spend a good RM70,000 extra on fuel to complete their piloting course. 

Petronas has a monopoly on Avgas and yet the prices are rising. Singapore's Avgas's price dropped 3 months ago in fact. We promise the rakyat to drop fuel prices, but we raise aviation fuel prices. A robin hood situation i presume? Question is, how ethical was Robin Hood?