Biawak alert

HOLY COW I'VE JUST SEEN THE LARGEST BIAWAK IN MY LIFE!!!!

Man that thing was huge. And when me and my brother were trying to prod it out from behind the shoe cabinet, it made a dash AT us (me, actually, since my brother ran off), until I smacked it in the head with a broom i was holding. Fortunately for me, it ran off in to some neighbour's bush.

Traumatised. What if it runs in the house and attacks me when i'm sleeping tonight.

ARRRGHHHH.

WHERE'S THE RUKUN TETANGGA WHEN YOU NEED THEM! I DEMAND NIGHT PATROLS!

502 words

I was asked by a friend to write an article (which if was good enough, would be published in the papers) on well, something to do with patriotism, but i think i sort of missed the deadline. So rather than let my 430am writings go to waste, I'll just deposit them here:

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Because Home Is Where the Heart Is

“Eh, why-lah don’t want to work in London? Makes sense what…better pay, better working environment, better expertise and support….”

To be honest, I wonder too at times. Reading our local papers, blogs, talking to various people, occasionally one feels the desire to run away from all the sadness and grief that always seems to steal the headlines; violent crimes, corruption, incompetence, politics, so on and so forth. Escapism, a friend once termed it.

But you see, the problem with running is that it never made the difference.

Three years overseas thought me a lot about patriotism. We are too quick to criticize, too quick to give up, too pessimistic to fight for ideals, too slow to put our hands to the plough when it really matters, too blinded to see that there are plenty of things worth fighting for.

Yet I can relate to the frustrations of others. Reality dictates that there are places out there which your average Malaysian will be better off living at. Fortunately, patriotism is not about moving out when things don’t go right and swearing your allegiance to whoever pays you the most. Patriotism, at least as I understand it, is acknowledging that there are fault lines which can’t be covered up. More importantly, it also means taking the responsibility to make the wrong things right. It’s about being the difference.

This is Malaysia. The land we call home. We are Malaysia. The people who feel sad when our badminton doubles lose out on the gold medal. The people who sit by the teh-tarik stall, eat nasi lemak, complain about reduced government petrol subsidies, buy illegal DVDs, all at the same time. The people who come together and celebrate Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, regardless of race. The people who complain loudly about the state of our national football team all the time, but deep down inside really want to see them do well. The good, bad and ugly.

No, we’re not perfect. Far from it. Which is all the more reason for us to stand up and be counted. We need to stop sitting by the sidelines waiting for someone else to do the work. We need to fight to preserve what is good and what is right. We need to lose that “tidak apa” attitude, because really, when you think about it, it does matter. Every little bit, every single person. There will always be people who seek to undermine, to steal, kill and destroy for their own gain; but if we run away, lose hope and despair, then we lose everything.

50 years of independence may have passed, but we have thousands of years of history ahead of us to be made. It’s time to lose the shades of Malay, Chinese, Indian or “dan lain-lain” and put our hands together. It’s time to be Malaysia.

So, why not work in London? It’s simple. Because home is where the heart is. Really, I never bluff you one.

Jet lagggg

Its 230 am, and all I feel is hungry cos its supposed to be dinner time.

My body is confused.

So long, farewell.

So it's goodbye to 3 years in London.

Thanks to all the friends who were family. You guys made life here alive.

Dover and Calais Trip

So, we made a trip to Dover and Calais (in France) on a whim sometime back, and here are the pics.

Sometimes life deals us a cruel blow and leaves us out of the picture, even though we're posing hard. Sorry Daniel Nee aka CB

And because of that, the next few pictures will feature him heavily :P

The man himself, CB aka Miri Beng

Upacara penyampaian coklat Toblerone terbesar di dunia.

CB doing his thing with the ladies.

And again.

And again. Wait, that's me. Not a lady. Dude looks like a lady maybe, but not a lady.

The daniel's and the ladies.

Ladies aka Yiing Ting and Caryn.

I was apparently sad about the size of my oyster.

CB reflecting on the ego damaging first picture.

On board the ferry to Calais.

Approaching Calais.

Ugh. Ok lah malas to post more already.

I'll be home on Wednesday!!!!

...which also made me realize that this is goodbye to the fabulously good internet connection that I have over here in the UK, and "welcome home" from streamyx.

So any uploading of photos to this blog should be done NAUUUUUUUUU! without anymore procrastination (not to mention streaming and watching all the dvd quality movies that I can).

Anyways, here's some pictures from my Porto holiday back in January after my first sem finals, together with Caryn and Alvin.

Porto is a port (a sweet kind of wine) producing city, so it wasn't particularly scenic. But then again, with 3 very good looking ppl (+ shameless) armed with 3 cameras, there's no need for it either :P

We started posing once we got on the plane. No let up I tell you.

Self made magnum ad.

The scenic bit.

Me and Alvin sharing an affectionate moment.

Alvin & Caryn, with the Atlantic ocean as the backdrop.

Being statistics students interested in finding out the effects of wine on the human body, we took large samples of wine and discovered that 99% of the time your tongue will change colour after that. Like this picture.

For some reason, I look like I'm about to collapse and start foaming at the mouth.

Alvin touching a BIG wine (port) vat.

Got bored of walking, so decided to pose.

And again.

Hurrah for AOL broadband!

The Rain in Spain.. err.

And sooooooooooooooooooooooo,

I'm back from my money blowing holidays, the recent excursion being the island of Mallorca in Spain. What I really enjoyed about this trip was that it was a proper holiday, unlike the one where I brought my parents around europe, that's just a trip, not a holiday :P

Anyways, here's some pictures.

Bad Horsie

Caryn and Yiing Ting doing their pose.

At the beach.

Sangria (the drink, not the person)

Picture by the beach.

Reflecting on the meaning of life after mistakenly cycling on the highway.

Me and Caryn (my hair nicer) :P

Clear blue seas.

Chap fan king in Spain

I R BACK! (in london)

So shortly after the ending of my final exams, Pa and Ma came over here for their holiday, and so I was tour guide for the past 12 days.

London, Edinburgh, London, Paris, Rome, London is a sure and definite method to ensure that your wallet is sent to the very depths of hell. And I'll be off to Spain in the 11th. Goosebyes monies, goosebyes.

Anyways, I'm glad I'm back in London and my parents will be going back home to Malaysia today. Well not that I don't enjoy their company, heck I love being with them after not seeing them for so long, but playing tour guide to your parents is a bit more stressful and demanding than I expected.
Anyways I'll slowly be uploading pictures and stuff. Thought I wanted to do it now but then I happen to read (about) this book that that friend of mine wrote and, lets say, it greatly influenced me :P

Anyways.... till then