Learned something today… Which is good as I’m currently living under the poverty line… Well, almost all students are in poverty, as most of us have little to no income at all…
It’s a lot cheaper to travel around KL by bus, compared to the LRT and Taxi (duh…)… As I paid RM2 once and I can use the ticket for the whole day, countless of times*…
*TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLIED
Today is so productive (relative to what I’ve been doing up till now)… I finished my Biology homework and did some revision on Chemistry… Thanks to KL library, I’ve found a place where I can find tranquility and solace amidst the hustle and bustle of city life…
Situated next to the Dataran Merdeka, it’s so far the most sophisticated public library I’ve ever been in… Automated borrowing and returning system, wi-fi (which is an added bonus) and good books… You can even find Das Kapital there…
Well that’s not really what I want to post today… Today I intend to write about something I’ve been longing to write… Something I’ve depressingly noticed through my journey around KL…
Well, I’ve been walking (I mean walk, not by LRT, Komuter nor RapidKL) all over KL on Saturday… First, the destination was KL library… But as I’m not sensible enough to consider that it’s third Saturday (thus, a holiday), I ended up being told by the guard to just go home… I cursed myself for my own stupidity… Not that I’m angry, I’m just disappointed that I’m not mature enough to have the ‘instinct’ to check its opening hours first… Hmm… I fear growing up… Not that I hate it though… Growing up does come with its perks and privileges… Like going back home late and no one asking where I’m going… hehe… What rights do I have to not grow up and embrace the responsibilities that come with it willingly?
Having nowhere to go, I decided to go to Low Yat Plaza, to buy my mom her much needed thumb drive… Then I walked to KLCC to have lunch with Ayah… It’s a long way (I know) and along the way, I passed through people with suits and ties, complete with shiny black leather suitcases… People who I presume, have lots and lots of money (looks can be deceiving, though) I don’t know, as I came across these torrent of unfamiliar faces a sudden yet snow-balling realization came to my mind… A realization of that these people are in despair… That they, despite their sleek and smart outfits, big Mercedes Benz Kompressor and big thick wallet, are drowned in sea of troubles of some sort… When I looked at them in the eyes, very few (from a couple to none) people smiled back when I smiled at them… It’s as if something has stiffen their facial muscle from stretching a smile…
No, I’m not blaming them… What rights do I have to blame them for not smiling back to a mere stranger? Furthermore, what rights do I have to ask them why are they so unhappy or at the least, seemed unhappy? Even furthermore, what rights do I have to feel happy when I saw that they are unhappy like I was feeling back then?
Just like my walkathon around KL, in this post, I got lost, found my way and got lost again… Sorry…
I Ran Into A Stranger(Anonymous)
I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
“Oh excuse me, please” was my reply.
He said, “Please excuse me too;
I wasn’t watching out for you.”
We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.
Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.
When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
“Move out of the way!” I said with a frown.He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn’t realize how harshly I’d spoken.
While I lay awake in bed,
God’s still small voice came to me and said,
“While dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use,
But the family you love, you seem to abuse.”“Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You’ll find some flowers there by the door.
Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself; pink, yellow and blue.
He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
You never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.”By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.
I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
“Wake up, little one, wake up,” I said.
“Are these the flowers you picked for me?”
He smiled, “I found ‘em, out by the tree.”“I picked ‘em because they’re pretty like you.
I knew you’d like ‘em, especially the blue.”
I said, “Son, I’m sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn’t have yelled at you that way.”
He said, “Oh, Mom, that’s okay. “I love you anyway.”
I said, “Son, I love you too,
And I do like the flowers, especially the blue.”
Well… Hehe… You’re in deep trouble my dear friend… You’re in love…
Or is it lust? Hehe…
Even if your hands are shaking
And your faith is broken
Even as the eyes are closing
Do it with a heart wide open
Why?
Say what you need to say
How does it feel to be poor? Honestly, my answer would be ‘I don’t know’… Hehe… I think the closest I felt to being poor was when I don’t have any money at all at school… Well, that was when financial planning is not my thing… I spent all the money I had like there is no tomorrow… Hmm… I don’t think that’s what really meant as being poor… I can still eat at the ‘Dewan Makan’ or ‘Dewan Miskin’ they called it… Hehe… And the quality is very good, relative to its cheap price… I don’t have to beg for money nor I have to apply for dole… All in all, I don’t have to starve myself and look for food… Oh, how lucky I am…
Do they even know that they can live better?
Well, then what does it feel like being poor? I’m not the right person to talk about poverty, I’ve never experienced it… But let me humbly share some trivia on poverty and perhaps on why can’t it just go away, after everything the we’ve (or they’ve, rather) done…
Should we just put the blame on the people for being poor? Should we blame their bad decisions in life… Or maybe, we can blame their laziness then for their own predicament? Is there no one else to be blamed? Have their government done enough in helping them? Can’t it be the policies that caused this problem? However, bear in mind that pointing fingers won’t do much… What we need are solutions…
Poverty is not about not having enough food for everyone nor it is about overpopulation…It happens because people simply don’t have enough money to buy them… Without money, they can’t afford all the necessities – food, shelter and clothing… Without shelter and proper clothing, people will be more susceptible to diseases… Poor sanitation makes things worse… Without food, protein specifically, they can’t produce adequate antibody to fight off diseases… Without food, they become weak and can easily become ill… They finally, can’t go to work… Without working they’ll have no money so they are now caught in the vicious, downward cycle of poverty…
What happen to aids given by developed nations to the poor countries?… Well, aids do help much in relieving poverty… However, sadly, it only helps in a short term… Wanna know why? Here’s the deal… Aid is free so farmers have to sell their food very cheaply in order to stay competitive… This can adversely affect the entire economy of a poor agricultural country… What they actually need is not fish, but rather, they need fishing rod… Aid maintains poverty, even though it didn’t make things worse…
Hmm… I just can’t imagine that half of the world is in poverty… And even more sadly, today, over 26500 children died around the world… It’s roughly one child for every 3 seconds… *sigh*
Why do people call it rush hour when it’s the time when everything is closest to a stand still?
Why?
I was looking for something to read in the Internet and I found a few blogs that really made me think… So this is one of the things that I read… I hope that this is worth sharing…
One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey.He then invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. they all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then,to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down.
A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well, and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up.
Shake it off and take a step up!
This was stumbled upon at JeffBridges.com
Memories lie just where you leave them,
they’ll burn their cages till
your heaven meets my hell.
Your promises hold no living truths,
so that’s all I’ll know of you,
unless our eternity bends
and your past alters my future.
It’s been a while since my last post on anime that I watched… Just now, I’ve just finished a Gundam SEED marathon, which wasted me a day and a half… Which is relatively shorter than the time it took me to download the whole series of 12GB, that is three days… Well it’s not that I’m anime freak or what, it’s just that I don’t want to spent too much time clinging on to it, as I want to start doing my revision soon…
Hehe… I know that animes are fictions but these are among few things in the television that made me experienced some degree of hyper-reality… xp…
First, some intro… It’s about the world in Cosmic Era (C.E.) 71, which I’m not sure it correlates with what A.D., that descend into chaos due to war that’s fueled by jealousy… The war is between ‘coordinator’ and ‘natural’… Natural are normal human beings like most of us, I guess, who were born naturally… Coordinator, however, are enhanced human that had their DNA altered through genetic modification… This means that they are far superior to naturals, physically and mentally… Well, as more and more coordinator were born, their superiority triggered jealousy and anger among naturals… And the rest can be watched in the anime, if any of you guys are interested…
Well, what I like about some movies and almost all anime is the fact that, it passively forces you to think about things that matters… Obviously, an anime is an anime, so it is not real… But somehow I can relate it with situations in our world today… Well, as it consists of 50 Episodes, there are quite a lot to be thought about…
First, why war?… It’s been here with us for centuries… Like I’ve said before, it seems like another bad habit of our species… Some might say that war is necessary… Some say that in order to protect, we must pick up arms and fight… Some say that we could be well off without war… In war, people caught up in a vicious cycle of endless killings… You killed one man… And his brother kills you then… After that, your best friend kills your killer… Thus it goes on, endless… Also, what constitutes victory? Is it victory if all the enemies are wiped out? Which side is the right one as both are fighting for what they believe and want to protect? And lastly why is it that the innocents suffered the greatest during war, even when they didn’t have a clue… Well, I guess that war does provide us with solutions, though it claimed huge sacrifices… If war is really irrelevant, why do we still use it as a mean to settle disputes? In my humble view however,it depends on what kind of war are we fighting… War to gain global dominance, war for profit and war to oppress are definitely out of the question… War is indeed important… Only then will people realize the true treasure of peace that everyone takes for granted…
Secondly, something which is quite new to us… Genetic modification… It’s just recently that we’ve discovered the way to alter human DNA in order to enhance our species and speed up evolution… Given the time, we can possibly ‘play’ God…Wouldn’t it be great if we can (like in this anime) have a noble laureate, who’s also an Olympic gold medalist, a football player and an astronaut? Those are certainly an amazing feats… But is it necessary? In the anime, some problems that may occur if genetic fiddling is made legal are highlighted… If it’s made legal, people will surely want to design their offspring… However, as access to this type of technology is only exclusive to the wealthy, the world will become less fair or more unfair… This difference could then spark envy and jealousy… There is tension even between people of different colors or races, so it’d definitely be worse between people with huge gap of potentials… Well, it can be argued that even if there are people with modified DNA, they’d still have to be trained and educated well to hone their ability to the fullest… Well, this situation seemed ridiculous, but it’s still possible isn’t it?
Well, I’d love to say that this anime is very cool… But I like Gundam SEED Destiny (the sequel) more…
Saladin was born in Tikrit but spent his life growing up in Damascus… He joined the military, under the command of his uncle and by the age of 31, he had been appointed vizier (It’s a link, just in case, if you guys want to know) of the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt, as well as commander of the Syrian troops there…
Even though he played a major role in fighting off crusaders, particularly in the third crusade, he achieved an honorable reputation in the Europe… He appeared in various literature and writings… Saladin appears in a sympathetic light in Sir Walter Scott’s The Talisman (1825), when despite the Crusaders’ slaughter when they originally conquered Jerusalem in 1099, Saladin granted amnesty and free passage to all common Catholics and even to the defeated Christian army, as long as they were able to pay the aforementioned ransom… This is clearly pictured in the movie ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ by the director Ridley Scott… Hmm, for me it’s a very good watch…
Until today, his legacy can still clearly be seen… For example, during the Arab uprising particularly due to Arab(or Palestine, rather)-Israel conflict, his heroism during his reoccupation of Jerusalem is taken as an inspiration in Palestine’s struggle against Zionism… His symbol (the eagle) can be seen in some of Arab countries’ coat of arms… These include Iraq, Yemen and Egypt…
His contributions are not restricted only to being an army commander that captured Jerusalem from the Christians… He is also a very charitable person… In fact, when he died and they opened his treasury, there was no enough money to pay for his own funeral, as he has given almost everything of his to charity… (The following is plagiarized from the Wikipedia) In April 1191, a Frankish woman’s three month old baby had been stolen from her camp and had been sold on the market. The Franks urged her to approach Saladin herself with her grievance. After Saladin used his own money to buy the child, he gave it to the mother and she took it; with tears streaming down her face, and hugged it to her breast… She suckled it for some time and then Saladin ordered a horse to be fetched for her and she went back to camp…
So that’s all I guess…
Nothing………….. Everything…
Don’t just sit back… Get ready… It’s just starting anyway…
So, now, it really begins…
Hehe… Seriously, it’s just like watching football…
OK… Politics… Some people say that it’s dirty, anyone in it is dirty and in the whole it’s dirty… I partially agree only with the second one… People can sometimes be dirty… And they make politics dirty… hehe… Why election is so important? Well, it determines the country’s future and everyone in it… Election allows the people to let a government they are satisfied with stay or change for a new, hopefully better, one… But this is not the case for our country… I have no idea about why is that happening… Things are definitely a lot better these days compared to back then… But, is it?
I don’t know… I’m not the one who worked my ass off for money so that I can keep some food on the table… Price hike? I felt nothing… Corruption? Nah, I’m not affected… Discrimination? Well, I’m kinda comfortable in here… Transparency of the media? Should I care (I usually read only the sports section)?
Some people say… Why bother about politics and election? I personally find this question absurd… Hell it’s important! The government we (or our parents, rather) elect is going to stuck with us for the next five years… They are the ones who gonna make the decision for us… They are the ones who get to use our money for, our good (supposedly)… They are the ones who’ll decide on what kind of country they’d like to make… They’re the ones who will wield the power…
Lastly, I’d like to say, let us fulfill our duty when the time comes… Fear not for change… Because change is good…
Why three lives make sense? First there is the life other people think we have… Secondly, is the life we think we have… Lastly is the life we actually have…
But then, a problem arises… People do not consist of only one entity… So there are actually more than one life that they can think of us having… So three lives is kinda irrelevant…
Whatever…
The first one is Juno… Which for me, the storyline is just mediocre (biase-biase je)… But credits to Ellen Page, who did a very great job… Her acting is just so mature… If not spectacular, it’s effective… If you want another proof, go and watch Hard Candy if you want… Well Hard Candy sucks, but for me, Ellen Page is just exceptional… She’s still young and getting better, so I guess it’s good for her… I’m 70-30 on recommending this movie… If you’re looking for some good sarcasms and cynical comedy, this is for you… But some of my friends already claimed that this movie is kinda ’sucks’…
Secondly, it’s Knocked Up… It’s about a loser having a one night stand with an E! hostess… Unfortunately (or fortunately) the girl got pregnant… The pregnancy changed both of them, by making the guy to be more grown up and taught the girl about something that’s not related to work… This one… I don’t know, I was very bored back then and slept halfway… So definitely not a recommendation…
The last but certainly not the least is Children of Men… This 2006 Oscar nominee is so original in storyline and camera angle… The situation is a dystopia in the future, as a result of worldwide infertility of mankind… Riots, refugees, paranoia and anarchy rule the world… These necessitate the establishment of a totalitarian-George Orwell’s ‘1984′ish government… Surveillance and police state are clearly in action… The youngest man is 18 years old… Elementary schools are deserted and sand in the playground fades, blown by the wind, not replaced… However, within this world wide conundrum (as everyone is confused), a woman gave birth to a baby… And many wanted this baby as it can unite people, and this can wield power for them… So the movie is about the journey taken by the mom to get to a sanctuary called ‘The Human Project’….
The film features solid performances from Clive Owen, who is at his rugged, rumpled best, and Julianne Moore… Supporting players also do well, Michael Caine is terrific as Theo’s pot-growing hippie friend, the versatile Chiwitel Ejiofor is again in fine form as a revolutionary cell leader, and Pam Ferris is also good as another of Kee’s protectors… Claire-Hope Ashitey also stands out as the illegal immigrant who may well be humanity’s hope for the future… But for me, the actress that I loved most in this movie is Oana Pellea, the gypsy who is very innocent yet brave…
This movie, made me cry to be honest… hehe… There was one scene when the gun shots stopped when everyone realized that there’s a baby newly born… Instantly all the pictures of war that are going on all around the world come into mind… What if all these can’t be stopped as easily as in the movie?
It’s in IMDb top 250 movies… My verdict? I guess a 90-10 recommendation, no question asked… Warning: It’s a serious movie…
I had an interview today at Renaissance KL… The interview started at 1.30 p.m. … As the other girl’s interview was at 3 p.m. … I decided to walk to KLCC…
So there I went…
Then I ate…
Then I walked around…
And I ate again…
Then I head back to Renaissance…
On the way, one man ‘tegur’ed me… So, the following is my conversation with him,,,
The guy: Hello brother, how are you?
Me: Fine: thanks…
Then he stopped me and took out his purse or wallet or whatever… He asked me for my full name… I said Abu (There’s no way I’m giving out my name to a stranger) and he wrote my name on a piece of paper…
The guy: What’s your favourite number, flower and what do you wish?So he wrote those ‘details’ down… Then he took another piece of paper, crumpled it and gave it to me…
So he continued talking and talking… About my weaknesses… He said that I’m too open and I’m lazy… Well, I guess I am too open with people (certain people, which I may hurt in the process)… I am lazy… But for me… I believe that my greatest weakness is that I’m gullible… hehe… Which he failed to identify…
So I just said… OK… I asked him… “Now what?”
He continued and told me not to worry… He said that next month (April) I’ll be very lucky… Because he said that he’s going to pray for me…
So, being a grateful human being, I said thanks.. (But no thanks, hehe)
He then asked me to show my forehead to him, blow the crumpled paper that he gave me three times and say ‘Bad Luck Go Away’… Wahaha… I did those things… All of them… K, laugh at me… Laugh all you want… Hehe…
‘Miraculously’… All the things that I told him, appeared there… I don’t know how… But I guess he might have used a carbon paper or something of that sort…
He said that after knowing my weaknesses, I should not worry… Because he’ll pray for me and I’ll be very lucky next month…
The guy: So now that I’ll pray for you… You should give me some money…
He showed me a list of people with amount of money that they ‘gave’ him… There are RM600, RM300…Now I know that he’s squeezing me for money…
Don’t wanna create a commotion nor trouble, I gave him RM1 of my money… Mine!!! He then made this face… Face of a puppy that have lost its mother… He said, “put RM50, brother”… I explained that I’m just a student and don’t have much money… He then said, “money is not important compared to your life”… I suddenly felt a rush of blood into my head… It’s true that life is priceless compared to my life… Is he threatening to kill me or he simply means that I should give some money for my good life later… He then said, “OK, put RM10 then”… I refused for quite a while and he ended up asking for another RM1
So, I then put another RM1… And walked away…
Do I look too naive (hehe) and gullible? I just want to be nice to people… But some people tend to take advantage of it… Thing learned? Never trust a stranger… Never…
Of many variety,
Some juicy yellow, some red with fury,
Some big and small,
And for some, it brings dismal.
Botox and facial,
Surgery or chemical,
Worked rarely or never,
Or later, again it appears.
Pimple,
Though a culprit against perfection,
An epitome of normalcy.
As human we are, imperfect,
As perfect is and only for Him.
11.30 a.m., Malaysian Studies
Suddenly it occurred to me… Aren’t there great people too, in the east? The answer to that question is obviously, Yes… So I decided to write about them and God-willing, I’ll write about a great person each week… I’m gonna name this project ‘My Heroes Project’…
So… the person for this week is Abu Musa Jabir bin Hayyan, or Geber in Latin… Known mostly as Ibn Hayyan, he’s an alchemist… He is also touted to be the Father of Modern Chemistry… Impressive isn’t it?
His writings have led European alchemists to search for the Philosopher’s Stone… So we can say that in the whole, Ibn Hayyan is an alchemist… However, although he’s known as an alchemist, he did not seem to have seriously pursued the preparation of noble metals (such as Philosopher’s Stone) as an alchemist… Instead he devoted his effort to the development of basic chemical methods and study of mechanisms of chemical reactions in themselves and thus helped evolve chemistry as a science from the legends and myths of alchemy…
Hmm… He made numerous contributions to the scientific world… He’s one of the few that put emphasis on the importance of experimentation, thus paved the way for the transformation of Alchemy (it’s not a science as it is clouded with superstition) to Chemistry… Now I’ll list down some of his achievements… There are a lot more… But I think Wikipedia can do the rest…
One thing that I want to clarify…I can hate too, you know? Anything that you can do to me, I can do it to you too… It’s just that I’m not gonna sink myself to your level… You’re not worthy to matter…
And the saying ‘an eye for an eye makes the world go blind’ is not here for nothing…
