Irresponsible Shoppers

In my opinion, there are certain "rules" or courtesy in everything we do. Even something simple like shopping, for example, come with a set of unwritten norms that anyone with half a brain should be able to figure out. I guess maybe we (I?) live in a culture where not many people have even that.

Today, I decided to meet up with one of my best friends, someone I haven't had a chance to catch up with in a while. I decided to take a trip to Shah Alam and have lunch with her. We went to the Giant in Section 13, since it was really close to her workplace. I picked her up, and we just did our stuff.

I decided to leave at about 6.00, when her boyfriend had come to join us. I got into my car, started reversing, wondering why the heck my car sensors were beeping like crazy, since there was no car behind me, and heard a very soft, dull "thud".

Horrified, I got out of the car, convinced that I had hit a little girl or boy who had, for some reason, run across the parking lot behind my car without me noticing. Guess what I found? A SHOPPING CART.

Some COLOSSAL IDIOT thought it was a brilliant idea, after grocery shopping, to place their empty grocery cart BEHIND my car. I came from the front, so I never noticed that there was something there.

Seriously la. Have some freaking common sense, PLEASE.

Of Michael and Maids

I woke up today and found out the news that the biggest pop star in the world has passed away. He apparently had a heart attack. He was 50. He was the first pop star I ever had a crush on as a little girl, and he was a legend, before he screwed up his life with a few huge mistakes. May he rest in peace.

Today's The Star wrote about how Jakarta was stopping the export of maids due to the influx of abuse complaints by those already here. The government recently announced that they wanted to enforce that maids get one day of rest a month.

I happen to have mixed feelings about this. I have had a few experiences, as a child, with maids. Some were trustworthy and really very good. One of them complained to my mother that a neighbour's maid was trying to persuade her to run off and work with another employer. My mom, obviously, was furious that this busybody was trying to disrupt our peaceful lives. Our maid, at that time, was obviously one of the more trustworthy ones. We still keep in contact with some of our old maids, they did good all those years while I was growing up.

The not-so-trustworthy ones, we had cases of also. One tried to come on to my dad. Another was sneaking out to meet construction workers from her own country, for some reason, forgetting the fact that she had a husband and kids at home.

So I've had my share of good and bad maids. On one hand, I worry that with this enforcement, the maids will meet more people outside and get influenced into doing something bad. Some of them are very young girls, barely touching adulthood and have never experienced life outside of their own villages.

On the other hand, of course, I am very aware that these people are humans. They're not slaves. They don't deserve to be beaten up, or locked in. They don't deserve to sit on the floor with no food while the family has a huge dinner (my husband says he saw this in a restaurant once). They deserve equal treatment. They're employees. If we can come to work and be nice to our employees in the office, why is it so difficult to do the same with the one at home?

So the enforcement is really a double-edged sword.

As for those people who decided to abuse their maids, shame on them. Maybe THEIR employers should do the same to them so they'd know how it feels.

These people are miles and miles away from home. They left their families behind in order to provide for them. They're sacrificing so much so that their loved ones would have a better life. Is it too much to ask to treat them nicely so that they at least decrease their loneliness in this strange foreign country?

Two

I got a call yesterday. I also received some news yesterday. Combined, these two makes me feel more conflicted than I ever was, even though I really thought I had resolved some things. I seriously hope that in the end, I make the right decision.

Girl Admits to Have Asked for the 56 Stars on her Face

Okay, I have to let this out before I say anything more, but, seriously, what a brat!

For those of you who don't know the news, a teenage girl went to a tattoo parlour to have stars tattooed on her face. 56 of them. Obviously, she looks like a freak, went home and her father hits the ceiling.

What does she do? She freaks out and tells everyone that she fell asleep during the process and woke up with those 56 stars on her face. She claimed that she had only asked for three and vowed to sue the tattooist for inflicting the hideous stars onto her face.

The tattooist, of course, in self defence, claimed that she HAD asked for all 56 stars and was wide awake during the whole process, but decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Since she was an unsatisfied customer, he offered to pay for half of the cost of the surgery to get those stars removed.

Guess what? The girl just came out with a statement, admitting that, she, indeed, asked for 56 stars and not 3. The reason she lied was because her father freaked out.

Obviously, the tattooist withdrew the offer to pay for removal of those infamous stars.

Padan muka, and seriously la, learn to take responsibility for your own stupidity, please. Menyusahkan orang lain aje.

In case you feel like reading the rest of the article and seeing the picture of the little idiot, click here.

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To Whom It May Concern Number Two

Yes, I know you've been here. I know you searched for my blog. Don't ask me how I know, I just do. Just please keep things professional. Currently, I have no intentions of actually making it private but if I have to, I will.

Of Freudian Slips

Overheard in a mamak.

This is a conversation between a girl and someone who's probably her boyfriend.

Girl: (Complains about work)

Boy: They're all dicks la.

Girl: Actually, my colleagues are fine. They wouldn't have said anything. It was just my boss.

Boy: Then he has a big dick.

(Silence)

Girl: Ermm.. You do realise that...

Boy: (Interrupts) I meant IS! He IS a big dick! I know! That was Freudian slip! Now let's put it ALLL behind us...

(Another silence)

Boy: (palm face) and THAT was another slip...

Again

Something happened recently. I can't say what it is here since it's too personal, but you know when you watch continuing tv series telenovelas and stuff like that?

A huge villain or troublemaker comes around and disrupts everyone's lives and everybody has to work hard to get through all the trouble that he/she makes? All the conflict and the heartache and the pain. Well, usually, on tv, at some point, the conflict gets resolved and they managed to drive away the bad force that has made a chaos out of their lives.

But then when everything is good and well, obviously, tv-land needs controversy and excitement to survive, and suddenly, the villain comes back and throws everything into mayhem again.

This is what is happening for me. Again. I remember how weak I was when I had to go through this before. How much I felt like running away, and how CLOSE I actually was to surrendering and doing exactly what this thing wanted me to do. How close I was to throwing away everything I had just to let go of the pain it caused me.

I hope that this time around, I'm stronger and that I face this with more maturity than I did the last time. I need to, because I can't guarantee how far it will go this time.

Blood: The Last Vampire

As you can see, I didn't even bother putting up a picture here.

The movie sucks. Corny script, HORRIBLE acting from ALL directions, lame-ass CGI, even lamer-assed storyline.

It RIVALS Twilight in ghastliness. Trust me, don't spend your hard-earned money on this flick. Try something else.

Ughh.

What is it with Vampire movies and lame-ness anyway?

Pure Inhumanity - Please Don't Buy Fur

I thought I had seen the worse of human nature, what with the recent abuse of a maid and the shootings of several people praying in a mosque.

I realise that until I saw this video, I had not seen ANYTHING. Heard of, yes. Read about, yes, every day.

My husband had warned me that this video was graphic and that it was going to affect me strongly, but I was convinced that I had a strong stomach and that whatever it was, I could take it. I was wrong. I cried and vomited my guts out afterwards.

This is a link to a PETA video about human cruelty to animals.

If you have a weak stomach or heart, please don't watch it.

Innocent animals are raised for their fur. When they are finally ready, these monsters in humans' clothing bludgeon them with hard objects, or even bash them to the ground and stomp on them so that their backs break.

The worse part is that some of these animals survive the bludgeoning, and are SKINNED ALIVE.

In the video, an animal (possibly a raccoon) which has been skinned, is shown still moving, IN A DAZE.

All this for the fur.

How inhumane can people get, just to look pretty?

I beseech you, if you're reading this, please stop buying fur, and, if possible, spread the word and tell someone else about how cruel the acts are.

Writer's Block

I am extremely tired all the time, harbouring wishes and fantasies of doing something else which I NEVER thought I would even think of doing, despite the fact that I love my job...

Confusion and fatigue equals writer's block.

I shall get back to writing here when I finally have something I feel like writing about.

Emotional Infidelity

Emotional Infidelity. The very word means that whoever committing the act is CHEATING on their significant other. A lot of people fail to recognise the signs, or, simply, refuse to acknowledge them in an attempt to fool themselves into thinking they are doing no harm to anyone.

Well, they're wrong. Infidelity of the emotions is every bit as harmful as physical infidelity. Worse, in fact. There are, in reality, three forms of cheating. Infidelity which involves only emotions, one that is purely physical and nothing else, and one that is a mix of both. Needless to say, when someone is already in a mix of both, then they've already landed themselves in trouble.

The symptoms are basically similar everytime. You tell this person your problems. He/She is the first person you think of when you're in trouble. You talk and have a lot of chemistry, and you have hidden feelings for him/her and is sure he/she reciprocates. You go out for drinks and movies and meals and you tell yourself that it is totally harmless, totally platonic. And yet, deep down, you sometimes wish that this was your significant other. Not your current boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife.

If you are experiencing the above, then, congratulations (or NOT), you are emotionally cheating.


Emotional infidelity always seems to fall into a grey area. You're not sleeping with the person, you just enjoy his/her company, sometimes more than you do your significant other. So a lot of people don't consider it cheating.

Consider this: You have feelings for this person. You wish he/she were your significant other. You think of this person more than you think of your loved one.

as opposed to:

You sleep with this person purely for sex, nothing else. No feelings. You just wanna have fun, but you are deeply in love with your significant other.

A lot of people would say the latter is more harmful. In reality, they're both equally bad.

It's like this. My husband once told me about a recent X-Men comic he read.

For those of you unfamiliar with X-men, they are a bunch of mutants with superpowers, mind control and such. Among them are Cyclops and his wife, Jean Grey (a powerful telepath)

I may have the context slightly wrong, but this is something along the lines of how the story goes. Jean tries to find her husband with her telepathy one day, but he is nowhere to be found. There is one more character in the comics called Emma Frost, who is basically a slut. Jean's intuitions finally lead her to Emma's mind, where, she finally finds her husband.

It doesn't sound that bad, does it?

Not until you take into account that the scene Jean Grey sees (as portrayed in the comics) in Emma Frost's mind is that of Emma and Cyclops in bed together, naked.

Put two and two together, and it's clear that although there are a lot of people who think emotional infidelity is innocent, many others, like me, have the strong opinion that when you're forming emotional ties with someone else who is NOT your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife, you are, essentially, committing ADULTERY OF THE MIND.

You're only hurting yourself and the ones you supposedly love.

Think about it.

The Big Day is Here

As I am typing this, I should be rushing around to get ready.

Today marks the day that I will be walking up that stage in order to receive my 4 years worth of hard-earned degree. Most of my friends will be up there with me, Alhamdulillah.

I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I am definitely proud of myself, that I managed to get through all the pain, the HUGE DRAMAS and all the obstacles.

On the other hand, it makes me slightly sad to finally, officially, leave a place that I've called home for four years.

To everyone graduating with me today, congratulations.

A Heartfelt Confession

I want my own child.

And there you have it, my confession. For some reason, my body clock has been ticking incessantly lately. Seeing some of my friends' and my boss' adorable little munchkins has me wanting one of my own, despite the fact that my brain is screaming, no, HOLLERING to me that I am nowhere near ready to take that leap.

I've made excuses and justifications as to why I simply cannot start a family now, but I am tired of denying what I really want, which is a child of my own. My husband and I have discussed this issue over and over again until we're both blue in the face and completely exhausted at how the conversation centers around the same reasons and excuses and how much the both of us want to take the next step. The fact still remains, however, that we can't.

I know very well that a lot of people are excited to have little Epols/Zurins running around, myself most of all. My wants seem so strong that everytime I see someone else's baby, I get the urge to tear up and cry, something very dangerous since I've been visiting a lot of newborns lately.

I'm waiting for the day that people will be visiting my own. We've made plans that I would have my first when I turn 27 (slightly earlier if we manage to fulfill our dreams before then). My heart aches at the prospect of having to wait three whole years for it, but for now, it will have to do.

Until then, I hope my friends won't mind if I share just a little bit of their pride and joy until I manage to fill that void.

Wake-Up Call

Sometimes, people misunderstand intentions. Even someone who is closest to you and knows you more than anyone else in the world can misconstrue what your true meaning is.

Sometimes, people refuse to see the facts. They only see things at face value and don't bother going beyond that. Just like an auto focus function on a camera that blurs everything else out of the focus point, they only see what they want to see, even if that means looking through a dirty lens.

Sometimes, people say stupid things that get passed on and hurt the people that love them. Moronic, callus, ego-driven statements that are equivalents to slaps in the face.

Sometimes, they can't take it back even if they wanted to.

Because unlike those pictures taken with the dirty lens, the image imprinted onto the hearts of the people involved can never be erased, deleted or torn up.

Facebook Friends = Real Life Friends? I Think Not

We've all had this issue before. In fact, Black Mouse blogged about it in her latest post, and it certainly got me thinking. I've been pretty lax about approving friends of facebook. Too lax, in fact. I looked through my friends list and I realised that I have nothing in common with some of the people I have on my list of 'friends'.

Some people think that their only responsibility in keeping in touch with others is by adding them on facebook, full stop. Yet, when they run into each other, they act like they don't know each other AT ALL. What irks me is the fact that when I went to a friend's wedding, some of these facebook friends of mine actually had the gall to turn their noses up at me when I spoke to them, a la "who the heck do you think you are talking to me?". Sad and completely annoying, especially since we were at a mutual location (i.e: not a run into kind of situation, but something that both parties were invited to). The worse part is, of course, the fact that I went to school with some of these people, and we were friends. Sekarang macam "Aku tak kenal ko lah. Tapi aku nak add dalam facebook. But don't expect me to tegur you when we bump into each other, sebab, biatch, i am WAAAYYY out of your league" camtu.

Some justify their trigger-happy friends-adding antics by calling it 'networking'. That's pretty much bullshit because the last time I asked for help from my so-called 'network' on facebook, I got a total of 4 responses. I am really grateful to those who actually bothered, but I am VERY sure I tagged a LOT of people on that particular desperate note. So, nope, networking my ass.

So I decided it was time for a de-cluttering. I spring-cleaned my friends list, and if you're not on it, obviously I don't find you important enough to keep in touch/ 'network' with. Admittedly, I still have some ways to go before TOTALLY clearing up my list for those who really matter, but I'm getting there.

No, like a lot of people say, I am not sombong. I am not stuck up. Bukan. The only reason this is happening is because I do not see the point of having a thousand and one people on my list and only really keep in touch with maybe 50. So if the only reason I am being added onto yours is so that you can keep me tucked away in a little corner in a dust-gathering competition with a hundred of other people, I suggest you do the same and un-include me. :)

A Fun and Exhausting Day

Yesterday, my friends and I had to collect our convocation robes and sit through about an hour of rehearsals for the big day. This hardly seems like a day to look forward to, but it was for us because a certain mamat from Kedah had travelled all the way back to KL for the occassion.

Needless to say, he had all of us in stitches the minute we were all assembled.

After the rehearsal, being camwhores, we decided to display our robes in full glory and take pictures in front of the reception hall. We practically hogged the backdrop, kesian kakak2 yang tunggu nak ambik gambar tu. Lol. I will post some pictures here soon, tapi tak nak letak now because takut takde ong for the big day nanti (read: malas), but they'll come soon, I promise.

Anyway, after that, we hung out at the new KFC in section 2 for hours and just talked and caught up with each other. I seriously miss those gossip/laugh-our-ass-off sessions. And yet there were a few people missing, sorang kat Philippines, sorang kat Paris, sorang couldn't make it but oh well, we take what we can get, huh?

So tonight, we've made plans to go see the second Night at the Museum movie at SUnway Pyramid.. Can't wait. :)