Temptations & Ambitions

Let's just face the fact that this has been a much debatable issue ever since gazillion years ago. I think I have even blogged about this issue somewhere in the past, but perhaps no one have heeded the message, because I am merely another citizen, one out of the 25 millions living in Malaysia. My stand is perhaps, there is no stand at all.


I was one of the few who had no choice but to pursue my studies in Science and Mathematics in Bahasa Malaysia. No further options were given, until when STPM was to be taught in English, despite the option of bilingual papers in the exams. Seriously, I have no problems learning in Bahasa Malaysia, because it has been that way since young. Be it "jisim", "isipadu", "pembolehubah dimalarkan" up to the scientific terms hardly Malay such as "centrifugasi", "kalium", "plumbum", it hardly makes any difference if you have the resources and support to enable you to learn them.

Those who fear the obstacle in language is merely fearing the unknown. Who are those who fear them? Adults. Because it sounds horrifying to learn a language foreign to them. Imagine someone telling you that you're supposed to learn a subject in French instead! That is the response that I'm talking about. In children, it is somewhat different. They do have an extremely flexible learning curve, if proper support and guidance are given. Start them young and I'm pretty sure that your child could even learn it in Greek, I assure you. Of course, how well they fare may be another issue, not of linguistic ability, but perhaps more on the cognitive and comprehensive ability.


My point is, if you do have a strong grip on the fundamentals in science and mathematics, it doesn't matter which language that you're learning in. Even so, mathematics do have universal signs and symbols after all, thus there is nothing to worry about. Those who worry, are those parents who are illiterate, or those who are semi-literate, because they blame their inability to master these as a result of language barrier, and not putting in on themselves for not trying hard enough, or other circumstances that prevented them from working harder. For those who are literate, it is just a matter of preference, but the politicization of this issue had made it a grave matter.


But of course, there are a few matters that needed to be ironed out if it should be taught in Bahasa Malaysia. As one who had gone through the system in Bahasa Malaysia, I do feel that I had deserved more rights to justify my suggestions rather than some politicians who had just undergone the arts stream instead, or even did not manage to make the cut at all.

1. Be consistent. If you want to teach it in BM, do it for a period of more than 10 years. If you want it in English, do it for equally as long. Well, the publishers who obtained the government contract would have gained the most out of this constant flip-flop (although I'm not sure if this could be the main intention of the change or not), but this would make it hard for the teaching staff. 5 years would just be the bare minimum requirement to train or retrain the staff in a language, and then a change again would just send back the teachers to retrain for another 5 years at the very least. The teaching competency had already been compromised all these while, so do expect a further dip from all these.
2. Get a Bahasa Malaysia committee catered for scientific terms in science and maths. Rest assured that Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka is not your best bet if you would like to advance BM forward in science. Many scientific words are still in English, and our friends in DBP could only Malaysianize the words at the very best, because they think there was no substitute. Even if there was, there was no one to oversee its implementation. For example, the spinal cord has its equivalent in BM, namely saraf tunjang, but what has been commonly used is spina korda or korda spina instead. And then some fanatics bragged on the beauty of science in BM from the word spina korda, when the truly proper and nice words came from the former. Hence, with a proper committee specializing in BM in science and maths, one could expect it to be able to promote better introductory of new BM terms and hopefully, be able to promote and encourage the use of BM terminologies. Hence, there would be no funky derivation of terminologies which makes no sense simply because it came from an English or Latin word.
3. Give more support to students from rural areas to learn science and mathematics. I know, most would blame the lack of proficiency in English as their inability to master these subjects. But let's face the fact, we are bound to learn English someday if you're going to pursue higher studies for science and maths.Of course, learning it in BM gives you a higher chance to enter local varsities because you can stomach all the facts in BM and vomit them all out again in exams, but that is all in academic sense. In actuality, you can even have medical students who could easily mistaken tendon vaginitis, an orthopedic diagnosis, with the inflammation of vagina! Of course, this is easily forgiveable, but given that particular student had more bouts of concrete thinking without the presence of abstract thinking, one would blame her mental ability rather than her linguistic ability. My point is, get more programmes running to reach these rural children instead of making it backward for everyone to the level of children in rural areas. If that is the case, you can even form special schools to cater for them, catering based on the needs of individual areas. The claim that BM is best for students in rural areas is the worst excuse if you would like to advance BM in science and maths. It's just merely declaring that you would intend to make everything go backwards and stupid so that everyone is equal. And then, in the eyes of the world, we would be seen as a bunch of cavemen, refusing to progress forward.

There are of course much more input, but I'll leave it at that to keep this short. With so much careful study, we know what is best for all. Of course, proclaimed studies with no figures merely make it an arbitrary fact or just a figure of speech. After all, all these commotion makes me even glad that I am a survivor of the education system. What are we without such obstacles? What does not kill me, makes me stronger.


Or perhaps, making me weaker for the next thing to kill me.

It has been a far long absence of mine from this site, while I had been busy immersing myself with the workload that would never seem to end. In a place where entertainment is scarce, the hospital is the place of entertainment for relatives of patients. 20 people can come to visit for every single patient, staring either at a healthy patient or a sickly ventilated patient. Yes, it happens here. You may think that they are concerned are whatsoever, but think again. Everyone shirks their responsibility when they are requested to take care of the patients, their very own relative. They can cry all they want, pray as holy as the sky can be reached, but most would not even lift a finger to wipe even a drop of sweat. The best is, sometimes, 20 patients can stare blankly at the patients who may have collapsed, doing nothing, and have a staring buffet out of it. This is how it is here.

Or perhaps how illiterate are the people that they would insist to bring their infants and toddlers to the wards where the place of infection is the highest. No one would doubt that the downward drift could have possibly happen due to infantile exposure to infection.

Sometimes, you get funny encounter here. Sometimes a guy can come in demanding to visit his wife, without telling others what is his wife's name. And then, on further enquiry, he actually did forget his wife's name, and that particular patient could be in another ward. Mind you, he was already told of the ward by the security downstairs. All the man wants is to create a ruckus and demand that everyone search for his wife. And this happens quite often that I would almost conclude that wives are really forgettable people in our lives. *sigh*

And then there are almost these rapid tests and rapid treatment that are expected by people in the era of modern technology. A recently taken blood culture and sensitivity had been asked of the results immediately. Or perhaps a patient who had been admitted to the ward for barely 5 minutes for some bone fracture had been asked if the bone has healed. Such high expectations are unachievable yet at the moment, perhaps maybe in 50-100 years time.

Even now, we have what you could call "Bomoh Tulang", a rather famous job here. It is so common that a lot of people contemplate of trying it instead of fixing their fracture the operative manner. They would usually request for "At Own Risk" discharge, inadvertently ending up back in the wards few weeks later with a complicated fracture, either from malunion or fibrous tissue which would make the surgery harder. Or perhaps the latest "teleconferencing" long range bomoh tulang that is able to heal from afar. Just give some particulars of your relative in the wards and he can heal your fracture in no time, or so what they think.

The health awareness here is rather low, such that I;m sure community medicine would have worked better here than in the urban settings. Until then, here I am encountering odd jobs here and there. Until then.....

Somehow, in medical, there is this term used very much. 

Jonah. 


"This guy very jonah lah!" "That lady super jonah wan lah.."


It's not exactly new, but many medical personnel somehow took a quick affinity to the word. Without knowing who is this fella named Jonah.


Of course, I'm sure the Christians would know.


Jonah is one of the prophet mentioned in the Old Testament in the bible. The word Jonah is from Hebrew origin, hence from the Jews (Or more appropriately the Semitic language). One can argue the origin here, but that's besides the point here. The question is, why Jonah? Not any other prophet?

I'm sure anyone who had read the story would have known about him being swallowed up by the whale. The famous act of all time, apart from dividing the seas or even walking on water.


Jonah is a prophet who was supposedly ordered by God to prophesize the impending doom of a wicked city, but he went the other way around to flee from his "duty", in which he boarded a ship away from the designated mission.


While boarding the ship, all sorts of disaster follows through. Everyone on board was trying to save the ship but to no avail. It was all due to that one single "unlucky" person on board who had earned the wrath of God. Jonah himself. Jonah finally realized it and even stepped out to volunteered to be thrown off board. The crew hesitated, and tried all methods, but they finally resort to throw Jonah off the ship into the sea. It was then right after that the storm calmed down and the ship was saved from the disaster.


And it was then that Jonah was swallowed wholely by a whale and the biblical story continued thereafter.


And so, Jonah was the one to be blamed for all the mishap. Admission of numerous patients to any ward is considered a mishap by medical personnel due to the workload. When an individual had been singled out to have cause such incidence by luck almost everytime, he or she would have qualify as "Jonah".


But I'm not into superstition. It's all humor after all.


But just to reiterate one more thing. There is a Malay translation for the word Jonah. Yes, anything in the bible's Old Testament would most likely be in al-Quran. Prophet Jonah is indeed Nabi Yunus.


Not that I have any strong conviction for religion, but I do know that some would prefer not to speak of the names of their prophets as freely as that. I'm just curious if those who mention it are aware of their deeds or are just plain ignorant.


Beats me. But curiosity may not necessarily be a good thing. :P

 Convocation has never been a thing for me. Wearing a dumb-looking hat and a paper scroll which is obviously not your degree certificate because they are afraid that everything may get lost in the confusion. Seriously, how symbolic can this get?


Of course, I am not going to go for a ritualistic conversion of everyone to boycott their convocation. I just find the significance dwindling down to some cultural thing that "I did because everyone else does".


In a way, it signifies the ending of the journey that you partake once upon a time, many years ago. This journey would be rather long instead if you're taking a 5-years course, or maybe longer if you had to resit or repeat any academic year. An ending, once and for all, before you start on another new journey.


And so, which is why, convocation should be held under two conditions. One, it should be held where you started your journey and spend your time mostly there. Two, it should be held BEFORE you crash down the job reality.


For me, I supposedly started my education journey in UKM Bangi campus for a week there. However, it bears no significance because I did not spend my time educated there. In fact, I was in Kampus KL (near KL General hospital) for 2 years and UKMMC campus in Cheras for 3 years. To "complete" my journey in Bangi fish out no remnants of whatsoever nostalgic feeling  deep inside me. It is a place so distant that I can do without. Like parting with a stranger you've just met for five minutes. No hard feelings.


Furthermore, we have another convocation for our very own faculty, usually a day before. This convocation is usually held in or near our hospital, UKMMC, and so, this had more memories for us than the "formal" one in Bangi. Walking down this path was more enduring, and the shivers and chills when we thought back of the fresh nightmarish experience we had back then. Of course, the fond memories never failed to carve a smile as well. The joy and fun that we had seems like it was just yesterday.

But this year, we might be holding it in Titiwangsa, our hostel for KL campus. Well, that is still acceptable, although the memories appears to be far off distant. Well, better than none in Bangi. That's what I think.


And secondly, is the point that I would love to emphasize the most. Convocation should be held before we start our work! Imagine this, the excitement that had been built up for this day. The anticipation to join the work force and to serve the nation. The confidence that we had of our equipped knowledge fresh from the professional exams. The fiery speech from the chancellor, dean and the student rep motivates us to strive ahead for the future, for what lies ahead of us, the unchartered territory, and all the promises to keep in touch no matter what. Oh, if you'd seen those pair of fresh sparkling eyes of the eager young fresh grad doctors, you'd think that their passion level would be at 110%. 


I think that is what convocation is all about, apart from being a fool awaiting the death march down the path of "glory".


And now, we are already into reality. What excitement we had, had dissipated into thin air. The anticipation is gone, and the confidence of our knowledge had been squashed akin mashed potato. No matter how fiery the speech can get, no lies or sweet talk could get through us anymore. All you can see is a pair of dreary tired-looking eyes, some zombie-looking, some dejected, though we still see some glimmer of hope behind the despaired. We could only smiled, and meeting up with old firends is the only consolation, which could be done in Titiwangsa, where the KL city center is just nearby for a stroll or to hang out at a cosy cafe somewhere, instead of being under the hot sun in Bangi, sweating like some smoked bacon. Oh well, maybe there's sate Kajang, but it's just not the same.  


Working life is no fun, otherwise it's called hobby. But we do get paid after all. And life has to go on. On the other hand, I don't feel like wasting my precious holiday for such trivial matter(convocation). I'm seriously contemplating not going to Bangi for the convocation. Anyone with me on this? :P

Little did I know that I'll be a quarter of a century old in an hour's time. Last year, I was in Slim River. This year, I am in Temerloh. Perhaps, the journey from home starts with celebrating your birthdays away from home. It does not bring any significance, apart from the fact that I am another year older, but not necessarily wiser. A retrospective look at my very own history showed that I've came a long way to where I am now, but compared to the journey of time, my experience is no more than a budding stem without a clear steer of goals. I am but just, still at the very beginning of time.

And today, we had a teaching with Mr Yusof, the Head of Dept. His usual teaching rounds. It was a hectic day while I'm still on a crash course to learn the computerized system and protocol. Feels more like a medical student minus the time to read 'em. I seriously had wished to be able to recall what I learnt in Yr 4 med student in Orthopedics. But then, I recalled. I didn't really learnt much. Crap~

Now I know how important it is of the posting. *sigh*

*Addendum:
But I do wonder if I would really want to go back to the med student years. Hmmm..

*Addendum:
Crap.. too much addendum function used in the wards.

*Addendum:
Don't worry, this is just an internal joke. Only people from Hospital Temerloh may know about it.

*Addendum:
Or maybe a few more hospitals, who may also use the shift system as of now. :P

Perhaps now i know why I chose Medicine as a profession. Because it made me aware that I am not the all-knowing. Before this, Mr Google or Mr Wiki was all the answer you need. Perhaps, now it is different. I forgot when was the last time I asked someone so many questions or asked too many people of all sort of questions.The questions seem stupid, but all it takes was to ask, ask, and ask. Sometimes, you may get bullied, but fortunately, I am in the most benign posting. The medical assistant guides you to do the backslab, the nurses help you here and there, fellow colleagues who are more senior who are willing to teach you, and medical officers who are willing to give you a chance. 


Somehow, I felt like I am a medical student again. Perhaps learning from orthopedics is fun. I certainly do hope so. Today is only Day 2 of tagging. Hope the adrenaline rush does last.

I'm pretty sure I'll be getting tired of typing to blog, especially when it's gonna be part of my job. The difference is, I'm not going to tell anything about myself in my job. It's all about the patient's. Crossing my fingers in hope that I'll go through the learning curve smoothly of the computer system here.

I came across this quote from a book, from "Speeches That Changed The World".

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."


Seems that it got stuck in my mind.

Hardly surprising. :)

Here I am, back in my own sweet home, before departing for Hospital Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah (HOSHAS), Temerloh. Yes, that is my next destination for perhaps, the next 2 years.



The 4-days camp was relaxing, because there weren't any BTN element. Although it meant no fun exercises in the morning, it also means there wasn't anymore blatant shouts from the occasional political failures. No more restriction on mobile devices for fear of BTN speech been recorded, because the contents are sometimes rather saucy.

Anyhow, the lectures were somewhat useful, although it may not be so now. Maybe it'll be in 2 years time.


Of course, the most useful information is about the payscale. 


UD41 for housemanship, UD44 for MO during compulsory service of 2 years. They'd promised UD48 for those who remained in government service after the 2 years of compulsory service, although it could be transitional in a matter of several months. But oh well, such payroll changes most of the time. It could even be different after a year or two (judging from the usual "moodswing" in the policies).

Besides, I'm not going to complain that my salary would not be able to feed my whole village. Some people take things for granted, hoping that the government will be paying them to feed everyone in their family, from Grandpa, Grandma, uncles, aunts, cousins, father, mother, brother, sisters, from that one single breadwinner. If that's the case, guess they hadn't learned about economics.


"Our wants are infinite, our resources are finite."


No one is ever going to complain about having too much money.


And similarly, no one will ever be satisfied regardless of their pay, when they couldn't take into account their job performances and capabilities.


It's rather interesting to see people from different walks of life, from various places and institutions. Most of us had different experiences to share, and seriously, 4 days wouldn't be enough to get to know all of them. We're going to be in a whole new environment after all, so a little larger network wouldn't hurt, nay?


So, here I am, packing for Temerloh, and staying at home while the clash of a new "religion" has occured. Believers and non-believers of Bersih 2.0. Anything that qualifies for endless debate with no finite solution would fit into the category. Oh, preferably with the essence of blind loyalty. It would not solve anything, but merely presenting an option of a different approach.

The verdict? My comment is just as sane as the protagonist of the novel "White Tiger" with his favorite remark of "WAFJ". Go and rally and vandalize all you want in your own states, oh dear hooligans. This is definitely not Arab Spring. This is no Aung San Suu Kyi's liberalism either (although some deluded person may want to liken himself to her). 


In fact, this felt more like Thailand's Yellow shirt and Red shirt demonstration.

And here I am, thinking that smart lawyers would have done better than using such desperate ways.

In the end, no one is a winner.


Of course, apart from those who were hired and paid for participating in the rally.


So, sit back, and enjoy a peaceful weekend. :)

My packing will be done soon.

Touched down at the induction camp at Seri Malaysia, Port Dickson for the next 4 days and 3 nights.

The things that I do best is to  break the rules. That is, to wear a pair of jeans with a round neck T-shirt. Not too casual, but technically, I did break it.

Or maybe it was that that had attracted attention. Unknowingly, I am now the "Penghulu" for the camp. "Self-appointed", konon...

The fruit of being late to get a spot to sit, and sitting in the front row earned me this privilege.

"Wow..."

I am speechless. I hope this all goes well.

By the way, I saw some familiar faces here. Khairi, for example. Or some students from unscheduled Uni who had once sit for UKM professional exams. Or Kok Sen Wai, the author of one of the blogs that Caryn reads often (Maybe I should say she's a fan of his blog). Because this is the only induction camp at the time, so 90 participants from all sorts of Uni (local, overseas, etc) are here. Future doctors, before we are sent off to practically anywhere (hospitals with specialists, but this may change soon) within Malaysia.

Guess I'll know my fate tonight. :)

*Notice: Do not read this if you plan to watch it and suffer in agony.

If you are a fanatic of Transformers' action packed films, this is the one for you. All action, lousy storyline, lousy scripts and dialogues. Basically, this is about 2 rich boy directors playing with their toys, and we're all watching it dumbfounded.


In layman's term, it's akin to having penetration-only sex for 2 and a half hours. No flirting, no foreplay, no nice dinner, no moans or groans. Just pure sex. That's how Transformers 3 is.  

Boring.


First and foremost, this is a pure American pride brought to the silver screen. The first half an hour (or so it seems) focused on the US' pride of the conquering moon. The flashback between historic reel and realtime acting seems too overpowering, with the sole reason to imply that the US was a great nation. Now I say that's a loser for you, to relive on past history. All the melodramatic act prolonged way further than any introduction scene would have been brought.


And then you have a Victorian model for some sex appeal which wasn't really appealing. Storyline for Megan Fox? She ditched him, just like that. Shia LaBeouf's overacting killed it as he leads the cast to doom. A lot of side casts are thrown in for nothing, all because the scriptwriter can't think of anything.

All the non-stop action and nonsensical linear plot goes on with too many plotholes, as the US army brought in to save the day, as usual, only on the silver screen. But what beats the climax was, the fight of the little Decpticons and Autobots took too long and had many twist and turns in effort to prolong it to 2 and a half hours long movie. 

And in the end, the ending was rather too simplistic and illogical. Megatron suddenly act out of the blue to help Optimus defeat another enemy (Sentinel Prime) from a few seconds worth of goading by the miss little Rosie. Optimus then defeat Megatron and Sentinel. All in a minute's worth of action time. wow. Disbelieving eh? Such abrupt end of all sorts.


I cant stop myself from yawning too often. Steven Spielberg's "lovely" massive destruction is too much to bear, even for me. Time for him to tune it down. Even Super 8 is too filled too much of Steven Spielberg. Time for him to learn how to do something less nasty.


*The author opined that Transformers 3 is a male version of Twilight. And he dislikes both.

Yes, PayPal now accepts topup via Malaysia's online banking (FPX). This means there is alternative apart from credit card.


Maybank2u. CIMC Clicks. Hong Leong Bank. PBe.


However, you'll be charged RM2 per top up transaction. Fair enough.

But if you're using RHB online banking, there's no charges! Because they are the ones who liaise with PayPal.


So, if you need Facebook credits, PayPal is the answer, because other methods cost u a bomb.

If you're buying from e-Bay (international), use PayPal, because they are the best middleman who refunds you if there is a fraud.


Just so as long you're paying any money out of Malaysia, use PayPal. Even if you have a credit card.


Just make sure you don't fall for any phishing scam for your PayPal account.


If you do, I'll say, "Don't use PayPal."


*Note: This "advertising" is unpaid for and is the author's personal opinion. :P
And btw, this is really old news, since this service is available since October 2010. 

This is actually a post dated May 2011, but some careful thoughts (and procrastination) took some 6 weeks to finish this post.


After being to 4 bridal studios in KL and 6 in Ipoh ( A whooping 10 in total! ), I've learnt my lesson rather well. I think 10 could be a record for anyone to achieve, because a restrospective look at my own actions may put myself in a light that some may think as crazy. I've asked around, and most (70-80% of the time) of the couples signed up after their first visit. Some ended up loving it, some hating it, and some is amazed how the bridal studio can be such a cutthroat in the first place, being all sweet in the first place and ignore you once the payment has been made.

I'm going to spare you the fine details. but here's some tips that I could share of, if at all possible.

1. Accept the Fact that You're a Newbie.
   Some people can't take it that they're new when it comes to bridal stuff. Don't blame yourself. This is one aspect that most of the time, is your first and (hopefully) last. Your first step is to look around for wedding forums and some blogs, hence if you've found your way here through google, I consider this is your first step to wisdom. For those usual readers, perhaps you can ignore this part. n_n"
   
   There's no point acting all-knowing, even the bridal studio sales assistant can see through your acting. Just sit comfortably and listen to what they've gotta say and offer. What you've gotta avoid is splurging out your wallet immediately, as most of them are more than willing to go for the kill on your first visit to any bridal studio. It's almost always an easy kill.
   
   
2. Consult Your Friends Who Got Married Recently!
   
   If you'd consult your grandmother, I bet you'll hardly get any good advice. Get a cousin or a close friend who had gotten married recently, up to maybe 5 years. A lot of factors, including pricing and services may change rather drastic over such a short span of time. You wouldn't want to go looking for a studio which had gone bust already! Better still, go to wedding forums and search for the comments of the bridal studio you had in mind. You may find invaluable experience from them. Of course, each bride has her own ideals, but listening to more will do you no harm.
   
   Do not feel insulted if you were told that the wedding album will be neglected after a few years despite you paying so much for it. That, is the reality indeed, but you could live for the moment, within your budget, of course.
   
   
3. Know Your Budget.
   Do not fall for the "Once in a Lifetime" gimmick. There are a lot of once-in-a-lifetime events in your life, including exams. What the bridal studio care is your money, and it's almost for sure that their tagline would be "Sucking You Dry". Work your package within your budget. Sure, it's a nice thing for camwhores, but having no honeymoon/ borrowing money because of exorbitant bridal photography package? You must be looking for trouble.
   
   
4. Visit a Few More Bridal Studios Before You Decide.
   
   Run a few more rounds if you have to. Even if your hubby complains. There is no such thing as a really cheap offer. After a few rounds, you'll find that the offers are around the same. Maybe a little bit of difference, but there are of course, a lot of aspects to look into, including the gowns, album designs and their services.
   
   Almost all bridal studio would not allow you to take their brochure away, but no one stops you from memorizing the general details. Write it down on a piece of paper as you exit a bridal studio. It's good for comparison, on a different perspective.
   
   
5. Do NOT Pay anything at all on your first visit!
   
   You'll never know when you would regret it. The bridal studio sales assistants will go all out for the first blood. They'll sugar coat their words, and mentioned that the "lucrative" offer they had for you is only valid for your this visit. Sure, they'll throw in a lot of free gifts or "upgrades", especially when if this is your first time visit. You'll find out later that those are already included in the package's worth. Anyhow, they may want you to pay a deposit ranging from RM100 to 100% of the package (I know, it sounds ridiculous to pay all, but there are people who do so), but don't fall for it. All you need is something that suits your needs (and your budget, of course). If the offer is real good, they won't be afraid of you walking off as you'll come back later.
   
   
6. Never commit too early.
   
   You plan to have your wedding in 3 years time. Your photoshoot is bound in 2 years time, at the earliest. Well, it's not about the possibility that anything can happen within these two years to your relationship (touch wood), but the bridal studio may go bust before that. Many brides-to-be made this mistake, by paying deposit way too early, sometimes up to 100%. The studio closed down before they could do anything, and there wasn't any refund given.
   
   Of course, the worst cases are those when they could not collect their album, which most have finish paying(monetary and time) by then. This can't be helped, but booking too early should really be avoided.
    
   
7. Avoid Commitments in Bridal Fair
   
   This is seriously, not about having commitment issues.
   
   Yes, they do have bridal fairs. In fact, there were 3 that I knew of that was held in KL in the month of May 2011. The truth is, the fair are usually organized by sisters company (Affiliation). Hence, the range of prices would be similar for the bridal studio packages in the fair. It's good that you visit the fair for a rough idea of how it is like, but you wouldn't want to be a ripoff by committing there and then. Plus, it is advisable to visit the bridal studio that you are interested in, as you might want to browse through their wedding/ evening gowns. You wouldn't want to look at the gown selection in horror just prior to your photoshoot!
   
   However, if you happened to be already in it, just hope for the best. It might not turn out that that bad, just that it might not live up to your ideal expectations. It might even turn out fantastic. I'm saying this because I'm not such a risk taker.
   
   
8. Browse Your Wedding Gowns/ Evening Gowns Before You Decide
   
   As mentioned earlier, this is one of the reasons why you should drop by any bridal studio. Of course, the crowd does says a lot about the place. A bustling studio on weekdays is a sign of prosperity while an empty studio on weekends is a sign of impending doom. Browsing the selection of gowns will give you a rough idea of what's in store for you. Depending on the prices, you may be allowed on certain selection ( they have different names, from VIP, VVIP, Designer costumes, but it's essentially discrimination based on your package price).
   
   While wedding gowns can be dirty or dusty or with holes, this can be solved with some photoshop skills, as assured by the bridal studio. What they can't help you, is the fact that you're bringing these out for your actual wedding day/dinner. Well, that is, unless you can dimmed the lights real dark that you can't figure out any difference at all.
   
   
9. Bridal Studio Service is equally as important!
   
   Let's face this. Your wedding photoshoot is no longer just like your parents or grandparents, where they take a photoshoot of you, frame it up, you collect and pay, end of story. I dare say most bridal studio, offer it in a package involving wedding album. This means that you'll be dealing with them more often than you'd ever imagined. A basic number of visits to the bridal studio can be up to 8 times at the very least, so do make sure your sales assistant is able to be there to service you, as it'll make things easier, especially those who had little spare time out of work.
   
   The basic 8 visits are:
   
   • An initial visit for booking and deposit downpayment.
   • Wedding gown tryout and alteration
   • Bridal photoshoot day and payment (partial sum or all of the rest, depending on bridal studio)
   • Bridal photos selection for album
   • 1st (and hopefully last) touchup of the photos awaiting for printing
   • Wedding album collection and final payment
   • Selection of wedding & evening gown a week or two prior to actual wedding day for alteration and cleaning.
   • Taking your wedding gown and evening gown for actual wedding day (and maybe return)
   
   Depending on the efficiency of your bridal studio, the number of customers, and your free time, these 8 visits may be spread out up to a year or more. 3-4 months would be the minimum amount of time. Of course, this may not include other additional visits, which may include the multiple trips you make for changing your mind on the gowns you had selected prior, 2nd photoshoot session due to poor weather on the 1st, the number of times you have to come to select the photos, or demanding for other changes to be made on the design of wedding album.
   
   My point is, you will need to communicate with them very often. Hence, service is very important.
   
   
10. What is Not in the Invoice, Will Most Likely Not Be in the Deal.
    
    Okay, and so your sales assistant promised you this, this, that and that. Everything seems fine until the day the actual deal came through and you found yourself shortchanged. You transformed into a bridezilla/groomzilla, ruining the makeup and your whole bridal photoshoot process. And it all came down to the invoice you kept. True enough, it wasn't there, just some early sweet talk promises. Some may end up rather forfeiting their deposit, and some have to top up a lot.
    
    You wouldn't want this to happen to you, would you?
    
    Intentionally or not, people do forget. The whole process for this bridal studio thing may span over 6 months or a year. It is wiser to keep everything written down on the invoice/ receipt. Assumptions are lethal in this field. Most of the time, they will honor what is written, unless there can be an ambiguity in the interpretation of invoice, especially if it's written in Chinese. Therefore, try to iron out all the hidden charges here, from your collagen ampoule for make up, body foundation, fake eyelashes, manicures down to the retrieval of soft copy of your photoshoots.
    

And for 11... oops.. Did I say 10? Alright, I'll stop here. I do hope that these tips would help at least a tiny bit for those bridal starters. Otherwise, just let me gloat in pride of my holiday activities apart from watching all the movie blockbusters.

Somehow, I am glad that I am not in one yet. The nihilistic comments swarming around FB is just too much that I'd rather not be in it 1st. It may sound gloomy, but in actuality, a gloating remark in guise for admiration in awe. Your first caesarean section, your first invasive procedure, your first piss in your pants, etc. It felt like back in primary years, where everyone goes rushing to their moms to tell what had happened, getting all excited over any single small thing. Just that the difference is, FB is the new mom. Tell this mom of yours and it'll tell the world about it. Acts like real moms, aye?


Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that they're wrong to do it, because by doing so, I'll be denying their freedom and rights for expression. Better this than some 24/7 religious comments, everytime, without fail, on how women should dress like a dumpling. Of course, this make it sounds as if the religion is all about sex and nothing else.


Anyhow, it is just not my style to do so.


Or perhaps it is also not my style of carrying the habit of upholding something called the UKM's pride. Seriously, I failed to see why are we so obsessed with the pride as such. Okay, so we're bound to make some mistakes during housemanship, and we may not be competent...yet. We have to learn, indeed, instead of gloating in past pride, on how not to let UKM down. It may have been a joke by the specialist, but taking it too personally is just.... no comment..

As the saying goes, those who dwell in the past glory will not be able to strive ahead. Look at how our Malaysian textbooks boast of the glorious days of Islamic civilization, so much that they filled the whole world history syllabus with it, making it as a small consolation gift for the pride of "We were once a great nation". In such process, the other civilizations were neglected, from Greek, Rome, to Renaissance. They failed to see that it is a natural progression of time, how great nations rise and fall, and what's even more important, the cause of their failure.

I guess we are all just humans. No one could escape from imperfection. That makes the world a whole lot more interesting a place to live in. Diversity is all that makes us special. *And even losers are special in their very own way(*Taken from the book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother"). I just hope that this houseman dropout (me) will be able to blend in soon enough. And to declare to the universal mom about what I did in the hospital.


Nah, just kidding.


On a second thought, I'm not.


Oh wait, just kidding. :P


*All the best to fellow housemen, wishing you smooth journey in your undertakings. Do not take it too personally of my post, as it is just my personal opinion. I do not wished to be called in the wee hours for revenge. (I know you guys are still up by then for on-calls, but I'm not, as I'm still under my very own cosy blanket.. n_n").

Tick, tock...

Tick, tock..

The clock strikes 7. And a half of course, at GMT.


The buzzing stream of activity hurls its way into the core of the site known as malaysia.gov.my.





Most of the Malaysians were asleep at that time. Apart from some late night city dwellers roaming in Mamak or the night clubs. Of course, not to be forgotten, the bikers, also known as "Mat Rempits", on their suicide trips to prove their mettle against each other. And one always wonder why is the blood bank running low most of the time.


Tonight, was a bit special. The hackers were looking for something political. Something to put their hands on the people of power in Malaysia. It was meant to be political from the first place. Featuring hackers from various countries, the site, and the country, was bound for doom. 

Or so they thought.


The first obstacle was language. The first wave of attack from Europe came to a halt. Fresh stream of tweets flew around the globe. "Why the heck are we hacking into a site with such foreign language where no one really learns it out of the country?"


And perhaps the Malaysian hackers, who preferred to be called the locals, weren't adequately competent. They blame it on the education system. It took them more of a translation task in the team, whilst their mastery of the language weren't exactly top notch. And the site's English was mostly a direct translation from Bahasa Melayu. It didn't make it any better.


After some time, they finally got through, with the password "Nasi Lemak". The hackers learnt from the locals that it was a delicacy. Maybe they should try that the next time they come to Malaysia. Put that on the top of the "to-eat" list.


Once they were in, it was found out that the site was based from a cheap server provider. Time was wasted to hack in directly to the site. The server provider would have been an easier prey instead. They figured that blogger.com would have a tighter security than that server provider.


Next was the access and retrieval. It was the most torturing night of all. The bandwidth was very slow. The locals told them it was the norm. Malaysian government has an extremely low bandwidth, perhaps just 1 Mbps. No wonder its always "Server Down", with its limited bandwidth, during their local University application, National Service inquiry, etc. The hackers thought that the Malaysia government was very brilliant, providing such a natural obstacle from hacks. They're in it, but definitely hard to get anything out of there. The hackers were all restless.


Slowly but surely, everything went through. Language wasn't really the main problem, but there weren't anything much inside. There wasn't much of the Economic Transformation Programme in it. Or any government secret revolving around the project. No one really knows who gets the job. The financial accounts don't tally, so was the budget. In fact, it doesn't make any sense at all. Malaysia's server network wasn't extensive nor connected to other agencies. It seems that each agencies had a tender for its own, at surprisingly exorbitant price for the various low cost servers and services. 


Finally, the hackers came to a unanimous decision. It was too much of a hassle to break in. Malaysia's system must have either been too top-notched, or someone had blotched it. either way, they did not get what they were looking for. No more political ploys. All they could do is just some amateur work: Disrupt the site and left their mark on the site.


It was a hell of a night.


They knew they should have targeted Singapore instead.


*Sigh*


*** This post is a piece of fan-fiction written by the author, inspired by the recent news of attack on malaysia.gov.my. Of course, fiction will remain fiction, but it sometimes allows us to explore the possibilites of what could happen should it really did happen.


For more on the news, you can read up in The Star: Hacker Group to attack Malaysian Govt portal.

Believe you me. When I'm mentioning this, it is no Marvel series of X-Men. We produce you with our Malaysia's X-Women instead.


Let's say, if you're looking for first class prostitute service, would you be imagining females as such below?


Can you even try picturing them in kinky sex positions or offering some blowjobs?
(FYI, oral sex is not exactly legal in Malaysia)


Before you proceed any further, please equip yourself with a plastic bag in hand. You may need to puke. And that, is because they'll need at least Mystique's shapeshifter ability or Professor Xavier/ Snowqueen's mind manipulation to make them look decently as a prostitute.


I'm sure you know of the recent hoo-haa by this clown organization, so I'll stop commenting further on this Old Wives Club.


Make no mistake, I am not in support of prostitution and I have nothing against old ugly hag. Physical beauty lasts as long as a candle's lifetime.


What irks me is the mindset that blames women on everything while the men are all totally saints. And to think that all men are only looking for wives of prostitute qualities! When are we going to escape this barbaric mindset? A successful marriage is absolutely not all about sex, and definitely not always the female's fault if anything should happen. 


As you can see, marriage harmony has taken a whole new definition in this global era of modernization. While the previous era saw many wives pledging full loyalty and spends time serving their husbands at home and in bed, the new era demands mutual respect from each other and the sharing of responsibilities whenever possible. The female empowerment globally, has given females an equal say in almost everything, and (almost) equal rights with males. That is equal rights for education, equal rights for job opportunities and equal say in the financial books (if not more). The world may not be perfect, but we're trying to make everything fair.


Some may blame such empowerment for the increasing divorce rates in the world. Yes, the increasing numbers may seem worrying, but if this had been further looked into, you might see a different picture. While K-pop is one of the latest trends embraced by all, I wonder how many would realize that cases of domestic violence in South Korea is one of the highest in the world. The Korean men blamed it on their culture running in their veins (sounds familiar, regarding this culture-culture habit that must be followed regardless?). But the fact is, the number of educated Korean women had made it possible to reconcile and defend themselves, to be aware of their rights, hence also the number of divorce cases (one of the highest in the world, if not the highest). Of course, divorce is not the solution of family dysfunction, but it acts as a last resort when all else fails and your husband is still a jerk and a violent beast.


My point is, it is not that empowerment had a direct effect in causing the number of divorce cases spiralling upwards, but it is the increase in awareness and ability to defend themselves from such injustice, ranging from domestic violence or the "slavewives" mentality.


As we always say, it is easy to rear a pet than to live with another human being. Differences can be ignored if you have a pet. You can feed a dog with catfood and it'll adapt. But human beings? Any differences will need to be sought out and reconciled, with a pinch (or two, or many more) of tolerance. Therefore, it is no longer as easy as before to maintain such "marriage harmony". As many would have foresaw, it has proceeded slowly but surely to being a much more civilized marriage institution. Of course, the challenge is greater than before, but if one is aware of such changes and have the proper mindset to embrace it, the task will be easier, and believe you me, it might even be a stroll in the park after all. This, perhaps, is what I would call first class. :)

P.S: And I am in the beginning of this very challenge.  :P

Sometimes, words as such are rather misleading, at a glance. Or was it intentional in the first place? :P

Since this is a one night trip, and we don't really plan to stay long, we tried some other assorted food there. To be honest, my plans were to try all the chicken rice balls in Melaka to come to a verdict of the really best. But Stella wasn't keen, she's on her diet and wouldn't want to get fat because of something she doesn't really fancy anyway. So, we tried this modern-looking chain restaurant of Famosa's chicken rice ball.

Well, the service here is also subpar. I guess it must have been the tourist area. After being snobbed, by the old man selling the Chendol, my expectations of their food would be higher. Only the best food seller deserves to snob, in my opinion, nay? :P

But oh well, this is easily dismissed as canteen food. Everything is sugary, and the chendol ingredients are not promising. Where are those fat and chubby green chendol which had been the trademark of Malacca? Their sweetener is just Durian Dodol (gula melaka + some sort of durian artifical flavoring), most probably Tan Kim Hock style. If you love durian dodol, I guess this is the place for you. For me, I would expect genuine durian taste from a durian chendol. :P Yeah, I just heard someone shouting "Why don't you just eat real durian then?"..  My point is, don't call it durian if you can't make it taste like one. Similarly, I drink orang juice that tastes like orange, apple juice that tastes like apple, and honey dew juice that taste like honey dew. I think you get my point. There's no point for a guy going after a guy that looks like a girl, nay? Well, unless you're like someone like You-Know-Who-And-He-Will-Sue-You-If-You-Mention-His-Name.

Before I headed home, I found these tasty durian cream puffs!


These are chilled durian cream puffs from Taste Better. It's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The durian cream oozes out as you take a bite of it.

I'm not sure what sort of flavoring they used, but it really tasted like the real durian.

This is what I would really call the real deal.

After some googling effort, I found out that it's also in KL!

So there's no need to go all the way back to Malacca for it.. n_n

Initially, I bought 3 for RM5 to try out.

But now, I'd bought 12 for RM15 for my parents at home. I guess buying more is worth it after all. :P

Everyone knows that Malacca is a historical city. And everyone would know that I'm not an avid fan of Malacca history, being stuck with the history since primary school. Therefore, the last time I went there was at least 5-6 years ago. The trip down south from KL is to "cari makan"! No museums, no moldy forts. And also, no ridiculous zoos, alligator parks or butterfly parks which had been haunting my memories of Malacca.

The journey itself was around 1 and a half hour, from Sg Besi toll to Malacca town. Stella and I drove alternately on the way. That's the fun of having a girlfriend who can drive too, so it's less tiring or taxing on your driving stamina.


We reached one of the famous Chicken Rice ball coffee shop "Chung Wah". Waited for a while only since it's a Thursday, so there's no massive crowd from the tiny little island further down south. Tasted the pricey dish there, and the service there has since improved when there's less crowd. Shows who's the boss, eh?







Now, another reason I chose there was because of the riverside location. Since the river has been cleaned up for river cruise, it's going to be a nice view there. At the back of this budget hotel, there is a common 5-foot walkway for a night walk, with benches along the way.





Overall, the people in the guesthouse were friendly. There would be no lacking in livelihood since they are mostly youngsters, and happened to be relatives. I suspect that at least half of the occupants there are relatives. Call out "Lee" and I'm sure a number of them would answer you. n_n"  But oh well, they are still nice people, so you wouldn't expect any criminal behavior or activity going on here. Given, this would be one of the best budget hotels In Malacca, but if you have the money, there's plenty of 5-star hotels awaits and this would be out of your list.

And that concluded the 1st part of our visit. What else did we do there? Nothing much, just watching some movie (Fast and Furious 5) and drove around town on Thursday night. Oh yes, we did walk around Jonker street and finished within 1 hour! Simple, because Jonker Night Walk is only on Fri - Sunday! Worst still, there's hardly any food to hunt as you can hardly find any signs of life there. It's more like a haunted street, if you'd asked me. We did found some place to eat, as we avoided Malacca's Satay Celup, because our friend, Steve and his guy friend had cold sore (herpes) from eating satay celup! (And not from any sexual escapades either). And so, the next part is on our short day trip on a Friday afternoon at Jonker street, before returning to KL (I'm not a big fan of Jonker night walk actually, so it's not really a loss)

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