Perspective

# Uncle's Funeral

2008-08-11T08:51:00.001Z

Uncle passed away on 11 August 2008. May he rest in peace. I love you, shushu.

# Grandma's Funeral

2008-06-12T08:48:00.002Z

Grandma passed away on 12 June 2008. May she rest in peace. I love you, popo.

# Creep

2007-10-23T14:36:00.000Z

宝贝- 张悬

2007-05-29T17:17:00.001Z

(Tried to post a video from Youtube but the video failed to load, starting to suspect I am really technical-error-prone. Anyway, here is the video link.)

朋友寄来了张悬所唱的《宝贝》，一听就听上瘾了。

好喜欢张悬轻柔的歌声，更喜欢那纯真的歌词。在深夜听着这首歌，心中有一丝丝的暖意，还有一种幸福的感觉。。。

与大家分享这首歌。

歌曲：宝贝
演唱：张悬

我的宝贝宝贝
给你一点甜甜
让你今夜都好眠
我的小鬼小鬼
逗逗你的眉眼
让你喜欢这世界

Chorus:
哇啦啦啦啦啦我的宝贝
倦的时候有个人陪（孤单时有人把你想念）
哎呀呀呀呀呀我的宝贝
要你知道你最美

我的宝贝宝贝
给你一点甜甜
让你今夜很好眠
我的小鬼小鬼
捏捏你的小脸
让你喜欢整个明天

# Trafalgar Green!

2007-05-24T19:41:00.000Z

Let's take a short break before going to Santorini, and let's visit Trafalgar Square, which has been transformed into a green space today.

2000 square metres of turf would cover the square for two days to promote green villages in city under the Visit London's campaign. The turf was sourced from the Vale of York.

As we were already in China Town, we decided to drop over at the square to have a look at the rare sight of greeneries in London... and we saw this.

It was amazing to see that a small patch of grass would attract such a massive crowd! Makes me wonder how deprived Londoners are of greeneries...

We decided to join the crowd on the grass to enjoy the long-waited sunny weather in London.

When the weather is sunny, and when there is some greens to relax on, we can definitely see some bottles of beer in the scene as well. These guys below sure know how to enjoy a picnic.

We hang around there, looking at random people, watching the sunset, and just chilling out. As the blazing sun went down, the whole square was bathed in golden light...

Here are some people riding on the magnificent lion, enjoying the sunset.

I looked up and saw Nelson's column in golden glow, reflecting the beautiful sun rays.

As we were leaving the square, we saw a peculiar pagoda! On closer look, we realized it was actually the church under construction. It was very interesting how the construction work produced an illusion that transformed the church into a eleven-storey high pagoda. (And it looks good too!)

For comparison, this is how the church looks like originally...

That's a nice little trip to a GREEN Trafalgar Square. If only it can be green all year long...

# Greece - Athens (2)

2007-05-18T22:55:00.000Z

After a refreshing walk in the National Garden, we arrived at the Zappion. It was the first to hold an indoor Olympic event in 1896. The building was to commemorate Zappas, the founder of the modern international Olympic Games.

(There are some controversies over who is the true founder of the modern Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) credited Pierre de Coubertin as the founder, while it is argued that Evangelis Zappas sponsored the first modern international Olympic Games in Platia Kotzia in 1859. I will leave the arguments to the historians and professionals)

As we walked further on, we came upon something that totally took our breaths away - the Temple of Olympia Zeus.

The magnificent Temple of Olympia Zeus
- look at how huge the columns are compared to human size

The Temple of Olympia Zeus is the largest of the ancient Greek temples. It was one of the first to be conceived during 6th Century BC, but was only completed in 131 AD by the Emperor Hadrian - after 700 years later. The construction of the monument was disrupted many times due to lack of funds and change of governments. Also, during the Classical period (487-379) the work was abandoned because it was believed that the Temple was too ambitious and symbolized the human arrogance to be equal to Gods.

The remaining columns, with Acropolis as the backdrop

Originally there were 104 Corinthian columns, but there are only 15 which remains standing today. It was believed that the temple was destroyed in an earthquake during the medieval period. Like many other ancient buildings, the stones were taken away for building materials - what a pity! Now, though only these few columns remain, I could imagine how magnificent this Temple must have been during its most glorious period.

Remember Emperor Hadrian who completed the Temple of Zeus in 131AD? He decided to erect the Hadrian's Arch in 132AD as well, as a gate between the ancient city and the Roman city of Athens.

Hadrian's Arch

As we were heading to the Acropolis, we passed by the Theatre of Dionysious, the first stone theater built, formerly used by the Romans for gladiator fights.

Theater of Dionysious

Finally, we reached the ever-famous Acropolis! The word Acropolis means "upper city" and it is the place where most of the sacred buildings were built.

The first few things that we noticed when we walked uphill are:

The place was pack full of tourists. Just look at the picture!
The marble pathway was very slippery to walk on. Wonder how the people managed in the past.
The view from the mountain top is marvelous! The sight of a sea of off-white buildings surrounding Athens was amazing. Every single houses below had different architectural design, yet together as a whole they formed uniform patterns which spanned across the horizon.

The sea of tourists & the sea of houses

This post would not be complete without a picture of the Parthenon. Designed by Kallikrates and Iktinos, built over 15 years and completed in 438BC, the Parthenon had housed the giant statue of Athena. It had been a temple, a church, a mosque and even a gunpowder storage place for Turkey. It was blown up when the Venetians bombed it in 1687.

The Parthenon, with lots of tourists

You can see from the picture that there were a lot of reconstruction work going on. It was quite a pity because I would have loved to capture the beauty of the Parthenon, minus the construction work and the tourists...

I didn't manage to capture a decent photo of the Erecthion. With the barriers standing in the way, the distance was too far for my poor k800i to capture the beauty without seriously reducing the picture quality. So I have to "borrow" the picture below from www.fulbright.com

Erecthion

The Caryatids which stand at the porch of Erecthion are actually copies, while the original ones sit in the Acropolis museum. And one of the original statue is still in British Museum, who claimed to be "safe-keeping" it, despite most people would have wanted it to be reunited with her other companions.

As our time is running short (we have to catch a ferry to Santorini at 5pm), we have to forgo a lot of interesting places such as the old town Plaka, the vibrant Thission and the fun Psiri. We stopped by Ancient Agora briefly, and we walked by the famous Monastiraki flea market rather too quickly.

We had some Greek food like Souvlaki, Tzaziki, stuffed tomatoes and mousakas in Monastiraki, I will write about the food in another post, they deserve a special post on their own. I have been very impressed by the food in Greece, it is amazing that healthy food can be so delicious that you would keep wanting more! More on these in future post.

As the ferry departure time is drawing near, we rushed to Pireaus, the port of Athens. With such a fleeting moment spent at the port, we haven't got time to explore the port area, but just got a grasp that it is a very busy port.

Our ferry to Santorini

Off we go to Santorini... where the real adventure begins! We will continue our exploration of Athens after we come back from Santorini yea.

More photos at my Flickr site.

# Greece - Athens (1)

2007-05-18T14:59:00.001Z

We arrived at the Athens airport at around 4a.m. in the morning. It's still to early to go down to the city centre, and we are still feeling tired as we have not had a good sleep on the plane. Here is what Athens airport looked like early in the morning...

And here is how we looked like early in the morning...

After some attempts to get some sleep, interrupted constantly by the airport announcement, we finally decided it's time to go down to the city centre. We took the bus down to the city, and it was then I experienced the driving skills of Greeks. Boy! How the bus driver sped! As we sped down the highway, we realized that every other car was also on full speed. It was certainly a thrilling experience sitting in a rickety bus which threatened to run down anything that came between it and its destination.

Don't underestimate the ability of the bus...

We met up with another travel partner, ZZ, at Syntagma Square. There was a saying that "No matter where you have to go in Athens, if you can find Syntagma Square you can find your way there." Shows how famous and central this square is in Athens, if not all of Greece.

The square has a long history. The name Syntagma means Constitution, and many major events have happened here - it has witnessed the WW2, it has survived the battle between communists and governments, it has gone through its own civil wars and battle between communists and right-winged governments in 1940s, and it has marked the beginning of the Cold War. More recently it has been the place where massive political rallies took place.

At present time, Syntagma is a large public square with nice walkways, trees, benches and cafes.
It is a place to hang out, hold holiday concerts and festivals.

We walked to the Parliament Building nearby, which was formerly the King's Palace, built between 1836 and 1840 by King Otto. The palace was guarded by elite soldiers called the Evzones, who were selected for their height and strength. Their official uniform foustanela, the pleated skirts, which were worn by Greek fighters in the 1821 revolution. Like the guards at Buckingham Palace, they endured endless tourists taking their pictures or observing whether they make any movement at all. We witnessed the change of guards, during which the Evzones did some march with interesting kick steps. I particularly like their sarouchi shoes with the small furry balls at the front.

The change of guards - to be precise, the Evzones

To get to our next destination where Acropolis and all the ruins are, we cut across the National Garden, which was like a tropical paradise right in the middle of the old and dusty city of Athens. The garden was so tropical that for a fleeting moment I thought we were back in Malaysia.

So tropical!

There was a small zoo which has been known to have Bulgarian wolves, antelopes, monkeys, a lion, etc... But we only managed to see some chickens, ducks, some birds, and LOADS of cats and dogs. Apparently the duck and turtle population was also out of control. Interestingly, despite the over-population, don't ever think of sneaking away the ducks/turtles, as they are the "property of Greek State". ^_^

National Garden

I shall end this first part by quoting what Henry Miller wrote about National Garden in 1939:

"It remains in my memory like no other park I have known. It is the quintessence of a park, the thing one feels sometimes in looking at a canvas or dreaming of a place one would like to to be in and never finds.

Seeing lovers sitting there in the dark, drinking water, sitting there in peace and quiet talking in low tones gave me a wonderful feeling about the Greek character. The dust the heat, the poverty, the bareness, the contendedness of the people, and the water everywhere in little tumblers standing between the quiet, peaceful couples, gave me a feeling that there was something holy about the place, something nourishing and sustaining."

- from Inventing Paradise: The Greek Journey 1937-47

A peaceful morning in the National Garden

(To be continued... )

More photos at my Flickr site.

# Peanut Butter Jelly Time

2007-04-26T08:48:00.000Z

I was watching "Family Guy" the other day on TV (older season) and there was one scene where Brian did the Peanut Butter Jelly Time dance. I just burst out laughing, remembering the time a few of us flooded Moody's Neo Chatbox with the dancing bananas...

Here is the excerpt from "Family Guy"

Here is the original version

Hope you survive the song, it's quite annoying if you are not used to these kinds of things. ^_^

Oh help, I think I am seriously getting more lame each day...

# Temporary closure

2007-04-24T18:16:00.000Z

Temporary non-activity due to final exams in progress. Will be back after 8 May.

Hehe... Sneak preview - Will be going to Santorini Island with a bunch of friends right after exam from 2nd May to 8 May. Very looking forward to the trip!

I just can't sit still thinking of the trip!

# Yassar Halim

2007-04-12T11:26:00.000Z

When we was having a stroll along Green Lanes, we passed by the groceries shop that we buy our foodstuff from - Yassar Halim. It sells normal groceries such as vegetables, meat, fruits, and it has its own bakery which makes a variety of cakes, breads and Turkish delicacies. I enjoy shopping there for its large diverse variety of vegetables available at cheap price, its fast and efficient service, as well as for the yummy cakes which I like to have as dessert. ^_^

The picture below shows the shop - the green one is where they sell their groceries, the white one is their bakery. Notice the extra bit of white shop on the right side? That's their extension of bakery.Yassar Halim

When we saw a newspaper cutting stuck to the front window of the shop...

We exclaimed a big "WOW"!!!

Yassar Halim, the very place we get our groceries, is considered as one of the "100 Shops to Visity Before You Die"!!! It ranked along with shops like NikeTown, HMV and Selfridges in Oxford Street, Apple store in Regent Street, etc... Boy, were we proud!

I like the idea of Evening Standard campaigning for small shops, against the giant supermarket chains which always kill all the local business with their megamarkets and unfair price wars. An obvious example would be Tesco, who has not only infiltrated most markets in UK, but expanding overseas into Asian markets. In my own small hometown Sungai Petani, the arrival of Tesco practically killed many of the small groceries stores - they simply couldn't compete with the low-price goods and large-variety-store of Tesco. It is quite sad actually, especially many of the storekeepers are either our friends or relatives.

I don't despise mega stores or chains, but it is some unfair competition to put small shops with giant stores side by side to compete. Well, free market allows the survival of the fittest, but it ignores the softer side of the society - the local culture, the community, the tradition.

For developing urban area with expanding population, it may be all right to put in new mega stores to cater to the growing population demand for a variety of goods and services. But for small towns with dwindling population and small local community, putting a mega store would just saturate the market and squeeze out all the small competitors. Free market competition argument is just not right here, due to the different market setting and sizes.

On the softer side, I personally think that local culture and tradition is important to preserve the local identity of the community. It is those small shops that we always have closer bonds with - we know the owners well, and we chit chat about our lives and take care of one another within the neighbourhood. Doing daily groceries is some enjoyment, having the chance to communicate with our neighbours and friends. In big mega chain stores, such kind of interaction is far less, the services might be more efficient and fast, but do we actually know, and care about those army of workers in the store? Or rather, we just hastily do our weekly shopping and speed off to cater to our much-more-important-things-to-do?

... Perhaps, my thinking has been more old-fashioned.
... Perhaps this is just the thinking of a small-town girl, who has yet to embraced the big-city mindset of not bothering about any other people, but solely minding your own business. But sometimes I do wonder, how do city people feel happy in such kind of environment?

# Happy Easter!

2007-04-05T10:00:00.001Z

It's the time of the year again...

HAPPY EASTER!!!

# Canary Wharf

2007-03-28T23:53:00.000Z

This is is London's traditional financial centre, The Square Mile, Canary Wharf. These three buildings are the three tallest buildings in UK - One Canada Square, HSBC Tower, and Citigroup Centre. Although not as impressive as US's skyscrapers, these are considered some "WOWs" for UK.

I have been to Canary Wharf a few times to visit friends, and I could always feel a difference between the place and the Central London.

Central London is full of people and activities, and lots of buildings scattered everywhere. People are rushing, crowds are shoving, street-sellers are shouting out prices of their goods, shops are busy, shopping streets are packed full of crowd, ~~weather was crappy as usual~~ traffic was haphazard...

Canary Wharf is full of tall buildings, and lots of working people wearing suits, carrying solemn looks. The place is spacious, and cleanliness is maintained. I like the cleanliness, but somehow, I feel some feelings of emptiness when I was there a few times.

I don't know how to describe it, the place seems perfect and nice, well-planned and well-maintained, but it lacks of a feel of... life. I know it's somewhat a crazy notion, but that's the feeling that the environment gave me.

Just like these statues, the place feel the lack of "Living Qi"

Perhaps it is due to the fact that the whole place is such a concrete jungle that the "Qi" that it exudes is that kind of cold, metal "Qi".

The "metals"...

Perhaps it is because the city garden is man-made landscaped that it look too fake.

Perhaps it is due to the fact that the place is only full of working people, looking serious and rushing for work during weekdays; and become lifeless during weekend when nobody is around.

Some French-style open air cafe. Only difference was the seats in France were full, here most are empty.

Perhaps it is because I have been too used to living in places in London like Wood Green or Whitechapel which are so pack full of activities, street markets, all kinds of people (different races, different backgrounds, different social classes), where almost everyday we can hear police siren going off or see police cars zooming past. (Hmm... it's starting to sound a bit like the dodgy end of London now...)

Perhaps I'm a bit too particular about places, but I prefer a place which there are some communities and people and activities, where we can observe life going on, than a place which are clean and beautiful and well maintained, but somehow you just don't feel you belong there in someway.

Canary Wharf is really nice and clean and meets all the requirement of proper town-planning. I enjoyed my leisure strolls with friends at the place, I enjoyed the calm feeling I have with the quiet surrounding. But somehow, I just can't feel I can actually belong the the place like that.

More photos taken in Canary Wharf.

# From P2S to DSLR?

2007-03-08T18:24:00.000Z

I remembered that about two years ago, I have pondered about changing my camera from point-to-shoot to DSLR. I have found interest in photography, and has always envied the people with proper canggih camera which can do wonders to the shots.

At that time, I was still having my BenQ DC2300, an extremely simple, basic digital camera.

This baby, BenQ DC2300, which is now out of production, was my first ever camera, also, the first ever digital camera. It was a gift from daddy, he bought it for me in PC Fair, before I leave home to study in UK. I still remembered his words, "Take photos and send back to us ya, especially photos with you inside!" Thinking back, I just felt so grateful to have such a loving daddy who has brought me up with love, care, encouragement and support...

BenQ has been with me for a few years, despite its lack of functions, I still love it very much. It is, after all, the first digital camera for me to explore the world of photography. During my first year in university, I brought it almost anywhere I go. I realized that since having a camera, I have started to notice simple, beautiful moments that should be captured and kept as memories.

Simple moment like this...

While having BenQ, I have been eyeing greedily with the various new cameras that my friends have. I still remembered I have been laughed at most of the time for having the most out-dated cameras in the market, hehe, but that made me more passionate to brush up my photography skills to compensate the technical weakness. And I have told myself, one day I'm gonna save enough money to buy a proper DSLR.

After some time, my passion somehow died down a bit, maybe due to there is no photography buddy whom I can share interest with, nor can I find any "sifu" to learn more proper skills. I'm really lucky to have bumped into JY and Ozzy, who are good in photography, and much more committed and avid photographer than myself. Made me feel shameful for being so slack. :-)

Both of them have helpfully taught me more about photography, and with their encouragement, I am starting to ponder again to get a DSLR. My Yangyang has been very sweet to offer to buy one for me,*muaks*, and now we are looking into a few models.

Anyway, I have been looking at a few entry-level DSLR, suggested by friends, for example Canon EOS 400D, Nikon d40 and Sony Alpha. I have looked into reviews from various sources to compare and choose the one which would be (hopefully) more suitable for my use as a hobbyist. For some unknown reason, I am attracted to Nikon d40, probably due to its affordable price, or some unexplainable attraction it has on me. Hehe.

Would it be D40 for me? I wonder...

Anyone with any recommendation or hands-on review on DSLR? I am a beginner switching from P2S to DSLR, and would not be going too deep into really expensive hi-specs ones. Currently I'm more inclined to D40, but would be glad to hear any other opinions and suggestions. :-)

DSLR, here I come!

# Unviewable?

2007-02-28T21:39:00.000Z

As I am writing this post, I am having problems viewing all of the blogs which are under Blogger account. All blog page under blogspot.com just turned out blank when I entered the page. Wonder whether this happens to anyone else...

Drop a comment if you are experiencing the same problem. I have enable forwarding of the comments to my email. Hope I can solve this web-viewing problem soon...

*UPDATE*
My blog! My blog is back to me! Yay!!!

For more than a week, my ISP somehow (for unknown reason) blocked me from viewing all Blogger blogs. I have had to use some anonymous free proxy service to surf blogs. More inconveniently, the anonymous service somehow blocked me from logging in to comment on blogs. I am so glad when today, suddenly, I can access to blogs with just a click to the direct link. YAY!!!

Pray pray the ISP doesn't throw tantrum again...

*UPDATE 2*(09/03/2007)
Nooooo!!! Stupid ISP blocked Bloggers blogs again!!! Now I can't comment on blogs again!!! Noooooo!!!

# Pancake Day!

2007-02-24T21:38:00.000Z

20th February 2007 is the Pancake Day! (Also known as Shrove Tuesday)

Shrove Tuesday is commonly used in UK, Ireland and Australia. The day comes after Collop Monday and before Ash Wednesday, where the Lent season begins.

So why are pancakes associated with the day signifying the start of the Lent?

There is an explanation that there is a 40-days period of Lent of fasting, during which only plain food may be eaten. Food considered "rich" like eggs, milk and sugar are disposed before the fasting starts. So, a way to use up these perishable goods is to make pancakes and doughnuts, which in a way gives people a minor celebratory feast before the ~~pain~~ fast starts.

According to wikipedia, the word "shrove" is a past tense of "shrive", its meaning is to obtain absolution for our sins by confessing and doing penance. Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving that Anglo-Saxon Christians were expected to receive immediately before Lent.For a non-christian like me, Pancake Day have a different meaning... It means, YUMMY!!!

My housemate made some salty pancakes, in which she added onions and peppers and other stuffs. They taste yummy, it's a totally different taste from the traditional ones.

I prefer the sweet ones, so I took out all my long-neglected flour (hope it is still useable) and eggs and sugar and everything...
and after 15 minutes... they're done!

As I squeezed the honey all over my pancakes, I can't help taking a closer look at these beauties...

And an even closer look...

I like to stack the pancakes up, and cut them in layers. It saves space and time too. Here I come, pancakes!

# Piggy Year!

2007-02-24T21:07:00.000Z

It's piggy year! It's my year! I have survived through the second cycle of Chinese almanac! Yay!

There is a lot of confusion and debate on whether 2007 is a "Fire Pig" year or a "Golden Pig" year. Many confused "Red Pig" with "Golden Pig" as well. Checking with I-Ching shows this year is indeed a "Fire Pig" year, yet many mainstream media keep promoting the "Golden Pig", and even major banks went all out with their golden-pig-savings-account, blah blah... After all, "Golden" pig sure sounds better than some "fire" piggy. Now let's see what these people say when the real "Golden" pig comes...

Even before CNY arrives, sweet Sharon made us some wonderful cookies, like Almond Rosettes, Almond Melting Moments, CNY Peanut Cookies, and White Choclate Chip Cookies... She is so good in baking, her peanut cookies are one of the best I have had! I can't help remembering another time when she made us extra-chocolatey brownies which made me go crazy for days!

As CNY was creeping near, everyone was busy doing food shopping, card shopping, gift shopping, etc etc. I felt the pain when buying the expensive chinese new year card in Chinatown, oh how I miss the beautiful yet cheap cards in Malaysia!

The various shops in Chinatown really went all out to get business during Chinese New Year. As usual, the "Prosperous" symbolical items are up for grabs. Besides the normal crystal trees, "Fuk Lok Shao", miniature Shaolin monks etc, there was also a lot of "GOLDEN" pigs in ALL shops. Suddenly piggy banks are collectible items...

Some street hawkers set up their stalls along the streets too, posing competition to the shop sellers. There was a myriad of CNY decoration items, and the "Redness" all around could really blind people sometimes.

More redness overload...

The dragon decided to join the celebration too...

For me, it is always nice to have a walk in Chinatown London during the festive season. You get to see the lantern display, the bustling of crowd, some friendly westerners wishing us Happy New Year... I particularly like to have a stroll during the night, where all the lights displays were switched on.

And there are these same old three huge tanglungs which are always hung on the three gates at the three entrances to the main street of Chinatown.

I stopped to give a pat to the stone lions guarding the street too, it's new year after all.

There are also some other things which were must-do's during CNY.
Like buying egg tarts from Kowloon...

And having a good meal of Dim Sum with a bunch of good friends!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
HAPPY PIG YEAR TO ME!

# Challenge

2007-02-22T21:02:00.000Z

I should have put up my Chinese New Year post, but I have been slacking and procrastinating...

So for the time being, I should put up a challenge for anyone who is interested to try out.

The challenge is:
Listen to this song. Listen till the end.
Do not pause, do not fast-forward, do not switch to other songs.
See how long you can suppress your laughter.

Remember, you must listen till the end. :-)

# Phew...

2007-02-14T19:15:00.000Z

Did a class presentation today, and realized I felt so nervous when talking in front. I was quite surprised actually, as I don't normally feel nervous during other times of presentations. Fumbled a lot and did a lot of mistakes, but I'm glad that it was finally over.

Felt a bit like that

Feedbacks from friends were very helpful. I sounded too fierce, like YY described, "sounds like a primary school who teach with a serious face". Haha, perhaps I have been too used to teaching in class already. I wonder whether I have been like this when teaching last time, but somehow the students still bullied me. =_=!!!

I think JY's comment was very true, he said that I sounded fierce because I felt scared, and by "intimidating" the audience, I alleviate my fear. It's good to have someone giving constructive comments. I will improve myself in future presentations, especially in BNM where there are listless of presentations coming up...

Another thing I realized from this presentation is that strangely, I feel much more at ease giving presentations to a much larger group of strangers, than to friends I know. Maybe with friends, we have been hanging out everyday, and it felt so awkward to have to stand in front of all of them to speak... It certainly feels much more comfortable sitting in smaller circle, ~~talking crap~~ discussing homework and etc..

Anyway, I think this presentation has given me a good lesson. I certainly need to learn to overcome the anxiety, and I need to relax and smile.

Smile, and the world smile with you.

# Snow again!

2007-02-08T20:25:00.000Z

It snowed again! And this time, it's proper heavy snow - in fact, the heaviest snow I have ever witnessed during my four-year stay in London. There has been lots of "publicity" for this long awaited snow, from BBC weather forecast to tabloid newspaper to betting agency. I have been excited waiting for the snow to come.

Despite proclaiming loudly that I will wake up early to see the snow, my housemate had to literally drag me out of my bed to wake me up. *shame*. I pulled apart my curtains and saw this...

I took a closer look and saw this!

IT IS SNOWING!!! I mean, I have seen fallen snow before, I have also seen snow falling before, but those were all out of London! In London, I have not seen a proper snowing before. I got caught in a hail before, but not snow. The snow I saw in London are always on the ground, and they look more icey than snowy.

We immediately put on all our jackets and ran out to greet the snow. It is falling! Falling!

And remembering my family has been complaining that I always take too many photos without me actually INSIDE the photos, I decided to be good once in a while and post this half-awake-YD-with-snow-falling-onto-her-head photo to let my loved ones back home know I am healthy and happy here. :-)

And while we have been frolicking in snow and trying to catch snowflakes with out tongues, there were some neighbours trying to clear away the layers of snow from their car. I wonder what they were thinking about us chattering excitedly and taking pictures of everything.

As the snow gets heavier, Ray took out his umbrella while I was still prancing about in the snow. I took the opportunity to take a shot of his dazed look while looking at my hyperactive behaviour.

No, we didn't make snow angels on the ground. It's way too dirty to do that in London street. I decided that I must at least leave some footprints in the snow to commemorate this rare event. So I chose a clean patch of snow-covered corner... and started walking backwards to make the footprints! kekekeke...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

# Fav artwork

2007-01-28T23:45:00.000Z

There are many ways we can interpret the drawing...
But for me, this drawing meant a lot to me, and I felt very touched at the bottom of my heart.

Explanation:

This is a drawing by a person who loves sea very much.
He has been sailing a lot in earlier times, but later his direction of life changed.
He loves the underwater world - the fantasy, the fascinating creatures in the water.
But he has fear as well, fear of the sinking of ship, and death in the sea.
He fears the loneliness under the dark sea too,
so he has his loved one, a piggy, by his side to stay by him.

Further explanation:
The piggy represents his loved one's chinese almanac. ;-)
FMC is a side advertisement for his current company.

# Snow!

2007-01-26T12:31:00.000Z

Thanks Panda for his concern on my safety during the storm. I'm all warm and safe. Interestingly, I did not realize the severity of the storm until reading the news, despite being out almost the whole day. It was the last day of our examination, probably we were too excited to notice the storm, although we did feel the extremely strong wind on the street.

The news and weather forecast reported of sudden drop of temperature and forecasted snow. For once, UK's weather forecast seemed to be sufficiently accurate - the temperature dropped, and the snow came, except that it came late. ;-)

When I parted the curtains in the morning, I was pleasantly surprised with the snow-covered backyard. It did not feel that cold yet, but it seemed it has been snowing since midnight. Here are some pictures...

Our backyard. The fluffy tree with snow all over looks kind of cute to me. Beside it is the tool shed.

More snow-covered houses and yards.

Chimney!

After the initial excitement over seeing snow, I dragged myself back to the unpleasant reality - it would be another day with mass disruption on transport system. And unfortunately enough, I would be using all three of the main transport system to travel to school - bus, tube, and train.

Grrwwww... Blame the Met office, yea. ^_^

# Ponzi Scheme

2007-01-07T14:32:00.000Z

(For general public reading, I will not use technical financial terms. I shall explain it in generic language so the explanation may be too simplistic to explain the complicated model.)

For my friends and family whom I care so much...

There is a kind of scheme with a very noble idea. A group of people pool their funds together and any member who needs the fund borrow from it. The borrower repay the loan with interest, and the members who lend get the interest. What is very attractive is the fund offers 20% interest rate return.

To ensure all members behave well and to safeguard the fund, there is a moderator who is very responsible and reliable. There is no documents, no regulations, no black-and-white in all transactions, because everything is done on "Trust". A very noble idea and a very wonderful way to help people and get help from others. In chinese language, it is called "作伙"

For friends who are considering to join a money scheme/ "mutual help fund pooling", think twice, or more than that.

Do you know who is borrowing the money?
Do you know who is contributing money?
Do you know what business the borrower is doing?
Do you know how the business is generating money?
Do you know how the money cashflow is moving about?
How the money is coming into the fund and how they are going out? Do the cash inflows and outflows balance? If not, who compensate for the difference?

Think about how much you can trust.

We can argue that everything is based on "Trust", and leave the fund management to a person who is "trustable", without proper license or any regulations controlling him.

But who are these people that you trust? And who are they trusting, is it beyond your control?

Can you trust so many strangers? I can trust my family, and the good friend I know, but do I trust the friend of the friend (of the friend...etc) that my friend trust?

Think about how workable and feasible is this scheme

You are promised 20% interest payback.

We must bear in mind that money will not appear from nowhere, so this 20% interest must come from somebody else money.

So where does that money come from? From the person who borrow the money from the fund, rite?

Think from the perspective of that person, if you are the borrower, would you want to borrow at 20% interest? or you would rather borrow from your own family, friends or even the bank which offer loan at <10%?

So will you actually borrow from the fund? If you think you won't, do you think others will want to do that?

If nobody borrow, where does your 20% interest come from? From new people who join the fund - let's use the new fund to pay the old member's profit. How long can this chain go on before it collapse?

Ok, let's assume there is really somebody who need the money so much that he is willing to borrow at 20% interest. He borrowed the money, do his whatever business.

Here are three scenarios:

1) His business is bad. He loses money, and face difficulty to repay the loan.

If he can't repay the loan, where does your 20% interest come from?

To sustain your return, the fund must get more new people to join, so that the new money can be used to pay your interest.

So now who pay the new people's interest? Do we hope that more people will take up loan, and hopefully (still) their business is good and they repay the loan? or do we hope more people will join so that our money can be repaid?

Do we have too many hopes? Do we just pass on our problem to "other people" and hope we are the earlier ones and lucky ones?

2) His business is ok. it is generating income, but he still faces many start-up costs and cannot repay in time.

If he temporarily can't repay the loan, you have to wait longer to get your interest. But how long can you wait?

What if you need the money now? Who pay for your money?

Again, since no money is coming into the fund, but money needs to go out to pay you. So, it needs more new people to join and sustain the fund.

How long can this go on? What if everyone demands to get their money back now, where does the money come from to pay all the 20% interest + capital amount?

3) His business is successful. He earn large profits. He repays his loan promptly as promised.

So now everyone is happy. The borrower earns profit and is so good-hearted to pay back high interest loan. Perhaps next time he would look for proper loan with lower interest from the banks, since his business is successful now.

The investors are happy too, we all get our 20% interest and we have helped people. Hurray.

But if this really works, don't you think ALL the financial transactions nowadays will be at this interest rate?

Don't you think this method will be so popular that everyone will follow, and everyone trust everyone? Everything based on promise and trust?

Lovely ideal world. It would be so wonderful if the real world is like that.

Think about the amount of risk you are taking by trusting so many people.

All it takes is a SINGLE person who cheats, or fails his obligation --> and everything falls apart.

All it takes is a simultaneous withrawal of all the members --> and the fund will collapse.

All it takes is a HIGH investment return (20%) --> to make our hearts tempted by greed, and believe as a small investor, we can earn 20% compared to the most successful investor in the world who earn <10%>

All it takes is a promise of TRUST --> to convince ourselves the world is perfect and the person whom the person we trust, is trustable.

All it takes is a hope that other people will pay for our profits --> to make us hopeful that we are the lucky ones and it is others who get cheated.

Think about how realistic the deal is

When a good deal seems too good to be true and interestingly not many people in the market is doing it to profit, think again.

Everything comes with a price. Money does not grow out of nowhere.

There are still A LOT of aspects to think about, which I leave you to think and explore. Explore the scheme from the perspective of all different people - the investors, the borrowers, the moderator. Is it workable?

Actually, there has been a lot of research and studies done about such scams, and all world's financial regulations forbid such practice because it eventually harms the investors. There is a name for such schemes, called "Ponzi scheme".

For further investigation and for history, some key words to google for are:
Ponzi scheme, high yield investment program, pyramid scheme, scam

# 2007 arrives...

2007-01-04T09:48:00.000Z

... with an exam to face immediately.

What a way to start a new year! I'm extremely dissatisfied with our school for torturing us like that - beginning a new term with a major exam to look forward to. Bah...

Four subjects to go through, two exemptions to be aimed for... I would just put in whatever last-minute effort and keep my fingers crossed...

Good luck to myself and I shall become more dormant until 18 Jan. :-(

My new year wish? Peace in heart and wisdom in mind to face whatever that comes. ^_^

# Merry Christmas!

2006-12-23T10:27:00.000Z

Ah... It's the time of the year again! It has been kind of a "tradition" thing for me to do a pre-christmas post about the christmas decor around London. As my old posts have some problems of loading the photos, I will just give the source of my pictures here: 2005, 2004

Let's start off with a dream-like picture with people standing right beside some penguins, dancing lights and another person holding an orb... Any idea where they are?

No, it's not some dreamland far far away, but these people are taking pictures in a GIANT glass ball! The snow effect is created by small paper pieces being swirled around by a strong blower. Tempted as I was, I didn't go into the giant glass ball anyway because the queue is long and they charged 5 pounds per person! And people just took picture in the glass ball, and left. No chance of having some fun inside. Commercialized christmas...

Let's go somewhere else and have a look at the decor around London, shall we?

We passed by some Santa Grotto... I wonder whether I have been nice or naughty? Hmm... I can't help recommending this site for us to have some laughs on the photos of little children being scared of Santa, the one who write our behaviour report each year and decided our rewards...

And of course, I made a wish at the wishing well. The wish? Secret... ;-)

One of the place I like to go during christmas season is the Covent Garden, no, not the crowdy part, but the less crowdy part with little shops selling all sorts of christmas items. Here is a view of the Apple Market.

And actually, one of the main reason I like going to Covent Garden is because there are always some music school students playing instruments at one of the corners there. (the corner is the left hand bottom corner in the picture below) I like the string quartet particularly... I like to listen to them and wait hopefully for them to play my favourite song - Pachelbel Canon in D.

(smile sheepishly... Yea I know it's kind of lame but I just can't help LOVING Pachelbel Canon in D! Don't care if the cello part is lousy or if the song haunts Rob Paravonian!)

There will be also lots of fun fair being set up around London, the most prominent places are of course in Leicester Square and Covent Garden. I think (I don't quite remember) I have put up some post about the funfair last year, so I will save the space for this year. Here is one of the pictures - the merry-go-round!

Shopping for christmas presents are never easy, but the effort is worthwhile when you see the person smile!

Ooops, I think Santa left his sleigh unattended. Mountains of presents!!! Hope he didn't get a parking ticket for that.

Ok, let's stop by to have some mulled wine. After all, christmas is not complete without any wine, rite?

And christmas is definitely not complete without a TREE!

But for many children, christmas would not be complete without DISNEY!

Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR folks!

(I will be gone for a few days for christmas till new year in friend's house. So I will be temporarily away from the blogsphere... So here's wishing my dear friends here a very happy christmas!)

# Pachelbel Rant

2006-12-22T11:27:00.000Z

Came across this video on YouTube. I just keep laughing. He's so right about the chord progression. So many songs across the globe, not only English, in fact MOST of the chinese songs follow this progression...

"Punk rock is a joke, it's really just Baroque"

"D... A... B... F#... G... D... G... A..."

# Cold night, hot food

2006-12-19T00:34:00.000Z

Sometimes life can feels so sweet with such simple things...

It was just another misty, cold London night and we decided to have some hot food in China Town. As usual, almost all the restaurants were packed full with people, even the ever-famous Wong Kei which attracts many customers to its no-frills super rude service.

We nearly gave up until we saw "1997", which surprisingly does not have too many customers inside. At first we were a bit hesitant, but the warmth of the waiter in welcoming us made us decide to give it a try.

It was pleasant to see the surrounding was clean enough, and I was more pleasantly surprised to find the old style marble top table with patterns adorning its wooden edge. Ah, such a sweet old memories of childhood...

Despite the ongoing swearing and gossiping among the workers, they were very friendly towards customers. Service was fast and we were immediately served with hot chinese tea. I particularly like the typical chinese tea cup, which was spot white clean.

I like the kettle even more! It was the typical old-style kettle we used at home, large and bullky and easy to get burned with the hot metal surface. Yup, this IS the kettle where our tea is put. A more common ettique was to provide customers with the smaller and more decorated teapot, but I just love the old-fashioned style of presentation.

The cutleries were standard too. Ancient wooden chopsticks in bamboo container. Red-colour menu with best dishes of the day. And of course, the essential soya sauce and toothpick in traditional chinese restaurant!

I just love the setting of the restaurant - the old-style furniture and cutleries and the simple yet clean environment. It brought back so much childhood memories of the older times when everything was so simple. Life was thrifty and simple. Household equipments were old but durable. People were friendly...

I was already starting to fall in love with this cute little restaurant.

Despite the name of the restaurant being very Hong-Kong-ish, ("1997"), the cooks and many of the staffs were from Malaysia. So they do a lot of Malaysian dish. We all decided to go for the curry mee to cure homesickness... Wow, the portion was huge, and they sure put a lot of ingredients in it! Though it does not taste authentic enough, I am satisfied with the compensation by lots of ingredients in it. However, it's still a bit expensive for a bowl of curry mee.

Hot tea poured from the traditional kettle = 0 pound
Unauthentic curry mee but with lots of "liao" = 7 pounds per bowl
Wonderful dining experience at a cold night in London = PRICELESS

====================================

Update:
Oh ya, I forgot to mentioned one important feature. The bowl which they put our curry mee in, was not the conventional bowl too. They just put it in the metal pot (the shape is similar to those clay pots) which they used to heat up the food with. Here's a picture which shows my bowl, erm, pot, more clearly.

# Phang Jie!

2006-12-11T11:42:00.000Z

Dearest Phang Jie and Shou Feng,

This is it! This is the time you guys are reunited, to begin a new life together.

It's a pity we can't make it to Taipei to attend your blissful wedding, but we will make it for the "red-egg" ceremony! I send you my best wishes for a happy, long-lasting marriage. May you stay together happilly ever after!

Shou feng, you better take good care of our Phang Jie, cuz ALL of us scattered all over the world will be watching! ^_^

Phang jie, despite you becoming Mrs Xu and soon becoming a mummy, you will still be our beloved, bulliable, kacau-able, super Phang Jie in our hearts!

Love,
Doink

# Pigloo

2006-12-01T08:26:00.000Z

Not long ago, Panda recommended a cute video about a crocodile Schnappi, and recently Happy also recommended another cute flash of Last Christmas. There's a string of attack of cutie cutie stuff, and I just remembered I have something that I like very much and would like to share with you guys too. Let the cuteness drown you~~!

Introducing.... PIGLOO!!!

It's a french-speaking penguin in North Pole. It has a daddy who has always longed to go to the beach (which they finally did in the 2nd album), and a cute girlfriend who can be flirty a bit sometimes (but still very sweet and cute nonetheless), and a bunch of friends who either play in a band or do street dance...

The Penguin dance has got so popular that now it has become a social group dance for some fans. And it released albums too and sometimes they do top the charts!

1) Le Papa Pingouin

2) Le Ragga des Pingouins

3) Le Nouveau "Ca plane pour moi" (Le Twist)

# Lovely couple

2006-11-23T20:43:00.000Z

Just thought this picture is one of the sweetest I have seen.

Our former PM and his wife during the Hari Raya Open house.

Source from www.generasi-m.com

# A "freaky" game

2006-11-19T22:42:00.000Z

I received a forwarded mail from my friend which goes like this...

"This is strange...can you figure it out?
Are you the 2% or 98% of the population?
Follow the instructions! NO PEEKING AHEAD!
There's no trick or surprise.

1) Think of a number from 1 to 10

2) Multiply that number by 9

3) If the number is a 2-digit number, add the digits together

4) Now subtract 5

5) Determine which letter in the alphabet corresponds to the number you ended up with
(example: 1=a, 2=b, 3=c,etc.)

6) Think of a country that starts with that letter.

7) Remember the last letter of the name of that country.

8) Think of the name of an animal that starts with that letter. Remember the last letter in the name of that animal.

9) Think of the name of a fruit that starts with that letter.

10) Are you thinking of a Kangaroo in Denmark eating an Orange?

I told you this was FREAKY!! If not, you're among the 2% of the population whose minds are different enough to think of something else. 98% of people will answer with kangaroos in Denmark when given this exercise. Keep this message going. This one is actually worth sending on to others. Forward it to people you know so they can find out if they are usual or unusual."

================================================

Okay... I don't find it THAT freaky. In fact, it is just a mind game that make use of people's general common knowledge and common vocabulary.

Mathematical Part
Step 1 to 4 are basically designed to make us come up with the number "4".
By multiplying any number with 9, and adding the digits together, we will get "9".
Look at the pattern of the multiplication table of 9 (from 1 to 10)
9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90.
Notice that all of them have digits added up together as 9.

In fact, this does not only apply to number 1 - 10. It applies for any number as long as it is multiplied by 9.
For example, take 564 x 9 = 5076.
Adding the digits together gives 18.
Adding the digits again gives 9.

General Knowledge Part
As restricted by the first part, we will always start our country's name with "D"
Let's check the list of the countries of the whole world, starting with "D".
We have "Denmark", "Djibouti", "Dominica", Dominican Republic".

Now WHO would actually think of a country other than DENMARK? (except those who actually knows the other three very well or are residents in them)

So we are somewhat restricted to animal starting with "K" in our next question.
Now let's see what we have got here...
"Kangaroo", "Koala", "Kingfisher", "Kinkajou", "Kodiak Bear", "King vulture", "Killer whale", "Kirk's dik dik" (whatever this is), "Komodo dragon", "Kori bastard" (sorry, i mean Kori Bustard)...

People who are not zoologist would be only familiar with the more common "K" animal. On top of that, most people are taught during their primary education that "K for Kangaroo". I don't know about the statistics, but according to the person who started this forwarded mail, there should be 98% of the people taught this way. ;-P

Assuming we are the 98% which get "Kangaroo", we now need to find a fruit starting with "O". What we have here are:
"Orange", "Oregon grape", "Olive" (well now I just knew that olive is counted as food), "Osage orange" (still orange), "Oncoba", "Opuntia", "Osmanthus"...

Okay, now who would have thought of those fruits with exotic names instead of the simple orange? Especially we are bombarded with loads of information in our daily life such as "Orange is rich with Vitamin C", or the Sainsbury's "Buy 1 get 1 free Oranges", etc.

Conclusion
This mind game is not as freaky as claimed by the writer. He/she just apply certain restrictions to guide the readers towards the way he/she wants them to think. And he/she made use of the general knowledge of the public about names of places, animals and fruits, which is subject to the way education has shaped us.

Though the game is not freaky, it is scary to think about how big the impact of education have on human, especially the earlier education when we are young. That leads me to think of how some countries brainwash their citizens via education since young and shape the generation of today. Scaryyy...

# Blame the victim, not the predator

2006-11-14T18:43:00.000Z

I am getting more and more aghast at the level of intelligence and concern for human rights in our beloved country. Not too long ago, there were arguments about whether some races were being marginalized, then the shocking news of murder of a mongolian model by our police forces, for god's sake!

Now there is this Penang Municipal Council saga - some pervert technician abuse the CCTV in the City Hall zooming on the thighs of women journalists during a council proceedings. As if this is not shameful enough, the Municipal Council President blamed the WOMEN for wearing "sexy" clothes that attract unwanted attention. Fucking hell, the women are wearing normal office attire. And so they change their wordings, saying their office attire is not LONG enough to cover their body parts below the knee.

It's the Skirt
Government Dress Code

50 years into independence and development, and our people seem to have not grasped the simple notion of human rights or justice. The principle seem to be "Blame the victim, protect the predator". Blame the women for wearing sexy clothes if they are raped. Blame the women if some sex perverts stalks on them. Blame the snatch thief victimes if they are carrying handbags. Blame the households who get robbed because they live lavishly.

This is the country I am going to serve in the future. This was the country I have had dreams to develop. This was the country I love and feel proud of so much. Where is the basic human values, where is the basic equality?

We need some changes in the country.

# Jamie "Kulum"?

2006-11-10T11:58:00.000Z

What kind of CD cover is this?!

I saw this advertisement of Jamie Cullum's album on the front page of some newspaper in London.

I seriously think there will be some controversy if this is sold in Malaysia.

(For those who don't speak Malay, "Cullum" can be read in Malay as "Kulum", and the meaning of kulum is not too nice, especially paired with the illustration on the album cover.)

=_=!!!

# Two events at Friends House

2006-10-17T18:11:00.000Z

It was my second time to Friend's House in London.

I remembered the first time we were helping out at the talk by Rajmohan Gandhi, "Responding to Today's World - the relevance of Gandhian ethics", on 23 November 2005. It was organized by the Initiatives of Change.

Rajmohan spoke about the life of his grandfather, the late Mahatma Gandhi, and shared stories and quotes relevant to today's society. His main theme revolves around "How by God's grace can we create a blending, not a clash of civilisations?"

With Britain just facing the 7/7 bombings that time (this talk was in Nov 2005), Rajmohan looked at this issue in depth and urged Britain to think about its role in the world. He commented that the triumph of terrorists is that fear is so long-lasting. He stressed that terrorism is a terrible problem but it is not the world's only problem. He pleaded to the people to Britain to engage in world's issues more actively - disease, poverty in third-world country, and threats to the encironment, etc.

A part of his speech reveberated in my mind for a long time. "The real clash is not between East and West, Muslim and Christian. It is between faith and fear, rejection and acceptance. Fear is natural; to be guided by fear is not necessary."

The session drew active discussion from the audience. Many young people raised questions with great variety and depth. People were moved when a young muslim spoke out the difficulty that people of her religion faced: fear of terrorism topped up with fear of being the object of suspicion and fear. On the other hand, white people raised the concern of how to communicate with the people behind the veils.

Here is a text of Rajmohan's speech for those who are interested.

It was a mind-provoking session and it set many of us thinking deeply about the world issues today. I scribbled down some thoughts at that time, and while writing the post about Trust and Fear, I remembered his speech about clash between faith and fear, and decided to put up this post again.

=============================================

Fast forward to this year, my second time to Friends House. A nostalgic feeling dawned on me as I re-entered the old building of Friends House. The same old hall, the wooden doors and seats... This time, the organizer and audience were from a different niche of society, but yet the theme and issues still revolves about humanity and peace, "Buddha's Teaching - From Inner Peace to World Peace", by Venerable Master Bikkhu Ching Kung. The talk was jointly organized by Buddhist Education Foundation, Amitabha Buddhist Society, University of London Union Buddhist Association (Yeah! our society!) and Imperieal College Buddhist Society.

A lot of the buddhist believers seemed very excited about the chance to have a look at Master Ching Kung. While we were ushering the crowd to their seats, there were booths outside the hall which give out free-distribution books and CD's. It was a flurry of activities and it was heart-warming to see so many happy faces around coming to learn from the discourse.

Master Ching Kung gave his discourse in Mandarin, and a translator did the translation on the spot. He spoke about the relevance of Buddhist practice in older times to our modern time, and stressed about the importance of "Practice" of buddhism in life, instead of just belief and learning in theory. He drew laughter from the crowd as he recollected his youth during which he used to question about the buddhist practice too, like many other young people.

He spoke about the source of unhappiness and fear in our life - attachment and differentiation, and also suggested methods of overcoming sufferings through the eightfold noble path - right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. He linked the relevance of buddhism teachings to application in today's world to solve the problems. From normal life to world issues, the teachings are relevant.

He also reminded us the importance of cultural ethics/ education that interwines with religion/philosophy. He brought out the example of how Confusianism and the traditional teachings of ethics in ancient China fused with Buddhism which encourage the practice of an ethical life.

He stressed that world peace can only be achieved if we started from inner peace. We tend to look at world problems as external problems, but in reality, most of the problems arise internally. To achieve world peace, we must start from ourselves. He reminded us that each of us have a Buddha within. In many times, our Buddha nature are blinded by our greed, cravings and lots of other distraction in life. It is up to us to reawaken the Buddha within and do good, to create wholesomeness not only in our life, but in the world as a whole.

The Gui-Yi ceremony

After his speech, a "Gui-Yi" ceremony was also held. "Gui-Yi" is somewhat similar to the baptism ceremony in christian. The buddhists proclaim taking refugee in the Triple Gems of Buddhism - the Buddha, the Sutra, and the Sangha. Master Ching Kung explained the common misconception of public about "Gui-Yi". Many tend to refer Gui-Yi as a ceremony which we pledge ourselves as disciples of a certain Masters, this is a mistake as we are showing attachment by doing this. The real meaning of Gui-Yi is to pledge ourselves as Buddhism practitioner and apply Buddha's teachings in our life to bring wholesomeness to all. It is a commitment to ourselves according to Buddhist way. The monastic people are just a "witness" to our proclaimation.

I haven't managed to find the text version of his speech. I will put it up here once I get the copy of it. Meanwhile, more information can be found on the Amitabha Buddhist Society website.

Both talks are from different groups of society, yet share so much similarity in the themes, the aims to do good and promote peace in the world. I learned immensely from both lectures, and I believe the audience did too. The core of all religions and philosophy is humanity, and in the crazy world today, humanity is direly needed.

# Trust and Fear

2006-10-11T13:03:00.000Z

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

North Korea has revealed that it has nuclear weapons. Terrorists are planning attacks at random places, random time. Natural disasters like hurricane/ earthquake are claiming thousands of lives. Even in micro scale, streets are no longer safe - snatch thiefs and rapists and killers are roaming in the streets...

A few weeks into lectures and studies in school, we learn, and re-learn about the basis of actuarial field - managing risk. We tried to identify risks, tried to understand people's fear, and tried to manage it. Uncertainty is the key word. Since older times, human has been fascinated by this nature of world - the only certain thing is that everything is always uncertain. Human has relentlessly tried to avoid uncertainty and reduce risks. Because we have FEAR.

Alongside with fear, we have TRUST. Trust is a wonderful nature of human being. By having trust, or in a higher extent, faith, human help one another. We build hopes and feel safe. Yet trust is such a fragile structure, hard to build and easy to destroy. In people's relation, we trust our family and friends. In financial world, we trust the insurance companies to manage our risks, or our banks to manage our finances. In socio-economic context, we trust (to some extent) our government, NGO, institutions and social bodies to provide stability and safety, and hopefully, equality.

Trust and Fear forms such a complex relationship. Balancing the two components are not easy. Reith Lectures series have delved deeply to try to understsand the interaction between these two natures - Onora O'neill (2002) with her lectures "A Question of Trust", Wole Soyinka (2004) with his lectures "Climates of Fear" have explored the effects of these emotions to human, and to a wider context, the society and world.

In older times, fear is easier to identify. It takes more tangible forms like natural disasters, wars, political problems, etc. The sources of fear stood broadly in public - we know who/what are the threats. That implies we have a chance to try to manage or do something about it. Also, we have a clearer concept of what is trustable/ reliable. We have clear definition of what is good and what is bad. And trust is a virtue which brings us forward in life.

Lately, various threats have taken into a more tacit form. Terrorist threats, for example, is so evasive, and yet so threatening. While last time people fear government/dictator who controlled the society/economy/politics, now we fear enemies who are underground, who might be anywhere, who might target anyone. It is not the states or institutions who are in charge, it seems like evil is on the loose. Remember the beheading of foreign soldiers in Iraq? How it casted a terror that the bigger ones are not always the one controlling the game. Within the same issue, look at how the campaign of anti-terrorism has eroded the trust in governments, or in the superpowers in the world.

In financial world, scandals after scandals are revealed. Companies were once in the talent race - recruiting the brightest and best. Yet Enron, Arthur Anderson and many other cases showed that talents alone could not guarantee success of companies. Trust is crucial, yet the strings of events have just done more harm than good to build people's trust in companies.

Also, old threats are resurging. Last time we feared the atomic bomb threat, we were worried about the arm races. Hence, human seek cooperative efforts via diplomatic agreements to keep them under control. In recent decades, the public perceptioin of fear moves to economical/ social threats more than these destructive threats. Somebody even forecasted that the future wars would be waged in terms of economics/ trades/ Internet/ etc. Yet, with North Korea's revelation about its nuclear power, suddenly we were back to the older times. The scary message conveyed, "You get bullied if you don't have WMD, you don't if you have."

Climates of fear is indeed encompassing us. With trust eroding in most aspects, human huddle in fear for the many risks and threats which seem to come from all directions. We really need to recognize that we have a crisis now - our fundamental values of goodness are being taken over by various threats.

By thrashing out fear after fear, I do not mean to say we are doomed. What I want to say is we still have hope, if we work for it. Until now, I still believe of purity and goodness as the fundamental state of human nature. It is just that human values have been polluted, and we need to clean them up. We need hope, we need faith, we need prayer, we need trust in each other. And we need each other. I hope the readers of this post could have a moment to ponder about the many issues that surround us today, and have a prayer for a better tomorrow. Have faith.

# Health is wealth

2006-10-10T17:44:00.000Z

Almost everyday I reached Old Street tube station about 9.55am, about time to start my classes. And almost everyday, as I came down from the tube, I would see a familiar silhouette. A crooked back, a deformed spine. It's a middle-aged man who happens to go to work about the same time as I do. A few times I happened to walk just behind him, and the figure haunted me for a long time.

I have to admit that I feel scared. I am scared of my future. Like him, I have scoliosis, and have been feeling quite inferior about this fact of my body. Some friends noticed it, and whenever they commented about it, with politeness and good intention, somehow there's a slight pain and sort-of-shameness in my heart. I think, human tends to feels like escaping whenever being confronted an uncomfortable, yet starkingly true fact.

When I was small, we were not that well exposed to medical knowledge to diagnose the symptoms. Only when I finished my high school, got a scholarship and was required to do a medical checkup, the doctor told me that my X-ray shows a "deformed spine" - "S-shape scoliosis with dorsal left concavity apex at T7 with 22 degrees and right lumbar concavity with 35 degree. Acquired compression to the left side of T8."

What a shock! Went through a flurry of activities, going to specialists and checkups. Some doctor suggested physiotheraphy, some suggested chiropractic, some said surgery could readjust the spine, but with high risk. Tried out a bit of physiotheraphy and chiropractic, but stopped after some time due to the expensive costs.

Have been having neck pains and backache more often these days, and I am worried about it. As usual, it's right shoulder, right scapula region and left lower back. Same old areas. I do yoga stretches to alleviate it, and pray very hard the scoliosis will not further affect the internal organs. It is a scary thought to know that a human's body is such a fragile framework, and suddenly life appear to be so precious.

This morning I bumped into the man again. I prayed for him silently, or was I praying for myself at the same time? Perhaps. I know when I get old, my back would look like his. Yet, somehow, somewhere in my heart, I think I haven't been able to fully accept it. Living in denial? Perhaps.

I think, a better way face it would be to take care of my body now and live happily. Afterall, worrying about future does not help much. What matters most is neither past or future, but present. Treasure every moment, treasure the people that I care about.

# 每逢佳节倍思亲

2006-10-06T19:54:00.000Z

It's mooncake festival today. Inadvertently, I felt the feeling of homesickness sinking in.

"独在异乡为异客，每逢佳节倍思亲" is a quotation from a poem of a Wang Wei (王维《九月九日忆山东兄弟》). I found an English translation from internet, it says: "A lonely stranger in a strange land I am cast, I miss my family all the more on every festive day..."

I miss home, I miss everything back there. Unlike the previous years, somehow starting a new semester this year felt heavier than usual. I think that I have really started to feel the longing to go back to my own country.

I decided to do some baby-ish wallowing in self pity now. Bah, humbug! Please feel free not to read on so as not to spoil the joyful atmosphere of mooncake festival.

My stupid neckache is hurting like hell, what a way to spend my mooncake festival... Barely recovering from cold sores, the neckache/shoulder ache decided to pay me a visit. Felt like a robot a whole day - a simple action of glancing over my shoulders became an awkward manouevur of rotating my whole body to face the direction I wanted to see.

Cancelled an appointment with friends due to the constant stinging feeling on the shoulders. It's Friday night and I couldn't go anywhere with this mind-numbing, body-stiffing pain. Having to get in bed early on mooncake festival is no fun...

I know I need rest, but I couldn't help being 无聊 a bit before settling myself on bed. Decided to take a few pics to commemorate my lousy mooncake festival on 2006.

My best mates during mooncake festival = cold sore relief cream, Sloan's muscle pain rub, Vicks Vapourub.

My lanterns on the wall, brought from Malaysia. I miss playing with lanterns and walking around neighbourhood with my little yellow lantern...

My faithful "Lil' one", birthday gift from KK and Ray. Temporarily forgot about my neck pain when I looked at its cute little innocent face with toothy grin.

I like its sleeping position.

Another thing I like about Lil' one, it's tail which looks like a piece of grilled steak. Hungry...

HAPPY LANTERN FESTIVAL!!!

# Time flies

2006-09-28T06:59:00.000Z

... and I am back in London. Another year of study to go. :-(((

Wasted 2 hours in the airport immigration control. Strict security has slowed down clearance. I envy those who can go straight to the line of "UK Passport Holders". After waiting for ages, I finally got to get to the passport control desk. But the officer told me I NEED a medical checkup! Bloody hell. He thought I was a first-year student.

After explaining to him and showing him documents that I have had my records with the NHS and he can go check on my health condition if he likes, he let me through. With my stomach growling (I haven't had my dinner), I took the tube home, arriving around 10.30pm.

Took me a few days to clean up my new room and unpack everything from boxes. Now my little room looks more inviting... Here is a 360 degree tour of my little square room. (photos are of not such good quality, I only have my T610 with me so that will have to do)

Here is my work station, with my laptop and board and photos and everything in place, before I make a mess again soon.

Beside my desk is my cabinet which I stuffed everything in there. Next to it - my personal TV in the room! (With the license too! Landlord pays, yea yea)

Next to the TV are the fridge and the little tea corner of mine, with teabags and mugs... Check out the two fish lanterns on the wall, gifts from James, made in Malaysia! Now I miss the Lantern Festival/ Mooncake Festival back there... Anyone doing Lantern post soon?

Last but not least, my sleeping corner. Cosy little bed... Thanks KK for the warm duvet!

Now it's really time for bed.

# Would all the cat-lovers please stand up?

2006-09-25T08:38:00.000Z

During the SARS period, some people have the mistaken identity to think the ordinary stray cats are civet (thanks Mickell) cats (which is actually from the Rats family) and said that they spread SARS. A massive search and kill was launched in Singapore during that time and as many as 200 cats were terminated per day.

A blog friend of mine, Robin, a good-hearted animal lover, has teamed up with wish friends to provide temporary shelter for stray and abandoned cats, and making efforts either to track down their owners or find homes for them. Their work are time, energy and money-consuming, and needs support from all of us.

So if you know of anyone who wish to adopt a cat, a kitten, or who is willing to support such a cause in animal welfare and protection, please let Robin know.

No cash donations please. Food, kitty litter, toys, shampoo, cat adoption (subject to terms and conditions) and medicines are welcome. Please email Robin.

TO HELP, PLEASE GO TO THIS LINK

Thanks very much!

Paris (Day Two) + Passports Mania

2006-09-06T09:25:00.000Z

After a long disappearance, built not only on love with Malaysia, but also snowballed on guilt of having not been keeping touch, YD timidly peered out to the windows of blogspere, awaiting angry blows, or worse, disappointed sighs. Have I gone overboard in MIA this time?

Some of you have guessed correctly. Yes I am in love - in love with Malaysia, its food, family and friends, and erm... with somebody. (*blush*) I must admit that I am bad at balancing the time of going out and going online...

Anyway, that's another story. In this post, I have to finish my uncompleted story, which also leads to a worrisome experience in Malaysia.

********************************************

On the second day of Paris, we woke up early to visit the Eiffel Tower. Bustling along with the Parisians on the Metro was an eye-opening experience for me. The people were rougher than those in London, and politeness was certainly not the way to go around in the subway.

After the long ride, we arrived at the Trocadero station, saw the magnificent tower, and proceeded to line up to buy the tickets. It was then we realized the horrible truth - our passports were gone!

The passports, alongside with 100 Euros and 100 Swiss Francs, were kept in our travel pouch, which dad kept in his trousers. Yet it disappeared mysteriously during our morning journey with Parisians in the packed Metro train. Fast like a flash of lightning.

Our schedule was ruined. We rushed back to hotel to double check, just in case we left them in our room, but alas, we didn't. Luckily I brought along the contacts of Malaysian Embassy and made photocopies of passports and travel documents. We called the Malaysian Embassy and was told that we need a valid police report and photos before we can report this case to the embassy.

Well, we went to a local police station, and found out that none of the policemen speak English, and there was no translation service available in the station. We ended up in reporting our case in gestures and drawings, until now I am doubtful that the policewoman who attended to us really understood all our body languages. We spent more than an hour there, with most of the time wasted on trying to understand one another.

The helpful police officer.

After getting our police reports and photos done, we rushed to the Malaysian Embassy, as the time was running out and the office would be closing soon. After a journey which seemed like forever, we reached the station, and literally ran all the way to the embassy.

The office hour of the embassy has ended (3pm), and the staffs were actually having a farewell party for an ambassador. We begged the clerk and explained our situation to her (we have to depart for Switzerland tomorrow), and she, being such an angel, decided to help us out. Thank god!

The clerk (a.k.a. the angel) gave us many forms to fill in, including the one to report loss of passport, one to apply for emergency certificates and one for records. While we were filling in forms, the angel went to persuade the officer who had initially declined our case since it was past office hour. Thanks to her help, the officer nodded ok.

The long wait in the embassy.

We were very lucky to have such great help in foreign country. We were luckier to have an emergency certificate processed immediately and given to us by the end of the day. We settled everything at around 6pm, thanked our angel and the officer again and left the embassy.

The rest of the trip was brief. Our original plans of spending a day in the Lourve was cancelled. We persisted in going up the Eiffel Tower, but when we came down, there was a downpour, which lasted for about half an hour. Luckily the day was longer during summer, so we had more time to spend outdoors before bedtime. We spent a short time OUTSIDE the Lourve (it was already closed), where dad did his Tai-Chi routine and drew attention of many other tourists. hehe...

While dad was doing Tai-Chi, I decided to have some fun with the Lourve.

We spent the evening in a quiet little restaurant and enjoyed the Poisson soup, then we strolled along the Seine, onto the island, passing the Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter. It was a tiring day for us, but yet we relaxed as we walked along the river, in the romantic atmosphere.

Our saviour of the day - our emergency lunch which lasted us the whole day

This is indeed a memorable trip to Paris. Dad, who already disliked the haphazard traffic and the rude culture, and now coupled with this misfortune, decided that this might be his last visit to Paris. The silver lining of the cloud, is the warmth and the helpfulness of the many angels we have met in the city - the hotel staffs, the police officer and the embassy workers. Thank you very much for your kindness.

********************************************

Update:
The passport problem dragged on until we were back to Malaysia. To reapply for new passports, we were told to refill the same forms we filled in while in Paris, due to the lack of coordination of the local imigration offices with overseas embassies. The local imigration officers told us that the process of reapplying new passports could stretch more than one month, and we needed to translate the police report into B.Malaysia, take oath in court, and wait for the HQ to assess our application. Worse, we would be black-listed for loss of passports. But the most frightening prospect was that I might not be able to get my UK Visa in time to go back to London, with this hullabaloo stretching on...

Update 2:
We were lucky again! Someone found our passports (without the money of course) and handed back to the embassy. And thanks to the angel (the clerk) again, she managed to arrange a fast delivery of our passports to us. After the many visits to the imigration office, and the visa centre, I finally got my new passport done, and my UK visa renewed just in time! Phew!

I must really thank all the angels who helped us out. Without them, we would still be stuck in dealing with the immigration office now. In our life, there are so many people who have crossed paths with us with just brief encounters, yet, their impact in our lives are profound. Their kindness touches our heart, their helpfulness makes the world a better place.

It brings me to think about the many friends who have always been there, who care, who watch out for me. It brings me to think about you guys who are reading right now. I am very lucky to have met you in this path of life, and I thank you for your friendship, your care, your kindness. Thank you so much for being there.

# Paris (Day One)

2006-07-20T11:02:00.000Z

(Note: I won’t put up the a lot of the photos of the famous tourist attractions, I believe we have seen them too many times on TV/ Internet/ Magazines. Hence lots of the photos would be from some small things observed in the trip)

Arriving at the ever busy Gare du Nord made us realize how foreign we are. Everything is in French! We got our Carnet and headed for our Hotel.

At the moment we stepped into the Metro subway, we noticed the mass of people, from all backgrounds, all classes. Unlike what is normally portrayed in advertisements, Paris is not as romantic as the public think. There are beggars, street people, gangsters and lots of dodgy-looking people – certainly didn’t paint a very good picture for Paris

Unlike what is said by friends (“Nowadays all French speak English!” They assured me before I went), most of the people we encountered, except for the well-known tourists attraction sites, speak French and no English. There were some unpleasant encounters where some people are very unfriendly knowing we do not speak French, but overall, the people are still ok.

The traffic/ driving in Paris certainly terrified me. I mean, having got used to the polite driving in UK, where pedestrians rank first, I am quite amazed seeing cars zooming past us while the pedestrians’ light is green; or cars cornering and nearly hit down a bunch of people by roadside, then hooted as loud as they could; or cars bumping other cars many times before parking into a parking bay (Now I knew why it’s called a car BUMPER!)… Priceless experience.

The streets are not clean either, except, again, for the main tourists attraction sites. But looking on the bright side, it’s much better than our own country. Our spirits died a little after looking at the dirty streets/ crazy traffic/ suspicious-looking people/ etc… but we reminded ourselves that French cars are one of the upper range cars in the world market. Dad likes French cars a lot…

Off we went to our first stop – Sacre Coeur, a neo-Byzantine Basilica famous with the beautifully adorned dome. It represents the national reconciliation of and hope after the defeat of France in 1870 War against Prussia. The basilica took 45 years to build, and its interior is decorated painstakingly with a myriad of mosaics. Inside Sacre Coeur, religious believers were praying silently, while the painting of Jesus on the ceiling glowed in soft golden light. We took our time to savour the beauty and calm our minds.

A path by the side of Sacre-Coeur brought us to the Montmarte area. We arrived at the place Emile-Gourdeau, the authentic art square flocked by artists.

No, we didn’t manage to get our portraits done, but we did have some French crepe for tea, and got “robbed” for ordering a €3.00 500ml mineral water! One thing that fascinated me a lot is the culture of Parisian to sit by the sidewalk, under the sunshine and watch the world goes by. Reminds me so much of our “mamak stall” culture. But more interesting in a sense that they all faced to only one direction – OUTWARDS – looking into the streets. We followed their gaze to see what they are looking at, only to find another stretch of cafés opposite, full with people gazing towards this direction!

We found Moulin-Rouge later after getting lost in the small winding streets in Montmarte. The time as well as the price of the cabaret shows put us off, since our hotel is at a more quiet (and far) part of Paris, and dad has seen cabaret show in L.A. before anyway.

We got to Concorde to admire the impressive square with its obelisk and two fountains, which are gifts from Egypt in 1836. Jardin de Tuileries is lovely, but we were a bit surprised to find walking path covered in sand (quite messy to walk in). Only later we found out that ALL the pavements in the parks in Paris are covered in sand. How interesting. I guessed I have got too used to the tar/cement walkway in London parks. Reading the signboard enlightened me that Jardin de Tuileries is in fact one of the UNESCO World Heritage List for its cultural/ natural value.

We walked along Les Champs-Elysees, which as usual, was full of crowd, and lots of cafés, banks, cinemas, car showrooms, branded stores, etc. Apparently this street is the favourite hangout place for Parisians, but I lost interest after a few minutes. Just like any other shopping streets in the world – crowd, shops, sales, sales, sales. I quickened my pace to reach the end of the walk.

(One of the few things that managed to catch my attention while walking along Les Champs Elysees - the little girl admiring herself in the mirror in some branded shop... I forgot which)

At last, we got to the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the street. We passed through an underground tunnel to get there – it stinks so badly of urine! Commissioned by Napolean, the monument was dedicated to the memory of an unknown soldier who died in WW1. The Arc is certainly magnificent, though I am still haunted by the fragrance in the tunnel.

(Dad and I! Tadaa!)

(Some antics we saw at Arc de Triomphe)

So far, our meals have been mostly baguettes, baguettes and more baguettes… I wonder how people bite into the rock-hard bread and still manage to keep their teeth. I would prefer to soak them in hot soup and have it soggy. ;-P

At night, we fell asleep exhaustedly, accompanied by the cacophony of noise outside our hotel, by construction work, by lorry passing by, by people shouting, by baby wailing…
(Our window view - houses with traditional french windows, plus lots of unwelcomed activities at night)

# Out of office

2006-06-29T23:22:00.000Z

this is a rather rush post, haven't been able to get proper internet connection nowadays, since we have terminated our internet connection. have been busy moving house and settling mundane tasks.

Would be in inactive mode from 30 June - 16 June since I will not be able to get online. I will be back after 16 June. (By then, I would be in Malaysia, hehe...)

Very sorry for the MIA / disappearance. I miss you all much! :-(

# Lazing around

2006-06-19T07:31:00.001Z

09.06.06. 2.18pm

It was a hot afternoon, a few days after the final exams finished. After all the celebration and gathering, was feeling the laziness creeping in. I just wanna have a quiet afternoon by myself.

Was lazing around on my bed, which is directly under my window. Looking up at the window from a lying-down position sure had a different perspective.

Then I got a bit "wu-liao" and decided to have an upside-down look at our room.

The sunshine was good, so I quickly washed my shoes and dry it on my window panes.

A little bit more eerie-looking from this view.

When I gazed out of the window, I was a bit shocked to notice a "new" mountain suddenly appeared at the far place! Zooming in my camera (sadly it's just digital zoom.. boo hoo...) and taking a closer look, I realized it was just some pinkish clouds! What a deceiving look!

Another lazy doodle during another lazy afternoon...

# Rebuilding the foundation

2006-06-16T00:00:00.000Z

Friendship is such a beautiful thing, yet it can be so strong yet so fragile.

There has been some conflicts among a few of us friends recently, and everyone was feeling miserable and hurt. Everyone cares for everyone else, but the hurt was deep, hence there was always an air of coldness in conversation.

Today, we thrashed things out. Sat down face to face and each person put down their feelings and opinions. The emotions were strong, yet we felt the care and love too. I was glad that we talked things out. Many things were unpleasant, but I felt it is a good thing that we point out the wrongs, so that in future we can make things right.

In friendship, I believe one of the most fundamental thing is being able to point out each other's weakness and give reminder/advice to each other frankly, with good intention and care. Personally I would rather let my close friends point out my wrongs and give me a wake-up call, than making a similar mistake again and again, causing unhappiness to people around us.

We have built a foundation of friendship over the time, and conflicts have eroded some of the stucture. We knocked down the wall, and rebuilt everything again. And I realized, the foundation is stronger now.

At one point, we have the choices of either letting things go by and maintaining polite acquantaince relationship, or thrashing things out and rebuilding the foundation. I am glad that we chose the latter one.

I feel blessed to have these precious friendships, and even more grateful that I have the friends that can sit down and talk things out, friends that care and love each other. Thank you, my dear friends.

# BANANAS!

2006-06-13T00:30:00.000Z

(Note: pictures are all from internet for this post)

Due to excessive dosage of freedom, I suffered from post-exam-syndrome, I see bananas everywhere! From moody's chatbox to the local store, everywhere is just full of bananas!

And I think I am turning into one too! Gosh.

Here are some banana treats!

First, let's boogie with bananas!

Some banana astrology...

Some banana nation...

Some banana religion...

Some banana justice...

Some banana kayak, i mean, boat...

Some banana art...

Some japanese dancing bananas...

And some good old fried bananas a.k.a. Pisang Goreng!

Finally, hope this banana baby cheer your day up!

# Final Lap

2006-06-07T07:41:00.000Z

Final lap today! Going out now for the last paper. Then... FREEDOM!!!

ahhh... I can almost taste it now!

Go Go Go! Affirmative. Cover me. :-) (haha I should cut the CS jargon out)

# Movies!

2006-06-02T22:16:00.000Z

I know I know I should be studying...

I don't know why but my mind just wandered from calculus, martingales and risk theory from movies. Was recalling some of the interesting movies that I have enjoyed, some made me think, some made me cried, some made me touched, some made me laughed, some were a hit, some were forgotten...

I decided to jot down a few to recommend to friends. A good practice would be to write down the movie reviews and my feelings and thoughts about them, but I think I shall add on to this only at later time, after my last exam. :-)

- Ladies in Lavender
- The Colour Purple
- Whale Rider
- Choristes, Les (The Chorus)
- John Q
- The Laramie Project
- Rabbit-proof Fence
- Schindler's List
- Hotel Rwanda
- Dances with Wolves
- Ray Charles
- Joy Luck Club
- Soong Dynasty
- Under the Tuscan Sun
- The Manchurian Candidate
- Mona Lisa's Smile
- Shipping News
... ... ... ...

and the list goes on...

Can't really recalled all, so I think I shall stop here for the time being. I shall be very delighted if anyone could recommend other good movies.

# Sipadan Damage

2006-05-30T20:43:00.000Z

When I saw this news, I was dumbfounded. Gosh you can actually feel that sharp pain in the heart!! I actually can't stop my tears running down as I read on such irresponsible act.

I am too heavy-hearted right now to write a post about this yet another heart-breaking "human kills nature" story. It's about our beautiful Sipadan Island.

Here are the links... I really need to cool down before writing a post on this. These bastards have just overdone it! .... Damn them. (Pardon my language...)

Source from Wild Singapore

News in Yahoo

When did human ever learn??!!!

# Have a break

2006-05-29T15:12:00.000Z

Another small break before a BIG paper tomorrow - "Stochastic and actuarial methods in finance".

I had a kitkat, as recommended by chen, and as soon as I peeled of the wrapper, I can't help but smile at the words printed on the chocolate bar.

"Shut down for essential maintenance"

It somewhat reflects how my brain feels right now. :-)

I checked the multipack wrapper, and saw another "Quote of wisdom":

No one's final words were ever
'I wish I'd spent more time at work'

Kitkat, has become a culture on its own.

# Ding Dang Dong

2006-05-23T17:44:00.000Z

Taking a break from exam preparation... so...

DING DANG DONG WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!

Yup, it's the crazy frog in action again! now it is singing the song "we are the champion" for the world cup... here is the video clip.

We are the champion (Ding Dang Dong)

for those who hasn't got to know him yet, here is his famous song that once topped the chart in UK.

Axel F

And this is the very very early version of this annoying thing

Annoying Thing (early version)

and here is him trying his hand in DJ-ing, featuring the "Popcorn" (Thanks much moody!), hehe... (ahh... the good old days of digdug game...)

Popcorn

His christmas special

Christmas

and his underwater adventure

You can't touch this

Enjoy! get annoyed with the annoying thing!

# Cloud Craze!

2006-04-28T07:11:00.000Z

To show support for the "save-the-cloud-post" petition, I decided to post a few random clouds picture I took in UK. Not as colourful, but these are the better clouds I see in UK rather than the greyish rainclouds during most of the time. hehe...

Camdem Town

Taken during regular visit to Camdem Town, one of the most interesting local markets in London. The punk culture there is very strong, so it's fun to see all sorts of "self-decoration".

Battersea Park

Taken during summer outing to Battersea Park, outer London. That is the hottest day I'd ever experienced in London.

Plymouth

Taken during trip to Plymouth, Southwest England. Yes, the Mayflower steps are here, where the Pilgrim Fathers first embarked on UK.

Stonehenge

Taken in car during the journey to stonehenge.. Not sure of the exact location. the clouds a bit "senget" due to car moving.

# Exams...

2006-04-26T22:43:00.000Z

Final exams is nearer than I thought!

Would be doing less posting... to concentrate in doing the final preparation.

I will be back. (Terminator)

Ganbate!

# City of Bath

2006-04-22T13:30:00.000Z

Continuing from the post about Stonehenge...

After visiting the mysterious stonehenge, our next destination is the City of Bath - one of the oldest city in UK.

One of the most significant landmark is the Pulteney Bridge and the Weir. We took a stroll along the river. Watching the ripples at the weir is definitely a great relaxation!
(To get the weir into the pic, I had to extend my already-freezing hand over the edge of the bridge walls, nearly dropped the poor camera...)

We had a great time walking around the city, exploring every corner of the streets, tunnels and shops. The sunshine was extraordinarily good for UK weather, and it seems like almost everyone in the town has come out to have a nice sun-bathing. We explored some local markets and shops. There was once we saw a "White Shop", which sells everything in white colour, and before long we saw a second shop called "Yellow Shop". Here's the "white" shop... (some ppl might argue these shops contain elements of racism)

We did not enter the Roman Bath House and the Pump Room, due to its unreasonably high price. It was a bit disappointing because I have done quite some research online about it before coming, but the 8.50 pounds is quite a rip-off for a short tour around that place. But anyway, reading about its history online, and looking at the abundant photos online, has more or less provide the picture about the place, so we didn't feel too bad.

We went to other attractions like the Royal Crescent, Sally Lunn (the oldest house in Bath from 1482), the markets and many other interesting small shops.

Instead of focusing on the normal "tourist attractions", I think I shall post some photos of the not-so-normally-seen-corners of Bath. These little discoveries, many of them normally unnoticed, certainly brought surprises and happiness to us. Perhaps, you have noticed the little things too, during your trip there? *^_^*

For example, not only that the shops have peculiar names, even the streets too. Should we keep our voices down when walking on the Queit Street? And the Gay Street sounds interesting too...

Check out the allocation of DOORS in unexpected places! The top part of the photo shows one which is located right next to a roadside stairs. The bottom part shows a very random door which appear in a wall (double-storey high). Imagine walking out of that door and realize, "ooops..."

and how about Jane Austen's centre?

Also, remember to check out the many interesting small shops around the city!

One of the best surprises we got when roaming around the markets is to find our country flag! There is this small but wonderful shop which sells the flags of all countries in the world! (the owner claims so). Well, I found mine!

# The Queen at 80

2006-04-21T16:09:00.000Z

(Photo from BBC)

Today is the Queen's Birthday! and boy, she looked lovely in pink!

A friend and his wife has gone to Windsor to (hopefully) see the Queen, we did not manage to go, but were equally excited for this event!

Happy Birthday Queen!

BBC Full Report (with videos, pictures and news in depth)

# Thoughts on Easter Island

2006-04-18T11:07:00.000Z

(Photo from www.zeigermann.com)

This is a rather small post, for it is just a few scribbles of thoughts. Panda's comment in Stonehenge post about Rapa Nui reminded me about the downfall of the civilisation on the island, and the destruction of the Easter Island.

From the original lush green vegetation to the dry empty land, how could this happen? I am sure that the people are aware the depletion of the resources as the activities of deforestation goes on. I have heard before that the island is so small that one could stand on top of the mountain and see every corner of the island. But why have they not done anything to preserve the rescources before none was left?

As the resources continued to diminish, the dominoes effect comes in. The Islanders are trapped in a self-inflicted environmental collapse. With no trees, no boats can be built, hence they were cut off from the outside world. No more erection of the moai, hence the collapse of the belief systems, then social organisation. Then the meaningless destruction of the ahu among opposite clans, then war, then...

This looks familiar! Well, we do see them even in today's world! Look at how human consume the resources in the world, and we will know Easter Island has just provided a model of what-could-have-been. The set-up of the model is strikingly similar to the world we live in now - limited resources, unlimited wants. Throughout the years of human history, people have found ways and means to extract resrouces to sustain population growth. Yet, have we devised a system that actually conserve the environment and preserve the resources? Have we found a way of living that does not irreversibly damage our life support system?

In the Easter Island history, we saw the ugly nature of human of fighting for survival, and a scarier thought is that human has not even remorsed even until the final fatal end of the civilisation. If this is how human act, this would be a very scary reflection on today's society. In every aspect of our life, have we gone too beyond the turning point? Do we still carry out acts of destruction though we are well aware of the consequences? Do we ignore the warning signs and hope silently that the comeuppance will not fall on us, but on OTHER people?

Unfortunately, in most of the times, we do. And I am not speaking onlt in environmental terms. Major decisions in all fields - politics, economics, society, humanity... Have we not come upon some hauntingly familiar scenarios? Do we learn? Do we take different action?

Let's pray for a better tomorrow.

... ... ... ...

Okay, I should stop rambling before I go into a rattling mode.

Quote of the day:
"If we forgive God for his crime against us, which is to have made us finite creatures, he will forgive our crime against him, which is that we are finite creatures." - Simone Weil (1909-1943), French philosopher.

# Stonehenge

2006-04-16T17:26:00.000Z

Finally, we've been to Stonehenge! I've always wanted to visit this mysterios place since my first year in UK, and finally we've done it.

Six of us rented a car and started our "journey to the west" (from London to Bath). It was quite challenging driving in UK as none of us have really drove in UK before, and only one of us have international driving license. Some road signs are a bit confusing, and there are many turns that we actually missed 2 turns during our journey. To add on to our anxiety, the only driver with the international licence is used to left-handed driving! ... But luckily, our journey turned out to be quite smooth, except some small misses and confusion.

Our first stop: Stonehenge
The sunshine was so good! So I am quite happy with the photographs we've taken. Here it is - the famous stones!

A little bit of facts and myths...
Stonehenge, built at around 3100 BC, at Wiltshire UK, was a myth that has yet to be solved. Various speculation about its uses include astronomical purposes, human sacrifice, pagan worships and religious ceremonies. It was constructed in three phases - the earthwork, the arrival of bluestones, the arrival of sarsen stones, and some rearrangement. (More details)

At the first sight of the stonehenge, I realized it was smaller than I have imagined. Yet, its magical effect still caught my breath. Although it is no longer a complete circle as it has been, the stones still exuded an air of mystery. As we stood gazing at the structures of stones, I somehow felt being tranported back to time. The wind seemed to be whispering in my ears about the old myth; there seemed to be sounds from the past echoing in the wide plain; the place actually felt ancient to me.

Despite having known about stonehenge in books and documentaries, I can't help pondering about the same old questions that have been asked many many times. Why did people build it? Why the efforts of dragging the bluestones, and why the construction and reconstruction? Why does it have such an appeal even after so many years?

I decided not to write a long essay of its history, myths and facts here. Reference can be made from some links like Earth Mysteries, Wikipedia and others...

But I do wish to share this feeling of awe at the sight of these magnificent stones. Its immensity and its grandness still held power over people, or at least, over me.

There is a phrase from the commentaries that I like, "Even if the stones are removed and all that is left is the empty plain, this place would still be a mystery with the untold ancient stories and memories."

(Bath trip to be continued...)

# Album of Spring

2006-04-12T17:37:00.000Z

Spring is here! After reading the wonderful posts about hanamatsuri and sakura by panda, moody, robin and others, I can't resist but to compile a small Album of Spring, to celebrate the arrival of the long-waited season.

First of all, the album cover...
(Gotta apologize to kk for putting him on the album cover without permission)

We went to the park opposite our house, anticipating a sea of flowers. But when we reached the flower garden, we found THIS.

We found some daffodils and some patches of flowers blooming here and there, and have to settled for those. While we didn't get to see many flowers, we did get to see a lot of ducks and swans.

Lacking the collection of the flowers, I decided to turn the focus of my album to other subjects - the kids.

It was fun watching the kids, accompanied by their parents, having their great time at the playground. Many of them found the sandbox the most wonderful place to roll around and giggle for every little joy.

... and I found this little boy looking around to find someone to acknowledge his achievement of building the "sand castles" on the table. :-)

Beside the river, the mum and the kid are feeding the ducks...

=========================================================

Bonus Tracks

Undaunted by the failures of finding our "sea of pinks", we continued our search in other parks. Well, our efforts did paid off - at least we have got one tree blooming in pink. hehehe...

And we found a "sea of yellow and white" in another park too!

=========================================================

# Lion King Musical

2006-03-29T16:27:00.000Z

17.50 pounds for front seat in stalls! I can't believe it!

I finally watched the musical of Lion King! I have wanted to watch this for so long, but the exorbitant ticket price is a huge barrier. Now, with nearly a 50% discount off the original price GBP32.50, we got our 17.50-pounds-last-minute-price (we went early in morning to get the last-minute-leftover seats). Yippee!!!

We bought the tickets at 10am, but the show will only start at 2pm. While waiting for the show, we decided to loiter around Covent Garden... and that accidentally started my shopping spree. (what have i done?!)

We went to a few shops which sell sportswear and travel accessories, and some bookstores. I am very sure I am NOT a shopping-type person (dignified voice), but I think I just went into a shopping-mode today. Results:
* Compact Tripod 340mm-1100mm for 10.95 pounds
* Polycarbonate bottle for 3.75 pounds
* Fleece Jacket for 29.75 pounds.
* Sandwich cool bag for 1 pound.
* 2nd hand book for 2.49 pounds

Holy cow! In less than 2 hours I spent more than what I normally spend on non-necessities in A MONTH! hmm.. perhaps if I treat the bottle, cool bag & jacket as necessities, it wouldn't look too bad... and if treating the tripod as a long-term investment, calculate its lifelength, depreciation and scrap value... sigh, i m just trying to justify my over-expenditure.

oops, enough digression.

Back to Lion King. The theatre itself is a wonder. Lyceum Theatre is opened in 1834, and has a three-tiers seating plan instead of the normal two-tiers one. As we were sitting in our seats, I couldn't help admiring the detailed architecture designs in every pillar, wall and ceiling. The interior of the theatre is as grand as its exterior!

Just beneath (I hope the proposition is correct) us is the orchestra stall. Before the show started, the musicians are already there tuning and readying. (reminds me of moody somehow) Kids sitting nearby were excited that they kept the conductor busy with their endless questions. They even asked for a demonstration, which the violinist graciously obliged. Even the cute old lady sitting beside me is as excited as the kids, she's read the book three times, and she believed this will be the best musical she would love. She kept me busy too, hehe, with her keeping losing her gloves and scarf. sweet. :-)

The beginning of the show is just spectacular! As the animals emerged from the BACK of the theatre, marched down the aisles and up onto the stage, the crowd went wild. Sitting in the front row sure has its perks, we observed not only the details of the ornaments, costumes and gadgets, but also the face expressions of the actors. And when they caught our eyes, some of them even winked. I have to say I felt so excited, it's like I am a child again.

The costume and the props are the best among all the musicals I have seen. Imagine designing all sorts of animal costumes, gadgets and scenes in jungles. The lush green jungle, the dry shadowland, the elephant grave, the stampede scene, the night, the dawn... Every scene was done with such painstaking detail. The stage itself is a fun thing to observe, many unexpected creatures would just pop up from the concealed trapdoor on the floor, and the stagefloor can be elevated for certain scenes.

I have to give credits to these 2 creatures specifically. The giraffes and the leopard. The giraffes are so good in controlling their balance, singing and dancing all at the same time. and the leopard-lady did a fabulous job in making her leopard look so real! the movements are just so smooth and real. These two non-leading creatures are my favourites in the show.

As I observed the music, dancing and special effects, I couldn't help noticing the blend of various cultures into the musical. While the African culture is the dominant one, there are a lot of elements of other cultures. Asian culture is appearing very often - bamboo poles for the birds props like the chinese do with their kites, japanese-like set up during the struggle of Sinba to find his destiny, and even our "wayang kulit" in some scenes! The music too potrayed various genres from traditional african music to electrifying rock and roll...

Another enjoyable experience is to observe the various expressions of the actors, CLOSE UP. We can see every single line on their faces, and noticed how deeply they put themselves in the story. Looking down, the orchestra team was doing their best too. Every thud and squeak was precise, and the music moves people to tears.

The props, the music, the dancing, the storyline... everything was just great! Given a chance, I would definitely watch this again. I will bring my dad next time when he comes for my graduation. :-)

Ok, just before I end this, here is a character I like. She's funny, she's expressive, she's bouncing up and down on the stage!

Guess who she is?

.... The Baboon! If not because of her walking stick, I wouldn't have recognized her, haha..

(NOTE: All pictures are taken from websites. We are not allowed to take photographs in the musical.)

# St. Patrick's Day

2006-03-17T11:13:00.000Z

The green, the gold, the Black stuff... It's St. Patrick's Day!

As I walked along the streets of Covent Garden, it is interesting to see that all the pubs have gone all out to celebrate this festival. Green flags, images of shamrocks, and great discounts for the Black stuff (Guinness)... I am dazzled by the elaborate decor and the atmosphere.

*******************************************************

A little bit of background first...

St. Patrick's Day is a celebration for the patron saint of Ireland (well, you guessed it right, his name is Saint Patrick, haha), who has brought christianity to Ireland. He "drove away the snakes" from Ireland. This phrase is a metaphor to describe that St Patrick ended the pagan practice in Ireland. As in many old pagan religions, nature and animals, including serpent were common and often worshipped.

Why green? Why the shamrocks and why Guinness? Well, Saint Patrick's Day has come to be associated with everything Irish: anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. The tradition of celebration include "wearing of the green", Irish musics, food and drink (of course), and some people even dye the rivers green.

More importantly, to those who celebrate its intended meaning, St. Patrick's Day is a traditional day for spiritual renewal and offering prayers for missionaries worldwide.

Why on 17 March? You might have guessed it. Yup, it is the day that he died.

*******************************************************

Despite the freezing strong wind today, I decided to take a walk to have a feel of the festival. I was strolling in Covent Garden, where pubs are in abundance. All I see is green, green, and more green. Of course, that comes with a lot of advertisement for the 1/2 price Guinness for the day. hehe...

I passed by a group of girl choir singing at one of the squares in Covent Garden. With their sweet voices singing some irish songs, they have attracted quite a crowd. Then I was distracted by another music which started playing nearby. A string quartet, playing Canon in D! Just a nice gift for this nice afternoon...

I was feeling quite happy today (God knows why) that I decided to give myself a little treat today. I bought something that we don't buy usually (cuz it is too expensive), and after some preparation and cooking, here is it!

清蒸白鲳鱼

It has been QUITE a while since we last ate fish, due to the exorbitant price. Such 'chinese' dish really reminded me of home a lot... To cure my homesickness, I decided to add in another typical chinese dish - beansprouts! Ahhh.... A nice hot dinner in a cold cold night...

After the dinner, my housemate dragged me along to a small pub nearby. "You must drink a pint of Guinness on St.Patrick's Day! It's tradition!" So, now we suddenly 'transformed' into Irish and celebrated along with them. Um... just another excuse to drink, maybe?

I like this little traditional English pub... Most of the furniture are wooden, there are barrels and beer tuns above the bar, and there are many decorations on the ceiling, on the wall, on the pillars! Old records, old photos, old posters, etc... decorated the place. There are even an old cigarette vending machine and a jukebox. With a country song playing in the background, the atmosphere is just perfect.

*******************************************************

First Chinese, then Irish, now it's time for Turkish Delights! I think we must have been feeling quite elated tonight that we decided to have some desserts. So we 'adjourned' to a turkish shop for some sweet stuffs. There are so many choices to choose from! Nuts, sweets, marshmallows, candy floss (oooh i love this!), biscuits, cakes... We stood in front of the shelves for quite long before making decisions. It is hard to choose!

Another look at the varieties of cheese and yogurt...

All right, that's a nice end of the day - Chinese+Irish+English+Turkish.
I'm loving it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

# Tuscan Sun

2006-03-11T17:32:00.000Z

"Life offers you a thousand chances ... all you have to do is take one."

The movie "Under the Tuscan Sun" is generally viewed as a yet another glossy chick flick with beautiful sceneries in Italy, and beautiful actors and actress. But amidst all the over-idealistic setup, it sets me thinking about many things...

What is love? What do you do when love comes to you? And more importantly, what do you do when it leaves you? The story shows a few individuals learning to stand up again when they are hurt. At that moment of being hurt, we always think that we might not be able to recover again, the world seems to collapse, the hope seems to have vanished. The pain is so deep that we feel we would rather just end everything...

Yet, time heals. As we painfully bring ourselves to stand up again, we might still feel a gaping hole in our heart, but there are new things happening, new people coming into our life, and who knows, new hope?

Despite being a light romantic movie which idealizes lots of things, the movie struck a chord among many people, with many of its little reminders of learning to hope again. After all the ups and downs, do we have that passion of life, to hope again, to love again? The movie says a big YES. What do you say?

To some extent, I am grateful for watching it. Never lose hope, and stand up again when you are hurt. Some small reminders about life, rite?

# Festive February

2006-02-19T00:53:00.000Z

This is a bit late, well, VERY late, considering that even Valentine's Day has passed. However, I have yet to receive the other photos I took during the first day of CNY as they were inside my friend's camera.(My forgetful brain failed me on THAT important day and I did not bring camera out. How could I??!!) So, the photos here what I managed to capture only during the CNY eve, and other nights...

It is now past Chinese New Year, but somehow I still feel extremely full. I think it is due to the feast after feast we had during the festive season.

As usual, CNY in London is a big event, lots of people and lots of activities. Our feast celebration started on the CNY eve. As we arrived at China town for dinner, there is already a big crowd of people there, most of them finding restaurants for the auspicious "reunion dinner", a must-do in traditional CNY.

Nine of us booked a table in Yong Cheng, a nice restaurant which offers great food. Hihgly recommended. We ordered nine dishes. With the 9 (九) people, and 9 (九)dishes, and the start of dog (狗) year, (note that 九 and 狗 are pronounced as "gao" in Cantonese, meaning longetiviy and forever), we wish for a good long-lasting friendship and happiness. ^_^

The best thing about Chinese New Year is the abundance of RED in everywhere! I love red(although my favourite colour is still blue). Well, I suppose A LOT of chineses adore red, as it is considered one of the most auspicious colour in chinese culture. I feel lucky to be able to be in Chinatown to see all the 'reds' all over the place. Somehow, it made me feel more at home, and somehow, I felt the air of a whole new year!

The landmark of China Town in London - the gates. There are three of them, at the tree ends of a T-shaped streets that form the core of China Town. During the CNY, the striking red of the lanterns just shouted out so loudly "HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!"

Hanging on a high pole at the side of a street is a giant-sized traditional chinese knot, and a string of lanterns which looked tiny compared to the massive knot. Such knots, with lots of other variations, have been one of the most intriguing chinese art that demand creativity. People have them as good luck charm, and they are always a great gift to give to friends from other backgrounds. This particular knot has a specific name for it, have fun recognizing the various knots HERE.

Mandarins! The golden colour of their skins resembles the shining gold, the symbol of prosperity and wealth. For me, it is the juicy taste that made me love them! The lady in the picture is the stall owner, she was watching the lion dance nearby(not in photo). In London Chinatown, there is a tradition of having most of the shops welcoming the lion dance performers to each of the doorsteps of the shops. It is believed that the lion brings good luck to the business, so almost every shop pays generously for the visit of the lion.

Our appetites grew enourmously during CNY. Even after a few big meals in Chinatown, we still had big dishes at home. (well... chineses adore food, don't we?) Here's our CNY dinner at home, including the steamed fish, sweet and sour fish, soya sauce chicken, pak choy, and a big smiley face ommelette (the ommellette is just a bonus, made from left over egg yolks that we felt too pity to waste, hehehe...)

Well, what is Chinese New Year without a CNY movie? After choosing from many choices, we finally settled for an old movie, "Joy Luck Club". A fantastic choice! With its beautifully potrayed family love and friendships, it is just the right movie to enjoy (with some tears though) with our loved ones.

A very belated Happy Chinese New Year to my friends. Better late than never, rite?

# Three Emperors

2006-01-16T14:13:00.000Z

Click for larger image

Let's start this by playing a game: Can you spot the emperor?

..........

..........

..........

..........

..........

Answer: His Highness is the one in green robe, sitting on the balcony. :-) His Highness is enjoying the autumn, relaxing at balcony and overlooking the river.

... and this is just one of the twelve pieces of hanging scroll, among many other paintings and displays in the exhibition. Besides this set of twelve, there are many other giant scrolls paintings with careful details and interesting depict of the life of the emperors in the Qing Dynasty.

Yes, you got it right. It is the Royal Academy of Arts' exhibition 'China: The Three Emperors, 1662–1795'. Yipee~!!! It is right in London, barely 5 minutes walk from the Picaddily Circus tube station! Having been visiting various exhibitions (always in London, muahaha...), I didn't lose time to try out this one. And the trip was worthwhile!

Focusing on the Qing Dynasty, during the reign of the three greatest emperors, this exhibition presented about 400 pieces of treasures (robes, paintings, furniture, antique, throne, scientific instruments, cultural pieces, etc...); in fact, many of these treasures have not been exhibited outside China before. The main theme of the exihibition revolves around the various perspectives of the Qing dynasty - its empire, culture, rituals and religions, palace life, scientific progress, international relations, literature, and lifestyle. The feature of this exhibition that attracted me the most is the way they presented these knowledege; stories are told not through words, but through scrolls and scrolls of paintings by anonymous court artists, displays of the furniture, instruments and items used at the era.

Meet Kang Xi, the legendary emperor who started his 'emperor-ship' (is there SUCH a word, i wonder?) at a very young age. This potrait of him in a court dress will be familiar for those who read the famous novelist Er Yue He, who has written novels on these three emperors. (Great books, a must read) He used these paintings of the emperors as the book covers. :-)
An interesting thing is, even though these emperors are Manchurian people, they wear this formal court dress in Chinese style, a tactic of assimilation into the system of the previous dynasties.

We found it fascinating to observe the very detailedly-done paintings on supersize scrolls, and soon developed an amusing game which helped ourselves remembering more vividly about the exihibited pieces - "Spot the Emperor". The paintings were done with such details that they painted every single man, and even animals, very carefully, regardless of their ranks. It is hard to spot the emperor sometimes, because there is no significant emphasis on his figure. We would have to observe the rituals and customs carefully to be able to guess which one is him. :-) and guess what, sometimes the artists are so mischiveous that they inserted some little "mythical" small animals (from our deduction: a mixture of dragon, dog, and some other animals) among the crowd. What a discovery!

Another interesting fact is the parallel practice of Shamanism (pagan religion) and Buddhism during the Qing Dynasty. Most of the Qing emperors embraced Buddhism, and Yongzheng was famously noted with his avidness in Chan Buddhism, while Qianlong with his Tibetan Buddhism. Other religions - Taoism, Christianity and Islam were also tolerated. For Shamanism, there was an exhibit of the instruments used on the altar of Moon, where the seasonal rituals of offerings were made.

Of course, Manchurians are fearless warriors, good hunters and skillful riders. This painting shows Qianlong in his armour, on his horse. In their culture, Kangxi and Qianlong went on long journeys north for ceremonial hunting in many years of their reigns. Several of the paintings in the room illustrated aspects of these hunting expeditions. To reinforce their authority in their Chinese territories, the Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors also undertook journeys through the south of China, particularly the Yangtze region. There are stories about the emperors dressing up as normal people, sneaking out to the streets to assess the "Real" lifestyle of the people, instead of the glamourous show put up by the officials during their inspection trips. This is to see the real situation to make better judgement and decisions on policies and governing the country. Based on these 'stories', many drama series have been made, and some are being re-made, to tell the glory days of Qing.

There were many other display pieces on the foreign diplomatic gifts, scientific knowledge sharing and extraordinary foreign instruments. Also, a large collection of the art paintings, carvings, calligraphy, etc were on displaying, again showing the richness of the dynasty, and the pursuit for beauty in art. A common trait among these grandad-dad-son emperors are their zeal in collecting art pieces, and indulgence in literature and art. :-)

Oh ya... before I forget, here is a picture of YongZheng, dressed in Taoism robe.

There are many other pictures depicting him as many roles - warrior, Buddhist monk, and even wearing the European court wig! We were smiling widely when looking through these paintings, the emperors sure do have a good sense of humour to be potrayed as different characters!

Well, I must say, it is fruitful to have gone for this exhibition. It was fun and informative. And somehow, via such approach to potray the emperors, it brings the emperors so much closer to layman like us - they enjoy things, they learn and they live life well, and they sure do have their crazy sides too! :-P

Let's end with the sandalwood seal of Kang Xi, marking the end of this post. The site www.threeemperors.org.uk shows a nice introduction and some information. Do have a look there as well.
(Note: I have not written here a lot of history of the dynasties, there are too many interesting things to write! I would suggest a good research and study on the history, because it would be wonderful to savour the many layers of the colourful history...)

# Thieves!

2006-01-11T16:14:00.000Z

A few days into year 2006, two of my housemates got their wallets stolen on bus. sheesshh... The theft happened during the day of London Underground strike, which results in no tube service and buses crammed with people, thus giving thieves great opportunities to do their work.

I was with one of the 'victim' when the first theft happened. We were on bus 29 on the way back to Manor House, and boy, it was crowdy in the bus. At our stop, just before we alighted the bus, another passenger told her that her backpack was opened, and upon inspection, we realized the wallet inside the bag was gone. We didn't even have time to react and the bus has left, with the *#$%ing theif on the bus, of course.

We made a police report (this time, online), cancelled bank cards, and told other housemates about the incident.

and... After 1 hour, another housemate called back, frustrated, and told us that his wallet has been stolen too, on the same bus 29 on his way back. He has been very careful after hearing our experience, and has clutched tightly on his wallet in his pocket. But just before his stop, he took out his hand to press the bell, and then, he realized his wallet was gone! The thief sure did make his/her move very deftly...

More unfortunately is when we were trying to call the banks to cancel the cards, we realized there is no dialtone on our phones, even after we did all the troubleshooting checks for any faults on the line. What a accurate time to have this problem...
(and interestingly, when the engineer came today to check for faults in the telephone line, he realized that our external phone line outside our house was cut off by someone... suspicious...)

An independent incident not correlated with these series of thieves... apparently there are some weirdos around our area who love flashing to public. Met one at the bus stop while walking back home. yucccckkkk.....

Well, after all these, got a conclusion:
The area we are staying in might not be very safe, hence gotta be much more alert and careful!

(p.s. hope that thief will remorse, or at least feel a bit ashamed of him/herself, when he/she sees the mini Buddhist scriptures, pictures of Virgin Mary, etc... put inside our wallets. ^_^ )

# 2006

2006-01-04T16:19:00.000Z

It is 2006, and it is my third year overseas. I am quite surprised how much I have changed over the years, and how much I have still remained the same.

Coming abroad has really made me more independent, both in terms of living as well as personal thinking and outlook. I remembered the times - both good and bad - when I have to learn to grow up, think rationally and make major decisions. Going through the experiences, getting hurt sometimes, feeling happy sometimes, is something that I will cherish always. They made me grow, and made me change for better.

Growing up is such an interesting thing. As I grow older, I no longer hold too tightly to some 'philosophies' I used to have about the world, instead, the outlook about life, the thinking about this world, the principle of my life, grow to a higher level maturity and openness. Yet, there is still so much more to learn in life, to experience and to try out, to make changes, to do something that matters. Lying ahead is a long stretch of road I will embark on. This is the path of my life, and I want to walk it well.

Interestingly, along the way, I discovered my inner strength, and rediscovered my dreams. Somehow the dream to make an impact of change in life is not a faraway dream. Somehow the childhood dream of writing books to initiate changes is not impossible. Somehow, my dreams are achievable, if I have the will to go for it.

Sitting down reflecting, reviewing the past, and at the same time thinking ahead, might sound like a procrastination. But as I look back, look ahead, and look where I am standing, I can reposition myself to the right direction I wish to head to.

As usual, I do not do resolutions of new year. I just wish for clarity of mind to make decisions, wholesomeness of heart to care, and health to carry on living this life.

Happy New Year.

# Xmas Dinner!

2005-12-30T15:29:00.000Z

This year we prepared our own traditional christmas dinner. Preparation took almost 3 hours. James is the main chef, well, he did, like, almost everything!

Starter:

Smoked Salmon & Cocktail Prawns

Main Course:

Stuffed Turkey Joint

Sausage Rolls

Bacon Strips

Roast Potatoes + Parsnips

Brussel Sprouts

Carrots

Cherry Tomatoes

(The Roast potatoes dish is the best! James certainly did a great job in using the goose fat.)

Dessert:

Christmas Pudding

Meringue with whipped cream, raspberries and tinned mango in syrup

(some of us decided to have some fun with the food & did a masterpiece)

After dinner, we played Pictionary. As we were playing, I ~~accidentally~~ suggested that a penalty should be imposed on the loser.

ME AND MY BIG MOUTH.

Well, I lost and the bunch of crazy people decided to make me their Barbie doll. They took out all the make up kits, hair gel, etc etc and gave me a full make over. The original plan was to creat the hideous look that scares people away, but I think those guys found this girly game enjoyable that they decided to blend the look of Anita Mui+Shu Qi+Sammi Cheng+etc in one.

Still, I turned out to be quite hideous.

Worse still, there is a photographer constantly taking pictures of the process, the 'transformation' and the final look. Geez, I think modelling is just so NOT for me.

Luckily, there is still, at least, one picture that turned out OK. Here it is.

Merry Christmas folks!

# Lost my Wallet!

2005-12-24T10:31:00.000Z

Lost my wallet, just before christmas! Gosh, how troublesome it can be!

Luckily, I just used up my cash inside the wallet for a gathering dinner, before we adjourned to Leicester Square, where I lost my wallet.

It's just troublesome to lose my ATM card, student card, NUS card, ULU card, etc...

Made a police report, and cancelled my bank card. Guessed what is left to do is to cancel n renew the rest of the cards...

A good lesson for me to be more careful at crowded place.

Police Report

This is where I lost my wallet... at Leicester Square Fun Fair.

At first we planned to have a go at the Merry-Go-Round. But due to majority vote, we decided to go for the Bumper Car Ride instead.

This is another ride that we forgo because of the possible havoc it may do to our full stomach after a 15 pounds meal at Four Season.

I took this picture because it somehow looks eerie with the bare tree branches, alongside with the cuddly soft toys at the fun fair. Reminds me of Chucky...

And....

Then I realized my wallet is GONE.

Lesson of the day:
"Beware of personal belongings in crowded area."
- quoted from London Metropolitan Police.

# Have a Hokkien Xmas!

2005-12-22T12:11:00.000Z

For my Hokkien friends...
Merry Christmas!

ADDITION:
Our Christmas tree after some friends start putting the presents under the tree...
This is from a kid's eyes view:

# Preparing for Christmas

2005-12-20T13:11:00.000Z

We are gearing up for christmas too, and since our flat does not fit a huge christmas tree (and we can't afford one too), we ended up bringing the cute one back from Sainsbury.

As we congregated in my room to set up the tree, we realized this is in fact the first time we all decorated OUR OWN TREE! This is exciting!

We each chose an angel, and named them ourselves. So there is "Belle", "Ariel", etc etc.. from characters of Disney.

Then one of them decided to wrapped himself up with lights, hallucinating that he's the tree. (Somehow reminds me of a Paul Jennings' stories of the Toilet Paper Boy)

Ta-daa! There it stands, next to our router, in a corner in our kitchen. Our baby christmas tree is ready for the celebration!

# Christmas Carol

2005-12-20T10:15:00.000Z

Alongside with the vast varieties of window displays and street decor, I came along this beautiful window display along Picaddily Street, which tells of the famous novella written by Charles Dickens, "Christmas Carol".

The story is a Victorian morality tale of an old and bitter miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, who undergoes a profound experience of redemption.

Scrooge lives a lonely life, and cares only for acumulating money. He is selfish and rude to others.

On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley.

Marley, who in life was as miserly as Scrooge, is condemned to an eternity of carrying a heavy chain which he forged in life, and being unable to interfere for the good of mankind, which he would never have thought to do in life. Marley's visit is to give Scrooge a chance to avoid his fate.

Scrooge is skeptical of what he has seen and heard, but during the course of the night, he is visited by spirits of "Christmas Past", "Christmas Present" and "Christmas Yet to Come". The ghosts show Scrooge scenes from his life (past, present and future) that open his eyes and make him realise that he desperately needs love and forgiveness from his fellow men.

"Christmas Past"

"Christmas Present"

"Christmas Yet To Come"

In the end, Scrooge changes his life and reverts to the generous, kind-hearted soul he was in his youth.

"Christmas Carol" cries out Dickens' recurrent themes in his works - social injustice and poverty. It strongly opposes the beliefs of Victorian Malthusianism (the ideas of Thomas Malthus, which classified all misfortunes as personal failings rather than public problems), that charity encouraged idleness and that the poor should be left to die and "decrease the surplus population". Dickens used an alternative approach in opposing this individualistic beliefs; rather than lobbying for Parliamentary reform, he voiced his views via describing Scrooge moral rebirth in this story.

This story has been integrated into the christmas tradition, and this shows our continuing beliefs that our change of heart can help solve social problems. Again, let us remind ourselves that, let change starts with ourselves, and we can change the world.

(P/S: The window display left out the characters of Bob Cratchit, and the crippled boy Tiny Tim, which I feel are quite interesting elements in the story. Being crippled, Tiny Tim's figure effectively shouts out the need for charitable giving, social awareness for the less-abled people. Also, his patient nature which enables him to accept his sufferings and grateful for charity of the non-disabled strongly contrasted Scrooge individualistic and materialistic nature.

His character helped add colours, contrasts and comparisons in the story. but the window display excludes his presence, perhaps due to lack of space for display, or to simplify the synopsis of the story. Or perhaps, instead of focusing on just Tim, the exclusion of his character in this window display plays out Scrooge's moral recovery to a more general context, instead of distinguishing clearly the line of disabled and non-disabled. Well, what do you think?)

# Christmas Decor 2005

2005-12-20T09:21:00.000Z

Here it is! My annual Christmas Decor post is back! (Every year during christmas season, I will go around streets and places in London, to look at the various christmas decorations they put up, and savour the merry festive atmosphere.)

Last year I have focused on the more prominent places such as Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, London Eye, etc.. "Christmas Decoration 2004"

Since the decorations at the popular places are still the same (Trafalgar square still have the tallest xmas tree, covent garden still have the Santa Grotto), I will not put up the picture of these places again this year. Let's focus on the christmas decorations at a more local level.

Let's start with the Oxford Street. As usual, the neon lights are put up, but this year we don't see the giant spotlights that shone up to the sky, as they did last year.

I decided to put up this photo of a small shop near my place instead of the elaborate windoe display of bigger shops in main streets. It somehow seems more homely and warmer.

Suddenly, I caught Santa in his bubbly bath!

Even the butcher shop is into the festive mood.

Then I decided to do some shopping at the local Christmas Market...

...and nearly lost control when I saw a whole lot of yummy biscuits, choclates, candies!!! My cravings!

Pastries! Another of my fav.

Ok, let's end with 2 beautiful christmas cakes displayed somewhere near Picaddily Circus.

Another... Blueish one.

(Full series)

MERRY CHRISTMAS FOLKS!!!

# Carshalton the Medieval Town

2005-12-12T21:53:00.000Z

During our stay at David & Elizabeth place, Elizabeth took us for a walk to Carshalton, the medieval town nearby. We were lucky for such a sunny afternoon in London, especially after a few days of drizzle and mist. (Speaking of mist, I often wonder where has the famous smog in London gone? I have been here for 2 years, and yet have only seen 2 occasion of fog, not even smog, that covered London. Will the smog city show its true colour this year? I wonder...)

Anyway, back to our stroll to Carshalton. We walked past a few small parks on our way there, and one is particularly interesting. There is a football-field-sized pit dug right in the middle of the park, and left abandoned for many years. According to Elizabeth, there was a wealthy man who once owned this piece of land, and decided to build himself a mansion. The pit was dug for the foundation of the mansion, but before he managed to complete his mansion, he went bankcrupt. His land was sold, well, so was this pit. There was a dog running playfully INSIDE this pit when we passed by, but it was too deep down and all I had was this digital-zoom-only w800i. *grumble grumble* ^_^

The first sight that welcomed us at Carshalton was this canal that ran across the town. We were surprised to find seagulls in the canal, but Elizabeth explained that the place is quite near to the sea, so the seagulls love flocking to this place to have fun. Then she told us the stories about the White Cliffs of Dover which faces the French canal. It has been the main frontier of defence which has witnessed and survived many attacks and battles. When she spoke about 'seeing the white cliffs signifies home-coming for the warriors', there was this faraway look in her English eyes, and I somehow felt her burning patriotism deep in her heart.

We took a stroll along the streets in Carshalton, and I noticed that there are quite a number of antique shops here. Elizabeth told us that some of their furniture actually come from these shops, and people love to shop in such antique shops. You never know what you would get! (Yes indeed, another friend actually picked up a 100-year-old china plate for merely 5 pounds!)
One of the antique shops in Carshalton

We walked along the canal, listening to the chirps of birds and quacks of ducks, the flapping sounds of wings, and the rustling sounds of leaves. After letting us savour the peaceful sight at the canal, Elizabeth led us to another corner of the town, and brought us to a large tree looming high before us. There was a plate on the ground that says, "This London plane tree as measured by the Forestry Commission in March 1964 is 123ft tall and has a girth of 20ft 11in at a height of 5ft above the ground level. It is the tallest London plane tree known in Britain, and is one of the very few trees of any kind to exceed both 120ft in height and 20ft in girth. The age of the tree is not known with accuracy, but is likely to exceed 200 years." We gaped at the tree which looked hauntingly old. Compared to us, it is old; but compared to the age of nature, this is nothing.

Walking and talking with Elizabeth is never a bore. She always has a lot of stories to tell, and a wealth of knowledge to share. At her age, she's still so fit and active, and is always full of ideas. She loves young people, and we love listening to old people's stories - so this trip is enjoyable for all of us. :-)

On our way back, we saw this squirrel camouflaged amidst the leaves, and Elizabeth started telling us about the red and grey squirrels, how the grey ones threatened the population of the red ones, and how the people tried to save the red ones. I haven't come across the red ones so far, and she said she herself has only managed to see some at the Lake District.

Well, that's it for the sunny afternoon, and we headed back to her house. Lovely stroll, with lovely people. I will keep this in my memory box. Thanks Elizabeth!

# Memories filled with love

2005-12-12T20:47:00.000Z

It was a fruitful trip to Wallington last weekend. Huifang and I paid a visit to David and Elizabeth in Wallington, and we had a good feel of English life here.

Wallington is in Zone 5 of London, and it took 45 minutes of train journey from the Victoria station. When we arrived at the station, David was already waiting to pick us up. On our way to their home, I saw the christmas decoration on the street lights that resembled Lavender, and David told us that this area used to be planted full with lavender. Looking at the stretch of houses that we passed by, we were lost in our thoughts about the purple lavender and its beautiful fragance.

Walking into their house brought a similar feeling of many other houses I have been inside in UK. We were then told that this is a common structure of 1930's post-war architecture for middle class houses - 2 rooms on ground floor, 3 rooms on the first floor, narrow staircase, a garage and a backyard. Such design is common throughout England, as the government standardized the housing structure for easier town planning. No wonder most of the houses we saw are so similar!

Being in the house made me feel like an infant - everything in the house is so old! David and Elizabeth told us the stories of their furniture, inherited from different people, each having its own story. There was a three-legged tea table which has elephant head carvings on its legs, and a carving of an Indian god on the table top. There was a few other pieces of furniture like shelves and chairs that were inherited from Elizabeth's late aunt, each having an age more than 100 years!

There is a fireplace in the living room, and I was intrigued by the two cute statues standing at each side of the fireplace. David excitedly told us about their origins - they got these two fellas (more than 100 years old, again!) quite some time ago, and never knew where to put them. They once displayed them above a shelves, but it didnt feel right. Only at one time when they watched a TV show, they discovered that these fellas are fireplace watches, and when they finally put them beside the fireplace, it seems perfectly right. They belong there.

Beside the fireplace sat an old TV box, which contained an old fashioned TV. And in front of the TV there is a little brown bear, which according to Elizabeth, is from her late aunt. Her aunt loved this bear so much; during her aunt's last days, she keeped wanting to see 'Bear', so they put the bear by her hospital bed, and she would pat the bear lovingly everyday...

The more we looked around the place, the more memories seemed to sprung alive.
They were enthusiastic to share with us how they went through all sorts of challenges to get a house, and how they inherited the furniture, piece by piece, from different people, and build their home and memories piece by piece. From nothing, they now have a sweet house, packed with lots of furniture, lots of memories, and lots of love from family and friends.

I realized that British people have quite a lot of meals in a day too. Not too long after we had our lunch, Elizabeth was preparing afternoon tea. I was still trying to digest my lunch! haha... While having the tea, Elizabeth showed us her collections of small ornaments, and we were pleasantly surprised to find many Chinese items such as the 文房四宝, some tiny woodern carvings of 18 Lohans (十八罗汉) and 8 Taoism Gods (八仙), and other beautifully carven ornaments. She also inherited a 'trick box' (in picture) from her mum. This trick box cannot be opened unless we trigger some secret latch inside. We spent a fun time trying to figure out the way!

Just when we thought we have had enough food, it was time for a supper! But this time I welcomed the supper, because there's my favourite ribena (only this time it is served hot), and egg on toast! The picture below shows David, Huifang and Elizabeth during the supper. Daivd was in bow and shirt, as he would be singing in a church choir concert which we would go later.

And then we were off for the choir concert! It was held in a local church, and there were 60 people in the choir singing 12 christmas carols, starting with "Once in Royal David's City" and ending with "Ring out wild bells". They sang "Away in the manger" in a different melody, and had a Japanese woman singing "Silent Night"in Japanese, and they certainly entertained the audience with the light-tuned "Past 3 o' clock". We enjoyed the performance, and we enjoyed more the atmosphere of christmas - the love, the friendship, the tradition!

Christmas is in the air, my friends!

# Video Mania

2005-12-03T11:13:00.001Z

This news was some time ago, I was so angry when I saw such practice still carried out in Malaysia.

The recent release of the video of the mis-treatment of detainees in lockup by Malaysia police has really been a slap in the face to our country, in terms of human-rights issue, and the system of police force in Malaysia.

The video showed a Chinese woman being forced to perform squats, naked, by a police officer. Another slap was felt when in the middle of video, we heard the distanct background prayers from the mosque.

BBC report & video

What made the public angry was the response by the police side. The deputy police chief stated, as if that is a matter of fact, that the practice is standard procedure, particularly as he suggested the real offender was the person who filmed the incident. The police insistence to find out the 'culprit' who filmed the video, showed the attitude to shift blame rather than to examine the dubious practices in their part, which violates the basic human rights.

I am saddened by the attitude to shift blame and deny responsibilities. Such manouveour has been seen again and again in many fields in Malaysia, be it government sector, organization, companies, etc. Instead of taking the bull by its horn to solve problems, there is a culture of blaming others, or "wait-and-see" to let things 'cool' down. In many cases, an exposure of some scandalous common practice does not lead to further investigation to clean out all the culprits, but is resolved by categorizing them as individual cases. An example is bribery and cronysim, which is an issue that we MUST solve soon, because the longer we wait, the more cumulative the problem builds up, and when it DOES fall apart, everything will fall like dominoes.

More saddening is that it has been commented that such abusive practice has been long existing in our society, and people commonly have the perception that this is actually a NORM or a common practice in the police lockup, and actually treat it as a fact to accept such grey area of the human rights in Malaysia. The "tidak apa" ("couldn't bother") attitude among Malaysians are disasterous. By choosing to shy away from the seemingly sensitive/ complicated social issues, we are shying away from our social responsibilities as citizens. When we escape from the problems that need to be tackled, we cannot escape them forever, for they will always fall back to our own children in next generation, in larger magnitude.

Side note:
Similar news in Marine UK.
BBC

# Rhythm of life

2005-12-02T14:15:00.000Z

With the prolonged flu that ran in the house (well, everybody got it in turns), and amidst the occasional coughs and nose-blowing, I remembered an interesting hypothesis made by some scientist (I can't recall his name) about living in tune with the rhythm of nature.

His hypothesis stated something like this: The reason that more and more sickness and diseases appear in this world is due to human not living in tune with the rhythm of nature, hence breaking the natural harmonic sequence of life, cycle of survival.

_________________________________________________

Past: We adapt to nature
In the past, life is simple. Seasons come and seasons go. Life is adapted to how season changes. Human work when sun rises, rest when sun sets (well, this is conditioned on we are non-nocturnal animals, hehe). In longer terms, human sow seeds and harvest according to seasons, and rest during winter, where the force of nature is too strong to withstand. In human dietary, people eat the local food, according to what is available during certain seasons and periods. Activities in life are also done according to the suitability of seasons.

Present: We make nature adapt to us
With the advance of technologies, better economic transformation, better transport and communication, more integration of different nations hence better mobility, we expand beyong our small circle of 'local commnunity'. We become global. Human work all day long, all year long, with the comfort of air-conditioned work place, we can afford to work even in the worst condition of weather. Also, all year long, we can eat whatever food from whatever place in the globe, due to efficient transportation and international trade. We travel to many different places, any time, any where.

_________________________________________________

Though his hypothesis sounds very radical, and there is also a tinge of anti-globalisation feel in it, I found that, there is actually some plausible argument in it. True, with the growth of the human race, we are now exposed to a multitude of different cultures, lifestyle, and knowledge. We are becoming global. It is also true that we have, to some extent, neglected the needs to listen to the nature. We now live our life according to how we want it to be, and we don't really have to take too much consideration about following whatever rhythm of nature, because we are somehow "shielded" from it by our own various creations of technologies. We have let nature become irrelevant to us. Nature becomes something that we can set aside as some "issues", not as part of our life. Nature becomes something that we can find "substituttes" for it, should some resources run out, or some livings extinct.

I am not blaming technologies, nor demanding people to revert to totally pre-historic life. I am just wondering, in this fast tempo of life that we are currently leading, do we have time to stop and listen to the rhythm of life? Do we still realize that we are still a part of nature? Are we still be able to survive by means of nature, if someday we have to dispose everything human-made in our 'society'?

Suddenly, I found we are so far from the origin we come from. The same earth that nurtures us from the earlier worlds is still there. But human has changed. I somehow feel a sense of loss, of something within, is it the connection to the rhythm of life? Do you, feel in your heart, the rhythm of the nature?

# 花と爆弹

2005-11-05T14:38:00.000Z

I would like to thank pandabonium for his meaningful gift of the book 花と爆弹 (Flowers and Bombs), a book which consists of poems of hopes for a non-violent world. A simple gesture, to change the chain of violence into a chain of hope, to transform bombs into flowers.

The writer, Kaoru Kobashi, request readers to translate poems into the languages that we know, to spread the messages, the love, and the hopes. I tried my hand in one of the poems, to translate into a Chinese version. Hope it sounds coherent. *^_^*

Japanese - Original
青空のあなやるせなきため息か
戰の空の薄い三日月

English Translation - translated by other people
Is it a sigh of
Deep sorrow the blue sky heaved?
Above the battle field
There is a white crescent moon
Blurred in the afternoon sky.

Chinese Translation - YD's translation
听那蓝天的长叹
看那皎洁的月亮
迷蒙在那昏沉的傍晚
伴着尘土飞扬的战场

Let's spread the hope for a better world. For you, for me, for everyone.

# Serenity

2005-11-05T14:02:00.000Z

What a pleasant surprise when I received two postcards at the same time, both exhibited such tranquility, peace and serenity.

I had a virtual tour to Kashima shrine through the postcard from a dear panda in Japan. Kashima Jingu is one of his favourite places, with its magnificent gates, wide paths, sweet cedars smell, lines of cherry trees and chirping birds, etc.. Quote panda: "The shrine is actually the land which has been used as a shrine for 2600 years.Â But the buildings date back to around 1600. In the Heian era, about 1100 years ago, they used to rebuild the buildings every 20 years." Such was the long history of the shrine, which still stands grandly at present day.

I wonder, what it feels like to walk on the path amidst of blossoms of cherry, listening to the voice of the wind, contemplating on ourselves, our life, in past, current, and future? A walking meditation at such surroundings will be a fruitful one, I think.

A second postcard, from Low, conveyed another sense of calmness and quietness. The image struck a familiar note in my heart. This is the kind of environment I used to see in Malaysia when I was growing up. Small villages, peaceful waters, soothing wind, and simple, carefree people. Sea has been an intriguing landscape of nature that shows so much emotions and tells so much feelings. From the gently lapping waters to wild raging strong waves, the sea is speaking to us, telling us stories of the nature, sharing their wealth, their wisdom accumulated from so many years.

One day, when I am gone, I would like my ashes to be scattered in the wide blue sea.

(P/S: Panda, your story of your uncle in California made me decided that my ashes to be scattered from a BOAT, not a PLANE. hehehe...)

# Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!

2005-11-03T13:17:00.000Z

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri! Happy Eid!

After a month of Ramadhan (Fasting month), this is the day which mark the culmination of the holy month, the day of the celebration of the Muslim New Year.

During the fasting month, muslims abstain from eating and drinking daily between sunrise and sunset. Smoking and sexual relations are also forbidden during fasting. At the end of the day people break fast with a prayer and a meal called iftar.

Side note: Fasting during Ramadhan is one of the five tenets/ pillars of Islam:
1) Syahada (Belief in one God)
2) Salat (Five times prayer a day)
3) Zakat (Almsgiving)
4) Siyam (Fasting during Ramadhan)
5) Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca)

After a month-long fasting, Muslims celebrate Id-al-Fitr (the Feast of Fast Breaking), we called it Aidilfitri in Malaysia, which is the first day of the month of Syawal. Aidilfitri signifies the spirit of forgiving and family reunion. In Malaysia, people from cities 'balik kampung' to reunite with their familities in hometown. During this time, people ask for each other's pardon and forgiveness for whatever past quarrels, by salam (handshake) and kissing the hands of the elders as a sign of respect.

On the first day of Aidilfitri, muslims congregates at mosques for morning prayers. I passed by the East London Mosque which is situated near my house last year, and the voices of prayers from the mosque sounded so homely, I felt I am back to Malaysia.

What I love about Hari Raya Puasa in Malaysia is the culture of Open House, and visits from house to house to wish one another "Selamat Hari Raya". The place I stayed in Malaysia is in a Malay community, hence we enjoyed visiting our neighbours and exchanging gifts and cookies during Raya. I particularly love the ketupat (triangular shaped rice cake) with rendang!

Putting up my baju kurung (Malay Traditional clothes for female), I am ready to pay visits to my Malay friends and wish them

"SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI!"

"MAAF ZAHIR BATIN"

# The Story of Light

2005-11-01T12:37:00.000Z

I miss the murukku! ommapadi! chippi! etc etc... Not being in Malaysia, I have to just settle for a packet of 250g murukku which costed me 2 pounds! :)

An e-card (copyrighted by Compufield) from a friend, K, really warms my heart. A simple wish, a special occassion, just brings everyone regardless of races together. Although I did not manage to go over to my neighbour's house this year to celebrate, nor did I have a chance to watch people make the beautiful patterns of rangoli, I feel the joy of the Festival of the Lights.

The notion of using LIGHTS in the festival gives me a chance to do some reflection, about the significance of light in good over evil, valor, peace, confidence, hope, and enlightenment. Speaking about lights, I recalled a story I read somewhere:

"A girl saw a blind man carrying a lantern in the dark. She felt curious and asked him why he needs a lantern as he was blind. The blind man explained that he wants to lighten up the street so that people can see their way.

The girl was about to praise him for being so selfless to lighten up the street for others, when the man continued, 'I do this for myself. By lightening up the street, people can see their way, and will not bump into me.' "

A simple story, which tells of great teachings on the way we lead our lifes. To light up our world, we must first learn to give lights to others. To shine in our lifes, we must first learn to help others shine. Giving away does not diminish our wealth, or capacity to give even more. We gain more when we give. A simple selfless act which may not see any return, is actually a gread deed which not only cultivates our morality, but also helps us in becoming a better person.

# Halloween --> Hungry Ghost Festival

2005-10-31T11:18:00.000Z

The Halloween day fell on Monday, but surprisingly I did not manage to find much celebration at school, on street, nor at the place I stayed. This year, I did not find the enthusiasm to celebrate among friends like last year, when we had lots of fun in the parties. Perhaps it's because of the pouring rain and the lousy weather. :-P

We decided to have a walk around our living vicinity to get a feel of the celebration. However, with the population of our area mainly consisting of Turkish and Middle East people, the festive mood is not strong. Instead of getting 'trick or treat', we had nearly been extorted money from some kids, and that's when we decided to head home earlier.

I remembered hearing from a friend that Halloween originated from the Celts' beliefs that every year on the last day of October, the souls of the dead visited the earth. People dress up in costumes and go for trick/treating, costume parades, community parties, etc.

While the celts started the halloween celebration, other countries have different Fall festivals to honour the deceased. We, chinese, besides having the Grave Sweeping Day (Ching Ming) in April, we have the Hungry Ghost Festival (Taoism) / Yu Lan Pen festival (Buddhism) festival in the 7th month of Lunar calendar. This ancestor-honouring festival which continues for the whole month of the seventh month, centered on the 15th of the seventh month. Unlike Ching Ming which is dedicated to one's own family and ancestors, the Hungry Ghost festival is dedicated to the deads who are not one's own ancestors. Being a festival to commemorates the ancestors, this festival's aim is to pacify the uncared-for and abandoned dead. Scary the name might seem, Hungry Ghost Festival is actually a very compasisonate celebration which encourages filial piety.

In the Buddhists' version of Yu Lan Pen festival, there is a legend of the festival which told about a devout Buddhist monk, Mu Lian, whose mother was suffering in hell due to wrong doings. Mu Lian plead to the Buddha for help to save his mother, and he was taught the Yu Lan Pen canon/ sutra and was instructed to offer this prayer and food on the 15th night of the 7th month. As a result of his devotions and filial piety, his mother was then freed from hell. Since then, Buddhist monks and nuns would chant the Yu Lan Pen sutra to rescue others from hell on the 15th night of the 7th month.

In the Taoisms' version of the Ghost Festival, a more elaborated celebration is observed. The celebration includes special sacrificial ceremonies which involves prayers for the dead and offerings of fruits, sacrifices of animals such as pigs, sheep, chicken and geese. A sacrifical altar and a chair is built at street entrances, and in front of the chair sets the statue of the King of Hell Di Zang.

Incense-burning is also another Taoism practise which is seen as a way to transfer 'prosperity' to the dead. In the streets, and altar of incense would be set every 100 paces, with fresh fruits and sacrifices arranged on it.

In places like Hong Kong and Taiwan, people flown water lanterns on lakes/ rivers. Accodring to the Chinese tradition, the lanterns are used to guide the ghost in the dark. The priests will then invite them to attend the next days' feast. In many other places, stages are set up and there are performances of songs and dances, called 'shi ge er', which mean singing ghost songs, to entertain the dead.

I remembered when I was small, I used to feel scared when the Ghost Festival draws near, afraid of being disturbed by wandering spirits. But after growing up and understanding the significance of the festival, I feel so touched that we have this meaningful celebration to show our compassion not only to our ancestors, but to all other deads. Suddenly, the ghostly statues and the weird-tuned songs don't scare me anymore.

# Art of Procrastination

2005-10-29T14:31:00.000Z

Just trying out a few more patterns... Still too lazy to start the piling homework.
Low, Pandabonium n Moody, I will just take you guys as guinea pigs then... *^_^*

(P/S: Low, your second character looks uncannily like the 'shan' 善 in Chinese words.)

# Seven

2005-10-28T11:15:00.000Z

Got tagged by Low to this 7-chain. (hehe you owe me one meal!) As I went on to fill in the blanks, I realized I was more mindful and aware of myself...

7 things I plan to do before I die
1. Travel across the globe (condition: get some money first)
2. Go to Tibet
3. Short term nun (短期出家)
4. Be a mother
5. Make a useful contribution to Malaysia
6. Write a book. (childhood dreams!)
7. Buy my parents a beautiful house at a serene place.

7 things I can do
1. play piano
2. talk incessantly
3. fall asleep in 1 minute (my friend actually counted! geesh..)
4. laugh easily
5. recite ABC alphabets in inverse order, and other kinds of silly games
6. do mathematical proofs, such as
7. spend long hours just walking and thinking

7 things I cannot do
1. dance :-(
2. ride motorcycle (my dad wouldn’t let me)
3. skate (centre of gravity too high, :-P)
4. normal-girl-shopping (I think I m from Mars)
5. drink coffee (I mean, I can drink, but I will end up staying awake for whole night!)
6. sit still for too long (roommate’s comment)
7. body mechanics – cartwheel/ dive/ climb monkey bars

7 things that attract me to another person
1. Sincerity
2. Simplicity
3. Integrity
4. Compassion
5. Open-mindness
6. Considerate
7. Fun & entertaining

7 things that I say the most
1. huh?
2. haha…
3. omigosh
4. thanks
5. Yes-su (Saying ‘yes’ in a Japanese way)
6. …it’s like…
7. okay

7 people I want to do this
1. HF from Taiwan
2. KB from Japan
3. SS from Malaysia
4. EH from UK
5. Lisa from UK
6. NBSM from Malaysia
7. Anyone who feels bored, hehe

# A Melting Pot of cultures

2005-10-20T21:59:00.000Z

A familiar picture among stacks of envelopes caught my eyes when I was rummaging through the mountain of mails. (There are 4 flats sharing the same mail box, at the place I stay now...)

A postcard from Malaysia! What a delight! It's from my dear friend, Low, who himself loves collecting postcards. Somehow, we have started to exchange postcards, hence started this series of postcard stories. Just two days ago, I was surprised by the appearance of my Big Ben on his blog, 1979.

Anyway, here is the wonderful postcard that tells the story of Malaysia.

Batu Caves (Left), Thean Hou Temple (Top Right), Masjid Jamek (Bottom Right).

Such was the variety of races, cultures, and religions in Malaysia. While Batu Caves has always been a site for Thaipusam celebration by Indians, Thean Hou Temple is one of the grandest chinese temple not only in Malaysia, but in Southeast Asia. Also, Masjid Jamek is a significant starting point of the history of KL.

Besides the historical values exhibited by the places, I am impressed by the implicit meaning conveyed through these snapshots. With the three religious sites of three races, the pictures potray the multi-racial and multi-cultural society of Malaysia. Malaysians have always been proud of the rich culture and strong unity in our country. And the tolerance and freedom of religions have enabled places as such to be built, and cultures to grow and integrate with one another. The wonderful thing is, despite the differences in backgrounds, Malaysians easily mix among races and celebrate various festivals together, no matter what race you are or what religions you have. There is an evolution of Malaysian culture, rather than the distinctive cultures of different races, that makes us feel at home, and feel together.

One special Malaysian culture is the "Open House" culture. During festivals and celebrations, Malaysian fellows love to throw an Open House party, which invites anyone around the neighbourhood to come and celebrate together. With such 'policy', no specific invitation is needed at all, everyone comes and gives good wishes to the host, who happily welcome anybody. With such concept, people are friendly to any visitors, and the atmosphere is filled with trust and friendship.

Another strictly Malaysian culture - Mamak Stalls - the best hang-out place for youths at night. Sometimes people see this as a unique version of pubs for Malaysian, but of course, no alchohol is served. :-) We prefer Teh Tarikkkkk...

Well, I should stop going on and on.. Once I have started, I always get excited and would get deeper and deeper into discussion. hehe...

One last thing I gladly noticed on Low's postcard, the Stamp which depicted the 600th anniversary of Malaysia-China diplomatic relation, and showed a picture of the Chinese Junk sailing. I love this stamp! Maybe it's because of my interest in reading Cheng Ho's (or Zheng He) exploration, especially in the recent debate about the extent of his ships' travel around the world, after the "1421" came out. Cheng Ho has left quite a legacy in Malaysia, with some of the chineses today still visit the Sam Po Temple erected to venerate him.

Thanks so much Low, for the lovely postcard, and for the chance for me to launch into another ramble. hehe...

P/S: Thean Hou Temple is a very significant temple for Hainan people in Malaysia, and I am a Hainanese. This means a lot to me, thanks so much.

# Deepest Condelence

2005-10-20T12:41:00.000Z

This morning I was browsing the news quickly before I left home for school, and the headline that caught my eye was shocking. I was left speechless and a sudden grief overwhelmed me.

"P.M. wife dies after bout with breast cancer"
The line reads at the Star Online.

Such strong character, such gentle heart, Datin Seri Endon Mahmood has passed away.

I could not understand why my heart felt so painful, although I have not known her personally. I think, this is the kind of feeling that grows within us as being part of the nation which we are so proud of. She has been a woman who has shown much personality, character, principle and values. Malaysians have been proud of her, just as Malaysians have been proud of our P.M.

With 5 minutes to class, I would have to stop here. My deepest condolence to her, her family, and to Malaysia. We will remember her.

THE STAR ONLINE

# Rajmohan Gandhi Talk

2005-10-18T21:35:00.000Z

Today I followed Huifang to the MRA Office in London. They are having a meeting for the preparation of the talk of Rajmohan Gandhi in November, and I tagged along with Huifang to see where I can help out.

Yes, you heard it right. Rajmohan Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, is coming to Britain in November for a series of activities. Further information please press HERE.

From the discussions, I jotted down some points to follow up, as I have thought of a few actions we, the youths, can help out as volunteers.

1) Promotion/ Advertising
Was told that the target audience consist of students in social sciences, political and international relations, and the topic would mainly deal with the various issues in today's world - terrorism, peace talks and reconsilliation, relations of Hinduism and Islam as well as between West and Islam, etc etc...

Judging from the target audience and the theme, I found there is some things I can do within my limit.
- contact LSE SU for bulletins in the Beaver, LSESU weekly emailing list and permissions to put up posters on event board.
- contact friends in Islamic society, Malaysian society, BLIA, International Relation repadtment and other societies to help promote the event.
- Discuss with the Communication Officer in LSE for promotion of this event in the community of academic staffs too.

2) Volunteers
As they need volunteers in organizing the events, I am thinking of getting manpower from the students community.
- contact ULUBUDA for prospective volunteers to help out in the event.
- contact LSE Volunteer Centre to register this as a one-off event/project to recruit volunteers.
- Food catering costs seems high to me. hope to ask some catering friends to find some cheaper prices.

Well... i better stop here. Seems I am making this into a notebook to myself of lists of Things-to-do. haha...

Anyway, the full information about this upcoming event is HERE.
The PDF format of the information is HERE.
The summary of the event is

PUBLIC LECTURE
Title: Responding to Today's World - The Relevance of the Gandhian Ethic
Speaker: By Rajmohan Gandhi
Date: Wednesday 23rd November 2005
Time: 7.00pm (doors open 6.30)
Venue: Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1. (facing Euston Station)

Enquiries: 020 7798 6000
Website: www.uk.iofc.org
Email: info@uk.iofc.org

# "Mao: The Unknown Story"

2005-10-18T20:57:00.000Z

Jung Chang and John Halliday, co-authors of "Mao: The Unknown Story", came to LSE for a public debate organized by the Cold War Studies Centre of LSE. They were joined by Professor Michael Cox,Professor Arne Westad and Dr Athoo Hussain. The interesting feature of this event is such that it took the form of a Q&A session rather than debate among panelists.

From the talks and debates, it can be noticed that the main issues lie in the perspective to see Mao. While Jung Chang sees Mao from a more human side, by exploring his character, behaviour and doings through writing the biography, other academics are looking more towards his ideology, his campaigns, regimes, and the way he made an impact in the landscape of the global politcal map. Due to the difference of perspective and focus, the panelists disagree with one another and argue for own cases. With Jung Chang and Halliday pressing on various cases of Mao's cruelty, and Dr Athoo arguing on the lack of focus on the ideology maoism and the intrinsic value of academic research, political shaping and social impact of the teachings, the event turned into a lively debate with a lot of new fresh ways to see the issue. And as the audience came in with questions and views, I found this session enjoyable, being able to see people making their stand, presenting facts and figures, stating their opinions and arguing different aspects of Mao.

Although this book revealed many new ways to look at Mao, and offered lots of new 'evidence' that has never been made public before, I found there are some limiting factors that open the room for criticism too. From the way the authors described the contents of the book, the way they shape their argument and their emphasis on the issues, I noticed that there seems to be a factor of personal stand towards evaluating Mao as a person. Jung Chang family suffered a lot under Mao's regime (many other Chineses have too), and I suspected this factor weighed quite a lot in the motivation to write the book and shape the character of Mao in this book.

I feel, one issue which needs to be addressed by this book, is that despite Mao's well-known cruelty and sinister policies, how can he manage to attract such huge number of followers? What is his appealing factor that made the Chineses venerated him so much? With his complex character, how can he manage to leave such huge legacy to the current China, with his portrait still looking over Tiananmen? Considering these factors, we note that Mao does have great qualities as a campaigner, a politician and a revolutionist. It would be interesting to look into these aspects of how one leader can influence a population of followers so much, how an ideology can expand with campaigns and policies. Well, such issues will lead to social and political studies then, which I should make way for the specialists. :-)

Another question in my head is the source of information that the authors used for obtaining all the information which have been unobtainable all these years - the speeches, the reports details, the facts, figures, the quotes of words, etc... A Chinese girl in the audience challenged her about the source of information, but the only answer give is 'classified'. I feel there needs to be more clear explanation for all the new evidence put forward about Mao, because every piece of new information matters a lot - in changing the political and historical records in this area, as well as in changing society's views and understanding about China.

The debate ended later than previously arranged in the timetable, but audience found it interesting and informative, and solicited great interest from the LSE community. I myself enjoyed the event, and although I have not read the book, I think it is a good book for sociology/ policical studies material. Despite its controversial and daring views, it presents some new ways to look at the issues, and give rooms for debates and more research studies.

# On My Own

2005-10-15T19:22:00.000Z

ON MY OWN (from LES MISERABLES)

And now I'm all alone again
Nowhere to turn, no one to go to
Without a home without a friend
Without a face to say hello to

And now the night is near
I can make believe he's here
Sometimes I walk alone at night
When everybody else is sleeping

I think of him and I'm happy
With the company I'm keeping
The city goes to bed
And I can live inside my head

On my own
Pretending he's beside me
All alone
I walk with him till morning
Without him
I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes
And he has found me

In the rain the pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me forever and forever

And I know it's only in my mind
That I'm talking to myself and not to him
And although I know that he is blind
Still I say, there's a way for us

I love him
But when the night is over
He is gone
The river's just a river
Without him
The world around me changes
The trees are bare and everywhere
The streets are full of strangers

I love him
But every day I'm learning
All my life
I've only been pretending
Without me
His world would go on turning
A world that's full of happiness
That I have never known

I love him
I love him
I love him
But only on my own.

# Karma Talk

2005-10-15T16:46:00.000Z

Quoted from Samyutta Nikaya I (227):

"According to the seed that's sown,
so is the fruit ye reap therefrom.
Doer of good will gather good.
Doer of evil, evil reaps.
Sown is the seed, and
thou shalt taste the fruit thereof."

From a wise friend's blog, Pacific Islander, we got into the discussion of karma. Simple it may seem, but the intricate layers of meaning, and complex field of karmic force, are yet to be understood, and explained by human.

Many of us see karma as 'reaction' upon one's 'action', harvest of our good deeds, comeuppance upon our bad deeds... This is a very common misconception, if not, violation of meanings of karma. We treat the subject too lightly and we simplify it to just like any other physic laws. Although there are some people's effort to categorize the karma into various types, like supportive karma, obstructive karma, destructive karma, etc, the truth is, we still have not completely fathom the idea of karmic interaction, and cannot explain it just like a subject in school.

Definition ot Karma includes "action, doing, word, deed, thoughts, etc". According to Buddhism, there are two types of existence - current existence and transient existence. The first one refers to the form of being currently, although not permanently, existing, such as human, animal, self. The second one constitutes of the fleeting form of mental and spiritual processes which are forever changing, being transient and impermanent. This leades to the five Aggregates in Buddhist teaching - Matter, Feeling, Perception, Mental Formation, and Consciousness. Karma is a process that happens in these entities. Some see it as the result of actions for past life, some treat it as the reaction of our actions, some say it is just a fleeting moment of process, the moments we think, we act, and react.

Classification of karma is hard. Not only we need to take into account of the various types of good/bad karma, we need to realize that there are far more complex interaction among the karma, the cumulative effect, supportive effect, or sometimes, annulling effect. We have to take into account the factor of time of the effect to take place, be it immediate, subsequent or even indefinite. And from some books, karma study even involves the many planes and dimensions of the karmic consequences, the forms and fields the karmic processes take place. Sometimes, karma is treated as some kind of reserve, where good and bad karma decide the content of the reserve as a whole in a cumulative way; but sometimes, an action is independent of the others.

With such intricate net of Karmic conditioning, there might be questions whether it is worth studying, or even worth believing. It is, and it should be. Though the workings of Kamma surpasses our understanding, it provides a teaching of moral and spiritual responsibility for us. The fact that the Law of Kamma does not operate with mechanical rigidity allows us to have a moment of choice to rise above our bad karmic past, instead of being doomed to predestination and definite fatalism. Also, even for good people, there might be a bad karmic past which has not reaped yet, somewhere from past moments/times/lifes. It is with wisdom, and mindfulness, that we can understand the very transient moment, and make our choice.

I still don't know how to explain karma, and I admit I still do not understand karma; but by writing these down, I hope I can arrange my thoughts and have a better understanding about it. Karma, is not just a religious or philosophical topic, it is in the many moments in our life, it is the unseen force that revolves around us, senseless, tasteless, colourless, formless, yet, it is there.

# Climate change - a warning?

2005-10-10T19:40:00.000Z

Debates have risen after the attack of Hurricane Katrina and Rita, as well as many other typhoons in Asian region, over whether climate change was a direct factor in contributing to rise in hurricane activities.

There were claims that global waming was causing an increase in sea surface temperature, hence resulted in more severe hurricanes and storms. There were also suggestions that greenhouse gases is linked to the increasingly horrific weather. In fact, two prominent studies, as reported by FT, seemed to confirm the theories.

Are the recent disasters a kind of signal? A signal that gives us a warning that climate change is a serious issue to be tackled with high importance? If they are, are human looking at the problem seriously? Or are we just brushing it aside, again and again, as long as we are not too much 'affected' by the rage of the nature?

We must act. Among the key issues relevant to climate change and global warming include the effects on food industry, travel and tourism sector, control of emissions in developing countries, and design of technologies that is 'greener'. However, all talks and no action would not solve the problem of hazardous gases emission, greenhouse effects, global warming, etc... We need ACTIONS, instead of just rounds of talks and debates, with no immediate fruits of actions. Do we remember the Earth Summit in Rio, 1992, or the negotiations for Kyoto Protocol in 1997? But do we remember how long does it take for them to bear results? Do we remember doing what we have been saying?

Climate change is not just a so-called 'environmental' issue that many people tends to ignore, thinking that it is irrelevant to their lifes which have more 'important' things to tend to. Climate change is a global issue, which affects everyone of us, as long as we live on this earth. We cannot stand aside and watch the worsening of our environmental state, we have our responsibility. Earth belongs to everyone; however, sometimes it is ironic to see people claiming the wealth of minerals and resources produced by earth as their 'rights and properties', while shying away when it comes to the issue of tackling environmental issue. As we gain economically from nature, let's not forget that we still have our responsibility to take care of it.

A simple habit is 'Give and take'. Sadly though, we seem to have been taking too much and forgetting to give in return. And most importantly, to give in return means by practical, realistic actions, not just by beautiful words, discussion or promises.

# Where have our ethics gone?

2005-10-07T00:30:00.000Z

I was shocked to discover that the main tactics used by friends in interview to apply for job/internship is by BLUFFING/LYING. Rather than using concrete examples which show qualitites needed for the job, people make up stories and 'invented' work experiences that make them look good. And most surprisingly, many are actually proud of themselves for being able to bluff through the interviews and get the jobs.

Suddenly I felt so ashamed for our fellow students. I just could not believe that the eagerness to get into a good company can encourage students to start making stories just to meet the requirements. I feel sad for the recent development of 'skills-targeted' employment procedures. As the companies state the 'perfect' qualities of prospective employees, suddenly everyone 'transforms' into perfect humans with lots and lots of wonderful experiences, or should I say, imaginative experiences.

Application forms are filled with bullshit and non-existence flamboyant words and accounts. Interview process, originallly aimed to get to know applicants better to assess their personality and skills, has transformed into a story-telling session. I am 'impressed' by such development in the career pursuing ratrace. Interestingly, with the increasing demands on human resource skills, the quality of worker does not exactly rise, but rather the skills of bluffing enhance.

How low can we get? How far can we compromise our ethics for material gains? How profit-minded can we be? How individualistic and materialistic can we be??

Today I felt disappointed with my own friends, and I felt sad for the society. I hope for a change, a change in culture, a change in mindset, a change in human nature.

# Global Risk: How Civil Society Responds

2005-10-06T23:46:00.000Z

Just went to a public lecture in LSE Old Theatre, titled "Global Risk: How Civil Society Responds". Speakers include Professor Lord Giddens (former LSE director), Professor George Gaskell, and Professor Mary Kaldor.

The lecture focused on the increasingly important role of risk in the global society, and with the advancing application of risk in everywhere, it is vital to answer a few main questions:

- What is risk?
- Why is risk important?
- How is risk relevant to us?
- Who define risk and its benefits?
- Who does risk management benefit?
- How much of risk is tolerable?
- etc etc etc...

From the lecture, here is what I understand about risk and its implication onto the global society, a.k.a nations across the world.

Formal definition of risk (from ST330 module: Stochastic and actuarial methods in finance) is potential for unexpected events to occur or for expected events not to occur.

More intuitive approach: Risk refers to future, uncertainty and involves calculation and measurement. There is a difference between risk and uncertainty, in a sense that risk is measurable, while uncertainty is immeasurable.

Well, it is getting a bit boring with all the definitions so I should get into the points.

History/Background
In the past accidents are characterized as acts of God, nature or just by luck. There is no sense of insurance and predictive measures to account for risk. Peter Bernstein's book "Against the Gods" mentioned the starting of the notion of risk in the voyagers' exploration records. In 1970's, the notion of risk became exponentially important and suddenly we see risks everywhere, and we find applications of the knowledge of risk everywhere.

Current Situation
Risk is deeply ingrained in our life, as our society is future-oriented and globally integrated, and there is a rise in the incidents of man-made risks. Professor George Gaskell described the phenomenom of a "Risk Colonization", where we see risk measurement, management and control in every sector, from health to law to finance. By employing the notion of risk, we aim to increase efficiency and assist in our decision-making process in uncertainties.

Risk management is observed in various social issues - tsunami preventive measures, terrorism control, climate change management, gender difference, migration problem solving, etc etc. With the widening application of risk management in everyday's life, there is, however, a potential threat of "Risk of risk", in which the process of managing society risk leads to institutional risk, which causes a spiral effect of risk creation. With so much of the 'known' unknowns and 'unknown' unknows, the global society needs to decide which risk is tolerable, and which is relevant?

Besides the spiralling effect of risk that Professor George Gaskell mentioned, Professor Lord Giddens explained about the issue of informing the public about the risks they are facing. There is a fine line between scaremongering and coverup in risk control in public. How much do we want to expose to the public? and how much risk we can take?

With globalization, the notion of risk developed from social contracts, to national policies, and to global convenance. As the knowledge grew, we noticed the gap between political party and the society, and we saw the different weights carried by the rich countries and the poor ones in deciding the risks and methods to counter them. Professor Gaskell raised one crucial point, "Who defines risk and the control methods? Who does it (risk management) benefit? What level of risk is reasonable?"

There is also another issue of the increases in the 'blame culture', reported by the New Scientist. Human have collectively become more inclined to blame than we used to be. The increased frequency and size of litigation and compensation amplified the society's tendency to start blaming one another for any risk and any accidents. Where do we stop, and how far we want to assess the risk in everything?

There is still much room for debate in the application of risk in our society. I do not deny that risk is an important element in our life, in fact, I myself study the subject that deals mainly with risk assessment, management and control. Risk gives security and stability, but the global society needs to have intensive public debates, proper analysis and deep research on risk to manage risk properly, and prevent exploitation of this wonderful idea by certain irresponsible groups. With the notion of risk spreading from finance to larger perspective of global/ social issues, there needs to be a careful examination on the control measures and application.

One last thing I am still waiting for a reasonable explanation: Certain people use the name of risk to carry out pre-emptive actions, supposedly as 'preventive' measures to protect the world. Yet, have we properly assesed the risks, our tolerance for the relevant risks, and the realistic probability, if not, the proofs of the risks? We need to think more, and we need more global participation in decision making rather than power concentration in a few big powers.

# Great Ideas that Shaped our World

2005-10-04T21:06:00.000Z

The recent cover story of New Scientist really attracted my interest - "The World's Biggest Ideas".

Top Ten Scientific Ideas

1) The Big Bang - the concepts that describes the origin of universe. It was proposed that after a few seconds of the beginning of the universe, the temperature was 10 billion degrees high; radiation, protons, neutrons and "dark matter" were present in known proportions. Then everything cools down, and with action of gravity, density contrasts grow and gradually form our universe.

2) Evolution - Darwinian Theory. Cumulative evolution is guided by the force of natural selection. Life starts with a single bacterium, and diversity stems from successive branchings (Speciation), and evolves into different species. Survival of the fittest.

3) Quantum Mechanics - study of how subatomic particles behave and provide a framework for physical theories. The article linked quantum mechanics to abortion, free will and human identity. Interesting subtle links.

4) Theory of Everything - theory of general relativity, gravity, string theory. Dimensions, forces and particles. We have yet to find such a kind of Theory which encompasses Everything. But we will try.

5) Risk - Quantifying risk and differentiating between risk and uncertainty, measurable randomness or uncontrollable acts of God. Growth of the blaming games, litigation and compensation culture. Risk assesment, management and control. In fact, the fundamental notion of my current study.

6) Chaos - Unpredictable, the world is packed with possibilities.

7) Relativity - Einstein! Mass can be converted into energy, speed of electromagnetic radiation is a special scale of nature. Einstein's relativistic theories also redefines the way we think on intuition, and change the absolute concepts which were once so deeply ingrained in our views.

8) Climate Change - global warming, iceberg melting, fllods, draughts, causes of recent Katrina, etc etc...

9) Tectonics - Study of Earth Sciences, geology, plates movements, plate tectonics.

10) Science - pursuit of truth, to answer everything in the universe. Combination of theories and experiments. Suddenly reminds me of the X-file "The truth is out there". hehe.

Enough blabbering. Back to work now.

# Part-time Catering Assistant

2005-10-04T20:24:00.000Z

I started work today as a part-time catering assistant in the school cafe. I was quite lucky to get this job because it has been said that students applying to school jobs normally have to queue in the waiting list for quite a long time.

I was stationed at the Plaza Cafe next to the library, although we are told that we might be stationed in any other cafes if needs arise. The cafe is a small one, but a busy one too. My shift is during lunch time, the peak hours of students getting off classes and coming for food. It was hectic to keep everything in order, from maintaining the coffee machines, to refilling food stocks and cleaning up tables and emptying rubbish... etc etc.

Made a few blunders during first time trying. But happy that things are getting into place. It feels nice to be busy actually. Guessed I am not a person who can sit quietly long enough, hehe...

After starting the job, I was quite surprised to find out that some people actually think waitressing is a low-class work. Perhaps these people have always been used to being served upon and being rich. They really needs to learn to respect everyone's job, from the supposedly high status office work/ CEO/ advisors/ etc to lower income workers. There is a need for these people to climb out from their own cocoon to the real world. The world does not revolves around themselves, hehe.

At workplace, got to know a few nice colleagues. Gosha is a friendly girl from Poland, currently finding postgrad courses to study, planning to do IELTS and also finding accommodation. Katy, another Polish girl, is working long hours at cafes and bars to earn a living. Annie, from Malaysia, is the supervisor, and she's on working holiday visa. Leila, Philipine based in Madrid, was travelling from places to places to work. Each person has different stories and background, yet they are a family in this small cafe. I like the friendly atmosphere in here.

Tomorrow I am having another shift. Looking forward to the new day!

# Islamophobia

2005-10-04T20:07:00.000Z

600% increase in religious hate crimes in UK after 7/7.
Attacks on mosques, arsons and mearing of bacon acros the doors.
Verbal abuse and physical attack of Muslims.

Such was the backlash against innocent Muslims after incidents of terrorism. I was surprised at public's immature thoughts and actions. For terrorism acts by some individuals, the whole community took the blame. Medias have been resposible for shaping the themes which seem to demonize the Muslim community and link Islamic religion with terrorism.

It was unsettling to realize that xenophbia is still wide-spread among the society here. With such developed society and advanced nations, why can't we embrace the simple values of tolerance of each other and acceptance of people different from us? I cannot understand what is the point of racism at all. Why can certain people denounce anything different from their tradition/race/values? It is not like their own values are superior to any other's.

Growing up in Malaysia, I am grateful that I learned tolerance among races since small. It is easy for us to mingle together without being very aware that we are different from one another. Multicultural society in our country seems to have form a strong foundation for our national peace. At least, we are not that sensitive that people are different from us. At least, we do not fear other people because we are not familiar with their culture. At least, we are not too proud of our own values and despise any other different cultures.

Tolerance among races and religions. So fundamental, yet so hard to achieve.

# Incitement Hate Laws In UK

2005-10-04T19:37:00.000Z

Post London 7/7, the government unveiled plans to ban incitement to racial hatred, to protect people from being abused because of religious faith. It would become illegal to knowingly use words/ behaviour which are threatening and abusive against individual because of their beliefs. When asked to explain the new laws, Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer told BBC that people "attacjlomg the values of West" or "glorifying the acts of suicide bombers" would face actions of laws and "deported wherever possible".

Interestingly, these laws seem to have unclear distinction between criminalising words and deeds. With the principal of justice in which prople are held accountable in law for actions rather than opinions, the new thought-crimes-laws seem to hit the freedom of speech right in the face. It is a scary thought to know that now, we can be imprisoned for expressing our though and opinions.

Suddenly we found ourselves attacking at our own democratic principle of freedom of speech. The society today seems to have become so frail to withstand speeches/ opinions and thoughts. Fighting terrorism needs problem-tackling at early stages, but ruling out people' voice does not directly solve the problem. Tackling problems at the root level does not mean censoring speeches or covering up the ears of public. Banning people's voices only gives the impression that their opinions are something worth listening to.

With such increase in pre-emptive action, the world has suddenly become so full of distrust and suspicion. We penalize people for their thoughts, we attack people because we fear to be attacked. Such actions shows our own insecurity and lack of confidence for our own regimes, principles and social structures.

What we need i a more comprehensive plans and actions to counter terrorism and reduce inter-racial hatred. Banning speeches and deporting clerics do not guarantee that the problem will be 'shooed' away. We need open debate, we need understanding among races and religions. In fact, everything boils down to the most fundamental values in society - to respect one another, to tolerate and to understand one another. It is surprising that many of us today cannot even perform such simple task and follow such basic moral values.

# Sick of advertisements

2005-10-03T00:40:00.000Z

I have to say I am sick of the surging advertisement appearing in my "Comments" Box. They always start like this,

"Hey you have got a great blog. Good work! I have a blog about blah blah blah, welcome to visit my blog to have a look! would be grateful if you drop me some comments... blah blah blah..."

Gosh! it seems that people take every single opportunity to advertise their merchandise. Even the little comment boxes, which are meant to let friends leave messages, are not spared.

Perhaps I shall just set the setting of this blog to be "Private". geeshh...

# Oxford Circus vs Cambridge Circus

2005-10-03T00:27:00.000Z

A question suddenly popped up in my mind, why is that Oxford Circus is so famous, but not Cambridge Circus?

# Oxford Circus, the intersection of Regent Street and Oxford Street.

# Cambridge Circus, the junction of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road.

Both have busy streets, both have a variety of stores. Perhaps the difference is that Oxford Street has more 'shopping'-type stores... I do not know.

Almost all people know the location of Oxford street, but not too many would know exactly where Cambridge Circus is, or even whether it exists.

Snapped some shots at the Street name plates, here's the Cambridge Circus sign:

Here's the more famous one:

# Egg Growing

2005-10-02T18:57:00.000Z

My Birthday Egg has mutated!

With an unknown reason, my Eggy has grown a patch of black spot on his head. looks as if he has suffered a bruise. Surprisingly he still has the happy toothy grin as ever.

Poor thing... I can't wait for his growth. It is like a mother watching her child grow. hahaha...

Here's his pictures

Day 1 and Day 2

# Waltzing Matilda

2005-10-02T00:57:00.000Z

Waltzing Matilda
'Banjo' (A.B.) Patterson, c. 1890

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me
Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me
Down came a jumbuck to dri-ink at that billabong
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee
And he sang as he stuffed that jumbuck in his tucker-bag
You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me
Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred
Up rode the troopers, one, two, three
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker-bag?"
You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me
Up jumped the swagman and sprang into that billabong
"You'll never take me alive!", said he
And his ghost may be heard as you pa-ass by that billabong
You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me

A friend suddenly asked this question about what's with the Waltzing Matilda in Australia... Dumbstruck. Another friend answered it effortlessly.

It seems that there are some arguments that the song is a political statement to attack political figures in earlier centuries on the squatters’ refusal to pay shearers higher wages. However, it has been argued that the plot of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is based on the conflict that raged between these two groups in the 1890s before the song was composed.

More information on the National Library of Australia
Waltzing Matilda

# Buckingham Palace Summer Opening

2005-10-01T23:48:00.000Z

Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the Royal family since 1837, home and office of Her Majesty The Queen, is opened to visitors on regular basis. The Summer opening ends on 30 September, and unfortunately I missed the chance to go in and have a look as all the tickets are sold out like hot cakes.

Quotes from the Official website of the British Monarchy (www.royal.gov.uk):

"The State Rooms of the Palace are lavishly furnished with some of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection - paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Poussin, Canaletto and Claude; sculpture by Canova and Chantrey; exquisite examples of Sèvres porcelain; and some of the finest English and French furniture in the world."

I missed the chance to stroll in the garden where which potrays the Garden Front of the Palace and the 19th lake.

I missed the chance to see the "White Wardrobe" desinged for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother by Norman Hartnell. I also missed the spectacular diamond jewellery in Hartnell's creations.

I missed the chance to see Cecil Beaton's famous series of photographs showing the State Visit to France by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in July 1938.

I missed the chance to see all other extraordinary gifts...

All the treasures, awaits in the Buckingham Palace. And yet I missed this chance to visit. I can only wait until next Summer. :-(

# Happy Birthday to me!

2005-10-01T06:28:00.000Z

Felt quite surprised and touched today to receive many unexpected calls and wishes from friends... Phone calls, sms, email, friendster... A short message means a thousand words... Also felt touched when some went all the way to buy gifts...

I guessed I have been quite cheeky today, forcing everyone that wishes me to sing a Full Happy Birthday Song to me! It was quite fun pestering people to sing, especially to those who had never really sing out loud in public before. But it's great to see that everyone is very sporting! Thanks loads buddies! Will sing to you at your birthday too! hehe...

Thanks so much friends! So many people to thank, I can only express my gratitude and happiness to all of you. thanks especially to YY, sinsin, anthony, Joey, ah phang, tzuenkiat, yuhjiun, voonsan, chunhong, liciang, daryl, phannee, liangqin, chialin, chinloon, johwee.... etc etc etc... pardon me cuz i cannot manage to write down everyone's name... but you know what my heart wanna say, ya!

Special message for YY... Really thanks so much for everything. you've really made me feel 'special' today. and thanks so much for all the help you have given me last time. very very thankful to you. you r a true friend whom i appreciate very much! muaks! lots of love, hugs and kisses...

Some pics...

With the little gifts...

At Wetherspoon with ray n phang, 'wuliao' so take pics while waiting for food.

At Paul Teahouse, Rasberry tartlet, strawberry tartlet, peppermint tea and earl grey. thanks YY for the cute Stitch! Love it! but still i wanna smack you for not listening to me... grwww...
YY insisted that her photo not to be taken. you wish... kekeke..

Yuhjiun's egg gift... will update more about its daily progress. supposedly to grow into a tree that says "Happy Birthday". Let's keep our fingers crossed.

and thanks yiing, I forgot to take pics during our warm and nice lunch at CNR, and a nice little reunion and chats... suddenly realized we have grown much five years after Form 5, Sin Min. Things change, people change, but our friendship stays. Ganbate!

Well, tired after all the meals and walk and talk and shop.... I shall have a good night sleep tonight. Thanks again for all the wishes...

# Our room!

2005-10-01T00:24:00.000Z

Decided to have some photos of our little room, which manages to fit in two people...

My Study Table

My Decor Corner

My 'bookshelves' made from recycled boxes

My bed secluded in a corner