IT'S A PANDAN LIFE ...!

I had many reasons to be happy when 2012 kicked off. First, I lost 5 kg (at the time of writing this though, I'd lost 6 kg...) Even though this pic is not very clear, I like the silhouette of my body. It is a testament of my hard work losing 5 kg. My whole life I've never, ever gone on a diet. I like this pic very much because I looked really happy (I was happy, anyway). Plus, I think my arms look leaner (result of weight-lifting at the gym). Dieting coupled with exercising yielded a better result, definitely.  Second, I’m done with Chapter One of my thesis (all 140+ pages of it). Yeeha!!! Third, I wasn’t alone on the eve of New Year’s Day. I was crooning at the top of my lungs with a good friend in Johor Bahru until the clock stroke midnight! Fourth, I was in Singapore for a whole-day trip on New Year’s Day, a trip that made one of my dreams come true. Hint: Keroncong. What 2011 taught me was, it really sucks to be alone on New Year’s Eve and on New Year’s Day. So

Framing 2011. Accompanied by my favourite pics. A picture speaks a thousand words, remember this old adage? What I managed to do in 2011: 1. Keep on working on my PHD. I guess I managed to do this. I spent the whole year writing up about more or less 40k words. I’m a bit slow in writing, I realized. I worry too much. I realized a bit too late too, about the feasibility of Marxism in my area of study – so spent the last 3-4 months of 2011 reading, framing and cursing the theory. Nevertheless, I now revere Marx and Engels for their insightful and practical inquiry. And thanks to all the readings I’ve done (not only on Marxism), I find that I’m more attuned to my own culture, my country and how these have evolved. I’ve never felt more patriotic than now. The tanah air that I’ve known is never corrupt, it’s those at the helm that are corrupt. 2. Put on more weight (and then lost some). I did do this. I ballooned up as a result of my trip to UK. I couldn't zip up my old jeans, I co