IT'S A PANDAN LIFE ...!

Vote for the man who promises least. He'll be the least disappointing. ~ Bernard Baruch Even though I have always been disinterested in politics, the last election had left quite an impact for me. Somehow I had a feeling that this election will be different from the previous ones, and I was right. So many things happened in the country since the last election in 2004. Price hike, toll hike, petrol hike, corruption hike, minister caught with his pants off, minister denied going for extreme facial reconstruction and so on so and so forth. They say anybody can be a politician; I’m beginning to believe it. BN lost its stake in 5 states; that was really shocking and unexpected. I hope BN got the message. You can’t be too contented. You can’t take things for granted anymore. People are sick of being the victims of unscrupulous political bigots. People are nauseous with your blatant display of cronyism and nepotism. People are down right fed up of voting for incompetent, corrupt idiots w...

Friendships are fragile things, and require as much handling as any other fragile and precious things. ~ Randolph S. Bourne Mork Mindy? Why do you look so glum, dear? I think you haven’t smiled for about three days now. Is something bothering you? Mindy That’s an understatement. Mork Oh okay. Is someone bothering you, dear? Mindy A so-called long time friend, if you must know. Mork Oh. What did she do? It must be something serious. Mindy It’s not what she did, it’s what she said. Mork What did she say, dear? Mindy She said she couldn’t stand my forgetfulness. I always put her through a lot of trouble by being forgetful. Plus, it was the third time I did it. Well, those were what she told me, in so many words. Mork That’s not fair! I’ve never met anybody who doesn’t forget. You’re not the forgetful type. I’ve known you for so long and you’re anything but forgetful! Plus, honey, she made it sound like you purposely forgot! You didn’t, did you? Mindy Of course not! Mork What kind of a fr...

I f some people didn't tell you, you'd never know they'd been away on a vacation. ~Kin Hubbard Recently, to commemorate the week-long Chinese New Year break-cum-mid-term break, a friend and I decided to go to Fraser’s Hill, nestled quietly in the Titiwangsa mountain range, slightly to the north of Genting Highlands. Named after an Englishman, Louis James Fraser, I have never been to Fraser’s Hill but since my friend said her company does have a few units of apartments up there which we can rent for RM 50 each per night, I said, why not!! So, on a quiet Friday afternoon, we embarked on our journey. I wasn’t really sure how to get there, but I had read the directions on a website, so armed with only the memory of those directions, I headed to Karak and took the Bentong exit. I had read that after Bentong, we should look out for signs of Tranum but since the toll-gate guy was totally clueless about where Tranum is, and very adamant about us taking the route to Raub, we took th...

Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same. ~Flavia Weedn News about an old flame can really ripple the deep waters of the heart. And when this happens, the self becomes fragmented for a while, and takes an agonized stroll down memory lane. I guess the agony stems from a lot of memories – good and bad ones – and in my case, the bad ones often outweigh the good ones (Grimace). To top it all is the very fact that I had actually taken the ultimate step in the relationship – JUMPING OFF THE CLIFF – and got severely wounded! To put it simply, jumping off the cliff means giving your all, carrying the person you love in your heart, mind and soul. Not everyone survived this jump but those who did would know that nothing beats the joy and the adrenaline rush that come with it. Those who didn’t would bear the scar that resides in the deep waters of their hearts forever.

Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey. ~ Pat Conroy Now that I’ve come to the 6 th week of the semester, and another week long holiday is just around the corner, I just can’t believe how time flies! Seems like it was only yesterday that I watched the fireworks on TV… Anyways, I don’t have much to complain this semester. I’ve always liked the December semester, anyway. When I was a Master’s student, I looked forward to this semester because I'd have so many holidays - Christmas, New Year’s, Awal Muharram, Thaipusam etc - and these holidays would be the time that I’d get to sit down and complete my assignments in peace! Now that I’m no longer a student, I find myself planning out with friends what to do during these holidays! What I don’t like about the December semester though, is the fact that the break that precedes it is too short – around 4 to 5 weeks – which ...

Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self-assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle. ~ Eric Zorn It was New Year's Eve and as usual, I was at home with my cat; remote control in hand alternating between TV3 and RIA; waiting for the countdown albeit without much enthusiasm. Probably because deep in my heart I know that every year, I keep carrying forward my New Year Resolutions ( Chuckle ). I guess about the only thing that I do every New Year’s Eve is come up with resolutions. Necessary or not is debatable but this is what I do every year. It’s ingrained in my head. Well, let’s not call it resolutions anymore. Let’s just call it TO-DO LIST. Resolutions sound so cliché and so easy-to-carry-forward-next-year. ( Grin ). Well, here it is, my 2008 TO-DO LIST. I guess if I post it on my blog, I will not lose or forget it (as normally the case if I jot it down on POST-IT notes). 2008 TO-DO LIST ...

Everything can change, but not the language that we carry inside us, like a world more exclusive and final than one’s mother’s womb. ~ Italo Cavino Recently I walked into a bank and was surprised to see one of its promotional posters pasted on the wall. I can’t really recall the product or service that is being promoted but I remember vividly, much to my chagrin, the wordings used: " Tiada fi tahunan ." Now, what on earth is fi ? I know, I know, it is borrowed from the English word ‘fee’ but why borrow when there is an equivalent word in Malay? Isn’t the equivalent word ‘yuran’? And aren’t all Malaysians very familiar with the latter? I have noticed this sickening adoption of English words into the Malay language for so long. But this one takes the cake. But hey, please don’t get me wrong. I am okay if the words borrowed from English are borrowed because there are no equivalent terms in Malay. Borrowing happens in almost every language, anyway. When it comes to the Malay la...