The one about the day I was proud to be called Malaysian

We had the biggest rally in Malaysia a couple of weeks ago. Uniting hearts of Malaysian all around the world and bringing to attention the changes needed.


Contrary to the news angles cropped out by each media proprietor, this rally was not about the government versus the people, nor was it about the people vs the government. What this rally illustrates is the amount of Malaysians who are crying out, yearning for a change. Bringing out a vision of people who are ready, ready to see that change happen within their lifetime.


The Bersih 3.0 was a platform that ignited the potentials of Malaysians that have been previously muffled by fear. Potential that are waiting to burst and shine for the whole world to see.


The media's focus right now has been placed on either how police force fired tear gas or chemical-laced water at protesters or how the protesters broke through the barricades to Dataran Merdeka. Or so I've seen my fb feed flooded with them.


But I am not here to discuss who did what first or who was right and who was wrong. In fact, it's not my place or anyone else's to judge. Because there's always going to be two sides to a story.


But what has been on my mind is how capable Malaysian are, and how easy it is to overlook that flare and capability amid all that has happened.


When the lecturers asked "who here is from Malaysia?" I sometimes felt embarrassed to raise my hands because I knew she was going to discuss what the policies in Malaysia were like and how I felt about them. And to be honest, I always felt embarrassed and slightly fumed. But after the Bersih 2.0 rally last year, that was the first time I felt proud to be called a Malaysian.


I once asked my Indonesian friend "So are you chinese or malay?" seeing that his skin color confused me slightly. This was a typical question in Malaysia. Our ethnicity was a part of our identity, or how we identified others. But to my surprise, my friend instead replied, "That's a very funny question. In Indonesia we never ask one another questions like that. We all just refer to ourselves as Indons."


This made me realize this: One Malaysia should not be just a slogan, not a propaganda, nor a vision. One Malaysia is a simple fact that we should be embracing. The fact that we are all Malaysians. period.


Just looking at the amount of people gathered at Bersih 3.0 already demonstrated unity readily present within Malaysians, with the capability to move mountains when we all stand together. It's not about who is on which side of the barricade. I'm sure there are people in the rally who weren't aware of the exact cause they were fighting for. There were surely also police parading behind the barricade who secretly wanted to be wearing yellow.


It's easy to pick a side and judge the other. It's even easier for the media to cut, edit and censor to get individual agendas across. We live in a generation where we're encouraged to have an opinion about issues and to fight for our stance. 


But we sometimes forget that it is okay to not have an opinion sometimes. To just take in everything and judge nothing, while hoping for the best outcome. 


I really hope that this flare for change in the hearts of millions of Malaysians are not just a post Bersih high, but a continuous yearn for change in this beautiful country we call Malaysia. Hope is not lost. 

I've never been prouder to be called Malaysian.

the one about stereosonic

We've recently discovered trance and techno music!! *fist pumps*

Cause we're non-conformist like that. We've gone through the discovery process backwards. Step 1 : bought tickets to Stereosonic. Step 2 : Youtube all performer's gigs. Step 3 : Wow. i've heard some of this stuff before. Step 4 : Choose our fav acts. Step 5 : Rock out at Stereosonic!!

take that sydney adelaide and brissy. melbourne had dudes wiggling on top of speakers during LMFAO'S performance. nekid. likeabawse.

Raved along to my fav Bloody Beetroots. Was so into Armin's gig that i was no longer sure whether he was THAT good or was i just too high from second hand weed. Rained directly during LMFAO'S champagne shower. Danced like nobody's business. and of course fist pumped. OH THE EPICOSITY!!

xoxo

the one about the awesomest ship in the world

when things go wrong, it is easy for people to leave and people often walk out. but a true friend stays on and cheers you on!! ♥

xoxo

the one about marching band

just watched this vid of the 2007 pesta kebangsaan posted up by a friend a couple of days back. so in case there are people who don't know what malaysian marching bands do, here you go.

and while watching i was chatting with a fellow ex band member about how cool marching band life really was. i mean how many people can actually tell people that they have done this kindda shit?? the ability to multitask was unparallel! and the adrenaline rush during performances was intense!!

honestly, if i could. i would do it all over again!! the experience of being in a marching band is exclusively awesome!!

<3

the one about jazz suite

After listening to a part of the Second Suite that my friend posted on fb, I suddenly thought of listening to Jazz Suite No.2.

I really like the light feeling that this song gives everytime i hear it or play it. This was one of the songs that we use to play. Most people probably know that i use to be a band member in the CHS Band. I really miss being able to play ensembles with a bunch of people who are as passionate towards music. A magical combination of melody and harmony created by every single instrument that creates a masterpiece that touches hearts. While the musicians put their hearts into the music, transcending emotions through the beautiful pieces. I miss the kind of feeling we get when performing as a band. It just feels -- full, complete. That's what music is about.

concert practices.

performances as a band -- priceless.

<3

the one about 500 miles

introducing the best song to get stuck in head ever!!

I WOULD WALK 500 MILES!!

AND I WOULD WALK 500 MORE!!

here's the actual mv of the 500 miles by the proclaimers.

technically 500 miles = 804.672 km. if you take a month, it will amount to 26.82 km per day. According to Huai Bin, its like walking a full marathon everyday.

so would you walk 500 miles and 500 more to be the man who walked 1000 miles to fall down at her door?

<3

the one about how are you's

when we're at our time of need, we hope that people we care about are here for us. But when we're happy, do we think about how other friends might not be in the same condition?

it's always nice to know that someone cares. we all know that, but why do we always wait to be on the receiving side and seldom think about ways to be on the giving side? We often wait till something bad has happened to make us actually take a few seconds to ask our friends how they are doing. Sometimes we get the chance to just ask, but sometimes, it may juz be too late to ask. So why wait? It only takes a few minutes to just ask a friend how they are doing, what have they been up to, or even a plain wassup. You may not know it yet, but one day, one of these questions might just save a person's life.

so how are you?? :)

<3

the one about definitiveness

melbourne weather is like a girl on pms. erratic. unpredictable. hot and cold.

it's currently suppose to be spring. When you look out the window, it looks just like spring. But once you walk out on the street, its definitely still winter. The winds are crazy strong. But the sun is glaring hot. It's literally four seasons in a day. it looks like spring, seems like summer, feels like winter, and err.. smells like autumn?? well technically thats true, since the flowers are staring to bloom again. *laugh sign comes on*

so i asked people on facebook and twitter what is the guy word for slut. The answers that returned were mostly manwhore and manslut. and one guy wrote his own name, but thats a whole other form of definition. But i was juz thinking, since a male version of a bimbo is a himbo, while a male nurse is a murse, and a male nanny is a manny. doesnt that make a male slut a mlut or hlut?? personally i think mlut sound better because it sounds closer to a mutt, which makes it more definitive. and it makes more sense too in terms of associations. since sluts are usually bitches, mluts can be mutts which are of the same species but differ in gender. geddit geddit?? bahaha.

okay. shall spare you guys from this lameness.. for now. :)

<3

the one about the distractor facebook

Seriously.. can someone please get facebook outta my face!! must.. resist........ ohh look someone just commented on something.. -- story. of. my. life... since the evolution of facebook that is.

i'm practically befriending the enemy by replying to the people who actually commented on my status.. but the distractive powers of fb are too strong to resist!! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!

I don't know what exactly fb was originally designed for, but daymm it's convenient for stalking people -- not stalking as in the sit-outside-with-car-engine-on-peeking-through-curtains-feh-real kindda stalk, but the lets-see-what-that-person-has-been-up-to kindda stalk, BIG DIFFERENCE. just this afternoon, a bunch of friends were going through profiles of the hots and the kindda nots on -- you guessed it -- fb. yes, it may seem kindda lame and shallow. But hey, i'm sure most of the people in the facebook demographics don't only use facebook to "keep in touch" with friends. puhleeeasee.. does the following conversation sound familiar to you? "X: eh.. how is that person doing lately ar?? Z: wait ar.. let me check facebook n see" Its only normal to be kepoh, and to go around seeing hows everyone doing, who ditched and dumped who, who got into a relationship with who (always a conversation instigator), and where in the world everyone is currently located, etc. And facebook makes it so convenient because you don't even have to talk to the person or inflate them more with flattery to find out about what they've been up to. But of course, there is also the existence other slightly more utilitarian functions of fb like organizing events, reuniting long lost friends, and strengthening bonds by defying distances across the globe.

guess i'll always have an ambivalent value for fb. guess this is just one of those things that you can't live with and can't live without. food for thought. :)

<3's

the one about who are friends??

i always found it funny how when you flip through primary school autobiographies written by your fellow classmates, you see them writing about their likings, contact details, and among those crucial details needed to keep in touch, lies a category called 'best frens/bff/bez fwens' or even 'frens'. it might be the immaturity speaking, or maybe it was the social norm at that time. I never thought it was practical writing that even when I was in primary school. It's not because i think i was much more mature than everyone else my age, but because i knew that friendships are like real ships, hard to build, but only takes an iceberg to sink.

Everyday life is like a filter for friendships. Because only the good ones will stay till the end. In life, we meet many people, some mere acquaintances, some buddies, some who understands us, some who we can call friends. There are some people who we can easily get along with, others will take some gettin use to. but nonetheless, we make friendships along the way.

There's a saying that "friends are the ones who will go the extra mile to tear down the wall that u've built to keep people out." I've always thought of friendship as a 2 way communicative system. yes, this may seem like some psychological terminology. but in simple terms, we give and we take.

Usually when I get closer to a friend, I would tend to stop and think whether they take me as close a friend as i take them? I guess I'm afraid to label them as my best friend when they might not consider me one. and my automatic and polite reaction would usually be to not impose, unless they say something too. But now thinking back, it seems like such an immature thing to do. friendships should be built based on sincerity. like everything else, it's not about how much you receive, but about how much you're willing to give.

Just because people treat you a certain way, doesn't necessary mean you have to treat them the same. You can always take the first step and go the extra mile. and be the bigger person.

friendship is not about exclusivity. But about sincerity.

its my life, but its nice not to be so alone.

<3's

the one about please don't try to slow us down.. are we going too fast??

i'm gonna be a very busy girl for the next 2 weeks.. *puts up buzy sign*

on the bright side -- literally -- spring is beginning!! :) time for sun tanning, beach strolling, camwhoring under bright sunshine, chillin on grassy lawns, jogging and sipping tea on outdoor seats of coffee shops. cant wait to be walking on sunshine again. love love love sunshine!! :)

have been watchin quite a fair bit of hongkie drama lately. and listening to tons of strokes!! but no worries. i'm still a total fan of taylor swift!! :) though her new song "mine" doesnt really seem like her, especially in the music vid. wonder if its her who wrote it? anyhoo, still love taylor swift. :)

okie. now back to reality. and waiting for spring to start. :)

♥'s

the one about first impressions

people are often labeled as 'shallow' when they somehow notice or acknowledge the appearances of someone of the opposite sex upon initial glance. I know this because i've been on the labeling end of the conversation and also the labeled end. you know you do it too, so don't judge me you hypocrites!

But honestly, everyone at least once checked someone they think is attractive out before. Just that not everyone verbally announces it. Furthermore, there are specific features of the opposite sex that each person will distinctively pay more attention to at first glance. a friend of mine yk noticed this and conducted a small scale research to test his hypotheses. And he found out that guys usually :

1. takes a glimpse of the face of the opposite sex to judge if attractive.
2. notices certain specific features, which differs amongst male individuals, usually the eyes or hair. why? according to some guy friends, "the eyes are the window to the soul" baww.
3. if the female subject is defined as attractive, will be categorized into "hot, cute or pretty" categories.
4. Then looks at the body, or sometimes skip steps 1 to 3 because apparently this is quite a deciding factor for males. guess its true that guys think with their penis. go figure.

And if you're thinking "its normal, guys are shallow anyway", think again. Girls do this too. And results show that girls are actually more shallow than guys. Just that girls have a tendency of concealing these kindda apparently shallow opinions in public. There's however tiny attribute differences, girls usually :

1. makes a swift glance at the overall appearance of the opposite sex trying not to be noticed doing so.
2. notices specific features like hair, arms, chest or outfit depending on individual preference. Girls seem to notice the most unexpected features in a very extensively detailed manner.
3. Then the eye candy will be dragged and dropped into distinct categories of "hot, cute or handsome".

whaddayanoe, gender equality isn't a myth. yeah thats right, girls can do whatever guys can do. in fact, girls can do it better. true story. ;)

If after reading this you still go "i don't do that. I'm not shallow," Just go out there and search for a random stranger who you find attractive, then reflect on your thoughts about that person from the first moment u deemed them attractive. It's true and you know it.

However, the criteria that is accentuated in eye candies are not always directly correlated to what people expect out of their other half. That's a whole different topic. ;)

we're all a little shallow inside. and its alrite to be sometimes. we're only human.. :)

<3's

the one bout inception

went to watch inception today expecting to be mind eff-ed after the whole hype about it. yes, I almost wanted to bring a condom for my mind being prepared to be mind eff-ed. but its all lies. THEY IZ LIES!! *rage quit*

I was quite skeptical about the movie because it starred Leonardo Dicaprio who also starred in 'Shutter Island' which was rumored to have a similar plot. and I watched Shutter Island a few weeks ago and totally thought it was one of the shittiest movies anyone could have possibly made. It had a very interesting storyline to it, but the ending was as if the directors just decided "you know wat? lets just turn the entire story upside down in just a few minutes. why? Just cause we can." Some might argue that this is avant garde in some way, but i call it total mind eff-ing. Its like why don't you just go punch someone in the face for no reason, just cause its deviant? I literally went 'what the (fill in the beep)' along with the -_- look as the credits rolled out.

So I watched Inception today, paying full attention to every detail down to the placement of something as small as the teacup. I tried to decipher every single syllable spoken to make sure that I don't miss any clues that might be useful for interpreting the movie at the end. As some people i know actually watched it 3 times. i repeat, 3 times. But after watching it, i was like "huh? what? that's all?" I got the point during the first quarter of the film already.

In my opinion, Inception is mainly about Perception vs. Reality. According to what i've learnt in psychology, reality is something we perceive using out senses and stimulus. What we perceive as reality is basically what we believe is real through seeing, touching and smelling. It is as simple as the quote of "seeing is believing". But all these are just our human receptors at work. Therefore, something as simple as what we see as the colour red is just the outcome of the projection of colour and light onto our retina. I'm not going to get into the scientific details of sensation and perception. But if you want to know more about that you should join Dr. Simon Cropper's Mind Brain Behaviour 1 Lecture. :) (if your Dr. Simon Cropper and you somehow came across this blog. SIMON I THINK YOU ROCK!!) ok, anyway, So is what we see the ONLY reality? Or are we limited by our physical sensory and receptors?

In addition to that, Inception focuses on tapping into the subconscious mind through dreams based on the fact that humans only have access to a tiny portion of our brain, while the other parts lay deep in our unconscious mind. And dreams are one of the known ways in which humans have access to the subconscious part of the mind. Therefore, it is a perfectly reasonable choice to place the themes of perception and reality together with dreams and subconsciousness and ideas.

The implantation of ideas into the mind through dreams is the main focus of the movie as the title suggests. The origin of an idea is seldom just created in the mind from scratch. Ideas are usually built based on knowledge and experiences. Therefore, the movie Inception is based on very factual psychological questions.

I honestly think that Inception has a very well thought out storyline that aims to question our perception of reality. But the hype about it mind eff-ing audiences just degraded the profoundness of issues that were imposed in the movie, causing most audiences to undervalue the messages conveyed. Inception is a movie definitely worth watching. It really made me rethink my perception of reality once again. :)

Here's a quote which I think is extremely intellectually stimulating. I got it from the first lecture with Simon last sem :

"The 'apparent' world and the 'true world' means -- 'the world' and 'nothing'" -- Friedrich Nietzchie.

with <3

the one about the best song era

there seems to be a lot of transgression throughout the music industry from the beginning of music till today. it started with Baroque where instrumental contrapuntal melody is enough to make your heart sing. Then there was the Classical and Romantic period where Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin and Schubert wrote beautiful pieces that can tingle your heart strings. Then came the artistic 20th century music which played around with dissonant creating abstract in songs.

Then came the emergence of MTV. and the definition of music has changed to include catchy rhyming (sometimes nonsensical) lyrics, hot singers and sexy vids. Then came the rise of *wait for it* BOYBANDS *breaks into dance while flipping hair dramatically by the beach* Yes, now looking back at the era of Backstreetboys, Boyzone, Westlife, N-Sync, 98 Degrees it was absolutely the tackiest idea anyone could have possibly come up with. When I think boybands, i picture a bunch of guys in their 20s standing by the beach wearing a white singlet and open shirt, winds blowing up their shirts, while they stare into the distant with a constipated look and pause. A bunch of guys in matching outfits, mushroom cut hairstyle, singing with overly dramatic constipated looks, singing songs with overly tacky lines. But it has no doubt captured the hearts of many. Heck, thats practically one of the biggest part of my primary school life. Alongside Britney with her "Opps i did it again" (which was so not oops btw) and Christina Aguilera with "Genie in a bottle". btw, I was a total hardcore Christina Aguilera fan.

There was also the Mariah Carey and Celine Dion era, where singing was still a REQUIRE SKILL for singers. Then theres the current Gaga and Ke$ha songs that dont even make sense. everyone has heard the songs, but have you actually heard the lyrics? juz watch kevjumba's illustration of their lyrics. The songs now are only meant to make you addicted to them through their overly charismatic beats n vowel like sounds that pass off as lyrics. i can feel my brain shrinking when listening to those songs. i know they are just trying to make a profit. But please just give us back the music!! What happened to the Bon Jovi era with kickass songs like Living On a Prayer? the kindda song that everyone would sing to when played at a club or even a mall.

Personally, I think that 90's music are still the ultimate best. When I think of songs, I think Backstreets Back Alright, N-sync's Pop, Christina Aguilera's Come On Over, M2M's Pretty Boy, Britney's Lucky. Thats what music is suppose to be, in between. :)

I'll be the one,

I'll be the one,

who will make all your sorrows undone,

i'll be the light,

i'll be the light,

when you feel like there's nowhere to run,

I'll be the one,

to hold you,

and make sure that you'll be alright.

with ♥

the one about the REAL uni life

I've been staying in this place called Mews here in Melbourne. been staying here since last sem with a bunch of my frens. And WE'RE the real definition of uni life. no seriously.

introducing the residents of mews. *drum roll please*

Seou Yuen. Sheng Yi. Shu Ling. Rummer.

Uni life means :

• stoning in front of TV
• repeating a joke for 13948109586130948650182 times.
• p-p-poookkke-her-face.
• Grey's Anatomy marathon. from season 1.
• COD-ing. which includes a lot of yelling at the screen. YALALALALA!!
• create game characters n give them shitty names like "brat the manwhore"
• speak in our own broken/rojak/random language "upsderes downsderes"
• junk food, beer, and sometimes smirnoff.
• crazy drinking game. ending up with 3 out of 5 drunk. 1 puking in the sink, 1 getting carpets burn then puking on her bf, 1 noming cheese like crazy then falling asleep on stairs, 1 who cheated therefore didnt get drunk, n 1 who kept randomly laughing.
• being lame.
• become nocturnal together.
• stay up till 7am then crash till 2pm.
• coincidentally looking for food together at 3am in the morning.
• listen to mind blasting music. *doof doof doof*
• annoy rummer the dog.
• remind rummer to "no boof"
• exterminate aragogs n keep them in a giant logitech box. which btw is still in mews.
• Crash Team Racing on PS3
• Puzzle Bubble on PS1
• watch random youtube clips n ROFL. literally. dont believe? just watch this ray william johnson vid.
• speak with russian, indian, COD language, chinese, malay accents.
• create coffee addicts *twitch twitch*
• barista.
• sing in ways that can probably cause an avalanche.
• go on fullspeed cleaning mode.
• break into spongebob songs. *screams in unison C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G-SONG*
• oh yea. and other actual uni stuff.
• and sometimes even this :

a bunny watchin a youtube clip of a bunny dancing. bahaha.

mosquito rummer. i am gonna suck your blaaadd. *boof*

self high 10!! yes. we taught him that.

i woof u.. bahahaha..

if thats not enough. watch this :

babehh.. tell me watchu watchu waiting for..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUxcP13Jn-Y

our door got stuck the other day. so here's us trying to open a stuck door..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l388q_V0Ies

here's something dumb that occurred a few days ago.

I was walking back to my place in the dark yesterday. And I noticed a guy walking in front towards the same direction looking back at me over and over again while trying to walk faster. After a while, the guy started running in fear towards his place, which was apparently a few door away from mine. He probably thought I was stalking him or something. BAHAHAHA.. LOSER!! like seriously, what did he think I was gonna do? I'm a girl in pink ballet flats okayy. did he think I was gonna tackle him? or throw my pink flats at him?

And I thought I was paranoid.

<3's