This – Is – Ridiculous…

Is it just me, or does anyone else find the daily news getting more and more ludicrous by the day? First we had reports that female college and university students were being persuaded to go without panties on Valentine’s Day to demonstrate their ‘true love’ for their boyfriends.

And today, we have this…

Don’t take off your undies, urges anti-Valentine group

A non-governmental organisation is up in arms against Valentine’s Day and a plan to get a group of students to go without panties on that day. The Secretariat Against Social Ills Penang (Urusetia Menangani Gejala Sosial Pulau Pinang or Unggas) fears that the “no panties” promotion, now going on at higher learning institutions in Shah Alam, may soon find its way into secondary schools if not checked.

It said a random survey conducted at several Penang schools showed that some students were aware of the matter. Unggas co-ordinator Nurfitri Amir Muhammad said a few of its teacher activists were even surprised to find students openly discussing it.

“We do not have any evidence if such an event is being organised among the secondary school students here, but the fact that secondary students are aware of such a promotion requires serious attention,” he told a press conference in Bagan Lalang here yesterday.
(And what attention would that be? How are you going to be able to check whether or not the female students are wearing underwear or not? Spot-check ah?)

On Jan 29, The Star reported that female students in higher learning institutes in Shah Alam were being persuaded not to wear panties on Valentine’s Day as an expression of true love for their boyfriends.
(By the way, Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday which is also Chinese New Year – hello, it’s a public holiday?? So hardworking got classes ah? Besides, if they’re going to, they’re going to...what can you do?)

The “no-panties” promotion, being held for the first time, has apparently been gaining interest among the students who are passing the news by word of mouth.
(Can someone please explain how NOT wearing underwear is an expression of true love? Are the guys going to let their goods dangle free too as an expression of THEIR ‘true love’? Any guy who plays the “If you love me you’ll do this” card deserves a swift kick to the family jewels and a “well, if YOU loved me you wouldn’t make me do this”)

Nurfitri claimed that some couples who celebrated Valentine’s Day ended up having a sex party.
(Really…and what constitutes a ‘sex party’? A couple? Threesome? Or a flat-out orgy?)

He said Unggas with the Ulama Association of Malaysia (Penang Chapter), Angkatan Pemuda Pemudi Islam and Komuniti Suara Kehidupan recently started a “Valentine’s Day Trap” (Jerat Valentine’s Day) campaign to caution the people against negative activities during Valentine’s Day.
(Ermm…don’t you all have anything better to do than to go spying on people?)

He said a team of about 500 volunteers from the organisations began distributing posters and VCDs, and would later conduct talks in night markets and other public places.
(Funny how only now they’re going all up in arms over this – if it was such an issue, shouldn’t it have been an already ongoing campaign?)

“On Valentine’s night, we will conduct a preventive operation called Operasi Sayang Remaja at Queensbay Mall in Gurney Drive and along the Butterworth Outer Ring Road stretch.
(Okay, the name of the operation sounds so WRONG – Operasi Sayang Remaja? Love Teen Operation/ Teen Love Operation? Are you kidding me?!?)

Since, we do not have enforcement powers like Jakim officers, we will concentrate on counseling and advising couples against committing adultery,” he said.
(So you’re going to ambush couples, give them a counseling session and let them go? I’m sure that’s going to be very effective…)

Nurfitri said National Registration Department statistics showed that about 257,000 births were registered without their fathers’ names between 2000 and July 2008. He said 70,430 babies were born out of wedlock between 1999 and 2003.
(I’m curious – do they have the breakdown of these births by state and race…because I have a feeling the results are going to be fascinating…)


Honestly, news like this just makes me want to cry – but I’m not sure whether it’s with laughter at the sheer lunacy of it, or over the apparent loss of common sense and rational thinking amongst some parties.

How’s this for combating the Monday blues?

I don’t know anyone who’s actually done this, but just the thought of it…hey, it could be pretty interesting!! :D Anyone wanna try? LOL...

Don’t confuse me…

With all the controversy surrounding the A-word (yeah, you know which one I mean!), some absolutely mind-boggling sentiments have been flying around. Honestly, if these people would just take a step back, calm down, BREATHE (so that their faces aren’t always purple from huffing and puffing into those portable megaphones) and actually think rationally about it…we’d all be so much better off.

I think the best argument came in an email I got this morning which I’ve modified slightly and pasted below…

In a nutshell that should pretty accurately reflect the sentiment of the arguments flying around, ‘nuff said. -.-

Hello 2010!!

It’s the first working day of 2010, and it seems to be a case of so far so good…new stuff to use, new outlook on the year…let’s hope it stays on this tangent! I chose not to make specific resolutions this year, simply because I’d had a few too many ‘conditions’ to adhere to the past few months of 2009, and it ended with rather a huge disappointment and bad reaction so I’m instead going to try sticking to these broad themes instead.

1. RE-discover

Oh where do I start? I realized I’ve been getting into rather a rut when it comes to certain things and that certainly won’t do when there’s a whole world out there to discover! There are things that I’d almost all but forgotten I’d loved, or had to give up because of circumstance…like performing, for one. :)

So this year, I’m going to try and get back to doing some of the activities I used to do, and relook some of the things that I was a bit scared to try. Who knows, I may just find some old loves, and maybe end up discovering some new ones in the process too!

2. RE-evaluate

It’s been a while since I’ve had the time (or spent the time) to really sit down and reevaluate the various areas of my life – relationships, church, work, life…and this will be the year to do it. After all, I’ll be hitting the big 3-0 next year, so this would be a good time to finally check some items off my “things to do before I’m 30” list.

Of course, this would also extend to the material possessions…which means finances (gulp!) as well as sorting through the mountains of stuff I’ve amassed over the years. Time to streamline!! The ultimate goal is to turn my room into my own little den oasis (complete with entertainment system and supplies!) I’ve definitely got way more than what can possibly fit into the room and not enough space for what I’d really like to have in it in the first place, so let’s see what happens eh?

3. RE-juvenate

By comparison, I traveled more this year compared to last year, but closer to home (ie. up North to Bangkok, and down South to Singapore and Batam) partly due to the job change. I miss traveling overseas, and now that we don’t have the problem of worrying about having to fork out RM1,200 for a UK visa I’m game to go again! :D (it’s heaps cheaper to purchase tickets to Europe when you fly via London…I only paid about RM1,300 in 2008 for return flights and 4 night’s stay at a 4-star hotel in Barcelona – compare that to the RM4,000 I paid just for my plane ticket to London! And before you start, I was planning to go to London to begin with…you can’t imagine the shopping there!)

Traveling is my way of blowing off steam (ermm…and makes the biggest dent in my wallet!) but I’m actually aiming to rejuvenate BOTH myself and my finances this year, so let’s see how that goes! :D At the very least, Bangkok and Singapore beckon…


So that in a nutshell, are my goals for the year…with THIS underlying theme…

I’ve spent too much time worrying about what other people think, and not enough about what I think. That’s the ONE THING that I’m bent on changing!! :) What about you?

Remembering 2009...

It seems that 2009 has just come and gone in the blink of an eye. Looking back at the posts throughout the year, I realized that 2009 was a mixed year for me…I definitely enjoyed parts of it, but there were also morose moments which I’m not going to go into here. Instead, I thought I’d choose to recount some of the more memorable parts…

Had a mini-reunion with some primary school mates that I really enjoyed as we pored through old photos and laughed about things old and new. They had another one recently, but I couldn’t make it since I had another event to attend.

Another one of the cousins got married. Don’t get me wrong, I’m ecstatic about it but it made for a pretty quiet CNY. Plus now my grandma is getting increasingly itchy to see the remaining ones married off! :s

Had the extreme pleasure of seeing David Archuleta perform LIVE in Kuala Lumpur…and damn if I didn’t fall hook, line and sinker for him…LOL!

Extremely thankful that both my grandmas are still alive, not to mention still quite hale and hearty *touch wood*. Both aren’t without their unique quirks which have given me quite a few laughs over the years!

I also changed jobs in 2009 – from Text 100 to a boutique agency called Sirius PR. Managed to take a two month break in between too – and spent some time in Singapore, Batam (had fun there, but there are also some memories there that I don’t really want to remember) and closer to home in Kuching too…for the Rainforest World Music Festival. Now THAT was a fun trip, and we’re gaming to go again in 2010. Anyone else want to come along for the next instalment? :)

Finally got to visit the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary over the long Raya weekend that saw us playing with the pachyderms and eat some really cheap food too…yummers!

September and October saw the house undergoing some major external renovations plus a badly-needed paint job. Dust flying everywhere, literally living from a suitcase, stuff piled everywhere (erm, still is, actually!) but the upsde was I got some lovely poses out of the mutts that never failed to provide me with some entertaining expressions – documented in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 too!

The second part of the year was also spent largely on my church’s 50th Anniversary musical – Experiencing God. That was certainly an experience in itself as we definitely could never have pulled it off on our own. Plus, we’ve discovered that many people have hidden talents – only takes the right reason to draw it out!

All that hard work had to be distressed sometime right? I actually didn't do that much travelling this year considering...so I ended up heading to Bangkok with Tine just before Christmas where we had a spot of serious shopping and relaxation. Had a super huge blast too! :D I really gotta think about doing this more often!


Gee…after looking back, I did do quite a bit huh?

Christmas is the time to share the love…and then some!

Seems that every Christmas is just another excuse to eat, eat and EAT…and if we hadn’t already blamed it on having company, it even went down the road of “hey, let's try out this new place”…and although the eating started way before Christmas, the real massive festivities started with Christmas Eve…

Christmas Eve…to Christmas Day…to Boxing Day wedding dinners (culture shock for me when I saw FIVE wedding dinners being held SIMULTANEOUSLY at the Selayang Palace Restaurant…had to make sure I didn’t walk into the wrong hall!)…Japanese buffet at Munakata…and we’re not done by a long shot yet!

There’s still New Year’s Eve…New Year’s Day…a bloggie meet and post-musical production dinner…plus an early birthday dinner for my grandma who’s turning NINETY. Way to go!

Now the warning has been given – PLEASE don’t bring a scale anywhere near me for the next couple of weeks! :s

Tiger, can you please control your Woods?

I just couldn’t resist putting that title on this post, simply because of the way this is playing out. In the span of a few weeks, there have already been 10 women coming forward saying they had affairs with Tiger Woods – and I have a feeling the number’s not going to stop there. No wonder there are jokes going around of “The Twelve Days of Mistress” for the holiday season.

Of course, as with all of these turn of events unfolding, there are still those that are trying to give Tiger excuses for his infidelities – claiming he may be addicted to sex (how convenient), or worse still, with a careless “he’s famous, what do you expect?”

Sure, we might have been inundated by infidelities of celebrities (think David Beckham, even Bill Clinton!) but has it really come to feigned indifference? And when the claims come that he started cheating on his wife Elin as early as 9 months into the marriage…that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Picture-perfect, no? He was said to have engaged in unprotected sex with these women too – who knows what he could have contracted and brought back to his wife, or worse, his kids. One is only two years old, while the other is only 9 months old. That makes my blood boil more than anything else – that someone could be so callous about his dalliances as to bring it back to his family.

Then of course, there is the other side to all this – Saturday Night Live did a parody of Tiger Woods on a recent episode, which came under fire for apparently making light of domestic abuse. For goodness sakes, some people can’t seem to take a joke. That’s why it’s called a PARODY? I found the clip hilarious, and personally, if Elin had taken the golf club to Tiger, I’d probably have said good for her (hypothetically of course).

For now, Tiger will just have to deal/beg/plead/work/settle all his affairs – figuratively and literally – as well as come to terms with the flack flying about on him. There have already been a couple of strong reactions in the form of Gatorade severing their sponsorship of Tiger, as well as the shutting down of the “First Church of Tiger Woods” which has interestingly been renamed “The Damnation of Tiger Woods”.

For now, the list stands as follows:
1. Holly Sampson (former porn star) – 36
2. Cori Rist (divorced mother) – 31
3. Jamiee Grubbs (cocktail waitress) – 24
4. Kalika Moquin (Las Vegas club manager) – 31
5. Jamie Jungers (model) – 26
6. Mindy Lawton (waitress from Orlando) – 33
7. Rachel Uchitel (club hostess from New York) – 34
8. Veronica Siwik-Daniels @ Joslyn James (porn star)
9. Anonymous (another cocktail waitress from Orlando) – 22
10. Anonymous (British television host)

Amusingly, all these women are claiming that they thought they were the ‘special’ one, and only came forward after hearing that they weren’t. It would seem that being considered the ‘third wheel’ in Tiger’s marriage was fine, but being just another woman in a string of conquests is unacceptable. I wonder why that is?

Will more women be added to the list before Tiger’s 34th birthday on 30th December? Who knows…but whatever the case, I’m sure it’ll be a media circus before we hear the end of it.