Hot & Cold, In & Out

I love that song. It's bouncy, cheesy, and makes a great pepsi advertisement..i can just see it.. Miley Cyrus holding a can of pepsi saying, do you like it hot or cold? Or would u prefer it in between so that you can get the best of both worlds? =p

And just to salvage my image..i do NOT watch Hannah Montana.. I've got a 14 year old brother you see..and he has friends..who albeit being guys, have this crush on hannah. But my brother..is totally in a different league..he who, thanks to my influence, prefers much cooler shows like Totally Spies! I'm so proud!

Alright, so what's the deal with the title you may ask? Well, my dear readers (which by the way, i am proud to announce that i am not the sole reader of my own blog...=p) the reason behind the title is not a joyous one.

Have been pretty down in the dumps for the past few days, as i did not earn enough merits to stay in hostel. I now have to move all my stuff to an outside apartment. And as I've just received news from my future roommate, it's in a pretty dismal condition. *Sigh..There is no fan in the single room, and in the double and triple room, you can't even fit desks and cupboards..All of these are placed in the living room. And I went about thinking...how in the world am I going to study with four other strangers in the living room?

And the sad thing is that most of the time when I'm sad, I tend to drag everyone around me into it. And I hate it. And that's why I've got to brush it off, and say it's okay. But I am scared. *Sigh..And it's not okay.

Well, whatever it is, I'll update my blog with pictures on the new place. Hopefully, it'll look better on screen.

Elective posting at Malaysia's Association for the Blind

Honestly, I never spared much thought for the blind. Except maybe those times when we were forced to play the blindfold trust game where you’re blindfolded and your trusted friend guides you through some obstacles. I never not had that tirade of feelings.

It begins with the fluttering of butterflies, which are disconcerted by the ominous darkness. The darkness, so dreadfully absolute. That nagging insecurity, is like a rising tide of dread, so ready to drown and take one under. Because of that, I was almost knocked out cold once... Either that or one of my 'trusted friend' led me straight to a pole.

But besides thanking my lucky stars for being blessed with vision, I never really thought about the blind. And so, after much deliberation, my dear and I decided to do a one month elective at the Malaysia's Association for the Blind. The original plan was the national zoo but after being informed that we were given the option to choose whether we wanted to work with the

tigers

or the bears
well... we decided that we're not that into animals. Besides, we could always adopt a fish or a dog next time.
less chance of getting mauled, mangled and eaten

Oh, I just can't resist telling this joke..sidetrack a little but it's really funny! My dad read it online once..

okay, so there's the economic recession, people were losing jobs and this man, so desperate for a job came to the zoo.
Man: Do you have a job for me?
Zoo manager: Sure. Just wear this costume, swing from branch to branch, make some noise, eat some bananas..you think you can manage that?
Man: Sure!

So there it was, the man had a job and did that for weeks. One day though, he swung too far and landed in the lion's den. The man was so afraid and screamed and screamed and..well you get the picture.

The lion was moving towards him and the man was still screaming when the lion said,' Stop screaming! You're going to get us both fired!'

=))))

Okaaay...so back to the story of going to the blind association. We met a couple of retired blind individuals who have been working there during their spare time to earn some extra cash. They are so friendly people who have such good memory, even regarding high school geography! And to imagine that they've never seen a map or an atlas. As we do some work at the library as well, we manage to check out the Braille books. As Braille has to be typed on thicker paper, the books are so thick, that they have to be divided into volumes. Readers Digest is made up of 3 volumes, each about two inches thick. And upon curiosity, I decided to check out War and Peace. 14 volumes, where each volume is 4 inches thick. Carry it around and you have a bullet proof jacket.

I take my hats off to them. They never fail to amaze me with ways of overcoming their lack of vision. And I kept thinking to myself, it never even occured to me how they manage to do certain things like:

* Have you ever thought how the blind eat?
* Or apply makeup?
* Or know which train/bus to take?

Things that we took for granted. It's ironic how communicating with the blind actually taught me how to see. =) I guess for all my eyesight, I was blind.

By the way, the library of Malaysia's Association of the Blind is looking for Malay volunteers to help record the Malay novels/books to be made into audio books.

A White Tiger

I just finished this book by Aravind Adiga called The White Tiger- the 2008 Man Booker Prize Winner. If you’ve enjoyed watching Slumdog Millionaire- and all the depressing social slaughter of the deprived, and the ensuing ‘virtuous’ atrocities, then you’ll enjoy this book. Incidently, it also highlights India’s slums.

The world of our hero, Mr. Ashok is immoral, corrupt, with senseless injustice. But Adiga also writes with a touch of humour. I’m not a person who is usually attracted to dark comedy like this, nor am I particularly fascinated by slumeoples. (the people living in the slums) *hey, Shakespeare created hundreds of words in the English language, I thought I’ll take a feather from his book.*=p

It makes one wonder, for these slumeoples, are they bound to our law? Code of ethics? Well, are they supposed to respect the lives of their masters when they themselves are barely acknowledged as human beings?

But on the other hand, are the people who are at the receiving end of a social system created by individuals solely for their own benefit, are these slumeoples completely innocent of their own miserable destiny, or rather, lack of it? To quote a phrase from the book,
“They remain slaves because they can’t see what is beautiful in this world.”

It makes me wonder whether they could have done anything different for themselves. It makes me wonder whether I would.

Going home

Aargh...i hate the anticipation..
Sigh...home... sometimes I just can't wait to leave...and sometimes, I just can't wait to go back..

The long long long wait when you're JUST about to reach home....is so agonizing. The last 15 minutes seems to go on forever. On the bus or on the train, time suddenly decides it needs to slow down. Time, I have realized, is the most inconvenient of enemies. It never moves fast enough when you want it to. And it definitely never moves slow enough during exams.

Oh well...
Sometimes I just feel like running the remaining distance as it gives me something else to think about...like..how I regret attempting to run the remaining distance. When I take the train back, there is this escalator which is 3 storeys tall- which makes you feel that you'll never get to the top. At the rate that it moves, I can almost feel like I'm moving backwards.

After the customary 'I'm home!' phone call - which come to think of it, is a pointless act of trying to surprise my family when they already know what time to expect me..and heralds the inconvenient task of acting surprised on their part, there is the periodic watch-checking session. After some time, one can't stop but wonder why in the world do we have 12 digits for every cycle..Wouldn't time move faster if there were, say, 4 digits? So, it'll be 1.00, 1.05, 1.10, 1.15..and before you know it, it's 2.00 already! =p

And when you're finally in the bus/ train station, there is a scramble where everyone looks around for familiar faces.

And then there is that smile..=)

I'm going back home this thursday! After a month of community work at Malaysia's Assoc. for the Blind...I'll be going home to good food, and great company..which makes the journey home very worthwhile..=p

Eureka!

There I was, gazing lazily at my vascular notes as it returned my stare with a facetious glance, mocking my motivation.

Me: What?
Vascular notes: What's the point?
Me: Don't talk to me..let me finish..
Vascular notes: Right..you said that last week
Me: Well don't put the blame on me..it's not MY fault that you're super boring and complicated..
Vascular notes: You're just distracted..
.
.
.
And on and on it went. It ended in a childish fashion of name calling. My vascular notes called me a sloth. I called him a stack of papers.

Oh well...I guess I'll just do it later. I'm a staunch believer that nothing ever gets done before the 11th hour. I've been using the below principle for years and it has worked pretty well for me, I daresay:

Productivity is proportional to one's level of desperation.

Ahh...such wise words..Though I don't quite think it's original. =p

Anyway, I stumbled upon a site showcasing the winners of the International Housewares Association's 2008 Student Design Competition...and of course their thoughts were waaay better than mine..I'll share some of them here..

This was my personal favourite:

Honourable mention: Rake N Take

Inventor: Ryan Jansen

What it does: Instead of raking leaves into a pile, and then raking them into a bin later, you can now do both raking and dumping them into the bin using Rake N Take. There is a lever which you can pull to grasp all the leaves and just like a fist, throw them into the bin..What genius..Anyone with a patch of grass would love this..

Tied for second place: Kitchen Sync

Inventor: Noah Balmer

What it does: I'm going to do this in short sentences. You like to cook. You need recipes. You found them online. They're in the computer. You have to either: a) Print them out (are you really going to kill those trees just to satisfy your stomach?) or b) Bring the laptop down (and spill greasy, syrupy, coloured, chips, juice, ...) So thanks to Kitchen Sync you don't have to do either. This is a device which connects your home network and displys the recipe on the screen. (Plus it comes with a touch screen)..And you can chat with others about recipes..Though, if you're a lousy cook, it does nothing to change that fact..=p

Tied for second place: Opus

Inventor: Rick Hagee

What it does: It's a portable hamper that enables you to hold, carry and load laundry easily. Basically it's a shape-shifter. It sits on the floor, can be folded and can be hung.

AND THE WINNER GOES TO THE ELIZABOWL!

Inventor: Sarah O'Brien.

What it does: You know the saying one bad apple spoils the whole bunch? Well, this prevents that from happening. You place each fruit in a separate container so they won't have negative influences on each other. Her invention is named for its similarity to collars worn during the Elizabethan period.

Talk about eliminating peer pressure...

KLue Urbanscape

Just revived this blog of mine and will start blogging religiously from today onwards. (promise!)

Anyway, this was where I went yesterday:

KLue Urbanscape!Guests arriving

Well, it was all thanks to my dear, who managed to get us two tickets from Nuffnang. Pre-ticket sales was RM25 while tickets bought on that day was priced at RM35.

So basking in the wrath of the mid-afternoon sun, my dear and I set forth towards KLPAC (Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre) . This is located in East Sentul, in an area introducing concept living, where there are apartments, a lake, jacuzzis, ...(though my idea of concept living is simply an area for the rich to enclose themselves and set up facilities they don't even need.)

So once we stepped in, we were greeted with a rich symphony of colours, sounds and people... (All in line with our true Malaysian spirit of rojak).

Just as we were entering, we saw this:

So what do you make of it?

It's a goddess, trapped in every one of us; not allowed it's release..As time goes by, it slowly is remoulded, till it forms an almost indistuingishable mirror of what the society wants it to be. Yet, through some stroke of luck and a glimmer of divine intervention, it will remain always, as it's own...-a symbol of rebellion and individuality. ----> TA DAA!

Hahha..just kidding. It's a lump or rocks, made more artistic becuse someone had extra pink papers lying around.

Me!! posing with some colourful art-work

And this was my favourite art work of the day:

Lol..the one below! Don't you agree he's one piece of great art? =p Anyway, the one at the background wasn't bad either.

It's called TaPau Nation!

Really reflects our community, don't you think? =p Plus, it's movable. Kids loved it, we loved it. Now that's what I call art..able to reach out and connect with the lives of others..and not sitting on some no-touch zone, appealing only to the angry and depressed.

Liked the gallery though, as the art work was arranged in a non-typical-art-gallery-manner. The art-work clashed and harmonized, soothed and irritated, each fighting for attention, each with it's own unique taste, united into a glorious ensemble. The disappointing side was that there were not many art-work up for display..probably a mere 20 at most.

The art work below is separated from the one above. See what I mean when I said it was an atypical gallery? The work below dictates how the human being is constantly being tied down by rules, restrictions..no matter who or where one was. A nice representation, but it was too random, too un-expressive for me.

Then there was the marketplace. It's a place where trinkets, food, drinks, bags, clothes were sold..at a price of course...

And then I got whizzed to the Land of Oz with colourful flowers:
Nah...it's just my boyfriend trying out funky features with his camera.

Finally, after 3 hours of sweating and pushing and being pushed, we finally headed home...

Goodbye!

So in conclusion, I learnt that oftentimes, art is defined as a piece of work which you'll have to slowly digest, absorb and think deeply before you get the message. The more confusing it is, the more it will be appreciated. But, on the other hand, there are a lot of 'art' out there with a simple and clear message. A child who spent the whole morning working on his father's day card, a mother arranging a bouquet for her daughter's wedding, a piece of bread shared between two hungry souls, a couple dancing on their 50th anniversary... Those.. don't quite make it to the galleries, but they'll endure in our hearts...

PS: Special thanks to my dear for the pictures, and for saving my blog from plunging into total oblivion and nothingness...=p

Cupid Strikes

So fatal, so elusive and so impossible- why then did the human race subject ourselves to this form of modern guillotine? Love is often times a senseless thing. That could probably be the reason why we always love with the heart, and never with the mind. For every child of 10 would be able to tell you that all the heart does is to pump blood. The real culprit, lies more hidden, towards the north, in that secret sanctuary, enjoying a penthouse view. I suppose the brain is reserved more for rational thought, and therefore, as people decided to become a 'Fool for Love' end up with 'Loving you with all My Heart.' But why the heart? We all could have used the bullet on the other god-knows how many organs in our body.

1. The heart was probably one of the first organs that was noticed by mankind...along with the stomach and bladder and...intestine. But lets face it, they are waay too unappealing. One stores food, n digests it with acid and enzymes...and that's not the way to treat a lover, i think. The bladder stores waste and excretes it from our body. That definitely sends the wrong signals. And the intestine, absorbs nutrients and excretes unabsorbable solid waste and water. Which is basically saying that you absorb all the good there is in your partner and then when the bank account is high and dry or the mortgage paid off and then it's time to leave the poor fella as dried as an old, preserved prune.

2. The heart has four chambers. An average car seats 4 comfortably. And let's face it, who doesn't love cars? Too few, and it's like a race car, too fast and too unstable..someone might get thown out...accidentally, of course. Too many, and it's like a SUV. Which spells family. Which scares away half the population of men.

3. Valves. To stop things from going in the wrong direction.

4. Cardiac cells. Which do not regenerate. Which means once a relationship has gone sour, someone cheats, the door is closed, there can be no more U-turns. It's strictly a one-way street.

5. The heart generates it's own impulses. A relationship should be a positive educational and rewarding experience for both parties.

Well, I wonder if the above would get me a job in some women's magazine..Cleo or Her World or some other mag that women read while getting a perm. But in reality, I have often thought love is simply too powerful, too strong a word to be used by mere mortals...even on ourselves. People in love proclaim that they hear angels sing, or sparks fly, or a flame which is so grand that it engulfs the whole world with it...to me, it just sounds as if they've had too much of Nickelodeon.

However, while I was driving around a corner the other day, I had a glimpse- a glimpse of something people around the world would envy. It wasn't a Greek God or an apparition of Legolas, though I don't think I would have minded if it was. It was this old couple, probably in their 70's, huddled under the umbrella for it was drizzling lightly, and the man had his arm over his wife's shoulder while they slowly navigated their way through the puddles. It was the same couple who I see day after day, taking their brief evening walks, hand in hand. And for a moment, just a brief moment, I guess I believed. Those teddy bears and buy5-free-1 rose promotions had a reason to be in business. For ultimately, everyone walks through life like a gambler. We lose and keep on losing...but I guess at the back of our minds (and hearts) , we all hold on to the small chance, so minute, yet so tempting. The chance that maybe, just maybe when we're plagued with athritis and osteoporosis and greying hair and sagging skin and adult diapers, we'll have someone's hand to hold.