tulips

Early wedding announcement

Here’s an early public announcement, Mei Sin and I will be getting married on March 8, 2009.

Yes, it’s gonna be on the mother of all dates, as far as recent Malaysian history is concerned. I’m sure there will be plenty of celebrations for the 1st anniversary of the tsunami, but please don’t abandon us. :-) Anyway, there will surely be lots of jokes going around on that day, you bet! It’s on a Sunday, but the next day’s a public holiday, which makes it convenient for those of you traveling from outstation. Mark your calendars ahead, will ya? Hopefully, the Titanic has sunk by then, and all Malaysia will be looking forward to a much more important date than 8th of March. Just leave the date for us.

Before any of you (married ones) start your cringing nag on how torrid and stressful the preparation process is, how couples eventually cannot wait for it (the planning) to be over, and how much it has eaten into your savings, and la-di-da, please stop. Hrrmph, seems quite normal to hear all this, isn’t it? :-)

Rest assure that my meticulous self has given too much a lot of thought into all aspects of our plan, and everything’s going on well so far, on schedule.

Wedding site coming up soon over here. More details to be blogged later…

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Budgets are just budgets

Let’s see, where are we now?... Anwar makes his comeback, Malaysia Today gets blocked, more possible corruption involving cars, lorries, highways and the immigration department. What’s next? 2008 is indeed colorful. It has all the characteristics of a well-thought storyline befitting of any Hollywood blockbuster (It wouldn’t surprised me if it rakes up more than Dark Knight).

Budget 2009 rolls out this afternoon, and I’m sure there will be goodies aplenty, especially for a very over-crowded civil service. I predict there will be more subsidies (yet again) for food and essentials without much long-term plan (show me 10 years or more-lah, not 1 year) to contain the escalating global food problem. Similarly, there will be some huge load of money allocated to the improvement of public transportation after receiving all that banter from disabled groups and a “disappointed” Mr PM taking his first train ride in years. If you recall 2006 and what Mr DPM said, you’ll know for sure that nothing gets done as usual.

With Anwar breathing down their necks, expect more money for Sabah and Sarawak to quell worries of ship-jumping (or house-moving).

So, I’m not going to believe in numbers anymore (not that I don’t believe that 1+1=2). Or monetary promises. Or impressive billions taken at face value. These days, you have to get things done, the right way.

On a totally unrelated thought, the one thing that most impressed me in 2008 is how the cyberspace has brought new levels of accountability between the government and rakyat, new ways of reliably cross-checking sources of information (you know this if you often jump from blog to blog) and an almost potent tool for disseminating news and information (just ask BN, ouch).

And these days, everyone knows how much a Proton Perdana gearbox costs.

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The Dark Side

“Yes, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side… If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.” – Yoda

* * *

I can almost imagine Jia Wern, Yuin-Y, Terry, Kelvin people saying to me Yoda-ly, “The dark side, you have come”. For months and year(s), I resisted registering a Facebook account for a few simple reasons: 1) My Friendster contacts are still alive and serving its purpose well, 2) What for add the same bunch of people again? 3) Facebook IS the “dark side”. A black hole. Once you’re in, you can’t get out. (Coincidentally, Friendster has been growing less “dark side” ever since it started allowing people to use it as a blog dumpster, spam songs, glittering animation on testimonials. It’s repulsive, and makes me not go there often, so, less evil…)

My reasons are still valid, although I have now got myself into this Facebook baloney, didn’t I? Maybe I can bypass #1 and #2 with some lame justification but, I can almost 1001% prove to you why #3 is definitely TRUE. Haha.

In just an hour after registering a Facebook account,

17 confirmed me as friend
3 wrote some stuff on my wall (since when I ask for a wall to be erected on Facebook?)
2 tagged a photo of me (hey, how can I trust you to tag me correctly? maybe it’s not me…)
1 edited details on how we know each other (oh my….)

And, 1 particular friend participated in all of the above, which makes me wonder whether he’s working or playing Facebook on a Monday afternoon.

See, how many people are “actively” fiddling around with Facebook at any given hour? Someone please save this world from time wastage. So evil.

And, I WILL remember to turn off this stupid email-me-to-tell-me-what-happen-in-Facebook feature so that I don’t get bombarded with so much spam. I will check it myself at my own pace. What bother!

Those who want to add me, use the search to find-lah. At least get to practice your search skills, make good use of your time instead of throwing sheep at people.

So, somehow, I have gone to the dark side. Let’s see whether I can convert some people out of it, by participating in it. Macam hero-lah. People say, resistance is futile. But strangely, it’s even more futile to make sense of why resistance is futile. :-)

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Auf Wiedersehen for now

It’s second round this year! The time has come, sooner than expected.

I thought using auf Wiedersehen would actually be more like a “farewell” kind of goodbye than a “goodbye” kind of goodbye. But, it can be literally translated as “Until we see each other again”, so I think it sounds OK in this context. Moreover, it sounds more elegant than servus or tschüs (sounds like ‘just’)....Read More...

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Happy 6th Anniversary

Remember these steps by the Ligurian Sea? A wedding must have just taken place a few days ago at this very spot, by the peace of the sea, accompanied by the sound of waves crashing upon the rocks.

I like this picture. There’s something wonderful about it which I can’t seem to tell.

I know you’re waiting for me too.

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