A Merry Xmas 2011

Err.. ahem... it's been awhile. :)

I'm sorry I left you stagnant again.

I have graduated.
I am working now.
I lost someone dear.
It's very hard.

As days goes by, it doesn't get any easier.

So please, time, make it easier, as you go by.

How I Try To Get Gods To Bribe Me

I have always wanted pets when I was young. Cats, dogs, rabbits... etc furry things, and fish doesn't count because they don't run to you when you called their names, and I'm not even sure if fishes have ears.

But my brother had asthma, and my parents diagnosed that I have mild asthma too but I'm quite convinced mine is fake because I faked the symptoms and I just craved the attention.

After constant pleading and persuading, it finally hit me that I was going nowhere if I were to work this out with my parents. Thus, I need to find someone who has higher authority than my parents, at that time, I could only think of God.

Being a seven year old then, there were only a few that I could think of, them being Jesus, Allah and Buddha. 

And so one day, I was struck by a brilliant and fool-proof idea whilst in the toilet taking a dump. I was going to make a deal with the Gods, I thought. Since there are so much controversial on who is the real God and who is the fake, I was going to take advantage of this situation. So mentally, I spoke to them. 

"Hey Jesus, I know you want people to believe in you  and I do want to believe in you but you have to show me that you really exist. You have to give me a puppy then I'll believe in your existence. I know you are real, but have to show some proof ok? Peace out dude. "

Ok, maybe I didn't say peace out dude, but the rest is definitely true and I did mentally  bribe  made an agreement with Jesus so that I could get a puppy.

I wanted a cat as well, but I couldn't ask too much because it would make me look greedy and Jesus would know that I only wanted the pets, not asking for proof that he is real. So I tried it with Allah too. I went:

"Hi Allah, I know you have to compete with the rest of the other religions who claimed they are the true God, but if you give me a cat, I will believe in you. I know you're real, but you need to show me, then I believe you. "

And of course, not forgetting my lovely rabbits:

" Hi Buddha, it's me. You need to show me you are real by giving me rabbits or else I'm not sure if you are real and I'll have trouble believing in you. I know you're real but you've gotta give me some proof."

I was afraid of offending the Gods, so I made sure to tell them I know they are real and they just have to proof it to me. I was worried they might think I was doubting them so I need to reassure that I 'know that they are real'.

It was a great plan at that time. 

The seven-year-old me imagined that all the Gods will fight to be the first to give me my pet dog, rabbit and cat to earn my trust and belief. And I would appear totally innocent because I just wanted to proof their existence, not greedy for pets. I would have my pets in no time, and my parents can't do shit about it because the Gods wants me to have it, and they are almighty so my parents will just have to live with it.

Apparently I over-estimated my membership into a religion. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into years but none of my wishes were granted. 

When I finally had my first pet dog at last, it was about 6 years later, and no, it didn't turn me into a believer. The following years, the rabbits and cats joined the family.

But I didn't say, ok you prove your point, I believed in you. It was several years too late anyway, so it didn't count. But I don't think any God would be condemn a seven year old's silly little bribing scheme, because Gods are awesome and forgiving. All of them. 

So that was how I tried to get Gods to bribe me when I was a seven year old. It was a silly conversation in the toilet, a little seven year old trying to get the Gods to bribe her, but I'm glad I wasn't struck by lightning for trying to get them to bring me pets. And don't judge me because I was seven year old then.

A Face You Can Trust

Came across a very interesting article whilst google-ing around for cheekbones (I don't know why I did that, don't ask).

The article analysed on various ways and facial expression con man mark their target; face depicting which we trust and which we usually don't.

And as quoted,

"Working from those findings, they were able to create a continuum: faces with high inner eyebrows and pronounced cheekbones struck people as trustworthy, faces with low inner eyebrows and shallow cheekbones untrustworthy."

And I can't help but feel that it's true. 

I see a criminal untrustworthy face on the left and a nice over-friendly salesman?? on the right. 

I don't know what compelled me to start google image-ing for Abdullah Badawi (ex-prime minister of Malaysia)'s face.

I'd love to start analysing but I don't dare. I'm scared of ISA. And I'm also scared of the opposition party. Yes I'm a chicken cluck cluck cluck.

I forgot his name but he's one of the male actors from Friends, aye? This I'm not afraid cos Hollywood's too far away. We see a trustworthy face here, no? Smiling face, the eyebrows etc. This is a face that we trust, yes?

Then I don't know why, I googled for George W. Bush's face.

This is a 'good', 'trustworthy' face too.

And I also don't know why I googled for Cinderella next.

And Aung San Suu Ki

Then Karl Marx came to my mind. I don't know how he looks like, so if you don't, here's a little eye candy for you.

Aww... it's not fair to Karl Marx, he had too much facial hair for us to judge whether he looks trustworthy or not.

But although we always say, don't judge a book by its cover, we always do that, no? 

And as quoted again:

Just as in other cognitive shorthands, we make these judgments quickly and unconsciously - and as a result, Oosterhof and Todorov point out, we can severely and immediately misjudge people. In reality, of course, cheekbone shape and eyebrow arc have no relationship with honesty.

Well said, well said.

Cheekbone shape and eyebrow arc have no relationship with honesty.

Grandeur In The Air

If you know me, then you should know that prior to this blog, I had another blog.

It was years and years ago, should be in the 2006-2008s but I'm not here to promote that.
I've no idea where it went, tried googling it but it poof-ed... gone. :(

Anyway, it was the first prom night (so called) of my life in UTP, the theme being glamour and glorious and glitz or something like that.
And I went there, in T-shirt and jeans. Yeap I did.
And I remembered being so proud that I blogged about it.
It was total madness. I was unstoppable. I bet there are people pissed with me (hahaha), but I didn't care. I blogged about not conforming, not following the crowd, peer pressure and well, total crap.

Fast forward for 4 years, it's nearly time to graduate. While the first prom night of my life marks the graduation of foundation year; the final prom night in my uni years will mark my upcoming real graduation.
With many things happening this month, I was contemplating whether or not to go. I had exceeded my budget for very reasonable and meaningful things thus I'm a little dry this month.

But I'm wondering if I dare to pull it off again? Dress in tees and jeans? I bet I even have the same ol' trusty shirt and jeans (yeah I'm poor like that).
It'd be epic if I were to dress like that. Epic I tell you. Do I dare?
Goshh... I mean, I'm definitely not that crazy mindless bonkers girl 4 years ago.

For the coming 'prom night' (let's just call it a fancy dinner, it's not even a prom), the name "Grandeur In The Air", means it's definitely grand. Uh-huh, grand with a capital G.
Moreover, the theme is Oscar. Like how these people wear to an Oscar award.
But I did hearsay that if you aren't afraid of feeling 'under-dressed', then you can wear whatever you like.
It takes a lot of gut to do what I did, but what about now? I'm more matured, smarter, prettier, cooler, etc.. you get the picture... do I dare to wear tees and jeans to an 'Oscar' themed dinner?

Do I even need to think about it?
OF COURSE I DARE TO DO IT.
Because as I said years before, I'll say it again.
I Do Not go with the crowd. I Do Not crack under peer pressure.
But having the guts to do it doesn't mean I will do it though (haha, got you there, didn't I?).

I don't know whether I'm going or not.
But I can promise you this.
If I go, I will wear the same old tees and jeans.
Someone try to stop me.

Happiness

I'm not a terribly materialistic person.
In fact, I would say, I'm hardly one. I'm not obsessed with money, unlike some of my friends, nor am I overly concerned about materials.

I don't have to drive a BMW, I'd be happy with a moving Proton. If I can't afford one, I don't think Kancil is as bad as they exaggerate. I'm not a 'national-car hater'. I don't jeer at people driving cheap national cars on the road, nor am I disgusted with the idea of cruising the road with one.

I don't have to earn a five figure, or six figure salary; I'd be happy earning what I need, and I can always save up for what I want. I believed you can never earn enough for what you want anyway. Once you have more, you'll use more. There's a malay proverb somewhere but it's somewhere else now. You may disagree with me, but that's not my problem.

I don't need to be a Dato', or someone really important, as long as I know I'm important to those that really matters.

I'd rather be a satisfied Nokia 1110 user (yes I am, black and white), rather than a complaining Iphone 4 user lusting for Iphone 5.

So you see, I'm a very simple person. I don't want much, I don't need much.
I just want to be happy. That's all.

I don't do, buy or have something to be happy. I'm happy just the way it is.
I create happiness from nothing, because I don't believe happiness comes with anything. It's something in you. You don't need to have something to be happy. You can be happy just the way you are. It's your mindset. You can choose to see the glass as half full, or half empty.

Beauty does not come from the layer of makeup you put on, true beauty comes from within.
Just as happiness does not come from the amount of money you earn, true happiness comes from within.

No matter what the source of your happiness is, may you find it, and keep it.

Green Nails

I'm wearing green nail polish today. 

I was wearing it yesterday.

Today morning, an sms from my PG said to meet my supervisor, now.

I was scared. 

Because:

1. I don't have any progress

2. I haven't met my supervisor for the longest time (a few months?)

I was still woozy being just awake but that shook me up. 

I changed and got ready to go. 

Then I felt like want to go to the toilet. 

The big business.

But I kept it in.

I'm always like this when I'm nervous.

Halfway there, I realised, I'm wearing green nail polish.

Dark green. Forest green.

All my ten fingers.

I cursed.

But I cannot go back now. 

I'm already late.

So I made my excuses on the way there.

I tell myself, I will explain to my supervisor and my PG, should they ask me.

I will tell them.

I killed a tree.

Got its blood on my fingers.

I dared myself to tell them that.

What can they do to me anyway?

But. No.

They didn't ask me.

I was disappointed.

My green nails were eye-catching. I think.

Unique.

It's ok.

Next time.

I'll wear yellow.

Bright sunshine yellow.

Been soaking up too much sun, I'll say.

My Father on Father's Day

Ok, so I admit, I tooootally forgot Father's Day until the day itself, when I woke up around 11am, sitting groggily staring at sweetie laptop, and some random person wrote on Facebook on how great his/her dad is etc.

And I go... Oh shittttt! I forgot today is Father's Day. Damn damn damn!! Immediately I googled for funny/interesting/hilarious greetings for Father's Day. Nothing I want. It's all those sweet touching greetings that I would not, I stress, would not send to my dad cos we are just too cool.

Then, I sorta got side-tracked by other stuff you know... like... FYP (yeah right), OM (bullshit), etc that I clean forgot about father's day, again.

Around 2.15pm, I received an sms from my dad, it goes:

Dear Mand,
Good afternoon. I hv been waiting for Fathers Day msg fr u since 12 mid nite. Hv u totally forgotten yr father because deeply indulged in love matters? Lovers can be a lot but father is only 1. I hv even rec'd Fathers' Day msg fr Najib Rajak. Perhaps yr msg is too long and u r still not ready!
Pa
ps: Is yr hp memory full?


I blood ran cold, literally. I was like... Oooooh sheeeeeet! Gotta do damage control quick. So I shot back a super fast text to him:

Haha haha haha haha. I've not forgotten at all. In fact, I've been looking for the perfect message but I haven't come up with one yet. Najib's message is forwarded to everyone, therefore not sincere.


I might just get a lot of shit from the authorities for saying that, but hey, come on, I've got to say I'm more sincere than Najib (who didn't forget about Father's day and I did). It's my dad, not Najib's dad.

After a while, I send another sms to him:

Well aparently, there aren't any funny or interesting quotes or sayings on the web that I could find on father's day. Most probably because father and humour doesn't usually go together. Oh but i did find this from a french proverb, a father is a banker provided by nature. Haha. Happy father's day. May you have many more to come.


And he goes:

Thanx for the proverb. Might be yr home flight account has already found its sponsor! Actually I never believe in Mothers or Father's Day. It's only business gimmicks! Everyday shd be a Mother or Father Day! The sms is only a joke fr Ma n Pa. The main intention is to inform u yr hp memory is full!
Pa

Yaaaa right Pa. Nice one. But you can't pull it off this one.
I know you've been waiting for my sms, as you usually do on your birthday and you would complain if you didn't receive any sms from me on the stroke of midnight. Sorry about that, but ah well...

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. And my dad sure is funny.

Dear Shops In Airport

Dear Shops in Airport,

I think you shouldn't be in the airport. No shops should be in airport. There should just be airplanes, and probably some taxi drivers, but no shops. All of you should close down. Even the shops along the way to the airport. And all the shops on the road that leads to the airport.

You have no idea how much convenience you've brought to those who literally forgets their friends and families the minute they go on holiday. They are suppose to buy souveneirs from the exotic places they visit, not from the airport!

Yes, the airport is still in the country/place he/she/they visit, but they should buy souveniers when they are walking around the place, touring around, making a day or two out from their busy schedule to buy those back at home souveniers, not from the airport shops! Airport shops doesn't count! I want souveniers from Paris, not Paris Airport Shops. Your counterpart in Paris probably has the same shops as you counterpart from all over the world, Burberry, Pierre Cardin, Calvin Klein, but with an French Accent.

Your existence will just aid those lazy, forgetful people that forgets people a.k.a me when they go on a holiday trip. If they forget me, they should be punished by my eternal wrath and anger and an occasional subtle show of disappointment, not being rescued at the last minute by you. If they did something wrong, they should suffer! You shouldn't be available to these evil tourists. Yes, they are evil. No roads leading to the airport should have any sort of shops so that these bad people have to go home with feelings of insecurity, guilt, and regrets for forgetting to buy prezzies during their trip.

Perhaps you'd like to have a board meeting with the head of Global Airport Shops and maybe suggesting terminating your contract with the airport? Afterall, I'm sure the airport is squeezing you with the rental, not forgetting the threat of terrorist. Furthermore, the threat of diseases such as H1N1, JE, chicken pox etc is always highest in the airport, thus you might like to consider withdrawing from operating in the airport.

If you would please pass the message to your kind neighbours a.k.a shops beside road leading to airport, I'd be very grateful to you.

Best regards from ME.