UnDerEstiMated-OverEstiMating

I guess we never learn from the mistakes of the infamous Tuanku Mahmud, be it in Melaka or Johor (one of the History fact that still lingers in my memory is about Sultan Mahmud being the pemusnah of the Melaka & Johor sultanate).

He was the ruler, and he ruled to his whims and fancy. Which spelled the catastropic fall of a majestic regalcy.

And here we are, only 14 years away of achieving Vision2020, and we still bow and uphold such leaders. The case being highlighted here is of Dato Zakaria, the Klang councillor man. Heh. He’s a joker, and one who doesn’t make funny jokes. He makes fun of the hard work and human toil and intelligence, in the name of building himself a mansion. Which Mak rightfully labled as a rumah setinggan. What? That huge blob of cement was built without the right approved plans.  That’s akin to a setinggan house ain’t it?

And here I thought he has had his lowest days when he was summoned to the palace and berated by our Sultan of Selangor. Hmmm. ‘Faithful’ and ‘loyal’ followers still has his back. Still wanted to showcase the ‘kind’ and ‘generous’ councillor in DZ; building houses for the poor and such. It’s one thing to be loyal and faithful, but to the point of being blinded by it? Even the Sultan is extremely displeased with his antics of belittling the laws and regulations that this country holds. He insults the engineering profession to such an extent that he can cordially say "I continued with the building of the mansion since appealing for a review of the non-existant plans will take too long-a-time".

It takes pain staking trial and error, coupled with extensive research to come up with the related regulations. I hope the metal fubar supporting the building’s foundation is already corroded. I hope the cement mixture is all wrong and the tendency of the walls of collapsing is high. The pipings… I hope the contractor mixes up the pipes for the toilet and drinking water. Let there always be shorts and cross wiring in his pendawaian. Let him have his share of electrocution risks. Let the very soil the building is built upon cave in, due to underground water movements on the calcite foundation. The paint used will be a breeding ground for moss and fungus. Let his family breathe the intoxicating aroma from it.

Well, these are only a few consequences that I can think on the spot of DZ’s action. I know he’s clever. That’s why he can’t be bothered with such substantial problems. Him and his posse. Those who willingly sink to his level of stupidity and apathy.

Siannn… Tu la, orang suruh belajar pandai2 tak mahu. Nak jugak naik dengan cara mudah. Kan dah kena marah dengan Sultan.

Sadly, it is people with half a quarter of brain power that we always elect into office. It is people who have the unrequitted ability to twist and maim their words who are raised to the top. Will we ever realize this? Or have we been exposed to the dust that is swept under the carpet for too long?

I don’t know. Rot in hell Dato Zakaria.

Raya is overrated.

Yes or no?

I guess so.

I mean… it’s good that we have the ‘time’ to spend with our loved ones. And meeting up with family members who we make it a deal to meet up… once in a blue moon… I mean… a year. Its a grand excuse to make up for past sins "Raya kan setahun sekali~" And under the same breath with a twinkle in the eyes, saying that after this we’ll start over a new book of sins. Haha.

I mean… all those Raya adverts, and songs… yeah yeah don’t forget the ever indulgent Raya songs. What’s a Raya without it? "Dihari raya, terkenang daku kepada si dia…" "Aidilfitri, hari bahgia, hari bergembira…" It promotes the joy~ and fun~ and togetherness~ of the festivities. It cajoles us to meet up and entertain and eat… and eat… and quash all the monies from unsuspecting aunts and uncles.

I mean… all those food. True enough that those delicacies are only exsistant during such festivities. Have we all wondered how such food came about, all ready and hot to be consumed? And those piles of cutleries and shiny melanin-ware, how did it ever got on the table looking so delactable itself? Ever errrr… stop by the kitchen (where ALL the action is) and greet those behind the scenes ladies (mostly)? Huwarghhh ponek duduk kek dapo…

I mean… are we truly sincere in spending those times with those so called people that means something to us? Seriously?

For once, I wished we could just let Raya be like any other that with the addition of going for solat Raya, visit my Atoks’s graves, lepak with both Wans, and most important of all, having Abah and Mak to myself. I don’t even need to dress up (Haha!). I wish.

Lynn, is Raya overrated? Yeahhh… it is… as with our lives and the government =P    

Why am I known as ‘Shawn’?

It’s because I am Shawn =P

The only simple reason that exists to justify my nickname is that the creative friends I’ve known from my Form 2 class think it is cool to call me Shawn. They loved adding either -ot or -on to the ends of our names. From Natashon, it became Tashawn, and what do you know, 2 syllables are not short enough, so it became Shawn.

Thats all to it.

It’s not because I like (urghhhh bluekkkk~~~~ jijik~~~) Shawn Bahrin, that pathetic Ricky-Martin-wannabe. He’s the only Shawn/Sean in this world who doesn’t live up to the name. Haha.

It’s also not because I once dated anyone called Shawn. Sheesh. I’d be stupid to let people know me by my ex’s name. Haha. Cam desperate je bunyi nye =P

Why do I still ask people to call me by Shawn, not Natasha or Tasha?

It’s simple really. Once people know me as Shawn, it would ultimately confuse people for some of them to call me Shawn while some Tasha. So whenever I introduce myself, I’d ask people to call me Shawn, to standardize things. But there are some of my friends who calls me by Tasha. These are those who knew me before I got the ‘Shawn’ nickname. My primary school friends. My family members.

P/S: This post was written while waiting for Khuzai to arrive =)

Oh my God!! No waaaaaaayyyyy~~ (pinggang ku suda naik 2 inci)

Hehe. I still think I suck at eating. I’m a picky and choosy eater. But I can definitely sental satu periuk worth of rendang when everyone’s not looking. And then the lemang will not have its usual gastronomic partner. Ciannnnn… Dah la nak bakar lemang superb lebey payah dari masak rendang. Though I only concentrate on eating rendang throughout the three first days of Raya, my usual londeh seluars are feeling a little tight around the waist. Rendang punya pasal ;P Negeri Sembilan mari pulak tu. Only Raya can I sental periuk-fuls of rendang… Daging, ayam… perghhhhh… Then my cousin made rendang puyuh… Man I crave for more. But throughout my life, I guess the best rendang that I’ve ever tasted was by my Wan Ngah, with generous portions of cili api~~ huwarghhhh!! Meleleh ayer mato den

The best rendang shouldn’t be too dry. Leave some moisture in it. And never be stingy on the cili api. As they say, the more the merrier =P If you’re making rendang daging, don’t mince the meat into too-small-a-cubes, lest the meat will be extremely dry. (Wan, Tasha nak lagi rondang Wan~~) Serai is a must. Alaaaaa… Nak rondang laie~~

P/S: I have just arrived from kampung and so hoping to bedal some more rendang.

At this rate I’m blogging, it shows I have issues. And it’s not necessarily about what I blog.

Favourite blogger sekarang is Pak Cik Patrick Teoh. He writes about serious matters in such a light-hearted tone, I can hear him dictating his written word in my head. And it always comes out sarcastically funny. I can’t help but smile, and sometimes laugh-out-loud. The feature that I like the most is the way he starts his blog with a picture of his son with a caption that relates the seeming non-associated picture with his entry. Dah la chumel gile anak dia Candy to the eye before a serious discussion on the road accident escalation during festive seasons, the racist-tainted-statement-of-our-DPM (pretty please don’t let him be the next PM, he’s showing his totalitarian side even now), his outing with his family at Zoo Negara, the haze situation.

Leads me to another issue. Some good bloggers, they seem to have their calling card integrated into their blog. You don’t actually need to note whos blog it is, simply glance through the content and you’ll have a picture of who’s the writer. Do I have any? I don’t think so. Except that my blogs always sounded angry (ye ke lagi Pak?). One particular commenter had utter that a gazillion times. Hehe. Maybe so.

And yet another issue. If really our ‘caring’ government (ahh… here’s my signature blogging style coming to light) wanted to supervise the blogging world, it would be pretty beneficial to ALL if they’d think about actually contemplating the contents of such grouses. I mean, a critism will not amount to anything without relevant actions being taken to right the wrong right? What’s to being transparent if it doesn’t work two ways, right? Hehe, berbakul kutukan untuk paternal DPM. And Mr Samy Vellu, you provide the spark that our prime news needs to perk interest of the general public. On a serious note, it is only reasonable to take the trouble to go through blogs not only to check on it’s content, but to also digest the gist behind it. If every other blogger writes and slams and yacks about an issue, it shows something right? You want to be the representative of the people, so here’s your field. Don’t just waste time reading to sensore and delete and maybe even fine and slam into jails. Think through the sarcasm and disrespect. Haha.    

And again I feel sad. Sad that Ramadhan is almost over. Sad that I have to part ways with some of my hard-earned money (haha my ass!!) in the form of delivering duit raya, sad that this raya seemed to emulate that of the last one, sad that I’m getting older, sad because it’s almost raya and I’ve only started to receive kad raya. Sad because… It’s a tradition to be sad during raya? Ye ke makwe? Sad that I have to take normal meals again. Sad that I still have tonnes of puasa ganti to attend to after this. Pe lagi? Ohhh I HATE LAGU RAYA~~ It numbs the ears and stops the heart and kills the brain cells.

Ok… Ok… take a deep breath. Hang on in there. It’s just another raya. Maybe next year I should be thinking of celebrating it offshore. Surely will get more allowance no? And I could theoretically escape giving out duit raya? And I don’t need to feel sheepish for being sad on first Raya!! Sape tak sedey raya tengah2 laut =P haha… "Wan, Tasha kena hantar offshore la Wan, nanti Hari Raya Tasha call eh… Dari tengah laut…"

- Raya blues strikes again -

P/S: Selamat Hari Raya to those yang menyambut. Sorry if in any way I’ve stepped on any sensitive toes or for being too blantant. Sincerely. Happy Deepavali to those celebrating the festival of lights. May the bright lights lead us to where ever we wanna go.

Setting up a sensorship board in the blogging world?

Lets go back to the core reason why such a medium as blogging is so popular especially amongst the young ones (and young at heart).  It provides an outlet. An outlet to let out some steam, an outlet to let your hair down, an outlet to showcase who we really are, an outlet out of the naysayers of the world. An outlet to showcase hidden talents.

Tu je.

That’s the ONLY reason why more and more people are becoming bloggers. Do we need people to regulate such an outlet?

Buatlah, lambat laun we creative young ones will outwit those higher-than-thou ol’ geezers. And this lame process of mengekang gejala negatif will be initated all over again. And again we’d find loopholes for us to be rebellious again

Still need to set up a monitoring body for blogs? Count me in =P

Haha… two whole days deprived of Encik Debab… rindu sehhh… maka aku perlu blogging lagi~

Nah… Its just that I get so worked up whenever I hear that such statements or facts that touches the sensitivities (threading on fine line here) of different races or religion, are considered to be anti-nationalism and will inadvertly disrupt our ‘peaceful’ and ‘well integrated’ country. My ass!! (I picked this up from Farizzul =P)

Why the need to showcase the differences in wealth between the races? C’mon la, its a given fact that Malays are superbly lazy and are too pampered by the government to care shit about the cumulative wealth of their own race. Its always about me, myself and I. What the fuck do I care about those losers that got no connections with the powers that be (READ: corrupt higher-uppers in the government). We see the fucking problem but we’re not fucking doing anything about it. Except for condemning and dismantling those that are brave enough to call a spade, a spade. Igniting racial tension konon.

Why can we be man enough to admit that "Yeah, we do have a problem, our youths are not exactly doing good in school, our product’s quality are never near to ANY standards, our roads are killing fields with us as the roadkills, we are addicted to drugs and other damned chemicals, we LOVE our laughable entertainment business and the list goes on".

If… and its a BIG IF… IF we can only… only start to work on solutions, not on finger pointing anymore, I do believe that we will get somewhere. We can achieve somehow. We surely ‘can do it’ anyhow. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And seriously, if we do have issues between the races or even the religions, pretty please can EVERYONE involved be open minded enough to accept such brickbats and move on to working on the solutions… and not continue the finger-jerking manouver anymore. It shows. It doesn’t bring us anywhere. Except to inciting racial tension. Except to indulge in more and more anger and hatred. Which will lead to distrust. And what do you know, World War 3 might happen in our own backyard. Enough of finger pointing and dusting underneath the carpet manouver. Why… Oh why can we not be treated as adults and indulge in discussions that impacts us ALL as a NATION?

I’M SICK AND TIRED OF IT.

P/S: Due to my yoyo-ing sleep time, I’m sorry to say I cannot write in a more professional manner. But I was pretty pissed when I heard on the news the statement made by our DPM, Najib Tun Razak, which simply stated that we do not have the capacity to highlight and discuss issues that may seem sensitive towards all/certain quarters of the nation. If there are those who dare to talk the talk, you are considered as a threat to this nation. Which shows that our government do not want its people to think outside the box and open our minds to differing perspectives. Or in other words, we are so simplistic in our thinking that we are not able to handle such sensitivities.

Teh Pisang…

Teringat one time we had a discussion about a person and the person’s perceived-to-be-high-maintenance-sweetheart. It was pretty hard to draw the line on what constitute ‘high maintenance’ since the normal association would be to money matters but being the saiko-logists tak bertauliah, we see emotions to be one of the worst things to maintain, in our relationships with people. Some people simply cannot click with another and it always baffles those involved on their unexplainable feelings. Well Makwe, here’s something that I came across…

To be high maintenance means that you need a lot of
attention, whether it be physically, emotionally or materially. High
maintenance individuals tend to put their own needs and desires above
those of everyone else in their life, and expect other people to do
the same.

There are many ways that someone can be high
maintenance.  The primary way is in romantic relationships or
friendships.  The major characteristics of someone who is high
maintenance are:

• In general, being demanding of other people, particularly
  significant others.
• Setting unrealistic standards for others to meet.
• Expecting other people to pay an inordinate amount of attention
  to you.
• Expecting other people to do things for you without your having
  to ask.
• Expecting other people to listen to you whenever you desire to
  speak.
• Getting angry, jealous, or resentful when other people don’t make
  you their top priority.
• An excessive concern with physical appearance or material
  objects.

Being high maintenance may be fine for you, but it
can be extremely difficult for the people in your life.  There are
some things you can do to try to be lower your maintenance
requirements:

• Occasionally let other people decide what the plans are going to
  be.
• Don’t ask or expect others to drop everything to meet your
  needs.
• Don’t worry so much about physical appearances.
• Learn to be more self-sufficient.
• Be more understanding if people don’t meet your expectations.
• Do things for other people, without them having to ask.

P/S: This post has no relation what so ever to the above said character. Makwe, you’re OK.

You Are 4: The Individualist

 You are sensitive and intuitive, with others and yourself.

You are creative and dreamy… plus dramatic and unpredictable.

You’re emotionally honest, real, and easily hurt.

Totally expressive, others always know exactly how you feel. <– NOT!!

Your Personality Cluster is Introverted Thinking

You are:

Objective, honest, and credible

Intellectually curious, with many diverse interests
More inclined toward ideas than people
Fiercely independent and unapologetically unconventional

[Btul la ni saya takda keje =P]

In the midst of the last dinner bash for PIPE6 (PETRONAS Induction Program for new Executives - batch 6), I got to know En Amir (program coordinator)… a lot deeper. All this while I was effectively trying to avoid contact with him but since that was the last night I’d see the ol’ geezer’s [errrr... apekah maksud sebenar word ini?] face, I thought to myself its about time I became polite and let him say whatever he wanted to say… to me.

And so I let him do most of the talking… with him referring back and forth to Abah’s history as part of the staff of PERMATA, a long long long time ago. We talked about the people we met there. How bad the kids of *toot* were, where’d most of the neighbourhood ended up, who are the new faces, Abah’s old lecturer-turned-brother-in-arm-turned-husband-to-Mak’s-bestfriend, my next door neighbours, Cik Mat and his wife-who’s-my-primary-English-teacher [opps melalut].

Then he asked about my interests. I answered music. What kind? Mostly rock and rolling. A bit of jazz… maybe [Abah la ni]. A mixture of evergreen songs [Abah & Mak in arms pengaruh]. Gamelan [hehe... UTP's unique curriculum to thank].

He surprised me with his in-depth and deep appreciation of music. He’s enthralled by the sounds basically. He used to frequent bars and such establishments in London just so to experience the many sounds of music [and I was transfixed with visualizing him going in and out of such places]. He described the colourful sounds that a jazz combo fuses, each instrument contributing its own distinct layer of musical fantasy. Perghhh… It’s true actually, if you bother to dissect each layer carefully. And there were other cultural infused music shows found any which turn you go in London. It sounded superbly interesting, since it differs from the musical experiences you get from general music culture.

To him, the best way to enjoy music was either live or… old-school piring hitam. Abah has one [I don't know if it still is working] and a gazzillion piring hitams stored in one of the cabinets. According to En Amir, such memoribilia could land a fortune, since it’s considered… antique. And I forgot to ask Abah if he’s so kind in selling his beloved collection to a friend of En Amir To En Amir, piring hitam’s the best replication of live music that humans can ever achieve. Despite the technological advancement of nowadays, it sure cannot surpass the sound quality of piring hitam. I have yet to verify his claim [Oh Abah, di manakah Abah mahu set up your piring hitam? Kakak mahu dengar].

He continued "Of all the singers, who has the best voice? To your opinion?" Ulpppp… "I don’t know la En Amir, M Nasir?" "Hmm… My wife kan, dia tak minat sangat singers Mat Salleh ni, dia prefer non-English speakers nyanyi in English… Dulu saya pernah bawa dia ke konsert Julio Englasias [spelling], kalau dia nyanyi, memang romantik". Wow. OK. Got to admit he has that fine masculine yet geli2-romantic kinda voice. Haha. I kinda prefer husky, raspy, on-the-verge-of-sakit-tekak-voice. Something like Edwin McCain, the one who sang I’ll Be and I Could Not Ask for More. Or somewhat a gentler tone, like Mr John Mayer. I guess the best part to note about a singer’s vocal cords is the way they project feeling into the song. Which is the only reason I can listen to Switchfoot. Yep. Definitely. We both agreed that a song without feelings is not a song at all.

He loves musica irama Malaysia, due to its poetic lyrics. He actually reeled off one such song verse to me. And it was… beautiful!! The depth of sorrow was evident on the way the words were strung together. Not many geniuses nowadays could pull off such play of words [hence the neverending mass production of pop song verses]. Dah la tak poetic, typical. Too sterile. It doesn’t play with your emotions at all. Like most products of this era, everything is put to production at high speeds, and we tend to not take time to actually listen. Music is art, and it’s dying. Hehe.

I told him I could play some musical instruments. He promptly asked "What?" "Clarinet." And he has one of his own in his car, at that moment!! Cettt… I wished I’d knew sooner. To him, clarinet has one of the most sincere and simple sound, if compared to other musical instrument. Yeah right. The sound coming out of it is pretty basic if compared to other woodwind instruments. It’s a pretty versatile instrument too. Abah, Mak and Ika can play the guitar, Umar, Abah and Ika is on the piano, while Arif and me harbour a dream to bang on the drums [mana la nak taruk drumset kat umah ni?]. Why am I not playing the guitar too? I have three teachers to learn from at home [je]. I tried. Ika says I’m hopeless, Mak doesn’t have the time and energy, while Abah… I’m a bit scared to learn things from him, since he puts ridiculous expectations on us. Haha.

Wow. This is just on the music conversation that I had with En Amir. Belum lagi on photography. And writing. We were oblivious towards the night’s happenings actually. Haha. But it was good to have a different perspective on dull matters. I actually enjoyed the whole conversation ;).