Merdeka Reflections

This year's Merdeka Day came in timely for me to do a reflection on Malaysia. Two more weeks and I'm off to start the next detour lap for my life journey, this time out of South East Asia. It's been two years since I've relocated back to Malaysia and how time flies. It was an enlightening experience for me during these two years as I embraced the true identity within me and being in place where I truly felt being at home, although I don't own a property to stay as of yet. It's home because I'm born and have my childhood bred in Malaysia. It's home simply because I'm Malaysian.

This year's 31st was not auspiciously placed as it was marred by the school principal's racist remark incident. A counterweight reaction was launched by Namewee using another of his videos, citing that he's riding on the band-wagon of anti-racism. Every year we find new reasons to hate the country. And they are easy to find. The list of complains can outrun the Great Wall of China. Every year passes by dishearteningly for those who have high aims for the country but there are still reasons to love and cheer for the Jalur Gemilang too. Let's look beyond the morons that incite racism, the political gimmicks and corrupted policemen. The soul and radiance of Malaysia rests not on these problems but on the rakyat and the culture that we have. That's what I love about Malaysia - It's the people, traditions and the lifestyle that we have. The makcik that sells nasi lemak. The splatterings of Manglish containing the rojaks of all sorts of languages together. The mamaks that open 24hrs for socialization and catching up. The kampung houses. The hawker stalls. Proton cars everywhere. You can't replicate those anywhere else in the world. We need no 1Malaysia slogans to unite the country. All we need is for the usual inciters to shut it up and do nothing more. The rakyat can very well manage themselves.

The grass always looks greener at the other side. But when you step to the other side, you realised that it's not that much greener after all compared to the previous one that you had just stepped. I don't believe there's any spot in this world that is totally green without spots. There'll always be crooks, criminals, politics, morons and self-destructing policies in every country. We are human afterall. Even the American Dream was looked upon as a curse by Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Anyplace can be a hellhole or a safehaven depending on how you perceive it. I believe for every hellhole which you perceive you are in, you can make a heaven out of one corner it if you ever want to be the difference in it.

Scouting Ahead

All the preparations are completed and all that is left now is just to get my butt on the plane on the 17th of September. Meanwhile, there are still other things to settle. There's a whole mass of books and items that I have to shift from PJ to Singapore and this means a car trip down south after Merdeka Day. I've just settled the final step of formal preparations, that is to pay and obtain the flight ticket and I did that by driving down to Imbi on last Thursday. The date is getting nearer to the Invasion of Britania but not near enough for it to be terrifying.

I've also received an introductory letter from the Leeds Law Society and it seems that they're a very outgoing student body there. A lot of trips and seminars are organised and the highlight seems to be a Paris weekend outing in November which costs 120 pounds for 3 days 2 nights! Woohoo! I can't wait to join that one! So I went to check out and do some scouting at the Leeds University Student Union website and wow, that is one union you don't wanna be messing with. The website is impressive and with over 300 clubs and societies, the union itself is even a registered society in public. Very organised and official, compared to the ones we have here. I kinda have in mind on what to join over there other than Law Society. Of course CF there is known as Christian Union (CU) and the other groups that I may see myself joining are like History Soc, Rock Soc, Punk Soc, Band Soc (Rock Performance!) and MASSoc(Malaysian/Singaporean Soc). Haha..imagine a Society dedicated to the appreciation of Rock and Punk! That's something you'll never find in this part of the world. I found a range of other 'interesting' groups like Food Club (Will I have free food if I join? haha), Socialist Students (no joke, they are serious about advocating socialism, democratic style), Revolution (anti-capitalism group), Unite Against Fascism (alright! let's keep out any future Hitlers and Mussolinis from hitting the shores of England!) and Atheist society (today's club agenda is disproving the existence of God?..hehe). I'll have to go there and see for myself which are the more active groups.

One thing about the Brits is that every society's opening ceremony seems to be in a party club, it's free drinks with DJ music etc. That's what they call social night over there for the fresher's week..haha. Meanwhile, I better prepare myself by equipping some relevant knowledge of Brit lifestyle to avoid any unwanted culture shocks!

Costly Failure

Woeful penalty by Nani

These are the kinds of nonsensical play and results that can prove costly to the outcome at the end of the season. United screwed up for the second season in the running for their second game. They lost against lowly Burnley last season and look where the points had costed them. It is already bad enough with Chelski bulldozing through with double 6-0 wins and even Arsenal and Newcastle are joining suite. The Magpies may be disposed by United in the first game, but they came roaring back against a high-flying Villa in St James Park. Wigan were totally no match for a “Playstation team” Chelsea and I guess their fans must have felt that their money’s worth of home matches went up in flames in recent weeks. They were spanked heavily with two losses at home – 10 goals against and still no reply from them.

It was thought that United might have some momentum after sweeping the Magpies aside. It was a week of celebrating the longetivity and experience of veterans Scholes and Giggs who had combined to tear Newcastle apart. Scholes in particular was pulling the strings in midfield and his evergreen form looks set to continue against Fulham when he pulled the trigger from long range to put United one goal up within 10 minutes. Afterthat, United did pretty much little to pop in the second goal despite dominating possession. Fulham looked like a rejuvenated team at the second half and some sloppy defending from Vidic and Evans allowed Fulham to equalise. It’s a schoolboy error in marking and from then on, looked like a contest that could go either way. I thought that United escaped with a stroke of fortune when Hangeland bundled the ball into his own net. And the deal looks even more set with a penalty conceded by Fulham not long after the own goal. Lo and behold! It was Nani who stepped up and I already had a sneaky feeling that he will squandered it. And I was RIGHT. I can’t understand why in the world is Nani taking it when there are a whole lot of other candidates particularly Ryan Giggs and Berbatov. Even Owen would be a better choice. Nani just has too much ‘rage’and ‘explosiveness’ in him to take it coolly and calmly. With the failure to make it 3-1, the game is too close for comforts. In minutes to come, United will come to regret that missed penalty and it will be a costly one as they look back. In a sweep of ironies that characterised the whole game, Hangeland scored at the end too, this time to equalise against Man Utd. United looked resigned by then and they would have realised that it was a silly two points dropped.

Chelski are starting to run away at the top with such a superior goal difference so early and it’s already looking like a massive chore to chase after them. The United defence has really gotta buck up especially with the absence of Ferdinand. Not only that, there is a desperate need for Wayne Rooney to find his form soon. Man Utd certainly has to get this Fulham draw out of the system quick and hope that the Chelski machine grinding could come to a halt soon. Otherwise, it’s a going to be a long long drawn-out chase. Meanwhile, the field players gotta make sure that Nani never takes another penalty.

Farewell Friends

One by one they flew to the States. I'm indeed fortunate to have an outing with 3 of them (Lerdie, Maddie and Emily) before their voyage abroad. Emily came down on the 10th of August and were joined by me and Maddie who was already in Kepong with her mother's family. The iBan apparently wanted to do something from Lowyat so we went to the Bukit Bintang area for dinner and then also to walk around while waiting for Lerdie to be back home since Emily will be staying at her house. On the next day, we met up at Bangsar and I arrived kinda early with Maddie since I had to move my car early from my parking spot to avoid kena saman. The other two ladies in the house were still in dreamland, so we proceeded in having McD breakfast first and as usual, Maddie spammed herself on some hashbrowns with the same iBan unshamefulness..lol. We had a light lunch at Delicious in Bangsar Village and we later proceeded to Mid-Valley where we hang around until it's time for Maddie to leave since she needed to take the KTM to Nilai.

The remaining 3 of us then proceeded to Sunway Pyramid for Emily to meet her hometown friend before he flies to the US. Dinner was at Sushi King and by the time we left Sunway, it was late at night but it ain't over yet. There's still mamak supper time with Charmaine and we got her from her place. By the time we finished chatting and stuff, it was almost 3am when Lerdie returned back to her house, a record breaking time even for me to send someone home. The last day was Emily's last and we rounded it up with a lunch/karaoke session at Red Box. Anyways, her train was delayed for a good 2 hrs before it arrived and had we known, we wouldn't have left our sing K session that early..haha.

On Friday, I went to collect my Visa which was successfully approved (yay!) and met up with the iBan at KLCC. She also created a record of 2.5 hrs late from the meeting time of 3pm where she's punished with paying for the parking fees after 3pm. We went to 1 Utama afterthat to waste some time until her aunty returns home. I bet she can't believe that her last night in Malaysia was wtinessed by me..haha. Oh well, she wanted taxi anyways.

On the next day was the first of the flights to American land. Lerdie had a preliminary look on the order of things to come when we send off Maddie on Saturday. Since Maddie's parents were already in America, we were a little surprise to see her standing alone when we arrived because the the rest of the Inti gang had not arrived. Later at night was Charmaine's turn to fly and I spend the weekend at Nilai since it's quite costly to go back and forth plus there's church on Sunday. Monday was Lerdie's day and it was time to bid the hamster adieu on her journey to Texas. Maybe she'll meet Sandy the squirrel over there..lol. The latest person whom I've made just in the nick of a time to send off was Emily last Wednesday. Next monday will be Karyn and Karen and on the first week of September is Eden. The thing about these folks leaving is that they are going to be abroad for a good 3 years. This is unlike me who will only be abroad for 1 year and at most 2 years if I ever decide to complete my BAR exams in the UK. So, even after I return back to Malaysia, these gals will still be studying in America. The next time that we meet, we may not even recognise each other because of the changes and each of us would have been shaped by the places that we are at. Currently, it feels a little weird not having them around since they will usually be joining for makan gatherings and movie outings. Watching them settling down in the US made me anticipate even more excitingly for my coming flight to Europe.

In any case, I've appreciated the friendships that were forged during the two years we have at Nilai. I shall miss all the great laughters, late nights, funny conversations and crazy stuffs that we do during outings. Farewell, my friends in America. We shall meet again 3 years later to catch up on lost times :)

UK Visa Application

I went to submit my Visa Application a few days ago on Tuesday and I find it a rather amusing experience..lol. On Monday, I was scrambling already to prepare all the neccessary documents like photo with white background and the bank pass book updated. We had to submit online one form and print and sign it and also another appendix form to be filled up by pen. Basically the UK Visa application is focused on two factors - unconditional offer from the university in the form of the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) number and evidence that you have funds to maintain yourself in the country. Anything else is basic protocol like your personal details. Even medical history or checkup is a non-compulsory requirement. So, I would say money and confirmation of being a student are at the top of the UK Border guards mind so as to alleviate their irritation of granting a potential illegal immigrant a visa. They are so strict regarding the funds that even money in your parent's account will not suffice and you would have to prove relationship with parents with a translated birth certificate since our Malaysian birth certs are in Malay.

I made an appointment at 10.30am from the internet and I found out on the day of the visa document submission that I'm indeed both glad to made the appointment AND arrive early on time. Firstly, people who don't make appointment get the last priority in being attended and at the same time being late is equals to not making an appointment. And to top things up with the British prim and properness, it's the time when you reach the security guard and NOT the time when they attended to your application. As such, it doesn't matter that they don't attend to you at 10.30am sharp but they expect you to be there sitting and waiting for them even though they may only call you at 11.30am. The fact that one is not there waiting at the appointed time means that he's late and will have to punished with a last number on the queue although it's not his turn yet. Oh yea, and not coming too early also as the guards won't let you in until it's 10 minutes before time. The office entrance is locked by a keypad security, so one cannot waltz into there unless the security guard thinks that you're qualified enough. Anticipating such particularities and specifications,, I was resolved not to be late so as not to get into big trouble or making a bad first impression with the ang mohs in case I get interviewed.

I started off the journey like more than an hour before appointed time but the crazy KL jams and a wrong estimation of the position of Wisma MCA (the place where it is located) nearly costed me the time beyond 10.30am. I parked at the Bank of China parking lot and it's quite an interesting parking place. It has this cool pulley platform to arrange cars, something like a retro Japanese technology. So with the platform system, it is possible to line up 3 rows of cars parked behind one another because the platform pulley will shift the cars accordingly whenever one car wants to come out.

Anyways, I did make it on time and I found out that they even printed a list to take note of all applicant's appointment time of the day. There was a huge crowd there and it didn't look to be completed at anytime soon. I was supposed to meet up with Vincent there but I couldn't see him around when I was there. So, I thought that he had already did his and went off. Anyways, I discovered that he came in later and his appointment time was only at 11.15am. Nicholas also came along but unfortunately, he missed his time so he had to wait quite a long time before he got called. Before submitting, I was kinda worried that I might miss out some documents but the officer in charge there seemed to accept all without commenting much so I assume that all is in order. After the submission, I had to wait a while before going to an interview room for a biometric test. I had to stare at cameras and all 10 fingerprints had to be scanned, not just the thumbprints. Then the officer interviewing me shot some quick questions like what is your name, date of birth and surname in a very fast manner, almost as if I were to stutter a little, they would suspect that I'm lying about my identity...lol. That's roughly the process off the application and I'm terribly hoping and praying that all the supporting documents are valid enough for me to get the visa on first try and not pay another RM976 to try the second shot.

After all the application process are done, the three of us went to Mid-Valley to chill out and we also met one of our good old ex-classmate Michael there. I'm quite relieved personally to sort out the visa application already and it's now just a matter of waiting for some good news hopefully. Looks like I'm not going out of the country at any point soon since my passport and my other original documents are held by the British High Commission for analysis..haha.

Being a tourist in Singapore and KL

When you make a place your habitat for 8 years, chances are you tend not to take notice of the touristy spots or attractions unless you're bringing someone else from outside the country. I've been rather busy for the past few days, so I've finally found some time to blog about my trip down south. So, last week, I decided to have something like a road trip with Eden and Karen and we were later joined by Charmaine who's already in the southern island already. We started off our journey at Seremban and took the usual route that I take to Singapore on Sunday evening.

Monday was dedicated in going to Sentosa. As far as I know I'm bored of that place, since visiting it once or twice is enough for one's amusement. The last time I visited it was almost 5 to 6 years ago and now I've decided to take another shot in visiting it with the opening of the new resort and some renovation in certain parts of the island. We took the train from Vivo City into Sentosa and I must say, I'm rather impressed with the resort although it's not fully opened yet. Of course there was Universal Studios but we didn't go in because the entrance fee is a whopping S$66. I managed to enter the casino for free because I hold a Malaysian passport but the other 3 gals couldn't go in because 2 were under 21 and another one had a Singaporean passport. At first we were going around randomly and seeing the attractions on the outside but later in the afternoon, we decided to go for the ticket package which cost around S$38 or so. The package included Images of Singapore, Merlion, Simulation Ride and some Fun Ride thing on two wheels.

On Tuesday, we started off by heading to City Hall to go to Funan IT Mall. We were just in time there to catch the launch of Starcraft 2 and since this is a sequel that people have been waiting for 10 over years, the queue is just crazy! I do want to get the collector's edition but it seems that they are selling it at a higher price in Singapore. Maybe I'll order one from amazon.co.uk instead..haha. We then continued on to the padang and the old Supreme court and at this time of the year, it is the Singaporean National Day celebration, so the decorations and seats are all up. We proceeded on to Esplanade and then headed back to Raffles City wanting to eat Soup Spoon. But alas, it was closed down for renovation and we settled for Mos Burger instead. We proceeded next in visiting more of the areas around downtown like CHIJMES and the old SJI. Next up was East Coast Park since Charmaine wanted to meet her cousin in that area. I still remembered the old way through Marine Parade to walk to East Coast..haha. While we there, we took time to enjoy the little sandy area which acts like a mini beach at ECP. We wanted to cycle but couldn't rent a bike in the end because the shops were closing already. We had dinner in one of the ECP food court and then dessert was at Udders ice-cream where I get to makan the fantastic Rum Raisins ice-cream which had a strong alcoholic rummy taste. The other flavour I got was the Strawberry which tasted like the wild natural ones..lol.

The final day of tour kicks off at Bugis where there are cheap deals for the girls to ponder over. Although we missed Soup Spoon the day before, it seemed to make a comeback when I discovered to my surprise that there was one at Bugis Junction. Soup Spoon Meals come in big portions, so apparently, a combination of some Singaporean breakfast not too long ago and the meal causes an overload in the stomach, giving me a fuzzy feeling everytime I walked. Afterthat we proceeded on in touring around Orchard Road where we later met Karen's cousin over in Somerset. Charmaine had to leave early for her family dinner so I brought the other two gals to eat Botak Jones at Somerset. We met up with Charmaine again at the MRT station where we then went to Boat Quay to enjoy the night scenery there. Lol, that's something I've not really done while I was staying there. After hanging out enough over there, we proceeded on to the Marina Sands Barrage, the other resort other than Sentosa. This place looks futuristic though, with the three buildings and one ark-looking vessel on top of the three. We were joking that it looked like Singapore is preparing for 2012 where the "barrage" on top will detach itself wants the flood water reaches that height. Anyways, the building also reminded me of the citadel in Mass Effect, especially when it is seen from the distance. Some kind of funky feeling when you see it from far. We went into the building and it's just awesome inside with the architecture and lighting! We took a cab back home later because it was already 11.45pm plus when we reached and by the time we finished, it was nearly one. It was a fantastic way to wrap up the Singapore tour as the next day we would be going back in the morning.

On Thursday, we took the afternoon bus and reached Seremban in the evening. We joined the Inti folks for a midnight movie in Mid-Valley and we watched Inception. It's an awesome movie and it reminded me alot of the nonsensical dreams that Maddie had..haha. Now, if only I could enter into people's dreamland..lol. The last weekday Friday was dedicated to going to some spots in KL. We started with going to KL tower and wanted to go to the top but in the end we didn't because the entrance fee is an atrocious RM38. This is a big difference from the last time I went there where the entrance fee is at most RM10. So we went to the Muzium Negara instead and it was a pleasant surprise to me as the place is very well renovated from the time I visted it 15 years ago. The entrance fee to Muzium Negara was a mere RM2 with another RM2 for parking and I felt it's quite worth it with the amount of knowledge stored in there. We finished off the night by having dinner at Ninja Joe (Eden and Karen's first time) and some jalan-jalan around Tropicana City Mall. Oh well, that concludes a superb week of being a tourist around two major cities..haha. I'll certainly want to pay Penang a visit for one grand makan outing for the last time before flying off xD