Diary: Presentation, Red Carpet, High Tea

This week there are only 3 days worth mentioning, which is Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You might have noticed that my blog now plays music. Thanks to Cavell for teaching how to do it and making me love My Chemical Romance. I’m so hooked to Mama. It had a little a mixture of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody in it. Thanks Cavell for the music link and for bringing back ROCK into my life.

Friday was the ‘D’ day for me. It was my BIG presentation with Disney. I was a nervous wreck couldn’t do much work the whole day as I just kept thinking about it. Padma and Halmy came over for lunch at Pelita and they course took a ‘mick’ at me as I was smartly dressed on a Friday. After lunch I headed to Isetan to get some Disney cookies, I’ve watched Apprentice and you will know that effort in presentation always carries some marks and I wanted to reflect it. I wanted the job. Lester began by giving the company profiles and I did the Disney presentation. I was nervous and I must say it did show in my presentation luckily Lester helped me out.

The lady I believe was quite impressed with the presentation as I provided her fact she didn’t know about Disney herself. She asked me if I wanted a job in Disney Japan? Exciting in it. I already can hear the beat to Teriyaki Boys already… Fast and Furiyooooo

Shahbaz was in town to present 2007 budget to the Directors. After his presentation we left to Kinokuniya. He wanted to buy his comic books and I wanted to pick my Harlem Coben Book, Fade Away. I had to special order the book, as it was no longer in their stock. After hanging out with Shahbaz I headed to Bangsar Shopping Centre Chillies to meet up with Anusha and Farah. We had a small meal and we talked for a while. BSC had already done their decorations for Christmas.

Saturday I attended EH! 20 Yang Anggun Party. I got an invite courtesy of Shari from the Blue Inc Group. The event was held at Espanda. It’s been a really long time since I entered Espanada or Emporioum for those who knew it back in the day. The interior decoration to me felt like it was a big living room with drapes hung from the ceiling and large comfy sofas. There were loads of local celebrities and fashion designers at the event. The whole place was swamped with HOT Malay chicks. It was like kryptonite to me. I had extra tickets so I brought Rahiza along with me. It was nice to see for a change Shari working hard. Hahahaha…

On Sunday I attended mass at Divine Mercy Shah Alam. The church was so beautiful. I loved the way they did the Mary’s grotto it felt so peaceful. They had no place to light candles, what they had was one of those mechanical ones. You put in a Ringgit and an electrical candle would light up. After mass we headed to Hotel Grand Blue Wave at Shah Alam for high tea. After high tea we headed home. I was too lazy to do any chores so I only ironed 2 shirts for work and I lazed about. I must get around to do it.

Diary: Bday, Bash, Arrival

We celebrated Padma’s birthday at Decanter on Wednesday. We had dinner and we started playing 7 diamonds. The gals came later they lit up the birthday cake and started to sing from the driveway to where we sat. Padma was definitely taken aback by this. After dinner we had to leave the gals abruptly as we had plans to go watch James Bond: Casino Royale. The movie was awesome. After the movie we had tea at Pelita before heading home.

On Thursday Farah came over for a presentation with Jo. We had tea after that and I found out the ladies weren’t happy to see us leave abruptly and they thought some of the guy’s behaviour were rude. I honestly think the whole incident was blown out of proposition. Luckily I was in clear as you guys knew how a gentlemen I am when it comes to the ladies… hahahaha.

On Friday I meet up with Padma for tea and we discuss the matter at hand. It was lil sad to hear the gals were quite upset about Padma’s party and we tried o come up with conclusion how this could happen. Besides that we talked about organizing another charity event at ‘Our Home’. We wanted to celebrate the joys of Christmas with them. We plan to take it one step further we plan to organize a X’mas party. This of course takes bit money. I thinking of collecting a secret bag. Those who would like to donate please contact me please every little helps.

On Saturday it was the hunt for my Disney tie, to no avail did I find any tie. In frustration I did something I’m not proud of. I went shopping. I got a new book some toiletries, contacts. Mum didn’t cook and Andrew was hungry at home so I ordered 2 Triple Plays from Chillies to go. We had a male bonding moment I think. Later in the evening we headed down to Klang to receive Aunt Irene and David from London. They will be down for 2 weeks. So I’ll definitely play tourist sometime this week… gosh there goes my weekends.

James Bond: Casino Royale

The movie opened on Nov 16 but I and some of the privilege others got a chance to catch a private movie screening on Nov 15 before the whole world went to see it. The security for this was ridiculous all camera phones were to be confiscated and you had to undergo metal detection.

As for the movie the screenplay for the movie was EXCELLENT but the actor was no James Bond. He lacked the suaveness of Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan. I would definitely recommend to others to go and watch it. It’s worth your RM10. The lady in the movie was also lovely to look at. I always wondered where do they get them, you never hear about them at all and you will never hear about them again. Strange don’t you think? The actions in the movie were top class from the beginning of the movie to the very end. Hats off to the director. I must commend the director for successfully bringing out the raw essence of Bond to celluloid.

Diary: Its been a long time

Hi Guys,

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. Many things have happen since the raya break. First I must say hitchhiking from Tanjung Malim to Ipoh & Melaka has been such a memorable thing for me and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. The only thing I regret is that I didn’t take any pictures. My camera is not to par and I really need a new one. I went on the road to break out from my daily life routine. Its also amazing the people that let you ride on their transportation. They all have a story of their own that they would like to share. I’ve been contemplation hitchhiking to Penang. Now that would be an adventure don’t you think.

One of my closest office colleague Winnie recently tight the know with her long time beau. She had her reception at Pearl International Hotel. It was a very nice wedding I meet a lot of ex colleague’s and some old flings.

I’ve been keeping work a lil laid back due to lack of motivation but I guess the negativity has pilled up and it burst up on my face I’ve got some problem s now that I need to straighten out. Besides that the company has taken more stringent guidelines so there isn’t any room for hanky-panky anymore. I think its good but I also think it limits the creativity of the team.

There is a new project that I’m quite hyped about I’m bidding for Disney’s mobile in Malaysia. I really do hope I can get it but I don’t think management is quite too keen on it. Last week I had two different lives. On Friday I was at Shang-ri La Hotel. I was a guest of AMP and Mindshare at the Perodua Radio Air Show. It was a star-studded event. I sat with Mindshare people, which consist of Sheila, Vicky, Jo Yau, Anusha, Sue and Fiona… Yes they were all ladies. We had flowing Moet through the night with a so-so Chinese cuisine. There were performances from Reshmonu, Lo, Fauziah Latif, Pop Shuvit & Yogi B and Nachitra. I got my album signed by Yogi and the Gang. After the award show we headed to Rum Jungle and we danced till 3 in the morning. Felt like a celebrity

The next day I woke up at 8am to get ready to go to the orphanage. I was fresh I had breakfast at SFC and I meet Padma at his office. His lovely wife was there as well. The gang meet up and we left to Kajang at about 11. I sat at the same car with Jo, Sue & Anusha. I spent the journey speaking to Anusha. She was quite insightful.

Our Home was the name of the place it had 35 kids with mixture of boys and girls we came with KFC. They were lovely kids all wanting attention. The moment I stepped in a 4 year old boy hold my hand and smiled at me. It could be because I was carrying the chicken or he just wanted the attention. The kids sat on the floor to eat their meal. The said their prayers before they ate. Something I used to do as well when I was a child, now I think it’s embarrassing. I sat on the floor with them and I shared a meal with them. They were smart kids.


After lunch with the kids we headed back to Menara Millennium. The journey back again I picked Anusha’s brain, we exchanged stories, ex.’s it felt good. The four of us, (Jo, Sue Anusha & myself) later went for team at Ali Maju. We talked more then we left. I took a short nap, which turned to deep slumber. I only woke up the next day for mass.

Lunch I had it at Sharul’s open house. It was in a secluded place in Ampang. It had the best view of KL I had ever seen. After lunch I headed home to do my basic Sunday chores. In the evening I headed to Maxis Sports TV launch at the Legends Bar. I mingled till about 11pm where Lester and I headed to Finnegan’s to see Liverpool get their assed kicked by Arsenal. Sorry guys. Liverpool Sucks

CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAYS & MAYBE FOR A SHORT STORY

Happy Holidays Guys,

Happy Deepavali & Selamat Hari Raya to those who celebrate it. I'll be away to find my own adventure and solace. I'll tell you about it once I'm back (hopefully....hehehe). Please dont bother reaching me as I plan to leave my HP Number behind. I'll have a new one while I'm on the road.

Till we meet again my dear friends....


God Be With You,
MArk

Diary: Buka Puasa

This year I didn’t enjoy any ‘Buka Puasa’ buffet function. I had more fun with the Bazaar. At the fraction of the buffet price there was soo much for one to choose from. This week so me doing the buffet thing as well. It began on Tuesday when we entertained Maxis at Shrooms. It was soo packed and congested that at the end of the day by the time u get in line u kind of lost of your appetite.

Wednesday was Celcom, I was not initially on the guest list but there was some cancellation on Celcom side and I was back on. But I choose not to go on the count of pride and principle. If I wasn’t good enough to be on the list initially I wasn’t good enough now. Thursday was my favourite of them lot. It was dinner with Primes Sports Padma and Halmy at Decanter. Our new gateway from town. Great ambience, Great food and a Great cup of Joe. Friday was AKN’s ‘Buka Puasa’ at Armada it was the same ol same ol, was really disappointed though very less choice and the place an again too crowded. Talk about commercialising the Ramadhan month.

Work wise has been getting the heat from Lester. He wants us all to buck up and not to be complacent. Well I’m transferring some of the heat to my team and some of them don’t like it well too bad. Well that’s the part of growing up in it. I’ve been contemplating another line of job but I wonder what. Maybe join ESPN…. Let see what next year brings me. Got to consult my Feng Shui…..

Diary: Boring Weekend

The week was ok tremendous amount of meeting but nothing much happening at the work front. I need a break from work. Away from it all. But due to financial reasons I’m stuck in KL. It amazes me that people in debt can still have a holiday, why don’t you pay my money back. Don’t miss use my courtesy I have extended to you. I’m honestly sick to hear your excuses on how you don’t have any money but in reality week after week you go to the clubs to drown yourself in liquor. Where is this money coming from?

The weekend I had the lazy bug in me, I slept half the day away and I watched Miami Vice. Boy was that a crappy movie. The quality of it was like watching Cops on TV. I guess the director wanted to go with a reality kind of feel but the outcome was horrendous. Gong Li was sexy though the only good thing about the movie. Bad Boys 2 was still much better.

It was mums birthday on Saturday she didn’t want a big fuss on it so we just had a mini celebration at home. After mass we got a bucket of KFC and a litre of coke. Mum and dad drank my Dewars while I had Tequila Rose. For those who had not tried it’s like baileys but its strawberry flavour. I was surprised to get a call from Yoges; he wanted me to join him at a club near Bar Savaghn and by the looks of it Melman and the gang were there. Sadly I couldn’t meet up with them.

I was at Fiona’s house warming party there was loads of people there and Fiona didn’t want us to leave. It was bad enough that we showed up only 10. They had liquor of course but I wasn’t really in the mood for drinks. We played charade and that was soo much fun. I must say I meet some nice ladies there and there is one that caught my eye… We only left at 1.30 in the morning. Kawan Lama’s Corner to have a meal, we watched how England struggle with Macedonia. We headed home; I wasn’t in a sleeping mode so I was channel surfing when I noticed that RTM 2 was showing Arul. I stayed to watch it till 3 in the morning. Sunday in not worth mentioning…..

Diary:....

The week has been very kind to me, not much work just loads of meeting. Now I have 3 Assistant Managers, Logen Daryl and Eiena. Most of my jobs have been delegated to them now I know how it field to be the boss... hehehehe. But that doesn’t mean I have nothing to do I have so much of legal things to work out which is quite tedious. To top it all off I have a jerk from Universal Music who wants to sue my company for infringement of content. That is a very touch and I’m working closely with Lester for his guidance.

This month I’m also quite low on finance as its both my mum and my brothers birthday. Gifts to buy… Sigh how will I manage X’mas this year. I was supposed to take Padma and Halmy out for a bukak puasa function on Friday but it got cancelled. Since pay had already kicked in I decide to head to my DVD man to pass my list to him. He as always was very much happy to see. I headed to ‘pasar malam’, I guess it was about 8 when I went there all the food was gone there was nothing to buy must be because of the ramadhan month.

I had a restless sleep my mattress needs to be changed, was thinking of the Dunlop mattress I saw in Midvalley. I wonder if I should get it? I woke up at 10 and like normal I was watching my routine cartoons and about 1 I left home to collect my DVD’s I did side track to Citibank to pay my bills. When will I be rid of the curse of Credit Card? After collecting My DVD’s I headed to Best Denki to get my mum her birthday present. She wanted a blender for her birthday. So I got one that did everything. It was juice, it was a blender and a grinder and it also came with an additional jug just in case my mum broke the other one. Near best Denki, Isetan was having a pillow sale I got one. I noticed that u couldn’t test pillow if it fits your head fine. You just have to buy then blindly.

All of this shopping and I was feeling a lil peckish, I looked at my watch and it was 4pm, where the time go. I headed home, mum; dad and Andrew were heading to mass followed with some church dinner. I would have at least 4 hours of alone time. I was starving by 5 so I headed to Bazaar Ramdhan. I bought nasi briyani johor with ‘ayam masak merah’. Boy was that good. I also got this ‘kuih’, which was like white on top and green at the bottom. It was like jelly but not. I took an extra long hot shower. Cleaned the house a bit and pretended I was staying alone and started to watch some DVD. I watched 3 movies back to back. X-Men: The Last Stand, 16 Blocks and Edison Force. All good movies in each way.

Sunday was as usual, I headed to St John’s, did my weekly chores. Watched Schuey beat the crap out of Alonso and Fisichella. It was an amazing race but now I wonder if it was rigged. It’s too good to be true. Alonso and Shuey are tied in points and there are just 2 races to go. But I must say I’m excited to see the next race in Suzuka, Japan.

Superwoman

All the woman friends I know love this song. Some know it by heart. Some swear by it. The songs made famous by Karyn White. One of my dear ex-girlfriend loves this song and can sing it anywhere. Recently I was given Jaclyn Victors new album and the 1st song of the track was Superwoman. She brought her rendition to it, which was quite lovely. I do wonder is this an anthem for all ladies? Anyway thought I would share with you the lyrics to the song for those who still are un familiar to it.

Early in the morning

I put breakfast at your table

And make sure that your coffee

Has its sugar and cream

Your eggs are over easy

Your toast done lightly

All that's missing is your morning kiss

That used to greet me

Now you say the juice is sour

It used to be so sweet

And I can't help but to wonder

If you're talking 'bout me

We don't talk the way we used to talk

It's hurtin' so deep

I've got my pride,

I will not cry

But it's makin' me weak

I'm not your superwoman

I'm not the kind of girl that you can let down

And think that everything's okay

Boy, I am only human

This girl needs more than occasional

Hugs as a token of love from you to me, ooh, baby

I fought my way through the rush hour

Trying to make it home just for you

I want to make sure that your dinner

Will be waiting for you

But when you get there you just tell me

You're not hungry at all

You said you'd rather read the paper

And you don't want to talk

You like to think that I'm just crazy

When I say that you changed

I'm convinced I know the problem

You don't love me the same

You're just going through the motions

And you're not being fairI've got my pride,

I will not cry

Still I can't help but care

I'm not your superwoman (Oh, no, no)

I'm not the kind of girl that you can let down

And think that everything's okay

Boy, I am only human (I'm only human)

This girl needs more than occasional

Hugs as a token of love from you to me

I'm not your superwoman (Hoo, hoo, hoo, ooh, ooh, hoo)

I'm not the kind of girl that you can let down (Hey)

And think that everything's okay (Don't let me down, don't you let me down)

Boy, I am only human (I'm only human, yeah)

This girl needs more than occasional

Hugs as a token (Ooh, ooh) of love from you to me

Oh, baby, look into the corners of your mind

I'll always be there for you through good and bad times

But I can't be that superwoman that you want me to be

I'll give my everlasting love if you'll return love to me
I'm not your superwoman (Oh, no, oh, no)

I'm not the kind of girl that you can let down

And think that everything's okay

Boy, I am only human (I'm only human)

This girl needs more than occasional

Hugs as a token of love from you to me (Oh, no)

If you feel it in your heart

And you understand me

Stop right where you are

Everybody sing along with me

Hoo, hoo, hoo, ooh, ooh, hoo

Hoo, hoo, hoo, ooh, ooh, hoo

I'm the kind of girl that can treat you so sweet

But you got to realize that you got to be sweeter to me, oh, ho, ho

Hoo, hoo, hoo, ooh, ooh, hoo

Hoo, hoo, hoo, ooh, ooh, hooI need love

I need just your love

I'm not your superwoman (Oh, no)

I'm not the kind of girl that you can let down (You can let down)

And think that everything's okayBoy, I am only human (I'm only human)

This girl needs more than occasional (Hey, hey, hey, hey)

Hugs as a token of love from you to me
I'm not your superwoman

Diary: This Weeks Update

I celebrate Christmas twice a year? How and why you ask? Well simple, you know that the actual Christmas Day is the 25th of December? So when do I celebrate the next one. Well I celebrate it when all the TV channels start showing Christmas programmes in September. That’s ok compared when it used to be in June. Don’t u think its weird that the television programming people cant schedule their programmes properly? Just the other day I watched 2 Christmas movies on HBO.

The week has been quite boring, why? Cause I’m quite low on cash so I had to stay at home and watch TV/DVD’s. Besides that I had the urge to make myself drunk but I firmly said no on the grounds I was doing it for the wrong reasons.

As you know Monday was I was busy playing foosball, well on Tuesday It was back too futsal. I didn’t play too much in fear of injury again. The gals from Mindshare were around so I was mucking about with them. Wednesday I attended ESPN and Start Sports convention at Hilton. Astro also jointly advertised it as well. Padma was giving a speech, which was about sponsorship and sports content. I made a lot of potential clients. Through up the whole presentation was wondering if I could apply for a job in ESPN. Did you know Walt Disney own EPSN and Star Sports? Bet you didn’t know that.

Friday was a sad day, that’s the day I broke up with Isma, We had lunch we talked stuff over. After lunch I just wanted to get out of the office immediately but I had to work so I went to Bangsar to meet up with Padma and Halmy. The urge of having something strong was there but I suppressed the feeling. We ended up at Coffee Bean drinking and watching the ladies. I felt empty

Diary: Ramblings of a Broken Heart

There is a Frank Sinatra Song that I relate to this topic. Its called I wish her love. My girlfriend wanted me to marry her, overlooking the fact that she is Malay how could I marry her. What do I have to offer? How do I make a lady happy when i myself am not stable in life?

She went back to her hometown and when she came back she asked me where our relationship was heading too. Well what could I say? I told her the truth it would go as far as it could go. She couldn’t accept that answer. There is a man apparently eager to marry her back to her hometown and her mum is persisting that she considers him. I must say I was taken quite a back with the proposal. Made me step out of my norm box and take a look at my life from a different perspective.

Eiena had a fit when she knew about Isma and me, she said I 'mempermainkan' her. Well did I? To my defence I did explain how the relationship would be and we both agreed that we would just enjoy each other’s company. Deep down I kind of knew that the relationship would head nowhere. Shari had a migraine when I told her about it. So where do I go from here? I’m not too sure back in the day, this would have been a good excuse to get sloshed and drown the problems away. But as you get older you know to well that doesn’t do squat. I feel I need to break out, shout or scream. Or there is another therapy, which I’m thinking about which is a lil girlish, but who the hell cares… What I’m talking about? Shopping.

As in love live I’m not going to say I lost my faith in love and I’ll NEVER love again. That would be ridiculous, as those who know me know I’m made to love somebody. I’m planning to take the dating game into a whole new way. I would like some privacy in the matter as I’m unsure how I’d be doing this yet. But it’ll happen. Best of luck to Isma may she prosper always. God Bless.

Diary: Mourning

The week was bad, as I had to attend 2 funerals to attend. One was my neighbour who passed away because of heart attack. He leaves behind a widow and 3 children. The other wan also a heart attack was a church member He leaves behind a widow and a daughter. Since two of them died of heart attack my mum took the opportunity to drill how I need to take care of myself.

Sunday was Aunt B, Birthday and we celebrated in Klang at this new Chinese restaurant. Food was good too bad the portions were just too small. Andrew, mum & I was still left famished but we didn’t have anything else cause we just weren’t in the mood. I’d like to say I went to bed but I stayed awake I witnessed to much misery for a week so I thought I would treat myself with something uplifting. I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory again. I drifted off on the couch for sometime till much later I dragged my feet back to bed. I know its going to be a tiring Monday.

On Monday morning I had a plan, I would endure the tiring meeting Monday leave sharp 6 and by 9 I’d be in my bed. But whenever I plan stuff like this it never works out like you want it too. Padma and Halmy came over for tea as usual on Monday, we had our normal discussion. Lester was the 1st to leave but I stayed back. Padma invited me to his office in Menara Millennium and I agreed. They shared an office with Mindshare and some of the people I knew there like Jo and Fiona. Been long time since I saw them. But what caught my eye was this beautiful Malay girl called Farah. Nice sweet gal whom you know you can have a conversation with. Something I really look for in a girl these days.

Padma’s place had a foosball so we were playing with it for sometime and I must say we had such fun. We played till 10-ish when Padma said he was hungry and we headed to Decanter a restaurant located near Medan Damansara. It was a restaurant secluded in a housing area. It was a very nice quite chill out place. Which I recommend to those who wants to spend time chilling out to talk with friends or that special one. The restaurant has many signature dishes like their homemade pies and homemade cheesecakes. By the time we finished dinner and I headed home it was already midnight. Took a quick bath and I headed to bed as in 5 hours I need to wake up…..

Diary: Futsal

It’s been like 2 weeks since I’ve blog and there is a perfectly good reason why I have not done so… It’s not entirely about work but it is about an injury I picked up while playing futsal. I was playing the keeper and was trying to keep a shot out unfortunately it was a strong one and my arm kind of extended back the wrong way. Now if you asked me was it bad I would deny it cause the pain has gone but for the past 2 weeks the pain head been unbearable. My 2 loyal friends were Deep Heating Cream and the Salonpas. Obviously I had no mood to report anything although I had much to say.

Last Saturday was AKN Mtech’s Futsal Tournament. I joined as organiser and a team-mate. We came up 2nd in the tournament. Proud of my team especially the girls they really were strong and determined to play. Big Ups to Caroline who sustained 2 major injuries while stopping the ball to getting any close to the goal. It was a great futsal competition. I’ll post some of the pictures when I get them.

Are You Ready?

My Astro is out. The decoder just went out dead on Friday night so thee was nothing much to do. I wasn’t in the mood to go out, as I was financially impaired cant wait for the pay to kick in. And there was just so much reading time I could do. So I started cleaning my stuff. Started organising my CD collect and then re-boxing my DVD collection. Also noticed that I was missing some stuff. Those who have my stuff better give my shit back.

Saturday was fine as cleaning took a big part of my time by evening was tired and mum was watching some Tamil VCD. Sunday, I woke up early to head for mass at St Johns’s. It was pouring heavily. Andrew wanted to tag along so we went to mass practically drenched from knee down. Funny thing Priscilla walked past me and I could only smile. She didn’t want to even want to look at me. Sunday was so boring. I couldn’t even catch the F1 on TV. So we had a lil LOTR race. While watching my mind started to wonder. How ready am I for War? I’m so definite that I’d be the very 1st killed if I was asked to go for war.

Which then made me wonder the scenario in Lebanon. How are the people living there? Are you Ready for war?

Beauty Pageant…

I noticed that they have been several beauty pageants and now they will be showing Ms Teen USA beauty pageant. I despise beauty pageants as I strongly believe that they just demoralise the image of a woman. Come on ladies, I believe you guys are much bigger and dignified than that. But have you thought what is the purpose of a Beauty Pageant? I see a bunch of ladies parading around in their evening dress, the swimsuit, etc. We crown them and then we never hear of them ever again.

I’m ok with song and dance competition cause they some what entertain you and at least serenade you with an after effect with an album or a dance programme. What do the woman of the crown do? Answer superficial questions on how they plan to stop the hunger in 3rd world nations. Of all the beauty pageants the only one I really think that doesn’t make sense is Ms Universe. How can you have a competition without any alien life force in the competition? U think I’m silly think about it. You already have Ms World why Ms Universe?

Diary: Week 33

Last week, I was back on the futsal training ground at Taman Megah training for the annual AKN Mtech Futsal Tournament. All the boys and girls from office came. We booked one court for 2 hours and we played in groups of 5, whoever scored 2 goals. I played defence and then goalkeeper, which is my favourite position. Did safe a lot of great goals but I must say I wasn’t that good. After futsal we headed to Ming Tein for drinks, had a big huge apple juice which was just RM3. I must say I slept real well last night but the next day I had pain in my inner thighs. Good god it was so hard to walk or sit.

Saturday something embarrassing happened to me, I woke up and only Dad was at home he was getting ready to go to work, he asked me if he should locked the gate. In my sleepy eyes I said yes. Good God how would that bite me in the ass. I got ready to head to Rizal place when I wanted to leave I noticed that my gate was locked when I searched for my key I couldn’t find it and then I remembered it was in my office drawer. There was no spare key in the house. I was trapped.

I called mum she was far away and couldn’t come back. Andrew was in tuition. So I had to postpone my thing with Rizal. Andrew was my saviour and came in at 12. I headed to Rizals place with Kevin. He has an amazing pad. His room has a recording studio. We did his cupboard; he had a lot of cool thing like his Star War Collectables, his Optimus Prime model and my favourite and his Thundercat Figurines. After doing his cupboard he headed to this nice Chinese restaurant for lunch.

After Rizals place I headed back to office. Everyone was geared up for the opening of EPL. Kevin bought a bucket of KFC for the RnD. Matt was around too to help monitor M1. M1 surprised us by telling that they will be putting our application on the big screen for their road show. So we had to make sure everything was smooth. There were many mistakes made and all of it will be discussed in the long Monday meeting that was for sure.

Merdeka ! Merdeka ! Merdeka !

I’ve lived in Malaysia for 26 years now and I’ve visited 13 out of the 14 states in Malaysia. I have friends of all races and I love their food and culture. Food especially. But what does it mean to be Malaysian. Most of all in this month of August I’ve tried to ask myself what does patriotism mean to me. I see flags everywhere and I await Yasmin’s Petronas advert to feel touched. There must be more to patriotism that this, so I though about my childhood.

When I was young I used to be excited about the parade and watch all the major companies march down along with the army, police. I would wake up early just to watch it now I just sleep in bed and I thank the government for the free holiday. I asked some of my friends what patriotism what it means and most of them say it means nothing. Some said its their to Malaysia. Which made me think what is Malaysia to me. I see Malaysia as a land of opportunity for the hardworking but I still oppression for my people. The people who helped us get liberated are now the people who are now the suppressors of equality and freedom.

Do me a favour ask yourself what patriotism means to you?

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) Statement

On Government's Stance on Article 11

The Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) would like to express its disappointment with the government's latest position on the forums held by Article 11 on the Federal Constitution. This current stance appears to be based on the mistaken assumption that public discussion on issues related to fundamental liberties will cause tension in our multi-racial and multi-religious society.

The CPPS would like to point out that these forums are not related in any way to the proposal to establish an Inter-Faith Council. Nowhere in the objectives of the coalition of NGOs comprising Article 11 is there any reference made to promoting inter-faith dialogue, much less an IFC - see Article 11's home page on the web which is open to all members of the public to view. At the same time, the actual substance of the Article 11

Forums - focusing on the supremacy of the Federal Constitution and its guarantee of rights for all Malaysians – has been manipulated and distorted by a small group of extremists to imply an attack on the position of Islam in the Constitution. Nothing can be further from the truth.

The three forums held by Article 11 this year have sought civil and rational discussion on crucial issues of fundamental liberties and rights. It is not Article 11 that is intentionally stirring up anger and tension among the masses but rather the small group of intolerant religious extremists that are bent on silencing Article 11, and coercing and intimidating the great majority of right thinking and fair minded Malaysians with their authoritarian tactics.

In a statement by our Prime Minister just two days ago, he said that Islam Hadhari would be able to showcase Islam as a tolerant and caring religion. Amongst the guiding principles of Islam Hadhari are to foster a "free and liberated people" and to ensure "the protection of the rights of minority groups". Putting an end to open dialogue such as that being conducted by Article 11 not only violates the principle of freedom of speech and _expression enshrined in the Federal Constitution but it also directly contradicts the principles and values of Islam Hadhari.

It is important at this point of our country's development for the advocates and protagonists of Islam Hadhari to make a stand on what the values of this new vision stand for: a tolerant, self-confident and progressive religion or one that is being hijacked by intolerant religious hardliners determined to impose their narrow and bigoted agenda, insecurities and interests on Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

The decision to end the Article 11 public forums sets up a negative precedent that will undermine our growing democracy. We also fear that this regressive move will encourage other minority groups of extreme views to pressure the government to alter policies according to their own interests, and bring about a retreat on the upholding of basic liberties. This will send the wrong signal to the public, who has welcomed the government's promise of a liberal and open society. That extremist groups can so easily influence the key socio-political policies and fundamental liberties of the country will not say much about the government's commitment to equally protecting the rights and freedoms of all groups in the country.

The CPPS hopes that the present decision is only a temporary one. We call on the Government to reconsider its decision based on an open, full and fair assessment of what has taken place with regard to the forums conducted by Article 11. This assessment should include not only an analysis of the role of Article 11 but also of the dissidents and troublemakers intent on disrupting and silencing the forums. We strongly support the Government in standing firmly behind the principles of the freedom of speech and assembly as enshrined in the Constitution, to not to give in to intolerant extremist groups, and to protect and not undermine or diminish the right of Article 11 and other similar organizations to exercising their democratic rights and freedoms.

Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam

Chairman, CPPS 26 July 2006

Article 11

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The Federal Constitution and Human Rights Conventions commit the coalition of NGOs known as Article 11 to embracing, upholding and pursuing the realization of the following principles as guaranteed:

1. No citizen shall be discriminated on the basis of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender

2. Parents (both mother and father) are equal guardians and have equal say in all respects of the upbringing of children

3. Children shall be protected from any form of discrimination on the grounds of religion and in all cases; the interests of children shall be paramount

4. The freedom of thought, conscience and belief for all persons shall be fully respected, guaranteed and protected

5. Every citizen has a responsibility to condemn discrimination and intolerance based on religion or belief

6. Every citizen has a responsibility to apply religion or belief in support of human dignity and peace.

Article 11 is fully committed to upholding those fundamental rights for all Malaysians regardless of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender.

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26 July 2006

A press statement by Article 11, a coalition of Malaysian NGOs committed to upholding the fundamental rights of all Malaysians regardless of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender.

*Article 11* is very concerned that the Prime Minister's statement reported in today's press, calling for a halt to *Article 11*'s public forums, is based on the widespread but mistaken belief that the coalition's activities are aimed at reviving the initiative to establish an Inter-Faith Commission (IFC).

*Article 11* would like to take this opportunity to clarify that the forums, entitled "Federal Constitution: Protection for All", are in no way related with the IFC initiative.

Rather, *Article 11*'s forums focus on the rights that the Federal Constitution, as the supreme law of Malaysia, guarantees to each citizen. The forums are also intended to highlight the concerns of civil society resulting from the plight of various individuals who are unable to obtain legal redress and who therefore suffer as a result of the current jurisdictional uncertainty in the courts. There is no discussion about the IFC in *Article 11*'s public forums or other activities.

*Article 11 *will seek a meeting with the Prime Minister to request further information about his concerns regarding the coalition's activities and to provide clarification on the misconception that links *Article 11* with the IFC.

*Article 11* takes note of the concerns of the Prime Minister. The coalition members will meet soon, and will carefully consider his advice in its discussions of its future plans.

CSI: New York

Anybody caught CSI: New York yesterday night. Great in it. Anybody wants to know why Stella Bonasera had that disgusted look on her face at the end of the episode. Click the link below. You’ll be surprised.


I was also touchged by the brotherly love... I miss my brother


http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi_ny/aresanob/

Bon Voyage my Brother

My brother has finally left to what I do hope to make us proud to become what he always wanted to be a doctor. We left him at the airport yesterday at 6.15am. With heavy heart we saw him walk through those boarding gate to his future. But a string of coincidences happen which I thought was a blessing in disguise. It happened on Saturday, we were to meet Kelvin at Sg Wang for a farewell dinner. I, Alex and Andrew were headed to the train station when we meet Peggy Mama. I’ve not seen the lady for a year now she appears. She wished my brother the best of luck. Something I do hold quite dear to me.

We had a fun time in Sg Wang. We had lunch at Dome courtesy of Kelvin. Alex and Andrew had the Dome Beef burger, Kelvin had a Cajun chicken sandwich and I had my usual Roast beef sandwich. I love that dish. And for desert all of us had the brownie sundae…. Heaven.

After lunch we headed down to the DVD guy’s place but we were shocked to find that his shop has turned into a ladies boutique. The man was there and he told me that due to a new ruling where shops cannot sell DVD anymore so we were taken to the back of his shop which I felt quite dodgy and funny at the time. We placed our order and he told us to come back in about 20 minutes. So we headed down to Parkson to get Alex a new wallet. After browsing around we got one of those sets that came with a belt. We did some mischief as we exchanged on of the heads from another box. We then later headed back to the DVD guy got our stock and went to Lot 10 to do a lil window-shopping. Then we browsed through the Bintang Walk, KL Plaza and of course Starhill. By the time we were all done it was almost 4 pm.

We said our goodbye and we headed home. When we reached our sentul station we met Peggy Mama again, Alex made lil detour to his friends house to stock up some songs in his new MP3 player, which was Alex Birthday and Christmas gift from Kelvin. It was mass the next day where mass was celebrated by a French priest called Peter Pedro. He apparently was a resident of my parish. What was amazing he came by to the house that night gave Alex a travellers blessing.