Hola mi chicas y mi hombres!

Hola from Granada!

Finally came across free internet. The weather is sizzling! The food is *muaks*! The hombres... ah... are sadly gay (but awfully cute). Oh and every street and alley and sidewalk is a perfect picture postcard! We´ve already taken 700 plus photos!

Its hard to put Spain into words. You´ve just gotta be here, feeling the blazing sun on your back, taking in the grandeur of the Moorish buildings, soaking in the tapas and sangrias (but not the paellas, I kinda feel short changed eating what seems to be fried rice or rice soaked in soupy curry... we Asians know how to eat rice the right way, leave it to us!) and shopping, shopping, shopping! Until Lionel puts on that ´look´ and I know its time to stop.

I can´t go on too long, so here´s a short sample of what I´ve been up to:
Gaudi and seafood in Barcelona
Flamenco and tapas and Roman ruins and bull-fighting in Seville
and currently wandering around the old Moorish quarters of Granada.

I also have to add, if you have only one place you could choose to go to in Spain... it would definitely be Seville! They love students! We get huge discounts everywhere we go! It´s good to be holders of an ISIC card!

Alright then, I´ll be back soon with loads of photos. And I´ll book tag when I get back, Sherene! Adios! (And wait for those postcards!)

Fraudulant finishings!

I had to start and end the year with a trip to the police station, didn't I?

Big sigh...

It is a quite amusing though, that a black guy tried to pass off as me and cash a cheque in my name all the way in Cockfosters, Herefordshire with a local driving liscence as ID (which I of course don't own). It wasn't quite so amusing that he tried to take 3500 pounds out of my bank account.

That's the short story. You'll have to wait for the long story when I get back and you catch me in person.

Adios!

Who is I?

It's like blogger- diarrhoea today. But I've been reading through loads of blogs, and then I come back and look at my blog, and wonder what it's all about.
Wonder if this is me.
Wonder how I would know this is me.
Wonder if I would know me, if I bumped into myself on a crowded High Street Kent.

Reading your own blog should be like staring into a mirror, and you'd better believe that I am my biggest fan. But there are those startling moments when you wonder who wrote those entries in the archives, and then the whole vicious cycle starts again.
Wonder if this is me
Wonder how I would know this is me.
Wonder if I would know me, if I passed myself by at the ticket turnstile at the Gloucestor Road tube.

And then it glares at me right in my face, that I am only Charlotte sometimes. I can be talking to three different people from the same group of friends, and I'd be three different people. Multiple personality disorder has probably been manifested in me since the day I woke up and realised different people want me to be different persons, all at the same time. And I wonder how I keep sane.
Wonder if this is me
Wonder how I would know this is me.
Wonder if I would know me, if I came up and talked to me on a sunny June day in Hyde Park

No... I would never do that. I don't talk to strangers

Your attention is required!

Newsflash #1
Emperor's Gate has Bubur Cha Cha. More Bubur Cha Cha than we can possibly wish for in a lifetime. All who want their free cold, coconutty bowl, just cha cha your way down here. You know where to find us.

Newsflash #2
All apologies have been accepted. I don't send out much hate mail nor feel good about it, but I appreciate the personal call to apologise, and the offer to chip in with the reimbursement.
[edit: My bag has been found! We haven't seen it yet, but the Union is quite sure they have the bag we are talking about and will hand it over to us on Monday. All's well, back to peace and quiet]

Newsflash #3
Have you taken a look at the Star's new look, in conjunction with their 10th anniversary? I like...
A slightly more professional touch, although it still has a little bit of that 'blank' look.

Newsflash #4
As usual I will not be blogging from Spain much. Will only be able to upload photos when I get back. Miss me! Leave me lots of tagboard messages! (I know you girls will!)

All dressed in white

The Woman in White is really a very delightful, (slightly heartstrings-tugging) musical. Its everything I didn't expect, which leaves little to say because I really went to watch it without any expectations. It's no morbid ghost story - not even the slightest bit close to Woman in Black (and certainly not the sequel to it, which caused much hilarious laughter today). It's no typical Andrew Lloyd Webber, and that's something! The music is more epic musical than Lloyd Webber's crazy contemporary with liberal doses of chromatics and atonal scales. It's no truly happy ending love story (but that would have made it so passe wouldn't it?). In fact it's more of a 'New Woman' genre and most of it echoes of Charlotte Perkin-Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper'... all the 'hysteria' and "I know best, I'm a doctor" and "don't confuse your pretty head with all these details". Ooh, and the good-guy male lead is yummilicious (see here!).

It was really just a lovely musical to sit back to and relax, if only I wasn't worrying about how to segment speech signals at the back of my mind.

And it was great meeting up with some MSoc people again. I just realised today how much I'm going to miss them over the summer. Don't even know if I'll make it for the Fresher's camp. And what happen to our plans for a road trip this summer? Things change so much over the course of one year. People and places and activities and friends.

Need to figure out how I'm going to earn enough money to pay off my rent for the summer. Anyone needs a henna tattoo job?

I know I worry too much. I've been trying to scare myself with the fact that fretting makes you age faster, but that's not working all too well now that I'm worrying myself to death about wrinkles and white hair.

So, on my list of latest worries, I'm worried that I haven't got the right stuff to wear for my Andalucian Dream Adventure. And why should I be fretting about this? Firstly, it's a burn-me-to-a-crisp 36 degrees in Seville. I have been mentally unloading my wardrobe (mentally, because the obsessive compulsive in me would like my clothes to stay in neat piles) and the only things made for all 36 degrees of heat is my hot pants, which Lionel said I can't wear as we shouldn't attempt to attract unwanted attraction. Secondly, I would like to look nice on a holiday for once. For the past few trips I've been bundled up in no less than 3 layers of woolies and cardies and what-nots. So for once (and especially with Lionel's new Nikon D70s) I would like to have pictures where I look like I'm really having a holiday and not trying to win ba zhang of the year award.
What's a ba zhang? This is a ba zhang.

Once the holidays are over, I'll have to start worrying about looking for a place for the next academic year. We're going house viewing tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed. Now that Yi Shan is moving out, we've become a household of 3. The 'tua chee' doesn't really count, I suppose. The highest priority seems to be to look for a place with a TV. One year of deprivation is too much torture to inflict on these guys.

Then I'm starting to worry about the next academic year and what's in store. This time last year I at least knew that I had an entire club to run and activities to see through. But next year, it's a whole new clean slate. I have nothing to expect. Nothing to occupy my mind!

Oh, I have told a falsehood. I have a melancholic script that has been writing itself in my head since I started revising for exams. Oh there, I lie again. I have had two different stories writing itself in my head. It's like a niggling dream, which I had to tell myself to snap out off for awhile. But now that exams are over, the entire stage play is forming itself in my head. Oh sure, only after M-nite and during exams do my creative juices really start to churn! Could I not have had this luck while I was writing the M-nite script? Anyhow, I think I will turn it into a short story over time. That should keep me relatively busy all summer.

I'm spouting too much rubbish. I should get back to unwritten Matlab programs, and deciphering phenomes. If I have one absolutely terrible failing, it's procrastinating too much!

Yi Shan has nicely set me the task of making tong sui. Ling zhi kang in particular. That's not going all too well since I have only a very vague idea of what is actually in ling zhi kang, until I call my mother tomorrow that is.

This is only task number one of many other cooling deserts I have been set to make for our household. Its not that we're really dying of heat (living underground and all) but this is the hottest weekend London has faced this year. We are seeing highs of 32 degrees, people! (You south east asians and southern asians - yes, I am pointing at India - let us have our moment of sweltering glory for a minute here). I just cannot begin to imagine the temperatures in Spain. I'm starting to think the only solution is to lose the extra clothing.

So here we have yams, sweet potatoes and sago ready to be made into bubur cha cha. I am chilling cincau in the fridge so we can have it together with the lychees which are also chilling out with them. (Oh, bad bad pun... will not happen again, I promise!) We have two tubs of Haagen Daaz sitting nicely in the freezer too. Unfortunately Ben & Jerry's are still not on sale, but their official website has a really cute explanation of how the ice cream is made.

I need a new pair of shoes. Not having anything with heels is killing me, because I am too short for my new skirts! Michelle was in London this week and finally persuaded me to get those skirts I've been eyeing, after I finally decided what length and colour I wanted which took all of 4 days. Thank heaven for friends like Michelle who've stuck by me since Standard 1 and 15 years later tells me to stop being a dingbat and just buy it if I like it! But now I have no one to talk me into buying shoes. Not even Amar who has finally returned to Warwick (you have gone back haven't you, and you aren't just lurking around?)

Busy, busy week next week. My Godmother has invited Lionel and me over for dinner on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday the good ol' MSoc bunch will be watching Woman in White with some of the Emperor's Gate household. Then on Friday, it's off to Barcelona (where I suspect we will bump into hoards of people we know) and then to Andalucia (where we will see nobody but gypsies and bullfighters... what a relief!). In the meantime I'll just work on segmenting speech signals. Don't bother about me.

Guns in the Hands of Babes

Its been a brilliant week, hasn't it?

On one hand we thought the government was finally getting it right when our Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein made it known that the PSD will state the criteria for selecting scholars. Then Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Zainal Abidin Zin has to go and spoil it all by announcing that NS trainees may be taught to handle firearms as part of their training, namely M16s (oooh... I'm thinking Wei Kiat would love to have gone for NS, even though his obsession with guns and all other harmful weapons is scary enough as it is!).

Not only is this news extremely disturbing to me (and I just cannot imagine what my parents are going through seeing that my sister has 2 years to go before NS), it is even more disturbing to hear the words that are coming out of the mouths of senior government officials. Do they truly believe what they are saying?

To quote the Deputy Defence Minister in The Star (16 June 2005):

“It is more of an exercise in learning to take care of oneself. This is so that they are confident of handling a weapon.
Another reason was that after their NS training, the trainees were eligible to enter the armed forces and the firearms training would be helpful then,”

I am not alone in seeing the contradiction here, am I? You don't learn to be independant so that you are confident of handling a gun! Does he realise the atrocities that result from learning to handle firearms? Does he know that in the Singaporean NS, boys have died from mishandling firearms. It isn't just a matter of Malaysian NS trainees going amok and shooting one another and trainers (as if it wasn't bad enough with the brawls that occurred over small things like stolen handphones). Will we now have NS trainees getting their faces blown off due to a carelessly loaded M16 in the name of patriotism?

Sure, our Malaysian youth think its cool to be taught to handle guns. But just speak to our friends in that sunny island down south. It really isn't so cool when the gun is in your hand and a fatality could happen anytime, especially with the typical Malaysian lackadaisical attitude. Sure, I speak with no firsthand experience. But I know the fear of worrying till I'm sick about my closest friends in the army.

But then our Deputy Defence Minister again has to make other inane statements, and this one unsurprisingly appeared in the Singapore Straits Times (17 June 2005):

'People were comparing our national service programme with Singapore's,' Datuk Zainal Abidin said on Wednesday.
'If they can incorporate weapons training in their programme, I do not see why we cannot do the same. We train trainees in unarmed drill and combat and we give them disciplinary training.
'There is only one thing missing, and that is firearms training.'

He doesn't see why we cannot do the same? Because we are NOT the same! Singapore is training a reserve army. We are trying to instill patriotism in our kids. It's not that Singapore can incorporate weapons training. They need to! We on the otherhand do not need one more way to arm young hooligans who beat up other trainees and even their own instructors until the Defence Minister was ready to call the army in to sort them out.

I shouldn't have this feeling of giving up on my country more and more everyday, but when I read things like this, it is hard not to: (Straits Times, 17 June 2005)

'There is nothing wrong with it as it can help the security of the nation. Guns can be used for a peaceful purpose too,' Datuk Siva Subramaniam, secretary-general of the National Union of the Teaching Profession, told The Straits Times.

Not a single religion in our country would ever professed that guns can be used as weapons of peace. And they made you in charge of our teachers? Why??!!?? And also in the very same article:

Datuk Michael Yeo, chief executive of the Asian Strategy Leadership Institute, said weapons training should be provided in addition to military-type drills already in the national service scheme.

Oh yes, we needed to hear a representative from each major ethnic group in Malaysia make a stupid comment for the benefit of Singaporeans to laugh at us. Why are these people allowed to walk freely on the streets? They might as well remove gun laws in Malaysia.

And finally from the big guy himself (and we know he is a big guy since that talk that was held in Imperial College), our Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak comes out to reassure parents with the words:

“We want to include the element of discipline among the trainees and strengthen their spirit. The trainees will feel much more motivated and disciplined when they learn to stand in line with their M16 rifles,”

And further comforted parents by adding that the NS concept would not be changed to one that was focused on military training as was done in Singapore. (Read more here)

Oh sure, we don't want to be like Singapore. But yet we can whine that if they can have weapons training why can't we? Oh, help! God, please help!

Has the Defence Ministry seen the photo slideshows they show the recruits in Singapore on how guns have exploded and disfigured trainees? Have they read how every once in awhile, a young soldier dies on account of a misguided bullet during training? And we haven't yet begun to talk about M16 wielding angst youth with emotional or mental problems. Do we need an unnecessary death to occur before the Defence Ministry stops waving around these ridiculous ideas? At least discuss the pros and cons of it before telling the public and causing a wave of fear among parents, not the other way around!

It's raining. So I can't go to the post office. It's not a torrential thunderstorm, the way I'd like it to be. But its heavy enough to make Greg's belated birthday card more belated than it already is.

Yes I forgot.
If it helps, I remembered right up till the day itself, and then in the fiasco that was a Control Systems exam, I forgot. I just plain forgot.
And I deserve it. For making a fuss about my own forgotten birthday.
Lets call it a truce. Ok?

Anyway, I've steered away from lampooning our local education/scholarship/entire government system, because this is just much more interesting. Come on, admit it! How many of you have visited SarongPartyGirl since the 'scandal' exploded on a 6 by 4 in the Singapore Straits Times (or the tiny Lion City column [which also means snigger at the perasan kiasus down south] in the Star)? And how many of you went there explicitly searching for this?

For an extremely narcissistic SPG (although, seriously... those tippex sharp tits are scary!), who speaks volumes of her experiences, she clearly isn't any dumb Ah Lian. And the brouhaha the media is throwing at her isn't worth it. Although I really find Kennysia's parody rib tickling!

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In other news... Michael Jackson has been acquitted of all charges as I predicted. In some foreign xenophobic island really far in the south, I hear a mentally deranged ex-classmate still screaming ectastically. You guys know who I'm talking about. That aside, I am glad MJ will not be doing time. His music is still magic to me, and to kill that magic in our usual blood-thirsty societal way is like chloroforming Tinklebell. Hey they're similar. They're both extremely white and extremely skeletal and extremely make believe. I'm contradicting myself aren't I? Tell me when to stop.

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I'm starting work by reading the introductory chapter to Digital Speech Signal Processing. I have to re-study Z transforms simultaneously. Its amazing how I managed to completely flush all I studied for my exams out of my brain, and this stuff I was mulling over just 2 weeks ago is just as foreign as... say... Ebonics.

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Oh, the sun is out again. Time to strut out to the post office in my Ralph Lauren sunglasses.

I love summer!

Who doesn't?

Sandwich Shop, anyone?

I am NOT returning to blogging just yet. I still have one last paper to go. But just for emotional entertainment sake. This photoblog and it's photoessays are an absolute catalyst for homesickness. No matter how much I gripe about Malaysia and 'Malaysian Ethics', I miss the vibrance that is our multicultural heritage. The colourful chaos of our ethnicity. The ancient and everlasting traditions pitted against the background of the modern skyscrapers (and THE sky scraper full of oil). There is really so much more 'life' back home.

Every Picture Tells A Story

It really does!

The 'victimisation' of Schappelle Corby has lead to quite a few of my aussie friends covering the case; some emotionally, others with better judgement. Aun Teeng's blog had this link which I thought was an interesting read into Australia's own 'unbabaric', 'untainted', extremely white judicial system.

When justice gets lost in translation

The west has just got to stop becoming judge, jury and law of the east...

Four more to go. Just four! And there are just so many things catching my attention that I want to do. The more blogs I read (particularly those lucky critters who are done with exams for the year), the more I want to -

1. Go Shopping!!! I have yet to find a shopping buddy in London. I can't shop alone because I end up reasoning with myself and buying nothing. I can't shop with people other, because I feel bad making them wait for me when I try on stuff. So far, I've only been able to shop with Charmaine and Sherene (because I know they'll be honest, and also extremely persuasive...), and my Mummy (because she's my greatest critic - she's had 22 years of practice).
2. Cook!!! I am dying to take over the helm of the kitchen again. It's not that your cooking is bad, Lu. In fact yesterday's Californian Rolls were great! But, I just wanna make something to clear out all these leftover things we have in the fridge and spice cupboard before we leave for summer.
3. Watch Hong Kong-ese serials. I miss watching my Cantonese soap dramas. Like Charme said, its a pity Venki's already left for the UK. If not he could have passed me a stash. Anyone else making a trip to the UK? Anyone wants to send me any belated birthday presents? No guessing what's at the top of my wanted list.
4. Berjalan-jalan. Then Lu will have company on his wandering trips. The weather's so beautiful right now. It's just cruel to keep me chained to my room and my notes.
5. Start on my Andalucian Dream Adventure this summer. One whole week in the south of Spain (and a little bit of Barcelona)! Eeps! It's unbearable to wait so long.
   

I won't be ranting and raving for the next week. There's a slaughter-house full of exams just over the horizon. So screwed. so screwed.

In a bold new move (one probably not thought through clearly) by the Information Ministry, they are encouraging cinemas to play the Negaraku before all films begin.

In the secretary-general, Datuk Seri Dr Arshad Hashim's words :

We need to acculturate the citizens to always stand at attention and sing along proudly. The respect and appreciation for the national anthem is waning and the blame is on us if the future generation can’t sing Negaraku

Well, by all means play it as much as you want during official functions and in schools. In fact I absolutely encourage it. But in cinemas? Lets not turn respect for our national anthem into a laughing stock!