Random Update

It's raining.

It's (relatively) more humid.

The temperature is (generally) nice.

THE @#*&^#%LKBJBSDGB&*^* FLIES ARE BACK!!!!

I wish I had the powers to channel electricity ala Raiden. I'd toast all those fannoying flies that keep targetting me. I swear walking to and from the market today was a test of my sanity. Can you imagine holding heavy grocery bags in both hands yet having to fend off (idiotic) flies that land on the most annoying parts of your body. If it wasn't for the fact that I managed to kill at least 3 of them I'd probably have gone crazy.

It's SwotVac time!.....groooaaannnn....

Lalala

I think the slow pace and laidbackness of life here in Adelaide is starting to rub off on us. Last Friday when we were returning around lunchtime...

Jason: Hey you guys wanna eat lunch? I know this great Vietnamese restaurant nearby and I'm super hungry...
Me: Sure, I don't mind. *looks at Shiau Cern* How about you?
Cern: Can la.

A few minutes and some totally unrelated conversation later...

Me: Hey, hang on! Lemme check whether or not I have enough cash for lunch first...
Cern: Ya hor, lemme check also...
Jason: I dunno if I have cash either...

*a minute later*

Me: I officially have fifteen dollars...*fiddles around with his wallet coin compartment*...no make that seventeen
Cern: I have about the same
Me: Is that enough?
Jason: Yeah, should be. I don't have much either but I have a bag of coins in the car.

So there we were, driving down the road towards the restaurant looking out for any ATMs in the immediate vicinity. There weren't in case anyone was wondering.
Well, in the end we did manage to dig out enough dough for a satisfying meal. Just enough.

HARDTALK with our Foreign Minister

Looks like our problems are no longer just limited to our own Nation. HARDTALK interviews our Foreign Minister Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar on all the sensitive topics.

I have to say I am disagreeing with a lot of what he is saying.

"The important thing is that Malaysians feel they are Malaysians. We recognize our diversity is a source of our strength. There is no need for us to change the rules or law."

"We are able to exercise unity."

"But if you look in reality, what is happening is that the economic growth of the non-Malays is faster after the National Economic Policy than before..blahblah...even the Indians have a better household income than the Malays."

The following has to be one of the most contradictory statements I've ever heard:
"So I think that if you take it out of the ethnic dimension then you will see that it is the function of any government to help the less fortunate to make sure the divide that is based on ethnic division can be overcome."

How does that 'take out the ethnic dimension'? If you remove ethnicity from that point of view, the main reason why there would be 'fortunates' and 'less fortunates' is because some people were more hardworking and opportunistic than others. Or they really just got lucky. Besides, that doesn't explain the fact that the poor get poorer and the rich get richer does it?

I was keeping track of all the things he said up till a point when I just gave up because it seemed that his train of thought was just along one line - a one track mind, if you will. I can understand that he doesn't want to bring the country's reputation down but I feel that a lot of what he said was from behind whatever law it is that is protecting their interests. Honestly, you can say whatever you want but I'm sure a lot of people will be disagreeing with you and I don't think we're safe from another May 13 incident if this carries on.

Check out the lame-ass reason he gave for why there have been no other ethnicities in the top cabinet positions since 1973.

Sigh. Another attempt to sweep things under the carpet and have a knee-jerk reaction when something happens? He says it isn't but I guess we'll find out the hard way.
Someone posted some good comments about the video on Youtube saying how hard it is to run a government and that they're trying to improve things. Well said, whoever you are and I applaud you. However it is painfully obvious that whatever it is they are doing, it certainly isn't working. Instead of improving things are getting worse and if that isn't a sign, I don't know what is.

Sigh.

Painful fun

I'm currently aching all over, so much so that I feel really like an old man. All this came about from 2 reasons, specifically a romp on the beach and a slightly excessive training session.

The slightly excessive training session was something I did about 2 days ago. The weather was nice and warm so I decided that I should go train outdoors. Furthermore there is this nice, if slightly uneven, grassy area in between the house units which is more than enough to train in.
So I did the 37 and I was really enjoying the outdoors. It had been so long that I'd forgotten the feeling. After that I decided to try it out but the mirror version.
The next day I found out I had aches in weird places, such as the suprapatellar area, just inferior to the inguinal ligament and my glutes. Heck, going up and down the stairs at home caused pain.

Well, the day was just beginning as that was the day we were to throw a surprise birthday party for Jebbrine at, of all places, Glenelg beach (it seems to be one of her favourite places). Everyone arrived before the birthday girl and so while waiting, we were introduced to beach cricket (thanks Rahul and Kian).
My first impression of the cricket bat was that it would make a really good weapon. The second thought was if I could use it to train the sword form but decided it was too top heavy for it, but it would definitely make for good wrist strength training. The 3rd thought was how the heck I'm gonna hit a ball with it.
It's official, I suck at cricket. I think I must have missed about 80% of the balls thrown at me, but for those that I actually managed to hit I think I hit them pretty well.

Anyways, after Jebbrine arrived with the organisers (read the female Villagers) we started the feast. It was a potluck thing so everyone brought something. We brought garlic bread and papadams, Christine brought tomyam fried rice, Daphne made a really nice lemon yogurt cake, Quinnie made some really delicious samosas, Bryan brought cold-cut meat and crackers and dip. There was also an apple pie, marshmallows, pizza and, you'll never guess the highlight dish - fruit chocolate fondue!

After stuffing our stomachs, we proceeded to continue with the cricket and then initiated a game of touch footy. Two first attempts by yours truly for two games he never played before and it was actually really quite enjoyable...except that running around on a beach was somewhat annoying because of all the shells. We attracted a lot of onlookers and it probably looked odd to them that a bunch of Asians were playing their local sports. Someone mentioned it would be similar to a bunch of Asians looking at a bunch of angmohs playing sepak takraw.

Today I could almost not wake up, tired out from spending almost an entire day at the beach the previous day. The most annoying part was that I could feel individual parts of my body aching, collectively it just felt like my whole body was aching. Sore shoulders, sore lower back, sore aforementioned parts of the legs, sore palms from swinging the cricket bat around and sore soles from all the running of shell-y sands.

I guess it just goes to show how deconditioned I've become and how long it's been since I've played some serious sports.
And yes, it makes me feel physically old.
But I'm still young at heart :)