Musca Domestica: Buzzing through Life in Malaysia

I'm back but somewhere else now!

2003-11-11T01:17:00.000+08:00

Hello Ppl!

This will be my final and last entry for this blogspot but not my last for blogging.

I've moved to my own personal site for self-narcissistic reasons...haha!

Tune in soon...same NICK channel...same NICK station at http://www.nicholaschan.org/

Cheers and Take Care!

With Lots of Love,

Nicholas Chan
Blogger!

The Return of the Housefly?

2003-07-15T09:27:00.000+08:00

Ever since i started bloggin since returning from InfoSoc this year, i've met new friends and have gained my share of wealth in knowledge and i must admit that updating my blog everyday was a thrill for me. Recently i pondered on the value of blogging and the pros outranked the cons but my schedule has caught up with me and i must think about my future.

As of now, i am preparing myself for my Ironman triathlon next Feb and i have to put in more training time soon, i am also in the midst of completing my 2nd degree in Business and will be busy with my work. It is with a heavy heart that i have decided to put my blog on a 2-month break from the blogverse, but i will return with a a more innovative design, possibly a proper domain name and hosting plus interface for the expression that is my life on my blog.

By not sounding too melodramatic and emotional, i wanna thank the following for their inspiration and their advice thus far and it is because of your advise that i will return soon:

1. Jeff Ooi - I spoke to you after the InfoSoc track on Blogging and you help me on my way to blogging, thanks man!
2. Sharizal and Najah - You have encouraged me on the nuances of blogging and also on your interesting lives together as man and wife, thanks you
3. Kher Ying - Although i do not know you personally but i have grown to to know you and everyone in an intimate detail, i'll see ya around girl!
4. Ash - I love your site for its honesty and sincerity, i wish you the best and God Bless!
5. Jikon - Thank you for your comments on my site and advice on many other issues since i started bloggin! You have been such a dear!

And to everyone who visits the Common Housefly (yes...That is Musca Domestica!), thank you so much and in the words of General Douglas MacArthur, "I shall return". I'll see everyone soon and take care, make a difference with a gift that we share, make blogging an instrument of social change and show how much we care for our beloved motherland that we have loved for so long.

My darling Sam, as much i've devoted this blog to my views and my rants, it has become an instrument of my affection for you love of life and of me. Thank you so much for sticking with me!

Do keep in touch and God Bless Everyone!

Yours,

Nicholas Chan, Blogger!

I want to feel safe again!!!

2003-07-10T10:17:00.000+08:00

Yesterday before i left for an outing with Sam to the National Science center in Mont Kiara for the DNA at 50 exhibition (yes, we consider it a date). I was warned by my mother about a recent rape case where men posing as cops took over a car occupied by a couple, subsequently raped the woman in a cemetery. After that little advice, i was visibly very paranoid and edgy for entire day.

This is really getting on my nerves due to the fact that i cannot even feel safe anymore going out with Sam, every single step i take outside the house is now accompanied with paranoia and fear of a calamity happening to myself or even worse, my darling Sam.

Since when did it had to come to this juncture in our country's history that we cannot even feel safe for our loved ones anymore. Ever since the Canny Ong incident, there has suddenly been a huge flood of sexual assault cases in Malaysia. Has it become so blatantly apparent that we cannot count on our countries law enforcement officials anymore? if i remember right, the ultimate goal of the PDRM is to protect the interest and safety of the Malaysian public and their properties but i can see that it has not been the case for the past few years now.

I say its time we stop counting on our 'protectors' and TAKE UP ARMS (not literaly of course, vigilantes are almost sure to be branded as criminals too). Why wait for something terrible to happen like Canny Ong and then let our boys in blue to do something about it, BULLSHIT!!! I say we take the fight to the criminals by being aware and educated. The public should implement safety precautions such as parking in locations closer to the exits even if it means paying extra to park there, using the valet service in which the cars are retrieved for us rather than us travelling to the parking lot. An ounce of prevention is the key to this.

And there are the proponents (spel?) that say that martial arts should be taught to increase the fighting chance of a victim of an assault. I do not fault this rationale as i am also a proponent of this safety measure. But we have to realise that any form of martial arts was originally based on the Warrior Honor Code or Bushido, where single man-man combat was the norm of the time, but do we actually believe that a group of men with the intention to harm our loved ones will queue up in a single file to meet you in 'honourable' single combat??!!! No amount of martial arts training can deter a determined attacker of any kind, unles you are Steven Seagal or Jean-Claude van Damme and have the muscles and skills to take on multiple men with automatic weapons....and i believe they exist in a genre called Hollywood. Any attacker would strike you anywhere, anyhow and at anytime.

We should be aware of our environment and be ready for any eventuality, but with that said, i believe that any crime has an inherent amount of prevention precautions and we must capitalize on it.

I know my tone for this post is bordering on irrational, but when you have a loved one who you want to spend the rest of your days with, i guess my ranting and raving are justified.

Determination of the Soul

2003-07-08T09:19:00.000+08:00

I was chatting with Sharizal last nite and we talked about being a minority group in Malaysia who care about the future of the country and want to in some mundane subtle way, contribute to its eventual global success. When you look at our country, on the surface its pretty much very vanilla but when you take a little journey skin deep, we can find deep seated uninspiring attitudes of the Malaysian people.

One such attitude is our complete hypocrisy when we rant and rave about how much liberties, facilities, incentives and development that we are lacking, but when it comes to the real deal to do something about it, we start passing the buck around. Okay, some of you out there might come after my ass after this post. We always look to our bureaucrats and politicians to blame (but i'm not also saying that they can get off shit free), we as citizens of this unique country will have to make a stand on our own destiny in life, its the classic example of being a reactive society where we only do something about our lives only when something bad happens to us, its time to stop passing the buck around and we must do our part and BE PROACTIVE!

The country is never going to change for the better if we just count on the government, we should form groups and lobby for changes in our legislation and policies, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single baby step. I remembered what Sharizal mentioned to me last nite, which was "Malaysia creates more 'do'ers than thinkers, and we have the right thinkers, we have the wrong 'do'ers", start with our spoon-feeding education system which creates a generation of kids who cannot critically analyze scenario in either business and political situations, our kids are given set questions for MORAL questions, where has there ever been a template for how moral values are to be implemented or used? A serious look at the system is much warranted! Well...on a lighter note...time for some Tour de France highlights!

Tour de France Updates: Stage 2 - La FertÃ©-sous-Jouarre - Sedan, 204.5km

Stage 2 was pretty much another day at the office for all the tour riders, especially the GC riders such as Lance Armstrong (USPS), Joseba Beloki (ONCE), Jan Ullrich (Bianchi) and the rest. But an inspiring turn of events, Tyler Hamilton from the CSC team, who was involved in the horrible crash (it looked even worse on ESPN yesterday) returned to the peloton to continue the race even with a broken clavicle (collarbone), imagine riding 200++ km withour stopping, going over cobblestones and uneven road surfaces with a damage clavicle, now i call that pure determination and courage, something our Malaysian athletes sorely lack, when it comes to crunch time, our boys and girls quit after a bout of flu or cold!

The stage was won by Baden Cooke (FDJ.com) from Ozzie Land, the Australians are really putting up a show with Cooke winning the stage, Brad McGee in the Yellow Jersey, Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole), Robbie McEwen in the Green Jersey, all in the fray of the Tour de France.

The Team Time Trial in Stage 4 will help determine the Yellow Jersey GC position once more, the Team Time Trial is like the prologue time trial but now the whole team does the time trial as a cohesive element, look out for time trialling powerhouse ONCE-Eroski led by Joseba Beloki, Spanish-dominant Kelme-Costa-Blanca and the US Postal Service led by Mr. Texas Longhorn Lance Armstrong. But with the inspiring show by Tyler Hamilton, watch for CSC to emerge as the dark horse for the TTT.

Please check out Cyclingnew's Tour de France page for more accurate times and reports for each stage

To my darling Sam, work hard and kick some ass! Love ya so much now!

Enjoyable Weekend but Bad Tour day!

2003-07-07T09:36:00.000+08:00

Ahh! Sometimes good things must come to an end when a new week starts. Spent my whole weekend with love ones, spent the whole Saturday with Sam, which we spent an hour looking for Subang Ria (before Sharizal posted his excellent map, thanks man!) but at least now we know where it is! Also attended a 80th birthday celebration of my close cousin's grandma at Top Hat restaurant at Jln. Kia Peng. I just love meeting up cousins i have not seen in a long time.

Was also reflecting on the weekends on how my life has turned out, now that i have a wonderful soulmate that cheers me on, supports me emotionally and I feel extremely blessed. I was talking to my cousin from Kiasuland yesterday and i showed her Sam's pic which i keep in my wallet and a cynical comment from her was "You sure she's the one meh?" Well, i guess her reservations to my current choice of a soulmate is obvious, i know its safe to say that i would know that she's the one when a girl is willing to stand in the blazing hot sun on a sunday waiting for her masochistic boyfriend to finish his duathlon for 4 hours, making herself visible everytime i pass the lap marker to show me that she's there for me. I'm blessed to have her by my side everyday.

Tour de France Updates: Stage 1 - Saint-Denis/Montgeron - Meaux, 168 km

Stage 1 was without exciting moments when in the last half kilometer of stage, a crash involving top GC (General Classification) riders such as Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank), Tyler Hamilton (CSC), Brad McGee (FDJ.com), George Hincapie (USPS) and 4-time tour winner Lance Armstrong (USPS). Sadly Hamilton and Leipheimer will discontinue the tour with a broken collarbone and a broken hip respectively. The stage ended with Pettachi from the Fassa Bartolo team taking the sprint and stage.

There has been lots of speculation that the tour team who lost their main GC riders like Hamilton will have a bone to pick with the ASO or tour organizers as they have complained that the bend that the crash took place was too close to a finish, for the uninitiated, typically in a flat stage, the team position their sprinters for the final sprint to the line, by introducing a tight bend close to the finish will cause the peloton (the mass of cyclist travelling together) to bunch up and the consequence is a human jenga puzzle with a huge mass of riders and bikes all into one. We'll see how the ASO and Le Blanc will react to the complaints.

But the GC still remains as:

1. Brad McGee (FDJ.com) - Yellow Jersey
2. Robbie McEwen (Lotto) - Green "Sprinters" Jersey
3. Christophe Mengin (FDJ.com) - Polka-Dot "KOM" Jersey

Stage 2 will be another flat stage where the sprinters will rule again, but when the tour hits Stage 8 when the climbers take the fight to the L'Alpe dHuez, we'll see if Lance is still the "tour de force" in mountains, Lance strives under intense pressure, look for Ulrich, Simoni to take the fight for the GC.

Have lots to do today on campus, will be signing off now!

PS: Sam, please take care while travelling in UM today! Miss ya Baby!

Tour de France: Velo-Mania again!

2003-07-05T09:36:00.000+08:00

Well, for the past few months, F1 fans had their F1 championship races to follow and now cycling fans like myself now have the Tour de France to cheer on.

Some lowdown: The Tour de France is a 2 week race where cyclist from selected teams will take to the whole circumference of France in an intricate dogfight for the Yellow Jersery, it will consist of 20 stages through the French countryside and crucial stages through the French and Spanish Alps called the Pyrennes with 4 time trial events in between.

The current TDF Champion is Lance Armstrong (US) from the United States Postal Service cycling team, with already 4 win under his belt. He is an inspiring athletes that show that if you fight hard enough you will always make it. You see, Lance was diagnosed with testicular cancer which has spread to his lungs and his brain, but he fought hard with chemo and won a battle with cancer. He then came back to race in 99 and won it on his comeback tour, and he has been winning it ever since. Please check out his book named Lance Armstrong: Its not about the Bike

Its the weekend again and i CANNOT go to the blogger's meet as I need to wait here for the telephone contractor to fix some cock-up with my home internal wiring. Anyway, please check back here for more TDF results and my own commentary.

To my readers, enjoy your weekend and God Bless!

PS: Viva Lance! Allez Lance!

Sports: The Educator of the Soul

2003-07-04T23:53:00.000+08:00

When i was growing up in KL, i used to admire my Dad when he used to run for hours on end without stopping, while i cycled next to him in my mini BMX, i wanted to be like him, churning up KMs while his strong feet pounded away and he still had strength to play a mean game of squash later on too with his MAS mates. It was always something to admire, like how we admire our sporting heroes like Lance Armstrong (Cycling) or Ronaldo. But why dun we look at it from a humanistic perspective rather than a vanity standpoint. While we are admiring, we should learn from them, what drives and motivates them to soar to new heights everyday of their lives and how can we use these soulful skills to better ourselves?

A few year on, i became a sportsman myself playing Water Polo for the Petaling District in Selangor (I studied in Catholic High School, PJ), long distance track and field, and almost every sport which ends with a ball. I became competitive and somewhat cocky fella as i became more proficient with myself. But then the "pride before a fall" scenario set in, i was suppose to be chosen for the state team for Water Polo when i was injured in a freak football game where i dislocated my hip and i never played sports again. After high school and beyond, i did not play anything at all, i grew fat and lazy while i worked, i was in a dead-end relationship which took up more time. Then the best thing happened to me, my relationship with Ange ended.

I was crushed and completely devastated with the event and i could not get it out of my head. Then one day my Dad came into my room (by then i moved back into my parent's place) and asked me for a jog with him, i was bored so i followed him out, then it was like deja vu again. My dad cruising the streets with his over-weight son (90kgs) tagging behind, huffing and puffing like a chain smoker and was ready to call it quits, then he said something to me that all my coaches never said to me "Don't quit on yourself, do it for yourself, and earn glory to make youself proud". Then i started taking up triathlon as a sport, a multi-discipline endurance race where my physical and mental strength was tested to the limits, i started looking to the qualities that athletes are made of, which are courage, fairplay, determination, diligence, discipline and insatiable drive to be better than what you are and i started living with the values within me. I started losing weight and gain endurance and confidence again, i could soar again!

Sometimes people underestimate the power of sports to shape the minds and souls of our children, then i took up the challenge of a social sports activitist with the National Olympic Academy to preach the values that shaped my new life to young people who need them or have not found them yet. With so much cynicism in our world today, our souls need enrichment and i believe that sports with the right amount of Olympic education and some soul-searching is very effective to building young minds

The message i want to send out it this: Sports does not make you a better person, but with the right attitude and guidance, you can be a better person though sports.

As i attempt my 2nd Ironman next year, i will look back at the time when i looked up to my dad and i will remember the lessons that athletes inspire in all of us!

Are there anymore masochists like me out there?

2003-07-04T14:12:00.000+08:00

I am officially asking everyone and anyone out there in blogverse if you are into adventure racing and triathlon, if any of my mortal readers are wondering what the hell is a triathlon, its a endurance race where endorphine junkies get their fixes by swimming, cycling and running all in the same day. I need more training partners as I'm getting a little sick of training alone.

Damn, writers and mental block today

I shall spare myself the agony of thinking of writing anything in my exhausted state for today, man i need a good massage rite about now! So NO POSTS TODAY!

See Ya Guys Again!

Sick and Injured but reflective!!

2003-07-03T09:09:00.000+08:00

Was not able to post any new entries yesterday as i guess inspiration comes short of nothing when your are sick and injured, sick as in a high fever and aching bones for the past 2 days. Injured because i've been training too hard for the past few weeks, training up for my Ironman in Feb is causing me to aggravate my knee injury (ehhmm....very LONG story).

Anyway, am feeling better this morning abeit still feeling like i got ran over by a speeding Transnasional Busliner. Was watching a documentary on China's 3 Gorges dam project on RTM2 (yeap...u'll be suprise that ppl still tune in to it while Astro enjoys a monopoly now...hey wait....RTM is on Astro too.....doh!), i was moved and touched about a Mr. Tan who will lose his way of life due to the flooding of his village by the newly built dam, sometimes we have to slow down in our perpetual motion of progress to ask ourselves if we are moving too DAMN fast.

Imagine a whole village with a cultural tradition spanning 2000 years and a land which has existed since the Ming Dynasty and all of that will be lost in 2 months, are we willng to risk our cultural existence just so that we can advance down the normal chain of cultural and civilized evolution. Yeah i know the common speech of progress and advancement of the human race, that we need to let go of the old to embrace the new, that we can forgo our historical and cultural heritage just so that we can live in a broadband, high-density world.

As a person who uses technology in all its forms (hell...i own a blog for pete's sake) i would believe i would stand to fight for our way of life that we have our ADSL, WIFI, LAN, ISDN so that we can ICQ/mIRC with other netizens ASAP, FYI sometimes its just not that fulfilling anymore. Our history and culture is what defines our very existence as a cultural and social group, losing that will result in a cultural gap that might never be replaced in our evolution. Perhaps i'm over-stating the point here in the context that we might lose our humanity in the process. But i guess i have to have more faith in the human psyche to to chart and plot its own existence in this infinite chain of life.

Anyway, am still considering if i wanna go for the Blogger's meet this sat ay KLCC as i'm afraid of schedule problems again.

To my beloved Sam, have a great day today and please be safe (darn it...i sound naggy again!!) i just want to protect you and make sure you are safe!

Till next post, ciao then

Inspirational Death...oxymoron?

2003-07-01T09:20:00.000+08:00

Woke up this morning feeling very crummy with my aching knee acting up again in the cold weather attributed by a cool light shower this morning. Well, i suppose my QA test yesterday went well but maths will be maths for me. But what was bugging me this morning only came to me while i was sipping on my 'teh tarik' at the corner Mamak store, i realised that it was July and in another month it would be the anniversary of passing on for my best friend, Anand.

I guess its quite distasteful to talk about death, everyone knows it'll eventually happen but people take a blind side to it until it hits them hard, and Anand's death hit me hardest as a friend. Let me reminiscence back to care-free days, i met Anand while we were in Primary school in a Chinese School in Old Klang Road, as we both came from liberal english-speaking families, we had no freakin clue what the teacher was teaching on the 1st week in school, from that moment on, we were like the Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in the Odd Couple. We did everything together, and deliberately engage in non-educational activities during class. We still kept in contact while we went to separate high schools, eventually he won the ASEAN scholarship to study in Singapore and succeeded in advancing himself in life, he eventually married his college sweet heart named Mei Ling, a petite chinese girl who adores him, they married in early 2000 and i was honoured to be the Best-man for Anand.

Anand and Mei Ling led a beautiful life but i was not there during that tenure, i was too self-absorbed with my own work and deteriorating relationship with a possesive girl who took my time from spending time with my friends. I was not there when he was mulling over a decision to migrate to Australia to take up a job there, my ignorance haunts me to this day. In August 2001, Anand was on his way to work when he was struck down by a runaway bus in Sydney, he was just awarded his PR a week back, he died instantly in his car. He leaves behind a loving wife and a beautiful baby boy named Joshua. Not a day goes by that i do not think about miss opportunities to meet up with him, he sent me an email telling me that we should meet up because i was single at the time and it was now 'safe' to see me and thus i did not get to see him.

How can his death be inspiring? Anand used to tell me 'wiseman' advice and quips which was humorous (only he could be as corny as i can) but Anand taught me the most important lesson that i still live by everyday, i never ever take anything for granted anymore. I live my life to the fullest and i cherish all my friends, even those who have wronged me. Life is just too short to stay mad. People tend to trivialize friendships when they feel that the friendship has reached a maturity stage, this is when complacency sets in and one day you will sit in bed wondering what happened to that guy/gal who used to play truant with you or the day when you stood next to your best mate when he married the girl of his dreams.

Which is why i take friendships very dearly, i try to be able to meet all my friends and keep in touch. I guess in a way, my blog will help people bridge continental and lifestyle divides to know what i'm up to. I guess a measure of a man's character is also measured by the company he keeps and how he keeps them.

I miss you ol' boy, all the beer session where we got pissed drunk and we were singing YMCA until the T-Club nearly kicked us out of the bar, and the time we spent cruising for tranvestites in Kuantan just because we were 'curious', its so sad but i cannot feel anything anymore because i never got the chance to say good-bye or hoist another mug to anything we wanted to toast. This is for your buddy boy, i wished you could have met Sam, the girl of my dreams, which you said would come to me one day!

A message to my readers and fellow bloggers,

"Don't trivialize your frienships and relationships, you will learn subsequently in life that you can never turn back the clock to undo or redo anything you regret not doing or did"

Till next post then! Miss ya so much Baby! Have a great day in UM and be safe while you are in the lab!

Another Week Again!

2003-06-30T12:02:00.000+08:00

I used to be able to look forward for the work-weeks a few months back, but i guess the workload is forcing me to re-evaluate my perception of how i should view a NEW week!

Being an older student in a college pursuing my 2nd degree in business, its so suffocating that i do have little or no avenue for intellectual conversations, thus my knife is getting dull and ineffective. I dun think i'll even beat a 10-year old in a heated argument, let alone my age-equals. Thank god for my Blog!

Yeap! the Tour de France is coming again on the 5th of July in France (duhh.....), being an endurance athlete, i guess its a tradition and an addiction that i follow the tour religiously. As ESPN only provides a highlights show during the evening, i'll have to rely on my live-cast from cycling websites such as Cyclingnews

This time around, its gonna be Lance Armstrong again, the inspirational cancer survivor will be attempting his 5th title again. But then again with Gilberto Simoni, Francesco Casagrande and Jan Ulrich fighting for the GC, its gonna be another knife fight between the few individuals. But there might be a dark horse in the making, i suspect that Tyler Hamilton (Former USPS rider) or Vinokourov from Telekom might spring a few suprises on ol' Lance.

I'll be providing some commentary on the grandest tour in the world, celebrating its 100th year. Please check back if anyone is interested in following the Tour de France! The tour will start on the 5th with a prologue time trial (a individual race against the clock) with a distance of 5.5km to determine who starts the GC with the yellow jersery (awarded to the rider with the best accumulated race time). Look out for TT experts to take it to the rest of the peloton, Lance is the fav but don't count out Ulrich and Hamilton, both TT experts with Ulrich, the former German champion and Olympic Gold Medal for the road race.

Have a test to study for now, QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS!!! I HATE MATHS!!!!

PS. Jikon and Mousez Gal, thanks for your kind words on my blog!

Special thanks and love to my darling Sam for being there for me these few days while i was struggling with my maths phobia! Till Next Post then!

Yeehaa! Weekends Again!

2003-06-28T12:30:00.000+08:00

I guess when it comes to the weekends, i cannot seem to find the heart to rant and rave as much as i like for the following reasons:

1. My baby cousin is here for her weekly weekend visits (she is a very inquisitive-hell-raising 3-year old)
2. ITS THE WEEKENDS! (nuff said!)
3. I get to be with Samantha, the soothing element in my life now, she keeps me sane in this insane world!

Sam is at campus now at this time, collecting soil samples for her final thesis research on Quorum Sensing (now..i dun want to start describing wut that it!), gotta pick her up around 3-4pm later. So i have the whole morning to my work before we go catch the Hulk at MidValley!

Its so funny that when it comes to my life, i've been thru so much and done so much ills to TOO many people, and then life drops Sam into my life, as much as i want to believe its something i deserve but something inside keeps on tugging at me saying that "YOU DO NOT DESERVE HER!" I thank God everyday that i do not listen to that inner voice.

Damn! its June already, its so weird that when u have so much to do, time just skips by like a supersonic jet!

I hope the Hulk movie adaptation will be entertaining to us former-comic fans (yeap...i collected comics when i was younger!)

Till next Monday then! Ciao People

What about us in Malaysia!!??

2003-06-27T09:04:00.000+08:00

Morning, as usual my rants and rave are tied to the media, news junkie (jeff...you the man....you really know how to sponge!) as i am, sometimes i feel we are constantly saturated by news and events and its effect on the socio-cultural aspects of Malaysia, had an interesting long chat with Sonia last nite about social activism in Malaysia and the whole hype event of the Canny Ong rape cum murder case. Am feeling very worried now for my girlfriend who studies in UM, the events of late has illustrated to us that we can never take our safety for granted.

Anyway, back to my rants, there was a news article in the Washington Post that reports on the landmark legislative event where Texas's ban on consensual sex between adults of the same sex has been shot down, its about time that homosexuals who practise consensual sex have more rights to protect them from stetson-hat-wearing yahoos who claim that homosexuals constitute a moral dilemma in the world. Where has there ever been a rule of morality that 2 people cannot share a love if they are gay? Perhaps as a heterosexual male, i cannot empathize on the discrimination that they constantly go through!

How bout the gays in Malaysia? where their love for each other might land them in jail for sodomy, our strong religious-political undertones can never accept gays as an integral part of Malaysian life. Plus, any amount of social activism on this matter will only fuel a frenzy that might create a situation that i do not want to think about. I guess we have to accept that for now...we cannot do much to alleviate the problem

Freedom of expression and love is the fundamental human right that is entitled to all people and should be protected at all cost, with more news of what's happening on the homosexual legislation in Texas and the recent legislation in Canada to allow gays marriages, its a matter time before we have to crack the whip and say "ENOUGH!" WE WANT OUR RIGHTS TO LOVE!

Anyway, this goes out to all my homosexual friends in Singapore and Australia, this one's for you guys! I miss hanging out with you guys!

A special heartfelt sendout to my darling Samantha, you are my strength and my shield, please be safe and come back to me everyday! (BTW, Sam is my girlfriend of a year more now, she is currently a resident undergraduate student in UM studying Genetics and Molecular Biotechnology in her final year)

To all my fellow bloggers in blogverse, take care and keep blogging away (whoring in smallmoskito's case...hahah)

Ciao people

Aiyah! Why so "Kepoh"?

2003-06-26T16:59:00.000+08:00

Was on my way home today from campus when i picked up the Malay Mail (26th June 2003) and i was reading on the current exclusive coverage of Canny Ong's murder investigation. To my amusement and shock, i saw on page 3 of the local news was an innocent picture of our boys in blue collecting forensic evidence.

But if you look closely behind the "fuzz" team, you can see the tell-tale hints of KPCs....or KepohChi (busybody lar!) in the background, call me naive or plain dumb, but the last i remember, i dun remember forensic crews wearing motorcycle helmets during a crime scene investigation and there are more of these people hovering around the scene like vultures, aching for some juicy breakthrough. I wonder how much time these people have to spend when they can stop their cars and stick their long noses into an important case investigation, the potential for contamination is quite high here.

The related article talks bout the search for the missing knife that was used in the murder, how do we know if the knife is now in the possesion of some ignorant fool who passed by a few weeks back and we can expect to see it on lelong.com.my or eBay.com!!

I guess we see this all too often, a massive jam on the highway that was caused by motorists stopping to look at a fender-bender! But as a hypocrite myself, i admit that i've stopped to see what has happened in these incidents but i guess its in our nature to be so inquisitive and curious that we cannot resist a juicy piece of history.

Let us all make a pledge (put up your left hand and start rubbing your tummy at the same time with your right!!), that we do not stop and look like a busybody whenever there is a traffic-slowing accident or event that will inflict misery on other fellow motorists and let us not forget that a family has lost a loved one and its coming to terms to seek closure, creating a frenzy of interest will not help the healing process any further.

Till next time!

I must speak but i have NO MOUTH!!?

2003-06-26T11:28:00.000+08:00

Its actually interesting to see how people in Malaysia can go through life without finding an outlet to voice their thoughts, well...some people do it with a blog like all of us ATTENTION WHORES (nicely put by SmallMoskito in Kotaraya), some use Harakah (oink! oink! hahaha) and well...some ppl just keep quiet too.

Relating this to a simple situation i experience today in the Star LRT from Sri Petaling to Masjid Jamek, i was quietly sitting down (yeap...i get to sit down in those elongated sardine cans) when someone let loose a silent killer that gives sarin a run for its money, the funniest part of this story is how non-chalant ppl were bout that incident...it was evident that ppl wanted to shout out "who the f@cK did that?!!" or hear a discrete "maaf ya!" from the perpetrator, but what kept ppl quiet then...were ppl being tactful or were ppl just so "tolerant" bout the whole situation as the aromatic fumes wafted through the train cabin?!

Its so common in our culture that we do not question any abnormality in our reality in life, we were brought up to do as we are told...if we are asked to jump..we are to acknowledge with "how high or how far?"...why cant we ask, "Why must i jump? My legs are tired!". Are we mindless zombies restraint by a socio-cultural bondage or people with freedom of thought and opinons? SPEAK YOUR MIND!!

We have to teach our future generation to question wut is presented to us on a daily basis, critical thinking of situational factors must be instilled. Our education system that promoted spoon-feeding does not alleviate this situation any further. TO the ppl involved educating the young (yes..even mine in the future), no MORE LIP SERVICE! Help our children survive in this cut-throat world!

Thanks for the welcome from Dinesh and Smallmoskito at Kotaraya, i really appreciate it....its nice to feel wanted (awww....blush!)

Bye for now!

2003-06-25T23:09:00.000+08:00

Hola People,

Am currently suffering from Post-InfoSoc 2003 Syndrome (yeah rite, no work for 3 days has made me lazy!..haha), did not go to campus today as I realized that i have not graded 47 assignment papers from my students...hmmm..a dilemma for me to ponder this morning.....waking up to face assignment papers with bad english grammar (not that mine is that GREAT either!! hehe) or snuggling up in bed with warm covers....guess the choice was obvious!

"Beckham-mania" has hit KL (like duh...) and here we see tons of Malaysian's going Ga-Ga over his lovely locks (a poodle with bad curls looks better), flashy smile and huge wallet (35mil EUROs!!!!!.......his salary can feed an African country and still have pocket change to buy a small nuke device!). Its so sad in Malaysia that we look upon these sporting heros like Ronaldo, Beckham, Kimi, Schumacher and the likes but we do not take a second look at our Malaysian heros of present and past, you see tons of fansites bout Ian "Thorpedo" Thorpe but how bout that certain Malaysian swimmer that (Keng Liat) who put up a huge fight to nearly beat ol' Thorpedo but lost the Gold due to Ian's long fingers.

Perhaps its also a fact that we do not have heroes anymore to worship as we see our Malaysian teams fall time and time again to shine, watching from the sidelines as people who do not know a clue about sports take the helm of the National Sports Associations, just so to have great political credentials. I guess I won't name which NSAs are involved but you know who YOU ARE!! Its time we did something about it.

The previous fracas between the OCM and the MAAU has certainly shaken some already rotten relationships and with the BAM imploding along with their pseudo-teams (i.e. Nusa Mahsuri), who knows when can we see a Malaysian team we can look up to.

But its not a lost cause, we have Malaysian who do us proud, our bowlers are among one of the best in the world today and Kudos to them for bringing us glory and recognition (we'll see how long that last.....).

On a sadder note, its so sad that we have to live in a world filled with unsavoury (very mildly said!) characters, its sad that a vibrant young woman like Canny Ong had to depart from our world in such a horrible manner, it saddens the soul. Najah Nasseri's comments on 25th June 2003 really hit home, just because it was Bangsar Shopping Center, centered in the most affluent part of KL and seat of the rich and famous (and wannabes!) does not make it safe from psychotic self-gratifying maniacs or the common snatch-thieves, we must not be complacent when it comes to personal safety and we have to be alert about our surroundings and be safe! Remember: Complacency breeds mediocrity but it will also bring about physical harm and suffering.

Myself and my dearest partner, Samantha sends our sincerest condolences to Canny Ong's family and her husband, Brendon Ong, may your find closure in your suffering and time of grief. I constantly my darling Samantha everytime she travels around her campus in UM, no amount of aikido training and pepper spray can stop a determined attacker!

Till another post, Ciao People!

2003-06-25T01:18:00.000+08:00

Good Day to All and Welcome to my Blog!

I've been playing with the notion of setting up my own Blog for a long time now and it was not until InfoSoc 2003, a Malaysian Information Society Knowledge Sharing Conference, held in the historic city of Melaka. This is where i met a few truly inspiring individuals who have been blogging for a long time now.

I would like to thanks them for their kind words and advice to me durin the Youth Expression Tools track on Monday:

- Mr. Jeff Ooi (www.jeffooi.com)
- Mr. Dinesh Nair (www.alphaque.com)
- Ms. Najah Nasseri (www.najahnasseri.org)
- Mr. Aizuddin Danian Izham Cheong (www.aizuddindanian.com/voi)

Thus starts this blog which i have named "The Dream and the Means", where Olympism is the dream and Volunteerism is the means in which i plan to create awareness. I've have been a self-studied Olympism scholar for many years now and i wish to create an awareness of the principles of Pierre de Courbetin and its relation and perhaps implications on Malaysian and Asian sports issues.

Another is the concept of volunteerism, which i strongly advocate to the masses, a volunteer is a very special person who extends his willing helping hands out to an organization or community, while never seeking compensation or renumeration in any way. I hope that we can unite under a banner of the volunteer and help create a society of like-minded individuals in Blogverse.

Perhaps the overall theme of this Blog is somewhat idealistic bluster and will amount to nothing more than a young malaysian youth rambling about how Olympism and volunteerism has changed his life. But i think that sharing is the 1st step to help people understand and empathize.

Perhaps a person of a higher stature would share some words of wisdom from the age of time:

"I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."

- Mahatma Gandhi

Once again, welcome to my blog and i hope you enjoy your stay here!

Nicholas C.