Patri-Idiotic

My Dad just had to find a way to ruin my pre-Merdeka evening. He had brought the entire family to join my two aunts from my Dad’s side at the so-called Merdeka Countdown Celebration at Bintang Walk last night. Of all the places that I could ended up at on a pre-Merdeka evening, I ended up at Bintang Walk.

Gosh, it was a terrible, terrible evening for me. We took the public transport there (KTM from Kepong to KL Central and Sky Bus from KL Central to Bintang Walk). You know tthe little Budi Bahasa campaign? It was a complete waste of money! People were acting like crap when they want to get into the KTM and Sky Bus. There wasn’t any courtesy and people were just pushing each other to get into the transport. Honestly, both the KTM and Sky Bus is manually driven. So, the chances of you getting squashed by the door is impossible as the doors are manually controlled. Oh yeah, when I was on the Sky Bus, there were some Malay teenage girls who threw tissue papers with blood on the floor. You got that right, blood.

When we arrived at KL Central to take the Sky Bus, I saw all kinds of walks of life. There were like punk-rockers wannabes with their hair in totally odd fashion and other kind of people. I encountered another scene here where an Indian guy stop his track, threw down his cigarettes and step on it on the floors of KL Central. He could have thrown it into a dustbin that was just in front of him! I am so darn disgusted by his act! Yes, disgusted, again!

That wasn’t the end of my nightmare. When I had an airborne view of Bintang Walk from the Sky Bus, I got the shock of my life. There were like thousands of Chinese people there. Mark this spot- Chinese. Where on earth is the racial integration that Dato’ Onn Jaafar and other heroes of the nation had fought for? 

When I did join the crowd on the streets, that was when the climatic scare of my nightmare occur. The crowds were all so darn rowdy. They were like spraying all those foam stuff from a can on passer-bys. Oh…My…God. It was a scene of complete un-civilisation. An act of barbarism!! So, my aunts went on to the front to get nearer to the stage (there were performance by international Chinese stars) while Dad, Mom, bro and I seek refuge at Secret Recipe.

Oh, and when Negaraku was played, the crowds were still fooling around. How patri-idiotic is that? My Dad’s masterplan to celebrate our country’s freedom had turn out to be a failure. Instead of seeing the beauty of Malaysia, I had seen the ugliness of it. I was disgusted beyond words.

That’s it. I am never ever going to any of these kind of public street events again!

……………………………………………………..

Selamat Hari Merdeka to all the other Malaysians who truly appreciate the beauty of our beautiful and peaceful country. I guess I will shed my vulgarity now and wish Malaysia a heartfelt "Happy Birthday". And my deepest gratitude goes to the heroes of the nation who had fought hard for our freedom!

The Other Side of Life: Moral’s Trip to Taman Sinar Harapan

The one thing that is usually not present in a person’s life is a sense of gratification. We are never satisfied and grateful for all the pleasures that we enjoy in life, don’t we? I mean, all that we can see are the pleasures of others around us. We are clouded by the visions of beauty and wealth that we see in others that somehow, we are ignorant of the pleasures and beauty that we possessed. They always say that the grass is much greener on the other side. But, we might also overlook the fact that our grass is also green and there might be others whose grass never attained this kind of greenery.

On the 12th of August 2006, I saw the other side of life from the side which I was standing. I crossed the fine lines between happiness and misery, wants and needs, perfection and imperfection. I saw the other side of life on that day and it wasn’t the most beautiful view but it was certainly the most thought provoking. It was a view with a melancholic atmosphere. It was a view where tomorrow don’t bring much of an enticing prospect. It was a view of loneliness and sweet broken promises. But it was also a view that instilled a sense of gratification in me. And it was a view that showed me that no matter who you are, there are still people who love and care for you. From abandonment comes compassion, and from compassion comes hope. And from hope itself, comes life.

The Moral’s "Rombongan Pendidikan Moral ke Taman Sinar Harapan" was held on the 12th of August 2006. Together with 80 other Moral students and 4 teachers, I went to Taman Sinar Harapan, a home for people with disabilities. The home was situated at Kuala Kubu Baru, which was about 30 minutes drive away from school.

On that day, I arrived at school about 7.00 in the morning. Once there, I was given a special "Treasurer" tag for the trip’s comittee members by N.K.C., the comittee’s President. After that, I sort out all the receipts and money and other stuff like that. The bus departs from school at about 8.00 in the morning.

We had a safe and pleasant journey to the home. While we were on our way in the bus, Pn. Low sang a Chinese song. It was really sporting of her to do that. Once we arrived there, all of us were required to line up in pairs. We were then given a briefing by one of the helpers of the home after we had assembled ourselves at the Dewan Serbaguna. We were told that pictures of the in-mates were not allowed to be taken. This is to ensure that there won’t be any negative speculation should the photos fall into the wrong hands.

We were then taken around the home and shown to the people around there. This is really my first time at a home for people with disabilities. Therefore, this might explain the feeling of conscience that was haunting me. I don’t know why I felt this way but I just felt it. I guess it might be because looking at all this people reminded me of how lucky I had been but I had never really been thankful.

In one of the hostels at the home, there was one inmate who asked the helper who were giving us the tour on when will her family come visit her. And the helper replied by saying, "Hari Raya nanti". Then he turned to us all and said that usually after the families had left them here at the home, they will only visit once in a blue moon. Or maybe never at all. While he was explaining this, I heard the inmate told another helper that she can’t wait until Hari Raya when she will be able to taste her grandmother’s lemang and rendang. Hearing her saying all this with a voice that is so innocent and pure almost brought tears to my eyes. There was also another inmate who was a twin. She was born with disabilities but her other twin sister was born without any complications. I suppose this is one of life’s anatomies. Life is never always fair. But then again, who do you blame it on?

After the tour around the home, all of us divided ourselves into groups and did some social work for the home. Together with a few of my classmates, I went to a hostel called Asrama Teratai. This was where they placed the inmates who needed all the basic helps to get on with life. They are feeded and washed by the helpers at the home. My classmates and I did our work and took turns snapping photos to be included in our Moral project later on.

Around 11.30 in the morning, everyone’s work was done and we prepared to leave. We said our farewells to all the inmates and left the home around 11.45. On the way home, everyone was pretty exhausted. The melancholic feeling that we all had back there at the home evaporated when the soundtrack of High School Musical was played. We even had a game where when the person who was conducting the game shout out a feature or characteristics, all of us had to shout out a name among ourselves. The person who was called was required to perform some silly and funny request.

We arrived at school safely and had our lunch which was KFS’s chicken and pizzas from Domino’s. While eating, we all discussed and contemplated all the stuffs and lessons that we had learned. After that, it was the end of the trip and everyone headed back home.

So, I learned a thing or two on that day. Be grateful for all the pleaures that you enjoy in life. Be thankful for the life that you live. And most important of all, cherish yourself just the way you are for nothing is more beautiful than a person who cherished himself.

P.S. We are all perfect in our very own ways. 

The Irony of a Holiday

Okay, so maybe holidays are not always fun. But then again, during the holidays, you don’t have to say hi-and-lo to the every-weekday-faces that you see during school. You don’t have to perform the never-ending (and mind you, there ain’t no happy endings) job of a prefect. You don’t have to face the scrutiny of other teachers or pressure from your peers.

So what if the holidays mean that you have to stay at home the whole entire day and write up a 1000 words essay for History? What is the big deal if the holidays mean that you do your homework and revision during the day, go online during the night and read Yann Martel’s Life of Pi before you go to sleep? What if a holiday is not a day out at the beach with your MP3 player and sitting on the golden sands while re-reading Alice Hoffman’s The Probable Future? What if a holiday is not a time for you to catch the latest flick at One Utama shopping mall with your close friends?

Wake up people!! Holidays aren’t always about London, Paris or maybe Tokyo. There’s something going on anywhere I go tonight… Oh, sorry. I got carried away. So, holidays aren’t always going to be fun but at least you get a break from being a student. Mind you, the life and times of a typical Malaysian secondary school student is not always haa-haa, hee-hee. There are holiday assignments and lectures from parents for going online way past the witching hour. My little word of advice is: Expect for the worst and enjoy your time to the fullest.

However, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. In my case, I will be going off to my favourite place on earth tomorrow. Yup, I am going back to Penang! Hooray! Okay, so maybe that part about re-reading a book at the beach will not be a forlorn hope for me. Gosh, I can’t wait to breath the sweet air of Penang (though I don’t reckon anything is going to be sweet except for the aroma of Hokkien Mee and Char Koay Teow because of the haze).

Anyway, I am going off to watch Monster House at Cathay Cineleisure after this. I got four free tickets to watch that movie. I guess my holiday doesn’t turn out to be so bad after all. I got free tickets to watch an animated movie and I’m going off to Penang. What else do I need to make this holiday week a holiday?

Enjoy your holidays guys!!

Hot Weather + Hectic Day = Exhaustion

The weather today is ridiculously hot! Gosh, I mean you can die of dehydration or maybe you may suffer from an attack of heat stroke under the blazing hot sun today. And guess what? my prefect’s duty shift was at 12.30 p.m..

My school organised "Karnival Kemerdekaan" today. So, there was no class activities today. It was a lively event but as a prefect, usually during these kind of events, I have to perform my so-called "calling"…like standing guard at the school’s back-gate when the sun was at it’s prime. Initially I had planned to participate in "Pertandingan Melukis Sepanduk" but due to some glitches, I had to cancel my participation.

There were other activities like "Pertandingan Menyanyi Lagu Patriotik", a cultural fashion show competition, multi-racial futsal and so much more. At least I get to enter one activity which was the "Kuiz Merdeka". Well, actually it was an open-to-all activity and there was no need to register. I just sat at the Dataran and raised my hand up when they asked who was the ‘ketua angkatan tentera’. Honestly, it would be a disgrace if I don’t know the answer to that question because my dad is with the Malaysian Armed Forces.

Mostly, I hanged out at the Prefect’s Room and read Amy Tan’s The Kitchen God’s Wife (which by the way is an amazing book) until my shift starts. During the course of my time at the Prefect’s Room, a Form 1 prefect kept on nagging me saying that I read too much novels. Okay, I know I don’t have to say this again but… I am a self-confessed bookaholic (I prefer that term better than "book worm" thank you very).

Before we all went back, I was called for a briefing at 3D together with other students who are going for the field trip to a "home for children with disabilities" which will be held this coming Saturday. We were briefed on the type of attire that we must wear, what we must do there and all that. The briefing ended a little past 2 p.m..

Ooh, while I was waiting for my mom outside the school compounds, there was this moronic Chinese guy from school who threw a plastic cup after he entered his car. And guess what, his vehicle was Lexus and I assume that he is someone from a wealthy family. Don’t he have any etiquette?! Honestly, I personally think that wealth doesn’t reflect a person’s social status- it is a person’s morality that reflects his social status.

And to think that BSD is an elite area? I am sure that the price of the property at this housing area will decrease by a big margin if his act was immortalised in a photo and sent to a newspaper. Ugh, does that guy even know the meaning of elite?  Now, this is dedicated to that "rich guy" :

   According to Oxford’s Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the word elite means:

a group of people who in a society, etc. who are powerful and have a lot of influence, because they are rich, intelligent.

Okay, he might be rich. So he had the first quality. But intelligence? I don’t think he possessed the intelligence to think of his action which might cause the world a dump-site hell in the future, the intelligence to think what kind of filthy example he is showing to the younger students, the intelligence to think about the disgrace that he might cause his country and people!

Ugh! I am disgusted beyond words!

Okay, I got carried away. Lol. One thing that I am absolutely sure about school tomorrow is that it is going to be really hectic. I will be having my Physics presentation, Bahasa Melayu Ujian Lisan and English Oral Test. Gosh, let’s just hope I got out of tomorrow alive.