$cared?

S$

Now Malaysia wants to impose a RM20 toll for foreign cars. And who's complaining? Our neighbours due south. It's really quite amusing that we pay to enter the island but they can't pay to enter the mainland. Are they scared to lose money to us? We have and are doing them good by selling raw water to them all these years.

By the way, how on earth did we come to a business deal that let's us lose out by selling raw water and buying treated water? 0_0

Our government is trying to control fuel smuggling by imposing the levy. At this stage, it can be seen as a good move but only it will be only temporary. The only effective way is the old fashion screening of vehicles leaving the country. Get more personnel to peek into every corner of the vehicles. Neighbours, please cooperate. It's only a little more to spend each time you come here. Try car-pooling. It will also do everyone good by reducing gas emissions.

Hey, doesn't someone has hydrogen technology for cars?

Help

HELP, I NEED FUNDS TO CONTINUE MEDICAL STUDIES IN IRELAND.

1 Euro = RM4.50
Euro 25000 per year x 2.5 yrs = Euro 62500 x 4.5 = RM281250

Not counting living expenses. How do I overcome this?

KL's city rail...

Choo, Choo... Chug, Chug, Chug..


Ah, talking about the grouses of public transport. Let's go through the rail system.

Ok, first and foremost, Putra has not enough carriages! During the peak hours, we can see people pressing on the glasses windows on the doors, hanging on to others (or not holding anything at all)... it looks like they've all been swept into the train with a mighty whack from a mighty broom. This is especially bad after the train had passed the KLCC station. We need more carriages, something like the number STAR has. Talking about STAR, most of the time the drivers mumble through their mics for the station alert. With all the noise from the train, how do they expect us to hear them? To make things more difficult, we can't see the name of the station clearly at night because the inside of the train is brighter than the outside. One more irritating thing, sometimes or often, the air conditioning doesn't work! And it happens during peak hours (I get it in the afternoon) when everyone is pressing against each other, coming back from work, sweating and smelling and breathing heavily in the moving gas chamber-like prison. The management should check their trains everyday. Why should we pay and support the service when we are taken for granted?

Ok, not all problems arise from the management, mind you. I like the service because of the timing of the LRT trains. It's of course not as frequent all the time as one would like, but it's fine. Most importantly, it arrives on time. This is what the public should be ashamed about. The stations frequently announce that people must let others disembark first before boarding. Easier said than done. Doors open and the hullabaloo starts. Shoving, grumbling, grunting, you name it. It's like that's the only train on the track for miles and we can't miss it. People on the train, don't smirk yet. You guys take your time coming out of the train. Perhaps you own the train, do you? How can people get on the train if you don't come out? Putra is automatic, it doesn't wait and I don't think STAR's drivers would like to be delayed too long. Whose fault is it when people get hurt? Everybody's.

KTM Commuter, for goodness sake, clean up! Cockroaches live in the carriages! What on earth.... sigh... I rest my case. Also, be punctual! How do you explain the 45 minute waiting time for a train from Subang Jaya to KL Sentral? Worry about the costs? Don't. There are more people taking the trains than you think. Keep us happy, and we'll keep you happy. It's 2 way.

Ah, this is the unsolved mystery of KL:
WHY ON EARTH DOES THE MONORAIL STOP SHORT OF GOING INTO KL SENTRAL???

Chimneys

Cough, cough...
picture source: http://www.engineering.usu.edu/databases/mdb/images/no_smoking234.gif

It's really intriguing. Even with the much publicised risks of lung cancer, hordes of chimneys still churn out clouds of smoke. It's like the early days of industrialisation when everyone's using coal. Who suffers? The non-smokers!

Interestingly, many parents hate children who smoke but one can see some parents, especially fathers, puffing away in their car while the whole family had to endure him with the windows down! These people should probably take note that cars come with air-conditioning. This new technology helps us survive the pollution when we're on the road. But what are they doing? The poor children breathe in burnt petrol as well as burnt tobacco. Why are people getting mad at children who smoke? They really shouldn't. They should be proud that their offspring had mastered the family tradition and are ready to sustain it.

Everytime I eat at a coffee shop or a mamak shop, I have to endure the smoke around me. Aren't eateries supposed to be a non-smoking place? It IS an enclosed place, and enclosed places are barred to smokers. So, this smoking species say, "Go to a non-smoking place la if you don't like it here.". Heck, this type of human rights is invalid. If I retort, "Why don't you go to a smoking place if you like to smoke.", I think I'll be bashed up by all the chimneys around me. Smokers complain that they are denied their human rights. How about nons? This is an age old debate. In reality, smokers have already forfeited their rights. They are harming healthy people around them. Are they much different than bombers? Virus releasers? They'are killing innocent victims. They kill children. They kill their own children. They fight for their right to kill. And when they kill, they experience pleasure from nicotine. It's sick: pleasure when killing. Christopher Reeve's dear wife died of lung cancer. She hasn't smoked once in her life. Who killed her?

Smokers violate personal space by intruding on the 1.5 foot radius of airspace of each individual around him. What do countries do when they found a sparrow from their neighbour flying into their land in this time of the avian flu threat? Exaggeratingly, The sparrow would be hit by a missile. Same here, why can't we defend our health? Because we would be charged for causing grevious hurt. However, the smoker wouldn't be charged the same, would he? We always want evidence. They always laugh, "You don't have cancer, how you know we caused it?". If only we have and accept precogs. Minority Report wasn't a bad show after all.

People, not chimneys, we have to stand up and defend ourselves. We are at war. And we WILL win the war.

Just Rice

Try this:

Rice With Cheese

Start to boil rice as normal. When it looks soggy and there's still a little water, rip up a slice of cheese and throw the pieces into the pot. Sprinkle grounded oregano leaves, pepper and a leeeetle bit of salt, since cheese slices have salt. Stir and mix everything, especially making sure that the all the cheese has melted. The mixture would become gluey and gooey, like pulut, I would say.When bubbling has stopped, serve. Might want to let it cool a little because cheese can retain quite some heat.

Make sure you like cheese because this can be a little strong on the stomach if you don't.. =)
Hate the strong cheese smell? Sprinkle some lemon juice on the rice.

A simpler version of the cheese baked rice, haha.

Happy birthday, 8tv! And my cam had to fail me...

8tv

Happy Birthday! Was there on the 14th but didn't have a camera with me. Haha, managed to see Quickie hosts Adam and Marion on stage. Ah, was she tall! Today, the 15th, it was Fabian and Rina hosting. Hah, I think I prefer the former pair when it comes to hosting. Fabs and Rina will cater to the teens and young people effectively only (you know our talk =) ). Today, I armed myself with a cam, determined to snap all that I could in the hour I had, but luck wasn't with me. I didn't have an image stabiliser and some are badly blurred! Here goes, some pics from the party.

uuuhh...dizzy

Knock Knock!

Man, I hit my head twice! One was a whack by a hand, and the other a bump on the bus's overhead compartment. The headache, dizziness and heaviness lasted for almost a week! Thank God I've recovered.

Hmm.. ever since the hols began, I found nothing to blog about, do, or think. This is really some kind of post-exam syndrome, a kind of premature mid-life crisis. Sigh.. at least there was a trip to Pangkor to kill my boredom. Oh, pics at jienhan.shutterfly.com

yawn...

Where is God? Where?

Stricken
Five years ago, or maybe three, I found a white spot on each of my elbows. Turned out I have Vitiligo (google it). And recently, it has worsened. It hit me hard. "What???!!!!!", I yelled silently,"I have a still-incurable ailment??!!". I feel like crying everyday but only did a couple of times. This is one of the worst puishments ever. Who wants to lose his skin pigment? Especially when it happens gradually. It would be less damaging mentally if it went all as once. But I can picture myself turning pure white with just the pinkiness of my blood below my skin showing. Why does this happen? Medicine says its the genes. In other words, a curse.

Where is God? I've been praying and repenting over and over again to no avail. For almost 6 years now, and it has worsened instead, even though it stopped for a short while. I ask in anger, "Why me? Why not the terrorists who murder innocent people? Why not the corrupt people who cause hurt? Why not the cheaters? Why not the bullies? Why not the gangsters? Why not the drug pushers? Why not the child abusers? Why not those who dump their babies? Why not Osama?". And it has to be me.

Only tonight did I find some comfort in the Word, with some help from the "Purpose Driven Life" book. Maybe it's because I had not been strong in Him, took things for granted and Vitiligo was the best way to bring me to my senses. Isaiah says," The Lord has hidden himself from his people, but I trust Him and place my hope in Him."(Isaiah 8:17). Maybe it's to make me realise the deeper mistakes and attrocities in me that I had not paid attention to. Maybe it's to reinforce my hope and trust in Him in times of great trouble, which this really is. Comfort, there may be when I had reveiwed my life, as " The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."(Psalm 34:18). I am crushed. Only made worse when the word incurable is given. Who would understand this thing? Even if it's not contagious, which normal human wouldn't look twice before approaching? I wouldn't want to think what I'll go through in a few years.

In all these complaints, I am thankful that I'm healthy otherwise. I am thankful that I'm alive. I'm thankful to have a family, a shelter, education, food, stable finances and a great country to live in. For now I know, you'll never know that God is all you need until God is all you've got.

"I need your healing touch, God. In Christ's Name, Amen."

Wierd Stuff

Alien or terrestrial?
I found this marks on the floor of my kitchen. I suspect its caused by some insect, but which one? Calling all entomologists, please help! Here's another look.Gaaa!

What STPM trials do to you...

Yes. I think that's me.

C a n ' t ......g o ..........o n........

I have no more energy to take on the STPM. Am I giving up? I don't know. But now I'm having a furious headache which lasted 4 days ago. Study so much and what's the outcome? Nothing. Nothing!!!! Forget it.

Katrina Khaos

Condolences and Regrets
My deepest condolences to the folks of New Orleans. A terrible disaster has descended upon the city and I pray conditions will be for the better. 20 feet of water, that's what's being reported. Whole houses and businesses swept away. One picture of a stadium flooded was shown on the news. You could only see the stands. I could only imagine the suffering this hurricane has brought.

pss...pss...
The USA. The world's superpower has failed to evacuate the city? What had happened? It's is very unbelievable that the hurricane has taken the city by surprise. They have so many satellites that I worry that a crash will happen someday. They could detect the earthquake last 26th December in S.E.A. . And yet, people perished in a detected hurricane. Why? Mr. Bush has a lot of explaination to do. Even the mayor swore on national TV. Why has the government taken so long to respond? Many question the whereabouts of the aid promised. No evacuation plan was made. USA has space technology, but where are the machinery required to provide the much needed power? No one actually took a second look at the levies and strengthen them. Right now while writing this, I am listening to a very angry mother on CNN who is a hurricane victim. Mr. President, you'd better respond.

Malu, they invaded Iraq, refused to pay debts to UN and now they need help. Bah!

Happy Birthday, Malaysia!

Tanggal 31, Bulan 8 57!
The parade? One of the best and most meaningful ever =) Good job! Good weather! No more words to describe the morning other than these, hehe. Happy birthday, Malaysia!

Recipie! ---- Baked Potatoes

How do you make a hearty breakfast/dinner dish? Let me show you how. =) My very own experiment.

Ingredients :
4 potatoes, spring onion, oregano (dried), Tabasco sauce, extra virgin olive oil, lemon, pepper.


Steps:

1. Peel the potatoes. Then, cut them into smaller pieces.

2. Boil the potatoes in salt water until you can drive your knife through them easily. 3. Put the potatoes into a bowl and mash them completely.

4. Cut a lemon and squeeze the juice into the potatoes to your taste.

5. Add chopped spring onion, Tabasco sauce and olive oil to the potatoes. To your taste.

6. Mix thoroughly.

7. Spread the mashed potatoes in a baking tray, or in my case, a metal plate.

8. Bake in the preheated oven until the potatoes show a golden colour. (I used 250°C)

9. Serve! With toast, egg, etc... can also add butter if you want.

Ok, the colour of the dish in the picture may not look smooth, but it tastes good! How's that for a beginner's first time full fledged cooking? Feedback is most welcomed. Bon appetit!

Winds Of Change

Truly Clear
At last, the days of acrid smell is over and it had better stay that way. It rained! And from 1 Utama, you can finally see way out until the Telekom building in the far distance. It really felt nice when small drops of sky juice hit my face. Somehow the winds changed and now the smoke is headed up north. Sorry, northern states. It actually hurts when the papers reported that some farmers are still burning padi stalks up north. Some kind of education and extra funding should be given to help them change their ways.




Here's another view that's blessedly clear of haze.






Say Who?
Talking about winds of change. Not only did the winds actually change direction, the stories in the news did too! It is an article from The Star today (17 August 2005) which says that Malaysian planters in Indonesia did not start any fires. How did Indonesia come to a conclusion that they did the last time? This openly suggests that Indonesia is playing the convenient blame game. When we complain about their actions, they simply say, "It's your own fault! Don't blame us..". Ah, the fibbers. What a big show of the so-called ASEAN spirit. What great neighbourliness. Nonsensical stories made up by their press is the thanks we get for lending a hand to put out their own fires.

What Say?

Explain this
(Article from the New Straits Times, 12 August 2005) This is simply unacceptable. How can this excuse saying that "it is a lifestyle that cannot be changed" be used? It is like saying we have been going to war with spears and stones for centuries, therefore we cannot switch to guns as it is difficult to stop using our own sticks and stones. It is somehow very illogical to be unable to educate the planters to switch to less destructive methods of land clearing as Indonesia has such a huge population. They are able to recruit more law enforcers as their economy is now improving. Indonesia is a member of the OPEC and therefore they have the energy to conduct surveillance. Malaysia is also an agriculture country. We have long forbid slash and burn methods even though there is a handful who are still ill-informed. Did our agriculture activities suffer? No! In fact, it flourished as there is less pollutants in the air which inhibits proper plant growth. If Indonesians cannot change their ways, why on earth do we provide help to them? It is clearly wasting our efforts as well as risking our firemens' lives. Maybe if we could hold our breath for a longer time, we should wait until there's nothing left to burn in Sumatera. Only then, the air will clear. For a very long time.

Traitors
Oi! These people are overboard! How can our own countrymen across the Straits do this to their homeland? Don't they know what is happening here? Malaysian cops should hop over there and throw all of them into jail, lock up their businesses and fine them. This is very shameful, with the fact that everyone is pointing their fingers at the Indonesians. These Malaysian firms better stop this heinous act as the world thinks we are actually self-destructing. What a shame.

Darkness Comes And Goes

Still Dark
The haze actually lifted in the morning, increasing visibility to a little more than 1km as compared to yesterdays horror. That is the INTAN building in the distance. About 250 schools have closed today and are to close tomorrow too. However, at about 1pm, the winds shifted and the haze is back, blanketing the city again in thick smoke. Even the smell is in every building, air-conditioned or not. Quite a number of minor accidents also occurred due to poor visibilty. I noticed that the postman in my area does not wear a mask. I hope Pos Malaysia will remind their personnel to wear them as well as provide the masks. Today, many people have slammed the Indonesians over the haze. We are tired of helping them douse their own fires as reoccurence is the thanks we get. So what if they have the death penalty for the culprits? No one seems to be executed just yet and the fires rage on. KL has offered to send help. Hopefully the Indonesians have a change in attitude and cease to let us suffer because of their people's inconsiderate actions.

Genius!
This is a really good idea by him to keep from breathing in the unhealthy air! =) It should be marketed. Really.



(The Sun, 11 August 2005, front page)

Haze Worsened

Suffocating
The air has worsened tremendously today, the visibility at a low of 300m. From the Universiti roundabout, the INTAN building disappeared from sight. The air smells worse and people started choking and their eyes watering. My eyes hurt now. What students do not understand is why the Government can't declare an emergency at this point of time. They can hardly pay attention to the lessons and the teachers can't speak at their normal volume. The Ministry should note that schools are not so fortunate to have air conditioners to use. If the situation worsens tomorrow, students cannot be blamed for skipping school. The schools are given the liberty to shut down but there's a catch. The off days have to be replaced on Saturdays. Let me ask, if the haze does not lift until December, would we replace the days next year? Will students be expelled for not attending classes in order to protect their own health? Why do schools demand Medical Certs from these students? Who wants to pay a doctor just to get a piece of paper? This problem in the administrations should be looked into now before anything worse happens.

There were a few blessed drops of rain that fell on P.J. . Please pray for a full monsoon blast that should be here during this season. Slight hail also hit Subang Jaya. What a phenomenon!

Smoked

Who Moved The Mountain?!
Try to look in the distance. Where is the mountain and the condominium? The photo was taken from the same location as yesterday's. Today's condition is the worst ever since the smoke hit us. Visibilty's down to a low of approximately 700m. In certain parts of Subang, you can't see things clearly beyond 500m. The air smells as if you're the one burning away. Are we being smoked out of our country? The Indonesians have admitted that a large portion of the haze came from Sumatra due to open burning. We hope that the authourities there could put a stop to the irresponsible act. We too have the problem with peat fire. Good luck and many thanks to the firemen out there doing their best. We have reportedly managed to douse 70% of active blazes in the hot spots. The picture on the left shows how bad visibilty is. There is supposed to be a mountain and a condominiumin the distance which are about 1km away. Even the tree slightly in the distance which is easily 100m away appears grey. There is one thing I saw which ticked me off. As I walked along some shops in front of a college, many people were puffing away. They do not seemed disturbed by the present haze and now they are working to thicken the smoke. Somehow, I don't see them thinking about the health of others. We should not be so lenient about human rights. We non-smokers also have our rights to obtain clean air if not less dangerous air. The police should let non-smokers snuff out any cigarettes at our discretion.

Surprising!
"The Star" published an article (page 4, main section) entitled "Open burning in Klang Valley banned" today (9th August 2005). What does that mean? Does the Department Of Environment mean that they had been endorsing some open burning before? They had better explain it soon before an inquiry is launched.

Overexcited Chemistry Procedure

The Big Hair
Take a look at the lamp post. Bad hair day huh? It is found in Section 19 P.J. . I wonder how the authourities allow such a mess to perch over the public. It is time to clear that up and show our neatness in all that we do. That is a little too dangerous. Imagine a bird that landed up there and touching a live wire. I bet its feathers will look like that.





How's The Air?
It's clear skies today at 5.30 pm! A very drastic difference from the condition this morning. At about 9.30 am, the Telekom Tower was hardly visible from Section 12. The air was choking and we prayed that the school would do us some good by aborting all classes immediately. Ah, and once again, the lime juice has worked its miracle again! My throat feels fine after the drink even though the acidity of the fruit was a little too high. Hint: don't ask for kurang gula!



The Overexcited Chemistry Procedure
The chemical test today was a success! We managed to pin point the existence of the chloride ion in the unidentified salt. First, we saw the misty fumes of HCl when we added sulphuric acid. Then the silver nitrate test gave us the white precipitate that dissolves in aqueous ammonia. Finally, we did a brave test (The T.L.K. style). We added the solid salt with potassium dichromate (VII) with concentrated sulphuric acid. Berjaya! Red fumes which came out confirmed the chloride ion. However, it kept generating. Frantic actions brought the T.L.K. waving the test tube around, with the thing still smoking. Then, the smoke died as the chemicals were drowned in water. Ah, the experience! Now, we have to monitor ourselves as we could have breathed in much toxins. And look at my hands. Either the sulphuric acid nibbled at my fingers or the silver nitrate oxidised on it. Scary...