Politicians Childish Hoo-Hah

Gosh seriously, grow up lah! I think it’s time for a new face, like a total brand new face. Neither current government or coming up opposition. These people think it’s a classroom president they are running for.

I don’t really care if you did murder someone or not, or if you did sodomize someone before or not. Go take your case somewhere else and not make it the people’s problem.

The people’s problems are high oil prices, young generation future education, improved health care, cheaper roads, properly used tax money, young girls who have been raped and other “people” situations.

If current politicians have brains they would not put forward thoughts of such childish sense. If the media have brains they would not even bother with unimportant stories like that and “nationalized” personal issues like that. Smart politicians do their smart politic-king stuff behind scenes. Smart media brings public attention to more important issues.

Learn from Mahathir. Though lately his old age is catching up on him but that’s excusable.

There are no saint politicians. Saint becomes pastor or charity organizer. There can only be smart politicians. Stupid politicians do not exist because they will never make it to anyone’s list. But guess who’s in the limelight now? Plainfully painful childish politicians.

And what does U.S. got to do with this? It’s not a horse race betting game where you need to say anything! You should use all that wasteful campaign money to “interfere” and help nations who needs it more – like where there’s war or poverty.

I wonder if the Agong still exist? Is he not doing anything about it, or is he the person behind all the childish act, or is he not even aware of it? He’s after all still the “father of the country”. Where does he sit? Only on the throne? Does the king not have any “veto” say over unacceptable childish behaviour of his “sons” and “daughters”? Or is the media not giving him enough publicity for me to realize if he is anyway involved in anything to do with his country.

My New Car To-Be…

It’s time for me to buy a car for myself. Should it be something practical, cost saving and just good enough for me to get to and from work? Or should it be something I really want?

A few of you would probably remember what my dream car is. It’s not some Porsche or Ferrari or some car wayyy beyond my financial capability.

Remember my old Post?

I’ve decided. I’ve decided to get that I have always wanted, few years before my initial target date, but hey, all the better right?! I feel sometimes, I should get what I want, not limited to just what I need. If I can afford it and not overspending unnecessary, why not spoil myself a little bit hey? :)

I’ve been contemplating between something like this


and something like that.


I’ve even visited the showroom and viewed private sellers’ cars to check out both types. Not long before I get my new car. I’m excited. :)

Which one do you think I'm most likely to get? Or do you think it will be neither of the above?

Blog updates

I don't feel like posting anything up anymore... it doesn't seem as fun as before, writing and posting things. No one pops by to read by anymore. I myself don't do much of blog hop anymore. There's no fun travel trips to share. I'm lazy with bringing my camera to take shots to share.

I'm less motivated to switch on my computer after work unless there's important things to do, like a quick personal email and facebook check but seldom take the time to response or keep up with gossips, online banking, online shopping, & google map. That's pretty much it.

But then again, maybe I'll give this blog another chance.

Maybe I'll write about something which has been occupying my thoughts the last few days. Maybe...

Colours of Autumn

I think Autumn is the most beautiful season of all, because of the colours it brings to the surrounding area! There are leaves which have turned yellow, some turned red or brown and some still fresh green! It’s very beautiful indeed.

Below are a few shots I took with my new phone, the quality is only fairly ok quality mainly because it was a gloomy day, and I was in a moving vehicle, and I did not managed to get shots of the really nice streets.

Imagine seeing in real life a view which is 10 times sharper, brighter and nicer than the ones below, especially when you drive through a street which was like a tunnel of leaves on the right, left and on top! It does exist, it really does… and I did experience it few weeks ago!


For those of you who have never experienced autumn, or have lived through autumn every year of your live but did not take the time to appreciate it, well, you must see and enjoy the sight of it!
Such a wonderful feeling autumn gives…

No fooling around in swimming pool!

I finally had my first swim in an Australian swimming pool!

Some Facts:
1. It is an outdoor pool
2. It was 8 degrees Celsius
3. But luckily the water in the pool was 27 degrees. But still! Imagine stripping down to only swimsuit before and soaking wet then after! But it was nice cold :)
4. Each lane was separated and there were:
- Fast Lanes (no stop at the end of each lap!)
- 2 training lanes – where the training squad people just kept doing laps and laps and laps
- 1 “play” lane but no one was “playing” and “lazy-ing” or “resting”. Slow swimmers were on this lane but they were still swimming properly!
- I tried the “medium” lane (I think)… I need to stop at every lap! You think I’m super swimmer ar? Even if I am, come on, it’s boring to keep swimming laps and laps without stopping and watching the other people at the pool and relax for a moment! That’s the purpose of going to the pool for a swim! To exercise and relax too!
Hah! And you wonder why so many Olympic swimmers are from Australia…
5. There is an open shower place in the ladies… and I walked in finding a naked lady! Yikes! Luckily they have a few separate shower cubicles for shy people like me :)

There’s no “for fun swimming”. You can’t throw a coin and dive down with your friends to see who can pick it up first at the bottom of the pool! All you do is laps and laps and laps. Boringgggg…. But I’d go again though. It gives a nice swimming feeling :)

Commercial: Ford Falcon

I have not seen much interesting commercial on Australian TV for the one year I’ve been here. I think Malaysia has comparative more meaningful commercial, especially during festival periods.

However, there was this one commercial which caught my attention and I thought I’d share it with you as well. I like the creativity behind it. I found 2 version of it on youtube.

My new mobile phone

I'm blogging from my new mobile phone. How cool is that huh. Well, i know many people have cool and more high tech phones since ages ago. But for me i only have phones which are phones, at most they had camera in them. I'm a sony ericsson fan but right now it's a nokia i'm using. Reason being that's the best phone i can get for free with my post paid plan. Well, that's it for now. There'll be some updates coming along sometime soon :)

I'm paid for 40 hours per week only

It has been a long time since I had to work long hours and over weekends. Brings back memories of the good old times when I was on the ACN – BASF Project in KL. Back then, leaving office at 8pm is considered early, only to VPN to work server from home. But then, I wouldn’t have too much to complain about back then – with nice and fun colleagues who had to work late together as well. And sometimes, taking a break and watching some drama series via YouTube or playing loud music when the rest of the office has left. It was the good old times. I left for Australia, Choo left for Singapore, Shearn left for New Zealand, Rachel left for UK (well, sort of), Adeline left for Hong Kong, and others who left for other projects. I also did not have to worry about dinner because there’s always my mum’s home cooked food, or listening to Ben nagging and then nag and nag and nag again and again about working after hours. J

I’ve been working in Australia for almost a year now. I was working in the Public Sector previously (well, sort of) – so you can imagine the hours I put in. And I’m fairly new in this new job – which in normal circumstances it’s always slightly more relaxing at the beginning. And now comes a time when tight schedule is to be felt, and unfamiliarity with slightly different procedures, and when there’s no team mate to work late with. It’s no fun. I need to have the Australian worker mentality – there’s always tomorrow, and I’m only paid to work for this much. Long hours should not become a habit again, and it will not, because it MUST NOT! I think clocking 10 hours of effective work per day is a fair option. It’s considered working late here, but okay working hours back then. So yes – during peak periods, I shall limit it to 10 hours a day, and if necessary ONLY 1 – 2 hours during weekends.

I need to go jogging or swimming or horse riding or driving or cleaning or serving the community – not serving a Profitable Organization with fixed pay during my non scheduled work hour!

Yes – that will be my plan moving forward.

And it should be yours too. Extreme hard workers are the one who spoil the work market. So, if you have been working too hard – it’s time to stop doing so – because really, what’s the point?

"Beku" KL!

There was this “Freeze” in Malaysia frenzy with words spreading via facebook recently. I’ve finally watched the official video – which was just okay. Too many people were involved and it didn’t seem very interesting watching it. Close to 2000 people took part in the few minutes freeze in KL I believe.

Anyway, if you have no idea what I am talking about, here is an example of one of the best "Freeze" effort around the world:

Of course, don't forget to pause the blog music which is located somewhere on the right side :)

Tasmania: Wineglass Bay in Freycinet

Hard work to reach here…especially for someone who is as unfit as me :(
Climbed uphill for almost an hour…
Worth it? I’m not too sure – coz what I see I’ve already seen on tens of brochures and websites!

“Seeing is believing”

Not as hard work to reach here but long walk…
Climbed downhill for almost an hour too…
Worth it? Yes I think so… it’s very beautiful at the beach here. White beach, clear sea, long stretch of beach, not crowded, 1 “beach kangaroo”, ice-freezing cold water, hot sunny sun, cool sea breeze.

“Feeling is appreciating” :)

I was hoping there would be a nice boat which sells drinking water (coz we were running on limited supply!) and for them to take us back to the car to so I wouldn’t need to use the same way to head back by climbing uphill then downhill again for over an hour.

Yes… I’m lazy…

But hey, when a lazy person like me can make the effort to hike up and down to these spots, the place must be worth visiting then! :)

Tasmania: Port Arthur the Penal Settlement

Port Arthur, Tasman Peninsular would probably be the place with more tales compared to the others. It did not feel like a prison place. But maybe when you are in individual cells, you’ll feel differently. Someone described in his journal that the settlement was “more like a pretty village placed in a romantic position than an abode of misery and crime”

Then…

Now…

I have a mini guide book of the historical site of Port Arthur but to share that with you would be excessive information on this blog, thus I’ve selected a few random points to share with you:

1833 – 1850: British and Irish criminals arrive – yes all the way to this part of the world (Tasmania) to be sent to jail!

More than 2000 convicts, soldiers and civil staff lived here by 1840. It has then become a little town on its own with a major industrial settlement, producing from ships to bricks and brooms.

1842 hospital stories include a surgeon who used a stocking needle to stitch up a convict who had cut his own throat, then applied a home-made ointment of rendered salt pork; also a surgeon who took 10 minutes to amputate a convict’s arm and then cauterized the wound with a hot frying pan.

The “separate prison” was a place of solitary and silence. They were not allowed to communicate with anyone except the staff. Their name was never mentioned and replaced by a number. When outside the cell, they had to wear a mask to prevent them from making contact with other inmates. They exercised alone and the only time they “hung-out” together was in the chapel (separated from each other and confined to only face the minister in front) to sing.

And the worst room was where a man was locked in total darkness and silence for between several hours and 30 days on bread and water,

Port Arthur had some of the newest and strictest security measures of the Australian penal system:
- Port Arthur was secured naturally by shark-infested waters on three sides
- The 30m wide isthmus of Eaglehawk Neck that connected it to the mainland was crossed by fences and guarded by prison guards and dogs. A line of suitably vicious chained dogs terrorised over it.

In contrast to the convict experience, there was a community of military men and free officers with families who tried to make normal lives by holding parties, going to school and played.

Source of information: Port Arthur Web, Port Arthur Wikipedia, Port Arthur Guide Book

Tasmania: Hobart vs Launceston

Hobart is the capital of Tasmania and is located in the south. Launceston is the 2nd city in Tasmania and situation in the North. We flew in and out of Hobart, rented a car to drive around for 6 days, drove about 1300 kilometres, saw at least 200 road kills (dead wallabies, kangaroos, wombats, maybe even tasmanian devils), and totally disliked the cold weather. :(

I’ve decided. I choose summer over winter. It has longer day hours and its warm and it’s nicer in every way possible. Anything below 20 degrees annoys me easily nowadays!

Back to Hobart and Launceston…

I like Launceston more than Hobart. If you had to choose only one place to visit – go to Launceston. The houses seem more interesting there. The city seems bigger and more happening. And the view here seems nicer and more pleasing. Oh, and most importantly it’s warmer in Launceston than in Hobart! Also, it was so difficult to find Iced Chocolate in the supposedly happening place in Hobart – Salamanca! Reasons they gave were no more chocolate, they don’t do it or they don’t serve ice drinks! I mean, it’s Iced Chocolate – it’s such a common drink in Australia!

Left: Hobart; Right: Launceston

Trip to Tasmania

Here are a few (only 104 photos) from our Tasmania trip over the Easter weekend last month. I will have bits and pieces of short stories regarding the trip to share with you guys soon after.

Blog Status Update

It has been a long time now.

There weren’t much opportunity when I can sit at my desk from home and comfortably blog. I miss posting things onto this page.

But I’ll be back soon (hopefully in a few days time), with posts from the past few weeks too.

I have a Type A Personality

Whatever that means... sounds like a Grade A Personality... so I thought I'd put it up and tell the whole world that perhaps, I scored an A in Personality. Yay! Haha *grin*

I'm too lazy to blog about anything but I want to post something... so came this opportunity of a random test I saw from someone's link in facebook in which the test results / comments seem fairly nice, so I thought... why not share it with you? ;)

You Have A Type A- Personality

You are one of the most balanced people around Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - incorporating the best of both worlds

Do You Have a Type A Personality?