Lighting the rail way

Did you read the news today? They're finally expanding the LRT lines! After years of talking about it.

I thought it was a great idea to expand the Kelana Jaya line all the way to Subang. And to extend the Sri Petaling / Bkt Jalil line all the way to Puchong. And I was ecstatic that they're also extending the line to Kota Damansara, near my future home! :)

But I thought it a bit weird to connect the Kota Damansara line to Masjid Jamek - like, huh? So I have to take the train down to KL city and then trawl all the way back up the Kelana Jaya line if I wanna go to my parent's place in SS3 or visit friends in Subang? Bit stewpid. Might as well drive.

The newspaper article mentioned that the extended lines should be ready in 4 years i.e. 2010. Cool. We'll see if that becomes reality. I guess "barring all major catastrophes and economic recessions".

Deep down though, I'm happy. Property prices in PJ will increase once again, or at least maintain its high levels, due to the wider coverage of LRT services. PJ is a great place to live in. Although it basically takes you about 30 minutes to get anywhere within PJ or even get out of PJ, due to the traffic and traffic lights. But, I love this city, with all its jams, idiosyncracies, great shopping - grew up here, studied here, and hopefully, will build a good life here :)

It's the week of patriotism!

Tang-gal tiga-puluh satuuu ... bulan lapan, lima-puluh-tujuh ...!!! That Sudirman song never fails to make me smile :)

I'm happy to be Malaysian, I really am. I can find lots of things to complain about the government, the mentality of its people, the mindless driving, the crime-rate. But, in the end, there is still no where else I'd rather be. Of course, living in Bangkok or Australia or London for a year or two would be great, but Malaysia is where I'd really want to stay, grow up, raise a family, earn a living, and basically just, live.

Just because I was born here.

The news in the papers about the various antics of our government really annoy me. But then, which government doesn't?

The special benefits awarded to bumiputera's also irk me a little. But hey, I can live with it, because it teaches me to be stronger.

The uncivilized drivers sometimes drive me to honk like a maniac. But then, which country's driving doesn't?

But it is sad that racial segregation seems to be so obvious these days. Or maybe it is the same. Maybe when we were younger and our schoolmates weren't differentiated in colours, it was for adults what it is now for us as grown kids. Maybe we just grow more cynical as days pass.

This Merdeka, I will probably spend it like how I spend Sundays, pottering around doing nothing in particular, just luxuriating that there's a comfortable home and great companionship (also enjoying the mid-work week break). Then, come Friday evening, I take a trip down to our southern neighbour, to enjoy a 48-hour holiday right in the middle of the Orchard shopping haven. Isn't it great to be Malaysian?

Latest project

Here's where I'm spending most of my time these days. KF made a lovely Pixart book for me, immortalizing our trip together. So this is where I'm doing it for us. Our trip to Italy and England. It's not finished, because I just started working on it. But it's a work in progress.

Yes yes, I remember the Bangkok one's not finished. Haha. Will get back to that one day.

By the way, Pixart is a really lovely way to have your photos displayed in a bound format. We've already made 2 orders with Pixart, and both came out wonderfully, and punctually at that. They promise the product is delivered 5 days after order is received. Service is excellent! I totally recommend everyone to this ingenious photobook site. Makes an excellent present or an eternal keepsake. For a very small price. I'm a total fan :)

Btw, Dominic, the "Marketing Manager" (I think he's also probably the Owner, Financier, Production Manager, etc.) is this young Malaysian fellow, and the office is in TTDI. I think he stumbled upon this fantastic idea and this person renews my faith that young Malaysians are enterprising souls.

As opposed to those lousy so-called university students-cum-thugs in that fracas that happened at UPM. Ho-humph. The Sun newspaper today has opinions and write-ups on the matter, and I particularly liked the write-up by the assistant editor Jacqueline Ann Surin - concise and exact. I hope The Sun pursues this issue until the university takes appropriate action. I like this paper, it's not a tabloid, and it works to ensure fairness - great advocate of human rights. The news that it has dug up lately on the MBPJ billboards and the Selangor state government pest control monopoly is fantastic journalism. My favourite newspaper right now for daily news. The Edge for business news. The Star Metro for local neighbourhood news and warehouse sales advertisements.

Miracle wipes

I've just wet-wiped my entire work space, it's now spick and span! Swiped the towelettes all around my monitor, workspace, shelves, files, then proceeded to methodically wipe every single nook and cranny on the telephone and the keyboard. Took one whole hour off my morning. First time in my life I'm cleaning a keyboard, honest to goodness. And boy, does it feel nice to type on it now! :P My black Dell keyboard is now ... as black as ever! :)

For something I put my fingers on everyday, it's a wonder I didn't think of cleaning it earlier. Will do so more regularly from now on.

I've heard somewhere that you can actually pull out the keys and insert them back, so you can clear the tray holding the keys. Well, I didn't dare to do that, just in case I forget how to put my qwerty keyboard back together. Just whipped my keyboard upside down, and out fell some clumps of dust and maybe bits of chips - haha. Should try doing the same to yours, you might be surprised (or rather, disgusted) by what falls out.

My telephone now smells like how some people smell after exiting a restaurant. But, the smell smells good on my phone, rather than on people. Can talk on the phone now without worrying about creepy-crawlies surprising me out of the mouthpiece.

My greatest sense of achievement so far this morning is to see those wet wipes with black streaks of trapped dust. Wet wipes are a great, great invention!

A Wedding in December

Just completed this book by Anita Shreve last night. Don't even bother wasting your time, if you, like me, hate books that have no endings. To me, an ending = a happy ending OR an ending where someone dies, and the story doesn't go on anymore. But oh no, this book had to end with a dangler - leaves you with that feeling of what-if's.

This book is filled with what-if's. But it's not even that beautifully-written. Yes, I'm going to lambast the book, because I was given to expect that the book would be good, Jodi-Picoult-like. It didn't even come close.

And, given that the synopsis says it's a reunion of sorts for 7 high-school friends who meet again after 27 years, I kinda expected it to be quite full of drama - like that Reunion series by Fox (which I really liked, by the way, and was quite pissed that Fox decided to pull the series halfway thru - without an ending!!!). Well, anyway, this book is anything but dramatic. More like, boring. I won't even bother to do the synopsis thingy, because it'll only give a false image of what the book is about.

So yes, the ending did spoil the book for me. If there had been an ending of some kind, that would probably have resulted in a different review. See how important endings are? It's not just enough to have a good storyline, a nice setting, a good plot, intriguing characters, captivating page-by-page narratives - there must be an ending! Heck, this book is comparable to "The Break-Up" : the not-romantic romance movie.

But, there must have been some reason or other that the book was published. Someone must have seen that there's some redeemable qualities in the book. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of the enlightened ones.