Tak Halal Shoes

When I was young, I remember looking at shoes with the words "tak halal" on them. I wondered then, why on earth are those shoes labeled that way?

In Malaysia, tak halal means it is forbidden for the Muslims. Muslims are not allowed to eat pork, moreover touch a pig. These shoes were lined with pig skin, hence it became tak halal. Hmmm, I should have taken a picture with the sign that says that.

Well, I finally bought a pair of tak halal shoes!! ha ha. They were on sale, half-priced and had really really comfortable padding. I'm not too sure it's because of the pig skin lining. Anyhow, I wanted to own a pair of Rockport since my bf bought a pair!! And also perhaps because it is tak halal, so naughty me wanted to own it. ;)


There were boots at RM120 and court shoes at RM100. These items are normally priced RM200 above since they were imported from US. I am so crazy about boots even though they are not too practical in our hot humid country but alas, I couldn't find one I really liked. I'm not too sure why these shoes get sold here in the first place when it is tak halal.

I bought them even though they felt a wee bit tight. But the sales girl told me they were in my size. Stubbornly with the it's-a-worthwhile-bargain-buy mentality, I bought them. After all, I told myself, they might get looser after I wear them in.

Smart enough, I went online to check what exactly the "M" after the shoe sizes meant. It seemed like I bought a size smaller. Can't find the exact shoe conversion table now.

Honestly, so far, unlike most new shoes which will bite at your heel and make your feet hurt, I have no complaints about shoe biting. It just feels tight at the front toes area.

Anyway, in the mean time, I will slowly season my new pair of shoes to fit my feet comfortably as I don't want to season my feet into the shoes instead. ;)

Anyone Else But You

A cute little number from the movie Juno, originally sung by the Moldy Peaches.



"Anyone Else But You"

You're a part time lover and a full time friend
The monkey on your back is the latest trend
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

Here is the church and here is the steeple
We sure are cute for two ugly people
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

We both have shiny happy fits of rage
You want more fans, I want more stage
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

You are always trying to keep it real
I'm in love with how you feel
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

I kiss you on the brain in the shadow of a train
I kiss you all starry eyed, my body's swinging from side to side
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

The pebbles forgive me, the trees forgive me
So why can't, you forgive me?
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

Du du du du du du dudu
Du du du du du du dudu
Du du du du du du dudu du

I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

Follow the crowd...

Do you notice that animals hunt in a pack?
Do you notice that the group of prey will huddle together?
Do you notice that it is nicer to shop during sales day when there is a crowd rushing to get items which are supposedly cheaper? ;)
It's true.
How can you shop when it's sales but there is no one around except the bored-looking sales girl?

The environment will affect human behaviour. In fact, the crowd behaviour can modify a single individual to conform to the crowd. That's how young teenagers these days easily get pressured by their peers to do things they normally don't do.

For example, my friend related to me an incident where he and his friends were stuck in a traffic jam in his car. They decided to pulled a prank on the cars around. They started pointing up to the sky and looked up as if there was something out of ordinary there. Soon, they noticed other drivers and passengers started looking outside their windows too. They had a good laugh that day.

Why does this happen?

One reason could be curiousity but then again, when you see a whole group of people looking at something, you would follow to.

This video clip is a marvelous example of crowd modification behaviour, except for the first old man who seemed totally unfazed! Enjoy! :)

"Martians" and "Venusians"

I finally got hold of an audio book for Men are from Mars and Women is from Venus. This is the summary of what I managed to grasp.

Martians
Basically, men are supposedly from Mars. These Martians have the following attributes:
1. Martians are problem-solvers.
2. Under stress, they get more focused.
3. When they get upset, they withdraw into their "cave" to find own solution.
4. Martians need to feel that they are trusted.

What are Martians' primary needs?
1. Trust
2. Acceptance
3. Appreciation
4. Approval
5. Encouragement
6. Admiration

Because of the above attributes, these are the problems they face with women.
1. Whenever women are upset and complain, men will give solutions instead of listening to them.
2. They will walk away or say nothing; making women feel insecured.
3. They listen and get angry when women don't listen to their advice; making women feel that men don't respect them.

Venusians
Women are supposedly from Venus. They have the following characteristics:
1. Emotional beings.
2. Under stressed, emotionally involved.
3. When they get upset, Venusians share their problems in detail.
4. Venusians need to feel that they are supported.

What are Venusians' primary needs?
1. Caring
2. Understanding
3. Respect
4. Devotion
5. Validation
6. Reassurance

Therefore, Venusians will face problems with men as follows:
1. They like to give unsolicited advice to men even though they never asked for it.
2. They try to help and improve men's behaviour; making men feel not trusted
3. They don't acknowledge what men has accomplish or done but complain about what he did not do; making men feel unappreciated.
4. They correct mens' behaviour and tell them what to do; making men feel not admired.

If this is true, no wonder Martians marry Martians, and Venusians marry Venusians these days. You would supposedly understand your own kind better. But if Adam married Adam, and Eve marry Eve.... hmmm? Meaning they would need artificial insemination and sperm/ovum banks in those days? Or would human beings evolved into some being who are unisex?

In a way, some points given by Grey does make sense about behaviours of the different sexes in any kind of relationship. But we shouldn't stereotype everyone based on his formula blindly.

The main points which I would remember are Women need to trust Men, and Men need to support Women.

Oh well, in the meantime, I pledge to be a Venusian who will not give unsolicited advice but support, trust, accept, appreciate, encourage and admire my Martian instead. :D

What differentiates Man from Woman? This..

Someone let me listened to this song ... hilarious. You don't need a thesaurus after you listened to this.

Saying Good-bye

At first, he send you roses and sweet gifts,
He send you kisses, tender love and cherished words.
He worships you and smiles at the sight of you.
But now, it's no longer the same.

He never smiles when he sees you.
He never touch nor caress you.
He never calls nor tries
To spend time with you.

You put your heart on your sleeve,
You cried and begged,
But he never once looked back.
It was all for nothing.

You thought if you worked hard,
He would stay,
But in the end he left
It was all the same.

Nothing mattered to you but him,
Or so you thought.

When he left, you close the door,
You ignored everyone and shut down,
You became depressed and forgot,
That the world is more than him.

You lost your car,
You lost your home,
You lost your family,
and even your dog.

Just because he left,
Just because he could made you feel good,
You didn't appreciate what you had.
And now you're sad.

So remember, forget him,
If it's meant to be,
He'll come back,
After all, he's just paper;
Money and wealth,
Which is never permanent in the first place. :p

What were you thinking I was writing about? ;) I did put italic for the word "he".

Money can buy anything.
If we're obsessed with it, in a way we are having a relationship with it. So when we lose it, we get so worked up and depress that we forget to cherish our true treasures around us.

Therefore, get up your nerve to break up with money if you're obsessed with it. That's a very unhealthy relationship which blinds you from reality. It applies to anything. Even the simplest thing like the need to be using your handphone all the time or the need to always buy something. Pray and ask God to break the bondage of this obsession.

For believe me, for example, you'll feel the burden of the financial strain floating away into oblivion... at least for now.

What the waves bring in..

When I’m at the beach, I enjoy looking at the waves rushing after each other and splashing onto the soft sandy beach. After the big waves, there will be smaller waves rushing over with different debri or sadly, garbage onto the beach. Sometimes, the waves will clear some sand and I can uncover a nice interesting sea shell or food for the birds.
Amazing for some, they could even receive a message in a bottle. ;) But then, that's another topic altogether. You can find interesting stories on this topic too.
I believed that the circle of friends we have is like anticipating what the waves bring in. Every single wave will bring in a different thing at a different time.
One friend washes in with the first wave and then the second wave might bring your friend away. Rest assured, the third wave will bring in another friend and maybe someday, your first friend will come back again.

Being in my late twenties, somehow, I’m back again in contact with my primary school friends. When we were young, we played together, studied together, performed together and even got into trouble together! Somehow, I have managed to keep in touch with them all through these years to the extend that I still have their contact number.

Some friends were mere acquaintances then but now, the waves brought me an opportunity to know this friend more. Some friends were close buddies then but now, we are mere strangers to each other. Perhaps, when we get together at this time, we needed each other in some ways.

I thank God that He has send waves to bring back some old friends. I know that He knows we need each other’s support at the times He bring us together. We can learn a lot from each other.

In the meantime, I will take the opportunity to enjoy renewed friendship and share experiences during the gap we were apart. For, as we go through this life here, somehow another, our experiences are similiar. So there is no need keep silent about our wrongs and rights; when sharing with each other can prevent others from repeating the same old mistakes. :)

Ashes to ashes… dust to dust...

I’m reminded of this phrase during the act of throwing earth onto the coffin in the funeral scene when I encountered these two incidents.

Tiny creatures
Last year, my parents’ house was infested with termites. It seemed that it originated from my neighbour’s vacant house (two houses away from my house). Oh yeah, I live in a terrace house so it’s easier for termites to move. Therefore, when my neighbour sprayed insecticide, these little pest traveled on next door to my neighbour’s house. Then my next-door neighbour quietly sprayed insecticide on his own place.
The next day, somehow my mum was looking at the bookshelf in the living room. What a horror! They have created a nest inside the shelf above some books overnight. My brother’s collection of Christian books (by C.S.Lewis) were eaten in half!! It happened so fast. Precious books and other decorative items were turned into dust. These little creatures devoured selected items but smart enough not to wreck the whole shelf first.

I wanted to take a picture of the nest but my mum forbade me.

Anyhow, when I saw that, I realized how meaningless it is to hoard treasures on earth. These material things are so impermanence and temporary. What is the point of keeping your precious collection of books or limited edition comics or even figurines, clothes, shoes, toys, etc? At a blink of an eye, they’ll just perish like as a tornado devouring everything in its path.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."(Matthew 9:19-21)

I remember reading this joke in Reader’s Digest relating this. It goes something like this:

Before an ailing man died, he placed all his treasure and money in the attic. He told his wife that when he died, he will carry it along the way up to heaven. That night, he died peacefully.

The next morning, his wife went up to the attic to find all his treasures still there.

She told her friend, “I told him he should have put them in the basement”.

(She’s implying he went down to hell!! :P)

Accidental death

For the past two years, I traveled through Klang town. Along the road, I always encountered a number of road kill. Once, there were at least 3 road kill along my path. These pitiful dogs were left by the road after getting hit by an inconsiderate driver.
Everyday, I passed by them. I grimaced whenever I drove by and made sure my car avoided their carcasses. As months pass, their body disintegrate slowly into ashes. Everyday, I wonder if we humans would treat each other like that. I know of this case, where a man was found dead on a subway car near the start of the morning rush hour, raising the possibility that his lifeless body rode the train for several hours overnight. This happened in New York.

In a way, it shows we are too preoccupied with ourselves to notice about others. When someone dies, we mourn and then we move in. But we still have memories with the person to remember by as time goes by. These animals which were once pets or not, don’t have such a privilege. They died horribly and their physical self just naturally perish.

These ashes remind me of our impermanent life here. Our physical body is just a temporary vehicle for our soul. Even though we work hard to keep fit and enjoy life, we neglect the very important permanent self – our soul.

What is the point of looking good and flexing your muscles to pretty girls, when inside, your soul is crying and lonely. Your soul longs for food.

I believe, many of us do the mistake of using another person to fill this void. But it is not possible. Only one person can fill our void and hunger. That’s God.

Our emotional sky

I admit, I spend a lot of time on the road traveling. Staying about 60km from the city centre, I need to travel anywhere of significance in Klang Valley.

While being stuck in the queue or traffic jam when I’m driving, one of my favourite past time is looking at the sky. It gets more interesting in the evening whenever I drive back home. The sunset always paints the sky in a different hue everyday.

I look forward seeing the sky get tinged in orange or yellow, or sometimes, the sky gets painted in purplish blue. Other times the sky gets painted in bright pink. On rainy days, the sky looms with dark blue and heavy dark grey clouds hover above us. On a clear day, the sky is bright, cobalt blue with pure white, fluffy clouds floating above. Sometimes, I feel like reaching out and plucking the cloud so that I can give it a big squeeze hug.

I feel that our sky is very emotional. Some might say the sky is like a women. Some days, she’s happy with the sun shining and suddenly, she gets moody and it rains. In the evening, before dark, she radiates the most with the setting of the sun and the appearing of the moon. At night, she is pitch black and dark. She is still and quiet… echoing our deep slumber in sleep.

I tried taking picture of the different sky but I am not satisfied with the effect. The camera cannot really capture the right tinge of colour which is filtered with natural light. Anyway, the compilations of photos I took while stuck in the traffic jam on the journey home can be seen above.

Therefore, the next time you get stuck in the traffic, take a quick glance outside at the sky and see what she says to you that day. You might find yourself suddenly smiling and forgetting all your frustrations and worries.

No more international holidays

In the advent of the fuel price hike, our government has decided to reduce 10% of the entertainment allowance of the Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Ministers and Deputy Ministers. The government is also limiting the paid vacation of the ministers and their deputies to only Asean and domestic regions for a maximum of 1 week, instead of any destinations previously.

There is a delightful article in the Star paper today about a "family" who is affected by this announcement from the government. It shows how pampered the new generation of some children are these days.

Thursday June 12, 2008

Suffer the children ... of some

BRAVE NEW WORLD
By AZMI SHAROM

Without exotic foreign holidays, life will no longer be the same.

The sun was setting as the Proton Perdana crunched up the gravel driveway of the bungalow on Jalan Kia Peng. The man sitting in the back seat was oblivious to the gentle glow of dusk that bathed the large well-manicured gardens.

His heart felt heavy and his stomach was knotted.

He was going to break their hearts and there was no way out.

“We are here, sir.”

The voice of the driver shook him out of his deep thoughts. With a barely audible grunt of thanks, he stepped out and with leaden feet walked towards the door.

Before he reached it, the huge oak edifices swung open. A small woman in a blue uniform retrieved his suitcase and collected his shoes as he slipped them off. He hardly noticed her, either.

From within the house, there were sounds of a loud X Box game in progress and young children shouting. The man walked into the living room. Expensive Italian furniture was arranged around a 40-inch plasma TV, its sleek modernity a stark contrast to the gaudiness of the sofas and armchairs.

A boy and a girl were transfixed by the screen, watching monsters get beheaded. A woman lounged in an armchair, her diamonds glittering.

“Listen, everybody, I must speak to you,” said the man.

“Not now, Papa, we are reaching level five,” said the boy.

“No, now,” said the man.

The sombre tone of his voice cut through the shrill screams from the video game. The children and the woman looked to the man, their normal indifference suddenly replaced by unfamiliar concern.

Seating himself, the man leaned on his elbows and stared at the floor.

In a voice quivering with barely suppressed emotion, he started to speak.

“Darling, children, I am afraid we can’t go to Orlando Disneyland this year.”

“Where are we going then?” asked the girl. “England? Europe?”

“We can only go to somewhere in Asean.”

The gasps from the family just about drowned out the crack in his voice as he finished his sentence. Then the barrage of questions started. Why? What happened? How can this be?

As the voices rose to a crescendo, the man snapped, tears running down his face as he screamed, “The oil price has gone up and we can’t go on holidays around the world any more!”

“But, darling,” said the woman, “I already told the girls I would bring back for them oranges from Florida. How can I face them in Carcosa at our high tea tomorrow?”

“Papa, you promised Disneyland. I hate you! I hate you!” shrieked the boy as he stormed out of the room.

“Wait, boy!” he called out. “You must try to understand. The whole nation is suffering. We must make sacrifices. It is for the good of the country and for the future.”

But it was too late; the boy had already disappeared into his bedroom. Soon, the sound of heavy rap played at full volume could be heard.

“Oh, darling. Think about the children. How are they going to face their friends at the international school? Where are we going to go on holiday?”

The man wiped away his tears of frustration and held his head as he thought of what to say.

Suddenly, he looked up and with a smile bordering on the maniacal, he said: “What about Singapore? Or we can even go local. Let’s go to A Famosa in Malacca. It’s fun, they have a theme park and an animal and cowboy show. Malaysia Truly Asia! Heh heh heh ...”

His laugh petered out as the girl and the woman stared at him icily, slicing through his forced jollity.

For the longest while, nothing was said. Then the rap music abruptly stopped. The three looked up as the boy walked back to them.

“I understand sacrifice, Papa. And I think I have the solution,” he said.

The family stared at him, hope shining in their eyes. “We can all go to Hong Kong Disneyland!” he exclaimed excitedly.

The man broke down again and buried his face in his hands. Between his gasping sobs, he cried,

“Oh, my son, my poor, poor boy. Don’t you know? Hong Kong is not in Asean.”

“Arrrgghhh!” the boy screamed and ran back to his room, wailing, “I hate you! I hate my life! I want to die!”

The girl, unable to bear the pain any longer, stood up. She loomed over the broken shell that was her father and said, “I know we all have to suffer because of the oil price, Papa. But why do WE have to suffer SO MUCH?” Then she too stalked away.

The man stared into the middle distance.

His pain was almost too much to endure. The only sound in the room was the clinking of his wife’s diamonds as her bosom heaved with racking sobs.

It barely smothered the sound of his shattering heart, for without their exotic foreign holidays, life would never be the same again.