Man, I dunno what has been going these past few weeks, but I've been getting into so many conflicts with people around me, I think I if I had another one soon I might end up admitting myself into tanjung rambutan to prevent a nervous breakdown. Some time ago, it with my colleagues but now that's ok. Then it was with my bf, and now that's ok. Then just a few days ago, it was my mum, and now it seems ok but can't really be sure. Then a couple of nights ago, an online discussion about our faith with my bro turned into another great big misunderstanding and now he's mad at me. I've never experienced so much emotional drama in such a short time, and I'm really getting sick of it.
I don't even know what the problem was this time coz' from how I see it, he was pointing out one extreme that Christians shouldn't follow, but many unfortunately do, which is the self-righteous "I-think-I'm-better-than-non-Christians" attitude. And I agreed with him that Christians shouldn't do that, but I pointed out that some Christians also go the other extreme of feeling so guilty all the time about all the bad stuff they've done, that they cannot accept that God can possibly forgive them, which is also the wrong attitude. And for some strange reason, he assumed I was disagreeing with his view and putting words in his mouth, which I wasn't. And one thing led to another... he kept asking me if I was implying things that I wasn't, and when I thought we had finally reached an agreement and I said let's move onto another topic, he thought I wanted to talk about something else because it's sooo hard for me to accept what he was saying... when all the time I kept saying I already agreed with him. Aaaargh! Good grief, it gives me a headache just thinking about it.
Of course, at that point, I'm so bugged that I said I would whack him if he was here, at which he promptly went offline. And then later on I find out that he thinks there is so much animosity between us that he doesn't feel he can talk to me. And he thinks I think he's such a terrible brother... which shocks me coz' I've never thought of him that way. For goodness sake, brothers and sisters argue all the time and say or do things they don't mean in the heat of the moment. And yeah, I have whacked him quite a lot before when he bugs me, but not to the point where I injure him so badly he can't use his limbs or anything like that. But it never meant that I actually hated him. After every argument, I'd cool down and just forgive and forget, and I thought things were ok between us. But now suddenly I hear all these funny things coming out, and I'm left wondering again if I really behave so badly that my own family can think that I hate them, or it's them who is overly sensitive and interpreting my actions the wrong way. My mum has said it. Now my bro says it. Right now, the only person who hasn't misunderstood me or thinks that I hate him is my dad, and he's the one I think I usually pick on the most. I know it was really bad of me, but I have gotten annoyed with him plenty of times and even misunderstood his actions too, but he takes it all in his stride and I don't think he believes I hate him or anything, which of course I don't. For me, I always thought it's quite normal for family members to argue, disagree and say dumb things every now and then... and I also always that the normal thing to do is just let it slide, forgive and forget and not hold grudges against each other. I dunno why some of my family people interpret the things I do to mean I hate them, when I've never said anything of the sort to them. *Sigh*
Obviously I haven't been the model daughter or sister all my life and I know it. I've made mistakes and hurt my family, sometimes not even realising that I hurt them that bad. And I really am sorry for it. At this point I'm thinking I must be seriously screwed up in some way that I keep on doing things that make the people around me think I hate them when I don't. I dunno why I keep doing it, but I do. And I'm so frustrated with myself that I think I understand why my mum acts the way she does now coz' I kinda feel like walling myself from everyone as well, just so I don't say or do things to hurt people anymore. But I haven't reached that extreme just yet, coz' the fact is that such conflicts with the people I care about are all part of life and as much as I hate having to deal with it, I can't just pack up and live on an island somewhere all alone. I have to deal with it and try to change for the better. Right now though, after so much drama going on in my life, I think throwing myself on an island somewhere for a few weeks so I can rest my brains for a while might not be such a bad idea. All this emotional drama can really zap my energy and make me a zombie at work. Anyone can sponsor me bus 3D 2n to Redang or Tioman? :P
Friday, October 13, 2006
Monday, October 09, 2006
Skies not clear yet....(not referring to the haze!)
Ok everyone, you can all come out from hiding now. The drama between me and Gerald is over, or at least, I hope it is. We took time out from talking to each other for one week, and during that time, he talked to other people to try and understand why I was so upset about certain things he said to me. I still don't understand why people even have to explain such things to him coz' far as I know, anybody can understand how I felt. *Sigh* Anyway, at the end of it, he did understand a bit more and apologized to me, and the fact that he made the effort to try and understand why I was so mad, even when it probably was embarassing for him to tell other people, it does speak for itself. I shall not go into the details here, but I'll just say now that we are ok and still together, and see how things go from here.
Anyway, I seem to be getting more than my fair share of conflicts these past few weeks. My mum just recently got into one of her fits on Saturday night while we were out for dinner at a nice restaurant with some relatives. Her brother had decided to give a treat to my parents and I, as well as another uncle's family, my brother and my sis-in-law. And my mum and her siblings all have, what my dad would call, 'strong' characters, such that every time we have two or more of them are in the same room, a heated and high volume discussion always breaks out between them. It's like a tradition during family gatherings with her three brothers and sister. It's bad enough if just two of them are together. Should all five of them be in the same room, everybody else will have little or no chance to say anything to them or to anyone else coz' the sound of their nonstop arguing will drown out any other conversation. Trust me, this is not an exaggeration.
Anyway, Saturday night, my mum's eldest bro and her sister wasn't around to join in the frays, but my mum and her other brothers were at it again as usual. This time, my uncle who was giving the treat (I call him 'Yee Kau Fu' or 2nd uncle) was saying that he might be going to Dubai to work coz' he's an engineer and there are more opportunities there compared to locally. Then my mum went on to say that it would be dangerous to go there coz' it is a Middle Eastern country and their neighbours are full of terrorists so the risk of terrorist attacks are high. But my uncle disagreed with her, saying that it would be like foreigners refusing to come to Malaysia because Thailand was hit by bombs. To him, Dubai is an advanced country, and even though he can't definitely guarantee that they won't be hit by terrorist attacks, it is relatively safe and mum does not need to be scared. And even though I didn't say anything, I actually agreed with my uncle coz' I don't see the point in refusing to go somewhere or doing certain things when the chances of something awful happening are actually quite slim. But my mum didn't seem to want to accept his logic and still said she would still never go to Dubai, just to be 'safe'. Anyway, to cut a long heated discussion short, both my uncles agreed with each other and was trying to convince my mum of to see their point of view, and when she still didn't, they said that she is so stubborn she refuses to accept knowledge from other people coz' she thinks she's always right. And they also said things like she is living under a coconut shell and she is stupid to think the way she does. The whole time, nobody else at the table said anything, we all just listened. But from the expression on everyone's face, I could see that most of my other relatives didn't agree with my mum either. And the discussion got so heated that I actually found it amusing at how they can blow up at each other over a small matter like this. But at one point, my other uncle (the one not giving the treat) called her selfish (which was the only thing I didn't agree with, coz' my mum is a lot of things, but I don't think it was fair to call her selfish) and that was the breaking point for my mum. She started crying and asking why they were 'attacking' her character instead of discussing the issue. She banged the table and almost wanted to walk off. Soon after that, we all went home, and she was still crying all the way home and didn't say a word.
The next day, I woke up to find her on the couch in the living room, and obviously still crying. And when I got her a cup of water, she suddenly said that I was the one who hurt her the most coz' I not only didn't support her last night, but I was also laughing to myself at some points. Which is true, I was laughing, because of the silliness of the whole argument, of my mum's reactions and because of some of the rather illogical things I thought she was saying. It's not that I am purposely disagreeing with my mum for the fun of it... I just don't agree with her and therefore how can I support her in such a situation? Especially whn everyone else sitting there also seemed to think she was being illogical. But to her, it was my job as her daughter to support her, but I didn't. I just don't get it. Even when I don't say anything, I can get scolded by my mum. I try to respect my elders and keep the peace by not taking part in their silly argument, but she expects me to openly tell my uncles off for saying such things to my mum. And then, after she was done scolding me and I had to go out to church, she went on to scold my dad for all sorts of other things. Basically, she ends up making it out like everyone did something wrong to her while she herself didn't say or do anything wrong at all. Good grief.
It's hard to explain the exact situation here, but this problem with my mum's behaviour has been going on for so long. She has a problem where if anybody tells her she is wrong, she won't even stop to think if they might be right and she needs to change. She will straight away get angry and fire the other person. And if it seems that the other person is actually talking sense and she might be 'losing' the discussion, she does extreme things like refusing to talk to them and cutting herself off from them. She's done that to my dad before, and after Saturday's dinner, she told him that she didn't want to go for dinner with her brother anymore ever again. That's not the worst of it. I've seen her get so miserable after a 'lost' argument, that she drank half a bottle of brandy at one shot, which is extremely bad for health. And according to my dad, once after an argument, she said she wanted to die and threatened to jump out the window. There's just so many abnormal things about her behaviour that hurts her and everyone around her, and now I think she reacts so extremely coz' of some psychological disorder. My dad has always tried to advise her, and I've tried to talk sense to her, but she refuses to listen, and she refuses to get counselling. Right now, all she wants to do is withdraw into her own little world and minimise her contact with the people around her, which includes her own family, just to avoid getting into conflict. My dad and I are at our wits end, and I think the only thing that can possibly help her now is divine intervention.
*Sigh*, sorry my blog entries have been so sad lately. I must try and blog a but more happy stuff now. But then I'm so busy at work, not much time to blog too, and that's another story. But through all the negative stuff, I'm glad I have lotsa people I can talk to and are willing to listen (or read) my sad crap and give me advice, and I'm so grateful for that. Seriously, if not for you guys, I think I might have gone bonkers long time ago. :P Oh well, tomorrow is a holiday, and as I have been superbly busy for so long, going out everyday... I think I will use tomorrow to try and do absolutely nothing... just so I can recharge. The only thing I might do is go to church and practice my drumming, since I'm starting to play drums at church, and so far I play 'ok' but not 'excellent' and my drumming skills still need a plenty of fine tuning. Plus, there's no better way to destress than to hit stuff, so yeah, it's a good plan. :D Happy holiday, all you people in Selangor. And for everyone who's not in Selangor and has to work, well, Hari raya and Deepavali holidays are coming soon, so don't be too sad. :D
Anyway, I seem to be getting more than my fair share of conflicts these past few weeks. My mum just recently got into one of her fits on Saturday night while we were out for dinner at a nice restaurant with some relatives. Her brother had decided to give a treat to my parents and I, as well as another uncle's family, my brother and my sis-in-law. And my mum and her siblings all have, what my dad would call, 'strong' characters, such that every time we have two or more of them are in the same room, a heated and high volume discussion always breaks out between them. It's like a tradition during family gatherings with her three brothers and sister. It's bad enough if just two of them are together. Should all five of them be in the same room, everybody else will have little or no chance to say anything to them or to anyone else coz' the sound of their nonstop arguing will drown out any other conversation. Trust me, this is not an exaggeration.
Anyway, Saturday night, my mum's eldest bro and her sister wasn't around to join in the frays, but my mum and her other brothers were at it again as usual. This time, my uncle who was giving the treat (I call him 'Yee Kau Fu' or 2nd uncle) was saying that he might be going to Dubai to work coz' he's an engineer and there are more opportunities there compared to locally. Then my mum went on to say that it would be dangerous to go there coz' it is a Middle Eastern country and their neighbours are full of terrorists so the risk of terrorist attacks are high. But my uncle disagreed with her, saying that it would be like foreigners refusing to come to Malaysia because Thailand was hit by bombs. To him, Dubai is an advanced country, and even though he can't definitely guarantee that they won't be hit by terrorist attacks, it is relatively safe and mum does not need to be scared. And even though I didn't say anything, I actually agreed with my uncle coz' I don't see the point in refusing to go somewhere or doing certain things when the chances of something awful happening are actually quite slim. But my mum didn't seem to want to accept his logic and still said she would still never go to Dubai, just to be 'safe'. Anyway, to cut a long heated discussion short, both my uncles agreed with each other and was trying to convince my mum of to see their point of view, and when she still didn't, they said that she is so stubborn she refuses to accept knowledge from other people coz' she thinks she's always right. And they also said things like she is living under a coconut shell and she is stupid to think the way she does. The whole time, nobody else at the table said anything, we all just listened. But from the expression on everyone's face, I could see that most of my other relatives didn't agree with my mum either. And the discussion got so heated that I actually found it amusing at how they can blow up at each other over a small matter like this. But at one point, my other uncle (the one not giving the treat) called her selfish (which was the only thing I didn't agree with, coz' my mum is a lot of things, but I don't think it was fair to call her selfish) and that was the breaking point for my mum. She started crying and asking why they were 'attacking' her character instead of discussing the issue. She banged the table and almost wanted to walk off. Soon after that, we all went home, and she was still crying all the way home and didn't say a word.
The next day, I woke up to find her on the couch in the living room, and obviously still crying. And when I got her a cup of water, she suddenly said that I was the one who hurt her the most coz' I not only didn't support her last night, but I was also laughing to myself at some points. Which is true, I was laughing, because of the silliness of the whole argument, of my mum's reactions and because of some of the rather illogical things I thought she was saying. It's not that I am purposely disagreeing with my mum for the fun of it... I just don't agree with her and therefore how can I support her in such a situation? Especially whn everyone else sitting there also seemed to think she was being illogical. But to her, it was my job as her daughter to support her, but I didn't. I just don't get it. Even when I don't say anything, I can get scolded by my mum. I try to respect my elders and keep the peace by not taking part in their silly argument, but she expects me to openly tell my uncles off for saying such things to my mum. And then, after she was done scolding me and I had to go out to church, she went on to scold my dad for all sorts of other things. Basically, she ends up making it out like everyone did something wrong to her while she herself didn't say or do anything wrong at all. Good grief.
It's hard to explain the exact situation here, but this problem with my mum's behaviour has been going on for so long. She has a problem where if anybody tells her she is wrong, she won't even stop to think if they might be right and she needs to change. She will straight away get angry and fire the other person. And if it seems that the other person is actually talking sense and she might be 'losing' the discussion, she does extreme things like refusing to talk to them and cutting herself off from them. She's done that to my dad before, and after Saturday's dinner, she told him that she didn't want to go for dinner with her brother anymore ever again. That's not the worst of it. I've seen her get so miserable after a 'lost' argument, that she drank half a bottle of brandy at one shot, which is extremely bad for health. And according to my dad, once after an argument, she said she wanted to die and threatened to jump out the window. There's just so many abnormal things about her behaviour that hurts her and everyone around her, and now I think she reacts so extremely coz' of some psychological disorder. My dad has always tried to advise her, and I've tried to talk sense to her, but she refuses to listen, and she refuses to get counselling. Right now, all she wants to do is withdraw into her own little world and minimise her contact with the people around her, which includes her own family, just to avoid getting into conflict. My dad and I are at our wits end, and I think the only thing that can possibly help her now is divine intervention.
*Sigh*, sorry my blog entries have been so sad lately. I must try and blog a but more happy stuff now. But then I'm so busy at work, not much time to blog too, and that's another story. But through all the negative stuff, I'm glad I have lotsa people I can talk to and are willing to listen (or read) my sad crap and give me advice, and I'm so grateful for that. Seriously, if not for you guys, I think I might have gone bonkers long time ago. :P Oh well, tomorrow is a holiday, and as I have been superbly busy for so long, going out everyday... I think I will use tomorrow to try and do absolutely nothing... just so I can recharge. The only thing I might do is go to church and practice my drumming, since I'm starting to play drums at church, and so far I play 'ok' but not 'excellent' and my drumming skills still need a plenty of fine tuning. Plus, there's no better way to destress than to hit stuff, so yeah, it's a good plan. :D Happy holiday, all you people in Selangor. And for everyone who's not in Selangor and has to work, well, Hari raya and Deepavali holidays are coming soon, so don't be too sad. :D
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Irrational fears
Yes, I know I promised to put up those dang graduation pics of mine last week or so. But my internet wasn't working for a couple of nights, then I got busy... and then something else has been bothering me greatly which I kinda wanted to blog about, but kinda think it's not appropriate coz' it's issues with my boyfriend. So I won't go into the details, but it does kind of remind me of an episode of Desperate Housewives, where one of the housewives, Lynette Scavo has a domestic issue with her husband, Tom. The story behind these two is interesting, because in the show, before they got married, Tom was with another girl and cheated on that girl with Lynette. Of course, they eventually end up getting married, but in the marriage, Lynette eventually becomes so afraid of her husband doing the same thing by cheating on her with another woman (what goes around comes around, they say), that she demands that Tom goes to get a vasectomy so that he can't have anymore children with anybody else. Now Tom is a house-husband while Lynette goes out to work, so while he wants to make Lynette happy and agrees to do the vasectomy, in the end, he can't do it because he feels his virility is the only thing he had left that makes him a man. So he doesn't do it. And the thing I remember most about this episode is that when Lynette makes her demand to Tom, she says that people in a relationship should calm each others irrational fears. Her irrational fear was that Tom would cheat on her, so she demanded he get the chop. But then when Tom comes back and tells Lynette he couldn't do it, he throws it right back at her and tells her about his irrational fear of losing the only thing left that makes him a man.
Now my situation is nothing like that, but the similarity is that he and I both have our irrational fears. And of course, his fears seem ridiculous to me, but at the same time, I feel my fears are justified but he also poo poos them. But when I think of Lynette and Tom's situation, I believe that neither of them is right or wrong to have those fears.... so I don't think I should look down on my bf's insecurities. And neither should he look down on mine. But right now it boils down to the question of whether or not we are willing to change ourselves and the way we think to calm each other's 'irrational fears'. Quite frankly, if I had a friend in the same situation as me, I would advise her to leave and not take the risk of having her fears coming true. And indeed, a few people have agreed my fears are justified and have given me that very advice. And I was actually on the verge of taking that advice. After so many days of thinking and stressing about it to the point where my colleagues can see something is wrong with me (and I'm usually so good at keeping problems to myself such that no one will know unless I tell them. Yeah, not a healthy thing to do, I know, but such is Carol), I actually thought to myself that I knew exactly what I should do and I would do it. And I was going to do it.... til I met him online and we talked. And I was so angry and so hurt that I wanted him to see just how it felt, which I know is a silly thing to do, but that's just how bad it got. But it didn't work, and so I told him again how I felt (coz' I did tell him once before, but he just didn't get it) without trying to put things nicely to avoid hurting him feelings, coz' I'd had enough of being patient. And I thought, if he just says one thing wrong again.... just one thing.... that would be it. I'd be done with him. I wouldn't have to stress about this issue anymore. It would be such a relief.
But he didn't screw up. He didn't say anything wrong. This time, he actually said what I needed to hear. And now I'm left with the agonizing decision again. And I have sat here for a whole hour thinking about it and I still have no idea what I should do. And I just wanna go to sleep and make it go away, but I know tomorrow when I wake up, I will still have to make a decision. And it's a decision no one else can decide but me. I don't want to get hurt again.... but I know that pain is part of every loving relationship, and cutting it off is taking the easy way out. I don't want to commit to something I might regret later on in life.... but I also don't want to give up easily without trying to work things out.
Good grief, why on earth must relationships be such a pain in the butt? I'm just going to sleep now and let tomorrow be another day.
Now my situation is nothing like that, but the similarity is that he and I both have our irrational fears. And of course, his fears seem ridiculous to me, but at the same time, I feel my fears are justified but he also poo poos them. But when I think of Lynette and Tom's situation, I believe that neither of them is right or wrong to have those fears.... so I don't think I should look down on my bf's insecurities. And neither should he look down on mine. But right now it boils down to the question of whether or not we are willing to change ourselves and the way we think to calm each other's 'irrational fears'. Quite frankly, if I had a friend in the same situation as me, I would advise her to leave and not take the risk of having her fears coming true. And indeed, a few people have agreed my fears are justified and have given me that very advice. And I was actually on the verge of taking that advice. After so many days of thinking and stressing about it to the point where my colleagues can see something is wrong with me (and I'm usually so good at keeping problems to myself such that no one will know unless I tell them. Yeah, not a healthy thing to do, I know, but such is Carol), I actually thought to myself that I knew exactly what I should do and I would do it. And I was going to do it.... til I met him online and we talked. And I was so angry and so hurt that I wanted him to see just how it felt, which I know is a silly thing to do, but that's just how bad it got. But it didn't work, and so I told him again how I felt (coz' I did tell him once before, but he just didn't get it) without trying to put things nicely to avoid hurting him feelings, coz' I'd had enough of being patient. And I thought, if he just says one thing wrong again.... just one thing.... that would be it. I'd be done with him. I wouldn't have to stress about this issue anymore. It would be such a relief.
But he didn't screw up. He didn't say anything wrong. This time, he actually said what I needed to hear. And now I'm left with the agonizing decision again. And I have sat here for a whole hour thinking about it and I still have no idea what I should do. And I just wanna go to sleep and make it go away, but I know tomorrow when I wake up, I will still have to make a decision. And it's a decision no one else can decide but me. I don't want to get hurt again.... but I know that pain is part of every loving relationship, and cutting it off is taking the easy way out. I don't want to commit to something I might regret later on in life.... but I also don't want to give up easily without trying to work things out.
Good grief, why on earth must relationships be such a pain in the butt? I'm just going to sleep now and let tomorrow be another day.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
My new camera, and pics of A Famosa Animal World
It's been another busy week for me, and I have some long overdue pics to post here, coz' of my little trip to Malacca last week to visit my darling Gerald and also coz' of my recent graduation (Woohoo!) last Wednesday. Also, I finally got sick of my Kodak camera which has gone pretty much haywire since I came back from Aus. Everytime I load it with fully charged batteries, it only lasts about 10 minutes before it shuts down as though it has run out of batteries. I think it's because the camera couldn't handle the snowy places I took it to in Aus, and it decided to go bonkers. So after putting up with my crazy camera for the past couple of years, I finally bought a nice new Canon Powershot A430 yesterday, and it's a hot hoochie mama in my fav colour, RED. Isn't it just hot?
And if the looks aren't hot enough, the price sure was! It's a 4 megapixel camera and it came with a 512 mb memory card, mini tripod and screen protector, all for only RM539, which is soooo superbly cheap! And even though it's got all the standard auto modes, some of the settings can be adjusted manually too, which I like coz' sometimes I like to take super closeup nature pics and other pics that require some fiddling around with the settings. Ok, so it's a old model and they've discontinued it to make way for the newer models, but I don't care. Me thinks I got a pretty good deal. And it has a mode to take pics in the snow, so I hope that means it won't go haywire like my Kodak did if I ever happen to go back to a snowy country. But that won't be anytime soon anyway. The only downside is that all the different modes are represented by icons that I have to memorize the meaning to. So it's not a camera I can just give to anyone and they can instantly figure out how to use it...which is a problem when I need someone like my dad, who was already hopeless around my old camera, to take pics for me coz' his head would spin just looking at all the icons! Oh well, nevermind. I just have to try and keep it simple for him. I still love my new camera. :)
Well anyway, as I was saying before I started ranting on about my new toy, I had some pics to put up of my trip to Malacca (which I took with my all annoying camera), and so I shall (my graduation pics, I shall save for tomorrow... or whenever I work up the energy to put up those pics). Well, all of the pics Gerald and I took were from A Famosa's animal world, which is where he and I went for a day trip. Some of the pics are from a multi-animal show, which is my opinion, wasn't all that good, though there were a few interesting things like a cat moving across a beam upside down, and a dog that jumped through a ring of fire!
Below is some pics of a poor malnourished-looking sunbear doing some stunts like balancing on a barrel and riding on a scooter. Made me wonder if they actually feed the bear properly, and if they even abuse it to get it to do their tricks. I sure hope not!
In my humble opinion, the bird show was considerably better, even though I'm not a big fan of our feathered friends. They had the usual silly things like birds riding on bicycles and playing basketball and doing somersaults on hoops (goes to show just how many animals shows I've seen in my life.... so much that I know what to expect!). The good parts were when they were collecting funds for their bird feeding program and they got a couple of birds to fly up to the audience and collect the money from people who wanted to donate. They also had a toucan that could catch food in midair, and they finished it off with a bunch of 'ssexy ladies' or flamingoes gracing the stage! Now that was pretty cool. :)
Here's some other miscellaneous pics of animals we saw around the zoo.
This elephant was very photogenic, coz' it stood right behind the rope for quite a while as people took pics with it and bought food to feed it. So Gerald and I had pics taken with the friendly elephant.
Here's a pic of me with a species of chicken that apparently has the longest tail in the world. I wonder how to poor blighter walks around with that tail. I also wonder how long the crazy people at the animal world keep the poor thing in that glas enclosure, coz' there's no space for it to move, and it's forced to stand there until they take it out! Nutty people....
Me and a camel!
And last but not least, me and Gerald waiting for the ferry to get us off Monkey Island...which was a pathetically small island with pathetically few monkeys.
To sum it up, I think the Malacca Zoo is definitely more value for money, even though it doesn't have any animals shows (which is good in a way, coz' you dunno if the animals are abused or not, and I don't quite trust locals to take care of our captive wildlife all that well). But Gerald and I also went to A Famosa's Water World, which in my opinion, was way more fun. It even had a 5 storey high slide where you go down on it with nothing but yourself! Gerald swears that it's actually 10 storeys high and didn't dare go on it. :) It's ok, I still love you. I'll just drag you to Sunway Lagoon one day to practice going more on these rides. Bwahaha! Kidding. Anyway, all in all, the rides there and some were different from Sunway Lagoons, though there wasn't as many.
So that's my Malacca trip in a nutshell. More pics coming soon!
And if the looks aren't hot enough, the price sure was! It's a 4 megapixel camera and it came with a 512 mb memory card, mini tripod and screen protector, all for only RM539, which is soooo superbly cheap! And even though it's got all the standard auto modes, some of the settings can be adjusted manually too, which I like coz' sometimes I like to take super closeup nature pics and other pics that require some fiddling around with the settings. Ok, so it's a old model and they've discontinued it to make way for the newer models, but I don't care. Me thinks I got a pretty good deal. And it has a mode to take pics in the snow, so I hope that means it won't go haywire like my Kodak did if I ever happen to go back to a snowy country. But that won't be anytime soon anyway. The only downside is that all the different modes are represented by icons that I have to memorize the meaning to. So it's not a camera I can just give to anyone and they can instantly figure out how to use it...which is a problem when I need someone like my dad, who was already hopeless around my old camera, to take pics for me coz' his head would spin just looking at all the icons! Oh well, nevermind. I just have to try and keep it simple for him. I still love my new camera. :)
Well anyway, as I was saying before I started ranting on about my new toy, I had some pics to put up of my trip to Malacca (which I took with my all annoying camera), and so I shall (my graduation pics, I shall save for tomorrow... or whenever I work up the energy to put up those pics). Well, all of the pics Gerald and I took were from A Famosa's animal world, which is where he and I went for a day trip. Some of the pics are from a multi-animal show, which is my opinion, wasn't all that good, though there were a few interesting things like a cat moving across a beam upside down, and a dog that jumped through a ring of fire!
Below is some pics of a poor malnourished-looking sunbear doing some stunts like balancing on a barrel and riding on a scooter. Made me wonder if they actually feed the bear properly, and if they even abuse it to get it to do their tricks. I sure hope not!
In my humble opinion, the bird show was considerably better, even though I'm not a big fan of our feathered friends. They had the usual silly things like birds riding on bicycles and playing basketball and doing somersaults on hoops (goes to show just how many animals shows I've seen in my life.... so much that I know what to expect!). The good parts were when they were collecting funds for their bird feeding program and they got a couple of birds to fly up to the audience and collect the money from people who wanted to donate. They also had a toucan that could catch food in midair, and they finished it off with a bunch of 'ssexy ladies' or flamingoes gracing the stage! Now that was pretty cool. :)
Here's some other miscellaneous pics of animals we saw around the zoo.
This elephant was very photogenic, coz' it stood right behind the rope for quite a while as people took pics with it and bought food to feed it. So Gerald and I had pics taken with the friendly elephant.
Here's a pic of me with a species of chicken that apparently has the longest tail in the world. I wonder how to poor blighter walks around with that tail. I also wonder how long the crazy people at the animal world keep the poor thing in that glas enclosure, coz' there's no space for it to move, and it's forced to stand there until they take it out! Nutty people....
Me and a camel!
And last but not least, me and Gerald waiting for the ferry to get us off Monkey Island...which was a pathetically small island with pathetically few monkeys.
To sum it up, I think the Malacca Zoo is definitely more value for money, even though it doesn't have any animals shows (which is good in a way, coz' you dunno if the animals are abused or not, and I don't quite trust locals to take care of our captive wildlife all that well). But Gerald and I also went to A Famosa's Water World, which in my opinion, was way more fun. It even had a 5 storey high slide where you go down on it with nothing but yourself! Gerald swears that it's actually 10 storeys high and didn't dare go on it. :) It's ok, I still love you. I'll just drag you to Sunway Lagoon one day to practice going more on these rides. Bwahaha! Kidding. Anyway, all in all, the rides there and some were different from Sunway Lagoons, though there wasn't as many.
So that's my Malacca trip in a nutshell. More pics coming soon!
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
A good bloke gone forever....
*Sigh* It is a sad day today for animal lovers everywhere. I'm sure anyone who doesn't live under a coconut shell would have heard the news.... Steve Irwin a.k.a. the Crocodile Hunter was killed in a freak accident when a stingray attacked him as he was shooting a documentary. The barb from the stingray's stinger went right through his heart and probably killed him instantly.Actually, it probably wasn't a freak accident, I think the stingray meant very much to do that. Heh, lame joke. Well, he was a humourous guy, so I think he might appreciate a lame joke. It's kind of ironic that he faced all sorts of much more dangerous animals in his life like crocs and snakes and venomous spiders and whatnot.... and the one that got him was a usually harmless stingray. Apparently his death is only the third known fatality due to a stingray in the whole world! Their stings usually aren't fatal... but he had the bad luck of getting pierced right in his heart. What a bummer. Well, at least he died doing the very thing he was passionate about, instead of wasting away in his old age. The really sad thing is that he left behind his wife Teri and his two young kids, Bindi Sue and Bob, who are only 8 and 3 years old respectively. It's such a shame his son will be too young to remember much of his dad when he grows up. And Bindi Sue is so much like her dad already. I could tell when I went to visit Australia Zoo in 2004 and I saw her doing a commentary on how to feed Galapagos tortoises. She really sounded and acted just like her dad! And when I wanted to take a picture with her and her Teri Irwin, who was also there, Teri told me that Bindi just found out that a koala had died and she was crying so she couldn't be in the picture. Man, I can only imagine how much she must be crying now that her dad is gone. *Sigh*... such a shame.
I was in such a shock when I found out today at work. A colleague just came up to me and said "Do you know the Crocodile Hunter?" I said "Yeah." Then he said "He died already" And my jaw dropped and I was like "What????" I almost thought he was joking. And he couldn't explain to me exactly what had happened to Steve coz' his English ain't too good. He just told me that something went through his heart while he was diving, and I though a piece of wood from the boat fell off and pierced him or something. And my dang office doesn't have internet after 10am, so I couldn't check the news to see for myself. So I was itching to find out more, which I did as soon as I left the office. I heard it on the radio, and I saw the news on CNN as soon as I came home. And then my mum had to go and say that it bound to happen to him sooner or later, seeing how he always took such risks. Not that I disagree, and yeah, he probably did take a few too many risks, but he was one of the few brave people who actually had the guts to step out and do something to help the animals no one could care less about. And he was a guy with real passion. You gotta respect that, at least.
Well, the whole world is abuzz with this news, and a lot a lot of people are saddened by it, myself included. I even tried to get into his website but couldn't get into it, probably because it's flooded with other people trying to get onto the website. Then I went to visit wikipedia and was surprised to see that the article on Steve Irwin was already updated on his death, and his life was all described in past tense. Like, that was super fast. And I think at least 8 people on my MSN messenger list have a message next to their nick about Steve Irwin.....including one that said "That irritating Aussie is gone! I dunno whether to be happy or feel sympathy". Hrmpph... I shall deal with that fella when I see him! Oh well, love him or hate him, Steve Irwin definitely made an impact. He will be missed. Rest in peace, mate.
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