Annoucement

I AM CONTEMPLATING MOVING PERMANENTLY TO MY NEW BLOG AT

http://jarodbloggy.blogspot.com

It has been a long long time (hehehehehehehe) and a story to tell.

        I have just finished my semester after a long and hectic period. I braved through 3 big test, 1 thesis progress report, 1 thesis presentation, 2 big assignments and it was subsequently followed by my final exams and other miscellaneous things to sort out in 6 weeks. In between those 6 weeks, there have been lots of effort given out, maybe  it wasn't enough; maybe it was....but it is all over now. I would like to thank God first and foremost for his blessing and his guidance all this while. In between those 6 weeks, I've also done some deep thinking myself which is prompted by my university's career fair about a week ago. I embarked on the rollercoaster interview process with one single company dating back to the career fair which was roughly a month plus ago (maybe I will blog about it some other time). All this schedule and worrying during these period has been a great challenge posed to me. I can only hope that my training application goes well and that no matter what happens, it could be a fruitful one although I am still heavily banking on that particular company which I completed the series of interview with from the career fair.

      Well, is that the story that I wanna tell??.... Nahh, my story is not even worth a cent and that is only my unworthy rantings

Fragments Of Thoughts (warning, long story ahead):

MIDDLE EAST AND ITS ISSUES

      Our newspaper or media today are filled with stories after stories of the middle eastern tension that were happening around. Tensions escalating, lifes lost, suicide bombing, extremist group, growing enmity, abuse and control practiced by authorities and many more. My university have a relatively big community of middle eastern students. For the university, they are considered somewhat VIP as they are a form of cash cows (they have to pay additional money for their campus accomodation and they have to pay RM5000 dollar dubbed the "international student fees" which is purely extra money that uniten can siphon into their pockets but it is a still somewhat a mutual agreement). Well, coming back to the point, I find that these middle eastern students are mainly more aggresive in their speech and acts and sometime I might just term them harshly as "barbaric". But it dawned upon me a few days ago that a malay friend that I've come to know actually thinks the same as well. He agree that the middle east is a place full of disorder and I sensed he was talking about the arab nations internal problems themselves rather than the over-talked about israel vs arab nation issues. He even mentioned to me an interesting fact that I've never know all along. He said that Saudi Arabians don't take chicken and he was not clear himself the reason why.

         Within the Arab nations themselves, are broken into different denominations islam. Mainly the people from Iran are practising one sect of Islam and almost the rest of the arab nations are practicing another sect of Islam. No doubt that more than half of the context of worship and religions are similar but there are distinctive difference between those two. The difference is mainly that the iranian sect have this additional believe in the prophethood of the house of Ali which is from Prophet Muhammad's family branch. But somehow this factor have also caused the iranians themselves to distant themselves away from the other arab nations to a comfortable level. I've told many people this stunning article that I've stumbled upon but it is not harm in sharing it again. In Saudi Arabia, women's rights are some violated and very insignificant. This is likewise with the rest of the other Arab nation. There was this cabinet member who proposed that the ban on women driving vehicles on the road should be lifted. In order to rebut the claim that women are clumsy and gullible in general, he proposed that women above the age of 40 should be allowed to drive. To his surprise perhaps that he seem to be the only person promoting this proposal and the rest of the cabinets lashed out at him in a very rude and barbaric manner. Therefore, failing to deliver his proposal he walked out of the cabinet and soon after he received a SMS from an unknown number. The sms was saying "I hope that Allah freeze your blood at this point". When some of the cabinet members were interview some of them gave reasons such as these as to why women should not be allowed to drive:

"If their cars break down, they would have to come out of the car and request for help from the mens, then they will be open to to attacks and they will be open to temptations and adultery"

"If they have the capability to drive while their husbands are away in work, they will have the capability and mobility to go out and commit adultery"

        A lot have been made of the Israel-Palestinian issue which have been going on and on for many years. One of the rare books that I've read "My enemy, my friend" by Ellie Philpot have openned up a lot of insights about what is it really like between those tensions lines. I admit that most people including myself would undeniably have sympathy and a little bit more rooting for their similar religious counterparts. Since the bible are heavily accociated with the old testament which is similar with the Jews, there is always this small favouritism that we place more upon them. This is also likewise in the case of the muslims for their support of the Palestianians. These are sticky issues and sometimes it is hard to determine who is really right or wrong because these issues actually date back to nearly thousands of years of process. Palestine or Israel is actually the land occupied initally by the Jews as the Promised Land given by God. But after the death of Christ, slowly Jews were migrating and moving mainly to europe and other parts of the world. Thats why the Jews are known to be one of the most scathered people around the world up till this day. At the same time, Islam rose as one of the strongest religions around especially in the middle east. The conquest to promote Islam have been on aggresive mode ever since the days of Prophet Muhammad and that same enthusiasm was carried on by his followers and also the Ottoman Empire from Turkey later on. In that process, even some of the Jews that were the occupants of the Promised Land (in fact many of them) actually converted to Islam and they became the eventual people of Palestine alongside some people who migrated from other parts of Arab. So here comes the slippery slope, Israel have always claimed that they are reclaiming the Land which is promised by the Book (torah,bible or the "injil" and the quran which agree as well). Therefore, part of the people of Palestine are also from the decendants of the people who were give the promised land and it is quite an irony that they have been driven out as well from most of their lands whereas you can it seems even more ironic that some of the naturalized Jews in Europe who migrated back were offsprings of those pure Jew who were eventually married with european gentiles and it seems in terms of blood and purity, they are of a lesser degree as compared to their muslim counterparts in palestine. Unless the argument is that the measure of a Jew is in its belief of the Torah and nothing.

       For the case of the Israelis, you can't help but sympthize with them either. Perhaps it is questionable that a huge number of them have moved out of the Promised Land in the first place. However, throughout the years, they have never really been accepted well by the european citizens. As a result, Adolf Hitler actually placed the blame on the hands of the German naturalized Jews soldiers for the defeat of World War 1; saying that they were inefficient and their loyalty is questioned and as a result they lost the war which put Germany under heavy debt and recession. They have been a target of hate and the era of the "holocaust" began which haunted the Jews up till this day. Adolf Hitler proud carried out and announced mass killing of Jews that is numbered up till a million of them and he claimed that he had in possession the spear that pierced Jesus as written in the bible as a sign of mockery that he is the ultimate leader where even divine artifacts and chosen people of God couldn't stop him. There are holocaust musuems in several places around the world to commemorate and mourn this massive killing and this only strengthen their stubbroness to live and to prevail further. Therefore during the era of the holocaust, the allied forced especially the british, actually who took upon the whole notion of the "white man's burden" and they offered to regroup the jews and to send them back to the promise land. This offer was gleefully accepted and the Jews appeared from the hiding from various countries to board Allied transport ships all the way back to the Holy Land. (Allied forced comprised of the French, British, and American as their main composition).

         It was surprising that during the early periods of the return of those large number of Jews, everything was still under control and there was relatively little problem in accomodating them. However as the situation of the war intensified, and because of the growning unrest, the Allied powers was unable to guarantee and to take care of their welfare in the Holy Land. At the same time, there were dissatisfaction among the Arabs people towards the Jews and they pressured the British to brush them aside and perhaps out of the land again. The British being already occoupied with the war against the Soviet Union couldn't overlook the situation anymore and they gave in to the Arabs. After a series of harsh treatment from the Arabs towards the Israelis, the Jews decided to defend themselves and vow never to let themselves get bullied into a situation again which could in turn become another event of the holocaust. They form separatist groups and somehow equiped themselves with loads of firearms coupled with some of the Jews who had military background. The legion of Jews then retaliated and captured most part of Palestine under their own control as an act of "self defense". When the Arab offered their assistance to bring the Jews under their control, their attempts were repelled as well and Israel even attacked regions after regions until they conquered large parts of Palestine from Golan Heights in the north till all the way southwards to a small area of Egypt. Then of course the Jews proceed to create their own state of Israel. Not longer after, the United Nation pressured Israel into releasing some of the important land that were conquered by them and Israel naturally obliged in fear of the wrath of the very confident United Nations back then.

               The Holy Land of Israel or Palestine is also not much safer or peaceful during the middle ages. During the middle ages, the catholic church had a strong grip on the nations and the government throughout large parts of Europe. By then, there was already a Pope but it was asking too much of him to unite various nations who were carrying the flag of the Catholic or Christian kingdom. At one point, the discontentment and the perversion of Christianity was growing out of control and conflict among those Christian nations themselves are growing stronger and stronger. Therefore the Pope being the leader initiated a massive invasion on the Holy Land which will unite the Christian Nations and in their military and objective as a form of channel to their bloodlust and in hope to unite the nations in such a massive and deeply meaningful mission which have a strong notion of noble-ness by recapturing the land which was inhabited by their versions of "infidels" which are the islamic nations. The first barrage of Crusaders Knights and their conquest can be considered a success. However the conquest were much difficult then it was initially thought to be even though most if not all of the knights that were deployed are well trainned warriors. It came to their attention that their heavy armor was a form of restriction because of its weight and the scorching heat of the middle eastern weather is something that they are not accustomed to. Nevertheless, the conquest after its many difficulties managed to conquer the city of Jerusalem and recovered many important artifacts but they did some of the most unthinkable things. Even back then, the city of Jerusalem was inhabited by both the muslims and the Jews but the crusaders made no exceptions and they slaughtered and murdered almost everyone in the city. Their claims were that muslims were infidels and the Jews were the people who caused the death of Jesus Christ. They were even backed by perverted theology of the corrupted priest during those times that killing infidels is not a sin, but it is a pathway to heaven. Even up to this days, there are still remnants of stories depicting the Crusaders. One of them goes something like this 'When the crusaders rushed into the city of Jerusalem, they lifted their sword towads the skies and they striked the blade mercilessly towards the citizens of Jerusalem saying "We came to teach you about Jesus Christ" '. However the anger of the muslim warriors was evoked, and they rallied back under the guidance of "Sulaiman the magnificent". Sulaiman's charisma and leadership was something that revered up till this day and his army liberated Jerusalem again but he was largely merciful and diplomatic in his ways. Through the years, there were many more crusades launched by the likes of Richard the Lionheart of England and even battalions from France, but they were largely unsuccessful. The occupations of the Jews in the land of Israel signalled one of the modern day occupation which was backed by heavy artillery and also western influence.

Rise and fall of people with "larger than life" reputation

                It is a quiet afternoon, after a horrendous basketball game at section 5 (one of the most worst developed courts that I've ever been), I had my lunch and tried to chill down by going online for some updates while watching the TV at the same time. After swtiching channels for a few times, I stumble upon this tribute or compilation of Mariah Carey's career as of yet. In a way, I knew a lot about Mariah Carey's history and her rise and fall through the years. But that particular program that was aired triggered that thought inside me further. It is ironic how people who have been at the top of their career with a gigantic reputation can suddenly fall from grace and become an image of something that you couldn't project or even think of if you ever thought about it years back. I am not saying Mariah Carey's voice became horendeous overnight or she is relegated to the category of the likes of William Hung, but she lost her invincibility and "woahhh" aura a few years back. She still produce some above-average quality music which deserve certain amount of credit, but it is a far cry from her glory days. She used to produce no #1 hits for fun that indirectly in many people's hearts, she was someone destined for music greatness and her good looks also further promote her appeal to the people ( a fact that cannot be denied, but the fact that she can convince and show people that the reason for her success if more of 80% ability and 20% looks is no small feat which have yet to be achieved by most if not all of the artist today ). As far as I can remember, she produced evergreen hits that was a breath of fresh air and she definitely set a sort of benchmark many years back. Some of her hits (really really successful and strong ones) were like Hero,One Sweet Day (collaboration with Boyz to Man), Fantasy, Always Be My Baby,When You Believe( collaboration with Whitney Houston ), My All, Can't Take That Away From Me, Butterfly, Thank God I've Found You were a host of hits that will stick in people's mind for many years to come. SOMEHOW, after everything seems rosy and things couldn't work out better when Mariah signed her most lucrative contract with Virgin Music, she had a number of personal problems and her creative juices in songwriting especially seems to have dried up. She started producing songs there were utter nonsense if you compare them to her past colossal hits. Then it was reveled to the whole wide world that Mariah Carey was in depression about a few bouts of setbacks and she was send for some counselling and psychology session to knock herself back to her senses and get her geared up to go once again. IF someone were to tell you a few years back from that moment of time that Mariah will go through something like that, you would think that the person came from Mars or he or she had a grudge with Mariah in his or her past life (some sick reincarnation thoughts) and that sorta curse would be wishful thinking so say the least. But she was in such a bad condition, and her album was SO BAD that even her legendary status didn't convince Virgin Music enough and they were so dissapointed that they terminated her contract bearing in mind that they have to pay-out her entire contract. They felt that she was so horrible that it was not worth investing anymore and they would rather give her the millions promised in the contract and let her leave before she tarnish Virgin Music's name further or siphon an additional single cent out of their earnings. Of course Mariah did somehow bounced back someway and it come as nothing strange to me because her talent that melted all of her fans heart was there all the while, just that something else came in between and of course she managed to get a modest record deal to spearhead her return to the music industry. Now that she is back, there are huge suspicion that she is getting lots of sympathy compliments and also votes in awards due to some sentimental value that she still brings. Somehow this sorta assertion were further enforced by the Grammy Awards recently where she only won 3 awards and non of them were there mega-televised awards and all 3 of them were the minor untelecated ones. She would still produce songs throughout the year, but somehow something seems to be lacking. Those new songs that she produced as of late doesn't really soothes the ears like they used to. Somehow I think Mariah Carey of old didn't really made a comeback. Maybe those psychology session somehow murdered the fantastic blend in her or maybe there is just this limitation to how many good songs a person can produce and we have been taking her for granted during her peak period. Mind you, during her peak period, she produced about 11 no #1 songs in Billboard history and is only second to The Beatles in that respect. But all good things have to come to an end perhaps.

                 What can we say then of Michael Jackson?. He was captivating and he was leaving people breathless after each of his performances. He seems to have perfected most of if not all of everyone's criterias. Statement such as "Michael Jackson can dance" seems to be a ridiculous understatement. The songs that he released during his glory days such as Thriller, Black Or White, Beat It, Smooth Criminal are still fresh in many people's mind as though those hits were released only a short period of time ago. At one point he was so good that he managed to bridge the discimination between the whites and the blacks by unusual circumstances. He made "whites" appreciate him and he was so good that some "whites" dream or yearn to be a black and feel Michael Jackson even deeper in their soul or mind or whatever it is that made them obsessed to that point. Michael Jackson perfected the "moonwalk" and he own that style and made it somewhat synonymous to him name. And the irony is that, for most of the period of his greatest fame, his skin was becoming fairer and fairer and yet he was not the object of ridicule (at least at that point) but an object of admiration. Of course I don't think I need to elaborate much on the downfall of Michael Jackson. He stopped producing music altogether at one point. He divorced with his wife, he had to put his children through somewhat abnormal lifestyle, he created a dream home which is his Neverland Ranch which is more famous now for his acts of paedophile and child molesting than the joy is was supposed to bring according to Michael Jackson himself. So it came as no surprise to everyone that his return wasn't really something red hot or a mouth-watering prospect. Not to mention that his skin complexion really freaks people out nowadays. And rumours of him going through countless plastic surgery never seems to cease and he is reportedly declared near bankruptcy due to his neverending lawsuit payments. What a way to wrap up a great career huh?.

                It wouldn't do these music artist much justice if I just blast them solely and make it looks as though I have some grudge against people from that field. People from sports are also no strangers to these sorta rise and fall. Maradona who was one of the best footballer to grace the football pitch was later relegated a scum-like status when he fell to cocaine addiction and he was involved in those gangsters vandetta during his stint in Italy. Not to mention that he was overweight to the point that the doctors had to staple his stomach to save his life (how do they actually do that). George Best was also also one heck of a footballer during his peak with a popstar look as well which bestowed him with the nickname "El Beattle". A great deal of his life was spent on battling alcohol addiction and he succumbed to such a low point that he started beating his wife on more than one occasion and he subsequently died of because his liver stop malfunctioning. A last person I would like to note is Paul Gasgoine who had such potential that the skies were his limits. He was suppose to redeem English's footballing ambitions and such great hopes of a nation was place upon his shoulders. Yet again like many other english footballer that fell from grace, he was addicted to alcohol amd he had to go through a strict rehabilitation process. The rehab was a successful one but yet again somehow it looks as though the rehabilitation center didn't release the true Paul Gasgoine. That bloke that they released was a chubby man with big belly who bear the same name as that supposed great footballer. His footballing career went through a downward spiral that he constantly change teams. And each change of team seems to bring him lower down in terms of standard and competition. So much so that he even played in China second division for a period of time. Imagine this, he was earning thousands of pounds sterling PER WEEK and suddenly after a few years, he is earning crappy amount of renminbi in China (but at least he have the presence of mind not to play in Malaysia even though Malaysia have a stronger currency value).

               Well, just a thought in my mind and it can be really puzzling and ironic at times. It just shows that nothing seems to be of a certainty in life especially worldly things. Emmanuel, God with us. 

A shoutout and a short reminiscene of a mystery man

WOAHHHHHHH

It has been quite some time since I blogged. You when is the indication when you need to start blogging again. It is when you go to the blogring and you see your name all the way down the bottom of the list.

Seriously I would love to blog more often but sometimes I just couldn't slot in the time. A bulk of my computer time is spend on discussing assignments, updating and researching my thesis or just pure yakking to keep me sane after a period of mad schedule. The reason that I could blog today is because I remembered wrongly the time for my lecture, and I subsequently came early for "class". Just to find out later that there is no class at 9am. Therefore, I tried to make the most of my time by coming online and settle some of the stuff that is left untouched including blogging. These days can get real hectic that i am even neglecting my first love (not physical, this love happens to have a name called "basketball"  har har har har).

Ok, lame stuff aside. I think those lengthy funeral have damaged my brains or something and I couldn't remember lecture time properly. And the thing is, I drove all the way from home due to the reason that my family and a few relatives of mine were keeping watch until nearly everyone disbanded from the funeral service.

It is my grandfather's funeral anyway for anyone who is still blur about the issue. I sincerely thank everyone who offer me their word of condolence via SMS and also Pastor Tony and Dr David plus Mr and Mrs Soon who took the trouble to visit us all the way at the funeral parlour.

In a way I am feeling a bit guilty. Here are people coming to offer me condolence in person and also through short SMS text, but yet I am not really feeling solemn and morbid or something like that. This is because, I had a relatively distant relationship with my grandfather (from my father side). In fact most if not all of the my cousins are not close to him either. The main reason is becaue we couldn't find a way to really communicate with him. He speaks Sen-niu Hokkien which is a branch from mainstream hokkien and his family came all the way from China. This means that he wouldn't change his way for nuts because be is not taught or adapted to do so. Although Sen-niu hokkien is similar to mainstream hokkien which is my mother tongue (the first languaged I spoke and learnt in my life), there is still a difficulty in understanding what he says sometimes.

Languages and dialect aside, he is also not much of a talker and me and my family would only visit occasionally or during those festive seasons before his health deteriorated. Therefore, the bond between the first generation and 3rd or 4th generation of the Kuok family is not really that strong which is somewhat acceptable due to those fact above. But my grandpa never fails to crack a smile whenever you just take a look at him and I remember that he was very very curteous whenever anyone visits him although he is weak and weary most of the time. Of course there are lots opf mumbo jumbo that happened because of him and indirectly due to him as well but he seems to be sandwiched by all these most of the time. The thing is, I don't think even my parents nor my uncle and aunties would have fully understood his heart fully. Maybe partially, but not fully. Whether there is a bond or not, whether my heart wants it or not; I am going to pay my last respects and go through whatever procedures that have to be done because it is only right to do so. I will try my very best to respect the ceremony out of respect itself if not love. The funeral service is conducted in Mandarin like many of the funerals I went to (I even attended funerals which used hokkien before) and it must have been awkward for Mr and Mrs Soon,Dr David and Pastor Tony. It felt strange to me, after leaving the Hokkien Methodist Church for quite sometime and suddenly attending something as draggy as a funeral conducted by them. But in a way, I didn't neglect all upbringing and my roots at all. The intepreter didn't do much justice to the pastor while translating the mandarin sermon to english as usual (no matter how shallow the sermon is and always have been, that is another issue altogether). Mind you, I have been in the Chinese Methodist Hokkien Church for 10 years and my life is saturated with pure chinese speaking people whose roots are strong up to this day and I love interacting with people who has strong roots using whatever dialects I am confortable with. (Call me ah beng and china men or whatever, deal with it....HAR HAR HAR HAR).

Wahhh, very long post ahh...Not bad not bad. Yeah, farewell mystery man or Mr Kuok Guan Sheong@ grandpa. You must have done a lot and gone through a lot in your 90 years of life ( if you tell me a person didn't do much in 90 years of life then you gotta get your head checked). Thanks for everything you have done for us which I know of and everything else that I might not know up till the day I die. May the peace of God be with you always. Emmanuel

 ( Still got 2 lectures and a funeral to attend ). Gotta go

Peace Out

The Holiday Mindset 

The feeling have finally sunk into my head. I am on holidays right now. It have been a long time since I had decent holidays. I have been stuck with those 2 weeks break which are never sufficient for way too long it seems. No matter how bored I am in between these few weeks of holidays, I know that I better enjoy it while I can because my next semester is going to be full of workloads and tough subjects as I am entering my final year of my course and i will start my dreaded project thesis.

My project thesis is not going to be something really enjoyable as the lecturers have decided to change the system of the project after they have done several research and comparisons to "improve" it. Therefore, there are not many references that you can get from your seniors as their project are supposedly under the old system which is already rendered obsolete. This new system generally force all the students to effectively take a random topic that they are not really familiar with if they are unlucky. This is because everything is done by online registration and there are only limited vacancies for the limited amount of topics that are offered in the webpage. Therefore everyone would have to first and foremost choose they preferred topic among all the ones that are listed, and when they finished doing that, they are suppose to stick in front of a computer screen when the registration timeslot beckons. While doing so, they have to click at the speed of light and grab any decent topic while they are still up for grabs because you definitely don't want those crappy leftover topics that are tough and difficult. Doesn't sound very philosophical and intelligent way of doing things isn't it??....especially for something so important such as a final year thesis....This method sounds more barbaric to me and it is definitely much more rigid.

However, the justification that the one of the final year project commitee (which consist several head lecturers from different departments) gave us is that "Well, if life you can't always get what you want. In fact most probably in life you won't get to handle any project that you really want or like in your working life later. Who among the students here in the hall (we were in a briefing), can guarantee me that they can get whatever project that they want in life???.Of course with such a bold challenge thrusted towards out direction, we would just remain silent in fear that we might be humilated if we do answer back. That was his justification for changing to this new rigid system. Furthermore, he claimed that this new system is carried out after much research have been done on other prestigious universities such as MIT (massachussets institute of technology : where only people generally considered around the level of a genius are elligible to apply for entry let alone graduate there), Cambridge and if I am not mistaken, Oxford as well. Therefore on the surface, it seems like they are trying to implement a hell of a system that is really ambitious to say the least. Surely some may think that these changes are strict but they are definitely for the better.

However, if you look at it from another point of view, universities such as Cambridge,Oxford and MIT have nearly a hundred years of history behind them and they have made a mammoth of a progress ever since those early days. Therefore, their maturity and adaptability coupled with their cutting-edge sustainability in quality have made it an unlevel playing field for grudates in their campus as compared to some kici-maya graduates from a university such as Uniten who is known more for it father-figure company which is Tenga Nasional Berhad rather than the quality of education that they offer. Therefore, how on earth can they actually use a module that are prepared for those "mad scientist" in a university that is mainly filled with laidback and slackers with those minority of bookworms sandwiched in between. And to answer that challenge that the senior lecturer challenged earlier, he said that we shouldn't complain because in the working world, we would always get what we want. Well, it seems like he forgotten the fact that in the working world, we have to yield to the company wishes because they are our paymaster. The boss is always as the old saying goes. In this supposedly private university, guess again who is the paymaster???.....the students....So in whose hands does the final decision goes to???....The student??....I wish it would be that way,although reality-wise, nothing really seems to come our way.

I am not trying to sound snobbish or a brat here but sometimes before they implement something, they gotta take into account the culture and the development and most importantly, the quality of education and the lectures THAT THEY ARE PROVIDING IN THE FIRST PLACE. I can also promise someone the world, but before I do that, I gotta evaluate whether my idea feasible with whatever means that I have to implement it. If there is a problem with your policy,lecturers and your administration in the first place, is it wise for you to implement a plan that seems to "fall from the heavens above".

Well, just something to let off my chest. Will blog again soon.

Peace Out.