My Bruce Boy

Beloved Bruce has left us yesterday. It was sad, but I know it's better. Cos the last I saw him, he wasn't able to walk, nor eat, nor drink on his own. He wasn't able to control his pee and poo. His eyes were filled with boogers that he wasn't able to open properly unless we clean em up.

It breaks my heart. It does.

Met with my mum yesterday, and she filled me in on the details.

3 days back, she got the vet to give him a jab, to see if we are able to save his life. Vet said, "In this 2 days, it's either he lived, or not."

2 days back, my mum asked the maid to pull him out of the cage and let him rest under the sun. He, after all, loved his sun-bathing. When she called him, he has the strength to pull his head up and looked at her. When she asked, "Are you doing better today, dear?" He reacted by pulling his head down, away from her - as in saying, no ma'am. As sad as she was, seeing his deteriorating self, mum went with the maid to take their turns to dig a hole to bury him. She knew, it's anytime soon. My dad just returned from overseas then too. He went and spoke to him. We can see he was listening. Later at night, my dad went out to gather with his friends, because it will be his birthday in a couple of hours. Mum said that Bruce was crying throughout the night. Very likely because he was in great pain. It went on till 3am. Then my dad reached home, the moment he opened the house door, mum could hear Bruce giving one last loud breath before he was gone for good.

The next morning, none of the dogs made a sound. It's although they knew what was going on. Not a single bark from them, and we didn't even need to order them to return to their cage once they have done their business. All just move on their own. Lizzy was devastated for sure. She is his partner in games and all. They spent all their time together. When we let her out her cage, she went straight into his, laid down, turned her back towards us and faced the wall. She didn't budge. She didn't even want to eat her food. She needs to mourn the loss, her way.

And it wasn't much later I realized, the same night around 2am or 3am, I don't know for sure. I was jolted awake for no reason. I only felt uncomfortable. I couldn't sleep till 30minutes to an hour later. I'm not sure if I knew, deep inside, he has left. Or it's just a coincidence.

I cried days before when I knew he is to leave. I cried again when he has left. Losing a pet is never easy. Memories of him joining the family as a puppy, his silliness, antics, and forever with his puppy eyes even when he's old, always wanting more pets, more love.

My gentle giant, Bruce, we love you. May heaven be your dream comes true. With running space, treats. Be kind to your 3 older friends who left before you.

A New Beginning - or more like another phase of life!

I didn't realized it been so long! In another 3 months, it will hit 2 years that I last written anything. Either shows how busy I've been with work, life or I've just been damn lazy. Heh!

It has been hectic, from moving to my own place - to prepping myself for the wedding. And yes, you read that right! JACKIE IS GETTING MARRIED!!

Happy Family!! 

I always find something to giggle about. LOL

Well technically and by law, I'm "married" since last year on Feb 13 as I've signed the papers then and there. However, you know the Chinese. We are not married unless we go through the ceremony. Well, that's what our parents say. Haha!

So wedding is coming in December - limited invitations due to space, and basically, child marriage is more for the parents to invite relatives and friends to inform of the wedding, not much for the kids to have fun themselves. So those invited, come and bring crazy fun - those that are not, fret not, we will meet soon! We ain't letting any wedding to tear us apart. But usually, work and crazy life schedules does. Ahem.

With that said, Jackie is hitched! And will be back, when I'm back. Woohoo!!

The Rejected Princesses

I came across this link by chance, on DramaFevers. And I'm intrigued.

Jason Porath, who is a former effects animator for DreamWorks came up with the idea to research and identify seriously flawed/brave/crazy female protagonists in history that would make for great princess characters in movies, but would never see the light of day due to their controversial backgrounds.

He then compiled a list of these women, who come from history, myths and folktales and place them all on his website Rejected Princesses

If you are as fascinated with the women in history that never ever got mentioned, regardless of their achievements and such, well... this is good. Having someone summarized it, then if you are curious enough, you could easily continue with your research on that figure.

SYABAS memang syabas ya *sarcasm*

1. Empangan selangor diuruskan oleh Syabas. 

2. 70% shares di Syabas kepunyaan Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd (http://www.syabas.com.my/corporate/about-us-our-business). 

3. Pengerusi PNHB ialah Rozali Ismail yang juga merupakan Bendahari parti UMNO (http://www.puncakniaga.com.my/pnhb2/index.php/2011-09-15-09-57-53). 

4. Sebanyak RM20 juta gratuiti dibayar kepada pengerusinya pada tahun 2013 walaupun tidak cekap dalam menguruskan konsesi air (http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/puncak-niaga-boss-got-rm20m-for-incompetence-dap-mp-claims).

5. Syabas gagal dalam menangani isu kekurangan air dan enggan datang dengan rancangan untuk catuan air dan telah meninggalkan tanggungjawab untuk negeri Selangor (http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/selangor-government-will-act-on-water-rationing-since-syabas-has-not).

Saya bersetuju bahawa kerajaan Selangor harus menangani isu ini lebih awal dan mempunyai perancangan jangka panjang (mungkin membina empangan yang lebih untuk menyokong rakyat Selangor yang semakin banyak).

Namun, kenapa kerajaan negeri Selangor 2005 (BN) dan Kerajaan memberi konsesi ini kepada SYABAS untuk tempoh tiga puluh (30) tahun bermula pada 1 Januari 2005, menurut Perjanjian Konsesi bertarikh 15 Disember 2004 (http://www.syabas.com.my/corporate/about-us-our-business). Fikirkan lah.

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Of course, my Malay needed further improvement as I'm only capable of using it for normal conversation, not on debating against another. Nonetheless, people should check things out for themselves and make their own decisions, instead of listening to me or others.

Horror on the road with horrendous Malaysia's Taxi Drivers

Malaysia’s Taxis are horrendous, either in their driving, attitude or by “extorting” for payment for charging fix price instead of using the meter. Though not all, but one can certainly hears horror stories more than frequent these days.

It is considered “a driver’s common sense” to avoid or give way to taxi drivers on the road as they are aggressive and won’t be bothered should their vehicle collide with yours. If accident should happen, either they will disappear in speed of lightening, or they will bully their way into telling you it’s your fault and you should compensate them for the damage. As none bothers to lodge complaints against taxi drivers for fear of hassle, they have gotten brazen and even more dangerous on the road.

Today however, I intend to do something about it. On Persiaran Surian (23/04/2014 @ 7.35am), this taxi bearing the plat HBA8458 was so reckless that he almost collide against my vehicle several times. I was on the left lane, and without any indication, he served into my lane taking a sudden left turning from the right lane towards Persiaran Bukit Utama. And that is not all. This driver was serving from left to right, unable to either decide or maintain on his side of the road while kept emergency braking for no particular reason. Shocked and angered, I decided to lodge a complaint only to be disappointed that there isn’t any way to direct the complaint to the right department effectively.

I was directed to the main government website (http://mygov.malaysia.gov.my/) but was more than disappointed with the unhelpful layout as the link for Public Complaints (PCB) is not working. Later, I visited NCCC portal (http://www.nccc.org.my/) to which a complaint has been lodge, but I’m not too sure how this issue will be handled as they may not be the right department to handle such complaint.

Nonetheless, I finally understood why Malaysians has this “tidak apa” attitude and not bothered to do any official complaint. Just to find the right channel to place one’s complaint is a hassle, with the main government portal lacking significantly in this area. For all the money invested into improving the governmental websites, it is highly disappointing that such is the result of the announced improvement. 

In Loving Memory of Brenda Marie De José

I met Brenda years back, when I was part of a self-development seminar - that I attended by pure chance. As I was short-listed in an interview for a coaching company, attending this seminar was part of the process. Little did I know that I would have meet some great people, and made some good friends along the way.

Brenda was one of the two coaches, working alongside Robert Chaen. Both of them have the most dynamic personalities, and their honest nature make it easy for many of us to open ourselves to them. The non-judging environment and just being able to share the hurt hidden deep inside, helped many of us to heal - and continue to heal.

Brenda is a no-nonsense type of person, who say just what she needed to say without sugar-coating her words. She will not say things to hurt, rather wanting one to change for the better with honest feedback. She is sensitive to everyone's needs, and cares deeply to those she just met. Her heart and soul so deep, it is hard not to love her.

She is so amazing with the words she say to each person, as every word spoken rings to heart and soul. She just has that ability to touch people's soul. The words that she has said and written to me, still rings as a conscious reminder to love myself and everyone around me more. 

While her early demise has shattered many, memories of her and her loves still lives on. Perhaps she has a more important role now, to be an angel to touch many more.


To learn more about her:
http://chaenbrenda.wordpress.com/

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**Here are some of the pictures of the seminar, our outings and gatherings**

Iconic Feminist Moment in 2013

When I saw this post by Miss Representation, I am elated! While I don't personally agree with some posts by them, this one definitely makes my day.

Since high school, I have proudly proclaim myself as a feminist - without knowing the real or definite meaning behind it. Feminist in me then, is about protecting my fellow females from being bullied in schools, speaking openly about crimes against women and children, telling or fighting my ways against some dudes - who thinks they rules because they have a penis. Except if size matters, my boobs are bigger than their balls so they can freaking kick it.

As I matures and experience more in life, I learn that feminism is about:
- protecting the weak
- speaks for those who can't speak for themselves
- allowing women to choose who they want to be without being labelled

It is not about us women, dominating over men or even hates men - as pointed out by some really "small" people. It is to create a platform, where people speaks up against racism, sexism, and against crimes or abuses. It is to allow people to be the best of themselves without being limited because of their sexuality, or race, or religion.

The world need feminism because - if this is a men's world, like many people are saying, you need a woman to keep it in place. It is similar to the Chinese's ying and yang theory - you need both sides to keep the world balanced.

And for fun, I searched for "feminist is ___" on Google. Looking at it, I am offended and amused. Feminism is for everyone - definitely not for white women only and it is not evil. But I guess there definitely many people who are put-off with strong women and men, who stood for what they believes in.

Anyway, back on the topic of Most Iconic Feminist Moments 2013 - courtesy of PolicyMic (to read the awesome article, please click on the link here) - here are some of the videos and articles featured. Feel free to add on what you believe feminism has achieved in the comment column!


1. It is no surprised Jennifer Lawrence is an awesome chick - especially all the kick-ass stunts she did in Hunger Games. So when I found out that she told-off one of her superiors for threatening to fire her if she didn't slim down - I just gonna give her a thumb up (or plenty of thumbs, if I have more than two!). It is rare to find many women celebrating their body, or even standing up to it. And to have a girl who is watched by many millions saying this, I can't imagine the impact it will have on millions of girls around the world!


2. Robin Thicke - there isn't much I needed to say since he is, well, oh-so-famous. But I must say, I love the sarcasms in this feminist parody ~




3. Mallika Sherawat did a great job defending her comment against a female reporter. By public figures like her commenting on the dire state of her country, only then will the country changes for the better. If there are more people like her to whips her country around, it is only a matter of time that it will be a better place for the women to live in.




4. After the fatal, brutal gang rape of a student caused international uproar and mass protests, the Indian parliament passed an anti-rape bill that double the punishment for rape. While this is a huge step forward for India, more follows-up needed as their police still do not take this very seriously.


5. 

6.  "Fitch, Please" is a good phrase. Can't help but love Ellen. Her points are straight and hits bulls-eye on the issue. Like seriously, is there anyone who is a size 0 or size 00? 

7. Malala Yousafzai is an incredible young lady. For sure, I'm not even sure that I can be as strong as she is if I am in the same situation.

8. This parody video created by All India Bakchod - just couldn't come at a better time, especially when recent United Nations reports found two women are raped every hour in India. 

9. The Camp Gyno - this advertisement is pretty awesome. Kids understand it, and adults will have less issues in discussing this with their kids as well. Red badge of courage, yo!!