Top reasons on why your dog is your best friend

1) They have 'separation anxiety ' when they are away from you. How cool is that?

2) They give you unconditional love. And when I say unconditional love I really mean unconditional.

3) They look so darn cute when they are sleeping on the couch.

4) They look so darn cute when in costumes.

5) They are super-duper talented

5) Mountain lions are afraid of them

6) And best of all, they are the most loyal being on the face of the earth (which in my Elmo's case, when there's food)

To all Malaysians

Let's start off by doing a simple experiment. Imagine your friend telling you about their bad experience when being served by a rude waitress( I get that once in a while, more often than not when I am in Malaysia than other countries). Or when you are reading some news about racism, corruption or some silly politician making some blatant statements which are not only unreasonable but it's also bordering to stupidity. Or some crazy moron tailgating your car when on the road even when traffic ahead is heavy?

What is the first thing that comes to your mind? I bet it would be somewhere along the line of "Aiyah, Malaysia is like this la!". If not, I can be sure that at least you have heard someone said this line before.

So what can we make out of this mental examination? That my dear reader is called cynicism.

To me, this is the greatest disease that has been plaguing our entire society at large in our modern times. And today I have decided to write something about this phenomenon.

Cynicism has bred a defeatist attitude in all of us, a lackadaisical outlook towards things that have been going on around us. Issues that need our attention, overdue actions that has to be taken. Achievements that we are truly capable of. Cynicism has given everyone of us an excuse to stay indifferent, an excuse to stay on the sidelines - until it happens to us. By being so it has left our country inheriting a population of underachievers, a country lacking of go-getters capable of bringing the nation forward into the future.

It's not that Malaysia lacks of a talent pool, look at 2 great Malaysians that has made a name for themselves overseas - Jimmy Choo and Michelle Yeoh. It's not that we cannot achieve greatness while remaining in our motherland, it is not because we have an ineffective government. Hypothetically speaking if everyone in Malaysia gave me one ringgit each I would have in excess of 25 million ringgit (still an achievable dream for me someday to have that kind of money), I would easily be able to feed 500,000 children for a month (http://www.worldvision.com.my/). Point is that if everyone starts to take action, no corrupt forces nor ineffective governments can stop us. Even by just one person, can stop a great empire - think Mahatma Gandhi.

We need to rid ourselves of this apathy now. This is a rallying cry to all, a reminder that we are empowered to make a difference to our world, to our country. It is time to raise the civic mindedness of all Malaysians, we can be better and we will be better if we start to change. The change might be slow, it might not happen in our lifetime at all. But we can still instill good values into our children, for the next generation. To those with children, educate them so that they can grow up to be good citizens irregardless of status and wealth. This I believe is the least we can do.

What then have I done on my part? For starters I have written this blog. How about you?

Happy Merdeka.

Written on eve of Merdeka 2010, 8pm.

Miracle Meow

The doc wasn't too sure that he would live. Lying there on the cold steel of the doctor's table, his breathing was labored, his life was merely hanging on a thin wisp of thread. It was pitiful to see something so weak, ravaged by bites of a hundred army ants we felt hopeless more than hopeful, a sense of defeat looming over our minds like the specter of Death which was hanging over him. "Will he survive?" was always the first question that was ready to roll from the tip of my tongue the moment we entered the doctor's room. The doctor shook his head. "It's very difficult to say." came the reply. Usually the odds are against it.

But someone in the room knows better, the spirit who's body was on the metal table refuses to say no. No! I refuse to die here today! (meow, meow...) A faint meow came from the feline, tiny as it seems but a fighter spirit encased within the tiny body. It raises it head when we called out to him seeming to remind us to not just give up on him yet, that cats have nine lives and he has a few more to live on.

We decided to leave him at the hospital for the night. To see if it survives the night. I'll call him Miracle if he lives, said I to my sister. More of a cruel pun at that moment.

He's still alive! Came the call from my sis. Ok great, but the kitten was still very weak and I'm not convinced that it could live for another day, refusing to give myself false hope. Another day went by and then another. When I paid the hospital a visit the doctor was smiling this time. Yes, you can bring him home today. Kitty is doing well indeed and is eating well. A sense of relief. I knew all along the kitten wants to live says my sis. I guess she is right then. Miracle Meow, we hope that you will have a blessed life, all eight of them. God bless.

I eat Tom Yum when I think of you

She tells me that she is having "nasi lemak" for dinner. Well sometimes I have Thai food when you are not around. It's our way of doing something, eating something and going to places that remind us of that special someone, whenever they are not around. Well I suppose it's also probably due to the fact that I do love a good bowl of spicy Tom Yum occasionally.

Wonder if I can find a good Thai restaurant at Europe. Miss you much, you are the sunshine of my life,  wherever I am at.

Smiling Shau Kei Wan

It's funny when you loathe some place or some situation that you are facing but when sometimes it's time to leave it you suddenly feel sad that you a finally getting out of it. Shau Kei Wan! I have to say what a place, crampy apartments, endless stream of old folks hobbling around in walking sticks, you have the same food everyday over and over again for both lunch and dinner - it does sound depressing. I did shed a few tears (literally) when I finally have to leave, but not tears of ecstasy because that I am leaving this place, but tears of sadness and longing for something I knew that I had it good all along. One thing I realized today is that it's not the place that matters, but what is filled in that place - friends, family and best of all the experiences that you share with them. I cried because I know my departure marks the end of a blessed period in Hong Kong with my friends - my only consolation is this a beginning of a new phase in my life. Will it be together with the rest of the team? I wouldn't know, my only salvation from separating from them is the thought that I have enjoyed my time with them as much I could. If  I have not treated them that well at times, it is without ill intention.

To all of the team, this post is for you - Simon, Angel Lee, SHIT, ST, Darren, Murph, Joel, Jerome and to my love Oh, it has been an honor. So I will see you guys next time, for some of you most probably back in Malaysia.

I hope you guys enjoy my jokes, thinks that my cooking is palatable and appreciate that I have tried to take care of the team the best that I can. You guys have been great and I hope that life treats you well, where ever you are. It's time for me to soldier on, looking forward to spend my life with my dearest Oh where ever our fate will bring us to.

Till then, this is Jon signing out from Hong Kong.

If

I find this inspirational truthful and a sincere poem. How many of us can say that we have been truthful, not to other people but towards ourselves, have stuck to our principals and not swayed by the crowds? I can't at the moment, but I wish I could have, until I find my life's principals I think I am still searching for an answer. I wish to be a good man.

If (Rudyard Kipling)

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Prologue - Epiphany Coming

Finally decided to blog in a more serious manner. I actually got inspired after looking at some other people's blog. So why start now? For starters I have decided to post pictures and write about my experiences during my travels. I also think that a blog is a good way for me to express myself. Most importantly of all, it is sort of a way to record down my memories, to etch on a medium so I can leave a trace in this lifetime. To make my presence among millions of other entities be felt. Call it my effort to make a ripple in our reality. To share amongst other. To seek advice and reaction from others from my posts.

And hopefully to have an epiphany one day from my life's journey record.