Tay is on fire with “You You You”. We are seeing more and more of side “H” for hot! This masterpiece of near musical perfection is like a gift so near the holidays. The song starts in signature Tay Zonday style then transitions to a faster, deeper, sometimes echoing musing on love, want, desire, and longing. Barry White is gone but if Tay wished he could have overwhelmed us with a firestorm of guttural growls. Instead, he purposely emits a warm steady fire that slowly touches without burning.

The background for the video set the right tone for it’s fast pace. Hearing the song first you expect a scene similar to “Cherry Chocolate Rain”. Instead, we are left with imagery harkening to an outdoor concert. Not closed off at all but visuals full of freedom and expression.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ8URhMkf7o

Image credit: Tim Ellis

I was interviewed recently for Charity Village article on an initiative of Vantage Point (formerly Volunteer Vancouver) for the next generation of nonprofit leadership in Vancouver, for which I am a steering committee member. The Next Leaders Network.

You know there are some days when the words you want to say roll off your tongue exactly as you intend, and others when you can’t believe how or what you’re saying? This interview was on one of the latter days. When I hung up the phone with Karl, and even throughout the conversation, in my head I was thinking, “I can’t believe I just said that.” Nothing bad or controversial, just silly phrases like “betterment of the global family”. Did I really just say that?

Anyway, you can read the article here, and find out more about the Next Leaders Network here.

The next learning/networking session in the Next Leader’s Network is coming up…

Leading with Direction

December 1, 2009
4:00pm – 6:00pm

Join 3D Visioning expert Gary Ansell for an experiential workshop designed to help you achieve a greater sense of gratification and fulfillment in everything you do – by defining your purpose and having a clear goal in sight.  

• Click here for further information
• Register for this event

Tellement agréable et simple à tricoter… en voilà un deuxième pour ma miss !

GRR (2 ans en largeur, 4 ans en longueur), Laine canada tweed.

What happened to my weekend?!  This past weekend didn’t really feel like a good weekend!  What I mean is, to me, a weekend is a time where you can sit back and relax, and do whatever you want.  However I feel as if I didn’t get any time to myself because I was busy pretty much this whole weekend!

Thursday I got a call that I got hired by the store I applied at and that they had a training session and meeting on Sunday.  Friday was the last day I had to myself…

SAT:

1. Woke up at 7:30 AM to get ready for a dentist check-up/appointment at 8 AM
2. Had breakfast with my dad at a restaurant and ordered my favorite Japanese-styled breakast
3. Went home and got ready for shopping with my mom to get work clothes for my new job (black slacks, black shoes, black socks, etc.)  I didn’t feel well because I was suffering from PMS (it was bad; I was being bitchy and my body was aching)
4. Dad picked me and my mom from the mall at 4:30 PM and went to eat an early dinner at another restaurant
5. Returned home to wash my clothes and towels, and prepared for Sunday
6. Went to sleep by 10:30 PM (which is an early time for me to sleep during the weekend)

SUN:

1. Woke up at 7:00 AM, made breakfast for myself (scrambled eggs, rice, and tofu) and left house at 8:00 AM
2. Dad dropped me off at the mall for the job training that starts at 8:30 AM
3. During job training I watched a video on expected behavior, tips, and techniques
4. Learned how to work a cashier (for the first time ever!)
5. Was actually put on a working shift from 10 AM – 1 PM
6. Got out of training at 1:30 PM
7. Ate lunch
8. Caught a ride home from my sister and her friend at 2:30 PM
9. Slept from 3:30-6:00 PM
10. Got ready for another meeting (general meeting for all employees about DAT a.k.a. Black Friday)
11. Left house at 6:45 PM
12. Waited until the meeting started at 7:30 PM and didn’t get out until 10:30 PM
13. My dad picked my up and we got home around 11:15PM
14. I took a shower, dried my hair, brushed my teeth
15. Went to bed at 12:30 AM (which is really late for me!  I love sleep!)

So, yeah!  I just wanted to get that off my chest!  I feel better now.  All I have are a couple of more training sessions then I should be able to work for real!  Wish me luck (I definitely need it!  Haha)

Have  a good night and an awesome tomorrow/week!

lots of love!

ash<3

Friday night 8 plus pm, we made our way to Johor Bahru to wait my girlfriend’s brother to come and pick us up. At the street right beside Citysquare, a street that was teeming with vehicles, we saw some policemen blowing whistles at the incoming traffic and waving the cars onwards, but they didn’t seem to be bothering with the pedestrians.

We found an opening and chiong-ed across the road, just as her bro’s car came along. Immediately the policemen pounced on us at the other side, yelling, “IC, IC, IC!”

The situation was quite bewildering, and we were quite unable to enter the car, so we handed out our Identity Cards, and were sent back across the road.

There, an old Chinese dude in plain clothes herded us to a police car, dripping with sarcasm as he did so. I was quite pissed and said I had no idea what the police were blowing their whistles about. He got even more pissed that I was talking back to him, amd started raising his voice in Mandarin, “你沒有讀書啊？！沒有看到有橋啊？！”

As he wrote our summons, he continued to be caustic, telling us to tell the judge that we couldn’t see the bridges. We wanted to pay the fine on the spot, but he insisted on sending us to court on Monday. After scribbling down two offences, he paused and sneered at us, “asking” us for our opinion, whether we would like one more offense to be added. When we mumbled, “dun need lah”, he gleefully cooked one more up.

I saw that he was cancelling this section on the bottom of the receipt, and I was getting suspicious. So when he demanded me to sign at the bottom of the summons receipt, I asked him what that section was, why he had to cancel it. He refused at first to tell us, then he said cancelling it means we can’t pay on the spot, and if I don’t sign, I’ll be sent into lock-up.

After we were sent on our way two summons richer, her brother told us to use our camera to take pics of people still waltzing across the road, and the police not stopping them. We approached some of the policemen demanding why they didn’t catch those people but caught us. They told us that we were extremely unlucky to have run into the head of traffic at JB, their boss, so there was nothing they could do, and that usually they don’t give a damn. And right after we were caught, this boss had left, so “business” went back to normal.

***

In the car that night, I was struggling with the hatred that arose in my mind for that supposed head of traffic.

We were obviously in the wrong for not using the pedestrian crossing, and we were of course simply unlucky to have fallen foul of a failed attempt at pacifying public opinion of the inefficiency of JB law and order.

But what my mind fought most strongly against was the fact that the man had used threats and fear to cower us into meekness. He had obviously emerged victorious. For five minutes at least, after he drove away, he would feel satisfied that he had caused us inconvenience at having to appear at a court of law on Monday, to say the least, if not also two days of trepidation and suspense at what the statutes of this country holds for us. He was able to do this only because he was in a position of power, as simple as that.

“If we were children of powerful people, the game may have had a different outcome.”

This feeling will be of the same quality that drives people to acquire more power, to protect themselves, to one day enact revenge on all those that had dared to abuse or offend, and to uphold a sense of justice perverted by the ego.

Having come to this conclusion, I suddenly felt greatly relieved, and much of the anger seemed to have lifted.

***

We were in the court of JB, awaiting our turn to walk up to the front to face the Judge, whose name plaque I saw as “Shariffa Muleena binte Syed Hussin”. She was haughtily beautiful, looked barely thirty, and upkept a stern composure to the traffic offenders that brought themselves before her.

Traffic offenders, all who had been hauled up for dangerous or irresponsible operation of motor vehicles, except for two idiots who were present because they jaywalked.

Our turn was eventually delayed, and the legal clerk was flipping through books and papers with a perplexed look on her face, because (1) she was obviously out of her depth having to say everything in English for my sake and (2) she had to find out how to interpret such a minor offence that sends us to a court that only handles maximum fines in the thousands! (Another male legal clerk announced before the first session started that this court does not handle offences that costs hundreds, only those that are in the thousands, so we’d better get our ICs out, and plead for leniency.) During an adjournment, her discussion with a prosecutor that was present led to an exclamation by the older man that (translated:) “how can one person at one time and one place commit three offenses of the same kind??” He was so exasperated that he stormed out of the court into the adjoining room.

And so the circus went on for a while, as the legal clerks and prosecutors gathered together to argue how to present our summons to the judge. It amused at least two other people awaiting their own hearings. An Indian court sergeant, similarly bemused, asked us who was the man that issued the summons. We told him what we knew.

Finally, we were separately called into the adjoining room (not in court session). When it was my turn:

The legal clerk, somewhat embarassed and smiling instead of her usual cool self out there, began the summary proceedings, “Mr Chong, you as a pedestrian are being charged for not using the foot-path bridge… ya…” I nodded.

The judge asked, in crisp, clear English, “You are Singaporean?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t understand Malay?”

“No.”

“Not at all?”

“No.”

“Poor you.” A smirk flickered through her usually icy eyes.

Time slowed as I was first taken aback at these two words, and struggled to understand what she meant by them.

Poor you?

“So do you plead guilty?”

“Yes.”

Poor you.

Poor you.

Poor you.

“What do you have to say in your defense?”

Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you. Poor you.

Poor you.

“I’m a student, so I hope Your Honour would show me some leniency.”

“Are you a part-time or a full-time student?”

“Full-time.”

“Where are you studying?”

“At a university in Singapore.”

“Okay, your sentence will be a hundred ringgit fine.”

Both of us had the same sentence, so we went out to pay the fine. Along the way, I seethed with anger again, at the mysterious meaning of those two words that she uttered. Had she just slighted my entire nation? A thousand possible responses burst into my mind, all too late, but fortunately so, for if I was not able to hold back and blurted out a demand for her to explain what she meant, it would not be just a fine that I would have been given. This was my second lesson on power.

***

Over lunch, we discussed our indignation at what had happened, and our conclusion was: as what Venerable masters would probably have told us, there is no right or wrong, only the right time to say and do the right things for the best results, or the wrong time to say and do what we think are ‘right’ things for a worse result.

Clinging on to our correctness and our viewpoints, however justified they might be, would not always be the most fruitful thing to do, because the circumstances simply do not allow it. If we were clear about the situation, we would take the correct action, even if it meant eating humble pie, and with a clear mind, we would not suffer from an inward sense of wronged-ness, because we were at equanimity with the causes and conditions.

When I related the words of the judge to my girlfriend’s sister, her response was akin to, “WTH?” When I related it to my brother, he immediately said, “Yes, a Malay supremacist.” This should not be construed as a racist remark, for there are also Chinese supremacists, White supremacists, Japanese supremacists, Thai Buddhist supremacists, Mahayanist supremacists, Christian supremacists all just as bad and just as existent. Up front, I saw an example of the elite of Malaysian society, the kris-waving, turnoffwatertap-thumping kind that sees the jewel in their south with an incomprehensible ill will. It is also these moments that reaffirm how glad I am to be born on this side of the causeway. For all my country’s imperfections, this is where the citizen-on-the-street has sufficient protection and stability by the police and the law.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said that his first real lesson in politics was staring into the barrel of a Japanese gun. I cannot agree more, except that mine was at the cost of only RM100 and 20 minutes of my nationalistic pride.

I believe Ajahn Brahm was in a same situation of political powerlessness when he was excommunicated from the Ajahn Chah sangha. I believe in Ajahn, and the Buddhist approach of not over-reacting, but to speak firmly and gently against any false representation.

I never believe that the Buddha would have taught us to be complete political nimcompoops (although I believe that he teaches us to keep our lives free of and above politics). I put my faith in learning to be skillful, to protect and bring benefit to others, in the face of adversity.

***

Verses 3-4 of the Dhammapada:

He abused me,
He struck me,
He overpowered me,
He robbed me.

Those who harbour such thoughts
do not still their hatred.

He abused me,
He struck me,
He overpowered me,
He robbed me.

Those who do not harbour such thoughts
still their hatred.

Enligt fertilitetsexperten De-Kun Li vid Stanford så kan elektromagnetisk strålning vara skadlig för männens spermier skriver Aftonbladet. Elektromagnetisk strålning finns i alla apparater som har en magnet och drivs av el. Alltså TV.n, mobiltelefonen, datorn, stereon, radiostyrda leksaker m.m.

MEN om detta nämns inget. Istället varnas männen för DAMMSUGAREN, MICROVÅGSUGNEN och KYLSKÅPET.  Väl valt.

Spuugzat ben ik het, trekt mijn blonde haar drama aan of wat?! Van een mug een olifant maken noemen ze dat, of in ieder geval iets in die richting. Dus laten we bij deze even alles op een rijtje zetten, het publiceren en de kleine blonde niet meer lastigvallen. Oké? Dankjewel.

Dan beginnen we maar:

Nee, ik vind je niet leuk, dus? Nou en!  Ik ben niet verliefd op je, dat zal niet gaan gebeuren, val me er niet mee lastig, staar me niet aan – doe gewoon vriendelijk alsof er niets aan het handje is. Als je daarover wilt zeuren, doe dat dan tegen iemand die het wel kan schelen. Ik ben niet de persoon die bedoeld is om je leven extra op te fleuren, maar je mag de blauwe nagellak best lenen.

Ik ben opzoek naar mezelf en daar heb ik jou niet bij nodig.

Daarbij wil ik wel zeggen dat het me spijt als ik dwarslig in je leven. Dit is niet mijn bedoeling en ooit maak ik het wel weer goed met je – als je dat waard bent. Dus maak niet zo’n probleem en ga op zoek naar jezelf, verpest het niet, het leven duurt niet zo lang. Maak er het beste van. Je verspilt nu tijd aan mij, en hoewel dat een groot compliment behoort te zijn, is het enkel een wereldzonde waar ook ik niet vrolijker van word.

Love and glitters,

I går var skolan stängd på grund av monsunregnen. Jag hade en lång och trist dag hemma framför datorn så idag när jag fick veta att skolan öppnat igen blev jag naturligtvis glad. Rektorn sa visserligen  att det var mycket vatten men jag tänkte att jag åker ändå.

3 mil senare, 200 meter från skolan tog det stopp, bilen tog sig inte längre. Satt och funderade ett tag och hade nästan bestämt mig för att gå sista biten då Habib, våran chaufför, säger:

- Snake!

Japp, det var det, som att jag går nu. Fet chans, skulle inte tro det.

Så det var bara att vända om och åka de 3 milen hem igen.

6 mil i bil i Chennai tar över 3 timmar… det var den morgonen.

I morgon kommer skolbussen att hämta upp mig för de sista 200 metrarna, om jag överhuvudtaget åker till skolan.

i hate being home on friday nights.

especially when home doesn’t feel like a home. But merely a building. institution. program. place of residence.

i hate this feeling.  i want to be in fellowship. i want to love and be loved. grr. my heart aches for fellowship with others. But i really just need God. as much as that hurts. As painful as it is. Just God. no one else.

i need God. i hate being alone on weekend nights. i hate not having friends. i hate not having community. i hate watching others build fires while i sit at home and chill(?)

but I have God.

God. Be Enough. Nothing else will fill me. You can quench my thirst. My loneliness. My institutions. My whatnots.

God. I need God.

ughness.

grrr.

-cooperina

It’s basically old news by now, but I need to voice my outrage/sadness that over half of Maine voted against same-sex marriage, as well as the fact that the Catholic church spent over half a million dollars campaigning against homosexual equality.

Things like this make me feel proud to live in a country like Canada where we don’t discriminate based on gender identity/sexual preference, but then I remember that in a bunch of other countries people are killed every day for not being cisgendered, and then I am furious all over again.

I can’t wait until we look back at this the way we look back a few decades to a time when people didn’t have equal rights because their skin wasn’t white. “How terrible!” we say now, “How immoral! Of course black people should be able to marry white people. What were those people who opposed it thinking?”

At least, I seriously hope we can look back on LGBT rights the way we look back at ethnic rights. It had better happen soon, too.

Det visar sig att vi visst skulle fyllt i papper och fått andra papper fast all information vi hittade i ytterligare papper sa att det inte behövdes. Har varit i landet illegalt. Nåja, det är på väg att ordna sig. Med hjälp av mycket papper.

Samtidig har någon hittat min blogg genom att söka på “fotboja för hanna”.

År det dags att bli orolig?

(Detta har inget att göra med kossan i förra inlägget som åt papper.)

Bishop Allen is on tour now, check out dates on their myspace page

Ok, I have been really busy, which is why I haven’t posted anything in a really long time. TT^TT I usually start on posts and don’t have the time to finish them, so I end up deleting them. (Weekly Stuff posts) I planned to add my little first impressions on the fall anime in a Weekly Stuff, but that just failed. So, I’m not going to do them. DX

New Header:

Dango, dango, dango, dango, dango, daikazoku~

Here is a really simple header since I can’t really think of anything else to put on it. Yup, dangos. I had to somehow mush together two images that I got from a dango gif. So I had to redraw parts of the dango. X3

Recent Art:

Why am I including this 11eyes stuff? IDONTKNOW!!?!??!?!! The 11eyes anime adaptation isn’t good, but oh well. *shrugs*

Heh, it’s been awhile since I’ve uploaded stuff to DeviantART that is not homework/random sketch related. XD Well, this is still a random sketch, but it wasn’t scanned! I’m still not good with using my drawing tablet, since I have not-very-well-done lineart. ;A;

I actually got the time to make my own reference image! I’ve used it in quite a few places already, including the About page. It’s not a really well done picture, so I plan on changing it out, but keeping the info stuff. >w<

Oh, and I finally decided to make my LiveJournal an art blog. It’s called Kawaii Neko. Yah, random name, just like my Panda Kitsune blog. Wait, why are they both animals? I just changed the header since I don’t feel like looking for another theme. It was the same thing for my Blogger blog; I just kept the TicTac theme and tweaked it.

Anyways I will upload smaller sketches to my Picasa Web Albums account since I don’t think I should spam my DeviantART with any more random sketches. XDDDDD

Upcoming Past Events:

Well I might as well do something with this screencap I took a long time ago. Not related to anything at all though.

1) I can’t really think about what will happen in this month as I always do every time I write my Upcoming Events section and 2) why not talk about what the heck I have been doing during my blogging absence? ^^;

So the 1st two weeks of October was my school break. My school runs on a block schedule, so we have a break at the end of every semester. I spent my break marathoning anime, the occasional study Chinese, and eating a lot of popcorn. I didn’t even had any homework over break, and I had all of that free time, and yet I barely even blogged. I don’t know, maybe I was really lazy. =/ Well I marathoned Umineko no Naku Koro ni (so I’m caught up now), Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, Shakugan no Shana (both seasons), and Saki. And during that time I was munching on popcorn.

And for the last two weeks of October, I was pretty much busy with school projects and such. Uh, let’s see, I took my PSAT’s during that time. (Man, I hated the time limit!) And, um, yeah…what else did I do?

Oh and yesterday was Halloween. Luckily I didn’t have to pass out candy this year. My little brother did it since he didn’t go trick-or-treating. (Well I didn’t either, but I was occupied with schoolwork….)

I’m still on a blogging break, and most likely won’t get the chance to blog with all of this school stuff. I don’t know when I will be able to blog like normal. Since when did I have a normal blogging schedule!?!?!?!

Dear Editor,

I refer to the articles “Singapore rejects emission cuts” (Straits Times, 30th October 2009) and “Singapore to cut emissions if other countries do their bit” (31st October 2009).

As a Singaporean, I am greatly disappointed by our lack of commitment to an emissions cut. Where in other areas, Singapore has declared our ambitions to be a global leader, in the face of the looming disaster of climate change, we have decided to follow instead.

While it may be true that our country’s emissions are but a tiny fraction of the world’s, Singapore’s wealth and success has been an example to the developing world. When Singapore could have sent a stronger signal to other major carbon polluters that economic progress need not always place the environment in the backseat, we sing to the same tune of China and India, the world’s fastest growing sources of greenhouse gases, that “we cannot compromise our ability to grow”.

As Associate Professor Natasha Hamilton-Hart has written in the magazine “Innovation”:

“Stubbornly presenting itself as a developing country robs Singapore of any credibility in international negotiations, and prevents it playing a constructive role. With its wealth of lobbying expertise and diplomatic clout, Singapore could make a positive difference, but not if insists on special pleading to avoid cuts itself.”

I beseech our country’s leaders not to allow ourselves to be the black sheep for the developing world, but to be a golden beacon instead. “Fair”, as mentioned several times by both the Prime Minister and the Environment Minister, should involve reflecting on our per capita emission rate.

—

P.S. And I quote the President of the Maldives during his speech at the UN Summit on Climate Change:

“Once the rhetoric has settled and the delegates have drifted away, the sympathy fades, the indignation cools and the world carries on as before,” Nasheed said.

“A few months later, we come back and repeat the charade.”

Who: My bank. (Won’t name names but their name is an acronym involving Shanghai)

Where: My bank account.

Event: Charges on my account. Just when I think I’ve got my savings sorted they slap on a charge & take a huge juicy bite out of my money. *shakes fist* Currrrsssse You! CURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRSE YOU HSBC! Oh. Hang on…

Grrrometer: 5

What the hell happened to Facebook? :| Everytime I try to log in, I get this frustrating message: Account Unavailable :| . And since I am technologically challenged, I have no clue how to fix this. Why me Facebook? I am one of your number one fans I would pay for your service, if it wasn’t free .

Oh, and on occasion when it decides to let me in, I cannot update my status, view my inbox, profile, requests and so forth. Basically, I cannot do anything except stare at my News Feed\Live Feed (which, by the way, is confusing because I am not getting the difference between these two :| ) and then sign out

PS: All my computer wizards out there hook a sister up

5/ 365

Blogging er egentlig en fin unnskyldning til ikke å gjør lekser (: Bildet i dag er jeg som kjeder meg.

My irritation hath reached new levels. I think I’m calmed down now, though. After hitting random things, almost breaking my iPod, and listening to Journey. I dont know why I listened to Journey. It just happened. I love having music so loud you dont even hear yourself typing even though you’re hitting the keyboard hard.

This obnoxious ad runs every morning when I have the news on. It’s obvious what good ol’ McDonalds is trying to do – hawk their ‘fancy’ Newman’s Own coffee to the average joe. They’re aiming for a niche in New England, a niche full of the exact type of boneheads in this ad, content to stay in their small town, and never head out into the world, and experience new things, such as – blaspheme! – Manhattan chowder.

These neanderthals are why I would never ever look around the Northeast for a man. Ugh.

When I walked into work this morning, I sat down and instantly thought about turning around and going home due to all the preggo effects going on in my body. Fortunately, I overcame that urge and actually started getting some work done. And then my ex walks up to my desk — yes, we still work together — and hands me this unopened letter. He glares at me and mumbles “real nice!” sarcastically.

I had no idea what he was talking about until I looked at the address label. It was addressed to us both at his address. His name was haphazardly scratched out with a red pen. I kinda laughed to myself – part of me wanted to high-five whomever did that. He proceeds to go back to his desk and IM me about how I need to tell relatives to “update their fucking address books, already.” Dude. That’s like the first letter to me that’s come to his address in MONTHS. He seems rather sensitive today. I was tempted to ask if he was pregnant, but nice girl that I still am, decided against it.

Not so sure I’ll be able to guarantee the same restraint in my third trimester, though.

Kai kurie iš mūsų esame itin pažeidžiami ir trapūs, tačiau dedamės stipriais, o kai kurie iš mūsų – drąsūs ir tvirti, tačiau norime, kad kiti mus laikytų mažais ir bejėgiais. Nesu tikra, kad žinau, prie kurių save priskirti.

-pasirašo paklydėlė princesė.

Today is a boring Monday. Again. I just don’t know what Mondays have that makes them so boring and makes me feel so lazy. Anyway, I just discovered someone else is cosplaying Vocaloid too…
>.> GRRR…
(WHY DO MY POSTS HAVE TO BE SO SHORT??)