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http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

Nothing much to say. Just enjoy the photographs. Leave comments if you so wish to.

Optimism.

A friend of mine mentioned the other day that I was fairly optimistic about the future. I quipped back that it was because I was still young. I could use this excuse because he was a family man and several years older than me. However, the truth is that my optimism does not come from my youthful exuberance, but rather my grim outlook on life.

When I was 19, I was told by someone many years older, that I was too jaded with life and that at 19, I should not be jaded at all. The truth is that I have been jaded with life, since a very young age and I am optimistic, because I am jaded. When I see things, I tend to see the worst possible outcome of any scenario. After seeing the worst possible outcome, every other possibility becomes a much better prospect.

However, convincing oneself that a better scenario will ultimately emerge over the worst possible outcome, is quite another matter altogether.

Anyway, enough of the morbid talk.

I had recently gone to a very modern kopitiam in KL called Oldtown Whitecoffee, which should be familiar to people from Ipoh. It is an odd establishment. It is styled and priced like an up-market coffee place, sells low-end food and beverages, and is frequented by the kind of people that you would find at any mamak stall at 4am in the morning.

We had a mixed coffee (i.e. neslo), enhanced chocolate (i.e milo kau) and two slices of butter and kaya toast for a whopping RM12! That’s a whopping RM6 for what is essentially two slices of bread and water each. My friend decided to pick up the tab, which was awfully nice of him. It was surprisingly packed, even at 4am in the morning.

Too bad I did not have my camera with me at the time.

As you all know, I have been doing some shopping recently, to slowly replace the various items that had to be discarded at Heathrow because I had excess luggage. One of the things that I had to buy was a pair of sandals. Thinking that I would settle for a cheap pair, I went to the nearby Bata store for a random pair.

At the Bata store, there were a number of different cheap sandals available. So, I tried them on and they were all pretty much similar. You cannot really expect much from a RM20 pair of sandals (£3.50). Then, I saw a more expensive pair and I thought to myself, why would anyone pay RM100 for a pair of sandals. It is not even a branded pair of special sandals like Nike or what nots.

So, on a whim, I put on the pair of pricier sandals. That was it. I had never worn a pair of sandals that felt so good on my feet before. There seemed to be various points of support and cushioning around the sole. So, I quickly made the decision to get the more expensive pair. So, it was just a matter of choosing a design, colour and size.

Honestly, I have never ever spent as much on a pair of sandals before. I grew up in a strictly middle class family and I grew up on pasar malam fashion. In fact, I don’t even normally spend that much on proper shoes either. I have only spent this much on leather shoes, in Malaysia. My feet must hate me for all the torture that I have subjected them through.

I guess that there is a reason for them being pricier than the rest and the money isn’t being paid for the brand since it isn’t Nike anyway. All I hope for now, is that this pair of sandals lasts me for a year. The cheap ones usually fail me in half that time. If they do last that long and provide my feet with tender loving care, it would be money well spent.

I have just read this article today, on our governments’ interest in introducing a special law, called the Race Relations Act. The first thing that occurred to me was that, if they succeeded in introducing such an act, it would be the greatest accomplishment that our government had ever achieved in its 51 year history.

The reason that I say this is because, such an act can only exist if the concept of race is clearly defined. If the definition is not sufficiently clear, then it may be difficult to enforce any of the details of the act. Under our present laws, only the Malay race is clearly by Article 160 of our Constitution.

The article defines a Malay as a Malaysian citizen born to a Malaysian citizen who professes to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language, adheres to Malay customs, and is domiciled in Malaysia or Singapore. So, our legal definition of a race is bound by a combination of religion, language, custom and place of residence.

Assuming that the government uses the same system to define all the other races, I would definitely be interested to see what kind of definition the government can come up with. Goodness knows, I think that I will probably slip through the cracks and be in limbo. I profess an Indian religion, speak the English language, and adhere to a random mix of customs (as evidenced by my choice in clothes).

I am sure that I am not alone in this. Ask yourself if you would fit into any stereotypical definition of a Chinese, Indian or any one of the other 50 odd races that are supposed to exist in Malaysia. I can already tell you that although 90% of Malaysian Chinese speak Mandarin, most of them do not believe in Confucianism (a truly Chinese religion) and they are certainly not Buddhists.

I think that most of you should get my point by now.

Race is an artificial construct. Throughout history, man has done various studies to try to define race clearly, but has failed to do so utterly. So, if our government is capable of working out the legal definitions for the various races in Malaysia, they would have accomplished no mean feat. I would certainly congratulate them for doing so!

The Hari Raya sales are on until early October. So, I decided to go do some shopping today, for a few new shirts. As I had mentioned earlier, I was forced to bin all my clothes at Heathrow because my luggage was too heavy. I did some shopping at the beginning of the month, but only for essentials as I was waiting for this sale season to start.

While shopping for new shirts, I have come to realise that most mens’ shirts are of one of the following variety: plain, striped or checked. All very boring. So, I have decided to buy something else instead. After owning some barong shirts for the last few years, I felt that wearing embroidered shirts was a good idea. So, I only shopped for shirts with embroidery on them.

I bought a really nice Punjab shirt a couple of weeks ago. I bought it because I liked the pattern on the shirt and it is a formal shirt that has no collar. So, I would not need to wear a tie with it. It looks really smart with a suit (even without the tie) and can also be worn as casual wear if it is left tucked out. So, it is quite versatile.

Today, I bought a few more casual wear embroidered shirts. At one points, the sales girl spoke to me in Cantonese and said that she was surprised that I could appreciate shirts like these, because most Chinese men would not buy these kinds of shirts. I did not really know what to answer her as I wasn’t sure if it was meant as a compliment or otherwise.

What can I say, except that I embrace the wonderful diversity of Malaysia. I don’t really care if it is not very Chinese (What is a Chinese shirt anyway?) as long as it looks good on me. My family has always been like this. Both my mother and sister wear all kinds of clothes, often mixing and matching elements from different cultures, as long as they look good.

Isn’t that the whole point of getting dressed in the first place?

Alright, I will need to go look for a good mens’ tailor later. I intend to have a suit tailor made. I already know what I want, in my head. However, I’m afraid that the tailor may not understand what I need. So, I will need to find some examples to show him/her later. As usual, I like wearing formal clothes that are not very typically formal.

Anyway, I went to a pasar malam (night market) last week and brought my camera with me. I stood out like a sore thumb and people were staring at me while I took my photos. I guess that I did not look enough of a tourist to be snapping away with SLR at a night market. As usual, these shots were all taken handheld, without flash, under a low-light condition. I’m starting to love this lens.

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

I’ve barely been home for two weeks and my family has been stressing me out non-stop. I had barely stepped off the plane at KLIA for 2 hours, when the inquisition started. Even my sister is getting in on it. In fact, she’s applying more pressure on me than my parents. I am getting more than a little annoyed at this now. If it does not stop soon, I will have to make it stop.

I do not understand why they need to apply so much verbal pressure. Thankfully, it’s still only verbal pressure and they have not yet resorted to arranging any sort of physical pressure (although they have already suggested it to me several times). I know that all my elder cousins are already married with kids, and even a couple of my younger cousins are too. But still.

Some of the suggestions that they have been throwing around, border on the ludicrous and crazy. I wouldn’t even want to go into the details here as they are definitely out of my realm of possibility, and probably out of this world. I don’t think that I will ever become desperate enough to even try some of the things that have been suggested.

I have told them several times, by now, that I am not ready for anyone. All I have inside me is pain, bitterness and anger. So, I need to resolve all these issues, personally, before I can even begin to fathom asking anyone out. Otherwise, I really pity the person whom will be the target of all the pent up negative emotions. Now is definitely not a good time for me but they seem to be ignoring me.

Today, I have been feeling slightly hypoglycemic again. I spent most of the afternoon in bed and even all the nice siew pau from Seremban could not keep me filled. Hopefully, this is just for today. Otherwise, I will have to tell my whole family to just shut their traps and leave me alone. Personally, I would not wish this on anyone.

This is worse than PhD stress!!

PS: As you can probably read from this blog, I am not particularly happy with this situation.

A very timely episode on ISA in Malaysia, by Al-Jazeera, which was only shown a few days ago.