I started this draft 5 days ago but never got to actually writing the post. Anyway, for those who frequent Tioman, especially to Kampung Salang, would remember this light beacon:
It gives out two white flashes, followed by a 5-second interval, before flashing again. I’m just keeping my hopes high, because in 11 days time, barring death, war or any natural disaster, I’d be seeing this light beacon again.
Fl(2)W.5s
That’s what it says on the Admiralty Chart anyway.
This morning, a colleague lamented about his 5-year old daughter who refused to go to kindergarten on Friday because “the teacher say bad word like mommy always say to you”. He was upset and this morning went to confront the teacher. The teacher clarified the matter. Apparently, the teacher taught her to count properly in English, and my colleague’s daughter has trouble pronouncing words that begin with the letter “F” that a certain sexual act, if ever it is mentioned by her, would sound like something Ice Hockey players whack around the rink. The teacher was trying to teach her the proper way to say the number “FOUR”. She kept on saying it as “POUR” instead.
“Say FOUR!”
For a Cantonese-speaking child, that sounds almost like a curse commonly heard when someone is in deep sh**. “Die fire” or “Mati api”…which actually means “I’m (or you’re) dead meat” or something to that effect. Children nowadays are having problems communicating in English, and we find a group of people who are linguistically-xenophobic making police reports against the teaching of Science and Maths in English. Had I my way, I would have asked for Mandarin to be a compulsory subject in elementary schools.
I don’t know how long have I not read a newspaper from the frontpage through the last page. Everything sickens me: politics, nude photos, by-elections…it seems that our politicians have forgotten to do their work, and are more concerned about whether they can still earn taxpayers’ money by holding on to power. I would rather find out how the economy is faring amidst the current credit crunch.
We now have more than 11,000 Malaysians who have lost their job because of the global credit crunch. I was surprised the other day at KLCC when the Friday lunchtime crowd was a lot less than usual. Either
1. People are saving up
2. People have less money to spend
3. People would rather spend on what they need, than what they want, or,
4. There’s no SALE anywhere in KLCC.
But point #4 was proven wrong as most outlets were doing a SALE or something. But, two days later at the Megamall, parking was quite a problem because there were many people there. However, a closer look would reveal the purchase pattern – I couldn’t see anyone carrying carrier bags that carry world-renowned brand names. What I saw were people buying groceries at the Cold Storage, or some cheap stuff from one of the cheaper outlets selling daily stuff.
I guess, the terms VENI, VIDI, VISA (I came, I saw, I went shopping) no longer applies to the working class in Malaysia…
…well, at least for now.
But as usual, when things get better much later, Malaysians will once again display their forgetfulness.
I can’t think anymore. Maybe it’s time I go exclaim:
VENI, VIDI, VINO!
SeaDemon Says 