Just Cause We're Young, Please Don't Think We're Dumb.

This is where we had the survey last weekend, the PPR Seri Semarak. It was just 2 km away from my house, but it felt like I was stepping into a different world. Will get pictures of us in action at the survey from my senior and post some up later. =)

Just like the weekend before, we were lucky to have people help us organize the survey. While in Kampung Medan we had people from the mamak stall help us, here we have the manager of an old folks' home lending us the void deck (picture above) as our centre for conducting the survey. It's amazing that these people just so willingly lent us a helping hand and provided us with chairs and tables and stuff so that we would be comfortable. Small details like that can definitely make a lot of difference.

This place is definitely a step up from the Kampung Medan. The environment was better, and it doesn't feel as claustrophobic this time around.

In the span of three hours, I had to sit down with 3 people and read out each question to them and explain what some questions mean. Mind you, we had close to 90 questions, and I had to read ONE BY ONE to all of them.

Imagine reading out questions like this in Malay three times over:

"Saya percaya bahawa terdapat pernguatkuasaan undang-undang dan peraturan yang secukupnya untuk memastikan kebolehpercayaan pembekal/penjual internet"

And explaining to them what this mean, when they don't have a single clue on how the internet works.

(Oh, by the way, the English version of the question is: "I believe there is adequate enforcement of law and regulation to ensure the credibility of the Internet providers/sellers")

What I remember most was doing the survey with this one uncle, who was disabled and was walking with crutches, told me that in his household, there are 8 people and he's the only one working. He's earning around RM1,000 and he has to support his wife, kids and father-in-law.

He's interested in learning about computers and laptops, but he can't afford and he's illiterate. But he signed up his children for computer training and told me that he thinks that having a computer and internet would be very useful.

Being there, you can't help but just feel so sad for these people who are not exposed to these things that we take for granted simply because they can't afford them.

And it pissed me off even further when I read the Budget 2011 highlights and found out that they're allocating RM5 BILLION to build a 100-storey tower that's supposed to be the tallest in Malaysia.

DUDE, WE ALREADY HAVE THE BLOODY PETRONAS TOWERS.

NOT ONE, BUT TWO TOWERS OKAY!!!! (Hehe, Two Towers. Macam Lord of the Rings pulak. Lol.)

I seriously do not see the point of building another skyscraper. And RM5b = RM 50m per floor. WHY?????????????

Even if one-fifth of the money was channelled into investing in training the poor in ICT/reduce the cost of owning a computer for the poor, their quality of life would be so much better and eventually they will be able to find better jobs. It's definitely a better long-term investment.

Se-too-peed people at the top of the pyramid.

I bet they've never seen first-hand how it's like for this people, living on a meagre salary in an area where the cost of living seem to be increasing day by day.

It makes me so angry!!!!!!! GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

And then today I read THIS article on how the Government should not be ignoring the views of the young, and I think the whole article absolutely defines the mentality of my generations. This paragraph in particular I can totally relate to:

"Politics for politics sake does not interest them, but politics as a means to achieve something, usually idealistic, or to champion a cause is okay."

Politics for the sake of politics is so passe.

If I were to vote, I want to know that this person I'm voting for would be championing a cause that would benefit the society as a whole.

And as much as I hate politics, I know that it is inevitable for me to sooner or later use the voting power that I have to help change this country.

Like the title post states, just cause we're young, please don't think we're dumb.

=D

I've been keeping myself updated with THIS ever since I first heard of it.

And just a few minutes ago, THIS happened.

Omg I'm so happy for them I think I'm tearing up.

These men are survivors, no doubt about it.

Miracles do happen. =)

Apologies. And a new experience.

I'm so so so so so sorry for abandoning the blog. Again.

Haih.

I haven't found a job yet, but the RA work in Monash has been keeping me pretty occupied.

And the stupid internet connection in my house is so bloody annoying that I get so fed-up everytime I try to blog.

I swear that once UniFi is available in my area I will go and get it for the house and pay for it myself rather than continue using this stupid WiMax with its continuous PMSes.

Oh yes WiMax modem. I'm talking to you. I'll baling you down into the swimming pool once we get a better internet connection.

Oh, last weekend, my lecturers, my fellow RAs and I (there were 8 of us) went to gather data on our research on the usage of mobile phones, computers and internet in the rural-urban area.

We went to this area called Kampung Medan near Old Klang Road, which was just like 5 minutes away from the university.

But it was definitely a different world from the comfortable and safe environment that we have been exposed to in Sunway (and at home).

This area was the scene of the 2001 Kampung Medan clash between the Malays and Indians, and an area where gang fights can happen at anytime simply because they don't have anything better to do.

And it's only 20 minutes away from KL.

When we were in the lift of one of the apartment buildings heading towards our "Survey Centre" (which was basically just the corridor near the lifts on one of the floors of the flats), I almost vomited (having a strong gag reflex is definitely a disadvantage in this situation) because the stench of garbage lingers in the lift. The 2-minute ride up to the 5th floor felt like forever because of the overbearing stench. And to think, these people have no choice but to bear with the smell every single day. It made me so sad.

Once we got up to our survey centre, it was just as bad. The corridor was not well-lit and a bit dingy, that even on a bright Saturday morning (we were there by 9 AM), the place looked like it was 6 PM on a gloomy day. It was definitely a bit depressing for me cause I love sunlight and bright places.

We got these people to participate in the survey by giving out electric kettles to them as a gift for completing the surveys. And in the 4+ hours we were there, we managed to get 80 participants for the survey and we were definitely satisfied.

It's amazing that these people willingly sat through all 80 questions of the survey just to get a free electric kettle. I don't think I would have. But then, what I take for granted might be a necessity to these people.

Like there was this lady who I did the survey with, and she only earns RM600 a month and her husband earns RM1,000 a month and they have three kids at home, 2 of which are in primary school. It's crazy that they only have that amount of money per month to survive in KL, especially with the rising food prices.

From what we gather, a majority of these people are aware of the importance of computers and internet, but it's unfortunate for them that these things are too expensive for them to afford, and so they're losing out on the benefits of having/owning a computer and an internet connection.

It was definitely an eye-opener for all of us. Like my lecturer was telling us over lunch after the survey, "You can look at the cold data from the questionnaires and make conclusions based on the data, but unless you're down on the field, seeing what they see everyday, you can't really see what's happening." And we were quite lucky this time around because there were people who helped us organise the survey by giving us chairs and tables from their mamak stalls to set up at our centre so that everything can run smoothly and comfortably.

I actually feel a bit apprehensive to go to these sort of places again, but we still have more data to collect and I know that this experience will make me better appreciate the luxuries in life that I have taken for granted. I guess this is sort of my Peace Corps experience la. Lol.

Anyways, the boyfriend picked me up from Monash cause he wanted to study for his upcoming ACCA exams at the Monash library, so basically it was a win-win situation la for us. He got to study without any distraction, I got a ride home. Lol.

Anyways, on the ride home, we sort of had this discussion about scholarships. I personally think that some people should not get a scholarship just because they have good grades because I know some people with scholarships can actually afford to pay the university fees.

And it also pisses me off that some people see scholarships only as a ticket to go overseas (case in point: My boyfriend. I think it was a blessing in disguise that he didn't get to go overseas on his old scholarship. Lol.) and that once they earn the scholarship, they slack off and play hard. So instead of maintaining good grades and hence justifying why they received the scholarships in the first place, these people get sucky results and splurge most of their scholarship money (and the money from their parents too) on having fun.

Don't get me wrong. Some of the scholars definitely deserve their scholarships cause they work really hard for it and hence should be awarded, but these rotten few who take scholarships for granted really annoy me.

I mean, it's the taxpayers money. Some of the taxpayers are hard-working, poor people who can't afford to buy some of the stuff that these scholars own, so it's a bit ironic isn't it that these poor people are paying for the rich people's education?

Granted, I might be a bit bitter because my results were never good enough during my schooling years (not for lack of studying) to earn a scholarship, but I have worked so hard during my degree to make my parents know that their hard-earned money did not go to waste. I still had fun, but not for one second did I take my education money for granted.

The boyfriend and I both agree that the priority for scholarships should be given to those from rural areas. And that scholarships should not be awarded solely based on academic results.

Some people from the rural areas might not have gotten straight A1's because their environment is not conducive for studying. They might have to be the caretaker to their smaller siblings when their parents are working, hence affecting their study time and overall performance. But the government should give them chances, even when they only have 7 or 8 A's, instead of awarding a city kid who scored 10 A1's because they went for extra tuition and was in a boarding school with a conducive studying environment.

Oh, one more thing that pisses me off with some scholars who are overseas is their "Stick-to-their-kind" attitude. To me, one of the beauty of studying overseas is learning the local culture, lingo and basking in the new experiences that being in a new environment might give.

But it's quite sad that some people, once they are overseas, seem happier to stick their kind. In fact, these people sometimes look down on those people who dare to step out of their comfort zones and take risks and try new things and meet new people who aren't Malaysians.

What is the freaking point when you proudly say you have gone to study in UK/US/Australia for God-knows how many years and yet you can't even string one perfect sentence when speaking in English?

I'm not saying that these people have to come back with accents, but dear God, is it so difficult to polish up on your speaking English while you are living in an English-speaking nation?

It makes me, who has never had the chance to (and looking at it now, probably never will) study overseas be a bit confounded. I mean, have they never heard of the term SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY?

Oh yes. I'm a bit pissed. I grew up here in Malaysia, got my degree in Malaysia and yet I speak better English than this people. What the hell.

But then I guess I can't fully blame them cause sometimes it boils down to the environment where you were brought up in.

I am so glad that my parents actually became friends with not just Malaysians during their time in the UK. In fact, during our trip, we stayed with my dad's Indian friends (Indians from India, not Malaysia) and went to visit one of my dad's close friend, an Irish man who got married to a Geordie. My parents were there and back when we were in the UK we went to their house every Christmas, and I can't see many scholars (Malays, especially) doing that nowadays.

Us, with Uncle Duncan and family, 2010.

Aunty Donna, Amy, myself and Anis, 1992.

I'm glad that my parents were open-minded enough to step out of their comfort zone and make friends with these people, and that they taught us that it was okay to step out of our comfort zones once in a while.

Anyhow, back to the scholarship issue, it sucks that the government are mainly giving out scholarships for the so-called "Professional" courses, i.e Medicine, Law, Engineering, Business.

They should actually look into giving out scholarships for other vocational courses because not everyone has the brain to become engineers and doctors. Plus, apparently even engineers now are finding it difficult to get jobs.

Some people are more practical-based rather than theory-based. Just because they aren't book-smart, it doesn't mean that they're stupid and don't deserve to get a scholarship. I think giving scholarships in courses like hospitality is a pretty good idea because it's an all-rounder course where you learn basic financial accounting, languages and whatnots and you actually apply everything that you learn. Which is more than I can say about some of the things that I had to learn during my degree (Accounting Theory, anyone?).

But it's so difficult for us to change the mentality of the people and basically if you don't have a scholarship for a professional course, it's either you're too stupid or you're a freaking rich kid.

Bottom line: No scholarship, no good.

Gah.

I hate our Education system and the people's third-world mentality. Thank God I'm done with my degree.

Okay, enough rants. I'm tiring my brain and tiring the people who might be reading this. Lol.

Love loads!

PS: I do feel guilty for the length of the post, but I'm not sorry. I needed to vent out. As usual. Where else can I make myself heard (other than in my boyfriend's car when we were discussing this, teehee)?

UK Trip - Read before scrolling down please!

Below, I'm compiling my UK trip based on the places we went to, so it might be a bit jumbled up.

I don't think I can write anymore about the UK trip. Too busy now. I'm so sorryyyyy. =( I've posted up Scotland though.

I've decided to go day-by-day. Much easier. Lol. Have fun going through the posts, and hopefully you guys won't get bored by the lengthy posts.

Oh, I'll try to post up all the posts ASAP. But I have too much photos (6 GB combined from two cameras!) to choose from to upload, and uploading takes a bit of time, so please bear with me. =)

Yep, the posts will be below this post.

Posts for Day 1 to 7 are up

Love loads,

Alia

At this moment in time, I am trying to be a good (in no particular order) daughter, sister, girlfriend, friend, student, tutor and employee.

I wish I could split myself and please everybody.

Or maybe I should just take time out from pleasing everybody and just focus on me.

Fate.

The weirdest thing happened to me today.

I sat in the Monash library just now while I was waiting for Anis to finish her class.

So there I was, sitting on the red couch, talking to Idris and Engku, when one of the Biotech girls came over to join us.

I usually don't talk to them not cause I'm sombong or what, but just because I don't know them and sometimes I'm not good at making conversations with strangers.

So she was chit-chatting with Engku and Idris and then out of the blue she asked me, "Alia, you duduk kat Keramat kan?"

And I was like "Yeahhhh.........."

Obviously I was a bit confused when she asked me that.

After that she asked me, "Dulu masa tadika you kat Tadika Capital kan?"

Not a lot of people knew where I went to kindergarten, so THAT was definitely a bit freaky.

And then she continued "I dulu sama tadika dengan you. You were one of my closest friends masa tu"

My jaw just dropped. I was completely rendered speechless.

I seriously for the life of me can't remember who she is (and I feel so bad for that), but here is this girl who actually remembers me from SIXTEEN YEARS AGO.

I was befuddled.

And the strangest thing is that she actually recognised me from the first day she came to Monash.

The thing is, I highly doubt I look the same as when I was six.

It's just amazing to me that this person actually recognises me, remembers my name AND remembered where I used to live at that time.

Wow.

And there you have it, just when I thought life couldn't get any stranger, fate comes and smacks me right in the face.

Cars!

My boyfriend said this to me yesterday,

"You haven't blogged in three days."

So I'm dedicating this post to him just so he knows that I do have a new post.

Happy now? :p

The other day while I was in the car with Anis she told me this,

"Do you know that there's a Mercedes car that uses a joystick instead of a steering wheel for steering the car around?"

And the only thought in my head was "Heh?"

So I tried googling the car and found out that the car was a Mercedes concept car called the SCL600.


It's a nice concept, but so impractical because the joystick is in the middle, between the driver and passenger seats. Oh wait. Maybe it's driver-driver seats then cause both of the people sitting in front can theoretically drive the car. Possible problems that I can foresee should this concept car come into production:

• Users will probably have neck pains most of the time because they'd be craning their necks to judge how to overtake the cars in front while simultaneously trying to steer the car. Oh yeah. Utter joy.
  
• And oh, apparently the car DOES NOT come with pedals, so I have no idea how you're supposed to brake or accelerate
• side-parking, which is already somewhat torturous now even with steering wheels, is gonna be total hell using the joystick
• Ironically, I think there would be no joy in driving a car using a joystick. Even back when I was playing Midtown madness on my PC last time, if the steering wheel was broken, I'd rather use the keyboard than the joystick to drive my car around because frankly, using a joystick is so difficult when it comes to driving.
• And it still bugs me to no end that the controls are in the middle. I mean, even a pilot who has a joystick-looking thing in his cockpit has the controls right in front of him, NOT in the middle between him and the co-pilot (oh, slightly off-topic, I found out why a cockpit is called a cockpit HERE).
  

Oh, random fact of the day: apparently Beyonce can't drive. Hahaha.

Oh, and my dad was asking me the other day whether I could still drive a manual car.

And then I looked at him straight in the eyes and said,

"Papa, the last time I drove a manual car was during my JPJ test 5 years ago."

So yes, I do think that if I were to drive a manual car now, I'll be very panicky.

Plus we don't have any manual cars at home.

How I wish my dad didn't sell off his MR2.

Sick.

One day when I was actually paying attention to the newscaster on the radio (yes, I can be a mindless zombie while driving), I heard about the Irish Catholic Priests Sex Abuse. I got a bit intrigued cause apparently there was a major cover-up about the abuse by the Irish Catholic Church and I ended up reading THIS article about it.

And here's the really "interesting" (and sick, IMHO) part in the article:

In recent weeks, however, the scandal has reached the very top of the Irish Church hierarchy. Cardinal Sean Brady — Ireland's most senior Catholic — has faced calls to resign over his handling of the case of one of Ireland's most infamous pedophile priests. That's because in 1975, Brady had met with young people who had been abused by Father Brendan Smyth. The victims were asked to sign an oath of secrecy, promising not to reveal details of an investigation into Smyth's actions. Brady did not contact the police after the meetings, and Smyth went on to abuse dozens more Irish children before being convicted of 90 offenses against children some 20 years later. Some of those abused by Smyth claim other victims committed suicide because of the abuse.

What the hell is wrong with these people I don't even know.

Oh yes, the world is becoming very twisted.

Like how Anis's orthodontist, Dr. Shafeeq said the other day "If you want to read depressing news, just buy a newspaper".

How true is that. And sad to think that these things always happen to children. ='(

Is it so hard to ask for a safe world for children?

OMG.

US children get Playboy, not Bugs Bunny in cable mixup

Omg. What the hell were they thinking?

No-title post

Read this in the newspaper this morning. Found this SO sad, yet so amusing at the same time:

WOMAN RETURNS SLAP FROM HUBBY WITH A STAB

Basically the husband was a bit drunk and was hitting on the neighbour or something like that. The wife saw him and they started arguing. The husband then insulted her and slapped her. The woman got so pissed off she stabbed the husband with a kitchen knife and now the hubby's in ICU.

Like they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. LOL.

Oh, was going through my old posts in the old blog and saw this:

Nat, Zaty, Alia circa 2008.

This was taken when Zaty was about to go off to Wellyland for the first time back in February of '08. Yep, we were all in black. LOL. I don't know why, but somehow I feel like among the three of us, I look the most different now. Zaty's jetting back to Wellington tonight and when I was saying goodbye to her, I was a bit sad la as usual cause I won't be able to see her for the next one and a half years, but she's like, "Don't worry la makcik. Sekejap je tu"

And it is true you know how time can fly by so fast.

It's been two years since that picture was taken. I can still clearly remember that day. =)

And it's so amazing to me that almost three months has gone by since the day I started my internship and that next week i'm going to be going back to classes.

And now I know why I don't want to work as an auditor. I realise that when I was working, I really looked forward to the weekends, even when it was just Monday.

All that time I was going through the motions. All because I didn't like what I was doing.

I don't want that to happen when I start working full-time. I want a job that allows me to actually enjoy my weekdays, not just the weekends. I don't want my life to just pass me by.

I don't want time to go by so fast that the next thing I know, some years have gone by and I can't remember whether I've done anything significant in those years.

I want to live, not just go through the motions.

That's not too much to ask for, right?

Oh yeah. Enough ramblings for today. Lol. Sorry if i made anyone out there depressed.

Perceptions.

Perception:

immediate or intuitive recognition or appreciation, as of moral, psychological, or aesthetic qualities; insight; intuition; discernment

I kinda realised how our lives basically revolve around perceptions.

And how scary perceptions can be.

I was thinking about perceptions cause the topic suddenly came up while I was having lunch with Liyana. We were just talking about universities in general and I told her about my perceptions on private unis/colleges back when I was in school.

Coming from a government school, I really thought that if you were in places like HELP and Sunway (and Monash, to a certain degree) or any private universities for that matter, it means that you're not smart enough to enter public varsities. And that people who enter private universities are all snobbish brats who are literally buying their degrees and that it doesn't matter if they fail cause they can always retake the units that they failed.

Now that I'm in Monash, basically I had just classified myself as a person who's, well...dumb, spoilt and couldn't care less about education, when in fact I'm studying like nobody's business, my social life is pretty much non-existent and my stress level is at an all-time high.

Now I'm scared about how people perceive me.

I know I shouldn't be worried about people's perception as long as I'm comfortable with who I am, but i still wonder. Especially the perception of people from my parents' generation.

Like what my mum said, "They grew up thinking that if you study in private unis, you're not good enough for public unis. It might not be true, but they don't know that now, do they?"

It's funny to think that I've become exactly what I didn't want to be back in secondary school.

Irony is bittersweet, no?

PS: Just so I'll scare myself silly and take time to study:




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