How to discover our destiny |
- How to discover our destiny
- Bootcamp Challenge : Pushing the limits
- Football Everyday : 23rd November 2011
- Hidden Cities returns on HISTORY
- Introducing Quick Takes – Photoblogging With My Samsung Galaxy S II
- The Pouring Rain
- Doltish Adulation
- Invisalign
- Best episode of Hawaii Five-0, so far...
- Get Merry with Ferry Corsten
- wordless wednesday #10 - siriusly?
- I am not dead & you must [like] this page!
- Market Commentatry
- BERSIH Saksi: Gas pemedih ditembak ke hospital!
- Rosevelt's '17:35' Album Launch
- Malaysia has an asshole Umno-led BN government!
- Starbucks 2012 planner
- Fuah! Spritzer Water Dispenser!
- Najib the pseudo reformist, far from best democracy
- Kabocha Pumpkin Pie
| Posted: 23 Nov 2011 02:54 AM PST After completing the SPM examinations in 2003, I wanted to pursue my childhood ambition of studying Psychology. But my parents and I were living from hand to mouth at that time. My mom earned RM500.00 a month while income from renting out additional rooms in the house to nearby college students brought in another RM700.00 which was barely enough to pay off utility bills, let alone put enough food on the table. One of my mother's sisters offered to sponsor my college tuition but she would not pay for a degree in Psychology because Psychologists need post-graduate qualifications, considering my family situation at that time, my aunt wanted me to study something that would guarantee immediate financial return upon graduation. But I am not a person who does things only for money. If I have to do something, it must be an end in itself. So I looked at my other interests, my artistic interests and decided to study for a diploma in interior design at a nearby college. During the foundation year, I took leisure at taking classes in photography using my dad's Nikon Single-Lens Reflect, in charcoal drawing and Watercolor painting from an established local artist, in geometric and plan drafting, and in cardboard model building. But I soon realized that my eyesight needed to be sharper because drafting in interior architecture design requires precision. This was depressing to me so I quickly accepted this fact and moved on just so I did not continue to feel miserable. Up till then, I had also been taking an additional class from the music faculty – choir – so I spoke to the choir master who was also the music department's head and figured that I could switch my major. And that was what I did. If my eyes were not strong enough for me to pursue my interest in visual arts, then I could further my musical talents. I had previous trainings in piano, violin and vocal music so pursuing a full cert music diploma was not a difficult decision for me to make. I decided to major in vocal music with a minor in piano music. In secondary school, I sang a lot of Broadway musicals under the tutelage of Susanna Saw San San and now, in college, I took lessons from Cecilia Yap, an MPO opera singer who previously received her training in a music conservatoir in Rome. I'd stay back in college until it closes around 10pm to practice my piano because I could never afford a piano at home. I dreamt of becoming an outstanding vocalist like my predecessors. In September that year, I had to take leave from music lessons to remove a brain tumor in L.A. For reasons unknown to me at that time, my Soprano vocal range became limited after surgery. I could no longer sing beyond half an octave. Upon my return from L.A., further MRI revealed another brain tumor threatening to make my other ear deaf. This means total deafness was imminent. With a heavy heart, I quit music classes and searched for something else to do. Somehow, I was led to consider teaching pre-school. Although I could not pursue my Psychology ambition, I still wanted to do something relevant and child psychology interests me. I came across an ad placed by a newly opened kindergarten in the neighborhood and went for an interview. They offered me RM600 a month to teach English. I happily accepted the offer and did not think anything further about the salary amount because the opportunity was priceless to me. My time at the kindergarten turned out to be a challenging feat. Teaching young children was much harder than I had anticipated. But I did it as best as I could until my residual hearing reached to the point that it was no longer useful two months later. During those two short months, I had the opportunity to observe the relationship dynamic between different toddlers and their parents. I took special note of the difference between children who have one parent working outside the home and those who have both parents working outside the home. I also observed how their parents' personalities shape the child's social adaptability. When my residual hearing was no longer useful two months later, I quit my position at the Kindergarten in February 2005 but continued to raise awareness about Neurofibromatosis through the internet. Less than a month later, a lady by the named of Cordelia Lee came across my blog, was touched by my zest and suggested me to write a book which I worked on in the next couple of months. I wrote the book with the intention of raising awareness about Neurofibromatosis and helping others facing different challenges in life. My author's journey became public knowledge when I appeared in The Star newspaper for the first time in August that year. Someone nominated me for the Asian Youth Ambassadors' Most Outstanding Youth of the Year award which I eventually won in November 2005. Among other things, this award came with a full scholarship by a local institution named Life College. They didn't teach Psychology, but I seized the opportunity to further my studies nevertheless and selected a course that interests me – Mass Communication, because I liked journalism. Since my first appearance in The Star newspaper in August 2005, I have been asked to write contributions for different newspapers and magazines. A new talent developed in me and I decided to make good use of it by studying mass communications until I had to go for another brain surgery yet again ten months later. In those ten months, I enjoyed studying literature in English class, public relations from Pinky Khoo, and journalism from a retired reporter of the Star Newspaper. I also enjoyed picking up feature writing and proper composition skills. This was my first time being a student in total deafness. By October 2006, I managed to raise enough funds to remove the other brain tumor that had taken my residual hearing.Before I left Malaysia for surgery in L.A. I was contacted by the public relation liaison of SEGi College offering me to study with them under scholarship. I was already pursuing a Diploma in Mass Communications at Life College at that time, but I decided to have a look at what they had to offer anyway. To my delight, they taught Psychology! Needless to say, I accepted the offer and was finally pursuing my childhood ambition at the age of 21, three years after SPM. Although I allowed my dream of studying Psychology to take a back seat and did what was practical in the past three years, but I never abandoned my childhood dream. When the opportunity presented itself, I recognized it and seized it immediately. It did not occur to me that I will one day be able to study Psychology. In those days after my SPM, I either get myself a place in a public university and hope that they will let me study my degree choice, or pay RM300,000.00 to study abroad. Psychology was beyond everybody's reach back then. Having little choice, I was willing to pursue my other interests for a career. But while most would go into business school, medicine, engineering or some other high paying professions, I stood my ground and refused to study with money as an end. Instead, I studied what I enjoyed. Never mind if my Psychology dream never came to be. I was prepared to do interior design, music or journalism till the end if nothing else intervenes. On hindsight, I think God unwittingly taught me to live in the present, not the future. We may live FOR the future, but we must live in the present. Living in the present involves being practical and choose to do what is within our means. It involves focusing on what is in front of us rather than a distant, non-existent dream. If we focus on an un-materialized dream, it will always seem unattainable and so far away. We will constantly feel discouraged. But if we focus on living in the present, make practical decisions and small achievements day by day, we will soon find our destiny at our doorstep. Sometimes, we may not know what is our destiny. In my case, I was not even sure if studying Psychology was mine to partake. So I just focused on doing whatever was in front of me, enjoy my studies and learn to be content with doing what I set my hands on. By having this focus of our mind and heart in the present, only can we be guided by God to follow our intuition and be able to recognize when the opportunity to attain our dream appears. Otherwise, we would be so absorbed in dreaming about a non-existent future, that we neglect to develop ourselves as individuals and will fail to recognize opportunities. I had becoma a much more suitable candidate to study Psychology with the life experience I gained by the age of 21 than I was as an 18-year-old secondary school graduate. P/S: I am 25 and in my third year of a BSc in Psychologym studying directly with Upper Iowa University through it's extended university programs at the time of writing this.
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| Bootcamp Challenge : Pushing the limits Posted: 23 Nov 2011 01:19 AM PST
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| Football Everyday : 23rd November 2011 Posted: 23 Nov 2011 01:17 AM PST
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| Hidden Cities returns on HISTORY Posted: 23 Nov 2011 12:27 AM PST
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| Introducing Quick Takes – Photoblogging With My Samsung Galaxy S II Posted: 23 Nov 2011 01:12 AM PST Looks like I have been going through a spell of drought where blogging is concerned. By blogging, I meant writing. September was the worst month as I only churned out one post. On the other hand, I have been actively updating my second photoblog that I christened Quick Takes. It features images taken and uploaded with the Samsung Galaxy S II. Although the camera phone allows very limited control as compared to a conventional digital camera, I enjoy capturing images and post them up on the go. The lack of updates was also due to the fact that I have been spending the past couple of weeks setting up the photoblog and updating the other blogs as well. There was an issue of the image captions not being parsed in the RSS feed that took almost a week of wading through Google and WordPress forums to resolve. The Digital Awakening's homepage has been redesigned to include links to the latest posts in my other blogs and Wuan's photoblog. Some of these have not been updated for a couple of years. I noticed the same trend among bloggers active in Facebook and Twitter who have not been updating their blogs as frequently as they used to. These two microblogging medias have dampened our enthusiasm somewhat for writing longer posts. I guess I need to manage my time better between Facebook, Twitter and my blogs to break this affliction. Related posts:
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| Posted: 22 Nov 2011 11:13 PM PST It's raining heavily now, the layers of grey clouds said hai.. The heavy monsoon showers are back for quite a while. Goodbye sunny weather.. Welcome rain train..we've been waiting. Moisture-laden dark clouds pouring God's gift of love.. The thunder the lightning the roaring winds and sweet 'tears', The rain gap stopper has only a short snuff. So let our smiling vibes out and enjoy the precious life.. With those whom we love and care so deeply for. Trust them, support and believe in them, quickly show how much our love overflows, like the lovely lakes of fresh, cold non-stop downpour. My mind is pirouetting with Mother-Nature's music outside.. Like a still graceful old swan, I ballet my indescripable emotional love for those on my ILYVM list and.. HIM. HE who makes me feel courageous when I'm scared.. HE who I turn to when I'm spiritually lost.. HE who I pray to seek help.. HE who is always there when I'm all alone.. HE who listens to every beat of my heart. HE who understands me HE who encourages me.. HE who deeply pities me..HE who will punish me if I don't start to seriously buck up! Ya Allah Ya Tuhan ku Yang Maha Pengasih Lagi Penyayang I beg for your forgiveness every second.. For my sins and those of my loved ones.. And for those who may need my help to pray for theirs. Make us Muslims who are prepared for heavens before you call us back for judgement.. Bestow upon us great health and longevity surrounded with abundance of love.. Equip us with high intelligence and constant wisdom.. to continuously achieve loads of happiness & success. Guide us diligently through life religiously and prosperously.. Grant us always to be immensely happy for both this beautiful, temporary R & R world.. and our eternal Hereafter place of stay. Ameen. p.s. Spicy nasi goreng and hot coffee anybody? Fateen?? Where are your snow photos in Oregon? Email to Hakim please..my email refuse to open..snoozzzing. Love you loads! Thanks! 
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| Posted: 23 Nov 2011 12:52 AM PST  Yet another sneak peek into the lucrative business of the political (and politically-linked) elites. I hope The Malaysian Insider had paraphrased PAC chairman Azmi Khalid correctly that "money had been given to NFC management in 2008/2009 through a special account, when the agreement deal for the project was only inked last year." Talk about money on a silver ( gold would go for those billion Ringgit projects) platter, eh? One after another the project is riddled with supposed shenanigans. I remember reading an FB posting that the project went through a Cabinet Committee only instead of the full Cabinet. Can't really verify this one, but PKR has been yammering for the Papers to be made public. Yeah, for sure this one will happen. When the cows go home (pun fully intended) la!. This community of ours – though not of late – is perhaps much too steeped in feudalistic adoration that questioning the conducts of these so-called elites are usually done behind the scenes and at Kopitiams etc, as mentioned by Marina Mahathir in her (as always) hard hitting commentary today. We are forever kissing the hands that supposedly feeds us, mere peanuts notwithstanding. Not all, but enough to make the money siphoning – Columnist Subky Latif coin this as "Bakhsis" aka commission - circus continue in its national and international tour and circuit. Marina very pertinently asked: "So how long will we put up with imbeciles leading us? How long will we tolerate unbridled greed and hate?" I do protest the use of the word "imbeciles" in this case, as these are not mentally retarded dolts but highly clever, conniving, calculative, fiendish and utterly feudalistic-inclined people who feels and sees no wrong, no shame, in what they are doing. Be it the pillaging and plundering of the national coffer, playing one's race, religion and group against another, manipulating community's civil expectations or even the public relationship-ning of a much revered Rukun Islam! Na'uzubillah... In fact, it may well be WE who are the dolts.  
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| Posted: 22 Nov 2011 08:15 AM PST If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you would have known that i have started my Invisalign procedure awhile ago from Orchard Scotts Dental (Orchard Road, Singapore). If you would bear with me, this is quite a long story. I did my braces when i was 14 years old. That's more than 10 years ago. (I would love to post a pic of me wearing braces lol but all my old albums are back in Seremban. Maybe in my next invisalign update ok!) Anyway, i extracted 4 teeth, and had metal in my mouth for 2 years (luckily that time haven't pak tor so no #thatawardmoment during make out), and my dentist asked me to wear retainers until i was 19. BIG, FREAKING, LIE.I wore retainers until i was 21. Xiaxue has this theory about dentist conspiracy, and say they never tell you you have to wear retainer FOR LIFE, so that they earn more money when you go back and fix it wtf. So when my wisdom teeth grew out a year or two later, they pushed all my other teeth until they became all messed up again, especially the bottom row. So nao all my braces effort wasted and i was very pissed off about it, but i thought, oh well, there's always Photoshop and it's not that obvious anyway (my upper teeth are quite perfect). UNTIL I STARTED DOING VLOGS. Wa sibeh cannot tahan when i look at my bottom teeth i want to break them all off wtf! I didn't realize that the perfect smile is SO SO SO important and it bothered me very much until i feel super self conscious whenever i have to do a video. But there's NO WAY i would go back to wearing braces again after that two years of looking like Kathy Beth Terry. When i heard about invisalign, i was so happy and was super determined to do it. So i went to a local dentist and after the consultation, the orthodontist told me that invisalign cannot achieve the effect i want (i wanted to push my front teeth back a little cuz i have a slight overbite), and they encourage me to do the more aesthetically acceptable braces, which is white color, but still you have metal stuck in your teeth or whatever. I said that's OUT OF THE QUESTION. So in the end he quoted me for my invisalign, guess how much? 22k onwards.Summore he said cannot promise the result i want lo, wtf right. I was very sad and succumbed to my fate to have bad teeth for life until one day i went to SG, and teman Xiaxue to her dentist in Orchard Road to get her new invisalign aligners and while feeling stupendously envious, i just asked if there's a chance they could sponsor a Malaysian blogger as well *thick face* and she said she'll help me ask. And after a consultation with her F4 orthodontist Dr Ronnie Yap, he said he'd check my condition and let me know. Two weeks later i flew all the way back to SG and was extremely nervous about the result and he said… YES. It felt as if just got myself a marriage. I'm getting sponsored invisalign by Orchard Scotts Dental!Man i'm forever indebted to Xiaxue for my future straight teeth. Maybe i should engrave her name there wtf. The funny thing is, when i visited my Malaysian friend Annie who married to Singapore, we had the same appointment on the same day at Orchard Scotts because she is also considering doing her invisalign in at there because she said that's the best in SG, and they are also the Platinum Elite Providers of Invisalign. That alone sounds more than promising already. So after doing my mould and waiting a few weeks of waiting for my aligners to be customized, I finally got them!! Here's the simulation video of how much teeth will look, BEFORE and AFTER. More video on upper teeth, lower teeth and side view on my Youtube Channel. Amazing isn't it!!! I'm so so so excited about it! These are used aligners. I will get a total of 20 sets, and i'm on my 4th now! Even though that means i will have to travel to Singapore at least once every 6-8 weeks to do a regular progress check-up and also get my new aligners, it is totally worth it. Dr Ronnie Yap is the BEST DENTIST i've ever had. (Ok orthodontist but i'v only had two so. whatever! He's the best!!!) He has the smile of a bright sun, hair of F4 (according to Xiaxue lol) and super super patient with all my questions, and also Malaysian <3 And do you know that people do invisalign not only for aesthetical purpose? Dr Ronnie spent like half an hour explain to me why our jaw is so important that it directly contributes to many health related issues!!! He's now wearing invisalign too despite having perfect teeth because he has back pain (!?!??!) Apparently if you have back problem, neck pain (like i do!!) etc it could very well be related to the reason as simple as the way you breathe and jaw misalignment etc. And Some of those problems can be corrected by invisalign! Ok i might not quote everything 100% correct here because it's very technical stuff so go consult a orthodontist! ANYWAY after saying so much finally some pictures!!!
This is me WEARING my invisalign. It is TOTALLY transparent and really invisible (hence the name) and throughout the duration since i wore it a month ago, nobody noticed anything except when i took them off during meals and my friends went INGLIP.jpg "what did you just do?!?!!?"
Only when you get really REALLY close up only you can see a transparent layer over your teeth. But nobody will ever get so close to my mouth except my future boyfriend so yea.
This is again, me wearing my aligners, just to show you how awesome it is. And that's the beauty of Invisalign. I can't wait to have straight perfect teeth. Get an appointment with Orchard Scotts Dental nao! Location: 501 Orchard Road, Wheelock Place #05-08, Singapore 238880 | ||||||||||||
| Best episode of Hawaii Five-0, so far... Posted: 22 Nov 2011 11:21 PM PST This week's episode of the second season of the new Hawaii Five-0 certainly ranks as one of the best that I've watched so far. It was not so much as a stand-alone weekly police procedural show to find out who-killed-who in Oahu, Hawai'i, but rather, a foray by the Five-0 team plus extra help into the deep jungles of North Korea on a rescue to extract their gung-ho Fearless Leader Steve McGarrett who had fallen into a trap by his sworn enemy, Wo Fat, using Jenna Kaye as the bait. Never mind that the story was incredulously thin but the action throughout the show was enough to keep me watching this episode a second time and a third time today. Phew! My best moment in the show? When The James Gang's Funk 49 began playing from the cartridge player as the helicopter took off. Thanks for the memory!  ca-pub-5430283382112812  
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| Posted: 22 Nov 2011 01:11 AM PST Many have referenced him as the DJ's DJ, as he emerges to spread the word on trance and dance tunes worldwide. Him who? Ferry Corsten. Currently, aside from his awe-inspiring resume, he has tattooed the DJ territory by swapping the titles of Best Producer of the Year by the Ericsson Music Awards and Best Trance DJ by the Ibiza DJ Awards. Get Merry with Ferry Corsten
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| wordless wednesday #10 - siriusly? Posted: 22 Nov 2011 11:41 PM PST | ||||||||||||
| I am not dead & you must [like] this page! Posted: 22 Nov 2011 10:37 PM PST Remember I am still blogging on facebook! This blog is not dead! It channels you to a new one not dictated by google! (But another Jew call Mark Suckerbird!) 
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| Posted: 22 Nov 2011 10:22 PM PST You may have noticed that I have been writing a lot about individual stocks lately. That's a preparation to wait for opportunity to show up. I find that the market participants are still a little too optimistic. They have not gone more bearish. I ran a list of FBMKLCI 30 and found that 20/30 stocks are below 200-day MA and another 10 stocks are abover 200-day MA. Stocks below 200 MA 1. Tenaga 2. Genting 3. KLK 4. MISC 5. IOI Corp 6. MHB 7. YTL 8. YTL Power 9. HLB 10. CIMB 11. PCHEM 12. PBBANK 13. PPB 14. UMW 15. SIME 16. Gamuda 17. RHB Cap 18. Maybank 19. MMCCorp 20. AMMB Stocks above 200 MA 1. HLFG 2. GenM 3. PETGAS 4. Maxis 5. Digi 6. Axiata 7. BAT 8. PLUS 9. PETDAG 10. TM Upon closer examination, I found a lot of people still believe that they can find some kind of safe heaven. I would like to see these holders to be really be shaken. Then only, I think there is enough fear in the market that qualifies as blood on the street. A lot of people are making references or anchoring 2008/2009 crisis. I do not believe S & P will make 666 or KLCI goes down to 800+ points. But I do believe S & P 500 ought to go down to about 950 +/- 50 points or KLCI to be around 1,250 +/- 50 points in another 3 - 6 months time. 2008/2009 was about credit crisis. It was about the whole world went into Matrix frozen moment. Can you imagine real business cannot get credit? Ships were grounded because nobody can get a Letter of Credit(LC)??? That was because the world did not how deep the derivatives hole was. European hole is known but they are just playing chess with one another - calling each other bluff. They may go to the extend of "manufacture crisis". I believe if they continue to play that game, the market participants will ask them to fly k***(wanted to use stronger words but points already got through, no dramatic words needed!). This time is about a slow down or a low grade recession. We just have to shake off a little bit of optimism and bulls ought to charge! P.S. Got a nice day off today. Had a nice morning hike and I felt extremely good. I need get back in shape -- and I have a plan to get up to Mount Kinabalu. Will make public announcement once I feel I'm fit enough. Have a good day everyone. 
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| BERSIH Saksi: Gas pemedih ditembak ke hospital! Posted: 22 Nov 2011 10:05 PM PST  Yap Jee Kit (left), a witness testifying at the Suhakam public inquiry on the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally asserted today that police fired teargas into the Chinese Maternity Hospital, in addition to using water cannon at the entrance to the Tung Shin Hospital. Yap who works as an aide to Selangor executive councillor Elizabeth Wong, also said he was physically assaulted and verbally abused by the police when he was arrested. Yap had walked from Brickfields to Menara Maybank about noon on July 9, wearing the yellow Bersih 2.0 T-shirt when he also saw PKR's Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah being arrested, as Sivarasa was negotiating on behalf of the more than 5,000 people making up the crowd so they could move past the police blockade. Yap said, "There were many policemen there that day, with Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) members. We were just gathering there shouting slogans when police gave warnings and fired teargas and water cannons along Jalan Pudu. Sivarasa and several other politicians tried to negotiate with the police to allow the crowd to move, but he was arrested." 
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| Rosevelt's '17:35' Album Launch Posted: 22 Nov 2011 08:08 PM PST
Recorded at Studio 21.05 with acclaimed producer, engineer and guitarist of Pop Shuvit, JD, the album was completed within a span of six months. This album is a document of the band's journey since their humble beginnings to what they are today. '17:35' comprises of seven song titles and they are a mixture of alternative rock, modern rock and hard rock. Rosevelt draws influences from artists such as Incubus, Anberlin, Blink 182, 30 Seconds To Mars, Estranged, They Will Kill Us All and more. The album launch event will also feature supporting acts, including Kyoto Protocol, Oh Chentaku as well as a surprise DJ act that will be announced very soon. So, be sure to join in the fun, for an evening filled with music, music and more music! Rosevelt's Album Launch will be happening: For more information, please log on to Rosevelt's official website here.
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| Malaysia has an asshole Umno-led BN government! Posted: 22 Nov 2011 10:06 PM PST HAHAHAHAHA Really had a good laugh reading Raja Petra's latest posting, 'Making sense of nonsense'. So, YB, are you going to now issue a statement saying that you made an error and that only anal and oral sex are crimes whereas gay relationships are not a crime according to Malaysian law? And if people live together as gay couples and only kiss, hug, touch, rub against each other, masturbate each other, but as long as there is no anal or oral sex, then the government can't do anything about it? 
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| Posted: 22 Nov 2011 05:00 PM PST I have been eyeing on the Starbucks 2012 planner since they launched it... It cost RM88 to purchase this planner or purchased 15 drinks to get this planner. So which one you choose? As for me someone gave it to me as the present for this year :p so i neither purchased drinks nor paid RM88 for this planner.
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| Fuah! Spritzer Water Dispenser! Posted: 22 Nov 2011 05:25 PM PST THIRSTY! THIRSTY! *runs into the pantry* AAhhh… nothing beats clean refreshing water to quench thirst no matter what time of day it is. Did you know that I consume bottles after bottles of water every day? Haha yes I'm forever thirsty
It's the amazing Spritzer Water Dispenser!!!!! See the little green one in the middle? That's mine! The Spritzer water dispenser is not like what you normally see ok? It's premium water, light weight
I think the size is just right to be put in bedrooms. Slim and tall. Do note that it's highly recommended to use Spritzer 6L & 9.5L with non-spill cap function. This is how:
1. Easy-tear handle for mobility That's it! So easy.. go grab your own Spritzer Water Dispenser now! I'm gonna go get my gulp
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| Najib the pseudo reformist, far from best democracy Posted: 22 Nov 2011 05:03 PM PST By Debra Chong November 22, 2011  KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 – Bersih 2.0 chief Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan slammed today the proposed new law on peaceful assembly for giving greater powers to the home minister and the police to curb dissent and undermine the Federal Constitution.In a statement today, the prominent lawyer accused the government of failing to keep up with international standards and creating instead the illusion that Malaysians now have greater freedom as provided by the country's supreme law. "This Bill restricts our rights as much as possible. It gives unfettered powers to the minister and the police to further restrict the freedom to assemble. It impinges on free speech. In short, it will stymie legitimate dissent in ourcountry," Ambiga (picture) charged. "Furthermore freedom of assembly includes peaceful street protests. By excluding this as a right altogether the Federal Constitution is once again undermined," she said. Ambiga moved to punch holes in the Peaceful Assembly Bill tabled this morning, saying it was worse than the existing and unconstitutional section 27 of the Police Act 1967 it was to replace. "This right is one of the most basic and indispensable of the fundamental freedoms necessary for the functioning of a democratic society and is provided for in the Federal Constitution," she said and cited from a 2004 Royal Commission on the Police led by former Chief Justice Tun Mohammed Dzaiddin Abdullah to prove her point. The vocal human rights activist urged the government to immediately withdraw the proposed law if it was sincere to prove correct Datuk Seri Najib Razak's reformist stand on making Malaysia the "best democracy". The prime minister promised a raft of reforms in his Malaysia Day address on September 15, including the repeal of the controversial Internal Security Act (ISA) and doing away with annual permits for the print media, saying he wanted to give Malaysians more freedom. The former Malaysian Bar president cautioned that voters will be watching the MPs to see who supported the proposed law in the run-up to the 13th general election, widely expected to be called early next year. But the Bar Council's current constitutional law committee chief, Syahredzan Johan, took a slightly different stance. The younger lawyer told The Malaysian Insider that while he had grave misgivings about the government's prohibition of "street protests" and its definition, he regarded the new law as a "step up" compared to section 27 of the Police Act. "Section 27 is very oppressive. Anything that loses that is a step forward, with caveats," he said. "To me it's still a step forward because you don't need a permit from the police anymore. Now they can't stop you from assembling but we should push forward for the weaknesses to be rectified," he added. Pakatan Rakyat MPs in Parliament today castigated the government for presenting a more "repressive" law despite being globally panned after it resorted to tough police measures to clamp down on dissent. In a city lockdown last July 9 during the Bersih 2.0 rally, police had shot chemical-laced water cannons and tear gas into thousands of street demonstrators demanding for cleaner elections. The organisers estimated 50,000 people turned out for the rally, but official figures put the figures closer to 6,000 with nearly 1,600 arrested. 
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| Posted: 22 Nov 2011 01:33 PM PST
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Fans of local rock band, Rosevelt, you are all in for a super treat! The 4th December marks a very important date because, after two and a half years of being in the Malaysian music scene, the band is set to launch their much anticipated debut album, '17.35'!
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