A tale of two unarmed robberies...

     How can I even begin to describe this week? If I can't do that, then last night certainly has no single word to describe it either. The closest thing I can think of is A-bomb of all cluster fucks and that's what? 5 words.

     As a warm up for the story to come, you should understand the week I've had. Consider it the opening act. My parents were in KL until Wednesday. I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked because of work, but they took my housemates out to banana leaf (I should so open up a shop back home...). Wow, that seems like forever ago...and it was Sunday. Monday we grabbed drinks at the hotel clubhouse, which had a killer view of KLCC. Unfortunately, I had to finish up work back at the hotel; and by finish I mean start. It was a late night.

     Tuesday I had the pleasure of being in the office from 9am until 7am the next day. I have never pulled an all-nighter for school, so pulling one for work seemed just as pointless. Many of you probably gasp at this, but I know when to stop for the night. Plus, it gets to a point where my brain tunes out and nothing that great gets accomplished anyway. Most of the ideas that come into your head at 3am are usually things you end up having to fix later (unless you're one of those people that prefers to work at night). Anyways, I digress, the only thing I really learned from that exercise was that I could take a day and a half leave.

    After falling asleep in the bathtub at the hotel, I said bye to the fams, checked out, and slept for a bit. Wednesday night I joined the regular CS crew for Indian food and free drinks (as it is ladies night). Thursday I went into work late, saw Harry Potter (it came out here before it did in the US, which I found  bit strange, maybe because of the date change? Basically what I'm getting at with all of this is that I don't sleep all that much. I've got a month left here, I don't see the need. It's a long plane ride home.

     Time passed at the office at an exceptionally slow rate yesterday. It rained when we (C and I usually head in together) and it poured when we left. Lunch was the worst meal I've had here by far (we chose a new place...tak best lah). At about 6 the entire office decided that watching the storm was more exciting than whatever else they were doing. It was the first storm here that was similar to the ones you get back in CO. I'm sure anyone back home knows what I'm talking about, as it has rained its heart out over there. It was the kind where it gets quiet before hand, the sky turns that awful color, and you aren't too sure if it's night or day.

     C and I were supposed to go to a pool party that night, so the outlook was not so good. A was supposed to pick us up and I was meeting H, N, and...ahh screw it let's just say the Alphabet and head to a party on my side of town. I live in a mostly Malay (usually implies Muslim) area so this is a rare event. The party needed music and obviously no one was really swimming so I headed to Changkat BB (where the bars are) with the Alphabet Gang. At this point, people were starting to party and things picked up a bit.

     C and I have this thing where we always seem to be the ones stirring the pot so-to-speak. Like most parties, BYOB is a courtesy thing, and C and I had bottle of vodka as our weapon of choice. We found it hilarious that when we were out on the town and took it out people in the group were surprised. Where I am from this is called smart, I suppose it's not as common here but I could be wrong. Everyone was having a blast and it was a great night of dancing, drinking, and being with a crowd of kick ass people.

     Unfortunately dancing with a purse filled with a large camera does not really work, so I put mine down. Huge mistake, obviously, as I am now without an iPhone as well as a local phone. Luckily I insured my iPhone before I left, so all I have to do is figure out what hoops I have to jump through in order to replace it (or if worst comes to worst I'll sell the iPad my mom left me). I obviously didn't see when it happened, but it was quick, I left my purse only for a few minutes until someone in the group moved it next to theirs. No, I don't need a lecture on how dumb it was for me to leave it there (it was stupid, people do stupid stuff, no one is perfect) and about the affects of alcohol. It's the first time I've had anything stolen from me while abroad, it was bound to happen someday. As they say, Karma's a bitch. What's done is done. No biggie.

     The person who stole it needs a lecture on what to steal. I had two cameras (one is a SLR), credit cards, and cash that were all left alone. Basically the person stole a shitty burn phone and an iPhone that's locked and requires passwords to do anything with it. He or she chose this over a $2,000 camera...I would put that under EPIC FAIL.

     However, I cannot say that C had the same luck. Just before I realized my phone had gone, she left to go back. To make a long story short, she fell victim to the classic motorbike thing they do here. Essentially they come from behind, slam you on the ground or drag you until your bag strap breaks and drive away. She lost everything except her phone and keys.

     I got home about 20 minutes after her to find her with dried blood all over her back. Of course, my immediate thought was someone had tried to rape her or something. She was too angry to even get words out at this point so I went to bed. She had gone to the cops by the time I woke up, but I didn't know it at the time so I had become pretty freaked out. I was also pissed at myself for losing my phones. MB always tells me that if he got a dollar for every time I asked where my phone was he'd be a millionaire. Well now the joke is on him...kinda.

     I headed over to the mall by my place to try to sort this phone thing out. They, of course, said they couldn't do anything and wrote down a place for me to go so I hopped in a cab. Get to the place, they say they need my passport (I don't carry it around here so - ironically enough - it doesn't get stollen) and there isn't anything they can do. At this point  I'm getting that OMG I don't want to deal with this country right now, WTF WTF WTF thing going on in my head that all expats experience at least once. This is time number three for me here, not bad. You just have to suck it up and move on.

     So in my frustrated and slightly hungover state I head home. C's back and I gave her a once over and she is pretty banged up. Got huge scrapes all over one side of her body. One of them looks pretty bad and wouldn't stop bleeding. So what do we do? Burst out laughing. I mean what else can you do? Yes, it probably doesn't sound funny, it's a huge pain in the ass to have to deal with but we are both ok and it could always be worse. For the time being, I'm C's sugar momma, but I ain't got much sugar. It's been a while since I've had a night that was as much fun as it was awful.

     Bad things always come in threes, so to top this one off our shower head broke off and our shower has become more like a fountain...

     Sometimes you come to a place and it looks lovely, acts pretty, and shows little sign of a dark under-belly. Other times, you get back handed in the face. The latter makes for a better story.

-M

     How can I even begin to describe this week? If I can't do that, then last night certainly has no single word to describe it either. The closest thing I can think of is A-bomb of all cluster fucks and that's what? 5 words.

     As a warm up for the story to come, you should understand the week I've had. Consider it the opening act. My parents were in KL until Wednesday. I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked because of work, but they took my housemates out to banana leaf (I should so open up a shop back home...). Wow, that seems like forever ago...and it was Sunday. Monday we grabbed drinks at the hotel clubhouse, which had a killer view of KLCC. Unfortunately, I had to finish up work back at the hotel; and by finish I mean start. It was a late night.

     Tuesday I had the pleasure of being in the office from 9am until 7am the next day. I have never pulled an all-nighter for school, so pulling one for work seemed just as pointless. Many of you probably gasp at this, but I know when to stop for the night. Plus, it gets to a point where my brain tunes out and nothing that great gets accomplished anyway. Most of the ideas that come into your head at 3am are usually things you end up having to fix later (unless you're one of those people that prefers to work at night). Anyways, I digress, the only thing I really learned from that exercise was that I could take a day and a half leave.

    After falling asleep in the bathtub at the hotel, I said bye to the fams, checked out, and slept for a bit. Wednesday night I joined the regular CS crew for Indian food and free drinks (as it is ladies night). Thursday I went into work late, saw Harry Potter (it came out here before it did in the US, which I found  bit strange, maybe because of the date change? Basically what I'm getting at with all of this is that I don't sleep all that much. I've got a month left here, I don't see the need. It's a long plane ride home.

     Time passed at the office at an exceptionally slow rate yesterday. It rained when we (C and I usually head in together) and it poured when we left. Lunch was the worst meal I've had here by far (we chose a new place...tak best lah). At about 6 the entire office decided that watching the storm was more exciting than whatever else they were doing. It was the first storm here that was similar to the ones you get back in CO. I'm sure anyone back home knows what I'm talking about, as it has rained its heart out over there. It was the kind where it gets quiet before hand, the sky turns that awful color, and you aren't too sure if it's night or day.

     C and I were supposed to go to a pool party that night, so the outlook was not so good. A was supposed to pick us up and I was meeting H, N, and...ahh screw it let's just say the Alphabet and head to a party on my side of town. I live in a mostly Malay (usually implies Muslim) area so this is a rare event. The party needed music and obviously no one was really swimming so I headed to Changkat BB (where the bars are) with the Alphabet Gang. At this point, people were starting to party and things picked up a bit.

     C and I have this thing where we always seem to be the ones stirring the pot so-to-speak. Like most parties, BYOB is a courtesy thing, and C and I had bottle of vodka as our weapon of choice. We found it hilarious that when we were out on the town and took it out people in the group were surprised. Where I am from this is called smart, I suppose it's not as common here but I could be wrong. Everyone was having a blast and it was a great night of dancing, drinking, and being with a crowd of kick ass people.

     Unfortunately dancing with a purse filled with a large camera does not really work, so I put mine down. Huge mistake, obviously, as I am now without an iPhone as well as a local phone. Luckily I insured my iPhone before I left, so all I have to do is figure out what hoops I have to jump through in order to replace it (or if worst comes to worst I'll sell the iPad my mom left me). I obviously didn't see when it happened, but it was quick, I left my purse only for a few minutes until someone in the group moved it next to theirs. No, I don't need a lecture on how dumb it was for me to leave it there (it was stupid, people do stupid stuff, no one is perfect) and about the affects of alcohol. It's the first time I've had anything stolen from me while abroad, it was bound to happen someday. As they say, Karma's a bitch. What's done is done. No biggie.

     The person who stole it needs a lecture on what to steal. I had two cameras (one is a SLR), credit cards, and cash that were all left alone. Basically the person stole a shitty burn phone and an iPhone that's locked and requires passwords to do anything with it. He or she chose this over a $2,000 camera...I would put that under EPIC FAIL.

     However, I cannot say that C had the same luck. Just before I realized my phone had gone, she left to go back. To make a long story short, she fell victim to the classic motorbike thing they do here. Essentially they come from behind, slam you on the ground or drag you until your bag strap breaks and drive away. She lost everything except her phone and keys.

     I got home about 20 minutes after her to find her with dried blood all over her back. Of course, my immediate thought was someone had tried to rape her or something. She was too angry to even get words out at this point so I went to bed. She had gone to the cops by the time I woke up, but I didn't know it at the time so I had become pretty freaked out. I was also pissed at myself for losing my phones. MB always tells me that if he got a dollar for every time I asked where my phone was he'd be a millionaire. Well now the joke is on him...kinda.

     I headed over to the mall by my place to try to sort this phone thing out. They, of course, said they couldn't do anything and wrote down a place for me to go so I hopped in a cab. Get to the place, they say they need my passport (I don't carry it around here so - ironically enough - it doesn't get stollen) and there isn't anything they can do. At this point  I'm getting that OMG I don't want to deal with this country right now, WTF WTF WTF thing going on in my head that all expats experience at least once. This is time number three for me here, not bad. You just have to suck it up and move on.

     So in my frustrated and slightly hungover state I head home. C's back and I gave her a once over and she is pretty banged up. Got huge scrapes all over one side of her body. One of them looks pretty bad and wouldn't stop bleeding. So what do we do? Burst out laughing. I mean what else can you do? Yes, it probably doesn't sound funny, it's a huge pain in the ass to have to deal with but we are both ok and it could always be worse. For the time being, I'm C's sugar momma, but I ain't got much sugar. It's been a while since I've had a night that was as much fun as it was awful.

     Bad things always come in threes, so to top this one off our shower head broke off and our shower has become more like a fountain...

     Sometimes you come to a place and it looks lovely, acts pretty, and shows little sign of a dark under-belly. Other times, you get back handed in the face. The latter makes for a better story.

-M

     How can I even begin to describe this week? If I can't do that, then last night certainly has no single word to describe it either. The closest thing I can think of is A-bomb of all cluster fucks and that's what? 5 words.

     As a warm up for the story to come, you should understand the week I've had. Consider it the opening act. My parents were in KL until Wednesday. I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked because of work, but they took my housemates out to banana leaf (I should so open up a shop back home...). Wow, that seems like forever ago...and it was Sunday. Monday we grabbed drinks at the hotel clubhouse, which had a killer view of KLCC. Unfortunately, I had to finish up work back at the hotel; and by finish I mean start. It was a late night.

     Tuesday I had the pleasure of being in the office from 9am until 7am the next day. I have never pulled an all-nighter for school, so pulling one for work seemed just as pointless. Many of you probably gasp at this, but I know when to stop for the night. Plus, it gets to a point where my brain tunes out and nothing that great gets accomplished anyway. Most of the ideas that come into your head at 3am are usually things you end up having to fix later (unless you're one of those people that prefers to work at night). Anyways, I digress, the only thing I really learned from that exercise was that I could take a day and a half leave.

    After falling asleep in the bathtub at the hotel, I said bye to the fams, checked out, and slept for a bit. Wednesday night I joined the regular CS crew for Indian food and free drinks (as it is ladies night). Thursday I went into work late, saw Harry Potter (it came out here before it did in the US, which I found  bit strange, maybe because of the date change? Basically what I'm getting at with all of this is that I don't sleep all that much. I've got a month left here, I don't see the need. It's a long plane ride home.

     Time passed at the office at an exceptionally slow rate yesterday. It rained when we (C and I usually head in together) and it poured when we left. Lunch was the worst meal I've had here by far (we chose a new place...tak best lah). At about 6 the entire office decided that watching the storm was more exciting than whatever else they were doing. It was the first storm here that was similar to the ones you get back in CO. I'm sure anyone back home knows what I'm talking about, as it has rained its heart out over there. It was the kind where it gets quiet before hand, the sky turns that awful color, and you aren't too sure if it's night or day.

     C and I were supposed to go to a pool party that night, so the outlook was not so good. A was supposed to pick us up and I was meeting H, N, and...ahh screw it let's just say the Alphabet and head to a party on my side of town. I live in a mostly Malay (usually implies Muslim) area so this is a rare event. The party needed music and obviously no one was really swimming so I headed to Changkat BB (where the bars are) with the Alphabet Gang. At this point, people were starting to party and things picked up a bit.

     C and I have this thing where we always seem to be the ones stirring the pot so-to-speak. Like most parties, BYOB is a courtesy thing, and C and I had bottle of vodka as our weapon of choice. We found it hilarious that when we were out on the town and took it out people in the group were surprised. Where I am from this is called smart, I suppose it's not as common here but I could be wrong. Everyone was having a blast and it was a great night of dancing, drinking, and being with a crowd of kick ass people.

     Unfortunately dancing with a purse filled with a large camera does not really work, so I put mine down. Huge mistake, obviously, as I am now without an iPhone as well as a local phone. Luckily I insured my iPhone before I left, so all I have to do is figure out what hoops I have to jump through in order to replace it (or if worst comes to worst I'll sell the iPad my mom left me). I obviously didn't see when it happened, but it was quick, I left my purse only for a few minutes until someone in the group moved it next to theirs. No, I don't need a lecture on how dumb it was for me to leave it there (it was stupid, people do stupid stuff, no one is perfect) and about the affects of alcohol. It's the first time I've had anything stolen from me while abroad, it was bound to happen someday. As they say, Karma's a bitch. What's done is done. No biggie.

     The person who stole it needs a lecture on what to steal. I had two cameras (one is a SLR), credit cards, and cash that were all left alone. Basically the person stole a shitty burn phone and an iPhone that's locked and requires passwords to do anything with it. He or she chose this over a $2,000 camera...I would put that under EPIC FAIL.

     However, I cannot say that C had the same luck. Just before I realized my phone had gone, she left to go back. To make a long story short, she fell victim to the classic motorbike thing they do here. Essentially they come from behind, slam you on the ground or drag you until your bag strap breaks and drive away. She lost everything except her phone and keys.

     I got home about 20 minutes after her to find her with dried blood all over her back. Of course, my immediate thought was someone had tried to rape her or something. She was too angry to even get words out at this point so I went to bed. She had gone to the cops by the time I woke up, but I didn't know it at the time so I had become pretty freaked out. I was also pissed at myself for losing my phones. MB always tells me that if he got a dollar for every time I asked where my phone was he'd be a millionaire. Well now the joke is on him...kinda.

     I headed over to the mall by my place to try to sort this phone thing out. They, of course, said they couldn't do anything and wrote down a place for me to go so I hopped in a cab. Get to the place, they say they need my passport (I don't carry it around here so - ironically enough - it doesn't get stollen) and there isn't anything they can do. At this point  I'm getting that OMG I don't want to deal with this country right now, WTF WTF WTF thing going on in my head that all expats experience at least once. This is time number three for me here, not bad. You just have to suck it up and move on.

     So in my frustrated and slightly hungover state I head home. C's back and I gave her a once over and she is pretty banged up. Got huge scrapes all over one side of her body. One of them looks pretty bad and wouldn't stop bleeding. So what do we do? Burst out laughing. I mean what else can you do? Yes, it probably doesn't sound funny, it's a huge pain in the ass to have to deal with but we are both ok and it could always be worse. For the time being, I'm C's sugar momma, but I ain't got much sugar. It's been a while since I've had a night that was as much fun as it was awful.

     Bad things always come in threes, so to top this one off our shower head broke off and our shower has become more like a fountain...

     Sometimes you come to a place and it looks lovely, acts pretty, and shows little sign of a dark under-belly. Other times, you get back handed in the face. The latter makes for a better story.

-M

     How can I even begin to describe this week? If I can't do that, then last night certainly has no single word to describe it either. The closest thing I can think of is A-bomb of all cluster fucks and that's what? 5 words.

     As a warm up for the story to come, you should understand the week I've had. Consider it the opening act. My parents were in KL until Wednesday. I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked because of work, but they took my housemates out to banana leaf (I should so open up a shop back home...). Wow, that seems like forever ago...and it was Sunday. Monday we grabbed drinks at the hotel clubhouse, which had a killer view of KLCC. Unfortunately, I had to finish up work back at the hotel; and by finish I mean start. It was a late night.

     Tuesday I had the pleasure of being in the office from 9am until 7am the next day. I have never pulled an all-nighter for school, so pulling one for work seemed just as pointless. Many of you probably gasp at this, but I know when to stop for the night. Plus, it gets to a point where my brain tunes out and nothing that great gets accomplished anyway. Most of the ideas that come into your head at 3am are usually things you end up having to fix later (unless you're one of those people that prefers to work at night). Anyways, I digress, the only thing I really learned from that exercise was that I could take a day and a half leave.

    After falling asleep in the bathtub at the hotel, I said bye to the fams, checked out, and slept for a bit. Wednesday night I joined the regular CS crew for Indian food and free drinks (as it is ladies night). Thursday I went into work late, saw Harry Potter (it came out here before it did in the US, which I found  bit strange, maybe because of the date change? Basically what I'm getting at with all of this is that I don't sleep all that much. I've got a month left here, I don't see the need. It's a long plane ride home.

     Time passed at the office at an exceptionally slow rate yesterday. It rained when we (C and I usually head in together) and it poured when we left. Lunch was the worst meal I've had here by far (we chose a new place...tak best lah). At about 6 the entire office decided that watching the storm was more exciting than whatever else they were doing. It was the first storm here that was similar to the ones you get back in CO. I'm sure anyone back home knows what I'm talking about, as it has rained its heart out over there. It was the kind where it gets quiet before hand, the sky turns that awful color, and you aren't too sure if it's night or day.

     C and I were supposed to go to a pool party that night, so the outlook was not so good. A was supposed to pick us up and I was meeting H, N, and...ahh screw it let's just say the Alphabet and head to a party on my side of town. I live in a mostly Malay (usually implies Muslim) area so this is a rare event. The party needed music and obviously no one was really swimming so I headed to Changkat BB (where the bars are) with the Alphabet Gang. At this point, people were starting to party and things picked up a bit.

     C and I have this thing where we always seem to be the ones stirring the pot so-to-speak. Like most parties, BYOB is a courtesy thing, and C and I had bottle of vodka as our weapon of choice. We found it hilarious that when we were out on the town and took it out people in the group were surprised. Where I am from this is called smart, I suppose it's not as common here but I could be wrong. Everyone was having a blast and it was a great night of dancing, drinking, and being with a crowd of kick ass people.

     Unfortunately dancing with a purse filled with a large camera does not really work, so I put mine down. Huge mistake, obviously, as I am now without an iPhone as well as a local phone. Luckily I insured my iPhone before I left, so all I have to do is figure out what hoops I have to jump through in order to replace it (or if worst comes to worst I'll sell the iPad my mom left me). I obviously didn't see when it happened, but it was quick, I left my purse only for a few minutes until someone in the group moved it next to theirs. No, I don't need a lecture on how dumb it was for me to leave it there (it was stupid, people do stupid stuff, no one is perfect) and about the affects of alcohol. It's the first time I've had anything stolen from me while abroad, it was bound to happen someday. As they say, Karma's a bitch. What's done is done. No biggie.

     The person who stole it needs a lecture on what to steal. I had two cameras (one is a SLR), credit cards, and cash that were all left alone. Basically the person stole a shitty burn phone and an iPhone that's locked and requires passwords to do anything with it. He or she chose this over a $2,000 camera...I would put that under EPIC FAIL.

     However, I cannot say that C had the same luck. Just before I realized my phone had gone, she left to go back. To make a long story short, she fell victim to the classic motorbike thing they do here. Essentially they come from behind, slam you on the ground or drag you until your bag strap breaks and drive away. She lost everything except her phone and keys.

     I got home about 20 minutes after her to find her with dried blood all over her back. Of course, my immediate thought was someone had tried to rape her or something. She was too angry to even get words out at this point so I went to bed. She had gone to the cops by the time I woke up, but I didn't know it at the time so I had become pretty freaked out. I was also pissed at myself for losing my phones. MB always tells me that if he got a dollar for every time I asked where my phone was he'd be a millionaire. Well now the joke is on him...kinda.

     I headed over to the mall by my place to try to sort this phone thing out. They, of course, said they couldn't do anything and wrote down a place for me to go so I hopped in a cab. Get to the place, they say they need my passport (I don't carry it around here so - ironically enough - it doesn't get stollen) and there isn't anything they can do. At this point  I'm getting that OMG I don't want to deal with this country right now, WTF WTF WTF thing going on in my head that all expats experience at least once. This is time number three for me here, not bad. You just have to suck it up and move on.

     So in my frustrated and slightly hungover state I head home. C's back and I gave her a once over and she is pretty banged up. Got huge scrapes all over one side of her body. One of them looks pretty bad and wouldn't stop bleeding. So what do we do? Burst out laughing. I mean what else can you do? Yes, it probably doesn't sound funny, it's a huge pain in the ass to have to deal with but we are both ok and it could always be worse. For the time being, I'm C's sugar momma, but I ain't got much sugar. It's been a while since I've had a night that was as much fun as it was awful.

     Bad things always come in threes, so to top this one off our shower head broke off and our shower has become more like a fountain...

     Sometimes you come to a place and it looks lovely, acts pretty, and shows little sign of a dark under-belly. Other times, you get back handed in the face. The latter makes for a better story.

-M

I get by with a little help from my friends, I get high with a little help... from my friends, I'm gunna try...

    I'm sitting here in a hotel suite with a fancy desk lamp and a big 'ol official desk looking onto the Petronas Towers thinking, shouldn't I be commanding some line of people? Or making some powerful decision right now? Well, although I am working (still...albeit from a hotel instead of my desk with the not-so-comfy chair), I'm not making any big decisions or doing anything earth-shattering, just more layouts for yet another CF of a project.  The only big choice I will be making is whether or not I'm going to the gym in a few minutes. Penang was ill. Work makes me wanna smack a bitch, for lack of a better word (Q if you are reading this, that is your slang of the day).

Anyways, here is an excerpt from my hand-written sketch/journal. I've been writing a lot lately, for no particular reason...Sarah Kay gave me some inspiration I suppose...

I could write about Penang.
The colonial buildings and high rises
The mansions and street stalls.

I could write about the butterflies,
animal heads, spice gardens, batik silks
The little chendol stall crowded with people slurping up its offerings in the rain

I could tell you about the trip to the little palau.
about my wandering thoughts of just disappearing from the world I know
I could tell you about the deep conversations
About my violent concoction of impulse and honesty.

I can explain, I can explain
how these elements combined to rip across an ocean
to stop another's pulse.

I can tell you how to take the dog out of the fight
but can you really change the stripes of the tigress?

I could write about the food
About how I dragged my parents out for street food on the first night
how the cab driver and I convinced them to try durian
at a roadside stall
(you should have seen my mother's face)

I can tell you about how good it felt to fall asleep
to the sound of the ocean
or how my shower had jets that came out of the walls
about how good my body felt after taking a bath
or how I scribbled down my whims in a smoke-filled bar
made of tropical hardwoods
worn, dented, and laden with stories

I could jump on my soap box
speak about Bersih
describe my pride for a nation standing up for itself

However, today isn't the day
it isn't the day to be atop the soap box:
the people have spoken

Today is still yesterday across the ocean
my dirty laundry hasn't had enough time
to dry

Sometimes silence can be golden
Sometimes pictures speak 1,000 words

-M

    I'm sitting here in a hotel suite with a fancy desk lamp and a big 'ol official desk looking onto the Petronas Towers thinking, shouldn't I be commanding some line of people? Or making some powerful decision right now? Well, although I am working (still...albeit from a hotel instead of my desk with the not-so-comfy chair), I'm not making any big decisions or doing anything earth-shattering, just more layouts for yet another CF of a project.  The only big choice I will be making is whether or not I'm going to the gym in a few minutes. Penang was ill. Work makes me wanna smack a bitch, for lack of a better word (Q if you are reading this, that is your slang of the day).

Anyways, here is an excerpt from my hand-written sketch/journal. I've been writing a lot lately, for no particular reason...Sarah Kay gave me some inspiration I suppose...

I could write about Penang.
The colonial buildings and high rises
The mansions and street stalls.

I could write about the butterflies,
animal heads, spice gardens, batik silks
The little chendol stall crowded with people slurping up its offerings in the rain

I could tell you about the trip to the little palau.
about my wandering thoughts of just disappearing from the world I know
I could tell you about the deep conversations
About my violent concoction of impulse and honesty.

I can explain, I can explain
how these elements combined to rip across an ocean
to stop another's pulse.

I can tell you how to take the dog out of the fight
but can you really change the stripes of the tigress?

I could write about the food
About how I dragged my parents out for street food on the first night
how the cab driver and I convinced them to try durian
at a roadside stall
(you should have seen my mother's face)

I can tell you about how good it felt to fall asleep
to the sound of the ocean
or how my shower had jets that came out of the walls
about how good my body felt after taking a bath
or how I scribbled down my whims in a smoke-filled bar
made of tropical hardwoods
worn, dented, and laden with stories

I could jump on my soap box
speak about Bersih
describe my pride for a nation standing up for itself

However, today isn't the day
it isn't the day to be atop the soap box:
the people have spoken

Today is still yesterday across the ocean
my dirty laundry hasn't had enough time
to dry

Sometimes silence can be golden
Sometimes pictures speak 1,000 words

-M

    I'm sitting here in a hotel suite with a fancy desk lamp and a big 'ol official desk looking onto the Petronas Towers thinking, shouldn't I be commanding some line of people? Or making some powerful decision right now? Well, although I am working (still...albeit from a hotel instead of my desk with the not-so-comfy chair), I'm not making any big decisions or doing anything earth-shattering, just more layouts for yet another CF of a project.  The only big choice I will be making is whether or not I'm going to the gym in a few minutes. Penang was ill. Work makes me wanna smack a bitch, for lack of a better word (Q if you are reading this, that is your slang of the day).

Anyways, here is an excerpt from my hand-written sketch/journal. I've been writing a lot lately, for no particular reason...Sarah Kay gave me some inspiration I suppose...

I could write about Penang.
The colonial buildings and high rises
The mansions and street stalls.

I could write about the butterflies,
animal heads, spice gardens, batik silks
The little chendol stall crowded with people slurping up its offerings in the rain

I could tell you about the trip to the little palau.
about my wandering thoughts of just disappearing from the world I know
I could tell you about the deep conversations
About my violent concoction of impulse and honesty.

I can explain, I can explain
how these elements combined to rip across an ocean
to stop another's pulse.

I can tell you how to take the dog out of the fight
but can you really change the stripes of the tigress?

I could write about the food
About how I dragged my parents out for street food on the first night
how the cab driver and I convinced them to try durian
at a roadside stall
(you should have seen my mother's face)

I can tell you about how good it felt to fall asleep
to the sound of the ocean
or how my shower had jets that came out of the walls
about how good my body felt after taking a bath
or how I scribbled down my whims in a smoke-filled bar
made of tropical hardwoods
worn, dented, and laden with stories

I could jump on my soap box
speak about Bersih
describe my pride for a nation standing up for itself

However, today isn't the day
it isn't the day to be atop the soap box:
the people have spoken

Today is still yesterday across the ocean
my dirty laundry hasn't had enough time
to dry

Sometimes silence can be golden
Sometimes pictures speak 1,000 words

-M

    I'm sitting here in a hotel suite with a fancy desk lamp and a big 'ol official desk looking onto the Petronas Towers thinking, shouldn't I be commanding some line of people? Or making some powerful decision right now? Well, although I am working (still...albeit from a hotel instead of my desk with the not-so-comfy chair), I'm not making any big decisions or doing anything earth-shattering, just more layouts for yet another CF of a project.  The only big choice I will be making is whether or not I'm going to the gym in a few minutes. Penang was ill. Work makes me wanna smack a bitch, for lack of a better word (Q if you are reading this, that is your slang of the day).

Anyways, here is an excerpt from my hand-written sketch/journal. I've been writing a lot lately, for no particular reason...Sarah Kay gave me some inspiration I suppose...

I could write about Penang.
The colonial buildings and high rises
The mansions and street stalls.

I could write about the butterflies,
animal heads, spice gardens, batik silks
The little chendol stall crowded with people slurping up its offerings in the rain

I could tell you about the trip to the little palau.
about my wandering thoughts of just disappearing from the world I know
I could tell you about the deep conversations
About my violent concoction of impulse and honesty.

I can explain, I can explain
how these elements combined to rip across an ocean
to stop another's pulse.

I can tell you how to take the dog out of the fight
but can you really change the stripes of the tigress?

I could write about the food
About how I dragged my parents out for street food on the first night
how the cab driver and I convinced them to try durian
at a roadside stall
(you should have seen my mother's face)

I can tell you about how good it felt to fall asleep
to the sound of the ocean
or how my shower had jets that came out of the walls
about how good my body felt after taking a bath
or how I scribbled down my whims in a smoke-filled bar
made of tropical hardwoods
worn, dented, and laden with stories

I could jump on my soap box
speak about Bersih
describe my pride for a nation standing up for itself

However, today isn't the day
it isn't the day to be atop the soap box:
the people have spoken

Today is still yesterday across the ocean
my dirty laundry hasn't had enough time
to dry

Sometimes silence can be golden
Sometimes pictures speak 1,000 words

-M

'And we'll laugh all the way to hell'

   Well time is flying by as always. Work is work, although I've got a new assignment that I'm learning a lot from. I've been asked to do the presentation design layout for this huge competition for a major downtown building. That part is not new to me, and I have a weird thing for presentation layouts; however, I'm also working on the logo design for the building. I've never done logo design before. I like the challenge. Who knows? Maybe I'll end up being one of those graphic design nerds.

    In other news Nina is still sick. Apparently she’s also been acting super weird/acting out; which has led her to invade the trash cans where she ate something super funky. She’s a tough cookie so I know she’ll be fine (plus, my close friend S from back home is a super-vet-tech-extraordinaire and will take good care of her). However, hearing news that she’s been spending tons of time on the floor next to my side of the bed and hiding away in the closet (she’s a whore for the sun); nesting in the small pile of my laundry that didn’t manage to get washed before I came here has left me feeling a bit down and out. Many of you are probably thinking so what? You most likely haven’t rescued an animal from a shelter. If you have, you just haven’t met the hyper-sensitive, quirky ball of fluff and neck-fat that is Nina. Furthermore, she and I are pretty close. Obviously there isn’t anything I can do; clearly I’m not going home anytime soon. She’s only a dog yes, but that just means she can’t understand the situation, nor express herself. Basically, no Meggy smells means no Meggy in her mind. Plus, who wouldn’t miss this face?

     It’s hard to believe this week is almost over. I’m taking tomorrow off to head to Penang (a place up north) where I’ll be meeting the fams. Well, not all the fams, my brother declined to join on account of the fact that ‘school is hard as shit man, and dude, I have like, ya know…no free time…I’ve got a film sesh up at Mt Hood.’ Your loss little broseph, you’d love it here. I’ll see him soon enough though, for his 21^st I got him tickets to the Great American Beer Festival in D-town (read: Denver) this September. Anyways, I digress. This week has been quite fun. Monday was less blah than Mondays tend to be. I went over to A’s place for some good home cookin’. Spaghetti and red sauce, a staple, but none the less great. Since my idea of home cooking here has been whatever can be fried in a pan or heated in a toaster oven (my wages and western raw ingredients don’t exactly complement each other), a home cooked meal was just what I needed. Tuesday was yoga, Lebanese food, and shisha night with the usual crew. At dinner I met a Jordanian guy named A (again with this A thing) who is writing his thesis in English and asked if I could proof-read it for him. So I’ve found myself a second job (that will, in all likelihood, pay better than the one I currently have). Now I know many of you back home are laughing at the idea of me editing a paper. However, it’s much easier to correct someone else’s English than your own =).

     Last night C and I met up with a bunch of CSers at 21 for the ‘weekly meeting.’ Girls drink for free. Unfortunately, based upon the above paragraph I headed home early. With any luck, next week’s eminent all-nighter at the office will grant me a day off and I’ll be able to go out in a more proper fashion. However, no night out in Malaysia is ever complete without a stop at a street stall so A (a different A, I’ve noticed a large portion of my friends here have names that start with A…) took us to grab a bite of durian and some Thai food. If I told you what I ate I would simply butcher the name, but whatever the tasty concoction was I need to have it again…similar in addiction to banana leaf. How I’ve managed to actually stay in good shape here is somewhat of a miracle; I’m sure the 16+ flights of stairs I walk everyday helps. Tonight I’m headed to Sunway with H to see the new transformers movie. It’s been quite a while since I’ve actually gone to the movies (Netflix makes life so easy). It should be a good time.

     Once again, this is getting way too long.

Peace and love

-M

PS...One last thing for your enjoyment...

   Well time is flying by as always. Work is work, although I've got a new assignment that I'm learning a lot from. I've been asked to do the presentation design layout for this huge competition for a major downtown building. That part is not new to me, and I have a weird thing for presentation layouts; however, I'm also working on the logo design for the building. I've never done logo design before. I like the challenge. Who knows? Maybe I'll end up being one of those graphic design nerds.

    In other news Nina is still sick. Apparently she’s also been acting super weird/acting out; which has led her to invade the trash cans where she ate something super funky. She’s a tough cookie so I know she’ll be fine (plus, my close friend S from back home is a super-vet-tech-extraordinaire and will take good care of her). However, hearing news that she’s been spending tons of time on the floor next to my side of the bed and hiding away in the closet (she’s a whore for the sun); nesting in the small pile of my laundry that didn’t manage to get washed before I came here has left me feeling a bit down and out. Many of you are probably thinking so what? You most likely haven’t rescued an animal from a shelter. If you have, you just haven’t met the hyper-sensitive, quirky ball of fluff and neck-fat that is Nina. Furthermore, she and I are pretty close. Obviously there isn’t anything I can do; clearly I’m not going home anytime soon. She’s only a dog yes, but that just means she can’t understand the situation, nor express herself. Basically, no Meggy smells means no Meggy in her mind. Plus, who wouldn’t miss this face?

     It’s hard to believe this week is almost over. I’m taking tomorrow off to head to Penang (a place up north) where I’ll be meeting the fams. Well, not all the fams, my brother declined to join on account of the fact that ‘school is hard as shit man, and dude, I have like, ya know…no free time…I’ve got a film sesh up at Mt Hood.’ Your loss little broseph, you’d love it here. I’ll see him soon enough though, for his 21^st I got him tickets to the Great American Beer Festival in D-town (read: Denver) this September. Anyways, I digress. This week has been quite fun. Monday was less blah than Mondays tend to be. I went over to A’s place for some good home cookin’. Spaghetti and red sauce, a staple, but none the less great. Since my idea of home cooking here has been whatever can be fried in a pan or heated in a toaster oven (my wages and western raw ingredients don’t exactly complement each other), a home cooked meal was just what I needed. Tuesday was yoga, Lebanese food, and shisha night with the usual crew. At dinner I met a Jordanian guy named A (again with this A thing) who is writing his thesis in English and asked if I could proof-read it for him. So I’ve found myself a second job (that will, in all likelihood, pay better than the one I currently have). Now I know many of you back home are laughing at the idea of me editing a paper. However, it’s much easier to correct someone else’s English than your own =).

     Last night C and I met up with a bunch of CSers at 21 for the ‘weekly meeting.’ Girls drink for free. Unfortunately, based upon the above paragraph I headed home early. With any luck, next week’s eminent all-nighter at the office will grant me a day off and I’ll be able to go out in a more proper fashion. However, no night out in Malaysia is ever complete without a stop at a street stall so A (a different A, I’ve noticed a large portion of my friends here have names that start with A…) took us to grab a bite of durian and some Thai food. If I told you what I ate I would simply butcher the name, but whatever the tasty concoction was I need to have it again…similar in addiction to banana leaf. How I’ve managed to actually stay in good shape here is somewhat of a miracle; I’m sure the 16+ flights of stairs I walk everyday helps. Tonight I’m headed to Sunway with H to see the new transformers movie. It’s been quite a while since I’ve actually gone to the movies (Netflix makes life so easy). It should be a good time.

     Once again, this is getting way too long.

Peace and love

-M

PS...One last thing for your enjoyment...

   Well time is flying by as always. Work is work, although I've got a new assignment that I'm learning a lot from. I've been asked to do the presentation design layout for this huge competition for a major downtown building. That part is not new to me, and I have a weird thing for presentation layouts; however, I'm also working on the logo design for the building. I've never done logo design before. I like the challenge. Who knows? Maybe I'll end up being one of those graphic design nerds.

    In other news Nina is still sick. Apparently she’s also been acting super weird/acting out; which has led her to invade the trash cans where she ate something super funky. She’s a tough cookie so I know she’ll be fine (plus, my close friend S from back home is a super-vet-tech-extraordinaire and will take good care of her). However, hearing news that she’s been spending tons of time on the floor next to my side of the bed and hiding away in the closet (she’s a whore for the sun); nesting in the small pile of my laundry that didn’t manage to get washed before I came here has left me feeling a bit down and out. Many of you are probably thinking so what? You most likely haven’t rescued an animal from a shelter. If you have, you just haven’t met the hyper-sensitive, quirky ball of fluff and neck-fat that is Nina. Furthermore, she and I are pretty close. Obviously there isn’t anything I can do; clearly I’m not going home anytime soon. She’s only a dog yes, but that just means she can’t understand the situation, nor express herself. Basically, no Meggy smells means no Meggy in her mind. Plus, who wouldn’t miss this face?

     It’s hard to believe this week is almost over. I’m taking tomorrow off to head to Penang (a place up north) where I’ll be meeting the fams. Well, not all the fams, my brother declined to join on account of the fact that ‘school is hard as shit man, and dude, I have like, ya know…no free time…I’ve got a film sesh up at Mt Hood.’ Your loss little broseph, you’d love it here. I’ll see him soon enough though, for his 21^st I got him tickets to the Great American Beer Festival in D-town (read: Denver) this September. Anyways, I digress. This week has been quite fun. Monday was less blah than Mondays tend to be. I went over to A’s place for some good home cookin’. Spaghetti and red sauce, a staple, but none the less great. Since my idea of home cooking here has been whatever can be fried in a pan or heated in a toaster oven (my wages and western raw ingredients don’t exactly complement each other), a home cooked meal was just what I needed. Tuesday was yoga, Lebanese food, and shisha night with the usual crew. At dinner I met a Jordanian guy named A (again with this A thing) who is writing his thesis in English and asked if I could proof-read it for him. So I’ve found myself a second job (that will, in all likelihood, pay better than the one I currently have). Now I know many of you back home are laughing at the idea of me editing a paper. However, it’s much easier to correct someone else’s English than your own =).

     Last night C and I met up with a bunch of CSers at 21 for the ‘weekly meeting.’ Girls drink for free. Unfortunately, based upon the above paragraph I headed home early. With any luck, next week’s eminent all-nighter at the office will grant me a day off and I’ll be able to go out in a more proper fashion. However, no night out in Malaysia is ever complete without a stop at a street stall so A (a different A, I’ve noticed a large portion of my friends here have names that start with A…) took us to grab a bite of durian and some Thai food. If I told you what I ate I would simply butcher the name, but whatever the tasty concoction was I need to have it again…similar in addiction to banana leaf. How I’ve managed to actually stay in good shape here is somewhat of a miracle; I’m sure the 16+ flights of stairs I walk everyday helps. Tonight I’m headed to Sunway with H to see the new transformers movie. It’s been quite a while since I’ve actually gone to the movies (Netflix makes life so easy). It should be a good time.

     Once again, this is getting way too long.

Peace and love

-M

PS...One last thing for your enjoyment...

   Well time is flying by as always. Work is work, although I've got a new assignment that I'm learning a lot from. I've been asked to do the presentation design layout for this huge competition for a major downtown building. That part is not new to me, and I have a weird thing for presentation layouts; however, I'm also working on the logo design for the building. I've never done logo design before. I like the challenge. Who knows? Maybe I'll end up being one of those graphic design nerds.

    In other news Nina is still sick. Apparently she’s also been acting super weird/acting out; which has led her to invade the trash cans where she ate something super funky. She’s a tough cookie so I know she’ll be fine (plus, my close friend S from back home is a super-vet-tech-extraordinaire and will take good care of her). However, hearing news that she’s been spending tons of time on the floor next to my side of the bed and hiding away in the closet (she’s a whore for the sun); nesting in the small pile of my laundry that didn’t manage to get washed before I came here has left me feeling a bit down and out. Many of you are probably thinking so what? You most likely haven’t rescued an animal from a shelter. If you have, you just haven’t met the hyper-sensitive, quirky ball of fluff and neck-fat that is Nina. Furthermore, she and I are pretty close. Obviously there isn’t anything I can do; clearly I’m not going home anytime soon. She’s only a dog yes, but that just means she can’t understand the situation, nor express herself. Basically, no Meggy smells means no Meggy in her mind. Plus, who wouldn’t miss this face?

     It’s hard to believe this week is almost over. I’m taking tomorrow off to head to Penang (a place up north) where I’ll be meeting the fams. Well, not all the fams, my brother declined to join on account of the fact that ‘school is hard as shit man, and dude, I have like, ya know…no free time…I’ve got a film sesh up at Mt Hood.’ Your loss little broseph, you’d love it here. I’ll see him soon enough though, for his 21^st I got him tickets to the Great American Beer Festival in D-town (read: Denver) this September. Anyways, I digress. This week has been quite fun. Monday was less blah than Mondays tend to be. I went over to A’s place for some good home cookin’. Spaghetti and red sauce, a staple, but none the less great. Since my idea of home cooking here has been whatever can be fried in a pan or heated in a toaster oven (my wages and western raw ingredients don’t exactly complement each other), a home cooked meal was just what I needed. Tuesday was yoga, Lebanese food, and shisha night with the usual crew. At dinner I met a Jordanian guy named A (again with this A thing) who is writing his thesis in English and asked if I could proof-read it for him. So I’ve found myself a second job (that will, in all likelihood, pay better than the one I currently have). Now I know many of you back home are laughing at the idea of me editing a paper. However, it’s much easier to correct someone else’s English than your own =).

     Last night C and I met up with a bunch of CSers at 21 for the ‘weekly meeting.’ Girls drink for free. Unfortunately, based upon the above paragraph I headed home early. With any luck, next week’s eminent all-nighter at the office will grant me a day off and I’ll be able to go out in a more proper fashion. However, no night out in Malaysia is ever complete without a stop at a street stall so A (a different A, I’ve noticed a large portion of my friends here have names that start with A…) took us to grab a bite of durian and some Thai food. If I told you what I ate I would simply butcher the name, but whatever the tasty concoction was I need to have it again…similar in addiction to banana leaf. How I’ve managed to actually stay in good shape here is somewhat of a miracle; I’m sure the 16+ flights of stairs I walk everyday helps. Tonight I’m headed to Sunway with H to see the new transformers movie. It’s been quite a while since I’ve actually gone to the movies (Netflix makes life so easy). It should be a good time.

     Once again, this is getting way too long.

Peace and love

-M

PS...One last thing for your enjoyment...

Nostalgic for that three chord jig

     Happy birthday Momsicle! I still find it hard to believe that my parents are going to make the trip all the way out here. It should be fun and interesting...as their first day in MY will be the day of the Bersih rally...fight on my friends =).

     The past week has been filled with random adventures per usual. Aside from some sort of emotional hiccup that consumed my Wednesday morning, the rest of the day was awesome. I went with K and A to pasar malam (night market...somewhere in the south of the city proper). I would say the night was a huge success. If it was recommended that I try it, I ate it. I had my first durian experience (durian cream, on a crispy pancake thingy). As long as you don't breathe when you are about to eat it, it tastes awesome (the smell at close range does take some getting used to). Aside from various other fried bits of awesomeness I tries something else on my list, I forget the name, but they are those batter/octopus/tastyness balls that are common in Japan. However, it must be noted that in order to actually consume the thing you have to wait...a while (if you want to enjoy it that is). I was the first to try and essentially the smoldering hot inside killed my taste buds for a few days. I know K and A got a kick out of watching me suffer, but they had their turn as well. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Pasar malam...maybe a fifth of the whole thing

     Thursday I went to ArchiDex over at KLCC for most of the day. It's essentially a convention for the building design trade. It was quite cool to see everything, I especially liked the furniture/interior design section. I found some much needed inspiration. That evening our office hosted an SOM lecture. Unfortunately, the lecture was pretty disappointing. The lady didn't really seem like she wanted to be there and for all the awesome projects they have done, spending half an hour going on about the need for active pedestrian zones and public transportation access seemed a bit obvious. I mean I could have given the thing. In all honesty (although I must admit, I left, so I can only speak for the 40 mins I managed to get through) it sounded more like a sales pitch than a lecture geared towards professionals. Friday was low-key, as I've spent a lot of money recently (officially booked to Bali at the end of this month).

     Saturday C and I headed into the 'suburban' rainforest (essentially a patch of forest in the city where the feel is more kampung or village like). The reason? Well besides the fact that the jungle is awesome, there was a huge CS event. It goes without saying that they day/night was stellar. Good to see some of the usual CS crew and I met a bunch of awesome people. The jam sessions reminded me a lot of the good times I've had with my friends back home. Especially these hooligans:

Any man who demands his Chinese market-bought guitar be dowsed in beer at 3am knows how to have a good time. I donno if you get around the Great Fire Wall often enough to read this M but if you don't get your face down here you'll never hear the end of it =)

Luka....looking like a vagrant

P...I hope you've been playing more often in the streets of Peru

   I suppose the sudden outburst of nostalgia comes from the fact that tomorrow happens to be one of my favorite American holidays, the 4th...or to some Independence Day. I mean what is there not to like? Any day filled with the outdoors, grilled meats, beer, and pyrotechnics is a winner to me. I suppose last night will be my substitute, although there was a lack of close calls from drunks lighting off bottle rockets...but we did have a pool. Plus, I woke up with some very sore hands from some serious rocking out with C on the djembe - yet another win. 

Riddin' dirty...but not

The African playing the African drum...sorry C just couldn't help it

The Jig

Three different continents playing some tunes

    C and I found it quite entertaining that we got a large group of people representing a significant portion of the globe to dance to Irish jig music...but I don't think there was a single Irish there. It's funny. That classic cliche notion that we are all really the same is quite true. The more people I meet from various corners of the globe and the more places I travel to I realize that what separates us is really rather minuscule in comparison to what brings us together. My brain is a little too much like scrambled eggs to really jump on the soap box so I'll leave it at that.

     I spent most of today doing nothing. I had a butt-ton of laundry to do (yes I know, not feeling too eloquent with my vocab...deal with it...lah). I hardly got any sleep last night so I'm trying to stay awake as long as I can so I'm not too out of it come Monday. There was this cat that insisted on sharing my mattress (cats always choose me because I'm convinced they can sense allergies). This week will be a bit more killer than the past weeks. Luckily for me, I'm headed to Penang on Friday so I only have a 4 day week. 

     I'm still craving banana leaf. For those of you who do not have the pleasure of having a banana leaf place near you, or have no idea what it is, it is essentially crack. In food form. Eaten off a banana leaf. This magical delight is not only crack-like in addiction, it has the added bonus of the most exotic of chinese medicines; meaning it cures whatever it is that ails you.

     I'm too lazy to upload my pictures, although I'm overdue with this so maybe I'll get to it later...maybe...

-M

  

     

     Happy birthday Momsicle! I still find it hard to believe that my parents are going to make the trip all the way out here. It should be fun and interesting...as their first day in MY will be the day of the Bersih rally...fight on my friends =).

     The past week has been filled with random adventures per usual. Aside from some sort of emotional hiccup that consumed my Wednesday morning, the rest of the day was awesome. I went with K and A to pasar malam (night market...somewhere in the south of the city proper). I would say the night was a huge success. If it was recommended that I try it, I ate it. I had my first durian experience (durian cream, on a crispy pancake thingy). As long as you don't breathe when you are about to eat it, it tastes awesome (the smell at close range does take some getting used to). Aside from various other fried bits of awesomeness I tries something else on my list, I forget the name, but they are those batter/octopus/tastyness balls that are common in Japan. However, it must be noted that in order to actually consume the thing you have to wait...a while (if you want to enjoy it that is). I was the first to try and essentially the smoldering hot inside killed my taste buds for a few days. I know K and A got a kick out of watching me suffer, but they had their turn as well. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Pasar malam...maybe a fifth of the whole thing

     Thursday I went to ArchiDex over at KLCC for most of the day. It's essentially a convention for the building design trade. It was quite cool to see everything, I especially liked the furniture/interior design section. I found some much needed inspiration. That evening our office hosted an SOM lecture. Unfortunately, the lecture was pretty disappointing. The lady didn't really seem like she wanted to be there and for all the awesome projects they have done, spending half an hour going on about the need for active pedestrian zones and public transportation access seemed a bit obvious. I mean I could have given the thing. In all honesty (although I must admit, I left, so I can only speak for the 40 mins I managed to get through) it sounded more like a sales pitch than a lecture geared towards professionals. Friday was low-key, as I've spent a lot of money recently (officially booked to Bali at the end of this month).

     Saturday C and I headed into the 'suburban' rainforest (essentially a patch of forest in the city where the feel is more kampung or village like). The reason? Well besides the fact that the jungle is awesome, there was a huge CS event. It goes without saying that they day/night was stellar. Good to see some of the usual CS crew and I met a bunch of awesome people. The jam sessions reminded me a lot of the good times I've had with my friends back home. Especially these hooligans:

Any man who demands his Chinese market-bought guitar be dowsed in beer at 3am knows how to have a good time. I donno if you get around the Great Fire Wall often enough to read this M but if you don't get your face down here you'll never hear the end of it =)

Luka....looking like a vagrant

P...I hope you've been playing more often in the streets of Peru

   I suppose the sudden outburst of nostalgia comes from the fact that tomorrow happens to be one of my favorite American holidays, the 4th...or to some Independence Day. I mean what is there not to like? Any day filled with the outdoors, grilled meats, beer, and pyrotechnics is a winner to me. I suppose last night will be my substitute, although there was a lack of close calls from drunks lighting off bottle rockets...but we did have a pool. Plus, I woke up with some very sore hands from some serious rocking out with C on the djembe - yet another win. 

Riddin' dirty...but not

The African playing the African drum...sorry C just couldn't help it

The Jig

Three different continents playing some tunes

    C and I found it quite entertaining that we got a large group of people representing a significant portion of the globe to dance to Irish jig music...but I don't think there was a single Irish there. It's funny. That classic cliche notion that we are all really the same is quite true. The more people I meet from various corners of the globe and the more places I travel to I realize that what separates us is really rather minuscule in comparison to what brings us together. My brain is a little too much like scrambled eggs to really jump on the soap box so I'll leave it at that.

     I spent most of today doing nothing. I had a butt-ton of laundry to do (yes I know, not feeling too eloquent with my vocab...deal with it...lah). I hardly got any sleep last night so I'm trying to stay awake as long as I can so I'm not too out of it come Monday. There was this cat that insisted on sharing my mattress (cats always choose me because I'm convinced they can sense allergies). This week will be a bit more killer than the past weeks. Luckily for me, I'm headed to Penang on Friday so I only have a 4 day week. 

     I'm still craving banana leaf. For those of you who do not have the pleasure of having a banana leaf place near you, or have no idea what it is, it is essentially crack. In food form. Eaten off a banana leaf. This magical delight is not only crack-like in addiction, it has the added bonus of the most exotic of chinese medicines; meaning it cures whatever it is that ails you.

     I'm too lazy to upload my pictures, although I'm overdue with this so maybe I'll get to it later...maybe...

-M

  

     

     Happy birthday Momsicle! I still find it hard to believe that my parents are going to make the trip all the way out here. It should be fun and interesting...as their first day in MY will be the day of the Bersih rally...fight on my friends =).

     The past week has been filled with random adventures per usual. Aside from some sort of emotional hiccup that consumed my Wednesday morning, the rest of the day was awesome. I went with K and A to pasar malam (night market...somewhere in the south of the city proper). I would say the night was a huge success. If it was recommended that I try it, I ate it. I had my first durian experience (durian cream, on a crispy pancake thingy). As long as you don't breathe when you are about to eat it, it tastes awesome (the smell at close range does take some getting used to). Aside from various other fried bits of awesomeness I tries something else on my list, I forget the name, but they are those batter/octopus/tastyness balls that are common in Japan. However, it must be noted that in order to actually consume the thing you have to wait...a while (if you want to enjoy it that is). I was the first to try and essentially the smoldering hot inside killed my taste buds for a few days. I know K and A got a kick out of watching me suffer, but they had their turn as well. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Pasar malam...maybe a fifth of the whole thing

     Thursday I went to ArchiDex over at KLCC for most of the day. It's essentially a convention for the building design trade. It was quite cool to see everything, I especially liked the furniture/interior design section. I found some much needed inspiration. That evening our office hosted an SOM lecture. Unfortunately, the lecture was pretty disappointing. The lady didn't really seem like she wanted to be there and for all the awesome projects they have done, spending half an hour going on about the need for active pedestrian zones and public transportation access seemed a bit obvious. I mean I could have given the thing. In all honesty (although I must admit, I left, so I can only speak for the 40 mins I managed to get through) it sounded more like a sales pitch than a lecture geared towards professionals. Friday was low-key, as I've spent a lot of money recently (officially booked to Bali at the end of this month).

     Saturday C and I headed into the 'suburban' rainforest (essentially a patch of forest in the city where the feel is more kampung or village like). The reason? Well besides the fact that the jungle is awesome, there was a huge CS event. It goes without saying that they day/night was stellar. Good to see some of the usual CS crew and I met a bunch of awesome people. The jam sessions reminded me a lot of the good times I've had with my friends back home. Especially these hooligans:

Any man who demands his Chinese market-bought guitar be dowsed in beer at 3am knows how to have a good time. I donno if you get around the Great Fire Wall often enough to read this M but if you don't get your face down here you'll never hear the end of it =)

Luka....looking like a vagrant

P...I hope you've been playing more often in the streets of Peru

   I suppose the sudden outburst of nostalgia comes from the fact that tomorrow happens to be one of my favorite American holidays, the 4th...or to some Independence Day. I mean what is there not to like? Any day filled with the outdoors, grilled meats, beer, and pyrotechnics is a winner to me. I suppose last night will be my substitute, although there was a lack of close calls from drunks lighting off bottle rockets...but we did have a pool. Plus, I woke up with some very sore hands from some serious rocking out with C on the djembe - yet another win. 

Riddin' dirty...but not

The African playing the African drum...sorry C just couldn't help it

The Jig

Three different continents playing some tunes

    C and I found it quite entertaining that we got a large group of people representing a significant portion of the globe to dance to Irish jig music...but I don't think there was a single Irish there. It's funny. That classic cliche notion that we are all really the same is quite true. The more people I meet from various corners of the globe and the more places I travel to I realize that what separates us is really rather minuscule in comparison to what brings us together. My brain is a little too much like scrambled eggs to really jump on the soap box so I'll leave it at that.

     I spent most of today doing nothing. I had a butt-ton of laundry to do (yes I know, not feeling too eloquent with my vocab...deal with it...lah). I hardly got any sleep last night so I'm trying to stay awake as long as I can so I'm not too out of it come Monday. There was this cat that insisted on sharing my mattress (cats always choose me because I'm convinced they can sense allergies). This week will be a bit more killer than the past weeks. Luckily for me, I'm headed to Penang on Friday so I only have a 4 day week. 

     I'm still craving banana leaf. For those of you who do not have the pleasure of having a banana leaf place near you, or have no idea what it is, it is essentially crack. In food form. Eaten off a banana leaf. This magical delight is not only crack-like in addiction, it has the added bonus of the most exotic of chinese medicines; meaning it cures whatever it is that ails you.

     I'm too lazy to upload my pictures, although I'm overdue with this so maybe I'll get to it later...maybe...

-M

  

     

     Happy birthday Momsicle! I still find it hard to believe that my parents are going to make the trip all the way out here. It should be fun and interesting...as their first day in MY will be the day of the Bersih rally...fight on my friends =).

     The past week has been filled with random adventures per usual. Aside from some sort of emotional hiccup that consumed my Wednesday morning, the rest of the day was awesome. I went with K and A to pasar malam (night market...somewhere in the south of the city proper). I would say the night was a huge success. If it was recommended that I try it, I ate it. I had my first durian experience (durian cream, on a crispy pancake thingy). As long as you don't breathe when you are about to eat it, it tastes awesome (the smell at close range does take some getting used to). Aside from various other fried bits of awesomeness I tries something else on my list, I forget the name, but they are those batter/octopus/tastyness balls that are common in Japan. However, it must be noted that in order to actually consume the thing you have to wait...a while (if you want to enjoy it that is). I was the first to try and essentially the smoldering hot inside killed my taste buds for a few days. I know K and A got a kick out of watching me suffer, but they had their turn as well. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Pasar malam...maybe a fifth of the whole thing

     Thursday I went to ArchiDex over at KLCC for most of the day. It's essentially a convention for the building design trade. It was quite cool to see everything, I especially liked the furniture/interior design section. I found some much needed inspiration. That evening our office hosted an SOM lecture. Unfortunately, the lecture was pretty disappointing. The lady didn't really seem like she wanted to be there and for all the awesome projects they have done, spending half an hour going on about the need for active pedestrian zones and public transportation access seemed a bit obvious. I mean I could have given the thing. In all honesty (although I must admit, I left, so I can only speak for the 40 mins I managed to get through) it sounded more like a sales pitch than a lecture geared towards professionals. Friday was low-key, as I've spent a lot of money recently (officially booked to Bali at the end of this month).

     Saturday C and I headed into the 'suburban' rainforest (essentially a patch of forest in the city where the feel is more kampung or village like). The reason? Well besides the fact that the jungle is awesome, there was a huge CS event. It goes without saying that they day/night was stellar. Good to see some of the usual CS crew and I met a bunch of awesome people. The jam sessions reminded me a lot of the good times I've had with my friends back home. Especially these hooligans:

Any man who demands his Chinese market-bought guitar be dowsed in beer at 3am knows how to have a good time. I donno if you get around the Great Fire Wall often enough to read this M but if you don't get your face down here you'll never hear the end of it =)

Luka....looking like a vagrant

P...I hope you've been playing more often in the streets of Peru

   I suppose the sudden outburst of nostalgia comes from the fact that tomorrow happens to be one of my favorite American holidays, the 4th...or to some Independence Day. I mean what is there not to like? Any day filled with the outdoors, grilled meats, beer, and pyrotechnics is a winner to me. I suppose last night will be my substitute, although there was a lack of close calls from drunks lighting off bottle rockets...but we did have a pool. Plus, I woke up with some very sore hands from some serious rocking out with C on the djembe - yet another win. 

Riddin' dirty...but not

The African playing the African drum...sorry C just couldn't help it

The Jig

Three different continents playing some tunes

    C and I found it quite entertaining that we got a large group of people representing a significant portion of the globe to dance to Irish jig music...but I don't think there was a single Irish there. It's funny. That classic cliche notion that we are all really the same is quite true. The more people I meet from various corners of the globe and the more places I travel to I realize that what separates us is really rather minuscule in comparison to what brings us together. My brain is a little too much like scrambled eggs to really jump on the soap box so I'll leave it at that.

     I spent most of today doing nothing. I had a butt-ton of laundry to do (yes I know, not feeling too eloquent with my vocab...deal with it...lah). I hardly got any sleep last night so I'm trying to stay awake as long as I can so I'm not too out of it come Monday. There was this cat that insisted on sharing my mattress (cats always choose me because I'm convinced they can sense allergies). This week will be a bit more killer than the past weeks. Luckily for me, I'm headed to Penang on Friday so I only have a 4 day week. 

     I'm still craving banana leaf. For those of you who do not have the pleasure of having a banana leaf place near you, or have no idea what it is, it is essentially crack. In food form. Eaten off a banana leaf. This magical delight is not only crack-like in addiction, it has the added bonus of the most exotic of chinese medicines; meaning it cures whatever it is that ails you.

     I'm too lazy to upload my pictures, although I'm overdue with this so maybe I'll get to it later...maybe...

-M

  

     

Most likely confrontational, but I mean no harm, my opinion is just that

     Today is an odd day. Woke up to a pack of feral dogs fighting in the hills behind my apartment, I felt horrible because I could hear one yelping. The office was extremely quite all day. There was some big client meet and great/schmooze/network thing that a bunch of people attended in the am, and a funeral for a former co-worker in the pm. I didn't go to the funeral, I don't know the person and I thought it would be rude to show up to a funeral (never mind depressing). Although it is of interest to note that the woman died of food poisoning. She was in the hospital for some time, but still it is rare for something like this to happen. It's also not the way to go (trust me on this one). I feel bad for her family and friends. Thus it was pretty much the interns and the newer expats in the afternoon. I'm quite tired from staring at a computer screen, moving lines around/fixing diagrams and plans all day. I need to be out and about. I need to be active. That's where I struggle with architecture. Always have really. The modern day attachment to computers scares me in many ways.

     After work I was going to go to yoga, but my tummy doesn't feel well (the mee goreng I had for lunch was quite spicy). I'm also trying to save some money, as tomorrow I'm going with a few co-workers to the largest pasar malam (night market) in Malaysia tomorrow night.

     There are a few new interns at work now. Four guys from Saudi Arabia have joined the company for three weeks. They are extremely shy/stick to themselves, but the other interns keep asking them to lunch to get them to come out of their shells so to speak. It is tough to do when only 2 of them are comfortable speaking English, although one speaks quite well. There is a lot of translating that goes on (I'm currently helping out on the same competition). It's been interesting working with them, I would love to know what they think about taking directions from two women. The guy who speaks good English (whose name is, interestingly enough, Osama) has been surprisingly open in terms of speaking about the Arab world and life in Saudi Arabia.

     If there is one thing I've learned about Arab culture it is that I will never be able to wrap my head around it. I understand some things, on a very superficial level. Whether I agree with them or not is a different story. I have been told that the woman is seen as a fruit or a flower. If it is left out in the open with no protection, the flies (or men) will swarm around it and ruin it. Therefore, women need to be protected. On one level this is rather charming, but on another, doesn't that give men the excuse to act like flies? If not, then why is it every time someone speaks about the Arab world the differences of the sexes is brought up? My friend's sister (who is Iranian) put it nicely saying that she questions Islam because in the modern world it seems to have become a discussion about the differences and rights of men and women. Religion shouldn't be about these issues. I agree. However, it is not my place to preach, say, or do anything about the way other cultures and religions go about their business. I was not born into that society, culture, country, region, race, whatever you want to call it. I can't possibly understand the issues surrounding it, and quite honestly, it isn't my business. Yes I'm a woman, but I'm an American woman, brought up within a different social construct. I have no right to do anything more than state my opinion within the context in which I have been brought up in. In essence, it is not my place, nor do I want it to be.

     With all of that being said, the guys who work with me have not treated me with any disrespect or rudeness whatsoever.  If anything, they are shy which comes across as intimidated by the fact that men and women who are not related or married hang out together. When I put myself in their shoes, there are definitely things they couldn't understand about my culture as well. It goes both ways. I give them credit for hanging out with the other interns at lunch and they seem to be opening up a bit. They came all this way and my hope is that when they go back they at least learn something about each of us or at least Malaysia.

     Today at lunch I told O the importance of the West and the Middle East (people, not government) making an effort to learn from one other. It's so important because due to our respective media, we don't get any sense of reality of each other's lives, homes, and culture. Both sides just hear about the worst situations and stories, not about reality. Propaganda is rampant and the only way to begin to understand each other's cultures is to experience and learn about them. The conversation went from that to our economies and job markets. I found it surprising that they have similar employment issues as we do back home. Both countries are going to experience a severe brain drain if something isn't done soon. Theirs goes one step further to say that the only jobs that can be found are those with foreign companies. These companies only employ foreign workers. If a local workforce is hired, it's for the shit jobs no one else wants. So think about this for a second folks. Obviously the people are going to develop a distrust of the west if the western corporations are coming in and essentially denying their equally qualified workforce a chance at a job. I would be pissed too.

    Another interest (especially to those back in the states) is the oil prices. I asked them (as well as the Malaysians) how much they pay for gas. In Saudi Arabia gas is $0.15 per liter...there are about 4 liters in a gallon making a grand total of $0.60 per gallon...astounding. Seriously astounding. How much do you pay in California these days? On that same token, a Big Mac in Saudi Arabia costs roughly $6 from what I've been told. I suppose you could call that a trade off....wait...probably not. In Malaysia gas is roughly RM 2 and change per liter which is about $2.60 a gallon. That is still significantly cheaper than what most Americans pay to fill up. Both nations are a part of OPEC. Crazy isn't it? I'm not suggesting that cheaper oil prices are good or anything like that. I think that a rising price is a good thing because people need to stop being dependent on a limited resource with negative environmental impacts, but weening the world off an oil dependency is no easy task, and I have no solution.


     That's all for today.


-M

  

     Today is an odd day. Woke up to a pack of feral dogs fighting in the hills behind my apartment, I felt horrible because I could hear one yelping. The office was extremely quite all day. There was some big client meet and great/schmooze/network thing that a bunch of people attended in the am, and a funeral for a former co-worker in the pm. I didn't go to the funeral, I don't know the person and I thought it would be rude to show up to a funeral (never mind depressing). Although it is of interest to note that the woman died of food poisoning. She was in the hospital for some time, but still it is rare for something like this to happen. It's also not the way to go (trust me on this one). I feel bad for her family and friends. Thus it was pretty much the interns and the newer expats in the afternoon. I'm quite tired from staring at a computer screen, moving lines around/fixing diagrams and plans all day. I need to be out and about. I need to be active. That's where I struggle with architecture. Always have really. The modern day attachment to computers scares me in many ways.

     After work I was going to go to yoga, but my tummy doesn't feel well (the mee goreng I had for lunch was quite spicy). I'm also trying to save some money, as tomorrow I'm going with a few co-workers to the largest pasar malam (night market) in Malaysia tomorrow night.

     There are a few new interns at work now. Four guys from Saudi Arabia have joined the company for three weeks. They are extremely shy/stick to themselves, but the other interns keep asking them to lunch to get them to come out of their shells so to speak. It is tough to do when only 2 of them are comfortable speaking English, although one speaks quite well. There is a lot of translating that goes on (I'm currently helping out on the same competition). It's been interesting working with them, I would love to know what they think about taking directions from two women. The guy who speaks good English (whose name is, interestingly enough, Osama) has been surprisingly open in terms of speaking about the Arab world and life in Saudi Arabia.

     If there is one thing I've learned about Arab culture it is that I will never be able to wrap my head around it. I understand some things, on a very superficial level. Whether I agree with them or not is a different story. I have been told that the woman is seen as a fruit or a flower. If it is left out in the open with no protection, the flies (or men) will swarm around it and ruin it. Therefore, women need to be protected. On one level this is rather charming, but on another, doesn't that give men the excuse to act like flies? If not, then why is it every time someone speaks about the Arab world the differences of the sexes is brought up? My friend's sister (who is Iranian) put it nicely saying that she questions Islam because in the modern world it seems to have become a discussion about the differences and rights of men and women. Religion shouldn't be about these issues. I agree. However, it is not my place to preach, say, or do anything about the way other cultures and religions go about their business. I was not born into that society, culture, country, region, race, whatever you want to call it. I can't possibly understand the issues surrounding it, and quite honestly, it isn't my business. Yes I'm a woman, but I'm an American woman, brought up within a different social construct. I have no right to do anything more than state my opinion within the context in which I have been brought up in. In essence, it is not my place, nor do I want it to be.

     With all of that being said, the guys who work with me have not treated me with any disrespect or rudeness whatsoever.  If anything, they are shy which comes across as intimidated by the fact that men and women who are not related or married hang out together. When I put myself in their shoes, there are definitely things they couldn't understand about my culture as well. It goes both ways. I give them credit for hanging out with the other interns at lunch and they seem to be opening up a bit. They came all this way and my hope is that when they go back they at least learn something about each of us or at least Malaysia.

     Today at lunch I told O the importance of the West and the Middle East (people, not government) making an effort to learn from one other. It's so important because due to our respective media, we don't get any sense of reality of each other's lives, homes, and culture. Both sides just hear about the worst situations and stories, not about reality. Propaganda is rampant and the only way to begin to understand each other's cultures is to experience and learn about them. The conversation went from that to our economies and job markets. I found it surprising that they have similar employment issues as we do back home. Both countries are going to experience a severe brain drain if something isn't done soon. Theirs goes one step further to say that the only jobs that can be found are those with foreign companies. These companies only employ foreign workers. If a local workforce is hired, it's for the shit jobs no one else wants. So think about this for a second folks. Obviously the people are going to develop a distrust of the west if the western corporations are coming in and essentially denying their equally qualified workforce a chance at a job. I would be pissed too.

    Another interest (especially to those back in the states) is the oil prices. I asked them (as well as the Malaysians) how much they pay for gas. In Saudi Arabia gas is $0.15 per liter...there are about 4 liters in a gallon making a grand total of $0.60 per gallon...astounding. Seriously astounding. How much do you pay in California these days? On that same token, a Big Mac in Saudi Arabia costs roughly $6 from what I've been told. I suppose you could call that a trade off....wait...probably not. In Malaysia gas is roughly RM 2 and change per liter which is about $2.60 a gallon. That is still significantly cheaper than what most Americans pay to fill up. Both nations are a part of OPEC. Crazy isn't it? I'm not suggesting that cheaper oil prices are good or anything like that. I think that a rising price is a good thing because people need to stop being dependent on a limited resource with negative environmental impacts, but weening the world off an oil dependency is no easy task, and I have no solution.


     That's all for today.


-M

  

     Today is an odd day. Woke up to a pack of feral dogs fighting in the hills behind my apartment, I felt horrible because I could hear one yelping. The office was extremely quite all day. There was some big client meet and great/schmooze/network thing that a bunch of people attended in the am, and a funeral for a former co-worker in the pm. I didn't go to the funeral, I don't know the person and I thought it would be rude to show up to a funeral (never mind depressing). Although it is of interest to note that the woman died of food poisoning. She was in the hospital for some time, but still it is rare for something like this to happen. It's also not the way to go (trust me on this one). I feel bad for her family and friends. Thus it was pretty much the interns and the newer expats in the afternoon. I'm quite tired from staring at a computer screen, moving lines around/fixing diagrams and plans all day. I need to be out and about. I need to be active. That's where I struggle with architecture. Always have really. The modern day attachment to computers scares me in many ways.

     After work I was going to go to yoga, but my tummy doesn't feel well (the mee goreng I had for lunch was quite spicy). I'm also trying to save some money, as tomorrow I'm going with a few co-workers to the largest pasar malam (night market) in Malaysia tomorrow night.

     There are a few new interns at work now. Four guys from Saudi Arabia have joined the company for three weeks. They are extremely shy/stick to themselves, but the other interns keep asking them to lunch to get them to come out of their shells so to speak. It is tough to do when only 2 of them are comfortable speaking English, although one speaks quite well. There is a lot of translating that goes on (I'm currently helping out on the same competition). It's been interesting working with them, I would love to know what they think about taking directions from two women. The guy who speaks good English (whose name is, interestingly enough, Osama) has been surprisingly open in terms of speaking about the Arab world and life in Saudi Arabia.

     If there is one thing I've learned about Arab culture it is that I will never be able to wrap my head around it. I understand some things, on a very superficial level. Whether I agree with them or not is a different story. I have been told that the woman is seen as a fruit or a flower. If it is left out in the open with no protection, the flies (or men) will swarm around it and ruin it. Therefore, women need to be protected. On one level this is rather charming, but on another, doesn't that give men the excuse to act like flies? If not, then why is it every time someone speaks about the Arab world the differences of the sexes is brought up? My friend's sister (who is Iranian) put it nicely saying that she questions Islam because in the modern world it seems to have become a discussion about the differences and rights of men and women. Religion shouldn't be about these issues. I agree. However, it is not my place to preach, say, or do anything about the way other cultures and religions go about their business. I was not born into that society, culture, country, region, race, whatever you want to call it. I can't possibly understand the issues surrounding it, and quite honestly, it isn't my business. Yes I'm a woman, but I'm an American woman, brought up within a different social construct. I have no right to do anything more than state my opinion within the context in which I have been brought up in. In essence, it is not my place, nor do I want it to be.

     With all of that being said, the guys who work with me have not treated me with any disrespect or rudeness whatsoever.  If anything, they are shy which comes across as intimidated by the fact that men and women who are not related or married hang out together. When I put myself in their shoes, there are definitely things they couldn't understand about my culture as well. It goes both ways. I give them credit for hanging out with the other interns at lunch and they seem to be opening up a bit. They came all this way and my hope is that when they go back they at least learn something about each of us or at least Malaysia.

     Today at lunch I told O the importance of the West and the Middle East (people, not government) making an effort to learn from one other. It's so important because due to our respective media, we don't get any sense of reality of each other's lives, homes, and culture. Both sides just hear about the worst situations and stories, not about reality. Propaganda is rampant and the only way to begin to understand each other's cultures is to experience and learn about them. The conversation went from that to our economies and job markets. I found it surprising that they have similar employment issues as we do back home. Both countries are going to experience a severe brain drain if something isn't done soon. Theirs goes one step further to say that the only jobs that can be found are those with foreign companies. These companies only employ foreign workers. If a local workforce is hired, it's for the shit jobs no one else wants. So think about this for a second folks. Obviously the people are going to develop a distrust of the west if the western corporations are coming in and essentially denying their equally qualified workforce a chance at a job. I would be pissed too.

    Another interest (especially to those back in the states) is the oil prices. I asked them (as well as the Malaysians) how much they pay for gas. In Saudi Arabia gas is $0.15 per liter...there are about 4 liters in a gallon making a grand total of $0.60 per gallon...astounding. Seriously astounding. How much do you pay in California these days? On that same token, a Big Mac in Saudi Arabia costs roughly $6 from what I've been told. I suppose you could call that a trade off....wait...probably not. In Malaysia gas is roughly RM 2 and change per liter which is about $2.60 a gallon. That is still significantly cheaper than what most Americans pay to fill up. Both nations are a part of OPEC. Crazy isn't it? I'm not suggesting that cheaper oil prices are good or anything like that. I think that a rising price is a good thing because people need to stop being dependent on a limited resource with negative environmental impacts, but weening the world off an oil dependency is no easy task, and I have no solution.


     That's all for today.


-M

  

     Today is an odd day. Woke up to a pack of feral dogs fighting in the hills behind my apartment, I felt horrible because I could hear one yelping. The office was extremely quite all day. There was some big client meet and great/schmooze/network thing that a bunch of people attended in the am, and a funeral for a former co-worker in the pm. I didn't go to the funeral, I don't know the person and I thought it would be rude to show up to a funeral (never mind depressing). Although it is of interest to note that the woman died of food poisoning. She was in the hospital for some time, but still it is rare for something like this to happen. It's also not the way to go (trust me on this one). I feel bad for her family and friends. Thus it was pretty much the interns and the newer expats in the afternoon. I'm quite tired from staring at a computer screen, moving lines around/fixing diagrams and plans all day. I need to be out and about. I need to be active. That's where I struggle with architecture. Always have really. The modern day attachment to computers scares me in many ways.

     After work I was going to go to yoga, but my tummy doesn't feel well (the mee goreng I had for lunch was quite spicy). I'm also trying to save some money, as tomorrow I'm going with a few co-workers to the largest pasar malam (night market) in Malaysia tomorrow night.

     There are a few new interns at work now. Four guys from Saudi Arabia have joined the company for three weeks. They are extremely shy/stick to themselves, but the other interns keep asking them to lunch to get them to come out of their shells so to speak. It is tough to do when only 2 of them are comfortable speaking English, although one speaks quite well. There is a lot of translating that goes on (I'm currently helping out on the same competition). It's been interesting working with them, I would love to know what they think about taking directions from two women. The guy who speaks good English (whose name is, interestingly enough, Osama) has been surprisingly open in terms of speaking about the Arab world and life in Saudi Arabia.

     If there is one thing I've learned about Arab culture it is that I will never be able to wrap my head around it. I understand some things, on a very superficial level. Whether I agree with them or not is a different story. I have been told that the woman is seen as a fruit or a flower. If it is left out in the open with no protection, the flies (or men) will swarm around it and ruin it. Therefore, women need to be protected. On one level this is rather charming, but on another, doesn't that give men the excuse to act like flies? If not, then why is it every time someone speaks about the Arab world the differences of the sexes is brought up? My friend's sister (who is Iranian) put it nicely saying that she questions Islam because in the modern world it seems to have become a discussion about the differences and rights of men and women. Religion shouldn't be about these issues. I agree. However, it is not my place to preach, say, or do anything about the way other cultures and religions go about their business. I was not born into that society, culture, country, region, race, whatever you want to call it. I can't possibly understand the issues surrounding it, and quite honestly, it isn't my business. Yes I'm a woman, but I'm an American woman, brought up within a different social construct. I have no right to do anything more than state my opinion within the context in which I have been brought up in. In essence, it is not my place, nor do I want it to be.

     With all of that being said, the guys who work with me have not treated me with any disrespect or rudeness whatsoever.  If anything, they are shy which comes across as intimidated by the fact that men and women who are not related or married hang out together. When I put myself in their shoes, there are definitely things they couldn't understand about my culture as well. It goes both ways. I give them credit for hanging out with the other interns at lunch and they seem to be opening up a bit. They came all this way and my hope is that when they go back they at least learn something about each of us or at least Malaysia.

     Today at lunch I told O the importance of the West and the Middle East (people, not government) making an effort to learn from one other. It's so important because due to our respective media, we don't get any sense of reality of each other's lives, homes, and culture. Both sides just hear about the worst situations and stories, not about reality. Propaganda is rampant and the only way to begin to understand each other's cultures is to experience and learn about them. The conversation went from that to our economies and job markets. I found it surprising that they have similar employment issues as we do back home. Both countries are going to experience a severe brain drain if something isn't done soon. Theirs goes one step further to say that the only jobs that can be found are those with foreign companies. These companies only employ foreign workers. If a local workforce is hired, it's for the shit jobs no one else wants. So think about this for a second folks. Obviously the people are going to develop a distrust of the west if the western corporations are coming in and essentially denying their equally qualified workforce a chance at a job. I would be pissed too.

    Another interest (especially to those back in the states) is the oil prices. I asked them (as well as the Malaysians) how much they pay for gas. In Saudi Arabia gas is $0.15 per liter...there are about 4 liters in a gallon making a grand total of $0.60 per gallon...astounding. Seriously astounding. How much do you pay in California these days? On that same token, a Big Mac in Saudi Arabia costs roughly $6 from what I've been told. I suppose you could call that a trade off....wait...probably not. In Malaysia gas is roughly RM 2 and change per liter which is about $2.60 a gallon. That is still significantly cheaper than what most Americans pay to fill up. Both nations are a part of OPEC. Crazy isn't it? I'm not suggesting that cheaper oil prices are good or anything like that. I think that a rising price is a good thing because people need to stop being dependent on a limited resource with negative environmental impacts, but weening the world off an oil dependency is no easy task, and I have no solution.


     That's all for today.


-M

  

The dashboard melted but we still have the radio

     I had some big plans for a super long post with some work updates and some type of soap box speech, but then I opened up the page and decided those thoughts would wait for another day. Honestly, I don't feel much like talking about work because it's Sunday.

     This weekend was quite relaxing. Friday my flatmates and I went clubbing (I know it doesn't sound relaxing...but whatever). Apparently the place we went to usually has a younger crowd, which would explain a lot. Dudes here aren't afraid to come up and talk to a girls only group, but they don't talk too much, and most obviously use the fact that they are a local as some type of pickup line. Not too surprising, but hilarious none the less. It was hip-hop night. Everyone seemed quite shy, but C, F, and I had some steam to blow off, so we hit the stage quite early and got the whole thing rolling. We danced, and the DJ cracked me up b/c he had a CU Boulder football jersey on. I appreciate his attempt at American culture, however if you know anything about American College Football you would know that the Buffs do in fact, suck (and I go to school there, so I don't wanna hear otherwise hehe...). Thus the shirt was worn for the cool factor, when it is in fact, not that cool. I did see a guy at the mall today in a Packers jersey (read: much more appropriate).

     After some awesome dancing and a few awkward globish (simple English) 'conversations' we had enough and did the thing you must do after going out in SEA...go to a hawker center. We headed out to a 24 hr Mamak place (cuz banana leaf was closed and we wanted Indian food) and then home. I had a kick ass time and would have had pictures if the club wasn't raided by the religious police the week before and they allowed cameras.

     Yes, clubs and bars around here, for whatever reason, need to be occasionally broken up by the cops so all of the Muslims inside them can be rounded up and thrown in jail. Sorry, but this I have a problem with. First of all, it ruins it for the people who aren't involved in the conflict, second of all, you can go to a club and not drink (although I don't know many who do), and thirdly mind your damn business. It should be the parents' job anyway to make sure their child is behaving. Once someone is old enough to make their own decisions they should be allowed to do what they want and practice religion however they want. We weighed our options and figured that it would be ridiculous to waste your time busting the same place two weeks in a row. Thankfully no cops showed up, or I may have have spoken a little too much of my mind.

     Although I didn't have a hangover or anything the next day I was tired. I met G for lunch in Kelana Jaya. We ate at a tasty Indonesian/Malay place. I tried chendol for the first time. Chendol pretty much looks and sounds like a garbage disposal to most westerners. However the combo of sweet syrup, coconut milk, frozen corn, colored chendol (I really don't know how to explain it, see the photo), and kidney beans over shaved ice actually works. I can't really explain how, but it does. I also had Sarawak Laksa (again sorry for spelling). I thought it was going to be too much heat to handle, but it was quite nice. Spicy in a flavorful way and delicious. We talked for quite a bit then we decided to head back. However, G mentioned reflexology (a Chinese practice) so we decided to stop. Basically you get a 5 hour foot massage where they use nerve endings in your feet that are supposedly attached to your organs somehow and the point is to help heal what ails you. If there is anything I've learned from Asia it's the Chinese know what they are talking about when it comes to traditional medicine. Not to mention my feet definitely needed some TLC, as I walk most everywhere. Afterwards, I sluggishly made my way back to KL and home all happy and relaxed.

     C and I grabbed dinner at the Lebanese place one stop on the LRT down from us. We had some awesome falafel and apple mint shisha. Essentially, one could not ask for a more relaxing Saturday. We were late to a party at a co-worker's place. When we showed up I was completely under-dressed and too relaxed to really feel like partying. All I wanted to do was sleep. It wasn't that the party sucked or anything, I simply wasn't into it. So I left shortly after and crashed in bed.

     Awoke early today to go to church with A, my 'host mom' from earlier in the summer. It was the last mass that the father would give at the perish so I went to support her. Now I've been to the Vatican where they broadcast mass in Italian/Latin (it was a while ago so I'm not so sure as to which language it was...I mean Latin with an Italian accent sounds pretty much like Italian). However, I've never seen mass in 4 different languages. The readings, Homily, and song switched between English, Tamil, Mandarin, and Bahasa Malaysia. Most of the time they projected English subtitles. I was surprised at how much Bahasa Malaysia I could understand. Afterwards I bought some food at the church sale and came back home. I booked my flight to Bali (Jul 28th till Aug 1st), did various chores, then headed down to the pool for a workout. The sun/pool combo took a lot out of me so I took a nap. I awoke to a thunderstorm, but it looked as if the rain had passed so I headed out to get groceries. I have had a craving for french fries all day, so I splurged on some (not from McDonalds). Of course once I got out the door of the mall it started pouring. I only live about a 7 min walk from the mall, so a cab seemed like a waste. I enjoyed the downpour, although I wasn't too happy about even soggier groceries.

     Pretty much just been taking care of house work here today. It's what I needed though. I've either been go go go go, working, or trying to recover from a cold; so a weekend to just take it easy was a must. Next weekend I'm headed to the jungle (sort of...I mean jungle is everywhere, so it's not deep jungle, but a just-outside-of-town place) with a bunch of CSers plus C. I'm pretty excited. Not too sure what this week will bring with work, but hopefully it isn't too overwhelming.

Time to make some dinners...need to eat the food I have and tone down the spending =).

-M

cendol....pronounced 'chen-dol'

Reflexology 

Durian season is upon us...if anyone wants to go hit me up

Kinda blurry, but the horse wanted to be on the bridge.

     I had some big plans for a super long post with some work updates and some type of soap box speech, but then I opened up the page and decided those thoughts would wait for another day. Honestly, I don't feel much like talking about work because it's Sunday.

     This weekend was quite relaxing. Friday my flatmates and I went clubbing (I know it doesn't sound relaxing...but whatever). Apparently the place we went to usually has a younger crowd, which would explain a lot. Dudes here aren't afraid to come up and talk to a girls only group, but they don't talk too much, and most obviously use the fact that they are a local as some type of pickup line. Not too surprising, but hilarious none the less. It was hip-hop night. Everyone seemed quite shy, but C, F, and I had some steam to blow off, so we hit the stage quite early and got the whole thing rolling. We danced, and the DJ cracked me up b/c he had a CU Boulder football jersey on. I appreciate his attempt at American culture, however if you know anything about American College Football you would know that the Buffs do in fact, suck (and I go to school there, so I don't wanna hear otherwise hehe...). Thus the shirt was worn for the cool factor, when it is in fact, not that cool. I did see a guy at the mall today in a Packers jersey (read: much more appropriate).

     After some awesome dancing and a few awkward globish (simple English) 'conversations' we had enough and did the thing you must do after going out in SEA...go to a hawker center. We headed out to a 24 hr Mamak place (cuz banana leaf was closed and we wanted Indian food) and then home. I had a kick ass time and would have had pictures if the club wasn't raided by the religious police the week before and they allowed cameras.

     Yes, clubs and bars around here, for whatever reason, need to be occasionally broken up by the cops so all of the Muslims inside them can be rounded up and thrown in jail. Sorry, but this I have a problem with. First of all, it ruins it for the people who aren't involved in the conflict, second of all, you can go to a club and not drink (although I don't know many who do), and thirdly mind your damn business. It should be the parents' job anyway to make sure their child is behaving. Once someone is old enough to make their own decisions they should be allowed to do what they want and practice religion however they want. We weighed our options and figured that it would be ridiculous to waste your time busting the same place two weeks in a row. Thankfully no cops showed up, or I may have have spoken a little too much of my mind.

     Although I didn't have a hangover or anything the next day I was tired. I met G for lunch in Kelana Jaya. We ate at a tasty Indonesian/Malay place. I tried chendol for the first time. Chendol pretty much looks and sounds like a garbage disposal to most westerners. However the combo of sweet syrup, coconut milk, frozen corn, colored chendol (I really don't know how to explain it, see the photo), and kidney beans over shaved ice actually works. I can't really explain how, but it does. I also had Sarawak Laksa (again sorry for spelling). I thought it was going to be too much heat to handle, but it was quite nice. Spicy in a flavorful way and delicious. We talked for quite a bit then we decided to head back. However, G mentioned reflexology (a Chinese practice) so we decided to stop. Basically you get a 5 hour foot massage where they use nerve endings in your feet that are supposedly attached to your organs somehow and the point is to help heal what ails you. If there is anything I've learned from Asia it's the Chinese know what they are talking about when it comes to traditional medicine. Not to mention my feet definitely needed some TLC, as I walk most everywhere. Afterwards, I sluggishly made my way back to KL and home all happy and relaxed.

     C and I grabbed dinner at the Lebanese place one stop on the LRT down from us. We had some awesome falafel and apple mint shisha. Essentially, one could not ask for a more relaxing Saturday. We were late to a party at a co-worker's place. When we showed up I was completely under-dressed and too relaxed to really feel like partying. All I wanted to do was sleep. It wasn't that the party sucked or anything, I simply wasn't into it. So I left shortly after and crashed in bed.

     Awoke early today to go to church with A, my 'host mom' from earlier in the summer. It was the last mass that the father would give at the perish so I went to support her. Now I've been to the Vatican where they broadcast mass in Italian/Latin (it was a while ago so I'm not so sure as to which language it was...I mean Latin with an Italian accent sounds pretty much like Italian). However, I've never seen mass in 4 different languages. The readings, Homily, and song switched between English, Tamil, Mandarin, and Bahasa Malaysia. Most of the time they projected English subtitles. I was surprised at how much Bahasa Malaysia I could understand. Afterwards I bought some food at the church sale and came back home. I booked my flight to Bali (Jul 28th till Aug 1st), did various chores, then headed down to the pool for a workout. The sun/pool combo took a lot out of me so I took a nap. I awoke to a thunderstorm, but it looked as if the rain had passed so I headed out to get groceries. I have had a craving for french fries all day, so I splurged on some (not from McDonalds). Of course once I got out the door of the mall it started pouring. I only live about a 7 min walk from the mall, so a cab seemed like a waste. I enjoyed the downpour, although I wasn't too happy about even soggier groceries.

     Pretty much just been taking care of house work here today. It's what I needed though. I've either been go go go go, working, or trying to recover from a cold; so a weekend to just take it easy was a must. Next weekend I'm headed to the jungle (sort of...I mean jungle is everywhere, so it's not deep jungle, but a just-outside-of-town place) with a bunch of CSers plus C. I'm pretty excited. Not too sure what this week will bring with work, but hopefully it isn't too overwhelming.

Time to make some dinners...need to eat the food I have and tone down the spending =).

-M

cendol....pronounced 'chen-dol'

Reflexology 

Durian season is upon us...if anyone wants to go hit me up

Kinda blurry, but the horse wanted to be on the bridge.

     I had some big plans for a super long post with some work updates and some type of soap box speech, but then I opened up the page and decided those thoughts would wait for another day. Honestly, I don't feel much like talking about work because it's Sunday.

     This weekend was quite relaxing. Friday my flatmates and I went clubbing (I know it doesn't sound relaxing...but whatever). Apparently the place we went to usually has a younger crowd, which would explain a lot. Dudes here aren't afraid to come up and talk to a girls only group, but they don't talk too much, and most obviously use the fact that they are a local as some type of pickup line. Not too surprising, but hilarious none the less. It was hip-hop night. Everyone seemed quite shy, but C, F, and I had some steam to blow off, so we hit the stage quite early and got the whole thing rolling. We danced, and the DJ cracked me up b/c he had a CU Boulder football jersey on. I appreciate his attempt at American culture, however if you know anything about American College Football you would know that the Buffs do in fact, suck (and I go to school there, so I don't wanna hear otherwise hehe...). Thus the shirt was worn for the cool factor, when it is in fact, not that cool. I did see a guy at the mall today in a Packers jersey (read: much more appropriate).

     After some awesome dancing and a few awkward globish (simple English) 'conversations' we had enough and did the thing you must do after going out in SEA...go to a hawker center. We headed out to a 24 hr Mamak place (cuz banana leaf was closed and we wanted Indian food) and then home. I had a kick ass time and would have had pictures if the club wasn't raided by the religious police the week before and they allowed cameras.

     Yes, clubs and bars around here, for whatever reason, need to be occasionally broken up by the cops so all of the Muslims inside them can be rounded up and thrown in jail. Sorry, but this I have a problem with. First of all, it ruins it for the people who aren't involved in the conflict, second of all, you can go to a club and not drink (although I don't know many who do), and thirdly mind your damn business. It should be the parents' job anyway to make sure their child is behaving. Once someone is old enough to make their own decisions they should be allowed to do what they want and practice religion however they want. We weighed our options and figured that it would be ridiculous to waste your time busting the same place two weeks in a row. Thankfully no cops showed up, or I may have have spoken a little too much of my mind.

     Although I didn't have a hangover or anything the next day I was tired. I met G for lunch in Kelana Jaya. We ate at a tasty Indonesian/Malay place. I tried chendol for the first time. Chendol pretty much looks and sounds like a garbage disposal to most westerners. However the combo of sweet syrup, coconut milk, frozen corn, colored chendol (I really don't know how to explain it, see the photo), and kidney beans over shaved ice actually works. I can't really explain how, but it does. I also had Sarawak Laksa (again sorry for spelling). I thought it was going to be too much heat to handle, but it was quite nice. Spicy in a flavorful way and delicious. We talked for quite a bit then we decided to head back. However, G mentioned reflexology (a Chinese practice) so we decided to stop. Basically you get a 5 hour foot massage where they use nerve endings in your feet that are supposedly attached to your organs somehow and the point is to help heal what ails you. If there is anything I've learned from Asia it's the Chinese know what they are talking about when it comes to traditional medicine. Not to mention my feet definitely needed some TLC, as I walk most everywhere. Afterwards, I sluggishly made my way back to KL and home all happy and relaxed.

     C and I grabbed dinner at the Lebanese place one stop on the LRT down from us. We had some awesome falafel and apple mint shisha. Essentially, one could not ask for a more relaxing Saturday. We were late to a party at a co-worker's place. When we showed up I was completely under-dressed and too relaxed to really feel like partying. All I wanted to do was sleep. It wasn't that the party sucked or anything, I simply wasn't into it. So I left shortly after and crashed in bed.

     Awoke early today to go to church with A, my 'host mom' from earlier in the summer. It was the last mass that the father would give at the perish so I went to support her. Now I've been to the Vatican where they broadcast mass in Italian/Latin (it was a while ago so I'm not so sure as to which language it was...I mean Latin with an Italian accent sounds pretty much like Italian). However, I've never seen mass in 4 different languages. The readings, Homily, and song switched between English, Tamil, Mandarin, and Bahasa Malaysia. Most of the time they projected English subtitles. I was surprised at how much Bahasa Malaysia I could understand. Afterwards I bought some food at the church sale and came back home. I booked my flight to Bali (Jul 28th till Aug 1st), did various chores, then headed down to the pool for a workout. The sun/pool combo took a lot out of me so I took a nap. I awoke to a thunderstorm, but it looked as if the rain had passed so I headed out to get groceries. I have had a craving for french fries all day, so I splurged on some (not from McDonalds). Of course once I got out the door of the mall it started pouring. I only live about a 7 min walk from the mall, so a cab seemed like a waste. I enjoyed the downpour, although I wasn't too happy about even soggier groceries.

     Pretty much just been taking care of house work here today. It's what I needed though. I've either been go go go go, working, or trying to recover from a cold; so a weekend to just take it easy was a must. Next weekend I'm headed to the jungle (sort of...I mean jungle is everywhere, so it's not deep jungle, but a just-outside-of-town place) with a bunch of CSers plus C. I'm pretty excited. Not too sure what this week will bring with work, but hopefully it isn't too overwhelming.

Time to make some dinners...need to eat the food I have and tone down the spending =).

-M

cendol....pronounced 'chen-dol'

Reflexology 

Durian season is upon us...if anyone wants to go hit me up

Kinda blurry, but the horse wanted to be on the bridge.

     I had some big plans for a super long post with some work updates and some type of soap box speech, but then I opened up the page and decided those thoughts would wait for another day. Honestly, I don't feel much like talking about work because it's Sunday.

     This weekend was quite relaxing. Friday my flatmates and I went clubbing (I know it doesn't sound relaxing...but whatever). Apparently the place we went to usually has a younger crowd, which would explain a lot. Dudes here aren't afraid to come up and talk to a girls only group, but they don't talk too much, and most obviously use the fact that they are a local as some type of pickup line. Not too surprising, but hilarious none the less. It was hip-hop night. Everyone seemed quite shy, but C, F, and I had some steam to blow off, so we hit the stage quite early and got the whole thing rolling. We danced, and the DJ cracked me up b/c he had a CU Boulder football jersey on. I appreciate his attempt at American culture, however if you know anything about American College Football you would know that the Buffs do in fact, suck (and I go to school there, so I don't wanna hear otherwise hehe...). Thus the shirt was worn for the cool factor, when it is in fact, not that cool. I did see a guy at the mall today in a Packers jersey (read: much more appropriate).

     After some awesome dancing and a few awkward globish (simple English) 'conversations' we had enough and did the thing you must do after going out in SEA...go to a hawker center. We headed out to a 24 hr Mamak place (cuz banana leaf was closed and we wanted Indian food) and then home. I had a kick ass time and would have had pictures if the club wasn't raided by the religious police the week before and they allowed cameras.

     Yes, clubs and bars around here, for whatever reason, need to be occasionally broken up by the cops so all of the Muslims inside them can be rounded up and thrown in jail. Sorry, but this I have a problem with. First of all, it ruins it for the people who aren't involved in the conflict, second of all, you can go to a club and not drink (although I don't know many who do), and thirdly mind your damn business. It should be the parents' job anyway to make sure their child is behaving. Once someone is old enough to make their own decisions they should be allowed to do what they want and practice religion however they want. We weighed our options and figured that it would be ridiculous to waste your time busting the same place two weeks in a row. Thankfully no cops showed up, or I may have have spoken a little too much of my mind.

     Although I didn't have a hangover or anything the next day I was tired. I met G for lunch in Kelana Jaya. We ate at a tasty Indonesian/Malay place. I tried chendol for the first time. Chendol pretty much looks and sounds like a garbage disposal to most westerners. However the combo of sweet syrup, coconut milk, frozen corn, colored chendol (I really don't know how to explain it, see the photo), and kidney beans over shaved ice actually works. I can't really explain how, but it does. I also had Sarawak Laksa (again sorry for spelling). I thought it was going to be too much heat to handle, but it was quite nice. Spicy in a flavorful way and delicious. We talked for quite a bit then we decided to head back. However, G mentioned reflexology (a Chinese practice) so we decided to stop. Basically you get a 5 hour foot massage where they use nerve endings in your feet that are supposedly attached to your organs somehow and the point is to help heal what ails you. If there is anything I've learned from Asia it's the Chinese know what they are talking about when it comes to traditional medicine. Not to mention my feet definitely needed some TLC, as I walk most everywhere. Afterwards, I sluggishly made my way back to KL and home all happy and relaxed.

     C and I grabbed dinner at the Lebanese place one stop on the LRT down from us. We had some awesome falafel and apple mint shisha. Essentially, one could not ask for a more relaxing Saturday. We were late to a party at a co-worker's place. When we showed up I was completely under-dressed and too relaxed to really feel like partying. All I wanted to do was sleep. It wasn't that the party sucked or anything, I simply wasn't into it. So I left shortly after and crashed in bed.

     Awoke early today to go to church with A, my 'host mom' from earlier in the summer. It was the last mass that the father would give at the perish so I went to support her. Now I've been to the Vatican where they broadcast mass in Italian/Latin (it was a while ago so I'm not so sure as to which language it was...I mean Latin with an Italian accent sounds pretty much like Italian). However, I've never seen mass in 4 different languages. The readings, Homily, and song switched between English, Tamil, Mandarin, and Bahasa Malaysia. Most of the time they projected English subtitles. I was surprised at how much Bahasa Malaysia I could understand. Afterwards I bought some food at the church sale and came back home. I booked my flight to Bali (Jul 28th till Aug 1st), did various chores, then headed down to the pool for a workout. The sun/pool combo took a lot out of me so I took a nap. I awoke to a thunderstorm, but it looked as if the rain had passed so I headed out to get groceries. I have had a craving for french fries all day, so I splurged on some (not from McDonalds). Of course once I got out the door of the mall it started pouring. I only live about a 7 min walk from the mall, so a cab seemed like a waste. I enjoyed the downpour, although I wasn't too happy about even soggier groceries.

     Pretty much just been taking care of house work here today. It's what I needed though. I've either been go go go go, working, or trying to recover from a cold; so a weekend to just take it easy was a must. Next weekend I'm headed to the jungle (sort of...I mean jungle is everywhere, so it's not deep jungle, but a just-outside-of-town place) with a bunch of CSers plus C. I'm pretty excited. Not too sure what this week will bring with work, but hopefully it isn't too overwhelming.

Time to make some dinners...need to eat the food I have and tone down the spending =).

-M

cendol....pronounced 'chen-dol'

Reflexology 

Durian season is upon us...if anyone wants to go hit me up

Kinda blurry, but the horse wanted to be on the bridge.

Notes on Sustainability

Please excuse the odd formatting and any blatent spelling errors. This computer doesn't pick up on English errors all that well.

     

                       I am quite bored at work right now. I have been working on this presentation to the office for quite some time now, and I’m bored with it. Although it is interesting, I’ve just been looking at it for too long. The presentation compares LEED to GBI. LEED is the US-based green building standard and GBI is the Malaysian one. It is interesting, because sustainability seems to be half-hearted here. I am surprised and not at the same time. Although there are many luxuries of a developed nation, as a whole, Malaysia is still a developing place. It is also no secret that much of the rainforest here has been, well, raped and turned into palm oil plantations with most of the oldest rainforests in the world gone forever. Sad, yes, but at the same time, people who are struggling to make it in a rapidly developing world and be able to compete on a global market often have no other option. As a whole, Malaysia treats their forests better than Indonesia. However, I knew this before I got here so it’s nothing new to me.

          The Amazon has a similar problem. It’s sad and it’s wrong, but corruption in the government leads to exploitation without thought of long-term consequence regardless of development level as a whole.

          There are some surprising things of note though. Every take-away meal is complete with a Styrofoam box and a small plastic back. Two things that are virtually indestructible. I didn’t notice this until I came here, but in the US there is much more cardboard/paper disposable containers and sturdy corn-based take-away boxes are becoming the norm. Granted these things cannot be recycled if they are stained with oils and food, however, they do decompose. I think that given its food culture, Malaysia should adopt a more sustainable means of doing the whole take-away thing. Especially since recycling is practically non-existent here. It’s actually cheaper, and I don’t really understand why you need a plastic bag when you can just hold the carton in your hand.

§  However, they are more energy conscious here in the home.

·         Fans, tvs, lights, ect are not left on when no one is home. This includes air con. It goes even further, where typical homes only have air con in bedrooms and if you are wealthy enough in the living room (although it is only on when occupied). Furthermore, because MY does not follow the IBC (international building code) corridors and hallways of public places/residences (excluding malls) are naturally ventilated.

·         Every outlet has an on/off switch. This stops the small amount of electricity from flowing through your appliances even when they are turned off (and also the obvious reason of child safety).

·         I’ve also noticed that hot tap water is hard to come by, as is cold. It’s room temperature, saving on the energy costs of heating and cooling water. The standard shower also uses instant hot water.

o   Yet even still, faucets and water appliances are leaky and rarely turn off immediately.

§  I suppose overall it has its ups and downs just like the USA. However, sustainability in design (aside from throwing on a green roof or green element somewhere) seems to be an afterthought at best. Orientation is considered, as well as natural light, but in terms of energy saving strategies and the like I don’t see too much of it.

            In terms of my week, it has been simply work, gym, and catching up on things from back home/working out my trip to Bali. I went out to dinner at a Mamak (Indian) place and had some delicious roti (unleven bread, comes with some spicy dips) with a bunch of CSers in Bukit Bitang. BB is essentially a techy’s wet dream. There are stores selling all kinds of electronics at discounted prices. I need to go there at some point to get my point and shoot fixed (yes, I found it...in the depths of my dirty laundry of all places…). However, I had a limited amount of time so I just had dinner. In a frenzy to get home in time to talk to MB (we hadn’t talked in a really long time) I forgot to pay. Fortunately, I’ll be seeing my CS buddies soon at a meet up in a jungle lodge so I’ll be sure to pay them back. I don’t like owing people money though. Thanks a bunch for covering for me E!

Don't ask why this is bulleted, or formatted weird. Just take it for what it is lah.

TGIF party in, party in (Q was singing that song this morning and it is still stuck in my head...but I guess that's what I get for teasing him all the time.)

-M

Please excuse the odd formatting and any blatent spelling errors. This computer doesn't pick up on English errors all that well.

     

                       I am quite bored at work right now. I have been working on this presentation to the office for quite some time now, and I’m bored with it. Although it is interesting, I’ve just been looking at it for too long. The presentation compares LEED to GBI. LEED is the US-based green building standard and GBI is the Malaysian one. It is interesting, because sustainability seems to be half-hearted here. I am surprised and not at the same time. Although there are many luxuries of a developed nation, as a whole, Malaysia is still a developing place. It is also no secret that much of the rainforest here has been, well, raped and turned into palm oil plantations with most of the oldest rainforests in the world gone forever. Sad, yes, but at the same time, people who are struggling to make it in a rapidly developing world and be able to compete on a global market often have no other option. As a whole, Malaysia treats their forests better than Indonesia. However, I knew this before I got here so it’s nothing new to me.

          The Amazon has a similar problem. It’s sad and it’s wrong, but corruption in the government leads to exploitation without thought of long-term consequence regardless of development level as a whole.

          There are some surprising things of note though. Every take-away meal is complete with a Styrofoam box and a small plastic back. Two things that are virtually indestructible. I didn’t notice this until I came here, but in the US there is much more cardboard/paper disposable containers and sturdy corn-based take-away boxes are becoming the norm. Granted these things cannot be recycled if they are stained with oils and food, however, they do decompose. I think that given its food culture, Malaysia should adopt a more sustainable means of doing the whole take-away thing. Especially since recycling is practically non-existent here. It’s actually cheaper, and I don’t really understand why you need a plastic bag when you can just hold the carton in your hand.

§  However, they are more energy conscious here in the home.

·         Fans, tvs, lights, ect are not left on when no one is home. This includes air con. It goes even further, where typical homes only have air con in bedrooms and if you are wealthy enough in the living room (although it is only on when occupied). Furthermore, because MY does not follow the IBC (international building code) corridors and hallways of public places/residences (excluding malls) are naturally ventilated.

·         Every outlet has an on/off switch. This stops the small amount of electricity from flowing through your appliances even when they are turned off (and also the obvious reason of child safety).

·         I’ve also noticed that hot tap water is hard to come by, as is cold. It’s room temperature, saving on the energy costs of heating and cooling water. The standard shower also uses instant hot water.

o   Yet even still, faucets and water appliances are leaky and rarely turn off immediately.

§  I suppose overall it has its ups and downs just like the USA. However, sustainability in design (aside from throwing on a green roof or green element somewhere) seems to be an afterthought at best. Orientation is considered, as well as natural light, but in terms of energy saving strategies and the like I don’t see too much of it.

            In terms of my week, it has been simply work, gym, and catching up on things from back home/working out my trip to Bali. I went out to dinner at a Mamak (Indian) place and had some delicious roti (unleven bread, comes with some spicy dips) with a bunch of CSers in Bukit Bitang. BB is essentially a techy’s wet dream. There are stores selling all kinds of electronics at discounted prices. I need to go there at some point to get my point and shoot fixed (yes, I found it...in the depths of my dirty laundry of all places…). However, I had a limited amount of time so I just had dinner. In a frenzy to get home in time to talk to MB (we hadn’t talked in a really long time) I forgot to pay. Fortunately, I’ll be seeing my CS buddies soon at a meet up in a jungle lodge so I’ll be sure to pay them back. I don’t like owing people money though. Thanks a bunch for covering for me E!

Don't ask why this is bulleted, or formatted weird. Just take it for what it is lah.

TGIF party in, party in (Q was singing that song this morning and it is still stuck in my head...but I guess that's what I get for teasing him all the time.)

-M

Please excuse the odd formatting and any blatent spelling errors. This computer doesn't pick up on English errors all that well.

     

                       I am quite bored at work right now. I have been working on this presentation to the office for quite some time now, and I’m bored with it. Although it is interesting, I’ve just been looking at it for too long. The presentation compares LEED to GBI. LEED is the US-based green building standard and GBI is the Malaysian one. It is interesting, because sustainability seems to be half-hearted here. I am surprised and not at the same time. Although there are many luxuries of a developed nation, as a whole, Malaysia is still a developing place. It is also no secret that much of the rainforest here has been, well, raped and turned into palm oil plantations with most of the oldest rainforests in the world gone forever. Sad, yes, but at the same time, people who are struggling to make it in a rapidly developing world and be able to compete on a global market often have no other option. As a whole, Malaysia treats their forests better than Indonesia. However, I knew this before I got here so it’s nothing new to me.

          The Amazon has a similar problem. It’s sad and it’s wrong, but corruption in the government leads to exploitation without thought of long-term consequence regardless of development level as a whole.

          There are some surprising things of note though. Every take-away meal is complete with a Styrofoam box and a small plastic back. Two things that are virtually indestructible. I didn’t notice this until I came here, but in the US there is much more cardboard/paper disposable containers and sturdy corn-based take-away boxes are becoming the norm. Granted these things cannot be recycled if they are stained with oils and food, however, they do decompose. I think that given its food culture, Malaysia should adopt a more sustainable means of doing the whole take-away thing. Especially since recycling is practically non-existent here. It’s actually cheaper, and I don’t really understand why you need a plastic bag when you can just hold the carton in your hand.

§  However, they are more energy conscious here in the home.

·         Fans, tvs, lights, ect are not left on when no one is home. This includes air con. It goes even further, where typical homes only have air con in bedrooms and if you are wealthy enough in the living room (although it is only on when occupied). Furthermore, because MY does not follow the IBC (international building code) corridors and hallways of public places/residences (excluding malls) are naturally ventilated.

·         Every outlet has an on/off switch. This stops the small amount of electricity from flowing through your appliances even when they are turned off (and also the obvious reason of child safety).

·         I’ve also noticed that hot tap water is hard to come by, as is cold. It’s room temperature, saving on the energy costs of heating and cooling water. The standard shower also uses instant hot water.

o   Yet even still, faucets and water appliances are leaky and rarely turn off immediately.

§  I suppose overall it has its ups and downs just like the USA. However, sustainability in design (aside from throwing on a green roof or green element somewhere) seems to be an afterthought at best. Orientation is considered, as well as natural light, but in terms of energy saving strategies and the like I don’t see too much of it.

            In terms of my week, it has been simply work, gym, and catching up on things from back home/working out my trip to Bali. I went out to dinner at a Mamak (Indian) place and had some delicious roti (unleven bread, comes with some spicy dips) with a bunch of CSers in Bukit Bitang. BB is essentially a techy’s wet dream. There are stores selling all kinds of electronics at discounted prices. I need to go there at some point to get my point and shoot fixed (yes, I found it...in the depths of my dirty laundry of all places…). However, I had a limited amount of time so I just had dinner. In a frenzy to get home in time to talk to MB (we hadn’t talked in a really long time) I forgot to pay. Fortunately, I’ll be seeing my CS buddies soon at a meet up in a jungle lodge so I’ll be sure to pay them back. I don’t like owing people money though. Thanks a bunch for covering for me E!

Don't ask why this is bulleted, or formatted weird. Just take it for what it is lah.

TGIF party in, party in (Q was singing that song this morning and it is still stuck in my head...but I guess that's what I get for teasing him all the time.)

-M

Please excuse the odd formatting and any blatent spelling errors. This computer doesn't pick up on English errors all that well.

     

                       I am quite bored at work right now. I have been working on this presentation to the office for quite some time now, and I’m bored with it. Although it is interesting, I’ve just been looking at it for too long. The presentation compares LEED to GBI. LEED is the US-based green building standard and GBI is the Malaysian one. It is interesting, because sustainability seems to be half-hearted here. I am surprised and not at the same time. Although there are many luxuries of a developed nation, as a whole, Malaysia is still a developing place. It is also no secret that much of the rainforest here has been, well, raped and turned into palm oil plantations with most of the oldest rainforests in the world gone forever. Sad, yes, but at the same time, people who are struggling to make it in a rapidly developing world and be able to compete on a global market often have no other option. As a whole, Malaysia treats their forests better than Indonesia. However, I knew this before I got here so it’s nothing new to me.

          The Amazon has a similar problem. It’s sad and it’s wrong, but corruption in the government leads to exploitation without thought of long-term consequence regardless of development level as a whole.

          There are some surprising things of note though. Every take-away meal is complete with a Styrofoam box and a small plastic back. Two things that are virtually indestructible. I didn’t notice this until I came here, but in the US there is much more cardboard/paper disposable containers and sturdy corn-based take-away boxes are becoming the norm. Granted these things cannot be recycled if they are stained with oils and food, however, they do decompose. I think that given its food culture, Malaysia should adopt a more sustainable means of doing the whole take-away thing. Especially since recycling is practically non-existent here. It’s actually cheaper, and I don’t really understand why you need a plastic bag when you can just hold the carton in your hand.

§  However, they are more energy conscious here in the home.

·         Fans, tvs, lights, ect are not left on when no one is home. This includes air con. It goes even further, where typical homes only have air con in bedrooms and if you are wealthy enough in the living room (although it is only on when occupied). Furthermore, because MY does not follow the IBC (international building code) corridors and hallways of public places/residences (excluding malls) are naturally ventilated.

·         Every outlet has an on/off switch. This stops the small amount of electricity from flowing through your appliances even when they are turned off (and also the obvious reason of child safety).

·         I’ve also noticed that hot tap water is hard to come by, as is cold. It’s room temperature, saving on the energy costs of heating and cooling water. The standard shower also uses instant hot water.

o   Yet even still, faucets and water appliances are leaky and rarely turn off immediately.

§  I suppose overall it has its ups and downs just like the USA. However, sustainability in design (aside from throwing on a green roof or green element somewhere) seems to be an afterthought at best. Orientation is considered, as well as natural light, but in terms of energy saving strategies and the like I don’t see too much of it.

            In terms of my week, it has been simply work, gym, and catching up on things from back home/working out my trip to Bali. I went out to dinner at a Mamak (Indian) place and had some delicious roti (unleven bread, comes with some spicy dips) with a bunch of CSers in Bukit Bitang. BB is essentially a techy’s wet dream. There are stores selling all kinds of electronics at discounted prices. I need to go there at some point to get my point and shoot fixed (yes, I found it...in the depths of my dirty laundry of all places…). However, I had a limited amount of time so I just had dinner. In a frenzy to get home in time to talk to MB (we hadn’t talked in a really long time) I forgot to pay. Fortunately, I’ll be seeing my CS buddies soon at a meet up in a jungle lodge so I’ll be sure to pay them back. I don’t like owing people money though. Thanks a bunch for covering for me E!

Don't ask why this is bulleted, or formatted weird. Just take it for what it is lah.

TGIF party in, party in (Q was singing that song this morning and it is still stuck in my head...but I guess that's what I get for teasing him all the time.)

-M