...yet another muddying of waters...

The world in general has no real idea of what Islam is.

I don't claim to be an expert, oh no, not me, but still... the actions of those terrorists who claim to be fighting for the cause of Islam are really *not* helping with the stereotype and misinformation and misunderstanding...

So I'm not surprised when I read about some Danish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that have the Muslim community all riled up.

That the cartoons were concieved and published shows a deep ignorance a few Danes had of how highly-regarded the Prophet is by Muslims.

I do think they should have known better than to publish a cartoon that depicts the prophet as a terrorist with a bomb in his "turban".

But, again... am I really surprised? no.

hello, Muslim world -- that such a faux pas would occur in this day and age, when we should be showing the world what Islam really is all about (i.e. NOT that terrorist bullcrap), is a failing on all of us too.

Don't just hit out at the ignorant "Westerners". What have you been doing to educate them, to provide an alternate view of the religion, one that is not supplied by the extremist terrorist whatever-ist organisations, that is eagerly reported and propagated by the media all over the world to further some nations' agendas??

Then the Danes hide behind the excuse of "free speech";
... the media focusses on Muslims hurling ridiculous pro-Zionist accusations, torching Embassies & burning flags;

... people start picking sides ... (btw, I wonder how many have actually *seen* the 'toons for themselves....)

aaaaaaand everyone pretty much stays stuck in their respective ruts.

yay.

*sigh*

Haven't seen the 'toons? Try HERE.

Other reading material:
1. MWU's "What Would Prophet Muhammad Have Done?"
2. Basque News & Information "U.S. backs Muslims in caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad dispute"
3. The Times Online "What price must be paid for free speech?"
4. ridiculopathy.com "Muslims Outraged Over Blasphemous Garfield Cartoon" (Not to be taken seriously)

supermen in the buff?

..we got so tired of the friggin DVD player that wouldn't play, so we went ahead and bought another one. Not too too happy with it, will probably return it for another model, but for the moment we are keeping it and playing all those DVDs we'd borrowed from the library..

The Superman movies :

The worst one = Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. *o*m*g* lame storyline, lame nuclear man, lame rebuilding of the Great Wall of China, that really was the worst of the lot!! And I really don't remember if I'd seen it before, could have sworn I'd seen it but didn't remember a thing, maybe because i blanked it all out cos it was so lame??!! Oh, did I mention I think this movie is lame? :p

The most different one would definitely be Superman III, with Richard Pryor as the unwitting "bad guy". There was more in terms of humor & sight gags, maybe because of Richard Pryor's involvement? What was cool too about this one was seeing Annette O'Toole playing Lana Lang, when later she's in Smallville playing Martha Kent :-)

Smallville Season One:

Kinda cool to see the absolute beginning of the series. However, it looks like all those otherworldly storyline twists about symbols and elements and caves will come in maybe Season Two. Don't have that from library yet. Me in no rush, probably let Kosh knock himself out on that while I'm gone :-)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Yes, finally got to start on the scooby gang's post-HighSchool action! Almost halfway through Season 4 right now, with Season Five also in hand and due back Feb 9th... yes, four days to go through one-and-a-half seasons of Buffy,,, I think I'm gonna be all Buffy-ed out by then!

Oh, and yeah, 15 days till my departure. *u*g*h*

I'm a survivor!

Well, actually, it says that while I survived, I would probably be badly injusred, or even maimed for life. Fun.

How about you?

THIS is what I'm talking about.

getting to know you thru 42 questions??

Got this in the mail from my SOL (sis-out-law, duh!), thought I'd respond on the blog instead of e-mail.

btw, responses valid for 3rd Feb 2006 ;-)

Welcome to the Spring 2006 edition of getting to know your friends. What you are supposed to do is copy (not forward) this entire e-mail and paste it onto a new e-mail that you'll send. Change all the answers so they apply to you, then send this to a whole bunch of people, including the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends, if you did not know them already!

1. What time did you get up? around 915am... then dozed again till 11.30am, teehee!
   
2. If you could have lunch with anyone, who would it be? This may sound unlikely, cos I'm kinda scraping the barrel here, but I think I might just wish for a lunch with Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself, and get some truths and explanations from the horse's mouth, y'know?
   
3. Gold or silver? definitely silver
   
4. What was the last show you saw at the cinema? Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
   
5. Favorite TV Show? currently on air: House; off-air: Babylon 5
   
6. What did you have for breakfast? a glass of Silk (soy milk)
   
7. Who would you hate to be stuck in a room with? no-one in particular... if I end up stuck in a room with someone I'm not fond of, I'd just ignore him/her, no biggie.
   
8. What is your middle name? errr, that's actually a tough one,,, for those who know my full real name, you'll know why.
   
9. Beach, City or Country? errr, how about mountain??
   
10. Favorite ice cream? Ben & Jerry's Dublin Mudslide
    
11. Butter, plain or salted popcorn? Butter *and* salted
    
12. What kind of car do you drive? I *used* to have a metallic green automatic 1996 Nissan Sentra when I was back in KL.
    
13. Favorite sandwich? not a big fan of sandwiches... but make it chicken, and spicy, and I'll probably be happy :-)
    
14. What characteristic do you despise? NATO (no action, talk only)
    
15. Favorite flower? hmmmm, maybe red carnations, because they are yummy?
    
16. If you could go anywhere in the world for vacation, where would it be? ICELAND! The land of fire and ice!
    
17. What color is your bathroom? white, with green/blue "accessories"
    
18. Favorite brand of clothing? Me *not* a slave to fashion, no preference, so long it looks good.
    
19. Where would you retire to? Malaysia?
    
20. Favorite day of the week? Fridays (bbq beef ribs day, duh!)
    
21. What did you do for your last birthday? Nothin much, it was on a Monday, and we'd been out of town that weekend, but I *did* receive tickets to see Meat Loaf in concert!
    
22. Where were you born? Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
    
23. Favorite sport to watch? Tennis (tho it's much more fun to play than watch)
    
24. Person you expect to send this back first? (not applicable)
    
25. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? (not applicable)
    
26. What fabric detergent do you use? Era
    
27. Coke or Pepsi? Definitely Coca-Cola! Specifically: Coke Zero
    
28. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Ugh. I used to be more of a morning type person. Now I'm more of a night owl.
    
29. What is your shoe size? I *think* it;s U.S. size 6
    
30. Do you have any pets? Thru Kosh, we've got the one crazy kitty
    
31. If you have any pets, which one is your favorite? err, that one crazy kitty?
    
32. What did you do on your last date? date? date? we don't "date", LOL! But we treat ourselves to dinner every so often. Most recent - dinner at TGIF.
    
33. What kind of music do you listen to? All sorts, with a particular bent for heavy stuff but not too noisy... think GnR, Metallica; 5 for Fighting; Eminem; oldies; just NOT jazz/r&b
    
34. What is your favorite musical artist? MEAT LOAF!
    
35. Do you have any brothers/sisters? Yep. One brother (+ 2 yrs)
    
36. Which brother/sister is your favorite? Ooof, that's a tough question,,, let me think about it. ;-)
    
37. What is the stupidest thing you have ever done? I'd rather think I've not done "stupid" stuff, just created situations from which to learn...
    
38. What is one of your most favorite things to do? Blogging. That's about all I do apart from read, eat, sleep & tv, LOL!
    
39. What is your favorite number? 72
    
40. What is your favorite color? BLACK
    
41. What is your favorite holiday? don't really have one... after all, they are more "days off" than "holy days"
    
42. What's your favorite movie? Tough one... maybe Star Wars? Tho Willow was way up there for the longest time in my teenage years until I outgrew Val Kilmer's type of character...
    

42 is such an odd number, I bet this list has been added to / changed ... wonder how the original looks like!...

No, wait, 42 is an EVEN number?! ...

And isn't 42 the answer to life, the universe and everything??

teehee!

Aaaaanyways, anyone wanna consider this a pseudo-meme, by all means go ahead an consider yrselves tagged :-)

Have a good weekend, y'all!

A defining moment

The year was 2004.
I was still in the rat race.
It was 7:00am, on a weekday.

I was in front of the *locked* gym doors.
They were supposed to be open by 7am.
I pushed & pulled on them, no use. It was all dark inside too!

I was pissed… after all, with the gym only opening at 7am, one can hardly get more than a 20min workout, then you have to cool down, shower, throw on yr office clothes, dump sweaty clothes back into the car then head up to the office. Good thing for me my project was kinda flexible, and so long we were in before 830am we weren’t really considered tardy…

But…. if I couldn’t get in at 7am on the dot, well, that whole sequence is shot to pieces!!

The gym is located in the basement of the office building. I take the escalator up in order to get a signal on my phone. I call the gym. As soon as someone answers, I snap: why are you not open yet? The fella on the other side says “But, we are open, ma’am! Where are you?” “I was in front of your doors 30 seconds ago!” “I’m sorry ma’am, the person who was supposed to be at the counter wasn’t there, but I rushed up when the phone rang, so I am here now, you can come in.” “Yeah, you *better* be open…”

I stomp back down, major frown on my face, scowl at the guy as he swipes my card; he apologises again, but I am very curt with him; I proceed to dump my stuff in the locker room and rush to the elliptical machine for my very rare morning workout.

My mood is kinda spoilt, tho…. I’m pissed off about how late I’m gonna end up being for work no thanx to the delay in starting the workout… but very soon my thoughts turn to how bad I felt about snapping at the poor instructor like that… what a way for *him* to start the day, eh?

It really bugged me that I knew I could get away with it: after all, I had seen so many people who think they are above the “mere” “lowly” gym instructors and give them a difficult time, not giving them any respect… so I could play the role of “outraged customer” and get away with it,,,, except that it was certainly *not* my style. Yet apologizing to him seemed, well, difficult. But it would be the right thing to do.

I made up my mind.

At the end of my 20mins, I got off my machine, went up to him, and apologized for how I had spoken to him earlier. I said something like “My being annoyed is no excuse for being rude to you, and I’m sorry for being so harsh earlier.”

Oh, the look on his face – it was totally worth it :-)

Of course, he pooh-poohed the whole incident, said it was no big deal, he understood how one would be annoyed not to find the gym open when one needed to be in on the dot, and how he’d dealt with so many different characters over the years as an instructor he’s pretty much built up immunity to their harsh words, so don’t worry about it.

But you could see that my apology had made a huge positive impact on him.

And the unanticipated side-effect: *I* felt good that I’d helped turn what might have been a bad day from him, back around. The high that I felt lasted quite a while – a sign that it really was the right thing to do.

And on my subsequent trips to the gym, everything went pretty much as usual – after all, me being the loner type, I don’t mix much with either the other customers of the instructors anyway. But me & him, ever since that incident, we’d always exchange smiles and greetings. I dunno what would pass through *his* mind when he saw me, but for me, I’d be reminded of the day I set my pride aside, and helped turn around a crummy start to his day.

Eating humble pie was such a small price to pay for making someone else’s day.
Why was this a defining moment for me? I can’t satisfactorily put it into words: it’s about reaffirming that one does not have to be a slave to pride and emotions; that genuinely putting other people’s feelings and welfare over one’s own is neither weakness nor shortcoming; that the more one gives, the more one does get in return.

You get my drift.

How about you, dear readers, any of your own defining moments you’d like to share? I’d love to read about them in your blogs :-)

again: I *am* a geek, LOL!

Watching one of those ST:TNG episodes earlier today (well, yesterday, I guess, it's past midnight!!)... it had just started, and the guest star names were appearing onscreen... wasn't paying that much attention, but all of a sudden I noticed a familiar name:

"Omg! Andreas Katsulas??!! That's G'Kar!! That's G'Kar!!!"

It was a tale of a Romulan defector, and I kept looking at the actor closely, listening to the voice, wondering if it was G'Kar, but it just didn't quite fit the face/voice from Babylon 5.... was this Andreas Katsulas or not??!! ... then right at the end, this Commander Tomalak comes into the picture.

It's G'Kar!!
Funny how there are these Star Trek / Babylon 5 links.... the only one I knew of was of course Walter Koenig (Chekov / Bester); it was Kosh who was quite happy to recognise the "voice of the Enterprise computer" (Gene Roddenberry's wife Majel Barett) as the Lady Morella, widow of the Centauri Emperor. Then now there's the discovery of Andres Katsulas having had this recurring Romulan role (I count 5 appearances).

Kinda cool :-)

more New Year celebrations?

It's probably an extremely slow week for folks back home in Malaysia....

• Su 29 & Mo 30 Jan= Chinese New Year
  
• Tu 31 Jan = Awal Muharram = the Muslim New Year
  
• since CNY Day 1 was on a Sunday, it's "carried forward" to Wed 1 Feb
  
• ... but for those in the Federal Territory (mainly KL), Wed 1 Feb = FT Day
  
• so for those in the FT, CNY Day 1 is carried forward all the way to Thu 2 Feb!
  
• oh, and for those who employers actually provide a day off on the Friday before a Saturday public holiday, they got Fri 27 Jan off too!


... That's pretty much a week off of work.... I bet KL's a breeze to drive through at this time!!! ... Probably no difference in drivers' attitudes, tho, no matter what the occasion :p

Anyways, the fact that CNY & the Muslim New Year happen to coincide this year, I wanna highlight something that has bugged me for ages, but I've yet to get a satisfactory answer. Why, oh why, does the Muslim calendar, which is a lunar calendar just like the Chinese or Jewish one, NOT correct for the discrepancy between lunar & solar years?

It makes no sense to me to have such an uncorrected calendar, seeing as the lunar year has a creep of 10 - 11 days: If I wanted to commemorate a battle that was won in mid-summer, I think I'd continue to commemorate it on mid-summer, not 10 days earlier every year until one day I'm celebrating it in the middle of winter. Just doesn't make sense.

Other cultures, already knowing of this creep, already have some sort of correction mechanism in place.. that is why Hanukkah always falls around X-mas time, even if it's not always the same date every year. And that is why CNY always falls sometime between late Jan & mid-Feb. They use a lunar calendar that corrects itself to line up with the solar year.

There's no way the Muslims of that time didn't know of this creep,... so why no correction??? Whenever I've raised this question, I get the feeling people think I'm blaspheming. Their answer = that's how it's been, you should not question. Sorry mate, that doesn't jive with me - I actually want to understand, not just swallow hook line and sinker everything that people try to shove down others' throats. Unfortunately, mosr people I know, especially when it comes to religion, prefer not to think or understand, and just do, thinking that blind unthinking obedience is what is required of them. It's really sad.

Sigh.

Anyway, moving on to *another* type of religion, kinda... it looks like I fail, LOL!

Ha ha! You don't know the difference between an Andorian and a Vulcan.
Your rank suits you: you are a space cadet.

Okay, okay, I admit I haven't seen *any* DS9 or Voyager since 1995, so couldn't answer anything relating to those shows... and I hardly know TOS.. only some TNG recently, and of course maybe the last 2 years of ST:ENT. And don't ask me the make/model number of the ships - they were all names Enterprise, as far as I'm concerned!! :p

BUT... i DO know the diff between the Andorians (blue creatures with snail's antennae sticking out of their heads) and Vulcans (those pointy-eared logical creatures!!)

Plllbbblblblbbbbbbbbb!!

Btw, thanx SnglGuy for the quiz link :-)