Tagged

I got tagged by Kat...

Real name: Lee Hwok Lok
Nickname: Lok, Loki, Loky, Lokkie, Coca-Cola, Warlord, Warlock, Hot Dog, Hot Rod, Hard Rock, Leng Chai (that's what people at the coffeeshop call me)
Married: No
Male/Female: Male
High school: SMSJ (best school in the universe, until I left)
College: UPM
Short or long hair: Short to medium long
Are u a healthy freak: Yes. I am healthy, and I'm a bit of a freak
Height: 177cm
Do u have a crush on someone?: Like, right now? Hmmm... no
Do u like yourself: Yea, I suppose.
Piercings: Through my heart
Righty of lefty: Righty

First....

Surgery: Wisdom teeth extraction when I was 21, or was it 22?
Piercing: Shot through the heart by a cute girl
Person u see in the morning: My mom or sister, or anonymous driver in the next car on the road
Award: I won some prize in Standard 3 or 4... can't remember what
Sport u join: Riding my tricycle around the living room
Pet: I think it was a snail or millipede in the backyard. I put it in my mouth.
Vacation: Pangkor Island. I was about 3 months old. Can't remember much of it though.
Concert: Some Christmas concert at Bannockburn School, Illinois. I played the bass clarinet.
First crush: My American classmate in Grade 6 and 7. She had the cutest dimples.

Currently...

Eating: Nothing
Drinking: Nothing
I’m about to: Go home as soon as traffic on Jalan Ampang clears

Your future...

Want kids: Yes. It's good to personally experience the joy and pain I brought to my parents.
Want to get married: Yes. I don't have "the gift".
Careers in mind: World's best husband, father, son, friend, brother, co-worker ;P

Which is better?

Lips or eyes?: Both. Stupid question.
Hugs or kisses: Hug, then kiss. Stupid question.
Shorter or taller?: Just nice
Romantic or spontaneous: Romantic with a streak of spontaneity
Sensitive or loud: Sensitive, but not hypersensitive
Troublemaker or hesitant?: Neither

Have u ever....
Kissed a stranger?: No
Drank bubbles: No
Lost glasses/contacts: I broke a few pairs of glasses in my younger days but never lost any
Ran away from home: No, I walked. Duh.
Liked someone younger: Yes
Liked someone older: Yes... her name is Meg Ryan ;)
Broke someone's heart: Yes
Been arrested: No. I'm a good boy.
Cried when someone died: Yes, I'm human
Liked a friend: Yes

Do u believe in...

Yourself?: Yea
Miracles: Yes
Heaven: Yes
Santa Claus: No
Magic: Yes, depends on what type
Angels: Yes

Answer truthfully..
Is there someone you want to be with right now?: Yes

Do u believe in God?: Yes, my statement of faith is summarized in the Apostle's Creed

Tag ppl:
Go ahead...

Amazing

The cheering by the audience does get a bit annoying. Just ignore it.

Easter baby

This year's Easter came and went without much traditional fanfare for me. It's because I was away in Hanoi that weekend. I think this was first Easter in which I did not go to church. Well, OK, maybe not the first.

You see, I spent my first ever Easter in hospital. I was born on a Saturday, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. So Easter does have some special meaning for me. It's about birth and new life in the midst of death and gloom. The cross ends with the empty tomb.

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ makes sense to me. It means my sins are forgiven when I believe in Jesus, not because I deserve to be forgiven, but because God so loves me. It means salvation is not something I earn, but receive graciously from God. It's not "rational", but requires faith. It's free but it's not cheap. It cost the life and blood of Jesus, the Son of God. And it will "cost" me a lifetime of surrender and submission to God who saves me.

It's good to be an Easter baby. :)

Hanoi-Halong

Treasure Islands

Dire straits

Schooner

Ripples

Onward

Finally, some colour

Oryza sativa

Zig

Zag

At rest

Arkitekcher

Twin Towers

Streetwise

Que sera sera

Flurry

Scoot

Toyota is king, especially in black

Sundown

Metamorphosis

(meta·mor·pho·sis) (met”ə-mor´fə-sis) [meta- + morphosis] Change of shape or structure, particularly a transition from one developmental stage to another, as from larva to adult form.

I wanna be a butterfly.

Jalan AMpang

Don't you just love Jalan Ampang... when it's not jammed with traffic... which is almost never.

Here are some views seen through the glass wall of my office. It looks pretty, until you have to drive through it. Or it rains.

Landmark

Jam

Movin'

Public transport

Countercurrent

Cityscape
If you zoom in, you can see the reflection of the Twin Towers on the car.

Family stroll
Top speed: 5 km/h (about the same as driving)

In between

HelloMoto

Still movement

Post-election happenings

Wow, many happenings have, uh, happened in the past two weeks. We have new "opposition" governments in Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor. Malaysians have shown that we can vote for opposition parties and still survive. People voted across racial lines. We coloured out of the box. I think the best thing to come out of this general election is not that the opposition parties have won big-time, but that Malaysians have overcome the fear of change. So the next round, we can vote in whoever we want, whether BN or BR.

The spectre of May 13 has been decisively exorcised. OK, maybe there are still lingering vestiges of racial overtones and undercurrents in the socio-political landscape, but it's good to know that there were no riots in the so-called aftermath of the elections.

Come to think of it, the word aftermath only applies to the BN's colossal loss. To the BR coalition, the "aftermath" is in fact their victory. If not for the support from Sabah and Sarawak, Pak Lah would probably now be the Opposition leader in Parliament. Or maybe not. Food for thought.

The elections seemed quite "free and fair", considering that the opposition parties won so many seats. But there were still a number of dubious results and unbelievable winning majorities in certain constituencies. The postal votes still remain unaccountable.

Another interesting development is the fact that the Umno fellows have been demonstrating and protesting out in the streets. But weren't they the ones who condemned the Bersih and Hindraf folks for illegal assemblies? Hello? If peaceful public assembly is "not our culture" then they should just stay at home and wait four years for the next elections to voice their grievances through the "proper channels".

I am also astonished at the mainstream media's 180 degree change of tone. The difference is almost like night and day. Pre-March 8, they were ludicrously caustic towards the "opposition" parties, and denying them any coverage. Post-March 8, we suddenly see full page interviews with people like Lim Guan Eng. There's so much openness now. The mainstream media chiefs have proclaimed a time of "soul searching" for themselves. Like, duh, what do they think the rakyat has been doing all this while?! But, oh well, better late than never.

And it's interesting to note that the state with the most problems appointing their Menteri Besar is not the opposition-led states, but Terengganu, which is under BN. The bickering is within Umno itself, not so much among PKR-DAP-PAS. So much for the much touted "stability" of BN.

So, there's hope for a new dawn for Malaysia. But we still have ground to cover. The journey is not over.

Oh yea, on another note, I just came back from a whirlwind tour of Hanoi and Halong Bay. I have too many photos now. Maybe I'll tell some more stories later. Like, the Vietnamese drivers' Hanoi-ing (annoying) habit of honking every 30 seconds or at every junction. They seriously use the horn like nobody's business. They drive with one hand permanently glued to the horn button. I guess that's their way of communicating with other drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians on the road. It's not to scold or tell off someone, but just to say "Hey, I'm here, watch out". But I don't really get it.

Halong Bay was nice, but I expected a bit more. Maybe it was the cloudy weather that dampened the photo opportunities. Hanoi was chaotic and interesting. A place of great contrasts. Old and new. Rich and poor. Gleaming BMWs jostling with old bicycles on the narrow streets. Bustling capitalism flourishing right under the nose of Communism. US Dollars are as widely accepted as Vietnamese Dongs. Oh, Vietnam has elections too, but there's only one party to vote for. Cool huh?

Prophecy

I asked this question on Facebook on 23rd September 2007:

How many seats will BN win in the coming general elections? (The person with closest/ most accurate answer gets a Starbucks pastry and drink from me).

***

And these are the answers I got, in chronological order:

JamesL: 12 (answered on 23 Sept 2007)

EdwardLSM: 189 - provided the seats remain at 219. This means opposition wins about 30 seats. Currently non-BN holds 198 seats. Pas 7, DAP 12, Keadilan 1 and independant 1. I predict opposition/independant to win 9 more seats making a total of 30 non-BN MPs in the p (answered on 23 Sept 2007)

JTLeong: my lulu take on this - 188 (answered on 23 Sept 2007)

SWong: hmmm, for the sake of the starbucks pastry and kopi, i'll take a guess.... 170 (answered on 24 Sept 2007)

GrayT: 60% majority... (answered on 24 Sept 2007)

(There were no more answers after 24th September 2007)

***

The stunning results of the general election that happened yesterday:

BN = 140 seats (63%)

BR = 82 seats (37%)

I'm referring to Parliamentary seats only.

***

And so the winner of the Starbucks pastry and drink is... *drumroll*


Mr. Gray Tan! With an astonishingly accurate answer!!!


Mr. Tan, please call me to claim your prize*.


Terms and conditions:
* Prize must be claimed before the next general election.
* Not exchangeable for cash.
* Not transferable.
* Not valid with any other offers or promotions.
* I choose which Starbucks to go to.

BTW, it's no longer useful to simply refer to "BN" versus "Opposition" as we used to, because BN is now the opposition in five states. Thus, the term "opposition" can also refer to BN, depending on which state we're talking about. And the "Opposition" is now the ruling government in five states, so they shouldn't be given the blanket label of opposition.

Full-time Fools

Abraham Lincoln said, "It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time."

But God knows everything all the time, so I rest assured.

X marks the spot

Vote.

Don't sit on the fence.

People who walk the middle ground get run over by traffic.

Don't be road kill.

Marilah mari, pergi mengundi,

Jangan lupa kewajipan pada negara.

It's time to party

I've been hearing a lot about "How to Vote" or "How to Choose Your MP" in the run-up to the coming general elections on 8 March.

My stand is that we have no choice but to vote based on the party, not the candidate. This is the unfortunate state of affairs in Malaysian politics. The system is like that. There is no room for independent voice in the parties. MPs are all subservient to their party leaders. They are nominated by party leaders, not by the people. So if you want your MP to speak out against the establishment, it has to be an Opposition MP. Forget about open debates a la US Presidential election campaigns. This is not Obama vs Clinton. This is BN vs Opposition.

Even if you vote a "good guy" into the BN, he/she still has to follow the party stand. So, if you like BN, then vote for a BN candidate. But if you don't like BN, then vote for an Opposition candidate. (But please don't do a sissy thing such as casting a spoilt vote.) I do not believe there's any hope for a "good guy" to make a change from within BN -- just look at people like Loh Seng Kok or Shahrir Abd Samad or Bernard Dompok or K Devamany. They speak out a little bit too much and *Wham!* they get clobbered back into their little pigeonhole. They are totally constrained by the system.

Sure, some of you will say that the Malaysian way is to resolve issues quietly and behind closed doors. But I also know that a lot of corruption and monkey business goes on behind closed doors.

Another major problem with the Malaysian political system is that too many voters judge an MP's performance based on minor and trivial matters like fixing broken street lights or clearing clogged drains. For goodness' sake, that is the job of a municipal councillor, not a Member of Parliament. This problem is compounded because some MPs or state assemblymen are also appointed as municipal councillors.

But I certainly expect an MP to operate at a higher level, not bogged down by local issues. An MP should be debating national and international issues like global warming, or human rights, or religious freedom, or education policy, or foreign investment, or global competitiveness, or free trade, or oil prices, etc. Instead, the MPs spend their time picking up litter, cutting ribbons, giving boring speeches and toeing the line. Sure, they "serve the people", but this is not the type of service I'm looking for.

The Malaysian political system is not perfect. In fact, it kinda sucks. So until such time as the system changes, voting a parliamentary candidate based on his "performance" will not make much difference. It's time to vote the party.

CNY 2008

This is a bit late, but at least it's still before Chap Goh Meh. I don't have the energy nor time to ramble like last year's CNY. So I shall let the pictures do the talking.

OK, maybe some short notes will suffice...

1. Traffic back to Ipoh was good on Wednesday. It was like normal, 110 km/h all the way.

2. No captainball this year. Instead we had rounders. My team lost, despite me hitting two *ahem* home runs.

3. Didn't climb Keledang Hill this time. No time. No motivation.

4. We went white water rafting at Sg. Kampar. The water level was low due to the dry season, thus the rapids were not as wild and challenging. But we still had some excitement, like, my uncle nearly fell out of the raft. It was fun hearing all the screams and squeals from people like my mom as we went tumbling over the rapids. :)

5. The lunches and dinners prepared by the cousins seems to be working well. The aunties are much more relaxed, having passed on the stress to the younger generation, although supervision is still necessary. :P

6. Some of us went bowling at Ipoh Parade, again. Yay. I got my highest ever score in living memory... 137. I could have scored higher if not for the dismal score of only 3 in the final frame.

7. The mini sermon during the family thanksgiving service was on "What is new for you this year?" based on Isaiah 43. My uncle noted that this year is the first year after the Jubilee of 2007. So it is a time of new beginnings, both symbolically and literally.

This is what the LORD says...

"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland."

Victory dance

Pristine Sungai Kampar

Ipoh slugger

Sunset swing

One for the album

More pictures here and here.

Aqueous Parliamentarius

Parliament has been dissolved, paving the way for the 12th General Election.

Our chance to use this "proper channel" to speak up has finally come.

It's time to teach the corrupt and incompetent BN politicians a lesson.

BN's two-thirds majority must not be allowed to continue.

Vote for Opposition. Make the change.

I love coral reefs

Steven Spielberg should be thoroughly spanked for creating the Jaws movies and demonizing sharks and instilling a phobia of the deep sea in a whole generation of people. Some of that damage was repaired through recent cartoon movies like Finding Nemo which romanticized marine life and made the reef fish look so cute. I thought that would make people want to protect the marine ecosystem even more. But, the spotlight on coral reefs may have actually worked against the reefs' favour, for the increased attention and popularity of marine fish increased the demand for marine aquariums.

Yes, marine aquariums are a threat to the world's coral reefs and marine ecosystem. I just came back from my neighbourhood aquarium shop where I went to buy some fish food for my mom's guppies. I knew for many years that the shop existed. But only today I discovered to my horror that this shop was specialized in marine fish.

The shop had rows and rows of tanks filled with all types of marine species. They probably had half of the number of species in our National Aquarium. There were moral eels, ribbon eels, stonefish, lionfish, parrotfish, bannerfish, Moorish idols, dotty backs, gobies, blue-spotted rays, bamboo sharks, seahorses, pufferfish, anemonefish, surgeonfish, damselfish, remoras, angelfish, octopus, hard corals, soft corals, anemones, giant clams, etc. I even saw nudibranchs (Hyselodoris apolegma and Phyllidia sp.) and little shrimps.

Now, I have a thing against private marine aquariums.

Here's why:

1. Marine aquariums are very delicate systems that are a man-made attempt to replicate the natural saltwater environment of the sea. Marine aquariums are much more difficult to maintain than freshwater aquariums. The fine balance of salt, ammonia and minerals in seawater has to be maintained 24/7. I don't think most people have the commitment to maintain their saltwater aquarium for the long-term. As a result, the fish they buy will not live long and just become another sad case.

2. Marine aquariums should be kept only by those who have the resources to maintain them, i.e. public aquariums, hotels, shopping malls and serious hobbyists who are willing to spend hours maintaining the tanks, pumps and filters. However, who among us part-time petkeepers is willing to devote such time and money? In most cases, the fish will just die and we soon forget them. How sad.

3. Marine aquariums rely on fish harvested from the wild. This is hardly regulated, and results in overharvesting and depletion of the natural stocks. I noticed that most of the fish sold in the shop were juveniles, which means they do not have a chance to reproduce. When you kill off the children, you're basically killing off entire future generations. No wonder there are less and less fish in our marine parks like Pulau Redang and Pulau Perhentian.

4. Harvesting of marine species for aquariums reduces the opportunities for tourists to see them in the wild. That's a dent to the tourism industry. Of course, tourism itself also harms the environment, but that's another story.

5. Mortality rates of marine aquarium fish are high, because we're trying to sustain their life in an artificial environment. At the shop, I saw a worker casually scoop out a dead lionfish from the tank and dump it in the rubbish bin.

6. The trade of certain protected species is regulated by international law. In case you didn't know, laws are not made to be broken, nor rules to be broken. And, ignorance is not bliss.

7. The survival and health of the marine ecosystem and coral reefs directly and indirectly impacts our own health. Our fish comes from the seas. Coral reefs are fish breeding and feeding grounds. If we kill off the fish, we kill off our own food supply.

I almost thought of boycotting that shop, but I still bought the little bottle of fish pellets which cost RM4.50. I'll save my battle for another day. Maybe I'm just biased, but I prefer to see marine life in their natural habitat.

But if you're into marine aquariums, you must ask the shopkeeper where the supply of fish and corals come from. Ideally, make sure it's only from sustainable, farmed sources, and not from the wild. But if it's from the the wild, make sure they have a permit for it.

Inside Out

We hear many promises of change, but what we really need is a change from the inside out. External changes last but for a moment. Only internal change from deep within our heart of hearts will last forever.

God, change us from the Inside Out.