Blogger Exclusive 2: A letter to a slave girl....

Dear,
I read the news article about you the other day, about how you had to work day and night, when others can play, study, have fun. I feel sorry for you, I wish I can help, but all I can do is just read about your plights, and write it in here. I wish I could do more, go to your country, find your whereabouts and save you from the mishaps that you have encounter, let you see the world around you, and take a photograph of you smiling like every other children. But alas, I'm too young, so I can only read about you.

Dear,
I thought of myself when I see you like that. I felt lucky that I was born to a better world, where my family and friends are always around me, but I thought about you. If I really have the chance to see you, I would put my focus on you, not on me. I will listen to you, share your experiences, and even lend you my shoulder if you have the desire to cry. I will assure you that there is no such thing as sadness and grief for your whole life. I would teach you the principles of life, and how you can change the world. You truly can if you have the will to do so. Think of the world where no child will be slaves. They would be grateful of you. But alas, I'm young, so I can only read about you.

Dear,
To tell you the truth, I can't imagine what I will be if I were to be in your shoes. I know I may never understand what does it feel like, but at the very least, I will try to be your ears. I'm not a good adviser, I hate advising, but I want to cheer you up and at least see you laugh with full of joy. I want to see you enjoying your childhood, being able to run around and play. When you grow older, I would assign you to learn the law, to understand your human rights so that others cannot hurt you anymore, and other children in your country will not share the same fate as you. I want to be with you, to talk to you, but what can I do? I can only read about you.

Dear,
I will come to your country one day. By then, I hope that the condition there is better. If it doesn't, I will highlight the same report that has been released in newspapers now, for I'm a journalist who does not lie.

P.S : There is an article in "The Star" where child slaves in India working for the wealthy families at the minimum age of 10. I felt pity towards them, just like what I felt for every other children in the other poverty countries. So my letter is written for all the girl slaves out there. Readers, please, if there is a chance to help them, I want to know how, if it is to ease their pain and suffering.

Thanks and good day.

Blogger Exclusive 1: Craze vs Sanity

Hey everyone, my blogging activites have to come to a hold. I won't be blogging for quite some time, I don't know how long will it be before I come back again. Anyways, I've come up with my Blogger Exclusive! Which I will blog not on one article, but two. So I hope that you readers out there are satisfied with my topics. Leave some comments, or just keep supporting me, I will keep posting my opinions on this blog.

I finally realise that after months of arguing, I have come to a conclusion: my sister has spread her wings even though she's not ready for it. She's trying to become a woman. A woman who is feminine, who sprays perfume on herself so she can smell nice, a woman who would spend hours doing her hair so she stands out when she's in a crowd. A woman who would rather sacrifice her eyes than to wear her spectacles, just because she wants to look beautiful, so on and so forth.

Countless times I have express my dissatisfaction towards her change in taste. Before that she wasn't that serious. Vain she may be, she never craved for materials like perfumes or makeup. We can still be crazy enough to crack jokes at almost everyone. But as time passed, she doesn't hang around with me anymore, and that becomes obvious after I had started working part time, and then, enrolling in university. I still maintain myself, being paranoid at the wrong times, fool around with anyone that are my friends, and simply, joking around with my bunch of friends. I felt happy because I've been able to portray myself, whether it is with my family or my friends. But my sister doesn't find that amusing, and I don't find hers interesting either. In the end, we had an argument, and it has been a week since I had a proper communication with her.

I blame her change onto her boyfriend, her classmate in school. It was his presence that made her change the way she is now. But I'm very disappointed, why is she rushing to grow up? Why does she want to be so advanced in looks, way further in her time? Still, I couldn't blame her or her boyfriend much. She will become distant sooner or later. And there I was, pledging that us siblings will not fall apart. How foolish I was. And stupid it is to maintain "maturity" on the outside. What about the insides? I can say that she is not matured enough to even face the outside world, what more can I say?

The one part that I hate, and I think everyone hates, is growing up. People expects you to act your age. I'm 18 now, so I should act like an 18-year-old. But how should an 18-year-old act like? After much thinking, they would say, "you can start by eliminating your childish ways,". Okay, but I've seen people older than me, acting like a idiot, anymore explanations? Another long thinking, they would say, "be yourself"

There you have it, be yourself. If being childish is your way of portraying your inner self, then do it, but not to point of irritating others. It is always okay to wear a mask when you are with others. And some, apparently, wears their masks at everyone, only to reveal their true self only to those really close to them. But they will be trapped in the multiple personalities that they have conducted, and in the end they will go insane. Why bother to cover so much, when you can just show your true self? No one is going to hate you because they didn't know who are you in the first place. And maybe they can accept you better.

To me, I can only maintain my own identity by becoming who I am truly. Friends and family would give me advices on how should I act time after time, but I still remain the same way. I guess they wanted to look at me at a different viewpoint, but I'm not ready to change. Will they even see the difference even if I had made a change? To those who are sharp, maybe; to those who are not, they won't. I don't know, but I like being me now. I maybe crazy, but I still have my principles in life. I have my own serious opnions on different issues. Still, I believe I'm still sane in a way that I don't lose any of my self image.

I may be exaggerating abit, because I don't want to see anyone change like my sister. I prefer slow changes, not a sudden change. To tell you readers a truth, I miss my old sister alot. If there is any way to get her back, I would, but if her current self is what she truly is, I have nothing to say except to regret I never spend enough time interacting with her.

Thanks and good day.

Who would ever thought of working there?

The problem with Asian parents is that they can never imagine their children working as something out of the ordinary. The "normal" occupations that we hear, all the time, and all parent's hope on, is doctors, lawyers and businessmen. These 3 occupations are so appealing because it brings steady income, stable status and confirmation. In short, it's steady, and parents need not worry of their children not being able to earn enough money to even fulfil their needs. But wait, now babies are booming everywhere. Mother Earth is filled with 6 billion denizens! How can these 3 occupations fulfil all 6 billion? Not everyone can be doctors, lawyers or businessmen. So what will happen then?

Luckily as time passed, technology, science, agriculture and arts are growing, and many of the "jobs" that were thought as frivolous are now a steady career. But this takes time, and many who had started the jobs in the first place are putting risk in their own hands. They are afraid that people cannot accept their status as being a contributor to the community, therefore they have to slide back into their own "normal" careers, doing what they can do; but not doing what they like. These "founders" are the people who truly brings the whole world into the 21st century. Without them, many people would be continuing their studies not because they like it, but out of their parents' hopes and bringing back income. Here's a list of what are the new career that we would not consider unless we are "true" professionals of it :

1) Designer
Whether it's fashion, or multimedia, or artistic, designer seems to make life more colourful. Fashion designers gave us an insight of his/her world, through their design of clothes. Futuristic, Melancholy, Bluish, you name it, they have the creation for it. Fashion designers are usually in their own world, and creating their one-of-a-kind dresses, making people drop to their knees with gorgeous attire. Multimedia designers will create logos, background of websites for companies or for groups who try to be outstanding, but a multimedia designer does not stop there. Some of the game designs are to be made by multimedia designers. As gamers demand for more realistic outcome, that's where multimedia designers have to work on their magic. Same goes to artistic designers, where they don't have to suffer the hardships that their predecessors faced and still create art. Some of them will be simple, portraying their wish, some will be complicated, playing with the people's mind, trying to hint something. But notice this, designers are always there since the ancient, just that poeple does not recognise it as a career, until now.

2) Gamer
Yes, gamers. The newly implemented field in the career board. Although it's still not available in Malaysia, I can see the potential of Malaysian gamers going far and wide. So what do gamers do? Basically they have to defeat the game as fast as possible, so that their companies can write a guide, to guide the amateurs through the whole process of the game. If you think it is easy, take note: A gamer must not lose any points in his/her game, and find every nook and cranny available for secrets and missions that are not stated in the storyline. That is time consuming, but they have to beat the game within a time limit, so they have to stay up almost 10-14 hours a day to play the game. It causes stress, but still only hardcore gamers can truly live up to the expectations. Casual gamers (like me) cannot stand the pressure. But still, this is a new career, so it is under the stage of waiting to be expanded.

3) Undertaker
Undertakers are basically people who take care of the whole funeral process. It is not exactly the job that many want to do. The fact that you have to deal with crying families, the dead body and the whole occasion, it is a little depressing for those who are not mentally ready. And funeral companies do not exactly provide a "service with a smile". That will be kind of offensive. I mean, you are smiling when your customer is dead? Well, you had to have dead customers, if that are the means to keep your company from surviving. Which is why a funeral service can cost so much. But this career is something comforting. Some families are too distraught to do all the things to deal with the deceased. So an undertaker should be there to help out. Their service at the house is also comforting, as least the families will know that their deceased loved ones can go with peace.

4) Writer
A writer does not promise income. They must be able to write out a good story, after that they had to convince a publisher to publish their book, and that their book promises good sales, and only through that good sales do the writers earn some money. So, not many would choose writer as a "first option" career. Writer is often an alternative, with the idea coming out after they had suffered from their daily jobs, or when they find no more fun staying in the office. But the good thing about being a writer is that they can invoke creativity into their masterpiece, and unless their topic is controversial enough, it usually takes several years before it becomes famous worldwide. But still, without writers, there will not have stories. Just like how we grow up reading Hans Christian or Enid Blyton's stories, maybe in the future, our children will grow up reading J.K Rowling's stories?

These 4 are just one of the many careers out there which the careers are slowly gaining recognition everywhere. While some are still growing, some are getting reputation. But still, every career is meant for someone out there. That includes us. For me, I hope to be a journalist, somewhere. Everything out there is an opportunity. Some people might feel disgust on some careers, some will just rejoice, while some has no comments. So let us youngsters pray that we will secure a job somewhere, not only for our interest, but also for the sake that we can enjoy every part of it.

By the way, is politician a career?

Just Joking.

Thanks and good day.

Songs that are close to hearts

Every stage in my life there will always have a song to represent it. I love the fact that songs exist. A nice melody with lyrics, plus a singer's angelic voice, and a song is born. Everytime I had encounter something, I will come across a song that will stick to me until it wears out, because I don't think of that something anymore. Slowly, this has become a habit. When I'm in a good mood, I listen to practically everything in my pendrive. But when I thought about something, I'll play only one song because only that particular song knows what I'm thinking about.

The second thing I notice is the lyrics. Back then I was a Mandarin pop fan, for the lyrics those singers sang were poetic, even though they are pop idols, and I got addicted to poetic lyrics. I even gone so far to enrolling into a famous music school to learn about lyrics. In the end, I realised the hardships a lyricist had to encounter, and gullible as I am always, I thought lyricist was a choice of career, until that reality was smacked right at my face after I had a meeting with a Taiwanese lyricist who had came to Malaysia. He was humourous, and amazingly I like the way he speaks. He tells stories in detail. Do all Taiwanese speak like that?

But now I had changed. Maybe I was becoming too busy, and maybe I was influenced by the many music programmes available on television, but as time goes by I start to accept all kinds of language and music. English, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese. I love to take notice of the English lyrics, as some of them bears some meaning to it. I'm lucky that until now I've chosen mostly songs that are compatible with my attitude. Not to mention instrumental scores too. I even get addicted to game music after I had played a fare few games. And even watching anime I was touched because of the background music they used. Timeliness, perfect timeliness. I'm not too enthusiastic about Hong Kong ones though. They kept using the same background music. I grew tired of them.

If anyone is curious, the song at my stage now is "Simple and Clean" by Utada Hikaru. The lyrics is really meaningful because it deals with love with logical thinking. Although the couple liked each other alot, that doesn't mean they have to sacrifice. That's the true meaning to the song. I'll write the lyrics :

When you walk away, you don't hear me say
Please, oh baby, don't go
Simple and Clean is the way you're making me feel tonight
It's hard to let it go

You're giving me too many things lately
You're all I need, you smiled at me and said
"Don't get me wrong I love you, but does that mean I have to meet your father?"
"When we are older you'll understand what I meant when I say 'no, I don't think life is quite that simple' "

When you walk away, you don't hear me say
Please, oh baby, don't go
Simple and Clean is the way you're making me feel tonight
It's hard to let it go

The daily things (like this and that and what is what) that keep us all busy
are confusing me
That's when you came to me and said
"Wish I could prove I love you, but does that mean I have to walk on water?"
"When we are older you'll understand it's enough when I say so 'and maybe, some things are that simple' "

When you walk away, you don't hear me say
Please, oh baby, don't go
Simple and Clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight
It's hard to let it go

Hold me, whatever lies beyond this morning
Is a little later on
Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all
Nothing's like before

When you walk away, you don't hear me say
Please, oh baby, don't go
Simple and Clean is the way you're making me feel tonight
It's hard to let it go

Hold me, whatever lies beyond this morning
Is a little later on
Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all
Nothing's like before.

I guess that's it. I can't think of any other topic to write now. Thanks and good day.

Argumentative.....

I just have to apologise, due to the amount of homework and assignments I had in university I can't seemed to find the time to blog about anything here. And I never want to spill everything on my personal feelings inside here. But I had to blog about this topic. It was highlighted on my friend's blog. He seemed confused on an issue, maybe due to the problems he had in his life. I never exactly want to attempt to argue on this topic, but since others have questions, I might have the answers. The topic is "What is the difference between 'love' and 'like' ?"

'Love' and 'Like'. A very tough topic to argue. Some people claim that that they "love" someone, when actually they only "like" them. How do I tell it? Firstly by the expressions of seeing that someone. What do you feel? Anxious? Heart beating very fast? Blushing till your face is so hot, people assume you are sick? Then those are the symptoms of "liking" someone. Why do you had those symptoms when you "like" them? Because, you barely know them! All you see is that he/she looks special to you. And those symptoms occur when you had the desire to approach them and let them accept you to be their friend, or straightaway they became your love partner. Believe me, once they had accepted you as a friend, those feelings are gone right away. The reason will be elaborated in the explanation of "love".

"Liking" someone requires you to do crazy things, but not crazy enough, because there's still restrictions. Or a better way to say it, YOU know your own limitations. If you did something that is out of a certain limitation, that particular person that you are infatuated to might think differently of you, resulting in them keeping themselves away from you. Then, you'll be branded as "hazardous". It is a very risky thing, and often girls/guys didn't really know that limitation. But they should have learnt their lesson after their first attempt. For those that are, err, more gullible, they should know by their second or third attempt.

Now comes to the part where "love" and "like" are confusing. At first stage, "love" should be confortable. Example, friends. As friends we do not feel awkward and instead we laughed at each other on our bad habits. We do not ridicule our friends just because they are a no talent or because they are ugly. Friends are with us when fate comes in. Same goes to love partners. Unlike "like", our love partners SHOULD NOT make us feel awkward and messy. Why should we make attempts of impressing them when they had actually accept us the way we are? Unless they don't "love" you, they only "like" you! And this is where most lovers had been confused and misinterpret about.

If you "like" someone, you might still want to change the person into someone of your dreams. But if you "love" someone, you just accept them the way they are. Why should you change the way they behave when you love them for their originality? And there is a cliche to this. You may not be able to CHANGE their behaviour, but you may find your own behaviour changing as the relationship progresses. That too might affect the relationship. So my friends, if you think you can handle a relationship while maintain that same attitude and identity of yourself, then you are ready. I've seen problems of that. It is either that a person has changed after a relationship, or the person didn't change, but their views on a relationship would have change. It's either the bad or the worse. It's better to be cautious than to fall into a trap easily.

There, those are my arguments. Useful or not, it's up to the readers. But I'm merely saying this. No matter what, love is always there. Love is there even when we are in our mother's womb. Love is everywhere. I may be young, but I know what love is, it took me awhile to realise that. No one is perfect. Once upon a time I was blind too. I guess I had open up. Oh and please treat love naturally. I might write an article on that, but not sure when. But it is not an immediate post. Maybe I will post it in the second year? Who knows. Anyway, I'll keep this blog as active as possible. Thanks and good day.