The City of Joy

Am currently reading Dominique Lapierre's The City of Joy, borrowed amongst a few others from Uncle Kok Hwee, Isaac's dad.
While I'm only a quarter-way through, I can tell you, its a great read.
Considering that the main characters are probably the most destitute people on the face of this earth, the title is more than a tad ironic.
Described as faction by the author, it caused a serious upset amongst the very people the book described. Despite the author's efforts at donating one half of the book's royalties to one of the slums he described in the book, he was actually criticized and rejected on the grounds that he had exploited them.

The mentality of the people Lapierre writes about is amazing.
Here's an excerpt from the book:

"A slum was not exactly a shantytown. It was more like a sort of poverty-stricken industrial suburb inhabited exclusively by refugees from rural areas. Everything in these slums combined to drive their inhabitants to abjection and despair: shortage of work and chronic unemployment, appallingly low wages, the inevitable child labor, the impossibility of saving, debts that could never be redeemed, the morgaging of personal possessions and their ultimate loss sooner or later.There was also the total nonexistance of any reserve food stocks and the necessity to buy in minute quantities-one cent's worth of salt, two or three cents worth of wood, one match, a spoonful of sugar- and the total absence of privacy with ten or twelve people sharing a single room. Yet the miracle of these concentration camps, was that the accumulation of disastrous elements was counterbalanced by the other factors that allowed their inhabitants not merely to remain fully human but even to transcend their condition and become models of humanity.
In these slums people actually put love and mutual support into practice.They know how to be tolerant of all creeds and castes, how to give respect to a stanger, how to show charity toward beggars, cripples, lepers, and even the insane. Here the weak were helped, not trampled upon.
Orphans were instantly adopted by their neighbours and old people were cared for and revered by their children."

Its always those who have the least that can always find a little extra to share.
Those who are the most afflicted are the same ones who will find a reason to hope, to live.
Why?
Makes you wonder who the 'destitute' really are.
I'm not saying that its fine to be living out on the street, wondering if you'll make it through the night or if there will be anything to feed your children with the next day.
And I still don't understand why God allows one child to die of starvation in one part of the world while another lies sleeping in a thousand dollar nursery.
But why is it, that those with everything find that they can give the least?
And no, its not all about the money.

procrastination, thoughts and sorbet

I'm still blogging! Yes I am! Just tied up with stuff..which will all hopefully end soon.
Say 'hi' to me! Pleaselah...I get lonely sometimes :(
Anyone want to go watch Gubra? Or rather anyone know when it'll be showing here?
I think it was either end of March or April,but anyway,the people from the lovely Merlion city still got to watch it first.
Malaysian movie with malaysian actors/actresses and director. Singaporean cinemas with first dibs on viewings. Sometimes I really wonder...

~I've got a letter I would like to send. It's lacking strings of words with punctuation at the end.
Should I trust this dialect? To convey the right effect?~

*boon!we're supposed to go bowling!*

The husband store

So..I was surfing and came across this random piece of info.
There's this 'Husband Shop' in NY and well..its a husband shop!You get husbands there girls!
I know I'm not very pro-marriage and stuff but just read on..

A store that sells husbands has just opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates. You may visit the store ONLY ONCE!

There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch…You may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building! So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband.

On the first floor the sign on the door reads:
'Floor 1 - These men have jobs and love the Lord'.


The second floor sign reads:
'Floor 2 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, and love kids'.


The third floor sign reads:
'Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, and are extremely good looking'.


"Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.


She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:
'Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous and help with the housework'.


"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"

Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:

'Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak'.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the

Sign reads:
'Floor 6 - You are visitor number 4,363,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please'.


Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!

sos

Dear God,
This night seems endless.
Send me some kind of hope,some sign, some indication that "joy comes with the morning."
Any sign.

mamaking

Went mamak-ing with some of the school-leavers from the youth group..aka the bummers :P
Interestingly, the mamak was directly opposite my house..and I hadn't been there before...I tell you..Taman Intan is the best place to live in kluang!!

Oh yea..school leavers plus 1 doctor-in-training, who always seems to have study breaks..hm..

"So, you free saturday nite?"
"I..urm..I'm allergic to urm..SATURDAY nights!"
"-_-"


K'chai..looking amused about something..or is he pondering the meaning of life..or why we can never get mee goreng to taste like the mamak's at home


Daniel...also pondering..about going BALD this sunday! Girls..your leng-chai takde leng-chai adi..mwahahahaha


I wanted them to do a cool pose..jadi like that pulak..
Can use as promotional pic for the next blockbuster to hit our shores..
"The Mystery of the Movable Eyebrows"


(l-r) Erin,Gary,Me,Dan,Ryan and K'chai.

Oh and yes..I almost forgot..they (the spm-ers) did really,really well! Ask them if you want to know how well.

random thoughts

Class was good today. 3 of the hyper boys didn't show...giving me the chance to focus on the adorable little girls :P

I don't like saying goodbye..regardless of the length of seperation involved.

There's such a thing as lemon cheesecake Kit-Kat.

Ben's camera obsession can be highly irritating....but in retrospect, I'm always appreciative of his 'obsession'.

The majority of strangers that I meet think I'm either 15 or 16.

When travelling alone..you should never ever fall asleep/rest/go comatose...especially if unfamiliar with the train stops.

Salak Selatan has a ulu train station.

I had a problem trusting others...hence not many people ever get to know me too well.

With regard to the previous statement...that's also the reason why many people think that I am superficial and a bit of an air-head...or is it just me being over sensitive :P

Looks matter. Especially if you want to study anything in the science stream.

Life should be lived-large and to the max.

Hoop earrings are hard to latch on.

You know what...in the end...what everybody else says and thinks..doesn't really matter...what does God think?

I am very blessed.

hot

malaysian weather....arrggGGGGHH!

emoing

Am I intolerant? A total spoilt brat?
*gasp* An airhead bimbo? Rude? Mean? Scary?
Am feeling down about random insignificant stuff :( bwarh.
Am going to the 'funfunfun' city of KL aka pollution, noise and peoplepeoplepeople city
this weekend..
*cheers up at thought of seeing friends*
Am I too emo?

adventures in baking

coffee blueberry cheesecake
Not too bad for a first-timer, no?
Mummy lied..she said it would only take 1/2 an hour to make...hmpf..try 2 hours!

bumming

I'm just wondering:
Is it an asian thing to make a person's career the determining factor in making major choices in life?

tired

All I ever wanted was to be whole
unspoilt
undamaged
To feel overwhelming joy
let the heart soar high
right into an endless sky

But you taught me about clouds
about thunderstorms, hail, lightning
fear

I'm safely grounded
safe from what might have ripped my heart to shreds
but why does it feel
so
broken?

Oh brother I can't, I can't get through
I've been trying hard to reach you, cause I don't know what to do
Oh brother I can't believe it's true
I'm so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you
Oh I wanna talk to you
You can take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?
You can climb a ladder up to the sun
Or write a song nobody has sung
Or do something that's never been done

Are you lost or incomplete?
Do you feel like a puzzle, you can't find your missing piece?
Tell me how do you feel?
Well I feel like they're talking in a language I don't speak
And they're talking it to me

So you don't know were you're going, and you wanna talk
And you feel like you're going where you've been before
You tell anyone who'll listen but you feel ignored
Nothing's really making any sense at all
Let's talk, let's talk
coldplay-talk