The problem with Malaysian Politicians 1

I sit down to breakfast and what's the first thing I see? On the front page of both major newspapers (The Star and NST) - UMNO Youth barring Karpal Singh from entering Parliament. His buddies try to protect him and get roughed up. They manage to enter their workplace.

Karpal claims that UMNO Youth sent him live ammunition. UMNO Youth are upset because Karpal called them 'celaka' (damned or more eloquently, accursed). Charming, innit?

Extra notes for those unfamiliar with the dramatis personae:

1. Karpal is an old-hand in an Opposition party. And he is OLD. He's a lawyer too. 'Celaka' would be mild from him if you were his opponent.

2. UMNO Youth include the young-at-heart. I think the upper limit to be a member is 55 years old. Might be 45.

3.  Karpal's buddies above are also old men. What I mean by old is above 60, but I think these guys are all in the region of 70.

4. Word on the street says that UMNO Youth are a bunch of thugs. They harass and bully and behave like a bunch of children. Ironic indeed.

5. Karpal is wheelchair-bound.

To summarise:

Young punks 'allegedly' send wheelchair-bound old man live ammo. Upset wheelchair-bound old man calls young punks celaka. Young punks stop wheelchair-bound old man from entering his workplace. Wheelchair-bound old man's old buddies try to protect wheelchair-bound old man. Young punks rough up old men. They all make headlines.

I know you're thinking these:

1. Grumpy old man + Opposition party member + stuck in a wheelchair + lawyer + politician. Calls you (Ruling party member) celaka. SO?!?!?

2. How does this happen: "Hey boys (say, 5 of your gang) - we've just been called accursed. Let's stop him from entering Parliament!"

3. World economies are going into a massive recession. Don't these guys have more important things to worry about than their state of damnation?

4. The Ruling party has big issues (not even counting the recession) to deal with. An even bigger issue is stepping up next month. The people are very much not impressed. How does "Future leaders of Ruling party harass old wheelchair-bound man and stop him from entering his workplace" improve their image again (sorry, I slept through Malaysian Politics 101)?

5. Karpal has just been given live ammunition. Free! Why not just use it??

Bloody morons. All of them.

Duct Tape?

Spotted at Ace Hardware:

Oh the humour, I really don't know where to start. Anyone wanna have a go?

Chicken Soup for the Open-Minded Soul

I've been eating quite a lot of that chicken soup lately. I'm referring to words, of course. Can I lamely say that I haven't been updating this blog much because I've eaten all my words for it? :P

Anyway. I recently had to turn down a great opportunity to host a TV show on the Earth and environmentalism, and all that. Not because of schedule, as they were planning on doing it over the weekends. But because of work. And life. And I told myself, not so long ago, that I'd not let work and life get in the way of my performing.

Unfortunately, life has other things in store for me. Fortunately, I believe that it's better things. Right now, I know that I cannot responsibly commit to both and expect to do well in both. I also told myself recently that I had to get my life in order before I started performing again, so I have to hold myself to that, great opportunity or not.

So let's get this down in writing. For the first half of this year (and perhaps the 2nd half too), I'm committing to a few things: 1) getting my life in order, ie Priorities; 2) getting my Finances in order, which also includes excelling at my current job; 3) setting up my performing career, ie Training my voice and my body; 4) enjoying the stuff in Life I had to forsake the past 4 years, ie Diving and Activities; 5) keeping my Writing in practice, be it blogs, articles or stories; 6) reconnecting with the People of my life, ie friends and family.

Tall order eh. Scary now I look at it. Habits I must inculcate: 1) Sleeping early and enough; 2) Exercising / Working out very regularly; 3) Focusing on less and getting more useful stuff done; 4) Being more compassionate and less affected by emotions and emotional dramas; 5) Stop beating myself up over small things; 6) Punctuality.

Nice. In a super tight recap of my past few months, I've learned a lot about:

- death

- money

- the IT world

- small businesses

- the 9-to-5 life

- the value of simplicity in organisation

and have been occupied with these books:

- Your Money & Your Brain

- Outliers

- The Long Tail

- Top Money Tips for Malaysians

- How to become a Millionaire Landlord

and been crazy about boardgames, namely Agricola and the BoardGameGeek.com site; watching bits of anime - The Law of Ueki; trying out Swing dancing; and falling desperately behind on my e-mails and Facebook messages.

Okay. I shall recommit to being regular on my blog, and shall learn to be less cheong hei. Short and sweet, concise, pithy, and so on. Okay okay and to stop using multiple words to say the same thing multiple times. Yes, it's not Boggle and no, I will not earn more points for it. Done.