Laid to rest.

As a new dawn on Malaysian politics rises, I am glad that the shadow of May 13th can finally be shaken off. Now our collective national psyche shall no longer be held ransomed by fear.

Head. over. heels.

with the story of four dysfunctional people stumbling through life. 

It's late and the long nights are taking a toll. But spirits are high, and the end is in sight. We have until next Sunday.

On grace and the election

I've been following political publications and discussions this past week. And the biggest impression I've gained from this is... a steady diet of BN and the opposition slagging each other off leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth. First hand, I'm seeing how powerfully divisive a force politics is. Even in church, where we're supposed to be all "one in Christ Jesus".

So. Is there a place for grace in politics?

By that, I mean that is it possible for a candidate to campaign without having to resort to attacking or ridiculing an opponent? Is it possible for supporters to defend their choices without hurling accusations, name-calling or tearing down?

I haven't seen any evidence to support that so far. It's an environment where people are pitted against each other to determine a winner. To be elected, it's not enough to show that you are worthy for the position. You have to show that other candidates are not worthy, or that you are more worthy than them. So, meters of column inches are devoted to pointing out why the other side is faulty, despicable and contemptible. Every little action that can be construed into a failing is pointed out and expounded on. Build yourself up by putting others down.

When the stakes are high, few people are able to resist trying to win at any cost. But to me, the means by which you win are as important as why you win. I’d even venture to say that it is better to loose on account of being too gracious to use such dirty tactics on your opponent than to win by having to stoop to that level.

I think that a moral victory like that means more than winning that seat.

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I didn't post the whole of last week. Fail.

Balancing

between doing things that I would really rather do and adding more demands onto my time. I feel like I am being carried along by circumstances, but it is so hard to swim against the current.

I think I'm erring on the side of immobility.

between expressing my feelings and indulging in destructive thought patterns. I do not see any absolution to be gained from talking about them anyhow.

I think I'm erring on the side of silence.

Right now,

I'm not really doing what I want to do.

Surfing highlights: Wednesday, 13 Feb 2008

It's been a long time since my last surfing highlights post.

Don't like the whole look of the wood + wrapping paper combo, but this idea is absolutely BRILL. It makes me want to rip the wooden front door from my home and make it into a table right now.

I've also fallen in love with Miles Redd's ID work. His rooms are so rich! So many ideas to glean. His use of dark paint colours (see pic) is especially inspiring.

Lastly, this video of a hedgehog eating made me split my head smiling. Check out the head tuffs jerking and lip-smacking, tongue-flicking action! This hedgie even has the same center-parting that Jobi has. Found via dooce, which has quickly become one of my favourite blogs.

Holiday hustle

This year has been peppered with breaks. First I took 2 weeks off at the end of last year, came back to work for 2 days before going to Singapore over the weekend (took a Friday off there). Then it was 3 weeks of work before going off to Australia for 1 week and finally 2 days of work before I took a day off to get a 5-day CNY break.

Breaks are supposed to recharge and energise you, yes? But all the breaks I've taken so far has revolved around some festivity of sorts - a wedding, music fest, Christmas, Chinese New Year. And festive seasons are defined by activity and being constantly around people, which although enriches you experientially and relationally, drains physical and emotional resources. Which is why I want space and solitude right now. I want to be able to hole up without being bugged to fulfill another obligation.

But that's impossible to have right now without being selfish. But more on that the next time. I'm rushing off to another family dinner, and there's a phone call to Muar that needs to be squeezed in between somewhere.

Snippets from the Big Trip Out

Melbourne was colder than expected. Important lesson learnt: never travel anywhere in the world without a pair of jeans. The days sunny days there can't hold a candle to driving out for lunch at blistering noon in Cyberjaya.

Despite trying to pace myself, I ran out of mojo over the last 3 sets of Big Day Out. Back home in Malaysia and comfortably seated, I wish that I had forced my aching legs to support me for just that little bit more during the last half of Björk, instead of shuffling to the back of the crowd to sit down and blank out. But I throughly enjoyed the first half so all is not lost.

Also, we apparently took good photos, though a modest explanation that was given is that bright light, blue skies and a fancy old building/exotic flora/a magnificent beach like Gold Coast would probably look good in any photograph. I now regret not taking more photos of the buildings. But I wanted to conserve battery life (and to a lesser extent, memory space) because opportunities to recharge were hard to come by.

I'll probably post the pictures up here but I want to try my hand at editing them first. Remember my list of things to do this year?

Shopping highlights: 3 cds, 1 dvd and and two sets of carved wooden animals. The animals deserve a post of their own soon. With proper pictures! Now that I think I can take proper pictures!