Oxymoron In The Tropics

Lee didn't get the gold.... oh well, a silver isn't anything to scoff at. That only means Malaysia needs to strive harder.

It's 12.45 a.m. and I'm dead tired. I've just returned from school.  The students participating in our Perkhemahan Perdana were supposed to have Cultural Night and I was looking forward to some interesting presentations.  Instead when I arrived, two students were down for the count...with hysteria.  One was screaming,"Stop the noise, stop the noise, why are you noisy?  Keep quiet, keep quiet, KEEP QUIET!"  Five men & boys were holding her down.  The other was already flat.  Then another student burst into tears and..well, you can picture the general degeneration.  The teachers and I went around, soothing the students and encouraging them.  I dispensed some blessed oil to the Christians. The teachers valiantly tried to keep the activities going but in the end, we had to stop on S's advice.  She said the spirits in the area were getting agitated and angry and things were only going to become worse.  Max an ex-student began the evening, not believing in spir

LEE CHONG WEI! SILVER OLYMPIC MEDAL!  GOLD IN SIGHT, GO GO GO.....! *now just need to put medicine on all the fingers i was biting on* That Korean Hyunil really put Lee through the wringer..

Today is the last day of school before a much-awaited one week break.  I should be happy, right?  Yes, I should be.  But I'm NOT! My troubles started yesterday when one of my colleagues reported the finding of a campsite in the hills behind the school.  So we (principal, senior assistants all) hitched up our baju kurung and climbed the hill.  Yep, there was a campsite all right.  Three pretty sturdy shelters.   On the way up, we also noticed that the 'campers' had ripped out the iron fencing supports, flattened the fencing and made a hole in the water tank with a convenient attachment.  Something tells me we've been sponsoring some people's water needs.   We noticed a path through the trees behind the shelters so we continued on walking.  And wow, we hit a bigger jackpot!  This time we found three wooden structures clinging to the sides of the hill.  Zinc roofs and even one mattress!  From the rubbish found, it was clear that some people have been living there. So

Of course in this world of many choices and many freedoms, there also exists the greyer side of the eb00k world where c0pyr1ghted books can be made available for d0wnl0ad.  The tech savvy people will know why some of my words are spelt strangely . A friend I know ;) is a member of a f0rum where these books are 5hared.... just imagine a community where each member buys a book to be read and disalin semula .  This can be done through simple scann1ng (sounds unbelievable, I know) or painstaking typing.  But some members are able to salin an entire book within three hours.  Editing is done individually or shared with others.  Imagine such a community where the members may number in the hundreds... Grey grey grey.... And may I remind you that this is a crime?

Here are some sites where you can find free ebooks...but when your title is too highly technical, you might need to do some digging.  It is unbelievable how many people out there are willing to scan entire books just to get them into ebook form.  But hey, if it lights their fire, who's going to complain... General Topics (Fiction and Non Fiction) http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page http://www.baen.com/library / http://www.freebookspot.com/ http://www.onlinefreeebooks.net/   (categories : automotive, business, engineering, gadget, hardware, health & medical, hobbies, programming & technology, sport & martial arts) http://knowfree.net / http://www.memoware.com/ http://www.zillr.org/ http://www.free-ebooks.net / http://www.ebooksread.com / http://www.ebooksread.com/ http://www.asksam.com/ebooks/ http://www.planetpdf.com/free_pdf_ebooks.asp?CurrentPage=1 http://manybooks.net/ http://www.getfreeebooks.com/ http://www.globusz.com/ (an online publishing house that

Hey, Luke, a song you may find interesting, considering your past and current 'adventures'...:) Well, at least, life isn't boring. "Strange Relationship" Do you love me? Or am I just another trip in this strange relationship? You push and pull me and I'm about to lose my mind Is this just a waste of time keep acting like you own me I keep running, watch me walking out that door I hear you behind me Gimme that strange relationship Never felt pleasure and pain like this Something so right but it feels so terribly wrong I keep holding on Gimme that strange relationship One of us gotta let go of this I keep pushing and you keep holding on I'm already gone Do you love me? We break up and back together And I swore to myself never Oh how you do me You strip me of my honor And I don't ever think I'm gonna Break free of these mind games All I'm trying to do is modify my plan 'Cause I can't contain you Gimme that strange relationship Never felt p

I was surfing the net when I thought of one of my favourite comic book artists - Michael Turner, creator of Witchblade and Fathom.  Once upon a time, I was a rabid (and this isn't an exaggeration) comic book collector.  Started collecting in 1981 and most recently, focused mainly on Witchblade, the Darkness and other Top Cow titles.  Fathom had beautiful art but I liked Witchblade better.  I could sit for hours reading the books.... the artwork, the dialogue, the very arrangement of the panels awed me.  If I ever felt depressed, a few hours of Witchblade would chase the blues away.  I've stopped buying WB because it's not Michael Turner doing the artwork anymore... but I always keep myself up-to-date, surfing the Top Cow site. Typed Michael Turner in Google and one of the first entries had this as the title : Remembering Michael Turner. Aw, man... I knew he'd been fighting bone cancer...but he wasn't supposed to lose.  He still had so many tales inside him to ink..

Today I went to the bank to apply for an SSPN (Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional) account for Dylan.  The scheme was launched on 6 August 2004 but somehow I wasn't interested then.  Can't remember why....maybe because I was already saving money in ASB.  But just last week, I took a good look at it once again.  The magic phrase 'RM3000 tax relief' reeled me in.  Plus the free insurance (conditional, of course).  I don't think I can get the matching grant. As usual, I asked the bank officer many questions...some of which she couldn't answer.  So she picked up the phone and dialed the SSPN number.  Ten redials later and we gave up.  I even tried calling on my mobile phone.  Not that it made much difference.  Then she said,"Government bah kan..?" and looked at me and giggled.  Hmmm.... I looked at my watch and it was only 3.45 pm.  Well, nuts to them anyway.  ------------------ Update : It's been two years since I began investing in SSPN an