Whinges of an Alien

On 28th March 2009, right before 8.30pm, I heard this screeching voice of a woman shouted at our apartment block: "Hey everyone, turn off your lights for 1 hour to support Earth Hour! Do your part for the environment please!" 3 minutes later, she shouted very rudely again: "Hey turn off your lights you stupid people!" and it sounded like she was going to punch anyone who does not obey. This, is a very IMPORTANT day for these - I believe - new "earth lovers" who got converted after being brain-washed by the biggest pretence amongst the environmental organisations, who now suddenly became nobles! Ambassadors! Spokesmen and spokeswomen! Doesn't that just make you (and I), who have probably been trying to live a sustainable life for the past 15 years, want to slap her? I am not against turning lights off when not in use, nor would I keep the lights on just because this woman disgusted me. If she thinks by conforming to the Earth Hour symbolic act makes her...

Someone asked me: "Oh did you watch the fireworks last night? It was AWWWWWSOME! Soooooo beautiful! Uh... you didn't? But why? Don't you celebrate the Independence Day?"  I often do not know what to say to these people, especially when they are supposedly my "friends". I do try and give a very diplomatic answer in a very polite way, not saying anything about how meaningless and environmentally unfriendly fireworks are, which they definitely have no freaking idea what the hell I am on about. So you'll see me coming up with fake reasons like:"Oh I can't see it from my window", or "I was so tired I fell asleep", etc. What I've always wanted to ask them back is: what does all these mean to them? Oh look, boom: a red flash; boom: a blue one; and boom: another red! Then what? Tons of carbon dioxide and left behind rubbish to be cleaned up, plus money wasted on burning gun powder and chemicals away. Now... did anyone benefit from any...

As much as I despise the lifeless living in Singapore, I have to admit that their public transport system is near flawless. You can argue that the country is tiny, hence easy to plan and control; but it doesn't give anyone any reason to operate their public transport service horrendously bad just because it is bigger! I have now been stuck in Kuala Lumpur for 3 months. Having sold my old car before I left the country years ago, I now have to depend on various public transport to get around the city. And what can I say? NOTHING HAS CHANGED! Thanks to the heritage of my earthling foster family, I am temporarily (hopefully, fingers-crossed!) residing in a God-forsaken place where I have to take 4 different public transports just to get to work (the same applies to getting home): bus-train-train-bus! There are at least 6 hours spent on travelling everyday, and it's far worse than getting the bus from Southampton to Derby! Why? You may ask. Of course, the residential area being inac...

Yes it is election time again for Malaysians, and you can see all the "hype and excitement" building up leading to the Big Day. Everywhere you go, you'll stumble upon or walk into banners, flag lines, buntings, and billboards filled with photos of election candidates along with cheesy slogans that lie through their teeth. These advertising materials are hung from lamp poll to lamp poll, over the bridge, on the trees, as well as on some flats' main gates. You can even spot the gigantic prints pinned on the hills. Not only they are making the place look messy, they can be really hazardous too. I've seen a couple of middle school kids trying to cross the street, stumbling over some flag lines hung over the divider and nearly fell over onto the road. Fortunately, no one was showing off the power of their sports car at that very moment. All these election candidates promised (on the outdoor advertising materials) to be everything you want them to be: sincere, of servic...

I love Christmas, but I have much reservation about the notion that, to celebrate Christmas means that you will have to buy something for someone, and subordinate completely to commodity without much thought. Every time I feel like buying something for my friends, I tend to think that I might be adding to: Their clutter - excessive wrapper and trimmings on top of gifts that my friends may have no idea what to do with. Do they throw them away? I may feel unappreciated. Do they reuse or recycle them? That may be too much work for them. They may just throw the wrapping paper away, but it’s still an unnecessary contribution to the landfill. Their chores - things like flowers, nice. But they would have to get the water changed everyday, and I will worry about what they would do when the flowers are dead. I normally bury them, but I can’t possibly expect all of my friends to do that too. Their extreme hassle and guilt as they may have no idea what to say to me - if they totally do not like w...

If this is the first time you're seeing this title, please refer to the prequel: Uniquely Singapore Enbloc Fever Part 1 . Here is what happened after that (I could probably make a movie out of it). If you have seen The Worst Week Of My Life (British TV comedy series), you will understand what I’m talking about, because this IS the worst week of MY life, till date. ****************** 5 July 2007, Thursday So I tried to reason with that agent of mine that, since the contract has stated that either party has to provide a written 30-day notice in the event of early termination of the contract, she can't possibly fault me for this because it was HER who has neglected her responsibility as a real estate agent. And who is the one breaching the contract now? It's her who is not giving a 1-month notice! She can well keep my deposit as the rental of my final month, and shove her gangster attitude up where the sun doesn't shine. I texted her. No reply. And I thought no news was g...

One crazy woman was spotted in Ikea restaurant this evening, whilst taking her tray to the tray trolley after her dinner, picked up several packets of unused salt and pepper from the table next to hers, and placed them back where they came from. These individually packed salt and pepper, was believed to be left behind by a very trendy looking couple, who obviously have the right to take whatever amount of salt and pepper they wish even though it is much more than what they needed and can consume. Afterall, it is free, and the cost has probably been worked into the price of the food; so what's wrong with that? And what damage would ditching a few packets of salt and pepper possibly do? The damage is astronomical. And that crazy woman was me.