Opinions Requested: Which is a Good Look for Me?

Lately, I realized (and I’m pretty sure some of my friends did as well) that I’ve been wearing the same kind of wardrobe and the same kind of hairstyle and the same kind of look everywhere. And it bores me. I look at myself in the mirror every morning and ask myself ‘how should I look today?’ and end up wearing that same black t-shirt and combing my hair that same side parting I wear almost every day. It’s not fun, not exciting, and not random. It feels mundane, and not the normal kind of mundane, but the repetitive cycle of the same thing over and over again like a sine wave kind of mundane. And I feel like I should get a change going on.

So here’s me putting myself in the line of fire, parading horrendous profiles of myself over the last few years, and asking you this question: Which is a good look for me?

1. Short or almost bald

I wore this hairstyle quite a few times… back in the days when I felt like a trip to the barber’s a waste of time and munny. The situation was usually like this: I wake up in the morning, look at the mirror and see myself with my big bed hair. Back of my neck tickles, my head feels too warm, and my hair is all over my face. Electric hair clipper plus an hour in the bathroom results in the look you see above plus gaping stares from friends who just saw me with my long hair the day before.

2. Side parting

I have been wearing this look forever. My friends say I look ‘preppy’ (or ’skema’ in Rojak terms) when I have my hair side parted, long or short. I usually have my hair like this when I don’t feel like standing out, or to look older or more formal in some sense. A hairstyle I would almost always wear to job interviews and conference presentations.

3. Long or semi-long straight or wavy hair

Usually the hairstyle I maintained for a couple of months before suddenly going bald (see collage 1). I love having my hair long and straight but hate it when the weather’s hot and humid and makes my hair stick out unmanageably in all sorts of directions. And it gets everywhere too. I have my hair long (and big) mostly because I have a family history of baldness on my dad’s side and it is almost inevitable that I would end up being a bald grownup, so I decide to enjoy my hair while it’s still on top of my head.

4. Random, et cetera

Side parts, middle parts, crew cut, greased, messy, thin, short, et cetera. Whatever style that’s possible given the current condition and length of hair.

5. Care not about the look of the hair and cover it up with headgear

I used to love winters in the States because it meant that wearing my hair long won’t be too hot or warm on the neck and shoulders, and that I can wear my snowcap without looking like a ghetto-street-wannabe. Other seasons I just wear a cap whenever I felt lazy to do anything with the hair. The songkok is worn on special occasions and with certain attires or when I go to the mosque to pray.

Right now the length of my hair is somewhere between collages no. 2 and no. 3.

So how do you think I should look? 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5?

Or should I just leave it to the hairstylist / barber to decide?

Feedback and opinions, personal and/or professional, are welcome. Critiques are fine as well.

P/S: ‘Like’ or ‘Tweet’ this if you think it is necessary that more people see this and give their input. Thanks.

Now and Forever

by Richard Marx

Whenever I’m weary from the battles that rage in my head
You make sense of madness when my sanity hangs by a thread
I lose my way but still you seem to understand
Now and forever I will be your man.

Sometimes I just hold you
Too caught up in me to see
I’m holding a fortune that heaven has given to me
I’ll try to show you each and every way I can
Now and forever I will be your man

Now I can rest my worries and always be sure
That I won’t be alone anymore
If I’d only known you were there all the time
All this time

Until the day the ocean doesn’t touch the sand
Now and forever I will be your man
Now and forever I will be your man

…

To the only person to whom I have sung this song before, I dedicate this song for you.

.:: Happy 15 months, dear! ::.

Lobsters or Crayfish?

Taking pictures of crustaceans in a water tank a.k.a. aquarium was not as easy as I thought, especially when using flash. The light keeps getting reflected off the glass so I got flash flares in the pictures. After a few tinkerings and adjusting the angle and composition I managed to get some to turn out ok.

These lobsters are eyerain89’s latest addition to her aquarium at home.

This one was quite shy. It kept staying in the barrel and refused to leave. This was the most decent shot I have of the shy lobster.

This one seems to be loving the camera. It stayed around close to the glass so I managed to take some closeups as well.

I sometimes had this weird feeling that the lobster was actually smiling to the camera.

Once or twice it tried to ‘feel’ the camera but of course, the glass was in the way.

What’s a portrait without some side profiles, eh? Being a lobster, it can still look at the camera even when facing sideways!

The lobsters (or maybe crayfish) are still younglings… I hope I get to take some pictures of them when they’re much bigger.

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P/S: Oh how I have missed shooting pictures!

Body Mass Analysis – 090908

Last Tuesday I revisited the Ergonomics Lab to continue with my weekly body mass analysis to monitor my progress. As it turns out, I actually have lost some weight (which is what I would like to have happen) but alas, not everything is good news.

Basically, over the last week, I lost 1 kg (2.2 lbs). My weight has dropped from 81.5 kg (179.7 lbs) at the beginning of September to 80.5 kg (177.5 lbs) at the beginning of the second week of September.

Here is the body composition chart from 1 September:

And here is the chart from 8 September:

As you can see, my losing weight, although in itself may be a good news, is only a blessing in disguise.

Fact of the matter is, the weight I lost is due to loss of muscle mass instead of fat. This confirms most of the stuff I know about losing weight through reducing food consumption. The body will use up your muscle tissue for energy instead of using the fat storage under the skin (or surrounding the muscles and organs). The way to counter this effect is by physical exercise i.e. workout or sports activities; since physical activities help build up and tone your muscle, the fat storage will be used instead for energy.

The numbers don’t lie. I confess that even though I have been reducing my food consumption over the last week, I haven’t been doing any serious physical activities. And thus the consequence of that is reflected in the numbers (and admittedly, I can feel my overall strength reduced).

From this session of my body mass analysis, I can see what I need to do now. In addition to eating less, I have to engage in physical activities. Since I am fasting for the next few weeks, I can’t go to the gym to work out or play outdoor sports since these will cause me to sweat a lot and I will lose to much water and probably cause dehydration. I think simple indoor exercises would possibly help.

What kind of indoor exercises should I do for the next one week or so? Suggestions are welcome and are truly appreciated.

One plus 9 years since 9/9/99

So today is 09/09/09.

Doesn’t matter if you’re from America and have the month first before the day, it’s still 09/09/09.

It’s been ten years since 9/9/99.

Bored yet?

Sorry.

Of course 09/09/09 is cool and all, but 9/9/99 is a more important date to me.

I blogged about it last year. You can read it here.

Should I tell you the story of 9/9/99?

Maybe, if enough people ask me to.

Here’s to 10 years since 9/9/99.

(Updated with translations!) bagai kacang lupakan kulit.. a story of how some Malays forgot their skin is ’sawo matang’ and not putih…

today i met the absolute representation of the idiots that we should get rid off from this country if we are ever to even DREAM of reaching vision 2020…

i have been observing the people in Malaysia for the past months i been home, and i must say i am not liking what i see. through a myriad of factors intermingling together, including the economic prosperity enjoyed by the middle class and upper class society, many of them comprising of sons and daughters of govt officers (and i am not always proud to say, I myself is a member of this group) we have created a new class of people, who have appointed themselves and regarded themselves as the “elite” Malay group.. (note the inverted comma)

and these are the youth who walks along the street with a certain kind of swagger and pompous arrogance with their proud shirt with the humongous ‘horse and number/roman numeral’ emblem on their chest.. yes u know which brand of shirt i’m talking about.. ooh not forgetting their fancy rust dyed hair and their huge shades, and cargo pants. and usually they’ll be walking in pairs proudly holding hands, gee i sure hope they are married, bulan puasa pon tak reti nak hormat? hmm…

today i met a group of these people, and they were rudely harassing a makcik at a stall at pasar ramadhan.. yes, granted it was hot, and there were a lot of people around the stall, for sure laa the makcik cannot layan everyone immediately.. but these group of people, who always think they are better than other Malays, by the virtue they can afford more stuff (paid by dad of course) apparently dah x tahan sgt nk kene tunggu lama were throwing rude and unneessary comments to the makcik… stupid arrogant people..

“haih makcik, kalau tak reti nak layan orang cepat2, baik jgn bukak gerai (Hey auntie, if you don’t know how to quickly serve people, better not open a stall)“ said one of the skinny idiot, while holding the hands of his girlfriend, and this unnecessary comment was greeted by laughter from a few more youth, 3 boys and 2 girls, apparently they were all in the same group..

the makcik (old lady), displaying some hurt on her face teruslah melayan si kumpulan Melayu ‘elite’ ini.. and apparently got the order of these idiots wrong..

“makcik, i said two laa, two! T-W-O.. dua! D-U-A… dua! adoi.. dh laa lambat, x reti bahasa inggeris pulak tu rupanya, cakap ’sorry’ pon td tergagap2.. haih, kan elok if science and math ajar in english, makcik ketinggalan zaman! (Auntie, I said two laa, T-W-O… two! Ahh… so slow… plus you don’t know English… even stuttering to say ’sorry’… wouldn’t it be better if science and math were taught in english, auntie you’re so left behind!)“ and the group laughed again..

i could see the makcik was very ashamed and offended, and suddenly i was offended, coz that couldve been my aunt, my grandma, my mother! Think about it, what if that happened to somebody in YOUR family…

so naturally, me with my recently discovered hot head and temper, decided to defend the makcik..

(this is an attempt to recreate the conversation as best to my memory as i could, pls be reminded that i was temporarily insane and blinded by rage, hehe)

“hoi, yang korang ni ingat korg mcm bagus nk mampus ni apahal? bley tolong relax tak kalau nak kutuk2 org pon, pahala puasa tu entah campak ke mana (Hey, why are you acting like you’re so darn awesome here? Can you please go easy on the insults, your fasting is pointless, gone to waste)“ i said with a stern voice, and oh yes it turned a few heads.. the group was stunned for a bit, then the idiot-leader had to reply..

“oi brader, ni bukan hal lu so baik u jgn masuk campur, kalau tak… (Hey brother, this is not your problem so don’t be meddlin, or else…)“

“kalau tak apa brader, ko nak tampar aku? tumbuk aku? and aku plak tak kan laa nak biar laa ko kutuk makcik yg x bersalah ni lebih2? (Or else what brother, you wanna slap me? punch me? and you expect me to just let you insult this poor innocent lady incessantly?)“ yup, i was reeeealllly geting to be pissed off..

“eh bro, jgn cabar aku (Eh bro, don’t challenge me)“ said the idiot-leader while his gf was pulling him back asking him to stop, and the rest of the group konon2 nk tunjuk kuat closing in on me..

“1st thing 1st, aku bukan ‘bro’ ko, and 2ndly, tolong simpan jaguh2 kampung ko ni, mintak maap kat makcik ni.. yg ko mcm bagus kutuk2 makcik ni x reti bahas inggeris tu pehal? ko ingt english ko tu bagus sgt? (First things first, I’m not your ‘bro’, and secondly, please do away with this village champ thing, apologize to this lady… why do you think you’re so great that you can insult this lady for her poor English? You think your English is good enough?)“ i was really pissed by now..

“eh yg ko berani nk marah2 aku ni pehal? ko ingt bapak aku ni org biasa? (Hey why are so bold to be scoldin me here? you think my dad is one of you common people?)“ the idiot leader replied.. gosh, they all look like they were about 18/19 years old.. arrogant 18/19 year olds who still turn to daddy in moment of need..

at that moment i knew that this was the group i was talking about, the self-appointed ‘elite’ Malays, the family where the mom and dad made good money, but forgot to teach proper manners to their offspring, and their offspring thought they were better than other Malays, esp those they regard as coming from the kampung.. just because daddy could afford to send them to private college doesnt make them better than the others!

“owhhh bapak ko bukan org biasa? habis dia apa? org minyak? org bunian? (Ohhh, your dad is not one of us common people? So what is he? Orang minyak? An elf?)” i personally liked this line best, and judging from the laughter of the crowd behind me, so did they.. haha how did i come up with that in the heat of the moment i wonder myself..

“just because ko ni anak org yg ada kuasa, n tahu sepatah dua english, please please la jgn ingt ko tu lagi bgs dari makcik ni, or the rest of us ok? sedar sikit diri tu, manners gone down the bloody drain! urghhh u make soo mad! people like you just makes me sick! dah aku nyer pahala puasa pon dh ke mana ntah sebab aku dok menengking org2 mcm ko ni.. sila jgn perasan ko ni omputih dgn dressing ko n rambut dye laa, jam mahal laa (Just because you are the offspring of some bigshot, know an English word or two, please please don’t think that you’re better than this lady, or the rest of us ok? Look at yourself, manners gone down the bloody drain! Urghh you make me so mad! People like you just make me sick! Now my fasting is pointless because I’m angrily yelling at people like you… please don’t think you’re so ‘white man’ with your dressing and yor dyed hair and expensive watch)“ by now, there was a sizeable crowd against us..

for some reason, the idiots wre quiet, i guess they were shocked, and ashamed coz they know they did wrong.. and i overheard this from someone behind me..
“kalau kulit putih mcm abg baju hijau ni ok laa gak, ni kulit sama jek sawo matang mcm kitorg, tp perangai lebih2 dari omputih la plak (If you’re white-skinned like this green shirt dude its fine, but you’re just like us brownskins, but you’re more snobbish than a white man)“ and yes, i was the one who he referred to as ‘abg baju hijau (green shirt dude)’.. lol~

with his face red, and heavy breathing with a pissed off face, he walked off slowly as he was pulled by his gf and his group.. while a group was chanting “belah, belah, belah (beat it, beat it, beat it)“ to the group.. and as they left, the group clapped.. and the makcik thanked me for standing up to her, and i got some free kuih from her as a sign of her gratitude.. hehe.. thanx makcik!

but i did it not for the kuih, or for the attention, the praises.. i did it coz i cant stand this group of people, who think they are better than the rest of us! come back down to earth please~ and when i wrote this, i AM NOT targeting all polo shirt wearing hair dyeing tindik sana sini people, and also those who comes from a well-to-do family, i know that 99% of u are polite people who knows the boundaries of joking about, and are humble people with kind hearts.. but this 1%, you ppl are the bane of society, and bring shame upon other Malays.. i’m sorry if i offended anybody, but this entry is written with the purpose of reminding us all to be humble, and not to insult others.. your medical degree, tertiary education, overseas scholarship, all these do not make you better than other people, and all these mean NOTHING if you don’t have manners, or basic respect for others..

do unto others how u wud expect to be done on urself, and respect begets respect..

p/s: sorry again for the negative tone of the entry..
peace out~

…

The above is a repost of a Facebook note written by my friend Ahmad Firdaus Yaakop, better known among friends as Robo. He is currently studying at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

I reposted this with permission from him because I sincerely feel that the message should reach a wider audience/readership than just his circle of friends. I hope we all (especially Malaysians) can learn a thing or two from his recollections; that for one thing no matter where you are in the socioeconomic ladder, it doesn’t mean squat if you don’t have manners. Manners can take you further than just plain money and things from your dear ol’ mummydaddy.

*EDIT: (Roughly) translated versions of the Malay speech are underlined for your convenience.

P/S: I wish I was there to witness it all. And probably take a picture of Robo in his heroic moment of glorious righteousness.

P/P/S: I wish I had written this myself. Kudos to you, Robo.

Body Mass Analysis – 090901

The Ergonomics Lab next door has this machine and software that not only weighs you but also do several analyses on your body so that you know how your body’s mass is distributed and how much weight you have to gain or lose. I went over today and had an analysis done so that I know where I’m at right now and where I should go next.

Here are the results:

This tells me that I have normal lean mass distribution and basically I don’t need to change anything to improve my lean mass distribution. However, fat mass is another case. In all body segments I seem to have a little bit too much fat mass so this means I have to work out all parts of my body (both lower and upper) more and consume less fatty food, generally speaking.

Me being overweight is no surprise. And so is the body fat mass content, although I didn’t expect it to be that high. Also, if didn’t have any fat, I’d weigh 56.6 kg (124.8 lbs). That’s around the lower spectrum of the normal range for my height.

I’m a bit delighted that I have a more-than-normal skeletal muscle mass. This confirms my theory that a lot of my mass is made of muscle and bones instead of just mostly fat. I don’t really look that fat for my weight (81.5 kg / 179.7 lbs). You can look at some of my recent photos in this entry (scroll down to see pics of yours truly) and tell me if I look my weight. In fact, I weighed even more back then.

I guess the numbers above are appropriate. They mostly reflect my current physical attributes. However I find the basal metabolic ratio a bit unsatisfactory. It seems like I have a lower-than-normal BMR. So I need to have this number raised. Any suggestions how?

This suggests that I don’t have to gain or lose any more muscle mass, but I do have to lose fat mass by 15 kg.

I guess that’s a viable target then. To lose 15 kg. Maybe not by end of this year, but eventually. Actually, make that two and a half years. Two and a half years to weigh 15 kg less.

…

We’ll see how this goes.

My Personal Issues with 1Malaysia Theme

I have issues with the 1Malaysia theme: Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan

Generally, the theme translates to ‘People First, Achievements Prioritized’

I’m keeping all my political inclinements aside (you should too) for the moment as I’m typing this.

I have issues with the theme. I don’t like it. In my opinion, it’s inappropriate, it sounds weird, and it gives the wrong messages.

Please put away the parangs and the torches and bear with me for a while.

I have said that the issues are entirely personal. And here they are:

1. As a theme for the National Day 2009, it’s just too long. It’s the predominantly the longest theme so far (compare the lengths here). Plus, 1Malaysia is not even a word.

2. National Day themes are usually meant to inspire the people to greatness (see past years themes here). Look at this year’s theme. Do you think it’s meant to inspire the people, or to reflect the aspirations of the government?

3. ‘Rakyat Didahulukan’ (‘People First’). When someone is put first, someone else is put behind. This part of the theme begs the question: who’s being sidelined here? The foreigners? Non-taxpayers? The Nine Rulers? The government? Government cronies? Like I said, wrong message here.

4. Also on this year’s ‘Rakyat Didahulukan’. It’s as if previously the rakyat (people) wasn’t first, this year we’ll start being first. So it some ways, it gives the message that the government has not been putting the rakyat first. Also it kind of in some ways acknowledge some people’s opinion on the government not putting the rakyat’s interests first. It gives the message that the government wants to change to a ‘people first’ government, and saying that this change is for the better acknowledges the existence of bad governance in the past. Again, wrong message here.

5. ‘Pencapaian Diutamakan’ (‘Achievements Prioritized’). This sounds like some milestones have been set and we must achieve and possibly go beyond those milestones. And achieving these milestones must be prioritized. Sounds so… corporate governance. This is not the rakyat’s aspiration. This sounds more for an organized body than the general public. An organized body like the Cabinet, the government departments, et cetera. Again, this is more about the government’s aspiration instead of the rakyat’s.

In general, my issue with the theme is that the theme is more suited for to promote the government’s aspirations and goals. The National Day is for the rakyat. Let us have a theme for us instead. After all, we the rakyat should be first, right?

What do you think about the theme for Malaysia’s 52nd National Day celebrations?

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P/S: Some may judge me as narrow-minded, ignorant, leftist etc for posting this. I say let them judge. I know who I am, inside and outside.

Back from the Land of the Hornbills (edited with more pictures!)

I’m back, people! I haven’t much time to write, so here are a few pictures of my Silat boys and girls at the tournament in Sarawak.

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EDIT: Pictures taken after the formal dinner later that night.

No prize for guessing what we brought home from the tournament…

Got to go for now. Some stuff to be delivered to the family back in Seremban. Going to the airport to see a friend off. She’s flying back to the U.S. to start her second year in college, in Penn State U.

This post will most probably be edited later with proper narration of the going-ons of the tournament.

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Oh, and I’m having my wisdom teeth pulled out tomorrow, possibly a minor surgery that would leave me literally speechless (as in, unable to speak) for maybe a couple of days… Weirdly enough, I’m looking forward to the surgical procedure… Maybe it’s because I want these two ‘wiseguys’ out of my life so badly…

EDIT: The dentist who was supposed to perform the operation was called away for a seminar. Another dentist took up the job, but she had her schedule full for the day and for the next few weeks, so she only had time to take out one tooth. I will have my other wisdom tooth extracted possibly in October, after Hari Raya month.

Best of all, when I thought that the operation would cost me hundreds of bucks, the dentist told me that it was free of charge. How awesome is that?

Naruto Jackets!

We received our team jackets yesterday. Look at the color and design. They scream ‘NARUTO‘!

Everyone’s so ecstatic upon receiving their jackets. Since I always have my camera around, it is inevitable that goofy pictures (some with nuances of Naruto) were taken, all in good fun.

Before everything gets a bit tense on Saturday morning, when the tournament begins. Our team will be flying to Sarawak tomorrow morning.

Wish us luck for the tournament! We’re hoping to wrest back the overall champions trophy plus the ‘Best Exponent’ trophies… which would be no easy task. But I think my boys and girls might have their chance this year.

All the best to us, Team Segerak!