The Memory Pill

What if I say that somewhere in the near future, we would be able to get rid all sort of traumatic memory from our mind? As crazy as it may sound, this might indeed be feasible as scientists are now developing the new memory drug called propranolol (Click here to watch a video programme on this) which could weaken our memory on things that we do not want to remember. Most people might find it cool, but it is such a weird and freaky idea to me, not to mention that it is unethical too (lawyers and lawyers wannabe sometimes do concern about ethics!!).

We all learn from our experience, and those experiences, be it the bad or the good one made the person who we are right now. It is my belief that we should never have regrets for all the unpleasant things which have happened in our lives, instead we should learn from it, and bear it in our mind so that we would not repeat the same mistake twice in our lives. If one possesses a belief in God, he or she ought to believe that thing happens for a reason in life, and we should take everything that happens as a lesson to us.I could not agree more on the skeptics of this new memory drug of which one of them argued that our experience in life, no matter traumatic it could be to us, is still a survival mechanism for us.

However, I am speaking on behalf of someone who never had a traumatic experience in life. Those who had a traumatic experience in life (being raped, witnessed to a murder and so forth) would view if differently.As far as I am concerned, I never had any trauma to anything. Surely I had bad experiences, a lot of those, but eventually I bounce back into reality soon after I get over with it.

All I am saying is that we should take life as the way it is. Do have no regrets, but take lesson from it just for our future sake. Sometimes I do wish that I have chosen a different path in life. But then again, there is no way that I can tell that even if I chose to do it differently, I would have led a better life, can I? So, I take my life as the way it is.God certainly has His own plan for me and also to all of us.

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On a different note, winter break will start in less than two weeks time. Ha Ha. I really cannot wait for that. Law school is really driving me nuts. Jeez, I think I am balding faster than anyone else at my age, and my body is aching all over the place.Ha Ha. I long for a break, for a vacation......

Weekend updates!!

Geez, what a great weekend!!
It was tiring but a whole lot of fun!!
As mentioned before, today is Rizal's 21st birthday, so we all ( 1 Kingsland Ave with Dian & Hannah) decided to call it for a celebration. yeay!!
So we went out earlier tonight to dine at a local diner and arrived at the place a moment later. Dian walked from her house but Hannah chose to ride on the bus (even though their house is only a stone's throw away).. Girls will always be girls aight?:P

Anyway, we all went inside, and started ordering the food and drinks. When we were eating, Rizal called up the waiter, asking him to take our pictures together at the table. Here's what happened;

Rizal; Excuse me, can you please take our picture together?

Waiter; Yeah sure, hold on for a sec ( walking towards the kitchen bringing along some drinking glasses with him, and then he came back to us)

Waiter: How do you like me standing like this? (While leaning towards the wall with some freaky pose).

We were all stunned for a second. I tried to conceive of what in the name of God that he was trying to do. A moment later, we all bursted into hysterical laugh (especially me, I really cant control myself at that time). Poor guy!!That waiter actually misinterpreted of what Rizal said to him and thought that we wanted to take his photo. (what the heck? who the hell does he think he is? Jonathan Rhyss Meyers? :P). But seriously, I couldn't help myself but laugh out loud and almost got choked with the ice cream for that. Ha Ha. To think logically, why would us want to have his photo in the very first place,aight? That totally serves no purpose to us ( Well, maybe not to Hannah.. she likes dark, talk and handsome guy, and loves a guy in uniform..hahaha) Geez.. that was so weird.

And ouh, before that, when we were all ordering for desserts, Hannah did ask for something which sounds a bit awkward, and for someone who is not so naive like me, something nasty easily came across my mind. Ha Ha. But I shall not elaborate further on this, otherwise someone will come and smack me with her piggy ( by that i mean Pinky) file.. He He..

But seriously, egg man? you want to have oval shape and yellow egg man ice cream for your dessert? and you prefer it to be in large size? Ha Ha. What were you thinking huh? Ha ha, poor Hannah. well, she didn't really say this, at least not in a direct manner. But it was me who exaggerated this to spice the things up. he He. Dont be mad at me k? :P

HeHe. Nevertheless, we all had a wonderful night. We all came back with bloated stomach. And for the birthday boy, Happy 21st Birthday. Btw, here are some of the photos which were taken during the dinner.









This what we had for dinner. Chicken Tandoori, another chicken dishes, and prawn dishes.



I was concentrating on my food.











I almost choked myself with this ice cream when the waiter tried to be funny.







*Disclaimer; This photo is intended for display purpose only, without having any ulterior motives* He He.

ON A TOTALLY DIFFERENT NOTE, TODAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2006, IS NO OTHER ORDINARY DAY TO ME. IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME, BUT ONLY GOD KNOWS HOW SIGNIFICANT IT IS TO ME. HE HE.

My Photos..

Now that I know how to upload pictures into this blog,here are some of the pictures of me (with my so called black-copper-gold hair.. haha) which was taken recently during the AIESEC National Conference and also during the salam perantauan photo session.


the hyper active warwick kids, especially the one in orange at the back there. I wonder if he had too much coffee or something.. :P


With my housemates, Khalis & Rizal.

Wasted !!!! (except for me)
AXIS 2006 in Norwich!!

Halloween Party during the AXIS Conference. The blood effect really did turn out well i supposed. Ha Ha

Warwick delegates at the conference.

Me & Bhavna.

Kunal, my roomie during the conference.

Btw, this is how my hair supposed to look like. Ha Ha. Very much different from now indeed. Well, i got some helpers to do my hair when I was in Malaysia (haha, thanks guys!!), but now I just don't bother (and don't have the time either) to do it anymore.



On a SPECIAL NOTE, TONIGHT, 12 NOVEMBER 2006 IS RIZAL'S BIRHTDAY. LET US ALL DROP BY at HIS BLOG AND WISH HIM A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY WISHES. There is a comment box in his blog, do drop ur birthday message there okay?? And to rizal, dont be mad at me for doing this. Happy 21st birthday to you. One year older, hope to be a lot wiser.:P Click here on the link to go to Rizal's page.

Just a quickie..

Just a quickie before I am off to bed. This is the article which I have read from a Malaysian local newspaper.

Indeks rasuah: Kedudukan Malaysia merosot ke tangga 44

Kedudukan Malaysia dalam Indeks Persepsi Rasuah (CPI) 2006 yang dikeluarkan Transparency International jatuh dari kedudukan ke-39 ke tangga 44 daripada 163 negara yang terlibat dalam kajian tersebut. --->> Ouh, the news actually forgot to mention that Malaysia was ranked at 37 in this corruption / transparency index in 2003. It seems to me that the corruption / transparency index in Malaysia is not getting any better from 2003 despite all "necessary measures" taken by the government.

CPI merosot 5.0 mata berbanding 5.1 tahun lalu.

Berikutan kemerosotan itu, kedudukan Malaysia di wilayah Asia Pasifik berada pada kedudukan ke-10, mengatasi negara serantau lain seperti Thailand, China, India, Vietnam, Filipina dan Indonesia.----->>> Why compare us to these countries? Thailand? China? Indonesia? We already know that these countries are not transparent. For China, God knows how untransparent they are when it comes to the freedom of speech and thoughts. Thailand and the Phillipines are still plagued with political crisis, and that explains pretty much of everything. Yes, India is still below us, but she already climbed 18 stairs up the ladder in this CPI, not plunging down like us. More importantly, Why compare us to those who are lagging behind us? Why don't we mention that we are actually behind Singapore and Japan in this Corruption Perception Index (CPI). If we want to move forward, never compare us with those who are at the same par, but try to reach those who are already ahead of us.

Presiden Transparency International Malaysia, Tan Sri Ramon V. Navaratnam berkata, kemerosotan itu agak mengecewakan apatah lagi kerajaan Malaysia telah melaksanakan pelbagai program membasmi rasuah dan meningkatkan ketelusan serta keberkesanan sistem penyampaian awam. --->> we shall not only focus on the reinforcement of law and policies, but more on its effectiveness.

Ini, katanya, termasuk pengenalan Pelan Integriti Nasional (PIN) dan penubuhan Institut Integriti Malaysia (IIM).

Bagaimanapun, katanya, jarak masa yang terlalu besar antara proses merangka polisi-polisi baru dan tempoh pelaksanaan sebenar menjadi punca kemerosotan pencapaian itu. ---->>>> Yeah, it is easier to give excuses rather than to deliver results. Or people would also say it is even easier for me to criticise rather than having to work in the situation itself.

“Jurang itu mesti dihapuskan. Selain itu masih banyak yang perlu dilakukan bagi meningkatkan ketelusan dan akauntabiliti dalam sistem penyampaian awam serta proses perolehan,” katanya pada sidang akhbar di sini hari ini.-------->>> Instead of using ought to or must to, why not the responsible agencies make a serious effort to really combat this issue. I doubt if just by saying kita mesti and kita perlu would do much of a different.

Turut hadir pada sidang akhbar itu ialah Timbalan Presiden IIM, Mustafar Ali dan Timbalan Ketua Pengarah II Badan Pencegah Rasuah (BPR), Datuk Zakaria Jaffar.

Justeru, beliau berharap kerajaan akan melakukan lebih banyak langkah-langkah segera dan tersusun dalam memerangi rasuah.

Transparency International adalah sebuah pertubuhan antarabangsa bukan kerajaan yang diasaskan pada 1993 untuk membanteras rasuah dan menggalakkan urus tadbir yang baik.

CPI pula diperkenalkan pada 1995 bagi menilai darjah perbuatan rasuah yang dianggap berlaku di kalangan kakitangan awam dan ahli politik.

Bagi CPI 2006, keputusan tersebut dibuat hasil daripada data yang dikumpul selama dua tahun bermula 2005 dan 2006.

Dalam pada itu, Mustafar berkata, usaha pemantapan integriti akan dipertingkatkan di bawah rancangan Tekad 2008.

Di bawah rancangan itu, penekanan tidak sahaja diberikan kepada pembasmian rasuah tetapi merangkumi aspek keberkesanan sistem penyampaian awam, tadbir urus korporat, institusi keluarga dan budi bahasa.

Katanya, keputusan CPI itu tidak boleh menjadi gambaran kepada kegagalan PIN kerana program tersebut dilaksanakan mengikut peringkat dan fasa pertama yang bermula 2004 hanya akan berakhir pada 2008. -------->>> This is one thing I love about Malaysia. When we failed in achieving something, we will surely come out with this kind of excuse. It is more like a custom to us by now. Remember when UM did not make the cut for TIMES top 100 University. We also came out with about the same excuse; The measurement is not representative of the real situation, we should also observe from other criterias and yada yada yada...

Beliau menambah, CPI adalah salah satu daripada beberapa sistem ukuran yang diterima masyarakat antarabangsa.

“Ada banyak lagi ukuran yang turut diterima pakai dan IIM juga akan mewujudkan sistem ukuran mengikut acuan sendiri,” katanya ----->>>>> Just when I mentioned it... Ha Ha...


What do you say?

Vanity sucks!!

I am browsing through all of my photos when I was in Malaysia, and suddenly I realized something. I actually do love my black and spiky hair!! I missed my hair when it was black. Geez, what has really got into me the day I decided to colour my hair.. Ha Ha.

On a different note, this would the first (might not be the last) and the most vain entry ever. Ha Ha. Maybe because I have not much things to do, only then I start procrastinating and doing all these insignificant stuff ( being online at MSN, browsing my photos, surfing the web and etc).

Ok,it would be better for me to try to get back on my grip now before I slip further into this vanity talks. What the hell am I thinking? Why out of all the sudden that I do concern about my hair?Geez, I am crazy. A lot of people are already fully aware of this, but only now that I realized that I do have some personality disorder within myself. Ha Ha.

Ciao ciao.

Vanity sucks!! But I just cannot help it!

Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death!!

This is the latest news from BBC. Well, it is not the latest one indeed, but I certainly published it in my blog way earlier than it is going to be on the Utusan Online. Ha Ha.

Anyway, the verdict is now out. Saddam Hussien, the former Iraqi President has been sentenced to death by the Iraqi court. Click here and here for more stories ( My hands are already aching by now.. bad weather! bad weather! )

I shall not say much on this. But the former dictator did say something in reaction to his verdict, which I found funny.

"Long live Iraq! Long live the Iraqi people! Down with the traitors!"

Yeah. Long live the Iraqi people!! But Mr ex-President, shouldn't you be concerned more about your life now, instead of your fellow country men, as you have JUST been sentenced to DEATH??

It's too late now. Mere words will no longer save him from the death sentence.

*What a dull and unproductive weekend. I am supposed to be doing my reading and research for my EU Law coursework, but it's too chilling cold, and my brain in not functioning well under the cold weather. It's so damn true. Try to speak to me. It will take sometime for my brain to digest whatever have been said to me before I could response to that. Not good. Not good. Anyway, Mr Small and Mr Ikbal (the KYUEM people) are coming to Warwick Uni this evening, and we (the ex-KYUEMians) are supposed to have a meeting with them from 7-9pm tonight. I do not know if I am going, especially when most of the Malaysians at Warwick are yet to come back from the Notts Game. And plus, it's at 7pm!! It's still daylight and the weather is already sooo f*cking cold, I doubt if I would bother to go anywhere outside when it gets dark. Ouh, that of course, comes with an exception, especially when there is money involved. Ha Ha.

Oh come on, gimme a break!!

I have already thought that when Jack Straw made a statement on the veil issue, it would definitely caused a public outcry, but I never thought it would persist for quite a long time, even until now. It seems like to have an ongoing effect, and I wonder when will it ever stop.

Mr. Straw should have not touched the Muslim sensitivity in the first place by making such recommendation to the Muslim women. To view it from the civil liberties point of view, there is nothing unconstitutional or unlawful for a Muslim woman to choose to wear a full hijab or niqab, as that is their full rights to do so. But as a country which put such huge values on freedom and civil liberties, do you not think that Mr. Straw also has his rights to say, to express his freedom of speech? And more importantly, if one bothers to read and understand of what he actually said, one should realize that he meant no harm at all. He was only asking, if that would be possible, for the Muslim women not to wear a full veil, as he believes that this would, to a certain extent, hinder the integration amongst the community. However, things got nasty when this reached to Muslim community, especially the more orthodox and radical one, and it became even worst when the mass media sensationalized the story, which sparked off the row amongst the Muslim worldwide.

Now, let us think objectively, on what have been said by Mr. Straw and whether this makes any sense at all. First, he alleged that when a Muslim woman wear full veil, this would harden community relations. But how far is this true? Frankly speaking, I do agree of what he said. The 9/11, Madrid bombing, London bombing, and the latest attempt to hijack a plane to the States, are some of the events which have inevitably caused the world to have the every reasons to be suspicious at the Muslim. Yeah, it is not fair for the world to generalize all Muslims as terrorist just because there are some ( or maybe way too many) bad eggs amongst us. But that is the fact that we need to face. I remember reading this one survey which suggested that most people in the UK would feel slightly uncomfortable when they are seating on the bus / in the tube with someone who look like Arabs or South Asian. So, this is the fact that we need to face, the British, maybe not all, do have even the slightest suspicion towards the Muslims. Thus, what Mr. Straw suggested does make sense after all. The Muslims should be more tolerant, and more adaptable to the British culture. If a non Muslim who visited a Muslim country such as Iran or Saudi Arabia, they do wear the veil as sign of respect to that country's customs and culture. So why can the Muslims in the UK not do the same when they are in the UK? To be more flexible and more adjustable? It is not like Mr. Straw urged the Muslim women to take off their veil, he only recommended that the Muslim women not to wear a veil which covers their face, which is believed to hinder the communication and public relations. After all, this clearly is not Unislamic, as it is not a pre-requisite for a Muslim woman to cover her whole face, but more of a cultural practice of a certain Muslim communities.Taking into account of the current situation, where the world is full with hostility and people are suspicious amongst each other, Mr. Straw's recommendation is indeed a wise thing to do.

From my perspective, the way the Muslim community reacted to that statement only exacerbated the situation. I still remember when people wanted to boycott the products from Denmark following the publication of cartoon satirizing the Prophet Muhammad. I chose to differ. The boycott certainly did not do any good, as first it only aggravated the east-west relationship. Furthermore, in Denmark itself, 4% of its population are Muslims. If the Muslims around the globe choose to boycott the goods made from Denmark, how would this affect the Muslim community in that country? Do you not think that they will also be affected economically by this? Do you not think that they will continue to be oppressed even more and will endure such immense pressure by that?

The same goes when it comes to any issue which relates to Islam, or even when it has no relations at all. Click at this link. This article concerns with the latest controversial on the Apple's Fifth Avenue NYC Cube, which alleged by some Muslims as resembling the Kaabah in Mekkah and this is believed to have insulted Islam and its practitioners. For goodness sake, what were they thinking? I do not at all see it as Kaabah and I also believe that, when creating the Cube, the designer had no deliberate intention to pose an insult to Islam, as he had better things to do, such as figuring out ways of how to earn more bucks, rather than contemplating very hardly to do something which would make the Muslims feel insulted. I totally disagreed with the idea of publishing a cartoon resembling prophet Muhammad as this is clearly prohibited by Islam and it is clear that the authors had the very intention to cause public uproar because of that. But now, a cube in NYC, as a resemblence to Kaabah?

Oh come on, give me a break!!!

*The moment I finished writing this, my hands are all numb due to the cold weather outside. Geez.. this is the time of the year when I do miss Malaysia the most!!*

UrmmM.

This one is going to be short.
I browsed utusan online just now, and to my surprise, my salam perantauan did come out today. Ha Ha. It has been almost a week since Eid. Xperla, at least it came out at last.

Click Here