Ferry no more?

"BUTTERWORTH: The Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) will scrap the vehicular ferry service between Penang island and Seberang Prai once the expansion of the Penang Bridge is completed in September next year.
PPSB chief operating officer Mohd Niana Merican Abd Kadir Merican said the remaining four vehicular-cum-passenger ferries would continue to operate despite suffering operating losses.
He said the company also planned to operate a speedboat ferry service as it was cheaper and efficient......."(the star online)

My hear sank when I read this news. The ferry has always been an icon of the state. I had loved that vehicle since I was a kid and it has left many fond memories. The idea of stopping it's services devastates me.
Penang is loosing it's authenticness in the name of development. I wonder if Penang can still be unique in ten years time?

Like you,
I too was a toddler,
I too was a child,
I too was a teenager,
I too am an adult,
I too will grow old.

Like you,
I too have a life to live,
I too have dreams and visions,
I too have likes and dislikes,
I too have feelings,
I too have emotions

You and I are no different,
We are human beings,
Perhaps our age gap is different,
But please,
Don’t belittle me.

(there is no relation between this post and yesterday's)

I have a dream

As a teenager, I had a dream. I wanted to be in the hospitality line but I had two obstacles. Firstly, only private colleges offered that course and of all the courses, hospitality was among the most expensive. The second obstacle was that my mom thought it was a dumb idea and she made sure that I was nowhere near to achieving that kind of dream, she even got me a job at the British Council right after I completed my STPM. To her, working in the field of education was way more honorable, stable and lucrative than what hospitality had to offer. Being rebellious and stubborn, I hated what my mom did.

It’s been 10 years since that happened, I am now an adult, a degree holder, old enough to be a mother, old enough to lead my own live without having my mother telling me what I should and should not do. Yet, my dream still remains a dream even though my mom no longer opposes my idea. She has come to realize that it is I who is going to face my own future not her.

With the freedom that I have now as an adult, I am keen to make my dream come true. I am blessed to have many people supporting me in making this dream a reality. Many are excited to know about my plans, they are anxious to see the product, they see this dream as a possible dream for them as well, so much do that they now want to be part of the dream. They self invite themselves into my dream, they tell me what I should and should not do. They begin to set expectations on me, they demand reports from me.

I wonder now, whose dream am I going to be living if I am to continue this way. I want to live my dream and not theirs. I am struggling, I struggle to be firm for my own sake, I don’t want to hurt them. The human heart is fragile and delicate, it must be handled with care. The human memory remembers , once tainted, never forgotten.

Jenn experienced a moody night last night due to no specific reasons

and

the weather today is freezing cold

let's hope she has a good day today

A Special Friend

It was my first time going to the chapel after my first CSS annual camp. I did not have many friends yet. He caught my attention. He was walking around the chapel, boy of a few words, he rarely made much conversation, usually he would just sit around and listen to others talk. As I approached him at the chapel door, he said: "look at the stars in the sky, isn't it beautiful?"
Interesting way of starting a conversation i thought to myself, though it took me sometime to adapt to being his friend but I'm happy we became friends.

I enjoyed being Alex's friend. He was different from the others, he is the kind of friend you could sit by the swing and yet not say a word. It's been seven years since we became friends and we still do keep in touch though he is now in Kuching. He is a special friend, someone who really lets you know that you are much appreciated and makes time for you. He is the only person who will write long letters He tought me many things eventhough he is much younger than I am and I am grateful that we met.

Thank you Alex for your friendship, may you continue to experience God's love through the people you meet.

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY

Updates through pictures

It taste like jambu air, serious

Fruit of the vine, work of human hands

A truck outside the winery, I was facinated by it.

Farm cows in the Southern Higlands of Australia

I don't know what it is to be honest, but it sure looks beautiful and delicious (did not eat lah, I still want to live)


He is a star dog, featured in a winery pet magazine, cute hor?


Guess I don't have to say more, it's obvious that I was at the outskirts right?

Kangaroo and Emu

I was at the parliament in Canberra this morning. The guided tour was fantastic. I liked the idea of them choosing the Kangaroo and Emu as their mascot. Both these animals have one thing in common, that is they only move forward, the nature of both these animals is that they cannot move backwards, therefore, they always look ahead.

Sometimes I wished we human beings are like these two animals, we tend to look behind so much that we become so afraid to move forward. Sadly for many, the bad experienced from the past seems to play a more dominant role in our lives in comparison to the good memories. We spend more time mourning than celebrating so much so that we forget what our life is all about. No doubt, we need to look back at times and learn from our past, however, if we constantly cling on to our past and fear to proceed because of history, then we leave no opportunity for ourselves to experience the future.

I could not help but laugh at myself at the parliament. Here I am, exploring and understanding the Australian parliament when I know so little of the Malaysian parliament. Our guide was wonderful, he gave us a very detailed explanation of how things ran in the house, he shared with us on some historical facts and I found the experience to be very enlightening. I’ve been to 3 guided tours in Australia so far, all of them were free and they were very well done by passionate volunteers who don’t get paid for what they do. Wonderful isn’t it?

The Education site for the parliament, it's good.

http://www.peo.gov.au/

It's about Wine

I had a round of wine tasting yesterday. We visited a total of six wineries in a day. Never in my life have I tasted so many types of Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignons, Rieslings..... . So much so that my tongue lost it’s sense of taste for a while. Nevertheless, it was a fun and good experience.


The wine is an interesting drink. Food is best consumed fresh but not wine. Good wines are not made of fresh grapes, it’s the aged grapes that produces good wines. The longer the wine is kept, the more character it has. New wines does not have much character, it is just another drink with not much story to tell.


Wine should not be consumed hastily, gulping down a glass of wine is doing no justice to the drink. Every sip of the drink provides a different feel and a different taste. After all the efforts put into the process of wine making, this special drink deserves to be only drunk by those who have the intention of appreciating it and not for gluttons who have lost their sense of taste through over indulgence. If you drink it when you are already drunk, you are not doing justice to the drink at all.

(fruit of the vine, the most unappealing yet important ingredient in wine making)

Christ Has Risen

Happy Easter! Thank you to all who remembered me during this special moment. Somehow, every Easter sms from different individuals meant a lot to me. My Easter smses reduced by half this year, many who used to send messages on such occasions have stopped doing so. Did it stop because I left my job in KL? Is it because I am now absent in their lives? Or it just so happen that they decided to save some credit…..I could not help it but wonder why.? I’m not really particular about these matters actually, but it was too obvious to be unnoticed.
Nevertheless, I was really happy to have received some really unexpected Easter greetings from people whom I rarely stayed in touch with like Roy Martin and Heldah. I was overwhelmed that they still remembered me. I also received some greetings from a few unknown numbers and finally from some very dear friends (you know who you are). Thank you very much for your Easter greetings and I hope this Easter brings some meaning in your life.
2008 has been a challenging year for me with dramatic changes taking place. It started off with me leaving KL, now, I’m in Australia experiencing a whole new environment and soon, I will be returning to Malaysia to start a new career and to be honest, I’m very fearful of what is going to take place in my life in two months time. Everything is so uncertain, I wished I could be more confident about my future.
The experience of Easter this year has been very different from the past. For the past few weeks, I saw myself as a very broken being. I was very frustrated with myself for the many things that I could have but did not do. This Easter, I see hope, I see the second chance in my life, an opportunity to make things right. I’m very determined to focus on a few things to get it right. I have come to realized that I can’t have the best of everything and I need to prioritize. Perhaps its time to let go of some things.

Please keep me in prayer.

( Spring, a sign of new life)

Good Friday

Above all powers, above all kings

Above all nature and all created things

Above all wisdom and all the ways of man

You were here before the world began

Above all kingdoms, above all thrones

Above all wonders the world has ever known

Above all wealth and treasures of the earth

There's no way to measure what you're worth

CrucifiedLaid behind the stone

You lived to die

Rejected and alone

Like a rose

Trampled on the ground

You took the fall

And thought of us

Above all...

~Michael W. Smith~

His state was divine,
yet Christ Jesus did not cling
to his equality with God
but emptied himself
to assume the condition of a slave,
and become as men are,
he was humbler yet,
even to accepting death,
death on a cross
Ours were the sufferings he bore,
ours the sorrows he carried.
but we thought of him as someone punished,
struck by God and brought to low.
Yet he was pierced through for our sins.
On him lies a punishment that brings us peace,
and through his wounds we are healed.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
each taking his own way,
and the Lord burdened him
with the sins of all of us.
Harshly dealt with, he bore it humbly
he never opened his mouth,
like a lamb that is led to slaughter-house,
like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers
never opening its mouth.
By force and by law he was taken;
Would anyone plead his cause?
Yes, he was torn away from the land of the living;
For our faults struck down in death.
They gave him a grave with the wicked,
a tomb with the rich,
though he had done no wrong
and there has been no perjury in his mouth.


~Philippians Chapter 2 ; Isaiah Chapter 52 - 53 ~

(Simply Jenn takes a break for the weekend, in conjunction with Good Friday and Easter))

1000 Hits

My blog had it's 1000th hit last night, I wonder who was the lucky 1000th visitor. To be honest, I don't know who visits my blog except for those who leave their comments like drumsticks, mel, infant, Alex, Jani, Cibol, Isaac, FCW and of course Leslie....I also wonder why do people read my blog, is it because you are interested to know on updates on my life or it's because you find my blog interesting, I don't know. Nevertheless, I'm grateful to have visitors here. I am a dummy when it comes to IT, I know nothing about computer stuffs and to be honest, running this blog has boosted my self esteem. It has always made me feel that I am not really that hopeless when it comes to IT matters.

Anyway, whoever you are, I just want to thank you for having visited my blog, if you are a regular, thank you for wanting to know more about me. Do leave a note though, it'll be nice for me to get to know you as well.

Got extra blood to spare?

I woke up this morning to find an sms from the blood bank in UM. It was their second sms to me since I came to Sydney. The blood bank is in urgent need for blood especially "O" and "A" type. I wish I could help them but I can't. Nevertheless, I hope all of you who are reading this post could perhaps consider doing society a favor? It is the easiest way to save a life.

If you have never donated blood before, don't worry, there are no side effects neither does the drawing of blood cause any pain. It is not disgusting to see your blood flowing out either. I first donated blood on my 18th birthday, it was a wonderful experience, I'm sure you will feel the same too.

The blood bank opens during office hours from Mon - Sat. Kindly make sure that you have had at least 5 hours of sleep on the night before and do not go with your stomach empty neither should you over eat before you donate. Drink lots of water to replenish your body fluid and everything else will be all right.

If you stay out of PJ area, don't bother going all the way to UMMC, you can go to the nearest government hospital near your home or if you want you could also go to the national blood bank at Jalan Tun Razak. Although all hospitals welcome blood donors, I would encourage you to donate in government hospitals and not private ones because the government does not charge patients for you blood while private hospitals usually charge their patients, besides, the government provides medical benefits for blood donors.

Here are some websites for references

Pusat Darah Negara: http://www.pdn.gov.my/kh_pendermaan.html

University Hospital: http://www.ummc.edu.my/

My 100th Post

Initially i was not too enthusiasted to come to Sydney, I was reluctant to leave the many things that I felt was important in my life back in Malaysia. I had too many unfinished business to attend to and I felt guilty to spend my sister's money and be purposeless for two months. My sister's intention was that I should see the world, to her, it was her investment for my future.

And that is why I am here in Sydney not really upon my own free will. I have spent nearly a month abroad and I have spent alot of time reflecting on my own life. I realized that I have wasted a whole chunk of my youth. I could have used it better but I did not. I have remained in my comfort zone for the past six years and have not put in much effort to explore on what life had to offer and I let go of too many opportunities because I chose to remain in my comfort zone. I was afraid to face changes. Too lazy to put in extra effort in pursuing my dreams, telling myself that things are not possible. I realized that I knew so little about life, often I was narrow minded and overly critical because I fail to see the many possibilities in situations. I never gave myself a chance.

I'm glad to have come here, this holiday has helped me to put my life back into perspective, to have a better idea of what I want to do with my future. I'm grateful that I'm still young enough to start anew, not to run away from the environment that i grew up in but to be more in control of my own life.

(a beautiful world waiting to be discovered)

It's all about good food

What I like about Sydney is the vast cultural diversity. It's a good place to learn about world religions and culture because you can find all kinds of people in this country, from every corner of the world and the best thing is that many of them retain their culture and religious beliefs even after they have migrated to Australia.

I've seen Chinese, Thais, Bangladeshis, Arabs, Greeks, Russians, Jews, Polish....you name it here and it's pretty fascinating to go into their grocery shops. Last night, my sister took me to an Italian neighbourhood for Italian food, it was mamamia! Simply delicious. We had pizza and pasta, it was amazing. They did not use much ingredients in their dishes but everything tasted so good. The pizza had only 4 ingredients which was 4 different types of cheese and gosh, every bite was so precious.

After dinner, we proceeded to my bro-in -law's friend's house for dessert. I had the best durian ice-cream there. It's such an irony that i had to come all the way to Sydney to taste something that is authentic back home. Never in my life had i tasted such a delicious durian ice-cream, it was not a durian flavoured ice-cream, it was a real, pure durian ice-cream with durian pulps in it. It tasted fantastic. They bought it from an Indonesian restaurant.

It's so easy to find good food in Sydney and the variety is great too, all you have to do is to try and be adventures.
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They call it the Bluemountains. Before I went there, I had no idea of what to expect, all I know is that it's very beautiful. It is said to be a must go place in Sydney.

I did want to go and see for myself, but never took any effort because it was not cheap to go, it costs around Aus$ 100 to go there for a day trip. And so I never went. Yesterday, my nice and kind bro-in-law took a day off from his work to drive me up to the mountains. I was touched and grateful.It was a 2 hours drive from Sydney, and the only song that kept on playing in my head was John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High". I could not help it, the scenery was really rocky mountain high, all the cliffs were rocky bald with no greens on it, nevertheless, it was beautiful, I wondered how the mountains were formed into what it is.

We went for a bush walk, it was interesting. Having gone jungle trekking in Malaysia, I have to admit that I appreciate our rainforest's better. The bush walk was a pretty barren one, the trees did not have much leaves on it, not because the land was not furtile, it was just natural. I got sun burned, though it was on a highland, the sun was so hot and bright. So here are the pictures, yes it's very blue, perhaps that's why they call it the blue mountains?

The Kite Runner

I finally saw the movie today, I am interested to know how my Muslim friends would react towards this movie. It touched alot on some sensitive Islamic issues and the Talibans.

Putting those matters aside, I thought it was a beautiful movie. A little boy out of fear (perhaps) does the cruelest things towards his best friend and he carries the dark memory with him into adulthood.

When we lie, we get away with things, we successfully convince others to see the better side of ourselves, however lies will never make us feel better about ourselves. We may cheat others, but our lies haunts us and reminds us of the ugly being that we are (thanks to our healthy brains that remembers). We imprison ourselves with guilt and when we cannot forgive ourselves, our lives become unfulfilled, happiness and total freedom would be the missing element. Redemption is possible when we dare to face the truth and overcome it....

Now, when I get back to Malaysia, I'm going to read the book, I bought it four years ago but have yet to touch it, it is still left unwrapped in the bookshelf.

It was an old bookshop, i was truly fascinated by it, I'm sure Mel would have too if she was here. It was a second hand book shop but the collection was great. That shop was the kind of ideal shop that i had in mind, a bookshop cum cafe, where people could just pick a book and read while they sip and munch. If they like the book, they could buy it.

I was impressed by its collection, there were some first prints of those Enid Blyton's and other good literary pieces. I found three of R.K Narayan's books that I had always wanted to buy. I had searched high and low for it when i was a student but no bookshop was able to sell it to me, finally I found it in this old bookshop, tempted i was to buy it but finally opted not to when I converted the price into RM.

There are many such shops in Sydney and there is a market for old books. Perhaps because the reading culture is popular here. I was impressed by this bookshop and was motivated to explore the other shops. And so, I happily walked into the many bookshops that i came across, every one of it was unique with its own identity. I was innocent and naive until I walked into a bookshop that made me feel so stupid. I had walked into a bookshop that sold explicit titles only and nothing more. I felt so embarrassed to be in that shop. I guess it was due to my upbringing where sex was a taboo topic. My self consciousness seemed to tell me that i should not be in that shop though the liberal me could not see my presence in that shop as wrong or illegal. I avoided making my discomfort too obvious, spent some 5 minutes browsing through the books before i left.

It was indeed an interesting experience for me, again, I felt like a frog under the coconut shell....(katak dibawah tempurung )

According to my computer’s dictionary, the word Gang means,

people who enjoy each other's company: a group of people with similar interests who like to spend time together

However, the word could also mean,

group of trouble-making young people: a group of young people who spend time together for social reasons and may engage in delinquent behaviour

group of criminals: a group of people who work together for some criminal or antisocial purpose

group of workers: a group of people working together, especially a group of labourers

set of tools: a set of tools or devices arranged to be used or operated together

In other words, the word gang can bring on to different meanings and it is left to its user to define what it really means.

I used the word gang this morning to describe a group of friends and I was taken aback by the response. I was being misunderstood. It was assumed that I was trying to portray that group of friends negatively, as if I was indicating that they were being cliquish and chose to be antisocial. I never meant that way. I used the word gang because I was too lazy to name every member of that group of friends, so I used the word gang to simplify things.

As for now, I am confused, did I use the wrong word? All I said was “I’m sure your gang is as happening as they can be”…gheeee……perhaps I should have just kept my mouth shut.

Pan Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth is an award winning Spanish fantasy movie. I thought it was a children fairytale when i saw its cover and the synopsis. Something like the Chronicles of Narnia perhaps. The 1st 15 minutes remained very much a fairytale. However, much to my dismay, after the 1st quarter of the movie, it was violence all the way towards the very end of the movie with the very cruel Captain Vidal finally shot in the face. To be honest, i did not really enjoy the movie probably it's because of the violence and bloodshed. I could not really appreciate the fairytale.

Curry Puffs

I spent my Sun afternoon making these curry puffs, it was my childhood dream come true.

It was fun

The final product

Lamb Chops

I was home alone, tired of having sandwiches for lunch, I decided to change my diet. Went to the butcher shop down the street and got these

2 chicken sausages and 1 lamb chop, the total cost was $ 3.20

So I came home, gave the lamb a quick marination of salt and pepper and a little rosemary. After 10 minutes, I fried it in the pan, nope I did not use any oil to fry these meat.

Here’s the outcome, it was a lovely lunch, I served the meat with boiled peas and some spinach and a tablespoon of plain yogurt, it was simply delicious. And I spend less than $4 for the dish. If I did not buy those sausages, My meal would have been $2

Birds!

Look at this little bird, cute and beautiful hor?

Wait, do not be deceived by its innocent look, it attacked me this afternoon, not once, but a few times, whilst I was having lunch in the park. It attempted to snatch my lunch away

Here it is, preying on their next victim, trying to make its move on its next victim. Boy did that poor girl scream

Yes, they manage to snatch someone’s food, now here’s the fight for the bigger portion. The winner will get the bigger share. Survival of the fittest they call it.

Will daddy be the next victim?

Who's been naughty and who's being nice?

The Election is a few days away and boy, the mailboxes are overflowing with mails telling us what to do for the coming elections. Of the mails, 99% of them are filled with reasons to why we should not vote for Barisan National.

Those mails are filled with the wrong doings of our ruling party politicians, filled with all their mistakes and ugly sights. I was just wondering, don't people have a better way of campaigning, other than polluting the reputation of their opponents? If you are good and have a good profile, you don't need to pollute another person's reputation, unless we are no better, so we start to compare on who is worst, who is more of a devil in disguise.

It's like saying, I know I am not good enough but look at them, they are even worst and if you vote for me, I will be nicer towards you though i don't guarantee things to be perfect.

Just a thought.

The Nanny

Remember her? I used to be so dissapointed when she came on air. I found her boring and annoying. The Nanny was the sitcom I would only watch if there was nothing else better on TV. I watched her again today, she was hilarious and so down to earth, guess I'm beginning to love her. Perhaps it's because I've grown up hahahaa, her jokes did not makes sense when I was a kid but i can relate to it now. Good ol' Nanny

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The problem with Jenn is that she lacks of discipline. She has no patience to follow instructions and always ends up doing things her own way. She had a taste of it’s consequences today, fortunately it was not too painful to bear.

I woke up at 7a.m so that my sister could drop me off at St. Vincent’s hospital (where Bob is doing his research) before going to work. I was ready for my big day out, I had planned to explore The Rocks today, The Rocks is one of the oldest part of Sydney, in fact it was where the city started off. And so, from St. Vincent’s I began my journey, walking towards the city. I passed Oxford Street, walked through Hyde Park (so far so good, I was still following the map) until I saw this nice old building from afar, I diverted my route and headed towards that old building. I found the building, it was an old Presbyterian Church. Had a good look at it and continued my journey. I walked and walked and walked and got lost. I could not find my location on the map. Trying to be smart, I followed my instincts and continued to walk until I realized that I was moving further away from my destination. Still I did not bother to sit down and study my map, again I followed my own instincts until I began to feel a little tired, I gave up. Got myself a nice seat under the tree and checked on the map, I hated that moment, my location was not in the map and I really had to figure out where I was and how was I to get out of the place. When I got my directions clear and continued my journey, I got distracted again, I saw The Rocks but I chose to bypass it because I saw something even more attractive right in front of me. It was the route that led to the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Yes I walked on the bridge, all the way to the north of Sydney and because I wanted to save some money, I walked all the way back instead of taking the bus or ferry. It was fruitful though, I enjoyed myself. I had a good view of the Harbor throughout my journey and of course I manage to get some satisfying photo shots of the Opera House. It was a clear blue sunny day and everything was blue, bright and clear. My skin burned and gosh I was dehydrated after the walk. My tongue craved for something sweet and I treated myself with a Strawberry Gelato. It was heavenly. I found The Rocks but with the hot sun penetrating into my skin, I lost my desire to explore. I decided to save my adventure at The Rocks for another day.

(Top Right: The Rocks; Top left: The Harbor Bridge from afar; on the harbor bridge)

Ms. Teoh asked " Have your jaws dropped on the floor yet?"

I replied, "not really, but my eyes are real busy, no time to look elsewhere"

I met Ms Teoh for the first time yesterday, she is somehow related to me and is currently working in Leeds, she and her mum got in touch with us and we had lunch together. It was indeed lovely to spend time togather. Thought we were strangers initially, we became friends and guess what, I've been invited to visit Leeds, but of course, I need to earn some money first hahaha.

We went to the Mardi Gras Parade. First time for all of us and ghee.....it was like a whole new world for me. Mardi Gras is a gay and lesbian parade held annually in Sydney as a sign of support to the gay and lesbian community. It's a parade with street party, a grand celebration indeed it was though to be honest, it's not my kind of party.

Here's some pictures from the parade which I curi from the internet, my camera batteries went flat before I could take any good shots. There were some really wild sceans but I can't find a good picture to show. Sorry lah.

Movies

Why do movies make us cry? Perhaps it’s because the story has touched the soft spot within us, perhaps we sympathize with the characters in the movie, perhaps we were overwhelmed by the movie or perhaps the movie was a reflection of our own personal life?

I watched “Water” this afternoon and the ending of the movie made me cry. Many would have thought that the main character in the movie was Chuyia the little widow, but to me, the silent Shakuntala was the main character. The role that this supporting actress led gave the perfect ending to the movie.

The culture that we come from somehow influences our religious practices, our faith life becomes complicated when we mix culture and religion together and consider it as one. What do we do when culture and our inner voice contradicts? Do we trust the inner voice enough for evolution to take place?

A great movie to watch when you have enough time to spare.