Earth Hour and beyond

At the night of Earth Hour
light was switched off
the darkness descended
she was dressing up that night

though her name is darkness
and she has been always invisible
but at that very special night
she dressed up so elegantly
or people did for her
regardless
people were witnessing her charm
she stood out
in front of everyone
in the heat of celebration

but

this is actually more than meeting the eyes

*At the night, people turned off the light for an hour. They celebrate it with many ideas. Some drove to mountain to see the night city skyline morphing from luminosity to dullness. Maybe petrol was used more than needed. CO2 was emitted more than usual. And within the hour, the electricity generating factories were still running non-stop. Carbon emission was still enormous. Whatever. Earth Hour is actually not only about switching off light. It is about energy saving, water saving etc. From individual micro scale accumulating up to macro generality. Use less. Reduce demand. Thus stop expanding power generation plants. Reduce our environmental footprint. *

Celebration of the day
with no doubt
became the fastest way to promote the idea
to call for awareness
darkness became a celebrity all of a sudden
people got together for the celebration
some forgot the pure intention
some got to do something even more energy wasting

Earth Hour
a campaign was supposed to evoke sense of responsibility and awareness
how we should keep energy saving on the right track
to the very effort we can do
for the sake of our future
our kids' future

energy saving
is the essence to be listed in to-do for everyday life

sustainable living
is the way to go
and
all these
should be done as a routine with fun

celebrating Earth Hour with fun is a good thing
not forgetting what we should be doing everyday

having fun while doing good
is the ideal
without compromising too much of daily lifestyle awfully

and hopefully sooner
Earth Hour does not need to be celebrated in extravagant ways
if everyone celebrate by saving energy everyday

it will just need to be a remembrance in the future

^__^

60

http://www.flickr.com/photos/earthhour_global/3386185889/
1 hour, without light on, makes us feel the importance of electricity.
60 minutes, without electricity, amaze us how our ancestors have had their nights, at places where unpleasant weather lands.

Clean up the mess that we produce,

Global Warming.
Reduce our carbon emission footprint, to save a little more for our earth, and our coming kids.

p/s: Quit smoking too, people.

一起感受

伊可知道当我昨晚收到越洋祝福的时候

夜空是呈紫蓝
看来似乎像是伊喜欢的颜色
将来的画
请记得尽情地
挥撒伊喜欢的颜色
我们的那幅画
会是灿烂的
家里所以温暖

月亮是很圆很大
我们喜欢的浪漫
却从来没有一起看过
我却知道
将来我们会一起看
年轻的时候
躺在草原上看
年迈的时候
在家的后院看

空中飘着微细的雨
伊喜欢的天气
渺渺的雨
像温柔的纱衣
看着看着
更加肯定
伊是迷路的天使
放心
一路上
我会带伊一起一步步地走
轻快地舞

伊的祝福
我真的收到了
因为我这里看到的天空竟然是
伊喜欢的天空
因伊而美丽的天空
一起飞翔
那风
那空气
那景色
我们一起感受到

我打短短的电话联系
说些生活的琐碎
我看到日偏食
我想 相隔两地看到的 会不一样
我想让伊看见我所看见的
我所以拍了下来
看到一朵白云
我喜欢
想伊也爱白云
所以又拍了下来
我在城里慢步
电车经过发出声音
我也想让伊听到
所以拨电

恋爱
原是无聊的
但是
那无聊可以一起感受
是幸福的
所以感恩

谢谢伊
赐我天使的吻

Melbourne is no longer livable?

Frankly, the first time i really got to know about the name of the place - Melbourne, was some when in high school, because of my idol singer Stephanie Sun Yan zi. She mentioned this was her most favorite place.

Melbourne, was a lovely place, to live and travel. Melbourne, is now still lovely, to travel but maybe not quite for living in.


Nowadays, what i feel about Melbourne, is not something too negative, but something potentially bad. All is about my personal feels. But i think they are pretty right. I dont know if the locals have been feeling the similar.

Three years ago, i was great to tell that i was in a very livable city. I still could recall some early moments when i came to this city. Some people did smile to me when passing by even if we were just strangers to one another. The city was pretty ambient with some activities and crowds. The pace of people on the street was relaxing.

Now, i feel like Melbourne is a container. It is trying to contain a lot of things but it is nearly bursting. It has been too many people on the streets in the city. It has been harder to walk through the crowds in lunch time. It has been longer queue to get my food. It has been many many more people competing to rent apartments or houses. It has been extra harder to get your application approved. It has been much more higher with the rents. It has been slower and slower for immigration office to process the permanent residency applications. It has been more crowded in trams and trains. It has been getting wilder with the climates.

Melbourne is just not catching up the demand with its supply. Overwhelming immigration and population has been causing too much pressure on the housing supply and public transportation. Things are going slightly off balance. Melbourne is no longer livable as it was unless the issues and problems are otherwise be addressed and solved asap. At least, that is how i feel. Nevertheless, it is still a very good place compared to many corners in the world.

I just prefer old things maybe. Weird huh..

Growth

(Reminded by m.yin, i browsed back the pictures of my Cameron Highland trip early this year which recalled sweet and sour memory of mine. Nevertheless, i found this picture i took on the fields of Watercress plantation.)

When you do micro-observation to your surrounding environment, you will be amazed by how the living organism in the world strives to survive the tough situations. Here, i am impressed by how the plants and micro organism surviving for their good in the water and on the move. They possess the sense of belonging amazingly in such unstable condition. You would question my observation about the micro organism that i couldnt see with my bare eyes. But, i studied biology before, and here, simply looking at the color combination revealed from the picture. You would agree that lives are inside! They enhanced the colors of life. The moving water here serves as the tough challenge for them to hold a place of micro ecology, yet, it plays the role as the interface of bringing nutrition.

The dualism of water, and the strong will to survive of those organism, bring up a picture of growth from extremes.

在新生代漫画改篇的日剧《交响情人梦》中，有一句话：
“在历史上留名的音乐家
都不但只是有才华
也有和各种重要的珍贵的人相遇”
所以，伯乐与千里马之间，是不可缺一的。有慧眼的人，更加不能眼看有才华却错过的事情发生。
至少，为了发挥，千里马要有一个宽阔无际的草原和跨出第一步奔腾的勇气；为了栽培，伯乐要有豁达大度的内涵和无羁的胸怀。

近来，突然想起朋友说过‘助养小孩’的事情。结果，我就参与了 Save the Children http://www.savethechildren.org.au/index.html。There is another popular similar program- World Vision. But what bother a bit to me from World Vision is that it sounds more about Christianity and even the permanent staffs are all Christians only. I do not have any bias position to any religions. But my very intention about helping the children, should be something very neutral, regardless of races, politics, religions etc.

Therefore, spontaneously i have joined Save the Children. I dont know i will be a Child Guardian of who. But just hope every little help given will be sufficient enough to ease them from their struggling difficulty and provide a Performance Stage for them to grow, to learn and to explore more. I hope many kids are nurtured in better environments. Kids are adorable. They are to sustain the future.

Malaysian Passport 1

"A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder."
--Wikipedia

I have got my Malaysian Passport renewed. But it was rather a pain for Malaysians to renew their passports in Australia. Simply because we have to go to the High Commission of Malaysia in Canberra to do it. Right, no other way! How outrageous is that you have to take a flight to Canberra, if you are a Malaysian in Melbourne or Sydney, or poorly those even further? No one is going to refund your travel expenses including flight, taxi and public transport.

(It is hilarious that the High Commision building is simply another Malaysia official-like building with the 'bumbung' of rumah kampung, being put in the context of Australia. Just as stubborn as how they put the Arabic-like domes all around on the buildings in Putrajaya. Apparently, architects, are useless for them since some of them don't mind to have non-context-responsive concept. Just like attitude, they are lack of having promptly effective response in different context while keeping their usual attitude as in Malaysia.)

In regards to that, i was trying to get a consular to talk about it. But i ended up very disappointed because there is no consular in Melbourne! No consular in Victoria State of Australia. It is simply pathetic that the Malaysian government always claims they are catching up the developed country but they don't even allocate a consular here giving attempt to help those oversea Malaysians.

How ridiculous is that for a place like Victoria (Australia) which is bigger than the Malaysia Peninsular not to have just a consular? And so i kept stalking them. I made phone calls. The official explained that the Malaysian government needs to save money. Well, i know they spent a lot in other aspects where the Malaysians taxation went to... Besides, i also know building-a-castle-as-a-house is costly, buying military aircraft is expensive , and of course sodomy charge and its movie-making is hardly affordable too. All these cost a lot of money yeah..

In order to test how helpful and how interactive are oversea Malaysian officials in Australia, i then tried emailing to every (i might have missed out one of two) consular in other states of Australia such as New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, etc. But, as expected, none of them replied me. I even received notification saying that a few of my emails to them were 'delayed' until no time. Most possibly, some email addresses are not even updated with current consular on position. Again, the government always claims to have advanced facilities but the service and attitude are never up to the front line. Just like computer, the outcome will be just crap, no matter how good is the hardware if the inferior software is not helping it.

Besides, i would like to say that such new policy having the must to renew passport in Canberra tells the very consequences of Malaysian government always causes: enlarging the environmental footprint! Such policy is just not economically and environmentally sustainable. So many Malaysians have to take flight to Canberra, plus the taxi travel forth and back, thus significantly increase the CO2 emission caused per person. I feel so bad for it! IF, we really have to continue doing that in Canberra, at least a good suggestion here: please provide a van or mini-bus to bring the poor Malaysian crowds back and forth from the Canberra Airport. I would even rather pay for this and appreciate it.

(I took the cheapest domestic flight, but it still cost me some amount of money which is equivalent enough to have bought about 100 days of Nasi Lemak for breakfast in Malaysia. But still, who cares?)

Last but not least, Passport, is the most important thing for oversea Malaysians to prove their identity. I am not very into politics and maybe i am not one of the most patriotic, but i am not ashamed to tell people that "i am from Malaysia". Because the 'formation' of myself is largely contributed from the origin. I love many people and places in Malaysia. Not forgetting the Malaysian food! But i would really appreciate and support the government if they are really doing the right things, helping to ease the burdens on the nation but not causing more troubles.

True Politic, should not be a stake for performance and speculation of power of the politicians. True Politic, should be the understanding and promises between the nation and the ruler.

p/s:

A bunch of my friends who have had their passport renewed in Canberra some time ago also commented with consensus that the whole procedure and attitude of the passport renewal done by the official did look like: they are not so pleased to process all those for us. Or, we are not welcomed? The mood went even worse when Ahmad Ismail's claim of "Chinese squatters" burst. So, the Chinese in Malaysia are not Malaysian? So, who am i?

Responsibility and Apologia simply don't exist for those governors anymore. And why should the nation entrust them? I have a few nice Malay friends and they are all good and more rational in thinking. Is it because they are new generation? Have been exposed to more in oversea? I am not bias to anyone or any party. But i won't buy the idea to keep immature racist in government. Hey, it is so out-of-fashion! Come on, racism is no longer working.

Reference:
http://www.malaysiamysecondhome.org/malaysia-newspaper/
http://blog.limkitsiang.com/
http://www.kennysia.com/
http://mustafakanuar.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/why-more-heat-is-on-ahmad-ismail/
http://timnam.blogspot.com/2008/09/politic.html