*This was a scheduled post, and was written before 16 October 2015, hence the reason why it still sounds so upbeat. I've amended it a little only to reflect the current situation, but left almost all of it as initially drafted.*

I just realized, but 31 October 2015, marks the 10th Anniversary of my blog. 10 years!

What a long way I have come, since then.

I apparently started this blog on 31st October 2005, whilst I was in my first year of Law School / University.

(I know for a fact that I meddled with the date of the first post, so this blog's actual birthday is either before or after that date, but I can't remember the exact date - so let's all just forget bout that technicality here lol) 

The design of this blog is thanks to ccymie who kindly designed the current outline of the blog in 2007 according to my specifications, and I have not been inclined to change the design at all all this years. (Though if and when he has the time I may need some help with some html codes on the sidebar for outdated apps.)

The theme for the blog, being "Flow" where I chose water as the main premise, since water is ever changing, and conforms to whatever container you put it in; it can be gentle and it can be cruel; it's unpredictable. 

Which, is in line with this blog's main focus of being unable to see what the future will bring us i.e. I still stay by the theme of this blog that the 'future is unpredictable'; and that the 'fight to rise once again' is till ongoing as a daily battle. But that's a different story for maybe another day, and/or different audience.

While due to work commitments I had became less active over the years in posting anything at all.

Since I rather spend my spare time catching up on my sleep or other things than racking my brains thinking about posting anything. I've honestly also become more reserved about what I want to share online with people who know me, and what I would like to share with strangers, if any, do read what I write.

I also went through a lot career wise. My direct superior and senior left the team at the same time i.e. in April 2011, forcing a 3 man team into a 1 man team, with the same amount of workload, if not more. Hence the lack of posts from that duration on wards. I did write intermittently during that tough time, so maybe I will retrieve what I wrote and post them later. Those will be backdated though, I think..

And also due to some ex acquaintances, who for a lack of a better word were nosy, stalking, gossip mongers, I had for many years made this blog only available for private viewing - it's public again now, and if you don't like what I post then just don't read or follow this blog.

(I'm in a position now where I seriously don't give a damn about your opinions. It's not like you are losing anything financially or your quality of life by what I post here. So don't waste your time reading something you don't like. i.e. No one is forcing you to read my mindless and lengthy ramblings...)

I did skim through my posts from this past 10 years and all I can say is that, the me of the past 10 years, rambles a lot, curses a lot , procrastinates a lot (I probably still do all three a lot?), has a weird sense of humour(?), freaks out a lot close to exams, took a lot of random online quizzes, and again... Rambles a lot.. Ahh, those were the days... 

Amongst my favourite posts from the past that I found during my skimming - be wary of Manglish - I had this habit of not checking what I wrote for grammatical/spelling errors, and used SMS spellings all the time as well:
Poems I wrote: here, here, here, & here.
Me freaking out over my revenue law assignment
Mother's Day in May 2008
Me Freaking out before the CLP/Malaysian Bar Exam lol
Sister's Birthday Card in August 2008
Precious in his Younger Years in August 2008
My Singaporean Cousin, who is the first to classify my alien-ism as an Amoeba, lol

Anyway besides all the random ramblings, whining, complaints, weird posts.. etc..  (I actually read Shakespeare.. Such a nerd! lol) I apparently live a very uninteresting life, since all I do is work; I don't hold interests in things long enough usually (read: short attention span.. lol..), and I'm apathetic to almost everything that won't cause me or people/things/other living beings, I care about, any financial, physical or psychological harm. I guess overall, I am just not that attached to this world.

But I digress... Back to the topic at hand...

This Blog's 10th Anniversary!!

~~

Well, in this year of 2015, to be more precise 31 October 2015 (darn forgot those html codes to make the words blink =.='), 10 years has come to pass since this blog officially had it's humble beginnings...  

So.... After 10 years..... What's different? Besides the recent loss of Baby (which I will not address further here).

I've started a new chapter of my life, since as of 1 April 2015, for a duration of one year I was stationed in the land of the rising sun.  In a so-called secondment by my firm to work as an assistant professor in a certain university here.

After this stint i.e. in April 2016 I'll be going back home; don't get me wrong, while I love Japan, I don't love living here for the long term due to various reasons that I decline to mention in this post, or it will be never ending.

All I can say is that after Japan, I will need to seriously rethink my future, do I want to keep slaving away at my current law firm, or review other options? (Which are all probably in-house options.)

One thing I can say for sure is that in 2005 when I started law school, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer, and I never considered being a lecturer. So I didn't bother with a LL.M.  (that's the minimum educational requirement to be a lecturer - besides my bar school offered an LL.M from some Australian University that I've never heard of till this day). 

I did consider doing a masters, maybe a LL.M or MBA, since it seemed it might be better for the corporate world, if you hold a directorship or something, (your profile would look a little nicer in the prospectus lol) it could be advantageous, but I've met some lawyers who don't hold any masters at all, and they are doing fine... So I digress...

Anyway back to the topic at hand, now 10 years after the start of law school, I spent about 7 years of that being a corporate lawyer and now I'm an assistant professor at a Japanese University, in Japan obviously, and I must say, to be frank, I still cannot imagine myself in the teaching profession. 

I rather be out there as a lawyer or an in-house counsel. I honestly prefer drafting/reviewing contracts to preparing power points. Talking to clients than to students. You could say I've rediscovered my love for drafting here. 

Maybe I'm still considered young; maybe I like the corporate world better than the academic world; maybe I'm too used to what I have in the corporate world that moving to the academic world seems like something I can't get accustomed to; or maybe it's a case of who moved my cheese. 

The corporate world isn't all rainbows, chocolates, roses, puppies or sunshine either, the long hours I spend slaving away, dealing with crazy people etc. The toll on my health... Both physical and psychologically... But I think in my personal view that it's more challenging and interesting as compared to where I am now. 

Maybe I'm not being utilized to my full potential here at the university, so I feel this way, but I digress, that is a can of "what ifs" that I will probably never have the chance the open in this lifetime.  

Or maybe, if I ever do fall in love, get married and ever have kids, maybe.... Just maybe.... I will find what I have now more appealing....

So here's to another 10 years! To the future where I hope that this blog and/or I'm still around then, or that still remember about this blog and will post something. Cheers!

-サヤカ-

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As I sit here 5000 miles away from you, I think back to 13 years ago. Where you fitted so snugly into the palm of my hand.

Where even when the world was still dark and noiseless to you, you chose me, as I would have chosen you.

Where even though we weren’t sure if we were allowed to be together, you waited for me and stuck to me like you were already mine.

Where you won the final agreement out of dad in such an adorable manner that the scene forever replays in my mind.

And with all that, I find myself, yet again wishing that I were by your side, to comfort you, to touch you, to reassure you, to be there for you.

Is it possible to love this much? Was I capable of this much love? I never knew; or maybe I had always doubted myself.

But I guess it is possible to love this much; I am capable of loving this much.

If anything, my tears now are the testament of this deep love I feel for you. This fear I feel of losing you. The emptiness I fear that I will feel when you leave me. To this fear of coming home without you there to greet me.

I had always found it so adorable at how you would always by-pass everyone else to greet me first when I got home. And it would seem that I actually do the same.

We have been together for almost everyday of your life; we ate together, bathed together, and slept together…

It seemed like we always wanted to be together, and we were, save for when I went to England to study, or when I went for holidays, or business trips, or even now that I’m 5000 miles away in the land of the rising sun.

But even when we were and are apart, not once had I ever-stopped thinking of you, or wishing I were with you.

You had and have my love through and through.

I deigned from mentioning it too much, lest people thought I was some crazy dog lady, but I think they already knew though, and mom always knew that I was crazy about you. (She was and I think, still is very worried about my mental health on what I would do after this.)

But hey, the rest of the family thought about you too. They all loved you like crazy too; well maybe not as much as I do though, that privilege belonged only to me, I suppose.

And who could fault you? Who wouldn’t love you? You made it impossible not to love you, especially when you loved back so unconditionally. For someone so small, your heart was humongous.

I’m sure many others have gone through what I am going through now; by right we humans are supposed to outlive our pets and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If I had gone before you, who then would look after you? It will be harder for you than it will be for me. So I am glad in that morbid sense that you wouldn't have to live without me.

But I do ponder how I will live without you.

As they had said in the movie 10 promises to my dog, I have work, my friends, and other family members, so I will, or rather should be able to move on (which I promise you, I will strive to do so), but to you, I’m all you have. Is that true?

Watching you through FaceTime/Skype, looking for me, waiting for me at the door. Its breaks my heart, but I’m inclined to believe that that is the truth.

I am all you have, and I’m so sorry for leaving you, for going 5000 miles away when you need me most. I thought that we would have more time; apparently I thought wrongly, the kindness of the gods/universe/whatever is out there, is probably reaching its limit.

I really want to be beside you now, but I guess you already knew that.

I blame timing, I blame fate, I blame destiny and everything else, but it still leaves me powerless to change the fact that I can’t come home to you in this dire time.

I believe that you remember our promise, and that you will wait for me.

(Wait for me to come home and give me a little bit more time with you please.)

With that, I have decided.

Decided to stop crying and to take care of myself; to believe in you, place all my faith in the world in you, that no matter how tough it is, no matter how much you feel like giving up, that you won’t, and that you will honour this selfish wish of mine, because you love me as much as I love you.

So as I sit here writing this to you, in a probably vain attempt to let it all out, to place this seal on my tears, to be replaced with a smile; as I try to hide my worries for you and trudge on and go on with life as normal as any other human has to in this cruel human society that does not formally recognise pets as family.

I wish again to be by your side, but let’s keep it sealed for the time being okay? And we will write again when the seal breaks.

I’m forever yours.

-サヤカ-

10 Principles for Peace of Mind

1. Do Not Interfere In Others' Business Unless Asked:

Most of us create our own problems by interfering too often in others' affairs.

We do so because somehow we have convinced ourselves that our

way is the best way, our logic is the perfect logic and those who do not

conform to our thinking must be criticized and steered to the right direction, our

direction.

This thinking denies the existence of individuality and consequently the

existence of God..

God has created each one of us in a unique way.

No two human beings can think or act in exactly the same way.

All men or women act the way they do because God within them prompts them

that way.

Mind your own business and you will keep your peace.

2. Forgive And Forget:

This is the most powerful aid to peace of mind.

We often develop ill feelings inside our heart for the person who insults us or

harms us.

We nurture grievances.

This in turn results in loss of sleep, development of stomach ulcers, and high

blood pressure.

This insult or injury was done once, but nourishing of grievance goes on

forever by constantly remembering it.

Get over this bad habit.

Life is too short to waste in such trifles.

Forgive & Forget, and march on.

Love flourishes in giving and forgiving.

3. Do Not Crave For Recognition:

This world is full of selfish people.

They seldom praise anybody without selfish motives.

They may praise you today because you are in power, but no sooner

than you are powerless, they will forget your achievement and will start finding

faults in you.

Why do you wish to kill yourself in striving for their recognition?

Their recognition is not worth the aggravation.

Do your duties ethically and sincerely.

4. Do Not Be Jealous:

We all have experienced how jealousy can disturb our peace of mind.

You know that you work harder than your colleagues in the office, but

sometimes they get promotions; you do not.

You started a business several years ago, but you are not as successful

as your neighbor whose business is only one year old.

There are several examples like these in everyday life.

Should you be jealous?

No.

5. Change Yourself According To The Environment:

If you try to change the environment single-handedly, the chances

are you will fail.

Instead, change yourself to suit your environment.

As you do this, even the environment, which has been unfriendly to you,

will mysteriously change and seem congenial and harmonious.

6. Endure What Cannot Be Cured:

This is the best way to turn a disadvantage into an advantage.

Every day we face numerous inconveniences, ailments, irritations,

and accidents that are beyond our control.

If we cannot control them or change them, we must learn to put up

with these things.

We must learn to endure them cheerfully.

Believe in yourself and you will gain in terms of patience, inner

strength and will power.

7. Do Not Bite Off More Than You Can Chew:

This maxim needs to be remembered constantly.

We often tend to take more responsibilities than we are capable

of carrying out.

Know your limitations. . Why take on additional loads that may

create more worries?

You cannot gain peace of mind by expanding your external activities.

Reduce your material engagements and spend time in prayer,

introspection and meditation. This will reduce those thoughts in your mind that make

you restless.

Uncluttered mind will produce greater peace of mind.

8. Meditate Regularly:

Meditation calms the mind and gets rid of disturbing thoughts.

This is the highest state of peace of mind.

Try and experience it yourself.

If you meditate earnestly for half an hour everyday, your mind will

tend to become peaceful during the remaining twenty-three and half-hours.

Your mind will not be easily disturbed as it was before.

You would benefit by gradually increasing the period of daily meditation.

You may think that this will interfere with your daily work.

On the contrary, this will increase your efficiency and you will be

able to produce better results in less time.

9. Never Leave The Mind Vacant:

An empty mind is the devil's workshop.

All evil actions start in the vacant mind.

Keep your mind occupied in something positive, something worthwhile.

Actively follow a hobby.

Do something that holds your interest.

You must decide what you value more: money or peace of mind.

Your hobby, like social work or religious work, may not always earn

you more money, but you will have a sense of fulfillment and achievement.

Even when you are resting physically, occupy yourself in healthy reading or

mental chanting of God's name.

10. Do Not Procrastinate And Never Regret:

Do not waste time in protracted wondering " Should I or shouldn't I?"

Days, weeks, months, and years may be wasted in that futile

mental debating.

You can never plan enough because you can never anticipate

all future happenings.

Value your time and do the things that need to be done.

It does not matter if you fail the first time.

You can learn from your mistakes and succeed the next time.

Sitting back and worrying will lead to nothing.

Learn from your mistakes, but do not brood over the past.

DO NOT REGRET.

Why cry over spilt milk?

This is the month where I've lost a lot of money....

No, no, not through gambling...... but through eating haha..

Have been going out a lot this month, (that would be fine, save for the places that I've been going were all so pricey.. sigh)

Anyway, had dinner with high school classmates on Thursday 121109, celebrated Cheese's Birthday on Saturday 141109, and 昨日はお母さんの誕生日です161109 (今日は実は九時午後ですはは), went out with University mate - QW with Ai kun on Sunday 151109.... badminton on Friday 131109 was a tad pricier now... =.=' went for movies.... watched 2012 on... Saturday after Cheese's Birthday as well...

Ermm... movie was so-so..... by the way, word of advice, watch with a not so intellectual mind and don't analyse too much.. either than that CGI suckers like me, should like it enough XD

Ahh, back to the outings.... sigh.... all so pricey.... am so broke.. sobs... please donate haha

hmm work wise... currently.. well..... self esteem is still a bit low, since I'm still facing a lot of things I don't know, especially with regard to the investments part.. ( still in the learning process - need to speed up!!!)..

guess it doesn't help that I am quite blur and slow..haha although I've some great and helpful teachers here :) A really big heartfelt thanks to them for sharing their knowledge with me, for correcting my mistakes and for putting up with my blur-ness (not to mention my retarded-ness haha though that's no secret I can be quite retarded :p) haha XD

All in all, it's still encouraging.. may be struggling to keep my head above the water, but its a good struggle.... if there's such thing as a good struggle... (life is a challenge??)

But yeah.. am working on it... (where art thou my beloved brain.. come back, come back to me... - ehem.. sorry.. being a bit Shakespearean dramatic here haha)

However, seriously, sitting on your butt the whole day and staring at the computer screen does take a toll on you... my butt feels so, so, so damn sore... so does my neck and shoulders from crouching over to read documents... my eyes... arghh... (having sensitive eyes is a pain.. literally..)

either than that... have been watching Fringe (stolen from my Master... haha) it's okay and all, quite addictive..... sometimes? but the best is Dr. Bishop, and his son Peter.. Dr. Bishop is so cute and funny haha.... I love his random obsession with food... (maybe it's cause I can connect with him on that level... only that level... I'm no mad scientist!! haha)

well that's all for the random rambling this round.. till then.. toodles....

much love
-Oracle-

Enjoy the ride. There is no return ticket

George Carlin on aging!
(Absolutely Brilliant)
IF YOU DON'T READ THIS TO THE VERY END, YOU HAVE LOST A DAY IN YOUR LIFE. AND WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED, DO AS I AM DOING AND SEND IT ON.

George Carlin's Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life ! You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony.YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling.. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone...

But! wait!! ! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and make it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into ! your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3.Keep learning. ! Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's family name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6... The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it.. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips.. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
And if you don't send this to at least ... people - who cares?But do share this with someone. We all need to live life to its fullest each day!!

Life's journey is not to
arrive at the grave safely
in a well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways,
totally used up and worn out, shouting
'..man,what a ride!'=

Equality is in my opinion a Utopian concept. It does not truly exist, nor would, I doubt, it ever exist, at least not in my lifetime.

Discrimination is everywhere, present here and now, in force whether we realise it or not. Discrimination between the races, culture and sexes are among the few examples of the types of discrimination we face everyday. Thankfully the world is opening up and in this 21st century we are blessed with people who are willing to free themselves from the four corners of their boxes and venture out, and embrace new things, new ideologies, new culture.

Discrimination, I believe can be traced back way, way back even to the Stone Age. They may not exactly have any discrimination against race or culture back then, but it was obvious that there was discrimination of the sexes. Which is actually the main topic of this write up today. My knowledge of what I am about to write here, is knowledge I have gathered from talking to people, observing society and reading random materials over the course of the 20 odd years of my life. So please feel free to correct me on points, which you feel, are discrepant.

Back to the main topic, discrimination of the sexes.

When this planet was made, Men and Women were made as well, males and females were made so, that they cannot reproduce without the other, and would have likely died out if not for each other. (Although now with technology, I would actually boldly state that Women can reproduce without men, if you know about Dolly the sheep, you will roughly know where I am coming from, but that’s besides the current point.)

Therefore, since both are needed to reproduce wouldn’t one think that they ought to be equals? Unfortunately, no, Men are Women are made differently; Women are mysteriously made weaker, physically, compared to Men. A man can easily kill a woman with his bare hands whereas the opposite is not true for the woman. (but both are quite mentally competent if I may say so myself.)

Have you ever watched documentaries on animals like National Geographic? If you did, you would have noticed that the alpha male is the strongest in the pack, physically strongest I would add. Hence it could be possible to say that the discrimination of the sexes is an animal instinct. (Essential for the survival of the fittest, if not for such a thing, I think a lot of species would have died out) Men are generally stronger; a woman could exercise the same amount as a man and not get any muscles, whereas the man could easily get bulky. In order to reproduce, we can’t have a pregnant lady fighting a dinosaur and risking a miscarriage, and effectively failing in reproduction and resulting in the death of the species.

Hence it could be likely that the reason Women were not made that strong was because they don’t need that strength unlike Men. So the Men had to do the dirty and dangerous work. But again looking at animal instinct, (as humans have been said to be animals, but the most well evolved one) the physically strongest of the pack becomes the leader. Thus, I would say that it is the most plausible reason why the Women follow the Men.

If a Women refuses to follow it would be quite easy to put her in place by just hitting her (as some beings lower than the human race, nay, they cannot even deserve to be called humans, do even to this very day). Women would most likely lose in a physical fight (forget martial arts, the idea here is if the woman knows martial arts the man knows it as well. She would most likely still lose; it’s a battle of strength here).

Hence, it started the dominance of Men over Women. Imagine in the stone age, when a man saw a woman he liked, he would hit her on the head and drag her back to his cave by her hair!! To be his so-called “wife”. (As there was no such term then) What brutality, even a woman during the Stone Age had no right of choosing her own husband and is instead brutally kidnapped. What discrimination is this?!

This passed on into the centuries, where Women were taken as wombs, and were not educated, nor was the need seen. Being uneducated, Women were brought up to have conservative minds to listen to the Men and just be obedient. (like the case in Salt Lake City if I’m not wrong, some sort of religious sect) This was enforced with the introduction of religion with the formation of governments. (Which I felt was actually meant to control the economy, i.e. the taxation, rules and the beginning of law etc notice that all the religious leaders are all Men!!) And most likely the males all got arrogant, as this kind of act gives them the feeling of power, the feeling of power they have over Women, another human being. Thus, giving birth to ego and most likely the chauvinistic Men.

Women however suffered, brilliant minds were snuffed out, the Men continued to subdue Women and built a society for Men. (Look at history at the ancient civilisations, all ruled by Men, Women had no place in politics or ruling; Women were not even allowed on the Olympic grounds, what more to join in, and could only watch it from a far.)

But, thankfully, I guess the Men started to realise, that having an uneducated Women, as they progressed wasn’t very good. Some Men preferred intellectual Women, and it was better if Women could at least read. And thankfully, there were some fathers out there who felt that his daughter deserved an education (usually happens when they are denied sons and uses the daughters as substitutes, but some really do think that their daughters should have a right to education, thank goodness for fathers like that). Thank goodness for some of the Men who had the right mind to look at the other side of the coin, and decided that Women are not stupid, and ought to be educated as well.

Hence slowly, the females were being educated. But with education, some of them started to think on their own, and started asking for equality, something non-existent, unless in my opinion, the day comes where Men can carry a baby in their body, suffer through the pains of child birth and give birth to it. What they are actually looking for, I would personally say is better rights, less oppression, better access to knowledge, and overall a better life. Not a life hidden away in the shadows.

In those days they even had clubs especially for Men, where Women were not allowed to join or even work in. (That could probably well explain the male domination of most professions as Women were just expected to sit at home and mind the children.) Since Women weren’t educated until later. Women who dabbled in things we would call scientific, such as traditional herbs and healing medicines were called witches and burnt at the stake whereas the Men were revered as Scientists, the injustice of it all.

We are in some sense lucky that some Men had loved their wives, daughters, sisters or mothers enough, and revered them a higher standing and allowing them to inherit property. (Such as the ancient Egyptian empire, if I am not wrong, the mother of the King holds and honourable position) Thus in effect, raising the status of Women in society, and allowing it to evolve into what it is today.

There are Men out there who don’t view Women as sexual objects but as human beings like them, who should be given, whenever possible the equal opportunity as Men, and thank goodness for Men like that. Though now as more Women get educated, they are also learning to fight for their rights, as human beings, Women should not be treated like a slave, or a womb, just to give birth, or cook and clean for the family.

Unfortunately I’ve noticed that although society is changing, a number of Men still cannot except that Women are being independent, especially the urban Women, and most Men feel threatened by that. Threatened by the fact that they are no longer needed to put food on the table or as the protector of the family because the Women are capable of that. Thus they think independent Women are not cute, and buy brides from other countries. The Men’s chauvinistic character it would seem unfortunately did not recede with the change of position and status of the Women folk. We could also say that society does not really allow them to as well. (But it can be seen that the younger society is attempting to change.)

It is like a stereotype that we were born with, where boys were wrapped in a blue blanket and girls in pink. However, we can note and see that girls will wear blue and play with cars and trucks, but the same is usually not true for boys, though some of them may now wear soft pastel pink, but they frown against playing with dolls and see it as wrong. The society’s perception set in their minds since centuries ago, that these are Women things, Men will not do it. And the Women’s thinking that, she no longer wants to be oppressed and will break into the Men’s world and do what the Men can.

I think it is a fact, Men can never be Women and vice versa, what is left is to just respect each other. Women should respect the fact that Men are physically stronger and are meant to do certain kinds of work, which actually by fact, if the Women really wanted it, and with the help of technology she can do as well. (It’s like girls playing with cars but boys not playing with dolls.)

And Men should respect Women, understand that they are the weaker sex, but they definitely should not be oppressed and be given better or if possible equal rights/opportunities (such as equal opportunity for education). Society should be taught that girls are okay too (China should stop killing baby girls). We are not stupid or useless; we can inherit property as well. And we can actually carry on the surname as well (as in Japan where the son-in-law may be adopted into the family and carry the wife’s surname).

What I’ve noticed in society is that there is still a general lack of respect for Women, sure the highly educated/professionals respect, or at least try their best to respect each other no matter the sex, but when you get rapists and molesters, this are typical Stone Age Men who have failed to evolve, and still wish to empower Women, and who do not respect Women and most likely think they don’t have to be respected.

Society deserves a hard smack on the head, and taught to think with an open mind, it doesn’t matter if this discrimination has been so deeply embedded in culture, if there are people, Men and Women willing to fight for it, someday, we may be looking at a future where Women will have rights almost equivalent to the Men, where Women will get the respect their deserve; respect almost, or I hope actually equal to Men. It feels like a Utopian dream, but it could be possible with the right education, and with the right minds, and will to change societies.

Men on the other hand shouldn’t be thinking that because Women want equality that they should do everything themselves, like from what I’ve noticed in my scouting, for example in chopping wood, the boys will not help the girls saying they are strong enough. I don’t really think that is the point. As stated it is a fact, Women are the weaker sex, we don’t have as much physical strength, besides it is being courteous to help a friend, is it not? If your friend, regardless of sex were having difficulty chopping the wood, which you know you’re most likely capable of, would you not offer your help? (You should, it’s manners. So learn, society lacks manners, especially, sadly, in this country as posted before based on the little survey I did sometime back around last year.)

So yes, respect each other, and help each other, you chop the wood & I can help you sew, I don’t really see the problem with that as long as Women are not treated as objects but normal human beings like the Men. (We were after all made differently) I think that is in effect what Women are actually looking for, but couldn’t word properly. (Hence the word “equality”) So to the, Men please respect the Women, and to the Women, please respect the Men, and to both sexes, please continue to strive for better rights for Women. (We should not be locked at home, not allowed to leave the home unaccompanied, we should not feel fear walking out on the street alone, we should all be given equal education, we should have the right to choose our spouse, we do not need to hide. Society can free Women, and the first step has to be taken by us all)

Also this might seem quite feminist, but I think Men should just endure it when Women say it’s the Men’s fault for a certain number of things (such as society’s mentality and way of thinking), as we can all associate it to the discrimination of their fore fathers and fathers before that, i.e. the Men of old, it’s the least they could do for the centuries of oppression of Women, though they will argue that they aren’t like that. But it’s a fact that society was made like that, and it’s good that they realise that though, and are hopefully willing to change society, cause if they don’t aren’t they then the same as their forefathers and fathers before that?

To the Men, hey what’s wrong with wearing florescent pink and playing with dolls?

-Oracl3-

P/s: this discrimination of the sexes can actually be applied to the discrimination of races etc, one race thinks it’s more superior than the other, and well they have the numbers to enforce that thought by forming society, and there you have it. Discrimination, again I would say, education and teaching people to broaden their horizons will help to alleviate this problem somewhat. And people need to stop thinking they are so damned special when we are all humans, when we get cut, no matter the skin colour, our blood is all red. (But as I said it’s a Utopian concept or we wouldn’t be having any wars now would we?)

Ahh, yes, the moment of truth... (with a capital B)

Let me get this straight.. I still love you, it, whoever, or whatever I happen to be bitching about.. (whenever I do bitch...) but well, yeah.. life just gets to you sometimes...

People who bitch in general,
Are people who are pissed,
People who are pissed,
Are angry people,
People who are angry,
Are people who are unhappy,
People who are unhappy,
Are miserable people...
And well, people who are miserable...
Are just that.. miserable..
So have some pity....

So the conclusion is, in general, Miserable people are people who bitch...

And the more miserable they are, the more they bitch...

So instead of getting angry at people who bitch, listen to what they have to say, and seek the truth and logic in that, and maybe help them along, or keep it to yourself, but please don't get angry with them and start spreading gossips or whatever (as I've noticed it's always the case, going behind the person's back.... Well...... Hey........ come to think of it, doesn't that count as bitching as well??? O_O' Krud...)

Cause people who bitch are miserable people, so we should feel sorry for such miserable people, and revive that compassion we have hidden in our souls..

So yes, please pity me when I bitch (as I do as well.). And to be honest, (I've noticed, both in others and personally) when we bitch we don't really mean it, we're just ranting, people need to let the miserable things off their chest to move on and be slightly more happier...
So let's all forgive people who bitch... cause bitching is just part of human nature..

(And to everyone who caught me bitching, my sincerest apologies... after all, no matter how much I deny it, I'm unfortunately still human, and am living in this society of humans....)

Thank you

The end

-Oracl3-

P/s: Ah, you could tell that things haven't been going that great? Why, thank you... Though I have a number of things to be thankful for.. Am searching for the lining in the silver clouds... and well.. no matter how worse off we think we are.. there are people worse off than us....

Errr..... Does this count as bitching too??? =.='

Title: Minna, Shin nen ha omedeto: Everyone, congratulations on the new year (Direct translation?? o_O')

I really hope my title is gramatically correct.. Well even if it isn't... oh well.. *shrugs*
Anyway, as the title says!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Hope everyone had a nice year end party, I sort of had one.. and well.. new year resolutions.... aahh.. sounds like something I make each year only to forget I ever made them.... I don't think I really make any resolutions any way.. .so that's that.... Maybe to try to get back to improving on my Japanese, finish translating the Ghost Hunt Manga, and well.. try to learn more at my new job..... be a better person?? Yeah, that's the reason why I don't exactly make new year resolutions.... We can make those kind of resolutions anytime we want :p

Anyway, here's to wishing that everyone had a wonderful 2008 and hoping for an even better 2009 for us... And some good luck in whatever you do!! cause we all need a little bit of luck in everything we do.. :)

-Oracl3-

cross posted to my LJ.

"Life is about living, unfortunately, that living encompasses exams... and other unpleasant things in life... but without those, that's not living.." -Sayaka-

I desperately needed some inspiration... shared here.. by a Dr Randy Pausch, Diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, was treated, recovered, and is now suffering a relapse, and has been told by doctors that he has only months to live... Here is his final lecture... Touching...



Inspirational quote from the video?

"Don't complain, Work Harder!" -Dr Randy Pausch-

"Live your life the right way, when you live right, the dreams will come to you" -Dr Randy Pausch-

Life is about living... which unfortunately means.. I've to go through those darned exams haha...[and for the others.. well, there are plenty of other things we dread...]

but hey, how come my parents didn't let me paint my room the way I wanted to? haha... then again... they let me stick whatever I want in it now.. :p I'll take pictures and load them after exams, to show what I've stuck in my room :p

Also, today I've just received a birthday card from my brother who is in Australia... I guess he only remembered my birthday on the actual day, because the card was sent on the 19th of June itself haha... Among all the cards this year.. I'll have to say that I like his the most.. [Though the butterfly sticker he stuck on the envelope seems like only things girls would do haha..]

It looks like it was sort of handmade with those little 2D pictures you can stick on the card.. [you know like the "make your own card" set you get from craft shops..] messy, and a bit sloppy, but I liked it, simply because there's a Grand piano on the front haha.. it's so cute :p [sorry, call me prejudicial then, it's not everyday I get a card like that... haha]


and well he inserted an inspirational quote, just right when I needed inspiration...

"One thing is certain. That is that the power of belief, the power of thought, will move reality in the firection of what we believe and conceive of it. If you really believe you can do something, you can. That is a fact." -Daisaku Ikeda-

Things work out in mysterious ways right? Now all I've to do is believe in myself... sigh.. easier said than done...

Then again, today's hot weather had sapped my concentration to study.. sigh... but that's another matter.... i'm 60% done with civil procedure, and am starting on Criminal Procedure now....

For now, enjoy the video while I hit the books..

To everyone that needs it, and ESPECIALLY to myself:

頑張ってね，「がんばってね」
加由加由！[This is Chinese by the way, and the above is in Japanese, they all mean the same, Ganbatte/Fight/Don't give up]
待ったね。勉強します！！諦めないぞ！！ファイト！！

-Oracl3-

"It's amazing how exams can make anything & everything not related to studying as procrastination... no wonder we procrastinate more when exams are coming..." -Sayaka-

EDITED: On 13th June 2008

Sorry Mel, but this seems like a really good idea..... to control myself...
If it works...

On my honour [do I even have any? Well, I guess I do have the Scouts honour... maybe haha] I hereby declare that I, Sayaka / Oracl3 / Cindy Cheong will TRY not to blog [or do online related things] so much till after my exams, which is at the end of July.. try.....

-[A sort of hard feat on my part.. since it's only classes and books now in my life.. I need an outlet.. but I'll try.... I mean, I have cut down on my politics & manga after all....
Any encouragement, in any form is highly appreciated.. if you wish to send me money, please inform me ;p though food is a preferred medium, but hey, if you give me money, i can just buy what I want to eat, and other things.. and you don't have to think what to get me... kills two birds with one stone keke ;p]-

-Exam kills-

~Exams are coming..~
~Oh yes, it's coming~
~It's less than a month away~
~With 10 subjects all together~
~And they aren't very fun either~
~When you're mislead into thinking~
~You have only but 5 papers...~
~It's all memory work~
~Oh yes, a 100% memory work~
~Time to kill my brain cells~
~And seriously get down to work~
~Stop the lazing~
~Stop the procrastinating~
~It's time to get serious~
~Or reap what you sow...~

-By Sayaka-

Some lame-o-thing, I randomly thought off.. A poem, lyrics? I don't know what it is... But assuming it's a death song..? I'll compose a tune for it? If I'm talented enough to do it, [& if I feel like it] after my exams that is.. haha.. and yes, title was taken from.. "Smoking kills"

Therefore DO NOT DISTURB [unless necessary], Privacy please.. i need peace and quiet to memorise 10 subjects.... -->

On the top we have the little brown thingie [kitten] i.e my law books/notes, and I'm at the bottom haha.. Oops! Bad analogy? :p The look of sheer terror on the chihuahua's face.. that's me alright..

Oh, before i go into attempted online hibernation mode...

[I think I'll still be online, to check my mail & download animes but not watch them till after exams... but I most probably won't be very available on my MSN, as my books will be seducing me, or at least attempting to seduce me.. like the kitten above... haha]

A little video taken from Mel's blog, with her permission, to show the pain that law students have to go through.. though the guy that made the video is only a LLB (degree) he hasn't met CLP yet, and he's most probably lucky not too... [Assuming from the slang he's American, and therefore he will face their BAR exams instead, i mean hey.. anything is easier than a 10% pass rate right?]



-Oracl3-

Something else I found in the folder... Hopes it provides some encouragement to others to speak their voice out, and also it gives us some insight as well, as it touches on racism, democracy, and government interests...

Well whatever it is, I just thought to share...

Against Discouragement
by Howard Zinn

In 1963, historian Howard Zinn was fired from Spelman College, where he was chair of the History Department, because of his civil rights activities. This year (2005), he was invited back to give the commencement address. Here is the text of that speech, given on May 15, 2005.

I am deeply honoured to be invited back to Spelman after 42 years. I would like to thank the faculty adn trustee who voted to invtie me, and especially your president, Dr. Beverly Tatum. And it is a special privilege to be here with Diahann Carroll and Virginia Davis Floyd.

But this is your day - the students graduating today. It's a happy day for yo and your families. I know you have your own hopes for the future, so it may be a little presumptuous for me to tell you what hopes I have for you, but they are exactly the same one that I have for my grandchildren.

My first hope is that you will not be too discouraged by the way the world looks at this moment. it is easy to be discouraged, because our nation is at war - still another war, war after war - and our government seems determined to expand its empire even if it costs the lives of tens of thousands of human beings. There is poverty in this country, and homelessness, and people without health care, and crowded classrooms, but our government, which has trillions of dollars to spend, is spending its wealth on war. There are a billion people in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East who need clean water and medicine to deal with malaria and tuberculosis and AIDS, but our government which has thousands of nuclear weapons, is experimenting with even more deadly nuclear weapons. Yes, it is easy to be discouraged by all that.

But let me tell you why, in spite of what I have just described, you must not be discouraged.

I want to remind you that, fifty years ago, racial segregation here in the South was entrenched as tightly as apartheid in South Africa. The national government, even with liberal presidents like Kennedy and Johnson in office, was looking the other way while black people were beaten and killed and died the opportunity to vote. So black people in the South decided that had to do something by themselves. They boycotted and sat in and picketed and demonstrated, and were beaten and jailed, and some were killed, but their cries for freedom were soon heard all over the nation and around the world, and the President and Congress finally did what they previously failed to do - enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. Many people had said: The South will never change. But it did change, IT changed because ordinary people organized and took risks and challenged the system and would not give up. That's when democracy came alive.

I want to remind you also that when the war in Vietnam was going on, and young Americans were dying and coming home paralysed, and our government was bombing the villages of Vietnam - bombing schools and hospitals and killing ordinary people in huge numbers - it looked hopeless to try to stop the war. But just as in the Southern movement, people began to protest and soon it caught on. IT was a national movement. Soldiers were coming back and denouncing the war, and young people were refusing to join the military, and the war had to end.

The lesson of that history is that you must not despair, that if you are right, and you persist, things will change. The government may try to deceive the people, and the newspapers and television may do the same, but the truth has a way of coming out. The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies. I know you have practical things to do - to get jobs and get married and have children. You may become prosperous and be considered a success in the way our society defines success, by wealth and standing and prestige. But that is not enough for a good life.

Remember Tolstoy's story, "The Death of Ivan Illych." A man on his deathbed reflects on his life, how he has done everything right, obeyed the rules, become a judge, married, had children, and is looked upon as a success. Yet, in his last hours, he wonders why he feels a failure. After becoming a famous novelist, Tolstoy himself had decided that this was not enough, that he must speak out against the treatment of the Russian peasants, that he must write against war and militarism.

My hope is that whatever you do to make a good life for yourself - whether you become a teacher, or social worker, or business person, opr lawyer, or poet, or scientist - you will devote part of your life to making this a better world for your children, for all children. My hope is that your generation will demand an end of war, that your generation will do something that has not yet been done in history and wipe out the national boundaries that separates us from other human beings on this earth.

Recently I saw a photo on the front page of the New York Times which I cannot get out of my mind. It showed ordinary Americans sitting chairs on the southern border of Arizona, facing Mexico. they were holding guns and tehy were looking for Mexicans who might be trying to cross the border into the United States. This was horrifying to me - the realization that in the 21st century fo what we call "civilization", we have carved up what we claim is one world into 200 artificially created entities we call "nations" and are ready to kill anyone who crosses a boundary.

Is not nationalism - that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary, so fierce it leads to murder - one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hared? These ways of thinking, cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on, have been useful to those in power, deadly for those out of power.

Here in the United States, we are brought up to believe that our nation is different from others, an exception in the world, uniquely moral; that we expand into other lands in order to bring civilization, liberty, democracy. But if you know some histroy you know that's not true. IF you know some history, you know we massacred Indians on this continent, invaded Mexico, sent armies into Cuba and the Philippines. We killed huge numbers of people, and we did not bring them democracy or liberty, We did not go into Vietnam to bring democracy; we did not invade Panama to stop the drug trade; we did not invade Afghanistan and Iraq to stop terrorism. Our aims were the aims of the other empires of world history - more profit for corporations, more power for the politicians.

The poets and artists among us seem to have a clearer understanding of the disease of nationalism. Perhaps the black poets especially are less enthralled with the virtues of American "liberty" and "democracy", their people having enjoyed so little of it. The great African - American poet Langston Hughes addressed his country as follows:

You really haven't been a virgin for so long.
It's ludicrous to keep up the pretext

You've slept with all the big powers
In military uniforms
And yuo've taken the sweet life
Of all the little brown fellows.

Being one fo the world's big vampires,
Why don't you come on out and say so
Like Japan, and England, and France,
And all the other nymphomaniacs of power

I am a veteran of the Second World War. That was considered a "good war", but I have come to the conclusion that war solves no fundamental problems and only leads to more wars. War poisons the minds of soldiers, leads them to kill and torture, and poisons the soul of the nation.

My hope is that your generation will demand that your children be brought up in a world without war. If we want a world in which the people of all countries are brothers and sisters, if the children all over the world are considered as our children, then war - in which children are always the greatest casualties - cannot be accepted as a way of solving problems.

I was on the faculty of Spelman College for 7 years, from 1956 to 1963. IT was a heart warming time, because the friends we made in those years have remained our friends all these years. My wife Roslyn and I and our two children lived on campus. sometimes when we went into town, white people would ask: How is it to be living in the black community? It was hard to explain. But we knew this - that down town Atlanta we felt as we were in alien territory, and when we came back to the Spelman campus, we felt that we were at home.

Those years at Spelman were the most exciting of my life, the most educational certainly. I learned more from my students than they learned from me. Those were the years of the great movement in the South against racial segregation, and I became involved in that in Atlanta, n Albany, Georgia, in Selma, Alabama, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Greenwood, and Itta Bena and Jackson. I learned something about democracy : that it does not come from the government, from on hight, it comes from people getting together and struggling for justice. I learned about race. I learned something that any intelligent person realizes at a certain point - that race is a manufactured thing, an artificial thing, and while ace does matter (as Cornell West has written), it only matters because certain people want it to matter, just as nationalism is something artificial,. I learned that what really matters is that all of us- of whatever so-called race and so-called nationality - are human beings and should cherish one another.

I was lucky to be at Spelman at a time when I could watch a marvellous transformation in my students, who were so polite, so quiet, and then suddenly they were leaving campus and going into town, and sitting in, and being arested, and then coming out of jail full of fire and rebellion. You can read all about that in Harry LEfever's book: Undaunted by the Fight. One day Marian Wright (Now Marian Wright Edelman), who was my student at Spelman, and was one of the first arrested in the Atlanta sit-ins, came to our house on campus to show us a petition she was about to put on the bulletin board of her dormitory. The heading on the petition epitomized the transformation taking place at Spelman College. Marian had written on top of the petition: "Young ladies who can picket, please sign below."

My hope is that you will not be content jsut to be successful in the way our society measures success; that you will not obey the rules, when the rules are unjust; that you will act out of the courage that i know is in you. There are wonderful people, black, and white, who are models. I don't mean African-Americans like Condoleezza Rice, or Colin Powell, or C;arent Thomas, who have become servants of the rich and powerful. I mean W.E.B. DuBois and Martyn Luther King and Malcom X and Marian Wright Edelman, And James Baldwin and Josephine Baker and good white fold, too, who defied the establishment to work for peace and justice.

Another of my students at Spelman, Alice Walker, who, like Marian, has remained out friend all these years, came from a tenant farmer's family in Eatonton, Georgia, and ebcame a famous writer. In one of her first published poems, she wrote:

It is true -
I've always loved
the daring ones
Like the black young man
Who tried to crash all barriers at once,

Wanted to swim at a white beach (In akabama) nude.

I am not suggesting you go that far, but you can help to break down barriers, of race certainly, but also of nationalism; that you do what you can - you don't have to do something heroic, just something, to join with millions of others who will just do something, because all of those something, at certain points of history, come together, and make the world better.

The marvellous African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston, who wouldn't do what white people wanted her to do, who wouldn't do what black people wanted her to do, who insisted on ebing herself, said that her mother advised her: Leap for the sun - you may not reach it, but at least you get off the ground.

By being here today, you are already standing on your toes, ready to leap. My hope for you is a good life

*Howard Zinn is the author with Anthony Arnove of the just published of a People's History of the United States (Seven Stories Press) and of the international best selling People's History of the Unites States

**
I think that this should be the last thing that I type out for stuff that came from my search and rescue mission.. the rest, are well, too long to type up I guess, and I have no interest to archive them, So I guess that is all..

I chose to type up this article, because it is related somewhat to our own country.. that race is artificial, nationalism is also artificial, it was created by the politicians to garner more power..
if not why else will they be playing this racist game for 50 years? and go on saying that (as reported on Malaysia today) united malays is like the nation being united... ? I was kind of shocked reading that... but i digress to comment, as i am already tired from typing up the speech, and also well, if i ever do my political related post, it will be related to that anyway....

Another thing is, this post is already long enough thanks to the speech... So that's all..it's already 1030pm.. and i don't know why i feel so tired today, so am signing off for now..

-Oracl3-