Internet Drama is interesting, but not when there are too many rumours flying around and you don’t know who quite to trust.
An acquaintance known for being very straight and in your face, is accusing a close friend of being a rumour mill. Thing is, I know the rumour mill, and I can see why someone might think of him that way.
Ah well, one’s a rumour mill and the other’s a drama queen. NOW, TO PREPARE FOR SINGAPORE~~~
Anyone know where I can get the bottom?
Read the rest of this entry »
TOMORROW AND THE DAY AFTER TO GO WATCH CHRISTINA AGUILERA IN CONCERT!!
Am staying at PanPac JB. TI, SHOULD I BRING MY SWIMSUIT?? :p
SEE YOU ALL MONDAY!
Originally found another quiz on the same site, but I’m tickled pink by the following quizzes. And yes, to anyone who reads Keys and knows that I’m in Nanowriye, I realise I’m very far behind. 
Reposted with permission.
Yesterday I posted about the 4th Annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations in August, a global event that links young leaders with each other and with prominent people in social change, to learn about culture, leadership, and international issues, as well as work on UN resolutions and youth projects. Previous participants Girls and Boys Town program graduate Sharnise and National Society of High School Scholars member Daniel Sayani have written up reports on their past experiences, citing it as a positive, educational, and life-changing experience.
I have applied to be part of this year’s Youth Assembly, and I need help. To get the full experience of the Assembly, including the Leadership Seminar and the New York tour (amongst others), I need to sign up for a Travel Package. This package costs US$2300 (RM7952) and includes seminars, tours, accommodation, meals, inter-NY transport, as well as exclusive meetings and workshops. I also will get voting rights on UN resolutions to be presented by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in October.
I’m fundraising for the package fees, and I’m including an extra challenge:
If I get at least US$2300 by the end of July, I will donate RM1000 (USD$289) to UNICEF Malaysia.
If I do not make it for any reason, I will donate what I get to UNICEF.
I will be blogging about my Assembly experiences at EducateDeviate during the trip. I am also considering setting up a Sponsor’s Thank You event to talk about my experiences and to allow UNICEF Malaysia to promote and fundraise for themselves. (This is subject to negotiation.)
You can support my journey in the following ways:
FINANCIALLY
This button will lead you to my Pledgie page, where you can make a donation (named or anonymous). All donations will lead to my PayPal account, which I will use to pay the Travel Package fees. You don’t need a PayPal account to contribute; credit cards work fine. The RM1000 that’s going to UNICEF will come out of my own pocket. Any money I get above and beyond the US$2300 will go towards UNICEF.
Every dollar helps. Even if you can only spare $1, that’s fine. It all adds up, and either way, UNICEF gets money.
IN-KIND
You can also sponsor me through providing the following:
If you are providing something in kind, please also consider contributing financially too.
PROMOTIONAL
For this to work, more people will need to know about it. PASS IT ON! Use the following links:
This entry: http://educatedeviate.wordpress.com/2007/06/27/support-unicef-get-tiara-to-the-un/
Feel free to email this to anyone and everyone you know, post it on blogs/forums/websites/etc, or write up about it in your press articles. I do kindly ask that you don’t spam anyone with this information: make sure it’s relevant to the place you’re posting it to.
By sponsoring me, you will:
If you have any more ideas of what you’d like as a sponsor, comment here or let me know.
The Youth Assembly is less than two months away and I need to pay up very quickly to retain a seat. I stand by my pledge to support UNICEF no matter the outcome. Please support me in this challenge and support UNICEF too.
If you have any questions or comments, comment on this entry or contact me.
Thank you and have a great day!
I’M NOW A CONFIRMED STAFF AND I GOT AN INCREMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course, this comes with added responsibilities and I’m looking forward to it!!!!!! To quote kidkid: FIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHHTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
That never does lose its impact each time I see it.
Take my Son
A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.
About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, “Sir, you don’t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.” The young man held out this package. “I know this isn’t much. I’m not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.”
The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. “Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It’s a gift.” The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.
The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.
On the platform sat the painting of the son The auctioneer pounded his gavel. “We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?” There was silence.
Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, “We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.”
But the auctioneer persisted. “Will somebody bid for this painting. Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?”
Another voice angrily. “We didn’t come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!”
But still the auctioneer continued. “The son! The son! Who’ll take the son?”
Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. “I’ll give $10 for the painting.” Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.
“We have $10, who will bid $20?”
“Give it to him for $10. Let’s see the masters.”
“$10 is the bid, won’t someone bid $20?”
The crowd was becoming angry. They didn’t want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. “Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!”
A man sitting on the second row shouted, “Now let’s get on with the collection!”
The auctioneer laid down his gavel. “I’m sorry, the auction is over.”
“What about the paintings?”
“I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets everything!”
God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: “The son, the son, who’ll take the son?”
Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.
FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, WHO SO EVER BELIEVETH, SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE…THAT’S LOVE
Is it so much easier for people to make war instead of love (yes, I mean sex)?
If only for the ideals it espouses. If only for the warning that with a single incident, and others that follow, that any country on this planet, especially one that has a large, vulnerable middle-class to be exploited, can fall into the same trap that that London has fallen. The people are herdlike, they are frightened, and they are scared. It is never the enemy without that is the most dangerous, but the enemy within. The idea that you could be betrayed by someone who is close to you, someone you trust, is the easiest idea to spread. It is the easiest idea to take root, the easiest idea, to control.
It doesn’t help that earlier today, I finished reading Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale. While the book speaks about a country that has been frightened into subservience, the observation it makes is frighteningly similar to what V exposes. I can see now why the book (Codename: V) has been banned in certain places. It is not the storyline itself that is scary. It is not the characters themselves, but rather, what they represent. It is not that the ideal they propose is terrifying yet unreal. NO.
The ideas that people can be manipulated by their fears, the ideas that the very people the citizens (rakyat/people) of a country trusts to protect them, leads to a lesson that most parents learn when their children are adolescents. The more you make it forbidden, the more it simmers. The more the idea of freedom is tempting. However, as observed in Battle Royale, allowing the people certain small escapes, making them think that these little joys are all they have to be thankful for, works better at coralling people than the most absolute restrictions. It’s the same with V. People are happy to simply live. They are happy to simply survive. When you’re young, that’s something you cannot accept, but when you have children, your thoughts are no longer for yourself.
It is said by some people, that people do things for their children. Yet this normally happens on a personal level. It happens on a level that people can see, can touch, can see how it affects their lives directly. How many people would truly rise up against a government and say, “This is wrong,” even if they know it? How many?
Not enough.
Parents are afraid not for themselves, but for their children, should they choose to take that path. To make this country (not the world, that’s another story), I believe blood will have to be spilled. Not because it is the only and easiest way. I do not believe that. However, if we could have made this country better, if we could have clung to the ideals that gave birth to this nation in the first place, then we would have been welcomed to the negiotation table. We would have been able to sit down with the leaders of this country. Not only the political leaders, but the religious leaders who seem to wield more and more influence; influence that is becoming insidious. Influence that allows idiots like Nazri and bigots to flourish (I shall not name names because I do not want to give them traffic. If you wish to know who they are, look out for the bloggers who cannot seem to accept a viewpoint other than their own, and who will not fight for another’s person right to speak, because to speak would be to insult religions. And who say they study comparative religion, yet unable to find the faith to understand why others might not choose their path).
Malaysia is like that Britain of V. We became that country the moment we allowed fear of what happened in 1969 to happen. In this year, remember not just the 5th of November. Remember not just 31 August. Remember 13 May, 1969. Because that was the day we allowed fear to reign. That was the day we silenced ourselves.
And no, Black Office. I am not suggesting we blow up Parliament. It has not reached that stage… Yet.
According to Fly FM, me and another girl won tickets to watch Christina Live in Singapore. If I heard it correctly… it’s an all expense paid trip. *Crosses fingers*
