To Love

A lover gives hope when life is low
A lover is a place when you have nowhere to go

To love and be loved unconditionally..

Never in Life

In life,
Some people live a long life
Some people die young
Some will give up
Some will keep on trying
Some will say hi
Some only say goodbye
Some will forget you
But..
Never will I..

April Fool

Have you ever had a day that you just wished that you have not woke up. Well, today is just that day for me. Waking up with a jolt as if you have just dropped from a great height, the eyes wide open and the heart beating like crazy. For a second, you just don't know where you are.



Opening one eye..then another. That bunch of flowers looks familiar. Oh, I am in the bedroom. Hmm.. what is that ray of light doing there, on the flowers? Ray of light? Light? God! It's daytime already! Rushing to the office, cat had a nagging feeling that I have forgotten something...something about today.



What day is it? Looking at the calender..Hmm, it's Thursday, 1st April 2010. End of the month already. Time to start the end of the month reports and collect a 50% deposit for a company's function is May.. That seems all for today. Alas, there's a circle on that date and the word 'Alert'..what is that for? Hmm.. that nagging feeling of something is bound to happen still persists. And as the day moved along, cat then knew. This is the day that I dreaded: April Fool!

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April Fool is a day celebrated in various countries by the using of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbors, or sending them on a fool's errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the unsuspected (and one of it is me! Imagine getting tricked 4 times today! :p Ouch..sometimes a I am just too trusting).



But it seems that I  am not the only April Fool'ed' victim. Below is a list of all the pranks imaginable:

a)U2 Live on Rooftop in Cork:
In 2009 hundreds of U2 fans were duped in an elaborate prank when they rushed to a shopping center in Blackpool in Cork believing that the band were playing a surprise rooftop concert. The prank was organized by Cork radio station RedFM. The band were in fact just a tribute band called U2opia.

b) Cellphone Ban :
In New Zealand, radio station 'Edge's Morning Madhouse' enlisted the help of the Prime Minister on April 1st to inform the entire country that cellphones are to be banned in New Zealand. Hundreds of callers rang in to complain on the new law.



c) Google Copernicus Center
Fictitious job opportunities were announced for a research center on the moon. Luna/X (a pun to Linux)a new operating system they claimed to have created for working at the research center.



d)UFO with an alien landed on March 31, 1989 in London
Local residents were terrified. A brave officer who approach it also ran away when he saw a small, silver-suited figure emerging from the door of the object that popped open suddenly. The alien turned out to be Richard Branson, the 36-year-old chairman of Virgin Records and his craft was specially designed hot-air-balloon that was destined to land in London's Hyde Park on April 1. However, due to a change in wind direction, he was forced to land in the field a day before.



e) On 1st of April, 1998, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Students hacked MIT's homepage and placed an announcement on it that the prestigious university was being sold to Walt Disney for $6.9 billion. The University would be dismantled and reconstructed in Orlando with an addition of special Disney schools in the campus such as the School of Imagineering, the Scrooge McDuck School of Management, and the Donald Duck Department of Linguistics. There was a photograph too in which the university's famous dome had been fitted with a pair of mouse ears.

f) A year after Ochoco creek was flooded and hundreds of houses were damaged in 1998, DJs at Oregon radio station KSJJ announced that the Ochoco dam had burst and there were strong chances of all the nearby areas being flooded. There was widespread panic and as people prepared to flee. DJs admitted it was just a joke. But no one was amused by the prank.
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Well, somehow you just managed to get through the day :).
Like what a friend of mine with the same predicament said: It's not as if you have a choice. Maybe this will get better, maybe they will not. Sometimes things also happen that make you feel ridiculously happy to be alive. This is the stuff you live for. That's the thing about being a human being: You just have to go on living :)

The first of April, some do say, Is set apart for All Fool's Day; But why the people call it so; Nor I, nor they themselves, do know, But on this day are people sent; On purpose for pure merriment. - Anonymous-



Happy April Fool Day

Bury the Ring

In this age, nothing is impossible! Every event, every moment in life can be commercialized! You just need to be creative and innovative. Starts the trend, registered the idea/trademark, market it..and there you go: a new fad is started.



What am I talking about? Well, there's birthday parties, graduate parties, wedding parties and the latest one: divorce parties. In the west, they say that divorce is now so common that a new industry has emerged to help celebrate 'the break-ups'. There are services online to help put together the 'new you', complete with 'Just Divorce Badges', Invitation cards to a 'Divorce Party' and T-shirts with 'Free Like A Bird' logo on it.



The Divorce Parties were thought up as to 'help' people to the other side of divorce: to put all the bitterness, shock, anger and venom to one side and get on with your life. It's also about making divorce less fraught.



There is even a site called weddingringcoffin.comwhere you can even buy a miniature casket with a little brass RIP on the side so that 'you can bury the past and move on to a new tomorrow'.



There's even Debenhams, a big retailer, that has launched its divorce 'gift list' last January. And there has been a number of people interested especially in requesting big ticket items such as furniture and TV sets. The company's spokesman said that ' It's getting popular because it's something practical you can do for someone you care about who is going through a tough time'.



And to finish, there are already cake shop selling special divorce cakes that includes a couple pointing shotguns at each other, a bride stabbing the groom in the back and a bride shoving the groom off the top. (smile)..There's even a job called 'divorce photographer' where the photographer takes photos of couples with their new families. It's about saying enough, letting the hair down, enjoying oneself and starting a new chapter. Hmm..hmm.. hmm..

Isn't life funny? No, it's rather..isn't people funny? Next, we will be having a commemorative day called 'Divorce Day'.

Tribute to DP Marina

Tales irregular, but never irrelevant. For we are still Malaysian though our stories differ.
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One of the prominent woman figure in Malaysia would be :

DATIN PADUKA MARINA MAHATHIR

In Malaysia, AIDS victims were fortunate to find a champion in Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir. Datin Paduka Marina was previously the Council (MAC) president and Malaysian AIDS Foundation (MAF) chairman. She worked tirelessly to break down barriers and fought for the rights of people with AIDS.

IN the early years of the AIDS/HIV epidemic, the public had little knowledge of how AIDS spreads and blamed all of it on “undesirable” members of the community – the drug users, gay men and sex workers. These people were shunned and viewed as 'untouchables' or 'pariah'..and were made to stay away from communities.

As time goes by, many were surprised to learn that the virus can infect households of “regular folks”. Normal people can also get AIDS. Datin Paduka Marina started the ball rolling when she became one of the ardent speaker in HIV/AIDS prevention and creating awareness of actual AIDS/HIV facts.



She emphasizes that AIDS/HIV is an infection that is acquired through unsafe action.People who at first thought that only prostitutes will get the virus, are now aware that everyone is at risk. Just because the client stays in a five-star hotel doesn’t make him any less risky than someone who stays in a three-star hotel. Knowing that there is no way to curb prostitution, Datin Paduka Marina tries to make people use safe sex instead. We cannot stop the virus, but we can prevent it from spreading.

Datin Paduka Marina was formerly president of the Malaysian AIDS Council and is a columnist with The Star (Musings with Marina Mahathir). She is also the author of her popular blog, Rantings by MM.


Thank you, Datin Paduka..

Happy Birthday Cat

Happy Birthday Cat!

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet,

enough trials to make you strong,

enough sorrow to keep you human and

enough hope to make you happy...

Remember,

The happiest of people don't necessarily

have the best of everything;

they just make the most of

everything that comes along their way...

And do not forget..

The brightest future will always

be based on a forgotten past;

you can't go forward in life until

you let go of your past failures and heartaches...

Wishing you all the happiness and blessings,

From Yours truly,

Cat

Shiny Eyes, Starry Nights

Hmm.. she has been doing some heavy studying and heavy calculating this week. What will she do next? Continue her studies? Hmm.. :) Not at this point. In reality, busy preparing reports for the board meeting this Tuesday. Basically that.. and mostly trying hard to hide a smile (there it is again!) from coming out at the wrong place and at the wrong time.

She knows that she has also been neglecting some of her friends..and also her closest friend. She would like to apologize to all. She has not been visiting her friends' blogs also. There are no excuses.. and she will not be creating any. Please, do forgive her.. Just give her some time to get things rolling, organize her world back into shape and get this feeling under control, she will surely chat again with you.

For today, she just wants to rest. :) It would be bliss to be able to lie down on the grass, under a big shady tree, with an open book beside cat (a novel or poetry book). Not thinking, not worrying about work. Looking at the sky and the shapes of the cloud. Feeling the fresh breeze, closing the eyes and..again the smile surfacing again at that one thought. Hmm..where can she find that place in Melaka? :)

Buildings, museums, houses, river..park that are full of people..Alas no empty shady space..There are fields but..where the fields are, there would surely be goats, cows, chicken (their turds also, of course). There are the kampung houses with wooden benches under big trees..but.. how to just knock on the door and ask if you could sit there for an hour or two. :) People would think that you are crazy.



The KL people are lucky too. They do not have spacious empty fields but they have the 2nd good thing : high rises buildings and apartments. A friend of hers was telling her on how she was able to see the fireworks with her own eyes from the rooftop of her apartment. It's like getting a first class seat! The best view of the sky. The friend's words were : the feeling is like being nearest to the sky and God. Can you imagine having the moon and the sky at eye level from the window of a hotel room? Almost as if you could touch them.. If only the board meeting could be postponed to another date.. She would just pack her things and go to KL :) Sigh..



Oh, now she remembered something. :) There is a place in Melaka..right here where she lives. The place where she did went months ago. Silly of her to have forgotten that place. It's the planetarium cineplex! The largest auditorium where you would almost be lying down on your back (chairs tilted at 45 degrees) and looking at the creation of planet! An hour of looking at the stars!! Yes!!We do have that in Melaka.



P/S:
Hope the planetarium will get rid of this funny longing of hers to look up to the skies. Don't know why. But she has stopped looking at 'cats' lately. Still feeling tired but happier. Got birthday presents in advance (the loveliest moon and stars..and words that has left her, but with shiny eyes plus an uncontrollable urge to smile all the time). Thank you, God, for everything. Even if all of this is going to end at the stroke of midnight (like Cinderella's story), there are no regrets. Not ever. :)