The Last of Traditions

How do you define beauty? Who decides what is beautiful and what is not?

In the 60's, a woman is defined as beautiful when she has the proper curves in her figure. Corsets were worn to get that hourglass shape.
During the 'Twiggy' period, beauty is considered being the xs size (extra slim, extra slender, boyishly look). Diets become a fad..women eating with birdlike appetite, trying to stay thin.



For the Kelabit tribe (an ethnic group in Sarawak), beauty used to consist of having elongated earlobes or having the arms and body tattooed. What remains of this practice is only seen with the grandmothers and when these old women pass on, the practice will also die with them.



In the past, Kelabit women who sported elongated ears and had their body tattooed were considered to be high class people. The tattoos were not just of any design. They were special creations that reflected the cultural aspects and status of the women. The copper earrings are called 'Abir' and is different for men and women. The men's Abir is made from bronx, while the women's are made from black steel.



The process of elongating the earlobes starts at a young age. The earlobes were pierced using a sharpened bamboo and a small copper ball were put tied to the holes as weight. These 'earrings' would be replaced with heavier ones from time to time as the girl grew up. There were even cases when 2 to 5 copper earrings were attached to each of the earlobes.



The 21st century came to the Kelabits during the Second World War when British and Australian soldiers arrived by parachute to organize resistance behind Japanese lines. Since then Christianity has replaced tribal pagan beliefs.



Well, it is rather an inconvenience to have elongated earlobes or to have tattoos all over your body while you are in school. Do you know that even some of the elders have resorted to go to Miri hospital to cut the long part of their ears? The reason is to make them move easier when they go out for hunting or farming.

My point is..that it would be interesting to know that someone has compiled all those info, photos, stories and traditional clothes for others to appreciate them.
 I also would not have known of the Kelabit's tradition if cat did not go to the Melaka's Beauty Museum. There are lots of wonderful info and facts just waiting to be discovered and made known.

Take the time, and go visit the museums..it's not there just for visitors only. Sometimes, it's exasperating to know that locals are the ones who has never even put a foot in their own museum and doesn't have a clue of what's in there.. Time for a change, don't you agree? Before museums also become extinct..and only exists in Google search..

Money Sense

Have you ever thought of being your own boss, quitting your present job and coming out on your own? It does look attractive, doesn't it? Alas, as in most things in life, there's a price for everything. There are 4 things that you need to take into consideration before you hand in your resignation letter.

She has never thought of it before. Changing her job, yes..but not going out on her own. Some of her friends had had thoughts on this issue on more than one occasion. Somehow, the idea was often put aside because of factors like: marriage, commitments, house or car loans to pay. It would seem risky to go on your own.

There's a very good site that give advices on starting on your own, creating your own business by the AKPK (an agency created by Bank Negara Malaysia. This agency provide free services for individuals on financial education and debt management).

She would just like to share these ideas with you. If you are really determine to do it on your own, then you need to think about the 4 P's : Passion, Price, Plan or Principal Sum (Capital).

1) Passion: The journey will be much much easier if you are passionate about what you do. It means simply that you just can't wait to get out of bed in the morning and do what you love to do. Passion gives you that extra boost of energy when things get tough.

2) Price: How willing are you to pay the price? Some people wants to be their own boss but are not willing to put in the hours and sacrifices. When you are o on your own, you would need to work even harder in the early years to establish yourself. You might even have less time for your family than you imagined.

3) Plan: You need to have a good business plan and strategy. You should know for sure how you are going to make money and plan your business expenses clearly. When do you expect to break even and most importantly is to have a back up plan in case things doesn't work out as expected.

4) Principal Sum/Capital: Last but not least , your capital. Most start up businesses require quite a heavy capital, and you must be sure that you have sufficient funds to cover your fixed expenses for between 6-12 months. Then, you need to estimate the initial capital to open and get the business running.
Next, your business cash flow should, at least be able to pay for all the running costs like rental, salaries, utilities and pay the creditors promptly.
There are a few ways that you may be able to obtain funding: beg, borrow or smash your piggy bank. :)

The most important thing is to really do your homework first to see where you may obtain the best financing terms. There are also a number of incentives or soft loans offered by the government for certain types of businesses. Have a look at AKPK on facebook or get their edition of 'Money Sense' in all their offices nationwide.

A serious post from her on this early Tuesday morning. Before breakfast and before bath too. Thinking of something now, cat? Maybe, maybe not. Mid life crisis? (Laughing..hehehe) Maybe, maybe not... Something in the air? Maybe, maybe not..

Swiping In and Out

It's incredible how people can think of so many ways to beat the system and to break rules. Guess, that's also the reason why there are so many inventors too.

Do you remember the old days when to make sure of your attendance, the management asks you to punch your work card when you come in and when you go out of the premises? The machine would be like this: a clock face and a slot where you insert your work card in, and it will time stamp the hour, minutes and seconds of your arrival at the workplace. This device serves as a proof that you did work on certain day and came on time or late. This also serves as a way the management decide whether to increase or deduct your salary based on your attendance. Ka-Chung!



Finally the top people discovered that a few staffs were being dishonest and were cheating on the attendance. The staffs were asking their friends to swipe the cards for them. The machine is just beside the security guard and the guard didn't even blink an eye to see a person swiping 2 cards at the machine. Sometimes, the guard even help to swipe the card for the late comers.



A brainstorming session was held. Then, a light bulb suddenly blink on top of one of them, and he said: Let's copy establishment Y's way by using an ID card. It looks more professional by the way. So began the lining up process of taking photos (some looking photogenic and some were hardly recognizable :p hehehe.. one day with a beard, and the next day, none.), putting down the details and laminating the ID card. Voila..



At first, everything was going on smoothly. You line up, you take out your own id card, swipe at the machine, and continue your work day till it's time to swipe out again. Day in, day out.. 6days/7.

Then some bored workers were fed up.. Hey, this is no fun at all. Let's think of a way to see how efficient the machine is. They studied the ID card and thought that it was a piece of cake to copy it. Copy and paste.. copy and paste: there you have it: 10 fake ID cards which look like the original copy. Swiping in and swiping out happily for friends and the rest of the gangs. The management were lucky enough to get hold of those guys.



So back to the boardroom. The top people now thought of a thumb print ID machine. Instead of swiping your card, you need to put your thumb at the machine to record your attendance. A smart guy puts up a hand : 'But what if the person does not have a thumb? Or does not have a hand or two hands for that matter?'Grr..in the first place you have 2 hands.. and at least one of the hands must have a thumb doesn't it? . The same person spoke again: And what if the thumb has no print? What shall we do?'

(I was looking around, from right to left, Everyone was so serious and was actually listening and thinking. Why is it when we talk about occupancy and rooms availability, we just cannot get this kind of attention? Another of life's mysteries.)

Conclusion? We went and bought a 'FINGER' print ID machine. A long queue again, lining up to record a finger print. No thumbs, no middle finger please. Only the forefinger accepted and you have to record both right and left finger.. in case you accidentally cut a finger and the machine doesn't recognize you.



What if someone finds a way to outsmart this machine also? Hmm.. are we going to buy a machine that detects you by the color and print of your eye? (Like the movie in which Tom Cruise undergo an eye surgery just to confuse the spider like robots so that they would take him for another person). Wonder what they will think up next?

Revenge of the Weak

Revenge is best served cold, isn't that what they all say? Maybe that's also why women are good at writing mystery books. :) They put the emotions in their writing. :p

Here's an example of a writing on revenge (with a few modifications here and there of course :p):

I am not a bad person.
But when someone throws your heart on the floor, smashes it into thousands of small pieces..after you have given them your heart, time and soul, how would you feel? What would you do?

I do wish that they would all fall off a cliff and disappear...so that I would not have to think about them anymore. Then I can move on. It;s not like I have suddenly lost my eyesight or was told that I only have 3 months to live. This is just a relationship, i keep telling myself.

Alas, my heart is telling me otherwise. It's not as simple as that. It's about hopes and dreams and self esteem. It's about a great change in life.

Of course I can go and see a shrink to get my head sorted out. But, deep inside, buried deep down, there;s a primeval part in me that just want to watch them beg, plead and suffer like what I had endured. Deep inside, there's a part of me that would quite like to have a bit of my own back.

Wicked thoughts. :) Hmm..sometimes , it's not the act of paying back that is satisfying. Just thinking of what you would do to the person, is enough. Well, you can't really hit a guy with your car, the law prohibits it. But you can imagine doing that..not once, not twice...but thousands of times if you want to.

Paper Dolls

Let's take another trip down memory lane... this one is specially for the girls :)

In those days, paper dolls were a fad. You could easily buy an A4 size (hard paper/cardboard) 'Paper Dolls' from the neighborhood grocery shop or from the local bread seller that came once daily on his motorcycle.



A small paper doll with a dress costs as much as RM 0.50 a piece while a much larger (and at a better quality) paper doll that comes with 2 dresses and handbags only costs around RM 0.70 or RM 1 per paper.

You might be wondering what is so attractive about these paper dolls? Hmm.. in those days the paper dolls can be bought easily and it doesn't cost as much as a real doll. Sometimes, you can even get a free paper doll when your mom bought a woman's magazine. The dolls were printed on glossy paper and there were unlimited number of accessories than you can imagine. You can even cut a photo of a handbag or even make it yourself and just slid it on the doll's hand. Voila! She is ready to go out to the ball. You can imagine all sorts of scenarios for the dolls, dress them up, make up a story about them and even exchange the paper clothes with your friends.



By the way, all the paper dolls have name (this is not invented by us..but it comes printed with the paper doll. The favorite ones were: Sally (with black or dark blue hair) and Betty (with blonde hair). :p

Alas, as we get older, we had other things to occupy us. And the next generation, of course, had Barbie to be excited with. Who can compete with the lovely, blonde haired and blue eyes Barbie with the long limbs and real clothes?



However, it seems that the paper dolls are making a comeback with newer model of dolls like 'Sailor Moon', 'Britney Spears' and even 'Kathy Perry' and these paper dolls can be downloaded from the internet! And then, some of them are made into games where you don't even need to have scissors! You just choose the dresses, click your mouse and there it is.. all done.

If you are searching for paper dolls to show your kids, have a look at this webpage : Coloriages gratuits : http://www.coloriages.biz/colorier/437/page/2/Poup%C3%A9es_papier_d%C3%A9coupage. These dolls are fantastic and can be used as an indoor games during birthday parties. :)

Have Fun! :)

Mind Your Language

Wish that someone would just keep his mouth shut.There is this one person here that just can't be happy unless he can provoke and get reaction from others. Yes..that's right. This guy is the most irritating person around the four walls of this building! He is unable to open his mouth without an 'F' word coming out.

Cat is irritated. Today is not a good day and this one person just need to have the public's eyes on him in order to live. But..why does he need to provoke others in this way? His every sentence would not be complete unless there's a 'Fxxk', Bxxxh, Bxxxxxd and every other rude, nasty words in all languages (yes.he knows all the equivalent in Tamil, Mandarin and Malay).
In the past, parents would wash their children' mouths with soap as a symbol of washing the dirty words from the child's lips. In Malay community, parents use the fear factor: use those words, you'll get your mouth scrub with 'chilli' (yup, those red, hot peppers). Cat's mom likes to use 'onions' instead. :) might be one of the reason that cat dislike onions!

Prude? Far from it. If someone once in a blue moon uttered one of those 'invalid' words for various reasons, it is acceptable. In extreme situations, any word can just jump out from your mouth before you could stop it. But to purposely do it, that is IRRITATING. And weirdly, he founds cat structured polite sentences as ANNOYING! Can you just imagine that?

Oo..and he had his fun when one day he heard cat said 'Shit'. "Oo..the cat does have temper..and does have one 'bad' vocabulary in her" said the evil he. Of course cat knows a lists of it, but knowing doesn't mean that you have to use it. If you are angry, just say that you are angry. Why use all those 'F' words? Would he like it if someone uses the 'B' word (the one that hinted you were born months earlier than expected before your mother gets a ring on her finger) on him? Food for thoughts, sir.. Food for thoughts.. If looks could kill, he would have thousands of daggers stuck at his back by now..

Signing off,
Cat
P/S: God, pardon cat for the above article and for hating that irritating person..
Count to 20, cat.. Count to 20.. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5....

Gallantry

Say the word gallantry and there will be raised eyebrows. Since ages ago where women have been fighting for equal rights, equal pay and equal opportunity as men, some men have come to believe that respecting a woman is manly.

Some women believed that accepting a kind gesture from a man is a sign of weakness on her part. Women have been trying to prove that they are as qualified as men to do any job. We learn how to drive, to pay bills, to work twice as hard as men. We show that we can do overtime, can take care of ourselves and fight for any cause. We travel near and far, wear pants, we carry our own bags, laptops and files on our own. We do not need men to make us feel inferior.

By saying this, women might have made a mistake. Chivalry is not an act of men to assert their superiority over women. Chivalry in it's purest form is actually an act of kindness and selflessness.

Chivalrous acts consist of little things in life. A form of formality and courtesy. For example, when a man offers you a seat in an LRT at a rush hour, just think of it as an act of kindness and thank him for it. Some women would rather stand (even though they are tired to the bone) as not to be considered as weak. And by staring at the guy as if he has committed a serious offense, you might prevent him from offering his seat to another woman who badly needed it the next time.

For me, it still touches the heart when someone does an act of gallantry such as opening a door for her, offering a seat, offering to carrying her things, all this without even being asked to .. It's a sign of courtesy, generosity and consideration. You won't hear me asking a guy to do it..but when someone does it, I really like and appreciate it. It lightens the heart and brings a smile..to know that there are still people with enough kindness and courtesy in their heart. A heavy box is a heavy box.. and I would thank anyone who would help carry it without ever being asked.


P/S: It's 1000 times better to be presented with an act of chivalry than facing an act of rudeness. Isn't there already enough violence and abusive acts nowadays that a woman needs to face (until the mind become sore and numb) daily? An act of kindness at the end of the day would be a perfect ending to a tiring day..

The Friendship Band

FRIENDSHIP BAND

Strolling around at Dataran Pahlawan, she saw some colorful friendship band at one of the store. It sure bring back those school days memories.

The friendship band , during those days, were made of colorful threads that were braided to together to form a bracelet. Not easy to make, the band represented a workmanship of patience. When you give the band to a friend, it symbolize a gift of well wishes and hoping that the friendship would last long.



People do say that the friendship band are easy to make. Do Not believe that. She has tried many times but it always ends up getting all tangled. It ends up being a crumpled ball of yarn :p (That is what she does best, anyway). She does not have the patience for that. She would rather paint instead.



Some say that the recipient of a friendship band must wear it until the cords wear out and fall off naturally. If you remove it before it falls off, it means the end of the friendship. But really, friendship is not measured by things or objects. Being friends means remembering him/her regardless of how much time has passed by or how far away the person is.

A good friend is never far away. Even when the person is not there, he/she is remains in the heart.



A certain star high up in the sky would meant a lot to her even though it might seem no different from the other stars to others.

Then again,
if there are stars above my head
Why should I feel alone?
I will walk into the darkest night
Take what ever may come..
I have the stars above me,
And the breeze on my face..

Instant Noodles

When you say instant noodles, it brings to mind the label 'Maggi Mee'.
In actuality, there are so many labels to choose from: Cintan, Sedaap, Adabi, Maggi, Mamee, etc.

Regardless of the brand, most of us will still think of it as 'Maggi' as Maggi Mee was the king of the TV commercials in those old days. You can never watch tv without a Maggi Mee commercial break of people slurping down some mee.

Those days, Maggi Mee or instant noodle is a taboo to bring inside Car's house. Firstly, there was a big issue on the usage of additional seasoning 'Aji-no moto' or monosodium glutamate. It was widely said that the extra seasoning can caused your hair to fall off and can cause cancer in the long run.

Secondly, Cat's mom sternly insisted that instant noodles does not have any nutrient at all. It would stop your growth. But as we all know, being kids, all that factor is not important. The main thing is to eat the mee that everyone eats. Same way as that kid in the ads slurping his Maggi Mee without a care to what was happening around him. Finishing his mee with a tongue out, trying to gather even the smallest bit of the taste lingering around the mouth.

Regardless of any amount of pestering, begging or tantrums, Cat's mom would not budge to say yes. No meal is complete without rice and it's full accompaniments on the table. Miserable life being the only kid in the neighborhood that has never eaten Maggi Mee. (Ungrateful Cat :)

One day, suddenly we saw Maggi Mee on the dining table. Of course lah..it doesn't look like the one on tv. The Maggi Mee is almost hidden underneath lots and lots of vegetables, eggs and pieces of chicken. But, who cares about that. At last, we finally got our Maggi Mee. (Sedap..but I still prefer it in it's original state, noodles with just fish balls and egg in it. And just a tiny little dose of vegetables.. .

What caused the change of mind in mom? Well..the answer was in the attractive free gifts that you get when you but a bundle of 6 packets instant noodles. There were sometimes beautiful collection of glassware and small saucers to collect. Cat's mom just couldn't resist that. :p

Swing, Little Girl, Swing

Swing little girl

Swing high to the sky

And don’t ever look at the ground

If you’re looking for rainbows

Look up to the sky

You’ll never find rainbows

If you’re looking down

Life may be dreary

But never the same

Some day it’s sunshine

Some day it’s rain

Swing little girl

Swing high to the sky

And don’t ever look to the ground

If you’re looking for rainbows

Look up to the sky

But never, no never, look down..

**************************

This is one of Charlie Chaplin's songs that Cat really love to hear again and again.
Cat is not a brave person. Everyone, in the park, was trying to make their swings go higher and higher until it seems like the ropes would break, and they were going to fly up to the sky. Some were even standing on the swings, showing off their skills , no doubt.



While being happy for them, Cat just enjoy swinging low. and enjoying the breeze. At the same time dreaming of things. Lost in her own world till it's time to go home. Mom would make a big fuss when she saw Cat's shoes (dusty.. as Cat used them to kick at the sand each time her feet landed on the ground, so that the swing would not stop swinging).

Though Cat is older now, Cat still like to have a go on the swings. (Particularly when no one is around. Grown ups are not supposed to play with the playthings there, for fear that their big frames will break the toys). Thankfully Cat's small size allows her to break the rules from time to time :D

Just to feel the breeze teasing and running through the hair, the hot sun giving it's warmth and light, and to loose yourself again in memories..with no thoughts at all of current problems. How Cat  loves swinging to and fro.. and forget all the sad things..


~Cat~ 

Voting the Vote

This it it. The much awaited Malaysian General Election is finally here. After the dissolution of the Parliament on 3rd April 2013, The 'E' day will be held tomorrow, on 5th May 2013. 

Cat is not going to talk about politics nor the parties that are contesting. Cat is also not going to rally for votes on behalf of any certain parties in her blog. There has been lots of speculations, heated arguments, peaceful discussions, persuasions and coffee table talks. What Cat wants to bring up is the question of "Voting".

 Majority of those around Cat either did not register as voters or plan to submit a 'blank' voting paper. Reasons that they gave are: 1) what's the use of voting when everything resolves around bribery? 2) My 1 vote does nothing 3) The result is screwed up 4) I do not care about politics or who will reign the country   5) fear for their safety in case of riots?

A vote is a vote. It's your right..and not voting implicates that you are throwing away your rights, your privilege to voice out your opinion or choice. Regardless of which party that you supported, without your one vote the party might lose. What is the use of complaining from the back end and not doing anything that can make a difference? You have seen what have been done by all the parties during the tenure. You have heard the promises and live with the improvements as well as  the downfall. It's time to jump off the fence and make a difference. It's your country after all and you are living in it.

Give a few minutes/hour of your time. Let's go and vote.

regards
Cat