The Four Don'ts at Nirvana Memorial Centre

I was at Nirvana Memorial Centre to pay my last respects to a good friend's late father last night. Despite the sad event, it was a great time of fellowship, with lots of laughter, some at my expense. I was teased about being an ugly girl with a magnifying glass on her nose by friends who had not seen me in my myopic glasses before. (I wear contact lens during the day.) It was all good-natured teasing, of course. Like all good friends, we could never resist poking fun at each other.


Oh yeah, and there was lots of food....the most incredible spread I had ever seen at a funeral parlour. And in the midst of chatting, laughing and enjoying the food, something caught hubby's and my eye......a sign with four don'ts....

1) No food allowed.....huh??!!.....the food galore was part of the package, ain't it??
2) Silence....oops, guilty
3) No smoking....ok, checked. Nobody smoked here.
4) No camera.....that, too, was OK, until I saw that sign and had to fish my camera out of my bag and commit the final blunder.....

8TV Ramadan Racist Commercials -- Updated on 6/8/11

8TV, one of our terrestrial TV, recently screened some questionable commercials that caused some strong feelings in the Chinese community. While I understand that 8TV was trying to remind the public that the Ramadan is a Muslim holy month and that we should all respect it, the commercials were in rather poor taste.

The same message could have been conveyed in a better, and more sensitive manner. Instead, 8TV projected the message that the Chinese community is rude, loud, greedy and immoral. Great, thanks, TV8, you have just shown us what a bigoted racist you are.

The video can be viewed at --> http://youtu.be/JJmIrlb7gLw

Updates:
Thanks to Ms Kay Poh who notified us on the removal of the above video. The video is also available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8NECjDoves and a follow-up news of its withdrawal of the ads at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke7p5rp-nbI.

Sunshine......

No, this is not a post on Sunshine, a sci-fi movie directed by Danny Boyle with Michelle Yeoh in the cast. Rather, it's an award from, Ellen, the owner of Katz and Other Tales. Thank you, Ellen! 


We have to answer the questions below and then pass it on.




1. My favourite colour: Pink and apple green
2. My favourite animal: Cats
3. My favourite number: 007
4. My favourite non-alcoholic drink: Ambra juice with sour plum
5. Social media: Facebook, blog
6. My passion: Reading, movies and cats
7. Getting or giving presents: It's probably not correct for me to say this, but what the heck....getting presents. But I do love giving gifts to people on occasions, too. There, I sound more correct now.... :D
8. My favourite pattern: Abstract
9. My favourite day of the week: Saturday
10. My favourite flower: Sunflower, the bigger, the better


We're passing this on to friends who epitomize sunshine in their personalities - brightness and cheerfulness:
1) A desperate reluctant housewife
2) Celena
3) CazzyCazz
4) The Fluffies and The Purrs
5) Bookface
6) The Chair Speaks
7) Life around with my mini zoo
8) Hot takes

Yellow Shirt on Saturdays

Oops...forgot it's Saturday. Time to put on my cyber yellow shirt.  :P

Mrs Potato Pigs Out is Blackie Bond's Alter Ego

I've been playing with the idea of having a separate blog for food, but have never taken the trouble to do so. But thanks to the hacker, I've stirred myself and created not only a replacement blog for the hacked ones, but a separate food blog, too.


From now, all restaurant reviews and home-made recipes will be posted in my other blog at mrspotatopigsout.blogspot.com. 


And to the hacker(s) of my blogs, when you also hacked into my email account, you left a trail of your ISP and where you logged in from..... you didn't know that, did you, that Google alerts the owner of the account of suspicious activities from an ISP that is different from the one that is normally used. Or you just didn't care........

Letter From Blackie the Cat to Muffin The Toy Gorila

The earlier letter referred to is at Letter from Blackie.

Blackie007 Is Now Blackie Bond

When my blog post titled July 9, 2011 - A Day To Be Remembered was hacked, I had thought it was just one post. I had checked all other posts filed under 'Politics' (not that there were many posts on that topic) and they were untouched. Little did I imagine that my two other blogs would be hacked later and stolen.

Yes, stolen. As in, I am no longer able to edit or have any control over those blogs. I only realised it today, when I was about to edit my blog profile. I saw with surprise that one blog was missing, while another one was renamed to Muffin with a different URL (muffingorilla.blogspot.com). The original name was Muffin The Toy Gorila, and my URL was muffinthetoygorila.blogspot.com. The other one was Muffin The Toy Gorilla with a double 'l', for those who might have typed gorila with a double 'l.

I tried to contact blogger support, but all the message I got was, 'you might have entered the wrong email address', 'you might have entered the wrong password', and 'fill out the form and an email message will be sent to you to verify that the blog belongs to you'.

Well, I did all that, and guess what? I never received that email associated to Muffin's blog. Why? Because it has been stolen from me and is no longer associated with my email. And there is no way I could contact Blogger support (no email contact, or other forms to fill out) to return the blog to me.

I apologise to those who had been following my blog, it isn't possible for me to contact each and everyone of you. I hope you'll stumble upon this new blog name and realise it's me......

Blog Tampered With

Notice:

My earlier post titled July 9, 2011 - A Day To Be Remembered has been hacked and turned into unintelligible junk. It was fine last night. 

Middle Class Affordable Housing Scheme NOT Affordable

While having my morning cup of coffee and a cheese sandwich, the news below caught my eye.

PETALING JAYA: Middle class Malaysians who are aspiring to buy a home will soon be able to do so once a new Government-led initiative to build apartments costing less than RM300,000 in major cities is launched this year, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said.

The affordable housing scheme, which is an addition to the My First Home Scheme for units costing between RM100,000 and RM220,000, will see stratified units priced between RM220,000 and RM300,000 being built for those with a household income of less than RM6,000 a month and who do not yet own a house.
~ source ~ The Star Online (click on link for full story)

My first reaction was, this will not work. If they are going to restrict purchase of properties priced RM300K and below for those with a household income of less than RM6K, those who earned RM6K and above will find themselves unable to purchase a home of their own while those who earned less would not be able to afford this so-called affordable housing. 

In today's rising costs, if you earn RM6K a month as an individual, you do not have much disposable income. What more if it's a household income of less than RM6K, which translates to less than RM3K as an individual. But this is another issue. I only want to find out if those with a household income of less than RM6K could afford a home of RM220K to RM300K.

I will use the ceiling of RM5,999 as the household income in my calculations. I am using an example of a husband and wife with no kids. What is the actual take home pay this household has? RM4,976...after deducting EPF and tax, with the allowance amount taken into consideration before calculating the tax amount. (I did not take Socso contributions into account as the amount is rather negligible and some employers opt not to deduct Socso from their employee's salary.)

Let's take a look at the disposable income this household has. Out of RM4,967, a portion has to go towards car installment, utilities, petrol, parking fees and toll. I'm not even going to take into account the cost of a car's maintenance! Let's assume this household owns only one car.

RM4,967 - RM800 (car installment) - RM200 (utilities) - RM500 (petrol, a conservative figure) - RM100 (parking fees and toll, another conservative figure) = RM3,367. 

RM3,367 is the remaining disposable income for this household. And what is the monthly installment payment for homes costing between RM220K and RM300K?

The monthly installment for a RM300K home would be RM1,467* if they are in their 20s or early 30s and could get a 30-year loan. For a RM220K home, the monthly installment for this young household would be RM1,076*. 

So, if this household is foolish enough to buy a RM300K home, they will be left with only RM1,900, a sum hardly able to sustain a household. If they were to buy a home at the bottom of the range, their monthly disposable income, after deducting the house installment would be RM2,291. Still not a healthy disposable income for a household, but at least slightly better than if they had bought a RM300K home. (Bear in mind this is not an individual income, but household income.) And I am not even looking at a household with kids!

*Note - the best quote I know from a foreign bank. 

More Prostitutes Please, We Are Malaysians!!!

I never thought I'd  need to follow up my post "More Sex Please, We Are Malaysians" with another post. But life in a circus is unpredictable and Malaysia is a circus.


Take these news articles in today's and yesterday's The Star, for instance.


'Wives can curb social ills like prostitution by being obedient and alluring'
Obedient Wives Club to offer sex lessons on how to pleasure husbands

When asked whether it was the wife's fault for being abused, she said: “Yes, most probably because she didn't listen to her husband.”

Sex lessons to help wives “serve their husbands better than a first-class prostitute” will be among the courses provided by the Obedient Wives Club (OWC) to help promote harmonious marriages and counter social ills.

Its vice-president Dr Rohaya Mohamad said it was time sexual prowess took a front seat in marriage beyond the traditional “good mother or good cook” roles.

So, let us see....
A good wife = a first class prostitute
A first class prostitue = a good wife
Therefore, all wives should be prostitutes. Or is it all men should aim to marry a first class prostitute??


The Obedient Wives Club is created by Global Ikhwan Sdn Bhd, which also has an Ikhwan Polygamy Club. Perfect compatibility. After dinner, the husband leaves for his Polygamy Club while the wife proceeds to her Obedient Wives Club. 


Perhaps I should start an online business selling whips, hooker boots, leather thongs, pornography DVDs and graphic comics. I bet I will be a millionaire in no time, since a large population will be prostitutes and in need of those supplies! Any buyers here? :P


P/s: Prostitutes Wanted: Must be willing and grateful to be whipped, beaten up, thoroughly abused, raped and used in any manner the man, her master, wishes. If you think it is a priviledge to be treated thus, or that this is the pathway to heaven, please apply here.


P.P.S: Come join us to take a stand in the  We do not want Sexist Nonsense from Global Ikhwan Sdn Bhd Facebook page.


Updates: FB group counters sexist wives club.
Related topics:
Polygamy, Prostitution and Homosexuality
OWC - Obedient Wives Club or Orgy Wives Club

More Sex Please, We Are Malaysians!!!

It has been thought that food is a Malaysian national obsession. A friend from the UK once noted that Malaysians are always eating, no matter what time of the day or night it is, and if they are not eating, they are thinking of eating or talking about eating. I agreed with him. 


On the surface, it does look like Malaysians are obsessed with food. However, if you take a closer look, you might think again. For hidden beneath the layers of gluttony, lies another, secret obsession. People from all walks of life -- politicians, police, wardens, lawyers, engineers, teachers, cooks, housewives, the media, the general public -- are obsessed with one thing...SEX.


No, we are not making out like rabbits and hamsters 24/7, we are obsessed with knowing about other people having sex and sodomy. *slap forehead* Just take a look at our newspapers, day in, day out, there is bound to be a few reports on other people having sex. Just do a search for the word "sex" in The Star Online and you'll be amazed at the tons and tons of news that came up.


We have police crowding around a table, watching videos after videos of politicians having sex, and we have politicians clamouring for said videos to be screened for their viewing pleasure. 


And then, we have Ibrahim Ali who stumbled upon the realisation that the reason Malaysian men stray from their wives and have affairs is because their wives neglect their duty by not dropping whatever it is they're doing and jumping into bed with their husbands when they (the husbands) have the urge. 


And today, we have an engineer who saves her marriage by watching porn while the police say they are willing to expose the performer of a sex video. Gee, is the public going to get a treat of the bums of a sex performer??!! I'm sure all Malaysians are waiting with bated breath for more....give me more, give me more, we are Malaysians.....


Sources of the news mentioned above:
Leaked Clip and 'Wifely Duties Excite House'
Engineer Saves Her Marriage By Watching Porn
Sex Video: Police Won't Hesitate To Expose Performer
Speaker Shoots Down Call To Screen Sex Video in Dewan
Women File For Divorce Over Hubbie's Unusual Sex Drive
Woman Can't Stomach Cook's Ardour
Sexcapade Of Teacher And Warden On Video
Award-Winning Teacher's Secret - Reading and Sex


P/s: Perhaps I ought to start a label 'Sex'  in my blog and file this post there instead of 'Laughs' or 'Random Thots'....
Updated posts:
More Prostitutes Please, We Are Malaysians
Polygamy, Prostitution and Homosexuality
OWC - Obedient Wives Club or Orgy Wives Club

Happy Cat-Rabbit Year 2011

On 3 February 2011, the Chinese ushers in the Year of the Rabbit, while the Vietnamese ushers in the Year of the Cat. For me, I shall be ushering in (and celebrating) the Year of the Cat-Rabbit!!


Happy New Year to everyone, and may the Cat-Rabbit Year be a great one for you.  

Goodbye 2010, Welcome 2011

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2011 bring you every good thing under the sky. May each of you be blessed with excellent health, joy, peace and....wealth. Can't leave the last bit out, since I'm a Malaysian of Chinese descent and must stick to the traditional greetings.  :)

2010 has been a great year for me, but it's time to say goodbye. To celebrate, I'm planning a quiet new year eve dinner at home........no one is allowed to talk......first one to speak does the dishes. My cats are exempted from this ruling, of course. 

How Accurate Is The GPS?

Have you ever been asked "do you have a GPS?" whenever you asked for directions? Well, we have. It seems that almost everyone these days expect you to use the GPS to get you to your destination. 


But how accurate is the GPS? Can you totally rely on it to get you to where you want to go? Most of my friends who own one swear by it.


I have my doubts. I mean, well, the GPS would probably eventually take you where you want to go, but I believe there would be some inaccuracies. After all, it relies on the satellite signals, which I feel could be obstructed by tall buildings, huge trees or even the weather. Astro, our satellite TV, is a good example of how satellite signal is lost during a storm. Moreover, in KL, a junction where you could turn right might become illegal to turn the next day and the maps might not be updated right away.


So, hubby and I decided to conduct a little experiment over a period of two weeks. We decided to use the GPS on his mobile handphone to take us home from places we're totally familiar with. 


The result? If we had followed the instructions of the GPS, we would probably be going around in circles before we reached home.


The first test was from Bukit Bintang to Kepong. The instructions were correct only up to a point. At a junction, the GPS instructed us to turn right at a traffic light which does NOT allow any right turn. Due to the way the traffic lights were programmed, traffic has to move straight ahead and not turn right. Not unless we wish to crash into another vehicle, or have a vehicle smash into the left passenger side of our car. While we'd love to go to heaven, we don't want to die. So, we ignored the instruction.


As we followed the course of the road, the GPS started to 'recallibrate calculation'. And that was the message we were going to hear over and over again throughout the test as we ignored the GPS' instructions and headed in a different route. GPS, why should we turn off onto the NKVE highway to get to Kepong when we're already on Jalan Duta? No doubt we could get to Kepong via that route, but that would be driving off-course to the West to get to the North when we're already on the North. 


And in one of the tests from the "belly" of Pudu, the GPS misread our position and instead of directing us to turn right when we expected it to, it asked us to proceed straight for another few meters and then instructed us to turn right, smack into a building. Yes! It kept saying "Turn right now!". Well, no thank you, GPS, we have no desire to smash our brains against a wall. 


Undeterred, the GPS continued to try to direct this recalcitrant couple by instructing us to turn right when we came to a junction where there is a huge divider in the middle of the road. We have two options: either we smash into the divider, or we could drive against the traffic on our side of the road. No brains required to figure out which option we took. Neither.


So, what's wrong with the GPS? Initially, I thought that perhaps our maps aren't updated. But as the tests progressed, I realised that the GPS most likely had misread our position. It didn't know our precise location. Its signals were probably deflected or blocked by the tall buildings surrounding us for the times when the instructions were wrong, we were in a "belly" of buildings or underpasses.


To check if my hunch was correct, I googled and found that, indeed one of the disadvantages of the GPS is its inaccuracies. I found quite a few articles, but the article below sums it up.   http://www.ehow.co.uk/list_5912431_advantages-disadvantages-gps-systems.html

Shi Xin Hui @ Teen Fest 2010

Photo courtesy of Shi Xin Hui

First, a disclaimer. I was educated in a national school, which means I was taught in the Malay medium. There was only one English book, the English Language book. Since I'm not Chinese-literate, please excuse me if I make some mistakes here and there.


Last night, Teen Fest, a Chinese magazine, held a concert to celebrate something. I'm not sure what, due to my not understanding Chinese. The concert was a chance for local artistes to give back to their fans. There were quite a number of performers, most of them unknown to me and hubby, but not to the Malaysian public.


The only reason I knew about the concert and was there was because Shi Xin Hui was one of the artistes performing. She was born and raised in Malaysia, but became a celebrity in Singapore (another talent taken away from Malaysia.) Click on the link above to read more about her if you don't already know. Or, visit her Facebook page.


Despite the disappointing amateurish stage setup, Xin Hui gave an amazing medley performance from her top hits 'From Taipei to Beijing' and 'Queen', and the theme song from the NTV7 series 'Forever Friends' where she also had a starring role. She really is a star. She has that unmistakable celebrity aura the minute she steps onto the stage, the X Factor, as what Simon Cowell would say.

Being interviewed..... sorry, I didn't understand the dialogue, only that the host asked if Xin Hui is a Malaysian.  ;)

A chance for fans to take a group photo of their idols.

We Incite, Not Invite, Tourists To Malaysia

According to the brochures distributed at the Malaysia Pavillion at the Shanghai World Expo, Malaysia has a 130-million-year-old Taman Nerara. 


And we "incite visitous to our nulticultural, decelopment locationgs in our cuntry." How could this go to print?!
source: http://www.mmail.com.my/content/53622-mistakes-international-brochure-put-country-shame-says-mp


Someone commented that luckily they didn't spell it as Taman Neraka (Hades Park in Malay). 


Imagine....we incite you to our 130-million-year-old Taman Neraka, a great place to visit at Halloween..... 

Will The Real Simon Cowell Please Step Up

An hour after I posted 'Adam Lambert Live in Malaysia', I noticed visitors flocking in from URLs like twitter.com and adamtopia.proforums.org. And in less than twelve hours, there were more than 170 visits, and they're still coming in.


Curious, I looked up the two sites to see what brought them to the said blog post. While I've had a tweeter account created some time back, I've never logged in to tweet. I already have a Facebook account and I would need more than 24 hours in a day if I want to get any real work done or have a real life should I want to be 'active' in all those social networking channels. The only reason I created a tweeter account was to see what the hoo-hah was about.


Anyway, I couldn't find the cause for visitors from tweeter to visit. But I did find one thing. There are many 'real' Simon Cowells out there. There are quite a few users claiming to be the real Simon Cowell. But when you read their tweets, it's obvious they're not Simon Cowell. Goodness! I was so tempted to tweet for the first time, asking the real Simon Cowell to please step up.  And of course, there are just as many Adam Lamberts, too. Fortunately, I'm following Adam Lambert on Facebook, so I know which tweet account is really his, haha!


Then, I checked adamtopia.proforums. org. And there, I discovered what sent members flocking to the blog post. Someone by the username of 4evermumof4 had posted a link to the said post. Hmmm....I know there are a number of lurkers in my blog, but I didn't realise some of those lurkers are Adam Lambert fans. 


So, to the lurkers who are Adam Lambert fans, here's a big HELLO from one Adam Lambert fan to another!  :)

Trying To Perfect My Screaming............

10 more days to go!!! Adam Lambert is going to be at Bukit Jalil stadium and I can't wait!!! In the meantime, I'm practising my screaming. I'll know I have achieved perfection when my mum, hubby and neighbours come out screaming at me to stop.

The seating plan and price - if you are a Digi customer, purchase 3 Adam Lambert caller tunes for RM6 to get a 25% discount off the ticket price. Send AL to 2016.

Is This Our 1Malaysia??!!

I was horrified to read the news that two Malaysian men of Chinese ethnic were attacked when they went to watch the Merdeka eve fireworks for simply having Chinese ethnicity. What is happening to our nation? The perpetrators are teenagers, why are they harbouring so much hatred for their fellow-countrymen? 


The news report : http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/news/general/9834-two-beaten-up-in-merdeka-eve-racist-attack

The personal account of the victim in Facebook :  http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=432073840741&id=586500176

Message From Najib......

Najib's message to Malaysians for this Merdeka:  "Just in case you forgot what I look like."  :D

@ Bukit Bintang Plaza

HAPPY MERDEKA, EVERYBODY!!  :)