A day to think over

Tomorrow is Hari Raya Aidilfitri, a celebration celebrated by Muslims after fasting for a month. In fact, the fasting season is a unique season. One can see the reduction of customers in many 'Mamak' stalls and shops, Malay restaurants would close at this time and none of the Muslims will turn up in any restaurants.

This is the month also where you can see 'Pasar Ramadhan', or evening markets where various food and drinks are sold. Really, there are a variety of delicious food around. In fact, I've been advised before that on the first day of this 'Pasar Ramadhan', I should not be buying any food of these stalls because when they are fasting, they wouldn't be able to determine correctly the amount of sugar or salt or whatever ingredients added to make up the food. Neh..as time goes by, if they are good chefs, they would definitely know how much sugar or salt should be added in- thus, it'll not be THAT bad=P, right?

Anyway, today's is the last day for the fasting day and tomorrow would be the celebrations!! I am looking forward to open houses and all, but (*tsk tsk sob sob, I'm coughing and been sick for a week ady!!) haih!!

My sickness is due to infection in upper respiratory tract and also in lower respiratory tract. I am seriously irritated with my coughs and I have a feeling that my cough expectorant is not working at all. What's worse, the preservative of sodium benzoate is quite high (if I'm not mistaken, it is 0.1% v/w). Imagine how much you have consumed if you are taking 10 ml, 3 times a day for 2 weeks? Poisoned... *sob sob*

I have to control my food consumption- cannot be taking too sweet or too spicy food, nor items that are labelled as 'heaty' or oily food. Well, fried food, baked food and any food in deep hot oil are considered heaty- according to older generations.

That's bad, isn't it? That means, in short- I'll be eating tasteless food. *sigh*

Okay, back to my title. I am getting out of topic. *winks*

As the celebrations mood is around, and no one literally is in my office (yes- it's empty!!) I am also in the holiday mood right now. LOL.

So, I am going to pass on my working day less hectic as my previous days- today is a work+ moderate music+internet (a day that I've never had before this).

This is also a day for me to think over my past, what I should do with my future and steps to achieve it. A day for me to think thrice on my relationship with others. Well, a day to do anything that I can think of.

Okay, back to work and music.

Climate Change International Conference 2008

I was really excited and happy when my boss recommended me to become a rapporteur in my first international conference! It was held from 17th-20th September (well, I was kind of late to post this=P)

Finally, I have a glimpse of how international conferences are held and how my work is supposed to be performed. It was an eye-opening experience to me. The way they organised it, how the people worked together and all.

A truly new experience.

The venue was Crowne Plaza Mutiara, Jalan Sultan ismail. It was really a nice hotel. I really liked the ballroom where the conference was held. Check out these pictures!

Bouquet flowers wrapping information

Today is a great weekend! A day that I spent entirely at home, coughing all the way and looking for bouquet wrapping information for my brother.

Found some interesting sites that are quite interesting:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Bouquet

http://www.kimmiesfloraldesign.com/Services.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4422302_make-single-flower-bouquet.html

I'm also killing two birds with one stone- looking for my own convocation bouquet. lol. My mom told me to look for the bouquet that I might be interested in, but I really like every single bouquet that I could find online. Well, not all- but majority!

Anyway, I'm still looking for one and thinking which type of flower would suit more. Orchids shouldn't be bad I guess=) If I could have my dreams come true, I would definitely prefer tulips!!

My special day in Penang

Today's the day I officially turn one year old older. *sob sob*

Time is flying fast, and I could only stare ahead and struggling to keep up with the time..

I'm currently staying in one of the hotels along Penang road, and these are some of the pictures that I've captured with my phone camera. I love the scene overlooking the sea. It's just so spectacular!

In fact, this is my 4th visit to Penang within 5 months- solely because I'm working and my work is likely to be based here for at least a week every month. During my stay here, I have traveled to many nearby places through my feet (well, Penang island is really small and you can see many interesting places when walking!)

I enjoy the magnificent sceneries!!

Animal cruelty

The thought of animal cruelty suddenly flashes. I cannot imagine how the future would be if there are more and more demands like this in the future.

I was at a pet shop. Well, it's always my favorite place when I drop by PJ. They have loaded the cages with more pedigree dogs, which include Cocker Spaniel, Golden Retriever, Silky Terrier, Boxer and few others. The main attraction was a 2-month-old Boxer that made his business in his cage. Then, he turned to his pile of 'gold' and licked it up again. Ewww.... we were all flabbergasted!

Anyway, there was this family that came to look for a dog. I do not know if the lady was planning to become a breeder or she wanted to show off how mighty her 'money-power' was. She asked the sales representative whether if there are any other colours available for the cute Silky Terrier puppy that we (my family and I) were all admiring. There were three pups there- one black and another two was tan-coloured. This lady then asked whether is there any silver terriers available and when would it come. She said she would not be interested in other colours.

I was dumbstruck. What??!! Are you playing god here? How do they know if there would be any silver, or black or tan-coloured pups coming? Oh, hang on, M'dm. Are you really in the heart of rearing a dog/life, giving it as a gift to your child or are you in the mood of actually planning to venture into pups business? Or, are you in the mood of showing off to some naive-minded people on how special your puppy's coat colour and how exotic it is and how hard to get one? If you're so kind hearted or kind enough to save a life, please, for heaven's sake- don't be so choosy!

If there is a demand for some coat colours, I believe that there would definitely be suppliers too.
Suddenly, this thought of future biotechnology applications with pets' genes came into my mind. They would probably clone some dogs, get some genes, alter it according to a choosy (i******) customer and then have it ready in few months'- just like when you're ordering some customized laptops or pizzas. Haih... ever wonder what would happen to those pups that turned out deformed from gene-altering sections? Would they be put to death immediately? Or left by the roadside and let some other predators have a feast on them?

It's a really sad scene. Why the mentality of these people is so narrow-minded? Is there any differences between rearing a tan-coloured dog and a grey-coated dog? Would it make the tan-coloured dog less acceptable, embarrassing or less obedient?

Even now, with good rules of animal cruelty is around (and, unfortunately, a lack of enforcement), the cruelty of animals is still an ongoing process. What would lie in the future then?

Sob sob....