ringgit.me

Found this excellent blog that talks about properties in Malaysia. In one entry, they wrote about the different type of bricks used to construct our homes: "Ever wonder why in your apartment you can hear your neighbour’s TV and hi-fi through the walls? Or at night, you can clearly hear them talking loudly or carrying redecoration (like hammering nails) even though your balcony sliding door is closed? And ever wonder why this never happens in other people’s houses or apartment, just yours?"

Pictures from Project50 - the Merdeka performance that I am participating now. Check it out. http://merdeka50sgm.blogspot.com/

Quick summer movie reviews (scale of 1-10, 10 being best) Shrek 3 - 4 Transformers - 7 Harry Potter - 6 Die Hard 4.0 - 4.0 (lol.. I kill me)

When I do my morning prayers these days, one of my prayer objectives is to bring forth the Buddhahood within me. In other words, I really want to elevate my life condition. Buddhism believes that there are 10 states of life that a person moves about. You can read more about the 10 states here . Why is elevating life state important? When you are in a higher state of life, you view things with a different lense. You view problems and challenges with wisdom and compassion. A real example: A girl came back from work. Her mother cooked fish for dinner. She gave her mother a pat on the shoulder, thanked her for a hard day's work - basically showing appreciation for her effort. Her sister, in a bad mood that day due to work, came back, saw the fish and started complaining that the fish stinks because it is too fishy, why do we always eat fish, fish are making a mess of the kitchen and dining table. If you look at it, the fish is not the problem here. It is just a fish. But look at the th...

Last weekend and the upcoming 8 weekends, I will be participating in Project 50. Project 50 is a request from out government to Soka Gakkai Malaysia to perform a group formation and gymnastic in the upcoming national milestone, the 50th Merdeka Day this Aug 31. Soka Gakkai Malaysia is recruiting 1,400 young men and women for this event. There are 2 practices each week on Saturday (4pm-9pm) and Sunday (8am-4pm), in open field, under the sun. It will be physically tough. It will be difficult. It is going to be a huge challenge to each participant. People who have participated in events like this have shared their testimony. It turns out that the physical challenge plays only a minor part. Participating in activities in a social environment creates opportunity for people to overcome their own personal challenges : it is the process during these two months that is challenging - some have to challenge their work, health, financial, family and time (some members travel from as far as Ijok, ...

After years of being a free thinker and not having any spiritual growth, I have decided to take on a faith. I have started to practice Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism , the same faith as Anne, naturally. It is difficult for a lost soul, one that hungers for spiritual food, to resist the goodness that was showered continuously and patiently by one's mate. And I am glad that I picked on a faith for I could feel that I am a better person already :) The essense of this Buddhism is human revolution through chanting a specific mantra, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo . The whole idea is to bring forth the Buddhahood within all of us so that we can then have the wisdom and courage to face life's challenges. As a child, whenever I fill a form, I would check "Buddhist" in the Religion box without understanding what is Buddhism. I used to wish that I could find Buddhist text that are written in English so that I could understand the teachings. Years later, I finally found one :)

Since I have moved to my new house, I have been living in fear of house break-ins, no thanks to an over imaginative mind and recent unfortunate events. My friend's house in TTDI was broken into. His family lost jewelries, cash, gadgets. My colleague's immediate neighbour's house in Kepong was broken into, the maid was raped. My current neighbour told me about a house 3 blocks behind mine that was broken into and kept on reminding me to get an alarm. You see why I am living in fear? And I hate that feeling! I mean, I still sleep well at night but I worry a lot more. 2 out of 3 incidents I cited above was daylight burglary. The bad guys now entered the house in the morning when everybody is at work. What is the police doing? Is our economy going downhill? Because theft and break-ins are an after effect of a downturn. Was it due to too many illegal immigrants? 2 out of the 3 incidents I cited above were performed by Malaysians - Indians and Chinese to be exact. What is going o...

Today I attended the official opening of the "2nd Venezuelan Week 2007" in Wisma SGM in Jalan Imbi. The event was launched by some Datuk fom some Ministry and the Ambassador of Venezuela in Malaysia. Excerpt from tbe brochure: "The first Venezuelan Week held in Malaysia in July 2006 allowed the Malaysians to get to know the Venezuelan culture and at the same time to enjoy a festive atmosphere on the occasion of the 195th Independance Day of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. "In 2007, the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela together with Venezuelians living in Malaysia would like to join Malaysia in her 'Celebration of 50 year of Nationhood' by holding a second Venezuelan Week... ".. include events such as Salsa Concert.. Venezuelean Gourmet Festivals, Charity Gala Dinner.. " If you are interested to check out some cultural stuff, click here .

I am having so much fun with Picasaweb - trying to tag all my pictures to the location they are taken. For instance, the picture I took at Hatchesup Temple in Luxor - I have now mapped it to Google Earth.. so you can see how far we have travel from temple to temple in Luxor. Niceeeeee...