I now don't have to ask anyone to help me translate foreign words...
Sort of...
Google Translation (not a made-up scenario):
Line 1 - CHU Y! = ATTENTION! Line 2 - Khong treo, dam chan = Not hanging dam chan (Huh???) Line 3 - len ghe ngoi cua bon cau = len toilet seat (Whaaattt???)
Overall translation: ATTENTION! Not hanging dam chan len toilet seat
A combination of Lines 2 & 3 came up with this alternative translation: Not suspended, dam foot on toilet seat
Google Translation:
Line 1 - Cap le loi = (no translation available) Line 2 - Do chinh = The main Line 3 - Cam vao = Commitment to Line 4 - Dien ap cao = High voltage Line 5 - Nguy hiem = Dangerous Line 6 - Chet nguoi = Deadly
Overall translation (lines 3-6): Commitment to high voltage dangerous deadly.
At least the translation for the second picture seems somewhat less ambiguous. Oh well...
I was just talking to a friend about dead animals being hurled into places of worship in Malaysia when she suddenly brought up the topic of how another friend used to be ill-treated by her father for not being born a boy.
Lily (actually her real name, 'cos I can't really stand her "Look at me! Look at me!" behaviour), is the fourth daughter born into a family made out of the dad, mum and three elder sisters.
On the day she was born, Lily's dad refused to look at her and her mother. He had expected Lily to have been born a boy. He had so wanted a son to carry on the family name in the many generations to come (it's a Chinese thing).
Perhaps due to the feeling of sheer neglect, Lily soon grew up and is now more successful than her other sisters.
Now, what perplexes me here is not why Lily wasn't born a boy. It's why Lily's dad couldn't even understand the most basic theory of reproduction in the field of biology.
Everyone knows that Mother X + Father Y = Boy and Mother X + Father X = Girl. The contributing factor from the mother's side will always be "X". It's the contributing factor from the father's side that's a bit unpredictable when it comes to determining the baby's gender.
If you end up getting all girls in your family, don't blame the mother and child.
And had you ended up getting twins or triplets, don't congratulate yourself too much either. This "strange" phenomenon wasn't entirely caused by you. Go figure, old man...
I just got a Facebook friend request from a guy who looks like this:
Born to Thrill
No other picture is available in his Facebook account. Looks like a new account as this looker only has slightly more than ten Facebook friends. And his personal information looks kinda interesting too...
This is simply too good to be true...
It's so "too good to be true" that I simply cannot accept this friend request...
He might actually be a big, fat, ugly creature resembling Jabba the Hutt, who knows...
My father was just informed by another college employee that my letter was only mailed out on the day this BASKET college received my nasty email (two days ago). This means the college had been playing around with me all this while these past many weeks. They claimed to have sent out my letter when in fact, nothing's been sent out yet until only two days ago.
Yes, I just had to get my whole family involved in this little issue this time around. This can only happen when a college is not doing its work properly...
Tip to private college students: When extremely simple admissions/academic requests don't go your way and you are confident you're NOT at fault for being taken on an unnecessary joyride by certain college employees, please get your parents involved. I've dealt with many students' parents before, trust me. Top tip of the day: College employees QUIVER and SHIVER at the sight of angry parents. And some employees risk getting fired if they're not careful (unless their bosses can't live without them). Remember this, kids.
*Please take this story lightly with a fistful of salt, even though I might sound slightly insane here…
Picture above: Picture of a basket-seller. You can't really see her from here due to the various baskets hanging all over her bicycle.
The word “basket” is the Singlish or Manglish equivalent of a certain swear word that might refer to something “irregular, inferior, spurious, or unusual” (source). This shall be the word that I shall describe a certain college where I spent RM40,000 on for my postgraduate qualifications.
I shall not reveal the identity of this “basket college” just yet. When it is time for the college identity unveiling to be done, I hope many people will be made aware of the excruciatingly dismal services provided by this college which so happens to like to hog most of the prime advertizing spots in newspapers. I don’t want any of you to go through the same hellish experience I had been made to go through.
One month ago in December 2009, I politely requested for a simple graduate confirmation letter from this BASKET college. I had also requested to have the letter mailed to my house. The girl in charge of postgraduate administrative matters simply emailed me a soft copy of the letter with the reply :
Hi,
As requested.
Regards
*Staff signature*
What kind of a reply is this? I know you want to save time and don’t want to type out long sentences, but at least address your customer by name. That’s what I do all the time when I reply formal emails to anyone, unless I didn’t want to acknowledge the person properly due to certain mean reasons.
The letter I had requested for was meant to be used for certain foreign administrative matters. Christmas came and went. No sign of the letter through snail mail from this BASKET college. I can’t use the email version of the letter in the situation I am currently in because it won't be a valid document.
Just about a week ago, I sent another email to this silly college employee asking about the letter. Her amazing reply was:
Hi J,
I’ve sent it a few weeks back, quite surprised that you’ve not received it yet. I tell you what, you confirm your address with me again and I will send it out again today.
Regards
*Staff signature*
BASKET IDIOT! I tell you what, I have been in the education business long enough to know whether a BASKET college employee is lying to a student or not. I’ve been receiving irrelevant promotional materials from your BASKET college all this while. Now tell me why my important graduate confirmation letter has not arrived until today even after almost ONE MONTH already! You busy playing Facebook and uploading pictures of you and your boyfriend or what? I know what you’ve been doing through Facebook, you dumb monkey! And I don’t like people who use the phrase “I tell you what” because it sounds like something from a cheesy low-grade slasher movie. BASKET!
One week has just passed me by. I shot a short one-sentence email to the college once again, this time sounding far from friendly…
And the very immediate reply was that my letter had been sent to me a few days ago through registered mail.
Tip to private college students: When simple academic/admission requests don't go your way, throw a hissy fit. Breathe down the employees' necks if necessary. I've tried throwing tantrums after being too nice for too long, and I now see immediate results.
Sure, and it takes almost a week for a document sent through registered mail to arrive. I don’t see any sign of any letter in my mailbox until now. What are you jokers trying to do??
I had also been publicly humiliated before by one of the senior managers from this BASKET college for wearing expensive jeans into the college building. This BASKET college thinks it’s so F*CKING high-class they have to go around catching and humiliating students who walked in not realizing what they should or should not wear.
As a paying customer, I feel VERY VIOLATED by this BASKET college. I had been one of the so-called respected employees in the organization where I used to work in, especially when given a chance to sit on stage with important people during important events (and wear jeans into the conference room at one time). However, I get treated like SH*T the moment I became a postgraduate student of a certain BASKET college in the city even after paying all of my fees and not owing this BASKET college anything.
Picture above: Imagine simultaneously being a so-called popular employee at your workplace (also a college) with a regular seat provided on stage, while also being relegated to the level of SH*T STUDENT at another BASKET college in the city where you can be simply bullied and pushed around by the college employees.
These jokers from this BASKET college shouldn’t even be allowed to deal with students nor be involved in the education industry in the first place.
*This blogger is currently not representing any education institution and is merely writing from her viewpoint as a very much violated and verbally abused customer of a certain college in the city.
I just can’t believe how bling bling accessories that can be found in somewhat high-end Malaysian shopping malls can also be found in many other Asian countries… in street stalls… same quality… same materials… SO MANY TIMES CHEAPER!!!
This is starting to feel like a total rip-off, girls…
Picture above: Buy one of these for RM10 out there, bring it back to Malaysia and sell it for RM50 or more. Certain girls probably wouldn't mind the "slightly higher" price... What they don't know won't kill them...
I now wonder if these Malaysian shop owners got their goods from nearby Asian countries, only to mark-up those product prices manifold simply because they’re selling everything in nicer shops/boutiques back home.
These similar products are so much cheaper out there you could actually buy a whole truckload of them and open your own shop in Malaysia, selling everything by hiking up the prices ten times more...
Not only are these bling bling stuff, handbags, shoes and clothes cheaper in countries such as Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam… Even the kept women from such countries seem low-maintenance too… As in, they'd be happy to receive any pretty roadside trinket that's given to them.
Market stall
I was looking through row upon row of clothes at a dimly-lit market area, feeling each outfit’s material and remembering certain designs, when two middle-aged Chinese men walked into the same clothes stall. I couldn’t tell if they were Malaysians or Singaporeans from their familiar-sounding accents.
One of them held up a sexy-looking nightgown…
“Ah, how romantic. Must be for his wife back at home…” I thought, while minding my own business.
The two men continued with their conversation…
And the one holding and admiring the nightgown casually said, “My wife doesn’t have this kind of a body…”
F@#*%$! WHAT?!?!
He paid for the nightgown after that…
A dirt cheap nightgown from a dimly-lit market stall bought by a Big-time Cheapskate all for some cheap thrills while being away from his wife… But it could be a priceless gift to the poor girl who’s gonna receive that cheap piece of material from him… The country’s not a rich country and many people still live in poverty…
*Visions of Tiger Woods and a team of excitedly screaming, strange-looking blonde women suddenly flash through my mind for no reason*
Little boutique
After his trip to the market stall, Mr. Big-time Cheapskate would probably bring his guy friend along to a nicer-looking boutique somewhere else to choose something for his wife… before making his way to an obscure little hotel room for his CHEAP secret rendezvous.
I hope Mr. Cheapskate gets warts…
Picture above: A young child beggar being led around by her “owner”. This would be the only life she would know.
I've just watched "Avatar" thrice. Unnecessary translation: three times.THREE TIMES. Something must be bothering me to be able to achieve this feat in just two days. TWO DAYS!
Lots of bombs and various objects destroyed in "Avatar". Lots of oppressed creatures too. Suits the mood and condition of a certain country this week- in many ways.
The last movie I've ever watched more than twice was "The Lion King". Seven times. And that was 16 years ago during a boring school holiday.
While watching "Avatar", flashbacks from my childhood days suddenly materialized in my mind. Watching "Avatar" was almost like meeting an old friend once again... from Disneyland...
Jake Sully + Neytiri
Perhaps it's only a coincidence that Jake Sully and John Smith share the same initials and the exact number of letters in their names. Perhaps it's also only a coincidence that Jake went to planet Pandora because of unobtainium, and John went to the New World because of gold. And both guys ended up falling in love.
John Smith + Pocahontas
It's unbelievable... "Pocahontas" was great, but "Avatar" took this storyline to a whole new level...
Picture above: Jake and Neytiri playing at the Willow Glade*. Picture below: John and Pocahontas playing at some kind of waterfall area.
* In "Pocahontas", Grandmother Willow (a talking willow tree), lives in a glade.
Both couples who somehow couldn't understand each other had the amazing ability to suddenly communicate in the English language with each other.
Picture above: Neytiri, the adventurous beauty who is the daughter of the Na'vi clan chief, Eytucan. Picture below: Pocahontas, the adventurous beauty who is the daughter of the American Indian tribal chief, Powhatan.
Both girls can communicate with animals and are very much in tune with nature- skills that they somehow manage to teach idiots Jake and John, strangers to the land/planet.
Picture above: Tsu'tey, the hunky warrior whom Neytiri was supposed to marry. Picture below: Kocoum, the yadda yadda yadda Pocahontas was supposed to marry. You get the idea...
Picture above: Neytiri speaks on behalf of Jake to have his life spared from being executed by Chief Eytucan. Picture below: Pocahontas saves John from being executed by Chief Powhatan.
Picture above: Neytiri and Jake go swimming. Picture below: Pocahontas and John go swimming.
Any good movie would be incomplete without the presence of a colourful bad guy or two...
Colonel Miles Quaritch
Miles Quaritch, the evil guy from "Avatar": He reminds me of the gray-haired cat whom I used to report to at work, but minus the well-toned body, muscles, height, macho voice, spiffy haircut and sexy scars. Now that you’ve taken all those manly attributes away, you’re left with something that looks pretty much like sissy nutcase Ratcliffe from “Pocahontas”, I suppose…
Picture above: In "Avatar", there's a very important tree involved in the story. Picture below: There's also a very important tree involved in "Pocahontas", but this tree talks and is able to crack jokes.
I see you
Picture above: A not-so-clear picture of Neytiri spying on Jake. Picture below: Pocahontas spying on John.
I see you
Picture below: Pocahontas teaches John how to appreciate nature.
You can also see an almost similar "mother and babies" scene in "Avatar".
I'll just stop comparing from here. Go watch "Avatar" if you've got nothing better to do. I'll probably go watch it again.
By the way, the catch phrase in "Avatar" is "I see you".
