Creationism and Darwinian…

I’m a Christian and lately, I’ve been hearing that many schools in the US have decided against teaching the Darwinian Evolution. As a science student and aspiring scientist, I find this absurd. Seriously.
I mean think about it rationally. Do you seriously think the world is less than 100k years old? Not likely. Not possible considering carbon dating has already proven otherwise. So why are people insisting that it’s so possible for creationism to be valid? It’s basis is the bible! The bible may be the word of God but I doubt he wants us to take it word for word?!

I personally have my own views on how the bible may be interpreted. I’m a born and bred Catholic and proud to say so. I don’t blindly follow everything the bible says because if that were the case, there would be a totally different Beat typing this.

Ok, I’ll start at the beginning. You know how the bible says God made the world in 7days? Imagine this, our one day is probably a mere nanosecond in God’s world. I once read somewhere that His one second is equivalent to probably 1000 years in our life! So if that were the case, since scientists have predicted our planet to be approximately 4.5 billion years old, this estimate may be right.

Ok, now that I have given my point of view on the creation of the world we know, I’ll go onto Adam and Eve. Say God did create all the beasts of the land, birds of the air, fish of the sea, then as we know it as now, things must have been the same for ages then, right? Assuming that were the case, we know that God mentioned that Adam and Eve were his initial creations for the form for the homo sapiens. Oddly, in the exile of Cain after slaying his brother, he managed to find a wife. Now, where this lovely lady come from? God made her on a whim too? I doubt. This means that whilst Adam and Eve were nicely sheltered in Eden (or Paradise, whichever you prefer) evolution had occurred outside of Eden where God had let nature take her course. It’s the only explanation where this lady came from. Any other explanation would point to incest and surely the bible wouldn’t be recording that eh?

Onto evolution and why I agree to it. Survival of the fittest is obvious all around you. Only the strongest have survived catastrophes, the weak ones perish from disease, inability to fend for themselves. The cunning and wily survive due to their quick wit. So yes, we are a result of this age old rule of nature. God gave us a mind and we used it. We managed to use it to achieve the greatness our species has.

As for his perfect homo sapiens, Adam’s lineage, it ended with Jesus. As we know, there isn’t a record of Jesus having a wife and children, but if He did, I’m ok with it. Makes Him all the more Man than God, yet Godly. *chuckle!* after all, He was God in the form of a Man. So yeah, Man will love and I’m sure Jesus must have been quite an attractive character considering the crowd he drew… ah! I digress!

God made in Eden, His perfect copies of the animals we have now, or maybe will have. He let evolution deal with making dinosaurs a chicken and a elephant because He was resting… remember? So anyhow, genes have proved evolution is the reason why we have marsupials and monotremes. Evolution of God’s initial copies resulted in big cats so alike yet so different, formation of crocs and alligators, birds of all shapes and sizes. Thus, creationism is hogwash if you say that everything hasn’t changed for the past few thousand years. You must be crazy to say so…

Just got back from Kuching, i'm tired but happy. there's loads of pictures for me to share with you all, but all in good time! but just so you know, malaysians should learn to line up. we have a serious problem there. in the airport, it's the most evident. the lines are messy and disorderly, you can't see a clear line, somewhere, the lines cross each other, wriggly and simply a headache to look at, much more to be in.

because i didn't bring my laptop, i sat on my trolley, jotting down my thoughts as i tried to past the time... for departure from kl, we were nearly 2 hours early. for departure from kuching, 1 hour... very early eh? anyway, it gives you time to look around and observe the way things are.

this CNY, used the LCCT (low cost terminal) to get to kuch and back. the LCCT is really shabby. it's small, and the check in area is stuffy and warm. people have no place to sit whilst waiting for their check in counters to open. anyway, you're paying less, i guess, by taking air asia... which brings me to another thing... i can't sleep on air asia seats. it's comfy and all, don't get me wrong, but the chair can't be adjusted to be more comfy to sleep in. to sit, it's fine, but to sleep... my poor neck.

Onward Bound!!!! Kuching, HERE I COME!!!!!

i won't be updating my blog for a few days. the past few days have been a whirlwind of activity. hahah!i have been making CNY goodies, shopping for a little boy's birthday, typed a stack of BM exercise sheets for my brother.

i'll be flying off tomorrow morning. properly stocked up on reading material for the plane. plan to wake up early to shower. only problem this time around is that we're taking air asia, so no food. thinking of taking more than one book... hmm...

anyway, will be jotting whatever i do in a book till i have access to a computer in Kuch, considering i won't be bringing my trusty ol' lappie. too bulky :S

Random Bits and Pieces

I’m going to be in so much trouble in the morning. I was out at Shan’s dinner till 1.30 in the morning. Des waited up for me, but the fellow is now upset at me. Apparently he was really tired and wanted to sleep, but I asked him to stay up a while more till I get home. Anyway, it’s not everyday that I go out till this late. I miss doing that actually, with no rules, no constraints.

I actually had fun today. I pretended to be all couture with Foo, joked around with the guys, mingled and socialised with the girls and last but not least, I relaxed. I had quite a few glasses of champagne too… haha! We had good food and a wonderful time. It isn’t often you hang out with “high society”.

It’s funny how my parents shun these people. When you catch them alone with close friends and family, they’re just your ordinary people. Shan and Foo, the two kids that I have been honoured to attend their 21^st birthday dinners blow me away with the amount of wealth and sophistication that their families have.

A little comparison between the two parties though. Foo’s party was all about sophistication. We were in an historical site, dining where British dignitaries once dined and drank. Foo’s party had music, dancing and a good set of dishes. The wine, it was well chosen, the champagne too. Foo’s family were very couture in a sense. His father had organised the party like a formal dinner, complete with a violinist and a belly dancer.

Shan’s party was more modern. It was organised by the hotel, it seems to me. Her dinner had wine, but not that good, but more selection of alcoholic drinks; champagne, white wine, red, and dessert wine. Her dishes were good, but not as snazzy as Foo’s Carcosa. When I mentioned this to Foo, he said something about heritage or what not. The wine wasn’t as tasty, but I think if I had did my research on wine, I would have chosen the right wine to accompany my champagne salmon.

Now, the after party. When I left Foo’s party, it was late. Shan’s, we piled out at 11.30 pm. After about 15 minutes, we piled into Mesquite ’52. I don’t know what the name’s supposed to mean, but someone, please educate me on the way people name bars. Anyhow, the only reason why I was there was to hangout with the birthday girl a bit more. I wasn’t that happy with the place though. Too boring.

Overall, I had fun tonight because of the company. The food was OK, but that’s as far as it goes. Sure, the salmon I had was great, but the overall dishes were so-so. I didn’t like the petite fours due to the amount of dark chocolate, neither did the chocolate cake appeal to me, I don’t really like dark chocolate. The appetiser was wild mushroom cream soup, Foo said something about adding more cream to it to make Crème la crème… haha! Just so you know, we ate at 3^rd Floor Restaurant at Marriott*.

On another note, why do Malaysians PRETEND to be so damn modest?! When I was studying abroad, when someone offers you a complement, you accept it graciously, thanking them then insisting that you could do better or something like that, if you feel it isn’t good enough. When I first came back to Malaysia some 12 years ago, I encountered an awkward situation.

I take pride in my art. I believe I can draw reasonably well, until my grandfather pointed out numerous defects when I tried to copy Van Gogh’s style. Anyway, that’s a tale for another day. It was art class that day, and we had just finished our drawings. As usual, the “popular” girls went around “Ooh”-ing and “Ah”-ing at everyone’s pictures. I heard the modest “No la”-s and just watched them approach my table.

Remember! I had just come back from a British Ed school and was used to their mannerisms. So, when the girls started their faux admiration, what does a girl like me do? I thanked them. I think I can never forget their faces of slight shock and the momentary silence in the group. I quickly countered by adding that so and so drew really well too, but I think the damage was done.

I have never been the super popular girl, part of the clichés that flounce around with a gaggle of boys wagging their tongues behind them. I was always in the group of girls that stood aside, with the boys, always with the guys, yet never really “girlfriend” material in their eyes. I used to envy the popular girls a little. It seemed nice to be able to flounce around and know that guys are crawling behind you.

Then came high school. A girl knows when she grows attractive, sometimes, she plays it right, sometimes she plays it wrong. I began to develop things that made the popular girls popular. But when you’re “one of the guys”, the guys find it hard to remember you’re a girl. It stayed that way for a long time. It wasn’t till I started to think confident and act confident that I managed to get someone. The rest? History.

I’m well aware that I may raise a few eyebrows. You may think, “You think you’re so hot?!”. I honestly don’t care what you think. For me to live daily, I have to believe in myself. Though my boyfriend thinks I’m hot, I know deep down inside, I may have my flaws (I break out in pimples at all the wrong times, I have cellulite, I have a huge ass and tiny upper body), but I have my good points too (I have good friends, I can adapt, I can still work my charm, I can hold intelligent conversations, etc…), and lucky for me, my good points outweigh my bad.

So next time someone compliments me about how I look, I’ll thank them graciously if I agree, I wouldn’t vehemently disagree. If I disagree, I’ll just point out why I don’t agree and let them open my eyes to something new that I never have noticed about me before (if the individual what praises me can’t validate their statement, they didn’t really mean it, and I’ll know…). That way, I can love me a little more everyday…

*I don’t mean to say your food sucks, I just don’t think I like bitter stuff all that much…

** dear, this doesn’t mean that every time you say I’m hot, I’ll agree. I very much an Ice Queen. And I still think I’m too skinny… can see my ribs le…

*** I wrote this at 2.30 in the morning but am only posting it now…

My Weird Ass Dream…

I had a seriously weird ass dream last night. So weird I have to blog it! Hahah! Anyway, it must be due to the mandarin orange I ate before going to bed last night! So, on with the dream! It starts like this…

I was staying at my great grandparent’s home. An old farm house in Kuching. It was more or less like I remembered it. The kitchen was small and airy with a door leading out to the yard. The main dining area had fused with the living area though, and my grandparents, my parents and siblings were hanging out there. Other than that, Prince, the singer, was there too… don’t ask me what he was doing there, but he was there.

So anyway, I was in the kitchen when I heard on the news about an escaped genetic mutation. Apparently, it was very dangerous and people were encouraged to stay in their homes and arm themselves. All I could think then, in the dream, was “What the fuck…” as I looked at the kitchen knives on the cement counter. Looking out of the kitchen window, I saw a lizard like tail on the roof attached to a human butt.

Honestly, in the dream, I felt totally calm, though in reality, I would have freaked out by then. Grabbing a cleaver, I whispered to some commando-looking guy in the kitchen that was assigned to protect us, that there was the lizard man on my roof (come to think of it, commando-looking-dude looked a lot like Bruce Willis). So basically, I ushered my grandma into the living area and started closing all the doors.

I warned Prince not to sing due to the mutated lizard-like thing on my roof, but then the singer seemed to have a dose of bravado and ranted on how he wouldn’t sit around to let some little reptile terrorise him. He grabbed a small craving knife and charged out of the house screaming his lungs out.

Needless to say, the mutated lizard thing leapt off the roof and at a crazy Prince brandishing his small knife at the 6 foot tall lizard thing (this approximation of the height does not include the length of the tail). My commando guy rushed out, cleaver in hand, to save the delirious Prince.

I on the other hand, began bolting all the door and leaving only one open for the commando dude and Prince to get in through. Commando guy drags the bleeding singer into my house with a gaping wound on his head. Prince however looked a whole different story, mumbling something about making his comeback hit about lizard men with croc teeth as his stomach showed basically all his innards.

My very pessimistic grandpa, on seeing the terrible condition Prince was in, said that our flimsy ancient doors wouldn’t hold against the lizard guy. Regardless, I bolted the last door and waited for reinforcements. Just as an armoured personal carrier rolled into the yard, Mr. Lizard guy pokes his snout in my window and starts snarling at me. I think I had a moment with the lizard thing, staring into his yellow eyes (see! I even remember the damn eyes).

Letting out a half scream, I start slashing its snout with my cleaver. The damn lizard skin seemed to absorb most of the damage and all I was doing was cutting maybe 1 – 2 cm deep gashes into it’s snout. Needless to say, I was starting to freak out when the scene of the dream changed.

Suddenly, I was in this huge house with a laboratory in my basement. In the dream in was aware that I was a renown scientist and was involved the further study of genetic mutations. I was walking back from the seaside when I saw that freaky abomination again. Running back into the house, I shut the heavy doors and barked instructions to my assistant to ensure that the entire family was safe in the higher floors.

Running to my laboratory, I saw that the lizard creature was amphibious and was swimming around in my observatory watching me with intent. Freaked out, I grabbed some paper and stuff before rushing out. I remember calling someone and screaming about the lizard thing being amphibious.

Running up the stairs, I had several concerns in my head, one was that children and husband were safe (children?! Husband?!). after looking in to the nursery and seeing my “husband” and “kids” safe and sound in the armoured room, I rushed up to check on my guest.

My guest was some sort of best friend and she was confused why the assistant insisted she was to shut her balcony door and start her fireplace to make get heat into the house. I recall the conversation was somewhere along the lines of:

“Why light the fireplace?”

“The freak outside can’t stand smoke,” I responded searching for paper to start the fire.

“Oh. You do realise that the fireplace hasn’t been used in the 2 years you moved in right?”

I nod as I empty the trashcan into the fireplace and light the cotton balls and tissue that were in the trashcan. In my mind, I think that sooner or later, I have to start breaking the furniture to keep the fire going… but something in the back of my mind says that I survive this problem.

At this, I wake up feeling a bit relieved and confused. Hahah!

Tribute...

This post will be a tribute to the uncles that I never got a chance to meet. Today was quite the eye opener. I think I’ve gotten to know my mother and my maternal side better today. How come? Now, that’s the story that I have to tell…

Today, I woke up early to send my youngest brother to school. He was supposed to buy some supplies for his test today so I had to wake up early to buy it for him. Anyhow, this resulted in me not sleeping till 11 in the morning… so, I ended up gaming a bit till about 10 then started to help mum out in the kitchen. We were making Chinese New Year goodies.

My mum and I were talking about all sorts of stuff, mainly gossiping. Anyway, the conversation somehow came to her two younger brothers that passed away very young. The first younger brother drowned by the river. He was watching my uncle swimming by the jetty, when a boat came in and knocked the little fella into the water. My uncle, was only around 6 years old.

Mum barely remembers him, but the other uncle that died was the one that seemed to draw some sort of emotion out of her. She was thinking and remembering him as she told me about him. Her second brother was drowned by the sea.

I don’t know what my uncle’s name was, but I know he passed away when he was around 15. My mum was already married to my dad for about a year or so and was staying in Miri, what happened was he went out to play with his friends and they were by the beach. The fishermen had told them to go home because it was high tide and dangerous. My uncle and his best friend were left behind by the other group and somehow or rather drowned.

I was once told that they went back to get the ball and got dragged out by the currents. The fishermen there didn’t hear the boys call for help, so they didn’t know they were drowning. What was devastating was the group of friends they were with. My mother said that she hadn’t really liked the family of the kids my uncle was playing with. They were really terrible from what my mother described.

Initially, when my grandmother was worried because my uncle didn’t come home, she went to ask that family where he might be. They told my grandmother that they were playing by the large monsoon drain near the house. Terrified, my big uncle dived and swam from one end to the next, looking for my uncle. Mind you, it was getting dark. After searching for hours, my big uncle was sure that his younger brother had not drowned in the drain, so he went back to the house to ask the family where his youngest brother was.

Imagine the anxiety of the family? My poor grandparents went to the house to beg them to tell them where their youngest child was. My uncle was there too. I’m from a very traditional chinese family and begging does not come easy to these kind of people. When they finally told my grandparents that the boys were by the sea in the evening, it was too late. The time was about midnight.

My mum got the call and flew back immediately. She still believes that if they had found out the boys were out at sea, they would have been able to save them or, if not, save my grandparents the anxiety. My mum was rather upset when she told me about this. She told me that her youngest brother was doing well in school and was a very good kid. My dad used to play chess with him apparently.

So yeah, this post is a tribute the uncles I never met and for those that I never had the honour to meet…

This is a Post to Clarify Things…

For those that read my blog, I’m sure that you may have varying reactions to my posts. Just to clarify things a bit

· I do not have relationship problems

• Nick is not seeing anyone other than me
• I was just feeling down because I couldn’t go out with them
  
• I was jealous in general with the whole group being able to spend time with him
• I’m not jealous of his car, or any of his mechanical obsession. It would be weird if he focused all his obsessions on me.

Really, do I sound bitter and angry with my boyfriend? I didn’t mean for it to seem that way. Anyhow, the girl, S is really nice. I’ve met her before. Secondly, I was having a bad day yesterday. I had to make it worse by watching some chick flick where I had plenty of time to dwell on the “Aw! How sweet!” moments.

So, yeah, I’m a weird moody (mardy) creature that can be happy and grumpy in a blink of an eye. I have a stupid mind that thinks too much when I’m left alone without anything to stimulate it. So don’t get any wrong ideas. I draw the line when it comes to blogging about my relationship. I will never bad mouth my boyfriend online… it’s low. And I would definitely not blab about any problems we have on my blog. It’s personal stuff that we will settle on our own.

Thanks

Jealous Little Me (Part 2)

I’m being silly again. I’m jealous. Terribly jealous of all the people that get to hang out with my boyfriend. I really feel stupid. Lately, he’s been spending loads of time this girl, S, who’s his friend’s uni mate. Nothing’s going on between them, as far as I know. I also know that there most likely would not ba anything happening as his friend has a thing for S.

I just don’t like knowing that another girl is in such close proximity with him. I hate knowing that I’m not the one sitting next to him in a jam packed car. It’s stupid, I know, but everyone has their bad days, and today maybe one of them for me. I'm just feeling all mardy... It's highly irritating cos i know in my heart that he's not the type to do the cheating thing. and further more, it's frustrating for me to even think this way!!! argh! i'll just try not to dwell on it.

Alone at Home... Whether I Want to or Not…

It’s a bit frustrating being me, I dare say. I’ve been sitting at home, wishing I was out there hanging out with Nick and the guys. Really missing it a lot. My folks would never allow me to go off to Ampang to hang out with them at Al Rosha. Nuh uh! So here I am, sitting in my room blogging as my boyfriend and his friends hang out in Al Rosha.

Some of you may think that I shouldn’t be sticking so close to my Nick and leave him some time to be with his guys, trust me, I do. But over time, I have become their friend too. You can’t really expect otherwise. Nick and I have been together for nearly 3 years now. So his friends have sort of become mine. Sometimes, I wish things could be a little different. I wish that my parents wouldn’t be so strict and let me out to do whatever I want! It’s not like I’m 5!!! I’m already more than 20 years old!

Anyhow, I think they shouldn’t have let me stay alone in the first place, in that case. Once they let me stay out in the hostels, I grew up and made a lot of my own decisions. Yes, I admit, I made a lot of stupid decisions, but I sleep in the bed I make. But the thing is I’m used to my life of independence. I’m used to doing things by myself and not having to ask for permission.

Right now, all I have is messages from Nick to let me know what’s going on and what they’re talking about. It would be nice to be there and I’d like to think that they’re all so relaxed around me that they can talk about anything. Ah well, I’ll have to wait donkey years before that can happen again.

Things Kids Say and Do (Part II)

This is what my brother told me just yesterday night.

Bert: zhe zhe ar... my friend told me to eat more long beans
Me : why ar?
Bert: cos his daddy said that if you eats loads of long beans, you grow tall...
Me : ...

how do you respond to that? anyhow, the little fella is full of weird comments and words that i swear, there are times you want to yell at him and times you just feel like laughing at him. but i think dad's super funny. i think when you have more than one kid, you tend to get a bit messed up.

Situation : dad wants me to clean my brother's room (which i obviously won't like doing)

Dad : Boy... er, bert..aiya, girl ar!!!
Me : .... you still can't get our names right eh?

it doesn't happen once in a while! it's nearly 70% of the time when he calls us to his room. it starts off with the child he sees in front of him, then realising his error, he runs through the rest of the names he calls us, ending up with all three of us in the room... hahah!