Staring Blankly Ternion: Paths Chosen

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth."

- Alphonse Elric

From Hiromu Arakawa's anime/manga Fullmetal Alchemist

There are times, one would step out of the light and dive into darkness. One must remove any doubt and fear as they chose to go down the path of light or darkness. No matter which route is chosen, these routes are paved with uncertainty.

Like Riku of Kingdom Hearts, swallowed by the darkness of the Heartless. Or Bleach's Tousen Kaname, who followed the heretic path in his defence of justice.

I, in a way, believe in the Equilavent Law.

I believe that there are things you should lose, even if it cost you dearly, in order to gain something else, which surprisingly unexpected.


"My power has grown faint. You probably could have beaten me without transforming into hollow form, but you were nice enough to go all-out for me, even though you knew it would exhaust you.

"You have my gratitude.

"And now, i will do what i can to thank you. Those who exist from this point onwards aren't as sweet as i am.

"Don't be irresolute when you slash down the enemy.

"Never hesitate in dealing the killing blow.

"And more than anything else, do not heal their wounds. Such acts are unspeakable, nino!

"Leave your chocolate here, AND BECOME A DEMON, NINO!~

"Just as strong as a demon, and just as wicked.

"You must realise that the only way to stand up to the coldhearted... is to become coldhearted yourself.

"Because if you don't, NINO.... "

- Dordonii Alessandro Del Socacchio

From Kubo Tite's manga Bleach (Chapter 254: Leave The Chocolate Here)

But is it worth the cost?

I believe, in order to find something greater, we need to embark on this journey headstrong. But one should remember to walk down the twilight path to the shining dawn ahead. Or risk being lost in darkness forever?


"...Baptized in the river
I've seen a vision of my life
And I wanna be delivered
In the city with the sinner
I've done a lot of things wrong
But I swear I'm a believer
Like the prodigal son
I was out on my own
Now I'm trying to find my way back home..."

Excerpt from The River by Good Charlotte

Love & Peace!~

BC?

Smoke in Your Eyes: The Hindraf gathering

Tear gas being shot metres away from me, came down like - i saw it with my own eyes as i was on my way to church this morning.

Yes, my church is along Jalan Ampang, and if you're unaware, it's where the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) gathered to hand some petition to the British High Commission earlier today.

I pity those the crowd who had to run away coughing from the tear gas, as i drove passby them and headed to church. I personally believe that they could have done better to not hurt those people.

But then, there are demonstrators who did damaged public property, throw rocks at cars and not to mention liter the roads. Can they be a little more responsible?

Oh, do click HERE to view the video of the demonstration.


A couple of hours ago, i got an SMS from my friend, which states the following:

Riot in kl very bad.
Latest news, 3 reportd died.
Pls pray 4 mercy n self control.
Pass 2 all in Kl...

Followed by a bunch of Chinese characters which i (a banana) can't read. But it clearly has to do with danger.

Trying to verify this info i checked online, and while doing so, PoliceWatchMalaysia.com stated that a 20-year-old boy died in after the gangsters attacked him.


IF the agitated crowd did not dispurse by 2pm just now, tension could have built up. Went i arrived at Ampang Point, i could feel the tension between the police and the demonstrators. And even one false sneeze could have triggered chaos - ergo, we would have another Kampung Medan incident at hand.

Scary.

Love & Peace!~

BC?

Writer's Rights: Are they doing the right thing?

It was only when i watching the rerun of the recent American Music Awards, that i realised that there's a writers strike happening in America.

This is what i got from sun2surf.com

Economic costs mount from Hollywood writers strike
LOS ANGELES (Nov 22, 2007): The Hollywood writers strike against major studios will cost at least US$21 million a day in television production spending alone and idle 10,000 workers if it lasts much longer, experts said on Wednesday....

Click HERE to read more

And this is another arctile regarding the recent writers strike:

"A 5-year-old boy revealing the little-known connection between superheroes and the Hollywood writer's strike. A 94-year-old writer, with a resume dating back to the Marx Brothers, explaining why he supports his union. And a look at what the cinematic world would be like if professional writers weren't around to create it.

Hollywood's writers might be on strike, but that hasn't stopped their creative juices from flowing. True, their efforts aren't being channeled into episodic television or movie scripts. But the established media's loss is the Internet's gain...."

Click HERE for the full story.

Hopefully, all things can reach a proper settlement. I personally believe that these writers should get paid properly. Series like House, Lost and Heroes have great writers, with many witty one-liners. And shouldn't they be getting their just dessert?

Curiously, how would these people picket? I imagine them going around the companies, and holding up signs like so:

"*(%#Q(*&#Q(^))"
"more money Need. understand you?"
"____ ___ fill in the blanks!"
"Better pay = better scripts"
"Writer's rights are right"

On another note, it's great to know that Casting Crown won the award for the favourite artiste in the contemporary inspirational category.

Love & Peace!~

BC?

Know your rights.

If you're one who lives by the motto 'Customers are always right' or is curious about what your rights as a consumer, you're reading the right post.

I got this email from a friend a couple of hours ago, and it caught my attention. Anyway, i would like to share this with you:


Legal Issue on Contract Law in Malaysia

This is something I like to share with you from one of my seminar recently. If you find this informative, pls circulate. It was conducted by A/P Catherine Tay on Legal issues in E-commerce.

Notice that most of the time, the receipt / invoice you received from the merchant carries this exclusion clause or similarly worded statement: "Goods sold are not returnable" or "No refund once sold".

The thing that I have learnt from her is that : "As long as your good is purchased for home use and not for business (i.e. to be resold), the above exclusion clause is VOID.

That means, as long as the good is defective, regardless of what is worded, you CAN get back all your money spent . You do not have to accept a repair on the good or an exchange. You CAN ask for a refund. AND you are LEGALLY right and entitled to! What a relevation!!

And most of the time the merchant will refuse to return you your money.

Her advice? From her own experience ( and no less than 7 and all successful!), she will threaten the merchant with four words: "SEE YOU IN COURT!"

The court here refers to the Small Claims Tribunal Court.

However, you don't have to tell them what court! All you have to pay is RM10 admin fee and the loser (the merchant) will have to refund you the money PLUS the admin fee!

She shared this with us because she felt that even educated people are cowed by such unfair wordings (which includes her jaded friends who are not lawyers).

Pls try not to let the merchant fleece you the next time you have a defective good.

I know where to file this. On the 16th floor of Putra Place (The Mall opposite Putra World Trade Centre) . The form cost RM5.00. The Tribunal will settle within 2 months period.

Tribunal Tuntutan Pengguna Malaysia,
Tingkat 16, Putra Place,
100, Jalan Putra,
50622 KUALA LUMPUR
Tel: 03 - 40492300 / 40424181 Fax: 03 - 40424259


I'm not really sure how true this is. I'm finding the authencity of this fact. Could anyone help me check this fact out, please?

But if this is true, i would love to go to the cashier with my damaged good, point my finger and arrogantly say "I SUE YOU!"

Love & Peace!~

BC?

The Rojak Series #14

I just realised that i have not been doing TRS for a very, very long time. For your information, TRS is an entry which comprises a few short entries that happened for a certain span of time.

So, let TRS roll!

1. The Needful Things

Clothes, shelter and food; the three essentials need every human being must have to live. We need them.

On Monday, my handphone was sitting all by itself as i drove off to school. It wasn't until i wanted to contact Dr Carmen, my thesis supervisor, that i realised that it wasn't with me. And it was cumbersome since i was expecting some calls and i needed to make some as well.

To my horror, when i got back home at about 9, there were a dozen missed calls and more than five messages on my mobile. I then realised how dependent we are towards technology.

Almost everyone of my age range that i know has at least one, non-sophisticated mobile with them. And to some, it has become a lifeline in any imaginable situation. And i might be in this cluster.

Perhaps now, there are four needs in life - clothes, shelter, food and a mobile phone.... But wait, there's also the Internet and television. Shall we label them needs number five and six?


2. Recording Is Fun

As part of our Broadcast Journalism assignment, we were asked to take videos and make news. And video recording is fun. The process of taking it and later editing it is fun!

Broadcasting students must have been having a ball for awhile. But with the deadline approaching fast, my group needs to hurry up and get it done. Hopefully, we can enjoy ourselves doing it till the end.


3.Impulsive Buying

Just this week itself, i bought two shirts and a hoodie. But the best bargain was the hoodie.

I actually found it when i was trying out the first shirt i bought in a warehouse sale near UTAR PD block on Monday night. It attracted me and without thinking, showed it to Yen Yen, Pek Mei and Alex and later enquired the price. When the sales person told me the price, i myself was shocked.

Mind you, it's a GAP hooded sweatshirt! And it costed for a ridiculously low price of RM15. Yes, not RM50 or RM150, it's fifteen ringgit only! Indeed a buy.

I got the second shirt from Crazeecausa in Sg Wang for RM15, when i was out celebrating Grace's birthday there with some of my classmates.

All in all, i spent about RM60. I would not want to press the Impulse Button again. Only my wallet can stop me from spending any further.


4.November 30

In about three weeks' time, i would have to submit my thesis by then. Looks like i really have to pull up my socks and keep up to my schedule.

This deadline has driven most of my classmates crazy - many ending up being edgy. And that's without the stress from the assignments and lecture notes we have to read up.

5. Good news i

Congratulations to Mr Zachary Roland, who just got married yesterday. Pek Mei, Alex and i along with some other lecturers and staff were among the students invited by our Advertising lecturer to both the wedding and the dinner. It was good.

Many blessed days and experience to the newly weds.


6. Good news ii

I'm all happy inside, yet i have to keep it a secret. I can't really expose this for now, but what i can say is that i might not be seeing the world of journalism for about four years or so.

But perhaps this is God's hand paving my future. Perhaps.

Love & Peace!~

BC?

Scenes from the Camp

Anyway, if any of you readers are curious about the camp, here are the long awaited pictures from the camp:

This is Highland Christian Centre in Tanah Rata, where the whole UTAR CF camp was staged, campers ran wild, fun activities were held and blustery weather got the better of most people.

DUMC's Pastor Chris Kam, our camp speaker, got his birthday celebrated up in Tanah Rata with us. An honour indeed to have such person in our midst, despite being able to have his own birthday with his family.

Caterpillar. This is one game that should be categoried under "Unplayable Games", where i shall never, ever again think of putting it into my list of games to play. Neither should others be tormented, have their t-shirts pulled and dignity shred again.

Here are some examples of what we did in the workshop - creatively penning down our names, designing a tombstone for ourselves and creating our vision in life.

Here are the workshop product of mine (left) and Joshua Chin's. This jolly, bubbly dude was my workshop partner in camp.

I can't believe i got to meet many wonderful creatures in this cool place! Especially this beetle, which is big. One of the nights, Angeline was running on emotions as one as this beetle landed too close to her. And she screamed and jumped, asking me to control my pet. Honestly, i wish i could control them!

As much as i love bugs, i couldn't get over my fear of fluttering moths for the longest time i could remember. However, this fear was overcome in camp, which was an achievement for me. I'm less afraid, if not fearless, to pick up moths from the floor now!

The camp photo with (most of) the campers in it. No points for guessing where i am.

It was suddenly foggy moments before we started travelling down to KL. With the rain, we were cautious for our lives as the bus could have slip and roll over from the edge and we ending up going home instead... if you get my drift.

As we were heading home, the campers can't get enough of Choh Dai Di, as seen in the picture here with the master gambler Desmond and David. I was suppose to join them, but i was soundly sleeping all the way down to KL. The chilli effect had worn out by then.

And i need to prepare my vision and mission statement for pastor. But what can be produced of one who has neither plans nor dreams?

Love & Peace!~

BC?