Fish Avenue

Last week, 7th Of May 2010, Government May Legalise Sports Betting, was in the local newspaper and people is talking about it ever since.

If you have not already know, sports betting or gaming or the so-called bookies activities are illegal in Malaysia. I still remember when I was small, mom brought me to a salon for haircut and I heard someone came running into the salon shouting "mata coming" ('mata' as in police in local dialect). It was only later I heard mom said that there was an underground bookie operating in that salon. Even right up to this day, the police is constantly raiding bookies for illegal sports betting.

After so many years, the government is now considering to legalise it. What a dramatic move. There are a lot of reasons behind. Perhaps the government could make some revenue out of it. Maybe by legalising it, the government will be able to lessen the illegal bookie activities and thus giving the government more control. Also, the risk of bookies run away with the money would be lower then.

However, from the people point of view, I, see it as encouraging the people to gamble. No doubt, perhaps we can then curb the problem of illegal bookies running away with the money, and it helps to stabilise the betting system. But by legalising it, they are indirectly sending the wrong message that "everyone can bet freely" (of course there will be some age limit I believe).

Why is the prostitution not legalised then? Perhaps by legalising it we can curb the problems of underground/underage prostitution, and government could then have a better control over it. Something to think about.

[polldaddy poll=3177951]
Do you agree to legalise the sports betting?

(polls)

Or I shall say, the day the human race falls...... Soon?

Looking at the rate of occurrence of natural disasters lately, do they worry you? First, Haiti. Then Chile, Mexico, China...... And today, Western Australia. It is only middle of April in year 2010.

Something is going on inside our Mother Earth. No one has come forth to tell the world what is happening, not even the scientists. But one thing I do know, that the earth is very sick now. We can only blame ourselves for not taking the responsibilities to take good care of our only HOME.

Sigh...... What's the point to rant here seeing that it's not going to make any difference. For sitting here, typing on the keyboard that is plugged in to the computer, which consumes energy that is drawn from the earth, and emitting heat that adds to the global warming... I too, am doing damage to the earth.

People, it is time we do our part to revert the situation, before it is all too late.

Have you watched HOME? A documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Please spare some time to watch it. It is only 1 and a half hours long. You will then realize how selfish and ignorant we have been.

Click here to watch it on YouTube. HomeProject doesn't allow embedding.

Stephen Gately, most of us would have known him by the name "Stephen from Boyzone", or "that cute guy from Boyzone", or at a later stage "that cute gay from Boyzone".

Boyzone is one of my favorite boy bands since school. My younger sister and I actually like Stephen more than Ronan Keating who seems to be the most popular in the group. We noticed that Stephen was the only one that would always look straight into the camera whenever it came to his face. When he sang, the song was written all over his face, he never failed to express. When he went solo, it was then everybody realised he got a beautiful voice too.

It's just so sad that we've lost another great talented artist. He was only 33, at the top of his career. So sad...... A heart wrenching tragedy indeed.

Perhaps it's not the end. It's a New Beginning for him.

Goodbye Stephen. You will be missed, forever.

30th September 2009. 6.17 P.M. Cloudy. 14th floor, Megan Avenue II, Jalan Yap Kwan Seng.

I had a date with my BFF, Phoebe. She was still on the bus express on her way back to KL city. She told me she would probably arrive around 6.3opm and by the time she gets to KLCC, it would be 7pm. I decided to wait in the office and leave by 6.30pm.

I was on MSN with Wan Yi, Nicole and Melissa, happily talking about our trip to Taipei next year. Out of nowhere, I felt dizzy and my chair was swaying left and right. Gosh, I had the dizziness just few hours ago, did it decide to make a come back now with much violence? I even saw the blinds curtain in the empty room opposite me swaying a little. Me hallucinating? Was I really that sick?

Within that 2 seconds, I knew something was wrong. It was more than my dizziness. I  typed something in MSN, something about "it's shaking". I couldn't remember. I stopped everything immediately. Hands on my desk, sitting, wanted to make sure. A second later, I felt it again. It was more this time. With my two feet on the ground, both hands on the desk and butt in my chair, I was swaying left and right. I felt it. It was more violent. The blinds opposite me was swaying, the walls beside my MD's room was creaking!

I called out my colleague's name who was in another room. He didn't hear me. I opened my drawer immediately, grabbed my handbag and my handphone, wanted to make a run. When I stood up, I could feel it again. Gosh! I called out to my colleague a few more times, louder. He came out of his room and asked me what happened. Geez, he didn't feel it! He was just in the room opposite me beside the empty room and he couldn't feel it. When he came out, the shaking was gone. I told him to look at the curtain! The curtain was still swaying but it was settling down.

I typed to my friends on MSN "I felt the shaking... it is shaking... earthquake... I'm leaving... I'm going..." Packed my things, off my computer, I went to the other side of the office. 4 other colleagues were there, but only 2 of them felt it. They quickly packed and I waited for them to leave together. I couldn't believe we took the lift down and not the stairs. It was later only I realised how dangerous it is if the tremors would have to happen again and serious enough to cause anything to collapse.

I was scared of course. In fact this wasn't the first time I experienced earthquake tremors. First time was few years ago when I was on my bed about to sleep, second time was 2 years ago when I lunched with my colleagues in AMBank beside our office. Every time I experienced it, the first thing that came to my mind was I wasn't feeling well. When I know it was the tremors afterwards, it was then only I got scared.

But this time, it was more. I got so scared. Was it lucky or bad that I didn't run down in the first place? I should have done that, right? I almost did that, I grabbed my handbag and wanted to. But my colleagues were there. They didn't act quick enough, I couldn't just run without them, could I? Ironically, after came out from my office, I walked to KLCC, another high rise building. LOL! Surprisingly, I didn't see any evacuation or people gathering beneath the KLCC towers. They didn't feel it?

I checked the news on my phone, it was the earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, in Sumatra. The tremors I experienced yesterday, twice, 5 to 6 seconds? Or longer? I do not know. It seemed short but it definitely felt long. Well, trust me, it was like forever when it happened. At that point of time, I was praying inside my heart for the people in where the earthquake happened. If I could feel such a strong tremors, the earthquake must have been a bad one.

Not everyone in every building felt the tremors. Andrew was at work, 7th floor, at Jalan Tun Razak, all of his colleagues and him didn't feel anything at all. He later told me and joked, "well, that is one of the advantages working in a call centre, whatever happens, our building is the safest, and we will remain there to answer/solve your problems." LOL!!!

Some people commented that they've missed the tremors and to feel the tremors is some hard-to-get experience. Why in the world would people want to feel how disaster is like? I do not understand. To them, it was probably something new and fun. To me, it wasn't fun at all. The fear, the panic, the do-not-know-what-to-do feelings, I do not want to experience that at all. They said Malaysia is a country free of massive natural disasters. 2004, we had the Tsunami. Every now and then we experience tremors. Are we now still free from all those disasters? Would we have earthquake too sooner or later seeing the tremors going stronger and stronger each time?

To think back now, of what happened yesterday, there's one little details I laughed when I told Andrew (he was the first person I SMSed when I came out from the building) the whole situation last night. The second time I felt the tremors in office, I opened my drawer to take my handbag and grabbed my iPhone from my desk! Hahaha. I didn't know what made me did that. The panic attacked? People would just run without thinking. But my first instinct was "grab the bag and handphone and run". LOL!!! Andrew said from that, we could see that I am a person who hold dear to my important belongings. Hahahaha......

P.S.: How fragile and vulnerable life is. We should really cherish every minute we live today. What will happen the next minute, we do not know. Like yesterday, I was so happy at that very minute and if something tragic happened, if the building doesn't hold, I would not be sitting here sharing the experiences. Leave no regrets, and live with no regrets. Friends, I do love you all.

I think this is my 5th post about Michael Jackson. I know I never blogged about him while he was alive, and to blog about him now may only make me looking as if following the trend and news. Well, he IS now everywhere, on the TV, internet, news, music store, bookstore...... How can one-self not think of him when practically we are surrounded by him? Before this, when he was alive, the world had never been surrounded by this much of Michael Jackson. Don't you agree? Not even when he was involved in all the accusations and having his concerts.

MJ's most anticipated "This Is It" video, is coming soon. It's a video all about his rehearsals on his never-get-to-do-it concert. Finally, we will get to see Michael Jackson performing on the stage for one last time.

Since he was an idol, I've never met him and I would never meet him now, he has always been in my heart and mind, he will always stay in my heart. In fact, him being dead doesn't really change anything, except that no more "new" news and songs from him in the future. No more live performances. Oh yes, how could I forget! His great contributions to the children and the world. With his death, no one could or would continue what he was doing. That would change a lot of things. How sad. Guess most of the parents now would be begging for MJ to be alive instead of cursing him and calling him names that he had never deserved.

Enough of Michael. Now I am waiting impatiently for his video. Saw the trailer of it, awesome! His dance moves are unbeatable! You rock the world, Michael!

P.S: "Man In The Mirror" just can't stop playing in my head! Weird......

It's been 8 years, since the world witnessed the WTC Twin Towers engulfed in smoke and fire and collapsed to Ground Zero. No one would or could ever forget that.

Many innocent people and heroes died on that very day. We wept for the dead, and cursed the terrorists. The world has once again seen its darkest day.

The fight against terrorism continues...... Will there ever be a day that the world is free of terrorism?

Feel so sad by merely looking at the video seeing how the plane crashed into the tower full of people, innocent people......

Michael Jackson's burial is tomorrow. If Wan Yi didn't tell me this afternoon, I wouldn't have remembered.

For the whole month of August, NTV7 played his concerts and performances during all the Saturday nights. I only managed to watch one, the HIStory concert, which I have watched numerous times until I've lost count. Nevertheless, it is still great to watch.

From the shock of his death, to the realisation of he is truly gone, to the now he is going to be buried for good...... It has now ruled that MJ was indeed murdered. Negligence or not, MJ's physician has caused great loss not just to the family, but to the whole world.

I still couldn't believe all the accusations towards MJ on child sexual abuse. Look what he had done for the children. For someone who had done and contributed so much for the children in need and turned around and abused them?

Can time heal all wounds? Including this one that caused the whole world to grieve?

Michael Jackson was the best dancer and performer, and he will always remain as the best dancer and performer.

One video to remind ourselves, how much of effort MJ had put in to make this world a better place.

Few months back, when the A(H1N1) was spreading its wings of madness across Mexico and United States, none of us in Asia could be much bothered about it. Early of June, the wind has finally brought the fearsome evil to our region. Australia, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia...... People started getting panicked, face masks in pharmacies were being wiped clean from the shelves. However, one month down the road, it seemed like the people here are no longer so concerned about it. Life goes on a usual. Seriously, I've been to Suria KLCC and cinemas a few times, no one seems to be so afraid of the virus now.

Another death case in Malaysia on Monday, the first local transmission death. The infected cases has gone to 1219. Still, none of us seems to be concerned!

H1N1 Getting Worse - The Star Online
Updated: 4th Death in Malaysia - The Star Online

Mom called me yesterday, telling me that father was scolding me why I went to Singapore at this time. LOL! Well, situation in Malaysia is bad enough, why are they only worrying when I was in Singapore? You see. I guess the news in Malaysia isn't transparent enough. The people are getting the wrong signal that it is no big a deal.

You should be more aware of your surroundings from now on. This isn't a small deal anymore. Please consult the doctor the moment you have coughs and sorethroat. Treating illnesses from an early stage is definitely way way way better than treating it late! Eat healthily, have enough of sleep, try to avoid crowded places if possible, or wear a mask......

Hmm...... I shall make lesser trips to shopping mall, guess I shall cut all the movie trips too. :(

Now I have one more excuse to ask Andrew to fetch me home after work, taking that crowded train isn't "safe". Hahahaha. Shall buy a box of mask, just in case.

Well, Andrew and I are going to take the flight back to KT 2 weeks later, guess we shall wear a mask then. Better safe than sorry! And, we must be social responsible!

Updated: With the 4th death and more schools closed and more infected cases, people, you ought to take this seriously. It's no longer as harmless and simple as we thought.

Years ago, when the local government announced all Maths and Science classes in schools would be taught in English, to improve the quality of English level in the country. A lot of disagreed voices were raised back then.

And now, government decided to use Bahasa Malaysia for Maths and Science classes. Disagreement from the public is even more obvious now.

Do you agree or disagree? Cast your vote here, at Tun Mahathir's blog.

Read this if you have the time, you may find it amusing.

Students’ grasp of Science, Maths declined, prompting policy reversal ~ The Star Online, 10 July 2009

Ever since after his death, I felt that everyone was living in denial of his death. All the events that followed, were more like dramas for the whole world to see. His autopsy, his toxicology report, his will, his children's custodian, his burial service, his grave...... Everyone is so looking forward to see/read all that. Until his memorial service, we all just had to face the cold hard fact, that he is really gone. He is now only living in our memories, in our hearts.

Yesterday Andrew forwarded an email to me, inside it was full of photos from MJ's memorial service. When I saw the photo where MJ's daughter, Paris was being comforted by Janet Jackson, the emotions and the tears just hit me out of nowhere. Called me emotional or whatever. I am still feeling sad over his death. Why am I being so sad for some singer that I've never met before? I don't know, don't ask me. I'm not always like this, Heath Ledger died I didn't feel this way. Princess Diana died I didn't feel anything like this too.

We took MJ for granted. For all the years when he was still alive, all the news about him were of negativity. For most of the younger generations, those who are below 20 year-old or in their early twenties, would never bother to get to know more about Michael Jackson, about his songs, his materpieces...... My housemates for instance, they are all either 20 or 21. It is only after MJ's death that they started talking about him, browsing all his videos through Youtube, listening to his songs...... There was once I caught one of them watching MJ's concert on Youtube and his face was showing that he is in awed of MJ's moves! I couldn't help but laughed, thinking to myself, perhaps that was his first time seeing MJ's moon walk. LOL! I wonder if my children in the future would appreciate how great MJ was.

Of all his greatest songs, I love this one the most. It has always been in my head and sometimes, it would just come to my mind with no reason. Especially for the past 2 weeks, it's on my mind like almost every single day. Hahaha. Soak yourselves deep in the lyrics, you'll sure understand what they all mean and appreciate the way MJ sang it, right from his heart.

Man In The Mirror ~ Michael Jackson

Don't expect to see MJ in this music video, you'll be disappointed. Click and you'll know why.

The King of Pop is gone. But his name will always be remembered by all of us.

Hmm...... I wonder... If there are life in other planets, would they be listening to MJ and mourning his death too? LOL! I think too much.

I guess some of you may wonder where has Ashley gone to? I normally blog pretty often, but it's been 4 days I didn't update anything. Friday was a tiring day for me, went to a seminar in Subang, after dinner and all that, I got home around 10pm. Saturday I had an appointment with Christine in Damansara. Sunday I was at home but later in the evening went to Seremban for seafood dinner. And here I am today. (More photos in the next post.)

Early morning of 26th June 2009 (local), a news shocked the whole world, from young to old. Our beloved King of Pop died, of cardiac arrest (heart attack), at the age of 50. It was only few weeks away from his London concerts. How sad......

I am not exaggerating to say myself have been living in the era of MJ. 80's was the prime time for MJ, I've been listening to his songs when I was just a small child. My eldest sister used to listen to him a lot, having to live in such a small room, how could I have missed the songs? :) I still remember 10 years ago, second elder sister bought the HIStory double-cassette album, for fear that the prophecy of MJ was going to die at age of 40 would come true. LOL!

I'm not sure if you guys have heard of his ABC song when he was still in Jackson 5. That was a cute song! "ABC... ... 123... ... you and me... ..." I think I know that song from the Sesame Street. Hahaha.

Earth Song, They Don't Care About Us, You're Not Alone...... All the great songs...... Can you deny his talent? Well, lots of talented artists out there now. But, none of them have ever written such impactful songs. When MJ was singing the Earth Song, I bet the human race would never have imagined our world indeed needed to be saved. Look now, the HOME movie. Why didn't we listen to MJ years ago?

It was sad that at the later years of his life, all the negativities surrounding him. Allegations of child sexual abuse, illnesses, business, bankruptcy...... How much can a man take?

Hitz FM was playing MJ songs for 2 days, 8TV replayed his concerts on Saturday...... For the past 3 days, I was basically surrounding by MJ's voices and faces. Andrew and I were both amazed by his voice and dance moves.

I love the tribute that the 8TV did, the name of Michael Jackson appeared on the screen, followed by his song "You Are Not Alone" with the lyrics.

Sometimes unawaringly, we compare ourselves to people around us and we whine, complain and sulk that why our life isn't as good as others'.

We see people with our bare eyes, we look at them at the surface. But we hardly know what is going on with his or her life. Someone may appear to us as strong and cheerful, but when no one is looking, he or she could be as miserable as anyone else. I've seen people wearing all branded and stuffs, but do you know that they have a whole lot of debts to bear? I, may come off as rich or maybe earning pretty well. But do you know that I have a lot of debts too waiting to be paid off? I still appear as optimistic and happy, because that's what I want others to see me, instead of a sulking and gloomy-face Ashley. In fact, I am happy. It is only occasionally that I need to rant to let go of those frustrations.

Here is a video that one of my colleagues shared with me some time ago. My tears rolled uncontrollably while I was watching it. If you ever feel like your life is miserable and painful, please think again. At least you're having all the comfort in the world now sitting on a chair and reading my blog.

Please spare some time watching this video, it only takes about 7 minutes of your life to see the life of many suffering souls in this world. You may feel disgusting, but again, that is life. THAT is their life......

Have you seen how the children's eyes sparkle when they got their new toys? Those sparkles, are nothing compared to those eyes in the film.

I am grateful of what I have now.
I am in debt because I can afford to be in debt.
I am still alive today to walk the earth.

Last night, watched this special film on TV. I asked Andrew "what is this?" The film, tells us how we, human, are destroying our very own HOME with our own hands in a pace that we now can't reverse. Oh no, sorry, yes, it says that we can still reverse it, within 10 years that we MUST change the way we live.

10 years...... Do you know how long does it take to grow a tree that is big enough to shade us from the sun? Do you know how long does it take for an iceberg to form? What can we do within such short 10 years? Is the end of the world coming in 10 years time? Now people everywhere are so intensed in fighting the world economic crisis. It's been a long time I have not heard any of the world leaders mentioning about environmental acts.

Look at the weather now. I don't remember it was this hot last year this time. Can you believe that our climate and weather changed so dramatically that we can no longer forecast it?

Please do take the time to watch the film, Home.

It is a good one and it will certainly make you thinking deep what you have done that contributed to this clamatic change. And of course, I bet you will do as much as you can to help to save our Mother Earth, our one and only HOME.

Do it for the sake of your own children, for their future.
Imagine this: to bring your own children to this world just to have them to witness a disaster which the parents brought to them. How sad is that.

I was watching the news on Sunday night, saw that AF447 went missing, couldn't be contacted. First thing came into my mind was, "huh? lost? perhaps somewhere in the air and no signal." I was chatting with a friend on MSN too, told her the news and her reply was "oh no, sure gone de". Before she said that, in fact it never occurred to me that the plane could crash. But came to think of it, for such a big plane (Airbus A330) went missing, what else could it be?

Monday, it was still not found. Hope began to dim. Yesterday, found some debris of the plane floating on the ocean. All hopes are now gone.

Nope, I have no relatives or friends on that plane. But I do feel sad too, tears are in my eyes too. I wonder why, recently I've been quite emotional over the news. I've never felt like this before.

228 lives were lost. 2 and 8 are my favourite numbers...... Yet they've become such unlucky numbers now......

What a sad week......

A year ago, 12th May 2008, a richter scale of 7.8 earthquake happened in Wen Chuan, China. It was only 2 days later that the help managed to get into the town of Wen Chuan. The first rescued team travelled on foot for 1 day 1 night in order to get in there.

Can't believe it is a year from now. I am now watching this documentary on 8TV about the rescue and incidents happened there and then. I still cried. Children who lost their lives, they were still so small and young. There were even children who had to sacrifice their limbs in order to survive! Children who lost their parents, became orphan in one night. Parents who lost their children, what's left is only their school bags and memories. Gosh...... I just feel so sad now.

Can't stop crying watching it...... :(

A man under the concrete said, "I must be strong, I have to be strong, I can't disappoint those who love me, my wife is waiting for me. I need to survive."

They finally got him out after 7 hours of rescue. But he didn't make it. He hang on till the very last minute to get out but he didn't make it...... He was exhausted and the pain was too much...... He didn't make it......

It's been more than 2 weeks that Gaza is under constant attacks. Hundreds of innocent people have died. If fighting with each other and revenge is only fair, where will this fairness lead us to?

It is only natural that when we got hit, we hit back. But when is it going to end? The fighting that involves 2 men is definitely way different from the fighting between 2 countries. 2 men, 2 casualties perhaps. 2 countries, it's not just 2 casualties but hundreds or even thousands. The economical impact, the environment, the people...... The aftermath of the war is indeed very much known by everyone of us.

Guess sometimes we're unaware that we somehow encourage war for selfish reason. They say, for world peace, they must eliminate whatever risk there is. We agreed. To end a war, they must declare war unto the other country. We agreed. What we do not know is, the bullets/rockets do not have eyes. They kill innocent children too. If all "bad guys" must die, how about the children? Do the children also deserve to die as they're in the same country? Or they should die for fear that they will grow into the "bad guys"?

I shed tears after watching this video clip by chance. Yes, you may say I'm emotional. Well, who wouldn't shed a tear for the innocent children to die in such a tragic way? Children is our hope, our future. Like it or not, facts are facts. We are destroying our very own hope and future. Human beings are kind, and cruel at the same time.

Have a good look at the children faces in the last photo. They're hoping for peace. Not like us, they're hoping for someone to return the peaceful days back into their life.