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Wednesday, 25-06-2008

How did you spend your weekend?

My dear faithful reader,

How did you spend your last weekend? Well, if you’re not going to tell me, then I shall shamelessly tell you how I spent mine.

I was back in KL last weekend. At first, I thought of visiting a friend of mine, who’s father just passed away recently. Well, seeing that this friend is my boyfriend’s friend and my boyfriend don’t quite bother, so shan’t I. So I didn’t visit this friend after all.

Anyway, I woke up at about 11 plus on Saturday morning, which is considerably early by my standard. (Normally I wake up about 2pm, skip breakfast and lunch and head straight to dinner. Save cost mar.) I lazed at the living room for a while, and noticed my parents were happier than normal. They smiled at me, handed (more like shoved) me a form, asked me to fill in my particulars such as IC and mobile phone number.

"Eh, I’m your daughter wor, don’t tell me you don’t memorize my details wan meh?", I asked my parents. Dad always buy number wut. "Then you memorize ours or not?", dad gangster. Wah, early morning wanna challen me.

"OKok, fill in for what? Got money meh??", I gangster back.

"Ya GOT! RM625!", my mum joined in.

Haih, parents nowadays *shakes head*.

So it’s true, I filled up the form and got dragged to the nearby post office and collected RM625 on the spot. That is the fuel subsidy for the whole year the government’s providing for its citizens. Only car owners can collect the subsidy. Very simple procedure, just fill up the form, go to the counter, submit, show IC, thumbprint, then collect your cash. Within minutes. Cos my area is like far from the city, more like jungle place where nobody lives here except chickens and wild boars so I didn’t need to queue for long. In fact, no one was at the post office except me and my parents. Such a sad place. Fortunately, I can still buy an ice cream cone here at RM0.50 with double scoops of chocolate! Tee hee hee. Your area can or not?????

Have you gotten your fuel subsidy yet? Go take it lah, better than nothing.

After handing over the RM625 to my mother which she happily accepts, we returned home and I started practicing on my violin. I think this was the only weekend I really spent my time not playing DS and not watching movies, instead, practice my violin. About like…. half an hour or so lah, then bored cannot concentrate oredi. Weather so hot.

And suddenly, I was thinking of Pek Yen’s personal MSN message when I was last online. She being occupied with her 1,500 pieces of jigsaw puzzle. That got me itching to play too, so I dug out one of my old 1,500 jigsaw puzzle given to me when I was younger by my parents as a birthday gift. Or was it because I got all A’s for my UPSR or something. Don’t remember.

Now, if you think that because I was about 12 or 14 years old, my parents would buy me those Hello Kitty, Disney Mickey Donald cutesy cartoon characters or Dragonball type of jigsaw puzzles. You’re wrong. Remember, I was real young OK? And my parents are supercool creatures.

They bought me this type of jigsaw puzzle:

jigsaw 

Yeahhh, it’s like those comic types, with lots of small weird, funny, lewd, eccentric characters with some nudity and cheeky cheeky people. The theme of this jigsaw puzzle is hidden video cameras. As you can see, you can find video cameras at every inch of the puzzle. Sorry lah, some pieces are missing, so long already this jigsaw puzzle. I think got more than 10 years. But it’s very vintage lor, and these kinda puzzle pictures are so hard to find these days. Actually, make that CANNOT FIND AT ALL. They used to be on sale at Parkson and Yaohan, and were quite expensive during that time. These days you can only find those scenaries, animals, babies omg, so fucking boring lor. Only one type of shaded colour, one or two objects in the entire frame… sheesh, where is the fun??? My jigsaw puzzle can see cleavage and ass hehehehe.

Anyone know where to buy these type of jigsaw puzzles ar? I searched at Amazon also don’t have :(

Anyhoo, I completed the puzzle within a few hours. Not much of a challenge for me cos I’ve done it like a million times. Eh, mind you, I didn’t even have the luxury to refer to its original picture at its box because the box has gone missing somehow. So I depended a lot on my trustee memory and jiggy skills. I do love jigsaw puzzles. If you intend to buy one for me, please don’t buy me those boring arts or paintings or animals, I will puke and HULK SMASH it. If you can find hor, congrats lor and I will love you. If you cannot find, try again.

On to dinner at Delifrance with completely FREE wifi and live telecast of Indonesia Open, I learnt from my brother that our very own Malaysia’s single badminton player Lee Chong Wei is ranked number 2 in the world. Number 2!!!!! Damn proud. Shallow as it may seem, I really didn’t think that we are now still so good in this game, since I hardly ever hear that team Malaysia wins anything. Check out his Wiki. So kewl.

And guess what I did on Sunday?

Yup.

METEOR GARDEN WHOLE DAY. AGAIN. This time with my sis. Now she’s an addict too, and a converted fan. Nice.

Mission accomplished.

So, how was your weekend?

Monday, 09-06-2008

Here’s Something To Ponder About

While

hundreds

 

meanwhile….

 

thousands

 

Can’t spot the difference? Just check out the crowd size. Hundreds vs thousands. emoticon

 

petrol hike king’s birthday kuala lumpur june 2008

Thursday, 06-03-2008

Random Stuff Lah

Every night I look forward to do something really enjoyable after work. Like my violin classes every Monday night. Teacher said I have been making progress, eventhough I have only been practising once a week, which is like the last final minutes before my class starts haha. And teacher said I learn very fast.

I guess it proves to say that I’m really talented *smug*.

Hey just imagine, if I really practiced everyday, I can be the worldest classiest violinist. Currently, teacher has been giving me these retarded Chinese pop songs to play. No challenge at all. Maybe I shouldn’t study pop violin, I should go for classical violin course. Take exams. Get a cert and go teach. It is very hard to find violin teachers nowadays, I’m sure there is a demand for them.

My teacher inspires me too. I like watching him play the violin, and everytime he does it, I tell myself I want to be better than him. In some ways, I got hot-hot chicken shit also on violin playing. I took it up for the wrong reason. I took it up because I adored Wang Lee Hom, then, and he knew how to play the violin and the piano. So I wanted to be like him. But when I stopped adoring and started hating him, I was lost as to why should I even continue violin playing. Sure, I’ve bought the violin… sure I’ve signed up for a month course but I had no reason to continue.

And now, my teacher is my inspiration, and he taught me many many things about the violin which I didn’t know. I used to look at a violin as a violin, but now I look at it as a beautiful musical instrument.

That’s life isn’t it? Just when you thought that you know everything, along comes a person who will make you realize and show you that there is so much more beauty in this world that you wouldn’t have noticed in the first place.

Also, my teacher has a wicked sense of humour like he will say, "… look at this chord, this can end on 5th right…. or is it…. hmmmm….?" and trails off with a mysterious tone of voice.

Apart from teacher, listening to songs with violin or cello accompaniment, or violin solos, also motivates me to continue learning violin. Like songs by One Republic. They were made famous by Timbaland featuring them in the song Apologize. Even in the song Apologize, you can hear the intro by a cello and a bass violin. And the same can be said for all their songs in their album "Dreaming Out Loud". I love the album, all the tracks are very good. If they hold a concert in Singapore, I will definitely go.

I have been addicted to exercising as well. Scientifically, exercising makes you spurt more endorphins.  Emotionally, exercising makes you happy. Financially, exercising makes no difference. One visit to the gym was enough to set me fired up in wanting to sign a 3 years membership with California Fitness. Their nearest gym is just 1 MRT stop away from where I stay and there is also another outlet just walking distance from where I work. I had a one month trial membership so I am going to try until the trial expires then…. err… see how. A few thousand dollars for a bloody gym membership is unnecessary expenditure, really. I can bring that money home and let my parents shop till they drop. Buy whatever they want. Then seeing them happy is priceless.

Actually, local community centres here provide gym facilities too, at the cost of $2 per entry, no need to sign up any membership whatsoever. You get the same gym equipments as those private ones. Of course the slack part is you don’t have showers, saunas, personal trainer, lockers and towels la. But the equipments are as well maintained.

Last weekend, I was back at KL. My main intention was to be in the ‘zone’ of election campaigning. Turned out that my zone was pretty dead. All the exciting actions only took place at ‘hot’ areas like SS2 and Lembah Pantai. Even Puchong saw the visit of Anwar Ibrahim. So I painted my house in protest. Orange colour. My next door neighbour, who was an Indian, was fed up with the ruling coalition as well, especially Samy Vellu.

Even so, I could still see the ceramah like I am there, as they are many many video uploads of those ceramahs at Malaysiakini.tv or YouTube. I particularly like Haris Ibrahim’s speech at SS2 and one of his lines that struck me was,

My friends, Dr Chia mentioned just now, 50 acts to amend the constitution introducing 700 amendments… this is OUR document! They took an oath, every time an MP enters parliament he takes an oath of office. What does he say?

I swear to defend, uphold and preserve the constitution.

BN has been dismantling our document SYSTEMATICALLY, in the process taking away our rights, in the process taking away our constitutional institutions… we have been sitting back and allowing this to go on for too long, why?

Jangan…don’t get involveeeee…. (laughter from crowd) 

ISA……

They, they hope we will continue to fear. And as long as we fear, they will rule the day.  

and 

Now, I think it was late last year November, Gerakan at assembly, suggested to Pak Lah, maybe it’s time for us to move away from race based politics.

What did he say? 

"Nation not yet ready." (laughter from crowd)

He don’t want us ever to be ready…. alright? As long as they can continue to maintain their race based politics, they will continue to divide us… they will continue to divide the economic pie. UMNO will say, this bahagian we want to give to our people, you don’t ask how we divide, OSA.

(laughter from crowd) 

And that is all I have to say.

violin one+republic california+fitness election haris+ibrahim gerakan umno

 

Tuesday, 19-06-2007

Dead after 8 hours on laptop

By Ng Wan Ching - May 1 2007
The New Paper

http://digital.asiaone.com.sg/news/20070501_001.html

Her story is a painful but apt lesson for us as we take a break this May Day: Work hard, but take care of your health.

That lesson came too late for Ms May Leong, who died on 23 Apr. Just two days before her death, she had written in her blog: “I don’t wanna end up dead for the sake of dough”.

Her mum and some friends believe she was stressed out from work. Going by her blog entry dated 21 Apr – her only entry this year – her job seemed demanding.

And she was clearly struggling to cope with the workload. Just before she died, Ms Leong, who would have been 29 this month, had been working on her laptop for eight straight hours, said her mother.

Although the cause of death can’t be confirmed for now, family members believe she died from pulmonary embolism caused by deep vein thrombosis. This is a condition that can strike when someone has been inactive for a long period of time, like sitting in one position.

“I really thought I was able to do everything, that I can be supergirl as well, but my health is worsening at a fast rate,” she wrote in her blog two days before she died.

“Vitamin M(oney) isn’t gonna cure my health.”

The Singaporean is an only child. Her father left the family when she was young, said a relative, leaving the mother and daughter to fend for themselves.

That early trauma bonded the pair, who became close. Ms Leong, who worked in a multi-national company (MNC) and apparently drew a salary of $2,600 a month, said in her blog that she wanted to “earn lots of $”.

She had a dream: To take her mother abroad for a holiday. Friends and family said she was bent on earning enough to realise that dream for Madam Lim Mui Mui, 54, who works as a packer for a supermarket chain here.

That is why Ms Leong continued to hold on to her job, despite being stressed by it.

Said her friend, Mr Li Kaiyan, 25, a civil engineering student at the National University of Singapore: “She told us before she blogged her last entry that she was overworked and stressed out.

“We hardly had time to chat on the Internet since she started this job about two months ago.”

Ms Leong had been working at different jobs until she joined her last company in September last year, said Mr Li who has been a close friend for three years.

In March, she switched departments in the same company and work became more demanding.

Ms Leong, a support manager, was thrilled to “finally have the chance to ‘fly high’ in a Fortune 500 MNC”, she wrote in her blog.

So much so that it was “ok for me to wake at 3.30am to start work @ 4.30am everyday in the morning” as she was dealing with New Zealand partners.

“But never did I realise what kind of stuff (would be) coming towards me…” she wrote.

“What I face everyday as a partner support manager is having more than 100 e-mails per day.

“Partners from New Zealand practically ‘screaming’ to be served first, getting their orders delivered ASAP, wanting everything, complaining of everything.

“Month end was the most ‘exciting’ part, you get to go on concalls (conference calls) almost every day, prepare backlog reports for each concall session which consists of 500 over orders remaining undelivered, investigating item by item…

“I’ve got to work at home during non-working hours including weekends, just doing my best to clear my work.”

DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS

A National University Hospital spokesman confirmed that Ms Leong was taken to its A&E department on 23 Apr at around 8pm.

She could not confirm the cause of death as it is now a coroner’s case.

Ms Pamela Wong, 29, who was Ms Leong’s best friend for 21 years, believes that it was deep vein thrombosis which killed her. She said doctors had told family members that Ms Leong had a blood clot in her legs.

“Her family members told me that when she tried to stand up, the blood clot actually shot to her heart causing her to collapse,” she said.

Ms Wong added that since Ms Leong fell down two weeks ago, she hadn’t been feeling well.

On 18 Apr, Ms Leong fainted at the lobby of her workplace. But she did not want to take medical leave. Nor did she want to quit her job.

“She was worried because she was on contract. Every time she took medical leave, it would be on no-pay basis,” said Ms Wong.

Ms Leong wrote in her blog: “I’ve got myself sick these few days. Had diarrhoea last Thursday (19 Apr), hurt my knee and was limping badly since last Sunday (15 Apr), had breathlessness since Wednesday (18 Apr) and fainted after work on that day at my office lift lobby, knocked my head against the wall when I fainted, collapsed again last night at home.”

Madam Lim said her daughter had been very sick since Friday.

Ms Leong wrote in her blog: “Now my chest feels really tight & breathing is really tough. “Getting up & walk, I just feel like I’m carrying a heavy baggage of few hundred kilos & I’ll start to feel really weak & dizzy.”

Earlier, she had been to see the doctor at a private clinic near her home in Clementi. But the doctor had told her it was probably work stress she was feeling, said Ms Wong, who had spoken on the phone to Ms Leong the day before she died.

Ms Leong wrote: “Doc just said I’m really stressed out. Sigh….. what should I do? Quit? Or continue this ultra-super stressful job? “I’ve got a contract of six months to fulfill… three months to commit. If I quit now, I’ve got to pay back one month’s salary. Not worth it. If I quit after May, it won’t be so bad.

“But I don’t know if my health can tolerate (it) till then.”

Mr Li said: “According to her mother, before she collapsed, she had been working non-stop for eight hours with the laptop on her lap, replying to e-mail and work-related stuff.”

At her wake at Singapore Casket last week, friends, family and ex-colleagues gathered. According to Ms Jamie Tan – Ms Leong’s cousin – her boss was the first to arrive.

“We spoke to him. We wanted to know if she was overworked. He said no,” said Ms Tan, 31, whose mother is the elder sister of Ms Leong’s mother.

Madam Lim said: “Now that my daughter is gone, what is there left for me?”

She was gasping for breath

MS May Leong’s mother called Ms Pamela Wong in a panic at around 7pm last Monday. Ms Leong had collapsed and she was having great difficulty breathing.

Said Ms Wong: “I used to live in the nearby block to her flat. But since I got married, I have moved. So I could not rush down. I called my parents and asked them to rush there first.”

While her parents were on the way to Ms Leong’s flat, they called her mother to ask if they should call a doctor or an ambulance.

“She asked for an ambulance,” said Ms Wong. When her parents arrived at the flat, her father saw Ms Leong on the sofa “gasping for breath”.

“He also saw a huge bruise on her leg,” said Ms Wong. Ms Leong’s mother was frantic, but there was little anyone could except wait for the ambulance.

“The ambulance took about 20 minutes to half an hour to arrive,” said Ms Wong. “During that time, my father saw her calling her mother and crying, quite loudly at first, but as she grew weaker, her cries became softer.”

By the time Ms Leong arrived at the National University Hospital at about 8pm, her condition was critical. Not long after that, she died.

Listen to your body or you may regret it

Deep vein thrombosis refers to the formation of a blood clot within a deep vein, commonly in the thigh or calf.

Some risk factors include being over 60 years old, overweight and being inactive for a long period of time.

If the clot partially or completely blocks the flow of blood through the vein, blood begins to pool and build up below the site.

Chronic swelling and pain may develop. The valves in the blood vessels may be damaged. Or if the clot breaks free and travels through the veins, it can reach the lungs, where it is called a pulmonary embolism (PE).

This is a potentially fatal condition that can kill within hours. To prevent DVT, you should frequently exercise your lower leg muscles – every half an hour or so – if you know you’ll be inactive for a long period of time.

Other than exercising your leg muscles, you should also exercise work-life balance, said Dr Clarice Hong, a consultant psychiatrist in private practice.

“I would always advocate that we should always take care of ourselves first. If we don’t take care of ourselves, we cannot fulfill our roles at work or at home, especially the multiple roles that women play,” said Dr Hong.

If you do not feel well, you should listen to your body and rest. “Don’t push yourself so hard doing one thing. That’s like putting all your eggs in one basket. Because if something happens to you, everything comes to an end,” she said.

I know this is quite an old news but I just came across it today and I could relate to her because, I was also in a similar predicament before.

I was working in an environment that was really damaging. My immediate supervisor was not very helpful, in fact all she ever does is pressure me day and night with numbers. Albeit, I do understand that that is part of her job, but I just couldn’t take the constant badgering. Email replies and customer service has to be good and prompt, delays not tolerated. Every email in and out were tracked. My mobile phone couldn’t stop ringing day and night.

 

Added to that, I had colleagues, who only talk amongst themselves because they have been there longer than I did. I guess they felt that I, a newbie with gorgeous looks and abilities, a threat to them old folks. Lunches were spent either talking about work or gossiping about co-workers. So, in the end, I lunched all by myself, at my desk, everyday, facing the computer, working while eating. Lunches are strictly 1 hour only or you’d get a warning letter. Everybody goes back by 6:00 PM sharp.

I went into the job desperately because I was unemployed for 2 months. Did I like doing what I did? Yes, I really loved what I did, in fact if I were to turn back time, I would still go for this job.

Stress was unimaginable, I had to learn everything all by myself, learn as fast as possible to catch up with old folks just to be on par, 200% effort just to be the best in the company. You see, I am quite competitive in nature, so winning is everything to me.

Slowly but surely, the job and the stress got a toll on me. I couldn’t manage it, I let it control me, control my mood, my appetite, my feelings, my speech, my thoughts. I think I treated my boyfriend the worst, because my mood swings were so terrible, I spew abusive languages and I really meant it. (I still do now but he knows I’m just playing.)

Even going back after work was a dread. I worked right smack in the heart of KL, so just imagine the traffic jam after working hours. 1KM stretch of road takes 1 hour travelling time. Hah. 

That’s when I started getting sick.

I was depressed for months and months and I never seemed to get out from the depressing cycle. Retail theraphy didn’t help me at all. I would cry when I shower, just thinking about getting to work the next day made me so miserable. Soon I would cry to sleep. I would have no appetite to eat, even in my sleep I dreamt about my job. I also had heart palpitation; irregular heart beats and can sometimes feel my heart beating violently. I was also constantly getting headaches and this really painful, sharp attack on the sides of my brain. Like someone poked a pin right into my head.

Yes I was stress, but can a body react to stress? I didn’t believe it. Stress is not an object that can ‘hurt’ a body right, unlike knives or objects can? Doctors told me it was stress, my doctor friend cum housemate Sue, also told me it was stress. But I still didn’t believe it, cos at times when work was OK, I don’t feel stress at all. Yet, my body still got ’sick’.

Then one day, I argued with my boyfriend over a stupid lunch, over a food, over Okonomiyaki! I was so mad, when he drove me home, I had hyperventilation; I was gasping for air because it got difficult to breathe, my arms were numb and I just couldn’t feel my body. It was really scary.

My boyfriend rushed me to the hospital and I was admitted for observation. Heart scan result did show that my heart beat was irregular, sometimes it would skip a beat. Doctor gave me pills to help me sleep. I worried my parents, which was the last thing I wanted. I stayed for almost a week in the hospital, and it was the best week ever cos I was not at work. I turned off my mobile phone for the first time in my life and felt good.

To cut the long story short, I quit my job and got offered a new one, which was far more enjoyable.

The thing is, what I’ve learnt is, you should really listen to your body, it never lies. The human body is a very intelligent system, it knows how to shutdown just right before a car crash so you don’t really remember anything when you wake up.

Like there was one time I fainted in a party, the next thing I knew I was lying on the floor, before that I was still standing. My friends told me my head went *THUD* on the cement floor, but when I woke up, I didn’t remember anything nor felt any pain. See, the brain would just pause, shutdown, log off, whatever you want to call it because it protects your body from getting hurt.

 

If you feel that you’re sick, or when your body has difficulty getting up from the bed, don’t force it. Do what it tells you to do, your body is sending you a message. Work will always be there, jobs will always be there. Your body is the only thing that once you lose it, you can’t get it back.

Most importantly, talk to someone, a friend, get the stress out from your system. With what I had been through, I feel that I manage my stress better now. Yes, stress will always be around, it can come from work, from relationships, from friends, from money, or lack of.

The trick is to learn how to get rid of it. Do something you like after work, and learn how to leave your jobs at your desk when you leave the office. NEVER EVER work after office hours or even during the weekend because it will become a habit. Don’t fucking buy those electronic gadgets that lets you check your emails wherever you go. Like what the hell for? Contrary to popular belief, it is NOT cool and it’s really LAME. Carry a PSP instead.

Lastly, my condolences to Ms May Leong. If only I had known her personally, I would have adviced her to take a break, quit her job.

Remember, this is the only life you have. This is it. It’s not a rehearsal. 

Thursday, 19-10-2006

Chew On This

Filed under: Current Issues

Ei, you still wanna eat meat anot?


Maybe I should be a vegetarian. Almost cried seeing those animals.

But vegetables got no feelings meh? Vegetables also got life wut. They breathe air, they got emotions, I’m sure they cry too! Oh well…

Friday, 04-08-2006

ONE Government

I just watched this movie, because for every person who has watched it, they told me it’s a ‘must-see’.

It definitely is. This is like the best movie ever IMHO, for a comic adaptation. Better than Spiderman, Hell Boy and X-Men combined together. If you are a thinker… if you like watching ‘thinking’ movies like the Matrix, not just plain ol’ shooting, cursing, zombie-killing typos, you would love V for Vendetta. Trust me, after you’ve watched this, it might change your opinion or your view about your government. Or perhaps enforce it

Most people think politics aren’t important in their lives and most don’t think voting counts. I know this for a fact as I have many friends who are not interested or ignorant about politics. Yes, I was once too, an ignorant myself.

But the fact of the matter is, politics dictate you. It dictates how you live, where you live and the things you do everyday in your life. Think it’s a bit far fetched? Think again.

Every decision that your government makes or every law that your government suddenly enacts, will affect how you live your life, how free YOU are to practise your religion YOU choose, down right to how many pets YOU can have and even to naming YOUR OWN children.

Just imagine that, your mother suffered 9 months for you, in that 9 months, she carried you in her womb, takes herself out for medical examination to her choice of hospital, to her choice of doctor, to her choice of how she wants to get to that hospital, to her choice of how she wants to deliver you, to her choice of where she wants to deliver you.. but then someone decides she can’t name you to her choice. Think how silly that sounds. After all this time, it just take ONE government servant to blow the trumpet.

Look, I don’t care if it’s another department or a lowly government clerk who made that decision or going to make that decision. I don’t really care where it comes from. BUT as long as the direction, suggestion or decision comes from the government, be it from just another department of a sub-department or a minister or the prime minister or the receptionist who works in the government… they are all ONE government. Yes, ONE government and ONE entity which I only see.

This is the ONE government we get to elect once in every 4 years, the representatives we voted into power to govern us. Without us, there are no representatives and in turn, no government.

Just like what V said in the movie,

People should not be afraid of their government, government should be afraid of their people.

So you can’t get away with politics, because whatever the government do, you have to know, you have every right to question, to ask, to observe, to accept or to reject.

You have every right to know, all the money I paid to the government via taxes, what have they done with my money? Why they did what with my money? So you don’t pay income taxes and you don’t care? You’re wrong. Everytime you dine out, you contribute 5% to the government with every meal that you pay for. In fact, every thing that you buy, part of your money goes to the government. Every toll road you go through, every car you drive, part of your money goes to the government.

Everytime you hear of government subsidy, there is where your money is too. For every government study loan, business loan, or whatever loan the government comes up with, there is where your money is too. Your hard earn money, which sometimes you can’t even afford to pay for your own studies, your own vehicle, the tol roads, the cost of living, is out there helping another kid who probably don’t need the study loan because his parents work in Petronas and just because his parents work in Petronas he gets the study loan.

You think about it.

Anyway, I’ll leave you with this powerful speech from V. Just replace some of the important names with what you know from where you are. It’ll get to you, it’ll hit you. Just like it did to me.

 (V talking from a tv channel he just hijacked)

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine; the security, the familiar, the tranquility, repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone’s death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the annunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance, and depression. And where once you had the freedom to object, think, and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There were a myraid of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you’ve seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.

Tuesday, 25-07-2006

J. Lo and the Lowdown on Fur

Skinned Alive 

Undercover investigators from Swiss Animals Protection East/International spent the past year investigating fur farms in China’s Hebei Province and found that many animals, including dogs and foxes, are still alive and struggling desperately when workers flip them onto their backs or hang them up by their legs or tails to skin them.

When workers on these farms begin to cut the skin and fur from an animal’s leg, the free limbs kick and writhe. Workers stomp on the necks and heads of animals who, fighting for their lives, struggle too hard to allow for a clean cut.

When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals’ heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile of those who have gone before them.

Some are still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly.

Some of the animals’ hearts are still beating five to 10 minutes after they are skinned.

One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog on the heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera, with only his eyelashes still intact.

 

Say ‘Hell, No’ To J. Lo

Most people agree that wearing fur is wrong. Please don’t support Jennifer Lopez or her bloody business. Many hot designers, including Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Todd Oldham, Marc Bouwer, and others have turned their backs on fur and created synthetic alternatives that are hip, humane, and easily available and don’t turn animals into fashion victims.

Write to J. Lo and tell her that promoting the violence of the fur industry is a low-down, dirty, rotten shame.


Jennifer Lopez c/o BWR
9100 Wilshire Blvd., 6th Fl. W.
Beverly Hills, CA 90212