The Isles of Wonder.

Alt. Title: Staying up Way Over Bed Time Just to Watch 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony. Attempting a Rolling Blogging as Time goes? Let's See How is it Going to Turn Out.

The host 2012 Olympic Games is London of Great Britain (Rule Britannia!) and for Malaysia, the sole broadcasting right for terrestrial television (Astro holds satellite television for Malaysia) is held by RTM. Since they're going to do it live so might as well stay up for the night for once to watch the celebration of the greatest sport event of humanity, the Olympic Games.

Usually the live event will be broadcasted on TV1, the flagship, generalist channel of RTM. For this year however because it is Ramadhan Month now, they've have another live broadcast event to do (part of their remit to fulfill "spiritual note: Muslim" requirement): prayers over Kaa'ba, Mecca broadcasting on Saudi Television.

So uniquely for this year, the duty for carrying Olympic Opening Ceremony live broadcast is shouldered by the multilingual, diverse entertainment channel, TV2! Live broadcast from their studio since 3am with various Cheer Malaysia Team sport song. Expecting Standing in the Eyes of the World to appear some time, some where knowing how uncreative RTM can be but so far new songs so hope it stays as so.

Best of all and probably because it's London, the live broadcast is done bilingually in English and Malay hosted by these two guy here, Constantine of News@2 Anchor and Terence of probably TraxxFM...and some Malay host. So far though, the broadcast quality has been inconsistent though with frequent interruption. I hope it won''t be interrupted when the broadcast starts!

Broadcast starts!

Oh what was I thinking anyway. Of course they won't do it billingually. One good thing though: they finally invested on a real set for once and it's snazzy indeed!

They started off with Jerusalem, the hymn that represents England...

...proceeded by other British Nation's anthem and song such as O' Flower of Scotland and one for Wales and Northern Ireland. Oh gosh, I teared up just 10 minutes into the show?

Epilogue: Oh yeah forgot to inform all of you that I really did hop on a jet plane and heads home. No idea why did I made that decision or whether I will make any progress at home but will see.

22 July 1963.

Prologue: Uncertainties. Meanwhile, mundane posts about daily life of a procrastinating, demotivated and deranged postgrad will resume after this transmission. 

Dum Spiro Spero. While I breathe, I hope. Haraplah Selagi Bernafas. Agi Idup Agi Ngelaban.

On 22 July 1963, Stephen Kalong Ningkan, the very first Chief Minister of Sarawak and his cabinet as well as Council Negri of Sarawak was sworn in thus marking for the first time in history (especially after the Cession to Great Britain in July 1946, 17 years before) that the local populace of Sarawak has meaningful representation in a lawmaking body through election (albeit still indirectly as Members of Council Negri then was selected indirectly by district councilors who were voted in the local government election in June 1963) and thus marking an important milestone of achieving self-rule instead of answering to the Colonial Office in London.

Of course, whether the date 22 July 1963 can be regarded as independence day remains debatable. Most mainstream establishment historian regarded that period of time as a mere transition period between Crown Colony of Sarawak and State of Sarawak, Malaysia. It is true that the negotiation and discussion about formation of Malaysia has been well underway since 1962 and it is true that self-rule and self-determination of local populace is made prerequisite as part of decolonization process by United Nation to all post-war colonial power including Great Britain. Therefore, the date of 22 July 1963 does have a particular poignancy to it, driven by post-war decolonization and cold war narrative leading towards the ratification of Malaysia Agreement by Council Negri and subsequent accession of Sarawak along with Sabah, Singapore and Malaya to form Federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963 (or 31 August 1963 had Indonesia and The Philippines didn't meddled.) and everything else is history making what we and Sarawak are today, 49 years later.

Nevertheless, 22 July 1963 is indeed an exciting for Sarawakian as a whole as for the first time in history, the local populace (through their representatives in Council Negri) exercised meaningful right in determining their nation's own future hence deserved to be commemorated. 49 years ago, our representatives in Council Negri were convinced that idea of Malaysia would work and perhaps at that point of time indeed that formation of Malaysia is the best idea among other choices, consented by Great Britain and United Nation and we made our choice. Perhaps and hopefully next time some time ahead in the future, near or far, that Sarawakians will have another opportunity again to determine the future and destiny of their own nation, this time as a truly sovereign, independent nation of its own.

Dum Spiro Spero.

Happy Self-Rule/Independence Day. Happy Sarawak Day. Snazzy poster by MAI and grabbed from Facebook of fellow Sarawak enthusiasts/sovereigntists.

Epilogue: Ennui. Meanwhile, this history lesson is brought to you by the procrastination, demotivated and deranged postgrad. Thank you for reading.

Flâneur en Penang.

Prakata: Selamat Menjalani Ibabah Puasa pada Bulan Ramadhan yang Mulia ini bagi Semua Muslimin dan Muslimat di Seluruh Dunia khususnya Kenalan di Malaysia.

Alt. title: On an Enriching Journey of Discovering Arts and Sights Around Georgetown, Penang.

flâneur (french) noun.
1. One who wander aimlessly, who roams, who travel at a lounging pace.
2. An idler, a loafer

In conjunction of Georgetown Festival 2012, the month long (15 June-15 July) celebration of arts, culture and heritage, visual street arts in the form of murals and sculptures has been commissioned and propped up all around the heritage core of Georgetown at both visible sights or tucked away in some unassuming back alley. This certain tickles the fancy of both arts aficionados or casual tourists alikes to located and discover all the arts and sculpture that's available in order to make a full set like a collection of some sort.

With the help of internet, social network and automotive help (Esther), I've assumed the persona of a flâneur (somewhat a misnomer because I do have a purpose while maintaining the theme of strolling and soaking up the ambiance at the centre but nonetheless) and explore the inner urban fabric of Georgetown, Penang.

Mirrors Georgetown, a series of murals by Ernest Zacharevic depicting people of Georgetown in amusing and engaging way.

(from left to right) Lebuh Armenian, Lebuh Cannon (near Khoo Kongsi), Lebuh Armenia/Lebuh Pantai Junction, Lebuh Ah Quee,
Chew Jetty, Lebuh Muntri and the largest and final masterpiece, the resting trishaw man of Upper Penang Road.

Marking Georgetown, a series of caricatures by various artists and made by steel rods, telling the history of the road and life around Georgetown. Apparently this project started since 2010 but it is still growing until today.

How many did you manage to found. Here's 21 of them...

...and one special one (five foot lane of Stewart Lane/Lebuh Muntri/Love) Lane which I took using my mobile phone's panorama feature because all of them has to be in the same picture.

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Of course, Georgetown Festival being a celebration of arts, a visit to any of the art exhibitions is a must. Here's a particularly interesting one: RESCUBE by a selected group of modern artists (including Ernest Zacharevic himself) at 212 Beach Street (immediately to the left of the Chulia Street Fire Department junction if you're coming from Chulia Street Ghaut), a abandoned shophouse turned reclaimed bohemian art space.

One of the more amusing exhibits over RESCUBE is the Orang Utan Window with a mirror attached on its face in which you can try to fit your face onto that mirror. The funeral rites theme as well as traditional chinese medicine advertisment these by a couple of other artists are very interesting as well. Oh and pardon the black bars. I don't feel like squeezing or cropping the picture when I created the collage using photoediting software so I am keeping the dimension.

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Of course being a flaneur seeking escape and gratification of sense, my exploration is not limited around the Georgetown core alone but includes an excursion to Penang Hill on an early Saturday morning on my own while braving the massive influx of weekend tourists with the help of RapidPenang and student price discount. My main purpose (besides escaping lowland heat and enjoying fresher air at 700m above sea level) is to check out the recently completed Penang Hill Hawker Centre, now renamed The Cliffs (because it is perched beside a cliff.)

Top left: I am glad they replaced the hideous and garish Ministry of Culture and Tourism billboard with a simpler yet way elegant Penang Hill 1923 billboard. Top centre and right: The Cliff, a spanking new wood and steel structure housing the hawker centre (good for them for maintaining reasonable price range for their food), souvenir shop and a novelty Owl Museum which I will not pay RM10 for entrance simply because there's a bigger novelty museum in Kuching and it's bloody free. Lower left and centre: Dining with a view if you can afford to splurge. Lower right: Idyllic existence.

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Finally a panoramic view of Georgetown and most of Penang Straits stretching from Gurney Drive to Penang Bridge (squint harder), enabled by panorama feature of my mobile phone camera. Not the best quality but still.

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For more and uncollaged pictures, feel free to visit these three albums over my Facebook (probably you have to be my friend to access the album though). I wonder when's or where's the next occasion that I can assume the persona of a flâneur again.

Epilogue: Dammit I had ran out of free storage space for photo over Picasa and my Flickr's storage space is dwindling as well. Finally it has come to a point that I have to host my picture somewhere else hence Imageshack. Meanwhile, the collage I made using PhotoScape always ended up quite huge that even Microsoft Paint can't open for some reason. Kinda missed Picasa Photo Editor now for some reason...or I just haven't play around much with Photoscape. Meanwhile decision time: Bon Odori 盆踊り or not. We'll see. 还是过着糜烂，消耗年华的生活。就是提不起劲儿来。

July! (and Its Bits and Pieces and Miscellany)

Prologue: Tedium.

It has been a week since the month of July raises its curtain so I suppose it's time for an update. Better not keep all of you guessing about my whereabout.

Obligatory snap of the rental invoice a.k.a a cold reminder of time passing and economy austerity...but with an addendum: application for extension for on campus accommodation...which amplifies the cold reminder into sub-zero, bone chilling level of omen. Or it's just a rental invoice.

Some bits here and there that piqued my interest to take a snap:

Apparently there's forum going on today about Women and Politics in campus today organised by yet another NGO dubiously linked with current government and most likely propped up solely for mobilising support for the current government, complete with the overused cliche 1Malaysia logo. Then again, I wonder who turn up as panel or hows the turn out for that forum anyway especially since it's already a week into the semester holiday and basically there's no crowd in campus. There are people though but not crowd.

Staying in the theme of Malaysian politic, apparently Anwar the perennial PM-in-waiting egomaniacpowermongerasshole is poised to be the next (7th) PM of Malaysia or at least that what it's shown on the banner of an PKR Indian community event hanging right outside the fence of my campus. What confidence.

...and immediately right across the road from the banner is a silent showdown of colour. It was actually PKR's flags that propped up first before BN sycophants noticed it and decided that they don't want to be outdone by them and counter back by propping their own flags in slightly bigger numbers and one longer pole to stood up. Say, how is this going to be accounted for according to the election law of Malaysia? This showing of flag immediately reminded me about those hastily created Facebook photo shares (Share button is a devil's creation.) about BN setting up campaign war room some where in Johore or something despite the fact it's at least 10 months away before the current governments's mandate automatically expires. As much as people ceaselessly whine and insinuate about the current government deliberately delay GE, I would just say what's the fuss? The election WILL definitely come in ten month's because its inevitable five year mandate provision. About that so-called "oddities" of no compulsory date of dissolution but a rather loose time frame? That's the idiosyncrasy of Westminster Parliamentary system but that doesn't mean the US system of rigid date of dissolution is better. Not that I condone the shortcomings of the current government but just saying. As for the alleged election campaign room: probably it has been like that since 2008, deserted and unattended just like BN itself.

Some odd pieces of me.

Plus 2's wantan mee besar with wontons and green chilli slices and barli peng as brunch. Simple pleasures on a Sunday morning. 

Behold, the Number of the Beast! Ok fine, it's just 1/100 of it. When was last time I reloaded my mobile phone credit anyway. Oh well, with so little phone call or message that I have these days (a reflection of my lack of social life), it probably will last for a while. 

Is this it? Of course not because there are more materials to be blogged about. As usual not entirely sure when's the next post going to be especially since my middle finger gone swollen after I accidentally tear into the flesh around the edge of the finger nail as I habitually chew my finger nail. *cue rounds of disgust* The tip of my middle finger red, bulging and pulsing with dull pain and it's pretty obvious a small pus has developed around that bits of opening. I am getting more irate than ever as it's hidden in the crevice and out of reach and prick it while the nagging pain continues.

后语：2012年7月5日 (星期四), 大概晚上7点半，我决堤了。

虽然在过去五年之中有面对过好几次频临决堤的状况，可是遍遍就在上星期四我忽然无预料下全面崩溃，泪水决堤而咆哮痛哭。就因为来之妈的电话，询问我的近况及要不要回古晋休息一下。我吓倒我妈，我也吓倒我自己。是因为平常妈来电的时候自己却身在别处而没有认真想过要不要回家一下，反而在必须要作决定的时候却完全无法果断而感到惊惶？(最讨厌亚航网上订购机票机票价格不停上上下下，再来忽然大促销，完全捉摸不定，一切都要在忽然之下决定。不心脏病才怪) 的还是因为内心其实深处真的很想家可是想到身边有不少顾虑及隐忧时而犹豫？我只记得我泪水的爆发点是在当我很犹豫的跟我妈说我不用回而我妈跟我说好好照顾自己的时候。到最后我为什么痛哭呢？说不定就只是单纯的因为我不知道。我已经完全不知道我的未来应该会是怎样。想当年(其实也只不过是五年前而已) 对自己的未来还有点憧憬，目标，决定，大概知道未来的我会是怎样的我已经荡然无存了。留下的只是行尸走肉，空壳，一个非完整的人类。青年危机吗这个？

还在那稳重的老三也在电话的另一边接手而慎重的半开导我才安定下来。就在平静下来的那瞬间才决定大概是时候回家休息一下，机票也当场定了。(虽然说实在我已经算休息过久了，就只是心有余而力不足，心力交瘁。)

未来...大概会更好吗？(插曲: 最近槟城天气太棒了，时不时下雨而雨后晴空万里，上个月尾烟雾期间的晦气也完全消失了。不过这个风景其实在下雨前拍的。难道未来会黑暗？*优柔寡断的我想太多了* 算了，睡觉吧。Meanwhile, did you see the car at the bottom of the picture? It was stuck in the ditch as I took it and it took a hour of collective aid and ingenuity/brute strength to relief the car from its trouble. Live broadcast as I witness the scene!