Time to open our minds and spare a little change.

It moved me to tears.

Wow. Even though this is hardly uncharacteristic of me, as a human version of a bubbling pot of emotion, I was never really a big supporter of either presidential candidate (I wanted Hilary to win!) and even though Shaza told me the speech was so good that it made her cry just reading it, I never thought that a mere speech could send shiny globes of tears rolling down my cheeks.

For a little over five minutes, I felt like Barack Obama was more than just the U.S. President Elect - he was the President Elect of the World.

And I was - I am - a citizen of that world.




After CNN played the speech for what must have been the tenth time today, I finally sat down and listened to Obama give his now-legendary speech.

I wonder if I will ever feel that patriotic to my country, this tanah tumpah darahku, just by listening to a politician's speech.

I had 2 favourite parts of Obama's speech:

"... And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand ...."

And about 106-year-old Ann Nixon Cooper:

"... A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can. America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made? This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment..."




It's also funny (but not the ha-ha funny) how I'm starting to feel like my exams ended a week ago, when they really just ended yesterday. Instead of having all that glorious leisure time of infinite time-wasting and doing-nothing, I've somehow managed to pack my days with activites that I did not foresee.

Half an hour after the exam ended yesterday, I got a call from my new friend at ARROW (Asian Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women), who told me they want me in for an informal chat (aka internship interview) today (Wednesday afternoon).

It was literally easier to study for my international studies exam than figure out how to get to the ARROW office.

After begging all my best friends (none of whom were free to come with me) and then proceeding to ask my Monash friends - someone, bless her, finally said "sure, ok, I'll go with you". I cannot thank that person enough! :)

So... long story short, my internship with ARROW begins tomorrow. :)



You can check out their website (http://www.arrow.org.my) for more information. I really like what they do - championing women's rights, especially in areas of health (including contraception, abortion, etc).

Then on Friday, it'll be a day out with some of my favourite Monashians to Pyramid. :) I also collect my pixel art necklaces on that day, so I'll definitely post pictures up after! :D Can't wait!

And on Saturday, there's the Absolute Bazaar that all shopaholics have been looking forward to! :D Head to the 3K Inn Hotel in Subang Jaya from 11am-8pm on Saturday, 8th November for the best bargains from online blog shops! My friend Kye Li's also setting up her booth there (check out http://www.clothesbucket.blogspot.com), so be sure to check that out too! :)

I really hope to be able to kick back and relax at home on Sunday. Haha. But I'm still in the process of organising my post-exam mess.

Then... Psychology 1A classes start on December 9th. And I'm still hoping to get selected to be one of Chin Huat's research assistants!

Not only does it sound like a really interesting experience, it also pays RM10 per hour. I've never thought about payment before (eg: work with ARROW is unpaid and voluntary), but looking at how much it'll cost me to take the LRT to KL Central and back over a period of time (and how much I may possibly spend at the bazaar) - not to mention the petrol money I'm going to be guzzling up by going to Monash or going out with friends... I think earning a little money to subsidise the growing hole in my (parents') pocket can only be a good thing.

If my Research Assistant application is successful, then it'll start after my internship with ARROW ends. If it's unsuccessful, then, well, too bad. Haha.

What holiday is this?!

But Mummy says I've brought all this on myself. ;P

Think Pink.

I can't forget the tears in my classmate's eyes from last week.

The one with an aunt afflicted by cancer.

Chin Huat says a good journalist makes the important, interesting. So I'm going to blog it. :)

The following is an extract from College of Radiology's Breast Health Information Centre website (http://www.radiologymalaysia.org/breasthealth/About/FactsNStats.htm):

"Almost everyone knows someone or knows of someone who has been affected by breast cancer: a mother, sister, daughter, grandmother, aunt, colleague, friend, neighbour or more rarely, a father or brother.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in most parts of the world. There is a marked geographical variation in incidence rate. The incidence is highest in North Europe and North America, intermediate in the Mediterranean countries and South America and lowest in Asia and Africa. The mean age at diagnosis reported in most developing countries is around 50 years compared to 60 years in Western countries.

In 2000, there were 1,050,346 cases reported with 372,969 deaths from breast cancer world-wide. The incidence ranged from an average of 95 per 100,000 in more developed countries to 20 per 100,000 in less developed countries."

"Presented in another way:

Every 3 minutes, one woman is diagnosed with breast cancer (USA)

Every 11 minutes, one woman dies from breast cancer (USA)
Every year, 30,000 women and 200 men are diagnosed with breast cancer (UK)"

What about in Malaysia?

"Breast cancer was the commonest overall cancer as well as the commonest cancer in women amongst all races from the age of 20 years in Malaysia for 2003 and 2005.

Breast cancer is most common in the Chinese, followed by the Indians and then, Malays.

Breast cancer formed 31.1% of newly diagnosed cancer cases in women in 2003-2005."

Those are the problems. What are the solutions?

Go to: http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/index.jsp?gclid=CLSprYaJopUCFQz7bgoddRV8lA for information on how to reduce the risk or detect it early.

Breast Cancer.org says "Knowledge is power" -

so the more you know, the better.

As a tribute to breast cancer awareness, I did a Pink Mini-Series on Photoshop! :)

If you have a blog, do a Pink Series yourself, and do your part to increase awareness about breast cancer in the same post!

I also discovered that I have a pink skirt tucked away in the back of the closet:

Remember - at the moment, there is no "prevention" for breast cancer.

Just as there is no harmless "cure".

Lower the risk. Or detect it early.

Think pink!

"The heights of great men reached and kept/Were not obtained by sudden flight/But they,while their companions slept/Were toiling upward in the night."

Quote attributed to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I think the first poems I ever read as a child were his. :) He was my first favourite poet - and, come to think of it, still is

It's Thursday afternoon, classes are over for the week, and "The Weekend" has arrived!

So, what's new with you?

I think the "hot news" these past few days is probably the Beijing Olympics lip-synching scandal. I think it's just an example of Western media blowing it totally out of proportion, trying to antagonise the Chinese. Especially CNN and BBC, which is only understandable, as they probably want to make this Olympics look as flawed as they can - to make it easier for London 2012's Olympics to top this one. For more, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7556058.stm.

[Left: Lin Miaoke - Right: Yang Peiyi]

The other headliner is the Russian attack on Georgia - which is definitely far more important, but hasn't been sensationalised as much as the Yang Peiyi vs. Lin Miaoke fiasco.

Far removed from world news, however, my lectures and tutorials have seen a downward spike in attendance this past week. And nobody needs to ask why - because there are 3 assignment deadlines this week (Wednesday - Intro to Communication, Thursday - Contemporary Worlds 2, Friday - Contemporary Television Studies).

My journalism tutorial this week was as "blogworthy" as usual. Hahaha. Today, we pitched our detailed ideas and rough outlines for our second assignment: writing a feature story. It was a pretty interesting class - an opportunity to discuss your own idea with the tutor (Chin Huat) and tutorial classmates, and a chance to listen to other people's ideas. One of my friends even cried today in the middle of her story pitch - she's planning to write about cancer (and cancer survivors), and the matter is a little close to heart. And Chin Huat was really, really nice about it to her - he knelt down and talked to her for a few minutes until she stopped crying. :) That was kind, wasn't it?

In Communication tutorial today, the most interesting part was where we compared how Malaysian teenagers use cellphones compared to Canadian teenagers (the article by Letizia Caronia was about Canadian teens' use of cellphone). Here's a question for you to ponder: would you say that a person who receives a lot of calls and smses on his/her cellphone is more "popular" than his friend who only receives, say, 1 call a day? Would you say that someone without a cellphone would be labelled "outdated" and an "outcast"? Would you say that how frequently you use your cellphone defines how important you are to your network of family and friends?

In Contemporary Television Studies tutorial this week, we were divided into groups to answer one question per group (like last week). This week, we learnt about "Quality" TV. We watched one episode of The Sopranos and one of Hill Street Blues. Although my friends and I were some of the few remaining students who survived the 2-hour screening of both shows (that means we didn't grab our bag and leave the lecture theatre), I didn't enjoy this week's shows as much as previous weeks'. They were much too long, the storylines were too dark and disturbing, and I guess I'm just not cut out for appreciation of so-called "Quality" television. When the two cops got shot in Hill Street Blues (in the pilot episode somemore), I nearly cried! So ... outside academic hours, I'll stick to my sitcoms, thank you very much. :D

And in Contemporary Worlds 2 tutorial this week, we got our topics for the 20%-weightage group presentation. My group is doing "Migration" in Week 8, which means our presentation is on the 4th of September. It's about how globalisation is turning this world into a "mobile world" - we'll examine issues of immigration, refugees, and domestic politics. And after a brief group presentation briefing, Ujval (our tutor who is also an actor! COOL eh?) went on to lead our tutorial discussion on Global Governance. The topic is like a vacuum-packet compression of everything I learned in International Law, but with a very different emphasis. In International Law, the emphasis was on, well, the law (haha) but in International Studies, the emphasis is on the great big picture, the problems, the solutions. But it draws on the same terms: UN and the failure of a predecessor that was the League of Nations, ICC, ICJ, AU, Darfur, reciprocity, collective action, sovereignty (oh SO MUCH on sovereignty), territory ...

Only, there was no Article 38(1) of VCLT or Montevideo Convention on something something. No Shaw, Oppenheim, Brownlie or Dixon. Not much - if anything - on whether international law is in fact law, which is a fundamental question underpinning much of International Law as a subject.

But there was a lot on America, a lot on how they're trying to dine on "international law a la carte" - picking and choosing which bits they like, drawing up bilateral agreements with signatories of the Rome Statute so that American citizens (especially soldiers) don't get prosecuted in the International Criminal Court. A lot on America as "New Sovereigntists", arguing they shouldn't be subject to all this "international legal order" stuff because they gotta protect their own sovereignty.

While I've forgotten nearly everything I learnt in International Law classes, I guess I'm still pretty lucky because a lot of these terms aren't completely alien to me - it would be a lot worse if I hadn't taken the subject and had never heard of those things before! ;)

Allright, that's all for now.

Have a good weekend, everyone! :)

PS: I don't trust Monash lifts anymore. A few weeks ago, two of my friends and I got trapped in an elevator for the longest two minutes of my life! 0_0 Well, actually, it gave a nice story - so okay, I forgive Monash for its faulty facilities. :D

elections elections

The DAP advertisement rocks la. Pity they don't allow it to be shown on telly.

But thanks to the power of the WWW, you guys can view it here:
http://blog.limkitsiang.com/

or directly here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vEBfbEIxtM

We may be too young to vote, but we're not too young to care. :P

For fellow DJ-ians who ARE old enough to vote, vote for Tony Pua!
"Just Change It" lah! :]