Paris

Paris Hilton's self-titled album Paris is currently sitting somewhere in my house. I had bought it as an early birthday gift for my sis whose not exactly her best fan or anything. Ironically, I purchased it on hari merdeka.

After listening to the cd, I must conclude that it isn't that bad after all despite having my ears lambasted by crappy Stars Are Blind all this while. I would give it 3 and a half stars out of five. The tunes are really catchy but trust me are just so slutty, perasan and all "Paris is the hottest one on earth". Some of you will just be damn irritated by the lyrics. Unless you're that interested, there are a few songs with here horny sighs.

The tracks are as follows ..

1. Turn It Up
   
2. Fightin' Over Me
3. Stars Are Blind
4. I Want You
   
5. Jealousy
6. Heartbeat
7. Nothing In This World
8. Screwed
   
9. Not Leaving Without You
10. Turn You On
11. Do Ya Think I'm Sexy

Just look at the various titles and you can probably figure out how the songs are. The songs I like most in this album are Turn It Up and Jealousy. I used to like Screwed but I'm sick of it by now. All other songs are worth listening to except Stars Are Blind and the last, Do Ya Think I'm Sexy. Fightin' Over Me is a cool collaboration with Fat Joe and Jadakiss. I Want You has a weird Grease-like start while the start of Heartbeat sounds like Madonna's Get Together.

This album is fun and hip to a certain extent. Certainly won't waste your cash on this though some I've borrowed it to may not agree. The main reason why her album's probably this nice is because it was produced with Scott Storch. I doubt so if any album can go wrong with Scott Storch around.

I would encourage you fans out there to get. For some desperate guys, the album does come with a life-size poster of her which I don't wanna know what you'll do it .. blek. It is currently proudly adorned on the wall facing my sister's bed.

If that isn't pleasing enough, it also comes together with the VCD of the music video of that hideous Stars Are Blind. That very slutty .. frolicking in the beach one .. All at a limited time only ..

-adios-

Elected

This must be really old news but for all you blur ones out there, the new Board of Librarians were elected on Monday during the librarian's meeting.

Head Librarian : May Ling
Deputy Head's : Hari Kumar and Yoong Jie
Secretary : Caryn Tan
Asst. Secretary : Krystal Lee
Treasurer : Wai Shan
Asst. Treasurer : Sherene
Form 4 Rep. : Johann Oh

Congrats to all of them. I together with nicholas, derek, serene, choon mui, yuen yi and kai li as you can see did not get any position. No grudges to all those elected though. I just can't imagine how empty my testimonial's gonna be. Full of crap and without doubt lies. I'll probably have stuff which i don't regularly participate in on it like pbsm. Sorry but i've only gone for about 5 meetings this year .. blek.

Meanwhile, the two future malaysian astronauts were chosen sometime this week as well. They are some medical officer named Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and a army dental surgeon named Kapt Dr Faiz Khaleed. Before you think I'm actually proud of it, the answer's a big fat NO. There were actually four candidates where these two were part of. The other two unselected ones include a female engineer and a MAS Pilot. Instead they had to choose these two other fools whom I've never liked.

True to what Jiam had always concluded, both of the selected ones were gonna be malay's (no offence). Have we forgotten that this is Malaysia? The cutest thing to do would be to choose 3 or more astronauts representing the races of our country .. silly. When they get sent into space, they're gonna probably spend all their time looking for the arah kiblat. As for food, our scientists will probably have to develop some kind of halal space food. Yeah .. Malaysia's creates first of its kind halal space food (loud clapping from behind)

I do not mean to offend all malay's out there but those jakuns from the kampungs. We have malays in our school who I cans till hang out with but its just those breeds which you find in the streets and mall speaking like retards with a topsy-turvy sense of fashion. I shall relate to you all yet another silly cinema experience of my sis's this time. She watched little man today and there was this malay guy next to her friend who left like a bloody little girl at the lamest things. He had to even rock around and hit his chair, even hitting my sis's friends shoulder at times.

Come on .. be more civilised please. Let's hope our astronauts will be more civilised, less jakun-ised so as to not embarrass the nation in the eyes of the europeans or americans they'l be with in the International Space Station.

-adios-

Condolences

R.I.P.

Steve Irwin

1962 - 2006

Steve Irwin aka. "The Crocodile Hunter"s death is definitely a great loss to the world. He died on Monday at the age of 44 after being struck in the chest by the stingray's barb while he was filming a documentary called Ocean's Deadliest in Queensland's Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Having gained worldwide attention through performing dangerous antics with various animals especially crocodiles in particular, avid viewers and fans will truly be missing his sensational appearances. Even the the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard paid tribute by stating that Australia had lost a "colourful and wondeful son".

He had tried pulling the barb out of his body as seen on the video footage of the incident. The impact was so hard that the barb had apparently pierced through his heart. However, efforts to save him were unsuccesful. He leaves behind an American wife, Terri and two children, Bindi Sue and Bob aged eight and three respectively. I personally pity the children as they will have to grow up without such a fun animal-loving father.

He is said to be given a state funeral if allowed by his family. Meanwhile, mourners have been placing wreaths, flowers and cards outside the Australia Zoo which Steve and Terri operates. May Steve rest in eternal peace.

WMS Red Crescent Society 1st Annual Gathering 2006

Our school's Red Crescent Society, PBSM had its first ever gathering yesterday after almost a month of preparation which I was gladly not involved in .. blek. A few other schools were invited so we had almost 100 participants including us converging in wms. It was a friendly kind of event to make friends and all so its not that formal and all. One thing to note down is that this is one of my very first PBSM events having being sunch an inactive, defunct member.

All the PBSM members were required to be in school by 7.15 but I apparently was not woken up and only woke up at 7.00. You shoulf have seen the look on my face when I looked at the clock. I started cursing and hurriedly prepared myself. Had to call the taxi and all.

By the time, I left home it was almost 8. I reached school finally at only 9 after a busy lrt ride. Thank god I wasn't that late coz some of the members were still waiting for one of the guest of honours who in the end didn't even show his shadow.

Easily fitting in, there was the opening ceremony and all. When it was mr.peter's turn to speak, you should have seen how perasan he was. He kept on boasting about the school's entrance exam and our exam results to all the uninterested govt. school students. As if anyone cares .. There were a few dances namely a very lame numa numa dance and a break dance from johnny and gang of our school.

The events for the day was the fun part. During the ice-breaking, the participants were divided into teams then played a mystery game. They interview a few people to solve the mystery where everyone died and all. I was one of the ones to be interviewed. I played the role of Dr.Acula, an eccentric, almost crazy doctor who did the post-mortem on the dead bodies. I tried my very best dressing up as a doctor and acted realy crazily. I shall not disclose what I answered as it was just so random and silly. Try interviewing me and I'll try answering you.

Later, we did a sketch to reveal what actually happened. It was just funny. Next up were the station games where I was the facilitator for group 2 (red group). My team was fun and all since I did know one of them. I surprisingly got to know them really well too. Some of the station games were really just thrilling. Group 2 ended up getting fourth place. We weren't first but at least we're not last.

It was overall a really fun event. Wore my PBSM uniform for the first time which i don't look that bad after all in, made many new friends, played a role in a mystery and became a facilitator for the very first time. To sum up this post, I'll leave you all with pictures from the event .. enjoy

the participants


me being dr. acula

me - yoong jie - krystal - jia wei

sketch

xae hoyy the maid

one of the station games where we were
all drenched wet

Group 2 rocks !!

me - tham - jia wei - krystal
denzie - kamal - edmond

denzie- kamal - mayling
me - edmond- yoong jie- krystal - jia wei

One thing I may regret that day was not attending socail night. I would have seriously went if more of my friends went and if it was cheaper. Come on RM80 for legend hotel .. blek.

-adios-

Budget 2007

My last post had shown how separuh, half-malaysian I am. Make no mistake that I still feel the same though I did waste 2 hours of my precious time yesterday watching the live tabling of Budget 2007 by the Prime Minister. Many said I waste my time doing so since I can just read about it in the newspaper the following day. I somehow went on to actually noting down the key points coming out of the kayu old man's mouth. It almost came to about 2 pieces of A4 paper. Sad to an extent but then again I'm recognisably a future-minded malaysian .. blek.

Budget 2007 happens to be the first out of the 9th Malaysian Plan. Of all the three budgets PM Abdullah has tabled, this by far is the best in my opinion as well as most malaysians out there. Not only is it rewarding for malaysians of all ages and sectors but most of it is balanced in almost all sectors of the country's economy.

Almost not one sector has been left out of it. Ranging from agriculture, biotechnology, halal industry, Islamic finance, ICT, tourism, education, women rights, socio-economic equality, poverty eradication, housing, environmental preservation, creative arts, immigration, public service delivery system up to civil servants, it without doubt is one diverse but yet balanced budget. In total the expenditure for Budget 2007 would total up to be RM 157.496 million. View diagram below (click to enlarge) . .

There were five key thrusts as founded in the National Mission :

1. To move the economy up the value chain
2. To raise the capacity for knowledge and innovetion and nurture citizens of 'first class mentality'
3. To address persistent socio-economic inequalities constructively and productively
4. To improve the standard and sustainability of quality of life
5. To strenghten the institutional and implementation capacity

As not to bore most of you all, I'll just be stating most of the key-points of the budget which I find most relevant to us and the country and elaborating later. I couldn't possibly type everything out coz it might easily reach a minimum of 30 pages.

• Corporate tax rate to be reduced by two percentage points in two stages - the tax will be reduced to 27% in 2007 and 26% in 2008.
• Inland Revenue Board to issue advance tax rulings to ensure certainty of tax treatment and transparency in tax administration.
• Biotechnology allocated almost RM 210 million.
• Income tax relief of RM 3000 for the purchase of a personal computer every 3 years.
• Income tax exemption for tour operators giving tours with at least 500 inbound tourists per year or 1200 local tourists per year extended for another five years.
• RM1 billion will be channelled to 22 new primary and secondary schools set for opening next year and for the building of 198 more schools, including fully-residential secondary schools.
• Chinese language will be taught in 150 national schools while Tamil will be taught in 70 national schools from 2007.
• Students who obtain 10 1As in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia or its equivalent from families with a monthly income of RM1,500 and below will be given scholarships to pursue tertiary education.
• Abolishment of fees for all public examinations in government schools.
• Tax relief on book purchases will be increased from RM700 to RM1,000 a year.
• Annual grant for non-governmental organisations undertaking women, family and community programmes has been raised to RM30mil from RM20mil.
  
• One-off launching grant given to ministries to set up childcare centres will now be expanded to include all government departments.
• RM50 government subsidy for mammograms done in private clinics and hospitals registered with the National Population and Family Development Board which is approximately half the cost of a mammogram.
• Excise duty for cigarettes will be increased by one sen per stick while liquor with more than 40% alcohol will see an increase of RM5 per litre with immediate effect.
• Police force will be given 2,000 extra patrol cars and create 3,000 new vacancies for police drivers.
• Tax deduction increased to RM500 000 from RM300 000 for sponsorship of local arts, culture and heritage performances and shows.
• Immigration units will be established at MIDA and MDeC to approve work permits and visas for expatriates.
• Two new immigration departments will be established in Cheras and Wangsa Maju.
• Spouses of expatriates with professional qualifications will be allowed to work in Malaysia.
• Multiple Entry Visas valid for one year now given to tourists from China and India extended to tourists from the Middle East.
• e-Passport Replacement Kiosks to be expanded to many more immigration branches.
• RM 10 billion invested to improve the public transportation system i.e. buses and rail system.
• Rapid KL to minimise waiting time for buses to 15 minutes by year-end.
• 2 month bonus for civil servants earning up to RM750 and 1 month bonus for those earning more than RM750, subject to a minimum of RM1500.
• One-off payment to pensioners of RM400 for those getting pension below RM750 per month and RM200 for those getting RM750 and above per month.

There you have it. A freaking long list of expenditure 07 key points which I will elaborate on.

One of the biggest allocations is for the education sector totalling up to RM33.4 billion. It is understandable since the government has to produce citizens with 'first class mentality'. More schools and universities to be built. Extra allocations here and there for teachers. The most beneficial part of this budget for the education sector is definitely the abolishment of public exam fees and the scholarships for 10A1 SPM students. It definitely helps those in the rural kampungs who have 9 or 10 children .. believe me there are. I've heard of urban city-dweller families with 7 children. Then again, I wouldn't benefit from it since I study in a private school .. crap.

I have good feeling the government's feeling the need to focus on biotechnology. There was quite a huge allocation for it focusing generally on agricluture and bio-pharmaceuticals. The government should really consider investing in food technology. Without doubt, there were certain allocations for the enviromental bio-diesel.

As usual, the excise duty for alcohol and cigarettes went up again. It goes up without fail ever since the last four budgets were tabled. I don't smoke but I do drink at times. In the first place, a 1 sen increase for one cigarette would not make much difference anyway. The huge impact would be on heavy alcohol. It may not really affect me since I doubt so if the alcohol I've taken is usually above 40%. Then again , I don't even bother checking ..

I can now probably convince my parents to get me a new PC in the three years to come since they can now get RM3000 income tax relief. More books for me to now that the tax cut has increased to RM1000.

Since the "Visit Malaysia Year 2007" campaign's gonna start next year in conjunction with 50 years of independence, the changes in immigration procedures for tourists come with no surprise. The influx of tourists from China, India and the Middle East can clearly be noticed in the country. The one year multiple-entry visas will truly ease their travels here as well as encourage them to come back again in the same year. The newly implemented visa-on-arrival thing is a significant improvement. More tourists will feel the ease and hopefully it will benefit the tourists from the West particularly the Europeans.

I shall not bore you all any further with financial aspects of the country's econom as I know not many of you all are interested. I do however find pleasure to some extent in dwelling with the country's financial figures. Clarifying for the last time, I am half-malaysian .. haha

-tata-