Apologies

I'm so terrible at keeping a blog, I swear. The only reason I blogged so regularly while on radio was because my boss kept breathing down my neck about it. Whenever I missed a post, my boss would bring it up in the next team meeting. Do you have any idea how scary that is? Lol. Anyways, I will be traveling soon and I figure, what better reason to start updating again.

So look out for wonderful scenic photos coming your way in October. In the mean time, there are a few things I would like to rant about. Mainly this one thing that happened a few weeks back. Pretty sure many people can relate to this as it happens more often than we would like to admit. 

A very good friend of mine contacted me awhile back, saying she wanted to borrow some money. I had quite a bit to spare especially as she said she would pay me back the following week. I had borrowed money from her countless times so I figured this would not be a problem. 

In fact, one time I was in Paris stuck with no money (loooooong story) and she transferred a significant amount into my account without asking anything. So yeah, I had borrowed from her before and she is a close friend so I did not think much of it. 

So a week passed and I did not hear from her but this was typical anyways because she is always busy. And then a couple more days went by and I started to get desperate.

You see, I am traveling to the US next month and I have been changing money little by little for the past few months. Being a freelancer, money does not come in once a month, sometimes several times a month and sometimes once in two to three months. Some clients are just terrible paymasters (lets save that story for another post, another time).

I had a stash of US dollars which I had changed when the rate was still 3.86 but I was running out of Ringgit really fast. My next payment was not due for a few more weeks, leaving me with no choice but to contact my friend.

I texted her, saying I kinda needed to use money and if she had enough to pay me back. No reply. Okay fine, she's known not to reply texts almost all the time. So I waited a bit more, thinking she would absolutely get back to me when she had time, seeing as to how important this was. Benefit of the doubt.

It did not benefit me at all. No reply. Funny thing was, she was suddenly very active on social media (This is a person who hardly ever posts anything on social media, compared to me who posts at least one photo a day). I texted again. No reply. A number of days passed and out of the blue she texted me saying "By the way, I am not ignoring you. Things have been crazy. I will pay you before you head out to US."

Something along those lines. 

Now, she is an old friend. A very good old friend. We have been through a lot together and she has lent me money countless times. This was not about the money anymore. This was about the fact that I felt disrespected as a person. I was disappointed and upset and I made a conscious decision not to reply to her text. She did not bother to look for me after my no reply.

I took a stack of my USD and changed them back to Ringgit, knowing full well that I would need to replace this USD at a much higher rate before I leave the country. What a waste yeah? Well I had no choice. My car needed to be refueled and my tummy wanted food.

I believe it has been a month and recently while scrolling through social media, I found her in another country. Last night, somebody posted a photo of her being even closer to where I live. 

I am not posting this so she would read it. I am beyond confident she does not read my blog, neither does she have the time to. I am posting this to ask you what you would do if you were in my shoes. I don't care about the money anymore but a real heartfelt apology would go a long way at this point. 

I don't know. What do you think? 

Unbelievable Coincidence

A few weeks back I saw something in the bookshop Borders that reminded me of somebody I met back in 2009. You see in 2009 my boyfriend, Aaron and I took a trip to UK to visit both our best friends and a few more friends in Paris. It was a very tight budget trip and we got by with the help of so many wonderful friends over in both countries. 

While in UK, we took a weekend trip to London with some friends and met up with another Malaysian friend who was living and working in London at the time. 

One of the days in London, all of us took a walk down a row of shops, I do not exactly remember where but there were a lot of people hanging out in the back alley. As we walked down that street, we bumped into a street performer James and his ginger cat with a scarf around its neck, Bob. James was walking around with his guitar while Bob was comfortably perched on top of James' guitar. 

James approached us and said that for one Pound, he will sing for us. I told him that I only wanted to pet Bob. James told me for one Pound, he will sing and I could pet Bob. So we struck a deal. The whole time James sang, I petted Bob and Aaron took a video of the whole thing (unfortunately the hard disk where I saved the video is broken and I cannot retrieve the video). 

After James finished his song, we paid them, said goodbye to Bob and they both went on their merry way. Last month, about five years later, I went into Borders and found this book.

I could not believe my eyes! James had since written a book about Bob and it became the No 1 bestseller! According to the book, James was homeless when he found an injured Bob, nursed him back to health and they have been best buddies ever since.

I also found another book James wrote after the wildly successful first book and the second one contained delightful photos of Bob doing different things including taking a walk (aweee), perched on James' guitar (double aweeee) and wearing different scarves(triple aweeee). I will finish this book and let you know how their story went.

Incredibly out of the millions of people living in London, I actually ran into this pair before they shared their heartwarming story with the world. I hope James is no longer living on the streets and that both he and Bob now have a warm home to go to at night. 

I am a big fan of yours, Bob! May you live a good long life aside your best friend, James Bowen. 

Online Business

Online businesses are mushrooming everywhere. From Instagram to Facebook, these days it seems like everybody has something to sell. This is definitely a good thing as these social media platforms make it easier for the regular joe to reach a wider audience when advertising their items. 

Fashionistas are selling jackets, skirts, blouses, handmade accessories while hijabsters are selling hijabs, shawls, scarves, jubahs and maternity dresses. Others offer English tea sets, plates, bowls (my Mama is a huge fan of these. Every other day, the Gdex guy would be honking outside her gate). 

There is a world of items to be purchased through Instagram and Facebook and social media users are buying them everyday. However of late, I keep hearing girlfriends complain about sellers who do not offer a tracking number after payment has been made. Worse still, the items arrive late and when customers Whatsapp the seller (most popular form of communication between customers and sellers), they get no reply. 

At the end of the day, customers log on to their social media networks and find the sellers badmouthing them, calling them all kinds of names from kancheong, to impatient to difficult. 

Whoever said running an online business is easy was wrong. Of course most of you are running these businesses as a side income but the moment you have a big load of orders, you need to give special attention to your customers, no matter how difficult they can be. The customer is always right. 

You cannot not reply your customers' messages and you cannot expect the customer to understand that you were not available because you were in a meeting/driving/eating. Customer service should be your priority. If you cannot handle customers' messages twenty-four hours a day, you have to hire somebody who can. 

How would you feel if you ordered something from Zalora and after making payment, your item does not arrive. And then you called Zalora's customer service department and nobody answers. And then you log on to Zalora's Facebook and you find them posting a complain about you calling and harassing them. I ask you again, how would you feel?

Awhile back somebody sent me a photo of a conversation that took place between a buyer and a seller. The buyer was simply asking the seller when her item would be arriving but the seller's reply was something along the lines of "Give me you account number. I will refund you. I cannot stand dealing with difficult customers."

So the buyer, obviously offended, replied "How do you mean I am difficult? I am merely asking you when my item is arriving. I asked you for the tracking number awhile back and you did not reply."

The buyer did not respond. So the buyer went on and on about how the seller lacked professionalism and the seller's only reply was, an emoticon of a pig's snout. Not only did the seller not handle this professionally, she was also immature.

Remember, when handling other people's money (especially strangers), you have to be courteous, patient and above all, polite. Customers can be difficult, customers can harass you day and night but you as a seller need to maintain integrity. 

Once you open up your Facebook and Instagram to strangers so they can view your items, you are a public social media figure. You do not use those accounts to b*tch, scream and yell about others. 

All this said, there are a large number of very reputable online businesses. For instance, the people my Mama has purchased items from are always prompt and always available for any enquiries. A word of advice to those who are thinking of starting an online business, you need to hire help. You should have somebody who can ship items as many times possible in one day and you should have somebody who can reply your customers messages from 9am-5pm daily. 

Starting an online business sure sounds like an easy way to make money but like everything good in life, it is not as easy as you think. 

WHY?

A few days ago I read a heartbreaking story about a man who shot arrows into a dog that was barking outside his gate. Attached was a photo of the dog standing on the street with three arrows stuck to her body. As an animal lover, I could not take the heartbreak of looking at a helpless animal just standing there, emotionless, not complaining of pain, not crying, not able to articulate the hurt she was feeling physically.

Do you get where I am coming from? The man who shot the arrows claims he was just protecting his children but my question is, why couldn't he just spray the dog with a water hose? 

I know the exact reason why. 

I grew up in a community that taught me dogs are harmful animals that should not be touched or kept, due to our faith. What they failed to include was that dogs are just animals. They have no voice of their own and therefore humans should not be cruel to them, regardless of faith.

I used to be terrified of dogs. I thought every dog is vicious and are out to kill humans. I thought touching a dog would anger God. I thought I was supposed to be mean to dogs because they are evil. 

Fortunately I met a lot of animal lovers along the way and I learnt a great deal from these people. Yes, my faith teaches me that a dog's saliva is najis. It is dirty and you will have to cleanse yourself in a spiritual manner if you ever come in contact. Yes, my faith teaches me that I should not keep dogs, unless the intent is for them to guard the wellbeing of my house and its occupants. 

But never ever did my faith teach me to be cruel to dogs just because their saliva is dirty. Never did my faith teach me to harm dogs if they frightened me with their barks outside my gate. 

It is sad that the teachings have been misconstrued so badly to the point that people see dogs as evil beings that need to be eradicated at all costs. 

Of course, this fear of dogs also comes from stories of people being mauled to death by strays or house dogs which have not been properly leashed by their owners. But please, take the time to study dogs. Not all dogs attack for no reason. There are aggressive breeds and there are rabid dogs. Just as there are aggressive humans and crazy people who go around robbing and attacking old ladies (which is another regretful story which made the newspapers today). 

But please rationalize, why why WHY would you harm an ANIMAL which has no mind of its own just because it scares you. Dear man, (who shot the dog with arrows) if this country had stricter animal laws, you would be in jail right now, awaiting trial. You would go to jail or be given a hefty fine or both. 

However our animal laws are almost non-existent, therefore, please use your common sense. Please do not teach the young that it is okay to hurt these animals. No religion teaches its followers that it is alright to harm animals, be them dogs. 

By the way, the dog in question died today due to ticks. The vet concluded that the dog was malnourished and ill. She had been abandoned for a long time and the arrow incident further traumatized her. I cried when I read this in the newspaper today. 

I am not asking you to love dogs or hug them or let them lick you, I am simply asking you to have a heart. 

Beware Of This Scam

A friend told me this story today and it sounded mighty scary. Recently my friend received a call from the number +1300881222 claiming to be TM. They told my friend that he owed RM3800 in unpaid bills to Unifi. 

My friend does not even own a Unifi account. But the "officer" had all his details, from his full name to his IC number. So my friend told him that all the details were correct but he is sure that he does not owe Unifi RM3800.

The the "officer" on the line advised him to call Bank Negara at the number 03-2788 5046 or 03-2788 5038. Not thinking much of it, my friend called one of the numbers and the answering machine sounded legit. He chose the option to speak to an officer. 

The officer asked for all his details, including how many active bank accounts he has plus how much balance he has in each account. The "officer" then told my friend that they would call him back within an hour and that his case would be sent to court. He was also told not to make any bank transactions within the next three days.

Due to the suspicious nature of the "officer's" questions, my friend decided to call TM and Bank Negara after that. However both offices were not operating as it was a Sunday. So he did the next best thing, he googled the number +1300881222 and all kinds of blogs appeared, warning people not to answer calls from said number.

My friend then proceeded to redial the number only to find an Indonesian man on the other end of the line. He quickly called his banks and froze all his accounts. 

Beware. There are a lot of phone scams going around. Keep this number in your phonebook so you know what to do in case you receive a call from them. 

Hope Is A Wonderful Thing

I know I know, I'm a lazy blogger and I apologize. A lot has happened so far. From meetings to events to weddings to reconnecting with friends to gaming to cooking to (unsuccessfully) stalking Chris Hemsworth. I have not been busy, I have just been really lazy hehe.

I apologize. I have not given up on blogging and I will try harder. Lets start with this. I have a childhood friend whom I have recently reconnected with. 

Basically, for the past four years, I have not seen much of my school friends. I have no valid excuse for this except that I was going through some things. Nothing to do with them, it was just me sorting out things in my life. 

Okay enough with the sob story, as I was saying, I have recently reconnected with a childhood friend who goes by the name of Zaida. 

She's second from right. Yeah sorry I don't have a photo of her alone

Zaida's married to Le'an and they have a gorgeous daughter together, Lana. Seriously, I'm not saying Lana's gorgeous cause she's my friends' daughter. The girl is actually really gorgeous.

Err this is the best photo I have of the cute tot, Lana. Tengah kemas pelamin orang kawin.
At Raya, I attended Zaida's open house and hung out with Zaida, Le'an, Lana and the rest of the gang and everything was fine and dandy.

That's Le'an sitting next to me. Yeah we're all social morons.
And then a few weeks after Raya, unbelievable news hit us. That whole time we were all hanging out and joking around, Le'an had actually been diagnosed with stage four malignant thymoma. Yes, that would be lung cancer. Yes, at that age. Yes, we had no idea.

It was beyond belief how well Zaida and Le'an concealed their emotions. Zaida had opted not to discuss the whole thing with anybody (for her own reasons) and Le'an only told a select few. Soon enough the news spread and most of us tried our best to reach out (in our own ways).

We heard that Le'an had started chemotherapy but we did not know how he was really doing up till about a week ago when his right lung became filled with fluid and he was hospitalized. Doctors have been pumping out the fluid every day and they also decided to lower the doses of chemo due to complications.

At this point, I had decided to be there for Le'an and Zaida the only way I knew how. I started whatssaping him every day with funny stories of what has been going on within our circle. If only you could read our messages, you would not believe Le'an is suffering the way that he is. The man is full of life, full of jokes, full of hope and full of optimism.

And then a few days ago, they had decided on trying out an alternative treatment called Sevo Repa Germanium (SRG) but realized the cost is beyond their means. Not too long after, a bunch of friends got together and started collecting donations.

I posted a photo of their happy family on instagram and shared their story. I ended my post with bank details on how people can help. Another friend of mine did the same and by the end of today, we heard that almost RM7000 has been collected from friends and strangers.

Strangers. These are people with everyday problems of their own, families of their own and yet they found time to transfer money to a complete stranger in need.

I admit, what with the ridiculous stories of crime and mean things people are doing to each other these days, I never expected strangers to actually reach out the way they have today. But miracles do happen and today is a testament to that.

There is always hope. Never listen to those who say hope is an excuse for temporary happiness.

I saw Le'an at the hospital today and he is growing weary of being strapped to a bed for more than a week now. Chemo day in day out. Pumping fluid day in day out. No TV, only a laptop. No walking around outside. No sun, no clouds, no moon. Yet this man has no complains.

At about 1pm today he was in the middle of chemo and when I whatssaped him tonight, he was still in chemo. It is a terrible thing yet this strong couple can see so much beauty still.

Never give up on hope.

If you would like to contribute, donations can be made to Zaida's sister's account.

Maybank Joint Account
164605040397
Nurul Suhaida binti Badarudin
soonangbeb@gmail.com

Prayers would be much appreciated as well. Thank you all for taking time to read this post.

Hating on K-pop?

As we all know, The Shout Awards 2012 took place on Friday and all your favourite celebrities came out to play. (I was seated at the same table as Amy Search and I wanted a photo with him so very badly but was way too shy to ask! Sigh)

It was an awesome event with loads of surprises, special performances and did you see the robot at the start of the show? I mean, did you see the robot? Absolutely mind blowing! 

Now to the matter at hand. With K-pop gaining a huge following here in Malaysia, it was only fitting that we had not one but two K-pop acts perform at The Shout Awards. Now, I understand that some people don't understand the big fascination with K-pop while others are willing to go as far as learn the Korean language, just to show their love and support for their favourite K-pop bands/artistes. 

Of course, with every big trend, there are also big skeptics. Examples range from Justin Bieber to the Hipster trend to the Gangnam Style dance. More often than not, skeptics have no real reason to deny these trends, yet they have a lot to say.

For instance, skeptics are known to tweet things like "Gangnam Style is the lamest thing I've ever seen." or "Justin Bieber is so annoying." or "Hipsters are wannabes." 

Yet Gangnam Style has become the most watched video in youtube history, Justin Bieber is laughing all the way to the bank, carrying along his truckloads of awards, and Hipsters are celebrating life and art and not the slightest bit affected by skeptics' hateful social media postings.

Same goes with K-pop. Skeptics have so much animosity for the vast K-pop trend and following that they are willing to post the most ridiculous things on Twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately on Friday, skeptics took their hostility to a whole new level. They boo-ed and threw things at the two K-pop acts who performed on stage at The Shout Awards.

If you weren't there, don't believe what you hear. VIXX and Nu'est did not get hit by water bottles or other random objects thrown at them and the boos were not even loud enough to reach the stage. I was seated right next to the stage, I heard soft boo-ing but it wasn't detrimental to the point that these two acts will swear off Malaysia after this.

Having said that, the boo-ing and the throwing of paper fans (kipas kertas, not literally throwing K-pop fans) still should not have happened. K-pop fans who were at the venue were so upset as they were there from the beginning of the show and they were good sports with every local act that performed. They screamed, they cheered, they danced and they clapped. 

Basically these K-pop fans came to the show, endured the jam, stood in the rain so they could watch their two favourite acts live. Yet, they still supported all the other acts which they were not particular fans off. Why couldn't the others do the same for the K-pop fans? 

After all, it's a party. You come to have fun and enjoy the music and music is universal. So why act in an uncivilized manner? 

I admit, I am not a K-pop fanatic myself, however ever since I started hosting 8TV Nite Live, I have learnt to appreciate the K-pop trend and their die hard fans. If you say you don't understand their fascination with K-pop, I'm sure they also do not understand your fascination with Michael Jackson/Britney Spears/Guns n Roses/Justin Bieber and whoever else you used to or still love. 

All I can say is that, everybody has their own unique preference, be it music, food, fashion, art, or even cars. 

Respect their preference and they shall respect yours. 

Last but not least, don't try to make this K-pop issue a religious issue because it has absolutely nothing to do with religion or race. Don't be stupid. 

Thank you for reading. Spread love!

Human Barbie?!

I saw this today and was rendered speechless! This Russian woman models herself after Barbie, claiming that she has never had plastic surgery. However plastic surgery experts are calling her a fraud. 

Meet Valeria Lukyanova who looks more plastic in photos than she does in videos but her body in the photos matches the videos.

I found a number of videos of her on youtube, unfortunately they are all in Russian so I have no idea what she is saying. No harm checking it out though, so here is one of her, apparently addressing a hater on youtube.