Marina’s Bloggariffic

Just too adorable for words!

I first saw this clip from Precious and later on, I found out from Mintea that the clip was directed by Yasmin Ahmad - an acclaimed film director. She also told me that Yasmin Ahmad directed the Petronas ads that never fails to make me feel so sappy in the end.

“Do you want to come fowwa date? To a womantic dinner?”

*melts*

Oh yes Tan Hong Ming! *I’ll*definitely go out with you.

—

Seeing how easygoing their innocent love for each other made me ponder if we as adults putting in too much emphasis on race?

Here in Singapore we would have our annual Racial Harmony Day each July 21st which is supposed to make us more appreciative of each other’s races.

Racial Harmony Day 2007

But somehow along the line, this has made each other more aware of their differences and ironically now, people would rather stick to their own. Its odd as time ago, before the implementation of racial harmony day, we were already mixing around naturally, happily.

For me, I believe that people should mix around with the people that they enjoy being with, rather than focusing on their skin difference.

Like the little girl in the video clip, I had a best friend back in primary school. His name was Micheal and he was a Chinese. Being in the same class as well as neighbours, we’d always roam around the neighbourhood together.

And I remember the first time when I celebrated Lantern Festival with him, holding candle lit lanterns in the playground and then eventually a group of Malay girls came up and chided, “You’re not a Chinese. You shouldn’t be playing with Lanterns!”

I was lucky in the sense that mum was open minded about letting me celebrate the mid-autumn festival. I can imagine that in my naive 9 years old self that I could probably listen to the Malay girls and stopped befriending Micheal right there and then.

But really. What is the big deal about our race differences?

As the world advances, naturally it is so much easier to socialise with different people. Its funny how I can still remember a section in my geography book that I read at 14 years old at how there are countries that has a homogeneous population like Italy and Japan. And we know that that statement is outdated with different countries having a diverse population.

This is inevitable. Now even interracial-relationships isn’t something new. As I read through blogs and printouts, and hear from friends at how they are involved with someone of a different race.

Truth be told, before I’ve met Cartcart, I’ve always assumed that I’d end up having a serious relationship with a Malay guy and settle down here in Singapore - same race marriages makes it all the easier and more convenient.

Sure, interracial-relationships does has its own problems. But doesn’t all relationships has its own problems? To me, the most important part is the person rather than his race. Does your partner make you feel warm inside? Does your partner makes you smile and feel happy?

That is the question :)

Its such a pet peeve of mine when I hear people mispronounce common Malay words such as Nasi Lemak, Otak-otak and Jelak.

Here is the correct way to pronounce them :

Stop saying Nasi Lomak! from rinaz on Vimeo.

Recently, I saw the blog of one of the editor of tomorrow.sg taken down because she didnt pay her hosting bills.

Thing is, she passed away for about two years already. Does that mean that all her online memories are gone?

In the middle of this year, I did a meme on what my last post might look like. But what happens next?

At this time of writing there are still many sites that hosts the pages of people whom has passed away - for example friendster and myspace. It can be heartwrenching to the messages that they posted while they are still alive.

While we are still around, there are some of the things that we could do. Darren Rowse advices on creating a blog will. Afterlife.org, a non profit organization will help to archive your webpage.

For me, I guess I’ll write a blog will, to include passwords and instructions like how to do backup and think of whether to keep the domain or have it transported to a free host.

If you are a blogger yourself, what would you do? If you are a blog reader, would you care for the blog to be preserved? What do you think?

Sidenote : Join Heart to heart donation drive - via DK

Last tuesday was the graduation ceremony for the graduating batch of students at the school I am working at.

As they went up the stage and said their goodbyes, my heart ached a little. These was the batch of kids whom I first encountered when I arrived here. Slowly one feels an attachment to them and now it was time for them to leave the nest.

Its always easy to take things that you are used to, and take it for granted, benignly believing that things will always stay that way.

And I start to wonder if this was a fraction of the feelings that mum is feeling, knowing that I too, will one day leave the nest.

Its not easy to let go. But life goes on.

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

Watch in youtube

I cant believe that she’s gone. Its so surreal. Just a few months ago she and her family visited my dad after his accident. She seemed fine then.

It was unreal for me to hear that she passed away while having heart problems. She was only 42.

I feel sad for my cousins. She will be missed dearly.

Over the time that I’ve been blogging, I’ve seen a number blog suicides.

One of the latest to fall in this adversity is the blog by Shaz and Aidil - two bloggers whom I have profound respect for the community efforts that they have started. I think that its such a shame to see them pulling the plug. The reason to this is because of an increase of unwarranted and callous comments from judgemental random visitors for one of their posts.

Different people have their own opinions. That is their perogative. But at the same time, I believe that opinions should be presented in a constructive manner instead of attacking the person and being hurtful. But the reality is, that a number of people find joy in attacking others while there are some who dont seem to fathom how sharp their words could be. Most of these will be entertaining fodder for some.

I am glad that I have not reached this threshhold as of yet. Not to say that I have not had any attacks on me before, the first few times when I received these type of comments, I fought hard to control my emotions. But throughout the years, I’ve mellowed up and pretty much take these type of comments with a grain of salt. Besides, its much easier on the heart to concentrate on the positive :)

Have you ever had hate comments in your blog before? What would you do in this situation?

p.s For future hate comments, I’m going to give these people my scary evil look. ROAR!

We could have so much more.

We could go so far but sometimes, for the majority of us, I feel that it is a catch 22 - we are potential victims with the choices that we make.

Sometimes I dont understand why we can be so egoistical. That we would not seek help when we are in trouble. What is it that makes a person make decisions unfathomable to us, rather than to seek legitimate help? Is it because they are unaware of the help rendered?

And why is it that we can be so apathetic? That we would rather keep quiet and willingly let others take advantage of us. How did this happen? When did this happen? What is the root? I dont understand.

I believe in the law of attraction - we think of what we want to achieve and we can control our destiny. Of course, success would need effort on our part.

True, some of us may not be rich enough, or famous enough, or know the right people. But what would make me upset is that we dont at least try.

We could have so much potential.

We could have prodigies in our mist but even prodigies need to be nurtured. To spot out and nurture these talents, they will need the support of their environment.

Its a cycle really. What qualities are we imparting to our future generation? Is this the future that we want?