Gripevine

  Barrack Obama won the presidency by promising  that change would come to America. Come 2012, Americans will decide how much of that change really worked for them. Change is a powerful word, it excites, incites, and depending on the scale on which it is initiated, would garner some kind of reaction or another. Change can prove to be positive or negative, create waves, give birth to a revolution ( on a macro scale), alter the way people think, encourage innovation, and a whole load of other things. But sometimes change is unnecessary, and that's what my rant is about. I have a particular dislike for people who want to change something merely for the sake of change itself. If something is good, why change it? But don't tell a change monger that, they will not see your point of view, or pretend not to. One thing about change mongers though, they don't give much thought about how workable their idea is, all they want to do is implement it and have their name on the plaque...

Does any real healing take place in a Malaysian government hospital? does it? really? if you are one of the lucky few who has had the good fortune of being well taken care of in one of these hospitals - you rank in the minority and should consider yourself darn lucky. The following cases of negligence at public hospitals which was splashed across the press, generated tonnes of negative publicity for the hospitals concerned and resulted in civil suits. The case of baby Lai Yok Shan who lost her left forearm because of negligence by doctors at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang. Her parents have since filed an RM2 million suit against the government. Fourty nine days after undergoing a hysterectomy surgery, private hospital nurse Kalaiyarasi Perumal discovered that a pair of forceps had been left in her stomach by the surgical team at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital in Johor Baru. Former Quran teacher Bashah Mustaffa sued the government over the HIV-contaminated blood she re...

We have all met them at one time or another, they could be a relative, a friend, a co-worker and god forbid a parent or a spouse! Yup the title says it all, I'm talking about misers. Those human beings who are a perennial pain in the ass. You can mock them, yell at them, put em in a freezer, but misers don't change their stripes. Their goal is to live frugally and die rich, so other people will benefit from their hoarded wealth. Hmm maybe in that case they are martyrs then....? living below their means for the benefit of future generations.....? Well they might prove to be posthumous saints for the beneficiaries of their wealth, but for the people who actually have to put up with them, live with them, stomach them, it's a different story all together. Considering that I have had the privilege of encountering a few of these gem like beings, I was inspired to write the following. It's the almost complete list of traits that most misers possess. Mind you this is not ...

1. Structural damage is your responsibility, even if it happens during the occupancy of the tenant. 2.  On a random visit, if you walk in and see a well maintained home ( note that I say home and not house), be grateful. Because this shows that your tenants' are treating your property as if it were their own. Take into consideration that there are a fair number of tenants out there who get a kick out of thrashing up a place during their stay and literally leave the property in shambles when they leave. 3. You're lucky if you have tenants who pay their rent within the stipulated time period (by the 7th in tenancy agreements). You are even more LUCKY if you have a tenant like me who pays you by the 3rd of the month. I say this because I have heard my fair share of horror stories of landlords who have to chase their tenants for rent. 4. When it comes to fixing something that needs to be fixed in the said property, do it! don't go on a long rant about how you have finan...

I am tired of being asked if I am on a diet! I am not on a diet nor have I ever been on one. Why would someone who is as skinny as me go on a diet? If I was on one, I must be either anorexic or bulimic which I am not. I am thin because I have a high metabolic rate. I have always been a skinny girl, even as a child. I am neither ill nor on a diet, I just happen to be rather thin. And newsflash, I am not the only one of my kind out there. Believe it or not, some of those ultra skinny people walking around probably have a very good appetite and eat all their meals. I know a few myself. Just as there are people who eat and remain scrawny, there are those who eat sparingly and are still overweight. So not all large people are gorging themselves out, and not all the skinny ones are eating like birds. Sometimes people just can't help the way they look. I was brought up to eat healthy and at the same time not to deny myself the good stuff.  As much as I love my oats and green tea...

Pretty girls should behave pretty. If a good looking woman displays a flash of temper, or did something nasty, people would say she has a dark side. Point being good looking and bad behaviour don't go together. However, if a cosmetically challenged woman did the same, her attitude would not be deemed all that surprising. In fact a lot of people would say - she looked like a bitch to start with! Fairy Tale Syndrome I think whether we realise it or not,  a lot of us judge people, especially women, in a superficial manner. A beautiful woman must have a beautiful personality just like the heroines in most fairy tales, and the not so hot looking woman who acts difficult is probably like the Wicked Witch of the West, cos she kinda looks it with that big fat wart on the tip of her nose. As most of us have been brought up on a diet of myths and legends of long suffering beautiful heroines who triumph in the end or die a martyr, all the way refusing to show their claws if any, we ki...

Somethings don't change, and that's the perennial quest for fairer skin. Yup the history of cosmetic whiteners goes a long way back. The  ancient Greeks  and Romans applied lead paint to whiten their skin in the face of dangerous health hazards, and many women and even men today continue to lust after this beauty ideal, especially in Asia. Here in Malaysia the quest for fairness is well and alive. Walk into any pharmacy or Watsons outlet, and it would be difficult not to find some amount of whitening substance in most of the beauty care products. From facial foams to moisturizers, the promise of fairer skin screams out from the product labels. Like honestly, do these products really result in naturally fairer skin? call me a cynic, but I think white is just an overrated fad which for some reason is not dying out the way it should. As far as I am concerned, moisturizer and sunblock will save the day for me. Plain and simple. Whitening a Devil of a Culture Not surpri...

Does being beautiful mean having a long glossy mane? I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of seeing shampoo advertisements where the models sashay about with sleek long hair. It's already the 2000's, get with it Shampoo manufacturers, such hair is no longer the Asian beauty ideal.  And realistically, not all of us can have hair like that, no matter how many bottles of said shampoo we pour on our heads! Well I digress, this post is not a rant against shampoo manufacturers, but about hair straightening or better known as rebonding in this part of the world. Rebonding is an interesting breakthrough in the hair care industry that enables those with wavy, curly or frizzy hair to have straight hair. I say interesting because it gives us options. With rebonding, those with frizzy manes can actually experiment with the straight look. However too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. And that seems to be the case with rebonding. The advent of this method of h...

I dislike it when people say: "You have to" "You must" If anybody is going to tell me either of the above, it must be accompanied by a valid reason. Plus the said reason must make sense. And in my opinion, anyone who complies with (1) and (2) without asking questions is a pushover who does not know their rights. Especially if it's not their normal practice to do whatever it is that is required of them. "If you don't there will be repercussions" If said "repercussions consist of displeasing some people because I did not conform to what they expected of me, too bad. If someone is unhappy that I did not do something or behave in a certain way, they better have a good reason for their said displeasure. Saying: "I expect you to just because I do" does not cut it. Herd Mentality I absolutely detest it when I am expected to do something or behave in a certain way just because everyone else is dancing to the general tune. As far as I am ...

I detest lunch hour. Why? because that's when the mass of humanity swarm out of their offices and descend upon the food courts, restaurants, cafes etc. For me venturing out during lunch hour means: Having to contend with noise pollution. Having to wait in long queues to buy food or wait forever for my order to arrive. The waiter is more likely to get  my order mixed up during peak hours such as lunch. I would be more likely to encounter people who might irritate the hell out of me. Another lunch hour hazard for me is having to make boring polite talk with people whom I have little in common with. My idea of a perfect lunch hour is from 1.45pm to a little over 2.30pm. I would rather work through lunch and venture out later for a quick meal. The benefits of which are: Food arrives faster. I can have a relaxing and quiet meal. I can browse the newspaper or a read a book in peace. After a little quiet solitude and good food, I am ready to return to the office invigorated ...

If you want to be a writer or a journalist, at the very basic, you should be able to WRITE. Understandably not everyone will be able to churn out beautiful prose in the beginning. However, at the very least, you should be able to string a decent sentence together, and it should make sense. If you can't even do that, better consider another career option. I can cope with a certain amount of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, however if I am going to have to rewrite your entire story because you can't write for nuts, its time for you to do some serious soul-searching on why you decided to be a writer in the first place. No doubt some subject matters can be somewhat technical to put across, but that is what your job as a writer and communicator is all about. To take something complex and simplify it for your reader. What I cannot stand is lazy writers. These are people who make no effort to understand what they are planning to write about, and just load a couple of words to...

Money makes the world go around, and nowhere is that saying truer than in India. From the moment I arrived at my hotel in Chennai, right up to the time I checked in at the airport to fly home, I found myself constantly having to dole out money for things that I would not have to pay for here in Malaysia. TIP EM! Tipping is not just the norm in India, it's the culture. As a foreigner, especially one from a country with a higher currency rate, you are expected to tip your way through your trip. If you fail to tip somewhere along the line, expect to be treated in an uncooperative manner and worse still be insulted. For instance if you forget to tip the guy at the shoe counter at some tourist area, be prepared to hear audible grumbling about stingy foreigners. This despite the fact that you had already paid to deposit your shoes there. In short you will be expected to dish out extra money for whatever service you request. That aside, there will always be helpful wannabes tagg...