The End of the Beginning of the End...

So, there it is. The end of the year. The inexorable march of time that brings us all one step further in our life. So what does the future hold?

My personal answer - nothing but hope. And, if the said hope proves false, danger and fear in its stead. A friend of mine once said that the future will never come to be, 'cause when it does its the present, not the future.

What about the past, you may ask? They're but memories to me, some sweet, some bitter, most mixed in both; some true to last, others misleading. Well, at least I know partly what Brom (from Eragon, by C. Paulini) the storyteller feels like now - to look back, and know that one remembers not much of it, then to look forward, and know that something still lies before one's self.

If you read the Erevis Cale Trilogy, you'd know that Cale, the butler cum assassin-follower of Mask, decided that while his future may be determined without his consent, he chooses how he would walk his path of life, to his end. I believe his point - our fate is chosen for us, whether by other-worldly rules, or by our own subconcious personalities. Yet, we can chose what path we take towards that goal, though if given the chance, I'd prefer to be able to know what's going to come up in the future.

Still, unless we end our lives here and now, there's no other choice but to go forward. If only life was like a video game, with saves and reloads if you make a blunder. But it isn't. So many thanks all the best to you for reading this. As hunters may say, "Good hunting."

On the Week 'Fore Christmas, What I Had Recieved...

...Was a note to ask me - though not in person - to spread word so that the seed of kindness, long buried in someone's heart, may grow into a blooming plant.

And, well, I thought, just in time. So, I decided to see what Christmas has for us to offer. In the olden days, people treat Christmas as a holy tradition. People sang carols, prayed for peace, light candles as a sign that visitors are welcomed. A couple of years later, peoples' lives were better. Christmas turned into a holiday - kids loved to crawled into the bed, excited, fall asleep two seconds later, then wake up in the morning, to find gifts from Father Christmas - actually, it awas their parents, of course.

Now, seeing it as me, no longer a kid, I noticed more and more commercially-orientated Christmas, as do every other holiday. Try walking through one mall, and you'll see a couple of conifer trees, lots of red hats, and more than one Santa Claus when you're lucky. Not that there's no more peace and "holiness" (for lack of better word) in Christmas, but just that I find it harder to see such a point.

So, what can we do this Christmas? Aside from doing the same each year (join the crowd, or stay at home for a rest), try to preserve the "endangered species" that is the original Christmas spirit by doing a special kind deed or two. You can help somebody to reach their destination, carry a load up a floor, or even give a sincere praise to that guy next door.

People feel better after doing something good - if you didn't, see me and I'll give you all my money. Its the satishfaction and peace that you've done something to help hat encourages you to do more. So at least try - spread the love this Christmas.

Its Just Emotions

" 'There's no shame in what you are feeling, Harry...... on the contrary, the ability to feel pain like this is your greatest strength,' Dumbledore said calmly.

'Look, I don't want to talk about how I feel, alright?' Harry said heatedly.

'Harry, suffering like this proves that you are still a man! This pain is part of being human-'

'THEN-I-DON'T-WANT-TO-BE-HUMAN! I-DON'T-CARE!' screamed Harry until his voice broke, while he seized Dumbledore's instruments and hurled them all over the office.

Dumbledore merely observe Harry demolishing his office before replying, 'You do care. You care so much you feel as though you'll bleed to death by the pain of it.' "

- Excerpted from J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix"

If you are in Harry's shoes, how would you feel? Know that you must live without a family for thirteen years, to suddenly found someone as close to you as a family can be, only to lose him/her, by a mistake you felt you should have avoided?

Would you do as he does, yelling till you're hoarse that you won't care, while inside you're tearing apart? Would you show no feelings, but inside you're still grieving to the point of insanity?

Nowadays, people would chose the latter over the former - to grieve for someone, especially in front of others, was now treated as weakness rather than compassion. My regrets considering the situation, since that the griever who does so often end up really, really bad. Its like trying to wall-in a flood - when you can't hold it any longer, it breaks and come forth multiple times worse than when you first felt it.

"Oh, well, we'll get over it," you say. But to get over it, you have to let it go first, not clinging to it. And, well, I've yet to find a better way to let it go than to just express it, no matter how histerical it'll come out. Everybody feels better after doing so - the first step to move on to the future is to let go of the present.

Wanderings of the Abodeless

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,
Yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your
Teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed,
To me; I lift my lamp, beside, the golden door!"

- Excerpted and adapted from Emma Lazarus's poem of the Statue of Liberty, America.

Telcontar is a worn traveller, that read the excerpt and envisioned a place that was not his homeland, but feels as intimate to himself as that homeplace of his; a place, where, he knew he'd feel safe and comfortable, though not exactly, home. To him, it worked just fine, for his so-called "home" was lost to him for a long time. He was one of those people that called themselves "the Abodeless" - the people whom had never thought of a place as a real home.

He had been to deserts, savannahs, forests, mountains of untold heights, oceans of width immeasurable by himself; by today's technologies, those places he visited could have been charted as a whole map.

He was always alone. It wasn't that he didn't attract felllow Abodeless to offer going together with him; its just that he found company trying and he preferred to be alone. And it was just as well - there had been circumstances where he'd could've survived only by himself.

Now, he had an impulse to go aganist the Abodeless'es rule of going without any direction - he wanted to see where the place described in the poem looks like. He was disapointed. Turns out, his fate was probably to wander abodeless forever.

Upon further reflection, he realised that he was, in fact, at home - his wanderings to found a place to belong has become a place to belong. With a small sile at the notion, he turned his back and walked straight to the horizon, his figure shrinking out of sight.

What Will Leaders Do Without Followers? (or anything of the sort)

Doing chores upon my father's bidding, I suddenly come accross the thought, "Dad does the ordering, I do the working. If I'm not around, is Dad the one doing it instead of ordering?" Why, of course.

Well, in a group, people usually need one of themselves to lead the others, or they get confused about what should be done next. If everyone does their own stuff as an individual, what good would a group be?

What I would despise though, is the way some leaders would abuse their authority, such as lording people about to fulfil every single whim. To me, things like that only concern certain fields - Eg. you may be my boss at work, but when we clock out, there's no reason for you to ask me polish your shoes (even if I had to during work).

As everybody knows, a leader only exist when he/she has others to follow him/her, so a leader should place his/her own welfare after - and only after - the welfare of others. Doing otherwise ensures you get deserted, to state the obvious.

Maybe that's why democracy is so popular - when you don't like the leader, get everybody else to throw him down (and probably putting yourself up in the progress).

Hmm...... Cool idea.

As a saying goes, "An empire is like a tree - a king's the treetop, the citizens the roots. without the roots, the tree would surely fall." Let's hope the little cliche you're leading stays standing - you know how to maintain it so.

Religion - Its All In the Core

I'm quite sure that many of you out there believe that the Creator exist, albeit in the form that you believe Him to be. It is in this belief, thus formed the religions of the people in the world we now today. Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianism, and many others have brought mental peace within people, bolstering them with new strength and letting them see a new light in their lives.

Yet, sometimes, its inevitable that some followers may turn fanatic in their beliefs, and instead of giving what they can to aid others and spread love, they went and done something harmful, which may even be irreparable. Its not to say that the religions misled these people - merely that they pitifully saw the twisted truth in their own mind.

These people, fanatics if you will, failed to see the truth behind this - as well as all other good - religious beliefs - to spread love instead of harm is what we can and should do. Courage, passion, righteousness - these are among the qualities people shhould have, regardless of their religion. A religion is, among other things, a way for us to discover and utilise the good within us, so that we do not regress into the barbaric ways that are able to destroy us totally.

Yet, for those who maintain a belief other than ours, why shouldn't we show the same compassion for them as we have shown those whom we love because the two of us share the same religion? It is my opinion that a place of multi-religious people can and should love each other without any trappings, be it skin colour or beliefs.

It is the main message of religion that makes it revered - love. So, even though a man may not share your point of view in this delicate matter, so long as he/she loves you (in any way of relationship), it is your fortune to be loved so.

Education - What's Good for Whom

Sometimes, to say the least, education wears the passion out of youngsters. How many kids and teens out there like sitting still more than running around playing games? Not to say education was not fun at all, but really, not everyone can bring themselves to bear through the process of sitting quietly non-stop for eight hours a day, much less like it. Still, government policies made it so that it's the daily battle some have to struggle through during a period they call "term time", in modern countries.

Really, why should we just force knowledge into the next generation nowdays as if we are stuffing ingredients into a duck in preparation for the dish? As many would have known by now, not everyone can learn by simply sitting still and listen. There are much more who would rather take apart machines and rebuild them to learn how it works, who would rather live lterally in kitchens to finesse their art of cooking, and even those who would rather endure the heat of the desert just to uncover some artifact of a lost civilisation.

But, in their childhood years, when they would most likely develop a passion for somethiing they thought of pursuing as a life, they were forced to listen to teachers' lectures about ethics, literacy, history, etc. *sigh* When someone tries to protest, those who were for that type of "duck-stuffing" education just say, "They'll get through, like we did. It's all for their own good."

WHAT KIND OF CRAP IS THAT???

Please, everyone, why don't we just let them choose their path, their way of life? Children nowadays are becoming more matured than they were some generations ago. They were able to distinguish what they like from what they don't. So just trust the kids - let them do it their way. We only need to let let them know that we're there with them all the way, that we'll help if they need it.

Often, a single solution does not work for everyone. So help the next generation by letting them find theirs. Its one of the ways to let them retain their passion throughout their lives. Otherwise, we might indirectly snuffed it out, turning them into mindless minions walking the life laid down forcibly by others. This way, how could we evolve, how could we improve at all?

A Mutation of Sorts - Hedgehog Survival

"Mutation - it is the key to evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-cell organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, normally taking thousands and thousands of years... But every few hundred millenia, evolution leaps forward... ... And while our bodies may be gone, our lessons are eternal."

- Charles Xavier, from the novelization of X-Men III: The Last Stand

Mutation actually means an unexpected, and often extreme, changes in the genes of living beings that produced one or many individuals with different characteristics compared to the "normal" majority of the species. However, should the said change affects the majority of the population, it will take less than a couple of generations for the mutation to remain the norm. (Eg. teens using short forms when chatting online now starts to affect even formal writing)

Yet, this is not the kind of mutation I'm talking about, to explain it fully, let me start with some stuff about hedehogs. Well protected even under normal circumstances by spines on their backs, hedgehogs fully utilised their defence mechanism when threatened by curling up into a ball. This proves to be nearly flawless, as only the most cunning and patient predators can outwait and outsmart the spiny balls.

Nowadays, though, as urbanization begins to invade the woodlands that made up hedgehog habitats, particularly in UK, hedgehogs' best defense strategy had proved fatal to them.

Try to imagine this scenario: a hedgehog crossing a road was noticed by a passing car, but not in time to slow down or swerve out of the way before the hedgehog gets ran over. The driver still floors the brakes, while honking loudly. The animal senses the danger, naturally, and reacts as it would to a predator - curling up. Needless to say, the outcome was not pretty.

Now, though, animal lovers may rejoice. reports from a certain HogWatch shows that hedgehogs now develop a kind of "mutation" in the development of their defense stratagems, after centuries without tampering with. When hedgehogs felt threatened on hard tar roads, they no longer curl up. Instead, they run, even though they are not built to mive quickly. Only when their feet encounter soft earth do they resume curling up. Some still don't make it to the other side, but it's a start that they are adapting to survive.

This, is their "mutation" - not in a genetic way, but a fast adaptation nevertheless for the survival of their species, and one that will surely become more and more common, as human population take over increasingly more habitats of these animals.

Diamonds - how d'you choose 'em?

Try to ask a jeweller this question, "How much does a diamond cost?" A typical one would sigh, then started to explain profusely the factors affecting a diamond's price. More often than not, The answers you'd get would leave you more confused than before. (Laughs)


Although, at the very least, you should have heard about the "4Cs" - Carat, Cut, Clarity and Colour. Any jeweller worth the trade never misses out these factors that plummets or rockets skyhigh the price of any diamonds. (If the one you meet did not mention any of the above, he/she is probably a fake jeweller. Its likely that his/her gems are hoaxes, too)


Carat, of course, means weight. (1 carat equals about 0.2 grams) When compared, a 2 carat diamond is rarer than a 1 carat diamond of the exact properties. However, as a diamond's volume does not increase in proportion to the weight, You'd rather get one with a weight that looks good enough on your finger as well as one that don't burn you moneybags into ashes.


Cut stands for the way the diamond is polished and proportioned so that the diamonds' brilliance may be shown fully. It also stands for the shape the diamond has been cut into. The most popular cut is known as the Round Modern Brilliant Cut, which contains different varieties such as heart shapes and pear shapes. A subtly cut diamond can refract light from any direction to all directions, which gives the diamond a sparkling brilliance.

Colour is also an important element when choosing a diamond. Not for the sake of the gem itself,
but rather as the diamond's colour may well reflect your personality as an accessory (albeit an expensive one). A diamond with a colour that suits you on the inside shows on the outside, meaning when you wear a jewellery with a diamond you like a lot, it sort of enhances your flair in life, an aura that some may find breathtaking.

Lastly, there's the clarity of the stone. Generally, clarity means imperfections within the diamond that may affect the beauty of the diamond. If I may, I stressed the word may, since the said imperfections are microscopic, i.e. normally unnoticed under the naked eye. Starting from flawless, and going down to rejection, higher-graded diamonds are, of course, rarer and more expensive than their low-graded counterparts. Still, for normal consumers, a diamond that seems perfect enough is, well, perfect enough. I personally don't think its wise for those with a slightly tight budget to go for a IF (Internally Flawless) diamond.

In a nutshell, if I were to go and buy a diamond for my girlfriend, I'd take her along, let her choose the colour that's to her liking, then take the best cut, seemingly-without-imperfection, best-sized-for-her-finger diamond. I'll pay by cheque, and request to the bank for an unlimited overdraft beforehand. (I'm joking! Really!)

Got the balls to floor it?

So, if you're from Asia, partucularly Malaysia, let me introduce you to a sport - floorball. If you're an European, I don't see any reasons why you don't know this game - unless you've been too busy to care about anything in the world, that is.

Now, back to floorball. It's sort of like floor hockey, only the sticks are lighter (no more serious injuries) and the puck is replaced by a hollow plastic ball (safe projectile to hit in games). YOU play it in teams of threes or fives, give or take the keeper. The team who scores the most in the three 20-minutes session wins (duh!)

Well, I got to know this game two years ago, when the local club actually come to my high school in my first year there to ormote the sport. However, my interests are sparked only about three months ago in a fit of deja vu when the same local club put up an article on the newspaper. I went to check it out with 'couple of my friends, and voila! I got hitched on and am playing regularly now.

What the game requires is a stick per player (about 80 USD each), a ball (<5>, as it's equipments are made for floorball enthusiasts, by floorball enthusiasts. You can check out the Canadien official website for more details, such as your local retailer or even special events.

All in all, this is a sport like many others - sportsmanship, teamwork and personal skills being of the same importance and all that - but it is actually fun. As it isn't very popular yet, you had a great chance in making it a hit. Should you suceeded, you could take it on to a higher level and become a bigger star. Think of this - the first members of the teams of the English Floorball League! How awesome is that?