Thursday, September 23, 2004

Yearning For Hope


474055_827a2e7d21, originally uploaded by michelle_upm.

Dear Dad,
The 11th anniversary of your passing is not until December,but for no particular reason, I thought about you last night.And it made me cry involuntary tears into my pillow.
I found myself wishing you were still alive,so you could see me now.You could see how far I've come.I wish you were alive today, so I could make you proud.I'm not studying anything grand,but I'm happy doing what I'm doing.I am fulfilled.
I felt just a tiny bit sad, because I have this little wish to start learning how to play the guitar.Chords are okay to learn, but strumming's tricky.I found myself asking, wouldn't it be nice if you were here to give me strumming tips.( I remember that you were a self taught guitarist).
I suppose the forthcoming trip to Singapore has brought back memories.Singapore.
I remember Singapore.
The source of your attempted cure,
the place of my broken sorrow.
I remember Mount Elizabeth.I remember standing at the end of a long corridor capped with glass windows,the sun flooding in,yearning for a hope that would not come.I remember the insecurity and the waiting.But the insecurity most of all.

And this weekend I go back to Singapore,the place of your attempted cure, the place of my broken sorrow.

Monday, September 13, 2004

Sewage Workers Appreciation Week

Last Wednesday, my coursemates and I had the wonderful experience of enumearting the number of dangerous bacteria in various water samples, to gauge their quality.
Anyway, one of the samples was sewage water.
Yes, sewage water.Real sewage water taken from sewage tanks.It still had signs of you-know-what floating inside.
Because of this ,the whole lab smelled like eeewwwwwww!
All of us manages to survive the session,although a bit intoxicated by the putrid smell.
However, that got me thinking. Do the people working at indah water have to face this everyday?
The answer is,Yes.How? I don't know.Go ask them.
But we really have to appreciate what they do evryday,from the general workers, to the lab technicians, to the engineers, to the administrators.
Why? Because their job stinks.It literarily does.
Without them, we too wouldn't survive.Hence, sewage workers' appreciation week.

Note: Indah Water is the main private sewage processing company in Malaysia.Also, all the best to Jason Hwang and Tong Ngee as they run for office in MPPUPM in the campus elections this wednesday.

Friday, September 03, 2004

Signs of Rain

HTML freaks me out.It's been two months since I started blogging, and I still don't know how to link my friends or put any interesting website addresses.*sigh*.Shame on me.

And so,
We move on to the hot topic this week;
Why does society look down on scientists?
Ooops,sorry, that was last week's hot topic.

This week's hot topic is;
Where have all the good men gone?
and
Why are there more enteric bacteria in cabbage,
and none in raw beef?
Beats me.

Why does the world love the lovely,
But turn away the good.
My Father plays a song for me,
It says
Behold I make all things new.
And that's the hot topic.
Today.Tomorrow and always.

So,
When is it the right time,
and how do we know when's the wrong time?
What's the best way to cook pasta?
And which is better, Fettucini,
or Macaroni?

And if you haven't realized,
This is a question of weekly poems,
or a poem of weekly questions
or what's left of it
You choose.

Note:This week's shout out is to Sian Lerk and Flo for being the first to link this site to their blog.Check them out at http://www.holiao.com/blog