Ten Thousand

On 12th September 2010, I blogged about Suburan KID's first thousand views.

5 months and 12 days later, I proudly announce that Suburban KID has garnered Ten Thousand Views. That's ten times more than what I got in the first three months.

Confused? Okay, in the first three months that Blogger Stats were available, Suburban KID earned one thousand views. In other words, 3 months=1000. Now, it's 5 months=10000. I'm sure there's some percentage to be taken from this, but I'm too lazy to find out. All I know is, it's a LOT.

So, a very big thank you to Siangling, Jiawin, Kerryn, Emerlyn, Jarren(is that how you spell it? Sorry dude) and others who read this blog regularly. I even want to thank those who only stop by once in a while, or once in their lives.

No, wait, if you come by only once that's too short. Come more often! It's a whole new world here. (Begins singing A Whole New World)

Okay, singing isn't my strong point. Will halt immediately.

And I promise, there's more to come. Bigger and better. After the first book of The Mercenary is done(I admit that's quite some way away...), I will return to normal blogging, and work on writing even better posts.

So once again, thank you to everyone who reads this blog, provides feedback, criticisms and compliments, or has in any way contributed to the formation of this blog. Suburban KID wouldn't be the same without you.

I, M.E. and my$e!f,
Suburban KID Blog Committee

P.S. Okay, maybe not my$e!f. Not like he cares anyway.

An Incovenient Truth

Have you ever had that time when a good friend stands up to you and say: "You're a/an idiot/bitch/jerk/etc?"

I went through one of those times today.

Now, I want to make it clear: I appreciate these kinds of friends. They may sound harsh, but they really give you honest opinions, and most of your time, are your reality check. Your ONLY reality check.

So what's the fuss all about?

I was called arrogant. In other words, close to a jerk.

While this rather hurt me, it also forced me to sit down and take a good look at myself. I like being a confident person, but am I going too far? Am I becoming a self-centred person, who only cares of his own success and his well-being?

Am I becoming one of those people who makes sure nothing gets in his way to what he wants? One who doesn't care about being rude, just to look 'confident'?

Am I becoming self-possessed? To want everyone to know of my achievements, sticking my nose up to everyone else, who look inferior in my eyes?

I wasn't that confident and sure of myself some years back. And I can still feel traces of that uncertainty. I was scared to be in front of everyone. To stand up for what I felt was right, in fear of getting into trouble. Scared of being the one to stand up boldly and say, "Yes, I'll do it!" Scared to take that leap into unknown territory, in fear of looking weird or 'out-of-place', and not following the crowd. In short, scared of taking the risky path, in fear of the unknown.

But as I grew older, I realised that if I wanted new oppurtunities, new chances, I needed to let go of that fear. I needed to be sure of myself. Positive. Cool. Calm. Collected.

But really, am I going too far? To the point of no return?

I've thought for a long time on this. And the answer is: yes and no.

I know, it always is. But no one said life was easy. In fact, it's always the ****ing opposite.

The answer is yes when I apply this to my friends or family. Like what I always like to say, there's a time and place for everything. And the time for being over-confident is not with friends. Or family.

More importantly, no, during other times. Being slightly arrogant is part of my nature. It is part of identity, and to change that would be akin to getting a plastic surgery. And in truth, I like being confident. Who doesn't? I believe, if I can balance it properly, being arrogant is no bad thing. You're not going to get people looking up to you by being a coward.

Lastly, to that friend who stood up to me and said it to my face: Thank you.

Thank you for making me look at myself, something that I regretfully do too little. Thank you for making me realise that some parts of me are not as good as I think, and I need to work to change or balance myself. Most of all, thank you for being a great friend.

Seeing Red (Chinese New Year 2011 Special)

You can tell it's that time of the year again.
(Yes, yes, I'd said that I'll stop blogging for now but...)

The sofa cushions are red.

The flowers... are red.

 Well, almost...

The bed sheets are red.

The weird-looking lanterns, which look totally out-of-place against your modern fluorescent lamps, are red.

The cloth-like thing hanging over your front door for no particular reason, is red.

And of course, you'll be forced asked to wear red too, or you won't get any of those red-coloured packets, which, quite happily, contain money in them.

Name me one other time of the year where nearly the entire country is covered with a massive blanket of red-ness. No, Valentine's Day doesn't count, that's PINK(And I don't mean the singer).

So, here we are, at 2011's Chinese New Year! Year of the Rabbit, as it is. (lights fireworks-again. Yes, I have a habit to do that on festive occasions.)

Besides the obvious nausea-inducing red-ness and the craze of buying rabbits-thus leading to mistreatment by inexperienced owners, blah blah blah- there is nothing to dislike about the lunar new year.

I mean, come on. Money in packets, readily given out by relatives? Fireworks at the ready, to be fired into infinity(and beyond) at your whim? The best food you can get, and a whole group of relatives you've never even heard of?

When else?

Now that you've got that securely hammered into your head, I want to talk about a small issue of stereotyping of race and religion here in Malaysia. Because the weird thing is, during the weeks running up to CNY, whenever I raised a topic about it, my school mates will go, "Er, but you're Christian aren't you? Thought you didn't celebrate?"

Of course, the response given every time will be a "and why not?". But really, I find this absurd.

Yes, I'm a Catholic, but I am also a Chinese Malaysian. Why wouldn't I celebrate?

The answer, I suspect, lies in the Moral/Sivik textbooks from our early primary years. I did a little research -rummaging through theStar online archives- and found that I was right.

If you can remember, those textbooks thought us this: Malays are Muslims, Chinese are Buddhists and Indians are Hindus. Which is RIDICULOUS.

As far as I know, only the Malays are not allowed to convert to other religions(a topic that I will avoid debating here for obvious reasons). According to the Malaysian Constitution, other races can follow any faith as they wish. Question answered, and the Education Ministry should quickly correct those mistakes.

Funnily enough, my other Christian friends who don't speak English much seldom have this problem.
Why? Because apparently, Christians are supposed to speak English. And those who don't are assumed to be non-Christians. Yet another stereotype. Why are people who speak Mandarin assumed to be Buddhist/Taoist and English, Christians??? Idiots, but I can't blame them.

I could just end this post with my notorious gloomy 'Happy Chinese New Year', light some fireworks, and perhaps burn down the house, but I won't.

I'll just burn down the house.

Note: Oh yeah, you might have noticed that I have stop using the "Terence Wang on...(blahblahblah). Yes, I've dropped it permanently. It felt silly.

Although having said that he won't, Terence Wang still feels inclined to wish all readers a Happy Chinese New Year. And if you're married, he would particularly appreciate it if you give him a red packet or two. Yes, the ones with money in them.