The Proposal

the lei Elton presented the ring to me with. It's made of Pikake, a local Jasmine flower, my favorite 

The proposal. Such a simple word but so complex in meaning, filled with nervous hope and future dreams. I've heard of many kinds before from close friends. Some were simple and conversational decisions. Others, unexpected surprises - some funny, some heart warming. I always thought mine would be a mutual decision. I'd found the man I know I'd like to be with for the rest of my life. I felt it doesn't really matter anymore, especially at this age. But today, Elton surprised me today in a way I never expected. 

We were leaving for Chicago tomorrow so we had both just finished packing and preparing to get to the airport the next morning at 4:30am. I was exhausted. Just as I jumped into bed, I realized there was still a mound of laundry sitting on the bed. Slightly irritated, and feeling a migraine coming on, I began folding, looking forward to the moment I could crash onto the bed and check out for the night. Elton walked in to the room and said he needed to go to the airport to see an old friend Miko from Japan, who was in transit for 10 minutes and wanted to meet me. I muttered, "Sorry, I'm too tired. You go ahead." He began begging me to go. Each time, I refused. This went on for about 15 minutes. Then suddenly, he got on his knees, took out the most beautiful ring I'd seen and said, "Would you marry me?". Dumbfounded, I stared at him. Then he explained that he had wanted to take me to the airport's International terminal and propose to me there, where we had first met when I landed in Hawaii. For the first time ever, I was speechless. I couldn't find the right words to say as all kinds of emotions welled up within me. For some reason, I just threw my arms around him and just began to sob. "I guess it's a Yes then?", he said. I just laughed. We laughed for a while. Then I pleaded with him to take me to the airport and propose to me again in front of people on his knees. To my exasperation, he said, "Nah! You spoilt the moment already!". 

It's funny how sometimes, we are unaware of the things that really can break us down until it actually happens. It was a simple moment. But I have never felt so much love for someone at that moment. God has been so good to me bringing someone into my life at a time I least expected it. I guess the best moments often happens when we least expect it.

Tinting a car

For some reason, I've always wished I knew more about cars, especially about pulling them apart and seeing how it all works. Elton has been talking about tinting my car for a while. With the Hawaiian heat, it's quite a necessity which blocks out more than 90% of the UV rays besides keeping the car a lot cooler in the sun. The best part was it only cost us $35 rather than $200 if we had a tint shop do it. Took us 3 hours in total. Surprisingly, it also gave the car a sportier, somewhat more expensive look too. And I found great satisfaction in knowing we did it ourselves. 


Part 1: Disassemble the car door. It was a lot easier than I thought. Just unscrew a couple screws and snap the door out then unplug the two electrical cords. We used the 35% tint which is the darkest legally allowed for front windscreens.

Part 2: measure out the tinting sheet, spray water so it stays against the window, cut out the shape against the window with a blade and squeegee (bought at an auto store for $5). The tricky part is to make sure not to cut the rubber sides of the window with the blade. Peeling the tint sheet apart from the adhesive sheet proved to be a real task. Had we read the instructions, we would've discovered all we had to do was pull the pieces apart with two pieces of tape on each side.

 Part 3: spray the tint sheet as it's pulled off the adhesive sheet, place the tint up against the window (make sure window is thoroughly sprayed wet), adjust it to fit, use the squeegee and quickly scrape the sheet against the window until all air bubbles are pushed out to the corners. This part is a little tricky as we had to move fast before the water dries. Had to keep spraying the water as we adjusted the tint to fit the window but making sure not to kink the tinting sheet.

Voila! Final product looked fabulous! I wouldn't say it was terribly hard but it is doable if you like playing with cars...plus it's a whole lot cheaper!

Mokule'ia Beach

I went to the last beach area I've not been to on Oahu today called Mokule'ia. This is probably one of the most undeveloped area I've seen on Oahu. It reminded me a lot of Kauai and Molokai islands with how remote it was. The air here is so fresh, it put Elton and I into a sleepy lull. The wind was strong today which draws out the surfers onto the big waves. There were lots of kite surfers here today. They basically hold on to a kite while jumping off waves on a surf board. It's pretty wild to watch. I had a good time snapping shots of them.

Mokuleia beach on the north west side of Oahu

plenty of Kite surfers on this beach today

Two harness belts go around the waist which pulls the body weight with the kite

The kite surfer to the left is airborne while the other one is surfing on the water

This guy jumped off as the wind pulled his kite up and was in the air for about 3 full seconds 

Trying to capture these tiny quick runners along the sand

This little guy was cute. Its colors camouflages perfectly with the sand here

Further west to the northwest tip of Oahu is Ka'ena Point Park. The terrain here is rougher and more remote. There's no beaches here but a great place to sit and take in the sea, sun and sand.

'Malama Da Aina' in Hawaiian means Care for the Land. 

The landscape looking west towards the northwest tip of the island 

The mountain range looking west towards the northwest tip of the island 

Classic Cars

We stumbled upon a bunch of car enthusiasts getting together at a parking lot with their classic cars while driving around. It was cool to see these old cars kept in pristine condition. So beautiful compared to the cars made today which all look the same. I loved the curves and details on many of these old cars made during a time when owning a car was a luxury mainly afforded by the elite. Gone are the days when cars were shaped so unique and bold in design and detail.

1929 Mercedes Benz. The accessories of this stylish car made it stunning and regal

1967 Firebird, a classic by Ford. Epitomizes the shape of cars in the 1960s

2005 C6 Corvette by GM. I wouldn't mind being picked up for a date in this American sportscar!

1959 Chevrolet by GM. Love the unique design of this car which I find boyish and playful

1959 Corvette. Beautiful classic design.

1959 Corvette.

1968 Camaro. Makes me think of those 1960s movies of high speed car chases on the San Francisco hills with the car flying into the air and lands intact!

1970 Camaro

First Trimester

In the past, I've been clueless about pregnancies. The more I read about pregnancy, the more I realize the process of a woman going through pregnancy is a pure miracle. It's just incomprehensible the amount of changes the woman's body goes through in order to become a natural incubator for another human being. It's like the biggest construction project going on within a human. 


Up to 60% of the human body is made up of water. When pregnant, the body needs to contain 30% more water! It also has to to build all the tissues necessary for the baby as well as the placenta, water sac and food to hold, protect and sustain the baby.


I've also realized from talking to other more experienced mothers around me is that every woman experiences a different pregnancy. Some are better, some not so pleasant. But one thing I don't understand is how every woman agrees that as soon as the baby is born, the joy is so overwhelming that something extraordinary occurs. They forget all the discomforts and inconveniences of the pregnancy, including the pain of childbirth. It's like nature's way of moving on and miraculously forgetting the less important things in life and focusing on the biggest miracle of life. I find myself asking girl friends if they disliked being pregnant and they would say no but once I asked describing a specific discomfort, they respond, "Oh yeah, now that you mentioned it, yes I did. But it will go away. When the baby is born you'll forget everything that happened those 10 months". Call me a skeptic but I don't understand it and I don't really believe it. I guess I'll find out soon..


I've just completed the last day of my first trimester and let me tell you, I am GLAD it's over.  I'm so over the nausea, dizziness, feeling bloated, metallic taste on my tongue, hot and cold flashes, insomnia and worst of all, the craziest mood swings. Apparently, the second trimester is when the body is the most 'normal'. It's such a luxury to be able to sleep through the night instead of waking up at 3am or 4am and not be able to sleep again though I'm tired. It's so nice not to feel like I need a 2 to 3 hour nap every 2 hours. I'm not much of a muncher so I'm relieved that I'm no longer having the craving to munch on some food every hour. On the flip side, my breasts ache from the constant blooming and my libido is skyrocketing, much to Elton's delight. I guess it's nature's way of balancing out the pros and cons between husbands and wives while going through this traumatic change.  

Riot in...Malaysia?

AlJazeera report on Minorities in Malaysia struggling with inequalities

A riot just broke out in Malaysia today. I read it on BBC. A part of me was saddened yet another part leaped inside. Finally! I thought. I love this beautiful country I was born in. Yet, I hate it. Mostly, because of the way it is governed.

AlJazeera report on Malaysia's New Economic Policy on Mar 29, 2010

I've never been fond of privilege based on color over merit but that was what I, including many of my other Chinese and Indian friends endured all throughout school in Malaysia. This was the result of the enactment of the National Economic Policy in 1972. Instead of uniting the three main races - Malays, Chinese and Indians raising the financial status of Malays to their counterparts, it's been abused and used as a crutch to bring slow and eventual corruption and inequality to every facet of the society. Even for admission into local Universities, there's a 3 to 1 mandate of Malays for every Chinese or Indian student admitted which meant that a Malay student with grades three times lower than their Chinese or Indian counterpart would have a greater chance of entry. It's utter (pardon my language) bullshit. 


I think Malaysia is the only country where affirmative discrimination...more endearingly called affirmative action which is meant to extinguish the social, political and financial gap between the races, actually widens the gap thereby causing more rift, strife, jealousy and worst of all, inequality among the very people it's intended to help. 


The need for equality is essential for a country's economic progress because it means assessment of qualification based on merit. In a country where the qualifying factor is the color of a person in the name of religion (Muslims in this case) as opposed to merit, the country has no where to go but down as it implodes on itself. In the case of Malaysia, many of the able and qualified citizens left (and continue to leave) the country for greener pastures. In this case, Australia, Singapore, America and Europe. The resulting tragedy is the massive brain drain over time, taking the best of their own people away and contributing their knowledge, resources and ideas to countries where it is not only valued but benefitted by those countries.


Malaysia is actually classified as a 'Democratic' country. Doesn't this mean that the people are free and independent to have a voice, separate of the governing bodies of the state, judiciary and legislature? Then we can conclude that the people have outlets to vent these thoughts and frustrations? Do the people have a voice? Not really. The invoking of the Internal Security Act (ISA - an act revived from the old British colonial days) allows the government to imprison and place any individual under detention without trial. The first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman announced on the day Malaysia gained independence from the British in 1956 that, "the ISA would never be used to stifle legitimate opposition and silence lawful dissent". Well, it looks more like Malaysia has regressed rather than progressed since then. It's a joke when I look at websites where local Malaysians banter back and forth on the injustices of the political system. Far from being sophisticated and complex, it's more like childish babies crying personal attacks void of facts, "Bodoh!"(Stupid or Idiot), "Tamak!" (Greedy pig) and "You are ultra kiasu!"(You're a loser).


When I was in college in Michigan back in the late 1990s, I remember Malaysian friends saying the Prime Minister then, Dr. Mahathir was travelling to the colleges in the United States with a high ratio of Malaysian students, petitioning for them to return to Malaysia after graduation, guaranteeing enormous tax breaks on houses, cars and business opportunities. In other words, he was well aware of the brain drain from the country with the best minds from the country accepting scholarships into foreign countries and emigrating, never to return to Malaysia again or contribute to a second world country  desperately needing local talents to help propel the country into a first world country status. The result? He was snubbed. Hardly any positive outcome came out of it. The graduates were not convinced they would receive true equality or an improved lifestyle. Instead, they felt that the whole premise of it justified even more privileges based on preferential treatment of one class of graduates over another (in this case, foreign educated graduates over local Malaysian graduates). 


The next thing we knew, those of us overseas started hearing rumors of how Dr. Mahathir was now perpetuating cronyism in his travels overseas. He was now making diplomatic trips to select countries to promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). In order to attract FDI, he promoted the country by bringing with him a personal possy or what we called cronies of local businessmen with whom he showered favoritism in distribution of legal permits, government grants, special tax breaks etc. to close deals with any interested foreign parties. Naturally, this resulted in an elite class of corrupted businessmen who received preferential treatment over others, blurring the lines of transparency of government decision making, further eroding the very necessary need for progress based on merit. The result, an economic boom which benefitted the select few over the masses. I remember one public annoyance created in the early 2000s when I was visiting back home. The government had awarded major local construction projects for transportation systems in the capitol of Kuala Lumpur (KL) They were first touted to relieve the increasing traffic jams, install a superior subway system which allowed busy commuters access to every corner of the city like the neighboring super efficient country of Singapore. In reality, since the contracts were awarded to companies based on favoritism over experience or know-how, the masses had to suffer massive delay in completion of road projects, causing more traffic jams, and subways lines which never intersected logically facilitating convenience and only went through select places where most of the rich cronies lived rather than through places with high traffic where public transportation was desperately needed. The privatization of the transportation system, benefitting again the select few who were rich enough to buy over the government bodies passed on the cost of building of roadways to the commuters who now pay excessive 'toll money' to travel round the city on the highways. There are many more examples that makes my blood boil.


On that note, it's also a widely known fact that 90%o  the taxes paid in the country are paid by non-Muslims. Malays are allowed tax rebates, oftentimes evading tax completely by making a offering to the needy called zakat under Muslim law . That basically translates to the Chinese and Indians supporting the Muslims' lifestyle. To add insult to injury, Muslims are allowed a 10%-30% rebate on the prices of property such as houses or cars. Where is the justice in all this? It's mind boggling. I cannot imagine the revolt that would happen in any other democratic country if this was the status quo.

The Bersih movement united Malaysians worldwide on July 9th 2011

This new Bersih movement shows the Malaysians on the motherland are no longer sitting back and complaining but are willing to now publicly rally for the equality and fairness for the people for better inclusion, more governance, transparency and push back the entrenched incumbents holding on to power. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end for the pseudo democracy Malaysia touts and perhaps the government will start putting its money where its mouth is. It's been long coming and I hope this means Malaysia will finally find its way to standing with the rest of the other democratic nations as an equal.