Today is a sad day.

The world lost an enormous icon.

Regardless of his strange and bizarre life, his contribution to the music industry has been tremendous and, in my opinion, no other artiste comes close to his standard of showmanship.

We, his fans, mourn his death.

Rest in peace, MJ.

Imperfection is subjective to each individual. What I construe as an imperfection may be different from what another person may define as an imperfection.

I feel that a lot of us hide our shortcomings behind the mask of imperfection. It is so easy to just say “Oh, I’m not perfect” and dump a shortcoming or weakness into the “I’m Imperfect” pile and then we forget about it and don’t do anything about it. This, I feel, is a cop-out “solution” to justify our shortcomings.

It’s true, we are all not perfect. As such, we are all imperfect. There is no such thing as perfection, I believe. But being imperfect doesn’t just stop there. Learning doesn’t stop by us saying “I’m not perfect”. Yes, all of us know that each of us is not perfect. But what do we do about it?

Life itself is a learning process. Our personalities evolve through our life’s experiences, we learn new skills and overcome some of our weaknesses. As such, just by saying we are imperfect does not absolve us of our weaknesses and shortcomings.

I do not believe in saying “I’m imperfect”. This is a given. What I believe in is learning to overcome an imperfection (I look at it more as a shortcoming, weakness, or a flaw) to be a better person, for myself and for others.

Learning to overcome an imperfection does not mean that one strives to be perfect. As mentioned, I do not believe there is such a thing as perfection. Learning to overcome an imperfection is merely one’s struggle to better oneself.

To be a more giving person. To have a good heart. To leave a good impression of oneself on others through one’s personal conduct and what one contributes to others and society. At least, these are some of my reasons for learning to overcome my flaws.

It could be as simple as being socially graceful or as big as opening your home to orphans (especially if you do not have an affinity for children). The reason I use these examples is because for me, the lack of social manners is an imperfection (or shortcoming). And to others, a person who does not like children is imperfect as well.

So that’s my take on being imperfect. I’m imperfect and I will never be flawless, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sweep my imperfections under a rock and keep them there. I will keep trying to better myself till the day I keel over dead because I believe there is so much the world has to offer and I to it as well.

My mom has always told me (and others), while reminiscing on my childhood, that I’ve always been prim and proper since I was wee kid.

Apparently (and I don’t really have much memory of this), whenever she announced that we were going out, I would get dressed in my nicest dress and put on my pretty socks and dainty shoes, as opposed to my sister who would usually just go out dressed in her favorite shorts, singlet, and slippers

So it’s no wonder, that up to this day, I have somewhat maintained my prim and proper image and I also expect other adults to maintain some sort of social etiquette as well, since it is good manners to do so. Regardless if you’re with mere acquaintances or your BFF or your partner who was seen your grossest and most disgusting habit.

Thankfully, females are much better at this than males. Males, unfortunately, have a long way to go. Sometimes, I wonder if they’re still in the Neandarthal (is this the correct term?) age, the way they go about in public.

1. Farting and burping indiscreetly in public is a big NO NO. If you have a silent fart or burp, then maybe you might get away with it but usually the silent ones are the killers (read : fragrance-wise) so if possible, DON’T do it.
2. There will be enough food to go around. We’re not in a starving third-world country. You don’t have to eat like there’s no tomorrow. It’s so unappealing to watch your dinner partner/mates stuff their faces like they’ve not eaten for days. So gelojoh!
3. If you’re wearing a light-colored shirt, don’t go order something like Hokkien mee unless you’re a very careful eater or you have a bib. Nothing creates a worse impression than going into a meeting and having someone’s black sauce-spattered shirt staring at you the entire meeting. Disgusting! On the same note and further from point #2, this is the reason you should eat slowly and carefully i.e. so you don’t mess up your shirt (and tie, for guys) and look like you’ve had a fight with your lunch.
4. Personal hygiene — I don’t need to go thru this because I have touched on it before.
5. Posture!!! Some people’s postures are really bad. You can see tummies hanging out, butts sticking out, and shoulders slouched when standing or walking. And while sitting, the worst is legs that are terkangkang-ed for the whole world to see (I don’t care if you’re a guy wearing pants or a girl wearing a miniskirt). It’s equally obscene! Do you know that by just standing an inch straighter, you can look miles taller?

Yes, I’m quite anal about these things and I notice all these about people and though I may not tell you about it (maybe because I’m not close to you enough to care), I’ve already formed an impression of you in my mind. About your social manners, that is.

Anyway, these things are nothing extraordinary or require additional effort to practice. We were all brought up to observe these common social manners anyway, so I don’t see anything new or totally out of this world about them.

No wonder they don’t want to send their people here to work as maids. Apparently, a lot of people are against day off for maids.

Heck, even you and me and every average Joe has a day or two off from work. Why would it differ for maids?

Can you imagine, cleaning the house, washing cars, minding children every single day, to name a few, without a day off? And I’m sure everyone knows that a lot of Malaysians work their maids like dogs!

So, if you can get a day off from work, shouldn’t your maid be entitled a day off too? Just because they are maids, doesn’t mean they’re not human as well.

Anyone can preach goodness and religion and all that, but just take a look at how they treat their maids and you can tell the condition of their hearts.

I’ve been told countless of times that I’m pathetically honest. People’s expressions also tell me so, they don’t even need to verbalize it.

But hey, that’s me. I don’t see anything wrong with being honest. As far as I can remember, it’s always been a nilai murni, something to be proud of.

Sure, there have been a few times when I had been naively honest. Like that time back in uni, when I was having lunch alone and this guy (I presumed he was a student) asked to join me. We ended up chatting and he asked for my phone number. And I gave it to him. Later, I smacked myself in the head for being so stupid i.e. divulging my phone number to a stranger. He could be a serial killer for all I know! He did call a couple of times after that, asking me to go for a party but I declined each time, and he stopped calling after that. Never heard from him since that 2nd phone call. Phew!

I never start out thinking the worst of people, except maybe when it comes to animals. I never consciously think that people would intentionally want to cheat me or lie to me, although I do try to be cautious.

I’ve never believed in lying or cheating or being dishonest in any way that would hurt or cause harm to others because I believe eventually, karma happens.

Of course, little white lies don’t count because they are supposedly harmless. The one lie that I tell the most these days are to the people who try to get me to sign up for their credit cards. I tell them, “No thank you, I’ve got one already.” Politely. Because they are just doing their job and trying to make a living.

So yeah, maybe I am pathetically honest. But I’d rather be “pathetically” honest (no, I don’t think I’m pathetic at all) and feel good about myself than be a serial liar who’s constantly trying to keep up with the lies s/he tells. Or one of those people who are take advantage of a situation to be dishonest/deceitful at someone else’s expense.

I always believe that the most accurate way to tell a person’s character/values is to learn about his/her past and also observe them in various situations.

Learn about their childhood, friendships, relationships (good and bad).

Observe how they treat different people (family, friends, people of different races/status/background, etc.), how they treat the environment (litterbug, recycles, don’t care about their carbon footprint, etc.), how they value themselves (personal hygiene, dressing, styling, etc.).

I know people change throughout their lives and some, many times… but I believe that their underlying values/character are not so easily swayed.

Why is it when we are kids, we’re so eager to grow up. But when we’re adults, we keep wanting to be kids again.

Life is so blaaaahh… bored, restless, demotivated, unappreciated… and the damn ectopic thing is back again. Gah!

There must be something more to life than this… must dig deeper and find it before I combust and *poof*.

But really, I shouldn’t complain. At least I’m healthy (for now) and don’t have to deal with a terminal illness. Note to self : Must.be.thankful.

I’ve just added new links See my sidebar…

Coz I love their music…

It’s always baffled me how come there are so many more gorgeous women than hunky men in this country.

Well, not that it’s something I dwell on all the time but it just pops into my mind occasionally.

Even when just walking thru malls, tons of well-dressed and nicely made-up females catch your eye but there would be almost zero males that would warrant even a first glance. (Yes, I’m talking purely about physical appearance, dressing, and the way one carries oneself, nothing more than that).

And then you see these hot girls on the arms of, err, not-so-hot guys (dress-sense, that is). I’m thinking, I wonder if guys put in half as much effort in looking good for their partners as much as their partners do. Coz as much as guys like to be seen with their hot girlfriends/wives, I’m sure their girlfriends/wives wouldn’t complain if their dearly beloveds took a bit more effort in looking good, right? I think it’s totally unfair that men expect women to look attractive and good all the time, but they themselves don’t put in the effort.

And by looking good, I don’t mean being garbed in CK or DKNY or whatever branded whatchamacallit apparel. One can wear branded stuff and still look bad. It’s knowing what makes you look good and glamming it up from there. And regular exercise wouldn’t hurt to keep those bulging bellies away and flabby arms toned.

Well, all I can say is that the men in this country have it good when it comes to eye candy.

Here’s a tribute to my hot, not-a-day-over-20 gals… something to drool over, especially Chris (I would never have guessed, haha!) Guess who…