23rd November

Well, what so great bout this day you ask? It is one of those happy days in my life because a few small events added up to form an exellent 24 hours....1st of all, its my best friend, Chris' birthday(sorry for those Novemberians that I forgot to wish! very sorry!), 2ndly, today is a public holiday in Japan! Don't ask me what special holiday it is cos I don't really know (more like don't care!) As long as I do not have to wake up at 7.21am on that day, its considered a good day & worth celebrating. Finally! Today is the day BoA releases her latest Japanese single(I bought it dee!) entitled 抱きしめる...or 'Embrace' in English. Even though there are only 4 songs inside, for me, its still worth my every single sweat (cycling for 10 minutes to the supermarket that sells it) & money(1050yen)!

Okla, this blog is just a stupid blog to keep something new on it since I'm kinda bz during the last weekend(visited Kyoto for the autumn maple sighseing event) & will be too this coming weekend(hostel sports day & Osaka motorshow)...promise pictures in the next blog(btw, lets give it a vote, Osaka motorshow pics or Kyoto's scenaries? You ppl choose..) Chowz!

Reasons Why I have Been Refusing To Teach My Tutor English...

Malaysian English (MyE) or formally known as Malaysian Standard English (MSE) is a form of English used in Malaysia and is the linqua franca in Malaysia. However, Malaysian English should never be confused with Malaysia Colloquial English which is famously known as Manglish or Street English.

Interestingly, many people here in Malaysia are fluent in two different forms of English – Malaysian Standard English (close to the English spoken by native speakers worldwide) and Malaysian Colloquial English or Manglish (not understood by foreigners) – and are able to switch between them depending on the social situation.

Words only used in British English
To a large extent, standard Malaysian English is descended from British English, largely due to the country's colonisation by Britain beginning from the 18th century. But because of influence from American mass media, particularly in the form of television programmes and movies, Malaysians are also usually familiar with many American English words. For instance, both lift/elevator and lorry/truck are understood, although the British form is preferred. Only in some very limited cases is the American English form more widespread, e.g. chips instead of crisps, fries instead of chips.

In Malaysian English, the last syllable of a word is sometimes not pronounced with the strength that it would be in British English. Also, p and f are sometimes pronounced somewhat similarly among speakers of Malay descent. For example, the two Malay names 'Fazlin' and 'Pazlin' may sound almost identical when spoken by Malays, whereas this confusion would not arise when spoken by a British Speaker.

Words or phrases only used in Malaysian English
Malaysian English is gradually forming its own vocabulary, these words come from a variety of influences. Typically, for words or phrases that are based on other English words, the Malaysian English speaker may be unaware that the word or phrase is not present in British or American English.

Malaysian British / American
Handphone (often abbreviated to HP) Mobile phone or Cell phone
KIV (keep in view) Kept on file, held for further consideration
Outstation Means both 'out of town' and/or 'overseas/abroad'
MC (medical certificate) Often used in this context, e.g. 'He is on MC today' Sick note
Can Yes/Alright
Photostat Photocopy, Xerox
Cannot No
One hundred over, one thousand over etc. Over one hundred, over one thousand etc
Malaysian Chinese / Malaysian Indian (despite (Chinese Malaysian /
being grammatically incorrect, these terms Indian Malaysian)
are considered correct in Malaysian English)

Meh/Ke
An optional suffix usually used to donate a question mark to yes, as in "yeah meh?" or "ye ke?" i.e. "Are you sure?", with the former being more commonly used amongst those of Chinese descent and the latter by Malays.

Mar
Mostly used as a suffix. Derived from Chinese languages, where "ma" is gramatically correct. For instance, (mandarin) "ni zhi dao ma?" would literally mean "Did you know?", except that there is an extra word behind: ma. Another example, a person would say "I didn't know mar"; which somewhat has the same meaning as "I didn't know la" but is softer than "la". When the person says "I didn't know mar", it indirectly states that the person is being apologetic about not knowing something.

Ar
An optional suffix usually used to donate a question mark, as in "Sure ar?" or "Are you sure ar?", i.e. "Are you sure?"
No equivalent.

Lah/La/Lor
A popular suffix to phrases and sentences. Originates from Chinese language (and its dialects) where its usage is grammatically correct, for instance, (cantonese) "M hou gam yeung la" would literally mean "Don't be like that", except that there is an extra word at the end, "la". Another example: "cannot, lah", i.e."Sorry that's not possible." and "Rest some more-lah.", i.e. "Please rest for a while longer,"; It is important to note that the tone of which the prefx s spoken greatly affects the context of the statement. Example, saying "Okay -lah" while squinting one eye and hesitating the -lah, would be to give a mediocre opinion about something (as in "The food was okay-lah"). Meanwhile, to say a short increasing pitched -lah as in "Okay -lah. We'll all go to Ipoh later", would be to agree about something. "Lah" is also generally used to soften an otherwise angry/stern tone, such as: "Stop it lah" as opposed to just an abrupt "Stop it!", or "Don't be like that la" as opposed to "Don't be like that". It is usually perceived as less insulting when a "lah" is added in sentences such as those, and typically means that the person uttering the sentence is not angry, unless of course, it is said in a harsh tone.

Gostan
To reverse, especially in the context of driving motor vehicles. A contraction of the term "go astern".

Much of Manglish grammatical structure is taken from Chinese dialects. Many also claim the structures have also been borrowed from the Malay Language, but the amount of borrowing from Malay dwarves in comparison to the borrowing from Chinese. For example, the phrase "Why you so like that one?" means "Why are you behaving in that way" in normal English. In Cantonese, a similar phrase would be rendered as "Dímgáai néih gám ge?" or literally "Why you like that?" The "one" in the sample phrase does not literally mean the numeral one, instead it is used more as a suffix device. It is also sometimes rendered as "wan."

Other common characteristics are anastrophe and omission of certain prepositions and articles. For example "I haven't seen you in a long time" becomes "Long time never seen you already." Or, in Singlish (used in Singapore), natives will usually say "Long time no see".

Source from Wikipedia.com(Just type the word Manglish)

高専際

Busy! Busy! Busy! Yesterday & today was 高専際 day....its something like my PFS fun fair during my form 2(or 3? can't rememer dee) except that my college puts out more effort and money to make it a success. Pity those who are assigned to to train stations as early as 5.30am to pass pamphlets to passer-bys about this day. Well, this is how my college's main gate look today....simple huh? I don't think so k! My school ended early on Friday just to allow everyone to prepare for this 'once in a year event'...the biggest for my college!



Everything from the stage, deco, floor planning, music equipment, etc, was planned by students only! It seems that teachers didn't even 'touch' a single this in this event(except for health care) which, for me, was an excellent opportunity for us to assume responsibilities as adults..not to mention that we can avoid those 'disagreements' which usually accur when teachers & students does thing together!

It was raining today so the performers can't actually use the entire stage in order to protect the eq.... I was bz so I didn't actually have the 'privilege' to enjoy it..too bad! I heard that it was good! Ppl actually got drenched cos they stood under the rain just to watch it le.....really wasted for me(even though I might not understand all of it)


Well, there were 36 stalls selling a wide variety of Jap food(no sushi on naked girl, mind 'U'!) & some were games stalls. I don't know how I did it, but I think I tried about 70% of all those stalls...some bought by my own money, some I got for free, some I just shared with my friends.


Look at the drenched floor! This rain almost killed our business! Fortunately, it stoped kinda early so we don't have to suffer from any financial losses....those ttrees behind indicates that it is now autumn here in Japan & it is as cold as Genting everyday....but what shocked my the most was that there were girls who were able to wear 'minis' without actually freezing....whats their secret huh? Guys all wear long pants, jacket, while gals not feeling this chill at all....for the sake of beauty?



This place looked like a pasar malam(except that theres a sun still shining) for the past 2 days, with every stall placed beside the road, & there were even stores selling those 'cheap-cheap' looking clothes....I think those clothes sellers can't earn much kua? Given the fact that Japs are so fashion conscious & very pantang ppl wear the same thing or style 1.....ya, its like a pasar malam except 1 thing....its SUPA damn clean! Cos ppl here are just not M'sians. Its just as simple as that!


Another reason why it looked like a pasar malam? Well, tell me which pasar malam doesn't have at least 1 stall selling satays?



And how different is this picture from the 1 you normally find in typical pasar malam? Well, I can say that its damn clean la...those strict rules imposed....don't even try to think to break it! A check every 2 hours by our school nurse carrying the "NO LONGER SELLING" board waiting to catch those who even dare to think 'dirty'! Everything went well till the end for us & everyone else la...lucky!


Gloves, face mask, apron, head scarf....shit test....all this just to sell satay! Well, with a clean earning of RM1000 in 2 days, not bad huh? I don't wanna say this, but me & Shi Han actually did the most work to make this satay a success...try marinating 800 sticks of satay in 1 night with such stringent rules. If my gloves 'ter' touched the outer box of the satay, then its taking out the gloves, throw it away, spray alcohol on my hands, then wear it again...well, because of all this rules, we were quite stressed on the 1st day. However, the 2nd day was clearly 'fun n easy' through out the whole day, got time to take pic also....we actually had fun while breathing CO2 for 5 hours straight! Kena poisoning dee I guess?




Prove that business was not bad...not bad at all...most ppl got attracted to the shouting of "SATE! SATE!" Fook Hee & me actually shouted "PUKI! CIBAI!" a few times for the fun of it....cos we won't be beaten after that! Can't do it in M'sia....hahaha


My classmates sold waffles....I bought all 3 flavour just to show my 'patriotism'....I really kena gas poisoning dee!


MY SCHOOL NURSE! HOW?? Joking only....If she is my school nurse, I think I might fall sick more often...but nah! She just wore this clothes to attract more ppl to her stall selling cakes...we might think that its wierd, but it is something usual here, called cosplay...they use whatever 'uniform' they possess to attract customers. In this case, to pretend to be a nurse (I got a feeling that a 'snipe' by my chain mail pals is gonna come soon!) Hey! I'm just telling the truth! Check the pic b4 the satay's pic...notice a gal wearing a french maid dress standing near the clothes stall....what can I say?


Well, thats all....we had 3 minutes worth of fireworks display as a closing ceremony. Something like what we can see in M'sia(hey! my college isn't so rich ok!)....tired...damn tired now! Chowz!

In Memory Of BUTCH.....

Well, I received the news sorta late, and as much as I wanna avoid it, I just can't! This dog above is not even mine, hell! It doesn't even recognize me after so many years I've been to his owners house...but now, his DEAD!? I mean, so fast? I haven't finish irritating it enough yet. Butch is the 1st and only dog(besides Fifi) that I really played with & which I dare touch.....cos he DOESN'T bite...even a single bit...he just barks non-stop. As sad as it is, I think that Butch misses Gary too much after he left for Assusie. Such that even have dire consequences on his health I guess? Well, as what Chris said, we should not mourn for his death, but celebrate his life....as a damn good companion...Gary, I hope you can get along with yours too...we all know how much you loved Butch....may he be in peace, and that we all misses him...ALOT....
Picture taken by me during the 2005 New Years Day in Gary's house. His mum told me to take Butch's pic cos he looked cute hiding behind the balcony door....well, his cuteness will always last...will really miss him when I'm back in Penang...