Salute to Police Officers!

Note: The original version of this post contained this copyrighted image. Due to the photographer's request it was taken down. My apologies to the photographer.

All the while, I have always thought that flashing light is the only way good drivers warn others of impending police speed traps. If you don't know what I mean, just try to recall the last time drivers from the oncoming traffic suddenly flashed their headlights on you and you got puzzled by their stupid gestures. The next time, you should feel warm and fuzzy inside, for they are trying to save you from a summon, or in the case of Malaysia, some good amount of coffee money. Of course in a place like Malaysia, people who flash headlights aren't necessarily friendly guys. They might actually just be freaking speeding demons who want to shove the cars in front off to the side road.

Talking about those demons who flash their lights behind you. You know what I call them? Show-offs. I reserve a hard corner of my heart for people who push their BMW / Merz / Volvo / Camry / [whatever 'big car'] behind me trying to force me to move to the other lane. There was once a car was forcing me so hard within a metre behind my car, and when I was trying to shift lane I almost banged into another car beside me. But after that experience I knew better what to do. I would let them wait while I cruise safely within the speed limit, and change the lane only when it's perfectly safe. I would not risk my life for show-off who think that they own the fast lane.

Back to flashing and warning... So yeah, I always thought that flashing is the only warning sign for speed trap or police officers, until I read this today:

... a local morning radio show had a segment in which people could call in to "salute" police officers.

For example, someone would call in and say, "I would like to salute the fine officer parked at the corner of 1st and Main." Then the hosts would yell "SALUTE".

By the time the segment ended you knew where every traffic cop in the city was hiding. It was hilarious!

"Good morning Mr. Officer parked on I-10 Eastbound at the 144 mile marker. It's a lovely day, isn't it?"

How creative that is!

To end this post, so that you know: flashing headlights to warn incoming traffics of police officers is illegal in some places. For example, in Virginia, US, flashing your headlights to warn about cops is considered as "Obstruction of Justice", which comes with a ticket if you get caught and gives you the title of a felon.

Hmmph. Gotta be careful next time.


p/s: I went to four trips in the last eight days, I will see if I have time to put up pictures. :)

Calling All Keat Hwa Alumni

This is a call for fellow Keat-Hwa Alumnis - Keat Hwa needs some help. I came across the news in Tian Poh's blog, via this blog. I quote from Tian Poh:

敬爱的马来西亚吉打州吉华囯民型中学校友，

你可能是校友，可能不是。但不重要，不是校友也可以读下去。你可能认识我，可能不。但不重要，重要是有一间叫吉华的国民型中学需要你的帮忙。

以前的吉华坐落在四周都是稻田的土地上，那种情景可以用angin bertiup sepoi-sepoi bahasa来比喻（这样子写karangan已经拿到印象分了），禾风阵阵，好怀念。比较起周围的地形，校园的地形明显是比较高。所以一般的下雨不会造成水淹校园的情况。但是近年的米都发展蓬勃，吉华四周的田地已经被雨後春笋般的住宅区取代了，这间接或直接（不是马接）的导致水流不通，一雨成灾。这是问题其一。我想如果我还是学生，我的脚常要穿著被弄溼的校鞋，那种滋味肯定够苦。

问题其二是校园交通异常拥挤。随著学生人数的增加，载送学生上下课的学巴及家长车辆越来越多。每天上午班放学前（也就是下午班陆陆续续到来学校之时），学校前面地“椰林小道”还有礼堂前面仅有的一块“周会小地” 都堆满著这些车子及学巴，当然还有下车的学生们。其实，驾驶技术不太好地话，也还真难把车驾到裏面去，然後U-TURN 出来。这种情况是可以威胁学生安全的。我有深刻的体会因爲我每个月都会有一两次到学校载小妹回家。第一次看到那个拥挤的情况时，我是目瞪口呆。

校方希望尽速解决这两个问题。所以近日董事会发起了广招赞助人一事（经已发了几次新闻稿），希望在六月尾之前能招到至少1000名赞助人，每名赞助人的赞助额为至少RM1000，多多益善。这些筹到的钱将会作爲他日购买校园外右手边的一片田地来扩建校园以解决这两大问题之用。详情请参閲下面的通告。





1000个赞助人说多不多，说少又好像不少。不过若果每个人都认爲别人才有能力出钱（还是出力），那麽到底谁能站出来出钱出力呢？而且，其实那片地的市价为叁百五十万，1000个1000块也不过一百万，前方显然还有一段路。

如果不能以个人名誉捐赠，大家可以用团体名誉捐赠。比如1995年5a3班。应该也是可以。聚少成多，衆志成城，只要大夥儿热烈响应，我相信叁百五十万也应该没问题。

如果你或你的团体有意思成爲赞助人，可以跟我拿表格（还是到学校或校友会拿表格），自己填妥后把支票及表格交给校方。你可以联络04-7722053（学校电话）了解更多详情。校友会的电话是04-7331410。

前人种树，後人遮荫。我们曾经在前人种过的树下遮荫，现在应该也轮到我们为“後人”种种树了。

谢谢大家。

P/S: 不是校友当然也可以成爲赞助人。。。

For a slightly related English translation, do read it here. I am looking at donating some money, so I will contact my parents and see what I could do about it. For those who are in Malaysia now, do join your force and grab the golden chance to repay our alma mater!

Lost in Translation

Sometimes I can't help being amazed by some English translations throughout the world.. Seriously, they could do better by asking a grade-school student to proof-read.

How I Ran for the Kids (1.5)

Herald Sun published the official record for all the twenty six thousand participants, and my official time was 1:50:07, which means I actually ran at 8.3 km/h instead of 8.2 km/h. Not that it matters anyway. :)

It turned out that I could watch the video of me finishing the race online. If you're interested in seeing us, just go to this website, then choose 15.2km course, then enter my ID which was 19558. If you don't want to watch the video, you can also view my picture here (which is what I am showing below).

Yup, that's a bad resolution picture. I was wearing a white shirt, and the black shirt lady beside me was Xuan Ni. You could actually see some interesting scenes if you go watch the video. :)

[To be continued, again... ]

How I Ran for the Kids (1)

I woke up at 6.10am that day.

I almost wanted to give up the race, since I had only four-hour sleep the night before. And I was down with flu, with my nose oozing mucous like a jelly-tap. So when I woke up with headache all over and some mucous remaining in my nose, I thought it's almost a suicidal mission to run.

But I went anyway.

Eight of us met up nearby our house and waited for a tram to the race's starting point. The trams were supposed to be running normally for that route... but to our pissed-ness, they were no where to be seen. So we decided to do some warm-up. We walked freaking 3km to the site. I think the tram company must had been playing an April Fools' prank, a big one at that. I was going to run for 15km, and they decide to make us walk an extra 3km.

Actually we weren't that angry as I might sound here. :) We kind of brushed off the tram's absence and walked cheerfully all the way. It's a great weather with the morning drizzles easing in time for the run, so it produced all cheers and lame jokes on our journey. In case you are wondering, yeah, lame jokes are the manifest of our distorted sense of humour, heavily influenced by Thow Kong and Wee Loon. We actually enjoyed jokes like "有一个冷血杀手，他的心是冷的，他的剑也是冷的…………结果他冷死了！“ thanks to them.

Haha I digressed. :)


[To be continued...]
[Check out how Boon Phiaw and Wee Loon ran for the kids!]

I Ran for the Kids!

Yoohooo, I ran 15.2 km for the kids!!

I clocked 1 hour 51 minutes, and that was 8.2 km/h. :) A good first time for a lazy bum like me, considering that the time included a toilet break and a visit to the first aid station, hah!

Time to go back to study for tomorrow's test (yes, for medicine :P). And too much Boon Phiaw and Ee Syn finished in 1 hour 22 minutes. I need to be fitter. More details when I finish my test.

Enough

Enough is enough. I am quitting medicine, it's too much for me. I should have known that it's not for me, with all the cells, cytokines, inflammation, allergies, this and that. I am going to make the right decision.
p/s: Happy April Fools' Day.