Benedict and Kaushik Visit Malaysia

Benedict and Kaushik came over to Malaysia last Friday (11/9/2009) to meet up with us before we leave for the UK.. They arrived at Corus Hotel (again!!) at approximately 7.00 pm and we went to Masjid Jamek for Banana Leaf rice..

Ben is being unfaithful!!

Singaporeans are so Kiasu!! Take Ben for example.. He did his moot research in Malaysia while on holiday!!

Banana Leaf place at Masjid Jamek.. The one Dinesh introduced last time.. Cheap and good..

 

Thossai with curry chicken..

 

Even Kaushik from India has been infected with Priss’ camwhore disease..

 

Didn’t know that there are by-laws at Dataran Merdeka.. It’s illegal to eat or drink there..

 

Hmm.. Never learnt this in History.. Not very sure what fountain it is..

 

Met up with Pris after our Banana Leaf meal for Beef Noodles at Jalan Alor.. Not as good as the one near Shearn Delamore..

 

Benedict, WaiCheng, Chopsticks with Noodles, Pris

Vegan Kaushik turned cannibal!! He had liver and intestines on the first night and pig’s veins on the next..

They left for the famous SkyBar.. I left coz my parents are not in town and I had to go back to look after my sisters..

Heavy breakfast the next morning at 9.30am.. How many families do you know has a 8 course breakfast so early in the morning?? LOL..

 

Part of the BREAKFAST!! Kaushik couldn’t eat them coz he’s allergic to seafood..

 

Went off to Megamall for a while.. Had Krispy Kreme for Brunch.. Not bad.. There’s the Ramadhan promotion now.. Buy 1 dozen, free 1/2 dozen..

Left for the Sri Jayanthi Buddhist Temple to have a look at the largest sitting Buddha in Malaysia..

 

Ben and I in front of the temple..

 

Benedict and Kaushik together.. See how Kaushik is standing away from Ben?? Tsk tsk..

Largest Sitting Buddha Statue in Malaysia!!

 

Tourists………

One of the pillars of the temple..

 

We left for Batu Caves in the afternoon at about 2 o’clock.. Ben and I had Indian mythology lessons from Kaushik.. Malu-nya..

 

The big statue is Lord Murugan!! He’s 2 times the size of the sitting Buddha!!

 

272 steps ready to be climbed!!

 

Shah Rukh Khan in Malaysia!!

 

Entrance leading to the Cave Temple..

 

At my 147th Step..

 

Just about 30 more steps to go!!

 

Cave Temple Entrance..

 

Kaushik’s mum will be pleased to see this.. She’s been pestering him to go to the temple in India but has always failed..

 

The main temple in the caves.. Very beautiful architecture.. I want to learn the “Tantric Dance”..

A view from the inside..

 

That’s Hanuman, the Monkey God at the back..

Left for dinner at Cheras with my extended family.. Then off to Zouk we went at bout 11.00pm.. Ben’s 24 but the bouncers didn’t believe it.. So, they checked our ID and I, the one who looked older was barred from entering.. Bribed him with RM 15.. Malaysia Boleh!! No pictures from Zouk available.. It was too crowded and dark to take photos..

 

Ben during the last day.. Trying to finish his memorials for his moot.. Kiasu Singaporeans..

The bus is actually very comfortable!! I’ll definitely go over to Singapore after my third year..

Oh.. Thx for the chocolates.. This is so gay.. Guys giving me chocolates.. lol.. Anyway, I won’t complain since they’re from Godiva.. lol..

Karaoke Nite

Karaoke Nite with the TKT peeps at Red Box Plus, Pavilion on the 9th of September. Had the most expansive karaoke session in my life!!

From L to R: Ong Jin Jin, Me, Chris, Evan, Shiauven, Aunty

Me and ShiauVen

From L to R: Ong Jin Jin, Aunty, Me and Chris

  

Me and Aunty

Me and Ong Jin Jin

Why It Sucks to be a Lawyer

Stress:

Its not the kind of stress of meeting a deadline. Or the fact that your boss may have lost his brain at birth. It's the fact that all your work is (1) urgent and (2) of vital importance. If you screw up the world will certainly end. And that's just the contract for the coffee machine outside.

Not really fun:

No matter how much you might believe its like "The Practice" or (even more bizarrely) Boston Legal, the legal world is nothing like that portrayed in Hollywood. Most litigating lawyers spend their days writing letters to their opponents threatening them with some well thought out sarcasm, or if they are lucky, paginating the judge's papers. The sad reality is that most lawyers you will meet will tell you how they would rather be irrigating crops in the Sudan, or doing ballet somewhere, than practicing law.

Most politicians are lawyers:

enough said.

"Non lawyer" interaction:

Lawyers don't walk around all day talking formally to each other. The ultimate buffoonery is when some non-lawyer decides to talk to me 'formally'. I speak English you fool! Instead I get e-mails saying things like "See you at your earliest convenience" and "Please peruse the contents of the joke attached hereto". It's like writing in COBOL to an engineer and asking him to join you for lunch.

Paper:

Closely related to the one above, under the subtitle “Non lawyer” interaction (you see, I cant even write this without referencing it like a lawyer), is the fact that there is paper everywhere. In this day and age of the paperless environment, lawyers still manage to bury themselves under mountains of paperwork. The reason – just in case you need to litigate one day, you need to ensure that you have copies of EVERYTHING. Whether its relevant or not, a lawyer must keep everything. I'm sure I even have some "Post Its" with invaluable tidbits stuck away somewhere (in a safe).

People believe you want to talk about the law all day:

I’m sure this applies to all professions, but I really couldn't care less about the latest trial on the abuse of baboons in Malaysia, or that the lawyer in your divorce case was really nasty and brought up that thing where you got arrested for being naked in a shopping centre.

Aggression:

I’m not sure if this is a love or hate item, but most of the day as a lawyer you get to either (1) take abuse from an opponent or (2) have to dish out some abuse at a colleague or an opponent. My wife especially loves this quality in me when I start cross questioning her over what she says to me – particularly when I tell her her comments are "overruled" and "sustained".

Speeding ticket advice:

After spending 3 years at university, doing 1 year of the Bar and then another 2 years of doing your Masters, the best thing is that people still approach you for advice about their speeding tickets. The fact is that they don't even bother to teach you about that stuff at university, yet every Joe you meet believes you have an innate desire to learn about the legalities of their speeding ticket. All you need to really know is that the traffic prosecutors are fond of girls in short dresses or just some “coffee money” – there is no "law" involved.

Reading lots of documentation:

Lets not kid – this takes up 90% of my day. I get to read page after page of boring legal wording. A particular hate of mine is negotiating with clients who hasn't figured out how to use the reviewing tools in Word, and who make changes to the 500 page document without telling you where the changes are. I swear this stuff is worse than ancient Japanese water torture – there's nothing more torturous than having to negotiate a warranties clause with another lawyer, and having to discuss the Roman law exceptions to the common law.

Whenever you enter a meeting you WILL be greeted with some stupid lawyer joke:

This occurs almost without fail at just about every meeting I have with clients, and its usually that really crappy one about 1000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea being a good start. I have started taking a drum into meetings so I’m prepared for the drum roll.

Gone Too Soon

To a dear friend,

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Well, it took me that long to put myself together.. I still refuse to believe that you’re gone.. You were a part of our conversation on Sunday when Puiyee, Zhuang Xiao, Grace and I were reminiscing the past, back in the WMS days..

You sat next to me back then.. Well, not exactly next, we were separated by a pathway.. I remember you sleeping in class every morning before assembly.. Waking you up was one of the toughest challenge as part of my prefect duty.. In the end, I too, along with XiLin (I think) played along with you in one of your “Piss my aunt off” scheme.. Imagine the trouble we would get if we got caught..

You can’t just leave like that!! You still owe me my birthday present which you promised me since Form 5!! You were always asking for homework.. Especially for Zabedah’s maths homework.. She was always shouting and PMS-ing after coming into our class.. I pity the class after ours.. You started asking for Add-Maths homework from Stephanie ever since Ms Sarah went berserk (FOR THE FIRST TIME).. I still cannot imagine how you can turn a totally angelic person like her into a devil!!

Yet, you’ve been a very special part of all of us at 5P, bringing us laughter when you “accidently” pissed a teacher off at times.. You were the King – The King of Blue House 2006.. How could we forget the points you earned for us from running..

We lost contact after WMS, only met once when I bumped into you at AC.. and you still remembered that you owed me a birthday present when I’ve forgotten bout it.. That was the last time we met..

I woke up to a message from Shermaine this morning:-

“shobaan passed away this morning at 5.30..he wuz in a car accident,hit a lamp post……”

I simply couldn’t bring myself to believe it..

Again, you became the man.. Your name could be seen all over facebook.. Well, if this is a joke, you’ve succeeded in fooling the whole world and I guarantee you (after reading Terri’s blog) that you are gonna be in deep trouble..

I went through some of my photos of Highschool just now.. I regret it as I don’t even have a single photo of you and me together.. There’s one picture of you though in the yearbook.. But it’s never the same.. I asked around whether you were a Hindu or a Christian.. I don’t even know even though I sat next to you back in Form 5.. It’s amazing that sometimes, these small little details which only takes a mere 10 seconds to ask are always put aside.. Sigh..

 

Here’s a poem which was sent to me long ago:-

Do not stand at my grave and weep;

I am not there. I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry;

I am not there. I did not die.

You will be missed.

 

RIP

Albert Einstein

Malacca Trip

It all started with a drink

Mr Tay and I

  Back (L to R): Me, Aunty Cannie, “Si Lai” Chris

Front (L to R): Krystle Ong Jin Jin, ShiauVen, Chye

Group Picture at the Portuguese Settlement

Back (L to R): Chye, ShiauVen, Me

Front (L to R): Mr Tay, Ms Choo, Mr Shugen, Aunty Cannie, Chris

15Malaysia – Potong Saga

It’s in Mandarin, but it’s worth reading the subtitles for English speaking bananas..

There are two schools of thought with regards to this movie.. Firstly, the actors and director of the movie are just picking on the Muslim society and trying to make fun of them.. The other school of thought is that the actors and director were trying to portray a true fact in our Malaysian Society where we live together as a “1 Malaysia” race, yet we are so insensitive towards each other’s lifestyles and culture..

Some people might be also criticizing this short film as targeting the Islamic banking sector.. However, look at it this way.. Isn’t this short film “educational” to non-muslims that we don’t have to “potong” to be a “member”?? Malaysia Boleh!!