Happy 2010/ the necessity of reason

firstly, Happy 2010 to all the readers of this humble space on the web - thank you for your comments and/or feedback. Here's to making 2010 an even better year than 2009 and realising our fullest potential.

cheers! (raises a toast)

***

recently there have been some tumultous events in the country - events which have brought to the fore strong beliefs and even stronger prejudices. i realise again the necessity of reason in determining the truth, and the objectivity and rationalism must underscore compassion and a willingness to understand the other's point of view. too little is done to actually listen to the other side.

and another point of observation, it is EXTREMELY important how issues are framed. in the mass of words and fears, the actual issues get buried and become the tools of confusion and division.

oh, for more people to think critically! listen and watch out for biases, for ad hominem attacks and the rest. and above all, think. don't not think. you owe that much to yourself. not all that is in print can be trusted, not all that is pixellated published on blogs are truthful, not all that is spoken is worthy of belief.

c'mon, 52 years on, and you still don't want to try?

Blessed Christmas and Happy 2009!

Here's wishing all of you a Blessed Christmas and Happy 2009!

i have opted to put my phone in cold storage all this while - which accounts for your unreplied messages in order to have a feel of that precious and beautiful solitude which i last enjoyed end april/may 2008.
rest assured your greetings are well regarded and accepted with thanks. :)

thoughts on turning 25

i turned 25 3 days ago - on 24th July 2008.

i'm officially a quarter of a century old.

...

it would be right about now that i should be in the throes of a quarter-life crisis.
but as things stand now, i know where i m headed and give or take a few silly mistakes here and there, the rough learning process that i go through so i can grow and mature, and the occasional moment of self-pity and self-doubt ...
i am contented and happy. working hard too, but it's all for a good cause.

i'm not perfect. never claimed to be. but making the best of what i've got is all there is to living.

oh, and thank you for the wishes, thoughts, smses, friendster/facebook msgs and makan treats. i am touched by your kindness and humbled at how loved i am despite my many shortcomings and failings.

blessed 2008 to ALL!

Blessed 2008 to All, and petrina7 sends her love to all of you.

updates:-

1. will miss my sister dreadfully. she's moving back to Ipoh for good. no one to talk to, complain to, discuss things with, play Facebook with, no one to go to church and no one to nag me. :(
and my brother in law too! :p

2. yesterday's (or early morning) countdown at the Curve was quite lame. only the fireworks finale was impressive. zainal abidin was ok, but couldn't really connect with his songs. traffic was awful, got home about 3 am with the net result i missed Mass at 10 am.

3. january is set to be a busy month for me, work-wise. i start legal aid, and am sitting for the ethics exam on the 23 and 24. in between there's the KL bar career fair and the 3rd National Young Lawyers Convention (NYLC). so many things to do! and i m looking forward to all of it. except maybe the ethics exam. :P

4. have an idea for a poem series on kl city. if you've noticed, i normally write them in sets of odd numbers. i like odd numbers better, for some reason or other. and a special love for the number 7.

5. i am touched by all your wishes and greetings. life is really what you make of it, and y'know, i think it's really only beginning, in my case. ;)

God bless and have a great 2008 ahead!

Studio GHIBLI Rocks!

first off, thank you all belatedly for your christmas wishes. and a very special thank you to Harn who got me the Studio Ghibli collection as an xmas pressie :)!

14 anime movies for me to watch! i spent fri nite watching 'totoro' and this afternoon watching 'only yesterday'... and they were both good, although in different ways.

[this is a spoiler free entry. i just want to rave about the genius of miyazaki hayao :P]

if you like something more meaningful and deeper than your standard 'shonen' and 'shoujo' anime, i suggest Studio Ghibli productions. so far i've not been disappointed. and i don't expect to be.

on an unrelated note, blessed '08 to all you people out there!

wishes and hopes for 2008

here's the petrina7 Wishes and Hopes for 2008 :-

1. to get one step closer to fulfilling my long-term career plan. at some point, i will have to decide where i'm headed, but i'm certain, no matter the decision, i would have thought it through long and hard. and God's grace will guide me there surely.

2. to lose weight, and to achieve my target weight. i know it's not easy, but i'll get there somehow. :)

3. to write more poetry and prose. i have so many ideas, but i never get round to writing all of them down!

4. to vote responsibly,and for the coming General Election to truly reflect the wishes of the people.

5. to read more manga and watch more anime. hehehe. self-explanatory.

6. on a related note, to learn Japanese. German? i would love if i could fit it in, but Nihongo first!

and finally:

7. to pray for a certain half-buried dream to come to life. in its own time, as always.
... sometimes in dreams i see the images and hear the words. then i wake and realise that time has passed. elapsed. it's over, gone forever. no matter what was said.
and i learn to make peace with that. and to move on.
even if history repeats itself and the evils of Pandora's box fly about wildly, there is always hope. and hope it is that i hold close.

to all friends, and readers (whoever and wherever you are) may 2008 bring you fulfilment and happiness!
God bless! petrina7 loves you.

of convocation 2007

convo 2007 was a blast!

and a heartfelt thank you to all of you who came and made it a special day -

to my parents, brother and gf and sister and bro in law and basically everyone at home ... hehehe :)
to all the lecturers,
to all my coursemates - both those whom i got to take a picture with and those whom i didn't manage to, you are in my thoughts and prayers,
to my buddy family - thank you for coming and for the lovely handbag and lilies. i am really touched and we shall make the next gathering one that ROCKS!
to my colleagues from slb - wan san and sarah, i love you both, thank you for coming and supporting each and every one of us, and not forgetting the beautiful gift,
to my 'personal photographer' , tina - thank you also for the 'bujang senang' aka croc which certainly grabbed a lot of attention. :) and for being you!
to my 'konco-konco setiakawan' ins and eliz, thank you for carrying my gifts, flowers, scroll etc, and for making that day possible.

i love all of you!

(just for the anticlimactic touch, i will send you all the photos later ok. promise!)

(belated) Happy 2007 to all!

first off, if it isn't too late already, happy 2007 once again! i was quite busy lately preparing for classes - hard to believe that this will, if all goes well, be my final semester in law school, in UM and next stop, it's off to work. i'm taking German this semester and it's a pretty interesting language but not all that easy to follow.
Wie geht es Ihnen?* or since we are friends, Wie geht es dir?*
Wunderbar!** hopefully, you are feeling that way. :)

any resolutions? on my part, i wouldn't call them that, it seems to invite them to fail. but there are things i want to do. oh yes...!
and 2007 is a very good time to start.

(in between 2006 and 2007, it feels like an eternity had come and gone. if there's anything i m very sure of, it's that life is short and that every moment counts. so cliched and by the same token, so true.)

all i want to do now, when i cut to the chase, is to live my life to the full and to continue learning, laughing, loving with my family and friends around me. everything else is secondary, and i know things do turn out all right in the end, even if they seem bleak at the moment.
as to the present, i m quite contented and ready to move on to what life has to offer me.
i wish the same for all of you.

*"How are you?" in German.
**"Wonderful!" in German.

the value and worth of self

'Because i'm worth it'. so says the Maybelline tagline.

and yet that is a sentiment that so many find difficult to believe. not the fact that you are worth buying some lipgloss or lipstick. but the simple fact that you are worth whatever happiness and blessings this life has to offer. and you are worth enough to know how to respect and care for yourself and know your limits when it comes to taking crap from others, and standing up for yourself.

believe it, it is true. no matter what anyone and everyone around you says. if you don't take the responsibility to create your own reality, to define for yourself what you can and cannot do and to decide what you believe about yourself -then you find that you are in a prison far worse and far harder to break out than a real live metal one. because the mind's traps are real, and the lies that are repeated everyday soon become the truth, even if they go against everything you are.

change is difficult. but before one even begins the physical and mental effort to muster change, the willingness to believe that it is possible to change must come. that willingness is the impetus that enables any sort of change to take place.

on another note, Happy New Year 2007 to all friends and readers of the petrina7 MicroUniverse...God bless and may you have a good year ahead!

edit: my sister told me that it's L'Oreal that uses the tagline "Because i'm worth it". well, the points i put forward earlier are still the same. no matter.

back to uni and blessed christmas!

it's one more week to christmas ... and one more week to semester holidays ending...
and if all goes well, this will be my last semester in um. then ... into the BIG BAD WORLD (which definitely merits the capital letters) what awaits me there? left to be seen, but sooner than i think.

i wish all of you a blessed christmas and a happy new year, may 2007 bring with it new hopes, new dreams, and fire and spirit to bring all of them to life. :)
i know that 2006 has been an eventful year for me - at the moment, i m doing my annual year-end review, but i have a distinct feeling that 2007 will hold even more happenings and changes and events than this year.
for one, it's the year of the pig next year, and that's my year.
for two, i will be 24 next year...24 years old on the 24th of July,
for three, it's 2007 next year, and 7 is my special number. guess the blog name is a giveaway, no?

in any event, i'll take things as they come ...