Daegu, Korea

Am now in Daegu University, Korea...
Man, am very impressed with the size and the green of the campus...
Compared to the tiny campus of my university, that is...

Japan, for all her wealth and her economic prowess and position...
I always wonder why her (national) university campuses are almost always so shabby looking...

Except for a handful of exceptions, most of the buildings in the (national) university campuses are greyish and without character...

Private Japanese universities are not so bad... so I can console myself somewhat because Daegu University is private...
Its dormitories can house over 1000 students... wooh, a dream for universities in Japan...

Am here to sign some agreement papers and also to negotiate over some exchange programs...
We had five Daegu students at our university last season and we hope to have a new bunch coming again soon...

While it is fun to visit this beautiful campus, my stomach is also having a jolly time churning away at the local delicacies...
Hmmm... Korean food... my mouth waters just to think about it... and I just finished dinner a while ago...

Shall be moving to another university tomorrow to offer my greetings...
After that, shall be free for about two days...

While I have to catch up on work (which I brought with me), I am looking forward to absorbing the sights, plus, of course, the 'bites' too... wooh...

View of garden from dining table

Hmmm... looks like this is the first image I am posting in the year 2008...
What happened?
Was actually not my normal self for the past three months or so...
Body was going bonkers...
Blood pressure shot up the roof...

Brain was playing tricks on me...
Not sleeping well at nights...
Body refusing to wake up in the mornings...
It was pretty scarry...

The cause of it all? Work pressure, and yours truly trying to work too hard (ahem...)
Even my gold fishes became sick...

Luckily, am recuperating quite well now...

Oh yes, the picutre above...
That is the garden view that we enjoy each morning as we chew on our breakfast...
The hills are in the background...
Except for the house on the left, it is all flowers and green...
Quite a paradise, I should say...

Of course, birds come by frequently, singing...
The other day, we saw a wild rabbit in our garden for the first time...
Cute, said my missus...
And yesterday, a meter long snake resting up those pillars... woaah, said I...

Anyway, thank god I am sleeping quite well these days...
And life is good...

Four wishes for 2008

I know, I know... it is a little too late to make New Year resolutions...

But, better late than never...

First and foremost, on a personal side, I plan to 'rehabilitate'... to 'rejuvenate' my physical being and mental state of mind...

Had been under tremendous and prolonged stress over the last few months...

Such that my body and mind is going 'bonkers'... haywire, so to say...

Next on the list is, to (continue to) be a kind and warm partner to my 'suweeto-haato'...

We are at the start of our fifties... so, we plan to take it a day at a time and enjoy each and every minute of it...

Third comes the job... related to the first point... need to take it easy and not be impatient too fast... a senior colleague of mine advised, 'ask for 100%, be happy if given 70%... otherwise, you only get to harm yourself'...

Then, on another level, resolutions aside, I wish to see 'change' in Malaysia...

For those who are following the scene, there is some pretty interesting write-up on whether 'Pakatan Rakyat' (People's Alliance) should accept defectors from 'Barisan Nasional' parties...

I say, go for it... but not immorally with tricks or monetary offers...

With the BN people crafting up disingenuous sabotage acts aimed at crippling the PR states, I say, welcome the defectors and hopefully, form a new government... the sooner the better...

A good friend commented that the PR folks are inexperienced at governing... decades ago; I was inexperienced when I started working too...

I believe the PR folks are fully aware that all eyes are on them and they know very well what is expected of them...

If they screw up, they will be tossed out the window at the next opportunity...

I have faith that they will go on an overdrive to work for the citizens...

Like many citizens, I have had enough of the antics of the BN people...

Passport application in Tokyo

Am now in Shinjuku, Tokyo, attending a conference at Waseda University...
Shall be heading off to Sophia University later on for a little meeting with research colleagues...

Took time off to apply for a new passport at the Malaysian Embassy in Shibuya...
For the first time in my 20-year residence in Japan, I rode the city bus for the first time in Tokyo, traveling from East Shinjuku to Shibuya...
The sakura is almost in full bloom...
Gazing out from the bus window, I thought to myself... mega-city as she is; Tokyo does look quite pretty with all these petals around...

Took me a little over an hour to have the passport application accepted...
The ‘old’ style passport shall be ready for pickup in four days time...
The ‘new’ type with the electronic chip takes about three months to be ready...
Reason is, the electronic passports are processed in Malaysia, hence, the time needed...
Anyway, ‘old’ or ‘new’, no problems for me as long as I can hit the road with it...

Kedahans to wear songkoks?

A good buddy who has lived outside of Malaysia as long as I do joked as follows...

'Kedah fell to PAS. Does this mean that all Kedahans have to now wear their beards long, shave their heads and wear a songkok?'

Well, am not so sure about shaving my head but I have been sporting a goatee for decades...now I just need to shave or trim less... and almost twenty years ago, a Malay pal gave me a songkok, which I have worn on numerous occasions albeit in Japan...

So, no problems whatsoever with this Kedahan...

In fact, I welcome PAS to the new position and expect them to do a good job at governing Kedah, for that is what citizens elected them for...

At least, unlike the newly dethroned party, PAS extols itself as driven by religious principles...

Jokes aside, if PAS intends to install Islamic codes to punish criminals, we would first have the pleasure of seeing many of the corrupted officials limbless...

Anyone seen that never-utilized, monstrous bridge that was built to connect to a no-man's island off the Yan coastal area?

I hope PAS will punish those scoundrels responsible for wasting such funds...

Having said that, I'd be lying if I say I have completely no worries about Kedah being inadvertently turned into a more religious state... in particular, the duality of the civil and religious laws...

But let us see, as what is there to worry... the world is watching and citizens now know the real strength of their vote...

If PAS tries to play games, citizens can always tell them to go and fly kites...

I'd expect PKR to be waiting at the wings...

On another front, the latest news on Kedah...

'All documents from the offices of the Mentri Besar and executive councillors in Kedah have gone missing. There is not a single paper left in all the offices'...

Fifty years of uninterrupted control by those newly dethroned rascals... they certainly think that public documents and such are their private property...

I am waiting quite eagarly to see what happens next...