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23/12/2005
Ai yo yo!! Not another one!
I was browsing through a newspaper (The Star but don’t know what day) just about 5 minutes or so ago and couldn’t stop myself from doing a headslap. There’s something new for Malaysian viewers to watch and guess what….it’s ANOTHER reality show! My goodness, isn’t this an overload…and maybe overkill? Aren’t we all bored with the astronomous number of reality shows we have now.
This time, it’s a ‘football’ reality show. And then that’s not all – there’s another talent search show!
I am bored of watching reality shows and talent searches. I have to admit that I watched a lot of reality shows but when they started creating Millionaire-looking-for-wife reality shows and plastic surgery reality shows, I tuned out. This is WAY overboard. What, wouldn’t you start thinking whether the next type of reality shows would be along the lines of a woman or man testing out how good a person is in bed or something? It’s ridiculous and inconceivable!
And here we are….yet again, with another reality show with only one aim, to bring the advertisers in and lure the consumers to sit down and watch the show….oh, and the ads.
Marsha
19:25 Posted in Blog , Leisure , Ramblings | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: reality show, tv, shows, movies, leisure, television, advertising, talent search
20/12/2005
Maids are human too
It’s something that I often read in the papers….inhumane acts of abusing others. Be it wife, child, maid or dog, nobody who lives and breathe should be subjected to undue hurt, force, injury or pain unnecessarily without justifiable cause. If I had it my way, even plants should be spared.
Because of this soft spot of mine, I hate to go to the wet market. That’s where this Indian buy sits atop the back of a truck pulling a small but sharp knife through the throat of chickens and then dumping them into a huge container. The chickens cluck and flap around in there helplessly, banging against the lid that covers the container. Left to bleed to death. I asked my mother-in-law once why don’t they just CHOP the whole head off at one go without torturing the poor chickens in there! She gave me an answer but I felt so faint about the whole scene that I never heard or maybe I heard it but didn’t accept it…therefore, can’t remember the reason.
After the chickens are dead, the people will yank the already-dead-ones out and pluck out their feathers roughly, yanking bunch by bunch while blood (still warm, I am assuming) continue to flow down the ‘killer’s arms, legs, apron, boots and knife. I remember hoping that the chicken was also dead…if not comatose! The scene was so gory and it makes me feel queasy just talking (or writing) about it.
Maids are human too
But we (the human race) don’t only treat animals this way. We sometimes, a lot of times, treat fellow human beings in the same inhumane and cruel manner. For instance, maids. Maids are considered inferior to us normal people. In society, maids are often a little bit higher up the social ladder than stray dogs. Even pet dogs are more precious than maids!
Which is, in my eyes, ludicrous! Hogwash!
There’s a recent new addition of maid to this household and because of my ability to sit down in the wet kitchen (there’s a dry kitchen further up front) with them during dinner time for a short chat, they tell me stuff. And like the previous maid, she told me that the Malaysian maid agency here did unimaginably cruel things to all the maids there.
They:-
- Kick and punch the maids every single day, whether they did something wrong or not
- They are stripped (yes, clothes) from head to toe and then photos are taken of them (This is absolutely unacceptable!!)
- They are given one meal a day (if they are lucky). Other times, they are given a huge tub of water and asked to drink the whole tub to prevent hunger.
- Their personal belongings like home phone number, addresses, personal items like gold, fashion accessories, memoirs of home (like photos and letters) are taken away and dumped into the thrash.
- They are left with nothing but a couple of shirts, a short pant, no extra underwear (I can’t believe this one either!!!) and absolutely no personal belonging whatsoever.
But my angry-side wakes up and fights it – what the heck!!?? No underwear? For the whole friggin’ 2 years? If the maid brings along Indonesian money, the agency takes it….and do what with it? And no food? Aw….come on!!!
These actions are no longer noble or professional. They are inhumane and absolutely unacceptable….not even by ants-standards.
Don’t you agree?
Marsha
www.marshamaung.com
www.allmomstuff.com
www.creativejooz.com
11:45 Posted in Being human | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: maid, maids, humanity, human, society, cruel, unhealthy, employment
19/12/2005
Guitar is a musical instrument too…isn’t it?
I love the piano and have spent my childhood days dreaming about playing wondering music and composing songs. Because I have this gift musically, I didn’t speak to my parents for close to a week, I think, because they sold my organ off. I didn’t know then but now I do – my parents had financial problems and selling off the piano was an option I think they didn’t want to (but have to) make.
But I swear to you…I was the maddest kid on the block for a long, long, LONG time!!
So, off Joshua goes to music class. This is not the first time he’s going to attend music class. The first music class he went to was under Musikgarten program. I have very good reviews about Musikgarten but they teach a whole lot of singing, dancing and drama in the classes. So, after about a year of classes under Musikgarten, I suppose I decided that Joshua’s reaped enough benefits through their program. In attending the music class, he’s come out of his very solitary shell and has become more confident and vocal about things. Like when I shout at him unreasonably (bad PMS mom in action), he will sniff silently and tell me, “Mom, you shouldn’t just simply shout at me”. The first time he told me that, it stunned me silent. Then I ran to him and gave him a big hug, telling him, “You’re right, Josh. I shouldn’t. I am so, so, sorry!”
And yet when I went to the music class with Josh and he stares at a young teen playing a guitar in the shop (probably practicing before class), he pointed at the teen and told me. “I think I want to learn how to play the guitar”.
My first thought was….”What? You don’t want to play the piano? Why not? it makes a beautiful sound and I like the piano and I desperately want to learn how to play the piano. Why not you?”
Then I snapped out of the dream-state and said to Josh, “Sure thing, Josh. You’re a little bit young for the guitar but let me try to sweet-talk your new teacher in accepting you as a student, ok?” And my sweet talk worked.
I got past myself in accepting the fact that my son is not playing the conventional piano but others have not.
A certain relative and her husband snigger and chuckle every time they see me and Josh lugging the guitar around. They’re like saying, “You’re really serious about this? What makes you think you can do this? Josh? Playing the guitar? Why not the piano? It’s not going to work, Marsha”
But they’re not the only one, elderly people have this ingrained perception that the guitar is not a proper musical instrument too. They continue to think and imagine the guitar as the kind of toy people bring around and strum aimlessly on during campfires. But with a piano, you can make a living, you can play in an orchestra or become someone….prominent. With a guitar, you don’t.
Eh, you never heard of Santana or Four Play, is it? They make bigger buckaroos than those people in orchestra, I would like to assume.
So, I say, let Josh make the decision. If he wants to switch to another musical instrument later on, let him. Don’t tell him he can’t without letting him try, right?
Marsha
www.marshamaung.com
www.creativejooz.com
www.allmomstuff.com
01:15 Posted in Family , Music , Ramblings | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this