This is a thought that led from a conversation with Kim on Saturday. I had said to her:

“Sometimes ppl take blogs too seriously.”

I uttered that when we were talking about the whole Daphne Teo thing. Basically, why all the fuss over someone closing down her blog? At the time I meant what I said but then after thinking about it, I also conclude that:

“Sometimes ppl are too frivilous with what they say on their blogs.”

How do these seemingly opposite thoughts consolidate?

I had been accused of the first when I joined in Peter Tan and Kimberlycun’s (the other Kim ) email campaign to Xiaxue’s sponsors. Did I take it too seriously? Perhaps. But why? Because of the second reason.

Some ppl have this attitude that just because it’s a blog and it’s meant to be personal, that they can say the most outrageous or inflammatory things and expect to get away with it. I’m afraid that does not work in reality. If you say the words, you own the words and you can expect consequences from your words. Don’t whinge or attack the intent of irate readers like myself. You can say what you want and I can say what I want. Freedom of speech innit? Isn’t that your line of argument?

My point – use intelligence and courtesy on your blogs just as you would in “real life”.

Additional things that we in the blogosphere do not like are hypocrisy, lies and attempts to hide the truth. Look at what happened to Dawn Yang. And to a certain extent, Daphne Teo. The real reason why both women caused so much commotion was ppl finding out the truth about them.

Another example is when Kim sounded out her thoughts about a band claiming songs which are not theirs. You can see the latest flamings here.

If you say something at first, ppl will take your word for it because that’s the only thing that we’ve got. And when you say something else later on that contradicts yourself, you can expect to be called on it.

This is why creating an alternate version of your reality is not a good idea. In this day and age, with everyone seemingly connected either virtually or in the flesh, you can expect the truth to come out sooner or later. Hide yourself and you can expect to be found, whether you like it or not. On the contrary, if you carry yourself truthfully and with dignity all the way, ppl will respect you for it.

Because trust once lost is hard to regain.

Seacrest out!

Last night was Alex’s (a.k.a Vlad the Romanian) bucks night. I’ve known Alex for a few years now, ever since he started going out with one of my cousin’s good friends, whom he will be marrying on the 23rd of this month. I’ll be missing out on the wedding as I’ll be away but I’m glad I at least made it to his bucks night. My cousin’s bf Paul was there too.

The night was held at Alex and his fiance’s house, while the girls were out on their hens night somewhere dressed as schoolgirls. I like to see those pics.

It started out with some beers and a BBQ. And then it continued with more beers and hard liquor.

Guess he didn’t like the taste of that.

Then as the effects of alcohol take effect, Alex got frisky and started molesting one of his guests.

Pretty soon, his attention shifted to porn. Here he is sifting through the available selection. He ended up choosing something titled “Unnatural Sex #12″. It was more freak show than erotica but it fitted the mood of party – it was funny hearing and watching 20 guys in the room go “Owwww!” or “Sh*t, that’s gotta hurt” or the classic “Are we suppose to get an erection from this?” Heh.

Then the stripper arrived – no pics of her allowed and I respect that, though some of the other guys were very sneaky. Alex decided to test the “stage” before the performance begins.

Here he is in the middle of the show enjoying the attention of the stripper.

And then after the show, Alex had to clean his hands. Hmmm. What did he touch?

After the stripper left, more porn was watched and more alcohol was consumed. And this is the aftermath. He tried to keep up appearances.

He’s gonna wake up today with a big headache but it was worth it. Right, Alex?

p.s. Yes I did not change after attending Kim’s meet-up. Went home, lazed around for a few hours and then left the house again.

simon-reucas
Originally uploaded by Mooiness.

Simon and Reucas got new haircuts today and something more – Simon got blonde streaks and Reucas got a brown tuft.

Can’t really tell from this pic but Mili and Kynne, you don’t really care do you?

Kim organised a very last minute meet-up seeing as how this is her second last week in Perth. I was there late due to traffic and so was Nadia who came from the beach. When I got there, another blogger had left and Honey left briefly after I arrived.

Was going through Kim’s blog and I find it a great read – it’s a pity that I only got to know her in person only now and she’s gonna go home soon. Funny thing is, I’ve seen her and her bf around the place clubbing. And turns out, her bf knows some ppl that I know. That’s Perth for you – small degrees of separation.

Here are the pics.

Kim in white tee, Honey in white collared-shirt, Nadia in Pink

Everyone turn out to be as chatty as their blogs would indicate. Basically no one was the opposite of their online personalities. All in all, a fun and casual get-together.

A 20 second MMS clip shown to Parliament yesterday has caused an uproar with politicians from both sides asking for an urgent investigation and stern discipline to be meted out. It shows a naked Chinese woman with her back to the camera being asked to do ear-squats by an unidentified female police officer. [EDIT: had wanted to remove "Chinese" from the above sentence but in this case, it is relevant. A Muslim woman would never be subjected to this in Malaysia. UPDATE: it is now alleged that the woman may be a Chinese national]

Before becoming PM, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi pledged to reform the police and crack down on corruption. If previous anti-corruption efforts since he assumed power were lack lustre, this incident should really give it a good kick up the butt. There’s no excuses now.

Frankly, the pessimist in me is not surprised to see this happen. This has followed some recent high-profile incidents involving the police and allegations of corruption and abuse of power:

• Cabinet advises cop to withdraw action against girl
• Cops came at 2am, female Chinese nationals claim harassment (a female opposition MP, Teresa Kok’s reaction to this)

Bloggers have already responded:

• Lim Kit Siang – Parliamentary Opposition Leader
• Jeff Ooi
• Mack Zulkifli
• Suanie
• Kimberley Cun

Malaysian News Links:

• The Sun – Caught in the act
• Bernama – Video Of Naked Woman Forced To Do ‘Ear Squat’ Creates Sensation
• Bernama – PM Orders Azmi [Home Affairs Minister] To Visit China To Clear Up Misperception
• The Star – Nude woman ordered to squat (full round-up)
• New Straits Times – Police probing who did the recording
• Bernama – Govt Will Not Protect Those Involved In Nude Woman Case says Deputy PM
• Bernama – Don’t Cover-up Facts In Nude Woman Probe, Police Told

International News Links:

• BBC News – ‘Abuse video’ outrages Malaysia
• Agence France Presse – Calls for inquiry in Malaysia over video of naked detainee
• Reuters – Uproar in Malaysia over abuse of Chinese women

For further coverage of this, use the links above – especially for the Malaysian news outlets and at Jeff Ooi, Teresa Kok and Lim Kit Siang’s blogs.

Think this is the first one ever among the Malaysians/Singaporeans, unless you count the time Kenny Sia dropped into town. This one is organised by Kim Ong – more details at her blog.

The gist of it -

Time: 12:30PM Saturday 25th November (TOMORROW!)
Place: Utopia, Northbridge – the bubble-tea place upstairs.

I’ll be there. Needless to say, bring your cameras.

Heart-warming and delightful. This is more of what we need in this world – mutual understanding and respect.

From the link below:

At a time when there was so much tension and mistrust, ‘what this program does is dispel racial and ethnic stereotypes’, [Vic Aldaheff, the chief executive officer of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies] said. ‘The students see each other as people and get to know each other as people.’

‘They are Australian kids proud of their religious identity. Most have never met someone of a different faith, let alone had a chance to know one.’

Hijab meets kippa as faiths say hello – National – smh.com.au