Triggered

Just like I get triggered every time there is a polygamy-related conversation, a friend of mine gets triggered by exclusion. She is an extrovert and loves to be in the company of friends. When one of us made a decision to move her to another team for bowling, she was heartbroken.

For our gathering on Monday, some persuasion was in order to invite her to join the get-together. I'm glad that she will be coming. It takes a huge person to forgive.

Sometimes when friends joke with each other it is completely understandable when some banter and cheekiness are used. However with her, the jest about being cropped from photos and eventually removed from the bowling team took its toll on her. Both events are mutually exclusive, I can assure you. However the perception spoke volumes.

From now on I vow to not speak in a hurtful way. Please help me be a much3 kinder person 

We didn't ask for this!

As far as politics go, anything is possible.

PH had the greatest number of seats (82), but did not cross the threshold of 111 seats in Parliament to form a majority government.

PN had the second greatest number of seats (73). The Agong (monarch) asked them to form a unity government with PH but they refused, citing marked differences in ideology.

BN lost terribly in the election, had won just 30 seats but did not wallow in self-pity. They surprisingly became the kingmaker in determining the formation of the Malaysian government, because neither PH or PN had a simple majority.

So, the most interesting thing happened. The Prime Minister elected the BN President as his deputy PM, and a few other BN MPs scored the sweet posts as Cabinet Ministers. The irony of ironies.

I would very much like to leave this country once I have the chance!

The Goat on the Highway

On 30 November the myvi hit a goat which wandered on the highway. I'm afraid the collision killed it. Went twice to the location to confirm it. It is a healthy goat otherwise, but for the accident. I have filed a police report. So far no one has claimed the goat. It remained on the highway & (for all I know) may decompose there, at the rate our municipal or highway authorities move. 

In my 48 years of life, I am lucky to be (more or less) accident free.

When I first got my license, my car was hit by a taxi when I was coming out of a junction. The right front light was damaged and the car was dented. Next I hit a chicken's leg while it was crossing the road. It survived but walked with a limp.

The goat was a fatal accident. It came as a complete surprise. Goat on a highway. The policemen who took my report were both in disbelief. What did you hit? A goat? Are your sure? Could it have been a dog? [I was asked this by 2 different officers]

In honest truth I felt sad for the goat and his owner. I am really sorry what you planned for the goat did not materialise, but I was wondering what was the goat doing there (on a busy highway), and where did it come from????

My car had a dented left bumper and front panel, and shattered left lamp. Now I need to arrange for the repairs. Hubby the sweet person he is, will help tomorrow to inquire about the repairs. Because I have class, and he is a sweetheart.

Worse Things Could Happen

Lots of stuff happen in university, but I bet that this story is one of a kind: Man falls through Ph.D. student’s ceiling; renews concerns about housing challenges

We have had many sorts of stories, but so far have not had anything remotely similar to this (but at the same time I do not want to speak too soon!).

Doing his PhD, and having to deal with something like this, is not easy. I am only at the beginning stages of the PhD and cannot even fit in a proper conversation with the children😢

Harry & Meghan comes to Netflix

First, the Actress (PC = Actor) married the Prince.

They joined the Royal Family, and did some royal duties/ tours. They (She?) then decided that royal duties were not for them, there were alleged harassment and discrimination against her (who is a woman of colour). They quit, citing security and privacy concerns.

They then left to the United States of America (California, no less) and started making multi-million dollar deals with entertainment companies to tell their side of the story, knowing full well that the Royal Family will never respond. 

If privacy was so important, why are they now attracting this sort of attention to themselves?

If their break from the Royal Family was to pursue commercial interests, then why do so at the expense of others? Why drag everyone's names through the mud?

The best reaction I found was this: Patrick Christys REACTS to Netflix trailer

Big Things, Small Things and Sustainable Development Goals

On Tuesday (29 November) I attended a session on SDG incorporation into teaching.

At the beginning of the session the presenter spoke about assumptions, and one of it was "We want the same things (when it comes to sustainability)". We (the audience( shared some thoughts on this: what same things do we want: e.g. a better world, peace, future for our children (and so on).

The session was an awareness session, to start thinking about aligning our teaching to at least one of the SDGs. This can be embedded either in the curriculum, activity, tutorial or assignments. There are in total 17 SDGs and if we click on each SDG in the master website, the resolutions and objectives are set out.

We then got into groups to brainstorm the intersection between "environment", "social" and "economic" goals. These then were drilled down to the 17 SDGs, to achieve the intersection of environmental, social and economical (i.e. "sustainability").

Source: Sustainable Development - What is there to know and why should we care? SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND THE SDGS 2030 AGENDA

Overall, it was a rather fun session. I had already incorporated SDG in some modules (Employment Law & IP, Ethics and Legal Issues) but for Business Law and Company Law the connection may not be too obvious. 

Anyways, when we ended I thought about the first assumption, and if we actually do want the same things. It is unfortunate that this workshop happened just days after the new PM was announced, because from Malaysia's political debacle it really showed that we DO NOT want the same things! In terms of SDGs perhaps the proposition is akin to 'an offer we cannot refuse' because no way we can treat Earth badly and hope to achieve some fruitful rewards. 

My own take on this: we don't really want the same things in the details. But I would agree that we want the same "bigger" things like world peace and harmony, and a sustainable earth. How do we get there, this is where we sometimes need to 'fight it out' (?).

Another good example is Wills + Kate vs Harry + Meg. Both champion environmental green causes yet how they reach it is completely different, and I do not imagine them working together for anything anytime soon, hence proving my point: we may want the same big things but the little details are devilishly hard to agree to. 

What Schools Should Teach

There are so many things that school taught me. Apart from the academic stuff like reading writing drawing and counting and the sciences, it also taught me about:

- friendship and camaraderie

- respecting other people

- hard work and results

- being myself and working with others

- speaking up (and keeping quiet) > there are suitable times for each!

- caring for others (and in some cases laughing with them for silliness)

- social skills

- the fascinating world of geography (and it can be as fascinating without asking me to do multiple copies of maps!!!!)

and a lot of other developmental things, which I fully treasure.

There were some bullies, and I hope they have learnt their lesson. 

I have forgiven some of them, while some I will remember forever (for their meanness, to spur me on).

Today I watched a documentary about a pilot project to teach children about mental health. I thought about what I have read before on teaching children about money management, to help them avoid financial pitfalls and becoming bankrupts at a young age.

 

Here's what I think what schools should teach, apart from the required academic subjects:

- financial management & investment (but with a better title, and with much better teaching content than current commerce and accounting subjects which are blech!)

- career discernment/ career exploration 

- critical thinking & problem-solving; decision-making

- civic-mindedness/ civic duty

- social work/ projects/ volunteerism

- mental health awareness

- kenegaraan (nationalism) > this can probably be combined with civic-mindedness

- building, planting and fixing things > well there is RBT, but the way it is taught is very theoretical

- communication skills/ public speaking/ debating

- coding/ logical thinking > can also be coupled with thinking skills?

- interpersonal skills > matched with communication skills perhaps?

- photography and art appreciation  

 

Must the teachers do everything on top of their teaching hours and administrative jobs? I think no, this is where engagement with industry is useful. The counsellors can be trained to take up these electives, or these can be incorporated into clubs & society activities, or corporations can 'return to schools' to talk about what they do. I know some kids appear disinterested in school, but with these options they will hopefully find something that pique their interest. Every child is special and they will be someone if they're given a chance and some direction.

My ideal university is one that kids can choose what they want to learn. At the end of it, they should be allowed to go into any profession. It probably would be a botched university, if there are no core modules (how would they become engineers or architects or doctors or lawyers?). Well, details haven't been fully ironed out yet. It could well be a "business" or social science university, for all I know 🙈