To Tuition or not to Tuition?

I had to use my mobile phone as a substitute for a radio since my car music player has been stolen. Of course the damn reception was poor (*that's always the case if you are driving around the city). But it does serve the purpose of providing music and information during my morning drive to work.

This morning, the topic on the air was about tuitions. I was wondering what the fuss was about, as I didn't have a clue that this topic was also the headlines of today's Star newspaper. Yup, it's true, tuitions are the rage among school children nowadays. Back then, I didn't attend any tuitions except of the mandatory tuitions (*damn! keep on typing "tuiton") in Primary 6. I couldn't understand why I needed tuitions, and till now, sad to say, I still havent' come to terms to these children attending tuitions. Children back then were so "deprived" of these extra classes! hahaha...(*but hey, we get loads of time for play and tv rite?)

Tuitions nowadays don't come cheap. The last I heard from my mom, whose jogging mate is a primary school teacher and giving tuitions to her students, was around RM200/month! Gosh! I remembered paying only RM25 a month back then. These teachers sure make some good money out of these students. And I thought it was suppose to a supplementary income for the teachers. (*and still they complain of administrative paper work, and low salary..my god, they are having months of school holidays each year and a fat tuition income to fatten it up)

That aside, I'm not saying tuition is bad. Of course, some extra coaching is always good. Parents shouldn't send their kids for tuition just because they have this mentality "since now they can afford it, I should let my kids have it". And of course, not forgetting the "kiasu" spirit among modern days parents. To them, more means better. Pity some of these kids, I think they are basically studying almost 12 hours day! Where will all the carefree days of childhood be enjoyed?

I'm glad I didn't have to go through endless of tuitions. And thanks to mom for her "sensible" decision...haha. I was spared the torture. But of course I made up for it by studying hard on my own, and had my own ways of prying extra info from my other friends who attended tuitions :P oh, probably a little luck and cleverness helped...hahaha..(*yup, i admit i memang thick face a bit...) But hey, I managed to come up among the top of the class, didn't I? haha.. well, well...all that are history, and I just hope that parents and kids will realise tuitions are not the only education source. All work and no play makes John a dull boy..(*erm..don't remember what exactly was that phrase...anyway, you get the idea).

Europe Trip Day 3 @ 25-9

25-09 Sun










Woke up early, but only realised that breakfast was served a little late on Sundays. So we waited in the dining room of the rest house, admiring the fireplace, the ornaments, and everything "English" in the house. The lady of the house briefly chatted with us while she set the table.









After a hearty breakfast, we walked up to the main street and took a bus to Princes Street. The morning weather was colder that day, I had to wear gloves and a hat to keep warm. The breeze was chilling to the skin. Our first stop was the Scot Monument. We took some nice photos of the Princes Garden where the monument was, with the Royal Mile as the backdrop. The Scot Monument is a big landmark in Edinburgh, it can be seen from almost anywhere in the city as it is quite tall and prominent with its unique architecture. Visitors are allowed to go up the monument, unfortunately we were too early for the opening hours. I guess it would be a breathtaking view up there, with the whole Edinburgh city under your feet, as far as your eyes can see.


From there, we took a different route to the Royal Mile. Stopping to take photo of the bright red double decker bus - the City Sightseeing Tour Bus. These buses are common here, where they are quite popular with tourists wishing to take a more relax way of seeing the city.














Our second stop was the Mary King's Close. This is a very interesting attraction. We were guided to the underground city of the past, which sits directly below the Royal Mile road, beneath the City Chambers building. The present city was built on top of the old buildings. We got to see for ourselves how the houses of the old days were, the narrow closes (alleys), and how the life of the poor and rich lived. Photos weren't allowed in there, so we took photos of the town building model, which showed how the structure of the underground and on the ground city are like. It was stuffy and smelled underground, but it was an eye opener experience for me.

There's this tradition that was told by the guide...In the olden days where there were no toilets, the waste were often kept in a bucket in a corner of the house. When it was full, the people will just shout "Gardyloo!!!" and threw the waste out of the window. Yup, just like that. Gardyloo was a warning to the people on the streets to watch out for these foul waste over their heads. These waste would often flow down the streets, and seeped into the ground floor houses. Therefore, the streets were fouled smell, and the ground floor were always occupied by poor people, as they couldn't afford higher level buildings.

Next stop on our list was the Tron Kirk. This is another unique building at the corner of the street. The stained glass panels in the building were magnificent. And we could see the foundation of the building inside the building. Inside were mainly exhibitions on the building history, the histories and ghost stories of Edinburgh, and gifts corner. And here we found out about the faithful dog, Greyfriar's Bobby. This is the story of a dog who visited its owner's grave everyday since the owner death until its own death. The town people were touched, and so they build a statue of the dog in a street corner.

So our next stop was to search for the statue. With some directions from the guy at Tron Kirk, we managed to find the statue. Took a few shots of the cute statue and then we headed for the Museum of Scotland, which were just opposite the road.

The Museum of Scotland is actually side by side the Royal Museum. So we spent quite a long time there, looking at artefacts and history of Scotland. There was this group of narrators wearing the Highlanders attire, and they were acting out some battle scenes. I took the chance to pose with them after the show session ended. It was a tiring tour for me in the museums, and my tooth was giving me endless pain throughout the visit. It was most torturing for me, and perhaps the most irrritating part of the trip for Nix, hearing me grumbling throughout the day :P













After the museum visit, we managed to catch a street performer spitting fire somewhere along Royal Mile. It was an amusing act. We wanted to visit Museum of Childhood after that, but it was closed by 5pm. Most of the places were closed around that time too. Anyway, we had something lined up for the night. We had bought tickets for City of the Dead Tour at 8:30pm. So we took our time walking round the rest of the Royal Mile, found a place for dinner, and took a bus ride back to the rest house for a short rest before the tour starts.

After a good rest, we were eager to go to for the night tour. The tour had seemed eery and scary on the billboards, which were placed along the streets at Royal Mile. We were early, but the people started to pour in, and by the time the tour started, the group had swelled to almost 50 people. Great! I guess the more the merrier! Haha...

The guide in trench coat started off with stories of the old Edinburgh town, bringing us through the narrow closes, winding through the backlanes of the city, and headed to the graveyard! All of us were without any torchlights, only the guide had one. We stayed close to each other, and marched towards the graveyard in all darkness. I was taking all precautions not to slip or fall down, or even fall behind the group. It was surely a thrilling tour I would say. We had few stops along the way, and the guide would switch off his torchlight and started to tell ghost stories of the past. We even went into a mausoleum, which was a stone building, with four walls and only an entrance. Middle of his speech, a person dressed up as a ghost suddenly appeared at the entrance and gave some of us a big scare. Lucky for me, I was standing behind the group, so I was spared the sight of the scary "ghost". Anyway, the tour ended with no mishappenings, and all of us, I should say, were safe and sound. I couldn't dare to think how it would felt if the group was smaller in numbers.

After the thrilling adventure, we then had a quick bite at Burger's King and headed back for a good night's rest.

Deeparaya journal

After a week long of holidays, it was getting a little hard to get into the working mood early this week. I was still sort of in dazed in holiday mood, and thinking all the good times I had spent with my family and Nix. It was surely a welcomed break for me after a hectic work week before that. Maybe that's called the post holidays blues...hahaha..

31/10 Mon - took leave and spend the whole day at home, reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. It was truly exhilarating reading the book, as I "ventured" through the Vatican city, unveiling secret lair and devious plots. Finally finished the book by end of the day. Felt I had accomplished something :P

1/11 Tues - Went for movie - Doom. Personally, I think it was a lame movie. But I guess it would appeal more to the game's fans with all the shootings scenes.

2/11 Wed - well...back to office for a day. Found out someone broke into my car when I got into my car =( Caught up with my emails and some work. Glad to know that my client has finally signed off the document, and that marked an end the initial phase. Phew!! =D

3/11 Thurs - Went to Planet Hollywood with Nix for a night's out with his colleagues. Played pool, sarcastic jokes, dranks lots of beer...then went Finnegan's ...more alcohol (cider)...then walked to Beach Club for clubbing..more alcohol...and dance...and went back home feeling a little tipsy. ('',)

4/11 Fri - Was not in my usual self for the day...probably the effects of too much alcohol last nite..Had steamboat dinner with family at Sri Petaling...yup..yumyum..then watched anime cartoon (Hanada Inchiro) with Nix.

5/11 Sat - joined Nix for pool and work out at his office's gym, had pizza at Mines and bought myself 3 pairs of shoes! (can't believe it, like what my colleague said to me today - "just typical of a woman" :P) then shopped for a birthday present for Nix's mom. Ended up trying on the Ogawa massage machines, and burnt a big hole in Nix's pocket..hahaha...oh, and a big smile on auntie's face =D

6/11 Sun - last day of holidays, sigh~.... house cleaning in the morning. Joined Nix's family for dinner at Tanjung Sepat. Stopover at Bagan Lalang on the way to buy fresh seafood. Yup, a hearty seafood dinner to celebrate the joyous occassion and end the holidays.

How to inspire a woman to...

Sexy doesn't always mean wearing less, and showing more of the skin.It's how a woman brings herself, the way she talks, she moves, and how she brings out the sensual feel of the dress she's wearing. But I guess this article below would interest many you guys out there...hehehe... ;-) How to inspire a woman to wear much less in your presence...For ladies, it helps to understand ourselves better too.

See More of Her
A ratty bathrobe can be a compliment. "It means she's comfortable around you," says Nicole Beland, the MH Girl Next Door. "She's saying that your relationship is at a point when all the superficial stuff is unnecessary." But you love some of the superficial stuff--like the short skirts and high heels she wore to catch your attention. Your mission: Get her to wear them more often. Here's how.

Excitement
"If you want a woman to be inspired to dress in a sexy way, give her something to be excited about," Beland suggests. Buy tickets to a concert, take her to a romantic hotel bar, or make dinner reservations and talk up "date night" all week. If she knows you think the plans are romantic, she'll dress to impress.

Positive Reinforcement
Tell her when she looks irresistible so she'll dress that way again. "She may not know that you noticed," says Yvonne Fulbright, author of the Hot Guide to Safer Sex, "so why should she bother?" You may think your dropped jaw communicates how hot she looks. It helps, but she needs more. "Women get intimacy from words," says anthropologist Helen Fisher, author of Why We Love. Articulate the effect she's having on you. Say, "When you wear that sweater, it makes me want to peel it off of you."

Gifts
Women love gifts. This isn't a news flash, so why aren't you surprising her with sexy clothes? And this doesn't mean intimate lingerie--that's too heavy-handed. Giving a woman a low-cut cashmere sweater or a short, silky robe is a good way to get her to show more skin.

Example
This is a two-way street. Wear the shirt she says brings out your eyes, and the pants that show off your butt. "If you make an effort, she'll want to keep up with you," says Beland.


Source - do visit this site, it's an interesting site to explore!

Somebody broke into my car!

The day started as usual, waking up to a sunny day, getting ready for work...The realisation didn't set in until few seconds later after I took in the crime scene when I opened my car door...OMG! Somebody has broken into my car!

Fragments of plastics were strewned across the car seats, with wires sticking out where my cd player used to be. With further inspection, i realised my coins and sunglasses were gone too. I quickly called for dad who was sitting in the living room and told him what happened. Dad and I scrutinised the damage and what was lost, and I took a few snapshots of the "crime scene".

Fortunately, the car was still "drivable" and all was quite fine. No time to cry over spilt milk, I drove to work as usual, minus the usual sound of radio accompanying me to work. I was like a zombie while I drove, my mind still unsettled over what happened, and silently cursing the thieves. Then I opened my car front compartment, and then only realised my two cd albums were gone too! Well, what the heck, most of them were pirated cds anyway. The great loss were 2 cds which were my personal favourites as they hold special meaning to me.

Well, I guess the bright side of the whole situation is I now have a valid reason to get a new MP3 player...hahaha...

* snapshots of crime scene to be added later.