August 31

Every year since 1957, Malaysians have been celebrating the Independence Day of Malaysia or ‘Hari Merdeka’ on August 31^st.

‘Hari Merdeka’ is a national day of Malaysia commemorating the Independence of the Federation of Malaya from British colonial rule in 1957.  ‘Hari Merdeka’ should not be confused with ‘Hari Malaysia’ (Malaysia’s Day) when Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963 together by Federation of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak and Singapore.  It is to be noted that Singapore was however expelled from Malaysia in 1965.

Basically, a celebration is a joyful event and the day will be filled with many meaningful programs.  In Malaysia, it is common to see many participants from teenagers to the twenties.  The idea is to instill the patriotic spirits of unity, loyalty and being proud to be a citizen of an independent nation!

The theme for this year’s celebration is “Malaysiaku Berdaulat, Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku” (My Sovereign Malaysia, My Native Land).

As a student, my contribution will be to do well academically so that I can join hands with others to build a strong Malaysia!

“Selamat Hari Merdeka, Malaysia”

☁ Dreams ☁

"Do you have a dream?"

These are some words of aspirations, I would like to share with all of you who have this little thing called a dream.

If you can reach out, you can hold on.
If you can imagine, you can achieve.
If you begin, you can continue.
Search within, and you’ll find a reason to believe.
 If you can get involved, you can make it happen.
If you can give, you will be rewarded with the taking.
If you can climb, you can climb even higher.
Envision it: your success is in the making.
 If you don’t put limits on yourself, you can always keep striving,
You might amazed yourself with what you discover you can do.
If you want to reach out for happiness, don’t ever forget that…
You can go as far as your dreams can take you. 

–  Collin McCarty  

If these words are something you can relate, then it is for you.  Words that are made to get you back up on your feet, these very words of encouragement is to never let go of your ambition.  To make you realize that you need to be the one to take the first step and make everything work.  Once it begins, you need to strive, chase it and never give up halfway.  Forge your shield of confidence and have faith that everything eventually will fall into place.  Shape your success with your own hard work and not by others hand-print.  All you need to do is believe in the simplicity of your own determination.

So that those of you who are once dreamers, can also be true achievers.

Pacific Rim

Since I was little, I am always a big fan of cartoon series. I've watched Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Ultraman, Power Rangers, you name it. So when my sister brought me to a recent movie screening of a motion picture called Pacific Rim, I didn't really know what to expect (probably because I didn't even watched the trailer), but I was certainly blown away from it after the screening.

Pacific Rim is a science fiction film by Guillermo del Toro, a story set in near future where Kaijus (in Japanese, it means Giant Monster) emerged from interdimensional portal on the floor of Pacific Ocean are out to destroy the human race and recolonize Earth.

A Kaiju's appearance

Kaijus are as big as our man-made skyscraper buildings. They are huge with hard body and deadly claws, humans find out the hard way after losing over and over that they cannot win against these monsters with heavy artillery alone. Thus, they created a huge monster of their own; robots as big as Kaiju, and named them Jaeger (in German, it means Hunter).

Jaeger Program

To pilot a Jaeger, two pilots are needed to share the robot's neurological load. The jaeger program will hack into its pilots' brain through a process called The Drift. The stronger the bond between the pilots, the better they will fight the Kaijus.

The Becket Brothers

In the story, although the main characters are obviously the humans trying to fight for their freedom, I somehow find myself more attracted in seeing the robots in the spotlight. Whenever they are on screen fighting, I seem to be on the edge of my seat, feeling awed at how amazing and realistic the robots are.

"There are things you can’t fight - acts of God. You see a hurricane coming, you get out of the way. But when you’re in a Jaeger, you can finally fight the hurricane. You can win."

                - Raleigh Becket; Gipsy Danger pilot.

In the story, they are 4 remaining Jaegers. Most of the other Jaegers were either out of commission from fighting the Kaijus for over 6 years or were wiped out by more recent advanced Kaijus.

Gipsy Danger from USA

Striker Eureka from Australia

Cherno Alpha from Russia

Crimson Typhoon from China

By the way, these Jaegers are also available for sale as figurines and collectible items.

And if you have the time, you can design your own jaeger at this website:

http://apps.warnerbros.com/pacificrim/designer/us/ 

I enjoyed the movie very much. I recommend it to everyone to watch it at least once. I shall leave you with a gift, the most awesome movie soundtrack for a science fiction film:

Pacific Rim main theme by Ramin Djawadi

Of Ashitaka and Princess Mononoke

Among the animation series that I've been watching, Princess Mononoke is one of the animation movies that sticks to my mind.  There is a dialogue from the movie that I would like to share with you: 

Lady Eboshi: What exactly are you here for?

Prince Ashitaka: To see with eyes unclouded by hate

*****

Princess Mononoke is a Japanese animated movie directed by the famous Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. The story is set during feudal Japan time with fantasy elements. The main character, Ashitaka is the protagonist who struggles between supernatural guardians of a forest and humans from nearby ironing town that sets out for resources in the village (and ultimately killing the creatures within it).

Ashitaka is the leader of his people. He is brave, sympathetic and fearless with a strong sense of morale. He has the nobleness of Emishi royal blood and while defending his village from a wild boar, he killed the Tatari God but in returned received a curse of death.

Even though he is cursed for a very absurd reason (for defending his village and his people) and ended up being exiled for it, he remains positive and strong throughout his journey is self-discovery.

As a hero of a beautiful children's story, Ashitaka has a very kind soul. He's caring and in touch with his human side and also to nature. He thinks rationally and acts on it. He's smart and good looking to boot *swoon*.

Ashitaka travels around with his faithful (and clever) red elk steed named Yakul. Yakul is unquestionably faithful, staying with Ashitaka when he's injured and even helps his master to convince other animals of Ashitaka's earnestness in helping others.

...Because horses are overrated

Princess Mononoke is an animated fable of dazzling artistry with amazing blend of man and nature; one of the most beautiful movie ever made. It is definitely worth more than just a watch.

Of Sora and Kingdom Hearts

It’s been years since I've played any video games.  I remember back then where I used to play them with my siblings over the weekends.  Oh, how I miss playing those games!  On that note, one of the most memorable game I've played was the ‘Kingdom Hearts’.  This game could easily be listed as one of my most favorite games ever.

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Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games (RPG) developed and published by Square Enix. It is the result of a collaboration between Square and Disney Interactive Studios and is directed by Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square character designer.

Hercules, Donald Duck and Goofy (Disney) with Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)

Kingdom Hearts is a crossover of various classic Disney films characters and settings.  Characters from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series also make appearances and made to interact with the player and Disney characters.  How awesome is that?

Organization XIII (Original Characters of Kingdom Hearts)

Besides featuring a mixture of familiar Disney and Final Fantasy characters, multiple of new characters are designed and created by Nomura.

Sora is the main protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts series. He lives on the Destiny Islands with his best friends Riku and Kairi.  The three of them dream of venturing out of Destiny Islands to find out what lies beyond.  But their home are consumed by darkness, they are separated by creatures known as Heartless.  

Kairi(left), Sora and Riku(right) spend their free time gazing out over the ocean from the shores of their island

Sora battling it all out on the Heartless!

Sora drifts to a world known as Traverse Town where he learns the Keyblade chose him to eliminate the Heartless.  Fighting the Heartless, Sora obtains a weapon called the Keyblade and became a Keyblade wielder.  Soon after that Sora met Donald Duck and Goofy, who join forces in search of his friends while Sora helps Donald and Goofy look for King Mickey (their King). They travel across worlds by their Gummi Ship, a space ship for transportation between worlds.

Sora fighting against Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII

In the meantime, the trio also protect the worlds they visit from various villains and Heartless.  Sora then, seals the Keyholes of worlds using the Keyblade so as to protect the worlds and its people from being consumed by the darkness of the Heartless.  In spite all the challenges he is facing, Sora never gave up to find his friends and tries his best to search for them in every worlds he visited.

Based on the storyline, you can see that Sora is the kind of character who may seem very bright and simple-minded at times, but he is very aware of the importance of his quest.  Sora is an eternal optimist, always looking on the bright side of the situation at hand.  He possesses a strong sense of justice and an unrelenting heart. He cherishes his friendships and even states in the game that thanks to them, he gains his strength. 

"I don't need a weapon! My friends are my power!"
— Sora

Due to his strong sense of loyalty towards his friends, several of his enemies made use of his friends as a bait to use the Keyblade for their purposes.  During these events, it is often seen that his actions are impulsive and quick to anger when defending his friends, but he is always sincere about what he says and does. 

He would go to any extend in helping others in any way he can, he would willingly risks his life to protect, even for someone he doesn't know. Sora has a way of connecting to people's heart, letting them share a bond of friendship with him at ease.  His kindness to reach out towards other people who are in despair is so great that once, he even let a person named Ventus to resides in his heart as a place for that person to heal his damaged heart with the help of Sora's.

Sora invites Ventus's heart to stay with him while it heals

The particular reason of why I love playing this game is because of Sora's character.  I really am amazed by how bright and sincere Sora is portrayed in the game.  I also like the way the game's plot goes on as it depicted on how the hearts of a human never grows evil to the roots.  Even at hope's end, there is still some light deep down inside all of us. Just like Sora said,

"The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"

Big Bad Wolf

My memories of Big Bad Wolf is its appearance in a folk tale called “Little Red Riding Hood”.  It is the story of a young girl who wore a red cape and a Big Bad Wolf who stalked the girl.  The wolf wanted to eat the girl plus the food in the basket that the girl was supposed to deliver to her grandmother.  Yes, Bad Wolf!

The modern Big Bad Wolf however, is a Book Sale!  The sale is back this year, I better save some money now.  I know I will be hunting again for… not wolf, but more books and comics and maybe buy the T-shirt this time around.

The last time in 2012, it was held in the Mines Convention Centre (MIECC), Kuala Lumpur.  It offered choices from three million books at a discount between 75-95%.  For example, a novel by Terry Pratchett with the normal selling price of RM69.70, you could buy it a price of only RM8!  

Maybe this year I can buy a truck load of books and comics!  ψ(｀∇´)ψ

...Just a thought.

Last year my sister and I bought the following:

Books, comics and two delicious cupcakes

（人´∀`*）♥ 

This year, let’s heed the call of the super monstrous book sale (again)!  Ah-wooooooooo~!! 

Flora and Fauna

The recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration saw many people 'Balik Kampung'. Some will go for a short holiday break with families after the usual family gatherings and receiving 'Duit Raya'   ԅ(≖‿≖ԅ)

But, thank you everyone for all the generosity, I really treasure it

  ♡（‐＾▽＾‐）♡

By now many 'Kodak moments' had been posted on Facebook and such.

In reflection I would like to write about 'Flora & Fauna'. For simplicity, flora means flower, while fauna refers to animal. Actually, flora refers to plant life in a certain region or climate. Fauna is for animal found in a certain region or climate. In Malaysia, example of a flora is a rare species of flower called 'Rafflesia' while the 'Orang Utan' represents fauna.

No, I did not go to Sarawak, or meet any Orang Utan or came across any exotic flower. I did take some photos of flowers, strawberries and tea plantation, and a school of fish (rather, a pool of fish as they were in a newly constructed pond with not many fish), I think by now you know the place.

Here are some of the flora and fauna :

Tea Plantation

Flowers and...

More flowers!

Fishes in the pond~

Red Strawberries, anyone?

And my Octopus moment!

(No, there weren't any octopus, but there were a lot of cool breeze coming my way... Cold!)