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I was checking out some videos on Ustream.tv and stumbled upon one that caught my attention.

iSam.

It was quite interesting at first until the host “unboxed” the iSam — his newborn. The video was recorded with the help of his wife. I am sure the both of them are very excited.

At first, I thought the purpose of the video was to share their excitement with their followers. I could have been wrong. I do not want to sound like “I am holier than thou” but the rest of the video made me felt a little sick in the stomach.

Once you have watched past the 4:30 mark until the end, you will realize that the main purpose of the video was to promote her baby clothing. Much effort was taken just to show the printed words “iSam” on the front of the baby’s shirt.

Where do we set the limit? Has the limit been breached?

If you Google for Why Do We Dream?, you’ll get a long list of results. Many questioned why we dream. Is there any effect to someone’s body when that person dreams? Is there any side effect when someone dreams?

According to this article on top dream theories, some researches suggest that dreams have no purpose at all. On the other hand, some believe that dreaming is essential to the mental, emotional and physical well-being of a person.

Some even believe that dreams have a meaning to it. All you need is just a guide to interpret dreams. A quick search brought me to this online guide to dream interpretation website. I say that it is quite a good read if you are interested or curious about dreams.

Source

One thing I find fascinating about dreams is the ability or inability for us to control it. Most of the time, I am just a passenger in my dream and don’t even know I was dreaming. However, there were a few occasions where I knew I was dreaming and was able to somewhat control it. They call it lucid dream.

I was not able to fully control the progress of my dream on the very first try though. In fact, I never did manage to have total control, only partial. The first couple of times, I woke up immediately after I realized that I was dreaming. After a few more “practices”, I was able to play “director” in my own dream. It felt pretty cool I must say.

Some dreams can be so intense and real to the point that I wake up feeling confused. At times, the negative feeling caused by a dream can lasts for hours before it ends.

Have you ever experienced anything like that in the past? Have you ever wondered if it is possible that two (or more) people “meet” in a dream?

Language is a beautiful subject; if one spends enough time and effort coupled with interest studying it.

I am not a language freak but reading one of the latest articles on Malaysiakini got me thinking. I did a short research on two main languages in Malaysia — the English and Malay language — and found what I was looking for. By the way, is it called Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Melayu now?

Quoting from the mentioned article on Malaysiakini, “Ahmad did it again, told Chinese not be American Jews”:

“I want Koh Tsu Koon and Gerakan to take responsibility for whatever untoward incidents that could happen in this country of ours.”

The word in the quoted text above that sparked the desire in me to conduct my little research is ours. A check on Wikipedia reveals that the possessive predicate adjective of the word we is ours. Some other examples on possessive predicate adjectives include mine, yours, his, hers, yours and theirs.

So, what are possessive predicate adjectives used for? Possessive predicate adjectives are used to show one’s ownership. For example, when I say “The pen is mine”, I meant to say that the pen belongs to me. When I say “That ball is yours”, I meant to say the ball belongs to you.

What really, really sparked the desire in me to conduct my little research is that I noticed a “weakness” in the English language compared to the Malay language. The point is that I noticed how we can’t differentiate the word “We” in English like how we can differentiate the word “We” in Malay.

In the Malay language, we have Kita and Kami at our disposal. Kita refers to the individual speaking, his/her friend(s) and the person/people they were speaking to (inclusive we). On the other hand, Kami refers to the individual speaking and his/her friend(s) excluding the person/people they were speaking to (exclusive we). (I learnt this in school so if I am wrong, don’t put the blame on me.)

In English, there aren’t two words that can clearly distinguish between inclusive we and exclusive we. The only possible method to understand the usage of the word “we” is to fully read and understand the entire sentence/paragraph.

This might be a design flaw in the English language since some other languages have up to six words to differentiate the word “We”.

Author’s note: Here is some salt. Kindly add to taste.

I was window shopping at Sunway Pyramid last night. I think the last time I’ve been there was a few years ago. I didn’t even know they have a new building now.

The thing that amazed me the most about this Sunway Pyramid shopping mall is their car parking system. Wow! I didn’t know we have such intelligent car parking systems in Malaysia. Each parking lot has a censor above it to detect if a vehicle is parked in it. A lamp above the lot will turn green if the parking lot is vacant and red if it is taken.

Now, I don’t want to sound like an idiot. My line of work is developing computer systems. Therefore, I am very aware that such a system is implementable. In fact, a few years back on the Nescafe Kick-Start programme, I remember one contestant had this same idea.

The reason why I was amazed isn’t because such a car parking system exists in Malaysia. It was simply because there is a company who is willing to invest money to prevent their customers from going berserk from hunting for a parking lot.

Anyway, my main blogging point isn’t Sunway Pyramid’s car parking system but what I saw while window shopping there. As always, when you are shopping with a group of girls, any shops with sales or discount signs will be a ‘stop’.

As they were happily doing their thing, I saw the sign the shop had in their window and couldn’t hold my laughter and just had to take some photos of it. I didn’t have my Nikon D40x with me so I borrowed my gf’s camera phone to take a snapshot of it. I don’t have Bluetooth or infrared dongle with me so I couldn’t transfer the photos over. Arggh…whatever.

It seems like the shop was having an “All things must go!” sale. The sign shows that the sale will last for only 9 more days. I guess they were closing shop soon. Either that or it was just a sale gimmick.

No, I wasn’t laughing at them. I was definitely not laughing at them because they might be closing shop soon. I was thinking — If DS Anwar Ibrahim’s 16th September plan is really on track (give or take a few days or weeks), that means BN will be “closing shop” real soon.

If BN will be closing shop soon, are they having any cheap sales?

It’s quite strange to go off for dinner and to return into an empty office at 8.30pm. Usually, there will be at least a handful of people still hanging around doing their thing.

Then, I chuckled.

When I was out for dinner a while ago, I saw a banner hung out on the first story window with Chinese words written all over it. There were only two things that I understood – “14/8/2008 to 15/8/2008” and “hungry ghost festival”.

I guess everyone must have gone back home early because of this. Either that or they are rushing home to watch the Olympics. In fact, my girlfriend warned me and told me not to go home too late tonight. “Before 12 midnight!” was her order.

I don’t know much about the hungry ghost festival but I know that this is when it is believed that the gates of hell opens and the dead will walk with the living. I remember some Chinese shows I used to watch when I was much younger. Those movies used to scare the shit out of me.

There will also be these performances held to entertain both the living and the dead. If I am not mistaken, the front row seats are always “vacant”. Well, at least to us humans of course. I wonder if anyone has ever seen an occupied front row before. Have you?

Then, there is the big question — “Aren’t you afraid of ghosts?”

Hell yeah I am afraid of ghosts. Who said Christians aren’t afraid of ghosts? Since young, if you were always scared and threatened with ghosts or little “invisible beings” (by friends, elders or television), do you think that has no affect on one’s mind when they grow up?

So am I shivering in my pants now? Not really.

Why should I be any more afraid than what I already am of these two days when the gates of hell opens and all the ghosts are let loose? What can they do? Appear out of a sudden beside me with their 4 feet long hair covering their head? Climb out of the television set while I am watching the Olympics? (5 rings. Get the joke?) Knock on my window on their motorbike asking me directions to the nearest hospital when I am living on the 10th floor?

I am not making fun of anyone/anything. Those that have moved on onto another life deserve the utmost respect. Individuals’ believe deserves as much. The thing is that we are living in a world 24/7/365 where some deem to be far worse than hell. I have been literally living in fear for the past few months. Although the intensity of fear changes as each event evolves. What are these two days compared to that?

I believe I don’t need to elaborate on that point.

Happy Hungry Ghost Festival!

* Note: I couldn’t find any suitable photos on flickr with the ghost theme. Those two are what I found searching for “ghost”. Anyway, ghosts shouldn’t always be portrayed as bad looking and ugly. We have enough of those smoking cigars dressed up in suits.