good stuff if you can get it

happy new year everyone! i found this while cleaning house - The Future of The Dayak Bidayuhs in Malaysia by Peter Minos (2000). my mum said he was an MP at one point but i'm surely too young to remember that.

anyway, the last passage of the preface may be especially interesting to those of you planning a tertiary education:

... i pledge and undertake that ten percent (10%) of... proceeds (if any) will be given... to all Bidayuh graduates who pass their degrees with First Class Honours and Second Class Upper Honours in any academic discipline from any recognised university, locally or overseas. ... contact me at P.O. Box 2502, 93750, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, submitting certified copies of their degree certificates, full postal addresses and other relevant details.

as to the book itself, i'm only on page 36, and Mr. Minos has already lost me on the political differences among the Bidayuh. to him, can only mean exploitation and disenfranchisement of a noble people, presumably.

just another sunday

here we are looking strangely athletic as we plod our way through the "9km" course for the BHP Orange Run held last weekend while the dudes held the fort back home. thanks guys.



reports from those with GPS (them's serious players!) put the distance closer to 10km. makes no difference to me because i was in it to win it survive somehow!

no, i don't know why our pictures were taken, maybe the photog was bored :D

images stolen from The Pacesetters website.

the spoils of war

tourism Sarawak should get in touch with my parents' shopping prowess and my layout talent :D more pictures to follow once dad uploads his pictures (if that's okay with everyone).

consider yourselves warned

my parents will be in Kuching next week (24/02 - 02/03). my father has to attend a conference. my mother is retired, has spending money and is not shy to use it.

be afraid, be very afraid.

2006 Christmas

my mother is unemployed

she's going to kill me if/when she reads that. heh heh.

the fact is, she's reached retirement age. her school organised a retirement ceremony the day before her birthday, i.e. 6th february (see previous post for pictures of the Mocha Mirror cake only we got to eat ha ha ha). her headmistress made sure to state her (my mum) age clearly. student reactions were unanimous:

"teacher! you so young why you want to retire??"

i guess they really liked her.



she was heralded from the headmistress' office (something not all of us look forward to) to the VIP seats.



the students outdid themselves in planning performances for her. the best one, in my opinion (because i was holding the camera) was the lion dance.



plus, they gave her a pineapple! in! a! tub! (see above); the other groups only had measly flowers to offer her. flowers are full of pesticides and cannot be eaten. Valentine's Day is a scam.

*end public service announcement*

the final part of the send-off was for her to ride off in to the sunset. on the back of a pickup truck. but first she had to run the gauntlet of rabid well-wishers. the brown scarf she's wearing was a gift from the scouts. the woggle is was made up of three interlocking, individually-knotted sections. it is a token bestowed on high ranking scouts and personses the scouts consider extremely important*





witness the aforementioned truck. the driver had a fun time making it down the school drive because frantic students were hurling themselves in front of it and screaming, "TEACHER, DON'T GO."



the students learn to let go. the discipline teacher, who is on the outside left of the frame is trying to keep them from running out of the school compound and down the road after the truck.

finally, here is my mother with her massive post-christmas, pre-birthday and CNY haul. can you believe we actually fit all that and three people in to the car?



*today's trivia was brought to you by Boyfriend and the letters N, E, R and D.

A xmas classic, Tony got pampers for a present

more family than guest

relaxing by the sea

Chirstmas visit

Lono's family in Kuching

I wonder what they are doing?