Freedom of speech, ever heard of it??

Its sad that at this day and age, there are still many people persecuted for speaking out loud, especially against injustice, immorral acts, wrongful conduct & etc...this of course is very evident in the recent rallies and the police stopping them with force and violence. Many are currently now using blogs and the internet to voice out their frusfrations and getting their voice out there to be heard. Now I have no such lofty aspirations with my blog, as I really don't think I have much "insights" to share especially about the political situation in Malaysia. However, I would like to talk about something much more closer to home. Previously, I had my blog on Friendster... and I blogged basically about anything happening in my life at the moment... now, I of course try to never name names nor step on anyone's toes with my blogging, however I did get some "advise" as to not to blog about certain aspects in my life or etc.... this "advise" was given as I'm a Christian, and therefore should be an example. Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure they had all the good intentions to advise me on that. However, due to their advise I felt very pressured whenever I wrote... I kept thinking, who will read this... whenever i post something, I would worry whether i would then later get a call. All in all, after a while, I got fed up of writing since I kept looking behind my back to see whether I would get any repercussion from my posting. The thing was, my post were nothing but just my views. Why I'm writing about it now is because I actually have a friend that's going through the same thing now. She has resorted to password protecting her post; which i feel is very sad... writings which she used to share with friends and family are now something she feels compelled to hide because it might not agree with other people's views. And she would get phone calls and emails lecturing her on her views and how she should not voice them out. I know that even writing about it now, many would think I'm actually advocating that Christian's are a pyscho lot that would want to "mum" their believers. Which is definitely not true.... God does not stop anyone from speaking their minds. In actual fact, the Bible clearly shows that Jesus went around, talking to people, advising people and telling truth, more than anything else in the three years before he was crucified. Yes, he did miracles. He healed people. But most of all, He talked, he ministered, and he stood up and pointed out what was wrong. He spoke out against injustice and immorality. He did not keep mum, even though many tried to get him to shut up. So now back to now, my friend is sharing her life, her struggles, what she thinks is right or wrong... and yet she feels that her opinions are not just not taken into consideration, but rather she's told to not share her opinions. Now, I might or might not agree with what she has said, or might say in the future, but who are we to judge what she says?? Who are we to stop her from having free speech? You might read this and misunderstand that being a Christian we are not allowed to voice out our fears, frusfrations, anger and etc. That is NOT true. Its not God that says we can't. Its people who try to play God that stops others from having opinions other that their own. It happens everywhere... it just so happens that right now I'm talking about being a Christian and facing it. Everyone does it or goes through it, regardless of religion or race. But what I'm standing for right now is that, being a Christian, we should not be the ones that stop people from having an opinion. Nor should we judge people for thinking and acting differently than from the norm or the accepted way which we think should be the way. Everyone is different, everyone has a right to their own opinions and there are different ways to express one self. We should not judge or dismiss a person's opinions just because they are different from ours. Freedom of speech ;) God bless and good night.

New place to eat ....

There was a new restaurant that opened in my office building (Jaya33 for those who are blur), its an Italian restaurant. And its called d'Italiane Kitchen.

So yesterday for lunch my collegues and I went to try it out ;) Bottom are the pictures taken by my colleague.

We had three different types of pastas. Price range was from RM18++ for a plate of pasta. I had the carbonara... it was quite thick with lots of beef bacon and mushrooms. I could only finish half the plate cause it was quite the creamy and filing. The other pasta that I ordered for my colleague (he let me mah) was a fried spaghetti with prawns... dun remember the name leh =p But it was very nice =)

Didn't try other dishes since it was lunch and already i was so full. Will definitely go again and try the other stuff. They look good in the menu :) Oh and the environment was ok la, very minimalistic. White walls, ceiling and chairs too. Very white white. Makes the place feel very clean ;) But not like romantic or anything la.... maybe its different at night but in the afternoon it was very bright.

All in all, pasta wise it was nice :) Environment, so so. Will go again ;)

U know Christmas is here when....

U know Christmas is here when my living room floor is littered with gifts and wrappers and boxes and ribbons.... and me drowning under it =p Yes, I have started my Christmas shopping... i would say almost 90% complete. Trust me, I'm behind schedule, normally end of November, I'm done....kekeke....yes yes, my bf keeps telling everyone that I'm a pyscho. But sue me for not wanting to do last minute "grab anything" kind of Christmas shopping :) So, yesterday went and caught a movie... "Beowulf"... not exactly my kinda show la... only watched cos of the hoo-haa that can see Angelina Jolie naked....kakaka.... ok ok, no... i didn't even choose the show, Shaun did. Best part of the night was dinner at Sakae Sushi...kekeke. And The Curve is decorated so beautifully, so many people were taking pictures, made me want to take picture too, but no camera :( Anyhoo, we went shopping la for Christmas after the show :) But nearly ended up fighting =p To cut a long story short, we didn't agree on what present to buy for someone. So now comes my question..... Do we buy presents for the sake of buying anything, or do we buy presents by OUR own taste, OR do we buy what the "receiver" would want? I don't know about other people, but i really dun like getting ANOTHER candle for Christmas (hehe, don't take offense if u gave me a candle ok? I still love you for giving me anything ;) ) But I feel so bad for ....well, to be getting a present that ends up being something I would not actually have any use for, and yet I have to smile and say its great... like yes, i needed ANOTHER diary/planner which i will never use cos I have like 10 planners... not like there's gonna be 10 2008s =p I know I know, Christmas is about giving, not receiving. Its about God and his ultimate gift to us. I'm just saying, if you're gonna spend money on gifts, and you have NOOOOOOO idea wat the person would want or need or yearn for (most of the time, u can't afford the yearning ones anyway)... get them something useful, like a pair of socks, at least they can wear it ;) or Cookies - can eat! :) But bottomline, its about the receiver, not you or me ;)

To bend or not to bend?

I came across this quote and I found it so funny: "If God wanted us to bend over he'd put diamonds on the floor." - Joan Rivers Is that true?? Well, for someone as stubborn as I am I would say its true... I would like to think that God made me this way for a reason. To stand up for myself, for my beliefs, my my family and friends, for injustice, for truth... So yeah, I would "like" to think that I'm this way for a reason and you shouldn't bend over just for everything or anything. However, others can and might say that, u should bend over for others, God wants you to be humble and submit to authority,...etc...etc.... So which way goes? My opinion is strongly for the first... but I guess that the latter applies in some situations too... Its really something that needs a whole lot more thought and practice (depending on which side u stand). Not bending over works for me in some situations... but I'm not too stubborn to know that sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and say "pleaseeeeee" even to the most irritating and stupid people (will blog more on this). AND shaun will definitely attest to the fact that he gets his way alot by using his "PR" skills while i just bulldoze my way through... hehehe