Point 1: Malaysia
You know, I just realized lately that us Malaysian high schoolers in general spend a lot of time bashing Malaysia. We're always complaining about the education system, the government, schools, the weather, occaisonally the people, public transportation, sports teams and languages. There ARE, of course, lots of places where we can improve - no country's perfect but looking at my life here and life somewhere else really made me think about the differences and the strange connections that exist in different countries.

I think that us Malaysians take our cultural diversity for granted. Could you imagine living in a country where all you see around you are the same kind of people? If we go seriously shallow and just look at appearances, living in a country like China or India or Africa would be kind of startling, I suppose. Because everyone dresses more or less the same, everyone has about the same skin tone, the same coloured hair (underneath the dye and makeup) and everyone kind of speaks the same language if you're in the same area. But living in Malaysia, we see such a mixture of cultures that it's like being exposed to a myriad of colours every time we leave the house. I think Malaysians in general are pretty open and accepting people because of this strange cultural diversity. Regardless of how it came about, I'm thankful that it exists because it has exposed me to so many different cultures and walks of life.

I think us Malaysians also take our food for granted. Okay, so maybe not all of us do, but seriously, I think Malaysian food is the best food like... ever. Just by taking a drive from my house, past Centrepoint Bandar Utama to Taman Tun, you'll come across at least 5-6 restaurants catering to food from at least 5 different cultures/countries. There's the Indian/Malay mamaks, Japanese restaurants, Chinese restaurants, Italian restaurants, Western pubs, Thai restaurants, neighbourhood cafes, pretty much any kind of food you can think of. And most of it's good. And fairly cheap. Also, have you ever thought about the food you eat at home? I mean, most of the time, I eat Chinese food (stirfrys and stuff) but I also eat curries (Indian), rendang every once in a while and kuih (Malay food. Btw, have I mentioned rendang? It's like.. awesome) and pasta (Italian) and lamb chops and chicken chops and stuff. So we even eat international at home. I think it's most definitely something we take for granted.

I think another thing we Malaysians take for granted is our manners in general. Okay, so maybe this isn't exactly the most hygenic country in the world, but think about this: Every time you go to buy something from a mamak stall or the canteen at school, you address the older person on the other side of the counter as "Aunty/Kak/Mak Cik/Pak Cik/Abang/Uncle". And I think most of us in general remember our P's and Q's.

Point 2: Trials


Are nasty tings, aren't they?

Point 3: So Little Time, So Much To Do

Does anyone remember that Mary-Kate and Ashley show on the Disney Channel? No, I wasn't a fan of the show, but I LOVED the theme song! It used to get stuck in my head all the time.

Honestly, nowadays, it seems like there are so many things I want to do by the end of the year and there just isn't enough time to do them!

But at the same time, I'm hoping for the year to end as soon as possible.

"Ahh... panic."