In All Honesty..

Dear Lord,

On this joyous occasion in celebration of St. Valentine, we pray...

...for all those who are cashing in on this event. May they won't go and burn in hell for charging their customers extra $10 bucks for a bunch of roses just because it was flown in from Newburbia or somewhere remote and equally unheard of.

...for St.Valentine so that he may not turn in his grave when couples fight over ridiculous reasons and demands.

...for my brother who has this brilliant idea of asking his sister to get a bouquet of roses flown in from Newburbia. "I'll pay you back later." Brilliant.

...for every single who doesn't have a date, may they remember that there's many kind of love. Such as love for family, friends, books , gaming, chocolates, wine, shopping sprees, etc, etc, etc.

...for those who watch romantic movies. May God help them if they even think for one second that any of it is real. One can hope, but please, try not to believe in a movie catered to strumming heart strings.

...for oprah who pointed at a photograph taken from a magazine depicting a bride smiling to a groom. "This is a photograph, these two are surrounded by a dozen of people, he's got a light shining on him and there's someone telling her to smile more. Then after the shoot, these two people put back on their jeans and will never see each other again."

...for all this, and much more, Dear Lord, we pray. Amen.

10 Things I Love About Brunei

1. People here practice indifference and mutual respect for other race and religion. Look at my circle of friends, malay, Chinese-dusun-muslim, Chinese-roman-catholic, Chinese-buddist, Chinese-christian, Chinese-muslim, Indian-roman-catholic…and the list goes on and on.
   
2. There is free medical treatment and education provided. I had fun in my government school. Best years of my school life. Although, I had to wear a tudung. Confound it.
   
3. Crime rate is incredibly low, even for a small nation. I can go out alone, have a meal at an outdoor restaurant and go home at 1 in the morning without much worry. I feel safe. I don’t have to live behind barred windows or doors. Seriously, if someone pulled out a gun, we wouldn’t know how painful it can be. Now if someone pulled out a parang…
   
4. Green stuff, lovely greenery every where. Brunei is 75% rainforest. A cure for AIDS could be in there somewhere.
   
5. It’s peaceful. No political hum drum. No rar rar, down with this and that, burn him in hell, kind of stuff.
   
6. Brunei maintains friendly relations with other countries. You don’t see us getting all hoity toity when the Japanese published a textbook that white washes it’s militarist past.
   
7. The people here are friendly and warm. Or busybodies. One time my brake wasn’t working properly and I had to use the hand brake. Even still, some guys stopped by to see if I needed help or if I was alright. It was great. Then one of them asked for my phone number. Yeesh.
   
8. Most Bruneians can communicate, at least, in 2 languages. If the person is Chinese, then it’s 3. Although my Chinese is…different…as I was sometime told.
   
9. Brunei has no tax for food or luxury items. I can actually afford to buy my own car with my own money.
   
10. Alcohol is banned from Brunei. No one is allowed to sell alcohol. So I’m kinda glad, cuz then I wouldn’t have to worry about people I care about becoming alcoholics. My grandfather was one.
    

10 Things I Hate About Brunei

1. Bruneians do not know how to watch a movie in a cinema properly. Dammit ppl, switch off your p.diddy missy elliot 50 cents wannabe mobiles! And stop talking while the movie is playing!
   
2. I’m born here, but I’m a permanent resident. Not a citizen of Brunei. Go figure.
   
3. Brunei would develop a tad faster. Come on la, some highways are not even properly lit. People die in accidents, heeellloooo?
   
4. Some people here actually think that Harry Potter is some kind of cult. Well, er, PRETIFICUS!
   
5. I wish the libraries here are bigger and better. With all kinds of updated books.
   
6. A lot of stuff can use a lot of work. Such as our free medical treatment and education system. Yes, I love that it’s free, but I hate that it’s limited in a way. When my brother was young he had a huge ulcer problems, in the end, we had to take him to Singapore to find a solution.
   
7. People here take their life for granted. Some flaunt their money like it’s just a big game of Monopoly.
   
8. A lot here are dependant on the oil and gas industry. I shudder to think when it all runs out. What? You didn’t know? It WILL run out one day.
   
9. I hate how some people work here. Hello, it’s called work, not slouch, scratch one’s butt and dig nose kind of thing. I wish I can drop them in the Middle East or better yet New York and let them see what real work is about. Jeez, a lot still dream of sitting their asses behind a government desk job. What kind of career is that? Do we even have a Bruneian word for CAREER?
   
10. There is no Sea World in Brunei.