Australs - The debating venues.

I suppose that is a good a place to start as any.

There were 3 debating venues in all, but we only got to see two. Small matter though. Our briefings were done in building number 3, so we got to see quite a lot of it anyway. I think the main building housed the top debates, and we weren't quite good enough to be there.

So, where did we debate? In the old government building and the railway station. Both very quirky places, really. The old government building used to house New Zealand's administration, and is the biggest wooden building in the southern hemisphere. (A fact that the Victorians were mighty proud of). Now its the law school. And also a tourist centre. As debaters, we got access to places that were normally off limits to non-students of Victoria University. We debated in their tutorial rooms and their lecture halls, and after that, we got to walk around and see the place. There were photos all over the place, but the one I remember best was one of the Nazi visit to New Zealand. It showed a facist parade in the streets of Wellington. I had never thought of New Zealand as having any facist links.

The building also had pretty cool lifts. One of those old close your own door kind of lifts. The three of use took it for a ride like the jakuns we were. The stairs were engeneering marvels in their own right. They were like suspension bridges built out of wood. With no supports. There was plenty of empty space under the stairs because of the absence of support beams. The architect who did that was mighty proud of it, and rightfully so. I'm more impressed with the engineer who ended up building it.

Then there is the railway station. Debating there is weird because to get there, we have to go thru a subway of sorts, and we will end up in a railway station. Literally. With commuters buying tickets and people waiting for their ride. Enter one door, and you are in Victoria University. I have never seen anything like it. Half a building for education, and the other half for public transport. Talk about being resourceful.

The main building (which we didn't debate in) was new and completely stand alone and not queer in any way. But it was still pretty cool. We had breifings and lunch there and it felt totally new. (Probably because it is. Heh.) Cool, but just like every other uni building. Nothing to shout about.

The venues were heated, thank god. I cannot imagine debating in temperatures below 10 celcius.

UMNO Youth do not represent me.

Brilliant.. A bunch of youth from the youth division of the biggest political party in the country just camped ouside the ASEAN conference and waited in the rain to give a memorandum protesting the American support of Israel. Hell, I was pissed.

Not because of the fact that they did it. I have a problem with the Isreali response to the militant attacks. I think that the scale of the counter attack is completely uncalled for. But to barge across a security barrier to personally hand a whiney letter to the US secretary of state is not something I would have done.

Here is how I see it. Problem 1. Malaysia is a small developing country in South East Asia. America is the only superpower in the world. What kind of impact does the party intend to make by giving Rice that letter? The US does not need to listen to Malaysia, and it probably won't. Malaysia is a gnat. In the realm of international politics, Japan, India, China, the EU hold sway. We just don't. Us making a lot of noise is just going to make us look like a petulant child.

Problem 2. They do not represent Malaysians, but they say that they do. They are the youth wing of the United Malay National Organisation. Just because they think that the US is evil because it refuses to do anything about Israel, it doesn't mean that a majority of Malaysians do. In fact, a majority of Malaysians wouldn't know that Israel is at war with Lebanon. And the fact that they are from a Malay organisation makes it worse. Last I remember, this was a multi-racial country. Don't bring the other races into your vendetta against Israel.

Problem 3. It really is about Islam vs the West. They claim it isn't, but it is. Its so paifully obvious that I'm surprised they even tried that lie. Has our country spoken out so forcefully against anything else in the past? North Korea perhaps? Nope. Never. Even its reaction to Myanmar is milder than this. Suddenly, when the Muslims and the holy land are involved, they get all pissy. Like anyone is going to believe that they are protesting because of the suffering and the injustice. Gimme a break.

The chinese and their apples..

A more accurate title would be 'the orientals and everything cutesy', but since this particular post came from a certain singer who calls herself apple, I suppose that would do just fine.

I'll probably draw the same old flak for saying this, because I am mentioning it and that automatically becomes an all out arieal offensive on a particular culture and way of life. It isn't. Its an observation.

My question is, why are the orientals so obsessed with all things cutesy? I'm not talking about fawning over babies or little puppies. That happens across cultures. But the orientals take it to adults too. 'Cute' adults (in a very literal sense) are considered attractive. The Japanese are probably the best examples of this, with restaurants having their waitressess dress up as schoolgirls and pretend to be innocent little kids who do not know the facts of life. Its apparent in their cartoons as well. The eyes are always dispropotionately big, just like in babies, and little children.

That is the Japanese approach to the whole thing. The chinese and Hongkees on the other hand do something different. They try cutesy names. I can't really remember many off hand, but they call themselves things like Dodo and Apple. Why? My mum has a colleague who sometimes introduces himself as apple. The dude is male. I know unisex names exist out there, but Apple just isn't one of them.

Why Apple? Because if you say it in a Chinese accent and in a cutesy wootsy kind of voice, you could actually make it sound cute. Unlike mango or kiwi. That cannot be cutesyfied. But Apple can. Problem now is, you are basing the name on phonetics. Its your name because it sounds nice. To the hell with what it means or the connotations that come with it. Right. I suppose people can do whatever they want. They aren't hurting me by doing what they do. Except maybe the sharp pang of pain I feel for humanity whenever I see something like this happen. (I know I promised I won't attack... just this once).

This is one of those quirks that people have that make life interesting. Those same people probably pity me for being so unimaginative that I have decided to stick to the name that my parents gave to me. People have their views. Whatever.

Rebirth.

Most of the people who end up reading this will probably have a pretty good idea of what my blogging history is. They would know why I got rid of my old one.

Question is, why this new one? A number of reasons..... Shutting up is not something I do very well. A blog is a comfort. At times, I fell like I really need to say something. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. But always knowing that you have the avenue to say something is always a comfort. Thus the return to an online space.

I'm not sure how well I'll do what I set out to do with the recreation of a blog, but its something that I need to do. Self expression comes as naturally to me as relativity comes to Einstien.

The posts on this blog may sometimes turn out to be cryptic. It has to be. Human sensetivities are at stake. Something that bladewing wasn't really bothered about. But bladewing is a fading force. If I had the will to do it, I'll make sure that he dies forever. I set out with a purpose, and so far, it has been going fairly well. I pray that it will last.

Mystical self evaluation aside, this blog will be and occasional place for me to put down my "New Zealand experience". The Australs was great. The memories will last a while.