Thank you, MKL's peeps of 2009!

Let's click on some links, shall we?

2009 is over! The year nearly ended. Yep. That's all folks. Pack your bags and get ready for a new ride, a new journey: 2010! The Tens are here. Woohoo! Are you excited or anxious? I'm excited! :-)

But before we start with a new year, let me say my sincerest thank you to all the people who left foot prints on My Kafkaesque life. I will especially thank those of you, who came at least few times and made me remember you. And let's see from which countries you came here (next year I shall compare and see how the list changed).

✰ My dear readers, followers, commentators, let me tell you:

Thank you! 谢谢! Danke! Bedankt! 謝謝!
Terima kasih! Salamat po! 고마워! Takk!

✰ My commentators come from these awesome countries:

1. MALAYSIA [20]: A Gust of Wind, Allison, Ai Shiang, Ejann, Envoy, Erny, Icedteamonster, Izso, Jerine, Jessica, Lily Riani, Kyh, Netster, Pinkpurplelizard, Sabrina, Sharon, Stefanie, Wenwen, Wenny, Zewt
2. SINGAPORE [10]: Adeline, Dawn Yang, Della, Dhar, Nashe, Rinaz, Roxy, Shingo, Vampie, Ying Zi
3. USA [9]: Amy Star, Bradley, Floreta, Mystery Lady, Sheri, Steph, Tricia, Van, Victoria
4. THE PHILIPPINES [6]: Angel, E, Margee, Mel, Rica, Leah
5. BRITAIN [5]: Adamantixx, Lai San, Prometheus, Vincent, ZACL
6. MAURITIUS [4]: Angele, JaiMie, Kit, Manju
7. GERMANY [2]: Justrecently, Junjie
8. INDONESIA [2]: Andhari, Selvy
9. PAKISTAN [2]: Desi, Nahl
10. NETHERLANDS [1]: Shirley
11. TAIWAN [1]: LilyChen
12. S. KOREA [1]: Hwan
13. THAILAND [1]: Kanchana
14. NORWAY [1]: Carina
15. JAMAICA [1]: Kirk
16. CANADA [1]: Karen
    
17. AUSTRALIA [1]: Sarah
    

*OMG, Malaysia should give me a free PR status :P

✰ Special gift to some of you commentators:

I thought of making tiny.urls for some of you. Those shortened links are very useful when you tweet and link to your blog. I first saw Shirley using this for her blog http://tinyurl.com/toothfairynotes. These links never expire, so once you have one, it stays yours forever and you can use them everywhere. Mostly people use them on Twitter, but you can use them on your blog, Facebook or anywhere you wish. I first did some for Stefanie, here http://tinyurl.com/msstef and here http://tinyurl.com/MsStefanie. Then I decided to make some for the rest of my dear bloggers. I didn't make these for all of you, either because of lacking ideas or your blog URL was very short already. So here are my creations for some of you, hope you guys like it [*to copy the URL, first mark it and then press Ctrl + C]: Lovely Andhari http://tinyurl.com/ndeesblog - awesome Manju http://tinyurl.com/manjugone - incredible Sharon http://tinyurl.com/sharonsworld - cool Jerine http://tinyurl.com/jerinestyle - cute Mel http://tinyurl.com/melscorner - witty Shingo http://tinyurl.com/shing0 - super funny Jessica http://tinyurl.com/j3ssica and another candy http://tinyurl.com/pussica :P - dear sis Selvy http://tinyurl.com/selvy - Japan lover Envoy http://tinyurl.com/TEFAfar - beautiful Adeline http://tinyurl.com/adelinelee and another for you http://tinyurl.com/leolady - lovely Van http://tinyurl.com/myinsanity - dearest amiga Lai San http://tinyurl.com/supersan and a shorter one http://tinyurl.com/LiSan - cool Nashe http://tinyurl.com/lanashty - gracious JaiMie http://tinyurl.com/soflawed - super kind Victoria http://tinyurl.com/vpaege - lovely Angel http://tinyurl.com/angelgoddess - awesomely cool Ejann http://tinyurl.com/ejannz - funny Sabrina http://tinyurl.com/sabyj and last but not least, two awesome links for beloved Lily http://tinyurl.com/LilyChen and http://tinyurl.com/yulinga

*Hope some of you guys find my creations useful ;-)

✰ Special thanks to my top commentators:

Bradley, Junjie, Sharon, Adamantixx, Jerine, Andhari, Manju, Shirley, Selvy, Angel, Lily, Shingo, Floreta, Stefanie, Ejann, Carina, Rica, ZACL, Nashe and Prometheus.

And if you want to see a year in review Google Wave style, check this link. It'll lead you to an awesome short video about the most interesting events in 2009. Enjoy. And I wish you a

Happy and prosperous New year 2010!

See you soon again!

Your MKL

[Photo 1 by Promex, Photo 2 by MKL 2005, Photo 3 by SicaGo]

Arti Sahabat by Netster

Malaysian friend's awesome music on my blog

My fellow Malaysian blogger Netster a.k.a. Jong Fui Fa, accidentally tweeted a link to an old post of his, and since I'm a busy body, I followed that link and found a video of a beautiful song he sang. The song was originally recorded by an Indonesian pop rock band Nidji [more info here] and it's called Arti Sahabat ["The meaning of a best friend"]. I loved that song instantly. And I thought it'd be a great way to promote my dear friend's blog and also give you the pleasure to enjoy some awesome music from Indonesia, wut wut! Check the two videos below, first one is the cover version from Netster:

Here's the original Arti Sahabat by Nidji:

Music connects people! High five! Enjoy my friends' art.

Adeline Lee: Singaporean beauty

Let me introduce you my exceptional friend

I came across this lovely lady 3 months ago on Twitter. Where else, right? Seems like Twitter is a place to meet the most awesome people. Adeline Lee (born 1985) is definitely one of those. And she's also one of these women, when you see them, you just have to ask them something like: Are you a model? And I think that was one of the first questions I had in our initial tweet exchange. And yes, she is a model. But not only that - she's a model you'll definitely remember. What captivated me most about her were her eyes. She's got that uniquely deep look with big radiant eyes you can't really forget. Check the photo above and below: Amazing eyes, right?

But apart from the eyes, she's got an awesome body, which is obvious in the next pics (She's 163cm tall). Have you noticed the leopard outfits? Seems as she has a special affection for leopards, because she uses the nickname leopardladyy for her blog, Twitter and other websites. But more about that later in the interview.

This my personal fav photo of Adeline. I love those sunnies.

I like this one: Black, white and blue colors, a perfect composition.

Now that you know a little about Adeline, let's hear what she has to say. I decided to make a small interview with her, it's my first, so wish me luck :-) So here's a little conversation I had with the amazing Singaporean model Adeline Lee:

How do your friends call you? Any nicknames?

They all call me Adeline, but my family calls me 'ah Yong' in Chinese (my Chinese name in short), I hate it because it sounds like a guy's name. Lol.

I noticed you use 'leopardladyy' as your online name. How come?

Because I love leopard prints so much! hehe. I love animal prints. :) Everyone knows it's my trademark now, haha!

When did you begin modeling and how did it start?

I started modeling early this year. It all started when a photographer approached me for shoots, and then I find myself doing it till now...It's fun.

Share some of your favorite models, female and male.

I love Devon Aoki, she's a model turned actress. She has very unique features. And from male models Randall Tan from Singapore.

What is your favorite look when it comes to fashion?

The wild smokey eyes look is my all time favourite.

What kind of shoes are your favorite?

I love high heels, but it always gives me nasty blisters. I love boots too, but it's not very appropriate to wear in Singapore, unless it's for special occasions etc.

Share your favorite make-up brands for my female readers.

I love MAC cosmetics, eg. their liquid foundation and concealer provides great coverage which is suitable for parties/shoots. And I always wear Maybelline mascaras, I think they are alot better than those expensive brands. I don't have to wear any fake lashes at all!

Now let's talk about some topics that aren't related to modeling. What do you do in your free time? What are your hobbies?

I love reading novels/literatures. And singing is also my hobby.

Where did you travel and which place did you like the most?

I've only been to Bangkok and Hong Kong/Shenzhen. But I really love Bangkok. Apart from all the cheap bargains, their simplicity of lifestyle appeals to me, it gave me a nostalgic feeling.

What's your favorite food? Do you cook and what do you cook best?

Lol. My fave food is pasta/sphagetti and tom yam. And I just learned how to cook pasta, haha. I want to try cooking tom yam next. :)

What are your favorite TV shows?

My fave tv shows are American next topmodel and Prison Break. I don't really chase dramas, but watch a lot of movies.

Who is your favorite singer?

Jam Hsiao.

What kind of guy is handsome for you?

Like Wentworth Miller! Lol.

What kind of people annoy you the most?

Ohh... I met a lot of annoying people while taking the train everyday in the morning. Weird people, who try to strike a conversation, people who squeeze and push like mad....

You're pretty, you must have many guys approaching you...

Hahaha, but im married. Lolz.

How would you describe your character?

I'm quite introverted. I tend to be very quiet around people I don't really know,and hence often being mistaken as aloof, which I'm really not. But with my close friends or family, I would be crazy!

Before we finish this little interview, do you have any special message for my readers?

I wish everyone a merry Christmas and happy New year! Hope everyone enjoys good health and good luck for the coming year 2010! :)

Thank you for the lovely interview.

Thanks for the time and effort. :)

Do you want more of Adeline? Check her websites below. Oh, and to the guys, who are drooling all over now, hold your horses: Adeline is happily married ;-)

[Last photo: By Roger Chua][Links: Adeline Lee on Flickr]
[Adeline's blog][Adeline on Facebook][Adeline's Twitter]
[Tiny.link to my post: http://tinyurl.com/MKLsAdelineLee]

Bigger Taiwanese man mocked by Singaporean tabloid

The post is long, you may choose one point to read and comment

I came across an article on STOMP (Singaporean online tabloid), that has triggered some random thoughts and I want to share my opinions. It was posted in the section, where anyone can generate content. You can imagine that the stuff posted there is usually of very low quality - I'd never find this article, if it wasn't for Vampie posting a link on Twitter. The article is about a bigger Taiwanese guy, who has a skinny cute girlfriend and he posted his private photos online (probably on his blog, no idea, because no source was linked). Check the whole article here. It seems that the intention of the person, who wrote the article, was good, however it generated a lot of nasty comments, which made me write my two cents on everything I saw:

1 The photos watermarked with Stomp.com.sg is just wrong!

The author took these pics from a private blog without the approval of the Taiwanese guy and he didn't even link to his source. That's just wrong. The least he could do is link to the guy's blog or photo album, so that the people could get a more objective impression of the man and his girlfriend. I admit that I also take photos from external sources, but I never use them to defame individuals (to the contrary) and I always quote my sources. Now I know that I may sometimes overstep the copyright laws, but most of the time I hope I am within fair use. I know I'm not always, but I try my best. I know many bloggers use external content, especially photos. The truth is: *We all break the copyright law, unless the third party gives us permission. But the thing is, so far those laws are not really enforced in the blogosphere, at least not in the personal blogs I and most of you write. As for me, I'm not afraid. Always quoting my sources and the fact that I don't make any money with my blog makes me the least bad of all those who take external content. But I don't take someone else's photos and watermark them as if they were mine. A watermark for me means that you claim the ownership of the photo. I only watermark photos taken by me. *Here's an interesting article on blogging and copyright (a must read).

• What's your opinion on blog copyright?

2. Does the Report as offensive function really serve any purpose,

if you can read comments like these (and similar can be found on other posts):

TongSumPa said on 24 dec, 2009 Report as offensive
bcos he got a big fat salami

florawinx said on 24 dec, 2009 Report as offensive
omg disgusting... it's impossible

ArizonaTea said on 24 dec, 2009 Report as offensive
Have sex? Use the fatass's dollar notes cover the entire body lor,
the girl see all the notes sure horny liao.

prince2yan said on 23 dec, 2009 Report as offensive
Last picture has a buttcrack for you too see ^^.
His face looks like something i see in the market. Meat section ?

getalifewillya said on 23 dec, 2009 Report as offensive
GOD! This guy face -________-" *puke*

AngelsCollide said on 23 dec, 2009 Report as offensive
he probably fat in his wallet also.

iluvstomp5 said on 23 dec, 2009 Report as offensive
How much the girl charging?

mudboots said on 23 dec, 2009 Report as offensive
This fatty is so disgusting!!!

Who will ever report 90% of all the comments on that website? And even, if someone does, do they really delete all of them? Because I saw nasty comments like that on various posts. Ok, I admit that the section mentioned above is just pure tabloid stuff or even worse (if that's possible), so the question is: What did I expect? I don't read Stomp's articles, I only read Dawn Yang on Star blog, which I find of very good quality, but the rest is not my cup of tea.

• What's your opinion on this?

3. Even, if you write a post with good intentions, if the comments are offensive, you're responsible for them.

I believe that I'm responsible for nasty and racist comments on my blog. Hence I delete them, if I spot them. Of course it's up to me to decide, which comment is acceptable and which not. I decide when the line is crossed. Same goes for the stuff I write. I may have good intentions, I may joke, be sarcastic, but for some people I will cross the line, like it happened to me here. You need a thick skin as a blogger and as a reader, that's for sure. You'll never please everyone. I'm ok, if people disagree, they can defend and argue their statements, but so can I. I will always defend my posts here or on another blog. But I won't allow racists, spammers and nasty people to abuse my blog. That are just my rules here and I don't even need a Report as offensive function. I'll settle that with my own rules. It is a public blog after all, there has to be a set of rules, a frame, even freedom of speech has it's limits. In Germany, for example, it's against the law to publically deny the holocoust or shout Heil Hitler!

• What's your opinion on responsibility of the comments?

4. What's wrong with those Singaporeans who comment such nasty stuff?

I know that there's a certain portion of young Singaporeans, who are infamous for being nasty netizens, bashing and picking on everyone, who's in the spot light. But I still think it's a small portion, Singapore has 4.5 million citizens after all and most of them (for me personally) are very nice people and the positive impressions prevail for me. I think every country has these kind of people, some countries more, some less. I know my country has them and I wrote about them here.

• What's your opinion on nasty commentators?

5. Why did the Taiwanese guy post these half-nekkid photos in the first place?

I think internet is not a perfect place. You should be careful what you post and reveal of yourself. So the guy is partly to blame, too. Although I do believe that bigger guys have the same rights to post private pics as skinny guys. It's just that this year few of my bloggy friends saw their pics taken and used on another blog. A friend who has like 1000 Facebook friends saw her pics taken and someone created another nasty account in her name. That taught me to always be careful, that's why you won't see pics of me on my blog, only as a small avatar in the comments and maybe on my About me page. Those of you, who do post private photos, really need to think well what you post, because you never know on what website your face might end up and in what context. Sometimes it's just someone who has no life and hates you for having one and will try to pull you down by posting your pics and trash you. Be careful, my friends.

• What's your opinion on posting private pics online?

Winter blues: Fairy tale gone bad

Or how my blog followers gave me a nightmare!

Ok, let's start from scratch. It's damn cold here! Seriously! Yesterday was -18°C at night and during the day time, it wasn't really better, it was -15°C. If you open the front door, you feel like you opened the fridge.

It's really frustrating. So what does MKL usually do, when he's stuck inside the house? Well, let me tell you what I did yesterday. I laid on the couch and covered myself with a blanket, drank tea and watched TV... and then I suddenly became drowsy and started to imagine (maybe I was dreaming) how good it would be, if I could invite my followers and fellow bloggers to come and visit me. I thought I will be blessed with joy and happiness, but instead this happened:

Adamantixx's beard froze, so he couldn't really talk, while Shirley felt so cold, she wrapped herself in a sweater and totally ignored me. Guess sucking that straw was more fun! O_o

Manju was first so excited about snow, but once here, she started complaining and left. Not even hot chocolate could keep her around. And Stefanie hung my beloved snowman! O_o

I couldn't keep Netster and Envoy in the house, they had to go out and take a dip in the nearby creek with the company of Angele and JaiMie. I was totally ignored! Was it fun? O_o

I couldn't keep Zewt inside the house either. Once he saw the famous Slovenian ski-brand Elan, he had to buy skis and learn to ski-jump. Shingo, on the other hand, at least helped me to clear the snow, but my neighbours weren't amused! Did you have wear those wings? O_o

I was happy to be visited by Lily, but when she said she's well-prepaired for the winter here, I wasn't expecting this! And Izso brought his sleigh from Sabah and enjoyed his day! O_o

Lucky for me, not everyone ignored me. Jessica and Ejann didn't want to go out of the house, but while Jessica destroyed my precious floor with her weird shoes, Ejann ruined my beautiful balcony with her killer-heels. It's now full of holes! Who'll pay for that, ladies? O_o

After being inside for so long, I decided to check upon my amigas Lai San and Dawn. While Lai San was busy to clear the snow on back of my house, Dawn started to chase after Santa and upset my grandma. You can be sure granny scolded me later and pulled my ear! O_o

A while later, I finally found Andhari and Mel. And you know, my dream was really close to reality, because a spammer somehow found his way in my head. But lucky for me, my two awsome friends hunted the bugger down and embarrassed him! Phew, thanks ladies! O_o

And at last, while walking in town, I found Jamaipanese watching his favourite Japanese variety show. I guess those cute girls were more interesting than my company! Thanks O_o
And then I woke up all sweaty! I needed few minutes to get my senses back and I thought: "Oh no, I will never invite my fellow bloggers to visit me during the winter. It's a recipe for a disaster. I need to survive this winter alone and you guys better stay where you are and do what you do best: blog!" :P

Happy holidays and have a lot of fun!

Ho ho ho from MKLaus

*I wanted to joke with more of you, but didn't find more funny pics. Sorry to those who weren't mentioned ;-)

[Photo sources: 1 by MKL, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]

I hate Whites who make fun of Asian eyes

I'm usually not someone who'd like to blow things out of proportion and make a big thing out of nothing, well, at least that's what I think. But I'm gonna use a seemingly insignificant incident to highlight a bigger issue.
Yesterday I've read that the popular American country singer Toby Keith made a silly gesture at a concert in Norway, pulling his eyes back (making his eyes almond-shaped) when hearing the lyircs "yellow" (which stands here for the yellow [East and South East Asian] race.
You can check the video here, the gesture is at 0.24. As usual in America, there will be a group, who will protest immediately, in this case it was Asian American Justice Center, who said:

"Toby Keith embarrassed himself and his country, denigrated the Noble Peace Prize and offended Asians and Asian Americans by using a crude, racist hand gesture." [source]

First I thought: Wow, what was that? Let me see! Then I checked the video and saw that half-second long gesture and thought: Give me a break, that's what all the fuss was about? I'm always very outspoken when it comes to racism (I hate racists!), but saying it was a crude, racist hand gesture goes too far in my opinion. In Keith's case, I certainly wouldn't go that far.

But there were other instances where I wasn't really amused. The photo on the left supposedly shows Joe Jonas from the Jonas Brothers and on the right is Miley Cyrus doing the same gesture a while ago. Not really cute in my opinion, but I would not call it racist either. [But I must add that Miley did apologize after that photo was leaked (bigger version below)]

And then there were many cases of this silly gesture just before the Beijing Olympics 2008, which caused quite a big uproar. The photos on top show the Spanish men's and women's basketball team [no 1, 2, 3] and the one below shows the Argentinian women's football team [no 4] trying to be funny by making their eyes look Asian. The last photo is a bigger version of Miley Cyrus and her friends again.

In my opinion: This is not cute and not funny anymore. I mean doing it as a group photo? Come on, it's just plain stupid. It's taunting and making fun of a certain physical attribute and I think the people on those photos look very immature and silly. What's the point of adults behaving like that? Who thinks that's funny? Well, I don't.

On a personal note: I remember, when I was in Singapore in 2005 and a group of Malay [adult] guys made jokes about my nose and laughing, asking me questions like: "How come you Caucasians all have big noses?" "I don't know, I'm born this way, that's how it is," I replied. I felt very uncomfortable. It's not my fault that I was born White and with a big nose and same goes for Asians being born with smaller eyes. It's not their fault either.

In conclusion: I'm not saying all these people are racist, maybe some are, but it's hard to tell based on the gesture, it won't expose them as racists necessarily. In my opinion, this just shows that they're ignorant and silly. I have no other explanation. I have many Asian friends and I'd never do something like that. I know that not every Asian will be offended by this, but some would. Most likely those who lived abroad and suffered real racism and discrimination. I'm sure they won't see this as innocent and cute. I think that, because of the history of racism [especially in Europe and USA], we should be careful how we joke about other races. I've no problem making jokes about my own race, laughing at my own expense. But making jokes about other races is a very fine line to walk, we need to be very careful. Playing with stereotypes is fun, but only to a certain extent.

Ok, this was my 2 cents on the complex issue, now share your views on these things:

• Can we make a difference between Keith's gesture and the others?
• Do you think these photos are innocent and cute or silly and disturbing?
• Have you ever been taunted, because of the physical attribute of your race?
• When is a ethinc joke or gesture funny and when is it inappropriate?

[Sources: Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3 and 6, Photo 4 and 5, Photo 7]

MKL's hottest women of 2009

The year has come to an end and so it's time for the annual MKL's hottest women of 2009 awards. Ok, I admit that I haven't done this before, but my supportive readers Izso, Shingo and Ax inspire me and keep me going. So I'm doing this for you guys! [*sobs] No, seriously, my blog has always been a prominent place for beauty. Well, who doesn't enjoy beautiful women? And I must say, the year 2009 has been full them for me and I even wrote some posts about them. Therefore I decided to put together my personal top ten of the hottest women of 2009. And I'm asking you, my readers, to look at the photos and vote. Yes, that's right. You will find the poll after the photos. The voting will end on 31. December 2009 and your winner will be announced.

See the photos and vote here >>

[*please be patient, the photos need some time to load. Thank you.]

And your hottest MKL's woman of 2009 is: Ju Da-ha

Congrats! :-)

[Photo from ReallyCuteAsians]

So hot, she made his nose bleed!

Have you ever watched Japanese anime and saw guys getting a nosebleed (like the pic on the left), when they saw a beautiful girl? I did a little research and this explains the prominent phenomenon best:

"In Japanese anime and manga, the nosebleed is a visual shorthand/euphemism for sexual arousal, specifically an erection in males [...]. When blood shoots from the nose explosively, and in ridiculous quantity, the implication is an actual ejaculation." [source]

Now you wonder why I am telling you that. Well, I [and most likely you] always thought that this can only happen in animation. We were all wrong! Check the pics below, taken at a computer fair in China.

Sexy show girls at the fair, don't they look hot? ▼
Uncle came to make some nice photos... ▼
Oh, no, uncle, what happened to your nose? ▼
Oh no, this is bad, nose is bleeding, here's a tissue. ▼
Poor uncle, a bit embarrassing, don't you think? ▼
Leaving fast, hoping there's no blood on the camera. ▼

I have no idea, if his nosebleed was caused by the beauty of that girl, but if it was, I'm not really shocked. I feel a bit bad for the uncle. What do you think? :-)

What is your reaction, when you see a beautiful woman or man?

[Photos: Source]

A year in review: My blog year 2009

Watch out, I'm rambling, it's long ;)

1 My beginnings

I think, since 2009 is nearly over, many bloggers will write their year in review. And so will I here. Well, where to start. I've tried blogging in October 2006, but lost interest after a month and deleted the blog. Then came March 2008 and I decided to start blogging again. I don't know, whether that was a blessing or a curse to you, my followers, but I must say I do enjoy blogging ever since and you, the readers are a big part of that. In 2008, my blog was more of a diary and I didn't update a lot and also didn't have any readers. But it was still fun to add my 2 cents on various issues. Then came this year: I returned from Malaysia in February and started to blog more passionately, updating a lot and commenting on other blogs. At that time my blog's name was Nino's World. I was heart-broken and blogging was a kind of remedy for me, even if only temporarily, it did help me make it through the hard times. I got few followers and blogging seemed pretty much fun. Until there was an 'incident', where I was dragged in and suddenly haters were directed to my blog, bashing me in the comments. I did not seek trouble, but trouble found me. I guess this sums it up the best.

2 A new bloggining

It stressed me out so much, that I deleted my old blog and started a new one naming it My Kafkaesque life. I imported all the old posts, but the URL was new, the design was new and at least in the beginning, I was more anonymous, but I'm less so today. I left all the drama behind and I found back to my old self. Because I used to be bitter at times, I was negative and moody. Blogging wasn't really fun in July. But it all changed end of August. I stopped following people, who didn't do me any good and I found new ones, who made me feel like I was reborn - and of course the biggest part of this happiness belongs to my sweetie. So I can say I'm happy since end of August and I'm trying to take things as easy as I can now.

3 About following

Those who I follow, probably know, that I'm a very supportive and loyal follower, but I also stopped following people, who didn't give back enough in return or who tended to be too negative sometimes. It doesn't mean I don't like them or that I completely stopped reading their blogs. It's very rare, that I delete a blog from my Google reader. I love reading blogs. But now that I have so much more followers, I do take care of them first. My time is limited, I can only give back so much. And I think everyone does that: The blogosphere is huge, new people come and go, but some stick around. And those who do, you need to cherish them, because they make blogging so much more fun. I really treasure you girls and guys, a big fat thank you!

4 About followers

But there's also people who followed me for a while and then stopped. I thank you, too. I have no idea, why some stopped following me, but I guess the reasons are similar to the ones I have, when I stop following other bloggers: They bore me, I don't agree with what they write or how they comment. That's all legitimate and ok. That's a solid part of blogging and I'm not mad at anyone, who stopped following me. I don't try to be interesting to everyone and I don't take blogging as a popularity contest and I know some won't like me or just misunderstand me. That's just very common here. But I do have to say, that some who stopped following me, did surprise me and I was disappointed for a while. But new ones started following and I got used to that constant changing. Then again, blogging is not everything in my life. Lately I don't write so much about my private life [I merely hint], although a lot of interesting things are happening. On the other hand, my blog's motto is scribbling about everything and judging by the poll [previous post], most of you like my blog this way. So I always have something to blog about and I don't need to write a diary :-)

5 Fun facts about 2009

1 Infamous Chinabounder commented on my blog: See here.
2 Singaporean celebrity blogger Dawn Yang commented: See here.
3 My most popular post was 7 Things about me you didn't know: See here.
4 Most interesting comments were on Asian Women/Western men: See here.
5 Most hits from Google got my post about Elly Tran Ha: See here.
6 Most controversial post: About Dawn Yang [I deleted hate comments]: See here.
7 My personal favorite post is How should a man be in 2009: See here.
8 Old posts I'd recommend to read again [click on the links]:

- Brad Pitt lecturer in Seoul and Tokyo [this was supposed to be funny, I made it up!]
- No urinating in common areas in Hong Kong [interesting stuff from my trip]
- Get a brain, morans [Banners, where the English is misspelled, mostly by Americans]
- Chinese girl at the temple [A sexy girl I saw near a temple in Malaysia]
- Did Susan Boyle freak out? [I annoyed my friends on twitter with this #fail]

6 In conclusion

It was an interesting blog year, with many ups and downs. I was misunderstood and complimented many times, people followed and stopped following. I wrote brilliant stuff and I wrote rubbish, I wrote great comments and I wrote comments I am ashamed of now. I was involved in controversies and nontroversies and I apologized more than once [and I would still do so, if I know that I did something wrong]. Well, that's life and that's how blogging is ;-) Let us not forget, that all of us are human and we can make a mistake or two now and then, it just shouldn't become the norm. However it was: It was exciting! :-) And I hope that 2010 will be an equally exciting blog year for all of us. There are a lot of changes coming up in my life - in few months I will be blogging from Asia. Hope you guys will like it :-)

And now I'm tagging everyone to do the same post like I did: Sum up your blog year like I did here and you can be sure I will be eager to read about your experiences and also I hope you highlight your popular posts and old posts worthy to read again.

Thanks and good luck! :-)

Your MKL

2009 Opinion poll about MKL

This is just a little opinion poll, because I am curious about what you, my readers, like to read. I know I don't have many readers, but those of you who find your way here regularly are very appreciated - thank you! If you haven't yet added your two cents here (What do you like about me?), you can do that now, I'd really appreciate it. I hope that my readership grows next year and years to come, so I will do my best to improve the quality of my little blog :-)

*I disabled comments here. Just need your votes for now ;)

Singapore vs. Linfen 临汾

A little bit about pollution in China and my 2c on the topic

Did you know that there's a city in PR China named Linfen and it's almost as big as Singapore? If you didn't know, then now you know. But that's about it with the similarities. Because while Singapore has been given nicknames like the Garden city or the Green city...

...Linfen has been given the nickname the dirtiest city in the world (or on earth). I didn't know about Linfen before, but when they showed it on German TV today, I couldn't believe my eyes. Toxic smog every day all the time! How can people even breathe? The scariest part was the high rate of phisically and mentally disabled children. Linfen is in the centre of the Chinese coal industry and China is addicted to coal. I guess it won't get better too soon. Here are some shocking photos:

I guess you Singaporeans can be proud of your green city ;)

Of course there's much more to Linfen than just the pollution, you can browse some photos here. But for the sake of their own people, China has to do something, especially for the children, who didn't choose to live in such a horribly polluted city. I'm really not too sure, if global warming is caused by men and if all the predictions about 2100 will be true. Seems like global warming has become a new religion for some, I'm more of a sceptic. However, pollution is man made and we have to do (and we can do) something about that now.

Did you know about Linfen? How is pollution in your city?

Photo sources: [1 by MKL 2005][2, 3, 4, 6 by www.vbs.tv][5 by sheilaz413][7 by Wu Hong/EPA]

Links: [Linfen on Wikipedia][About Linfen, many photos and text in Chinese]

My Malaysia truly Asia

15 awesome and less awsome things about Malaysia

I browsed my old photos from my travels today and I realized, that I've been in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) just about a year ago. So I thought why not posting some interesting and funny pics about that lovely Asian country that I've taken during my three stays there (in 2005, 2007, 2008/09). So here's something for you: 15 unusual things I've encountered while traveling around Malaysia. People who know me, know that I love that country, therefore please don't think that I want to show it in a bad light. I've written about your country a lot already (check the labels) - this is just for fun. I put the pics in the following cathegories: Engrish, Awsome, Tsk tsk tsk and Uniquely Malaysia. Enjoy :)

1 Uniquely Malaysia: You won't see politicians wrapped in flags in my country :P I wonder what my Malaysian friend Zewt thinks about this. I have no idea what the party stands for. But I must say - they look dynamic :P


2. Uniquely Malaysia: Yes, you have Miami beach in Penang Malaysia. Awesome! I think I saw Pamela Anderson swimming there in a red suit. But I'm not too sure :P

3. Uniquely Malaysia: Mat rempit a.k.a. illegal street racers look like the two on the motorcycles. I'm not too sure, if those two do that, because while I was in Penang, they usually raced on Friday and Saturday evenings and because of them I couldn't sleep :( Malaysian motorcyclists are fearless: Be it torrential rains or scorching sun, they will move forward somehow :)

4. Awesome Malaysia: Tak nak ("don't want") would be loosely translated as Say no, in this case to smoking. I think the banner is cool and convincing. :P What do you think?

5. Engrish? No, although it sounds like the English slang term 'hoe' (a promiscuous person), it has nothing to do with that. It's a romanization of a company name in Chinese, probably Hokkien. Am I right? :P

6. Uniquely Malaysia: Malaysians love to modify cars. I've seen a lot of them, many in Hello Kitty style, but there's quite few with the Doraemon (famous Japanese anime) style. You won't see this here :)

7. Engrish! Yes, this one does have the grammar messed up a little. But for me, it was more funny to see that there's nobody working on anything, hehe. Maybe it was just a day off for the workers. I'm sure they worked tirelessly the next day, when I wasn't there :P

8. Awesome Malaysia: This piece of art near the Petronas twin towers is entirely made of empty soft drink cans. It's pretty cool, isn't it? :)

9. Uniquely Malaysia: This is a ficus benjamina, a plant that is commonly found in our offices in huge flower pots. You would never find this plant outside in the ground here. But Malaysia has a tropical climate and these things grow from the ground just like that. Amazing :)

10. Engrish: I think there's a "th" too much. :) And in Malaysia, the Christmas is always warm(th), hehe. Not like here, where I'm freezing my butt off -_- The second pic is from Genting and it's awesome, right? :)

11. Tsk tsk tsk Malaysia: I saw this after we parked the car under the First World Hotel in Genting, the famous Malaysian mountain resort. Numbers of call girls are all over the walls. :(

12. Awesome Malaysia: This is like a small indoor theme park and when I was snapping a pic of that colorful whale-like monorail floating thingy, happy Malaysians waved at me. You can be sure, that Malaysians are very friendly and funny people. They have a lot of fun especially in groups :)

13. Tsk tsk tsk Malaysia: This is something I didn't like about the country: littering. And this one is especially bad, because it's near a temple and at Chinese new year. I've seen Malaysians throwing trash on the streets or even from the car very lightly. I'm not saying my country is the cleanest, but Malaysia has a lot of room for improvement in this regard ;)

14. Awesome Malaysia: I think this guy is cool :) Enjoying his ride without the need of an aircon, which is a must-have in every Malaysian car. And yes, you will see things like that in my country, too. But not in the city, more in the country side :)

In conclusion: I've written this post to somehow round up my whole Malaysia experience. From all the foreign countries I've ever been, I've stayed the longest in Malaysia, that's why it's been a second home to me and it'll always hold a special place in my heart. But in 2010 I will turn a new page in my book. I will go to another beautiful Asian country and I hope it will become my new second home. You can be sure that I will write a lot about my life there. Hope everything goes well. And if you haven't yet figured out which country I mean, check this photo.

Thanks to everyone, who made my Malaysia-experience unique and unforgettable. I'm moving on. my future is elsewhere. But I hope to visit Malaysia again one day :)

[My MALAYSIA page][All photos by MKL, 2007/09]