The Penang Lass

It's been a hectic week since I am now involved with HICT's Open Day & Career Fair, and this has unavoidably put a temporary stop to my blogging. Anyway, I am determined to post something today, so I crept away to a quiet corner and started my blogging again by posting this entry. I read in today's New Straits Times (November 26, p 18) that reported a Universiti Malaya study which estimated that there are 500,000 active blogs in the country, and that a blogger, it seems, has an average of 2 blogs - so the number of bloggers is about 250,000. I cannot imagine there are so many bloggers in Malaysia, but I suppose it is becoming increasingly popular as a medium to convey anything and everything to the web community out there. I was mildly surprised to read that our Information Minister, Ahmad Shabery Chik has come out to say it would be unfair to impose laws against bloggers, as most of them exercise self-restraint and do blog responsibly. Do you mean to say that he is only aware of it now? Pardon me if I appear incredulous as I say this!

.

Yes, I know there were matches last weekend, and yes, I missed those matches. Busy, ah. Nonetheless, it was a real grievous disappointment – what with Arsenal being on the receiving end again (an embarrassing 0-3 loss to Manchester City) and Liverpool was scoreless in their match against Fulham. However, I can always depend on the game that was played north of the border – and I am happy to report that Celtic beat St. Mirren 3-1 (Goals from Samaras, 64th minute; Nakamura, 66th minute; and Sheridan, 80th minute).

And the Saturday talk by Monti was RM40 worth of fun. By the way, for about 5 minutes, I was a 4-year old Labrador sitting by the fireside, in a "Let's Pretend" session. Very interesting - too bad I have no photo to show you...

I wish to give special mention to a Malaysian who deserves all the accolades she has been receiving over the years. Her stunning victory over Rachael Grinham at the Hong Kong Open last Sunday, capped a very successful year for Nicol David. She is undefeated in 2008, winning 10 Wispa Tour tournaments while regaining the two most important titles (i.e. the World and British Open). This World No. 1 is an extraordinary Malaysian who gives meaning to the word "excellence". Although I am not a squash fan, but Nicol's exploits are very special because she lets her racquet do the talking. How many people do you know who love to spend an awful lot of time making big talk but let themselves down because of "no action"? Also, perhaps more importantly, it is not just about her winning ways. She has won and she has lost. But when she lost – she did not give up, she did not surrender, she did not wallow in self-pity. But she picked herself up, she went into battle, and she stayed focused. Now, that is what true champions are made of! Indeed, she's one in a million, I daresay. And I don't give compliments to anybody that easily.