How on earth is this news worthy?

Pet Monkey Escapes, Bites Boy on Buttocks

A monkey, apparently a pet, escaped, then chased a 12-year-old boy into his house and bit him on the buttocks in the western Malaysian state of Pahang, a news report said Friday.

The monkey, which was believed to be a pet animal because there was a chain around its neck, ran up and down the street in the housing area in Kuantan town as it appeared just after dusk Wednesday, scaring people into their homes, the Bernama news agency reported.

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Also, read a proposal by students who wanted to plan a day trip to the 'KL TOWEL'. Sounds like something out of a Sam and Max game. And considering how far away the 'L' and 'R' keys are located on the keyboard, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Oh September, How I Adore Thee

It's finally September, my most favourite'st month :) There's something about September that conjures up a whole lot of anticipation. First up, at this time, you could almost feel the year wrapping up. August is still too close to 'mid-year' to be counted but come September, and the year end is almost just round the bend.

Furthermore, September is very celebratory. So many of my dear family and friends have September birthdays so it's immensely rewarding. Just last weekend, I had an excellent trip back home to surprise my mom with a birthday dinner. Had to coordinate 3 aunts, siblings, and my grandmother to effectively keep the secret in force but it was well worth the 50 or so SMS'es and down-to-the-wire timing. I told my brother that I would pick him up at 5:55, arrive to surprise my Mom at 6:20 and proceeded to dinner at 7:00. I did it at 5:57, 6:21 and 7:00! And considering that I could only leave USJ after picking up my cousins, then my aunt at the KTM Komuter of which they boarded the 2:47 train from Sentral. It was just great and everything just fell into place. Must be good karma from good intentions :)

Also, there's the Melaka trip to look forward to although I'm still short of my needed 40 students. I have till Friday to wrap things up so hopefully numbers will pick up.

And joy of all joys, I am about 8 weeks away to finally completing my Masters... hopefully with a good finish! Juggling fulltime studies with work and part-time work has been an incredibly hell'ish 14 months but with the end so close, it feels just great!

Acting on Impulses

I imagine that come mid-life crisis, I would likely be the sort to drain savings (if I had any in the first place) to buy a flashy red sports car. Why do you ask? Because it seems that I am ruled by impulsive actions that I don't quite have much control over.

I was mulling about a thought, just before sleep one night, and it was quite a fanciful thoughts. With hindsight, most can agree that almost all thoughts in sleep/awakeness limbo is fanciful but then hindsight is 20/20. Anyways, I was mulling about how nice it would be to wake up in the morning and instead of going to work to classes, I can go on a trip instead.

So the next day, with the fanciful thought still dominating and hindsight nowhere to be found, I ran a small poll online, found 5 students who had some interest and then proceeded the very next day (still without hindsight) to prepare a proposal for a 2D1N educational excursion to Melaka at the end of the month. And in a record of sort, the bureaucratic multi-layered levels of authority seemed to align in singular thought this once and gave me permission, and a small budget, in a span of one day.

And with that permission, finally came hindsight. And hindsight spoke, 'You will be responsible for up to 40 students in bringing them across 150km and guide them through place after place from 8 in the morning to 10 at night for 2 days and how on earth is this preferable to comfortable office work from 9 to 5?'.

I have to say, I don't like hindsight very much, especially belated ones.