A Penny For Your Thoughts, writing

Venom known as ‘can’t’

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My students always say ” I can’t” whenever I asked them to be creative in their writing and I had to tell them over and over that one of the biggest influences on your success as a writer comes from your own mouth.

That’s right, the words you say have a huge influence over your success. And I suppose, this applies to almost everything in life, and not just restricted to writing.

I always think that when you say something, you are actually declaring it to the world. To me, it becomes real the moment you say it out loud. And when you say negative things all the time, you’ll start to believe that they are real and you are restricting, oppressing and confining yourself from windows of possibility.

Someone very wise told me as a child that venomous words such as “can’t,” “should” and “impossible” are words you need to get rid of from your vocabulary if you ever plan on being a successful in whatever you do.

When you say you “can’t” do something, you automatically set a limit on yourself. You set a limit on what you’re capable of and how far you’ll go in life. “Can’t” is a possibility killer.

If you want to succeed as writer or achieving whatever goal you have in mind, get rid of the “can’t”. Here’s how:

  • Start saying “can”–I know it sounds simple, but changing your language pattern really is as easy as flipping the negative into a positive. So say, “I can do it” and “I can be a an achiever” and “I can reach my dreams.”
  • Pay very close attention to the words you’re using. As you start to pay attention, you’ll notice how often you’re using poisonous words like “can’t”. Once you know how often you’re saying it, then you can begin to change the choice of your words.

Reprogramming your self-talk isn’t a quick process, but it’s a worthwhile one as it will give you more confidence and create the ‘can do’ attitude.

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A Penny For Your Thoughts, writing

From this day forward…

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Dear all…

From this day forward until 1st Dec 2010, please do not be alarmed if you don’t see me around online. If you don’t see me around, that doesn’t mean I’m dead or I’ve been abducted by aliens for experimental purpose.

I’ll be on a very dangerous mission… I’ll be attempting my yearly novel writing challenge again. Yes, I did it again. This will be my 6th year attempting to write a novel with at least 50,000 in just 30 days. So please do not… uh… disturb me… unless you want to give me $$ or you intend to ask me out and feed me with yummylicious food.

Yep, yep, I’m participating in NaNoWriMo again this year. But instead of just being a normal participant, I’m a volunteer too this year (which means, triple the fun, triple the work). This year around, I’m a Municipal Liaison for Elsewhere in Asia Region for NaNoWriMo, and I’m praying very hard that I won’t screw up.

After all, the folks in that region are depending on me for encouragements and I know some believe I’m some sort of a super hero as well. LOL. See the pic below? Well, that’s my special web badge, awarded by the people in Office of Letters and Light. They’re for ML only. 😀 (Okie, I feel like Fairy in Gotham City already… all right!)

I can imagine my old readers rolling their eyes somewhere out there. Yeah… I’m on my mad fairy mode again. Those who don’t know what I’m talking about… well, I’m talking about NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-words) novel by midnight, November 30. (But every year, I have a personal goal of hitting 100,000 words… so yea… I’ll be quite a monster every November each year)

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

So, exactly what do you do for this crazy literary event? Here is what:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month’s time.

Who: Everyone who is crazy enough to answer this challenge.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era’s most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by their web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Okay, enough crapping, folks. Remember, if you don’t see me around… please don’t mourn for me yet, thank you very much. Oh yea… wish me luck. 😀


Cleffairy: Goes off to stock up on her tea, junkfood and cook some food so that she can conveniently reheat during her little adventure. 😀

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A Penny For Your Thoughts

Forensic Accountants

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You know there’s a lot of jokes about accountants? There’s loads of them. Among them are:

1. If an accountant’s wife cannot sleep, what does she say?
“Darling, could you tell me about your work.”

2. A patient was at her doctor’s office after undergoing a complete physical exam. The doctor said, “I have some very grave news for you. You only have six months to live.”

The patient asked, “Oh doctor, what should I do?”

The doctor replied, “Marry an accountant.”

“Will that make me live longer?” asked the patient.

“No,” said the doctor, “But it will SEEM longer.”

3. An accountant is having a hard time sleeping and goes to see his doctor. “Doctor, I just can’t get to sleep at night.”

“Have you tried counting sheep?”

“That’s the problem – I make a mistake and then spend three hours trying to find it.

Anyway, regardless of the jokes conjured up to make fun of accountants, they’re not quite true. Accountants are not that boring or lame or have no sense of humour. They do. They’re just like the rest of us and they can be pretty exciting character if you get to know them very well.

Without accountants, our life would be quite a mess, and accountant don’t just do your tax and helps you balance out your ledger or cashbook. Accounting branches into many areas. Among them are forensic accounting.

Forensic accounting is the specialty practice area of accountancy that describes engagements that result from actual or anticipated disputes or litigation. In other words, if there’s any disputes about your company account, forensic accountants will be the one who do the investigation on your accounts.

Some forensic accountants may just specialize in insurance claims, personal injury claims, fraud, construction, or royalty audits.

I received a small amount royalties for my books. And so…out of curiosity, I look up Forths Forensic Accountants for some advice regarding royalty audits. And guess what? The Forensic Accountants are not just boring professionals they’re stigmatized to be. They are friendly and patient people who helped me understand the trade of accountings and the importance of auditing my accounts in a fun and easy way.

Cleffairy: Every man is a teacher. Regardless of their occupations.

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A Penny For Your Thoughts, Time Heals What Love And Reason Cannot, writing

Miracles happen

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I never really did consider myself a blogger. I prefer to be known as an author, a writer and a reporter. Because if being a blogger means that you write an article or two everyday and receiving feedback for it, then I could have been a blogger since 1999, because I started to write faithfully, devotedly and oh so passionately that year.

I wrote for various websites, submitting my fictional stories, and I get feedbacks for that, and the feedbacks that I get for my stories are way more than I get when I… ‘blog’. Comments came in hundreds per day, and I had troubles replying to each and every one of them. Unlike blogging that’s pretty much Malaysianized, my fictions were international. I had friends from all corners of the world.

And I not only get feedback and comments… I earned loads of brownie points too through my fictions. I had fans who admired me for my creativity, my quirks and my hopelessly romantic stories.

I had loads of fans, whom I upgraded their status into my personal friends begging me to continue writing when I decided to officially go on hiatus in May 2002 so that I could concentrate in pursuing my studies. It was not an easy decision… to go on hiatus because writing has always been a part of me, and it was slowly killing me inside that I could not tell stories anymore.

You see, I actually feel as if I’ll go senile if I didn’t write. It must be the Tun Dr. M syndrome. Can’t keep still and can’t stop being sarcastic…. and can’t stop writing. 😀

I kept in touch with most of these fans turned friends during my hiatus, and I am so proud to say that even though I stopped writing, they did not stop loving me for who I am. They became good friends, though I have yet to meet them in real life.

As of late, I discovered that one of the sites that I wrote for back in 1999-2002 was down indefinitely and there is no sign that the database would be recovered. I didn’t know what to feel. There’s a lot of my exclusive masterpiece being stored in that site that I didn’t backup for soft copies.

Do you know what that means? That means…I lost a lot of my masterpiece dating from 1999-2002. And I can tell you, that is a lot. I was really sad, almost inconsolable, even. I didn’t know to whom I should talk to. How many of you out here would understand how I feel anyway? You folks didn’t know me during the time I was an online author. You folks came to know me as Cleffairy, a blogger, not an author with another pseudonym.You folks… did not know my history, because I re-started my career as an author under another pseudonym.

I didn’t know to whom should I tell that I feel like a huge chunk of my life had disappeared to oblivion with that news… all because of those exclusive works.

And then, something miraculous happened. A friend of 10 years… whom have been following my writing since I started to publish my works online on various site appeared in my gtalk, and told me she kept copies of my work and would forward to me for safekeeping when she heard of the site closure.

She kept soft copies and hard copies. My jaw dropped. I never knew that someone liked my writing to be bothered enough to print it out.

I never considered my old writings worth to be published. They’re immature, and is infested with errors. That is the reason why I didn’t bother to uh… keep soft copies of it before the site was down indefinitely. *sigh* I’m nuts, aren’t I? I don’t miss certain things til they’re gone, and thank God for the little miracle that he showed me.


Cleffairy: Moral of the story: Back up, folks, back up… you’ll never know when your bloody PC will goes berserk on you and you loose years worth of data!

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A Penny For Your Thoughts, Award/Badge, writing

My annual bragging rights…

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I’m back, I guess, from a not so long MIA, and you read it right. I’ve earned my annual bragging rights. Manglish posted up his bragging the other day, and now it is my turn, since I’m kinda back from my MIA. Hahahahaha… what? You can’t seriously thought I’ll opt out of my little fun, do you? LOL… here goes…

EXT. SCRIPT FRENZY STADIUM – 30 DAYS LATER

THE YOUNG WRITER thunders toward the finish line, manuscript under arm.

The writer sneaks an over-the-shoulder glance and sees DOUBT, FRUSTRATION, and FATIGUE fade into the distance.

They turn back toward the finish line too late to avoid a BLOCK laying in the way.

The writer leaps over the block, but TRIPS.

MANUSCRIPT PAGES flutter in the air as the writer CRASHES to the ground.

Doubt, frustration, and fatigue nearly close the gap.

But the writer CRAWLS toward the FINISH LINE, and with a final push, LOBS one RAZOR-SHARP PAGE through the FINISH-LINE TAPE:

FADE TO BLACK

LOL… hey… I don’t brag or show off often. I don’t even plaster my ugly face on the net for people to see. So I guess, this is the closest I can get to showing off. It’s only once… or twice a year. LOL…In case you people have no idea what in the world I’m talking about.. kindly bear with me while I boast some more.

Before one of you tells me off and ask me to admit myself to an asylum, this entry is about winning/completing Scriptfrenzy. 😀 I did it, I did it! Yes, yes, yes! I did it. I wrote not only one script, but two completed scripts in 30 days!

It’s amazing that I was disciplined enough to do it. 😀 I guess my teachers back in school was right about me. I can achieve anything I want as long as I put my head and my heart into it. It is just too bad that I wasn’t motivated enough when I was a student, though, or I would have ended up being a highly respected scholar today. 😀

I didn’t win any money for winning Scriptfrenzy, but I’m definitely satisfied with the outcome cuz it boosts up my confidence and motivates me tremendously. I also made many friends of all age along the way while working my butt on two of my scripts. 😀 It doesn’t hurt at all too that I earned 2 more cert to mark my achievements as well.

One cert for the  adult Scriptfrenzy Program. This one is for the script with the working title ‘A Jar of Love’.

And another cert was conferred for the script that I wrote for the Script Frenzy Young Writer Program, ‘A Thousand Paper Stars’ as an educator.

I’ve hosted a couple of online as well as offline write ins, and as Malaysia region Municipal Liaison, I’d like to thank you for coming and participating in those write ins. You guys really rocks. And I’d like to thank parents who allowed their kids to participate as well. Without your moral support, none of us would pull it through. Thank you very much everyone, for making the crazy literary event a huge success. I’ll see you guys next year, all right? 😀

Cleffairy: Nothing is impossible. Even in the word impossible, there’s IM POSSIBLE in it. 😀 Anyway, did you know that being a writer is like being in charge of your very own personal asylum? LOL… it’s just bizarre, in a good way. 😀

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A Penny For Your Thoughts, Down The Memory Lane, Time Heals What Love And Reason Cannot, writing

Sharing IS Caring

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Scheduled entry

I bet most of you are probably pretty annoyed with me by now for putting too much advertisement and reviews up here in my blog while I’m away doing God knows what.

You must be wondering why do I start to write reviews or do paid post by now, cuz too much advertisement in one’s blog can get pretty annoying.

Well, you can be honest, because I am annoyed too when I go to blogs that puts up too much advertisement or popups.

Let me justify my course of action, though. I do it because I needed the money, not because I wanted to earn more so that I could have a lavish life.

Why do I need the money? Ahh, here comes the jackpot question. Well…cost of living are getting too high and these days, every single cents help. Plus, I wanted to save for my master programme. Yeah… you read it right. I want to go back studying, but I’m afraid, I’m quite insufficient of fund for I’m not quite qualified for either sponsorship or even scholarship. So, I suppose, this is one of my way to earn my ass for my Master.

You see… as of late, I’m bored shitless for all the nonsense that’s going on around me to the point that I think that it would do me good if I go back to study. Kinda sick seeing idiotic bimbos, you see. I need some intellectual boost and so, I went to a certain tertiary institution, and check out some thesis based Master programme.

Sounds preposterous? No… I think not. I think it’s almost time for me to upgrade my status from just a freelance to a student who is freelancing. And… what’s better way to motivate my kid to study than to be a student myself when he goes to primary school?

I think it’ll be better to motivate my brat to study by showing that I’m also studying rather than just force him to study. Plus…I won’t allow marriage stop me from pursuing my dreams and education. I can have the best of both world, so why not? I just have to believe in myself and make extra effort for it.

Gosh, I’m straying… back to why I do paid post these days. You see, folks, while I am married, I am not the spoiled and pampered kind who gets to do whatever I like, whenever I want, and get to buy stuff on whims just because I like it and wants it.

Geez…. I even forgot when was the last time I even receive a birthday present from any of my family members cuz some people tend to take me for granted; just because I am there or them all the time. Sometimes, I felt, even my friends are way better than my own family when it comes to spoiling and pampering me.They make a good job making me appreciated.

For what it’s worth, I don’t have such privileges of being spoiled rotten, and therefore, here I am, ‘prostituting’ my words for some extra cash. Well, at least I am just ‘prostituting’ my words, no? It’s way better than going around using my sex appeal to earn some extra cash like some people, no?

Don’t you guys dare say that I earned a lot from this, cuz the fact is, I don’t earn much, and the money that I ‘earned’ from these reviews are not credited directly into my savings account. I have to wait until certain amount to be able to cash it out. Yea… it works something like the damned Nuffnang or Adsense. You will have to wait til a certain amount is credited into your account before you can cash it out.( If you’re lucky enough, that is…they might not pay you and banned you before you even cash it out). So far…the amount inside my ads account haven’t even reach half the amount required. 🙁 One word: Fuck!

While writing and posting up ads, I promise that I will not mislead you folks by making you think that it’s not an advertisement. I’m not that kind of blogger. If it’s a paid entry, then I will write that it’s paid or sponsored. I won’t hide it, so that you folks have a choice on whether to waste your time to read on, or just skip it.

Some of you probably would leave comment and ask me how to make money online and stuff. Well… as someone very special to me shared with me how to make money via blogging, I won’t hide it from the world on how to make money by doing paid posts, after all, caring is sharing. I’ll share what I know with friends. I may sound bitchy at times, but I am not bitchy enough not to share what I know from my friends and try my best to hide the good stuff or even freebies that I get. I will share the source with you. You can count on it.

So… if any of you out there are already asking how/where do I get all these ads, it is here:

https://blogvertise.com

That’s one of the place that I get the ads, so, if you want, kindly look it up if you are interested to get ads for yourself to write. There’s instruction to follow over there. Look it up.

And why am I sharing all this with you when I can just keep quiet about it? Well… firstly, as I said, I am not a selfish person.

Those who knows me well could vouch for that though I often appear to be obnoxious most of the times. Many people misunderstood me cuz of the way I dressed up and the way I express myself, but then again, why should I give a damn on what brainless bimbos think, anyway?

And secondly… I know many of you out there are not exactly rich asses as well. I know most of you are also struggling to make ends meet, and so, I see no harm in sharing this little information with you. So… go and make your own extra cash if you want to. 😀

Cleffairy: Sharing good stuff with your friends is caring. I’m not sure if a lot of people are willing to share, these days, for many demonstrate selfishness openly in blog-o-sphere and thought people wouldn’t notice.Tsk tsk tsk…people notice, duh… what you think people are? Dumb bimbos?

ps: A special thanks to the lady who shared with me on how to earn money thru blogging. I am forever indebted to you. Thank you very much. I owe you heaps. If I earn a lot, big makan or a sodomized chicken is on me when you’re in KL. 😀

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A Penny For Your Thoughts, Event coverage, Food/Travel, Frugal Recipe

Bloggers meet up& fried rice…

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I attended a…secret blogger meet-up cum ice breaking session yesterday, and I have to say, it’s really refreshing to be able to hear bloggers talk about something that really matters and could probably saves the world from mass destruction and how to make the world a better place for the next generation instead of the usual annoying camwhoring session, stupid nuffnang stuff or even how to attract traffic to one’s bloody blog.

I enjoyed it very much, and I would like to thank the organizer for inviting me for the blogger meeting. The meeting was rather intellectual and one of the kind, and this is going to sound very weird coming from me, but I enjoyed everyone’s intellectual view and the intense debate. It was so much fun. I have forgotten when was the last time a blogger’s meeting was as interesting as this, and I’m actually looking forward for more.

There was many familiar faces, and everyone has so many things to say and time passed by so fast.

The organizer provides dinner, of course, but no one were actually so keen on touching it, cuz perhaps the topic of our conversation was too interesting that we neglect to feed our tummy.

Anyway, below is what the organizer prepared for us talkative chaps.

Apple pies and pineapple pies. I didn’t have a go at these, so I don’t know whether it’s good or not.

Curry puffs and cinnamon rolls. The curry puffs are very spicy, and I had two of these. Not bad at all.

Chocolate danish and some sort of custard puff. The chocolate danish is something to die for. I like it a lot though I thought that it wouldn’t suit my taste buds when I first saw it.

The organizer also prepared some fried rice for us, and most of the bloggers who attended the meet up didn’t even bother to touch it or even eat it.

Most of them claimed that they were on a diet while some others says it doesn’t look appetizing enough, but do you know what I did though I agree with them that it doesn’t look really appetizing?

I brought the container containing the simple fried rice back. To be honest, it doesn’t look appetizing, but hey…why waste food when I could actually improvise it?

I decided to improvise the fried rice by cutting the chicken to bite sized pieces, add some chopped garlic,soya sauce and salt as well as fried eggs. Now, doesn’t it look much better?

The moral of the story here is, never ever let good material goes to waste. If you actually make some effort to improvise, the outcome would have been fantastic, and in this case, yummy and edible. All it takes is just some creativity, passion and patience. Don’t you agree with me, dear readers? It’s such a shame if you let good material goes to waste when it can actually be a yummylicious gourmet.

Cleffairy: Patience, creativity and thinking out of the box is what it takes to make things turn out better than before.

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A Penny For Your Thoughts, Current Issue, IT/ Computing

Secret Identity: Nothing is what they seems to be

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Yesterday a group of bloggers played a somewhat organized prank on their unsuspecting blog  readers, fellow twitter followers, as well as facebook friends. A prank… that comes rather late, in my opinion. After all, April 1st is definitely over. This prank, would have inspired a smile or even laughter if it’s conjured on 1st April 2010, but unfortunately, it is not. Some of you might be wondering what sort of prank it was. Well…head over to Merryn’s blog, and follow Foongpc on twitter @foongpc. The main subject here is, Merryn and Foongpc. Foongpc is an anonymous blogger, who never plaster his pictures all over the net met up with Merryn, along with Iamthewitch and her husband, Saucer.

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Then, after that, they decided to play a prank via Merryn’s blog where she proceed to write an entry by putting up Iamthewitch’s husband’s picture, Saucer and mislead the readers into thinking that Saucer is Foongpc’s husband.

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In the beginning, nothing happened until Foongpc began to rant and rave that he didn’t give permission to her to put up the bloody pictures, and seems to be pissed to the extend that he’s going to take legal action against her. While it is a fact that Merryn did not exactly mention that the picture in her entry is Foongpc’s picture, Foongpc gave many comments both on his twitter as well as in Merryn’s blog to give the impression that he is the man in the picture. And many readers were enraged by Merryn’s action; exposing what she’s not supposed to exposed. From what I gather, she probably received many hate mails and hate comments for it, and I was horrified for her safety as well as her son’s safety.

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I was horrified because of this; the threat for legal action by Foongpc as well as the haters. And my imagination started to run wild. People are hating her for what she did then.  I was thinking, it would be a shame if crazy haters get back at her through her sweet, innocent little boy Ethan. You see… Ethan is one of Merryn’s main subject in her blog. People actually knows how Ethan looks like. Gosh, I can’t imagine the poor thing being harmed or kidnapped just because people hate Merryn for what she did! God forbids that! I may sound paranoid, but this world is no heaven where everything is protected and loads of lunatics roam about.

. The next day, another entry was made, and apparently, everything is a hoax, and it seems that it is a joke made up at the expanse of the sympathetic and foolish readers. So… I kinda wonder why when everything was out in the open, Foongpc even dares to ask us why we fools thought that he is the man in the picture while he himself seems to imply it? I don’t quite get this part of the joke, though. Was he being sarcastic or did he not know that some of us are not only Merryn’s readers but his twitter follower as well? I’m not quite sure. 😛

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Truth be told. I was one of those stupid fools, and should have laughed at myself for being foolish. However, I couldn’t really find the heart to laugh at this little conspiracy. Why? Easy. Firstly, it’s because, deep down, I am somewhat similar to those uptight British bitch, and I am slow at getting jokes to penetrate into my brain, and secondly because I am also an anonymous blogger.

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This may be a playful, harmless joke played at the expanse of the innocent, unsuspecting readers, but to me… the effect is not quite those of a joke. I wish I could laugh with mirth, but I couldn’t find the laughter. Instead, the joke scares me. It scares me to my very core and made me shudder in fear.

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Yes. Shudder in fear. I experience many near-death experience before, however, it doesn’t come close to scaring me like this. Being somewhat anonymous in the world wide web all these while, I felt as if I’ve been doused by a bucket of ice through this entry, making me realized many things.

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Things that I have somewhat neglect to delve into since earlier of this year where I am determined to lead a happier and more fulfilling life by opening up my hearts to more people, and be a better me. Through this entry, I realized that… I MUST be extremely careful when I meet people next time. Or better still… don’t bother to meet strangers at all.

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Merryn’s entry may come out as a well organized joke, but in truth, such thing similar to the jokes she played might be real one day. It may not be from her, but I can’t honestly say others won’t do it for real-reveal one’s identity and expose what’s preferred to be private and confidential in the first place, just because they thought it’s not important and it’s funny or just because they thought it can bring traffics to their blogs.

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If I am not careful enough while meeting strangers, they might do what Merryn did in her entry-expose someone’s identity to the public without permission. While hers is meant to be a joke, such thing might not be a joke when it’s done on me, and that, wouldn’t be a laughing matter anymore.

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It will be an invasion of privacy in the most awful and cruel way, and if it happens to me, I’d be sure the one who did it pays dearly for the damage that has been done to me. I don’t tolerate invasion of privacy well. To me, it is a form of rape. Kindly do not ask me to chill or tell me that I think too much, because I value privacy very much.

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Merryn’s little joke really made me think how dangerous the world wide web is, and I must thread carefully. Plastering my own pictures with my freaking face all over the net is a no, no for me. And I definitely don’t allow anyone to do it without my permission as well. If you do that… I’ll file a lawsuit. Why? Well, you wouldn’t understand it, so, let me explain. This is not going to be a pretty post, and I am somewhat prepared for flames. Well, do your worst but I’m still going to discuss this issue. It’s been in my head for quite some time, but apparently, nothing actually triggered me to write it.

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Let me start with some questions. Do you know why Superman kept his identity a secret? Why Spiderman wears a mask covering his face? And why terrorists NEVER ever carry the picture of their family and children in their wallet?

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The reason is extremely simple. The superheroes, and the terrorists alike have something that others do not have, which is something to protect. By not exposing themselves… their true identity to the friends and foes alike, they are protecting something precious to them, which is their loved ones.

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Imagine everyone who knows who is Superman in his world…he may be a superhero with super powers, but the ones he loved, Lois Lane and his parents are just mere human. If the bad people finds out who is related to Superman, what would they do? Kill his family of course, cuz they are weak and powerless. They might need a kryptonite to weaken and kill Superman, but they don’t exactly need anything much to kill his human family.

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Killing Superman’s family members is as good as having a revenge on him. I am sure many bad guys out there agree with me on this. If you can’t get the bastard, get his family. That would be good enough. This world is not exactly paradise or a heaven on earth, if you ask me. I may not be Superman, or Batman, or any being with super power.

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I am just a normal human, but I have something to protect, which is my family. All of you may have nothing to loose by plastering the pictures of yourself and your children online and have no qualms of letting people know who you are, but I do. I don’t exactly write sweetly pleasant things that makes people happy all the time. More often than not, my writing is somewhat free… I am a very opinionated person, and what I write may hurt people’s feelings rather than not. My writing provoke people’s thoughts,and God knows how many people out there is waiting to strangle me to death for being rather peculiar and opinionated.

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And so… I don’t quite appreciate it when people ask me why I never reveal my face online. I read a comment in Merryn’s page where someone asked Foongpc… why he doesn’t want to show his picture? He looks fine and handsome, and he shouldn’t be shy about it. This freaking stupid, brainless, bimbo-ish question irks me to death. Do you know why?

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Because….you fools… sometimes, people kept their identity a secret not because they are not-photogenic, camera shy or they look fucking ugly. It is because they value their privacy and realize how important it is not to have unnecessary exposure in the public. They, unlike you who exposed yourself, have something important to protect, and they prefer to remain safe than sorry. One may say that they are just pictures… what harm can it do? I say many. People can recognize you on the street while you have no idea who they are. And I shudder to think that some losers out there are looking at your pictures while masturbating.

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Absolutely freaky, if you ask me. You may say they don’t know your address, your phone number. Oh…they do know…this is the information technology era. They can trace you through Facebook… through advertising companies READ: Nuffnang and so on. Maybe you don’t get me yet, but you have to key in your IC number, address andmany other confidential details in order for you to receive payments for those ads, am I right?

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What if some sex maniac and pedophiles reads your blog and wants you and your children so bad and they happen to have access to your confidential profiles?

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I dare not imagine, but I shall say prayers for you and hopes nothing bad happens to you. Seriously, do you think that everything is secure? I say no. Because I live in a world where black hat hackers as well as white hat hackers exists, and breaking into people’s facebook accounts and whatnot is a piece of cake for them. Some even work as programmers…who laugh at the security of these social networking sites. By the way, did you know that in some sites, your password are visible to administrators?Am I bullshitting? No… I am not bullshitting… sometimes, to site admins, they don’t even have to see your passwords to be able to login into your accounts. They have a universal password for it. In other words, the only thing that kept these people from harassing you is just their work ethics and moral.

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Nothing, dear readers, nothing is really secure. Anyway…please allow me to openly apologize to my former journalism lecturer as well as mass communication lecturer. I am so sorry that I did not pay much attention in class when you mention about not trusting whatever we read as well as rumours, noise and miscommunication. I’ve learn my lesson now. The hard way. I am so, so sorry and this will not be repeated on my part ever again. I promise I will try to differentiate  between white noise and the real news instead of just believing. Shame on me…and I dare to call myself a journalism grad. I don’t deserve that.

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Cleffairy: Fame comes with a price that I am not willing to pay, because I saw first hand…that nothing is actually 100% secure in the first place. Do I sound paranoid? Childish and immature? Imagination too wild? Well, excuse me while I go and play Maplestory using a level 135 Bishop to boom at some stupid skellies by using Genesis. And maybe after that, I’ll go watch Sailormoon and waste away by reading Doraemon and Dragonball! You people go ahead and do whatever makes you happy.

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ps: Thank you Merryn, for reminding me how dangerous the Internet can be. Your joke made me realize that not everybody is as nice as you and won’t expose people’s identity. From this day forward, only the privileged few will know who I am 😀

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A Penny For Your Thoughts, Fairy's Tale, writing

My publishing misery: Royal Masquerade

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Those who have been reading my blog would notice that as of late, I’ve been using the word ‘Masquerade’ terribly a lot in my blog. One might wonder what has gotten into Cleffairy that it made her somewhat masquerade fetish.

The truth is that Cleffairy didn’t contract a fetish for masquerade parties, but that is the title of Cleffairy’s latest book, entitled ‘Royal Masquerade’.

You may realized that as of late, I’ve been rather occupied and did not blog hop as often as before. Not so disturbing and not as noisy as before. All for a reason. It was because I’ve been terribly busy with the publishing process of my novel, Royal Masquerade. I’m telling you, publishing business is dirty, and damn tiring. It’s amazing that I could even take a breather out of it.

And after a long while, I finally received my proof copy of the book for my final inspection before publication. I might release it for publication somewhere in May 2010, and would be available in US and internationally. However, I have chosen not to make it available in Malaysian bookstores for various reasons. Privacy and a low profile life is one of the reason. :D  Plus, Malaysian publishers and agents are just soooooooooo cocky. 🙁 Got so fed up, and they give me a real headache and high blood pressure. I’m afraid I don’t have much patience with them anymore.

It’s a print on demand book. 😀 And since I have been torturing people with the word lately, I might as well let you folks have a glimpse on my latest novel. Do note that this is not a final product. The novel in the picture below is my own personal copy, and it is definitely not for sale. Feedbacks are most welcome and needed.

I received this a couple of days ago. It’s something that I have been waiting for since last month.

The parcel contains this…my novel… Royal Masquerade.

Nope… it’s not a hoax. The novel is real. Yes, that would mean those characters are real. They’re alive, inside my book. Astrea and Narcissus…they are both my creation.

😛 Check it out, check it out.

Anyway, this is just a short entry. I want to thank everyone who makes this happen. Thank you God, and those who encouraged me from beginning til the very end. Thank you so much. I feel so blessed.

Cleffairy: I’m now working on another novel. 😛

Quote from Royal Masquerade: Beyond lovers, they were rulers, born to protect their kingdoms. How to protect it from so far away? How to sleep with that knowledge?

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Current Issue, Event coverage

Please don’t steal my pictures…

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Dear all, I may not put watermarks in my pictures, but that does not mean you can use my pictures without my permission. My blog is meant for sharing, but kindly note that my blog is licensed under creative commons. That is the reason why I never did put watermark on my pictures. It’s meant for sharing and credits must be given back to me.

Whatever you take from me, be it pictures, or part of my articles, you MUST give credit back to me or at least ask permission from me beforehand. I DO NOT appreciate people stealing from me.

I am just so irritated that some people do not even have the courtesy to even ask permission or even comment in my blog to ask for it. Is it so hard to even ask for permission?


Cleffairy: I don’t exactly bite and suck blood, you you know?

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