Chapter 2 - Romance (Part 1)

Chapter 2 - Romance

He wanted to approach her but he didn't have to courage to do so. He didn't want to disturb her. He then decided to leave. "Cleeracckkk!", he broke a dead branch and he was about to leave. The song stopped.

"Oh my goodness!What have I done?"

This is the first thing that came across his mind when he broke the branch. He stood still and reluctant to turn aroun

d to face her, he was too shy to do so. The girl broke the silence.

"Hi, I'm Jenny, nice to meet you", the girl said.

"Hello, I'm Joseph, nice to meet you too." he replied with a shaky voice.

Jenny came forward to him, gave him a western hug to welcome him to the house. He rejected the hug uncomfortably. He was shy.

“No...no...I have to leave now, I’m sorry” he turned around and ran quickly back to the town.

For the whole night, the images of the girl kept appearing on his mind. How she danced, how she looked like, how sweet was her voice, her songs and also how rude was he when he turned down her hug and invitation. “Arghhh!” he shouted loudly and regretted why he reacted that way.

He returned to the jungle to look for Jenny the next morning. “Jenny, I shouldn’t have acted that way last night, accept my apology please”, he did not raise his head until Jenny replied with a smile,

“It’s ok, I understand that”. She put down her twilight and looked at his eyes. “Do you like…” Both came out from their mouth at the same time. They were stunned by each other.

“You first”, Joseph said politely.

“Do you like to sing?”

“Yes and no.” Joseph did not know what he was talking about.

She smiled and began to sing softly with a phrase of lyrics. “Oh her eyes, her eyes, make the stars look like they’re not shining.”

“Bruno Mars’s ‘Just the way you are’, come on let’s sing”.

“..Just the way you are”. The song ends. “Hahaha!” They laughed out loud and suddenly they stopped. They looked at each other eyes. Joseph’s heart pumped real fast until he can’t catch his breath. He felt that his vessels were going to burst soon. Jenny looked at him with a nervously, she was expecting Joseph to say something.

“I…” He couldn’t say a word. He couldn’t control himself anymore.

He kissed Jenny.

Jenny didn’t reject the kiss. They started their beautiful romance on the beautiful 7 July morning.

The Story of Bandera, Texas - Chapter 1 - Mr Joseph

Here's a story that I wrote for a sketch performed during Talent Time February 2011 organized by UTAR. I named the story of this sketch as "The Story of Bandera, Texas". Enjoy reading, pals.

Introduction

The story begins with a main character – Joseph at the famous cowboy town, Bandera, Texas. He depicts the image of a romantic and kind-hearted cowboy in the era of Wild West when the state was lawless in year 1977.

Chapter 1 – Mr Joseph

Joseph was an orphan since he was born. He was adopted raised up to adults by one of the villains from the mafia cowboy gang. As he grew up, he became one of them. He had lot of best friends named Davis, Kelvin, and Bunny whom he called them brothers. The gang was cruel, violent, they were drug dealers and abusers that favours gambling and prostitution. They killed people, burned houses down and stole things. They were totally a gang of bastards living in a lawless state, bullying people and often drinking free in the bar.

However, Joseph, although as part of the gang, did not really look like a real villain. He portrayed the image of a 'kind-hearted villain' that made him a little bit noticeable by the spectators. He did not agree on what his brother had always been doing. Inside him, there's something that he was enthusiastic of, other than being a bad guy. In fact, he was born kind-hearted and he often felt bad towards their wrongdoings. Instead, he loved to play musical instruments and singing very much, he'd got some talents in these things. He hated what his gang always did to the poor civilians. He tried to persuade his brothers, enlighten their heart with teaching of faith, but it didn't work well. He could've left the brothers, but he just can't bring himself from doing so, because his brothers were all that he'd got. They were as close as to relationships of blood-related kins. For Joseph, they were all the things that he had in this world.

He did have his ways to get rid of the merciful thoughts in this mind towards the victims after each incident. He would normally grasp some fresh air and drink some lonely beer along the walkways of jungle near the bar his gang went every day, to free his mind from these bad things that haunted him every night. One morning, he had his routine, drinking beer, enjoying a cigar which he had stolen from another scumbag, trying to forget about what his gang had done towards the late sheriff previously. The jungle was so silent that morning.

"♩~♫ ~♬ ~♭~ ♯~" Suddenly some musical notes flew softly across air, coming from the other side of the jungle.

The music flew across him, it was so soft, attractive, and messages carried by the notes were so genuine. He found some peace from the rhythms. He decided to follow the music, walked along the path and he finally found the source. 1.5 miles inside the jungle, there was a girl in country dress, singing songs, and dancing happily in her world. He came closer and leaned against the tree to watch. The girl was so pretty, so elegant and she was so into her song. He totally fell in love with her at his first sight of her.

Appreciation Note to Sketch Crews

Dear Sketch Crews,

First of all, thank you for participating in the sketch show of Talent Time February 2011. I have a few words for all of you.

The sketch was started a bit late so everything also needed to rush. The story, finding the actors, the props and all other things were very last minute. However, I'm so impressed by the commitments of director , the narrator and all the actors put in. One week, we did it within one week. To be exact, excluding all the ice breaking time, flow discussion, time loss for coming late and stuffs, the actual practice duration is less than one week. However, you guys still able to make the sketch a success one in such a short period. I'm so impressed with you guys' performance and commitment towards the sketch.

The first time we met for the practice, all of you were not even friends, i can imagine how awkward all of you were during the first practice. Your were not able to express yourself well on the first day because of that. We were so worried so gave you guys some pressures. We should be more considerate because it's normal to feel weird to work with strangers that you just met. The committees would like to apologize for that.

One day before the event, before the rehearsal, while director and me were busy with other stuffs, you all knew what you had to do, and started to make the boxes, and painted them. There were altogether 6 boxes!!!That really required a lot of efforts to paint. Your friends too, volunteered to help us to do the props. The outfit for trees that you all made were very nice and cute.Your efforts, we all see them in our eyes, and we deeply appreciate it.

During the rehearsal, many problems occurred, technical problems, the background setting

problems and all sorts of problems suddenly appeared to interrupt our rehearsal, but these things didn't bring your spirit down. You guys didn't give up and instead contributed to solve the problems. I knew that you guys were so tired, some of you including Joseph Lam and Kaili Yip were at the hall since the early morning till the next morning 3am, but you guys didn't complain and insisted to practice with the props once more before you all were back to rest. At that moment when you guys were rehearsing, I really felt touched and honestly, tears nearly dropped from my eyes.

On the event day morning, you guys came earlier than anyone else, skipped lot of classes to practice for the last time(I know that you don't care about the exemption for classes.). I knew that you guys were so nervous before the show but you guys knew that you were ready to perform. And at last, we were able to finish the sketch, with praises and applause by the audience and the organizing committees. You guys had proven to me that you guys are capable,

committed, responsible and so good at acting (can consider to join the entertainment industry in the future.).

Bell and Catherine - the fruits and squids dealers, and Adrian - the granny, I felt regret for cancelling your role at the very last minute. You all have joined us for practices but not able to to perform on the event.Although you guy didn't perform on the event but I take you guys as part of the team. I appreciate your participation in the sketch show. And also for that matter, i sincerely apologize to three of you.

Our director -Wong Jun Xian, had definitely put in the most efforts than anyone else. He knew that he won't be around on Saturday but he still took up the job to lead the team. He could choose to walk away and wash his hands off of these troublesome things but he did not. Furthermore, I didn't hear a simple word of complaint from him throughout the process of preparation. He successfully transformed the simple story that I wrote into actions, seperated the story into scenes and then make it to become an amazing sketch show. The commitment fr

om him is as huge as the committee's. In my heart, he is already an organizing committee. He certainly deserve a special thanks from all the organizing committees.

Lastly, on behalf of all committees of Talent Time February 2011, I would like to express my gratitude towards your contribution to the success of this event.

Thank you, Wong Jun Xuan (Director)

David (Asst. Manager - Script)

Sound Technician - E-Chuan

Thank you actors and actress:

Joseph (Male Lead - Joseph)

Kaili (Female Lead - Jenny)

AhXiao, Chern Chyi and Derek Tham (Davis and Brothers)

Venon (Head of Sheriff)

Aaron, Johnson, Cayton (Sheriffs)

Abraham Sebastian (The narrator)

Hamara (The rapper)

Trees (Venon, Calo and me)

All of you are the best!

Yours sincerely,

Toh Kim Hou, David

Organizing Sponsorship Manager & Asst manager for Sketch Show

Talent Time February 2011

What An Electronic Suicide Note Tells.

“Goodbye, my friend, goodbye My love, you are in my heart.”

This is the electronic suicide note written by the Malaysia's romeo who committed suicide for love. The note was written and posted as status update on Facebook, attracted up to 200 likes but only a few took this note seriously. Some might have found this note a real one, but no real actions was taken to kill his suicidal intention, including his sister.

Recalling the times when I first started using web instant messaging application to communicate, when most people are faking their identity and disguise as others. A male liked to disguise as female, to enjoy the fun of talking to virtual friends and without worries and beyond moral boundaries in the virtual world, who would believe that a suicide note is actually real instead of simply a prank?

Yes, the trend is different now. With the popular social networking sites - Facebook, the life of hundreds of millions of users worldwide are now connected to each other through the virtual world. Undeniably, it has become a part of our life, and most of the words that was told on the web could be regarded as the truthful words coming out from deep inside of our heart, and some are even those that we would never have the courage to tell others in reality.

So, at this point of time, can a suicide note posted on the web can still be ignored? The world has already answered that, when another dumb ass (Lun Sky) from Malaysia announced and intended to end his life by 15 December 2010.

Of course, no one is to be blamed by his death except himself. Some would say, what can I do even if I know? This person is seeking for death himself, why should i care? Some responded in the way that is aggressive, hoping that condemning his action can bring the guilt inside him that could actually lead to elimination his suicidal thoughts. Some even commented to ask the person to end his life right now (they think that suiciding is stupid, and should not care for person who does not even care for his own life). Typical example is: The world doesn't need you, why don't you just kill yourself right now?

Tonnes of criticisms and praises appeared after his death. Some regarded him as Malaysian Romeo that sacrificed himself for love;some said he is silly because he committed suicide for his 3 months short-life relationship, some said he is irresponsible towards his family, some said he is unfilial to his parents who brought him up and some said he did it for attention and as a punishment to his ex-girlfriend.

Imagine what a depressed person like him actually thinking, and hoping, at probably the very last minute of his life, that somebody could show up to tell him the reasons of living that can help him to get through the final sad moments of 45 minutes and keep him breathing till the next morning.

A sentence of comfort words conveyed face-to-face is definitely worth more than a simple Facebook reply. None...None of his friends showed up to offer help in the end, which ended up he jumped down from the 14th floor without others knowledge.

In my opinion, he was just too depressed, felt helpless and hopeless, and probably suffered from depression. He needed help and he already asked for help indirectly, through his status updates on Facebook. He should not be blamed for posting his last words on Facebook, because Facebook is just a medium for him to express his thoughts, about how hopeless he was when he decided to commit suicide. A psychologist interviewed by The Star also in the view that he could be saved if there was any inkling of help or hope.

Many argued that he should not post his suicide note on Facebook. I supported this at the beginning but changed my view afterwards. If we examine this issue from another dimension, conversely, posting on Facebook is actually a good practice. Logically think, do we want to see a dead body then only know there is a person intended to suicide, or we want to know it before he do it? For sure, a reasonable person would find an electronic suicide note can actually aid people in detecting any abnormal behaviour of his/her friends and take appropriate actions. Lun Sky is a classic example, he's probably dead by now if he killed himself before others discover his intention to suicide. I think, Alviss had actually saved his ass indirectly .People become greatly aware of the severity of this issue after his death and guided Lun Sky before the fatal consequences come. On the contrary, the note did bring great negative impacts on the girl's future for Alviss case, which the girl does not deserve. Good or bad, judge yourself.

In conclusion, suicide is a serious social issue that should be tackled in this modern society. The suicide rate is reportedly higher in developed country like Japan but this growing trend of suicide can also now be seen in developing country like Malaysia. Suicide is the worst permanent solution to a problem that does not solve any problems. There are many other reasons for us to live in this world despite the difficult life we have. It is our responsibility to those who care for us to live happily until we die naturally. Cherish our life , provide assistance to anyone when needed and spread the words to create awareness on this issue. Your little effort can make the difference.

By

Blog Author: David Toh Kim Hou

14/11/2010 Clash of UTARians 2010

Again, I was at the sports complex for first aid duty for another mega sports event to allow all UTARIANS from all campuses to pit against each other in core sports like basketball, football, futsal, tug of war and so on.

I was the sports captain of basketball which in charge of organizing basketball games for all the sports events in UTAR since last year but this time, I attended the event as a first aider. I was actually quite happy that I don’t have to organize the game again from this trimester onwards. It was a boring job because the organizing process was so routinely done by me since last year until this trimester.

At about 9.30am, the event started off with female category basketball match. I was surprised to see there are so many female basketball players in the court because we really can hardly get a female to join the matches in the past. Their spirits were so high and i could tell that both teams wanted so much to win. They really fought hard and even some of them who had already injured still insisted to continue with the game. One of the injured female players from Klang valley who sprained her foot even cried and begged her coach to let her continue with the game. Guess what the young female couch replied? She said, “F* you ,I don’t F*ing give a shit”(Really salah dao~hahaha. ). UTAR Pk campus won both the categories for basketball with one point of winning margin for each game.

The event later continued with football and tug of war in the afternoon. PK campus scored a goal at the very last minute and won the football game with a close score of 1-0 against Klang valley team. Besides that, PK campus also managed to pull the opponents to the losing line with no pressure during tug of war. It was an easy match for them. All the games finished at about 4pm.

At the end of the event, PK campus managed to retain the big and shinning overall champion trophy at the campus and won in most sports except futsal and volleyball. Although Klang valley team lost, but i think they should not be disappointed. They should be proud of their spirit instead because this is the only but most valuable thing that PK campus team lack of. Klang valley team deserves a clap from all UTARians.

Lastly, to all the UTARIANS, see you guys again next year!