How does it feel to resign for the very first time?

I'll tell you... since I just tendered my resigation from an organisation that has sheltered me over the years and given me lots of opportunities to grow.
It was quite a difficult decision to make as I felt I was going to disappoint the management by betraying their trust and skipping off to greener pastures after all they've done for me. Knowing they've targeted me to be one of the leaders in the future makes it even worse. I think, "is it stupid to turn my back on this kind of trust to eat new grass that may be tainted with pesticide?" (metaphorically speaking...). I don't know the answer and I think I will only know after I take the big plunge and leave the comfort of my 2nd "home" of 6 years for the big bad world out there.
I know I'm taking risks by joining the new company. Retrenchment is not something they will not consider but hopefully, I get to reap some benefits from my experience with them before they place my head on the chopping board. I can't expect to gain much if I don't take risks right?
So, it is with sadness yet with strong determination that I take the step to new waters at this cross-roads in my life. I hope it leads to bigger things. If not, I will eat humble pie and come back to the fold... if they'll still have me.

Time for tax assessment again!

Oh! I love filling in tax forms! The rush I experience as I compile all the receipts saved carefully for 12 months in pristine condition with no notable creases and the wondrous sense of accomplishment when I find out the Inland Revenue Board owes me money. *smirk*

But with all good things, pesky annoyances occur. Here, I compile my 10 irks with this exercise:

1. MPH receipts are printed with bad quality ink on bad quality paper. Furthermore, with the small font size, the print blurs after about 6 months and my heart goes into palpitations over whether the receipts will get rejected by the clerk handling my file.

2. English versions of the forms and guides are always late in being published on their website. Much as I want to submit the form within 1 month of receiving it, I am held back because the guides normally appear on the web site in Feb or March each year.

3. I get errors in my J form each year... (hopefully, with the new self-assessment system, this will be a thing of the past)

4. ... which means additional trips to the office to rectify the errors.

5. I have to pay tax on the measly 3% interest I gain from FD. So at the end of the year, I actually get about RM20 in interest, before accounting for rate of inflation!

6. Statement of account for tax is never complete...

7. ... and I cannot settle this at the IRB office in Kelana Jaya! I have to go to another location to sort out why my statement of account is missing some months in the year.

8. Language education does not come under tax relief for education :o(

9. *I can't think of anymore since tax assessment is quite an enjoyable activity for me*

10. And finally: forms are not in English!!!

When can our newspapers stop being controlled by the government?

I read, with mixed feelings of amusement and disgust, an article in The Star today about the eloquent Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Kelantan Mentri Besar, who is advising women to wear less revealing clothes so that the sex crime rate can be curbed.

While his comment, as reported in the newspapers, is ridiculous, I find it amusing. What disgusted me was the suspicion that The Star is consistently reporting such ridiculous comments from the MB, comments which I'm not really sure are true. Perhaps, there is a modicum of truth in his statements but freedom of the press is not practised here in this country and so I feel pity that the MB may have been painted in a dark light, probably very unfairly so.

I'm sure if I read the Malay newspapers in Kelantan, the MB will be shown in a very positive light and the impression a visitor may get is that he is a good spiritual leader, much respected by the community.

Would like to hear from people living in Kelantan on what the MB actually said and in what context. Frequently, communications as a tool obfuscates the real meaning.

Necrophilia among ducks ruffles research feathers

I got this through e-mail just today. Checked it out and it's true: The researcher is a 2003 Ig Nobel prize winner.

Donald MacLeod Tuesday March 8, 2005

The strange case of the homosexual necrophiliac duck pushed out the boundaries of knowledge in a rather improbable way when it was recorded by Dutch researcher Kees Moeliker.
It may have ruffled a few feathers, but it earned him the coveted Ig Nobel prize for biology awarded for improbable research, and next week he will be recounting his findings to UK audiences on the Ig Nobel tour.
Ducks behave pretty badly, it seems. It is not so much that up to one in 10 of mallard couples are homosexual - no one would raise an eyebrow in the liberal Netherlands - but they regularly indulge in "attempted rape flights" when they pursue other ducks with a view to forcible mating. "Rape is a normal reproductive strategy in mallards," explains Mr Moeliker.
As he recounts in his seminal paper, The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard anas platyrhynchos, he was in his office in the Natuurmuseum Rotterdam, when he was alerted by a bang to the fact a bird had crashed into the glass facade of the building. "I went downstairs immediately to see if the window was damaged, and saw a drake mallard (anas platyrhynchos) lying motionless on its belly in the sand, two metres outside the facade. The unfortunate duck apparently had hit the building in full flight at a height of about three metres from the ground. Next to the obviously dead duck, another male mallard (in full adult plumage without any visible traces of moult) was present. He forcibly picked into the back, the base of the bill and mostly into the back of the head of the dead mallard for about two minutes, then mounted the corpse and started to copulate, with great force, almost continuously picking the side of the head.
"Rather startled, I watched this scene from close quarters behind the window until 19.10 hours during which time (75 minutes) I made some photographs and the mallard almost continuously copulated his dead congener. He dismounted only twice, stayed near the dead duck and picked the neck and the side of the head before mounting again. The first break (at 18.29 hours) lasted three minutes and the second break (at 18.45 hours) lasted less than a minute. At 19.12 hours, I disturbed this cruel scene. The necrophilic mallard only reluctantly left his 'mate': when I had approached him to about five metres, he did not fly away but simply walked off a few metres, weakly uttering a series of two-note 'raeb-raeb' calls (the 'conversation-call' of Lorentz 1953). I secured the dead duck and left the museum at 19.25 hours. The mallard was still present at the site, calling 'raeb-raeb' and apparently looking for his victim (who, by then, was in the freezer)."
Mr Moeliker suggests the pair were engaged in a rape flight attempt. "When one died the other one just went for it and didn't get any negative feedback - well, didn't get any feedback," he said.
His findings have provoked a lot of interest - especially in Britain for some reason - but no other recorded cases of duck necrophilia. However, Mr Moeliker was informed of an American case involving a squirrel and a dead partner, although in this case it is not known whether the necrophilia observed was homosexual or not as the victim had been run over by a truck shortly before the incident.

Self-pride!

I survived the first-round interview with AT Kearney!! The case studies weren't that easy but at least my mind didn't go blank and I had a comfortable time with the 2 interviewers. It really helped that they were such pleasant people who obviously want the candidates to be comfortable enough to show their real capabilities. I don't really care, at this point, whether I make it to the next round. I'm proud of myself just for having gone and tried and felt good! :)

Of course, it'll be great that I go on to the next round but that would also mean more stress for me in having to practise for the interview and prepare myself mentally. Coupled with current work obligations, it's quite a toll. I'll just have to wait and see and frankly, I'm not expecting much.

Whew! What a relief that was over. Will I join the ranks of highly-paid management consultants in the world? I don't know...

Le plus grand procès de pédophilie de France s'est ouvert à Angers

The biggest paedophilia trial has shocked the world! And where is the location of such a barbaric crime? 3rd world country where polite society has not yet stepped ashore? Where western civilisation has been struggling to teach the poor savages how to live in the 21st century?

Nope. It's in France.

Angers, to be precise.

Now, I don't know what kind of place this is but the reports say the perpetrators of the crime are of low intelligence and poor. Somehow, I can't quite imagine how a poor family can easily trade the services of their infant child to a neighbour, close friend for (in an Asian context) a tin of milo, some money for the week, a carton of rokok...

It really sickens me. I will be following the trial closely. http://fr.news.yahoo.com/050303/202/4awp3.html