Last Wednesday, my eldest son celebrated his birthday. My other half recommended that we go to a Korean restaurant in Gateway, Seremban since my son has a liking for Korean food. She knew about this Oiso Restaurant when she met her friend there in the last weekend. Due to my limited diet, she checked out if there are dishes that I could eat and indeed there are. Together with my second son who just came back home from JB, we went there for lunch. Here are some photos.
The restaurant owner (a Korean) actually came out to meet us and handed me a traditional Korean hat and thereafter offered to help take the picture of us together.
While on the point of my limited diet, let me just say this problem of mine can be a disadvantage when attending official functions or when travelling abroad. I remembered attending an etiquette course and I was told that I must take whatever the host offers us, even if a little. What shocked me, in a different briefing (which was not for me and it was not the etiquette course I attended), we were told to take a sip of wine if there is a toast being made. Of course, we do not follow that and when there is a toast, it is already well-known to foreign hosts that Muslims do not take alcoholic drinks and we were offered only soft drinks. In any case, when I was given a role in management, and attended official functions, sometimes there was still some anxiety in me (due to my limited diet) and had to prepare myself for any embarrassing moments. I must say that there was a huge relief when I stepped down from an admin post years ago, and that I can then be my normal ordinary self.
Sometimes, because of the 'different culture', that we (either as Muslim or Malay) may not subscribe to certain norms prevalent in the West, it is unfortunate that 'we' are pictured at times, as less cultured or worse as 'subhumans' (even animals?). That is why, I have told my students and those who wants to listen, that one should try to be counterexamples (not as examples) to break down stereotypes or dominancy of those with excessive power or influence. There is a propaganda or narrative war going on these days to the recent armed conflict in the middle east. It has always been the case, that those who lie will eventually need to have greater lies to cover up the one(s) before. Some may resort to the idea of post-truth or even world-views to frame 'truths', which I do not subscribe in the absolute sense; 'truths' are not that malleable and if we take that view, we'll be doomed to solipsism. Sure, whatever 'facts' there are, they do not exist in vacuum and more often than not, they have been pre-selected to be known but that does not absolve us to strive to know whatever 'truths' out there. It is in this view, I've started to post (alternative) news item on my social media despite fear of being shadow-banned (as they say). Related to this matter, two days ago, I received this warning from AdSense that my blog(s) is in violation of some policies (see figure below),
Initially, I thought it was due to watermelon posts I've made in my blogs. Later I saw that it was due to an extraneous website that was somehow associated with me (with a EU url). I'm not sure how or why it was there, but I have already deleted it. In any case, even if my site gets demonetised, it does not really matter since it was not my original intent to earn any money from my blogs, but I certainly would not want people (whoever they are) to stop me from saying things that I want to say.
Finally, I just want to share this new song from Putri Ariani called Perfect Liar, which is apt for today's world of deceits. It is good songwriting with melodic hooks and interesting vocal runs and certainly show a polished production suited for an international market.
In a way, I'm glad that she did not win AGT and she will be an independent artist, so that she can stay true to her identity. May she be successful.
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