spent the afternoon at kinokuniya. for the record, it's horrible that bookstores bind books in plastic. i know it's to discourage public reading but in malaysia, maybe public reading isn't a bad thing. it's not like binding books encourage reading or buying (well, maybe it does, i don't know) but with the prices of books, maybe knowledge has to be shared any way it can.
beb says i'm allergic to bettering myself. this is because everyone has hurled many kinds of teguran membina from everything ranging from kecomotanku, kemalasanku, my passivity, my tendency to let some ppl step all over me and yet be incredibly thoughtless to others, careless, suka membazir and my basic bimboness.
i listen. these ppl mean well after all, excessive concern comes from love. then i do whatever the hell i want.
but i love books. i like learning. so i spent the afternoon reading these books - How To Be A World Explorer, The Writer, The Myth of the Lazy Native and The Art of War.
A study of the image of Malays in Malaya, Phillipines and Java. This is a very academic format book. Like someone's thèse. There's references, quotes, could have been boring if not for the hilarious subject matter (ok, maybe not that hilarious). It's just that I've been around a lot of kids lately. And i've been observing. And i really wonder, how do people turn out the way they do? It is good breeding? Is it environment? Is it parents? Is it cultural make up? Is it natural personality?
But, food for thought, here's what the Westerners observed of Malays :
"He goes through existence with an easy grace born of long centuries of experience in the art of getting the best things with the smallest exertion."
In other words, inambitious. More pejorative, lazy. But that's not strictly because malas. Mostly because no need to be rajin.
It's uncanny how typically Malay i am then. Of course, the author cites observations on how Melay Kelantan, Melayu Terengganu, Melayu Johor and Melayu West Coast all differ from each other. It also calls 'latah' a Malay psycho-pathological disorder.
Kelakar kot buku ni.
True, sometimes we might find ourselves irrationally reacting to things. Like being too sensitive to insults or being too easy going. It's your life, you can't blame cultural make up forever.
Reading Sun Tzu always calms me. Like listening to an old man imparting wisdom while stroking his beard. And because i'm horrible at resolving conflicts, especially in the family. Life is like war. The Way of War is a Way of Deception. And i would like to win the war without conflict.
The Writer : The Early Years 1947-1972 contains the early writings of Mahathir Mohamad published in newspapers at the time. Even if you can't admire the man, you have to admire his mind.
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