Kulihat Hijau

I'm going to be in the jungles of northern Luzon for the next three weeks. The short explanation for this is that one of the profs from the college I just graduated from (yeeek! i'm an alumna!) got a grant from the Freeman Foundation, so she's bringing four students along with her on her annual field research trip here. Notice how most of the recipients are humanities and social studies people. Biology quite the special ^_^

I'm planning to keep a diary of what goes on for those three weeks and then type it up and post it on my blog, if anyone's interested in reading about what field research on bat ecology is like.

Over the past several months, the grant's paid for Japanese encephalitis, rabies, typhoid, and hepatitis A vaccinations. I have +3h l33+ !mm00n 5!5+3m now. Now, to figure out a way to keep the leeches off...

Bumi yang tiada rimba
Seumpama hamba
Dia dicemar manusia
Yang jahil ketawa

Bumi yang tiada udara
Bagai tiada nyawa
Pasti hilang suatu hari
Tanpa disedari

Bumi tanpa lautan
Akan kehausan
Pasti lambat laun hilang
Duniaku yang malang

Dewasa ini kita saling merayakan
Kejayaan yang akhirnya membinasakan
Apalah gunanya kematangan fikiran
Bila dijiwa kita masih lagi muda dan mentah
Ku lihat hijau

Bumiku yang kian pudar
Siapa yang melihat
Di kala kita tersedar
Mungkinkah terlewat

Korupsi, oppressi, obsessi diri
Polussi, depressi di bumi kini

Oo... anok-anok
Tok leh meghaso mandi laok
Bersaing main ghama-ghama

Ale lo ni tuo omornyo berjoto
Koto usoho jauh ke daghi malo petako

Ozon lo ni koho nipih nak nak aghi
Keno make asak hok biso, weh
Pase maknusio
Seghemo bendo-bendo di dunio
Tok leh tahe
Sapa bilo-bilo

-Zainal Abidin, Hijau

Projek Pembiakan Nyamuk Majlis Perbandaran Seremban

The Star ran an article about how the huge hole in the ground in Seremban was being used as a source of irrigation for plants by the MPS. I decided to write in with a suggestion:

(Quick background: The hole used to be the site of the Convent School which a few of my friends attended. Then someone bought the site and razed it to build a shopping centre. A pit was dug and lined with concrete - for an underground parking lot, I guess - but like so many other construction projects in Malaysia, this one came to a halt. The giant lubang has been a menace to public health for some time because it doesn't have any drainage, so spawns mosquitoes like mad. And they can go and fine people for having a tin Milo full of rainwater in their garden summore...)

I write a lot of letters to The Star because it's what I read online when I'm in the US. I seem to be turning into a female Bulbir Singh.

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Dear editors,

The Seremban Municipal Council might consider another use for the pond where the Convent School once stood ("Seremban eyesore now a welcome sight", 6 July). Since the water is safe for plants, why not turn the pond and its surrounding strip of land into a small park? The pond is perfectly situated to become a green lung for the urban area of Seremban, and would still be usable as a source of irrigation.

Planting the pond with lotuses and waterlilies and the strip of land with grass and trees would oxygenate and cool the air in the surrounding area. If it could also be stocked with fish and frogs, this would eliminate the problem of mosquitoes breeding in the water. Park benches placed around the perimeter could provide a resting place for weary shoppers, employees, and schoolchildren.

The city already has Terminal 1 and Seremban Parade; it does not need any more malls. It is a pity that the failed Seremban Mall project has been a nuisance for these seven years, but as the saying goes, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. An island of nature in the middle of the arid concrete jungle would certainly be sweet.

transit

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago (18th June) while waiting in the Detroit airport. Idiots charge $6.50 for 24 hours' worth of wireless internet access. Cannot buy in smaller increments wan.

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Know what? I'm in an airport terminal, and because the magnificent Cassandra Claire just released Chapter 16 of her Harry Potter fanfic Draco Veritas, I keep thinking about Draco's sword Terminus Est. DV is the third of a trilogy, which I think in many ways is substantially better than Rowling's last book =P (Have I written about Claire before?) I just really really like having Draco as a real foil to Harry instead of being the stereotyped cardboard bully. Claire's Draco is a tortured kid abused by his own father who yet is as much a moral figure as Harry -- as much or more of a victim of Voldemort as Harry. Granted, Rowling IS writing for children, but given that she's given Snape a complex background, she might do a better job of fleshing out the other major 'mean' people as well.

Weeeelll...admittedly I am a sucker for tragic figures in fiction. Don't handle such real-life characters well. I know of a couple of students at my uni who have post-traumatic stress disorder, and sometimes I catch myself wondering, kaypoh-like, what happened to them, how they live with terrible pasts.

Anyway, the reason why I'm in Detroit instead of Minneapolis is that my flight out of town left at 9 am instead of 11 like it was originally supposed to...and I didn't think to call the airport to check last night when I was trying to figure out why it didn't show up on the online flight schedule. Fortunately, they got me on one that gets to Manila only half an hour after my original one did.

Don't know when I'm going to be able to post this, though, since I refuse to pay six and a half dollars (more than I make at my campus jobs!) for wireless internet access. Babi sial. Granted, that IS for 24 hours' worth of access, but I'm not staying that long. *sigh* Maybe the Japanese will be nicer and have free wireless.

My sister HE's best friend KA once ICQ'ed me saying "Am outside KLCC starbucks stealing wireless." I'm really looking forward to seeing how much connectivity there is back home (Malaysia) since I got a wireless card a few weeks back ^_^ although it'll be a bit impractical unless Pa can find a battery for my Gateway 450 while he's in New York and bring it back. Why do computer batteries have to be so damn ex?

There are several sparrows flying around in here, twittering cheerfully and picking up weary travellers' crumbs. It's so amusing to have these little aviators happily flouting the rules, making their home in this huge building, so much artificial effort put into flight, but they do it without a thought. Sparrows make me happy.