Some say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Some also say, actions speak louder than words. I sometimes say, do not say a word if the words you are about to say are empty; saying things only for the sake of saying things. Many would say, do not say anything if you cannot say anything good.

About pictures being worth a thousand words, well I guess some are, for example, a picture that is extremely breathtaking, so much so it leaves you speechless, unless of course you can say a thousand words in one breath. Not all pictures are worth a thousand words although they leave you breathless, as they may perhaps leave you breathless because they are shockingly horrible. Once you regain your breath you go ahead and describe them with words like gross, horrible, terrible, this picture should never have existed, or even make you scream at the top of your lungs, WHY?!

About actions being louder than words, well, as a person who is not good at telling people my true feelings, I suppose I should say I agree with the concept. Not really. Honestly, after the passing of my father, I thought I should learn to let people I care about know exactly that, that I care. I still find it extremely difficult to do. On the other hand, the recipient of your good intentions may perhaps rather hear you say those words rather than questioning your true intentions and assuming that you did all of it because you care.

I am a strong believer and practitioner of the idea that people should not speak only for the sake of speaking as it will only result in the waste of good time. However, I do not entirely agree with the believe that you should not say anything if you cannot say anything good. If being honest and truthful means saying things that seem like bad things to people is not allowed, then we are letting people go on in the wrong direction. If a person sings horribly, are we supposed to say that he/she was good? Or should we rather say the truth, that either he/she stop singing completely or to learn how to sing properly? If we did not tell the awful truth, he/she may even end up getting hurt worse.

I suppose perhaps the point I am trying to get across is moderation. No one concept or idea is ultimate; fixed and constantly applicable. At times we all have to agree to disagree. At times we have to make choices and meet in the middle. No two persons always constantly think alike. But I think we can all agree that we should not speak only for the sake of speaking. Trust you me, I am not writing this post only for the sake of writing 😉

I wish all of you good days ahead of you and God bless.

Well, since the beginning of the mysterious disappearance of MH370, the issue of sensitivity came up again. The public have been constantly reminded to be sensitive. Now, how sensitive should a person be? What is the level of sensitivity one individual expects from another? This can be rather subjective, perhaps.

At the risk of sounding insensitive, in a country where anything can out of the blue become sensitive, my view is that one (the person facing the grief or difficulties) should not expect the other to be grieving the same way. That is plain unfair to the other. Sometimes, even when I try really hard, I fail to feel the same kind of grief. I have experienced loss of people near to me. Today, I am still grieving, in my own ways. I have never expected anyone else to grieve the same way as I do. So, it is not because others are insensitive, but others just do not feel your kind of grief. So, perhaps try and understand that you can not insist for others to grieve the same way as you do. Put yourself then in their shoes. It is difficult if not impossible, for you to understand and experience the same kind of grief the other is experiencing. Some people do not take long to move on. This doesn’t mean they did not grieve too. They are either –

(1) have had enough grieving;

(2) move on rather quickly;

(3) have their way of grieving that it does not show.

All we should not be, is becoming an opportunist. Pretending to be grieving can both be good and bad. Your intention of showing your sensitivity can be mistakenly construed as trying to gain “favour”. As such, I think sensitivity should be at a modest level acceptable to everyone. So, we need to be careful in whether or not we should be sensitive. Also, to what extent should we be sensitive … the answer is, put yourself in the shoes of the other person, those you expect to show some sensitivity. Also, not too expect too much from others.

I thought I would just share this proud little acknowledgement 😉

From the title alone, there would be almost no need to clarify further, but no, I will go on to express my opinion.

I grew up listening to all sorts of music. I listened to these; The Beatles, Boney M, Bob Marley, Take That, U2, Michael Jackson, The Scorpions, Nirvana, Metallica, Whitney Houston, Leslie Cheung, Faye Wong, Sheila Majid, M Nasir, etc. I used to love listening to the OST from the Hindi movie Taal. I love OST loads. Now, I expanded to listening to OST from Korean drama series. Oh, I even started listening to Anuar Zain and that did kind of surprised my sister a little bit. I attended Indonesian bands shows and the International Jazz Fest. I listen to Mariah Carey, David Guetta, CN BLUE, Ning Baizura, John Newman, Shakira, Florence and the Machine,  Pink, Dido, Coldplay, Muse, Kelly Clarkson,  Regina Spektor, Lana Del Rey, Padi, etc. Well, the point I am trying to get to here is that I listen to all sorts of music of all sorts of genres. I cannot seem to put a limit to what I listen to. I do not believe it is because I do not have a “music or genre identity”. It all depends on my mood. I was introduced to The Neighbourhood by my brother and I am currently liking them loads.

However, I still do not quite understand what it is meant, this genre falling under K Pop. I know some of the songs because they are that famous, like Girls Generation and of course, Wonder Girls, from that global hit song Nobody. I have never really bothered to find out and understand what the wave is all about. To be honest, I was afraid to be called a K Pop fan. I thought it was uncool. Nonetheless, I continue listening to and loving OST from K drama series. Bit by bit, I discover how talented some of them are. Some if not most of them are highly educated. I have to say, I am not afraid now to say I like Baek Ji Young, although her genre is not really that of K Pop. Did you know that Psy studied music at Berklee or have you been to busy trying to avoid being labeled as K Pop fan. The very fact that he got in, that to me is good enough. I suppose because I think highly of Berklee. Well, what do I know. I cannot sing like a brilliant singer nor can I play musical instruments like Alicia Keys.

My second point there is the answers to these questions; is it so shameful and uncool to like K Pop?; why is it okay to love English/American songs/artists but not Korean songs/artists?; why was it okay for the Indo Pop or J Pop wave to happen but not K Pop?

I have learnt to not be too quick to judge. I will learn more about what K Pop is all about before I decide whether or not to avoid being labeled a K Pop fan. My thoughts on why there is such strong sentiments here against K Pop are either because the K Pop wave happened like the tsunami only that the waves continue on strongly or because it is not very cool to like people who look pretty all the time especially boys looking pretty. I personally have no problem with either. The wave can be like the tsunami and if it brings good things with it, the waves might as well continue on. Boys looking pretty, why should it be a problem?

Anyway, I hope like me, people will learn to appreciate the art in music, regardless of where it is from, what language it is in or what genre it is. Music is art and it is global. It has the ability to unite nations by uniting people of different nations, through the love they share for the music and artists they love.

More love and peace are what we need as the world becomes a harder place to live in.

This is of course, my personal point of view.