Social Networks Phunk.

I am a Facebooker and an occasional Tweeter.

Unless you have been living under a rock since 1979, I am not an author or a bird.

I am told that I am an interesting Facebooker. I have 140 over 'friends' on my list. I am only close to maybe 10 people from that list, and all the others are my ex schoolmates, college mates, cousins, aunts, sibling and my Mum.

Now, it's not my unimpressive friends list that makes me an interesting Facebooker. It is my status updates. I think about things constantly. I 'gobble' literature like I would low fat wheat bits. I read all kinds of stuff.

I even read a book written in Jawi (Malay language in arab alphabets) about a great religious man, who I only knew existed when I read about him in the book.

I read Karl Marx along side the Buddhist scripture, and excerpts of Torah along side the Bible.

Well anyway, back to my interesting Facebook persona.

Recently, I have come to love reading quotations of Buddha and the Dalai Lama. I find it a peaceful insight compared to all the other heavier stuff I have read.

As usual, I quoted interesting Buddha's sayings on Facebook.

My Mum called me up asking me if I am going to convert to a Buddhist.

'What?' I said.

'You do know that you have a religion?'

'So? Does that make me an idiot?'

Harsh I know, but I felt patronized. If you know me, I don't choose who I am sarcastic with.

Maybe the fact that I do Yoga and wear Mala beads on my left wrist triggered an 'oh-my-God-my-kid-is-going-to-be-a-frikkin-freethinker-and-I'm-a-bad-parent' alarm.

The fact that I am taking care of myself and having a good job and is not a serial killer is enough to justify the fact that my parents are good parents, despite them using me as a child laborer since I was 10 when I had to cook and clean the house because I was the eldest.


Being brought up in a traditional Malay Muslim settings did nothing for me. All I could learn from it was that, it was a form of invisible restrain on myself as an individual. My place as a woman was preconceived for me by a group people I never cared about. I learned that God is an entity to be feared, instead of loved, and at a  very young age... I truly believed that just by saying 'stupid', gives me a ticket to hell.

Understandably... I don't have a good impression of my birth religion.


What I did after the call was something that I should have done a LONG time ago.

I limit my profile visibility.

Moral of the story - Don't include your family in your FB.

.... and Oh... beware of lukewarm spots in the swimming pool.