Across Dreamlands

Let me make a confession: I cannot write a poem to save my life. Nope. I may be brilliant at many things (some of which can be quite useless), but penning poetry is not one of them.

However, I do have friends blessed with the power of poetry. One of them, Lara, just self-published a collection of poems titled "Across Dreamlands". I've gotten my copy since a few days ago but have decided to save it for my weekend reading.

I also sent a copy of "Across Dreamlands" (Lara, if you ever read this, can I just say that your book's title is sooooooooooooooo cool? Hehe) to another poet friend of mine, Ksatriya. I've been horrible at remembering his birthday for the past few years now (it's in October...or November?) so I thought this year I'd get a headstart and send it to him before MY birthday hahaha. 

Anyway, if you're interested in getting a copy of "Across Dreamlands, you can get in touch with the poet herself on Twitter.

Another poet I'd like to mention here is Sara Bareilles. I know, I know..you probably know her as a singer-songwriter, but plenty of her songs are pure poetry.

Case in point: Cassiopeia. Lyrics below:

Come in close now it's time to tell the story

Long ago, and so many years before we

Ever were, ever dreamed we even could be

There was her and her very first heartbeat

All alone in a corner of the night sky

Spiral bones of a supernova starlight

Fell in love with another burning bright

She dreamed of a way to ignite she said

Tonight

Come on, come on collide

Break me to pieces I

I think you're just like heaven

Why, come on, come on collide

Let's see what a fire feels like

I bet it's just like heaven

Just like heaven

Just like heaven

Such a shame nowhere near even a near miss

Light years away from the hope of being sun-kissed

Anchored home in her interstellar sea but

Poor lonely Cassiopeia

So she sighs and she burns with desperation

Learns to cry over love of constellations

Then a spark from a star shooting too close

They both smiled "What a day to explode"

She said

Tonight

Come on, come on collide

Break me to pieces I

I think you're just like heaven

Why, come on, come on collide

Let's see what a fire feels like

I bet it's just like heaven

Just like heaven

Just like heaven

Long ago in a sky built before us

A supernova grew up to be stardust 

I've been on a space-ish kind of mood since Pluto sent us some selfies, so I've been watching Interstellar and Gravity all over again. I've always wanted to go to space, and even wrote "astronaut" on my residential school application form as my ambition. However, Dad erased it and asked me to write something more realistic. If I remember correctly, he said "Malaysia will never send an astronaut, let alone a female one". Twenty years later, his words still ring true (and no, Dr S. is NOT an astronaut).

Maybe one day I'll get to travel across dreamlands, take a selfie with Pluto, and send it to my Dad. 

Now wouldn't that be something?

Home Is Where The Durians Are

Below are excerpts of an article I wrote recently for My Malaysia. Happy reading! :)

The Geek Goddess

Home Is Where The Durians Are

I was a young conservation educator at wildlife NGO in Malaysia when I first met Mike. A British national then in his sixties, he sported mostly silver strands on his head and an equally silver beard. This was eight years ago and yes, it’s now my turn to sport salt-and-pepper streaks in my tresses. No signs of a beard though (thank God!).

Fondly known as Uncle Mike, this sprightly gentleman has been a valuable asset to Malaysia’s wildlife conservation as a researcher, trainer and mentor. A multitude of wildlife researchers from different organisations have benefitted from his wildlife study design and data analysis “boot camps”. These special workshops share insights on estimating wildlife occupancy, density, and demographic parameters such as survival.

As for the social side of conservation, Mike was also instrumental in helping me design a social survey for stakeholders living in and around Batang Ai National Park and Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary. These are two protected areas in Sarawak where viable orang utan populations have been found. The social survey was a culmination of years of conservation education activities in these areas, and they served to foster awareness and sense of ownership amongst the communities.

My team and I were very lucky to have Mike on board as our mentor and main architect of the survey.  He assisted us during months of designing and testing survey questions to avoid bias, besides doing simulations and modelling to explore different sample sizes and sampling strategies. Based on results of this study, the first species-specific radio programme in Sarawak was developed and broadcasted to promote the importance of protected areas and the ecosystem services that they provide.

Read more on My Malaysia